Arthur was sprinting as fast as he could toward the town hall.

  The town hall was an old building, one that looked like it could collapse at any moment. But its beauty lay in the magic that reinforced it—turning decay into design, and fragility into a piece of art.

  It was here that the local, or preliminary, trial took place. Arthur had been told by Bertha that only 56 candidates were selected from each town. That made him even more nervous—not because he doubted his skills (which he did), but because he had a major setback: he couldn’t use magic.

  In a world full of magic, here he was, one of the unlucky few with no magical attributes at all. He had tried everything: practicing basic spellbooks Bertha had given him, asking others for help, even hanging upside down for a whole day—some ridiculous advice from a cultist. Nothing worked.

  But he did have one attribute: Primal Force. This was one of the rare yet utterly ordinary attributes. For most people, it made little difference, but Arthur’s case was different.

  For his size, he was unusually strong and fast—rivaling those two times his weight. He could lift boulders with ease and sprint at high speed. Where this strength came from, he never knew. It was this one trait that gave him hope of making it into the top 56 candidates.

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  But as far as history showed, no candidate with a single, non-magical attribute had ever made it. Naturally, almost all skilled contenders possessed multiple attributes—and magic was always one of them.

  Still, this didn’t completely destroy his hope, since he had a medium uncommon physical attribute under his belt.

  The world of Elixier worked differently. People had to level up to grow stronger, and as they did, their attributes evolved too. These attributes came in several tiers: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary, Heroic, and even Mythic—each representing a deeper, more potent source of power. The higher the tier, the rarer and more valuable the attribute, shaping a person’s true potential.

  For the people of the province of Valkelia, Epic attributes belonged only to the province master and the guild masters. Even attributes of the same tier varied widely—they were further split into levels: Low, Medium, and High. The difference between these tiers and levels was staggering. For example, a person with a High-level attribute could easily rival more than fifty individuals with Low-level attributes—but still not one with a higher-tier, Low-level attribute.

  Though his was only a medium uncommon physical attribute, in terms of raw power, Arthur would still lose to a low uncommon magical attribute. Such was the power of magic in the world of Elixier. But Bertha had always said his attribute was not just uncommon—perhaps much more. Yet as far as his status window was concerned, it clearly marked it as uncommon.

  Bearing all this in mind, Arthur finally reached the town hall.

  There was already a crowd waiting outside, and he knew he couldn’t wait much longer.

  With his battered sword and dagger, he stepped forward to join the crowd. The real test was about to begin.