Chapter 20: Level up (not)! At this rate, it'll be chapter 720 before I'm level 30...
Support my main contracted novel and winner of Writing Prompts #26 - The Legendary Mage!
Desolate Mage: A Legend Reborn!
https://www.webnovel.com/book/12013957905760805/Desolate-Mage%3A-A-Legend-Reborn!
* * * * *
Principal Snow was sitting calmly behind his antique, precious jadeoak desk. Only this time, the desk had multiple round head-sized indentations on it.
Sam had uttered a satisfied "Oh!" when she found out how sturdy the table was, not crumbling apart and only suffering minor indentations when used to smash the short man's egg-shaped head. She had asked to keep it as a weapon, to which he had to politely decline while extricating his head from being embedded in the table.
"Ahem, now that that's settled, can we repeat our agreement...?"
"I didn't see anything or hear anything since arriving here today. In exchange, you'll give me a job and introduce me to a school in the city...?"
"Good. Now, let me cover some important things." He stood up and walked to the blackboard on the western wall, opposite from where she had burst in. He clambered up the stepladder to erase the various adult drawings on his blackboard while beginning to speak.
"The temple of Uro has various types of assessments. According to your enrolment card, the one you did recently reported these stats--" he wrote the following on the board:
Height 188cm
Weight 192kg
AFFINITY
Mana affinity 0 / 0
Divine affinity 0 / 0
Elemental affinity: None
TALENTS:
True Luck
CORE STATS
Level: 1
Strength: A
Vitality: A
Agility: A
Dexterity: A
Mental Rating*: A
Resistances Rating*: A
Mana Rating*: N/A
Divine Rating*: N/A
ESSENCE: 01021
He continued to explain, "As you notice, combat multiplier is not captured, and has to be taken under a separate combat assessment test."
Stopping to recall something from memory, he then added, "From your written test during registration, I can conclude an additional 2 things." He wrote 2 more lines under "Core Stats":
Knowledge: 5
Intelligence: 3
(5 and 3? Phew... At least it's not 0... Guess I'm not that bad after all...)
Before she could be relieved, he updated the numbers:
Knowledge: 5 years old
Intelligence: 3 years old
(....) Sam was speechless. She coughed in embarrassment, then said, "I'm not *that* dumb..."
(Am I...?) She remembered how she would often see Lucius crying after she came home smiling and telling him about how she spent her days - to the background music of angry mobs of townspeople.
Principal Snow froze - then decided to skip over that portion for his own safety, reminded by the blood still dripping from his forehead.
"The standard assessment only measures up to a rating of "A" for Core Stats, and with no decimal places for affinities."
He rolled the stepladder to a blank section of the blackboard. "But based on your displayed strength, you obviously exceed A rating - by far." He smiled. "What I want to find out is, just how far do you exceed the norm?"
He began to write again while explaining. "The reason why the standard test stops at A, is because an average human with no special talents, bloodlines or unique encounters can only train up to a certain point before the body does not advance anymore - except by levelling up."
"Now, most people will level up as soon as they have enough essence - gained by actions that impact the world and gain its acknowledgment - whether positive or negative. However--" he turned around while seated atop the stepladder, "--The stats multiplier from levelling up is maximised if a person hits the stat cap first, by reaching A in every stat for that level."
He spread his hands to gesture (uselessly) and explained: "At level 1 to level 2, you'll gain three advantages. First, you infuse and enhance the body to unlock further potential - thus raising the stat cap. Second, you gain a permanent strengthening bonus of 20% of your stats at the time of levelling up. That means if a person had a strength to carry 100kg, when he levels up, he will be able to carry roughly an extra 20kg. And if he grows his strength to 200kg - the bonus remains at 20kg of strength. Which means levelling up is better once raising your stats as much as you can at each level."
"Okay! So.... Should I level up now...?"
"Shut up and let me continue." He snapped at her, mumbling about how kids nowadays didn't like info-dumps, not like when he was still in school.
"The third benefit is the acknowledgment of the world. Things will get easier, such as learning a skill, or understanding a spell equation, or manipulating the laws of the universe. At the same time, one must first be able to understand and comprehend certain laws of the world to advance past level 9, so it might not be true that levelling brings acknowledgment, but rather that the acknowledgment itself was what catalyses us to level up... It is perhaps just the nature of the worlds essence... Oh, and this is true for every living and even non-living creature - even demons or devils."
"That's so boring. Hurry up or I'll hit you again." Cold sweat covered his smooth head when he saw her pick up her newfound weapon - his desk.
"...Coming back to stat caps and ratings, that is why for every level, there will be a different standard of strength, vitality etc. needed to get an A rating. But beyond that, there are more detailed tests to measure, for example, strength of other bloodlines," he wrote an A+ with the word Ogre beside it, "...Up to dragon blood lines." He wrote 3 S's in a row. "Even at level 1, individuals with special characteristics can be many times stronger..." He had an enigmatic smile on his face.
Curious, she asked, "Is that the highest...?"
His eyes darted to the upper right as he recalled his studies, and answered. "Well... There are legends of the ones who constructed the galaxies and planets, under an unnamed god's instructions..." He wrote "SSS+" and beside it the word Titans.
