I was sitting shirtless in the office of Soph—I mean, Dr. Sophia Hodges.

She was currently behind me with her hands rubbing all over my back and it felt good, not in a perverted way of course!

Every time her hands pressed on my back with a slight pressure, I could feel a cooling yet warm sensation radiating off it. That's what made it felt good, I promise!

Anyway, she could become a professional masseuse if she wishes with how she does it.

As her creator, would it be conceited for me to say that I'm a huge fan of her? Because I really am!

However, dousing myself in cold water was the fact that I didn't understand why she's working as a doctor and not a scientist. Then again, I am living in a time before the plot has happened.

She's currently in her early to mid 20s, so there's still a lot of time before she actually becomes the prodigy scientist that I know.

Disrupting me from my thoughts was Sophia as she stopped rubbing my back and sat in front of me.

She had a long and slightly messy black hair and amethyst-colored eyes. She wore the standard uniforms for doctors—a light blue short-sleeved scrub and pants with a white coat worn over the top.

She looked at me with a solemn expression, clearly she has bad news.

"Mr. Bennett," she sighed softly. "It seems that you don't have much chance, if any really, to become a Maven..."

Hmm, it's just as I expected. Honestly, it would've been more surprising if I could as I was neither reincarnated nor was I transmigrated.

After all, meridians are something that only exists in my novel.

If I had reincarnated, then I would've start off as a baby and have my memories of my previous life erased, while if I had transmigrated, then I would've taken over someone's body.

And I obviously didn't start off as a baby and the body that I'm inhabiting is 100% mine, well except for the eyes.

However, what she said next completely shocked me.

"And it is because you have very narrow meridians, so mana wouldn't be able to flow properly throughout your body," she said.

…I have meridians? Seriously, I have it?! Holy crap, I can't believe it!

That means I can use magic!

Yes, I did hear what she said next about my meridians being narrow, but the point was that I have meridians!

However, she wasn't yet finished as she continued on, "Although, surprisingly you are a Fragmentary Maven, just barely though."

And the good news keeps coming!

Specifically, there are two categories of Mavens: Fragmentary Mavens and Total Mavens.

Fragmentary Mavens are individuals who aren't yet complete with their awakening, while Total Mavens, or just generally known as simply Mavens, are those that are complete with theirs.

The most prominent differences between the two would be prowess.

Being a Fragmentary Maven, you are not able to manifest or release the mana in you, so it's just stuck in your body. However, with the mana circulating throughout your body, it makes your physical capabilities—like strength, endurance, agility and power—stronger than the average humans.

However being a Total Maven, or simply Maven, is an entirely different experience. As obviously they are fully awakened, so they can manifest their mana into their magic, which can be used to attack or to defend. They also have the same physical capabilities as the Fragmentary Mavens, if not even stronger.

Haha! So not only do I have meridians, regardless of how inadequate it is, but I also am a Fragmentary Maven?!

I'm truly at a lost for words. Though I came here to get examined for any potential of becoming a Maven, I didn't get my hopes up. After all, if you never get your hopes up, then you'll never be disappointed.

But why am I a Maven, though? I tried to think of several logical scenarios, but none of them were viable. Hmm, maybe it's just a 'side-effect' of being transported here in my novel?

Yeah, that's probably the case…

But who the crap cares, am I right?

It still doesn't change the fact that I can use magic!!!

I took one deep breath to calm myself down. Let's not get ahead of ourselves; yes, I am a Maven, but just barely as my meridians are narrow enough that my mana can't pass through.

But I am curious; how strong am I currently?

It's time to find out.

Slightly raising my hand, I asked, "So, how strong am I currently?"

"Hmm." She folded her arms and closed her eyes. "I guess it depends; your strength may be just above average or it may be as strong as a professional bodybuilder. After all, the power of your mana also affects strength."

That makes sense. After all, it is the mana itself that will strengthen the body greatly, regardless of whether you're a Fragmentary or a Total Maven.

"Alright." She clapped her hands together. "Let's test it. Follow me."

She stood up and left the office, in which I followed after wearing back my shirt.

We walked down the corridor and made a few turns. The more we walked, the more I noticed that the amount of people in the corridors were decreasing.

"We're here."

We stood in front of a silver-colored door with what it seems to be a smart lock on its right.

Sophia took out a card from her coat's pocket and placed it in front of the lock, making a 'beep' noise as the door slightly opened.

"Come on." She beckoned as she walked through the door, in which I followed as well.

On the other side of the door was a huge room filled with various combat equipment like swords, bows, and guns, and training/gym equipment like dumbbells, treadmills, and punching bags.

