《Healing System》
Stats, skills explanation
Chapter -2: Stats, skills exnation
-Stats
HP - Health points determine how much health you have, it goes down in the case of injury or sickness HP regen = END
MP - Magic points determine how much mana you have, it goes down when you use certain skills MP regen = INT
STR - Strength determines the power behind your attacks
END - Endurance determines your health and stamina, conversion rate is 1:5 to HP (5 END 25 HP)
AGI -Agility determines your general speed and dexterity
INT - Intellect Improves mental acuity and increases MP, conversion rate is 1:5 to MP (5 INT 25MP)
CHA - Charisma determines how the opposite sex sees you
-Skills
Rarities: Apply to everything in this novel
[Common] [Umon] [Rare] [Epic] [Unique] [Legendary] [Ultimate]
Common skills can go up to lvl 10
Umon skills can go up to lvl 25
Rare skills can go up to lvl 50
Epic skills can go up to lvl 75
Unique skills have no limit, making them essentially god like if high leveled
Legendary skills can go up to lvl 100
Ultimate skills only have 1 level, but they are considered the strongest as they are special skills
*SPOILERS* DON鈥橳 READ BEFORE Chapter 53
Chapter -1: *SPOILERS* DON''T READ BEFORE Chapter 53
There are 4 types of Mana cores.
They are located in the Heart, Brain, Lower abdomen, Spine
Heart: Mage Core: It provides an increased cirction of mana in exchange for poor physical capabilities. The core is mostly used by pure mages.
Brain: Mind Core: It provides an increased level of intelligence and information processing, it is simr to the Mage Core as it also reduces Physical capabilities, however, it also has less mana than the one in the Heart. It is mostly used by mages which use the Mind to fight, illusions, mind control, etc..
Lower Abdomen: Dantian Core: It highly increases Physical capability in exchange for a small mana pool. The core is mostly used by pure physical fighters, Swordsmen, Brawlers, Tanks, etc.
Spine: Flow Core: It increases Physical capability and mana, it highly increases reaction speed and casting speed. It is considered a special core due to the low amount of people being efficient Hybrid fighters. Meaning they use Magical and Physical ability to fight close range and long range.
The reason the others don''t use the Flow core is because it requires a certain grade of mana to even be able to harness it.
To tier up Flow Core: Once a certain amount of mana umtes a thread will form, you must slowly weave it upwards and you will reach the next tier.
To tier up Mage Core: Once a certain amount of mana umtes in their hearts, a magic circle will appear, you must use it to enhance your Heart and you will reach the next tier. (The magic circles are random and they can''t be passed down from others.)
To tier up Mind Core: Once a certain amount of mana umtes in the brain, a veil will appear and one must assimte with it to reach the next tier. The veil acts as a sort of emotional gate keep to make the Mind Core user more stable in tense situations.
To tier up Dantian Core: Once a certain amount of mana umtes in the lower abdomen, it will unleash it all at once and you must absorb the mana back into the core to reach the next tier. It acts as more powerful refinement, therefore if you are not strong enough you could die.
Skills and affinity rank
[Beginner] [Basic] [Intermediate] [Advanced] [Superior] [Elite] [Supreme]
The skills are categorized into tiers and grades.
All the way from F- to S
F- F F+ ; E- E E+ ; D- D D+ ; C- C C+ ; B- B B+ ; A- A A+ ; S
S is considered the pinnacle of the stat reached in that particr tier, once you tier up, your stats will go back to F- though your strength will not diminish, you will continue to grow stronger.
It is most optimal to first maximize the stats before Tiering up as the potential stat loss could be considered crucial in the future.
Finally Mana Purity, it acts as a spell enhancement. If your mana purity is at 10% you will have a 10% increase in the effectiveness of all your spells. The number can go above 100%
SPOILERS BELOW CH 64
Skills
+---+
-Skills / [Skill Merging]
[Herald of Light] [Advanced] [Passive]
# 250% increase in casting speed, 500% for Light affinity based spells
[Eyes of The Healer] [Intermediate] [Passive]
# See the ailments, illnesses, curses, and any kind of mind magic of those in your field of vision.
Hand to handbat [Beginner] [Passive]
# Increases STR by 1 Minor Rank when fighting using only your hands
Discipline [Basic] [Passive]
# Mental magic has a 20% reduced effect on you
Shooting mastery [Beginner] [Passive]
# Any kind of projectile has a 20% increase in velocity
Purify [Intermediate] [Active]
# Purify everyone and everything around you, curing all diseases and illnesses
*Cost: 5% MP
*Radius: 200 Meters
Physical Enhancement [Beginner] [Active]
# Increase all stats by 1 Minor Rank
*Upkeep: >1% MP/S
Sword of Light [Basic] [Active]
# Summon 1 or multiple swords containing the Light affinity.
*Cost: >1% MP/S
Veil of Detection [Basic] [Active]
# Feel the mana of everything and everyone in an area around you.
*Cost: >1% MP/S
Aegis of Light [Intermediate] [Active]
# Create a protective barrier around yourself or others, absorbing 40% HP damage until broken. Alternate to healing mode to heal 30% of total HP. Able to cast an outer shield which can be used to parry attacks.
*Shielding Mode Cost: 5% MP
*Healing Mode Cost: 3% MP
*Outer Shield Mode: 1% MP, Refunded if parried or blocked sessfully
Piercing Light [Intermediate] [Active]
A miniature sword that condenses and masks its mana. Has high defense pration with considerable killing power.
*Cost: 5% MP
+---+
A/N: let me know if I forgot something!
Chapter 1: Beginning Anew
Chapter 1: Beginning Anew
A lone manid on the cold wet ground in an alleyway.
Blood was dripping down and mixing with the already dirty water.
The man tried to stand up, however he soon noticed he couldn''t. His legs were broken with bones sticking right out of them, truly a gruesome sight.
What was worse though, is that no matter how much the man tried to scream, nothing came out.
He was a mute, though not exactly the conventional type of mute.
He once was on a job, it was a high priority case, he had to protect an arab prince.
The man was a sniper, ex military now a mercenary.
Though he failed, and quite miserably at that.
The killer was one of the prince''s people, his closest aide.
For that reason, the man did not pay attention to that particr person, which resulted in what happened next..
Through the scope of his sniper, he saw the prince being stabbed through the heart, and the assant quickly being riddled with holes by the bodyguards that were right next to him.
The man was shocked, though if you looked closely, fear was evident on his face.
Not because he failed, but what woulde after.
Once the man came back to his employer, he was met with a gun to his head and was knocked out.
When he woke up, he could no longer speak. The doctors said his vocal cords had been damaged beyond repair, making him a mute for life.
Ever since that day, he turned to a life of an alcoholic. Squandering all of his funds on all types of illegal substances as well as prostitutes.
Though that too was short lived, as one of the prostitutes he had hired was the sister of a mob boss.
Being thrown out of a window and losing his consciousness what greeted him when he awoke were his broken legs.
The man''s name was Michael, a former veteran mercenary turned alcoholic.
''Fuuuuckk'' Michael eximed in his mind whilst crawling out of the alleyway.
However as he did so, one of his leg bones that were sticking out caught on to something, tearing his flesh open further.
''This fucking day can''t get any better can it'' Michael thought whilst picking up an empty bottle and throwing it at a nearby wall.
Michael flipped over andid t on his back, trying to crawl further, but not being able to.
The momentary adrenaline had run out, Michael''s entire body had been paralyzed.
''That bitch...'' Michael thought while thinking of the prostitute he had hired tonight. She was beautiful, but it seemed his fate had been settled the moment she walked through his doors.
Thinking back on it. Michael gave off a hobo impression, that might have been the reason why she called her brother.
''Fucking tank that guy was, picked me up and threw me out of the window with a single hand'' Michael couldn''t help but chuckle in his mind at the irony of the situation. The woman went to the bathroom and a couple of minutester his door had been flung open with multiple peopleing in.
In the very middle was the mob boss, tall and fat, also not really a signnguage expert so it probably looked like Michael was affiliated with some sort of gang to him.
''That aside.. I''m fucked aren''t I'' Barely moving his head from side to side, Michael finally realized the gravity of his situation.
He was too far from a visible street, if only he was able to crawl further behind the corner, he would see the street bustling with people.
If only he had his voice this wouldn''t have been a problem in the first ce.
Michael threw the bottle at the wall a couple of minutes ago, yet no one showed up to check up on him.
The blood loss was starting to catch up to him, rendering him sleepy.
Michael sped his shaking hands and appeared to be praying.
''Oh great heavens or what fucking not, bless me with a thunderbolt to end my suffering'' He expressed genuinely, before cing his hands down and looking up at the sky.
It was dark. There were no stars as he was in a city, just pure loneliness to apany him in his death.
''I wonder how my family is doing'' Michael thought back to the family he abandoned after losing his voice and bing an alcoholic.
He was an only child, with only his father still being alive. His mother died from a lung disease whilst he was deployed.
Michael''s father tried reaching out to him many times, but he couldn''t muster up the courage to show himself, since the start, he held himself as a failure, both as a mercenary, and a son.
As the light in Michael''s eyes slowly dimmed, he expressed for thest time, to seemingly no one in particr ''I am sorry.''
He was not able to hear anything anymore and prepared to close his eyes for thest time when all of a sudden something appeared in front of him.
It was some kind of blue hologram that read, Do you wish to start anew?
There were two options, Yes and No, written right below that sentence.
Michael thought he was hallucinating. As he tried to reach with his hands to press Yes, but he no longer could, the only thing he was able to do at the moment was see and think.
Michael focused on the word Yes, and as he did so his vision turned ck, with his thoughts quickly halting.
After an uncertain amount of time, Michael once again opened his eyes, though what greeted him was an unfamiliar environment.
''Where the fuck am I now?'' Michael thought as he started looking around.
Around him were a bunch of empty bunk beds, neatly folded nkets on each one of them.
All of a sudden, Michael''s thoughts were interrupted by a raging headache.
''Arghh what now!'' Michael grasped his head with his hands and tried not to let out any sound.
Though that proved to not work as through gritted teeth a single word escaped "Shit.."
Michael was surprised, even the headache seemed to momentarily not matter.
"...I can talk?" As those words left Michael''s mouth, he once again lost consciousness.
Michael found himself in a pitch ck space, with some sort of movie screen in front of him, scenes ying at a very fast speed. Though for some reason he was able to understand them, or more like remember them.
The scenes continued to y and after only a few minutes, they were finished.
At the end of it all appeared a single word ''System''
As Michael was about to utter that word, he was flung back into the real world, back into the orphanage where he had lived since he was 2.
''This makes no sense, I had parents and I didn''t grow up in an orphanage'' Michael thought whilst contemting something, before looking back to the bunk beds and muttering.
"System"
The silence was loud, Michael had a slightly embarrassed expression on his face.
''I knew this was stupid'' Michael expressed whilst hiding away his embarrassment.
Though his doubt was short lived, as in the next moment he heard a voice.
Greetings host, you have finally recovered.
The voicepletely startled Michael as he jumped up and fell out of his bunk bed.
Thud
Landing straight on his ass..
"Who are you!?" Michael shouted whilst looking around frantically, though not being able to see anything.
Calm down host, I am not your enemy.
The voice didn''t seem to be audible, it was inside of Michael''s mind.
Taking a few deep breaths and looking around a few more times Michael asked kindly "I said who the fuck are you!"
The voice seemed unperturbed as it answered.
I am the system that was bound to your soul, I am one of the perks for those who wished to start anew.
''Start anew? That thing I saw before I died?'' Michael contemted for a little while before asking another question "What is a system?"
The voice seemed pleased with Michael''s change in attitude, as it began exining.
A system is a type of helping mechanism for those who are from different worlds. In your particr case, I am a bit different. I have sentience, meaning I am much stronger than my predecessors, as they were all just robot like machines serving the host with automatic function.
It was a lot to take in for Michael, this all seemed strange, yet he couldn''t deny the fact that it was possible as his memories included tidbits of some weird things happening.
Be it people shooting out fire from their hands, splitting trees in half with but a simple hand gesture and many more things.
Michael had many questions, but he still had to organize his thoughts so he asked the one question that was lingering in the front of his mind "What is with these memories I have? Why can I suddenly recall them even though they are not my own?"
Once you were reincarnated, your soul was in an unstable condition, so I was forced to seal your memories away until you had recovered them yourself, if I hadn''t, you would have died again.
And don''t worry, this body, these memories, are your own. You were born into this body and the memories you gained were just what this body had experienced in thest 8 years.
Michael was fairly satisfied with the answer and nodded, it would exin him starting to remember all of the memories clearer and clearer as the minutes go by.
Anyways, host you are up and you are well, I will exin more about this world after you get a good night''s rest, oh and say ''Status''
Michael was slightly worried, thinking another system was going to pop out of nowhere, but nheless still listened to it, he had nothing to lose anyway.
"Status"
All of a sudden a blue hologram appeared in front of Michael''s eyes, just way bigger thanst time.
+---+
Name: Michael
Age: 8 years old
Race: Human
ss: Healer [Common]
Level 0 [0/100 EXP]
Titles:
-Born anew [Unique] [Temporary]
# Increases experience gain by 50% until level 10
-Stats
HP: 110/110
MP: 150/150
STR: 4
END: 2
AGI: 2
INT: 10
CHA: 5
-Skills
Hand to handbat [Level 5] [Common] [Passive]
# Increases STR by 5% when fighting using only your hands
Discipline [Level 4] [Umon] [Passive]
# Mental magic has a 4% reduced effect on you
Shooting mastery [Level 6] [Umon] [Passive]
# Any kind of projectile has a 6% increase in velocity
Heal [Level 0] [Common] [Active]
# Heal the target / Restore 50 HP
Cost: 25 MP
+---+
Michael looked in wonder, the status disyed all of his current physical abilities, even the skills he had in his past life.
However something did irk him a little.
Michael said out loud, specifically to the system "Why am I a healer?"
The system replied patiently.
Your path was chosen based on how you lived your past life, healer just so happened to be what you got.
Michael''s brow twitched as he was left a little confused and shouted "How I lived my past life? I fucking killed people why would I be given a ss like this!"
Yes, but you also protected them. The way your path was chosen did not necessarily have anything to do with what you did, it was more what you thought while doing it.
The system went on to exin.
If you killed people and enjoyed doing it, your ss would have been something way different than it is now. In your case, you killed yes, however, regret was present in each of your kills, if things could have turned out differently you wanted to save them.
The system kept quiet for a little while then spoke into Michael''s mind once again.
Isn''t that why you couldn''t take the shot that day? You hesitated and someone else paid the price.
Michael was taken aback, he didn''t think the system knew so much about him.
"So what if I did..no point dwelling on the past."
That is indeed so.
Michael stood up and walked back to his bunk bed lying back down and asking another question "So what now? Where do I go from here."
Your body is still fatigued, before you recovered, it had caught a cold, it''s better if you go back to sleep, tomorrow I will tell you what you need to know.
The system gave a reply that didn''t quite satisfy Michael''s current curiosity, though he didn''t argue against it.
And closing his eyes, went to sleep..
*
A/N: If you have any questions in this or future Chapters, don''t hesitate to ask. I reply to most if not allments.
A quick little heads up though. The mc is not going to primarily be a healer, he will be a hybrid fighter using all sorts of weapons made out of mana.
The FL has already been introduced, more about her will be exploredter on. And yes, It is no-harem.
Chapter 2: Healer
Chapter 2: Healer
The sun was shining high in the sky and Michael had just woken up.
As he looked around, he saw a few children leaving their bunk beds and heading towards the main hall.
Michael could feel a little buzzing in his ears, because of the sudden influx of the memories he received. Though it would go away soon.
He got off his bunk bed and walked up to the window, observing the city of Amara from the orphanage.
There were many high rise buildings, they looked way more modern than his previous world. Same with all the other stuff like cars, regr housing, even clothing.
It all looked simple, yet very convenient. that was due to magic being present, and beingbined in unison with the already existing technology. The results were something his old world was a couple hundred years away from achieving.
Michael nced behind him to check if there were any kids left and asked the system a question "I''m up, you going to tell me anything now?"
After a few moments of silence, the system replied.
Go get food first, you are in a child''s body so you need to eat a lot.
The answer made Michael''s brow twitch and he clenched his hands. Seemingly out of anger, but decided to not argue as he was a tiny bit hungry.
He walked out of his room and took the stairs down to the cafeteria. Along the way, he saw many familiar faces, though none of them were his friends. Just people he hade to know due to circumstances.
By this point Michael''s memories were essentiallybined, the buzz in his ears had disappeared a few moments ago.
He arrived at the cafeteria and went up to get his breakfast, a woman named Hilda was the chef of this joint, and her food from what he remembers was delicious.
The woman gave him a gentle smile and handed him a te of food. It was just simple eggs, sausages and bread, however, due to Hilda being a good cook, it was delicious nheless.
Michael sat down by the window and ate his food, recalling his memories to see if maybe he knew anyone aside from Hilda.
But by the time he finished his food, the only person he could remember besides Hilda was Reba. She was the person who brought Michael in when he was little. She was now the head of the orphanage.
Michael nced out of the window and murmured quietly "So?"
Host wipe your mouth first. There is a napkin to your right.
"Are you fucking serious" Michael expressed whilst looking around to see if anybody heard him. he quickly took the napkin and wiped his mouth.
He then turned back to the window and quietly whispered "Happy?"
Very much so host. Now then, since your memories seem to be fully back, we can start with leveling you up, and your healing capabilities as well.
Michael didn''t take his eyes away from the window and asked in a confused manner "You really like talking in riddles don''t you? Just tell me what I have to do."
The system as always didn''t pay any attention to Michael''s rudeness.
Certainly, to level up your skills, you must use them for their purpose. In your case, you have to heal others to receive experience, which in turn will level both your skills and you up, simple right?
Michael nodded and asked "How many times do I have to heal somebody to level up my skills?"
As he said those words the blue hologram appeared and he panned straight to the Heal skill.
+--+
Heal [Level 0 0/100 EXP] [Common] [Active]
# Heal the target / Restore 50 HP
Cost: 25 MP
+--+
Michael noticed that the required amount of experience appeared now. When he checked it earlier, it wasn''t there.
You need to get 100 experience in total to level up your skill to level 1. As I said earlier, heal those who are injured and you will receive experience.
The amount of experience you get is determined by your ss and your Heal skill. Normally you would get 10 XP for each injury you heal, though because of your title that increases experience gain, you will get 15 XP.
Michael thought for a little while and asked again "So I get 15 experience when I heal someone and it goes to both my skill and my general level?"
Yes, that is the perk of the Healer ss. Most sses have fixed ratios, though that does not apply to Healer as it is considered a difficult ss to level upter on.
But then again with your proficiency in weapons and hand to handbat, you will be able to gain experience from both healing and killing dungeon monsters.
Michael was startled for a moment but quicklyposed himself to not look too suspicious to the others in the cafeteria "Dungeon monsters? You mean those nasty things that appear out of nowhere?"
Michael knew a little bit about them. Though just surface knowledge, nothing too in depth, his body was still that of a kid''s after all.
They are called dungeon monsters because theye out of dungeons, but yes they are nasty and most of them deserve to die.
Michael could feel a little malice from the system. It was directed towards the dungeon monsters.
Though he was still just a child. He won''t be battling dungeon monsters for a while.
"Ouch" a sound was heard from behind Michael, it was some kid that fell down and bruised his knee.
The system immediately reacted.
Chop chop host get to healing.
Though Michael hesitated for a moment and asked the system "Won''t it be bad if I am found out to be awakened?"
The awakened referred to those who had obtained their sses.
It''s fine, some younger awakeners detailed that they had caught some kind of cold a couple of days prior to their awakening, and look at the timing, so did you.
Michael thought for a moment and stood up. Walking up to the kid who was holding his bruised knee, which was slightly bleeding.
However as he got closer he remembered something that he might have overlooked "How do I use the Heal skill?"
The system quickly gave a reply.
Just look at the kid and stretch out your hand, then say Heal. The max distance should be around 10 meters or so.
Michael''s fists once again clenched as he looked up to seemingly no one "So you are telling me I could have just healed him from my seat, thank you system" The sarcasm was palpable.
It''s toote to go back anyways everyone is already looking at you, just man up and do it already.
Michael arrived by the kid and crouched down. He couldn''t remember the child''s name, though that did not matter.
Stretching out his hand Michael looked focused "Heal"
Once he said those words, a yellow energy momentarily enveloped the child, and the bruise on his knee disappeared like it had never even been there in the first ce.
[Heal +15 EXP]
A silent ding could be heard in his head as he saw the blue hologram appear in front of him, stating that he had increased his experience.
However that was not the only thing silent, as the entire cafeteria was as well.
Most kids didn''t know what happened, they knew what magic was and what the awakened were, however, most of them had never seen one use their skills before.
However that was not the case for the adults present, as Hilda got out from her post in the kitchen and walked towards Michael.
Her past gentle smile had been reced by a serious look as Hilda instructed "Come with me Michael, we are going to see Reba."
Michael didn''t think he would meet Reba again until his birthday, though it was still a couple of months away.
But the chance had presented itself. The affection that Michael felt was simr to what he felt when he remembered his mother.
And now he was going to meet his mother figure in this world, Michael looked up at Hilda and nodded "Okay."
Navigating the halls in silence, they eventually arrived in front of a door that had the words ''Reba'' written over it.
Hilda proceeded to walk to the door and open it abruptly, once she did, Michael was able to see Reba.
She was sitting at her desk, with a stack of papers in front of her. Though if you looked closely, you could tell she wasn''t actually awake, but sleeping whilst sitting at her desk.
Hilda walked up to the desk and mmed down her hand.
Bang
It startled Reba as she waved her hands around and knocked all the documents down to the ground.
Michael was left speechless, from his memories he always saw Reba as someone without ws, aplete professional. However it appears that was not the case.
Reba looked at Hilda with a red face, embarrassed "H-Hilda.. what are you doing here?"
She then turned towards Michael and her embarrassed expression grew further "Michael..."
All the while Michael was still standing stunned.
Hilda interrupted Reba''s self pity and regret act that she was about to start pulling off and pointed towards Michael "The boy awakened."
Those simple words were enough to snap Reba back to her professional self. She quicklyposed herself and looked towards Michael.
Michael''s heart was beating fast, He was excited to see Reba as she was like a mother to him, and they were not able to see each other frequently due to her being the head of the orphanage.
Reba nced at Michael, then back to Hilda and asked in a serious voice "Is that the truth?"
Hilda nodded and turned towards Michael "Show her boy."
Michael didn''t know if his abilities would work even if the target was not injured, but he tried nheless "Heal"
The Heal was directed towards Reba, though as she was not injured in the slightest, he didn''t gain any experience.
But that was beside the point, as the yellow light from before still appeared and enveloped Reba, beforepletely disappearing into nothingness.
Reba widened her eyes and then started scrambling for something in her drawer. Pulling out some sort of crystal and handing it to Michael "ce your hands on this and use your skill again."
Michael nodded and did as he was told, then out of nowhere a hologram appeared, simr to his, but this time it was visible to everyone.
-+-
Name: Michael
Age: 8
ss: Healer
Level 0
-+-
It disyed a fraction of the information that he was privy to.
The system''s voice suddenly resounded in Michael''s mind.
That''s a mana stone embedded with inspection magic.
Michael nodded and looked back at Reba and Hilda, they were both wearing shocked expressions.
That was until Reba got out of her seat and walked towards Michael, suddenly hugging him "Congrattions, Michael."
Michael had the instinctive urge to hug her back, and so he did.
The hugsted for a couple of seconds before both of them departed from one another. Reba then started exining a few things to Michael "Since you are now an awakened, once you turn 12 you will be admitted into the Awakeners academy. Until then you are with us" Reba finished off with a warm smile.
Michael smiled softly and looked at both Hilda and Reba before saying "Thank you."
Reba nodded happily and said "You can go back now Michael, we will help you develop your skills in a better suited environment" She then picked up a piece of paper from the shelf next to her and stamped her seal on it.
Michael was slightly puzzled by her actions, but awaited patiently, and after a few seconds, Reba gave the stamped paper to Michael.
She went down to pick up the documents she dropped earlier. But not before telling Michael "Take that to the orphanage''s recovery center, you will be one of the healers and from there you can develop your skills further."
Michael was going to say thank you, but he felt like he said that enough, so he just simply nodded and walked out of Reba''s office.
His direction being, the orphanage''s recovery center..
Chapter 3: Recovery Center
Chapter 3: Recovery Center
Shortly after Michael left, Reba turned to Hilda, and with a serious expression instructed "Report this to Reinhardt, don''t leave anything out."
Hilda, whose expression turned nk,pletely devoid of emotion, nodded at Reba "Yes miss" and disappeared into the shadows. Not even making a single sound.
Reba returned to her seat and flicked her finger, suddenly all the fallen documents floated back to her desk.
Sighing, she thought ''Why did you have to awaken now..''
The orphanage was the only one in the entire city, yet it was big enough to house all of the orphans and still have room left over.
Though just because it was watched over by the higher ups, did not mean corruption was impossible.
Reba had been brainwashed. Ever since she was young, her ambition was to be the head of the orphanage, though that was not entirely her will..
Once she became the orphanage''s head, her brainwashing slightly wavered, and due to that, her powers were able to dispel itpletely.
Her mind was like a nk canvas. All she knows and remembers revolves around the orphanage. She didn''t know who cast the mind control on her, the only clue she has is the person named Reinhardt.
Hilda was one of Reinhardt''s people, so Reba could not avoid reporting Michael''s awakening to him.
She is close to finally meeting up with him, and when she does..she will kill him.
Rocking back on her chair she thought ''I don''t know if I can protect you Michael..''
Reba loved the kids, but it was more of a superficial type of love. Deep down, she wanted to free herself from the clutches of whoever was lurking in the shadows.
Though there was one kid in particr whosepany she enjoyed the most, it was Michael. 6 years ago she found him sprawled out on the sidewalk, he was heavily malnourished so she took him in.
Ever since then, their bond has gotten stronger.
But now..it was being tested. By the misfortune that she has yet topletely erase...
-----
Michael was outside, walking to the recovery center. Along the way, he saw multiple kids and even some adults.
Michael grew a bit curious so he mumbled a question to the system "Is it really going to be this easy to level up? All I did was heal a bruise."
You can only get experience from the same person once per day. However with the number of people in this orphanage, it definitely won''t be hard to level up. And yes, as long as the person lost even a singr unit of HP, healing him would give you EXP.
Michael pondered for a moment, before asking another question "What happens when I reach level 10?"
You will gain a new skill. Every 10 levels you get a random skill that is attributed to your ss.
"Right, ss, is it going to always staymon?" Michael followed along with yet another question.
You will be able to increase its rarity and effects once you reach Level 50. After that, every 50 levels you are going to be evaluated and given a task toplete in order to increase the rarity of your ss further.
"I see, thank you" Michael expressed politely and continued walking towards the recovery center, already seeing the outline of the building.
After a couple more minutes of walking, he finally arrived and stepped inside the building. it looked like a simple hospital, though magic was involved, making it way better than the hospitals of his previous world.
Walking up to the register, Michael was greeted by a neatly dressed receptionist who asked to see his identification.
Michael passed over the piece of paper that Reba gave him, immediately earning a look of understanding from the receptionist.
The receptionist started dialing a number and told someone toe, signaling for Michael to sit down and wait.
Michael did just that. He found himself afortable seat and sat down, preparing to wait for hours, hospitals tend to be like that most of the time he thought.
However he did not have to wait long. As 5 minutester, A person wearing a doctor''s coat appeared and walked towards Michael, before stretching out his hand and introducing himself "Hello Michael, my name is Salus, I am the head healer of this facility,e with me."
Michael shook the man''s hand and followed him. Going inside of an elevator and arriving on the 4th floor, where they walked further until they reached Salus''s office.
The office was spacious, with all sorts ofb equipment lying around, the desk beingpletely spotless, a stark contrast to Reba''s desk.
Salus pointed at the seat near the table and told Michael to sit down, while he himself went behind the desk and sat down on hisfortable office chair.
Salus looked Michael up and down and then asked "Why do you want to join the recovery center?"
Michael was taken aback a little. He had expected to be questioned, but he did not expect this kind of a first question, there are certainly wrong answers.
If Michael were to say ''I only want to level up my skills'', he would undoubtedly get kicked out.
Michael decided to formte his inner desire into a more favorable anwser "I want to improve my healing skills in order to save more people."
The answer was something that Salus did not expect toe out of an 8 year olds mouth. He was expecting something childish, but this was anything but.
Salus looked at Michael and asked "Are you nning on attending the academy?"
Michael simply nodded "Yes."
Salus seemed satisfied. He took out some kind of marble ball out of his pocket and handed it to Michael.
Holding the marble ball in his hands, Michael couldn''t help but sh a confused look. What was he supposed to do with this?
Salus noticed his confused gaze and chuckled "Put it up to your clothes."
Michael did just that, and his current regr clothing turned into a coat, simr to the one the head healer in front of him was wearing.
His clothes seemed to have merged with whatever that marble was, though there was a single odd pin, located near his wrist.
Michael tried lightly pulling it out, and surprisingly it worked. The white coat disappeared into the pin, and once again became a marble. His previous clothing reappearing.
Salus looked amused and asked Michael "Do you want to start working today?"
Michael was about to say yes, but he had just remembered something "Am I going to get paid?"
That sentence shocked Salus a little. Though it was only natural to ask something like that given the circumstances "We provide food and other necessities, the pay is based on the tips your patients might give you, this gives everyone an incentive to try harder."
''Stingy'' Michael thought. Though he didn''t express it aloud, at least he had the potential to get paid at all.
He was d Salus didn''t take offense to his question. It might have seemed a little insensitive, given the fact that Michael did say he wanted to improve his skills to save more people.
''Though tips in a hospital? Seemed unlikely'' Michael thought.
Salus stood up and walked to the door, before turning to Michael and saying "Put on the coat"
Michael did just that and followed after Salus. Going back down to the 1st floor of the recovery center.
Along the way many people stared at Michael, all of them sporting a curious expression.
They finally arrived in front of a room that had ''Emergency Room 3'' written on it.
Inside the room were a couple of patients. Some with broken bones, others with horrid expressions on their faces.
Salus turned to Michael and instructed "Watch me, afterwards you will try."
He walked up to a patient with a broken leg and cast a healing spell, though unlike Michael, whose heal covered the entire body, Salus''s only covered the broken portion of the leg.
Before Michael''s eyes, the bone popped back into ce, then quickly mended itself together, finally the area which the bone had popped out from was healed, looking like it was never injured in the first ce.
Salus turned towards Michael and asked "Any questions?"
Michael nodded "Why did you only target the area where the bone was broken?"
Salus quickly exined in detail "Using mana to heal the whole body is wasteful. As a healer you must conserve as much as possible, you will be dealing with patients for most of the day after all."
He then pointed toward another person with a broken leg before saying "Try."
Host, whenever you say Heal, focus on the part of the body you wish to heal, it will generate a new skill.
Michael nodded at both Salus and the system. He thought the only way you could acquire new skills was through the random pull the system talked about that happens every 10 levels. Though it appears Michael was wrong.
He walked up to the patient and focused on the broken leg, then said "Heal."
As he did so, the light covered the entire body of the man with a broken leg, however, it quickly concentrated on the part Michael was focusing on.
-DING
A bell rang out in Michael''s ears and once again a familiar blue interface appeared in front of his eyes.
[Focus Heal +15 EXP]
+--+
[New Skill Generated] [Bonus: +1 INT]
Focus Heal [Level 0 15/100 EXP] [Common] [Active]
# Heal the target''s injuries in the area focused / Restore 50 HP
Cost: 15 MP
+--+
Michael looked a bit stunned. He knew that the skill would be generated, but a question arose along with it. Though before he could ask it, the system answered, as if already knowing what Michael wanted to ask.
Yes, this is the power of the system, even if you focus on that area you still restore 50 HP, meaning you now have a cheaper full body Heal with the same effectiveness. Congrattions.
Salus walked up to the man who had just been healed and eximed "Wow Michael, you are a prodigy!"
The men with the now healed legs left the emergency room after thanking both the healers. Neither of them tipped even a single cent though.
Salus gestured for Michael to pay attention, as he now moved towards the people who didn''t have any visible injuries.
Salus walked up to one of them and asked "What seems to be troubling you?"
The patient pointed at his neck. There seemed to be a little bump on it "This appeared over a week ago, only recently am I starting to feel pain."
Nodding and closely examining the bump Salus turned back toward Michael and exined "This is a cyst. They appear when regr humans are exposed to too much mana. They could appear anywhere on the body and are dangerous if left alone."
Salus then pointed his finger at the cyst and used a focused heal on it, suddenly the cyst erged and popped. Michael expected pus toe out, but nothing did, it just disappeared.
Michael was instructed to try the same thing on another patient, and so he did, sessfully.
[Focus Heal +15 EXP]
Salus once again praised Michael for his prowess and exined his role in this room "From here on out, you are in charge of Emergency Room 3''s healing. Most patients thate here can be treated with simple healing magic, much like the ones currently here."
He then went on to say "When I determine that your healing skills are up to par, you will be moved to Emergency Room 2, and if you are qualified, maybe even Emergency Room 1."
Michael kept nodding, this was a great opportunity for him to level up. Though he was still left a little salty ''Tch a big shot better give me a tip'' he grumbled.
Host, while I don''t expect you to be a monk, please refrain from being shameless.
Michael ignored the system''s words and went around healing the others. There were 5 people left, injuries ranging from deep cuts to broken bones, and even a single patient with yet another cyst.
By then Salus had already left after informing Michael that he is to work for only 4 hours a day. From 1PM to 5PM, currently it was 1:30PM so he still had some work left to do.
After healing all of them Michael was left with 5 blue holographic boxes in front of him. Though as he focused on them, they allbined into one.
[Focus Heal +75 EXP]
Michael thought that it was finally about time he leveled up his skills, though no message came.
Host, until you reach level 10, you have to level up manually. To do that you must go into your status and press the little plus button next to the skills you want to level up. The same goes for your general level.
Michael nodded, looked around to make sure that no one else was in the room, and whispered "Status"
+---+
Name: Michael
Age: 8 years old
Race: Human
ss: Healer [Common]
Level 0 [120/100 EXP] (+)
Titles:
-Born anew [Unique] [Temporary]
# Increases experience gain by 50% until level 10
-Stats
HP: 110/110 / Regen 2 HP Per Hour
MP: 0/155 / Regen 11 MP Per Hour
STR: 4
END: 2
AGI: 2
INT: 10 -> 11
CHA: 5
-Skills
Hand to handbat [Level 5 0/2500 EXP] [Common] [Passive]
# Increases STR by 5% when fighting using only your hands
Discipline [Level 4 0/2000 EXP] [Umon] [Passive]
# Mental magic has a 4% reduced effect on you
Shooting mastery [Level 6 0/3000 EXP] [Umon] [Passive]
# Any kind of projectile has a 6% increase in velocity
Heal [Level 0 15/100 EXP] [Common] [Active]
# Heal the target / Restore 50 HP
Cost: 25 MP
Focus Heal [Level 0 105/100 EXP] (+) [Common] [Active]
# Heal the target''s injuries in the area focused / Restore 50 HP
Cost: 15 MP
+---+
Michael noticed that even more options were added to the system, such as health and mana regeneration. Previously he was not able to see it, now he could.
Hovering his finger right above the (+) button, Michael pressed it and a louder than normal ding followed.
-DING
[Level up! 0->1 20/1000 EXP]
[Health and Magic Points fully restored]
[5 Unassigned Stat points obtained]
Michael then pressed on the other (+)
-DING
[Skill: Focus Heal Level up! 0->1 5/500 EXP]
[Restore 50->60 HP]
[1 Unassigned Stat point obtained]
Chapter 4: Training
Chapter 4: Training
Michael looked over what he received and saw that he now had 6 unassigned stat points.
Host, I highly rmend you put those points into INT. Not only will it give you more mana, you will also be able to think clearer. It is a hidden effect that shines the best out of all of them.
Michael reached out his hand and put all of his unassigned stat points into INT.
+--+
MP 155/155 -> 185/185
INT: 11->17
+--+
At this point, Michael stopped trying to argue with the system. So far every single thing that it told him was helpful.
A couple of seconds passed, and it felt as though his mind had indeed gotten clearer as if he had just woken up from a good night''s sleep.
Michael was not sure what to do now, the room was empty, with only the hospital like beds filling it, as well as a single chair right next to a desk of sorts.
He decided to walk towards it. Beats standing and waiting for patients to arrive.
On the desk sat a lone mirror, Michael stared into it and froze. Ever sinceing to this world, he had not once thought about his appearance, and to say he was handsome was an understatement.
Golden yellow eyes akin to crystals, pure ck glossy hair, he was fairly short and skinny. Though from the memories that Michael recalled, he found out he had been malnourished in the past.
Due to that, his eating habits suffered, which in turn made him eat less. More so, the portions he ate were not enough to feed an 8 year old child.
Thinking back on it, the food Michael received in the cafeteria was in a very small portion. Guess Hilda already knew about his previous condition.
''Though since I have reincarnated, I will have to make some small adjustments'' Michael thought with determination.
Suddenly the door swung open and a patient was carried in by some nurses. It was a young girl, probably one from the orphanage.
The nurses exined the situation to Michael. It seemed they were already informed about the adjustments so he didn''t need to exin himself.
They ced the young girl down on one of the hospital beds, afterwards, they walked right out.
The girl had a broken wrist and a bruised elbow. Nothing a little healing spell couldn''t fix.
Michael walked up to her whilst she was lying down in pain. Tears still streaming down even after the nurses gave her painkillers.
''She looks pitiful'' Michael thought before he focused on her wrist and used his skill "Focus Heal"
The golden light enveloped her wrist. If Michael was a normal healer, he would have needed to cast it one more time. However, due to the system, his heals were way better.
[Focus Heal +15 EXP]
The girl''s tears stopped trickling down and she fell asleep. Her wrist and elbow back in perfect shape.
Michael turned towards the system and addressed some of his concerns with a bit of worry on his face "About the EXP, it increased from 100 to 1000, is it always going to increase by 10 times now?"
No, Level 0 was like a ceholder to get you ustomed to the interface. The normal leveling starts from Level 1, with each Level the EXP needed will increase by 1000. It is the same for skills but instead of 1000, the increments will be 500.
Michael did some math in his head before gasping from shock "You are telling me to reach level 10 I need to heal over 2000 fucking people?"
That is correct host.
Michael couldn''t help but ask "Is there a faster way?"
As of right now, no. Once you start going to dungeons, you will gain experience from the monsters killed, even if you did not kill them directly. As long as the person who killed it received a heal from you, you will gain experience.
That arose a thought in Michael''s mind. Why not try going to a dungeon now, if he could find someone to go with, he could just soak the experience.
Though it seemed the system realized what he was thinking.
Don''t even think about it. At your current level even walking around in a dungeon would be difficult, let alone facing a monster. You would die from just the mere pressure it emitted, that is how weak you are.
The system didn''t hold anything back, though Michael couldn''t deny what it said. He was acting a little arrogant.
Host, if you reach Level 20 and enter the academy, you will have an opportunity to go to a dungeon. The reason I said Level 20 was because by then I hope you realize your role as a healer.
''Level 20 in 4 years.. that seems tough'' Michael thought, but it didn''t seem impossible.
He didn''t let the system''sments disturb him too much. He knew he was a healer, and not a mercenary anymore.
Even if Michael had some of his former skills, they would not be enough to bridge the gap between his fellow peers.
After you finish your work here, we will be doing some training. Be prepared.
''Training?'' Michael wondered. Is he going to practice his healing spells?
-----
The hours passed and his work day was finally done. Since the girl, only 3 other patients arrived,ting him a bit of EXP.
[Focus Heal +45 EXP]
In total, today he earned 180 EXP, 165 of which went into his Focus Heal spell.
Michael sighed ''Any progress is some progress.''
Michael walked out of Emergency Room 3 and walked to the receptionist. He didn''t quite know how to clock out.
Though upon arriving, he was told everything was already settled, the head doctor had his eye on him.
Michael didn''t mind. After all, if he could prove hispetence, he would move to Emergency Room 2. Which had many more patients with all kinds of injuries and ailments.
Michael walked out of the recovery center and was prepared to walk back and eat histe lunch, though the system stopped him.
Host, go to the training field, you can have your lunchter with your dinner.
"Why?" Michael asked a bit puzzled
I told you that you were going to be training. That training includes running and lifting weights.
Michael couldn''t help but clench his fists harder. He thought he would be training his spells, not his body "Is that necessary?"
Host, you are weak, frail, slow, and more. Do not expect to do well if your body is that of a slug. Also, it is the perfect time for you to gain some extra stat points.
Thatst bit perked Michael''s ears up ''Stat points?'' the system didn''t mention anything about this earlier "borate."
Yes, if you do a certain activity, you will get stat points ordingly. if you run you get AGI, if you exhaust yourself you get END, if you lift heavy weights you gain STR. As for INT and CHA, the stat points are a bit harder toe by regrly.
Michael thought back to the time he first used Focus Heal, he received +1 INT as a bonus. Was that what the system meant?
Expect your endurance to be tested to the limits. This will not be light exercise.
A shiver went down Michael''s spine ''This system is the devil.''
Walking to the side, what greeted Michael''s eyes was a stadium and a makeshift open gym. Simr to the ones that he usually used to see on beaches.
Host, let''s start off by running. Run 10ps around the stadium.
"Are you crazy!?" Michael eximed, not caring if anyone heard him. He was a bit tired after all this walking, how could he run 10ps?
You don''t want to run 10ps? Fine, walk 100 then. It''s your loss.
"If I walk 100 I''m not going to be done until tomorrow.." Michael expressed his unwillingness further.
Host, I am not telling you to run at full speed. Jog, just get it done, you will be surprised.
Michael unwillingly walked to the stadium, a few people staring at him. Though he ignored their gazes.
"All I have to do is jog 10ps?" Michael asked for confirmation.
Yes.
And upon receiving it, he started to jog. Though his pace was slow, very slow.
After around 3 minutes he had run his firstp, eachp being 400 meters.
Michael was gasping for air, seemingly already tired from the minuscule amount of running he did.
Jog or not, it seemed it was too difficult for Michael. And he still had 9ps left.
Though before he was about to protest. In front of his eyes appeared the familiar blue hologram.
[+1 END]
It was sudden. He double checked and his stats really did increase. His END went from 2 to 3, he could feel some fatigue go away. Maybe enough to jog yet anotherp.
And so he did, he ran anotherp, and then another. Though on the 4th one, he was once again swamped, gasping for air yet still trying to persevere.
As his knees started buckling, the blue interface appeared again in front of Michael.
[+1 AGI] [+1 END]
This time not only his endurance increased, but also his agility, and he noticed the effects immediately.
Michael''s previous slow jogging turned a little bit faster, only noticeable if you were paying attention. He was yet again invigorated, finishing the rest of theps.
By the end, Michael was sprawled out on the ground. The increase in points was barely enough to get him by. The only reason he was able to finish all 10ps was because he received another stat point during the 8thp.
[+1 END]
''Finally'' Michael thought as he was lying down, gasping for air.
4 stat points in total, not bad host. Take a 5 minute break and head over to the open gym area.
Michael couldn''t help but grumble. Though the progress was undeniable, his stamina noticeably improved.
At the outdoor gym, there were only a couple of people. They were all bodybuilders so they didn''t pay that much attention to Michael.
Host, the best way for the current you to get stronger is to deadlift.
Michael whispered so no one could hear him "Isn''t it better to train all my muscles?"
If you didn''t have me then yes. However it doesn''t matter if you train other muscles, your strength is bnced because of the STR stat. If you train your body and get a STR point, it will be like you trained everything at once.
''Gotcha..'' Michael nodded and proceeded to pick up a straight bar with no weights.
As Michael was about to start, the system interrupted him.
What do you think you are doing? Put 20kg on each side.
Michael knew it wasing, though isn''t 40kg too much? He weighed around 20kg himself, double his body weight as the first time lifting seemed a bit much.
Host, for a veteran you sure are a wuss.
Michael''s brow twitched and he went to put on the weights on each side, then tried lifting the bar.
Picking it up, he noticed it wasn''t as bad as he thought. It was heavy sure, but not to the point where he would struggle too much.
Hmm, host put another 20kg on each side.
''I just had to jinx it'' Michael sighed as he went to put on the extra weights.
Finally, Michael was struggling, it was taking him everything he had just to lift the bar once.
Perfect, do this until you gain 2 STR stat points.
''Devil..'' Michael thought before continuing.
Chapter 5: A Year
Chapter 5: A Year
One yearter..
Michael was doing what he usually does. Sit at his desk and wait for patients to arrive.
Though this particr day was special.
Michael stared nkly into the mirror and muttered "Status"
+---+
Name: Michael
Age: 9 years old
Race: Human
ss: Healer [Common]
Level 9 [9000/9000 EXP] (+)
Titles:
-Born anew [Unique] [Temporary]
# Increases experience gain by 50% until level 10
-Stats
HP: 340/340 / Regen 48 HP Per Hour
MP: 520/545 / Regen 89 MP Per Hour
STR: 4 -> 40
END: 2 -> 48
AGI: 2 -> 37
INT: 17 -> 89
CHA: 5 -> 6
-Skills
Hand to handbat [Level 5 0/2500 EXP] [Common] [Passive]
# Increases STR by 5% when fighting using only your hands
Discipline [Level 7 250/3500 EXP] [Umon] [Passive]
# Mental magic has a 7% reduced effect on you
Shooting mastery [Level 6 0/3000 EXP] [Umon] [Passive]
# Any kind of projectile has a 6% increase in velocity
Heal [Level 10 MAX] [Common] [Active]
# Heal the target / Restore 150 HP
Cost: 25 MP
Focus Heal [Level 10 MAX] [Common] [Active]
# Heal the target''s injuries in the area focused / Restore 150 HP
Cost: 15 MP
+---+
Michael had gotten an extra 5 Unassigned stat points each once he maxed out both of his healing skills. That coupled with the single point he got per a skill level up,ted him quite the sum.
Due to his intense training, he was able to level up Discipline 3 times. Gaining 3 stat points.
He also invested all the points that he received from leveling up thus far into INT. bringing his total to 89.
The other stats stopped growing as much. At first, the growth rate was rapid, butter on, it took a week to even see a single stat point appear. Even that was not guaranteed.
Congrattions, you finally reached Level 10. All you have to do is click the button now.
Over the past year, Michael did nothing but work, train, eat and sleep. That was his entire day''s regimen.
It was akin to torture. But Michael persevered and is now looking at his results proudly.
The rtionship between Michael and the system was simr to that of brothers. Though Michael was the younger brother.
He noticed that the system''s personality is very simr to his. And when he raised a question about it, the system told Michael that a piece of its sentience contained some of his memories.
He was quite shocked to hear that. But it did exin why the system knew so much about him.
''Anyways'' Michael turned back to the system interface and focused on the plus sign next to his level, then clicked it.
-DING
[Level up! 9->10 0/10000 EXP]
[Health and Magic Points fully restored]
[5 Unassigned Stat points obtained]
[Milestone reached! +10 to all stats]
[HP and MP Ratio readjusted 1:5->1:6]
[New System Functions added]
Michael was assaulted by a wall of text. But before he could rejoice that it was over, another sound rang in his ears.
-DING
+--+
[Random Healer Skill generated]
Purify [Level 0 0/100] [Rare] [Active]
# Purify the target, curing all diseases and illnesses
Cost: 100MP
+--+
''Curing all diseases and illnesses?'' Michael thought. It seemed a little overpowered.
That is correct, because it is overpowered.
''Bastard, now you can hear my thoughts!?'' Michael eximed in his mind, he didn''t expect this development.
That is one of the new functions yes. Though the best one of them all is [Skill Merging]
''Oh? Can I Merge my shooting and hand to handbat skills? I don''t use them anyways.''
No, the skills not only have to be the same rarity. They also need to be active skills, since you can''t merge passive skills. The skill levels need to be maxed out as well.
''That''s a bummer.''
Well look on the bright side, you no longer have to say your skills out loud like some idiot, all you have to do is just think about them and they will manifest.
''It''s not my fault this system handicapped me'' Michael shrugged.
The only one handicapped was you when you started training. Now gobine your healing skills.
''Fuck off'' Michael thought before turning on his status interface and clicking on [Skill Merging]
A window popped up and showed only 2 skills that he could merge [Heal] and [Focus heal]
Michael selected both of them and a button appeared asking whether he wished to proceed. He clicked yes and instantly heard a sound.
-DING
[Skills merged, generating new skill]
+--+
Greater Heal [Level 0 0/100] [Umon] [Active]
# Heal your target / Restore 500 HP
Cost: 20 MP
+--+
Michael''s eyes widened in shock ''500HP!?''
