The Greatest Craftsman

One little gift zipping across the wild blue yonder.

Saw fat Sven sitting in the class.

Then away from its path it strays, why? you wonder.

To hit fat Sven's face with a clash.

[System name: UPGRADE]

[Functionality: increase and promotes the quality of any material user can hold in his hand. Cost of the promotion depending on the quality of the material]

[To upgrade, kindly select upgrade via mental or spoken. As an example for the user's introduction, the status of an item will now be included in the tutorial. Please note that the user is entitled to observe the information of every object before and after upgrade]

"What the fuck?!"

Sven wish he could swallow those statement as soon as it comes out of his mouth. It wasn't really his fault; anyone is bound to have such a peculiar reaction if a textbox suddenly pops up in front of their face. But alas! What terrified him to the very fabric of his shorts is that, he just uttered the forbidden F-word aloud, in his class and right when the baddest and strictest teacher in whole school, was teaching.

His classmates were all gaping at him with expressions that ask some unspoken questions ranging from: "Are you stupid?" To "What the fuck did you just do?" To "You're so dead, you know that right?" But none of them comes a mile close to the piercing, stifling gaze directed at him by the teacher.

"Mr Benson." Her voice commands all attention, one that Sven cowardly concedes. "A word after class," she adds before turning back to board. Thankfully, she also takes away the smothering pressure and ogling eyes of his classmates away from him. Still, Sven wants nothing more than to sink into his chair. Miss Evelyn Griffith is the one person no student or even other teachers for that matter, wants to mess with. And now, his typical Benson's luck had just landed him in high quality shit with the she-dragon. As if that wasn't enough, the text frame somehow warps itself to detail the pencil he is holding, boggling him even further.

Pencil

A very common writing utensil.

Quality: Mundane

Attack: 3dmg

Durability: 2/2

Mana point needed to upgrade: 2

​

Sven has seen and experienced a lot of weird things; his life is one good example. But none is as overwhelming as this mysterious textbox. The two reasons why he isn't freaking out more than usual is because his classmates already think of him as a loon, thanks to his earlier outburst. So, freaking out will only cement their opinion. The other thing is that he can't afford to piss off Miss Griffith again.

Perhaps this is all an elaborate prank set up by his classmates. He then hazard a glance around the room. Most of his colleagues were listening to Mrs Evelyn or at least, pretending to; he could see a few drooling on their notebooks. No one pays him any sort of attention, which lends some credence that only he, can see the magical text. Plus, none of his classmates has the balls to play tricks in the class of fucking Mrs Griffith. She's that scary.

Maybe he's just going crazy then...

In the end, Sven decides to trust his instinct and just go along with it. The text stated he needs to add mana to upgrade his pencil. Mana as in magic. As a lover of anything remotely RPG and DnD like, magic is not much of a foreign concept to Sven but the fact that it actually exist in real life...

...It is quite an epiphany for Sven.

As learned, Magic is supposed to be some kind of inner, mystical energy used to achieve the impossible. Which means all he needs to do, is to reach within himself and guide the flow. Seems easy enough. Thank goodness he chose to sit at the back today, he should be free from unwanted gazes while he meditate. Closing his eyes, he takes a sharp inhale and drifts...

...he searches...

...deep within himself...

...found it...

...then unleash...

Sven snaps back to consciousness as a pint of his mana slither like spiderweb into the pencil.

Upgrade successful

Pencil (lv1)

A very common writing utensil

Quality: Mundane

Attack: 3(+3)

Durability: 3/3

Mp To Upgrade: 4

Holy Mary's tits! It worked.

His mind has officially been blown. He's not crazy. Magic exists! In his hand is a proof of that, a piece of wood and lead, capable of 6+ damage and it is only at level one. What if he gets it to level two or three or... endless possibilities.

Grasping the pencil tightly, he channels his mana again.

Upgrade successful lv2

Attack: 6(+4)

Durability: 4/4

Mp to upgrade: 5

He didn't stop there.

Upgrade successful»lv3

Mp to upgrade: 5

Upgrade successful»lv4

Mp to upgrade: 6

Upgrade successful»lv5

Mp to upgrade: 7

Upgrade successful»lv6

Mp to upgrade: 8

Upgrade successful»lv7

Mp to upgrade: 9

Only at Level seven and Sven is already drenched in cold sweat while panting like an asthmatic running a marathon. The fatigue makes it clear that he had almost exhausted his mana pool. Shit! He had totally forgotten about the whole limited supply thing. Even video game characters don't have endless MP and he is just a novice human dabbling in the unknown. It would be really nice to have a meter label to keep track of his limits.

Sven Benson

Student (lv1)

Health: 100%

Strength: 10

Agility: 10

Attack: 5(+36)

Defense: 30(+5)

Mana (lackluster)

MP: 9/30

Sven is not even going to start questioning how it suddenly appear from nowhere. All his abilities are compounded in RPG style and to his dismay, they are mostly average. His measly attack is only that high, thanks to the pencil and his natural defense is just boosted by his uniform.

His level and Mana suck big time. The two must work hand in hand, which means higher level equals higher mana. He would have to work on that later. But first, his pencil:

Pencil(+7)

A very common writing utensil

Quality: Mundane

Attack: 36 damage

Durability: 9/9

Mp needed to upgrade: 9

The levelled up pencil feels sturdier and the tip looks dangerously sharper. Eager to find out what it could do, Sven stab it on his desk... and watch with terrified euphoria, as the pencil sinks through the wood like hot knife through butter. He then unstab the desk, doing so with relative ease. He holds the item gingerly lest it stab into his finger.

The truth... He is scared shitless....

But then comes realization... The power is his.

His awestruck visage breaks into a shit-eating grin. He couldn't resist the urge to shout:

"I am the greatest, baby!"

"MR BENSON!"