—Snap!

Sophia snapped her fingers and the whole room lit up with various holographic displays atop the various equipment and on the walls.

I whistled in admiration. Even on Earth, doing something like that was over the top.

"First time seeing something like this?" She looked at me.

"Not really." I shook my head.

"Really now?" She gave me curious look for a second before shaking her head.

"Ahem, anyway." She spread her arms wide open. "This will be your playground to measure how strong you are right now."

Playground, huh?

Swords, guns, punching bags, and targets; so, all I have to do is 'play' with these stuff and we'll be able to determine just how strong I am. Seems simple enough.

"Alright then." I went up to the punching back. The moment I stood in front of it, the holographic display went to my side and displayed what it seems to be the punching bag's attributes.

[Applied force: 0.00 N

Weight: 35.00kg

Durability: 98% ]

Hmm, although the titles are obviously different, it still has the template of an RPG game.

Taking a bit of a stance, I positioned myself in front of the punching bar where it felt comfortable and did a simple punch at its center.

—Bam!

The numbers on the 'applied force' went up from 0.00 to 198.00 N.

Was that good? I never did or experience anything that was even remotely similar to this, so I don't know if that number is a good thing or a bad thing.

Taking a peek at Sophia, it seems that she's a bit bothered or maybe confused with the numbers.

"Can you redo that?" She then took out a pair of eyeglass from underneath her coat and wore it. "But this time, punch it in full force."

Nodding at her, I positioned myself back at the punching bag, took a stance, and punched it again but this time, with all the strength I could muster.

—Bam!

[Applied force: 823.00 N

Weight: 30.00kg

Durability: 98% ]

Wow, that seems pretty big. I looked at Sophia and inquired, "So, how'd I do?"

"Again," she simply said.

So, I punched it again with all my strength.

—Bam!

[Applied force: 820.00 N

Weight: 30.00kg

Durability: 98% ]

"So?"

"Hmm." She folded her arms as she closed her eyes. "The average untrained Fragmentary Mavens has a force of at least 2000 N."

"So… not good?"

She looked at me for a second before smiling. "Don't say that. Don't forget that the mana that flows throughout your body aren't plenty because of your narrow meridians, so you'll not receive that much upgrade in your overall strength."

"I see." I simply nodded.

She probably thought that I was downcast from it, since she said, "However, for your build and age, you're surprisingly strong. Actually, maybe strong, in your case, is a bit of an understatement."

"Really now?" That was surprising for two reasons: one, because who knew that I would be that strong with my condition, and two, because I never would've thought that Sophia would be caring and thoughtful.

After all, in the novel, she was pretty much a 'cold beauty' who has no interest in anything but research.

"Ahem, anyway…" She coughed into her hand. "Do you want to continue?"

"Yeah." This time, I went to the guns.

An array of guns and their ammo were set before me. Handguns, assault rifles, rifles, shotguns, submachine guns; all types of guns were present. And the designs of it were more or less similar to the ones on Earth, but with a more futuristic touch to its exterior.

I grabbed a handgun and a hologram came.

[Title: Simulation Training Gun 01

Gun Type: Handgun

Grade: Unclassified

Ammo: 0/000 ]

There was a new stat that was added: Grade.

By the standards of Mavens, there are seven grades: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet; with red being the lowest and violet being the highest. Though, there was also the 'unclassified' grade, but that's pretty much the default of the grading system.

So, the guns here aren't real but more of a 'dummy' weapon for training, hence it's unclassified grade.

I looked back at the array of guns, more specifically the bullets, which were black and, after feeling it, were made of rubber.

I grabbed a few and loaded it into the gun.

I walked over to the targets and stood about 20 yards away from them.

Aiming at the center of the target, I pulled the trigger.

—Bang!

The handgun had barely recoiled with the strength of my grip.

Another hologram appeared by my side.

[Hit Point: 3.95 in. (down), 1.69 in. (right)]

"Huh." This time, I focused my sights on the center, giving me a better view of the target, as I aimed the gun a bit higher and to the left.

Then, I pulled the trigger.

—Bang!

[Hit Point: 0.92 cm (down), 0.17 cm (right)]

Seriously? It's more or less at the center.

Just say that it's perfect at the center; there's no need for that much accuracy.

Screw that, I'll take that as a win.

I also did the same with the other weapons I was more or less proficient in like the assault rifle and sniper, and all of them, after a few tries, hit the center.

Next was the swords.

As I was walking to it, my eyes passed by Sophia, who seemed surprise by what I did.

Well, I don't blame her. After all, for her, I'm just a regular kid that should have no experience in things like this.