That is certainly more than I thought myself. This is closer to being a Rare rank skill. Though I guess the only reason it''s not is because it is just a simple heal in the end.
''Maybe'' Michael thought while shrugging. He didn''t really care, he would merge this skill with another one if he were to obtain a second Umon ranked active skill.
Go check out your status screen. I already used the stat points.
Michael nodded, and out of habit said "Status"
+---+
Name: Michael
Age: 9 years old
Race: Human
ss: Healer [Common]
Level 10 [0/10000 EXP]
Titles:
None
-Stats
HP: 448/448 / Regen 58 HP Per Hour
MP: 724/724 / Regen 104 MP Per Hour
STR: 40 -> 50
END: 48 -> 58
AGI: 37 -> 47
INT: 89 -> 104
CHA: 6 -> 16
-Skills / [Skill Merging]
Hand to handbat [Level 5 0/2500 EXP] [Common] [Passive]
# Increases STR by 5% when fighting using only your hands
Discipline [Level 7 250/3500 EXP] [Umon] [Passive]
# Mental magic has a 7% reduced effect on you
Shooting mastery [Level 6 0/3000 EXP] [Umon] [Passive]
# Any kind of projectile has a 6% increase in velocity
Greater Heal [Level 0 0/100] [Umon] [Active]
# Heal your target / Restore 500 HP
Cost: 20 MP
Purify [Level 0 0/100] [Rare] [Active]
# Purify the target, curing all diseases and illnesses
Cost: 100MP
+---+
''So are you now just going to put every single stat point I earn into INT?'' Michael asked the system with a smile that seemed to not portray his inner feelings.
Pretty much, yes.
''So my opinion is not needed anymore?''
No? I am only distributing your stat points. I am still going to ask you for your opinion before leveling up.
''Whatever..''
Michael noticed his working hours were over. He walked to the reception and clocked out, before starting to walk towards the stadium where he usually trained.
It has be a habit of his. At some point down the line, he started going there willingly.
Though as he was walking there. A woman came up to him and stepped in front of him.
She had a nk expression on her face, one thatcked emotion "Reba wishes to see you."
With those words, she left.
''That was a bit strange'' Michael thought but nheless headed towards Reba''s office.
She was under some kind of mind affecting spell.
''Can''t I use Purify on her to remove it then?'' Michael wondered.
It won''t work. She was afflicted with magic, and for that you would need something that could dispel said magic. But you don''t have that.
''I see.''
After a couple minutes of walking, Michael finally arrived in front of Reba''s office. As he was about to open the door, Hilda appeared and opened it for him, then proceeded to follow him inside.
She is also brainwashed.
At the system''s nonchntment, Michael visibly flinched.
"Is something the matter Michael?" Hilda asked.
"It''s nothing.."
''Could you at least try to give me a heads up!?'' Michael eximed at the system.
My bad.
''Your bad my ass, you waited to tell me didn''t you'' Michael asked. But it seemed the system chose to ignore him.
"Thank you foring Michael" Reba said whilst standing up and going around the stacks of paper on the floor.
She then turned to Hilda and told her to wait outside, and she did just that.
Afterwards, she pointed towards a chair filled with dozens of paper stacks and used her powers to lift the paper away "Sit down."
Michael maneuvered around all of the paper on the ground. It was way worse thanst time, almost as if she hadn''t done paperwork for a whole year.
"Why was I called?"
"There has been a little situation..though before that, ce your hand on this again" Reba said as she pulled out the device that showed people''s levels.
cing his hand on it, the hologram appeared.
-+-
Name: Michael
Age: 9
ss: Healer
Level 10
-+-
Reba''s face turned to one of shock, his level increased by so much in just a year. She knew that it was difficult to level up at the start, especially as a healer.
Clearing her throat "Perfect, Michael how would you like to apany a party that is going to go hunt monsters?"
Michael lightly tilted his head "In a dungeon?"
Reba lightly shook her head with a small smile "Nope, there are a couple of monsters that escaped a dungeon. They are not very strong so the government is using them as practice dummies."
She continued "That is why I thought you might be interested. It is better to get to know the real world earlier."
Michael decided not to immediately ept, but first think about it.
In his own opinion, he felt like he had grown quite a lot. But he has never once used his newfound skills or physical abilities anywhere outside of work or training.
As a former veteran, he had a lot of field experience. He has seen many people die, and he took some lives himself so he was not worried about freezing.
You should go.
The system''s voice rang out in Michael''s head. Ever since the system reminded him of how weak he was, he never thought it would actively tell him to go into danger.
Don''t overthink it. Trust in the training you went through. You are strong enough to keep up with adults, you seem to forget that most people only awaken once they are 10. You have a headstart above everyone, and you still have to reach Level 20 to go into dungeons. I do not go back on my word.
Michael couldn''t help but feel slightly warm inside. They had many disagreements and arguments, but in the end, they were still like friends or brothers.
He turned towards Reba and said "I will go."
"Great! I wille pick you up in a week, oh and here" Reba pulled some sort of key card out of her pocket.
"These are the keys to your new room, I was going to give them to you on your birthday, but I was a little busy, sorry" She looked down apologetically.
''A new room..'' Michael thought. Feeling relieved that he no longer had to sleep in a bunk bed with the other children all around him. It was getting quite tiring, mentally.
"Thank you.." he expressed his genuine thanks.
"It''s no problem, you can go now, call Hilda in once you leave" Reba said before standing up and walking back to her chair. Hiding behind the paperwork on her desk.
Michael nodded and said his goodbyes, before walking out of the office and heading towards his new room.
-----
Hilda walked up and around the stack of papers on the desk. Arriving in front of Reba "Miss, why did you do that?"
Reba looked up at her and spoke in a low voice "I had to do that to meet Reinhardt no? What difference does it make if you were there or not?"
Hilda stared back at her expressionlessly "I suppose it doesn''t matter. What level was the boy?"
"He was level 6. Quite the fast speed for a healer."
"I see, did you tell him about the monsters?"
"Yes, he agreed" Reba put on a smile that didn''t quite seem genuine. She then continued "Was this all necessary though?"
Hilda shed a cold look at her "Do not question orders from above."
She then proceeded to disappear into the shadows. Once again not letting out a single sound.
Reba stared at the wall before sighing.
''Reinhardt thinks of others as tools, he is nning on mind controlling Michael'' she thought.
Over thest year, she conversed more and more with him and was able to determine the type of person he was.
''Maniptive, sadistic, crazy..''
During one of their conversations, he was talking about magic affecting the brain to do another''s bidding.
She steered the conversation in a way she could gain some information. And found out he was involved in her brainwashing.
He didn''t bother with her even after telling her she was brainwashed. He was sure she was still under his control.
''He is mysterious, his goals are unknown, but the fact that he ordered me to send Michael on this monster hunt, means he ns to do something'' Reba surmised.
''That is when I will confront him..''
Chapter 6: Ivory Robe
Chapter 6: Ivory Robe
Michaelid on his new king sized bed. The room was as big as a t, and it was covered in luxurious and expensive items.
''Even this bed was worth a couple thousand dors'' he thought whilst continuing to mindlesslyy on top of it.
It''s been a week now, and today Reba was supposed toe pick him up.
You have not trained in a week.
''So? I wouldn''t see much progress anyways'' Michael thought absentmindedly.
You seem to forget that every single stat point you earn makes you more powerful, and as a healer you really need them. While it may have taken you a year to reach level 10 and it is considered fast for a healer, the people who awaken as Damage dealers are going to catch up within months.
Michael furrowed his brows, expressing his doubt ''Months? Isn''t that a little short? I was working every day for the past year and was just barely able to level up.''
You have to actively heal others to gain EXP. The Damage dealer sses have to just swing a stick around and they get EXP. As for the Tanks, they just have to get hit in order to earn EXP.
''That is a bit stupid..''
Life is not fair. By now you should know that the best.
Michael chuckled ''Yeah I guess you are right.''
As Michael was talking to the system about random things, he heard a knock on his door. He walked up and opened it.
It wasn''t Reba. It was some sort of woman dressed as a maid.
She took out some sort of box and handed it to him. Not saying a single word.
''Brainwashed?'' Michael wondered.
Nope, that was just what a normal maid is like.
Michael shrugged and walked back to his bed, the neat box in hand.
Upon opening it he saw there was some sort of robe. It was full white in color, with strange patterns etched onto the fabric of it.
Put it on, it''s equipment.
''Equipment?'' Michael thought, before he followed the system''s advice. When he put it on, the interface shone.
+--+
Ivory Robe [Umon]
+50 HP
+50 MP
+10 INT
# Increase the range of skills by 10 meters
+--+
''What the..'' Michael was greatly surprised. He didn''t expect there to be equipment that could raise one''s stats.
He quickly checked his status and saw it really did increase.
+--+
HP: 448/448->498/498 [+50] / Regen 58 HP Per Hour
MP: 724/724->834/834 [+50] / Regen 114 MP Per Hour
INT: 104->114 [+10]
+--+
It said that the range of his skills also increased by 10 meters. It essentially doubled his existing range to a now whopping 20 meters.
Don''t get too excited, this is on the lower end of the Umon rarity. There are many much better than this. Besides that, check the note.
Michael looked a bit puzzled but checked inside of the box and noticed there was a sticky note glued to the side.
He tore it off and started reading it.
-----
Hope you like this gift P.S you never know what can go wrong during monster hunts, be on guard -Reba
-----
''That''s sweet..'' He couldn''t help but express. Before crumpling the note and throwing it back into the box.
As he was about to go enjoy his extended rest, someone knocked on the door again.
He went up and opened it and what met his eyes was Hilda.
"Let''s go" she said and turned around walking to the front of the academy.
Michael followed her, though his unease was just barely contained. He didn''t know who brainwashed her or why. But ever since finding that out, he saw the cafeteria cook in a new light.
As they were walking Michael received many strange looks, the robe he was wearing was not shy, but still enough to attract attention.
They arrived at the entrance of the orphanage and stopped.
Hilda turned towards Michael and said "Wait here, someone wille to pick you up shortly" She then proceeded to walk back to the cafeteria, leaving Michael alone.
He felt like a kid, needing to be picked up by everyone. Well, technically he was still a kid right now..
Shortly after, a man in a ck suit came through the orphanage''s entrance. Holding some kind of picture in his hands.
He looked around until his gaze finallynded on Michael "Hello, my name is Ron, I will be your driver."
With that simple greeting, they went out of the orphanage. A luxurious ck sedan was parked right in front of them.
''Wow, am I now a big shot?'' Michael whistled to himself.
Yeah, a big shot that has not received a single tip in a year.
''Shut up.''
Michael sat inside of the car and noticed the seats were incrediblyfy. Would be a shame if they weren''t, the car was worth a kidney at the very least.
Ron was quiet the whole drive there. He hadn''t spoken a single word since his introduction.
But Michael didn''t mind it, he was not fond of small talk with strangers. He was quite reserved back in his previous life.
He had friends, but they were those he met during his time serving the country. After he was discharged he didn''t make many new friends. A bit of a mental scar had formed from watching his friends die.
''It seemed I was the same in this life too'' Michael chuckled inwardly.
Before Michael regained his memories, the only person he could call his ''friend'' was Reba. And even then she was nowhere near his age.
''I don''t pity myself, I am still young so I can make friends, eventually..''
I am your friend, aren''t I?
''You are'' While Michael was a bit preupied thinking. He forgot about his closest friend, the system.
After a couple of hours of driving, they finally arrived at a forest clearing. There were a bunch of cars already parked here.
"We are here" Ron said as he got out of the car and opened the door for Michael.
He didn''t really know where to go. It seemed like Reba glossed over some details.
He saw someone get out of their car and walk towards a person wearing a suit. They showed their ID and were let through.
''ID? I don''t fucking have anything like that'' Michael expressed while slightly panicking.
Just go, worst case scenario they will justugh at you for being a forgetful idiot. Good luck.
''Thank you system'' Michael couldn''t help but cuss under his breath.
He walked up to the person in a suit and said "Hello, I don''t have an ID but my name should be listed? I am Michael."
The man''s professional facade slightly crumbled, but he was able to regain hisposure "This is not a ce for kids."
''I knew this would happen'' Michael sighed and exined "Sir, check for my name please, my party is waiting inside."
Michael was spouting bullshit, he didn''t know who was in his party or when they were supposed to arrive.
The man looked around and saw that there weren''t any more people behind Michael, so he walked to the side into his little booth and opened his clipboard.
He flipped the pages until he found a person named Michael.
-----
Michael
Age:9
ss: Healer
Affiliation: Amara orphanage
-----
The man was slightly shocked, it was a kid who awakened way earlier than the others.
He walked back to Michael and gave him a note with A-7 written on it "Go straight ahead and find the person in charge, he will show you where you have to go."
Michael simply nodded and took the note, before walking towards the empty forest.
Eventually, he saw an area that was closed off. There was a person standing in front of it.
Michael walked up to him and showed him the the note, and was led to an empty area. Just as he was about to question the man, the surroundings switched. The forest clearing was gone and what reced it was a bustling base of operations.
There were many people running around carrying all sorts of stuff. Be it machine parts or weapons.
The man that led him here pointed towards a tent with A-7 written over it and afterward walked out, disappearing.
Spatial magic most likely, someone pretty high leveled created this field.
''What''s it for though, are they trying to hide something?'' Michael thought.
It''s obviously for protection. This location is a secret and only those in the know are here.
''Protection from what? Do you think anyone is going to raid this ce?''
There is a dungeon in the very middle, even if it is low level, it is still valuable.
After a bit of debating Michael arrived at the tent and went inside of it. It was way bigger than it looked.
And it was empty.
Michael thought while sighing ''Thank god he didn''t call me out on my bullshit.''
Though the person that gave Michael the note did realize he was lying but chose to ignore it.
Michael found afortable seat and waited for his supposed party members to arrive. The only things in this tent were chairs and a table, possibly for strategic meetings, or rest.
After waiting for 20 minutes, a man walked in whilst talking on his phone and sat down on one of the chairs, not even paying attention to Michael at all.
The man was tall and muscr, he had a massive shield on his back and a short sword on his waist.
''So that''s the tank'' Michael concluded.
He then asked the system ''So when you said Tanks need to be hit in order to get EXP. Does that apply even if they are using a shield to block it?''
Yes, as long as they absorb some of the impact into their bodies, it counts.
''I see'' Michael nodded.
Shortly after, 2 men walked in. Long swords stashed away on their waists.
''The damage dealers..'' Michael thought.
They sat down on one of the chairs and began talking amongst themselves. It seemed like they were already acquainted with one another.
So far everyone has ignored Michael, only sparing him a single nce.
However he was not surprised. They were all over the age of 20, with him looking like a slightly buff toddler.
After a whole year of training, he had gotten slightly taller. Now reaching 150cm in height, impressive for someone his age.
Lastly, a woman arrived. She had blonde hair and pointy ears with a bow on her back. ''Is she cosying?''
That''s an elf.
''You mean the elves from fantasy books? Are there dwarves too then?'' Michael asked the system in excitement.
Probably.
But was turned down by a short response.
As the elf sat down sat down, everyone became quiet. Even the guy who was on his phone hung up and put it away.
Everyone looked each other up and down and started introducing themselves.
The 2 with long swords were the first to talk.
"Paul, Swordsman."
"Zane, Swordsman."
Up next was the tank. After getting off his phone, he seemed like a pretty nice guy. Though Michael knew appearances could be misleading.
"Eric, Tank."
Afterwards was the elf.
"Joanna, Archer."
Now the only person who was left was Michael. Everyone stared at him with mixed expressions. Some with doubt, others with curiosity.
"Michael, Healer."
Chapter 7: Disturbance
Chapter 7: Disturbance
No one took their eyes off Michael. Everyone was still staring at him.
That was until Eric spoke up "Kid, our lives are in your hands, are you prepared for that?"
Michael stared back into his eyes and anwsered with a serious expression "I wouldn''t be here if I wasn''t."
Eric''s gaze didn''t waver "Then do you have experience? Have you ever even seen a monster before?"
''I can see where he ising from, no answer I give will satisfy him'' Michael sighed.
"I don''t have any experience, and no, I have never seen a monster" he decided to be forward with him.
Ericughed slightly "So you are some rich kid that somehow managed to get invited here, I see."
"I am an orphan."
Those words silenced Eric''sughter.
"I see, sorry."
Even after taunting Michael, it seemed he still had some basic morals at the very least.
"It''s fine." Michael shrugged
Joanna was next to speak "So how old are you anyway, you look 14."
"I am 9" Michael felt helpless, there was no way for him to prove his credibility.
Everyone''s eyes widened and they looked at each other, not saying a word.
Eric stood up and walked up to Michael saying "Listen, your role is going to be simple, just heal us when we are injured, and in turn, we will protect you from the monsters in front."
Michael absentmindedly nodded, he already knew that, the system informed him about it.
Eric then began exining the n, it seemed he wanted to be the party leader and no one had a reason to object.
He showed Michael and the others the formation they were going to be using, Michael at the very back, to his side was Joanna, closer to the front were the 2 swordsmen andstly the tank, in the very front.
Eric then proceeded to take out some shabby piece of paper and showed it to everyone. It had the description of the monsters they were going to face.
They looked exactly like werewolves, the only difference being the color of their fur, which was a dark shade of red.
He then exined that they were a new type of species, having skills that the other werewolves did not have.
One such skill was shooting balls of fire from their mouth. However after reading the information fully, the weakness was clearly evident.
It takes those werewolves 3 seconds to finish casting their fireball, which in turn gives us 3 whole seconds of time to kill them while their guard is down.
After making sure everyone was briefed fully, they went out of the tent and started walking to one of the bigger buildings in the area.
As much as Michael wanted to ask them questions, he held himself back, not wanting to anger his teammates further.
Why do you even care about what they think? You won''t see them after this hunt anyway.
Michael started exining ''They already dislike me because of my age, if I add fuel to the fire by being an annoying 9 year old, I wouldn''t be surprised if they just leave the party altogether.''
Hmm, that could indeed happen, I am the only one who can handle your annoying questions.
''Sure sure'' Michael started ignoring the system while following the others.
They arrived in front of the building and Eric walked up to talk to one of the guards, showing the identification he received from one of the higher ups.
The guard merely looked at Eric''s face and waved his hand, signaling for the party to go past.
Michael and the others went inside of the building. Walking along the halls they saw many doors, with all sorts of letters and numbers written on them.
They eventually arrived at a particr door that had A-7 written on it.
Eric pulled out some sort of keycard and put it up to the door.
Click
And it was unlocked, just like that.
Eric suddenly spoke "We are here everybody, don''t forget what we discussed."
''Do we just go through that door then?'' Michael thought.
Yes, but something seems wrong, be on your guard.
''Something seems wrong?'' Michael immediately became more alert.
Though the same could not be said for the others, everyone, aside from Joanna, was way tooid back, as if they were going on a stroll.
''Reba did mention that the monsters were fairly weak, so I can see why they might be a little carefree.''
Everyone stepped through the door and they were immediately transported to a grassy area, surrounded by a dense forest, nothing like where they just were.
Michael was expecting to just fight in a training room against the monsters, but as he looked around, he noticed the faces of everyone present.
They were shocked, instantly going on guard and drawing their weapons.
Spatial disturbance, someone relocated the coordinates of whatever was supposed to be through that door to some other ce.
''Bad feeling huh? I should listen to you more'' Michael sarcastically said before focusing, this situation could be dangerous.
Eric instructed "Proceed as nned, stay in formation."
"Why should we listen to you huh!? Do you even know where we are?" Zane spoke in a delinquent like voice.
Joanna gave him a side eye and drew her bow, nocking an arrow and aiming it at him she said with a small smile "Will you go with us or not?"
She only meant that as provocation, however, Zane took it personally, he drew his sword and started running towards her, Paul tried stopping him, but due to his halfhearted effort, he couldn''t.
Joanna''s eyes slightly widened in shock, drawing back her bow even further.
Since they were all rtively close to one another Eric stepped in front of them and aimed his shield toward Zane, getting ready to block his attack.
He shouted "Stop it Zane! Let''s talk this through!"
But it seemed it was for naught as Zane swung his longsword at Eric, who was blocking Joanna.
-ng
Zane''s sword bounced back and Eric was pushed off bnce by the sheer force of the attack.
That was when Joanna stopped hesitating and shot her arrow, aiming for one of Zane''s legs.
Though just as she released the arrow and sent it flying, it was blocked, by a longsword.
The perpetrator being none other than Paul.
"Bitch how dare you shoot an arrow at my brother!"
All the while Michael was just standing off to the side, watching this spectacle unfold.
''Just what the fuck is happening? Are they brainwashed or something?''
No, there are some really arrogant people in this world, A rich family and an easy life, see where that gets you.
''Surely not all rich people are this bad, right?'' Michael couldn''t help but shudder.
Definitely not all of them, however, there are enough to make up a minority.
''That sure is something, though I suppose it was simr in my old world as well'' Michael couldn''t help but reminisce about the past.
The fight was still going on with both Zane and Paul attacking Eric and Joanna, though none had yet to sustain an injury.
Michael walked up to them and tried to reason with them, with bullshit of course "Everyone stop! I heard some sort of sounding from the forest!"
As those words rang in the air, thebat seemingly stopped, everyone returning to being fully alert as if the battle just then had not happened at all.
Eric dusted himself off and asked "Which direction did you hear it from?"
Michael thought for a moment and pointed in a random direction "That way."
Their guards still seemed to be up, hostility clearly present in the air.
Eric walked toward the direction Michael pointed at, not even giving instructions anymore.
Though they were not needed, everyone stuck to their original positions anyway now that the little squabble had ended.
Michael asked the system ''How strong were they?''
Level 30-40ish, pretty weak for their age though.
''Only level 40? You said my ss''s rarity will increase every 50 levels, just how long is that going to take'' He asked with curiosity.
I never said it would be fast, I only told you what was possible.
Michael just soaked in the information, realizing he might not be able to level up his Healer ss as fast as he thought.
The group continued walking in one direction but even after walking for several minutes, not a single sound could be heard.
Though as it seemed Michael''s bullshit was going to catch up to him, he felt something and turned towards the left, though it seemed he was not the only one who felt something, as the others did as well.
There were a pair of lifeless ck eyes staring at them, seemingly not moving at all.
Though everyone could feel it, they knew that whatever that was, it was dangerous.
Michael''s heart started beating faster, and his palms were beginning to sweat, the pressure that thing was emitting was intense.
What did I say about you not being able to stand the pressure of an actual dungeon monster?
''If you are trying to tell me I told you so, then you can kindly fuck off'' Michael answered, the bit of banter slightly calming him down.
As the system''s words finally settled in, Michael''s eyes once again widened.
Yes, you are in a dungeon, one above your party''s level.
''Shit, does that mean we are pretty much dead?'' Michael said while tightly clenching his fists, still not breaking eye contact with the monster.
Not necessarily, if you work as a team you might make it out alive.
Michael''s brow twitched ''Might?''
Yes, this is the only monster close to you, I can''t feel any others.
''Do you know what that thing is then?'' Michael asked the system with a tinge of hope.
No, but its powers are rted to illusions, what you are seeing now is not real, the monster is somewhere else.
''Yeah? Where is it?'' Michael pushed for answers.
Figure it out yourself, you are acting like a little child, how do you expect to grow if all you do is rely on me?
''But isn''t the situation dangerous? One wrong move and I could die'' Michael said, his confidence slightly wavering.
Though no reply came, and Michael felt all alone again, with the only people by his side, being the party members whom he didn''t even know that well.
''Focus'' Michael took deep breaths to regain hisposure and finally took his eyes away from the illusion.
Though he was immediately startled upon looking towards his party, Zane and Joanna were dead.
Their bodies lifelessly lying on the ground, their necks twisted at impossible angles.
''How could this happen?'' Michael started thinking in overdrive, frantically looking around, trying to find the monster that did this.
Eventually, he tried something, as ast ditch resort, he used Greater Heal on the dead bodies.
Normally you don''t instantly die when your neck breaks, it takes a few minutes for you to actually die.
Michael knew this, and that was why he tried his luck on this unrealistic idea.
As the light enveloped them, 2 blue boxes appeared in front of him,bining into a singr box.
[Greater Heal +100 EXP]
''100? Besides that, it worked?'' Michael looked on in wonder, watching their terribly twisted necksing back into ce, and color slowly returning to their bodies.
However another problem arose, and that being the 2 people he just healed.
They were not waking up.
Meanwhile, the others were still in a trance, even as Michael tried pushing and talking to them, they did not react in the slightest.
-Haa
All of a sudden Michael heard someone breathe behind him, though as he quickly turned around, no one was there.
-Crack
Turning back around at that sound, he saw Paul with bloodshot eyes, and his skull split open, brain matter flowing out.
Michael did not hesitate and quickly casted his Greater Heal on him
[Greater Heal +50 EXP]
Paul quickly reverted back to his previous condition, however, something was strange, something was different.
Paul turned towards Michael, his eyes nk, an eerie smile, hanging on his face "Michael.."
The voice was different.
"What''s wrong Michael?"
The eyes, giving away his inner madness, a smile that seemed to not go away even as he spoke.
Michael took a few steps back and cautiously looked straight into Paul''s eyes before saying "Who are you?"
Chapter 8: The Monster
Chapter 8: The Monster
The silence was loud..
Paul did not say a single word after Michael''s question. Whatever it was, it knew it had been found out.
"Ha..hahahaha" Paul''sughter erupted, the sound more akin to a shriek than augh.
"Was it that obvious?" He said, barely containing hisugh.
All the while Michael just stared at him, not quite sure what to do, he was aware that whoever that was, it was not Paul.
''The monster?'' Michael thought while thinking back on the system''s words.
''A monster who uses illusions.''
Was that even possible? What he was seeing now looked nothing like the illusion earlier, it felt real.
Though as real as it may be, it had not moved once, the most it had managed to do so far was move its head, with its ever present eerie smile and nk eyes.
Michael''s thoughts were interrupted by Paul''s contorted voice.
"Are you scared?" The voice echoed in the seemingly quiet forest.
Though Michael was surprisingly calm, staring back into Paul''s nk eyes.
Michael saw something, a figure in the corner of his eyes, it had a tall and slender body, yet its face only contained a single red eye in the very middle.
It hid amongst the trees, you would not be able to notice it unless you paid really close attention.
The figure was not moving, it seemed it was cautious of being found out by Michael.
And he was going to use that to his advantage, Michael pretended to stumble and began his little act.
"P-please don''t hurt me!" he let out and noticed the mysterious figure moving closer.
All the while Paul''s smile widened further "Don''t be afraid, I am not going to hurt you."
Michael picked up a rock and threw it straight at Paul,nding right on his face, though even with that, the smile didn''t seem to disappear at all.
In fact, it was growing even wider.
''Why is that fucking thing moving so slow'' Michael eximed in his mind, still keeping sight of the figure in the corner of his eyes.
It was close now, only a few meters away, inching ever so closer.
Suddenly it stopped, just as it was nearly next to Michael. Paul''s voice resounded out, the smile finally disappearing from his face "Hmm? You are not afraid?"
Michael took this chance to charge straight at the figure, catching it off guard.
Its singr red eye widened, it tried moving back but it was toote.
-Bam
Michael''s punch connected with its red eye.
"Aaaaaah" the creature''s shrill contorted scream rang out.
All of a sudden a dozen of all different kinds of eyes appeared around Michael, staring at him with Malice, though he ignored them, this monster''s illusions were ineffective on Michael.
-Bam
Michael punched it in the face.
-Bam
Again.
-Bam
And again.
Eventually, it started waving its hands, looking as if it was weaving something, when all of a sudden Michael could hear somethinging at him from behind.
-Crack
Bones were breaking and twisting, and all the while Paul charged straight at Michael, his eyes lifeless, his body in shambles.
He ran up to Michael and swung his longsword diagonally, aiming to sever Michael''s head.
Though he was unsessful, no matter how strong a person was, if he couldn''t control his strength he was nothing but a mindless brute.
Michael didn''t even need to dodge the attack, it was so far off from his head that it was nearlyughable.
It seemed the monster couldn''t control Paul''s body as it wanted to, its red eye showing traces of panic.
Paul continued to swing his sword, but it was always either too far away, or close but not close enough, as if a toddler picked up a sword for the first time.
-Crack
Another crack could be heard, followed by,
-Thud
Paul''s body falling down, finally breaking apart, and dropping his Longsword close to Michael.
Michael punched the monster in the face one more time before grabbing the longsword, and stabbing it right into its singr red eye.
Instantly, 2 separate blue boxes flooded Michael''s vision.
[Mind Stalker [Level 50] Killed! +10000 EXP]
[Generating New Title!]
-DING
+--+
Ruthless Combatant
# Raise all your damage by 10% when facing enemies at least 30 levels above you
+--+
Michael had received a new title and a level up from merely killing a single monster.
''10000 EXP in minutes when it took me several months to get it while healing..tragic'' Michael couldn''t help but grumble.
Congrattions, you killed it.
''Yeah I killed it, no fucking thanks to you!'' Michael eximed at the system.
Rx, you saw how weak it was, besides, you have a skill that negates some mental magic, it was enough because the monster used most of its power on the others, he used very little on you, so you were able to easily dispel it.
''A heads up would have been really nice, besides that, why was it so weak anyway? It said it was level 50'' Michael grumbled and asked the system curiously.
Chalk it up to luck, you just so happened to meet a monster that fully relied on its magic powers, those being rted to the mind.
''Right, but aren''t his physical abilities supposed to be stronger? It felt like I was brawling with a child'' Michael asked.
Its physical capabilities were in the level 15-20 area, It seemed like it had never fought before in its life, hence why it panicked so much.
Don''t let it get to your head, you were lucky.
Michael nodded, he knew he was lucky, if only the monster did not underestimate him because of his age, if it was even a little bit good at closebat, he would have died.
Michael stood up and looked down on the monster, after its death it had shrunk to the size of a little doll.
As for Paul, he was already beyond saving, Michael cast his Greater Heal twice on him, but there was no response, the golden light merely enveloping him, before disappearingpletely.
''Pity'' Michael thought, Paul was arrogant and trashy, but he was a decent swordsman, for what it was worth.
Michael then raised a question to the system ''Why am I getting 50 EXP now after using my Greater Heal?''
The higher the rarity of your skill, the more EXP you get when using it, anyways go check your status, you leveled up.
Michael nodded and opened the status interface.
+---+
Name: Michael
Age: 9 years old
Race: Human
ss: Healer [Common]
Level 11 [150/11000 EXP]
Titles:
Ruthless Combatant
# Raise all your damage by 10% when facing enemies at least 30 levels above you
-Stats
HP: 416/498 [+50] / Regen 58 HP Per Hour
MP: 770/870 [+50] / Regen 120 MP Per Hour
STR: 50
END: 58
AGI: 47
INT: 114->120 [+10]
CHA: 16
-Skills / [Skill Merging]
Hand to handbat [Level 5 971/2500 EXP] [Common] [Passive]
# Increases STR by 5% when fighting using only your hands
Discipline [Level 7 800/3500 EXP] [Umon] [Passive]
# Mental magic has a 7% reduced effect on you
Shooting mastery [Level 6 0/3000 EXP] [Umon] [Passive]
# Any kind of projectile has a 6% increase in velocity
Greater Heal [Level 1 50/500 EXP] [Umon] [Active]
# Heal your target / Restore 500 -> 600HP
Cost: 20 MP
Purify [Level 0 0/100 EXP] [Rare] [Active]
# Purify the target, curing all diseases and illnesses
Cost: 100MP
+---+
Aside from shooting mastery, most of Michael''s skills received a boost in experience.
He also noticed that he managed to take a little bit of damage, though he could not feel any different, nheless, he still used a Greater Heal on himself.
Sadly he didn''t receive any EXP from that, but it was whatever, he could always heal others in the recovery center now that his skill gives more EXP.
He thought it was finally about time he asked for a promotion, to Emergency Room 2.
Ever since the first time he healed, his progress increased by leaps and bounds, he was now confident in not being a burden but an asset.
Though in reality he just wants to earn more EXP.
You are bing a little shameless.
Michael ignored the system''s snarkyment
It seemed he was also able to Heal people as long as they didn''t instantly die, which was the reason why Joanna and Zane were still alive.
Michael turned to his party members, or well what was left of them anyway.
Joanna and Zane had yet to wake up, as for Eric? He was still staring into nothingness.
What was he supposed to do now though, his teammates were out ofmission, and this dungeon was still uncharted territory for him. He did not know a single thing about dungeons, aside from that they were dangerous for the current him.
Just stay here, eventually, someone wille and find you, probably.
''Probably? You really know your stuff don''t you?'' Michael said sarcastically.
But he started waiting nheless, the alternatives were too dangerous to attempt alone.
-----
After Michael left the orphanage, Reba trailed him, wanting to find out what Reinhardt''s n was.
Though as she went on, nothing out of the ordinary happened, aside from her, she couldn''t feel any other people looking for Michael.
''Strange..'' She thought as she managed to sneak into the facility, following Michael through the halls, she noticed something was amiss, though couldn''t quite put her finger on it.
Michael''s group went through the door, she wanted to wait for a little bit and then go through herself, she couldn''t risk one of the people supervising their party to be a traitor working for Reinhardt.
After a couple of minutes of waiting she went through the door, expecting to be in a training room, however, she was not.
A white room that seemed endless at a nce, and a single note ced on the ground in front of her.
She raised her guard and picked up the note, reading it.
-----
d you made it Reba, Hilda told me about your change of heart, you didn''t really think you could escape from us, did you? Besides that, you betrayed the cult, so I hope you enjoy this little room I prepared just for you. You will be in here for a while -Reinhardt
-----
Reading the note, her expression contorted, she ripped up the note and began using her Telekic skill, trying to destroy wherever she found herself in.
Though even as a Level 120, she couldn''t make the white walls budge an inch.
''I am trapped'' the realisation dawned upon her.
Reba ran to one side, then another, trying to escape this white room, however, no matter how much she ran around, the exit was nowhere in sight.
She once again walked back to the very middle, where the ripped up note was supposed to beying on the floor.
However, as she got there, she noticed the ripped up note was gone, reced by a new one.
She picked it up out of frustration and read it, though there was only a single line.
-----
You can''t escape.
-----
It was written with a red color, as opposed to the earlier note written with ck.
As she flipped over the note to see if there was anything else, she felt a bit of prickle in her thumb.
It was a small cut.
Taking a nce at the edge of the note, she saw a drop of blood, her blood.
''A paper cut?'' Reba thought as her heartbeat rapidly sped up, realizing what this room actually was.
It was a sealed dimension, particrly one that restrains the abilities of another.
Even the strongest awakened could fall into this room, as the moment they are inside, they return to being normal humans without powers.
''No..'' despair finally kicked in, she was confident in her strength, however now that she waspletely powerless?
The only choice she had left was to wait, either to be let out or for her to somehow find a way out, which was highly unlikely.
Her knees buckled and she fell to the ground, hands shaking to the point where she could no longer hold the note.
''What was I thinking..'' Reba thought with a defeated expression. She rushed into the unknown, not expecting her enemies to be so well prepared.
Now all that was left to her were her thoughts, and white all around her.
''I am sorry Michael..''
Chapter 9: Decision
Chapter 9: Decision
''No one ising'' Michael thought while sighing.
You are being impatient, just wait a bit longer.
Michael scoffed at thatment ''Impatient? I have been waiting here in the same ce for thest 16 hours.''
He then stood up and chuckled ''Is someone angry because they were wrong?''
No, you are just being impatient.
''Sure.''
Michael walked over to his fellow teammates, not noticing any difference in their conditions. He tried healing them a couple of times in the hopes of them waking up, however, that turned out to just be a waste of MP.
As for Eric..He was as still as a statue, the illusion in which he got caught up in seemed too strong.
After killing that monster, Michael picked up Paul''s body and dragged it a fair distance away, burying it, he didn''t want this incident traced back to him.
In the off chance that his family begins snooping around, he doesn''t want to get caught in the crossfire, even if he was still a kid, they would not discriminate.
Michael stuck the sword into the monster''s corpse, or what was left of it anyway.
He can''t avoid being suspected, he just hopes they redirect their anger towards the monster and particrly the government.
It was their territory that this incident happened in after all.
Michael took some of Eric''s food that he had stashed in his pockets, it was an MRE.
''They still look the same even when magic is involved'' Michael couldn''t help but chuckle at that thought.
After finishing it all and drinking the already preheated tea, he was finally ready to set out.
But before that ''Hey, how does one even leave a dungeon?''
Kill the boss monster, or just simply walk through the portal you came from, monsters can''t leave the dungeons unless there are special circumstances involved.
''And those special circumstances are?''
If the boss monster bes too strong, the dungeon will try to get rid of it to create bnce, though that never turns out the way it was intended, all of the monsters run out and go on a rampage instead.
''The dungeon will try to get rid of it? Is it alive?'' Michael seemed a bit confused.
No, it''s simr to the previous systems I mentioned. No sentience, they were just following a line of code, those rules basically apply to dungeons as well.
Michael''s eyes slightly widened ''So does that mean that a dungeon could be sentient just like you?''
There was a moment of silence after Michael asked that question, though the system soon answered.
It is not impossible..
''That would be interesting to see, though I doubt it would go well, anyways, care to tell me where the entrance to this dungeon is?'' Michael walked around, looting his sleeping teammates, though none of them had anything valuable except the MRE''s which he dly took.
I can''t feel it, we are either too far or..
''Or?'' Michael seemed a bit impatient, the system was clearly trying to rile him up
The dungeon is closed.
At those words Michael froze ''You mean the dungeon is not open? How is that possible if we were here?''
If one is powerful enough they can open and close dungeons themselves, in this case, the person could have set these coordinates and then left before closing the dungeon.
''So that bullshit about being rescued was a lie?'' Michael clenched his fists.
Not exactly, if that same persones back you would be saved no?
''So now you are gambling with my life..you are unbelievable'' Michael was speechless, after calling him shameless it goes and does this?
Furthermore ''Did you maybe consider the fact that the person might be an enemy?''
Oh it''s most definitely an enemy, however, if it wanted to kill you, that person could have set the coordinates right in front of the boss monster, yet they didn''t.
Michael thought for a moment ''You do have a point, but still, I don''t like leaving my life up to chance, you should know that if you have seen my memories.''
I hope you are aware that the only way you stand a chance against that boss is if you and your party were all together, and even then the boss would need tock experience, which unless it is aplete newborn, is generally impossible.
Michael knew that, but what other choice did he have, he was at a stalemate.
''What level is the boss?''
Since its underling was Level 50, the boss should be at the very least in the high 90''s, maybe even the early 100''s.
''Fuck..so if I fight it, I''ll die, if I stay here, I also likely die, awesome'' Michael couldn''t help butugh to himself, finding the situation he was in amusing.
''Is there no other way?''
There is one way, however, you won''t like it.
Michael''s expression lit up slightly ''What is it?''
Sacrifice your teammates to the boss monster, it will absorb a portion of their strength, in theory, it should open up the dungeon, even if only temporarily.
Michael was left shocked and speechless, it sounded wrong, however what other choice did he have left?
He couldn''t believe he was considering this offer.
''Do you know where the boss monster is?''
Yes, it is a few kilometers north, this is a pretty big dungeon, and don''t worry, I can''t feel any of of those Mind Stalkers anywhere near here.
Michael looked over to his teammates, but looked at Zane in particr. ''Is one enough?''
It would have to do, though you would need to be prepared to run at full speed, the portal would not be up for long.
''And the portal will be where exactly?'' Michael couldn''t help but ask, it seemed the system glossed over it.
The same ce where you arrived, coincidence? I think not.
''That does seem a little convenient..'' Michael was a little suspicious, though he had too little information to be sure of anything.
He picked up all of his teammates, ripping a piece of cloth off of Eric''s expensive looking jacket, he tied all of their legs together and started pulling them towards the entrance, where the portal would appear.
''What guarantee do I have that the boss monster would not just decide to kill me?''
It would view the sacrifice as an offering to it, therefore leaving the giver alone, this happens in other dungeons too, however, it only works if the boss monster is not low leveled, the higher level it is, the more self aware it bes.
''I see'' Michael replied as he continued dragging his teammates, already seeing the grass clearing.
He put them down and untied their legs, then walked up to Zane and picked him up.
Michael was conflicted, he would have never done this in the past, even if it meant him dying. However now, he was determined, even if his morals began crashing down.
The world is different, why should he stay the same?
He was not blindly just, he wouldn''t die for a person he just met, especially one that would most likely backstab him at his earliest convenience.
Don''t trouble yourself with human garbage. Your path will be filled with thorns, don''t let a single inconvenience break you.
''Thank you'' the system cheered Michael on, and that made this decision less burdensome.
With Zane hunched over his shoulder, he began walking towards the boss monster, proceeding with the reckless and unsure n, though he had no better alternative.
As Michael was walking, he saw something in the distance, it was an area that waspletely t, yet in the very middle was a throne.
It looked extremely ominous, but Michael decided to trust in the system.
Once he stepped foot onto the t area, a sudden pressure descended on him.
His knees began shaking, yet he walked forward, nearing the throne that was facing the other side.
A figure stood up, it looked like a Mind Stalker, however instead of a single red eye, it had 2, and its body shape resembled that of a human''s, much different than the one he met earlier.
Michael met its eyes and for a moment lost focus, the only thing on his mind was the monster''s red eyes.
Get yourself together, it had not even cast an illusion.
The system''s voice snapped Michael out of his stupor, regaining his focus.
Though the monster was already in front of Michael, its red eyes expressed a hint of curiosity.
"Here, for you" Michael tossed Zane down on the floor and prepared to run, however, something strange happened.
In a distorted voice, the creature said "For me?" Then looked down towards the sleeping Zane.
Don''t think anything stupid, that thing can read your mind.
Michael flinched but heeded the system''s warning "Yes, for you, in return I would like for you to let me leave."
The monster tilted its head to the side "Why leave?"
Michael could feel his heartbeat rapidly quickening "So I could bring you more sacrifices, obviously."
The creature nodded and put its arm on Zane''s body "I see."
With those words the monster''s body morphed, turning into a gassy like state and going inside of Zane.
Unlike the other one, this one can fully possess a person''s body.
The previously sleeping Zane''s body started twitching momentarily before itpletely stopped and he stood up "This human is pretty trashy, I can see why you wanted to sacrifice him to me."
Then its eyes narrowed, the previously blue eyes of Zane''s turning Red "However I dislike being lied to the most, tell me your reason, and I will decide if I wish to spare you or not."
The previous child like persona of the monster was gone, reced by one of absolute authority.
It fooled us.. I couldn''t tell because I was still too weak, however, that monster is no ordinary boss monster, it''s an ancient of its race, their levels are in the high 200''s, I am sorry, it was my blunder.
The system apologized to Michael in a solemn manner, though he could not afford to vent out his frustrations at it, he didn''t want to risk the monster reading his mind.
He decided to be honest, bullshitting won''t work in a situation like this.
"I want to get out of this dungeon, however, there is no entrance portal or anything of the sort, we randomly got teleported here, the rest are out ofmission and I am the only one still able to stand..
"That''s why I need your help, you are strong right? Can you open up the portal?"
Michael was being unreasonable, though he felt like if he told lies, he would die instantly.
The monster, now inhibiting Zane''s body remained quiet, however, the silence did notst long "I see, however, I don''t think I can help you" it pointed at the t area around them "If I leave this area, my body will likely disintegrate."
Michael asked out of curiosity "Why? Are you bound here?"
The monster slightly chuckled "Something like that, there is something inside of my body that reacts when I get close to the edge, it''s not made out of magic so I can''t dispel it either."
I can''t feel anything, though I might be wrong, use your Purify skill on it, maybe it''s some type of disease made for the ancient monsters.
Michael looked up at the monster who was still inside Zane''s body and said "I am a healer, if you show me your body I could check it out."
Though all that did was spark a wave ofughter from it "You are funny, a weak being such as yourself thinks he can cure someone like me?"
Michael noticed its eyes, they had a glimmer of hope, betraying the tone of voice the monster was taking right now.
"So? can I?" He decided to ask one more time
The monster stoppedughing and exited Zane''s body, reappearing in its previous form "Very well, I shall indulge your curiosity"
Michael walked up to it and first used his Greater heal
[Greater Heal +50 EXP]
He then looked up at the monster and asked "Anything different?"
The monster replied with a simple shake of its head, it was ineffective.
Michael then used Purify, a green light enveloping the red eyed monster.
[Purify +250 EXP]
Wow this ability is indeed impressive, even at level 0. From what I can tell, every 5 levels in this skill will reduce its mana cost by 10 MP, meaning at max level it will cost no MP at all, pretty neat.
Michael took the system''s words in and asked the monster once again "Anything?"
As he looked up into its eyes, he could see them change color, from red to blue to yellow to white andstly to purple.
It seemed its eye color changed because of Michael, though he did not know what that entailed.
The monster looked down at Michael, and then at its own hands "It worked.."
It then looked at Michael with calm eyes "My name is Meph, thank you for this human, I will repay this debt someday."
The monster introduced himself as Meph and after doing so went back into Zane''s body, this time instantly.
It turned to Michael "What is your name?"
Michael''s rapidly beating heart settled and he answered "My name is Michael" sounding a little stiff.
Meph noticed it and waved his hand "Rx, I am not going to hurt you Michael, I will be borrowing this person''s body However."
He then started walking to the edge of the t area, and upon arriving, hesitantly stepped forward, and out.
Meph then turned to Michael and said "Let''s go"
Michael nodded and followed after him, walking to where the portal was supposed to be.
Along the way, they didn''t speak to each other much, Meph looked like he had a lot on his mind and Michael did not want to bother him.
Arriving at the grassy area, Michael saw his two teammates still sprawled out, one unconscious, the other still stuck in the illusion.
Meph turned to Michael and asked "Are these your party members?"
"Yes, we got teleported here together, though they are a bit out of it right now."
Meph chuckled at Michael''sment then walked up to a seemingly random area and raised his hand.
-Crack
A sound came out from the air in front of him, though as it intensified, it looked like the air around Meph had shattered as if it was all made out of ss.
Then all of a sudden, a blue glow appeared, signifying the portal being open.
Michael picked up his 2 teammates and walked up to Meph, preparing to leave, though his curiosity got the best of him and he asked him a question.
"How were you trapped in this ce anyway?"
Meph put his hand on his chin and looked to be thinking.
"I don''t remember, I only remember that it was because of some sort of human with a weird name, Rainkart? Something like that, it was a long time ago.."
Michael regretted bringing that up, as he noticed that he had spoiled the mood, however, he did gain a bit of information.
Meph nodded at Michael and went through the portal.
Michael took onest look behind him and followed right after.
''It''s finally over''
Chapter 10: A Nice Swim
Chapter 10: A Nice Swim
''Another forest?'' Michael couldn''t help but raise his brow.
After going through the portal all of them arrived at a forest, though this one didn''t look like it was part of the dungeon.
Yes, you are outside, though there aren''t any cities in at least a 10 kilometer radius, I can''t feel any further.
Michael nodded and took a look at Meph, he seemed to be rather rxed for someone who had been trapped in a dungeon for a while.
"So what do you n on doing now, with you finally being free and all."
"Probably live in this body for a while, it seemed to be quite rich" Meph answered in a nonchnt manner.
"So do you like have all of his memories?"
"Yes, Zane Brennan, 22 years old, spoiled and rich young master" Meph held back hisugh as he recalled some other details.
"I see, I guess his personality that I saw was just the tip of the iceberg, anyway, do you know where a city is? I can''t seem to find any near us" Michael exined. He was now prettyfortable with Meph, he seemed like a nice guy.
"Hold on" Meph said and closed his eyes, then suddenly opened them with a surprised expression.
"So uhh..we are on an ind."
''Shit..'' Michael couldn''t help but cuss his luck, how was he supposed to swim back to another continent?
This might be a good training opportunity.
A shiver went down his spine ''Don''t even think about it.''
Why? Are you nning on building a boat and capsizing in the middle of the ocean? You sure are confident.
''No, maybe Meph has a way out of this'' Michael thought with a spark of hope in his eyes and asked Meph, though the answer was not what he had hoped.
"Hm? No, I deal in magic surrounding the mind, my physical prowess is not that great."
"Then do you maybe have an idea on how we are supposed to get out of here?"
Meph thought for a second and answered "Nope, we can swim back though, we are not that far away fromnd, maybe 100 kilometers or so?"
''I am doomed..'' Michael couldn''t help but let out a sigh and look towards his two out ofmission party members.
"What about them? Aftering this far I don''t really want to leave them here."
Meph tilted his head slightly "Why? I thought you said that you didn''t know them?"
