The advancement room of the main castle was a small square. Scripts were etched on the stone walls, and a raised podium took the center stage, propped up right at the very center.

  Whether you were an Initiate or an Adept, the academy made it clear that every mage in the academy needed to advance their Core here in the confines of Scripted stones. This was mostly for recording purposes, as the speed of a mage's growth directly added to or deducted from his rank in the next awarding ceremony.

  Quill stared at the Cores he received from Lehm, along with the Cores he harvested from the Dungeon. These were more than enough for him to advance to Bronze, with a little bit leftover to kickstart his next ascension to Silver.

  “I swore you were already Bronze.” Rhena slammed Quill's back, almost sending him tumbling to the stones below. “Your spells surely didn't feel and look like Iron spells.”

  “That's because of my White Aspect.” Quill explained that he could modify his White Scripts in a way that could optimize his limited Iron Core.

  “Well, good luck to you then,” Rhena said. “Advancing to Bronze in as little as over a month is unheard of, but you’ll be fine.”

  Quill was, in fact, not going to be fine. At least for a while. He had already done the ritual a couple of times before, and every stage of advancement was like swimming in a pool of lava. The process itself wasn't very kind to his nerves, but the prospect of power loomed behind that pain.

  Quill gripped the Cores one last time in his hands, along with the Crystal Water Elixir that he was rewarded by Athen. He turned one last time, to Rhena, then to Rognor and Narrah behind, giving them a nod before stepping up to the podium.

  He sat himself right at the very center, the cold slab of stone pressing against his bottom. A Script circle wrapped the edges of the stone slab, and the moment Quill weaved mana inside his body, the Scripts shone in different colors of light. They were there to prevent any outside forces from tampering with the mage’s advancement.

  Quill stared at the elixir first. He opened the stopper and chugged the contents whole, the cool mixture inside washing his throat before bursting to life in his stomach. It was as if he swallowed cold honey, and right at that moment, a surge of energy flowed through him, renewing his senses.

  The Register shouldn't be opened for now, as it might interfere with the Scripts on the stone slab. Either way, the Crystal Water Elixir was supposed to grant him a Trait that helped with general fatigue and exhaustion, but he had to see later.

  He did feel renewed and springing with life, at least.

  The next was the real thing: the Cores. There were around a dozen of them in the box in his hands, shimmering with color and power at every angle. The process was the same for every absorption of Core: touch the Cores and absorb them into your own.

  Quill swallowed before eating away at the Cores one by one, absorbing their essence into his body. Warm energy flowed from his fingers to his chest, and for each Core he absorbed, there was a tingle in the back of his mind that grew more and more apparent with each.

  Once all of the Cores were absorbed into his body, their energy now pooled at the center of his chest. He then willed three-quarters of the energy to the Magic Attribute, with the rest spread evenly among the other Attributes. The moment the energy settled to their respective Attributes, the tingle in the back of Quill's head then sharpened into pain.

  It was an uncomfortable feeling. The pain spread from his head to his chest, before encompassing all of his body with a constant prickling that couldn't be ignored. Some mages say the pain was similar to a thousand hot needles poking at your skin, while others say it was akin to swimming in molten lava.

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  They were exaggerating, of course. The pain wasn't nearly enough to kill, but it was still strong enough that it might render a mage unconscious from shock. It was pain directed at the Soul: at the mage's existence itself. It was general knowledge not to ignore your Soul Attribute so that it can adapt better to each advancement.

  The pain continued to surge through Quill's body. He grit his teeth, pushing past the pain and directing his attention to the thought of a Bronze Core. That eased him a bit, even when his skin felt like melting off his muscles. And when the pain finally stopped, he opened his eyes.

  The first thing that caught his attention was the smell. All around him, black mud oozed from his pores. These were the impurities of the body, and for every stage of advancement, these were expelled in order to attain a stronger physical body.

  In a way, they were like physical manifestations of diseases. The impurities themselves could’ve been an infection, or even cancer. By expelling them from the body, you're given a stronger physical foundation along with an improved lifespan, making you resistant to general diseases.

  The next thing Quill noticed was Bronze Sense. He could perceive the faint mana of the air, almost as if seeing strands of water flowing that he couldn't see before. He could faintly sense it, but it was different from actually seeing it firsthand. He could also sense Rhena, Rognor, and Narrah staring at him from behind, almost as if he had a second set of eyes at the back of his head that could sense their mana.

  They were covering their noses. He really must've smelled bad if even Rognor was backing off.

  Every Tier of advancement came with a unique set of improvements, and it was Bronze Sense at this stage. It allowed for increased mana awareness, which only improved on existing foundations of combat mages.

  “How do you feel?” Rognor was the first to step up to him, though the frown on his face and the hand on his nose told him everything.

  “I feel good.” Quill stood up, clenching his hands as if to feel his newfound power before water splashed over him. Rhena had taken a bucket with her for exactly this moment, scooping up the water from around the podium before washing away the impurities from Quill's body.

  “That's much better.” Rhena mimed a choking noise. “Now that I get a good look, you look like an actual mage now.”

  “He looks a bit more… good, don't you think?” Narrah said. “My advancement wasn't as drastic a difference, but his face changed somewhat.”

  Quill knew exactly what she was getting at. He started towards the edge of the podium where the water canals were. He stared at himself over the reflection, seeing an improved version of himself. His body was leaner and more refined, less scrawny with more muscles on him. Even his face seemed better, the lines around his eyes and nose disappearing and replaced with clear skin.

  This was the effect of improving the Soul Attribute before each advancement. Quill had distributed his Attributes evenly with a specialization in Magic Attribute for exactly this. It was smart to specialize in one Attribute, but he couldn't discount the others entirely.

  Ascending in Tiers was a general and fundamental requirement for a mage's path. Along with the acquisition of Bronze sense, it also granted improved health and body function depending on the Soul Attribute.

  Of course, this almost meant a Bronze Core.

  Quill moved down the podium before he opened his Register, pushing mana into the ring as texts sprawled in the air.

  : Quill Woodmason

  : White, Black [locked]

  : Bronze (20% to next level)

  : Bronze I (0% to next level)

  : Bronze I (0% to next level)

  : Bronze I (0% to next level)

  : Bronze III (75% to next level)

  : Bronze I (0% to next level)

  : Dexterous Fingers III, High-Elf Affinity I, Fast Eyes II, Fast Mind II, Grand Mind III, Grit Mind I, Zen Mind I, Crystal Veins I (new), Bronze Sense I (new)

  Quill sat again, inspecting the improvements to his Core. There was nothing like the euphoria gained after an advancement, the smile on his face more apparent than the beating of his heart.

  With a Bronze Core, he could now sustain more Complex Spells to his arsenal without burning out his Core. Along with that, he could further improve on his existing spells with much more complex Scripting that he was limited to before. He could only think of the things he would study back in the comfort of his own room.

  Quill couldn't have been any happier with how his ascension to Bronze turned out. It had only been a little over a month since he restarted from scratch, and he achieved Bronze a few years faster than his past self. Of course, the academy’s resources had helped him tremendously, but it was still a feat in and of itself.

  Thanks for reading!