Strongest Gamer in the MCU

"Jay was so mischievous before, but now he obediently listens to us. Do kids usually mature so quickly?"

I overheard one preschool teacher saying this to another. That was the name many people outside of the Asian community I was a part of addressed me as - 'Jay'. It didn't sound that different from 'Jae', but it wasn't right.

And the reason why they were saying I was more obedient now, well, they weren't wrong about that. But they were only half right as well.

Who they referred to as being obedient wasn't me, but a body double I created using Illusion magic. Whatever they saw or heard from the illusory clone of mine fit directly into the narrative of 'Jae Sung is a normal child'.

Personally, I couldn't stand preschool and wasting my time there. Which was why I created a stand in for me. The illusion could attend the preschool on my behalf, though the only drawback was that it was still an intangible clone. Meaning if anyone tries touching it, their hand would just go right through.

Another drawback was that I had to be around the same vicinity of the illusion in order to maintain it. If it was too far apart from me, the spell would fall apart. So although I no longer had to participate in all the annoying and boring preschool activities, I still needed to attend preschool while hiding under my [Concealment] and doing other things with my time.

It couldn't be helped, my [Illusion] skill level was still too low. Until I managed to level it up, this would be my status quo.

It was only around 6 weeks since I started my daily trips to 177A Bleecker Street, and it has been a more rewarding experience than I could have imagined. Though my progress was slower than I would have expected it to be. I guess actual, reality-bending magic was more complicated than I initially thought.

The first few books I read merely provided me with a detailed overview of magic - the types of magic that existed, the rules and ethos of sorcerers, the spiritual philosophy of mystic arts practitioners, etc. I still received pretty generous INT stat gains from reading the books, but I didn't really learn any actual magic from it.

But after that was when I started getting in to the meat of the mystic arts - the spells. I could still remember reciting the incantations for the first time, moving my arms and etching the air with my fingers, drawing specific glyphs and runic arrays.

It was almost like a spark had ignited into a full blown inferno within me, as the MP that had always sat uselessly inside my body roared in response to the stimulus.

I even received a title as I begun to learn real magic.

[Apprentice of Kamar-Taj]

+20% Skill EXP gain to magic attribute skills

+20% Effectiveness when using magic 

Increased INT stat gain when studying magic

High chance of Bonus INT stat gain when INT stat increases when studying magic.

Increased REP gain with other members of Kamar-Taj

A quest had even been generated.

Quest Alert!

[Is this your card?]

Achieve Journeyman status in the mystic arts within 7 days

Reward

+150,000 EXP

New Trait: Mana-Talent Physique

Journeyman status referred to the grading system of sorcerers that was more or less acknowledged by the larger magical communities of this world.

There were typically four grades: Apprentice, Journeyman, Adept and Master.

Apprentices would have begun familiarising themselves with the theory of the mystic arts and started dabbling in at least one school of magic. The categorisation of subsequent grades would fluctuate heavily depending on the particular magical community as different groups would have different standards for their disciples.

For Journeyman sorcerers in Kamar-Taj, one would need to be judged as competent in the Conjuration school of magic, as well as have the ability to use the Sling Ring. The Sling Ring was the specialty magic of The Ancient One's sect.

This meant that in order for me to succeed in the quest condition, I had to acquire a Sling Ring and learn how to use it. Frankly, it wasn't really that difficult. The sorcerers in the New York Sanctum felt safe in their base, so they were a little careless with their Sling Rings. I just had to wait for one of them to set it down somewhere and with a max level concealment swipe, magical portal creating jewelry get!

The other condition was competency in Conjuration, which was a branch of magic that included conjuring objects using energy from another dimension such as whips, swords and shields. It was the main school of magic the Masters of the Mystic Arts specialised in.

I had learnt basic spells from the books in the library of the New York Sanctum.

The Tao Mandalas conjured small protective shields on my hands then could also double as chakrams, circular bladed weaponry.

The Sacred Sword of Vishanti created a glowing scimitar that felt weightless yet brimming with energy.

The curriculum that I found in the library of the New York Sanctum seemed almost as if it had been designed specifically for my purposes as 'intro to conjuration' was the next steps after the theoretical overview of magic.

I managed to complete the quest in 3 days.

[Mana-Talent Physique]

Your physique has been transformed to become suitable in handling mana. You have increased affinity with controlling mana.

+50% MP recovery rate

+20% effectiveness to skills that use MP

1 INT = 30 MP