"I don''t, but it would be a shame for them to die as well, more me would fall onto me if you and I were the only ones to return" Michael exined.
"I see, well I already dispelled the illusion on that buff guy back in the dungeon, though I guess his mind is too scarred as he is not regaining control of his body" Meph said, then pointed towards Joanna.
"As for the girl, she is in aatose like state, from what I can see of Zane''s memories she died, but was brought back to life miraculously." He then nced at Michael and shed a small smile, proceeding to walk in one direction.
"You have your secrets, I have mine, unless you just really like to talk to yourself" Meph added with a chuckle.
All the while Michael remained silent and followed Meph, his two teammates on his shoulders.
After about 2 hours of constant walking, they could finally see the trees disappearing, and recing them was a vast ocean, expanding everywhere the eyes could see.
"We are here" Meph said, looking straight at the ocean.
Thend and water connected seamlessly, it looked quite magical.
Michael finally dropped his teammates onto the ground, he was no longer sure what to do, he didn''t want to abandon them, but if he chose to take them with him, he could quite literally drown.
Meph looked at Michael and sighed, he then raised his hand, expending a small wave of mana and enveloping both Eric and Joanna.
All of a sudden they started moving, albeit a tad bit roughly.
"I''ll take them with us, though if they drown along the way it''s not my fault" Meph expressed and moved them closer to the ocean.
"Thank you."
So you resulted to swimming, I pray you don''t drown, though the stat gain from this is going to be massive.
Michael clenched his fists tightly, thest time he trained, he ran 100ps, which is roughly 40 kilometers, though now he had to do double that, even a tad bit more than double.
Not only is he going to get exhausted faster, but due to the waves he might even drown.
''Fuck this'' Michael took a step into the water, it was cold, despite it being summertime.
Meph chuckled "Alright follow along now, don''t worry if you start drowning I will save you, I don''t want my benefactor dying so soon."
"Sure.."
-----
Back in the dungeon.
-Crack
The air suddenly shattered, however instead of a portal appearing, a tall man walked out of the cracks.
He had a mask on his face, however his long golden hair could not be hidden.
The man took a step and immediately disappeared, appearing right in front of the now empty throne.
His expression was unknown, however a slight trembling of his hands could be seen.
He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny white cube, cing it on the empty throne.
"Reba, Reba. You skimped out on a few details didn''t you?" He spoke to the white cube.
"A simple healer you said? What a joke. Though If I can get him on our side, our n would fast forward a few decades"
The man turned around and walked forward, his steps not making any sound, however he suddenly stopped and pulled out a tiny note and a pen.
He wrote something down and walked back to the throne, cing the note on top of the white cube.
The note sunk into the white cube as if the cube was made out of water.
"I am extending your punishment Reba, I have to handle some business now, goodbye."
Saying those words he took a step and disappeared, appearing back at the ce where the crack in the air remained and walked through it, the crack slowly closing behind him.
The only thing left in this dungeon was the white cube,ying on the throne.
All alone.
-----
-Gurgle
"Oh whoops" Meph quickly turned around and pulled Michael above the water.
"Hey we are almost there, just a few kilometers to go, hey can you hear me" Meph smacked Michael on the head.
"Wai-cough are you trying to fucking kill me!" Michael shouted at Meph, though he received no reaction, as if this wasn''t the first time that this had happened.
Why don''t you keep yourself above water next time, this is your 15th time nearly drowning.
''Whose smart idea was it to swim this far again? Oh wait, it was yours!'' Michael eximed at the system''sment, trying to stay afloat.
Well, Meph had the same idea didn''t he? Besides, the amount of stats you got is pretty impressive.
''Do you think I care about that? I will have you know that if I escaped the dungeon with the original n, I would have starved to death, or better yet, drowned to death.''
Don''t let what ifs dictate your path going forward, persevere and live another day.
''You and your philosophical bullshit, did you look deeper into my memories?'' Michael asked and tried following after Meph, but ended up getting water all the way up his nose.
You had an interesting childhood, I mean who else would read a whole book on philosophy and talk about it in their school''sedy club?
''H-hey! Don''t look that far back, focus on my military days, I was quite impressive back then!'' Michael eximed, his ears slightly turning red.
Oh yeah? What about that time you slipped and fell in front of your whole squad? And more than once might I add.
The system continued annoying Michael with his worst moments during the time he served in the military.
Michael joined the military as soon as he finished high school and served until he was 27.
The reason he was discharged was due to his mother dying, he was not able to visit her because he was not in the country.
Due to the fear that it might happen again, this time with his father, he quit and became a mercenary under one of hismanding officer''s contacts.
The man never introduced himself, however, every time Michael did not perform up to par, he received a punishment.
Those punishments ranged anywhere from pay cuts, to him being beat up.
The only reason Michael did not quit was because the pay was great, he was able to retire his father after only 2 years of working as a mercenary.
However the ''incident'' happened in his 3rd year of working as a mercenary, and ever since then, he became an alcoholic and someone who used all kinds of drugs.
He was not happy with himself, but taking all of those substances made his pain go away.
That was until he died, at the fine age of 30.
Oh and that time when yo-
''Shut up my head is about to explode'' Michael grumbled while swimming.
Though as he looked forward, he was finally able to see something, it was some sort of building in the distance.
Meph looked at him and said "We finally made it, speed up or something, this body''s got to eat"
The waves were no longer as strong as before, swimming became easier for Michael, even if he was still fatigued.
"Right.."
After another 20 minutes of swimming they finally arrived, in front of them was a massive city, with tall buildings reaching into the sky.
They swam up to adder and Meph made Eric and Joanna go first, their bodies did not look too great, but because of Michael''s healing and Meph''s ability to control them, they were still alive.
They all climbed up thedder and saw the bustling city in front of them.
Unlike the city Michael lived in previously, this one looked more advanced, all types of cars were driving around, some really fancy looking, others even hovering above the ground.
Though in the small moment Michael and Meph took to enjoy the sights, police sirens sounded, seemingly heading towards them.
Meph turned to look at Michael with a confident smile on his face "Don''t worry, this body is somewhat of a big shot"
"Right..then you can vouch for my identity, I don''t have an ID on me" Michael replied whilst squeezing the water out of his clothes.
Meph slightly flinched and looked around inside of his pockets "ID? R-right ID.." then turned to Michael, sporting a silly grin "It seems like I lost it."
"..." Michael was speechless.
The police finally arrived and they cautiously stepped out of their cars, walking towards Meph and Michael, as well as the 2 others lying on the ground behind them.
One of the policemen pulled out a pair of cuffs and held them to the side.
"What were you doing with those people and the kid?" He asked, his gaze on Meph.
Those words seemed to shock Meph a little, though he quickly recovered hisposure, his expression beaming with confidence "Do not worry, I did notmit any nefarious crimes today, they are my friends."
Though the policeman did not seem convinced and walked towards Meph "No crimesmitted today? You are under arrest until we can identify you."
He ced the cuffs on Meph''s hands and turned towards Michael with a kind smile "Are you okay kid? Come with us for now, we will get you back home."
Michael did not refuse and walked with the man, as he did, he nced at Meph and saw his sour expression.
The policeman led Michael into the police car and sat him down in the back.
A few minutester sirens were heard once again, this time however they were the paramedics. There were 2 emergency vehicles and Michael saw 2 people step out of them, both wearing a white coat with a cross on its back.
''The healers?'' Michael thought.
They walked up to Eric and Joanna, before examining them and picking them up, taking them back to the emergency vehicles.
This is another opportunity for you to gain EXP, make sure to tell the police you are a healer, that way they might send you to the hospital.
''Won''t I get sent back to the orphanage instead though?'' Michael asked the system.
Yeah? Who said there isn''t an orphanage in this city as well? They might just take you there instead.
Michael couldn''t help but agree, it was highly likely that''s going to be the case ''I guess this is going to take a while..''
Chapter 11: City
Chapter 11: City
"You are free to go kid."
''Finally..'' Michael sighed. He had been in questioning for thest 3 hours.
The questions he was asked were simple, something along the lines of ''Did that man hurt you?'' ''Where are your parents?''
It seemed they were hell bent on Meph being a criminal, the way he acted gave that impression at the very least.
However his case will obviously get dismissed once they find out the body''s identity.
After Michael sat through the boring questioning, he went out of the police station and headed over to the hospital, the buildings were not that far apart.
The hospital was at least a couple of timesrger than the recovery center in his orphanage, he wouldn''t be surprised if this was the only one in the city.
But it was not, wherever this ce is located, is more advanced than his previous city.
By earth''s standards, the ce he used to live in could be considered very modern, however, the city he found himself in now was the definition of modern.
Flying cars, skyscrapers reaching the sky, holograms strewn around, ads ying and showcasing all sorts of never before seen stuff.
However, one thing had caught his eye in the many advertisements he saw.
It was a weird device that looked eerily simr to his previous world''s VR headsets, however as the ad kept ying, it seemed like the person had been transported into another world, his body and all his senses were the same however.
The person suddenly started using skills, creating fireballs and sending them in random directions.
It then panned to the person fighting inside of what looked like a dungeon, however as he fought and was shed, no blood came out, however, his body soon turned to particles.
The product was called ''Vivum''s VR Headset.''
However, the next thing greatly shocked Michael.
''50.000 fucking dors? Are they out of their god damn mind?'' he grumbled with a sour expression. It looked interesting but he didn''t have a single cent to his name.
Hm.. that could be interesting, you should get one before you go back.
''Well, who knows how much the ferry costs to travel to another continent..''
Michael was currently in the Artios continent, with his old one being Neutus.
There is one more continent, Daor, and it is located in the very far south, people avoid it because the monsters there are unbelievably powerful, oftentimes taking raid teams weeks to even hunt a single pack.
Raid teams refer to a partyrger than 10 people.
The 3 continents were considered mega continents, one of them would be the size of his previous world''s 3 biggest continentsbined.
What made continental travel so dangerous however, was the fact that flying monsters could attack in the sky, and if you were to go by ship, a massive sea serpent could eat it in a single bite.
Michael did not know of any alternatives yet, though he was hoping to discover some during his stay here.
He walked inside of the hospital and noticed some kind of booth in front of him, it seemed the reception was automated by a robot.
''So now I am definitely going to have the normal hospital experience..'' Michael thought back to the time he had to wait 14 hours just to get redirected to another sector.
Michael went up to the booth and a hologram screen popped up, there were many options but he selected Doctor Consultation.
Suddenly a ticket appeared out of the booth, it read,
-----
Doctor Bryan
Room : 302
Position in queue : 743rd
ETA : 6 weeks
-----
Michael stared at the ticket, his expression crumbling ''Fuck...''
Can''t you just go in through the entrance anyway? Act your age and it might work.
''And if they escort me back to the police? I think the streets are cozier than the police station''s cells.''
Well then go do something, or just find another hospital, a shabbier one.
''Would there even be a shabby hospital in this city?''
A grain of rice can be f-
Michael quickly interjected ''Alright alright, I''ll go look around if anything I''ll walk back to the police station, get admitted into this city''s orphanage or whatnot.''
The police said they would find Michael after the questioning was done, he wasn''t sure how, but he was not curious enough to ask.
They casted a detection spell on you, as long as you are in the city, they can find you.
''That seems like a little much no?'' Michael wondered. A detection spell on a mere child? What was he, a criminal?
An unknown child from another continent randomly swims ashore, I wonder?
Michael flinched ''That does sound weird doesn''t it?''
Genius.
Michael shrugged and started walking. The streets were clean, extremely so.
The people that walked around didn''t pay Michael a single nce either, even when he was wearing his odd looking robe.
There were bridges and tunnels for the people to walk across the streets.
Michael also noticed that despite all this modernity, there were also people setting up food stalls and all sorts of other stuff that he remembers from his old world.
He didn''t know where he was going, he could have asked for directions from others, however, he wanted to enjoy the view, it''s not every day you get to see a city like this.
Supermalls upon supermalls, all kinds of delicious food.
A rich person''s paradise.
After about 2 hours of aimless walking, Michael found a bench and sat down.
So how about you ask for directions now?
''I will let me just take a quick break'' Michael said as he gotfortable, even the benches werefy.
What? Are you tired after not doing anything since you got here?
''You seem to forget that I entered the dungeon around 2 to 3 days ago, and I have not slept once yet, so yes, I am tired''
Just sleep on the bench then, you are homeless right now, after all, so act the part.
''Fuck off'' Michael grumbled and decided to check out his status, he saw a few blue boxes appear when he was swimming, but he had no time to check them out.
''Status''
+---+
Name: Michael
Age: 9 years old
Race: Human
ss: Healer [Common]
Level 11 [550/11000 EXP]
Titles:
Ruthless Combatant
# Raise all your damage by 10% when facing enemies at least 30 levels above you
-Stats
HP: 576/576 [+50] / Regen 71 HP Per Hour
MP: 876/876 [+50] / Regen 121 MP Per Hour
STR: 50 -> 56
END: 58 -> 71
AGI: 47 -> 51
INT: 120 -> 121 [+10]
CHA: 16 -> 17
-Skills / [Skill Merging]
Hand to handbat [Level 5 971/2500 EXP] [Common] [Passive]
# Increases STR by 5% when fighting using only your hands
Discipline [Level 7 1000/3500 EXP] [Umon] [Passive]
# Mental magic has a 7% reduced effect on you
Shooting mastery [Level 6 0/3000 EXP] [Umon] [Passive]
# Any kind of projectile has a 6% increase in velocity
Greater Heal [Level 1 200/500 EXP] [Umon] [Active]
# Heal your target / Restore 600 HP
Cost: 20 MP
Purify [Level 1 150/500 EXP] [Rare] [Active]
# Purify the target, curing all diseases and illnesses
Cost: 100MP
+---+
Michael was left shocked, if he was going by his previous pace, this kind of stat increase would have taken at least a couple of months, though he was able to achieve this in a day of swimming?
Don''t try to use normal logic, this world and your body are both different, fundamentally and all.
''I understand that, but should they still go up this fast?'' Michael couldn''t help but ask, it was unnaturally unnatural even by his standards.
You trained with such intensity where you could die, your adrenaline was at its peak and so was your focus, do you seriously think that and runningps around a stadium are the same? Don''t be foolish.
Michael frowned, but decided to not argue with the system ''Right..also why am I not getting any EXP towards my normal level when my passive skill EXP increases?''
As unbnced as the system already is, if that was a thing, your level would increase too fast at the start, oh and you would have neglected your healing skills as well.
''Why are you so sassy today?'' Michael asked while smirking. Though the answer he received was a little unexpected.
I am preparing you for your next interaction, there were a couple of people following you since you got here-oh there they are.
As the system said that, a single person with shabby clothing walked towards Michael, before kneeling down and bowing.
"O child of the gods, please bestow upon us your blessing!"
''What?''
y along with him, you might get some money so act magnanimous or something.
Michael inwardly sighed, he didn''t want to be a fraud, but he also didn''t want to sleep on the streets.
He stood up and walked up to the bowing old man, trying to stand him up "Get up sir, there is no need to bow in my presence, what troubles you?"
Bullshit skill generated, rarity Legendary.
''Are you out of your mind? Also did you just cuss?'' Michael asked, showing slight surprise at the fact that the system swore, ever since first meeting it, it had never cussed once.
However the system chose to ignore Michael, leaving him to deal with the still bowing man.
"No! How could I stand in front of someone of your caliber!" The old man dismissed Michael and went back to bowing.
"Sir, stand up, if you don''t then I will leave." Those words seemed to startle the man as he immediately stood up.
"Speak" Michael demanded in an authoritative tone, not acting like a 9 year old child at all.
"Y-yes..the healer we had in the slums disappeared, and now there is no one to help us.." The man exined, looking with puppy dog eyes at Michael.
''I can see where he is going with this..''
"So you want me to be the healer in charge of the slums? What''s in it for me?" Michael asked. He would go, however if they want him to heal the slums for absolutely free, then...
The man flinched slightly "O-oh..we gave the previous healer offerings, mostly money in exchange for his help, would that be okay?" he looked at Michael with hopeful eyes.
''Good enough for me'' Michael shed a small smile, however in the eyes of the the man, he looked like a smiling angel of hope.
"That would have to suffice, lead the way"
That cheered the man up and he started walking, with Michael right behind him.
They walked for a couple of minutes before going down into what looked like the subway station, though it appeared abandoned.
''Am I about to get robbed?'' Michael couldn''t help but think. It did seem a little suspicious, especially when the man said the slums needed his help, yet took him to a subway station.
They walked down the stairs and jumped onto the tracks, moving even further forward.
After another couple minutes of walking, Michael began seeing some lights around the corner and instinctively flinched, he thought it was an iing train.
However, the old man did not seem phased as he kept moving forward, turning a corner to the left.
Michael was right behind him, and the moment he turned the corner, his eyes widened.
He stood on what appeared to be a cliff with shabby stairs leading down to on the left.
However that was not what shocked him.
In front of him was an underground city, one that seemed to span tens of kilometers wide. Though most of the buildings were in tatters, it looked like some sort of battle happened here.
The old man turned back to Michael with a small yet sad smile "Wee to the Vivum slums."
Chapter 12: Plague
Chapter 12: gue
The old man led Michael down into the city, letting him enjoy the view, even if it was a bit unsightly.
Looking around, he could see a bunch of lights in the air, it reminded him of a night sky.
Though the lights seemed to illuminate the entire city below.
''How does a ce like this even exist? And how does the city above ground not crumble down into here'' Michael wondered. It felt like a whole different city altogether, yet they were right beside each other.
There is probably some sort of barrier holding it together, that would exin why the detection magic disappeared.
''It did? When?''
The moment you took a step down the stairs.
''I see, well if anything I will still have to get out and go to the police station to get my ID made'' When Michael was being questioned they asked for his ID, he obviously didn''t have one, luckily they offered to make him one for free.
I have an ominous feeling again.
Michael flinched ''What now?'' he knew better than to not trust the system''s hunches.
Ever since the police station something felt amiss, I can''t quite understand what, but I feel like you shouldy low for a while.
''Well I n on staying here for a bit, so it works out.'' Michael nodded and finally reached the ground, the descent took a solid 5 minutes.
As Michael finally approached the city, all kinds of people gathered around, making a path for him as if he were some kind of royal.
Most of them had proper clothes, well proper enough to be worn. It seemed the old man was the only one who had ripped clothes.
The old man led Michael to some sort of church, which had an angel statue right in front of it.
Surprising as it was, the church was a stark contrast to the city around it. It was clean, and the statue outside was even shining.
The bright lights in the underground sky highlighted the beauty of it all.
The old man turned around and pulled a key out of his pocket, handing it over to Michael.
The old man exined "This is the ce where you will be staying, I promise it is much better than the others around you."
He then resumed walking, heading to a nearby building right next to the church.
Michael followed along, arriving right in front of the building and stopping.
The old man suddenly turned to him with a grave expression "Steel yourself..the inside is the reason why I was so desperate to find a healer."
Michael nodded and opened the door, what greeted his eyes was a small room, however, the stench was god awful, if he hadn''t gone through worse during his time in the military, he would have vomited his guts out.
There is miasma in the air, it won''t affect you much, however, the others would suffer, close the door.
''Alright'' Michael took onest nce at the old man, then closed the door and turned on the lights.
He then saw 6 beds and 5 individuals lying on them, all of them had some sort of pained expression.
Michael walked closer to one of them and noticed some sort of lymph node on their neck, and a tad bit of darkening around the wrist.
It took Michael a couple of seconds to deduce what this could be. He was not a medical expert, however, he did study quite a bit of history back in the day.
''The ck Death'' Michael thought, his expression bing more and more serious.
He walked up to one of the people who had the bestplexion, it was a girl "Can you talk?"
"Y-yes.." She replied weakly.
Michael nced around and turned back to her "I am asking just in case, but were there originally 6 people here?"
She seemed a bit confused for a moment, however, her eyes soon widened in realization
That reaction was all that Michael needed to know, he walked around the room and used Purify and Greater Heal on all of them, then told everyone to quickly get out of the building.
[Purify +1250 EXP] [Greater Heal +250 EXP]
The only thing left in this building was the miasma, he wasn''t sure if Purify could get rid of it, but he tried nheless.
He held out his hand and used Purify just a bit in front of his palm, immediately the air became more pure, and the dreary atmosphere was gone, like it had never been here in the first ce.
[Purify +250 EXP]
''It worked!'' Michael thought happily. It seemed the only thing left now was to find thest person before he managed to infect everyone else.
However that was just wishful thinking..he had 170 MP left and if he infects one more person it''s going to be an epidemic he couldn''t stop.
Michael walked out of the building and noticed no one was around, even the old man was gone.
He quickly walked back to the church, however even then, it waspletely empty, just a few minutes ago there were a bunch of people gathered there.
''Hey, can you feel anything?'' Michael asked the system.
''Are you seriously doing this shit again?''
The system was quiet, much like when he had to deal with the monster in the dungeon.
''You really know when to pick your timing don''t you?'' Michael berated for thest time. Then decided to get to work, he had to find the 6th person who had the gue.
He walked to where he hade from and was shocked, in a bad way.
The people who had been missing were all standing there, listening to the old man with tattered clothes. He stood on some sort of makeshift wooden podium, looking extremely happy.
''Fuck how am I supposed to find them now!?'' Michael scanned the crowd, looking for rashes, dark spots, or literally anything that could be an indicator to help him.
He looked around. He then walked into the crowd, they didn''t even know he was there, even though they greeted him like some sort of noble just earlier.
Much less the fact that if he were to shout and exin the situation to them, he would run the risk of the person with the gue escaping.
Knowing a person would run out and endanger others, Michael was pretty sure they would not turn themselves in willingly.
He was lost, he needed to find the person, though he was sure by now someone else had been infected.
With his MP on the lower side, it''s over.
''If only I could see who it is..'' Michael let out a defeated sigh. However, it seemed not all hope was lost, as in the next moment...
-DING
[Conditions Met : Skill Unlocked]
[Unnamed] [Level MAX] [Unique] [Passive]
# See the HP, ailments, illnesses, curses, and any kind of mind magic of those in your field of vision.
-DING
[Please name your skill]
Everything happened so fast he couldn''t believe it. All of a sudden red bars appeared above all of the people in front of him, some disying extra symbols.
The message telling him to name his skill was still in front of his eyes, moving along wherever he moved his head.
''Fuck, I don''t know? Eyes of The Healer or something'' Michael thought in his mind, not paying much thought to the naming process, he couldn''t care less about it at the moment.
-DING
[Your skill has been named] [+5 INT]
He gained an extra 5 INT, which meant he now had enough MP to cast Purify twice.
Michael quickly pushed through the crowd, moving to the podium and jumping on top of it.
The old man seemed shocked, he didn''t expect their savior toe by so suddenly "What brings you he-"
"Quiet" Michael said to the man, his childlike voice exhibiting authority.
Suddenly, the surroundings turned quiet, the people staring at Michael with mixed expressions.
Many with awe, reverence, confusion and then there were some with caution, unwarranted caution.
However, Michael''s current expression was grim, extremely so.
He noticed a veryrge chunk of people that had a ck glob attached to their health bar.
There was very little he could do, however as he was losing all hope, an idea sparked into his head.
He had used Purify on the air before, couldn''t he try that again? Worst case scenario it won''t work.
He had nothing to lose so he got down from the podium and instructed "Everyone! Get around me I will cast upon you my blessing"
He felt like that was the only way to get them toe, he was already pretending to be some sort of holy healer, he might as well act the part.
The people quickly huddled over to him, everyone standing and awaiting the blessing, some even got down on their knees and started praying.
There were roughly 350 people, most of them being infected.
''If I take into ount that my heal skill has a range of 10 meters, my robe adding another 10.. I hope Purify follows the same principles...'' Michael thought before extending his hand into the air.
''Purify''
All of a sudden a green light expanded out from Michael''s palm, enveloping all the people around him.
Gasps could be heard from all around, however, what drew Michael''s attention was something in the air.
Hundreds of blue boxes appeared and slowly startedbining into one box, right in front of Michael''s eyes.
[Purify +66500 EXP]
-DING
[Skill Evolved] [Purify [Rare ->Epic] [+10 INT]
Purify [Level 17 150/8500 EXP] [Epic] [Active]
# Purify everyone and everything around you, curing all diseases and illnesses
Cost: 70MP
Radius: 65 Meters
What...
''Now you talk bastard? Level 20 by the time I go to the academy? Yeah right'' Michael held back his excitement. An unbelievable amount of EXP justnded on his te, and this was only his first day in the city.
He quickly turned to the old man, who now had a shocked expression on his face. Then right after immediately kneeled and started praying while looking at Michael.
"O great gift of the heavens, we thank you!" As soon as he said that, the others followed along and did the same.
''These people are quite the religious bunch'' Michael couldn''t help but chuckle inwardly, he was definitely not used to being revered by somebody.
From a third person perspective, it looked like a bunch of fanatics were praying to a handsome kid wearing a white robe, it was ridiculous.
Though Michael couldn''t help but show a small smile ''It didn''t feel too bad.''
"How many more people are in this city?" He asked the old man
"N-not that many. Many of the houses beyond a certain point are now ruins. If I were to make an estimate I would say there are around 20000 people living in the slums."
Michael''s heart immediately started racing faster. He knew he shouldn''t wish the gue upon anyone, but he did hope there would be a few more people to gain EXP from.
You really are shameless...
''You are one to talk'' Michael shot back while scoffing. He then looked back at the old man.
"Would it be possible for you to gather as many people as you can tomorrow? I wish to bless all the citizens of the slums."
The man thought for a moment "..That would be possible. I will arrange it so they alle to the church where you will be staying."
Michael nodded back at the man and then looked over to the other citizens.
"I will be going to the church, see you all tomorrow" and with those words, Michael began walking back.
''Why were you so surprised?'' Michael decided to tease the system a little. He still didn''t forgive it for going silent on him again.
I didn''t expect you to evolve the skill like that, even I myself was not aware of such a possibility with a simple Rare skill.
''It''s Epic now''
Yes, that was what surprised me, it is not incredibly rare for a skill to evolve and change a bit. However, evolving the rarity? Definitely not ordinary.
Michaelughed a bit at the system''s confusion before finally arriving back at the church.
He unlocked the doors and prepared to go in, however he suddenly heard another voice in his head, it was not the system.
Yo, it''s Meph, I don''t know what you did prior to meeting me, however, the police said you don''t exist and are now searching for you.
Michael was immediately startled ''What are you talking about?''
I got some information out of one of them and they said a person going by Michael does not exist, you were not even in the orphanage''s database.
''How can that be?'' Michael thought, confusion clearly present in his expression.
Who knows, you don''t exist. Oh and better yet that Reba girl you were telling me about? She is no longer the headmaster of the orphanage, no one knows where she disappeared to.
''...What?''
Chapter 13: Isolation
Chapter 13: Istion
Michael''s heart was racing fast. He couldn''t understand what had happened. First he vanishes from all the records, and then Reba disappears?
He had many doubts, but very little anwsers. He was going to stay in the slums for a little while longer, the police proceedings would surely take up way too much time.
I don''t know where you are staying right now, however I can just barely feel your mana. Stay there, wait for me to finish with the legal issues and then you cane back out.
Michael did not know how to how to react to this situation at all. The one and only person he trusted was gone without a trace, no one knows if she is even still alive.
''Alright..Please tell me if somethinges up'' Michael told Meph and went inside the church.
He had expected it to look like any normal church, however there were no seats or pedestals, only a statue of the angel from outside.
Michael noticed a name carved onto the bottom part of the statue, it read ''Gabriel''
''Hey system, are the gods and angels from my previous world connected here?'' He couldn''t help but ask. He remembers reading about them, and so far he had met a few beings that were simr.
Michael was not sure, but Meph might be Mephisto from his previous world''s folklore.
He had some simrities, like affecting the mind, meaning emotions. Aswell as the name, Meph, it didn''t seem like he was trying to hide it either.
But s he could be wrong, from what he has seen so far, Meph was nothing like the portrayals of him in folklore.
However in the off chance that he was right, that means that the gods of all types of mythologies and folklores exist in this world.
I can''t tell you that.
''Why not?'' Michael asked with curiosity.
You are too weak to know about that type of information, don''t pry into the inner workings of this world, it is too soon.
Michael couldn''t help but sigh ''So they do exist.. that could be bad.''
He then walked to the side where a door stood, opening it, he saw a cozy little room, with food already prepared for him.
It had all the necessities, afy bed, kitchen, toilet and a shower.
And all of it was for free, just because he was being treated as the symbol of hope by the people.
''Hey, how important is it for me to go to the academy? With my current pace couldn''t I just level up and do dungeons or something?'' He asked the system.
This world has special conditions in which you can enter dungeons, one of them being a diploma, specifically an academy graduation certificate.
''And the others?''
You would need to be invited by the higher ups, much like what happened before the dungeon. You were allowed to kill the monsters that came out of it, but not allowed to go inside the dungeon.
''Isn''t that a bit stupid though? The rich and famous can get stronger quicker.''
That is the point, however do not worry, everyone awakens different sses, some might be rarer than others, but in the end the one who knows how to use their abilities best is the one who is going toe out on top.
Michael pondered for a moment ''I am amon ss, are you telling me there are those who awaken as epic or even legendary?''
Yes, you were given a little handicap because you can grow infinitely stronger, that is the reason why you started out as amon ss.
The system paused for a moment, before resuming the exnation.
As you know, all the sses are grouped into the 3 categories, Tank, Damage Dealer, Healer. There is also a 4th category that is more prominent in raids, Support.
Support refers to those who have skills that can buff the party.
Now then, back on topic. The rarity of your ss determines your future, the more rare your ss, the stronger your abilities can get.
sses can also be passed down via the bloodline, even sometimes mutating the ss and making it even stronger.
However the others can''t evolve their sses freely, you are the only one who can do that, so don''t get discouraged.
All the while Michael listened attentively, he never asked the system to exin in detail about it, he was not that interested in the past.
Though now it seemed crucial, as he will need to be aware of stuff like this in the future.
The system''s words and advice, followed by the news of his previous life being brought down, made him finally make up his mind.
''Hey system, there are academies on this continent aswell right?'' He asked, finally steeling his resolve.
From what I gather yes, there are a few, even one in this city actually.
''Good..'' Michael lied down on the bed, staring at the ceiling, during the system''s exnation he finished all of his food.
And now he had made up his mind, he will not be going back to his previous home. He will enroll into the academy here.
Michael will wait for Meph to clear all suspicion of him, and then return, get citizenship, and apply to the academy once he is 12.
It seemed like a fool proof n, he only had to spend a couple of years in an unknown city, not depressing at all.
It''s a good idea, besides, someone most likely tried getting rid of you with that dungeon stunt after all.
''That is true'' Michael replied and closed his eyes. Seemingly trying to finally get some sleep in.
Are you not going to check your status?
''Tomorrow..''
-----
The next day.
Hey wake up already, did you go deaf or something?
The system kept annoying Michael, trying to get him to finally wake up.
There was a lot of sounding from outside of the church, whether it be people talking, orughing, it all added up and made Michael''s morning that much worse.
''Why in the fuck are they here so early!? Did I even sleep for 6 hours?'' Michael thought groggily as he got up from the bed and walked outside of his room.
At the very least they had not entered the church yet, if they had, then Michael didn''t know how he would react, the noise was already loud enough.
He walked up to the entrance of the church and opened its doors, a massive horde of people appearing in his vision.
Some noticed him and quieted down, the others however were still loudly chatting to one another.
The old man from before walked up to Michael "Hello holy one, I have brought as many people as I could, not everyone came though."
"It is alright, I will bless those who dide." Michael said and began walking towards the angel statue.
He arrived and stood in the very middle, the people around him slightly backing away and sping their hands, beginning their prayers.
Michael raised one of his hands in the sky and casted Purify. All people in a fairly vast radius were enveloped by a green glow.
[Purify +115000 EXP]
Out of the thousands of people gathered here, a couple hundred had caught the gue.
Michael hid his smile, this amount of EXP was enough to reach level 20 and him a new skill.
I will hold off on the level up to 20 until you are done with this crowd.
''Sure'' Michael simply nodded. He didn''t know what kind of differences would arise, so it''s best to be a little cautious.
Most of the people around him kneeled, and prayed, even those who were left standing had their eyes wide open, shocked by what had just happened.
Michael put on a warm smile on his face and navigated around the people back to his church, meeting the old man along the way.
"I knew I had a good eye, you are a blessing to us all!" The old man wiped away the tearsing out of his eyes.
"What is your name old man?" Michael decided to finally ask him, he seemed like apetent individual.
"Alfred, sir" He replied, straightening his posture.
''Even his name sounds trustworthy'' Michael held back his chuckle and walked back into the church. Leaving Alfred and the others to their prayers.
Closing the doors of the church, Michael walked up to the statue of Gabriel and sat down close to it.
I am curious about something, are you nning on bing some sort of human humidifier?
Michael''s brows lightly twitched ''What bullshit are you spouting now?''
You walk around and purify the air, I think my analogy is not that far off?
''You are so funny'' Michaelughed to himself sarcastically.
''Anyways, level me up to 20 already, I will check my status afterwards.
Sure.
[Level up! 19->20 48800/20000 EXP]
[Health and Magic Points fully restored]
[5 Unassigned Stat points obtained]
[Milestone reached! +10 to all stats]
[HP and MP Ratio readjusted 1:6->1:7]
[Random Healer Skill generated]
Shield [Level 0 0/100 EXP] [Umon] [Active]
# Cast an invisible shield around the target''s body. Absorb 500 HP worth of damage
Cost: 50 MP
Michael looked over everything he got, it was a big improvement in stats, however he was a bit disappointed he didn''t get any new system upgrades.
The skill was alright at best too, nothing too special.
No that skill is very good, unlike your other skills that give EXP the moment u cast them, this skill only provides the EXP after the shield is broken. From what I can see once it breaks u get EXP in proportion to the damage absorbed.
''Oh that seems pretty good, I canbine it with Greater Healter too, it works out in the end'' Michael replied, seemingly a little disinterested.
In case you arecking a bit of eyesight, the skill does not have a duration, that means it will stay on until it breaks.
''Huh? So I can just cast it on random people and then reap the benefits for doing absolutely nothing?''
Your shamelessness is showing, but yes, that is how it works.
Michael couldn''t help but sh a silly smile, it seemed everything was going his way, well besides the few hups here and there.
''Status''
+---+
Name: Michael
Age: 9 years old
Race: Human
ss: Healer [Common]
Level 22 [7800/22000 EXP]
Titles:
Ruthless Combatant
# Raise all your damage by 10% when facing enemies at least 30 levels above you
-Stats
HP: 717/717 [+50] / Regen 81 HP Per Hour
MP: 1739/1739 [+50] / Regen 227 MP Per Hour
STR: 56 -> 66
END: 71 -> 81
AGI: 51 -> 61
INT: 121 -> 227 [+10]
CHA: 17 -> 27
-Skills / [Skill Merging]
[Eyes of The Healer] [Level MAX] [Unique] [Passive]
# See the HP, ailments, illnesses, curses, and any kind of mind magic of those in your field of vision.
Hand to handbat [Level 5 971/2500 EXP] [Common] [Passive]
# Increases STR by 5% when fighting using only your hands
Discipline [Level 7 1000/3500 EXP] [Umon] [Passive]
# Mental magic has a 7% reduced effect on you
Shooting mastery [Level 6 0/3000 EXP] [Umon] [Passive]
# Any kind of projectile has a 6% increase in velocity
Greater Heal [Level 1 450/500 EXP] [Umon] [Active]
# Heal your target / Restore 500 HP
Cost: 20 MP
Purify [Level 27 7650/13500 EXP] [Epic] [Active]
# Purify everyone and everything around you, curing all diseases and illnesses
Cost: 50MP
Radius: 75 Meters
Shield [Level 0 0/100 EXP] [Umon] [Active]
# Cast an invisible shield around the target''s body. Absorb 500 HP worth of damage
Cost: 50 MP
+---+
''Wow, my INT basically doubled, the level of Purify is also not something to scoff at'' Michael thought proudly to himself. His level and skills rose so much in the span of 2 days, it was quite frankly unheard of.
''Are all healers like this?''
Yes and no. The way the others level up depends on their stats, the higher they are the higher the level. They increase way easier than yours as well, however your stat increases make you feel the difference instantly.
Your level is fixed due to the system, if it wasn''t, then it would show that you are in the 30''s range. Your stats have grown a lot.
The system paused for a moment, giving Michael a second to take in thepliment.
The EXP you gain is the same for others, except they can''t feel it. Every time they do something a little bit of EXP piles up, if they kill monsters then even more so. Eventually leading to them obtaining skills associated with their ss, just like you.
As you have already seen, they are measured by those devices, simr to the one Reba used.
So if someone were to use a skill like yours, at best, they would receive a new skill.
''I see, thanks for being my wiki as always'' Michael chuckled a tiny bit and stood up.
Wiki...
Michael still had some stuff left to do, as per his role in the slums, he must act as a healer.
He walked up to the doors of the church and held the handles, it was time to open up and get to work.
Chapter 14: Awakened ID
Chapter 14: Awakened ID
A few weeks had passed since Michael reached level 22 and started living in the slums.
His day to day life consisted of waking up, eating, opening the church, blessing and or healing everyone andstly, closing up. Just to repeat it all again the next day.
He didn''t have anywhere to go outside of the church, he tried walking around but the gazes he got were a bit too overwhelming.
Besides that, there was not much to see, just regr housing with a pub or two on a street, really typical.
Michael was currently sitting on a makeshift chair he made for himself, it was situated by the Statue of Gabriel inside of the church.
He spent most of his time here, so he thought thatfort should be on his agenda. Next to him was the old man, Alfred.
Michael asked Alfred about the situation surrounding the awakened, and why none were healers.
However the answer he received was a bit odd.
"Being a healer is rare, and most that awaken as healers leave to the upper city to fulfill their dreams." Alfred exined with a sad smile.
That answer did seem a little odd, his ss was Common rarity, how was it any rare at all?
"Most of us awaken as simple warriors, it is almost like a curse in all of our bloodlines."
It could be possible, don''t tell him that though, he might get depressed.
Michael rolled his eyes at the system ''Got it.''
"What ss are you then?" He asked Alfred with slight curiosity, if he were to guess, then he''d say it was warrior.
"Oh I am a Monk"
Michael''s lips trembled a little bit ''A monk? Seriously?''
The man had a full head of hair, even if it was gray. Though with his figure he could be considered a Monk, he was really skinny.
''Judging by his ripped clothing maybe he was not materialistic at all?'' Michael couldn''t help but think, his previous world''s stereotypes clearly showing.
Michael, it''s done, you are safe toe out, all you have to do is show up at the police station and get your ID done.
A voice suddenly resounded in Michael''s head, it was Meph.
''That didn''t take as long as I thought, how did you do it?'' Michael wondered.
When all else failed I told them you were a healer, you should have seen their faces.
Meph''sughter resounded inside of his head.
Though Michael didn''t seem too happy ''Arent''t they going to force me to work for them now or something?''
That''s what I thought too so I read that person''s mind, turns out healers are just really needed in society and they would try their best to recruit you, willingly of course.
''Alright should I head over now then?''
It''s better if you do yes, I am still here for now.
Michael was slightly puzzled ''For now?''
Yes haha, this body''s family ising to pick me up, we will not see each other frequently after that, but do remember, I pay back my debts.
Michael knew something like this was going to happen. Zane''s family was rich to the point where they had a say in politics, so it''s no surprise they could travel to another continent freely.
He turned to Alfred who looked slightly confused because of the sudden silence "I will be going up to the city, be back before nightfall."
Alfred was a little shocked as his eyes widened "Are you leaving us?"
"No, I am going to go on a stroll, don''t worry, I n on staying here for a bit longer."
Michael was indeed nning to stay here, and for quite a while at that. His EXP gain in the slums was insane.
Every day peoplee with all sorts ofints and Michael uses his heal or purify on them, then right after casts his shield, just for the extra measure.
Though for a city of 20000, only 5-6 peoplee daily, it''s a bit sad but still, his daily EXP gaines out to an average of 1000 per day, when all he has to do is treat them in a minute.
Because of that, he was now at level 23, sadly out of all his skills, Shield hadn''t gained a single bit of EXP yet.
Michael headed out of the city, going up the stairs and back the way he got here from.
The light of the sun was blinding, he felt like some sort of rat that came out of hiding, well that was what he did.
The moment he stepped foot onto the city sidewalk, sirens resounded from behind him, a police car driving right towards him.
''Did he sell me out or something?'' Michael couldn''t help but think.
However that was not the case, as a police officer got out of the vehicle and walked up to Michael, greeting him politely and showing him to police car.
He followed along and got into the back, it didn''t seem like he was being detained, more like escorted.
After a few minutes of quiet driving he finally arrived at the police station and he saw Meph outside, waiting with a smirk.
"Meph, what are you doing?" Michael couldn''t help but ask cautiously.
e let''s go inside"
Michael followed along and saw something strange, Meph was telling police officers what to do, seemingly giving out orders as if he was some sort of boss.
''So something did happen'' He thought.
They arrived in front of an office, it was amanding officer, and the moment he saw us, he instantly stood up and greeted Meph.
"Nothing you said?" Michael asked Meph in a tantly suspicious voice.
"Ehh it''s nothing much, my family just made a kind donation is all" he let out a tiny chuckle.
Michael rolled his eyes and proceeded to talk with themanding officer, it seemed because of Meph''s influence, he could make his ID straight away.
No one asked any questions, Michael received some sort of card and was told to put a drop of his own blood on it, and the moment he did, a few rows of sentences appeared.
-----
Awakened Identification Document
Name: Michael
Age: 9 years old
ss: Healer
Level 23
Affiliation: City of Vivum
-----
Themanding officer''s eyes widened, it''s not every day he saw a 9 year old who was level 23.
"Young man, would you be interested in joining the police force as a stand by healer?" The man couldn''t help but ask.
Michael thought for a moment, considering it a bit "Sorry, due to where I am currently living, being on stand by is impossible."
"The slums right? If you join us we could provide you with housing and all other stuff you might need, we would even cover the entrance cost for the academy if you wished to go." The officer tried bargaining with Michael. The terms were not bad by any means.
''Entrance cost?'' Michael''s brows twitched upon hearing that. He was not aware of any entrance cost.
"That sounds amazing, however I can''t leave the slums alone, there are no healers there besides me, if I leave all of the citizens there will all die." Michael exined.
"So if we can find a recement in your stead, would you join us?"
"..I would consider it, however for now I n on staying in the slums for another year at least, no exceptions."
Michael didn''t want to leave the slums on a bad note, if he could help them before leaving, then that''s what he''ll do.
Themanding officer nodded, still maintaining his professional disposition "I see, then I wish to hear from you in a year."
As Michael stood up to leave he was called once again.
"I almost forgot, if you want to update the information on your ID card, pour another drop of your blood on it"
With those words Michael left the police station, walking side by side with Meph to the inner parts of the city.
"So you are leaving huh?"
"Awh..are you sad that I''m leaving? That''s how it is though, we will meet again some day." Meph replied in a teasing manner.
Michael rolled his eyes "Have the others woken up yet?" He was referring to Eric and Joanna.
However Meph just slightly shook his head "No sign of that happening any time soon, though I was asked to bring them along back to the other continent, apparently they are quite important."
Michael was not surprised, they too were invited to hunt, that meant they were as important as Zane.
All of a sudden a bunch of luxurious floating cars arrived and some butlers stepped out of them, followed by a woman with dark brown hair and blue eyes.
Michael saw Meph''s smile twitch a little and he started walking towards the woman.
"Hello..Mother."
Her smile widened and she hugged him, while Meph hugged her back.
Michael could see a little bit of a sour expression forming on his face, though no one else seemed to notice.
"Zane do you know how worried I was!? You and your brother just up and disappeared!" She startedining to him in motherly fashion. Though a bit of redness was visible around her eyes.
"Mother, Paul is dead" Upon hearing those words, she instantly broke down into tears, it seemed she already had a hunch that''s what might have happened.
Michael nodded at Meph and started walking back to the slums. He didn''t want to hear this depressing family reunion stuff any longer, there will be a time when he would see Meph again.
Clenching his fists Michael showed determination, to get stronger, to explore this uncharted world further.
He used to be a simple mercenary, but now he is a fantasy healer, curing all diseases and illnesses. It was quiteical, however he had to change.
He had to grow stronger, if this world is as bizarre as he imagines, then if hegs behind, he could be killed at any moment.
''You said I needed to understand my role as a healer correct?''
Yes? Just heal others and stay ba-what are you thinking?
The system seemed a little shocked upon seeing Michael''s idea.
''Is it that strange, I mean, I was a proficient shooter back in my world, it was good enough to even generate a skill here, added to the fact that I used to be a sniper, what is the problem?''
You, a healer, nning on using guns in conjunction with your healing? Have the slums rotted your brain?
Michael shed a small smile ''Again, what is wrong with that?''
How is that going to work with your statposition? Someone who uses guns must be fast, with your agility you are just above average for your level.
Michael nodded ''And you said all I had to do was run to improve it.''
Fine..your INT is high enough for now, until level 30 I will put all the stat points you get into AGI.
''d we are on the same page'' Michael couldn''t help but let out a wide smile, already climbing down the stairs that led to the slums.
The citizens were surprised to see him, most didn''t expect him toe back.
Michael walked through the streets and back into his church.
It waspletely empty, with only the statue of Gabriel and hisfortable chair in sight.
''3 years.. just 3 more years until the academy.''
Chapter 15: Police
Chapter 15: Police
Michael was currently running around the slums, he doesn''t even remember how manyps it has been.
[+1 AGI]
The blue hologram finally made him stop, his face clearly showing signs of fatigue.
That only took 90ps around the city, not too bad.
Michael scoffed at thatment ''Yeah right, I can barely feel my legs.''
He had been doing this for thest 2 years, running around improving his agility.
He was going to join the police force a year ago, however it seemed no healer wanted to be sent down to the slums.
Ever since a year and a half ago, people stoppeding to his little church, he would usually see 2 people at most per week.
It seemed due to his presence, the people''s health had recovered to the point where the only people who came to the church, were those with a bruise or a cut.
It was pretty insignificant and the money he earned from donations was not that much, he found out the academy entrance fee was 30.000 dors, and he was 10.000 short.
Michael was not too worried though, he still had at least half a year until the academy officially started, and by then he would have enough, hopefully.
Michael wiped off the sweat from his forehead and stretched, before going back to his church and sitting down on his newfortable sofa.
One of the people donated it, he didn''t expect it to be sofy though.
''Status''
+---+
Name: Michael
Age: 11 years old
Race: Human
ss: Healer [Common]
Level 35 [500/35000 EXP]
Titles:
Ruthless Combatant
# Raise all your damage by 10% when facing enemies at least 30 levels above you
-Stats
HP: 1310/1310 [+50] / Regen 145 HP Per Hour
MP: 2230/2230 [+50] / Regen 260 MP Per Hour
STR: 66 -> 85
END: 81 -> 145
AGI: 61 -> 225
INT: 227 -> 260 [+10]
CHA: 27 -> 40
-Skills / [Skill Merging]
[Eyes of The Healer] [Level MAX] [Unique] [Passive]
# See the HP, ailments, illnesses, curses, and any kind of mind magic of those in your field of vision.
Hand to handbat [Level 5 971/2500 EXP] [Common] [Passive]
# Increases STR by 5% when fighting using only your hands
Discipline [Level 10 50/5000 EXP] [Umon] [Passive]
# Mental magic has a 10% reduced effect on you
Shooting mastery [Level 6 0/3000 EXP] [Umon] [Passive]
# Any kind of projectile has a 6% increase in velocity
Greater Heal [Level 25 MAX] [Umon] [Active]
# Heal your target / Restore 600->3000 HP
Cost: 20 MP
Purify [Level 35 1000/17500 EXP] [Epic] [Active]
# Purify everyone and everything around you, curing all diseases and illnesses
Cost: 30MP
Radius: 85 Meters
Shield [Level 8 0/4000 EXP] [Umon] [Active]
# Cast an invisible shield around the target''s body. Absorb 4000 HP worth of damage
Cost: 400 MP
Infuse [Level 10 MAX] [Common] [Active]
# Increase target''s HP by 100
Cost: 25MP
Duration: 1 Hour
+---+
Leveling up to 30ted Michael the Infuse skill, it was Common andpared to others, not that great.
The system told him his ss could acquire support skills, and the skill he got was one of them.
Besides that, his level increased by quite a lot, his skills have also seen a pretty massive increase, it took him a long time to level Greater Heal up to 25, however in the end, it was all worth it, as it now healed 3000 HP
Which quite frankly, was a massive amount.
After Michael got more used to his Unique skill Eyes of the Healer, he was able to see the numerical amounts of HP of other people.
