"How'd you absorb it so fast?" Emper asked.

  "I just do" Mike said "How long do you guys take?"

  "A couple hours and you have to use a specific technique" Rain said "If you can absorb a mana stone that fast, your ability must be really something even if it's not doing anything right now"

  "Mana stone so that's what it's called" Mike said "Emper how about you?"

  "Same as Rain but I can absorb multiple mana stones at the same time"

  "What? How does that work?" Rain asked, he didn't want to be outdone by Emper.

  "Secret family technique"

  "Come on, we're friends, you can tell us," Rain said.

  "It wouldn't matter if I told you, it only works for our family members" Emper said.

  Mike thought about it, since he could absorb a mana stone automatically, he might be able to absorb multiple of them at the same time. "What's your power though?" he asked.

  "I can control the minds of others to some extent" Emper replied "And it's a lot easier to use on stupid targets"

  "Then you'll have an easy time maniputing Mike," Rain said.

  "Hey, we have the same IQ" Mike retorted "Where do these mana stones come from anyways" He needed to find out since he needed 48 more of them to level up and create another clone.

  "They come from monsters," Rain said. "All of them have it and the stronger they are the bigger the stone"

  "What monsters?" Mike asked.

  "Dude we gotta get you all caught up" Emper said "Fantasy monsters like goblins, trolls, and orcs. Apparently, they're trying to invade earth through portals."

  "So, it's basically like the world in Solo Leveling, and I am a Sorcerer King" Mike said.

  "Basically yeah" Rain said "But we're in the beginning stages. Gates only started appearing around 3 months"

  "3 months! and you guys didn't tell me anything till now"

  "I only awakened a while ago and I had to sign a confidentiality contract"

  "My family forced me to go on that training camp"

  "The vacation?" Rain asked.

  "Yup"

  "Wait, Rain won't you get in trouble for this then?" Mike asked.

  "Ehh, what they don't know won't hurt them, plus I can't just let my bros be defenseless"

  "True, I heard from my parents that this invasion's only going to get worse" Emper said.

  "Shit, then I should probably warn my family" Mike said.

  "Based on how big their influence is, they already know," Rain said.

  "I can confirm, I was instructed by my parents not to tell you" Emper said. "I asked why, and they said your parents want it that way"

  "Why wouldn't they want me to know," Mike said.

  "They probably didn't want to interfere with your studies" Emper said "It's going to get worse but it's not that bad right now"

  "Yeah, knowing you, you'd probably stop caring about your grades the moment you heard about it," Rain said.

  "Damn right, do you know how much time I could've spent gambling and pying games instead of studying in three months?" Mike said. "And they can't use my grades as an excuse to lower my allowance. In a world full of monsters, they won't matter"

  "Dude, you can't tell them" Emper said "They'll know I told you and I'll get in trouble."

  "Then I'll put it on Rain"

  "Nahh, I don't want the government to know I crossed them. They'll probably lock me up."

  "Fine, I won't tell them" Mike said "But can you guys get me more mana stones? About 48 of them"

  "That's too much, plus we still have to use them to increase our own strength," Rain said. "I only join raids part time, so I don't earn that much mana stones"

  "Emper?"

  "My family does have quite a bit of it in stock but its heavily reguted so I can't get that much"

  "For reals? If I can't get it from you and I can't get it from my parents since I can't tell them. How about I join you guys in fighting monsters"

  "That's not gonna work, your abilities are not doing anything right now, and fighting monsters is dangerous" Rain said "I mean I almost died once."

  "Which monster?" Emper asked.

  "A gremlin"

  "Yeah, those things are nasty"

  "See this is another reason why I should go with you, I have no idea what a gremlin is except the movie one so I can't follow the conversation"

  "Dude it doesn't matter, it's too dangerous and if you join us they'll know anyways" Emper said "Plus with your parent's wealth you can just stay in a bunker and watch all of this unfold. Why risk it when you can stay safe."

  "Fuck that! If there's monsters invading earth I want to fight" Mike said "I'm not a pussy that stays in the backlines. I want to be a man and fight for glory. I can become one of those war heroes that all the chicks admire."

