Reader Mage-Stubbing August 10! Chapter 10: 10-You Made Me Miss Out On My Own Level Up, Merlin Tyrrell!

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Merlin was ecstatic, despite his right arm aching like it had been stormed by the piercing of countless needles at the same time. In fact, he couldn’t move it at this moment. And, yet, it was impossible to stop himself from grinning. “Geez, you’ve finally lost it, haven’t you?” said Nora as she approached the living room, a stainless bowl filled with water and ice blocks in her hand. She sat down beside Merlin where he was on the couch, and placed the bowl down on the table. “Here, put your arm inside. Should help cool it down.” Then she paused; a second later veins popped out the side of her head as she shot a glare at Merlin. “Will you stop grinning already?” “I can’t help it,” replied Merlin, cheery. “I really have a System.” “Yeah, I was there. And this is like the hundredth time you’ve said it,” Nora grumbled. “You’ll make my ears bleed at this rate.” She grabbed his hand. “Now put it inside.” Merlin yelped when she did that, even though a cold feeling crawled into the nerves of his arm a second later, cooling them. The pain he was feeling was not exactly mind numbing, but it was still there, regardless, and that took away his grin. “Just look at how much you’re hurting, and all you’re concerned about is the fact that you have a System? What use is it if you get injured after every spell you deconstruct?” That was the thing, this wasn’t supposed to be happening. It had not been like this for Kieran in Singularity Mage. Merlin had a couple of ideas why, though. For one, he had deconstructed the spell of an A-Class Mage, whose mana was at least ten times his own. It didn’t matter if the spell was a crude, novice one, it was still the spell of an A-Class Mage. Kieran had not performed such a feat in Singularity Mage, until at least fifty chapters in. However, that was solely because the protagonist had not met a Mage of such caliber so early into the story. Because when he’d done it, he had not been in the same pain Merlin was feeling now. And Merlin could understand why. Kieran had a good physique, honed from his years of toiling his family’s farm and aptly fending off the predators that stalked their home in the mountains. His body could withstand more than whatever Merlin could. Which brought Merlin back to the System’s Quests for him. He realized the importance of them now. He had thought just leveling up his Intelligence was all he needed, but that was probably foolish. What good was his ability to deconstruct spells if his body couldn’t withstand it? And that brought Merlin to his current dilemma… Which Attribute do I assign my free points to? Do I go with Strength, or Resilience, or do I just continue with Intelligence like I have, despite the risks? Now that his mind had wandered in that direction, it began eating into him. His reason for wanting to level up his Intelligence was undeniably clear—it was tied to his ability to deconstruct spells. As for his Resilience, it was so that he could withstand the troubles that would come with him doing just that—at least for spells way above his level. And, as for his Strength, he had a nagging feeling that it was most likely connected to his Resilience. It was more than obvious that building one's muscles was equivalent to raising their stamina and endurance for certain tasks. Sure, it was not a hard rule, but it would be difficult to come across a thin, wiry person being able to withstand what a rather beefy person could. And those thoughts made Merlin wonder—what if putting his Attribute Points in Resilience showed no effect until he’d leveled up his Strength? That would be a waste. He had to be meticulous with what he was doing here. And the fact that he had no knowledge about Quests was making this a lot harder. If only the System was not modified. Merlin glanced at Nora. She pressed his arm down into the bowl of ice water, peering into it like a hyena checking if a carcass was truly dead. There was no point in trying to think of what to do alone. Two heads were better t