For those in the slums it ranged anywhere from 120 HP all the way up to 700 HP, so to say his heals were a bit overpowered was an understatement.
His Shield skill increased the HP absorbed by 500 per level, at level 8 he was able to absorb 4000 HP worth of damage, however the mana costs became quite big, many times higher than his other skills.
His HP and MP ratios readjusted as well, it seemed every 10 levels the ratio would go up by 1, his current stats were quite impressive for his level.
Your stats are in the high level 40''s range, if you were to fight that monster from before again, his illusion wouldn''t even work on you anymore.
''That''s good to hear, am I finally ready for dungeons?'' Michael wondered and made some food for himself, he was nning on finally leaving this ce.
You could, but I rmend doing so with a party, you never know what could happen.
''That''s true'' Michael agreed with the system. He was not arrogant enough to believe he could do the job of a full party by himself.
Michael went into his room and put the money he had gathered in a bag, he was going to create a bank ount.
And to do that he will finally join the police force, even if only temporarily.
The slums havee a long way, in the 2 years since he got here, the water quality improved, the food improved, and basically everything went through a drastic change.
He finally packed all 20.000 dors into a bag and walked out of the church, locking it behind him.
Michael walked to the city center, where Alfred was now acting as the mayor. After tidying up his appearance, he looked quite reliable.
He stepped into a fancy building and went up the stairs, arriving before a door and flinging it open, not minding his manners.
In the room was Alfred, sitting behind a stack of papers, ever since assuming the role of mayor, he started taking things very seriously.
He noticed Michael and looked at him for a little while, his eyes showing understanding. He clenched his fists "Is it time?"
Michael had already informed Alfred a whole year ago that he would be leaving. Therefore no shock was evident on his face, only understanding.
Michael walked up to the desk and ced the key to the church on top of it "That is right, farewell Alfred."
He had grown attached to these people, that''s why over the years he made sure to ce a Shield on every single one of them.
Alfred''s small smile looked a bit sad "I see.. thank you for all that you have done for us."
Michael waved and turned around, walking out of the building and back to the stairs leading up to the upper city.
He didn''t want to make this goodbye more emotional than it should be, he has done everything he could for the people of the slums, the rest they can manage by themselves.
He walked out of the subway and entered the streets, sunlight hitting his eyes like a sharp dagger.
He rarely went out into the city, his eyes had be a little unustomed to the sun.
Michael looked a bit odd to the bystanders, after all, he was holding a massive bag with 20.000 dors inside.
His current n was to join the police force, and if he could get them to pay for his entrance cost to the academy, he would be happy.
As Michael walked down the streets, he suddenly heard sirens right behind him.
It seemed the police were here to escort him again.
''I thought it was because of Meph, but maybe not?'' He couldn''t help but think.
He was driven to the police station and led to themander''s office. It was the same guy asst time, after a bit of back and forth talking a couple of months ago, Michael found out his name was Gareth.
He greeted Michael with a big smile "Wee, are you finally ready to join us?"
Michael had told him that he would get in contact soon since his duties in the slums wereing to an end.
"Yes, are the terms still the same as before?"
"Of course, we will pay the entrance cost and provide you with a ce to stay."
Gareth then nced at Michael''s back, or more specifically, at the bag he was holding.
"What do you have in that bag?"
Michael casually replied "Just some money, can you help me make a bank ount and deposit it?"
Gareth sighed "Sure.. since this is the first time, I will deal with the taxes as an employment bonus, so how much money is in there?"
"Not that much, only 20.000 dors" Michael shrugged.
"Not that much? That is like 4 months of my sry" Gareth looked a bit shocked that a kid so young could earn so much money.
"Was it all from the slums?" He couldn''t help but ask.
Michael simply nodded. He wanted to get this done quickly so he could go spend it. It was time for him to buy a gun.
Though as Michael thought that, he immediately face palmed ''Who the fuck is going to sell guns to an 11 year old..''
Keeping up your reputation as a genius I see.
''Shut up'' Michael then turned back to Gareth, he needed one more favor. "Sorry if I am asking too much but could you help me buy a gun?"
Nice wording.
Gareth was once again left shocked, a kid wanted to buy a weapon, seriously?
"Sorry but I can''t do that, that would be highly against thew, I could even lose my position."
Michael expected something like this, it was too good to be true, he could have just asked Alfred to buy him one, but now would be quite an awkward time toe back.
"Though if you wait until the academy starts, you will be provided with any weapon of your choice."
At those words, Michael''s expression slightly lit up. He just had to be patient and he could save 20.000 Dors, not too bad.
Gareth then continued "Leave the bag here, I will create a bank ount under your name and deposit the money, don''t worry I won''t steal anything." He finished with a chuckle.
"Alright, when should Ie back to get the credit card?"
"Don''t worry about that, once you go outside you will be escorted to your new ce, I will bring everything there myself" Gareth exined.
Michael agreed and chatted a bit more about his responsibilities as a stand by healer, and then left, going to his new home.
The drive was fairly long, taking nearly an hour, however, the longer the ride went on, the more luxurious the housing became.
The car eventually stopped in front of a modern looking house. It was not big by any means, however, it looked really expensive.
Michael did not know on whose authority he was able to live like this, however he didn''t question it.
He went inside the house and saw it had a kitchen, 3 bedrooms and 2 toilets, A bit too much for him alone.
Michael gotfortable, made some food and sat on the sofa in the living room.
After a couple of hours, the doorbell rang, and upon opening the door he saw it was Gareth, holding a small handbag.
"Here you are, inside is your credit card and a cell phone, I added an extra 1000 dors as your allowance, hope you don''t mind."
A cell phone, Michael had nearly forgotten about them, and every time he came out to talk to Gareth, he always just walked to the police station or was picked up and driven there.
''But an allowance? Damn, I am actually going to get paid.'' Michael chuckled inwardly. It reminded him of his time back in the recovery center, where even after a whole year, he hadn''t earned a single cent.
He took the handbag and invited Gareth inside, however he refused as he was technically still on duty.
Before Gareth left, he informed Michael "Keep the cellphone on at all times, it''s going to be what we use to contact you, along with that you will also be provided a personal driver."
"I see, thank you Gareth" And with those words, Michael went back to the sofa, preparing to binge watch a few movies.
Don''t let your guard down, they are watching you like hawks.
''Who? The police?''
Yes and some other forces, it seems you attracted quite a lot of attentiontely.
Michael recast his Shield skill on himself, just to be safe, and resumed watching the movie.
He had a gut feeling work might call him in sooner than expected...
Chapter 16: Emergency
Chapter 16: Emergency
-Ring
''Seriously?''
There goes your cking off.
Not even 2 hours had passed since he received the cell phone, and he was already being called in to work.
Michael groggily paused his movie and answered the call "Hello?"
"There is an emergency, we need your healing as soon as possible" A female voice resounded.
"Okay? Where am I supposed to go?"
"A driver should be there already, go outside" With those words she hung up the call.
''Well that was a bit rude'' Michael grumbled to himself before getting dressed and heading out.
Parked outside was some sort of supercar Michael didn''t know the brand of. The driver reminded him of the one who drove him to the dungeon, back in the other continent.
No small talk was exchanged, Michael got in and then they started driving, incredibly fast.
''Holy shit this is definitely not legal" He couldn''t help but think to himself. The speed reminded him of the bullet train from his previous world, but since this world has awakeners, they can drive that machinery as if it''s no problem.
The drive only took a couple of minutes and Michael arrived right in front of some sort of convenience store, where a bunch of police cars were gathered.
Unlike the previous driver who had opened Michael''s door, this one did not. He paid it no mind however.
He walked up to a random police officer and introduced himself "Hello I am Michael, the stand by healer. I was called in for an emergency."
The officer immediately looked relieved and exined the situation to Michael.
There was a simple robbery, however, some police trainees got hurt, if not for their constitution, they would have already died long ago.
Michael was expected to simply provide any aid he could, whether it be stabilizing their conditions or something simr.
Though he was obviously going to do a lot more than that, it wasn''t difficult by any means.
''Their HP is at 5% this is pretty serious'' Michael thought as he focused a little harder, trying to see their numerical HP amount.
He was left slightly shocked ''Trainees? They have 1000 total HP, that''s nearly as much as mine'' he quickly scanned the hp amounts of the other officers.
''2000... 2400.. what the fuck?''
Their stats are pretty high, though remember, stat calctions are different for you and them.
''I understand, but what is their level then?''
Hmm.. around 80?
''God.. you really have to exin the power systems, this different stat stuff does not make sense'' Michael sighed and began healing the other trainees on the ground.
Since his Greater Heal skill was maxed out, he no longer received any EXP from it, not even to his main level.
Is it that difficult to understand? If their total stats, minus charisma, reach a threshold, their level increases.
Michael shot back at the system ''Yeah and what are those thresholds? Are you just trying to confuse me with your bad exnations?''
Ugh.. you are just too stupid to understand. Let''s say everyone starts at Level 0, with barely any stats. They would need to reach 20 total stats to raise their level to 1, and that same amount continues on for as long as they can level up.
So if you were level 10, yourbined stats would be 200, 50 means 1000, and I am pretty sure you are not stupid enough to not understand the rest yes?
''Huh, so my stats and the stats of those simr to my level are pretty much the same?'' Michael thought. He had a fairly bnced sum of stats currently.
As I saidst time, you feel the effects of your stats better, if I were to put it intoparison, let''s say you and someone else have 100 AGI. You can use 100% of that at all times, whereas another would find it straining.
You increase the limit through hard work, but so do they. However as I also mentioned previously, due to them straining more, their stats rise faster.
Tobat the potential imbnce you are given stat points from both skills and your level ups. Your HP and MP ratios are also being adjusted, they are much higher than someone at your level. Anyway, what I mean is, don''t ck off or you will fall behind.
Michael took that information in and finished healing thest trainee, there were 7 in total, that were now back to peak condition.
However, they still remained passed out, possibly due to the blood loss earlier.
"Wow you are amazing, no wonder the higher ups advertised you as some golden child" One of the police officers said whileughing.
''Golden child? Really?''
As Michael was about to rejoice in the fact that work was over, his cell phone rang once again.
"There is an emergency, we need your healing as soon as possible" a different voice thanst time resounded, though it was still a woman''s voice.
Michael sighed "Sure I am on my way.."
He had been sighing a lot these past few days.
The driver from before didn''t wander off anywhere, the moment Michael got into the car, they once again sped to another location.
It didn''t take long for Michael to arrive, it was now a bank, and it seemed hostages were trapped inside.
As Michael was about to introduce himself to a random officer, he saw Gareth, and walked up to him instead.
It seemed he noticed him as Michael received a nod from him.
"Michael, be ready to act at any moment, we don''t know when the robbers n to make their next move" Gareth said in a serious voice.
Michael pondered for a moment before an idea came to his head "How many hostages are there?"
"There are only 3, the others managed to escape."
''Only 3 hostages inside of a bank? Must be shit robbers then'' Michael couldn''t help but inwardly scoff.
"I see, can you send me in then? I have a skill that can save the hostages."
Gareth''s eyes slightly widened "You can save the hostages?"
"Yes, just send me in and give me something to signal you with, the moment I do, you rush in" Michael told him his simple n.
He was obviously going to use Shield on the hostages, he already had one on himself, so the mana costs were still within reason.
He would have a couple hundred MP left after casting, and he highly doubted the robbers would deal 4000 damage before the police managed to detain them.
Gareth began to think, taking a few seconds to calcte the risks "How confident are you?"
Michael replied without hesitation "Trust me"
That seemed enough for Gareth as he simply nodded and gave Michael some sort of device shaped like a button.
"Press that once you finished doing what you need to, I am putting my reputation on the line here, make sure to not die." His voice the most serious it has ever been since Michael met him.
"Of course"
Michael then walked towards the entrance to of the bank with his arms held up in the air, signifying surrender.
He saw 2 robbers approach the entrance and quickly open the door, grabbing Michael and throwing him inside.
''Aren''t they pretty weak?'' As he was flung he noticed their strength was verycking.
Yeah they are not strong, however they have something up their sleeve.
''And I guess you are not going to tell me what that is?''
Nope.
Michael grumbled and sat down, making himselffortable.
He looked around and saw the 3 hostages, there was a single man, a woman and a child.
These robbers had no weapons, probably just some skills they were confident in, even without Shield Michael could rescue them.
Though it was better to be safe than sorry, he began casting his Shield skill, enveloping all 3 of the hostages in an invisible light.
Michael waited for a little while to make sure there were only 2 robbers and not more, before finally standing up and stretching his back.
He pressed the button Gareth had given him, and ran at the unsuspecting robbers.
Michael was really fast now, in preparation for his future position/fighting style, his agility had increased by a lot.
He quickly punched one of the robbers in the guts, sending him flying straight into a wall.
Michael went all out on the punch, he was a healer anyway, if needed he would just heal him back to full health and knock him out again.
The second robber seemed to notice what was going on, however for some reason he had fear in his eyes.
And the next moment Michael found out why, as the robber pulled out some sort of switch and flipped it, quickly pressing the button.
''Shi-''
-Boooooooom
-----
Gareth was standing by his car, talking with his fellow police officers.
Though he was not simply idling by, in fact, he was monitoring the entire situation through a hidden camera he nted on Michael.
That being the button, once pressed, it could scan the surroundings and transmit the view back to hisputer.
Michael seemed to stand up and stretch his back ''What is he doing?''
He then noticed him running straight at the robbers and punching one right in the guts, sending him flying.
Gareth''s eyes widened ''Wasn''t he a healer?''
His speed was impressive, way beyond any healer he had seen anyway.
A level 35 healer, to think he even managed to level up more than 10 times in 2 years, for someone who had never done dungeons, it was an unbelievable achievement.
The reason the higher ups were interested in him was because of his age, he had a lot of potential as a healer if raised correctly.
Gareth did not like that angle of theirs so he suggested an approach that granted Michael freedom once he goes to the academy.
And it worked, they epted and he was allowed to go through with the recruitment.
As the years went by he had gotten along quite nicely with the kid, he didn''t seem his age at all.
Frankly, talking with him felt as if he was with someone his own age. Though he chuckled at that thought, no way was that possible.
Gareth thought it had something to do with why he apparently did not exist, however upon snooping around, he could not find anything out.
''Anyways..that kick was pretty strong, and his speed is something else entirely, the other robber will be dealt with the same.'' With those thoughts Gareth sighed in relief.
However the one small moment he looked away from hisputer, all hell was let loose.
-Boooooooom
It startled him out of his thoughts and he began rushing around, protecting the civilians from the iing debris.
''Fuck...''
The explosion was big enough to send the bank entrance flying.
Since the police officers were all fairly decent level awakened, they easily dealt with it.
There was one problem however, Michael and the hostages. ''They are dead..''
Gareth''s mind was filled with regret, he knew better than to entrust something this serious to a child.
And that got several people killed.
-Crack
Suddenly breaking sounds intensified from the already demolished building.
However Gareth quickly realised that did not make sense, as he stood up and walked to the copsed entrance.
-Crack
The bricks in front of him cracked and he saw a familiar face.
''Michael?''
-----
''Ughh that fucking stings'' Michael rubbed his arms which were slightly red, and quickly cast a heal on himself, returning back to normal color.
''That bastard blew himself up'' he thought while staring at the pile of dried blood on the ground.
Michael had cast a shield on the 2 robbers in thest moments before the explosion, however his shield could not hold out the damage one of them took.
The debris had not buried the hostages, they all had terrified expressions on their faces, with the child''s crying being the only reminder that they were still somehow alive.
Michael walked up to where the other robber should have been and removed the debris.
There was a man who, apart from his upper body, had lost all his limbs.
It seemed Michael''s shield saved his life, though he couldn''t stop his limbs from being crushed by the debris that weighed several tons.
His shield skill was not that strong.
Nevertheless, he cast a greater heal on him and his wounds closed up, Michael half expected his limbs to grow back, but Greater Heal in the end, was just an umon ranked skill.
He picked up the remaining robber who had long lost consciousness and started digging, his punches shattering the bricks blocking the entrance.
The hostages were right behind him, huddling ever so close to his small back.
Finally, he broke the final bricks blocking his path, and upon doing so, saw a familiar face.
It was Gareth.
Michael put on a small smile and waved "Miss me?"
Chapter 17: Dungeon Collapse
Chapter 17: Dungeon Copse
"Is this report true?"
"Yes" Gareth replied with a straightened posture.
He was currently discussing the previous situation with the higher ups.
After Michael came back alive out of the copsed building, hostages behind him, it left quite an impression on everyone present.
And that was the same for the higher ups, they too were extremely impressed by his performance.
1 casualty and it was only the robber who had blown himself up. Not a massive loss to society by any means.
It has been a couple of days since that incident. However, they were unable to extract any information out of the remaining robber.
No one knew their intentions or why they nned on blowing themselves up. The only option they had was to wait until someone specializing in mind magic came around.
People with skills like that are a rare find, and currently none were in Vivum City.
The higher ups began talking amongst themselves, leaving Gareth standing alone awkwardly.
"We have decided to re-evaluate Michael, from this point on, only send him on emergency requests that are high profile, something his expertise warrants. Our other healers arepetent enough to deal with other issues" A man with a massive gray beard suddenly dered. He was one of the few justicemittee founders.
"Understood" Gareth quickly turned around and left.
After this incident, the public started painting Michael as some sort of an angel, there are pictures of him floating around from when he came out of the bank.
However that also brought some new issues.
Gareth clenched his fists as he was walking back to his car ''Saint candidate.''
It meant one became an object of reverence, like a paragon of the goddess''s will, though most people knew that was bullshit.
The position gave many benefits, however in exchange,pletely got rid of freedom for the to be Saint.
It was the kind of role that the public thrusts upon you, something that is tied to your name like an achievement.
And because of that, the government watched the Saint like a hawk, trying to do whatever they could in order to make him seem more holy.
''Fanatics'' A lot of government officials believed in higher powers, one of them being the Goddess Sophia.
The one whose will the saint allegedly carried.
Though knowing Michael''s personality, he will probably manage to avoid that position, that''s what Gareth hoped anyway.
It was time to call Michael and tell him about the new arrangements, he will surely like the new schedule..
-----
It''s obviously the woman.
''Why would it be the woman? Out of everyone, the man was the most suspicious, I mean just look at his eyes.''
Michael was currently watching a drama, that was mostly what he did during his time off, considering it was incredibly limited.
Your deductive skills are not great, watch, it''s going to be the woma-
-Ring
''Oh fuck off, a 20 minute break since this morning? What kind of stand by position is this!'' Michael eximed in his mind. He was being overworked, even by his standards.
Walking over to the phone he picked it up and walked outside, seemingly already dressed for work.
"Hello yes I am on my way" Michael said as he reached for the end call button.
Though a voice quickly interjected "Wait, it''s me."
"Gareth? What''s the asion?" It was the first time he has received a call from him ever since he was hired.
"The higher ups have changed your role, you are now only going to be called in for more serious stuff."
Michael''s eyes lit up "Does that mean I can finally watch my movies in peace?"
Though Gareth only slightly chuckled "Maybe, however on that note, you are needed at one of the sites, good luck."
Michael stared at the ended call with a nk expression, then only a few secondster, his driver arrived.
''I hate this job..''
The drive took just a few minutes, at the speed they were going at, it was not hard to get around the city.
The city had a poption of 40 million people, so to say that it wasn''t spacious enough, would be a lie.
Upon arriving Michael''s eyes slightly widened ''Monsters?''
There was a portal right in the middle of the street, with police surrounding it and killing off some green monsters that wereing out.
I guess this does qualify for something more serious?
''Well it''s better than having to drive across the city to heal a single individual'' Michael shrugged and walked up to a cop, introducing himself.
"Great, Michael, stay behind us, you will be needed if the worst case scenario happens, and as things are going, it might indeed happen" The officer exined, earning a lot of confusion from Michael.
"What''s worse than a dungeon break? Monsters were alreadying out."
The officer pointed at the portal, specifically the small ever expanding cracks around it.
"A dungeon break happens once the boss monster bes too strong, however, there is one stage above that, aplete dungeon copse"
"In the case of a copse, all the energy of the dungeon gets absorbed into the boss monster, making it incredibly strong."
He then pointed back at Michael "That''s where youe in, this will likely be a battle of attrition, so your heals will be extremely helpful"
''I see, that could indeed be a big problem'' Michael noticed the cracks around the portal slowly expanding.
"I will try to be of help" However the moment those words came out of his mouth, the colors around him changed.
The hollow modern streets were suddenly enveloped in a vibrant shade, traveling for who knows how far.
And the pressure Michael felt was immense, it all came from the dungeon.
The cracks around the portal intensified and with a final stretch, shattered.
It looked anti climactic, there was no sound, no anything. However, Michael knew better than to let his guard down.
And he was right, as the next moment the Portal lit up, its former blue shade expanding in the range of the vibrance, turning the entire area into a blue domain.
Be careful, this might get a little dangerous.
''No shit sherlock'' Michael was able to feel the intensity, pulsing from the portal, as if someone, or something was walking up to it.
Michael looked around and saw the police officers with their mouths open, trying tomunicate, however, no words came out, or more like he just couldn''t hear it.
No one could.
The pulsing intensified, seemingly getting even closer. It made Michael''s heart race even faster than before.
Was it fear? He didn''t know.
Though he knew that whatever wasing, will be really strong.
A couple of seconds passed and the pulsing seemed to slow down, before finally disappearing.
As that happened, the vibrance traveled back into the portal, as if nothing ever happened.
"Everybody! Get into positions, it''sing!" One of the police officers shouted and pulled out a bow from seemingly nowhere, and so did the others.
Staffs, shields, swords, any weapon he could imagine was brought out, with all of them seamlessly getting into positions, waiting for the boss monster toe out.
This is going to be simr to a raid, however, you are the only healer, pay close attention to your allies, if they die it will be on your hands.
Michael merely nodded and stepped to the very back, preparing to heal the others.
The only item he had was the robe Reba had given him, though it was slightly torn already, looking like it wouldn''tst that much longer.
It will have to do, for at least this one more battle.
Suddenly Michael saw a foot appear from out of the portal, it was way bigger than even 5 police officersbined.
"Troll!" One of the policemen shouted.
As you can see by its foot, trolls were just bigger and stronger goblins, the green monsters you saw earlier.
Michael took that information in and mentally prepared himself, the battle was about to begin.
Finally, the troll''s fully dark green body came into full view, it looked a bit funnying out of the small portal, as its size was many times that of anyone he had ever seen in his life.
"Fire!" Upon those words, a volley of all sorts of spells, arrows, and gunfire wasunched, heading straight for the troll.
Michael stepped to the side to get a better view of the others and upon noticing the 3 tanks wielding shields, he cast Infuse as well as his very own Shield skill on them.
The battle had finally started..
The mages kept sending spells at the troll and the other ranged sses kept firing their arrows and bullets,nding right on the troll''s body.
Every time their quivers or magazines ran out, a recement materialized itself out of nowhere, allowing them to continue their onught of ranged fire.
The troll had no weapons, only its body, however, every single punch or kick sent shockwaves through the air.
The close range damage dealers were very cautious, only attacking once the tanks blocked a blow.
With Michael''s Shield skill stacked with their already resilient bodies, the tanks were not taking any damage, and neither was anyone else.
Every time a hit was tond on one of them, an invisible barrier repelled the troll''s attacks.
Though he knew this was not going tost long, all of these people had their HP in the 3000 or above range, the tanks even higher. However, the troll''s HP was not even visible.
Michael guessed their levels were in the 120''s, this was probably an elite team of the police force.
The battle continued on and so far there weren''t any casualties. Everyone looked strong andpetent so Michael was not too worried about anyone messing up.
As the troll looked like it was finally about to fall, its skin suddenly turnedpletely red, the same with its eyes.
One of the tanks stepped back and shouted "Phase 2!" Making everyone but the ranged damage dealers back away.
It seemed the troll had enraged, increasing its damage at the cost of sanity, not like it was very smart to begin with though.
All of the swordsmen backed off, leaving the grouped up tanks together.
Michael was going to recast Shield but remembered it increased in mana cost significantly, if he were to cast it on the tanks again, then he would have no more mana left.
That''s why instead of that, he began waiting for his chance to heal them, paying close attention to their HP with his Eyes of the Healer skill.
As the troll hit one of the tank''s shield''s, he was pushed back a few meters, with blood dripping down from his mouth.
''That one hit, even when blocked, dealt 30% of his HP..'' Michael thought with slightly widened eyes as he cast a Greater Heal on the tank, enveloping him in a golden light.
There were no external injuries, only internal, therefore they were healed in an instant, even the tank was surprised by the speed.
With that, the battle was pretty straightforward, the tanks did their best to block the troll''s attacks, trying to wait out his enrage.
And it was working, the damage done by the long range dealers was starting to show, as the troll''s eyes were already burnt to a crisp, only swinging his arms by instinct.
The tanks quickly rushed in and pushed it down, the close range damage dealers immediately running in and stabbing it from all directions.
Until finally its hands fell on the ground, with the troll taking rough breaths.
However even that didn''tst long, as in the next moment a barrage of all kinds of projectilesnded on its body, riddling it with holes.
[ [Assist] Great Troll [Level 150] Killed! +15000 EXP ]
Michael stared at the message for a second ''Hey why did I only get 15000 EXP when I got 10000 from killing something that was level 50?''
That''s normal, you got 10% of its total EXP. The others got the other 10%, when you kill a monster you can only get 20% of its EXP.
Michael looked a little puzzled ''They get 10% EXP split between all of them? Doesn''t that mean they barely get anything?''
Yes, that''s why it is difficult for everyone besides you to gain new skills. However don''t worry, the EXP split does not apply for healers, no matter how many are in a party, all of them would get 10% of the monster''s level''s EXP.
''So what if there were 20 healers in a party?'' Michael asked out of curiosity.
Then they all would get 10%, nothing changes, don''t ask me where the EXPes from though, I don''t know myself.
''I see, well thanks for the exnation at least'' With a nod he turned back to the police officers, who for some reason had wide smiles on their faces, staring right at him.
''Oh boy.. this is going to be an annoying talk...''
Chapter 18: Saint
Chapter 18: Saint
One of the tanks walked up to Michael "That was amazing! I didn''t know healers couldpletely negate damage."
Michael was currently dealing with a bombardment of questions and praises, he was not used to stuff like this.
Back in the military, all he got was a simple ''Good job'' and it felt like enough for him.
Now though, he couldn''t hide a smile that crept onto his face.
-Ring
''Seriously?'' Michael''s eyes showed clear annoyance, the others also realized what the call meant and gave him their condolences, before leaving to clean up the mess.
"Hello?" Michael asked in an irritated tone.
"Hello Michael, you have been chosen for the Saint position, please head to the government headquarters as soon as you can" And with that, the call ended.
''The fuck is a Saint?''
From what I gathered, it''s a ceholder position, however...
''Spit it out already I don''t have all day'' Michael impatiently said.
You do have all day.. but besides that, you can use the position to extort the government, since they would hold you in very high regard.
Michael let out a small chuckle ''Extort the government? You sure have changed.''
I am serious, they will try to use you and monitor you, use that to your advantage and get something out of them.
Michael nodded and walked back to his car, and without needing to say anything to the driver, sped off.
''I will keep your advice in mind.''
-Ring
The phone rang out once again, Michael picked up and didn''t even bother saying anything, he was tired of the constant calling.
"Hey Michael, did the government call you yet?" Gareth''s voice rang out.
"Yup, I am driving there right now, they offered me the Saint''s position"
Gareth''s shocked voice rang out through the phone "You have been chosen!? Already? Listen..they have ulterior motives, for your own sake, be careful."
"Sure sure" Michael replied absentmindedly, he already knew what needed to be known.
They chatted about work a little bit after that, it seemed ever since Michael''s ''promotion'' Gareth had a lot of work to deal with.
It was mostly rted to the other Healers, the police force did not have many, that is why they usually cooperated with one of the city hospitals, which were always packed full of healers.
The drive was a little longer than usual, Michael saw the modern buildings from before switching to expensive mansions and all sorts of facilities.
They all had something inmon however, it was all made for the awakened.
Weapons, armor, and even some kind of essory shops were present.
And the all the equipment looked unordinary, clearly made with some type of skill.
There were hovercraft flying around everywhere, carrying out boxes from the shops, possibly some kind of expensive delivery service.
However Michael didn''t care for that at the moment, as he was nning out what to ask from the government.
He finally arrived in front of a massive building, the size towering up into the clouds.
It looked extremely intricate as if every single piece was made entirely by hand. Though if this was really government headquarters, then it wouldn''t be that surprising.
Walking up a small flight of stairs, Michael arrived in front of a huge ck door, it seemed there were no handles or anything of the sort attached.
In the next moment however, a green light descended from above and enveloped Michael, though as quickly as it came, it disappeared.
It slightly startled Michael, it felt as though he was being watched by thousands of eyes. Though he knew that was likely not the case here.
Some kind of recognition magicbined with technology, pretty impressive.
The system exined to Michael, and suddenly the ck door disappeared, recing it was an elevator.
''What an odd choice to ce an elevator at the very entrance'' Michael thought as he walked inside it.
As he turned around he noticed there weren''t any buttons to press, he was justpletely isted in the elevator, with the entrance already having closed.
The whole elevator was made out of some kind of see through material, simr to ss but not quite the same texture.
Michael looked around but couldn''t see anything, for a moment he even thought the elevator had malfunctioned.
Though the darkness didn''tst for long, as he suddenly felt like he was moving, the sight making his eyes widen.
All around him were a bunch of offices, stretching out for as far as the eyes could see.
People were stationed in each one and every one he could see, some of them even looked straight at him.
Suddenly the view changed again.
''Is that a fucking city?'' Michael eximed upon the sight.
One moment he was in an office like space, the next, he was overlooking some kind of medieval city.
Though what caught his attention were the people, walking around like nothing strange was happening, as if Michael was not in the sky overlooking them.
He once again changed locations, this time he was in an ocean, a monster covering his entire view.
It looked like a giant octopus. Though it seemed that it took notice of Michael as it suddenly raised one of its tentacles and swiped at him with ridiculous speed.
Michael flinched and braced for impact, however it never came.
Looking around, he found himself back in a dark space, simr to the one he was in when he had just entered the elevator.
''What the fuck was that about?''
No clue, the only thing I am aware of though is that spatial magic was used to transport you, as for the other things? No clue.
Even the system didn''t understand. It seemed whatever technology the government had, was many decades ahead of the rest of the city.
While on one of his emergency requests, he had to go up into some sort of an expensive looking apartmentplex, it was fairly spacious, mostly everything in this city was.
Though nothing of what he saw there evenes close to what he had just witnessed.
''Magic and technology huh'' Michael thought to himself. He found this whole situation ridiculous yet very interesting at the same time.
He knew the government was just trying to show a few of their cards to him, however he couldn''t help but feel impressed by what he saw.
After a couple minutes of waiting, the elevator door finally opened, a spacious hall in front of him.
Some kind of woman approached him and without saying anything, handed him a note, before walking right off.
''All maids are indeed the same'' Michael couldn''t help but chuckle to himself.
The note only had a few things written on it, and they were the number of a room which Michael guessed he had to go to.
He walked along the hall until he finally arrived in front of a room numbered 101. He knocked a few times on the door and opened it.
What greeted his sight were 12 people sitting together in front of a round table. Their ages and sizes varying.
Some were fairly young, while others unironically looked to be on their death bed.
Though Michael knew better than to make fun of anyone present here, they were one of the most important people on this continent.
There were many cities, though only a few as technologically advanced as Vivum, making it the most valuable amongst its peers.
A woman suddenly stood up, green hair flowing down to her waist. She looked to be the youngest of them all, however Michael noticed something interesting.
''She is an elf'' He concluded as he nced at her long pointy ears.
"Hello Michael" She said with a soft smile.
Michael stared back into her Emerald colored eyes, she was beautiful, tops the list of any woman he had seen so far.
"d to be invited" Michael expressed in a confident tone. If he was going to extort them, he must not look like a pushover.
The woman slightly chuckled "It''s great you are not nervous, we are not here to harm you after all."
"So why am I here, is it to simply to ept the Saint position?" Michael asked, trying to probe their intentions.
Though the woman was a little more straightforward than he had expected "Yes, don''t think too deeply of it, all Saint candidates go through something like this."
Though the word ''candidates'' resounded in his mind "So is there some kind of test I have to pass?"
The woman once again chuckled, finding Michael''s way of talking amusing "Yes, you just have to demonstrate some of your skills, nothing more than that."
"Why?" Michael tilted his head with a small tinge of confusion. He thought he would be just some sort of figurehead anyway.
"We need someone who can make it seem as though a miracle is happening, the reason why you are here was because some skills you showed fit our needs" She replied,cking a bit of emotion in her voice.
"So do you just want me to cast my skills on you or what?"
"Not on me, cast it on him" She pointed to a buff bald man, he looked as bulky as some of the bodybuilders from his old world.
Though he didn''t know how to exin better to them, so he just cast Shield on him.
"I cast one of my skills, you can hit him and a portion of the damage will be negated" Michael exined to the people around the table.
The woman stood up and waved her hand in the air, suddenly the bald man next to Michael was sent flying straight into a wall.
''What just happened?'' He couldn''t follow that attack at all.
She then walked around the table and picked up the now passed out man, her eyes slightly widened in surprise.
The force she used was enough to put a hole through the man''s abdomen, however, the only thing she saw was a single small bruise.
"A portion you said? Itpletely negated my attack!" She eximed in an excited tone.
"Hey, what else can you do?"
Michael looked around the room and focused on a single old man who looked the frailest of them all, his eyes unfocused. Though just like the rest of the people here, his numerical HP was invisible.
Michael was still able to spot something right below the old man''s HP, it was a blueish green symbol, and if he were to guess, it meant poison.
Michael walked up to the old man and stared at him for a moment, before casting Purify.
A blue box appeared but he quickly got rid of it with his mind, staring down at the old man.
The woman walked up behind Michael and stared at him, sporting a confused expression.
However, that onlysted for a moment as the old man nced up at Michael and spoke "Boy..what did you do?"
All of a sudden Michael could hear the chairs squeaking as everyone in the room immediately stood up, their expressions filled with shock.
The most affected of them all was the woman right next to Michael, as she reached out with her shaking hand and grabbed a hold of the old man''s face.
"F-father?" She spoke, her voice trembling.
"Amanda.." At his words, she immediately hugged him and started bawling her eyes out.
Michael just stood there, unsure of what to say or do, though he didn''t have to wait long to find out.
One of the people from the round table came up to him and told him to wait outside for a moment.
Michael simply nodded, he didn''t exactly want to ruin a family reunion.
Walking out of the room he sat down and gotfortable, trying to hide the smile that was creeping up on his face.
He was now given the perfect card to y in order to ask for anything he could ever want.
Obviously, he wasn''t nning on asking for something unreasonable, just something that would make his life a little easier.
You seem happy.
Michael slightly chuckled ''Of course..''
''After all..I am about to extort the most powerful people on the continent.''
Chapter 19: Benefits
Chapter 19: Benefits
''I am a bit curious, why did they react like that when all I did was cure some sort of ailment, can''t the other healers do that?'' Michael wondered as he stared at the closed door, waiting to be invited back in.
Your purify skill cures all diseases and ailments, however the closest the others can get to it would be a partial cure, or even something like a cure for all known basic diseases.
''So mine quite literally cures all and every disease, that is more overpowered than I had thought.''
Michael was getting a little bored of waiting, it has been nearly an hour since he was told to wait outside.
And yet there was no sign of them inviting him back in, he couldn''t even hear any sounds inside of the room, as if it was fully soundproof.
Though if it''s the government, they probably ced all sorts of barriers to keep the sound froming out.
''Do you think they would grant me ess to the dungeons?'' Michael couldn''t help but ask. It was one of the ideas he had hoped coulde true.
It is likely that you will be able to, however I doubt you will gain full ess to the dungeons, probably only a few based on your level.
''Isn''t that still good though? I could just go level up my skills freely''
Michael had thought of something interesting, his Shield skill was leveling up nearly every time he uses it, then why couldn''t he just use it on a weak monster?
Just cast Shield and make it break himself, that would still grant him the EXP.
If he did that his skills would skyrocket, especially his Shield skill, it would not take him long at all to max out and he could finallybine it with his Greater Heal skill.
Thebination would either produce one of the most overpowered skills he had, or something he could not even use.
Shield had the downside of increasing mana cost per level, if that were to happen to his new skill too, it would be considered a dud.
Michael had tried creating skills simr to how he created Focus Heal back in the recovery center, however he was not able to.
The system told him he couldn''t simply recreate the same skills like before, unlike before certain conditions must be met.
Something akin to enlightenment, where you realise how to use the different skill by yourself even before it is created by the system.
However there are exceptions, some skills are able to evolve, in your situation, even increase in rank.
That might exin his Purify evolving instead of bing a separate area of effect skill.
"Come in" A voice came out through the opened door in front of him.
He was a little lost in thought so he didn''t see anyone open it, though that did not matter as he stood up and walked right in.
The mood in the room was strange, though he guessed this little reunion was long overdue.
The elf woman, Amanda, stood up and walked over to Michael, extending her hand for a handshake.
Michael simply epted, he understood Amanda''s intentions, why she was thanking him, her eyes were still a little red after all.
"Thank you"
"It''s no problem, I assume I got the position?" Michael calmnly replied whilst shaking her hand.
Amanda smiled, her sincere expression clearly visible "Of course, sit down, let''s talk terms" She brought out a chair out of seemingly nowhere, simr to how the policemen got their quivers and magazines.
He forgot to ask the system about what it wasst time since he was a little preupied, now though he will indulge in his curiosity.
Its a spatial storage bag, it''s like a normal bag except its space is expanded many times.
''Is this more on the spatial magic side or technological?'' He couldn''t help but ask.
Hmm.. I can''t tell exactly, however what I am sure of is that both are included, which one is used more I can''t tell.
''I see'' Michael replied before sitting down by the round table, about to begin his extor- negotiations.
The old man from before stared at Michael with a small smile, however he didn''t say a single word.
Amanda cleared her throat "Alright, so as you might already be aware, we need someone to act as a Saint for the people, this position requires you to act dignified and show a miracle once or twice a month."
She then took out a piece of paper from her spatial bag "If you hold up your part of the deal, you will be rewarded with 10000 dors monthly as well as quarters in the finest part of the city, right next to the academy.
''The academy is in this ce? I sure hope it''s not also in this building.''
Michael kept a straight face as he lightly tilted his head "I see, is that it?"
That seemed to startle Amanda a little bit "What do you mean?"
Though unlike her, the old man startedughing, a stark contrast to his previous lifeless self.
"Boy, you sure have guts." He said through stifledughter.
Michael could see the glow in the man''s eyes insensifying, he had green eyes, though unlike Amanda, he did not have pointy ears.
''So he really is the father huh, I''ll be damned'' Michael thought while looking at the old man.
All the while Amanda remained silent, it seemed she was still not used to her father talking, who knows how long she had been waiting for him to get better.
Suddenly the old man''sughter died down and instead his whole body changed, as if morphing.
The once barely alive looking man now turned into someone almost as young as his daughter.
However what surprised Michael the most were his ck horns, they were protruding from the sides of his head, his now flowing white hair failing to hide them.
"My name is Fafnir, would you like to take a guess as to what I am?" His calm voice suddenly resounded all around Michael.
The pressure contained enough force to scramble his thoughts, making his next words something he might regret.
"A goat?" Though as soon as the words came out, the atmosphere around him turned chilly.
A goat? Really? If you took one good look at him you would notice he is a dragon, good job. It was fun knowing you.
''Fuck..I didn''t mean to blurt that out.''
Though as Michael was preparing to lose his head, Fafnir''s loudughter resounded throughout the room once again.
"Ahaha..close, I am in fact a dragon, and one of the founders of this city."
The other people around the table looked shocked, both at Michael''s anwser and Fafnir''s response.
The dragon they heard about was said to be arrogant and fearsome, someone who would inspire worship from those around it.
Though what was this? Laughing after being called a goat?
Even Amanda couldn''t hide her surprise, the father she remembers was always strict with her, the only person he acted normally around was her mother.
Who had sadly passed away a long time ago.
Ever since that day, father was never the same, eventually leading to him falling sick from a disease rted to his dragon heart.
Amanda tried calling all sorts of healers, however none were able to do anything, even the best healer she could contact was only able to relieve the pain her father suffered.
And now a child, a simple child, was able to cure something even the best healers on the continent could not.
All the while Michael was just standing there, listening to the dragonugh, not really sure whether to apologise or not, that might even make the situation worse.
Eventually theughter stopped and Fafnir gazed back at Michael "I will grant you one wish, it is seperate from the reward you are currently seeking, so feel free to ask away."
''A reasonable dragon, nice.''
"Right, then can I get permission to enter dungeons?" Michael said while looking at Amanda, though her reply was stern.
"No, though we could offer you a level 20 dungeon, you are still not ready for the other dungeons."
''Good enough for now''
"That is fine, would it also be possible to gain some type of clearance? I want to be able to buy stuff the adults can, such as weapons and armor." Michael asked as he tugged at his tattered robe.
Amanda thought for a moment before replying "You get something simr like that once you enter the academy, however it can be done, pass me your ID"
Michael did as he was told and noticed Amanda biting her finger, a drop of blood falling right onto his ID card.
And suddenly its colors changed, the once fully ck ID now turned golden, with a single streak of ck right above his name.
"There, also, now you are able to use your credit card with just your ID, I am a bit surprised the police force cheaped out on that" Amanda said as she gave Michael his ID back.
''It does feel a little different'' he thought, holding it in his hands.
Amanda slightly chuckled "Update it, they taught you that at the very least right?"
She was a little disappointed with the police force, someone like Michael was with them and they were taking the cheap way out?
Biting his finger, a few droplets of blood fell on the ID card, updating his status.
-----
*GOLD*
Awakened Identification Document
Name: Saint Michael
Age: 11 years old
ss: Healer
Level 36
Affilitation: City of Vivum
-----
Michael''s brows twitched a little "Saint Michael?"
"Yes that is now your new name, you also don''t have to work in the police station anymore, we will call you whenever something requiring your attentiones up." Amanda exined patiently.
"Right, will I still be considered a Saint even in the academy?"
"Of course, just make sure to not do anything incriminating in the next 4 months until the academy, even if we can bail you out, the word would still undoubtedly spread"
Michael nodded and put the ID card in his pocket, it was likely time to head out.
"Aren''t you forgetting something" Fafnir''s voice suddenly rang out.
''Oh right.. the wish or whatever''
Michael shrugged "I don''t have anything I want to wish for at the moment."
Fafnir just stared at Michael, trying to gouge his intentions. However there was nothing to see, he was not hiding any agenda.
"Very well, the next time we see each other, you better have something in mind." With those words Fafnir slumped down into his chair and closed his eyes.
''Did he just fall asleep?''
Yes.. after reawakening his powers, he became drowsy. Dragons tend to be like that.
"You are free to go, one of the personnel downstairs will take you to your new residence." Amanda said with a sigh, walking up to Fafnir and picking him up.
Michael took that as his que to leave, and so he did.
''Tell me something, you said dragons tend to be like that. For some reason I get the feeling you were talking from experience, am I wrong?
I can''t tell you that, all I will say is that your memories are not the only ones I have, snip your curiosity in the bud till you are stronger.
The system turned Michael down, though it did give him some insight. It meant the System knew more than it let on, even if it feigned ignorance sometimes.
Michael got into the elevator and this time immediately appeared at the bottom, no fancy stuff happening likest time.
There was a single vehicle parked in front of the headquarters, it was the same one he was being driven around in previously.
''So my driver is government personnel, huh. I guess that means the reason I could live sovishly was indeed because of them.'' Michael chuckled inwardly and got in, driving as fast as always.
He arrived in front of some sort of 3 story vi, a stark contrast to his previous small modern house.
Michael walked up to it and was immediately scanned with a green light, simr to the government headquarters entrance.
He saw something strange, or more like someone. There was a man neatly dressed in a suit, bowing slighty in Michael''s direction.
"Greetings young Saint, I am the head butler Xavier, it is an honor to meet you."
Michael''s calm expression slightly faltered ''My very own butler? Holy shit?''
You have officially became somewhat of a big shot, congrattions.
''Why thank you.''
Xavier led Michael around the entire vi, there were more than 8 rooms and 3 bathrooms, andst but not least a massive kitchen with his very own cook.
There was some sort of cinema room as well, something Michael greatly appreciated.
Lastly, they arrived in front of the master bedroom, situated on the top most floor.
It was spatious as one would expect, with windows overlooking the whole inner district of the city.
Ever since arriving here, he saw the stark contrast of technology as opposed to the part of the city he was staying in previously.
Through his main window he able to see a massive school like building, it stretched on for hundreds of meters and took up arge amount of space.
It was the academy, which Michael will be attending in 4 months.
He found himself lying on the massivefortable bed, all the stuff that has happened today made him extremely tired, both physically and mentally.
''By the time the academy starts, I need to reach at least level 40, double the system''s previous estimations.''
And Michael will be doing so by going to the dungeon Amanda gave him.
Taking a nce at his phone, its location was fairly close to his new home. It was time to max out the Shield skill.
Chapter 20: Inauguration
Chapter 20: Inauguration
"This is delicious"
Michael had been trying out all sorts of new dishes ever since he woke up.
The chef was able to cook up anything, he even had a menu. It felt as though he was in an actual top of the line restaurant.
Michael had called Gareth to let him know of how it went, and that he would no longer be a part of the police force.
He took it surprisingly well, Michael expected him to try convincing him to stay, however, his new role had all the benefits he could ever want.
Michael thought of asking for more than what he had, but he didn''t want to be too shameless. He felt like a dungeon and some kind of clearance was enough of a reward for him.
Added to the fact that he still had the dragon to grant him a single wish, though Michael had not yet decided what to ask for.
There is a lot of stuff he could think of but nothing that he wanted or needed at the current moment.
Michael finished thest of his dish, which was a pizza, and stood up, walking straight out of the vi.
The dungeon was only a few streets away so he didn''t really need a driver or anything like that.
Besides, it''s a good time to check out the surroundings.
Michael was located in some sort of neighborhood where he could see many vis, some even bigger than his own.
''Guess this will be for the rich academy kids'' He concluded. There of course could be people who just live here for the view, though Michael thought it was unlikely.
There didn''t exist anything like status in this world, However, there were all sorts of families and bloodlines that could be seen as superior to others. Hence why Zane was acting so arrogant.
But s, money is the deciding factor, your bloodline could be that of a dragon, but if you were dirt poor, it didn''t mean anything. Money gives the strong arrogance, and the weak hope.
It reminded him much of the slums, if only they had enough money to hire a decent healer, their health would not have deteriorated as much as it did.
Life is unfair, deal with it already and go to the dungeon.
''Alright'' Michael replied while shrugging. The weapon and armor stores were a bit far away, though it wouldn''t feel far if he drove there.
However he nned to walk today, check out the dungeon and level up his Shield skill to the max.
The MP cost is a little bit high now, at a whopping 750 just to cast it once. The amount it absorbed made it worth it, but just casting it once drained more than 1/3 of his total mana.
If he were to level up his skill, he wouldn''t be able to cast it for the 3rd time without taking a break.
So this might take a few days..
It will all be worth it in the end, a rare rank skill, as you have seen, is far better than one can imagine.
''True..with a simple Rare rank skill I was able to cure all diseases, it''s honestly ridiculous'' Michael continued walking towards a small park area where a few government buildings stood, sporting a massive ''V'' Logo.
It stood for Vivum, they were not very thoughtful whening up with their branding.
Michael arrived in front of some sort of guard and showed him his ID immediately bring escorted into a tent.
Much like thest time he was escorted, his vision switched and he appeared in front of a little camp that had set up around a small portal.
Everyone just looked at Michael and nodded, it seemed they too had been informed about him prior. It''s good not needing to introduce one''s self more than necessary.
One of them walked up to Michael and introduced himself "Hello the name''s Park, my team and I will deal with any problems if they were to arise" It was another tall buff dude, Michael''s been seeing so many of them these past few days.
"Sure, can I go in now?"
"Almost, give us just a second" saying that Park turned around and walked into the dungeon. After a couple of minutes, he finally came back out, a small goblin in hand.
He proceeded to ce some sort of a cor on the monster and then pulled out his phone "Hmm Level 12, you are good to go."
With a nod Michael walked into the portal, the space around him distorting.
On the other side was a vige, or more like a camp, he could see goblins running around.
Michael was currently on a little hill where the goblins could not see him.
He saw one that was pretty close to the hill so he snuck up behind it and grabbed it by the throat.
Michael''s stats were much higher than the goblins, therefore all it could do was il its arms around, trying to scream. Though he made sure it couldn''t.