  Rain sighed "This is another reason why they didn't tell you"

  "Come on guys, didn't we say that we would face troubles together"

  "Fine but we can't let you go the way you are now" Emper said "You need training and time for your ability to show effects. Once you're strong enough maybe you can convince your parents to let you fight"

  "Ok so where do I go to train?"

  "You definitely can't join the government" Rain said "They treat you like shit"

  "You can join my family's dojo" Emper said.

  "You just said I can't tell them I know though"

  "You don’t have to tell them, just make some excuse why you want to join. They might not go that hard on you but it's still pretty good training"

  "Well now that we got that out of the way, what do you guys want to do?" Mike asked.

  The three of them looked at each other and nodded "ML" The next morning they woke up to the ringing of an arm.

  “Shit! guys we have to go to school” Mike said

  “At least we got 7 stars,” Rain said.

  “I’m still technically on vacation so I don’t have to go to school” Emper said “I’ll just chill here”

  “You know you’ll have to do make-up work, right?” Rain asked.

  “I know, but I’ll get there when I get there”

  “Procrastinator” Mike said

  “Pig calling someone fat,” Emper retorted.

  After cleaning up and getting dressed Rain and Mike went to school. It had alternating csses every other day, so they had different csses this time. Sitting down for math css, Mike opened the system.

  There was something he was itching to do; he went to the roulette function and tapped draw.

  “Are you sure? Rewards Are not guaranteed. Y / N”

  Mike clicked Y and also turned on an option so it wouldn’t ask him again. The wheel started spinning and the ball ended up on red which had a ??.

  “Congratutions you won !!!” He didn’t expect to win on the first try. “Absolutely nothing” This roulette was absolute trash, but he wanted to try again, if only he had more points.

  As for Mike-1 there wasn’t much going on since he was just cultivating. He was pretty lucky though; he kept being successful whenever he gambled with the technique. At this rate it would only take a couple more days for him to break through.

  After school instead of going to the library, Mike went to the Lion Dojo. Named after Empers family name. It was just a quick walk away from the school.

  The Dojo was pretty big, at least a lot bigger than a normal one. He entered the dojo and went through the registration process. He needed to fill out a paper form. Everything was going well until it asked him why he wanted to join.

  He needed to think up an excuse that was in line with his character. The people in the dojo knew him and if he made a random reason, they might get suspicious.

  In the end he went with “I want to attend this dojo because Emper keeps talking about how good a swordsman he is, and I want to shut him up by becoming better than him. Also, I heard that luck favors hardworking people so there’s a chance this’ll increase my success rate when gambling”

  He turned in the form along with a membership fee. “Yeah, that tracks,” Shelm said. She was a cousin of Rain that worked in the dojo and when they were young, she stopped them from doing 'Dumb Shit'

  “Can I go train now?” He asked.

  “Sure” she said and started to lead Mike to another area.

  “Wait” Mike said, “Can I have a different trainer?”

  “Why? What’s wrong with me”

  “Nothing, I just want someone, kind”

  “I’m kind, aren’t I?” Rain asked very slowly.

  If he kept insisting on getting a different trainer it would only make things worse. “Yes, yes you are" Mike said with his head down.

  "Good, we'll start off with the basics" she said. A few hours ter Mike exited the dojo with a completely sore body. Shelm made him do various exercises, and at the end of it, he could barely walk. As a result, he slowly made his way back to the apartment.

  Over the next few days things happened. He got his test result back for the history test, 37/100, failing but still better than what he thought he got. He also used the system roulette a few times but got 'Absolutely Nothing'. He would go to the dojo every now and then to train, each time he would leave with a beat-up body. Rain and Emper also gave him a few mana stones making his progress reach 16%.

  Now he was walking to meet up with Cindra, she texted him and he wasn't going to miss this opportunity. Then he was notified by the system that Mike-1 successfully broke through to the first stage of Qi refinement. He got 100 points as a reward and everyday he would gain 10 points instead of 5.

  Mike opened the roulette and prepared to gamble all of it.