SSS-Rank Chaos Mage Chapter 12: Gaming the System

“Damn. It’s so late.” Noah checked the time after waking up and it was already half past noon. He had spent so much time the previous night thinking about the system and the skills that he fell asleep very late. But before falling asleep, he did land on a solid plan of action.

“Now all I need is a…” Noah let out a deep sigh when the thing that he wanted popped up right in front of him.

[Ding. New Quest Available]

[Ding. Quest: Run 20 miles continuously]

[Ding. Reward: 100 experience points; 1 stat point]

“Thank God!” Noah was not sure that he would see this quest again, so this was good news. “Now what should I do?” He was already late, so he quickly got ready and went to class.

Right off the bat, he could see that the class was a bit empty today, as two or three students were missing. Noah casually walked inside as if he had nothing to do with it and sat quietly.

The bell rang, and the second half of the classes soon started. The morning half was physical fitness, and now the afternoon classes were theoretical. The teacher came in and started talking about mana at length while Noah tried his best to control his yawns.

Having zero affinity, he absolutely had no sense for this thing called mana, so listening to all the dry theory was simply boring. His understanding of this subject was also lacking, so everything simply went over his head.

“I should just apply for the engineering division. Hmmm.” Noah rapped his fingers on the desk, waiting for the end of the day to come.

He then directly hit the school grounds at peak time in order to avoid anything like what happened the previous day. The crowd was good. In the crowd, he was just another student, and by the time he was done, he was completely exhausted, and his quest was complete.

The day went by quite uneventfully, which was also what Noah wanted. The next couple of days as well he laid low and dutifully completed the one quest he was getting over and over again.

Soon he had the five stat points he needed to test out his new theory. After dealing with this system for the past few days, he had some idea of what he needed to do, and this was one of those things. Now he had the ammunition, and he just needed to press the right buttons.

Noah immediately rushed back to his dorm room, excited to observe his finding. Thankfully, his roommate was not there, and he had some privacy in case something unexpected happened. 

“Ok, all set. Now. Add five points to the intellect stat.” He opened the system interface and clicked in a hurry. “Come on. Give me something good.”

When he had added 5 points to agility, making it 10, he unlocked the agility skill tree. So with 10 points, the Intellect skill tree should also open up? Perhaps he could gain some powerful skills regarding mental abilities. Intellect had to mean that?

“Come on. Come on. Come on.” Noah waited as if he were waiting for a lottery ticket, and bingo! The notification he wanted did indeed arrive!

[Ding. You have now unlocked the Intellect Skill Tree]

[Ding. New Skill Available]

[Chaos Orb Creation]: Cost 2 skill points

Skill Description: Create an chaos orb; Cool Down: 30 seconds; Limit: 3

Noah blinked. He had expected something else, and this was something entirely different. “What the hell is a chaos orb?” This skill description was not doing him any favors. How is this even connected to intellect? Hmmm. He silently contemplated for a moment, but staring at it was obviously not enough to understand it.

“I should just try it out.” Noah was about to activate the skill, or at least try activating it when the room door sprung open without any warning. “What’s up, buddy.” A familiar voice sounded, startling Noah and almost making him jump up like a cat.

“Hey! Hey! Relax. It’s just me!” Ron gave him a weird look and then jumped onto his bed, starting the usual routine that he did religiously around this time. Meanwhile, Noah sighed in relief. He was so excited about the skill tree and the new skill that he almost created a scene.

This was not good. He needed some privacy. Some private space where he could try out these funky new things that the system was throwing at him. Noah then thought about the rooms where students can practice their magic skills.

It would be weird for someone like him to book one of these rooms, but this was his best bet within the campus. Worst case scenario, some more rumors about him might spread. He couldn’t care less about these childish things at the moment.

Chaos Orb. Just what was it? That was the only question in his mind.