Taking the goblin a fair distance away from the camp Michael released the goblin and cast a Shield on it, preparing to fight it.
The goblin''s body suddenly twisted and it started running at Michael, its fingers shaped like ws.
It wasn''t difficult to dodge, he just simply moved to the side and kicked it in the head.
Though as that happened his kick was bounced off, it felt as though he had hit arge pool of water.
The hit clearly didn''t go through, the HP absorbed was currently at 7500, so he didn''t expect it to break immediately.
Unlike Amands, he was not abat ss or anything of the sort, just a simple healer who was fast.
''Why didn''t I buy a gun..'' Michael kept weaving around the slow attacks of the goblin, this was going to be an unnecessarily long fight.
It''s fine, your hand to handbat skill is leveling up decently fast, since it''smon you should be done with it by the time your Shield skill reaches max level.
''Is that so.. alright'' Michael decided to hold off on the guns for now, however, he hoped that once he reached level 50 and increased the rarity of his ss, he would get some type ofbat skill.
That is highly unlikely, though keep dreaming.
''Fuck you too..''
-----
1 weekter.
Thest goblin finally plopped onto the ground, Michael standing above it with a bored expression.
A whole week of punching a water ball, until eventually it popped and the goblin died in a single hit, that''s what it felt like to him anyway.
It was so annoying and Michael was d it finally came to an end.
''Status''
+---+
Name: Saint Michael
Age: 11 years old
Race: Human
ss: Healer [Common]
Level 39 [30850/39000 EXP]
Titles:
Ruthless Combatant
# Raise all your damage by 10% when facing enemies at least 30 levels above you
-Stats
HP: 1334/1334 [+50] / Regen 148 HP Per Hour
MP: 2566/2566 [+50] / Regen 302 MP Per Hour
STR: 85 -> 90
END: 145 -> 148
AGI: 225 -> 226
INT: 260->302 [+10]
CHA: 40
-Skills / [Skill Merging]
[Eyes of The Healer] [Level MAX] [Unique] [Passive]
# See the HP, ailments, illnesses, curses, and any kind of mind magic of those in your field of vision.
Hand to handbat [Level 10 MAX] [Common] [Passive]
# Increases STR by 10% when fighting using only your hands
Discipline [Level 11 200/5000 EXP] [Umon] [Passive]
# Mental magic has an 11% reduced effect on you
Shooting mastery [Level 6 0/3000 EXP] [Umon] [Passive]
# Any kind of projectile has a 6% increase in velocity
Greater Heal [Level 25 MAX] [Umon] [Active]
# Heal your target / Restore 3000 HP
Cost: 20 MP
Purify [Level 35 1250/17500 EXP] [Epic] [Active]
# Purify everyone and everything around you, curing all diseases and illnesses
Cost: 30MP
Radius: 85 Meters
Shield [Level 25 MAX] [Umon] [Active]
# Cast an invisible shield around the target''s body. Absorb 12500 HP worth of damage
Cost: 1250 MP
Infuse [Level 10 MAX] [Common] [Active]
# Increase target''s HP by 100
Cost: 25MP
Duration: 1 Hour
+---+
He was nearly level 40, just a bit more EXP and he will reach it, ever sinceing to the dungeon he only focused on killing goblins that were separated.
That was in order to level up his skills, though even then, he received anywhere from 2000 all the way up to 3000 EXP from a single kill.
Michael focused on the INT stat again after he was satisfied with his AGI, and it finally broke through into the 300''s.
He maxed out Shield and hand to handbat, though he didn''t receive any bonuses from thetter.
However, it was finally time tobine his 2 skills. Michael clicked on Skill Merging and selected Greater Heal and Shield, then pressed yes once again to confirm.
And just likest time...
-Ding
[Skills merged, generating new skill]
Shield of Nourishment [Level 0 0/100 EXP] [Rare] [Active]
# Heal 5000 HP and apply a 5000 HP shield. Once broken heal for the amount Shielded.
Cost: 10MP
Michael was surprised because of the skill''s description, it not only was overpowered, the mana cost became something he no longer had to pay attention to.
Though his surprise turned into curiosity ''Hey what happens to the people I had cast my Shield skill on? Will it disappear now that the skill is gone?''
No, it will still be there, the same amount of HP absorbed at the moment of the cast. You will however not earn any EXP from it anymore.
''I see, that''s a relief then''
Michael made his way out of the dungeon and back home, ording to Amanda, today was supposed to be his inauguration and it is happening in a few hours.
He would love to stay and reach level 40, it would honestly not even take that long. Though he just didn''t quite want to do that yet.
He will do it after the ceremony, once he bes an official Saint in the eyes of the public.
Michael still had 4 whole months to level up after all.
Did I forget to mention that you don''t gain EXP from dungeons that are 20 levels below you?
Michael froze in ce and eximed ''You tell me this shit now!?''
What''s the problem? You were going to find it out once you reached Level 40 anyway.
''Then what about my skills? Can I still level them up at the very least?''
Skills yes, however as I mentioned, it will not go towards your actual level.
Michael sighed and got into the shower, preparing himself for the inauguration.
He put on some sort of robe that looked simr to his ivory robe, though it was not a type of equipment, just a simple ornamental robe.
The hours passed and it was finally time to go, he went outside, dressed like some sort of priest.
''I look ridiculous..''
You do but hey, for the people.
''Yeah..'' Michael got into the car and sped, he was not informed of where he was going, his driver was however.
The drive took Michael to the other side of the inner district he was currently living inside of, there he saw a church.
Just like how there was the statue of Gabriel in the slums, there was also an even bigger statue of the Goddess Sophia.
He stepped out of the car and walked towards Amanda, she was waiting just in front of the statue.
"So? How does it feel? You are about to be the city''s renowned Saint." Amanda said while chuckling.
"Feels like any normal day..so how is this going to work?"
Amanda pulled out some sort of chalice and grabbed a water bottle out of her spatial bag, filling the chalice up till it was full.
"The cameras will start rolling soon, stand in front of the statue and drink this."
Michael stared nkly at the fancy chalice in his hands, he expected something more than simple water.
"Is that all?"
Amanda let out a small smile "Yep, just make sure to drink it all, I will do the speech part."
Michael nodded and stood right in front of the statue, holding the chalice in his hands.
''What a holy Saint I am..''
It could be worse, she could hav- yeah no I don''t think it could be worse.
''Thanks for the support.''
Out of nowhere, a small camera appeared and Amanda immediately straightened her posture "Hello citizens of Vivum, today is a very special day. Goddess Sophia had personally descended down from the heavens and selected a Saint!"
The camera panned to Michael awkwardly holding the chalice in front of the massive statue.
"This is a never before seen urrence! The Goddess who we thought had abandoned us, was actually with us this whole time!" A single tear fell from Amanda''s eye.
"That is why, I, the leader of the entire Vivum City, have personallye out to witness the new Saint consume the Goddess''s essence, the holy water!''
The camera no longer had Amanda in its vision, so she signaled Michael to drink up.
''Why do I feel more embarrassed than her, she spat such bullshit in the name of the gods...'' Michael held back a sigh and drank the ''holy water'' out of the chalice.
He finished and held the now empty chalice in front of the camera, which quickly panned back to Amanda.
"I introduce to you all...Saint Michael!" Amanda eximed and suddenly the camera disappeared. Her expression immediately turning sour.
Michael was speechless, he didn''t even know what to say.
He thought he was someone who was good at bullshitting, but Amanda..she was on another level.
She turned to him and tried putting on a smile but failed "You can return now, your Saintly duties will begin at the start of summer, in exactly 1 month."
Michael absentmindedly nodded "Right, can you tell me what I will need to do?"
"It will range anywhere from finding lost cats to healing elderly people, don''t worry it''s not too taxing."
Now Michael was left even more speechless. He was expecting to go into dungeons and fight for the city or something, not saving lost cats.
It was time to return now, his life would be a lot more boring than he thought, at least until he got into the academy anyway.
Just saying, but unless someone was born with a diamond spoon in their mouth, the highest level out of all the other kids you see will be 25, because of that, you will be doing low level dungeons for at least the first few months.
The system dropped another bombshell on Michael.
''Fuck..''
Chapter 21: Interlude: Academy
Chapter 21: Interlude: Academy
The day the academy officially starts.
Michael was currently wearing a fully white robe, it seemed as per his role, all his clothing was now white.
The old Ivory Robe was gone, now reced with a new one that looked nearly identical.
+--+
Saint''s Robe [Replica] [Rare]
+500 HP
+250 MP
+50 INT
+50 CHA
# Emit a faint glow of radiance
# Reduce initial MP cost of skills by 25 MP
# Increase the range of skills by 50 meters
+--+
The stat increase was massive, way more than the umon rarity version.
It also had an affix that Michael was extremely surprised to see, that being the initial cost of skills reducement.
As his Shield of Nourishment skill leveled up, its mana cost increased by 5 per level instead of 50.
It was significantly harder to level up than the other Shield skill, as it only gave 200 EXP per cast if it healed someone, if the person was full HP he wouldn''t get anything, he would only get the EXP if the shield breaks.
Besides that, Michael was currently still stuck at level 40, in the past 4 months he barely made any progress.
He turned to the side and looked at himself in the mirror ''Status''
+---+
Name: Saint Michael
Age: 12 years old
Race: Human
ss: Healer [Common]
Level 40 [5000/40000 EXP]
Titles:
Ruthless Combatant
# Raise all your damage by 10% when facing enemies at least 30 levels above you
-Stats
HP: 2040/2040 [+500] / Regen 160 HP Per Hour {1:9}
MP: 3806/3806 [+250] / Regen 384 MP Per Hour {1:9}
STR: 90->100
END: 148->160
AGI: 226->231
INT: 302->384 [+50]
CHA: 40->100 [+50]
-Skills / [Skill Merging]
[Eyes of The Healer] [Level MAX] [Unique] [Passive]
# See the HP, ailments, illnesses, curses, and any kind of mind magic of those in your field of vision.
Hand to handbat [Level 10 MAX] [Common] [Passive]
# Increases STR by 10% when fighting using only your hands
Discipline [Level 11 300/5000 EXP] [Umon] [Passive]
# Mental magic has an 11% reduced effect on you
Shooting mastery [Level 6 0/3000 EXP] [Umon] [Passive]
# Any kind of projectile has a 6% increase in velocity
Purify [Level 35 1250/17500 EXP] [Epic] [Active]
# Purify everyone and everything around you, curing all diseases and illnesses
Cost: 30MP
Radius: 85 Meters
Infuse [Level 10 MAX] [Common] [Active]
# Increase target''s HP by 100
Cost: 25MP
Duration: 1 Hour
Shield of Nourishment [Level 14 2000/7000 EXP] [Rare] [Active]
# Heal 7800 HP and apply a 7800 HP shield. Once broken heal for the amount Shielded.
Cost: 80MP
Wind Buff [Level 10 MAX] [Common] [Active]
Increase the target''s AGI by 10
Cost:25MP
Duration: 1 Hour
+---+
Michael''s level might have stagnated but his stats did not.
He pressed on Skill Merging, selecting Infuse and Wind Buff, it was a skill he had gotten upon reaching level 40.
It was extremely easy to max out, much pike Infuse, all he had to do was cast it on someone and he got EXP, now though it was time to say goodbye to these 2 skills.
-Ding
[Skills merged, generating new skill]
Blessing of stats [Level 0 0/100] [Umon] [Active]
# Increase all stats by 25
Cost: 100MP
Duration: = INT -> 384 Minutes
''A solid support skill, one I can keep cast on me forever, neat.'' Michael put on a small smile. Even if he didn''t level up as much as he wanted, he was still able to be much stronger.
Michael also tried buying a weapon, however, the prices shocked him.
For amon sniper rifle, you had to pay 15.000 dors, for an umon 100.000 dors and it even got more crazy starting from rare, the price even going up into the millions.
He was better off just getting a weapon for free from the academy.
''I am a bit curious, are my heals really anything special? From all the healers I have seen over these past few months, it looked like they were able to heal wounds in an instant as well.''
You heal HP, they heal wounds, simr but different.
''How so?''
All beings have HP if it drops to 0 they die, however as long as their HP is at least 1, you can Heal them back to full health.
As for the other healers, they can heal injuries, however, if they are fatal, there is nothing they can do.
For example, your heals back in the dungeon where you met Meph, the wounds on Joanna and Zane were fatal, yet you were able to heal them. It will continue being so until you meet the stronger beings, as thews of stats don''t apply to them.
Michael smirked ''Oh am I finally strong enough to hear about them?''
Not even close, I am merely giving you an example because you met one of them, Fafnir, by system standards his level would be in the 1000''s range, and that was when he was weakened.
''Huh? How am I supposed to catch up to them then?'' The system''s words did not make sense to Michael.
I can''t tell you, however at some point down the line, you will realize it yourself, after all, the system is only a helping mechanism.. temporarily.
Those words made Michael''s eyes widen even further ''temporarily!?''
Once you reach level 200, you will understand.
''Hey you can''t leave me on a cliffhanger like that, tell me!'' Michael tried calling out to the system but was ignored.
Michael looked around in annoyance and picked up his ID card, heading out the academy.
As a Saint, he was given special admission, meaning he did not need to pass any sort of entrance exam, something the others had to dost week.
Even so, Michael didn''t have anything better to do, so he decided to snoop around and see what they were up to.
Walking outside, he saw his driver, still the same one after all this time, yet he didn''t even know his name.
''I don''t think we even talked once'' Michael sighed and got into the car, speeding off straight to the academy.
Upon arriving he noticed a bunch of cars, some fancy, others not so much.
He walked up to the academy and walked right in.
The receptionist immediately noticed him and jumped up "What an honor it is to meet you young Saint."
Ever since his introduction as the Saint, Michael was recognized by the public constantly, hence why he stopped going out as much, it became a bother.
"Hello, can I get some directions to where I have to go?" Michael asked, wearing a kind smile.
The robe increased his charisma by 50, bringing it to a total of 100, to say he was considered a top notch model, is an understatement.
He didn''t look his age either, if someone were to look at him without knowing who Michael was, they would think he was 16.
The receptionist slightly blushed and led Michael into some sort of ssroom, with ''Elite'' written on the door.
He waved the receptionist goodbye and walked right, there were 19 people seated and a strict looking female teacher standing on a small podium.
She had her brown hair in a bun, and was short, even shorter than Michael, but s, he had grown quite a lot in these past few years sinceing to this world.
Upon seeing Michael, the teacher''s green eyes narrowed "You arete, sit down."
"Sorry" Michael replied and looked for an empty seat and he quickly found one.
He was right next to some scrawny looking kid with sses.
Looking around the ssroom he saw there were 10 girls and 10 boys in total, an even distribution.
"Alright ss, today we will be doing introductions, lessons will start tomorrow" The teacher said and sat down on the podium.
"My name is Lena, I am a level 180 Fire Mage, as well as your new homeroom teacher."
She then pointed at a student furthest from the left, it seemed she wanted everyone to go in order.
And they did, however only a few had caught Michael''s eye.
"Elizabeth, Level 22, Swordswoman" A kind looking girl with short red hair and blue eyes spoke.
"Chloe, Level 26, Space Mage" nk expression, long white hair and crimson red eyes. Michael couldn''t read her at all.
"Kevin, Level 27, prefer not to say" another nonchnt kid, pitch ck hair and blue colored eyes. This guy looked strong, Michael just couldn''t put his finger on why.
The others didn''t catch his interest, these 3 were by far the most powerful looking, and they were the only ones above level 20.
''Diamond spoon you said?'' Michael couldn''t help but tease.
Noment.
It was finally Michael''s turn to introduce himself, though everyone was already staring at them, no surprise that they knew him.
"Michael, Level 40, Healer." Those words seemed to shock everyone present, it even startled the teacher herself, but she quicklyposed herself.
"G-good, it is a pleasure to meet all of you, I hope we can all get along."
The teacher, Lena, proceeded to exin what they would be doing starting tomorrow.
Training, a fight against the teachers and or other students in order to improve your skills.
For healers like Michael, it won''t be beneficial, however, he could always better improve himself.
Learning, the program will go over basic lessons such as maths and physics, in ce of chemistry there is alchemy and of course magic theory. It will go over the most efficient use of your skills.
And finally, actualbat, the students will be taken to dungeons and experience realbat, though that part won''t really be a big problem for Michael.
After Lena finished exining, everyone was free to go back home.
''The first day in school is always like this.''
I can see that, though why were you acting so arrogant there, you know they are all children right?
''Obviously, however, do you seriously think no one would pick a fight with me if I was a Saint? It''s better to antagonize them all to see who could be a potential ally.''
Did those 3 meet your expectations then, o holy being?
Michael''s brow twitched ''They did.. don''t call me that again by the way, it sounds creepy when you say it.''
...
Since Michael didn''t have anything else to do he went back to trying some new snacks the chef prepared, the academy will finally actually start tomorrow.
Chapter 22: First Day
Chapter 22: First Day
Oh good, you are finally up.
Michael groggily turned around in the bed, he ate so much food he didn''t even remember how he got to his bed.
He is thankful to the system, because of it he can''t get fat, his physique remains the same no matter what.
Be it eating or working out, he will always have a slim body, However, he doesn''t mind, it is convenient inbat.
Right, if I were you I would go to the academy, being 20 minuteste is not the best example for a Saint.
Michael immediately shot up from out of bed and dressed up as fast as he could ''Fucker, why didn''t you wake me up!?''
sphemy, how could I bother the holy Saint in his slumber.
''You..'' Michael was getting annoyed at the system but decided to let it go for now.
Quickly heading out and calling his driver, he got to the academy in just 5 minutes since he woke up.
However, he noticed something strange, the clock was still at 7:45 AM, meaning he was in fact, too early.
''I hate you.'' Michael spat at the system and headed inside, greeting the same receptionist as yesterday.
He arrived inside of his ssroom and noticed that aside from a few kids, it was practically empty.
Michael gazed upon those who were looking at him and shed a friendly smile.
However as he assumed the day before, there were a few scowling at him.
''Are they forgetting I am level 40?'' Michael thought as he found his seat and sat down.
The levels of everyone present was under 20, Michael did not understand their thought process at all.
A bit of time passed and the bell finally rang, all 20 students were already present, however, the teacher was nowhere to be seen.
"Hey Saint, do you think you are special?" Some arrogant kid stood up and began walking toward Michael.
"Who are you again?" Michael asked in a confused tone. He didn''t forget, he just wanted to damage the kid''s ego.
"Ugh.. It''s Tony, you better remember my name as I will be the next Saint!" He shouted at Michael, it was more like a challenge than a bullying attempt.
Tony is a Healer, a very low leveled one at that.
Michael did not pay much attention to them in general, however, he did make sure to remember their names, which mighte in handy someday.
"Okay Tony, anything else?" Michael said with a small chuckle.
"No.." It seemed he didn''t have much of a spine, just enough to antagonize someone but not back it up.
On the way back to his table he received a fewughs, it seemed ss clown number 1 was identified.
The waiting further resumed, no one really tried messing with him anymore, as Michael was not one to give the reactions they expected.
"Umm..Saint?" A voice resounded on Michael''s side, it was the scrawny kid who sat next to him.
"Yes, Liam?"
He looked a bit shocked that Michael remembered his name "I want to thank you.."
Michael was a bit confused though, however, the more he looked at Liam''s face, the more he felt like he could remember something.
That was until it finally clicked "Is your mom okay?"
Liam put on a wide smile "Yes, thanks to you."
When Michael was still a healer in the slums, he came across a few kids who reached out and begged for help, Liam was one of them.
One day as he was about to lock the church, Liam appeared with tears in his eyes. He exined that his mother was sick and couldn''te to receive a blessing.
Michael was not just going to simply watch and wait until she died so he went there and healed her, casting a purify on both Liam and his mother.
''It seemed he somehow managed to save enough money to enroll, good for him'' Michael had a faint smile on his face while reminiscing.
The teacher, Lena, finally arrived "Sorry for beingte,e with me, we are going to pick out some new weapons"
Are you still nning on getting a sniper?
''Yeah it''s what I am mostfortable with, do you think I shouldn''t?''
No, I just wanted to make sure you didn''t change your mind, the path of a healer is still open you know.
''No thanks.''
Michael and the others arrived at a training facility with some sort of a massiveputer on the side.
Lena walked up to it and began typing something, eventually a holographic interface appeared on the side of theputer.
"Go 1 by 1, type in the name of the weapon you want and you will get it."
As her words finished, everyone gathered in a line and started selecting their weapons.
Michael wasst so he was able to observe the weapons everyone picked out.
However, his smile cracked a little at the weapon Chloe had chosen, it was a massive scythe.
She was the only one abnormal, the others all picked normal weapons.
It was finally Michael''s turn so he walked to theputer and typed in Sniper Rifle, he didn''t know which one he wanted yet and they were all umon rarity.
If he focused he was able to see the stats of the weapon, others were not able to.
Scrolling down, he saw an interesting one, it was called sma ster, quite childish, however, its damage was anything but that.
Michael selected that one and it appeared out of thin air,nding right into his hands.
sma ster [Umon]
+20 AGI
# Damage = AGI x 3 (x5 if critical shot)
# No bullet drop off
# Consume 100 mana per shot instead of bullets
It quite frankly looked better than most sniper rifles he saw in the shops, even rivaling Rare rarity weapons.
Michael was happy with this find and turned around, noticing everyone''s weird expressions directed at him.
Lena came up to him "Are you sure you got the right one? Don''t you want a staff?" Her tone was one of confusion.
Michael nodded "This is what I want, staff will be useless forbat anyway."
"You do understand you are a healer, not a damage dealer right?" She asked, her skepticism clearly visible.
"As I said, yes, I got what I wanted" Michael replied in a firm tone. He didn''t know what it was but ever since first seeing him, she acted annoyed with every single thing he did.
Lena waved him off and told everyone to return to the ssroom, the lessons are officially going to start.
ss started and they began learning math, thenter physics, it was pretty easy, the math was not that different from his old world.
The physics, however, were a bit tricky, though he quickly got the hang of it.
The power of the INT stat is showing, what did I tell you, cool right?
''It''s weird but I don''t mind'' Michael never felt the effect as prominently as he did now, it felt like his brain was digesting the information before he could even finish reading it.
It helped him learn faster, however, the process just didn''t feel right.
Next up came history and Michael was sweating buckets. He was d there were no quizzes today because if there were, he would have been screwed.
Enhanced learning speed and memory don''t mean anything if you hadn''t even learned any history about this world or continent in the first ce.
Everything Lena was teaching currently was new information.
The tidbits of knowledge he had came from the system, however, they were fairly negligent, as it only covered where the continents were located on the map and which one was the most dangerous.
As the lesson finally ended, he felt exhausted, mentally.
Hmm.. it''s pretty easy to understand, I don''t see why you are whining.
''It is easy, however, imagine your brain absorbing information and all you can do is wait for it to digest.''
Unlike math and physics, learning history felt especially ufortable, however, in the end, he did acquire the knowledge he heard.
The next lesson was magic theory, apparently, alchemy is only once per week, and it is on thest work day.
Magic theory felt like he was reading a book for toddlers, it didn''t give him any insight whatsoever.
The book stated that if you heal enough your heals get stronger!
''No shit'' Michael kept flipping the pages, however, nothing of interest showed up.
Lena was also standing out for this one, just sitting on her phone and ncing at us from time to time.
The book had Beginner Magic Implementation written on it so it was no surprise Michael did not learn anything.
He was no magic genius by any means, he didn''t even know how to control mana, but if even he found this book useless, he wondered what the rest of his ssmates think.
The lessons were finally over, history being Michael''s arch nemesis.
Lena informed everyone that tomorrow they would be heading out for sparring, and next week a dungeon.
She also said something about clubs, though Michael was not sure if he even wanted to join one.
Michael picked up his sma ster and headed to the goblin dungeon he owned, it was time to test out how powerful it was.
Chapter 23: Curiosity
Chapter 23: Curiosity
Michael walked into the dungeon portal as normal, the guards stationed around it were no longer there.
The only reason they watched over Michael was that in the off chance a dungeon break were to happen, however, that was not the case.
The goblin''s levels didn''t change at all in thest 4 months, the highest being level 18, even then that was considered low.
Michael was able to deal with them fairly easily even without weapons, now with his new sniper rifle, he wouldn''t even need to move from the portal.
He took it out of his pocket and unfolded it, the technology sure was something else.
Looking down at the vige of goblins, he noticed there were not that many left, at first it seemed like they were respawning, however, the numbers were clearly much lower than before.
The dungeon has reached the end of its life, it will soon close.
''I see..well owning the dungeon for thest 4 months still brought me a nice increase in stats.'' Michael shrugged and looked through his scope, finding a goblin singled out from the rest.
He pressed the trigger and saw the goblin''s head blow up.
''Holy shit.. it''s soundless.'' Michael took a look at his sniper. The moment he pressed the trigger and fired, the goblin instantly died, no sound was heard.
You are shooting pure mana, added to the fact that you have a passive skill that increases bullet velocity, in return, it travels pretty fast.
Michael gazed at his status and saw the EXP for shooting mastery increase by 100.
''How does the damage work? I know it says my AGI x 3, however, the damage I dealt appeared to be much higher than that, even if I did hit a vital spot.'' He questioned.
You deal that amount of damage if the opponent manages to somehow block your attack, if you aim for the head and it gets blocked, you would deal AGI x 5 damage. If it connects it is an instant kill.
''Does that apply to higher levels too?''
No, at some point your sniper will be useless, just use it until then.
Michael looked through his scope and began shooting the rest of the goblins ''What do you mean useless? Aren''t there legendary sniper rifles? Won''t they be enough?''
They will be very situational, the people over level 200 have their ways of negating those kinds of attacks.
''You keep mentioning stuff that will happen once I reach level 200, will there be a different kind of power system or something'' Michael chuckled as he continued sniping the goblins.
However, he did not receive a response.
''Seriously!? Come on tell me!'' Michael shouted at the system in his mind.
You are being annoying, fine.. there is a thing called a Mana Core starting from level 200.
''Mana core? Then are levels no longer a thing past level 200?'' Michael was extremely confused. He believed this system and levels were something he would have all the time.
That is correct, there are stages to the mana core, however, don''t worry, you will still have a status screen disying some information, though as I said previously, levels and EXP will no longer be a thing. Don''t stress about that now though, just keep doing your thing.
Michael stopped shooting the goblins and sat down, sniper by his side.
He had a lot of questions now, for example, why has no one mentioned this? Even more, where are all the level 200 individuals?
The only ones he knew were definitely above level 200 were Meph, Amanda, and Fafnir. He didn''t know about any others, as if they did not exist.
Meph was sealed in a dungeon and Fafnir was greatly weakened, Amanda, however, lookedpletely normal, so it didn''t seem like they couldn''t be here.
But where was everyone else?
Michael stood up and walked out of the dungeon and went back to the academy, specifically, to the library.
The academy appeared to bepletely empty, with only one or two students walking around the spacious halls, even then, they were Michael''s seniors.
There were a total of 4 years, if you graduate then you get a diploma you can use in order to enter dungeons, which if Michael yed his cards right, he could get permission a bit sooner.
Walking inside of the library he noticed quite a few people, however, none paid attention to Michael, only sparing him a few nces.
''It seemed even the kids knew the title of Saint was bullshit'' Michael inwardly chuckled and looked around the book aisle.
He searched for books rted to the awakened, Michael wanted to find out what exactly happens when you reach level 200.
However, as the minutes turned into hours, he was not able to find a single book that had what he was looking for.
''I don''t understand..there are clearly awakened which are in the level 200s, why is there not a single thing written about the mana cores'' Michael was beginning to get frustrated.
He wasted his time looking for books yet he was not able to find anything.
He noticed a few of his ssmates sat together, one of them being Tony, who appeared to be immersed in reading.
Michael put on his saintly smile and walked toward him, he had nothing to lose from asking so he might as well do it.
"Hello Tony, what are you reading?" Michael sat right in front of him.
Tony''s eyes widened slightly, then he started ring at Michael "What do you want?"
"I am a bit curious about something, do you know what mana cores are?"
"The what cores? I don''t so stop bothering me" Tony shooed him away and continued reading his book.
''Thought so'' Michael stood up with a sigh and was prepared to look for a little longer.
"Why are you interested in that?" A voice resounded behind him and he turned around, meeting Kevin''s suspicious gaze.
"No reason, just curious"
Kevin walked closer to Michael "You are curious about government secrets? You sure are an interesting Saint."
Michael''s eyes lit up "I take it you know about it then, can you tell me?"
Though he was met with a swift refusal "Of course not" saying that, Kevin walked away.
However, Michael was not discouraged, he had his first lead. The system wouldn''t tell him and he couldn''t just ask Amanda as he was not allowed to contact her unless there was an emergency.
And his curiosity is certainly not an emergency.
''Can you give me a hint?''
No, also that kid was lying, even if his family did have people with mana cores, they would not share it with him, trust me on that one.
''Why? It sounded like he did know something though.''
He didn''t because it''s a secret, now shut up and go do something proactive.
''Right..''
Michael couldn''t help his curiosity, however, he would hold it back for now. His main goal is to reach level 50 and increase the rarity of his ss.
He walked out of the library, practically wasting all his time.
As he had nothing left to do he went back home, tomorrow he would be sparring.
This whole day today was a rollercoaster for Michael, first, he gets a good weapon, then finds out it will bepletely useless in the future.
And then mana cores? Stages? He wanted to level up fast, however, he knew he couldn''t, at least not at the current moment.
Michael decided to head back to the dungeon to continue his target practice but just as he got there he noticed a crew of people surrounding the portal.
He was a bit confused so he approached one of them "What''s happening?"
The man turned around and flinched "S-Saint!"
''Fanatic number 73 found..''
At least he doesn''t wish to harm you, so what if he is not alright in the head?
Michael ignored the system and asked his question again, finally snapping the man out of his trance.
"Yes Saint, the dungeon appears to be mutating" The man replied with an admiring look.
''What''s that?'' Michael asked the system.
Hmm, you got lucky, the dungeon''s level is increasing.
Michael clenched his fists, just as he thought his progress was about to slow down, a path once again opened.
However, as he was celebrating inwardly, a sudden pressure descended.
It felt just like the dungeon copse but it was noting from the dungeon, instead, it wasing from behind him.
Turning around, he noticed a few people, the one who caught his eye, however, was Amanda.
It seemed the opportunity to meet her had arisen.
She cleared her throat and spoke "Everyone, get out. This is a government matter." Her voice was low, but loud enough for the people to hear it.
They all scattered, with only a few guards remaining, as well as Michael.
Amanda walked up to Michael and told him to follow her.
They approached the portal that was slightly getting bigger, its color changing rapidly.
"I am sorry but we have to take this dungeon back."
Michael was startled "What do you mean? Did you not gift it to me?"
Amanda just simply shrugged "I did, however, I did specify you were not ready for higher level dungeons."
"So what? This is still my dungeon, higher level or not" He was not backing down. On the off chance that his whining works, that''s great, however, if it didn''t, he at least wanted to get something out of it.
"You can have another dungeon, same level as this one, how about that?" She proposed.
All that did was earn a scoff from Michael "What am I supposed to do with a low level dungeon? I am not getting any stronger from them."
Amanda let out a sigh "I don''t want the Saint to die in a puny dungeon."
"I am level 40 now, I am by no means aplete weakling" Michael protested back at her.
Turning to look at Michael, she raised her hand.
All of a sudden he found himself embedded into a wall, seemingly in an instant ''The fuck?''
In a mere moment, she managed to send him flying fast enough to not even notice the surroundings change.
She suddenly appeared in front of him and raised her hand once more, however, Michael was prepared.
He quickly pulled out his sniper and automatically unfolded it, shooting a mana bullet right into her foot.
However, just as it seemed like it was about to connect, the bullet disappeared, he didn''t even feel it connect.
''How am I supposed to beat her.." Michael thought as he looked around for any openings, but was unable to find a single one.
Amanda smirked at him "So what now? You took a hit and exhausted your trump card, if I was serious you would have been dead already."
"I am known for being a bit resilient" Michael didn''t give up and pointed the sniper right at her, shooting 3 bullets consecutively in 3 different spots, all aiming for the vitals.
However, just like with the previous shot, the bullets did not connect and disappeared.
"See? You are now nothing but a punching bag" With those words Amanda closed in once again, raising her hand and sending Michael flying, however this time he was able to feel the propulsion.
''Was she using gravity or some sort of maic maniption, what is this?'' He shed a confused look, the system was not exining anything either.
Michael noticed his Shield of Nourishment was about to break, so he recast it on himself, preparing for another round.
As he raised his sniper, preparing to once again attempt to shoot her, Amanda waved her hand and the sniper disappeared from his hands,nding a couple of meters from him on the ground.
"You have yet to prove me wrong, you are a healer, how do you expect to defend yourself if the situation bes dangerous? Tell me." She shot a re at Michael, testing his conviction.
However, he just stood there, unsure of how to reply.
Michael couldn''t refute her because she was right, she might be way higher level than him, but what would happen if his sniper were to no longer work?
He was looking for answers, though none came to mind, so he just stood there, unsure of how to reply.
I will remind you in case you forgot, the system is a helping mechanism for thoseing from other worlds, once they learn everything there is to learn, it will no longer be needed, think. How would the others use their skills?
The system finally spoke, advising Michael, and providing a bit of rity.
However, as he tried weaving all kinds of spells, nothing happened, it felt like a spell was forming but it suddenly stopped. He was too reliant on the system.
He felt as if he could do it if he had more practice, however, as things currently stood, he was defenseless, just like Amanda said.
Michael looked directly into her eyes "Give me a month to prove myself, after that let''s renegotiate"
He was met with a smirk "Would you ask for time during a battle too?"
Those words caught Michael off guard, though she did have a point.
Amanda stared at him, until she finally let out a smallugh "Alright alright, a month. If you can prove your skills in a month, I will let you go into higher level dungeons."
She walked up to him and gave him a piece of paper "For now, take this, it''s a low level dungeon, hone your skills, I will be waiting."
Michael didn''t look too disheartened, he just nodded and epted it, however, he still had a single question he wanted to ask "What is a mana core?"
That question greatly startled Amanda as she stared back into Michael''s eyes "Do not mention it in public ever, am I clear?"
"Sure, can you tell me what it is though?" He continued to pester.
However, she just shook her head "I am bound by an oath, everyone who reaches level 200 is, if I reveal that information I will die."
''Damn just what is going on in the world once you reach level 200'' Michael thought and departed from his now former dungeon.
All this high level stuff, and yet he has sses tomorrow.
It was alreadyte, so it was about time Michael headed back home, starting from tomorrow he would learn to use mana properly.
Chapter 24: Spar
"Alright everyone, gather in pairs, as for you Michael stand back, your level is a bit too high"
Michael and the others were currently gathered inside the training center where he got his sniper.
After yesterday¡¯s events, he wasn¡¯t sure of what kind of position he wanted to take. He is proficient in guny, snipers especially.
However, if they were useless in this world, what was the point in satisfying his fantasy?
He would still use guns for now, as at his current level they were still incredibly good.
Michael stood back and watched the others group into pairs, getting ready to fight, however, there was one person who was staring directly at him.
It was Kevin.
He walked up to the teacher and told her something, right after that she walked up to me.
"Do you want to fight Kevin? He does not mind the level difference."
Michael nced at Lena and nodded. He didn¡¯t have anything better to do anyway.
They both walked up to the arena and got into their stances, Michael was obviously not going to use his sniper rifle here, and neither was anyone else.
This was purebat with no weapons, so he could still use his skills.
With Michael¡¯s current buffs and the Shield of Nourishment skill, he was practically unbeatable for those under level 50.
But at the same time, he did not have any attack skills either, making him just a normal guy with above average stats.
Michael was the first to start off the spar, he ran at Kevin and tried performing a leg sweep.
That, however, didn¡¯t go as nned, as in the next moment, darkness descended. Michael was not able to see or feel anything, the only thing he could still do was hear.
Even then, it didn¡¯t prove to be of much use as Kevin¡¯s footsteps werepletely silent.
However, Michael had somewhat of a cheat skill, that being Eyes of the Healer. While he couldn¡¯t directly see Kevin, he could still see the HP bar right above his head.
As Michael turned directly towards Kevin, it startled him, causing him to cast another skill on Michael which binded his movement.
The difference in stats was instantly seen as with a small jerk of his foot, Michael was able to escape the shackles of darkness, albeit not intentionally.
Kevin decided to finally face Michael head on, as he began throwing punches everywhere on Michael¡¯s body, however, every time he did so, it felt as if a water barrier blocked his punch.
Michael took this chance while Kevin was still rtively close to him and punched straight at his face.
As the punch was about to connect Kevin once again used his power of shadows, nullifying Michael¡¯s attack, albeit not exactlypletely.
Kevin was pushed back a few meters and Michael still had his shield up, even if he couldn¡¯t see or feel, from what he could tell the spar was still in his favor.
¡¯If only I had some kind of a skill that could remove magic, simr to my Purify..¡¯ Michael thought with slight annoyance, if he wasn¡¯t able to see Kevin¡¯s HP bar, he would have lost in the first few seconds.
The spar continued in the same direction, Kevin attacked, Michael absorbed and hit back, however, none of his attacksnded yet.
With the way this duel was going, it was likely going to be a draw.
Whatever skill Kevin was using, messed up Michael¡¯s senses enough to make the fight equal.
Michael recast the Shield of Nourishment skill on himself every few minutes just to be safe.
After a couple more minutes, Lena¡¯s voice resounded "That¡¯s enough, you guys are each other¡¯s counters, this spar is a draw."
At her words, Michael¡¯s vision returned, as well as his sense of feeling. His body felt a little numb, possibly due to overexertion.
He nced at Kevin and saw his face a little roughed up, it seemed even as he was able to negate Michael¡¯s attacks, the damage slowly built up.
He had a sour expression on his face and walked away.
¡¯Does this guy hate me or something?¡¯ Michael thought. It¡¯s been twice now that he just walked away from him.
I wouldn¡¯t be surprised.
¡¯I didn¡¯t ask for your opinion¡¯ Michael shot back and sat down, watching the other spars finish up.
He paid the most attention to Chloe and Elizabeth, those 2 girls had impressive skills.
Elizabeth, while only being a simple swordswoman, was able to cut apart magic and attack at very high speeds, with her hands no less.
Michael could only wonder what happens when she uses a sword.
Next up was Chloe and she was especially amazing. She could appear behind her opponent and attack them, or quite literally create a gash in the air and block an attack.
Safe to say, the people Michael took an interest in, were exceptional, even by his current standards.
Cutting magic, teleporting? Those 2 were definitely people he wanted in his party.
And then there was Kevin, he couldn¡¯t gouge his skills as he was quite literally unable to see or feel anything the entire fight.
If he had to guess, it¡¯s either something rted to mind magic, however, he was not 100% sure.
After about an hour of sparring, they were all exhausted.
Lena pped her hands a few times to get everyone¡¯s attention "That is enough, everyone head back to ss, I still have a few things to discuss with you all."
Michael was the first to leave, he was by no means tired, the numbness he felt earlier had gone away pretty fast.
Navigating through the halls, he was able to see quite a lot of people there, it seemed it was break time for others as well.
He walked past the group of people, only some paying attention to him, others seemed disinterested.
¡¯How are the adults so fanatical about the Saint but the kids don¡¯t even acknowledge my existence¡¯ Michael thought with a small frown.
He didn¡¯t exactly mind it that much, he just didn¡¯t understand why they were all ignoring him.
He arrived at ss and waited a couple of minutes for the others to arrive, followed by Lena herself.
Everyone took their seats and Lena began exining.
"The thing I wanted to tell you all is rted to the clubs, starting this year, every single person in the academy must be a part of a club, no exceptions."
She proceeded to walk around and give us a few stacks of paper with all different kinds of clubs written down.
Michael read through them all, however, didn¡¯t notice any that were too outstanding.
Just as he was about to pick a random one, his eyesnded on the ¡¯Mana Control¡¯ club.
The description said they were people who didn¡¯t think skills mattered so they began attempting to manipte mana.
However, from what Michael could see, they were not sessful. Not passing a single inspection of progress.
They would also be closed down if no one joined them this year, which thankfully for them, Michael intended to sign up.
He scribbled his name right next to the Mana Control club and gave the piece of paper back to Lena.
She nced at the paper, her eyes slightly narrowing "Are you sure?"
Michael nodded and she took the paper back to the podium, cing it on her makeshift desk.
After a couple more minutes, everyone had already finished handing their papers in.
"Good, I will inform the clubs of your choices, you can go there tomorrow after sses are finished. You can go now" Lena picked up the stack of papers and carried it out through the door.
Michael stayed behind for a moment, he wanted to try channeling mana after everyone left.
However, one person stayed, it was Chloe.
Michael paid no mind to her, she was just reading some sort of book with a bored expression.
¡¯Any tips?¡¯ He asked the system and tried manipting mana.
Focus on the feeling you get when you cast a skill, I won¡¯t give you any more freebies until you show progress.
Michael put on a smile on his face ¡¯I didn¡¯t expect you to actually help, thank you.¡¯
Michael began casting skills on himself, trying to feel some kind of a connection, however, no matter how much he tried, he couldn¡¯t feel a thing.
An hourter and one empty mana poolter, he was still unable to feel anything.
¡¯Are you sure your advice is not some kind of a scam? I have been trying for thest hour and I couldn¡¯t feel a thing.¡¯ Michaelined to the system.
It is not my fault you are stupid, just keep trying until you get it.
Michael took a deep breath and calmed down, he was not going to let the system irritate him further.
He decided to try a little bit more, just after recovering a bit of his mana.
His current mana regeneration rate was at 384 points per hour, which meant he could cast Purify every 5 minutes, it was his cheapest skill after all.
And so he did, for the next couple of hours, until eventually he passed out on his desk.
-----
¡¯Ugh.. fuck¡¯ Michael opened his eyes, a massive headache assaulting him.
Congrattions, it took 13 mana exhaustions to finally knock you out.
¡¯What are you even talking about¡¯ Michael said as he stood up from his chair, noticing it was already dark outside.
As he looked around the ssroom, he noticed something was on his back, it was some kind of a nket.
¡¯Did Lenae back? How sweet of her¡¯ Michael thought and headed back home, his driver waiting for him as always.
You were pretty close to getting it, a few more weeks and you might finally be able to control mana.
¡¯Right..about that, what happens when I do, will it register as some kind of a skill?¡¯
No, it¡¯s one of the prerequisites of obtaining a mana core, therefore it won¡¯t count as a skill. Furthermore, getting skills will be exponentially harder once you reach level 200, so make sure tobine everything you can and get the highest rarity skills.
¡¯Sure, that¡¯s what I nned on doing anyway, I still have 14 more skills I can gain andbining them should earn me at least a couple of legendary skills¡¯ Michael expressed his thoughts and leaned back in the back seat.
He was nning on practicing mana control for the entire night.
Chapter 25: Club
Michael¡¯s lessons had ended and he was now standing in front of his clubroom door.
He was bored out of his mind, he didn¡¯t even need to learn anything as his brain automatically captured everything, he just had to listen.
Michael just hoped this club wasn¡¯t aplete dud, he had not made any progress in his mana control sessions, even after spending the entire night practicing.
The door to the clubroom looked shabby, it seemed this particr club did not receive any funding.
But Michael wasn¡¯t one to judge based on appearances.. he just hoped he wasn¡¯tpletely off the mark.
Opening the door, what greeted his eyes was a desk split into two and a single girl sleeping in between it.
"..." Michael was left speechless. Just where did he go wrong?
"Hello?" He walked up to her, however, she was unresponsive, still soundly sleeping.
¡¯Do I just wait then?¡¯ Michael was not sure what to do, Lena did say she informed every club about the new members ¡¯So did this girl not get the memo?¡¯
He decided to just simply look around the clubroom, there was a bunch of paper with scribbles on it.
¡¯How to control mana? : nk, what is mana? : nk. Is this really a mana control club?¡¯ Michael was getting mixed feelings about this, every single assignment he had picked up thus far was nk.
Not a single bit of progress was written down, what was he supposed to do now? Leave?
Just as he was rethinking his choices he felt something fly at him so he immediately stepped to the side.
However, he was not able to fully dodge it and the impact made him slide back straight into the clubroom wall.
The perpetrator was the girl "What do you think you are doing trying to steal my research!?" She shouted at Michael and began sending more colorless spells at him.
Since he could fully see them now, he was able to dodge them, however, he couldn¡¯t quite tell what kind of magic she was using.
"Stop I am the new club member!" Michael shouted as he kept dodging her attacks.
She didn¡¯t seem to hear what he said, so Michael decided to defend himself, he cast Shield of Nourishment on the girl and punched her as hard as he could.
The impact sent her flying, stumbling over the pieces of paper strewn across the ground. His skill blocked out the damagepletely.
"Ugh..you fucking bastard.." She said through gritted teeth.
Michael sighed "Stop.. I joined your club."
Those words seemed to have worked as she finally stopped her attacks, looking at Michael with a confused expression.
"Are you stupid? Why would you join?"
Michael¡¯s smile twitched ¡¯She really does not have a filter huh.¡¯
"I am curious about how to control mana, I need it for something important you see" Michael exined, however, her confused expression did not disappear.
He noticed she had quite the peculiar appearance, ck hair and ck eyes, with some kind of white stars in them, something Michael had not seen before.
"Whatever, the name¡¯s ire, clean this shit up I¡¯ll be right back" She pointed to the broken table and left the clubroom.
Michael was left stunned in ce, what was he? Some sort of a vacuum cleaner?
Get back to workckey number 1.
¡¯Lackey my ass, I am sure she is not always like this...¡¯ Michael replied with a tinge of doubt and began dismantling the table.
He finished pretty fast so he decided to organize the scribbled paper that was all around the room.
As he was picking them up and sorting them by the amount of scribbling done, he stumbled upon something.
¡¯What are skills? : Catalysts.¡¯
Michael found this interesting so he put it to the side, when ire gets back he will ask her about it.
He finally finished sorting everything and realized that most of what was written was garbage, some things not even rted to mana control at all.
As he was looking around the now clean ssroom, he let out a sigh ¡¯Am I really making a good choice here?¡¯
The door was flung open and ire walked back in, some lunch she brought from the cafeteria in her hand.
Taking a nce around the room, her gaze finallynded on Michael "Good job, sit down or whatever I have to debrief you."
Michael looked around and didn¡¯t find any chairs to sit on, however, as he turned to look at ire, she had already found a seat on the ground.
He decided to humor her and sat down on the ground as well, just a bit in front of her.
Michael waited as she slowly finished her food, before throwing the tray to the side.
"Alright, so first tell me what you know about this club."
"It focuses on how to control mana?" Michael replied in an unsure manner. He didn¡¯t know much besides that.
"Yeah, that¡¯s basically it, though I didn¡¯t make much progress by myself, for some reason no one else wanted to join the club" She exined with a slightly sour expression before continuing.
"But I was able to figure out just a tad bit, enough to not get the clubpletely disbanded."
Michael nodded and listened along.
"However, due to theck of members because of this new rule they implemented, it was almost disbanded, thanks for joining" ire shed a small smile at him.
¡¯So someone who chases the unknown and others find itpletely crazy, seems to check out.¡¯
The people think skills are all there is, most don¡¯t question anything. I am allowed to guide you along the right path but not give you straightforward answers, at least not right now.
Michael snickered back ¡¯Yeah, just for you to disappear when I am close to figuring something out."
ire suddenly stood up, a smirk on her face "Anyway, that¡¯s that, since you are now a part of the club, I will teach you how to control mana."
Michael looked a little confused "I thought you said you only knew a bit?"
"Well yes, I can only control attributeless mana, as you probably could tell from earlier" She said as a small colorless me appeared in her palm.
Noticing Michael¡¯s expression she exined "As I said, attributeless, meaning while it may look like a fire, it is not, it doesn¡¯t burn anything neither is it hot, it is simply a shape that is easier to control, at least for me." She wriggled the fire into the shape of a dog.
¡¯Amazing..¡¯ Michael couldn¡¯t help but think. It really was amazing, something like that would definitely not be counted as a skill.
ire then made the fire disappear and looked straight into Michael¡¯s eyes "Whenever you use a skill, where does the mana to use ite from?"
"I don¡¯t know" Michael replied with a shrug. He couldn¡¯t find that out even after extensive practice.
ire just simply sighed "Of course you don¡¯t, look, use a skill but focus on a part of your body, for example your brain or even your heart."
Michael ignored her look of disapproval and tried doing what she told him, casting Purify and focusing on a single part of his body.
And surprisingly, there was finally some sort of movement, albeit very little.
Seeing the shocked expression on Michael¡¯s face, ireughed "See? Cool right?"
