Universal Power System

[Quest Completed]

[User has forced Teacher Magnus to acknowledge his skills]

[Rewards: +5,000 EXP, New Random Skill]

Mako stared at the reward screen with a big smile. He was very concerned after the system update about his EXP situation as now he was going to get a lot less of it. It had already taken Mako so long to level up to Level 15, he was dreading to finding out just how bad this EXP change would affect him.

However, he was happy to find out that the change wasn't too drastic. Just by completing 1 quest, Mako was able to gain 10% of the total EXP requirement for Level 16. Considering the number of classes and challenges he was going to face on a daily basis while in military school, he was hopeful that he could get to level 20 and update the system one more time before the showdown with the imposter went down.

'I was able to level up 15 times in 6 months, I can do it again at least five times in the same amount of time, right?' Mako said to cheer himself but he knew that the road ahead wasn't going to be easy.

"I have never seen a student this happy to join my class, usually everyone hates me," Magnus stated after seeing the wide smile on Mako's face.

Magnus' words quickly shook Mako back to reality and he quickly apologized for his odd behavior.

Magnus didn't seem to mind too much and asked Mako to follow him as he led him to his office which was in the corner of the weapons hall.

Mako was excited to get started with his training, but that would start tomorrow as this entire day was meant for introductions and adaption into the military lifestyle that cadets would have to follow for the next two years of their lives.

So he was a bit confused as to why Magnus had asked him to follow him into his office. He still wanted to visit the mana training class, just to see if he could potentially make the timings work and take both classes, but it was highly unlikely.

Even if he somehow was able to make it work and take both classes, it would leave him almost no free time to train by himself which was also very crucial considering that now he wouldn't be getting an abundance of attribute points and had to work hard to upgrade his attributes the old fashioned way.

The two of them walked through the empty and echoey hall all the way towards the end, where the was a simple door that Mako had somehow completely missed during the entire time his class was battling the horde of robots.

As Magnus opened the door to his office and gestured for him to come inside, Mako decided to leave the decision of what he was going to do with his free time for after he had visited the mana training class and to just focus on what Magnus had in store for him.

"Please... come in and have a seat, he has been quite lonely waiting for more people to join him," Magnus said with a kind and unusual tone.

"He...?" Mako asked in confusion as he entered into the office.

"Yeah! Me!" A familiar voice spoke out from inside the room, and Mako was shocked to find out the person to whom that voice belonged.

Sitting on a sofa inside Magnus' office was the last person, Mako had expected to see in this class. It was the boy who attacked Magnus in the morning and got incredibly humbled by him.

"What are you doing here?" Mako couldn't help to ask him as he couldn't believe that someone who had shown such hatred and anger toward his teacher in the morning was also chilling in his office in the evening.

"What's it to you, дурак!" The boy replied in an angry manner. (дурак means idiot)

Mako was taken aback and a little offended by the boy's mean behavior but he was used to being mistreated by people who were way over their heads about being superior to everyone else and decided to just ignore this rudeness.

"Don't forget, Alexi... You agreed that you wouldn't lash out at my students," Magnus said in a calm manner as he took a seat behind his desk.

"I haven't agreed to anything yet... First, tell me, are you going to teach me or not?!" Alexi shouted.

****************

[20 minutes ago]

Alexi was the first person to not chicken out when Magnus presented the ultimatum in front of him, unlike several other students.

Magnus was admittedly a bit surprised to see him again so soon, but nonetheless, he had to fulfill his obligation as a teacher first and challenged Alexi to the same test that Mako had just passed.

Alexi was stronger than Mako in terms of base stats and had great skill with weapons but still, he wasn't able to strike Magnus even once during their duel.

Magnus' helping words that helped Mako figure out the errors during his fight, only seemed to add fuel to Alexi's rage during his fight.

In the end, Alexi was defeated by Magnus for the second time today, but this time there wasn't a crowd to watch him fail, and Magnus could see the talent inside Alexi.

After his second defeat, Alexi got up to leave as he had failed the condition to get accepted into the class by Magnus' own words which left a sour taste in his mouth, but before he could exit, Magnus called him out and invited him to come to his office.

A gesture that caught Alexi aback as well. He was a bit more reluctant than Mako to follow him to his office but Magnus insisted him to come and stated that it wouldn't be a waste of his time.

Reluctantly, he walked with Magnus over to his office, and once inside, Magnus told Alexi exactly what was in his heart.

"You have strength, young man, but strength isn't enough. You learned that after I defeated you in the morning..." Magnus began to speak.

Alexi immediately wanted to cut him off for trying to remind him of his humiliating defeat, but Magnus raised his hand and released a bit of aura to intimidate Alexi.

"Let... me... finish..." Magnus stated.

The air inside the room instantly became thick and hard to breathe, and Alexi could feel the pressure that Magnus was releasing. He knew it was best to just listen for now.

"However, You aren't someone who is just overconfident because of your superior strength, but rather you just want to be the best, the strongest..." Magnus continued.

Alexi calmed down and was a bit surprised to see how Magnus had been able to analyze his character within a day. Even though he didn't want to admit it, it was indeed true, He wanted to be the best in everything and wanted to crush anyone who could stand in his path.

"Which was why after you accepted your defeat you decided to seek me out in order to take my guidance and strength for yourself, so you could do to others what I did to you..." Magnus stated.

Alexi was now speechless, not because of Magnus' aura that was pushing him down, but rather of the truth that was spoken by him.

Magnus suppressed his aura and allowed Alexi to breathe normally again. He was still at a loss for words as Magnus had stated exactly what was going on in his head.

However, this only proved to him more that he must learn from him and become a lot stronger so that he could prove his parents wrong.

"Yes..." Alexi managed to say," What you have said is true, I do want to become strong like you, so will you teach me or not?"

"It depends..." Magnus replied calmly.

"'Depends?! Depends on what?!" Alexi shouted again, clearly showing that beating around the bush wasn't his style.

Magnus released his aura yet again, this time almost half of it. The intense pressure being released by his body was something Alexi had never experienced before.

Alexi immediately collapsed onto his knees with blood dripping from his nose, the pressure so great that he felt like he could get crushed by it any second.

"It depends on whether you agree to show respect to your teachers... It depends on whether or not you promise to never abuse or misuse your power on someone weaker than you..." Magnus stated as he walked closer to Alexi, increasing the pressure that was already on his body.

He crouched down so that their face was at the same level and he leaned forward to whisper in his ear," It depends... on whether or not... you can stop listening to your heart and start listening to your brain."

Just then an alert appeared on a screen on Magnus' desk which showed that a new student had entered the hall.

Magnus quickly retracted all of his aura before opening the door to meet Mako who had just entered the hall to ask about the special power weapons class.

"You can stay here and think about what I have said, let me know about your decision when I come back," Magnus said in his regular kind tone before heading out, leaving Alexi to recover inside his office.

******************

[Present time]

"Do you agree to my conditions?" Magnus asked Alexi.

Alexi hesitated a bit and Mako could physically see him struggle, but in the end, Alexi agreed. Mako had no idea what had happened prior, but he understood that Magnus had given him some kind of conditions that he would have to follow if he wished to learn from him.

"Alright then... As of now... Mako Grey and Alexi Novikov... you are my students in the special power weapons class."