Continuing on, I made my way to the sword rack.

Before you say anything, yes, I do, in fact, know how to use a sword.

I was strangely proficient at it back on Earth as I took lessons, but I got bored of it soon after.

In front of me were 15 various types of swords, which I don't really know the name of.

Oh, wait, there was, in fact, a sword I did recognize: the broadsword.

It's literally one of the first things you would think of when talking about the medieval era. Like peanut butter and jelly, I guess.

I grabbed the sword and held it with simply one hand, which weighed slightly heavy, and its edges were blunted.

And as usual, a hologram appeared at my side.

[Title: Simulation Training Sword 03

Sword Type: Broadsword

Grade: Unclassified

Durability: 100% ]

Doing a few air slashes, the sword's weight in my hand was definitely the kind of weight that I like; not too heavy, and definitely not light.

I went over the dummy targets, took a stance, and did a simple slash at it, which made another hologram appeared at my side.

[Strength: 65 N]

Hmm, that's not bad.

I swung the sword at the target a couple of times, but this time, using all the strength I could muster, making the numbers on the hologram either go up or down.

By the time I was done, I was panting heavily. Maybe I got a bit carried away.

[Strength: 89 N]

Looking at the hologram, I realized that the strength I exerted with the sword wasn't bad.

As I stood there, catching my breath, it dawned on me what I just did and it honestly felt embarrassing. It felt like I was LARPing or something.

That should be more than enough for her to evaluate me, right?

Disarming myself as I take a deep breath, I then looked at her. "So, any changes?"

"None." She walked up to me whilst holding a tablet. "Your prowess is more or less within the scope of what I expected—strong but not overly so."

Hmm, so that means that's all I could really do. Bummer.

It would be cool if I somehow got this hidden potential or magic in me that could help me, but who am I kidding?

I'm not Max; I'm no protagonist.

Sigh, I wish there was a way that could heal my condition, but despite the endless possibilities in this world, there still aren't any cure for my type of condition.

Although, there were 'remedies' from certain types of 'doctors,' but I don't really want to risk my life just because some guy said it could.

Wait a minute, that reminds me of something. Although fixing my meridians is out of the question, I could still change the nature of my mana.

After all, Sophia said that the mana in me still flows through my meridians, which means that I could regenerate mana normally, but only a small amount of it circulates throughout my body.

Why is it important?

Because—

"What if… the strength of my mana is strong enough to the point that even if a small portion of it went through, my magic will be just like every other Maven's magic? Would it work?"

Her eyes widened, then sported a serious expression as she stayed silent for a several seconds, most probably formulating my hypothesis in her mind, before saying, "Theoretically… yes, it is very much possible, but in order for it to work, your mana needs to be at least about 100x stronger than the average Maven just to have that same level of power…"

Haha! I just needed to hear a positive response from Sophia, anything else was pretty much irrelevant for what I'm about to do.

Just thinking about it makes me excited!

"Thanks, doc!" I hurriedly hugged her, which made her stiff but I couldn't possibly care for that right now, as I had went out in a rush.

*****

***

*

"Thanks, doc!" Arthur caught Sophia by surprise when he hugged her out of nowhere, which made her body stiffen in response.

Arthur went out of the room, however Sophia was still stuck in her stupor.

When she recovered, she thought back to what made him give such a response and quickly tied it back to her confirming his hypothesis.

"Oh no." Sophia realized that she may have given the boy high hopes and became worried that he may do something stupid.

So she quickly turned off the power in the room and chased after Arthur so that she can explain the cruel reality of the situation, but Arthur was long gone.

Panting heavily, she sighed and went back to her office. "I hope he doesn't do anything that he'll regret. Sigh, I shouldn't have said that; me and my habits." She facepalmed herself.

The habits she was referring to were the times she would daze off and formulate various hypothesis whenever she heard an interesting concept, regardless of who stated it.

In her office, she went to her desk and sat on it as she looked over the file sitting beside her. "Arthur Bennett, huh? Interesting."

'Has proficiency in firearms and possibly in swords too. Possibly awakened as a Fragmentary Maven the moment he was born. And possibly smart too for his age.'

"He might be just the kind of people we're looking for." Sophia then grabbed and wore an earpiece from underneath her desk. She commanded out of nowhere, "Contact the Director."

Then, the faint sounds of 'beeps' can be heard from the earpiece, and, soon enough, it stopped as a solemn voice came out, "Agent Sophia? State your news."

Her voice was filled with respect as she said, "Yes, director!"

Then, she looked back at Arthur's file. "You see, I think found an interesting seedling…"