A mage in the making: Unlocking my mage system-Chapter 46: The Harlem guide 2

Chuck stood in confusion, unsure of how to react to what the android voice just said to him. He didn’t understand anything about the concept of the immortal race, nor did he have a full context of how the Harelm energy worked. The only thing he knew was the fact that it was a source of strength and power. Listening to the weird voice in his head made him question his very existence, convincing him that there was more to the story than he was aware of.

"Wh... what do you mean by that?" Chuck asked, his voice sounded completely broken.

[ Your knowledge about the incoming events are inconsequential for the time being. When it’s time for the truth to be revealed to you, it will. But for now, you need to get stronger ]

"What the fuck! You want me to get stronger, but you can’t tell me why? What the hell is this?" Chuck said.

[ Based on my psych evaluation about you, exposing the full context of the incoming war will only cause more distractions than not. And believe me when I tell you this, you wouldn’t want anything to slow you down, for the energy you possess will be the very thing that keeps your little world from danger ]

"Incoming war!!!" Chuck yelled at the top of his lungs, "incoming war? A war between who?"

[.....]

There was silence, making it obvious that the voice didn’t wish to answer the question asked by Chuck. It only left Chuck in a confused state, not knowing which step to take anymore.

"Alright, alright. You said that you’re my Harelm guide, and I need to grow stronger. How do I go about with that?"

[.....]

[ Firstly, I need you to check your rewards. You completed two quests. Accept the rewards and increase your level ]

As soon as the robotic voice in Chuck’s head ceased to speak, the system interface appeared before Chuck.

[ Quest completed: defeat the evolved beast ]

[ Reward: instant level up ]

[ Level up will now commence ]

Chuck immediately felt his nerves spike, followed by a shooting pain in his chest. His knees buckled as the pain flowed outwards. He could feel an intense throbbing pain in his being, it felt like waves of larva were coursing through his veins, melting every tissue it came across.

"arrrrrgggghhh"

Chuck groaned in pain, his skin began to emit a golden glow, almost like a golden beam of light was forcefully trying to escape from his being. The pain lasted for a long time, with Chuck feeling like the experience was never going to end. He gnashed his teeth in agony, ran his fingers against the hard cave grounds, scraping his finger tips in the process. Amidst his excruciating pain, he could hear an annoying voice that only seemed to make his suffering even more intense.

[ Most immortals your age are pretty good when it comes to handling the pain of an evolution. I guess humans are weak ]

Red glowing lines of veins traced down on Chuck’s body, the temperature around his surroundings increased as the golden glow got even more intense. Slowly, after what seemed like forever, the pain died down. The glow around his being dimmed, returning his surroundings to the earlier blue hue. The colorations on his skin returned back to normal, and the intense feeling of burns vanished.

Chuck gasped for air, his whole body drenched in sweat. He laid on the ground weakly, as a new wave of exhaustion weighed over his being.

[ It seems like it’s over. We’ll test how stronger you can get... right after you check out your progress on competing the daily task ]

[ Daily quest completed: slay a living creature ]

[ Exp: 70/400>>> 220/400 ]

[ Good. You only need 180 exp to max out. Since I am in control of your system, I will try to integrate more tasks to help you level up quickly ]

"Will you just shut the fuck up!!!" Chuck shouted, his voice echoed loudly across the cave system.

Everything was happening suddenly. He had just recovered from a long and excruciating moment of intense pain and agony, and the system was already bombarding him with various notification, along with the constant ever growing torture of having to listen to the robotic voice in his head. It all overwhelmed Chuck.

"Just... shut... the fuck... up," he said with heavy sighs between his breaths.

[ I am sorry if I’m being... a pain in the ass, as humans would call it. I’m just trying to quicken up your progress for the coming war ]

"And this is where the fucking problem lies," Chuck said , "you keep talking about a fucking war, and how Earth is doomed, but you don’t give me anymore details!"

"You don’t tell me why, or how, or when this supposed war is supposed to happen, so how the fuck do expect me to prepare for something that I have no insight of?"

[...]

Chuck stood up, the first thing he noticed was how lighter his body felt. Another notable thing that Chuck experienced was the fact that he could feel the energy flow within him. He felt the essence of his Harelm energy circulating around his body, succumbing to his every thought and motion, almost like he had a constant subconscious control over the energy.

[ It seems like the effects of your level up is a milestone. Check your stats, now ]

The system screen appeared before Chuck, even before he willed its presence. It was almost like the Harelm guide had complete control over the system even more than Chuck.

[ Name>> Chuck Nectar ]

[ Race>> human ]

[ Class>> mage ]

[ Stage>> neophyte ]

[ HP>>25/25 ]

[ level>> LV 3 ]

[ Exp>> 220/400 ]

[ Skill>> ]

[ Infernal shroud: LV 3 ]

[ Infernal craft: LV 3 ]

[ Forced absorption technique LV 3 ]

[ Harelm energy pool>>> 200/200 ]

[ Mana pool>>200/200 ]

"Wow..." Chuck said in awe.

He looked at his stats, and the changes were clear. Every stat he had in his profile was leveled up, and the energy coursing through his body was a manifestation to that.

[ Yes, wow. But you have to grow stronger than this. Why don’t we find out how stronger you’ll get when you absorb the whole crystals in this cave? ]

"Definitely," Chuck said.

He reached out to a crystal, repeating the same process. The only difference was the speed of absorption. Chuck could feel the energy seeping into his being at a faster rate, riding the crystal of its magical essence.

[ You can feel it, can’t you? You can feel your Harelm energy growing ]

"Yes, I... I actually can," Chuck said. He closed his eyes as he concentrated, trying to activate his god eyes. He could feel his vision changing, as the spectral image of the surrounding energies came into view. Before Chuck could focus his vision on the flowing energy within him, he quickly noticed the silhouette of a certain energy standing far in the distance.

Chuck quickly opened his eyes.

Standing at the entrance was Kaiden staring at Chuck with a shocked expression.

"What the hell are you doing?"