Lord of Charm

The next week Gale was restless. He wanted to advance as soon as possible, and his plan to get Ronda's affinities was essential. After he was done with her, he planned to steal Lidia's connection and rank up to the fifth stage.

He understood that Lidia, as an advanced mage and an older person, had stronger mental power than Ronda. Furthermore, he didn't know much about Lidia's circumstances, so he didn't know how to rationalize his orders effectively. He knew his mental strength will soar after being strengthened with another element after robbing Ronda.

"Professor Alice, I've arrived for our weekly meeting."

"I've heard you and Ronda teamed up for the special mission. Are you sure this is a wise choice?"

"I'm sure. We even took an oath not to backstab each other with fourth-level scrolls."

"You must understand that you can easily create loops in such oaths when dealing with people inexperienced with oaths like you."

"I understand. I will be careful, thank you for your concern. However, if I partner with her, we will get the best results."

"All right, make sure not to die."

Alice shrugged and didn't pursue the matter anymore. Any school would value highly elite humans, and there's no need to mention ruler humans. If they were in the same cell, it'd just make it easier for their secret guardians to save them in case it was needed.

"Professor Alice, there's something I'd like to ask you about."

"What is it?"

"I want to improve my mental strength. How can I do it?"

"It's not the time yet. There are many methods, but they put a strain on your mind, which would negatively affect your progress in magic directly. Do it when you are older, that's what everyone does."

"I won't do it more than necessary. I just have a strong feeling it's very crucial for me to improve my mental strength right now."

Alice looked at him doubtfully. She knew that elite humans had strong instincts, and it was easy to deduce that ruler humans had even stronger ones. She couldn't tell if he was lying.

"All right, since you say so. But I strongly advise you to stop this training as soon as this feeling passes; you should focus on advancing to the next stage and keep your higher ruler human status."

"I'm aware."

"Let's begin then. Although there is no natural way to measure mental strength as we do with connection stages, humans have made a scale themselves. I'm going to apply mental pressure on your mind, starting with the pressure an average new true mage can tolerate."

Gale nodded and waited for her to start.

"I will raise the pressure gradually by the same amount, each unit is called MSU – Mental Strength Unit. When you lose control over your body and kneel or freeze, I will stop, and the pressure I applied earlier will be considered your score."

She started radiating pressure on Gale and he felt an annoying feeling in his mind. However, it was still easy for him to endure.

Every 5 seconds the pressure increased, and slightly under a minute he fell to his knee with one leg.

"12 MSU. That's pretty good, the average in your age group in the academy should be around 3-5 MSU, depending on the students' ages."

"What about advanced mages?"

"Well, other than having a stronger mind because of their connection and strengthening, they are also stronger and went through many more hardships than you. The average of advanced mages from the age group above you should be around 15."

"I see. So how do I improve my mental strength?"

She took out a device that was lying on the floor in the training room and gave it to him. She hesitated for a moment, then took out of her magic bag a few fourth-grade potions.

"This device can apply mental pressure around it, up to 100 MSU. To strengthen your mind efficiently, you need to use pressure 1-1.2 times above yours. Take those potions; they will help your mind heal faster and endure stronger pressure, which would accelerate your improvement speed."

She decided to give him the potions because she wanted him to be done with this kind of training soon and go back to improving his connection. She also decided to let him use her training room for the high mana density.

"Just use this room until you're done, you know the way out. Since you don't need me, I'm leaving."

She showed him how to use the device and left the room. For the next week, Gale just sat in Alice's training room and strengthened his mind. He only went out to spend some time with Valentina and returned to his training right after.

Soon, the week passed, and he went to the assembly spot before being sent out for the mission.

'My mind should be around 17 MSU now. I should be able to charm easily mages with under 34 MSU if they're neutral toward me, but the more hostile and untrusting they are, the lower the limit.'

Gale was satisfied with the results of his training. The intense training combined with unlimited potions showed great effects.

He arrived at the spot sent to him through his Alessa watch and after 30 minutes everyone else arrived. Ronda stood next to him, and Gale saw that Raymond had to pair up with someone he didn't know.

The magus who met them spoke first and everyone listened.

"There is an unranked force in our empire that's betraying us and recruiting more mages to their cause. They wish to ruin the current order of the empire, and the army decided to kill them to prevent instability in the empire. This is Normie, he will be the captain for this mission. Normie, you can brief them."

The guard came forward and spoke.

"Sir, it's Norman. Everyone, I'm Norman and I will be your captain for this mission. You must follow orders strictly, or you will be punished. The organization is calling itself 'Freedom', and they are nothing but anarchists that endanger the citizens of our empire."