Michael could feel some sort of flow of mana around his heart, every single time he cast Purify, a little bit of the flow gets cut off, however, he could see it slowly being replenished.
¡¯So this is where my mana was all along, in my heart..¡¯ The revtion brought yet another round of excitement, he was one step closer to achieving his current goal.
He turned to ire "So how do I use this?"
However, that earned a small smile from her as she walked back to the entrance of the clubroom "Figure it out yourself" and walked out of it, leaving Michael all alone.
¡¯I forgot to ask about the catalyst thing..¡¯ Michael let out a sigh.
¡¯So? This is it then?¡¯ He asked the system for confirmation, however, no response came.
¡¯You should know silence is also an answer¡¯ Michael scoffed and got up, heading back home, he still had to head by the new dungeon he got.
It might help him learn to use mana.
After he finished everything he wanted to do, he went to the dungeon, unlike the other one that was close, this one was fairly far, walking to it would take a few hours, thankfully he had a driver.
Arriving at the dungeon location, he went through the same protocol asst time, they go in and capture a monster, check its level and finally let Michael go in.
The mobs this time around were level 12-13, the dungeon being evaluated as Level 20 was due to the boss monster, its influence carries on to its underlings as well.
Hence why Michael does not earn EXP from them, if only the boss was higher leveled...
The monsters this time around were giant rats, something Michael did not enjoy seeing.
He stowed away his sniper, keeping it for emergencies, today he was nning to focus on mana control, he wants to finally be able to project it outwards.
¡¯Time to get to work.¡¯
Chapter 26: Mana
Michael has been killing rats for thest 3 hours, every time it seemed like he was close to doing something, the mana cut off.
¡¯This is so fucking frustrating¡¯ He eximed as he kicked a rat, making it stter against the wall.
¡¯No EXP, No progress.. this is something else.¡¯ Michael could use Shield of Nourishment on the rats, however, due to the sheer number of them, he decided against it.
He will have his time to level it up eventually.
The only skill he was currently using, Blessing of Stats, didn¡¯t take much mana and he was able to upkeep it for the entire day.
Since the skill was constantly active, he could feel it enveloping his heart, even after the mana had been used.
He wasn¡¯t quite sure which path he was supposed to follow, so he tried both, however, neither earned him any sess.
A rat jumped at Michael and he began trying to channel the mana, sending a kick right at the rat.
Once again, just a simple kick.
¡¯I don¡¯t understand..what am I missing?¡¯ He got closer to figuring it out, but yet was still fairly far away.
¡¯System?¡¯
Don¡¯t even think about it.
Michael clicked his tongue and continued fighting the rats until finally, something odd happened.
As he was trying to control the mana flow around his heart, it suddenly cut off a small chunk, enveloping his leg in a colorless wave of mana.
The kick connected with a few rats and they immediately popped, their innards sttering all around, some even nearlynding on Michael.
However, he instinctively dodged them, he was not nning on stinking of rat guts.
Michael looked a bit startled, the amount of mana he used was not a lot, however, the damage he dealt was something else.
It was as if he shot them with his sniper, except it was his leg, just with mana around it.
He tried to recreate the process and seeded, enveloping both his legs in the colorless mana.
Walking around he noticed his speed increased, same going for power, his kicks could easily kill anyone below his level and most definitely inflict damage to those above him.
¡¯This is still not enough though..¡¯ Michael rposed himself, he knew this little bit of progress was not enough to prove himself to Amanda.
The amount of mana it drained while he only had it enveloped around his legs was negligent, the only time he felt some kind of an actual drain happened during his kicks.
It was not anything major, however, with enough kicks, it could definitely run out.
Michael kept going around and killing rats, he found it oddly satisfying.
He tried enveloping his arms, then right after his entire body in the colorless mana and it actually worked.
His entire body was incredibly fast now, even his thinking was much faster, making the rats surrounding him look much slower than they actually were.
However, it was much easier to process the information than he thought, all thanks to his INT stat if he were to guess.
He kept going until he eventually got tired, his mana was still above 40% but his stamina seemed a bit more drained than usual.
Michael concluded that this spike in power came with all sorts of energy drains, not only mana.
¡¯So? Going to talk to me now?¡¯
Sure, you did achieve something so I can now tell you a bit about it.
The system did a dramatic pause which as per usual, pissed Michael off.
What you did is called Physical Enhancement, it is one of the applications of mana.
¡¯Physical Enhancement huh..then what is the thing ire did called?¡¯
Mana Projection, however, as you might have seen, you both have no attributes in your mana. Skills allow you to use attributes. While you don¡¯t have a mana core, you can only use the colorless and attributeless mana.
However don¡¯t be discouraged, attributeless mana has the property of Form, meaning you can shape it however you want.
¡¯So I can¡¯t do any light magic or something attacks then?¡¯
Once you learn to use Mana Projection you will be able to use the colorless mana to attack, while it may not be as strong as its attribute counterpart, it is still much stronger than you think.
Michael looked in deep thought before widening his eyes in a sudden realization.
¡¯I know you might not answer me but, are sses and skills really what they are said to be? Or are they attributes hidden behind fancy words?¡¯ He asked, his heartbeat rapidly increasing.
And just as he thought, the system¡¯s reply never came.
Michael¡¯s thoughts spiraled ¡¯What are the rarities for then? Why did I have a hidden Unique skill? Are the skills even going to exist after I reach level 200?¡¯
He kept obliterating the rats as he finally stopped ¡¯Hey system.¡¯
Looking into the air at seemingly nothing ¡¯Are my healing capabilities really because of the system?¡¯
Yet once again, he was met withplete silence.
Michael took a deep breath and walked towards the rat boss monster, it would respawn anyway so he could kill it as much as he wanted to.
The fight was not hard, the rat was massive and fast, though not fast enough for Michael as he could easily dodge and stter it in a single hit.
However he did not do so, he used it as a punching bag to get his thoughts which were in turmoil, back into shape.
He still had many questions, such as, if the levels and other things didn¡¯t matter, how were they calcted?
They were obviously able to track them, but ever since he found out the system might not always be truthful, he was beginning to have some doubts.
As he was slightly lost in thought, the rat boss suddenly exploded, getting all sorts of disgusting things on Michael¡¯s robe.
¡¯Fuck off..¡¯ Cleaning it was such a pain. Equipment requires someone to have the skills to clean it, thankfully he had someone in his vi for that.
Most clothing equipment have some sort of a cleaning function and so does Michael¡¯s, however, he was pretty positive the rat guts wouldn¡¯t just magically disappear from his body.
He wrapped it up, killing the remaining rats on his way out. It will take a week for the dungeon to reset, in that time he will have to somehow learn to use Mana Projection.
Walking out of the dungeon he noticed the guards on standby waving at him, as he thought, his reputation as the Saint worked only on the adults...
Suddenly one of the guards walked up to him and handed him a phone and not saying anything else.
"Hello?"
"Your Saintly duties are calling, get to the government headquarters fast" Amanda¡¯s voice rang out and afterwards she immediately hung up.
¡¯Sure, yes I am on my way¡¯ Michael sighed and got into his car and took off his robe, he did not want to be seen in public wearing rat guts.
Amanda always did this, she just called, told him what to do and hung up. He couldn¡¯tin either because she was the head of the city, better yet, she was the daughter of that strong dragon.
Michael did not want to get burnt to a crisp by a dragon¡¯s breath or something, he watched way too many movies in his previous world about it.
Arriving in front of the government headquarters, Michael saw Amanda and some other dude he didn¡¯t know, though he looked like some sort of a swordsman.
Walking up to them Michael put on his Saintly smile, more so to annoy Amanda than act the part "Hello, I am Saint Michael, it is a pleasure to meet you."
Amanda¡¯s brow twitched "Cut the bullshit, there are no cameras here."
"Sure" Michael straightened his posture and looked on with his bored expression "So what¡¯s up?"
She pointed at the man beside her "This is Shingen, a swordsman from the mountains."
Michael nodded at him and received a nod back.
Amanda continued "Since we are trying to form some bonds, you will go into a dungeon with Shingen, there will be cameras so try not to do something stupid."
It seemed she was nning to use the Saint and Goddess Sophia as some sort of a bridge to form bonds, but Michael could agree that it was pretty clever.
Amanda looked him up and down "Where is your robe?"
"In the car. A big rat exploded and got its guts all over me" Michael replied, shedding a single tear dramatically.
"Right.." She quickly dialed a number and called someone down from headquarters.
Some kind of a woman dressed in ab coat came out of the elevator and walked up to Amanda, then right after to the car.
A few minutester she brought out the robe that previously had rat guts all over it, however, now it was sparkling clean.
She ced it on top of the car and headed back inside.
"Alright get dressed, you will be going in the next hour, get along..or something" Amanda exined and walked away.
Michael looked at Shingen "Hello?" However, he merely received a nod in response.
¡¯Not much of a talker are you..¡¯
Chapter 27: Duo
Michael finished all his preparation, though not like there were many anyway.
He simply put on his robe and cast Shield of Nourishment and Blessing of Stats on both himself and Shingen.
He tried talking to him a little but to no avail, he did murmur under his breath from time to time, however, Michael could not understand what he said.
His expression was nk, not showing much interest in what Michael was doing, just tapping his sword¡¯s scabbard from time to time.
¡¯So I am going into an unknown dungeon with a sketchy guy, awesome¡¯ Michael expressed sarcastically.
Ever since the questioning earlier, the system was silent, not talking to him at all. He was not sure if it was offended or if Michael just overstepped his bounds.
From what he knew, while the system did have sentience, it also had a set of rules it had to follow, Michael was not sure if by realizing what he should not have actually messed something up.
However, as unsure as the future may be, he at least hoped the system was his ally, not his foe.
"Hope you two got acquainted, time to move" Amanda said after suddenly appearing, camera in her hand.
Noticing Michael¡¯s smile cracking and him straightening his posture, she chuckled "It¡¯s not on yet, I will turn it on before the dungeon."
Michael nodded and followed after Amanda, heading into what appeared to be her personalized car, much more fancy looking than his.
Shingen followed along as well, not showing much of a reaction to Amanda¡¯s appearance.
The moment Michael got into the car, the windows tinted, making it so no one could see who was inside.
Amanda handed Michael a document, it had the dungeon¡¯s details on it.
¡¯Level 80 Wolf dungeon? That sounds like a lot of EXP¡¯ He thought, a small grin forming on his face.
The document detailed the monsters, which in this case were Wolves, albeit not regr ones, they were the kind that were enhanced by magic, making them incredibly fast.
Amanda had only made the party a duo, a veteran swordsman Shingen and the so proimed messenger of the goddess, Michael.
Given the fact that Michael was allowed to go into a dungeon that was twice his level, he assumed Shingen was quite the fighter.
If he wasn¡¯t..well he could just run away, what are they going to do? Ridicule him? The Saint merely heard his goddess calling so he had to return this instant.
Michael chuckled to himself, he found his own stupid ideas a bit funny, maybe he was finally going crazy.
He did not have the novelty to enjoy such avish life back then, he couldn¡¯t allow himself to.
The line of work Michael was a part of, he nned on taking it into his 40¡¯s maybe even 50¡¯s, by then things might have changed.
¡¯Toote for that now though¡¯ He didn¡¯t regret it, not that much anyway. Michael knew he left his father arge sum of money, even if at the cost of his own life.
"We are here" Amanda¡¯s voice rang out, interrupting his thoughts.
He hadn¡¯t paid much attention to his surroundings since he got into the car, he was now located in some sort of a forest, a blue portal right in front of him.
"Why is it so empty?" Michael asked as he looked around, not seeing the usual fortification set up.
"It appeared only recently, today in fact, we are currently preparing the supplies needed for the dungeon" Amanda exined.
She went on to mention that the level of the dungeon determines what supplies the government uses to set up camp.
There were materials that could withstand attacks from powerful monsters. Added to the fact that a few fairly high leveled people would also be stationed here.
Safe to say, the monsters were noting through.
Michael listened to Amanda exin all the other basic stuff that he already knew and finally, she attached the camera onto his shoulder.
"It¡¯s going to start recording in 30 seconds, you should go now"
Michael nodded and turned to Shingen "Alright, let¡¯s go" The two of them immediately entering the dungeon.
Right off the bat, Michael felt uneasy, the air around him felt ominous, though he couldn¡¯t quite figure out the reason why.
It seemed Shingen noticed too as he unsheated his sword, getting into a stance.
"Hey, we sh-"
A sudden zipped past Michael, interrupting his speech and startling him.
He was not able to see what happened, however, his shield absorbed whatever hit came at him.
Michael turned to Shingen and noticed blood on his sword, followed by the corpse of a wolf.
¡¯Damn he killed it instantly, I wasn¡¯t even able to see anything.¡¯ Michael thought while turning around, noticing a few pairs of eyes watching them.
He did what he should have done earlier, use Physical Enhancement, he also took out his sma ster that was stowed away in the robe¡¯s pocket and unfolded it.
That seemed to shock Shingen as his eyes slightly widened at the white color surrounding Michael.
"You..how do you know that" He asked Michael, stepping in front of him and preparing for the wolves attack.
As Michael was about to tell him to mind his own business, he heard a click on his shoulder, signifying the start of the recording.
However, his thoughts quickly halted as a sound came from the camera "Live recording started"
¡¯Amanda.. you fu..¡¯ Michael calmed down by taking a deep breath.
If this was not live, anything he would say could be cut in post production, now? He actually had to act as a Saint.
Michael turned to look at Shingen with a straight face "This? Are you talking about the Saintly aura that has been bestowed upon me by the Goddess Sophia herself?"
Shingen looked at him as if he were special and simply shrugged his shoulders, returning to his usual nk look.
Michael knew he was acting ridiculous, frankly, he was d the camera could not fully see his face, else they would see him trying his best to not cringe.
As he was somewhat rxed due to his bullshit, the wolves finally jumped in, their speed something Michael could only barely see, yet notpletely react to.
They dashed at him and he swerved to the side, the wolves only slightly grazing him, albeit if he did not have his skill up, he would have been split into two.
The speed granted by Physical Enhancement was immense, it felt as if his stats nearly doubled, however, the system did not show it.
Michael quickly turned around and shot his sniper at them, even with his current speed, he was barely able to see the bullet travel.
However, that was not the case for the wolves, as the one he was aiming for suddenly became much faster, dodging the bulletpletely.
¡¯Right, so it¡¯s useless..great¡¯ Michael folded the sniper and put it back into his pocket.
Even if the damage he could deal with it was massive, what¡¯s the point if he can¡¯t hit his target?
¡¯A bad matchup¡¯
If he was any other ss, he would not be able to do anything here, however, as a healer he could just stand back and watch others do the work.
Shingen¡¯s skills were impressive, he had not seen someone wield the sword before, but the speed and sheer destructiveness each swing of his did, sent shivers down Michael¡¯s spine.
¡¯If only I could do that..¡¯ He thought bitterly. While he did enjoy being a healer, he felt as though his heart was calling for battle.
He tried following that feeling by fighting the wolves, however, they were much faster than him, and he was not able to evennd a single hit.
Even when only counter attacking, the moment a kick or a fist is about to connect with the skull of a wolf, it dodges.
It felt as though they were just ying around with him, not noticing the fact that Shingen had nearly ughtered their entire pack.
As thest few wolves dashed at Michael once again, their heads were suddenly lopped off, sending a stream of blood right at Michael.
Specifically, his robe.
¡¯Motherfucker I just got this cleaned!¡¯ He eximed while ring at Shingen, though only receiving a nod.
¡¯This guy..he was doing it on purpose¡¯ Realization struck Michael, this guy was trying to piss him off.
Michael decided he would remember this and looked at the corpses around him, before turning to the blue holograms that immediately turned into one.
[ [Assist] x17 Wind Wolf [Level 70] Killed! +119000 EXP]
1 Pack of Wolves and he was able to level up 3 times, it seemed he might reach level 50 sooner than he thought.
Maybe.
¡¯Oh, are you finally back?¡¯ Michael was a bit surprised to hear the system¡¯s voice inside of his head again, even when he asked for it, it never replied.
Yes, now that it¡¯s over, did you seriously try using your sniper against Wind Wolves? Are you perchance stupid?
Michael ignored the system¡¯s squabbling, even if it was not long since hest heard its voice, it was still nice to hear.
He chuckled to himself ¡¯Yeah yeah, fuck off.¡¯
Chapter 28: Duo (2)
"Shingen, can you please kill these wolves a bit further away from me?"
Michael was currently standing right in front of a dead wolf, its head lopped off.
However, the reason he was irritated was because Shingen only killed the wolves once they got close enough to him.
For that reason, he was currently drenched in blood from head to toe.
Aren¡¯t you fast enough to dodge the blood though?
Michael¡¯s brow twitched ¡¯Did you not see what happened when I tried? He literally swung his sword again, speeding up the blood flying at me¡¯
That is true.
¡¯...¡¯
They have been walking around the forestry area that seemed to mimic the one outside the dungeon.
However, besides the first pack of wolves they ran into, they only found wolves that were by themselves.
Michael found it odd, from what he remembers, the wolves always travel in packs, was that some kind of a lie?
He was not sure, but he didn¡¯t feel too threatened, his healing coupled with Shingen¡¯s might, made quite thebo.
All of a sudden, the color of the grass changed, it seemed to get lighter.
It reminded Michael of something..dungeon copse.
¡¯But how is that possible?¡¯ He couldn¡¯t help but think. From what he knew, the dungeon could either break or copse.
However, he figured copsing was extremely rare, yet here it was, happening to a newly opened dungeon.
Have you forgotten?
¡¯Forgot what?¡¯ Michael was slightly puzzled.
Think back to the time you were in the dungeon you met Meph in, that¡¯s as big of a hint I can give you, I don¡¯t want you to get any stupider.
¡¯Hmm..¡¯ Michael thought for a moment while ncing around at Shingen, he was trying to talk but his voice could not be heard.
All of a sudden Michael¡¯s eyes widened, he seemed toe to a realization.
¡¯Dungeons can be closed but still operating..is that what happened here?¡¯ The timing felt a little off for Michael, though he couldn¡¯t quite put his finger on why.
A dungeon opens and it operates as per usual, then if the boss monster grows strong enough, a dungeon break happens.
However, why or even how do the copses happen?
As Michael was deep in thought, he noticed the colors being further distorted, their vibrance seeping into the surroundings and mixing with it.
¡¯This is different¡¯ he noticed, unlike when he was outside of the dungeon, where the vibrance mimicked the color of the portal, the whole dungeon was currently a mesh of colors.
Distorting, changing, some even disappearing, turning white.
The pressure Michael was currently feeling, was miles above what he felt on the outside.
It kept getting stronger as the dungeon further deteriorated.
Michael turned to look at Shingen and noticed the expression on his face, it was grim, he could even see his hands slightly shaking.
Michael looked at his own hands and they were too, yet he didn¡¯t even notice.
¡¯Odds on me surviving?¡¯ He asked the system sarcastically, yet he was hopeful of the answer being positive.
Hm, low, the others can¡¯t enter the dungeon and you yourself can¡¯t leave, you either walk out with the boss monster or of course, kill it.
¡¯Is there some kind of a catch?¡¯
Since the dungeon is its natural habitat, it gets a bit of a strength boost, on top of already being incredibly strong.
Michael now too shared a grim expression ¡¯What about the outside? The camera is live right now so shouldn¡¯t they be trying to somehow open the dungeon?¡¯
I told you, it¡¯s not possible, once dungeons copse, the inner protocol enters maximum defense, meaning that whatever attack is thrown at them, they will be able to block it until the boss monster exits the dungeon.
¡¯Fuck..¡¯
Michael looked around and saw most of the colors had already disappeared, only a white void was left with Michael and Shingen standing side by side.
They were not able tomunicate, yet they both knew what they had to do and that was to somehow beat the boss monster.
However, no matter where they looked, it was nowhere to be seen. The only thing they saw were the colors, which had been drained prior, gathering in the sky.
It looked like a massive sphere, glowing, swirling every single color imaginable.
All of a sudden Michael felt a chill run down his spine and he dodged to the side, followed by a sharp pain in one of his arms.
He took a nce at his left arm and noticed blood pouring down his shoulder, his hand cleanly severed on the ground beneath him.
¡¯Wha-¡¯
Just as he was about to exim again, Shingen dashed towards Michael and blocked something.
At least Michael thought he did, no sound was heard but a bit of blood was dripping down from Shingen¡¯s mouth.
Michael quickly cast Shield of Nourishment on the both of them, albeit he began feeling a sharp pain where his left arm used to be.
Focus, forget about the arm, it will grow backter.
¡¯Grow back? What am I, a fucking lizard now!?¡¯ Michael eximed, venting his frustrations out on the system.
Michael took notice of the thing in the sky, which now started taking shape, the colors warped and twisted, forming a wolf.
¡¯A massive fucking wolf¡¯
It was much bigger than the others he saw, frankly, it was strange even trying topare them, besides the body shape, nothing else looked simr.
The wolf descended down and opened its eyes, they were a hollow ck color, a stark contrast to its fur, which had a dominant green, with the other many colors only serving as highlights on its fur.
It looked menacing, Michael was not exactly sure how he can get out of this alive, however, if there was one person he could put his trust in currently, then it would be Shingen.
The previous shaking seemed to have disappeared, yet his grim expression still remained.
All of a sudden, the other colors except green flowed into the wolf¡¯s eyes, seeping into them and adding a glow.
The pressure from before had lessened, though Michael knew it definitely did not grow weaker, if anything, it might have gotten stronger.
Its eyes were now mesmerizing, however, Shingen did not wait to admire them, dashing at the wolf with insane speed.
shing his sword down, it appeared to have missed, though in reality, it went through the wolf.
¡¯Was it that easy?¡¯ Michael looked a bit confused, that was until the wolf disappeared from his vision, followed by Shingen who also disappeared.
As Michael was about to question his sanity, he suddenly felt a prick on his cheek, upon touching it with his remaining arm, he noticed blood was dripping down.
¡¯Fuck.. they are fighting and yet I can¡¯t even see them¡¯ Michael felt helpless.
Even with his INT now reaching 400 points, coupled with his buff skill and Physical Enhancement, he was still not able to see even a single trace of them.
They were just moving way too fast..
¡¯Any tips?¡¯
Hm? Oh.. Don¡¯t die I guess?
Michael¡¯s brow twitched, he regretted asking the system for advice. Like it would even know what to do in this situation.
This felt suffocating, not only were wounds appearing all over his body randomly, the white space felt odd by itself.
It was quiet, he had no arm and he could die at any moment.
¡¯Fucking great.¡¯
Michael was thankful for his high mana pool, he still had roughly half of his mana left, though the rate at which he was currently casting Shield of Nourishment, he doubted it wouldst longer than 10 minutes.
He looked at his hand and saw that out of the small stump, an arm was very slowly growing back.
He didn¡¯t think his heals could regrow limbs yet, but perhaps they could?
Your limbs, not others. Plus it would have been a lot faster if you had taken the arm off of the ground and ced it on your stump, it would have healed in mere moments.
¡¯Thanks for the heads up, I¡¯ll remember that next time my head is lopped off¡¯
Michael realized the space around him was crackling and just for a mere moment, he was able to see Shingen again.
He was shing with the boss monster, both of them with heavy injuries.
However, Michael did not dawdle in that small moment as he cast his Shield of Nourishment on Shingen, healing him for a massive sum.
Just as fast, they both vanished.
¡¯Hey system, do you have some sort of a recording function?¡¯ He asked absentmindedly.
What? No?
¡¯Pity¡¯ Michael clicked his tongue, he was maybe hoping to get the system to record some movies for him and y them in his mind.
He would prefer not to carry aptop around all the time after all.
Have they finally managed to damage your brain? I am not some sort of a DVD yer.
Michael rolled his eyes and looked around, waves of blood sttering all around him, However, this time it was not his blood.
¡¯It seems the fight ising to an end..¡¯
Chapter 29: Duo (3)
The crackling around Michael intensified, from time to time he was even able to catch a glimpse of their figures.
The shes were fast and fierce, he was not able to cast his Shield of Nourishment in time.
Shingen didn¡¯t look great, however, the wolf monster was not faring any better, from what Michael could see, it had even lost an eye.
Blood kept sttering all around him, some evennding right on him. It made Michael think that Shingen was doing this on purpose.
¡¯There is no way right?¡¯ He had some doubts but decided to suck it up, he can clean himself upter.
After a couple of minutes, the crackling stopped with the wolf¡¯s headnding right in front of Michael.
[ [Assist] Wolf of ??? [Level ???] Killed! +100 EXP]
[In-ERROR]
¡¯What?¡¯ Michael stared confused at the message, it was about to spell something out but immediately got interrupted.
The same goes for the level of the wolf and the EXP he received, it did not add up at all.
¡¯System?¡¯ He asked, hoping for an answer, though it never came.
However, as he was about to brush it off as some bullshit the system pulled from time to time, a red hologram appeared right in front of his eyes.
[EMERGENCY PROTOCOL ACTIVATED]
All of a sudden, a bunch of red boxes appeared in his vision, disying all sorts of texts and information he could not even understand.
And just like that, the hologramsbined into a single one.
[Level requirement not met, disengaging emergency protocol]
With that, the hologram¡¯s red color slowly faded, being reced with the usual blue.
Michael was momentarily dazed, before quickly turning to Shingen, the sight making his eyes widen.
There was a gash spanning all the way from the neck to his abdomen, it looked fatal. It didn¡¯t look like he would remain conscious for long either.
Michael quickly attempted casting Shield of Nourishment, however, he was not able to get the skill to go through.
He could use Physical Enhancement, though it seemed every single skill of his, was unable to be cast.
It felt as if a wall was blocking them, the only skills he still had were the passive skills which do not require mana to use.
¡¯His HP is way too low..¡¯ Michael thought with a grim look as he picked him up princess style, he was not sure if Shingen would live.
His hand had managed to finally grow back, so carrying him would pose no issues.
Shortly after the boss monster was killed, the portal reappeared, adding a blue color to this infinite world of white.
It gave Michael the creeps just being here, he felt as if he was losing his mind, as if something or someone was watching him.
Though a few nces around assured Michael otherwise, there was nothing.
Using Physical enhancement, he quickly dashed through the portal, Shingen in his hands.
-----
Shortly before the dungeon copse began.
Amanda was sitting by in her car, enjoying a nice pint of lemonade, she was not a huge fan of alcohol.
She was watching the action happen through the livestream she set up.
Amanda chuckled to herself, she could only imagine the look on Michael¡¯s face.
¡¯Serves you right¡¯ She nodded to herself. Lately, Michael has been acting shamelessly and neglecting his duties outside of her requests.
Amanda heard that he was acting smug in the academy, far from the holy persona he should be taking.
She understood that he was still a kid, even if he didn¡¯t particrly act like one, having this much power would definitely get to one¡¯s head.
¡¯Though what is with this action? He is keeping up with the wolves and his healing is even better¡¯ Amanda couldn¡¯t help but acknowledge him. After their little conflict not so long ago, she expected him to calm his ego.
Yet instead, he strived to be stronger, and he did, incredibly fast at that.
As Amanda was about to take another sip of her lemonade, her eyes widened.
¡¯What the fuck?¡¯ She got out of her car and tried running into the portal, however, she was bounced back, not being able to enter it.
She nced at her phone, specifically the stream, which was now offline.
She clenched her fists and saw the vibrance overtaking the surroundings, the pressureing from the dungeon way above what it should be.
"God fucking damn it!" Amanda eximed as she began punching the portal, but to no avail, it was not budging in the slightest.
She eventually gave up, noticing that no matter what she did, the situation was no longer in her hands.
The only hope she had was Shingen, he was the only one to volunteer for this dungeon and he was one of the stronger ones she had met.
Not as strong as her father though, she only saw him fight a couple of times, however, it was so overwhelming she was not able to gauge his strength.
Even the level detectors didn¡¯t work on him, well not like it worked on her anyway.
The devices were not meant to measure those who have experienced an actual awakening.
Shaking away her stray thoughts, she began dialing numbers, calling all the top brass to the dungeon, they had to prepare for the worst.
¡¯It was not a long time we knew each other Michael, it is regrettable to see you depart so soon¡¯ Amanda thought with a tinge of regret.
He served his role well, he had also managed to cure her father, a debt she has yet to fully repay.
But she knew.. it was impossible for Michael to survive in there, once the white realm takes over, cmity descends.
The boss monsters get significantly stronger inside of copsed dungeons, that¡¯s because they be named, granting them immense power.
The moment they go through the portal and into the outside world, they lose their names, returning to just slightly stronger boss monsters.
That is why, a mere level 40 can¡¯t survive against something of that caliber, the sheer pressure alone would kill him.
Amanda sighed ¡¯Back to the drawing board I guess...¡¯
She got back to her car and helplessly sat down, taking a sip of her lemonade.
¡¯This is going to take a while..¡¯
The seconds turned into minutes, however, as she was about to call someone again, the vibrance disappeared, instantly putting her on high alert.
¡¯Already?¡¯ She was slightly confused, she understood there was some time dtion inside of a copsed dungeon, however, for it to be over in under 5 minutes was insane.
Amanda took a pair of gloves out of her pocket and got into a fighting stance, she was certain they had already perished.
¡¯Shingen was not enough huh..pity¡¯ It would set her talks with the people in the mountains back quite a lot, it might even lead to war.
He did die under her protection, even if the situation turned out like that..
The pressure the dungeon emitted had grown fiercer, though she couldn¡¯t tell if she imagined it, but it was not that much stronger than before.
Yes, it was strong, but not to the point where a being like that would get weakened this much.
¡¯Something¡¯s off¡¯ She became even more alert, though as her senses were screaming at her, something odd came out of the portal.
Instead of the boss monster, it was Michael, carrying Shingen..like a princess.
As much as Amanda wanted to question what had happened, she noticed the wounds on Shingen¡¯s body and immediately froze.
They were fatal, his organs were showing, his arteries split apart. If he wasn¡¯t an awakened, he would long be dead.
However, suddenly something happened that seemed so unreal, she could not believe it even after seeing it.
Michael¡¯s golden glow enveloped Shingen and immediately, his wounds began to close up, even the most fatal looking injury closed instantly.
Color returned to Shingen¡¯s face and he no longer looked so pale.
He was enveloped by a golden glow a couple more times, now looking as if he was simply asleep with no injuries or scratches in sight.
Amanda¡¯s eyes remained widened "You are alive..?"
-----
¡¯Hm? Did this woman seriously think I would die with someone like Shingen with me? Tough luck I guess¡¯ Michael snickered to himself.
"Yup, can I get a raise?"
Though Amanda¡¯s shocked expression instantly turned into a frown "No."
Even after these circumstances, she did not want to raise his initial pay, else he would start spending erratically.
"Don¡¯t worry though, you will be greatlypensated, I give you my word" Amanda said in a serious tone.
It had caught Michael off guard a little, all this happened in a single day, he didn¡¯t know how long he was in that white space for, though it felt like hours, he had lost track after 20 minutes.
All he did was focus on healing himself with the right timing, asionally even sliding Shingen a heal or two, though with the speed they were moving at, it was pretty difficult.
No surprise there, anyway what did you do? I lost connection to you for some time.
Michael was slightly puzzled by the system¡¯s words ¡¯What do you mean?¡¯
After the boss died all went ck for me, I couldn¡¯t hear your thoughts or even see anything, only when you exited the dungeon was I back.
Michael fell into thought, he had a few suspicions about why that happened, so he thought about them to let the system know.
That..the former seems the most likely.. you most likely tried forcefully unlocking a feature of the system, albeit way too early..
Michael noticed the system was hiding something once again, however, he didn¡¯t bother questioning it or else it would just go missing for the next couple of hours again.
He turned to Amanda "Sooo..how big is thepensation?"
Chapter 30: Aftermath
Michael left the forested area with a smile on his face.
He left Shingen to Amanda and the other people who arrived.
However, the reason for his happiness was currently in his hands.
¡¯A one time use nk check, Amanda sure is stingy.¡¯
She gave him a check that he could use to buy anything he wanted with a 1 million dor limit.
The downside was, he could only use it once.
If he were to buy candy that costs 2 dors, the nk check would be used up.
But in the end, he didn¡¯t protest, a million dors is still a million dors, even if the economy differs greatly from his previous world.
He could buy gear for himself, though he was not sure what he wanted yet, nothing that he needed urgently at least.
Michael walked out of the forest and called his driver, he arrived as fast as usual.
He rxed in the back seat and looked at his status, a lot has happened since thest time he had checked it.
+---+
Name: Saint Michael
Age: 12 years old
Race: Human
ss: Healer [Common]
Level 44 [43100/44000 EXP]
-Titles:
* Ruthless Combatant
# Raise all your damage by 10% when facing enemies at least 30 levels above you
* ???
-Stats
HP: 2040/2040 [+500] / Regen 160 HP Per Hour {1:9}
MP: 235/4310 [+250] / Regen 440 MP Per Hour {1:9}
STR: 100 -> 130 (+30)
END: 160 -> 190 (+30)
AGI: 231 -> 261 (+30)
INT: 384 -> 440 [+50] (+30)
CHA: 100 -> 130 [+50] (+30)
-Skills / [Skill Merging]
[Eyes of The Healer] [Level MAX] [Unique] [Passive]
# See the HP, ailments, illnesses, curses, and any kind of mind magic of those in your field of vision.
Hand to handbat [Level 10 MAX] [Common] [Passive]
# Increases STR by 10% when fighting using only your hands
Discipline [Level 12 300/5000 EXP] [Umon] [Passive]
# Mental magic has an 12% reduced effect on you
Shooting mastery [Level 6 2000/3000 EXP] [Umon] [Passive]
# Any kind of projectile has a 6% increase in velocity
Purify [Level 35 1250/17500 EXP] [Epic] [Active]
# Purify everyone and everything around you, curing all diseases and illnesses
Cost: 30MP
Radius: 85 Meters
Shield of Nourishment [Level 15 1000/7500 EXP] [Rare] [Active]
# Heal 8000 HP and apply a 8000 HP shield. Once broken heal for the amount Shielded.
Cost: 85MP
Blessing of stats [Level 5 0/2500] [Umon] [Active]
# Increase all stats by 30
Cost: 100MP
Duration: = INT -> 440 Minutes
+---+
Michael quickly skimmed through his status screen, only nodding in satisfaction.
His stats rose by quite a lot and since Blessing of stats is like a permanent skill for him, it also began showing up in the stats screen.
As Michael was about to close his status, the system¡¯s voice rang out inside his head.
Check your titles.
He looked a bit confused, so he scrolled back up and saw something strange.
¡¯Why is it all question marks?¡¯
There was a title that simply disyed ???, he couldn¡¯t click on it neither could he gain any information on it.
Don¡¯t worry about that for now, you got it way earlier than you should have.
Michael¡¯s brows furrowed ¡¯Of course you know what it is and yet again, you won¡¯t tell me.¡¯
Pretty much, just know that it is going to be helpful in the feature, as for now, the title is inactive, hence you can¡¯t see any information on it.
¡¯Yeah whatever..¡¯
-----
It was now the next day, as Michael was walking inside of the school.
However, unlike the usual indifferent gazes, people actually paid attention to him, some even wearing admiring expressions.
He walked the halls and got to his ssroom, upon opening the door, what greeted his eyes were his ssmates, who unlike usual, were all here early.
Due to Amanda¡¯s nagging, he was forced to go early since he usually arrivedte.
¡¯A Saint must maintain be disciplined she said¡¯ Michael rolled his eyes and sat down in his seat.
Surprisingly, the first person to approach him was Kevin, wearing a confused expression for some reason.
"You were supposed to die..how are you here?"
Michael¡¯s saintly smile slightly cracked, ncing at Kevin with an annoyed look.
"What? You wanted me to die there?"
Kevin didn¡¯t pay attention to Michael¡¯s words and began murmuring under his breath "This does not m-"
However, at that moment, Lena walked into the ssroom, her face sporting a grim look.
"Everyone, I have some news, due to the recent incident, our dungeon expedition next week is dyed, they have to reevaluate all the active dungeons"
Michael was even more pissed off now ¡¯So now I have to attend the academy for the theory, seriously?¡¯
He had looked forward to the dungeon expedition, as it would not be as boring as what he was currently doing, which was..nothing.
Added on to the fact that besides sparring, the rest of the lessons were boring. Because his INT stat was so high, he learned everything instantly and was able to put all the knowledge to immediate use.
Magic theory was tomorrow, though he doubted it would provide him any help, the skills he used did not need any kind of buffs, they were already at maximum efficiency.
As the glum silence hung in the air, Lena suddenly smiled.
"However do not fret, as instead of dungeons, we will be going on an excursion instead!"
She then continued "There are a lot of cities and viges on this continent, one of those viges requested our help dealing with the monsters."
The monsters usuallye out of dungeons, however, there are many who are born and bred outside of them, no one knows when they got the capability to live outside, but all that mattered now was that they could.
And ording to Lena, they were terrorizing nearby viges.
Michael was relieved ¡¯That¡¯s at least something..¡¯ He was expecting pure boredom for the next month.
Though here it was, the excursion.
The lessons quickly passed as Michael finally mastered the art of sleeping with his eyes open.
Ever since getting used to absorbing the information, he was now able to do it subconsciously.
It was as if he had a pair of earphones in his ears sting information while he was asleep.
Quite frankly, that is the second impressive thing he learned after being admitted into the academy.
The first being mana control.
Michael was only able to use physical enhancement, however, he felt as if he was close to something.
Every time he attempted to stretch the mana outside of his body, a little bit of it did, however, the rest disconnected from his mana flowpletely.
The mana consumption was massive, to form a fist sized glob of mana costs him 20% of his total mana.
From what he guessed, it was due to his poor control, he was not so stupid as to not notice the flow being cut off.
Michael decided he would ask ire about this when lessons ended, there were only a couple of them left, as well as the sparring lesson.
He fell back asleep with his eyes open, to others it looked like he was diligently paying attention to Lena, however, she had not said a word in quite some time yet he was still staring.
Everyone chose to ignore him, it¡¯s not like this was the first time Michael acted strange.
-----
The lessons finally ended, the spars were not anything special either.
The same 3 people who had caught his eye a while ago were still the most impressive out of the bunch.
If he were to estimate who was the strongest of the 3, he would guess it¡¯s Elizabeth or ire.
They had not sparred against each other yet but their prowess was incredibly impressive nheless.
As for Kevin, he was just slightly below them, he was fast and strong, his skills were fairly interesting too, it looked like some kind of shadow maniption.
Though Michael was confident he wouldn¡¯t lose to him in a fight, others definitely would.
He was not strong but his skills were incredibly versatile, while others focused on pure speed and strength, he opted for a more calctedbat approach.
Michael respected it, but that was about it.
He didn¡¯t really like the kid if he was honest, Kevin managed to piss him off every single time he talked.
Come on, he¡¯s just a kid.
¡¯An extremely annoying kid.. don¡¯t even try to make him look normal, we both know he wasn¡¯t.¡¯
Michael had pieced a little picture of Kevin in his mind.
He had knowledge of the mana cores, which meant he was definitely someone important.
Yet there was that earlier interaction that still irked him a little.
The conclusion Michael came to was ¡¯Definitely a chuuni..¡¯
Those thoughts even sent shivers down his spine.
Michael left the training center and headed for his club room, along the way spotting a bunch of people who still had those weird expressions on their faces.
He didn¡¯t particrly hate it, but to say he liked being the center of attention constantly.. was not something he enjoyed.
Opening the club room door abruptly, he was met with a sleeping ire, who likest time, was asleep in her own wreckage.
¡¯Chairs this time huh..I wonder how she even falls asleep like that.¡¯
Chapter 31: Encounter
It was now the following week.
Michael had spent most of his time practicing mana control and the progress he made was considerable.
If the fist sized blob of mana used to cost 20% of his total mana, now it only cost 10%.
He lowered the cost by half, he was quite happy with that.
But s, it was not even close to being put into practice.
ire had been pretty surprised when he told her about Physical Enhancement, she didn¡¯t expect him to achieve it so quickly.
As for mana projection? She did not give Michael any tips, she seemed to want to keep everything to herself.
However her interest could definitely not be hidden, Michael assumed if he finally realizes how to use mana projection properly, she would teach him what she knew.
He regretted asking for a nk check, the sum was nice and all but maybe he could have asked Amanda for something more.
Maybe a mana controlling lesson from her?
Michael shook his head at that thought ¡¯That bullshit oath would probably prevent her from saying anything anyway..¡¯
The oath only applies to those who don¡¯t have mana cores, it¡¯s not as restrictive as you might think.
¡¯I mean what if someone identally blurts it out and some child hears it? Do they just die then?¡¯ Michael scoffed. To say it was not restrictive was an interesting take, the price is quite literally your life.
Overhearing is not somethingmon, if it does happen, the oath binds itself to the person who heard it. It¡¯s practically the same, they would lose their life if they talked about it openly.
¡¯Yeah all this oath stuff sounds like a big pile of shit, does that mean someone will tell me about the mana core once I reach level 200?¡¯
Maybe, maybe not.
Michael was a bit surprised ¡¯Since you answered I assume that¡¯s not the case?¡¯
And he was met with silence, though that did not discourage Michael as he finally found a way to get some information out of the system.
It looked like it wasn¡¯t against sharing information indirectly, Michael was happy to know that.
Anyway..it was time for the excursion.
Michael had been in the ssroom waiting patiently for the others to arrive.
¡¯Going early sucks..¡¯ He sighed to himself. There were only a handful of kids gathered, Lena wasn¡¯t even here yet.
Michael was just staring at the door and Kevin walked in, earlier than usual.
¡¯Why is he looking at me again? Don¡¯t tell me..¡¯ Shivers ran down Michael¡¯s spine as he suddenly stood up and walked towards Kevin.
"Can we talk?"
Kevin stared in silence for a moment before nodding "Sure."
Michael nudged with his chin towards the ssroom door, signaling for them to talk privately.
And they did just that, the lesson won¡¯t start for at least the next 20 minutes.
Walking over to a quiet corner, Michael suddenly turned around, his saintly smile no longer present.
"What is your problem?"
"What do you mean?" Kevin acted like he didn¡¯t know what Michael was talking about.
"You know very well what I mean, you are like some creepy stalker, can¡¯t you just fu- back off?" Michael almost cussed, if Amanda found out she would definitely give him an earful.
Kevin shed a small smile and murmured under his breath "You are still the same.."
However, Michael heard that, he focused on having Physical Enhancement up as long as he could, at this point keeping it up for the whole day was possible as long as he was not fighting.
"Still the same? What, you think you know me?" Michael asked in an annoyed tone.
However, Kevin¡¯s unexpected answer shocked him.
"On the contrary, I do and no I am not a stalker" Kevin said in a smug tone before continuing.
"You used to live in the Amara orphanage where you suddenly awakened at the age of 8"
"You started working in the hospital and finally reached level 5, where you finally got the opportunity to move up thedder"
"Though that didn¡¯t go as nned, your transport vehicle was attacked and you were taken hostage, eventually being trafficked to this continent." Kevin finally looked up at Michael with a smirk, however, he was met with a disgusted look.
¡¯Is this kid having some sort of fantasies about me?¡¯
"Hey, look, I don¡¯t know what is wrong with your head, quite frankly even as a Saint I can¡¯t do anything. The only part you got right was the orphanage, after that your story strayed off."
Kevin had a puzzled yet wary look "Don¡¯t you have that system thingy? Are you really him?"
As soon as those words finished, a fist flew right at Kevin¡¯s face. He tried blocking it with his shadow skill, however, with Michael¡¯s Physical Enhancement, it was futile.
-Crack
Kevin¡¯s nose caved in and blood started pouring down his face, the impact even reaching his brain, dazing him and making him fall to the ground, holding his broken nose.
A slight chuckle escaped Kevin¡¯s mouth "Yeah, you are the same."
Though Michael was staring down at him, debating what he should do.
Michael¡¯s first instinctive thought was to punch him in the face, he never nned on keeping the system a close secret, however, he also did not n on revealing it to anyone this soon.
Yet Kevin knew about it.
"Who the fuck are you!?" Michael eximed and picked up Kevin by the cor.
"Rx, I am a long time buddy of yours, well not of the current you I guess."
"A long time buddy? I am 12 years old you imbecile" Michael proceeded to tighten his grip on the cor.
However, the next words made Michael freeze "I regressed, you and I were friends, though I noticed you are a lot different from the Michael I knew, that begs the question. Who exactly are you?"
¡¯Regression? I can see that being possible since I reincarnated but..why is he saying I am different from the former Michael, I don¡¯t think turning back time should change me. System?¡¯ He asked the system for answers, however, not expecting to get any.
I.. don¡¯t know...
He did and did not get an answer, it left him even more clueless, the system knew a lot, yet nothing of what is happening now?
As Michael was in deep thought while holding Kevin by the cor, he suddenly heard a bunch of steps and voices heading in their direction.
He quickly cast a heal on Kevin and put him down on the ground.
The people arrived around the corner and saw the both of them just standing, Michael¡¯s saintly smile radiated like the morning sun.
They didn¡¯t pay attention to Kevin, who still had blood all over his face.
Michael kept his smile and whispered "Don¡¯t pull any bullshit, I have an image to maintain."
He was met with a shrug from Kevin "We can talk during the excursion."
They both acted like their usual selves and headed back to the ssroom.
Michael did not pay attention to the time, once he arrived he noticed everyone already gathered, with Lena staring daggers at the both of them.
¡¯Fuck..I amte.¡¯ Michael held back the urge to facepalm and sat down in his seat.
Lena cleared her throat "Now that we are all here, I can start the rundown of what we will be doing, as well as the monsters we will be facing."
Michael justzily listened to her exnation, it was the in old stay in groups, no causing havoc and how could anyone forget, no having fun.
She didn¡¯t exactly imply that, but he could surmise from all her rules, Lena wanted them to take this seriously, as if they were doing an actual assignment.
He couldn¡¯t me her, everyone would be facing real monsters, something most had yet to face.
That was what the dungeons were for, but due to Michael¡¯s incident, they were closed down until further notice.
The monsters were grizzly bears, most under level 20, nothing noteworthy of note.
They were just strong but slow monsters, a perfect fight for a low level group.
The ss had a few tanks, yet only 2 healers, Michael and Tony so the group dispositions were not going to be very fair.
As Michael was about to begin enjoying his chance at a warmup Lena once again spoke.
"Oh and Michael, you are too high leveled so you will sit the fighting out. You can only step in if there is an emergency, if you break that rule I will deduct your grade" She finished in a stern voice.
¡¯Why is this world against me...¡¯
His chance to talk to Kevin greatly diminished, he will mostly be fighting the monsters anyway.
Don¡¯t worry, I am also trying to make sense of the situation, some pieces of the puzzle are slowlying together.
The system informed him and he simply nodded.
Lena finally finished exining the rest and they finally went outside.
¡¯Woah¡¯
In front of everyone¡¯s eyes, was a very long floating limousine, definitely big enough to fit at least 50 people.
Lena turned to the ss "Shall we?"
¡¯At least it¡¯s a floating limo..¡¯ Michael couldn¡¯t hide his smirk. He had never been inside of a limousine, it would be a first.
Control your facial expression, everyone is looking at you like you are some sort of a pervert.
Chapter 32: Rest?
A/N: Sorry for theck of chapters, was buying parts and fixing up my pc.
*
The outskirts were surprisingly modest, Michael expected them to look simr to Vivum, yet they were nowhere close to his expectations.
There were wooden cabins and a bunch of people walking all around, the vige and the city were not that far apart in that matter, it was incredibly lively.
Michael looked over to Kevin who had been sleeping this entire ride, he expected to get some answers, yet was not able to do so without acting suspicious around others.
He didn¡¯t want any bad rumors starting.
Michael didn¡¯t know how he was his so proimed friend in the past..or the future? He didn¡¯t quite understand how this time stuff worked yet.
How could he be any different from the past Michael that Kevin knew?
It didn¡¯t seem like he was lying, but the story did not add up at all.
¡¯What is this time paradox bullshit¡¯
The car finally stopped, everyone got out and gathered together in their own premade groups.
Lena had given each person a note with a number written on it, that was how the groups were determined.
Michael of course didn¡¯t get anything, he was supposed to justy back and not do anything at all.
Guess your wish of beingzy is being fulfilled congrattions.
¡¯Lazy? You think I want to bezy? There is literally nothing for me to do¡¯ Michael shot back at the system, not realizing it was just toying with him.
The usual excuse, not surprising.
¡¯Kindly fuck off¡¯ Michael said and walked in a random direction, Lena told him he could do anything he wanted as long as it was not helping the others.
As his steps turned many, he eventually arrived in front of an inn, it seemed he instinctually came here.
Michael looked at the inn with a sour expression and walked inside.
