[Are you sure?] the system asked.
"Yes, do it," Alex confirmed.
After his confirmation, he felt a kind of energy penetrate his body and disperse throughout every nook and cranny. This sensation lasted for a few seconds before fading.
[It's done], the system said once the sensation had faded.
"Status," Alex requested.
[Name: Alex Eswald
Age: 60
Level: 1
Strength: 10
Agility: 10
Stamina: 10
Defense: 10
Mana Points: 10
Harem: Lilia Eswald
Abilities: Soul Linkage
Soul Points: 0]
Alex examined his new stats carefully, and the first thing he noticed was his increased level. He was no longer level 0 but level 1, although it was understandable that he was considered level 1 due to his mana points.
In this world, what differentiates a lower level from a higher level is their amount of mana. Mana is the dividing line between different levels.
The level system is divided as follows:
The known levels and their requirements were as follows:
1~100 mana: Level 1
101~200 mana: Level 2
201~500 mana: Level 3
501~1000 mana: Level 4
1001~2000 mana: Level 5
2001~5000 mana: Level 6
5001~10,000 mana: Level 7
10,001~100,000 mana: Level 8
These represented the different levels known to the world, there were speculations that levels beyond Level 8 might exist, but nobody knew the requirements for those levels.
Considering these astronomical numbers, one might wonder how people could amass such a quantity of mana.
The answer was simple yet dangerous: by absorbing monster cores. This world was populated with various monsters, and these creatures possessed cores filled with mana. The amount of mana within these cores depended on the monster's level. To increase one's mana capacity, all that was required was to hunt monsters and absorb their cores.
Given this method, you might question why Alex remained weak throughout his life, especially since he was the son of a noble family who could easily provide him with monster cores. However, as previously mentioned, he lacked the necessary talent to progress to Level 2.
To advance from one level to another, absorbing monster cores was crucial, but having the talent to access the higher level was equally important. Without talent, no matter how many monster cores one collected, it wouldn't facilitate a level-up. However, that had been a problem in the past, but now, things were different - he was different.
After checking his status, Alex dismissed the floating screen and sat up. He looked to his left, where Scarlett was staring at him, and asked, "How long was I unconscious".
"Just an hour," she replied before continuing, "Now that you're awake, come on, we need to start the tests."
"Wow, how merciless of you. I've just woken up, and you're already putting me to work," Alex said with a slightly hurt voice.
"If you can joke, that means you're doing well. And since you're doing well, get up; we have a test to do," Scarlett said with an annoyed look. During the past hour, she had been quite worried about him, and now this old man was calling her merciless.
"Okay, okay, but the strength test can't be done anymore."
"Why not?"
Alex proceeded to explain how the situation had unfolded since he woke up. "...And that's why we can't test my strength. Since my strength level is the same as before, it would be pointless. We'd get the same result."
"Hmm, I see," Scarlett said thoughtfully before asking, "Which of your abilities increased compared to your previous abilities?"
"Only my mana level increased."
"I see," Scarlett said, still pondering.
Not wanting to disturb her, Alex remained silent. After a moment, Scarlett asked, "By the way, can you increase your level like other people?"
"Huh?" Hearing Scarlett's question, Alex was surprised. He hadn't thought about it at all. Maybe he couldn't level up like everyone else, but to be sure, he asked the system.
[You can absorb cores to increase your mana capacity.]
Hearing this, Alex breathed a sigh of relief. 'Luckily,' he thought before realizing something else.
'If I can increase my mana capacity by absorbing cores, does that mean I don't need to use my points to level up? So, I can just use my points to increase the rest of my abilities?'