Lord of Charm

"One's mental strength must be above 150 MSU, but most people try to get as close as they can to 300 MSU before advancing."

Gale understood why the enhancement of mental strength by the strengthening process was so important. Only this way he had a chance of advancing to the Magus Phase soon enough to keep holding his higher ruler beast status.

It showed the complicated way nature worked to make the ruler beasts stay such; every time the beast advanced, it would get the required boost to help it reach the next stage soon enough.

"So the average magus' mental strength is around 600?"

Gale asked Alice after he heard her explanation and got a nod from her.

"There is a very important trade-off to do. Nobody ever advanced to the Magus Phase after passing more than 40% of his life expectancy, which is the main reason many people don't break through. To achieve 150 MSU before turning 200, one needs to torment his mind for hours, especially if they only have two elements."

"Wait, you can advance with only 2 elements? My teacher in the kingdom told me only people with 4 elements can be a magus."

Gale remembered Shana's words that the rumors say one must have affinities with 4 elements to get into the Magus Phase, but she did mention that it was only a rumor.

"That's false. But most magi have at least three elements since it gave them a head start. After being strengthened with three elements, their mental strength has a better starting point than someone who was strengthened only twice."

Gale thought of Lena who had 5 different elements and probably enjoyed a huge boost in her strengthening every time she advanced. He even felt a hint of desire to quickly get more elements and boost himself further.

"I guess magi can easily pressure me as I am since they have nearly 9 times more mental power than me on average. I have another question; how can I start exuding my aura and mental pressure the way you do it on me?"

"You probably can't, it's a perk of Expert Mages. However, you might be an exception like the way you could mix elements as a True Mage. Anyway, let's go back to training. We have two weeks to train your physical skills."

For the next two weeks, Gale and Alice sparred in hand-to-hand combat every day. Although Alice was generally nice to him, she didn't go easy on him during his training, and he would have to consume fourth-rank potions to heal his bruises every day.

However, thanks to his bestial instincts, he didn't need much time to adjust to fighting and soon his fighting style resembled a self-made martial art. Following Alice's advice, he could cut off many unnecessary movements and fight more efficiently every day.

"Professor, do you use weapons when you fight?"

"Not really, our empire isn't well-versed in weapon fighting styles and we rely on our magic to fight. The other two empires are much better at utilizing weapons, specifically, the Chijakor Empire is more proficient with swords and spears, while the Incan Empire is better with knives and long-range weapons such as bows. Our empire has a more refined control over mana and uses magic better."

At the end of the two weeks, the three months session came to an end, and it was time for him to mingle with the other students again.

"You may go now, by next week your name will be moved to the other age group as I told you."

He went home and opened the menu to order some of his favorite sixth-rank dishes, but to his dismay, he found out that his menu was locked again and required him to break some records.

"To open access to sixth-rank dishes, you need to break 6 records. Currently, you have only two points."

The points were from having the record of the youngest Advanced Mage and the youngest to enter the top 3, but he still had to break a few more. He snorted at Alessa and started finding records he could break.

'Fine, I can get the first rank before Alice moves me to the other age group and get another point.'

"Challenge rank 1."

"Confirmed."

His answer came soon; the duel was scheduled for 2 days later. He kept searching for more records to break, and this time didn't limit his search only to 'the youngest' type of records.

'Okay, I found some good ones. The strongest physical hit in my age group, the fastest to finish a running track of 1 kilometer, the most flexible, and the most endurant. There is one record for each of the four physical attributes boosted by mana.'

He chose to go and try to break the records for speed and power since he was boosted by both wind and fire. Flexibility was off the table since he wasn't strengthened by water, and he didn't really feel like getting beaten to his limit for a record, so he dropped the endurance test as well.

After compromising on a meal consisting of fourth-rank dishes, he went to find the place to break the records.

He found out it was in the same Pentagon Building as the arena in a few separate rooms on the top floor. Since the tests didn't involve magic, they placed it on the weakest floor, as the building wasn't in danger.

He found the room for the physical strength test according to Alessa's instructions and found a short line of people interested in testing their physical strength. The room didn't only serve those who believed they could break the current record, but anyone who wanted to assess his own strength.

"Next, Gale Stormborn."

Using his special rights as a member of the top 10, he skipped the line and entered the room. The room had 3 separate devices so three students could take the test simultaneously while the other students watched them from behind.

'The power of an average True Mage in my age group is 6.9 PSU, which shows the quality of the students here.'

1 PSU (A/N: PSU – Physical Strength Unit) was equal to the physical strength of an average True Mage. It showed the excellence of the students since the average student was nearly 7 times better than the average mages in the empire.

'The record for my group age was 52 PSU, probably set by a lower elite human who was strengthened by fire and earth and became an Advanced Mage before 36. I guess it's time for me to shine.'

He stood in front of the device which was a cushioned pole with its base on the ground and prepared to kick it. He performed a spinning kick with his right leg and blew the device, making it slam hard against the floor before coming back up.

*BOOM!*

The students' eyes were already fixated on him; not often they'd get to see a performance from a student from the top three. Everyone looked excitedly for the result of his kick.

"OOH! It's 109, over two times the previous record!"

Someone shouted with astonishment as soon as the device showed the result. Everyone looked at Gale with awe as he turned around and left the room. Since there weren't any intermediate elite humans in the academy, it meant that the student who set the previous record was far weaker than him after advancing to the fifth stage.

"Wait, guys, doesn't it mean he is at least an Advanced Mage now? But I heard he was so young that he was supposed to be only in the next age group!"

"Yes, I checked the Hall of Glory when he entered the top 3, he is only 20 years old!"

"KIYAAA, I can't believe it!"

"Lord Gale! Please look here!"

"Lord Gale, are you going to claim the first rank soon?"

"I saw it in the arena's announcements today, his fight for the first rank will happen in two days!"

"Lord Gale, I'm single!"

'I'm already 21 though, I even ordered a sixth-rank birthday cake while I was training under Alice.'

Gale thought to himself as he walked out toward the speed test with all the students from the physical strength test following him from behind. The line for that test turned completely empty now, and if someone chose to return, they could use the devices without any waiting.

However, nobody returned. Having a chance to witness the speed test's record broken didn't come by often.

"Hey, what's going on?"

"Lord Gale just broke the record of the physical strength test, and now he is going to break the one for speed. Let us pass!"

The students who were standing in line for the speed test were all startled to see all the other students crowding around the speed test, and some of the newcomers explained the situation.

With everyone hyped behind him, Gale stood on the running track and waited for the countdown to reach zero before running.

'42.3 seconds record for the 1-kilometer track, I guess I should sprint.'

To pass a kilometer in 42.3 seconds, the record holder ran at a speed of 85 kilometers per hour (A/N: nearly 53 mph for Americans <3).

As soon as the countdown reached zero, Gale kicked the ground and started sprinting to the goal with everyone cheering for him to break the record. He was even more confident about his speed than about his power since his Wind affinity was much higher than his Earth affinity.

He finished the track within 24 seconds, meaning his speed was 150 kph (A/N: 93.2 mph), thus breaking one more record.

'Two more to go.'

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