Looking around, he saw only a handful of people, however, they were all a bunch of drunkards.
That made Michael¡¯s expression worsen further, he was reminded of himself after the incident happened.
The bartender noticed Michael and seemed slightly surprised, it was not every day someone so young stumbles inside of an inn with such a reputation.
"What would you like young man?"
Michael sat down and acted like himself, he didn¡¯t see the need of putting up his Saintly facade this far away from the city.
"Could you tell me a little bit about this vige?"
The bartender shed an understanding look "You are not from around here, are you? You must be one of the awakened we called in for help, thank you very much foring" He added with a touch of gratitude and continued.
"As you may already know, due to the sheer amount of viges that exist, we are referred to by numbers, our vige is numbered 362."
Michael simply nodded, he did hear about it but thought it was a joke, it seemed a bit inhumane, treating viges like some sort of ntations, at least it seemed like that anyway.
"Our vige is known for our farmers, due to the environment the people were born in, most awakened with the skills to grow crops, even enhance them." The bartender exined with great pride.
"However, at some point monsters flocked to our small vige, destroying the crops we worked so hard to nt. It was strange because they never attacked the people, they merely acted as an inconvenience"
"Some awakened that did have some fighting capabilities fought with them, even killed a few. Though as they killed and killed, the numbers did not decrease, in fact, they increased greatly"
"For every monster in, a couple more appeared, the same pattern continues even till this day, yet no one knows why"
¡¯Bears don¡¯t sound like a passive bunch, yet they do not attack anyone and only steal crops? Really?¡¯ Michael found it a bit hard to believe, but it would seem counterproductive to lie.
"I see, is there anything I could help with? I am separated from the other groups, I am also a tad bit stronger than them" He tried squeezing out any kind of task he could, he really was that bored.
The bartender looked to be in thought for a moment "Well there is something" He gestured for Michael to get closer.
"You see, there is another issue that is not rted to monsters, there are a few bandits hiding away somewhere in the forest. They attack merchants entering and leaving the vige" He whispered.
¡¯Feels just like my mercenary days¡¯ Michael chuckled inwardly. He understood where this conversation was going.
"So you want me to kill them?"
The atmosphere suddenly became quiet, the drunkards from before stoppedughing and looked towards Michael and the bartender.
"Yes, I want you to kill them" The bartender replied, a small smile creeping up his face.
Creepy.
¡¯It¡¯s natural¡¯ Michael sighed. Once a certain point of desperation has been reached, a person only sees one path, that being to get rid of the problem, roots and all.
"Alright" Michael replied and stood up, walking out of the inn.
The drunkards acknowledged him with nods, not like he wanted their approval anyway.
He expected some kind of a secret bear hunting request, bandits were not something on his agenda, but regardless, an activity is an activity.
Killing people for enjoyment? Had you done this before, you would have definitely not gotten the healer ss.
¡¯I don¡¯t enjoy killing anybody, however, filth like those bandits do not deserve to live¡¯
Are you god to decide that?
Michael scoffed ¡¯Don¡¯t give me that religious bullshit, I am no angel, neither am I someone pure evil, I am me.¡¯
And youck conviction.
¡¯How so?¡¯
You are only doing this because you are bored, even if you say you want to kill them since they are trash human beings, deep down you know it¡¯s truly not because of that.
¡¯So what? Do you want me to have some grandiose reason for every single thing I do? I am bored and herees a bunch of human filth to vent my boredom on.¡¯ Michael shot back. He didn¡¯t believe he was being heartless, he simply saw too many evil things happen in his previous world.
Then came this world, his personality started to warp. Whether it was in a good or a bad direction, he didn¡¯t know.
What do they call it back in your old world? Chuuni? The world is not ck and white, find your path before this excursion is over, if not, I will not allow you to gain any more levels.
The system¡¯s voice resounded in his head and shocked him ¡¯Why are you on my ass because of this?¡¯
You are bing trash.
Michael was going to refute but held himself back.
He tried ignoring what the system said, but it did irk him a little, he knew he changed but why did that make him trash?
He epted a request to kill bandits, isn¡¯t that doing a good thing?
Michael walked into the woods, following some man made paths, he hoped this request was easier than it sounded, he didn¡¯t want to look around the entirety of the forest.
After walking for a bit, the path abruptly ended, in front of him were just a bunch of trees, no bandits in sight.
¡¯Of course, it wouldn¡¯t be so easy."
Chapter 33: Temple
The forest was massive, so much so, that Michael was not able to find a single one of his ssmates, let alone the bandits.
No monsters either...
¡¯Did I get lost?¡¯ Michael was seriously starting to consider that.
He had been walking around for thest 3 hours, yet he could not find anything, no traces either.
Though as he had lost all hope and prepared to head back, he noticed something far off in the distance.
The outline looked like some sort of a temple, however Michael was notpletely sure.
As suspicious as it might have looked, he still decided to investigate.
You see something suspicious and walk towards it?
¡¯Yes¡¯ Michael got tired of arguing with the system, in the time he was looking for the bandits, it had nonstop been annoying him.
How immature of you.
Michael rolled his eyes and finally arrived at the temple, it looked massive from a distance, however now that he was here, it didn¡¯t seem as big.
He couldn¡¯t help but feel like something was wrong, though it wouldn¡¯t really surprise him, why would a temple be out in the middle of the forest?
As he approached the steps of the temple, he suddenly appeared at the very top, right in front of a stone door.
It startled him, however, he still proceeded forward, cing his hand on the door.
The moment he did so, he was once again transported, this time, however, it was in a ce he could not recognize, it looked way too spacious to be the inside of this small temple.
Though with the amount of magic he had seen thus far, it might not be that impossible.
Looking around, all Michael could see was small embers of me, covering as far as the eyes could see, with but a single ce lit up, where he was currently standing.
"Wee" A voice startled Michael as it resounded right behind him.
Quickly turning around he saw a woman sitting on a throne, however, he couldn¡¯t make out her appearance. It reminded him of his past encounter with Meph.
¡¯Fuck.. another one of these beings that defy all logic? Just great, why couldn¡¯t it be some sort of a treasure trove instead?¡¯
"Another one? who else have you met?" The woman questioned with a small chuckle.
¡¯You can read my mind?¡¯ Michael was a bit surprised, could all high level beings read minds?
No, you are just unlucky.
"Oh, you also have someone else inside your mind? Fascinating" The woman¡¯s words cut through Michael¡¯s thoughts as she suddenly stood up and walked towards him.
She ced her hand on Michael¡¯s head, he couldn¡¯t move a muscle to avoid it, it seemed strange as he didn¡¯t even feel any pressure.
"Hmm... what sort of a parasite is this?" She seemed a bit confused.
All of a sudden, Michael felt a sharp pain inside of his head, however, just as fast as it came, it went away.
The invisible pressure seemed to go away as he could now move around, swatting her hand away from his head.
"Who are you?" He said without showing too much hostility, he didn¡¯t want to die by being arrogant.
Though as he looked up at her, he saw long flowing golden hair, her green eyes looked like crystals.
She was beautiful.
"My name is Freya, the goddess currently inhabiting this temple" She said with a small smile and pointed at him mischievously "And you are?"
"Michael, you said you are a goddess?" Michael asked suspiciously. He had a feeling gods and other beings existed, however, Freya herself? That seemed a bit far fetched.
Freya chuckled and sat down on her throne, looking back at Michael "I get why you might be suspicious, after all, you are much like him in that matter."
Michael tilted his head in confusion "What do you mean?"
"You are inheriting his legacy yet you don¡¯t know? I guess that parasite has not told you anything at all..Tell me, why do you think you were chosen?" Freya asked, her voiceced with seriousness.
All the while Michael was trying to process what she was even talking about.
¡¯Inheriting whose legacy? And chosen? Is she referring to the time back in the alley?¡¯
Freya seemed a bit surprised "You have not even gone through a single trial yet?"
"No..I have no clue what you are talking about" Michael replied honestly.
"I see,e here for a moment" She said, gesturing for him to get closer.
He saw no reason to resist, it might be the first time he will get some answers.
The system hid a lot more from Michael than he initially thought. He was inheriting someone¡¯s legacy? Since when?
Once Freya¡¯s hand touched Michael¡¯s forehead, his vision went nk for a moment, then suddenly he found himself standing on some sort of a grass field, a stark contrast to where he had just been.
¡¯Where am I...¡¯ He looked around, seeing a small city in the distance, for some reason Michael, didn¡¯t question it at all and went straight towards it.
It felt odd, he didn¡¯t hesitate at all in his steps, his body felt weird as well, as if it was not his own, however, Michael merely chuckled at that thought.
He arrived quickly and seemingly walked right to the very center.
The city waspletely empty as far as the eyes could see, there were houses, but it felt lifeless.
As he was engrossed in looking around, his head suddenly turned to the distant sky, it was getting darker, quickly.
Soon the darknesspletely engulfed the city, Michael still did not understand what was happening but decided to just look around, however, the moment he tried doing so, something stopped him and instead, he moved towards the source of the darkness.
¡¯I can¡¯t willingly move my body, well that¡¯s fucking great, hey system you there?¡¯ Michael asked while involuntarily walking towards the ominous darkness.
However, no response came.
¡¯Did the parasite refer to you?¡¯ He did feel a bit sour that the system up and disappeared, though maybe it was always meant to be, the system did start acting a little strange ever since he started attending the academy.
¡¯No point in dwelling on that, I will find out soon anyway¡¯ He thought as he finally stopped, in front of him was some sort of a ck tree, spreading the darkness from its leaves.
Every time a leaf fell, the sky got darker.
As he was thinking about what to do, his body once again moved on its own, heading straight for the tree.
Michael tried resisting as much as he could, however, it was to no avail as he had no control over his body.
His handnded on the bark of the tree and suddenly, a portion of the darkness seeped into his arm, however, it didn¡¯t feel like it was doing anything, it was definitely not moving anymore.
The body suddenly started emitting a glow, much like his physical enhancement, except this time it was a golden yellow color surrounding him.
Michael pulled his hand away from the tree and sent a wave of mana at the darkness.
¡¯Mana Projection?¡¯ He wondered as he watched this scene unfold, the wave of mana he just cast looked eerily simr to his Purify skill, the only difference being the color.
However, it did the same job, just way faster.
The moment mana came into contact with the tree, it expanded instantly and the darkness faded away as if it was never there in the first ce.
The darkness covering the sky also scattered, revealing a bright golden sun.
¡¯Why was it so big?¡¯ Michael wondered as he stared at it, the size of the sun was abnormal.
Though he soon found out why, as in the next moment, an eye appeared in ce of the sun, it had a golden color, much like his own eyes.
You are not supposed to be here.
With those words, Michael¡¯s vision once again nked out, he found himself back in front of Freya who had a smile on her face.
"So? Did you meet him?" She asked expectantly.
"I saw some giant eye, it told me I was not supposed to be there or whatever"
"Huh? Why.." She sounded both shocked and confused.
Michael took a nce around and saw that the surroundings had changed, the fire embers had disappeared, he was now in an actual temple.
White decor, all sorts of statues, and the single throne on which Freya sat upon.
"Can I ask what you want from me exactly? I don¡¯t understand why you even brought me here or why you showed me whatever that was."
Freya turned to look at Michael with a serious look "Would you like to get stronger?"
His ears immediately perked up "You suggest training me?"
"Yes, I am going to stay in this ce for another 2 years, since I won¡¯t be doing much, I could train you to be stronger, what do you say?" She asked while tapping her fingers on the throne.
¡¯2 years.. that¡¯s a long time¡¯ Michael thought as he tried seeking the system¡¯s opinion, but s it never came.
Freya noticed Michael¡¯s hesitation and reassured him "You don¡¯t have to worry about the time outside of this ce, I can make it so the 2 years equals to 2 days on the outside."
"I see...I will take you up on that offer then."
Chapter 34: Training
It had been a day since Michael had arrived at the temple.
Freya told him to look around a bit but not stray too far, apparently there was another domain pretty close by.
She needed to get some stuff prepared to train Michael, he was not sure what, but it couldn¡¯t be that bad.
From the hints she gave him, he assumed that the person she mentioned whose inheritance Michael is a part of is quite literally himself.
Freya hadplimented him and said he looked just like he used to, which greatly confused Michael, but he was not so stupid as to not see the patterns.
The skills, the big eye in the sky, it looked just like his.
After Freya did something to him when he had just arrived, the system¡¯s voice seemed to disappear, however, his status was still there, albeit nothing had changed since thest time.
Michael nced around and headed in a random direction, the temple now was quite massive and he didn¡¯t really have anything else to do anyway.
There were no people around, only different kinds of statues, most of which had no faces.
Except for a single one, which looked exactly like Freya, her features were perfectly detailed.
¡¯I wonder..why is she even here?¡¯
"Are you curious?" A voice startled Michael out of his thoughts.
It was Freya, she had some sort of an orb in her hand.
"This is an affinity orb, ce your hand on it and channel some mana, you should be able to do that right?" She asked and handed him the orb.
"Can you stop reading my thoughts?" Michael said in a slightly irritated tone and proceeded to channel his mana into the orb, even if he was not proficient in mana projection, he could do this much at the very least.
He was not expecting much, after all his current form of mana had no affinity, it was just pure mana.
However, a golden glow had assaulted his eyes, it spread out around the temple and eventually made the affinity orb crack before it finally sumbed and turned to dust.
It startled Michael, not only the light but the speed at which his mana had traveled at, it was many times faster than before. The efficiency seemed heightened as well.
"I knew it" A small chuckle came from Freya.
Michael rolled his eyes "Mind filling me in?"
"The parasite I removed was limiting your abilities, you are wee by the way" She stated in a proud manner as she pulled out another orb.
"This one will help you channel your mana better, use it as much as you can"
Michael took it and tried using using, however, the moment he did, he felt most of his mana draining in an instant.
He immediately began feeling dizzy, much like when he first passed out from mana exhaustion, though he was sure he did not use all of his mana, so why?
"Your mana was refined and sent back into you, oh sorry, didn¡¯t mean to read your thoughts again" She said apologetically.
Michael ignored it and questioned "What does refining mana mean?"
"Your mana passes into the orb and makes it more concentrated, meaning, your mana bes denser, hence stronger. If you do it diligently, you will see a big improvement in the strength of your skills. Also..stop relying on that parasite¡¯s trick." She exined and finished off in a slightly annoyed manner.
Michael shrugged and pocketed the mana refining orb, he would use itter as it felt like he would pass out any second now.
He still did not understand why Freya called the system a parasite, however, the increase in mana cirction sure was abnormal and Michael couldn¡¯t deny that it might have been due to her removing it.
As he was about to ask her if she had anything else to say, Freya once again pulled out an orb, though it looked a bit different than the others.
She smiled and handed it to him "This one is the Orb of Trials, it would act as the trials you were not able to take because of that parasite."
¡¯Damn she really hates the system doesn¡¯t she¡¯ He chuckled inwardly and picked it up, looking all over it and noticing a single button present.
"You will have to channel some mana into it and press that button, however do that once your mana has recovered, if you try that as you are currently, you might die" Freya warned and turned around.
"Follow me."
Michael went along with her and they came back to the throne room and walked right behind it.
There was some sort of a door right behind the throne, Freya opened it and there was a staircase leading downwards.
He didn¡¯t question it, it did not seem like Freya wanted to do anything to harm him..hopefully.
They went down it and arrived in front of some sort of a fountain which had a single statue in the very middle, it was faceless just like the rest, however, it had a beautiful pair of wings.
For some reason, Michael felt familiarity with it, though he couldn¡¯t pinpoint the reason why.
Freya sat by the fountain and gestured for him to get closer. "Whenever you are about to use the Orb of Trials, do it here, trust me."
"I see, thank you" Michael replied dryly, he didn¡¯t know how to express gratitude when it was this one sided.
She put on a gentle smile and turned to the faceless statue "The reason I invited you to the temple was to extend my thanks to your predecessor, you two are nearly identical even after all this time..."
"Am I not him? But like from the future or something?" Michael pushed for answers, trying to incite a reaction of some sort, he wanted to confirm his theory.
However, no such confirmation came, her expression remained the same, her smile not lessening at all.
He couldn¡¯t take the silence as a guarantee, however, those words did trigger something in what he assumed to be her oath, making her unable to speak about it.
Freya suddenly stood up and put on a serious face "We havepany, stay here and don¡¯te out, even better, whenever you recover your mana go straight into a trial, I will tell you when it¡¯s safe toe back up"
With those words she vanished out of sight, leaving a small crack in space which quickly closed itself.
Michael had a confused look on his face, however, he believed it finally made some sense to him.
Freya was defending this temple from someone or something, he just did not know what.
He didn¡¯t worry about it too much, not like he could anyway, he was just a simple awakened, meanwhile, she was a full fledged goddess.
Even if Michael did not fully understand the weight of that title, he knew it held significant authority as well as strength.
He fiddled around with the orb in his hands, he noticed his mana had not run out that much, it just felt like he did, if he had to guess, his mana was nearly full.
¡¯It¡¯s probably about time I use the orb isn¡¯t it?¡¯ He thought as he held it with the single button present.
And while channeling his mana, pressed it.
Chapter 35: The First Trial
The moment Michael pressed the button, he was transported to a whole new area, much like he saw the weird tree.
¡¯Where am I this time?¡¯ He thought as he moved his limbs around, feeling relieved he was not being controlled likest time.
As the surroundings became clearer, he noticed he was located in some sort of a city, however, it looked fairly medieval, nothing like what the cities in either of his worlds looked like.
Eventually, people started appearing in his vision, it felt magical as one moment they were not there and in the next they were.
Suddenly a blue hologram appeared in front of his eyes, it looked familiar to his system, however, upon closer look, he noticed it was not.
[First Trial: Trial of War | Completion reward: +5% Synchronization]
¡¯War? And what does it mean by synchronization?¡¯ He thought as he nced around himself.
There were many people scattered all around, elderly, adults and even children, all of them had smiles on their faces.
Even the asional guard he saw lookedpletely rxed ¡¯How was this trial rted to war in any way?¡¯ He couldn¡¯t help but think.
In the corner of his vision he noticed a few people that seemed a bit out of the ordinary.
They were dressed in weird clothing and had full sets of armor equipped, if anything they looked qualified to be the guards.
¡¯Maybe they are the actual guards?¡¯ Michael wondered as he walked towards them, there were only 4 of them, however, they all looked rather fearsome.
As he finally approached them, standing just in front of them, a thought appeared in his head ¡¯What exactly am I supposed to ask them? Even though I am 12, I look like I have already gone through puberty..¡¯
As Michael was debating how to use his age and ignorance to his advantage, the only man in the group spoke up.
"Whatcha doing kid, are ye lost?"
¡¯He¡¯s short..¡¯ Michael thought while maintaining his smile "Yes..this city is a bit big after all" He ended with a chuckle.
The man didn¡¯t seem amused as he raised his eyebrow "Well ain¡¯t you an idiot, head in that direction, the adventurer¡¯s guild will help you find your way" He said, pointing towards a building that Michael had not seen earlier.
It had Adventurer¡¯s Guild written on it, just like the man said.
Michael quickly nodded and thanked the man before heading straight towards the building.
¡¯It was definitely not there thest time I checked.. did it also appear like the rest of the people?¡¯ He wondered as he approached the building and walked inside of it.
The inside looked like just any inn, people were huddled around drinking and eating, however, not only was there a bartender, but there was also some kind of a receptionist wearing professional clothing.
Before heading over to ask anything, he decided to take a look around the ce, it seemed pretty spacious for a simple inn.
As his gazended on an irregr looking wooden wall, he saw a multitude of posters.
Michael grew curious so he decided to walk towards them, seeing a bunch of all sorts of requests written down.
{Find my stupid cheating husband -F- Reward: 2 Copper}
{Find my lost cat -F- Reward: 5 Copper}
Michael chuckled at some of the requests, though he noticed some that were more serious, one in particr had caught his eye.
{Reinforce the city walls -D- Reward: 1 Silver}
It seemed like the only request that was linked to his trial, he would have counted it off as mere coincidence, however, too much irregr stuff has happened since he arrived here.
Michael looked around and saw a few sentences carved into the wood, it said if one wanted to ept a quest, they needed to take it to the receptionist.
And he did just that, he ripped it off of the wall and walked over to her, cing the crumpled paper on the desk.
"Hello, I would like to ept this quest" He sounded stiff as usual.
"Sure, provide your ID" The receptionist replied in an uninterested manner.
¡¯Of course there would be something like that...¡¯ Michael sighed inwardly, he knew he couldn¡¯t just go up and show his Vivum ID, it wouldn¡¯t slide in a world like this.
"Sorry..I don¡¯t have anything like that."
The receptionist looked him in the eyes and sighed, taking the quest poster and shoving it under the table "Go make one then."
¡¯Why is everyone so rude" Michael thought, seeing some sort of a pattern here. "And how do I do that?"
"Here" The receptionist threw a small metal te at him "Inject your mana into it, if you can¡¯t, then just go away."
Michael ignored her and proceeded to channel his mana into the metal te, making it light up with a golden color, much like the orb earlier.
However, it did not shatter this time, it held on, turning a portion of the metal into a golden color.
The receptionist immediately ran over and frantically bowed "I apologize sir!"
She then stood straight and gestured for Michael to follow her.
¡¯No reason not to, I still have to figure out how toplete this war trial anyway¡¯
They went to the back, and up a flight of stairs, arriving right in front of a door that had Guildmaster written on it.
She seemed to not show any courtesy as she kicked the door and barged into his offices.
"Lyra..What the fuck are you doing!" The man was startled out of his sleep and began scolding her.
However, she was adamant, all words going in one ear and out the other as she began recalling the situation that had just transpired a few minutes ago.
The Guildmaster¡¯s anger quickly diminished as he looked at Michael with wide eyes.
"Young man, I apologize for the receptionist¡¯s rudeness earlier, please sit down" He gestured towards thefy looking sofa.
"Sure" Michael let bygones be bygones, he believed this world was fake anyway and making enemies would only add to his troubles.
"Young man, could I take a look at the Adventurer¡¯s ID?" The Guildmaster asked politely and Michael handed it over to him.
He examined it for a moment and copsed into his chair, seemingly exhausted after not doing anything at all.
Though as quickly as he copsed, he instantly got up, regaining hisposure.
"It is a pleasure to meet a royal such as yourself, please excuse the shabby state of my office"
¡¯Royal? What?¡¯ Michael was confused, however, it did not seem like the Guildmaster would borate further.
He decided to suck it up and bullshit his way into information, as always.
"Be at ease, could you tell me a bit about the situation outside of the city? Any conflicts or abnormal happenings are what I want to know" Michael said in an authoritative voice.
Both Lyra and the Guildmaster flinched at the sudden change of tone, though they quickly began to act, one looking around the room for any information, while the other informed Michael of some conflicts that urred.
However, it wasn¡¯t anything that interested Michael, they were simple fights that broke out or someone stole something minor.
"Can you tell me about the request I tried taking earlier then?" At those words, the Guildmaster seemed confused as he went to ask the searching Lyra about it.
She widened her eyes and quickly ran back to her desk before bringing the poster back and giving it to him.
¡¯Is this really a fake world?¡¯ Michael began having some doubts, everything and everyone seemed realistic enough to be mistaken for actual people, maybe because they were?
The Guildmaster¡¯s eyes widened as he turned to Michael with a serious look.
"This is..."
Chapter 36: The First Trial (2)
"This is nothing special, a part of the city walls was a little brittle is all" The Guildmaster chuckled, cutting the growing intensity in half.
"Right..Can I still ept that quest anyway? I need to check something out"
At Michael¡¯s words, he was handed another piece of paper containing the location of the wall that needed to be reinforced.
"Also take this, just in case" He also gave Michael his ID back, which for some reason now disyed the letter S on it.
"The magic te reacts like that once it detects either a strong individual or somebody with royal blood, hence why you received the highest rank possible" The Guildmaster added before heading back to his chair.
¡¯Oh so F is the lowest with S being the highest, that¡¯s a neat little system¡¯ He thought as he nced at the request he picked up earlier, it was D ranked.
Michael didn¡¯t hang around for any longer than he should have, Lyra, the receptionist was still searching for anything rted to conflict, whereas the Guildmaster seemed to go back to sleep.
¡¯Now not only am I a Saint, but also a Royal..¡¯ He couldn¡¯t hold back the chuckle that escaped as he walked out of the Adventurer¡¯s Guild and headed straight for the designated wall.
Along the way, he saw a few people that looked simr to the ones he saw when he had first arrived, weird outfits and all.
Though with adventuring being a thing, it was not that odd anymore, some people just have strange preferences is all.
He noticed something strange that had been happening ever since he first arrived here.
Contrary to the trial itself, it was incredibly peaceful, if the prompt didn¡¯t say there would be a war, he wouldn¡¯t have even thought about it at all.
He couldn¡¯t rule out the possibility of there being some sort of an inside war within the city itself, there were many other forms of war besides full on ughtering each other.
However, for all the hints he was given thus far, he assumed there would be a battle involved, it was more of a hunch, but he still trusted himself.
After the system¡¯s voice disappeared and he began being able to use mana more freely and efficiently, it felt like his mind had be clearer, as if it was no longer influenced by any external force.
Which ording to Freya, was the system itself.
Michael finally arrived at the wall and he couldn¡¯t help but admit ¡¯It looks like shit.¡¯
There was a massive hole in the very middle with all the bricks scattered around the ground.
This was definitely the clue he was looking for.
Michael noticed a person picking up some bricks andying them down inside of the copsed hole.
He walked up to him and introduced himself "Hello I am Michael, I came here after epting the request to reinforce the wall..what happened here?"
"Take a brick and piss off to the other side, I am working here" The man said as he waved Michael away.
¡¯Alright..fuck being nice.¡¯
"Old man, I asked what happened here, didn¡¯t I?" Michael said as he took the brick out of the man¡¯s hands, earning an annoyed expression from him in return.
"I don¡¯t know, a beast attacked or something, now give it back or I¡¯ll shove a brick up your arse" The old man held out his hand, waiting for the brick to be returned.
Michael sighed and gave it back, going up to the hole in the wall and jumping through it, he was not going to do some menialbor when he had other stuff to do.
In front of him was a tndscape, the grass seemed to have been burnt away, the smoky odor still hitting his nose.
¡¯Just what is going on?¡¯ Michael could notprehend what was happening, one side was a peaceful city, the other, a charred battlefield.
Whatever this trial was, he assumed the answery on the side of the empty battlefield, so he took a step forward onto the charred grass.
Immediately, he felt a difference in the air around him, the formerly smoky odor turned out to actually be warm as he could feel the air surrounding him heating up.
It was not anything that threatened his life, however, it was certainly something to take note of.
As he began stepping forward and walking away from the city wall, he began feeling a little dizzy, it was not the dizziness that he felt when his mana had been exhausted, it was more like as if he had been hit on the head by something.
Michael¡¯s vision began to blur more and more the further he went, even his sense of bnce had been impaired, to others it would look like he was some sort of a cripple.
He eventually stopped, it felt like his head would burst if he took another step forward.
Turning around and ncing at the city wall ¡¯Around 50 meters?¡¯
Michael had been tracking each step along the way, he thought it mighte in handy to know the limit of whatever this world was.
He could not see any further ahead as his vision was way too blurry at this point, so he decided to go back to the wall, tracking his steps backwards as well.
¡¯Much better¡¯ He took a deep breath as he no longer felt like he was being suffocated.
The surrounding heat, however, began increasing in intensity, it was considerably hotter than before, so Michael did not bother dawdling and jumped back through the hole in the wall.
As soon as he did so, he saw a brick flying straight at his face, which he swatted away.
"I hope you know that what you just did can get me in huge trouble, get lost already" The old man grumbled and picked up another brick, preparing to throw it at Michael.
However, before heunched it, the ground shook and knocked him down.
Michael resisted the shaking and looked around, noticing that not only the ground but also the already unstable wall had begun shaking.
¡¯Shit..is it finally starting?¡¯ As Michael thought that, the wall began crumbling and disappearing, revealing a grassy area that had been an ashen wastnd just a moment ago.
All of a sudden, a bunch of infantrymen appeared and marched right onto the grassy area, setting down some kind of g Michael could not see the symbol of.
It was blurry.
A person bumped into him and walked to the very front of the small army, he then began to talk but Michael once again could not hear anything.
It was bing a bit unsettling, no matter where he looked, past the city walls no sound came out, everyone walking around seemed lifeless yet they moved with purpose.
Michael did not know why he was getting so emotional over what basically appeared to be a game, it was not like they were real anyway.
However, deep down, he knew he was lying to himself, even after his mind had gotten clearer, he was still dishonest, back then and even now.
Suddenly, everyone stopped, the world turning gray for just a mere moment as in front of Michael¡¯s eyes appeared a now red colored hologram.
[First Trial: Trial of War-Phase 2 Initiated]
Chapter 37: The First Trial (3)
¡¯Phase 2..¡¯ Michael¡¯s expression hardened as he looked around himself, the world once again in motion.
"Adventurer, stop dozing off and get in formation!" A voice startled him out of his thoughts, the man who seemed to be the leader was shouting at him.
The leader kept barking out orders at every single one of the people present, it seemed that not only were the guards involved but also the adventurers too.
Michael found a spot in the formation that had no one present and awaited further instruction.
He noticed some familiar faces too, the Guildmaster from before was present as well and the first adventurers he met were here too.
"Listen here! The goblins have finally decided to attack us! They are coveting our riches, so don¡¯t hold back and kill them all!" The leader¡¯s voice resounded, encouraging everyone present to do whatever they wanted.
¡¯Goblins? As in those level 13-15 monsters? There is no way this trial is going to be this simple.¡¯ Michael thought with a frown when suddenly the ground began shaking.
In the distance, he saw frail looking goblins marching at a steady pace.
However, the sheer number of how many there were sent a shiver down Michael¡¯s spine, there were at the very least a couple of thousand.
Ever since the wall broke down, the surroundings shifted in a way that Michael could see further than 50 meters, if he had to guess, the ashennd he saw earlier was more like a hint for what was toe.
He would think about this scenario a bitter, currently, he had some things to deal with first.
Michael began focusing and channeling his mana faster, however, as he was doing so he noticed something off, his Blessing of Stats skill had been disabled.
¡¯Fuck.. don¡¯t tell me¡¯ He began trying to cast all of his skills in order but none of them seemed to work, the mana was just not flowing out as it should have.
Physical Enhancement still worked, so he assumed it had something to do with the system itself, though he had hoped something like this would happenter, rather than now when he most needed it.
Meanwhile, Mana Projection was the only long range ability he had, better yet, he didn¡¯t even know how to use it properly, before today the only thing he knew how to do was form blobs of mana.
Michael tried doing that again and it formed instantly, this time, however, he was able to freely control the shape and the mana drain was not asrge as before, it really did feel like some shackles were lifted.
The downside? He was struggling to use his system skills now.
As the Goblins¡¯ approach neared, adventurers were the first to make their moves, meanwhile, the guards acted as more of a ranged unit, providing cover fire with their bows.
¡¯This is the second war I have participated in already¡¯ Michael chuckled as he also began forming colorless Mana Spears in the air and running towards the Goblins.
He would have used his sniper, but at this point, he no longer felt like it suited his way of fighting, it was more of a weapon he would use for covert battles maybe, though not something like a full scale war.
The enemymander was not even visible, all the goblins looked the exact same, so all he would be doing was wasting his mana on fodder when he could just practice his Mana Projection instead.
Michael quickly arrived at the front lines, he noticed the others were not that strong, in the standard of levels, they would be around level 50.
However, they were more than strong enough to deal with measly goblins and so was Michael.
He got into closer range and began hurling his Mana Spears right at them, making the goblins¡¯ bodies explode on the slightest impact.
His uracy was not that great yet as it was his first time trying something like this out, however he quickly adjusted to it, as well as the speed.
Even though active skills did not work, passives did, there was a single passive which had some things missing however, it was Eyes of the Healer.
He could no longer see the HP amount of the people around him, however, he could roughly feel their strength, and if one of them had an illness, his brain took note of that as well.
Michael honestly preferred it that way as it was not a massive strain to his eyes, he was just d the other skills worked as intended.
One of them was Shooting Mastery, as it provided him the extra speed that applied to all projectiles, those directly created from his mana seemed to count as well.
Dodging the iing goblins, Michael set up a barrier around himself,bining Physical Enhancement and Mana Projection, he strengthened his body and made the outeryer spiky.
It looked ridiculous, however, it got the job done, every single time a goblin got near him andnded a hit, the goblin would instantly get recoiled back with half its body missing.
¡¯This is so satisfying¡¯ He couldn¡¯t help but think as he kept sending the Mana Spears at the goblins, each hit piercing and killing multiple in its wake.
But he was the only one sharing this sentiment, as a scream suddenly resounded from his side.
"AAAAAAAH!" It was a man who had a bunch of goblins on top of him, it seemed like they were trying to eat him alive, hence the screaming.
Michael quickly reacted and sent a Mana Spear in the man¡¯s direction piercing multiple goblins and giving him slight leeway to free himself from their clutches.
¡¯Oh..shit¡¯ He had noticed the state of the man, while he was able to escape their clutches, his guts were spilling out, it did not seem like he wouldst any longer.
¡¯Come on..why can¡¯t my healing fucking work¡¯ Michael eximed in a frustrated tone. Just yesterday he was considered a Saint, his healing abilities seemed unparalleled, yet here he was, powerless in the face of his ipetence.
He had relied too much on the system and therefore he was not able to cast any of the skills he could previously.
The only thing he managed to do with his so called training, was the create a branch of abilities that were different from his skills, yet they both relied on the same source of energy, mana.
Yet he never thought a day like this woulde, he did not practice casting the skills on his own.
The only skill that he managed to somewhat replicate, was Blessing of Stats, something he had no use for currently.
¡¯Fuck...¡¯
Michael watched as the man bled out and finally stopped struggling, the surrounding goblins jumping on him and feasting on his flesh.
As they were doing that, they all suddenly exploded, with the body right below them suffering the same fate, they were all engulfed in a colorless mass of mana.
¡¯Rest in peace..even if you are not real¡¯ Michael thought with a conflicted look as he began clearing out the goblins in a wider area.
And after a bit more fighting, it was finally over or so it seemed, however, he still had a bad feeling about this, even if there were a couple of casualties, could this even be considered a war?
It was more like a one sided ughter.
He didn¡¯t have to wait for long to get his answer, as the ground once again began rumbling, this time with much more intensity.
¡¯I just had to jinx it...¡¯
Chapter 38: The First Trial (4)
Freya stood amidst the rubble where a temple previously stood, in front of her was an equally bewitching woman who had long ck hair and eyes that seemed to see through everything in the world.
"Lilith, to what do I owe this visit?"
However, it seemed she was not keen to talk as she sent a barrage of darkness straight at Freya, attempting to pierce through her and potentially kill her.
But the moment the darkness was about to reach her, it suddenly dispersed, sending a miniature shockwave that spread across the already copsed temple.
It seemed she was going for total chaos, normally Freya would have responded in kind but she did not mind this little bit of destruction, after all, she could just as easily repair everything that had been done.
"You bitch! How dare you invite that heathen into this realm!? Have youpletely lost your mind?" Lilith shouted, expressing her disdain and disapproval.
However, she was met with with no reply as Freya continued looking at her, acting as if she was overreacting.
Lilith shook in anger before taking a deep breath and finally calming down, trying to reason with Freya further "You know better than I do what would happen if he regains his memories."
"I do."
"And yet you still allow him to make a return, you are dooming the hierarchy of all the realms for what? Love? Admiration? Blind belief?" Lilith tried but failed to hide her hatred for the both of them.
Freya¡¯s brow twitched as she crossed he arms "Have you always been the jealous type?"
Her words were met with yet another bolt of shadows which this time had more power behind them,pletely obliterating what remained of the temple except for the throne.
"I see you are still the annoying bitch you always were" Lilith¡¯s eyes widened as she nced at the throne.
"You even showed him the statue of recollection...I don¡¯t even know anymore"
The mana in the air intensified as she began crushing the entire domain, however, no matter how much strength she used, the throne and the room below it were left untouched.
She kept increasing the pressure, hoping something would happen, however, Freya decided it was time to stop her antics.
"That¡¯s enough" Those words cut through the pressure that she was emitting and stopped Lilith in her tracks.
Even if they were beings whose titles were the same, the disparity in their strength was clearly evident.
She then emitted a golden glow that spread across the entire temple domain, reconstructing it at a rapid pace.
The previous debris that had remained even after the destruction scattered, returning back to her body in the form of small particles.
Her mana was used as the building basis, it was not a big expenditure so Freya did not mind, however, she still seemed a bit annoyed.
"Are you done throwing your childish tantrums now? Can you get out?"
Lilith stared at her, retracting the mana she had outstretched and put on a massive grin "Only if you promise me I can meet him the next time Ie here."
"So that was your motive.. swear an oath you won¡¯t harm him then, show your sincerity" Freya was not going to let someone like her meet Michael without reassurance of his safety.
She was expecting some hesitation, however, Lilith¡¯s reply was fast "Sure, I swear on my mana that I won¡¯t harm him the next time we meet. Good enough?"
As her words finished, she was momentarily engulfed by her own magic, however, as quickly as it came, it went away just as fast.
"Thanks bi-Freya, see ya" With that, she went into the ground, specifically, into her own shadow, leaving Freya speechless.
"Michael, take your time with the trial.. for both our sakes."
-----
¡¯What is with these goblins, they are wearing armor now¡¯ Michael sighed as he looked at the sight in front of him.
There were more and more goblinsing with every new wave, the moment he finished killing them all, soon after, more came and they were much stronger.
It has been 3 waves in total now and it didn¡¯t seem like it would stop any time soon, in fact, it might get even more difficult to fight them.
His mana control had gotten even better, it felt like barely 1% of his mana was being used every single time he cast his makeshift spells, better yet, they were incredibly powerful. Enjoy new chapters from §Þ??
He was able to make miniature colorless swords, it seemed that and the Mana Spears were the easiest for him to use, they also provided the highest degree of destruction out of everything he had tried thus far.
Though It was a pity he was not able to use healing magic currently, it would havee in really handy in these past few hours.
The amount of people that died in front of Michael had surpassed double digits, even with his help, he couldn¡¯tpensate for theck of skills the others possessed.
He saves someone, just for them to drop their sword and get stabbed by goblins, the city guards were truly pathetic.
On the other side, adventurers were the ones letting others rest, if Michael had to estimate, 1 adventurer equaled to at least 5 city guards, the gap was huge.
Even then, due to the strength of the goblins, no one was having a lot of trouble, it seemed like simple target practice for most, Michael included.
He was currently killing thest batch of goblins, their armor was not able to hold back the sheer force of Michael¡¯s spells, causing them to deal devastating damage and instantly killing them.
¡¯What¡¯s next? goblins with swords and shields?¡¯ Michael scoffed and took this chance to rest a little bit, his mana was still at roughly 60%, the amount he usedpared to the amount he regained was basically harmonized by now.
He only wished he could use the light magic as he did before, even when he purified the tree, he was being controlled, however, it was still his body.
It just didn¡¯t make sense to him, didn¡¯t he need a mana core to be able to use his affinities? How did the person in Michael¡¯s body use it then?
¡¯s, the more I learn, the less I know but I guess I do have 2 years to find some information out of Freya¡¯ He nodded to himself as he looked at the far off distance, he saw a few figures, around 20 in total.
They were goblins, looking just like the rest, however, for some reason, Michael felt an odd sense of dangering from them.
Each one of them had dual short swords and a full set of steel armor, definitely more decked out than the others.
Michael decided to test the waters, his uracy had gotten much better than when he first started.
Shooting arge Mana Spear with formidable speed, expecting to pierce and kill them just like the rest of the goblins he had met thus far.
However, the sight that greeted him had left him speechless.
The goblin whom the Mana Spear was directed at, raised its short sword and shed the air in front of him, cutting the spear into two.
¡¯Fuck.¡¯
Chapter 39: The First Trial (5)
Michael had cast yet another spell at the goblins but he was met with the same result, his spell was cutpletely in half.
¡¯What the fuck do I do now?¡¯ He thought as an idea finally sparked in his mind, he had not used it in a while but he hoped it would nheless save the day.
Taking the sniper out of his pocket, Michael quickly unfolded it and aimed for one of the goblins before pulling the trigger.
He had half expected it to not work again, however, instead of cleanly slicing the mana in half, this time it pushed the goblin back a few meters and seemed to damage his swords as well.
¡¯Concentrated mana..¡¯ Michael had remembered what Freya told him, about that little mana refining orb, if he diligently used it, his mana itself would be many times stronger.
The people around Michael saw the scene unfold with widened eyes, they didn¡¯t even know what kind of weapon he used, yet it was able to do.. that.
"The Goblin Generals are approaching, everyone, don¡¯t let your guards down!" The leader shouted right behind Michael, making sure to grab the attention of all the people present.
Michael¡¯s expression hardened ¡¯Goblin Generals.. so the leader is not here after all.¡¯
He began shooting with his sniper constantly, however, the mana drain was starting to slowly add up which irked him a little bit, if only he had been better at using mana.
The goblins suddenly stopped when they were just around 50 meters away from the small army, they held out their swords which were raised in the air.
It seemed like they were shouting something, however, Michael was not able to hear it.
But it did not seem to be the same case for others, as some looked mortified, while others now had grave expressions.
Whatever those goblins said, demoralized the army for some reason.
As the atmosphere became much more intense, the leader started running at them for some reason, sword in hand and all.
¡¯What is he doing?¡¯ Michael thought with a confused look, while he was good atmanding others, his battle power was nowhere near Michael¡¯s, much less the goblins.
And he was right, as the moment the leader got within a few meters of one of the goblins, his head was sent flying off into the distance, another sh, his body was cut into a few more pieces.
The sight was gross, enough so to make the few individuals who could see everything clearly, vomit.
Even Michael did not like the sight in the slightest, the goblins had something coated on the dual swords which made the shes they inflicted rot their opponents.
¡¯Crude fucking animals¡¯ Michael began feeling an unknown rage building up inside of him, it felt familiar, however, the emotions were a bit alien.
But even if they were, he could agree with them, these monsters are ruthless and unforgiving, they eat humans and kill the innocent.
Even with Michael¡¯s resolution, he was still not sure how to deal with all of them, he believed he could take on maybe 2 or 3 at once, however, 20? No chance.
His mana control was a bit better in closerbat as he could couple it with the military fighting style that he had learned in his past life.
Michael decided to finally approach, the other adventurers doing the same with careful steps, everyone present was weaker than the goblins standing in front of them.
The goblins reacted as well, taking slow steps to meet the others in the middle, he could see many mocking grins on their ugly faces.
Once they were all within 10 meters of each other, Michael acted and sent Mana Spears flying at the few in the middle, creating a hole in their formation.
From this distance, he was able to push the goblins back slightly, enough for others to capitalize on this small chance.
And he too, decided to go in, scattering mana particles all around his body to redirect any sudden sword strike that could potentiallye.
For some reason, the goblins seemed uninterested, while he was trying to hit them, they focusedpletely on defense, not attacking him at all.
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He knew they were strong, even with his current power, they were at most equal, so why were they holding back?
Michael kept barraging them with his attacks, some evennding and creating small gashes on their bodies, however, they healed them incredibly fast.
He turned to look at the others and his eyes widened in shock.
Many were lying dead on the ground, the others stood with cut off limbs that had started rotting, effectively sealing their fates.
¡¯Fuck¡¯ He understood what their n was, stall him while they deal with the others.
The goblins nced at Michael and smirked, before finallyunching an attack.
The swords traveled at a speed he could still react to, he ducked under them and noticed another pair of dual swords traveling at his side.
He jumped up and kicked the t edge of one of the swords, momentarily knocking one of them off bnce, enough for him to deal a blow.
A bunch of colorless thin swords appeared out of thin air and traveled at the goblin¡¯s body, piercing through his body effectively killing it.
Or so he thought, however, he missed the vitals, even with literal holes in its body, it was still able to survive as long as he could regenerate.
¡¯The heart or the brain..¡¯ He concluded that if he didn¡¯t go for any of those, winning this fight would be incredibly difficult.
"Keeee!" A screech resounded from behind him, one of the goblins looked infuriated as it charged at him.
Michael preferred to not get hit, he was not sure if his passive healing capabilities were enough to ignore whatever rot they were inflicting.
Therefore he diligently dodged the attacks to the best of his abilities, his previous life¡¯sbat ability shining bright.
He dodged, he kicked and sent Swords of Mana at them, however, he couldn¡¯t hit their vitals for some reason.
One of them was pierced in what seemed to be the heart but it did not die, it did not even stumble back.
¡¯Are their organs somewhere else?¡¯ Michael had a thought as he continued dodging the onught of attacks from the now 4 goblins.
Some of the stronger adventurers gathered in parties and managed to ward off a few of the goblins, strength in numbers sure was great.
He just wished there was someone like that to assist him, he could hold them back, but dealing actual fatal blows seemed impossible.
That was until one of his Swords of Mana missed and hit the very middle of a goblin¡¯s abdomen, making some kind of a popping sound.
Immediately, the goblin staggered and fell to the ground lifeless, it seemed he managed to somehow hit a vital spot, one that killed them nearly instantaneously.
Michael couldn¡¯t hide the grin that began forming, startling the surrounding goblins.
The tables have turned, he now had a way to actually kill them.
However, as he momentarily let down his guard, he got nicked in the leg by one of the swords, causing a sharp pain to travel across his entire body.
The surrounding tissue had begun darkening, albeit at a slower pace than for the others, the pain nheless, was excruciating.
Michael¡¯s arms shook a little as he attempted to cast purify or even heal out of instinct, however, nothing happened.
The goblins began approaching him while the rot was slowly spreading in all directions, his expression turning serious.
¡¯I have to finish this fast.¡¯
Chapter 40: The First Trial (6)
Michael went on the offensive, there were now 6 goblins in total, the strength of whom easily surpassed any level 80 that he knew of, much stronger than the wolves he fought.
Their abilities were bnced between power and strength, making them really formidable, for him to go toe to toe with them was quite the feat, especially since ording to the system, his level was still around 44.
But by now he realized that it was extremely inurate, even without active skills, his mana control made him fight at the level of those who were at least level 90-100.
Even the stats did not seem to change him that much, at first, the differences were incredibly noticeable, but now, it was not as prominent.
His system/status seemed to be frozen and his stats were outdated, it just did not feel right.
However, he had other problems at hand to deal with currently, as the goblins kept swinging their swords at him and he continued to counterattack, killing at least one per sh.
Even then, the rot had already spread from his calf and fully covered everything up until the knee.
His speed had been decreasing for a while now, every single time he took a step, a sharp pain assaulted him.
There were 13 goblins left by now, the numbers on the human side took a massive nose dive, most of the guards were either sitting limbless or already dead.
The only ones standing were the adventurers and even their numbers had drastically decreased, only a few parties remained.
A goblin had swung his dual swords aiming for Michael¡¯s head, followed by another goblin aiming for his back.
¡¯Shit¡¯ He was in a precarious situation, he couldn¡¯t dodge one and the other and his only choice was to take the attacks head on, however, he still had something he wanted to try, worst case scenario he just gets stabbed, no pressure.
Michael summoned a colorless shield and jumped backwards, colliding with the swords and using the momentum tounch himself into safety.
It worked and he managed to avoid the attacks, however, the safety he looked for was nowhere near him as hended right next to 3 goblins who already had their swords in motion, aiming for his vitals.
¡¯Think.. what can fucking help me¡¯ Michael immediately thought back to his healing, the golden glow it emitted, but he just couldn¡¯t replicate it no matter how hard he tried.
During this battle, he tried many times to imagine the golden light enveloping his mana, though each time he thought he had gotten closer, the mana came out colorless, like always...
As the attacks were about to connect, Michael cast a bunch of miniature Swords of Mana, aiming for a shotgun attack, hoping at the very least, a single sword would connect with their bodies and kill them.
"Fuck off!" He let loose the miniature swords flying in a massive cone right in front of him, colliding with the goblin swords, disrupting their path and making their attacks miss him.
Michael¡¯s attacks were not sessful either, the moment he cast that spell, the 3 goblins twisted their bodies in a way that would reduce the chances of him hitting their vitals.
Even if they looked stupid, they had good instincts, he could admit at least that much.
The onught of attacks stopped for some reason, Michael noticed they were all looking in one direction, it was where they hade from earlier.
He took this chance to y dirty and cast his Swords of Mana right at the idling goblins, prating 3 of their abdomens and effectively killing them.
The other 3 were more alert, so they were able to dodge his attacks.
All of a sudden, an oppressive pressure bore down on all of them, goblins included.
The city¡¯s army stopped fighting as they found it difficult to move and the goblins kneeled on the ground, facing in the direction of the iing pressure.