"So let's go to the temple of Uro and find out where you stand, shall we...?" He flashed her a kindly smile.
(And find out how in the bloody world you literally regrew a shoulder out of thin air...)
"And while you're at it, why are you still at level 1? Is Lucius putting you through some special training...?" He was dying to know - as that misconception about her level had made her miss being scouted by the father-son duo from Rome.
She shook her head. "Grandpa said I need to improve my combat multiplier first, so that I won't be too reliant on my physique. And... I need 115,000 essence for level 2."
Reynaldis' mouth slowly opened, before hanging agape. He used his hand to forcefully close his dropped jaw, then stroked his beard (non-existent) in wisdom (mock) while nodding with his eyes closed.
"I see, I see... Ha, ha-ha... 115,000 essence isn't much at all...! Why, even I needed 170,000 essence for my level 20 - Ahem, I mean level 2 advancement... Ha-ha..." The bald man's sweat was dripping down his bald head. He took a handkerchief and elegantly (nerdily) wiped the sweat off his brow.
He leaned over and pressed a button, then waited. Only after what seemed like a long, awkward wait did an emotionless voice that caused the temperature to drop several degrees answer, asking, "What is it now...?"
While Sam was wondering how an emotionless voice could at the same time sound so angry, Rey cheerfully said, "Lena, please bring young Samuel to perform the highest tier assessment at the temple. Thank you!" He smiled, waiting for the answer.
It was silent for awhile, and Sam began to think that something was wrong with the line, when the voice replied, "...And who will be paying the 585 gold coins for the test? And 422 coins for my overtime...?"
Sam sat silently, waiting for Principal Snow's reply. To her surprise, the man froze, unable to answer. Then the sound of a transmitter being slammed down could be heard, before the line went silent.
The dignified and elderly man cleared his throat, walked over to the doors to crack them open and peeked his head out. He then roared at the top of his lungs, "Why do you always have to embarrass me in front of my friends!?"
The icy voice replied with a "Shut up you smelly pervert!" and "You're already underpaying me, you stingy money-grubber!" before she ended with the killer blow, "No wonder you're so old but still single... And even had the guts to adopt a son..."
Principal Snow came back and sat at his desk, taking out his handkerchief and wiping away the traces of blood that he had vomited, as well as from the cut on his eyebrow where she had throw a cup at him. He glared at the girl before him who was giggling nonstop.
"Are you done? If you are, I'll bring you to the temple myself."
* * * * *
"Y'know, you really do need a nickname. Samuel won't work for a girl; how about just Sam?" Seeing no objection, Rey continued chattering on along the way to the temple - completely unlike his image of dignity and poise.
Upon reaching the temple of Uro, he saw Stella on duty and went over to talk to her. After explaining what they were there for, he paid the gold coins for the test, then they followed Stella along the same hallway, until they stood within the testing area.
Sam went through the same procedure, and looked on expectantly at the more accurate results, hoping for good news on her mana and divine affinity.
As the results rolled out, Principal Snow couldn't hold back his excitement.
"Hahahaha! Yippee!! You see that, girls? I told you it would be worth it!"
"But, Principal..." Stella attempted to clarify.
"And everyone thought you had no mana or divine talent! I knew it; it was impossible! Lucius' bloodline couldn't be so utterly useless!"
"Principal Snow, you have to--"
"Now now, my girl. I know what you want to say. It's too low right?" He was highly excited and wagged his finger at his student."But you see, as long as it's not zero, all she needs to do is to train and it'll improve! Whereas if it's zero, only divine intervention from a great sacrifice could maybe, just maybe change her affinity! Even her score of 0.001 is reason to rejoice!"
"Principal!" Stella shouted in exasperation.
Shocked, Reynaldis was taken aback, frowning. "Yes my girl, you don't have to shout."
"Principal Snow, you have to read carefully. It really is 0.001 but..."
"Well? But what dear? We don't have all day you know." He put his hands on his hips, which looked cokical with how short he was.
"But it's negative 0.001... It's the first time in history where someone has a negative mana and divine affinity... Almost as if mana and divine power *avoids* her..."
Stunned, Principal Snow face fell, his hopes raised high only to be disappointed. He stumbled over to a chair and nearly missed it as he tried to sit down.
He turned to Sam, hesitating and reluctant to speak (and eat his words).
"I'm so, so sorry, my girl. I thought... I promised your grandfather to take care of you until he's back..." He sighed heavily.
However, he was even more stunned when he moved down the report - to her core stats:
-----------
Height 189cm
Weight 263kg
-----------
AFFINITY
Mana affinity -0.001
Divine affinity -0.001
Elemental affinity: None
-----------
TALENTS:
True Luck
Locked - Level 5
-----------
CORE STATS
Level: 1
Strength: SSSS
Vitality: SSSS
Agility: SSSS
Dexterity: SSSS
Mental Rating*: SSSS
Resistances Rating*: SSSS
Mana Rating*: N/A
Divine Rating*: N/A
ESSENCE: 12827
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Ierrech
Ierrech 4/7 for the week!
Edit: thank you to user danlern2 for providing helpful, constructive feedback! Have gone over and corrected the out-of-character joke of "not noticing something because of shock".
Thanks!
BONUS CHAPTERS
Please see the synopsis for the bonus chapters promo!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone