The World seems Realistic but Why do I have a Leveling System?

After accepting the offer that he couldn\'t reject even if he wanted to, Ivan thought he would be force to go to a place where ritual took place, but unexpectedly, all he had to do is to memorize a few paragraphs. It doesn\'t matter whether he understand the words or not, what matters is he utter those paragraphs in a secluded room the man already prepared for him.

Before the man left Ivan on the said room, he warned the latter to immediately burn the papers after he uttered, or there would be consequence. Ivan didn\'t ask what the consequence was, just the look that the man gives him was more than enough for him to take his words seriously.

"When I followed the creepy priest, I never thought I\'d get a pretty darn good room for my own."

A sigh escaped from his mouth as Ivan thought back to the unbelievable event he had experience a moment ago. Furthermore...

"Will I really awaken some ability just by uttering the words on these papers?"

Within the grip of his hand, there\'s a few pieces of papers written in a strange language that would make him distress if not for another few pieces of papers laid neatly on the table. On that papers, it teach him how to pronounce each word, one by one, for the papers in his hand. However, there\'s nothing there that explain what it means so Ivan was still left in the dark.

"This feels more like studying...and here I thought I won\'t need to study anymore."

Though he was still skeptical of the whole situation, Ivan had no choice but to face it since there\'s no more retreat for him. He\'s literally deep in their base now along with a bomb in his hand. If he make one wrong move, it won\'t be just him that would suffer for the consequence.

"Well, I wouldn\'t know if it work or not without trying it."

Though the risk of things going wrong is high, he had to do it. If the power would cost him of his soul, Ivan hopes that it is a powerful ability or he would rage for the unfairness. It\'s his soul that\'s at stake! He wouldn\'t be able to reincarnation if his soul is consumed by demon, that is if wheel of reincarnation theory is real.

With that in mind, Ivan wholeheartedly focus on completing the task by putting the two stack of papers at each side of the other, making it easier for him to switch between them if he came across a problem. Because the words still appeared gibberish to him, it took a lot of time before he could proceed to the second paragraphs. It would be a lot of helped to him if he could understand what it means however.

After focusing on the task for three hours, Ivan decided to take a short break as he feels exhausted mentally. It couldn\'t be helped since he had never used his brain capacity this much before, not even on his studies. At least for studies, when he knew he couldn\'t get far, he would then focus on what he could process and memorize them all.

But thanks to his effort, he has finally completed the task after two short breaks in the middle.

At the center of the table laid three stack of papers which consists of a pronunciation teaching material, the gibberish paragraphs, and lastly, the completed pronunciation work.

"Now all I need to do is the same as I\'ve done with studies, memorize everything."

If not for the risk, Ivan would have uttered the words by now. But without understanding what each word means, there\'s a high chance of him making a mistake.

Who knows, he might accidentally pronounce a word wrong and it result in him turning into a frog. That kind of fantasy should only exist in fiction, not reality.

The only way to go around it is by pronouncing the word one by one, stopping in the middle as to not accidentally complete the whole paragraph, and then making sure it is correct by checking the pronunciation teaching material a few times before memorize it.

It would have been easier if Ivan has a smartphone or something to record it, but he was too poor to afford one.

"The man, Chris Hearthstone, told me that night is a good time since Mana in the air is more active than during the day."

Mana, a magical energy that only mage/magician in fiction stories could wield. He never thought something as magical as that could actually exists in reality. Ivan only came to know about it when he asked Chris about the fireball that the latter conjured before on the way to his room.

The reason Chris appeared to be so exhausted after one fireball also due to how thin the Mana in the air is, especially during the day, or so he said.

Ivan couldn\'t help but thought back to the story Chris once told him. Is it possible that it isn\'t just a mere nonsense? \'Healing diseases with just a wave of her hand,\' if that\'s real, her ability must have been a powerful one that\'s for sure. It isn\'t on the level ordinary people like him could ever reach.

But why is someone as great as her isn\'t known in the history of mankind? Heck, he would even believe it if there\'s a religion out there worshipping her as their god. It feels like he\'s onto something when he thought about it.

No matter how curious he is, it doesn\'t matter anymore since that woman would have been dead by now. Perhaps, her legend also disappeared along with her death like some other history figures. Such a shame. If she was still alive or passed down her healing ability, people wouldn\'t have to fear cancer and other untreatable diseases.

It\'s also possible that somewhere out there in the world, there exist her successor, but Ivan quickly shook his head at the ridiculous thought.

"Now then, let\'s see."

Ivan picked up the completed work off the table as he immediately put all his attention on the few pieces long paragraphs on the papers. He has already prepared all he could, now is the time to witness whether what Chris said to be true, or just a trick to mess with him.

Admittedly, if he really gain an ability from this, he wonder what would it be. Is it the famous one, telekinesis? Or is it the more low-key one, photographic memory? Ivan was filled with excitement at the thought of gaining one of these cheat level abilities.

[Zion. Le. Ryu. Hiel. Swies.]

The moment he finished the first paragraph, as if responding to it, something suddenly resonated deep in his core. However, maybe he was too focus on not making mistake, or the resonation is too weak, Ivan didn\'t notice and continue.

[Saa. Dwa. Fug. Grez. Des.]

This time Ivan finally took noticed of something happening to his body as he feels a sudden jolt of sensation that he never felt before. But since he can\'t stop midway, thinking that it might makes thing worse for him, Ivan choose to ignore it and continue.

[Freez. Yu. Als. Ertu. Mahn.]

Just as he completed the third paragraph, Ivan almost yelp out when he feels throbbing pains as if he was split apart by something. But he desperately hold it in, gritting his teeth with determination filled his eyes. After all, this is the final paragraph.

[Zaug. Dwroth. Quesa. Wart. ZESTRUYAL!]

"AAAAH!"

Ivan immediately screams like a banshee the moment he finished the last paragraph as he couldn\'t take it anymore upon experiencing an overwhelming pain all over his body. Before losing conscious, Ivan has a feeling that he had just lost something important yet couldn\'t point out where, or what was the cause. But he immediately forget about it the moment he could sense the thin Mana in the air as he slowly close his eyes with a smile on his face.

"It\'s a success!"

Ivan exclaimed the moment he awoke on the hospital\'s bed. Fortunately, no one was around or they would think he\'s crazy. Even if there\'s people in the room, he couldn\'t care less about them as his mind was more focus on the Mana inside his body. It was just like what Chris said, once one could sense unknown energy coursing throughout their blood vessels, it means succesful.

Ivan\'s body is now fully adapted to Mana.

It was from there his life starts to get better and better. After leaving the hospital with the creepy priest who came to picked him up, Ivan was told to train his ability since it was still unstable. After a few month passed, he finally fully control his ability and began accepting mission to improve his life. It didn\'t take him longer than a year before he bought a house for his mother.

A few years passed, Ivan was suddenly called and given an important mission that he couldn\'t reject. It was to \'find\' a few people to \'help\' the crazy scientist with his research. Ivan couldn\'t comprehend why they need someone as crazy as that scientist when they have their own method of \'awakening\' people. However, he didn\'t voice out his opinion, just as he has always been.

Ivan didn\'t know why, but he always felt uncomfortable whenever the crazy scientist was around. The reason being he could only sense chaos, craziness, and the lack of humanity in the latter eyes. Just by his presence alone makes Ivan felt suffocated.

It was during his mission that Ivan came across a spoiled rich teenage boy, and his name is Rodrick Jayson. It was the latter that suggested him, M Highschool, the same high school that Sheila goes. He begged to Ivan with a lot of bribery which the latter couldn\'t refuse.

Though the teenage boy warned him about Sheila and her strange power a couple of times, Ivan just took his words and throw it straight into the garbage. He didn\'t believe a high school student, a girl especially, could pose a threat to him and his group.

He also thought it would just be a swift kidnapping and no one would found about it until he and his group left. If he had believe in Rodrick\'s words and stay caution, he wouldn\'t have been easily caught into Sheila\'s trap. It was already too late when he regret not listening to the brat\'s warning.