Michael also looked on in the direction the goblins were staring in and noticed a goblin that had a full set of armor covering his entire body, not a single gap could be seen.
It was holding a greatsword that was at least twice the size of its body.
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¡¯The leader is finally here eh?¡¯ Michael thought with a serious expression and cast his Mana Spear through the 3 kneeling goblins, they did not even try to dodge it and were impaled.
¡¯Fucking fanatics¡¯ He noticed his mana was at barely 20% now, it seemed around 2% regenerated each minute, definitely not enough to deal with whatever that thing was.
The adventurers beheaded the remaining goblins as well, if he had to guess, it was just testing the waters with the generals, reducing the numbers so it wouldn¡¯t take so long to kill the rest.
Azy ruler or a tyrant, not much of a difference between the two, the only thing that mattered was that the goblin leader is strong.
Michael was not going to waste time as he began walking towards it, if he waited any longer his leg would fully be rotted, it is a miracle it was still only at the thigh.
Others who had been shed, had their bodies rotted within a couple of seconds, they couldn¡¯t even finish screaming before they died.
¡¯The perks of being a healer I suppose¡¯ Michael thought with doubt, if healer was a ceholder, an affinity, then what was the true nature behind his abnormal abilities?
The system clearly lied about it being responsible for most of Michael¡¯s sess, his heals were better than other people¡¯s and his regeneration was abnormal enough to regrow a lost limb.
¡¯Oh well... I¡¯ll ask Freya¡¯ He thought nonchntly as he began casting Swords of Mana, preparing to fight the goblin leader who seemed way out of his league, not like he had a choice anyway.
However, as that was happening, the world once again turned gray, time slowed down as his injuries quickly healed.
[First Trial: Trial of War-Phase 3 Initiated]
The red hologram shed in front of his eyes and quickly disappeared, his vision shifting as he appeared behind the city walls once again, the amount of people around him could be counted on his two hands.
¡¯We shouldn¡¯t have lost that many..¡¯ Michael thought as he looked around, seeing some familiar faces, most of whom sat in the back lines.
There was a staircase leading up to the top of the wall, it was previously copsed but now it has once again returned, the hole in it no longer there.
He walked up the stairs and arrived at the very top of the wall, overlooking the previous battlefield.
Michael¡¯s eyes widened ¡¯Fuck...¡¯
The entire ground was dyed red, bodies scattered all around, a massive scar on the ground in the area where Michael stood just before the world turned gray.
The bodies of the goblins he killed were still there and the bodies of the people he saw die did not disappear either, it¡¯s as if he moved forward in time to after the battle was over.
However, there was still some stuff amiss, such as, where is the goblin leader?
No one in this entire city could kill it even if they all gathered together, his level ording to Michael¡¯s estimates was around 160, double that of the goblin generals.
Levels were a great way to estimate strength, well, until he figures something new out anyway.
Phase 3 had begun and he had no clue what it was about, Phase 1 was like an introduction to the city, with a teaser to phase 2.
Phase 2 was some sort of a monster wave that had 5 waves in total, with the boss monster appearing in the very final one.
However, he noticed that something was amiss, in Phase 1 he saw the ground that was charred, however, after Phase 2, that had not yet happened.
¡¯What kind of bullshit am I going to face now?¡¯
Chapter 41: The First Trial (7)
Michael had gone down the wall and walked back into the city, specifically, back to the adventurer¡¯s guild.
He expected it to have a depressing atmosphere, with the amount of losses they just incurred after all, however, it did not differ in the slightest.
Lyra saw him and waved at him, signaling for him to go upstairs to meet the Guildmaster.
He did just that and arrived right in his office, staring at the man sleeping as per usual.
¡¯How are they not affected at all?¡¯ Michael couldn¡¯t help but think, everyone was acting so nonchntly even after what had just transpired not too long ago.
"Wake up" Hemanded, to which the Guildmaster ignored, continuing his slumber.
¡¯...¡¯
Michael knocked a few times on the table, trying to wake him up further, however, it was to no avail.
He proceeded to shake him and yell in his ear, yet nothing ¡¯The fuck? Is he dead?¡¯ Checking his pulse he saw the Guildmaster was still alive, just unresponsive.
Looking around the room, he decided to check if maybe he found some information and ced it somewhere Michael could find if needed, however, there was nothing, it¡¯s as if the Guildmaster and Lyra did not even try searching for it.
¡¯Did my progress get canceled out? Or are they just ipetent?¡¯ Michael thought as it did not make much sense to him, wouldn¡¯t they have something, even if it was not useless?
Yet there waspletely nothing, so Michael decided to head back downstairs, leaving the Guildmaster alone.
¡¯Not the first time someone has failed me¡¯ A sigh escaped his mouth as he turned the corner and saw the other people sprawled on the ground, everyone had fallen unconscious, even Lyra.
Michael realized this was no longer aughing matter as this was no longer a coincidence, the matter at hand had be something unpredictable.
He ran out of the adventurer¡¯s guild and saw people copsing to the ground, some kind of energy traveling across the street.
Normally it would be invisible, however, due to Michael¡¯s different kind of Eyes of The Healer, he was able to see it.
Following after it, he noticed it wasn¡¯t sentient, it was more like a gassy mass that traveled across the street, bumping into buildings and changing directions.
Looking around, he could feel many more scattered around the streets, affecting the unsuspecting citizens.
¡¯Interesting¡¯ Michael nced around and decided to run back to the wall, maybe another hint would appear.
However, it was all the same, the blood on the ground had not disappeared, the fire or whatever that was supposed toe, hadn¡¯t.
He was lost, unsure of what to do or where to go, however, those thoughts did not linger for long, as in the distance, he could see some sort of me appearing, it was inside of the city.
Michael picked up his pace and headed over there to check what was going on, passing by the individuals who were unconscious and finally arrived in front of what seemed to be a fire pir.
No buildings were ame, only the pir stood, the fire increasing in intensity, its height nearly reaching the sky.
Suddenly, more me pirs began appearing all around the city at set distances from one another, it looked oddly symmetrical.
An ominous feeling lingered in the air as the mes rose in sky one by one, lighting up the clouds in a deep red color.
[First Trial: Trial of War - Phase 3 Final Objective: Survive]
[9:59]
[9:58]
The moment the red hologram descended, a timer appeared counting down the time.
¡¯Survive for 10 minutes? Holy shit?¡¯ He thought as he nced at the clouds that were aplete scarlet color now.
Suddenly, a bunch of fireballs descended from the sky,nding all over the city, some even near Michael.
The destruction it emitted was many times stronger than his own spells, the moment a fireball touched upon the ground, it created a crater and a massive explosion, sending waves of me outwards.
The unconscious individuals were not spared, the mes did not discriminate against anyone.
However, Michael grew a bit more uneasy, while it might seem destructive and all, it was rtively slow, meaning not exactly difficult to dodge out of the way.
Coupled with a Mana Shield he learned to make bybining Mana Projection and Physical Enhancement, most of the damage was negated.
[6:36]
A few minutes had passed of him dodging them basically effortlessly ¡¯This was even easier than the previous phase¡¯ Michael thought with a chuckle.
It was a pity he couldn¡¯t save any of the people, even if he did, where would he go with them? He assumed after 10 minutes this whole ce would have been destroyed.
"Aren¡¯t you a cheeky human.." A voice resounded from his side as he was not paying attention to his surroundings that much.
Michael turned towards it and saw a short armored figure holding a greatsword, it was the goblin from before.
He immediately put his guard up and red at it "What do you want."
Michael assumed it did not want to fight as it had the perfect chance to strike him down while his guard was down.
"Hm.. Human, how are you alive? I thought I killed you" It said in a questioning tone.
¡¯Kill me? News to me¡¯ He chuckled inwardly and was about to respond when he suddenly remembered something.
The previous battlefield, the massive scar on the ground...
¡¯I did not die, however, something did happen there.. I need answers¡¯ He thought with a serious expression as he dodged yet another fireball.
"Was the fight that memorable?" Michael teased the goblin leader while also preparing himself for battle.
However, the goblin leader merely scoffed at him "Memorable? You ran in like an idiot trying to punch me, so I just shed you in half." It waved around its massive greatsword, gesturing a downwards sh.
¡¯Yeah, that¡¯s definitely not me¡¯
It would take half a brain to do something so stupid after witnessing the goblin¡¯s power, running in fist first was thest thing he would do.
[3:42]
As the clock continued ticking down, Michael noticed something strange about the goblin leader, its yfulness from before had disappeared, reced with nothingness.
It raised its massive greatsword and shed towards him, annihting everything in its path.
Except Michael, who had been preparing for something like this to happen so he was able to react, albeit the pressure was still immense.
If it wasn¡¯t such a half hearted sh, he might not have been able to dodge it at all.
"What¡¯s wrong? You got bored of standing still?" Michael taunted the goblin leader, trying to check if it was still all there in the head.
However, no response came, it just kept on shing at him with attacks thatcked the power he boasted.
A few Swords of Mana flew right at the goblin, however, it did a small but fast movement, reflecting all the swords back into the ground, evenunching some back at Michael which he swiftly dodged.
[0:14]
The battle had dragged on for a little while, eventually, the sky parted and a red sun appeared, emitting unparalleled heat, it reminded him of the time he saw the ashen ground back in Phase 1, the increasing heat was simr.
[0:06]
The goblin was still swinging his sword around, trying to hit Michael, however, it seemed to not even try anymore, purposely missing some swings.
They had traveled across the entire city while fighting and arrived back at the wall that Michael had been to the most, the one which was broken at first, then copsed, then once again repaired.
[0:00]
As the timer finally ran out, the goblin¡¯s movements halted, before its previous self returned "How did I get here?"
[First Trial: Trial of War - Complete]
This time a blue hologram appeared telling Michael he had finished the trial, however, for some reason he was not going back to the temple.
The goblin leader nced at him and pulled his greatsword back, then suddenly, thrusting it towards Michael.
He couldn¡¯t react to it, he couldn¡¯t even see the motion of the thrust, however, it seemed the one it was aiming for was not Michael, but the wall slightly beside him.
Turning around, he saw a massive hole that had pierced it clean through, looking the same as when he first saw it.
¡¯Oh..¡¯ He eximed as the surroundings began to heat up to the point where his skin was sizzling.
The goblin whistled to him and took off its helmet, showcasing gray skin.
However, what was most disturbing, was the fact that the thing he assumed was the goblin leader, in actuality, was some kind of a faceless being, simr to the statues he had seen back in the temple.
"Who the fu-" As Michael was about to kindly ask the ¡¯Goblin¡¯ a question, he was finally teleported away, back to the temple.
Chapter 42: Memory Fragment
¡¯That was a fun trial¡¯ Michael thought as he suddenly began drowning.
The moment he was teleported back, hended in the fountain, it looked shallow from the outside, however, he couldn¡¯t see the depth of it from the inside.
He was pretty deep down, thank god he could swim.
Michael swam back up and climbed out of the fountain,nding on his ass, then proceeding toy down on his back.
¡¯So much for a warm wee.¡¯
His mana capacity was near rock bottom after the fight with the goblin leader or whatever that thing was.
His stamina was also not looking so good, he wanted to fall asleep right away.
However, he couldn¡¯t, there was something he had to do before then.
And that was epting the reward forpleting the trial.
[First Trial: Trial of War - Reward: Synchronization +5%]
The part where it said Synchronization was glowing brighter than the rest, almost as if signifying he had to interact with it.
And so he did, he pressed on the glowing letters and another hologram popup appeared right below it, however, he was not able to view it as his eyes suddenly lost focus, making him drift into sleep nearly instantaneously.
He opened his eyes again and was met with some sort of a battlefield, it looked eerily simr to the one he was in mere moments ago.
¡¯Don¡¯t tell me I am back again..¡¯ Michael thought and tried moving, however, he was not able to.
It was the same as in the time with the tree, it felt ufortable being in your own body yet not being able to control it at all.
"Michael stop moping about ande get the bags" A voice resounded from behind him, it was the short man he first met when he got here.
"Coming!" Michael eximed and straddled along the road, nearly tripping on a small rock that was on the ground.
¡¯I can feel everything he¡¯s feeling, why is this guy such a pussy..¡¯ Thinking that, he decided to observe the happenings further.
This was the same city and the same people, he could recognize most of them at just a simple nce.
The events yed out the same, he went to the adventurer¡¯s guild, this time, however, with the people he met.
This Michael already had an adventurer¡¯s ID, the only difference being that the golden color was not there and the rank was C, not S.
¡¯Why am I seeing these memories?¡¯
They were assigned a quest to guard the city wall as there had been an increase in beast activitytely, something which the real Michael had not.
¡¯The events yed out in a different order, everything eventuallying together, I guess this was the correct order¡¯ He thought as he watched them stand by on the wall, nearly falling asleep from the boredom.
"Zack, can I really be an A-rank adventurer?" This Michael asked the short man in a naive tone, showcasing his childish nature.
Their age was the same, this one just acted more like it.
"Yes of course, just keep carrying our bags until then, got it?" Zack replied in a mocking tone and continued cking off, giving Michael the task of looking over the wall while he cked off.
¡¯No wonder I didn¡¯t like that guy¡¯
This Michael felt satisfaction every time he was validated by others, truly a pathetic sight.
However, as he was looking off in the distance, he saw an iing horde of goblins, there were not that many of them, maybe 100 in total, a stark contrast to what Michael had to face in his trials.
"G-Guys! Goblins!" This Michael screamed as loud as he could, attracting the attention of both his party and the guards below him.
After that, the guards and adventurers gathered together, going out of the city gate and around towards the iing goblins.
They all looked rather rxed, the number wasn¡¯t anything that could threaten them and in the end, they were just simple goblins.
This Michael walked high, brimming with arrogance, however, it did notst long as a weight bore onto him, a bag hadnded right on his shoulders.
"Carry this, alright? I promise you will be a high ranking adventurer very soon, maybe even tomorrow" Zack said as he unsheathed a pair of daggers from his waist and pushed Michael to the back.
¡¯Oho? Is he finally feeling doubt?¡¯
Michael dug his nails into his palm, drawing blood.
However, he still held himself back, his naivety excusing the injustice he was going through.
The battle was effortless, they did not suffer a single casualty where as the goblins werepletely wiped out.
Zack took the lead in the fight, earning himself a bit of a reputation.
And then there was Michael, standing in the very back with all sorts of bags all around him, he was the designated bag boy.
However, all of a sudden, he heard an explosion behind him, what greeted his sight was half of the city ame.
¡¯That¡¯s somewhat simr, no fire pirs though¡¯
It was all starting toe together, however, some things seemed overly exaggerated, the amount of goblins and the fire which seemed not too difficult to put out.
He was feeling the fear and panic that this Michael was going through, he could understand why, after all, unlike him, he was still a child.
¡¯What even is the message I¡¯m supposed to get here¡¯ He thought as the guards and adventurers finally put out the fires across the city.
¡¯A different Michael, simr to what Kevin told me, maybe this one is who he was talking about?¡¯
The adventurers uncovered who was responsible for the fires, it was a group of fanatics who believed fire was the gateway to heaven.
When all seemed peaceful, the ground suddenly shook and an inaudible vibration caused Michael¡¯s eardrums to burst.
¡¯Pain, confusion, fear and what else? oh, even more fear¡¯ The only thing Michael understood about this synchronization so far was that there was more of him in what he only assumed was the past.
The Goblin leader from before had pierced through the city walls with his army of several dozen armored goblins, not as many as there were in his trial though.
However, the result was the same, the adventurers and guards perished without even putting up a fair fight, the strength of the goblin leader was the same even now.
This Michael¡¯s fear overpowered him, seeing his panions¡¯ get brutally killed in front of him made him run away in cowardice, hiding himself under a bunch of rubble.
"Please.. please" His sobs rang out, if he was trying to stay hidden and quiet, he was doing a very bad job.
He was not found and the goblins finished their destruction, lighting the entire city on fire and eventually walking away.
¡¯So this is when it happens..¡¯
Michael stood up and ran after the goblins into the grassy field, specifically for the leader.
And just as it had exined, a downwards sh was all it took to split him in half, thankfully he couldn¡¯t feel the pain at that moment, Michael didn¡¯t even want to imagine what being cut in half would feel like.
His vision shifted and went dark, however, it seemed he hadn¡¯te back to the temple yet, he was still located somewhere in the previous Michael¡¯s memories.
"A dud, this makes it 812, at least this one wasn¡¯t a fallen" A genderless voice resounded as Michael regained some feeling of his body eventually opening his eyes.
"Hm? You are conscious?"
In front of his eyes was a single figure which had no face, or nothing he could see anyway.
Everything around it was a blur, he couldn¡¯t even identify its body features.
As Michael was about to try speaking, the Michael that had just died spoke first "W-Where am I?" His voice wasced with shock.
He had died just a moment ago, he was sure of it.
"You are home, well, not exactly, you are not fit to return here yet" It chuckled and pulled some sort of a strange object out of thin air and ced it on top of Michael¡¯s head.
"Hopefully the next one does better than you" With those words Michael began feeling dizzy, however, what happened next shocked both of the Michaels.
Just before he lost consciousness he saw a familiar message, which this time, did not give him the option to choose.
[Do you wish to start anew?]
Chapter 43: Who?
Michael groggily opened his eyes and he was back in the temple, for real this time.
He still had a massive headache, no surprise though, after all, he technically did just die.
Albeit he couldn¡¯t feel it, the other Michael¡¯s thoughts were enough of a gander at the pain, never again.
But he assumed this wouldn¡¯t be the first time something like this happens, this was only 5% of the synchronization and there was 95% remaining.
He was lying down on his back and looking at the room¡¯s ceiling, he now noticed there were all sorts of scriptures he could not read.
¡¯So synchronization meant memories, the memories my other selves experienced and I guess the trials are some sort of distorted outlook on what really happened inside them?¡¯ Michael came to some conclusions, it looked highly likely that¡¯s what was happening.
However, thest part was incredibly strange, some strange being who said that was Michael¡¯s home or was supposed to be his home anyway.
And better yet, he ced the system inside him.
¡¯Too confusing..¡¯ He didn¡¯t have a single clue on who the being could be, but was he a friend or foe?
After removing the ¡¯parasite¡¯ Michael¡¯s capabilities greatly increased, however, it did help him quite a lot at the start.
¡¯Who fucking knows at this point¡¯ He sighed and stood up, noticing Freya sitting by the fountain.
She waved at him "How are you feeling?"
"Like shit"
Freya chuckled and raised her hand, enveloping Michael in a golden glow, removing the exhaustion he had suffered previously.
"So how was it, do you remember anything?"
Michael thought for a moment and decided to recall the events that had happened, making sure to mention the being that he saw at the very end.
She looked deep in thought "Hm... were there any more of them?"
"No" Michael shook his head.
"So it¡¯s not them.. honestly, I am not sure who it is, I would need to look into it further" She said and stood up, signaling for Michael to follow her upstairs.
¡¯Them?¡¯
Freya sat down on the throne and gotfortable "Those trials are something you can do only once a year, there are 10 of them in total."
"Right.. are all of them going to be this freaky?" Michael questioned and sat down on the ground.
"Yes, that¡¯s how they are, other people go through something simr, you are just a tad bit different" She said with a wink.
¡¯Makes sense.. it would be strange if others relived their past lives every single time they did something like this¡¯
"Is there any way to use my mana with an affinity, so far the only thing I am able to do is manifest colorless mana, nothing else really."
"You are not that far away from being able to use it, just keep refining your mana and eventually, the answer wille to you naturally" She exined.
"Do you mean the mana core? Will it just form by itself?"
"As I said, you will understand eventually"
Michael sighed and proceeded to ask more stuff about the world, however, he only received vague answers for most things.
One such thing was this world they were in currently, it was a different ne than where Vivum was located.
There were domains where other beings as powerful as Freya dwelled, she didn¡¯t go into detail that much though.
As the little questionnaire finally finished and Michael was about to head back to his room, she mentioned something odd.
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot, there will be a little guest visiting sometime in the future, try not to antagonize her, she is a bit of a short fuse"
He absentmindedly nodded and went out of the throne room, making his way back to the massive room she had assigned him.
Freya said she would train him, however, until then, he had to refine his mana and finish the second trial.
If it was anything like the first, he imagined it would not be so fun.
She also gave him some sort of a book with an alphabet that matched some of the scriptures he saw back in the fountain room.
Michael sighed ¡¯I always sucked at learning newnguages¡¯ Even back in his previous world, he only knew 2nguages, the second one he picked up while serving in the military.
The school also taught anguage, however, for some reason he was not able to learn it no matter how hard he studied.
Hence why he was currently anxiously holding the book, his confidence was not incredibly high.
However, as he was about to open it and learn it, a familiar sound resounded.
-Ding
[System Update Complete]
Miss me?
¡¯What¡¯s up parasite¡¯ Michael ced the book down and smirked.
Who are you calling a parasite.. oh.. I remember now.
The system¡¯s voice quieted down, before finally speaking up again.
That was not me.
¡¯What are you talking about now, who else could it be?¡¯ He scoffed at its words.
The day before you entered the academy, I told you I would be going through an update, don¡¯t you remember?
Its voice wasced with confusion, the same went for Michael.
¡¯What bullshit are you spouting, you didn¡¯t tell me anything.¡¯
Hm.. I see, you don¡¯t have any memory of that day at all, however, you finished the trial all by yourself? My how you have grown.
¡¯And from what I heard, you should have told me about these little trials quite a while ago?¡¯ Michael was still not convinced, who knew if this parasite was lying or not.
Stop calling me a parasite, I was going to tell you after you learned how to use Physical Enhancement and Mana Projection, who knew you would learn them so fast though.
As Michael was about to interject, it interrupted him.
And don¡¯t even think you should have known this earlier, you would have died in the trial if I told you, you are quite the hot headed idiot after all.
¡¯You do know that if you just told me I couldn¡¯t use skills in there, I would not have tried going there?¡¯
Sure sure, anyway, Freya removed the system error, it formed a quarter of my own sentience and tried recing me while I was gone, it sucked though as you could see, it was not even able to readjust your abilities correctly.
Michael listened attentively and it finally started making sense now, however, he still had one more question to ask.
¡¯Who or what was that thing that I saw in the fragmented memories?¡¯
I don¡¯t know who that being is, however, it seemed to hold a higher position than the seven Archangels, I assume you can piece the rest together.
¡¯God?¡¯ Michael was shocked, god was responsible for this?
Not quite the absolute being but yeah it was someone high up on thedder.
¡¯I see, well shit¡¯ So he now had literal gods to worry about.
¡¯What about the memories, do they mean anything aside from thest part?¡¯
It¡¯s more so to showcase what you were like at your lowest points in the past, that world existed and you were a part of it, albeit not for long. Still, take it as a lesson, the more trials youplete, the more the puzzle will solve itself.
¡¯Sure, anyway it¡¯s about time I prepare for the second trial, isn¡¯t it? I assume it would be much more difficult than the first one¡¯
The difficulty varies based on the type of trial, however, yes, it would not be as easy as the one you just had, just keep on training, I will fix your status before the second trial starts.
¡¯Sure.¡¯
Chapter 44: The Second Trial
Michael was lying down on top of his bed, reading the alphabet and trying to learn that newnguage, his progress was surprisingly fast.
Compared to his previous world, the progress was in fact really great, the only reason it was taking this long was because thenguage was moreplex than others.
So much so that while he was able to memorize the entire alphabet he was still finding it difficult to speak it or read it properly.
That¡¯s even with the assistance of his INT stat, it felt strange actually learning for once.
It has been a year by now, Michael¡¯s daily routine was mana refinement, learning thenguage and from time to time, meeting up with Freya to talk about random stuff.
He found it easy to talk to her, as if they knew each other at some point, which the way things were unfolding, was highly likely.
The visitor she mentioned did not show up either, maybe they forgot?
I can¡¯t fix the status screen, it¡¯s frozen, however, your stats are increasing, get your mana core already.
¡¯It sure would be nice if I had someone by my side that could, well, I don¡¯t know, give me some answers?¡¯ Michael scoffed back at the system.
The only hints it gave him across the year since it came back, was to keep refining his mana and he would figure it out.
Basically the same thing Freya said.
Michael couldn¡¯t understand why the system couldn¡¯t tell him, it¡¯s not like it was alive, would it die if it broke the oath, was it even under oath?
I am, the memories I have are from people who all had mana cores, not including you of course.
¡¯So? Why can¡¯t you tell me exactly?¡¯
Oaths can kill any being, even if god himself broke an oath, he would be killed, doesn¡¯t matter if I don¡¯t have a body, I can still die.
¡¯Wow, who invented the oaths then if they can even kill gods?¡¯ Michael thought in wonder.
The beings before gods most likely, no one really knows.
¡¯Like primordials or something?¡¯
As I said, no one knows.
Michael shrugged and went back to reading, however, a wave of mana erupted from his pocket, specifically the pocket in which the orb of trials was located.
The button that was pressed down all this time, came back up, signifying that today was the day he could enter the trials once more.
He immediately got off the bed and headed for the fountain room, he was going to tell Freya, however, she was not in her throne room.
It was strange since that¡¯s where he always found her, but since she wasn¡¯t there, he couldn¡¯t do anything about it.
Michael arrived in front of the fountain and sat down just a bit in front of it, before pressing the button and once again being transported to an unknown ce.
It was dark.. too dark.
He tried opening his eyes, however, it was to no avail, it felt as if he was blind.
He clenched his fists ¡¯System?¡¯
I am here, it says Trial of Sense, guess you are blind for now.
¡¯Can you see anything then?¡¯
No, I am the same as you, I can feel around myself though, the mana is pretty rich in this area.
Michael understood what it meant and began spreading his mana around himself, it slowly connected with the mana and he could feel roughly 50 meters around himself.
¡¯Woah.. it¡¯s much better than I thought¡¯ Michael learned this type of application while he was messing around back in the temple.
The system and Freya told him about the possibilities, which quite frankly, were nearly endless.
Enhancement, Projection, Detection,bining all of them leads to even morebinations.
Yet, he felt there was more than that and that was why he was so excited to learn about it.
As he used Detection, he was able to perceive the surroundings as if he had eyes, the mana acted as his own limbs.
He could touch and feel everything in a certain radius and what caught his eye was the fact that he was in some sort of a trap room.
There were sharp spears all around and all sorts of other booby traps on the ground.
Michael picked a direction and walked forward, neatly avoiding the traps.
¡¯This seems a bit easier than the other one no?¡¯
Say that after being in here for longer than a minute, traps aren¡¯t the only thing you will face.
¡¯Bummer..¡¯
He navigated the traps and appeared in some sort of an open room, it did not seem like there were any traps here.
As he was taking the next few steps forward, he suddenly couldn¡¯t hear anything.
¡¯Don¡¯t tell me..¡¯
Yes, first your sight, now your hearing, I don¡¯t need to tell you what¡¯s next do I?
¡¯God.. I fucking hate this trial already¡¯ Even with the mana, not seeing or hearing puts him at a big disadvantage, the only reason he was able to deal with Kevinst time was because he could see his HP still.
Though he guessed something like that wouldn¡¯t be happening anymore.
And here he was, slowly losing his senses until what, he doesn¡¯t even know he still exists?
¡¯Since this is most likely some memory fragment, just who the hell experienced this?¡¯ He thought.
The memories seemed overexaggerated, thest trial was anyway, was this how the past Michael saw the world?
¡¯I can assume he was blind, but the other senses as well? I am not so sure about that.¡¯
Watch out.
As the system¡¯s warning reached Michael, a massive figure suddenly appeared in his Detection range.
It felt like some kind of a massive werewolf, its speed was definitely impressive.
However, for the current Michael, it was a walk in the park.
The moment it was within 10 meters of him, a Sword of Mana manifested and flew straight through the werewolf¡¯s head, killing it in an instant.
If Michael had to guess, his current prowess was just below the goblin leader he met previously.
Safe to say, the progress he had made was considerable.
He believed that he could finally prove to Amanda that he was ready to take on higher level dungeons, by now he was considered strong, in Vivum at least.
However, from the conversations with Freya, he realized that there was a world outside of the one he was in, one that was much bigger and housed many more strong people.
It was an exciting thought, he didn¡¯t know when his desire to be strong ignited, but, it was currently his main driving factor.
Once he bes strong enough, he can decide what he wishes to do moving forwards.
And for that, he needed to finish the trials and awaken his mana core.
Don¡¯t get ahead of yourself now, more pups iing.
¡¯Sure¡¯ He twisted his body around and shot out a few Swords of Mana which all hit vitals, immediately killing the monsters.
It has be his favorite ability, there was also Mana Spears that he used from time to time, however, he felt they were not as effective and satisfying.
The swords were fast and deadly, they also cost barely any mana to cast, it was the perfect ability.
After finally finishing up, he noticed another change, he could not smell or taste anymore.
¡¯2 at once?¡¯ He was slightly shocked.
The trial adjusts the difficulty based on your abilities, so far you have been annihting the monsters, what did you expect?
Michael nodded, slightly nervous ¡¯Isn¡¯t touch next?¡¯
Chapter 45: The Second Trial (2)
The fighting was simr to the goblin waves, the werewolves kepting much stronger than the previous ones.
However, it was still no issue for Michael, he believed that until he lost his sense of touch, he could still perform at nearly full power.
He knew it was merely a matter of time though, it was inevitable, yet he was not prepared for it in the slightest.
He could currently feel everything, the connection stayed the same even through mana, however, when that disappears, won¡¯t he just die?
¡¯Can I really do this?¡¯
Who knows, if you can¡¯t you will die, hope that helps.
Michael¡¯s expression soured ¡¯Yeah..¡¯
He was not any closer to achieving this so called mana core, he was getting stronger, but aside from his mana growing stronger, nothing else happened.
Your mana concentration is high, trust me, all of it is not for naught.
Michael nodded and prepared for the next wave of monsters, this time they had sharper ws, but still not durable enough to survive a sword through the skull.
As he was waiting for more monsters to appear, he was pleasantly surprised to find out he was teleported to a different location.
He felt dirt right below his feet, a relieving notion as that meant he had not yet lost his sense of touch.
Michael sensed a road nearby and headed towards it, there appeared to be a few people there.
They had swords but he couldn¡¯t tell if they were hostile or not, he just hoped they think of him as some passerby cripple and take him along.
They don¡¯t appear to be friendly.
As the system¡¯s words resounded, Michael saw one of the people drawing their bow andunching an arrow at Michael.
¡¯So be it¡¯ He summoned a Mana Shield and began casting his Swords of Mana, however, in that short moment, he lost all feeling, his Detection felt as if he was in the middle of the air, it was all empty.
Everything he felt just moments ago disappeared, the only thing left now, were his thoughts.
¡¯Shit.. it just had to happen now¡¯ Michael did not hold back as he began casting spells in the direction of the people he felt just mere moments ago.
He kept casting until roughly 20% of his mana was used up, he did that just to be safe.
¡¯Did I get them?¡¯ He wondered, it would be strange if they were still alive after the barrage he had just unleashed.
Your HP is decreasing, there is still someone remaining.
Michael was shocked, he had removed his Mana Shield the moment he lost control of his sense of touch, it was a bit hard to control after all.
Trying to step back as far as he could, he sent a few swords which traveled in a horizontal line, he didn¡¯t want to risk trying to do it around himself.
If he did, he would most likely be left in two pieces.
¡¯All good?¡¯
Yes, well probably, your HP is not decreasing anymore at the very least, I can¡¯t see or feel anything either.
¡¯Well it¡¯s fine, probably¡¯ Michael thought as the reality of the situation finally dawned on him.
He was able to react because he still knew they were there, if not, then he might have died from his own spell.
¡¯This feels so.. ufortable¡¯ He thought as the only thing he could do was think, if not for the system¡¯s help in notifying him about his HP decreasing, it might have gone bad.
He attempted to walk in one direction, or he thought he was walking anyway, he didn¡¯t even know if he was standing right now.
Your HP decreased again, though it wasn¡¯t by a big amount, you probably hit a tree or something.
¡¯Wow.. this trial really is something else, what am I supposed to learn here exactly?¡¯ He felt like he was being tortured instead of tested.
Michael didn¡¯t know how long this had been going on, his perception of time had been a tad bit distorted ¡¯System?¡¯
3 hours.. no 4 or maybe 5? 6.. I don¡¯t know.
He face palmed, or well at least hoped he did.
¡¯I don¡¯t even know anymore...¡¯ Michael tried sensing the mana and just barely seeded, he had struggled quite a lot to get this far.
However, now he was able to at the very least sense his body, and what do you know? He was sideways, definitely not standing.
¡¯Why was it so hard to sense my mana?¡¯
You were looking for something in a world where mana was rich, your mana did not differ from that of the surroundings, you did a good job finding it, now you only have to learn to sense other people.
¡¯Sounds easier said than done..¡¯ He tried standing up, however, he leaned and fell once again, it felt like he was a newborn again.
It felt impossible to tell apart up and down, he just kept trying until he could finally stand, took only a few minutes to do so.
Your HP decreased by a decent amount, you are being attacked.
Michael instantly reacted and raised his hand, creating multiple Swords of Mana around it and sending it all around himself, almost as if he was shooting a machine gun.
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He cast a Mana Shield around himself and waited for an attack tond, ready to counterattack at any moment.
A sword impacted his knee and he immediately shot a sword of light in that direction, possibly killing the person or monster behind that attack.
¡¯This is pretty easy¡¯ Michael thought as he began this little minigame, no attack came from the same direction and even if it did, he was prepared to shoot back.
However, the more he fought, the more his uneasiness grew.
That was until the attacks ceased, it appeared he managed to kill everyone present.
So I have good news and bad news for you, which do you want to hear first?
He was a bit surprised ¡¯What? Good, I guess?¡¯
So the good news is, this trial was short and that battle just then was the end of it, you will soon be teleported out.
¡¯Okay?¡¯
Now as for the bad news... you just massacred an entire city of innocents or at least that¡¯s what just happened ording to the notification.
¡¯Huh?¡¯ Michael¡¯s heart began racing faster, hispletion objective was to kill an entire city? That¡¯s impossible.
However, the more he thought, the more he came to a realization.
Since the start of the trial, he was being conditioned for battle, any kind of an attack thrown at him made him react in kind.
He must have stumbled into a city somehow and the guards tried to stop him because he looked suspicious.
¡¯Fuck.¡¯
Michael was yed by the trial, now he didn¡¯t even know if this was the correct way toplete it, he just hoped that the synchronization would provide him some more rity.
All of a sudden, every single one of his senses returned, one by one in the order they disappeared.
First, his Sight, in front of himy a bunch of people that werepletely mutted, if someone told him a human did this, he would not believe it.
Second, His Hearing, it sounded as if a river was flowing, however, it was all blood.
Third and fourth, Smell and Taste, the smell was horrid, it seemed he fought for longer than he thought as the smell of dposition reached his nose, he could also taste blood in his mouth, doubtful if it was even his.
Andstly, Touch, he could finally feel everything again, his Detection was still up but just as quickly was turned off, for just a moment he felt everything, literally everything.
As he was about to throw up, he was teleported out, back into the temple.
Chapter 46: Fallen
The moment Michael appeared at the temple, he immediately puked his guts out, even with all the experience he had amassed thus far, the sight was still disgusting.
Pull yourself together, those people were not real.
¡¯Not real? They looked fucking real!¡¯ He eximed with a hand over his mouth, stopping himself from vomiting further.
[Second Trial: Trial of Sense - Reward: Synchronization +10%]
In the corner of his eyes, thepletion notification arrived and he immediately clicked on it, beats trying to fight the urge to vomit.
Michael¡¯s vision shifted and he once again found himself in someone¡¯s body, however, unlike his previous thoughts the person was not blind or impaired in any way.
"Hey system, could you give me a quest or something already? My level has been the same for 2 weeks now" A cheerful voice came out of the body, it was still Michael, just a bit older.
Negative host, you have reached the quest limit for the current month, Suggestion, kill monsters.
The voice of the system resounded inside his head it felt strange hearing it so emotionless.
¡¯So this is the nonsentient system huh¡¯
Michael pouted and proceeded to kill the nearby wolves, he was using a pair of daggers tond swift but deadly attacks.
¡¯This one is not a coward like the other one, though why is the synchronization 10%?¡¯
He jumped up and spun,nding a killing blow on 4 of the wolves by slicing their necks.
The moment he finished the fight, he wiped the blood of his daggers and sheathed them, walking back to the supposed city in the distance.
"The hero is back!" The bunch of citizens greeted him along the way, carving a wide smile on his face.
¡¯Hero?¡¯
Michael walked back to his home and looked around, making sure no one was nearby.
"So I can finally attempt the Ascension huh, this is my second one already" He looked on with nostalgia.
Host, you are not ready.
"What do you mean? I am level 200 and people hold me as some sort of a hero, aren¡¯t I strong enough?"
¡¯He¡¯s level 200? We are almost the same strength though?¡¯
You are not, host, the previous one tested your conviction and you nearly failed, this one will be many times more difficult.
Michael scoffed "Your standards are just too high,e on, trust me!"
¡¯He overestimates himself, I don¡¯t know what the trial is about, but if judging strength wise, he is pretty weak¡¯
He opened the system interface and clicked on the Ascension button, it was the only thing that was not hidden from the onlooking Michael, the other stats were invisible.
Host, stop.
The system attempted to stop him, however, this version of Michael did not listen at all and proceeded straight into the Ascension.
He disappeared from his room and appeared in front of a white door, on the left he could see another door, however, it was pure ck.
¡¯Hm? Why is he hesitating?¡¯
"Hey system what¡¯s that?" His eyes looked a bit dazed, as if he was under some sort of a mind control spell.
However, it did not seem to be the case, something else was at y, the onlooking Michael just couldn¡¯t tell what.
"System?" He kept calling out but no reply ever came.
The glowing of the white door intensified, however, so did the darkness of the ck door.
He felt allure like no other and started walking towards it, seemingly with his mind already made up. Stay updated through NovelBin.C?m
The onlooking Michael felt a wave of emotions that hit him suddenly ¡¯Greed, Pride.. Wrath?¡¯
It seemed like the doors represented his desires and he was sumbing to them.
Michael¡¯s smile widened as he grasped the knob of the door, twisting it.
The surroundings once again shifted and he was back inside of his room, the previous wide smile still present on his face.
"Haha.."
Host...
He cracked his fingers and looked back on his status screen, instead of the usual blue, it was now a deep red.
What have you done?
The system¡¯s voice, even though emotionless, felt as if it was genuinely confused and angry.
"What do you mean? I chose MY path" As his words dawned, his strength grew exponentially, he felt as if he could do anything now.
You failed, you are ipatible.
At the system¡¯s hollow words, a notification appeared in front of his eyes.
[Inheritance Revoked, Locking status]
"Huh? What the fuck are you doing!?" Michael eximed at the system, his strength which was increasing rapidly, suddenly stopped.
¡¯He haspletely lost his shit.¡¯
"Hey!" He kept calling out to the system, however, no answer came.
Michael stormed out of his house and frantically looked around, noticing a bunch of people staring at him with reference.
But unlike before, he seemed pissed off, his expression even scared a few of the people present.
"WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT!"
"H-Hero" One of the people closest to him called out in a shocked expression.
Michael turned to the one calling him and out of reflex, drew his daggers.
And the moment he did, people began screaming and running around in fear.
However, for some reason, the screams sounded oddly soothing to him, as if a song was being yed into his ears.
He wanted more.
Michael took a deep breath and ran forward, slicing someone¡¯s throat open.
"Fuck, why did I do that? I can¡¯t hear him scream now!" Heughed and approached another person.
He kept killing and killing, each kill more obscure than the rest, his main objective was to make someone scream as loud as they could.
However, the screaming eventually stopped.
Michael looked around himself with a confused expression, corpses strewn all over the floor.
"Where did everyone go?"
¡¯...¡¯
[You are being hunted]
A notification resounded as he ignored it and proceeded to walk around the entire city, looking for any signs of life.
"How?" His expression soured, it seemed the reality of what he did finally dawned on him.
¡¯Fucking psychopath¡¯
[You are being hunted]
The notification resounded again, this time he took a nce but just for a moment, he deemed it insignificant.
"My mana core didn¡¯t form because of that fucking system, why did it have to lock my stats" He eximed in anger at seemingly no one.
Just as his thoughts finished, an eerie feeling enveloped him.
[??? Descended]
"My... how unsightly" He heard a voice from right above him.
Turning towards it, he saw a winged figure, it wore a white robe and had golden hair streaming down to its waist.
"Who ar-"
"Quiet."
The figure silenced Michael and floated down just in front of him, holding eye contact.
He couldn¡¯t tell what the eye color of the figure was, it seemed as though he was looking at a mirror.
The figure sighed "This makes it what, 6411 now? Why are so many of you bing Fallen.."
Michael tried speaking, however, no words came out.
Something did happen though, his mind began getting clearer, reying his earlier actions with a rational mind.
A tear streamed down his face, to which the figure replied with a smile.
"I will do you the courtesy of introducing myself, I am Raguel, one of the seven archangels and I am here to carry out your punishment."
At his words, Michael¡¯s body morphed and he turned to dust which was scattering in the wind.
However, the onlooking Michael was still there, if only for a moment, though it was enough to overhear something interesting.
"When will you be whole.. your absence... is not something we are used to" The figure said with a sad expression and disappeared the same mysterious way it first appeared.
Silence ensued and Michael awaited to be brought back to the temple, but all of a sudden a wave of emotions startled him.
¡¯He¡¯s still alive?¡¯
He could roughly feel this Michael¡¯s emotions, even after he was apparently killed, it seemed something else happened instead.
¡¯A cruel punishment for a cruel person.. it is fitting¡¯ And with that thought, he was finally teleported back, once againnding in the fountain.
At least you know how to swim.
¡¯Shut up.¡¯
Chapter 47: Mishap
Michael got out of the fountain and headed up the stairs to the throne room, unlike before, Freya was not waiting for him.
¡¯So archangels huh, system did you see what happened?¡¯
I saw your memories, yes that appears to be an actual archangel and the one¡¯s body you were inside of, was that of somebody possessed by sin, hence why it is called a Fallen.
¡¯I see.. well, it was a bit haunting, can something like that happen to me too?¡¯ He was a bit worried about the Ascension, while that particr Michael was not the strongest, he thought his will was decent at the very least.
Don¡¯t underestimate your personality, something like that wouldn¡¯t even make you bat an eye.
Michael¡¯s brow twitched "What is that supposed to mean?"
The system chose to ignore him, that was until he asked a question that was lingering on his mind.
¡¯Can you seal my status just as easily as the other system?¡¯
No, certain conditions have to be met, however, due to the speed at which you are bing stronger, the locking of status wouldn¡¯t really work, it only works for those whose strength is under level 200, you are at around level 150 strength wise.
¡¯Level 150 huh, am I the only one growing this fast?¡¯
You are a bit different than others, however, the others should start picking up on mana control, even if it is unconventional for those under level 200, some people are born exceptional, there is also that regressor friend of yours.
¡¯True¡¯ Michael looked around the throne room and did not see anyone at all, what seemed the most strange was that the throne itself was a little bit dusty, as if a lot of time had passed.
But it did not make sense to him, he was sure only a maximum of 2 days had passed, he would have died from starvation or something if it were longer.
Well... you don¡¯t exactly feel hunger in the trials..
¡¯Shit...¡¯ Has his perception of time dwindled that much? It seemed impossible.
He tried thinking back to the trial, specifically to the synchronization, maybe the Michael who was still alive even after being turned to dust, spent an eternity like that.
Maybe that¡¯s why the time was so distorted. Enjoy new adventures from NovelBin.C?m
It¡¯s possible, they are based on the feelings of the other Michaels, your observations were correct.
He nodded and proceeded to walk into every single room, trying to find a hint as to where Freya had disappeared to.
Michael eventually found a note, honestly, the first thing he should have checked should have been his room.
He picked it up and read it, his expression turning sour.
-----
It seems you got the short end of the stick, it has been a year since you disappeared. I am not able to keep the time dted while I am not here. I did make it so the time stops in the fountain room, in exchange, the flow of time outside will be the same as in here. By the time youe out, a maximum of 2 years would have passed outside. Sit on the throne and you cane back.
-----
¡¯Oh..¡¯
Oh.
Both Michael and the system had simr reactions, it seemed his so called 2 day training didn¡¯t really go as nned.
He didn¡¯t even get to meet the guest she mentioned, well that¡¯s besides the point by now, he had to return immediately.
Walking up to the throne, he dusted it off and sat down, his vision shifting back to where he first entered the temple, there was a forest..
Which for some reason, had most of its trees cut down.
¡¯Can you cross reference my memories and figure out if this is actually the ce?¡¯ He asked the system.
Just a moment.. Yes, this area is the same, well minus the trees.
Michael sighed and headed towards the deforested area, there was a little road there leading to what he assumed was the vige.
His getup was still the same as it was 2 years ago, however, he didn¡¯t assume anyone would recognize him though.
He eventually arrived back at the vige, it looked livelier than before it seemed his ssmates dealt with the monsters surrounding it.
Michael went back to the inn he had been to the first time he arrived to the vige.
The bartender was busy dealing with the drunkards so he didn¡¯t see him arrive.
Sitting down on a stool, Michael waited for him to finish up, a few people were ncing in his direction, it was notmon to dress like some sort of a priest in a vige such as this.
"What can I get yo-" The bartender absentmindedly asked before finally taking a nce at the person in front of him.
"You.. you were still alive?" He seemed to be shocked, after his disappearance, many assumed he had died.
Michael shrugged and put on a small smile "Surprise?"
"Surprise my arse, you have a bounty on your head like no other" The bartender snickered as he picked up some kind of a marble and crushed it.
Suddenly, a bunch of people ran through the doors of the inn, arriving right in front of Michael.
A single person, in particr, stood out, he seemed like the mayor of this vige.
"Are you Michael?" He asked, still a bit unsure, the bounty had his face all over it, however, it seemed too good to be true.
Michael decided to show rather than tell, he cast purify in a wide area and its range seemed to have increased even if the status was broken.
The green light enveloped everyone present as they widened their eyes, this was really the former Saint.
"Come with me" The mayor gestured to follow.
They headed to what appeared to be the vige mayor¡¯s residence, it was quite spaciouspared to the rest of the houses around it.
The inside was oddly luxurious, Michael even wondered if this so called mayor might have been the corrupted type, however, he was not one to worry about such things at the current moment, everyone had their own circumstances.
Sitting down, the mayor picked up some sort of a phone and dialed a number, the other side picking up nearly instantly.
"This better be an emergency, I told you not to call this number for random reasons, I am not giving you more money" An annoyed voice rang out from the other side.
¡¯Is that Amanda..?¡¯ She sounded a bit.. well, like herself if he was being honest.
"Of course it¡¯s an emergency you hag, I found your Saint" As his rude words descended, Amanda turned silent, not even minding the hagment.
¡¯Looks like they are friends, probably¡¯ Michael chuckled to himself.
You seemed to miss the part where it¡¯s not a missing person report but a bounty.
He flinched ¡¯Oh.. I mean, it can¡¯t be that bad right? I am.. was the Saint.¡¯
I apud your optimism.
After a solid minute of silence Amanda, finally spoke again "Is that bastard with you right now?"
"He is."
"I am on my way" With that, she ended the call.
For some reason, the mayor looked at Michael with pity.
¡¯...It will be fine.. right?¡¯
Chapter 48: Return
"Hi?" He had expected Amanda to take at least a few hours to arrive, but it hadn¡¯t even been 5 minutes.
And here she was, right in front of him, wearing a massive disapproving frown.
She raised her hand and an invisible string of mana appeared, flying at Michael with unbelievable speed, this was the fastest attack he had seen so far.
However, it wasn¡¯t something he couldn¡¯t react to, his mana sensitivity and general capabilities had increased to abnormal levels.
It also seemed she wasn¡¯t going all out, Amanda was clearly way above level 200, if she really did use her full strength, he wouldn¡¯t stand a chance.
Casting a Mana Shield, he redirected the attack to the side, creating a narrow fissure in the ground that spanned just a few meters.
Her brows twitched as she sent another attack, aiming for his arm, it was many times stronger than the previous one.
¡¯I don¡¯t think she¡¯s happy to see me¡¯ Michael created a bunch of shields andyered them on top of one another, strengthening his defense while also beginning to cast his Swords of Mana.
This little squabble was on a standstill, Amanda was gauging his strength while also swatting away his strongest attacks as if they were nothing.
Suddenly, she changed her approach, opting for a close range battle.
Appearing right in front of Michael, she struck him on his side, even after using his Mana Shield, it caused him considerable damage.
But yet again, he was no longer in the trials, even if his status screen was frozen, his previous skills still existed.
Combining Mana Shield with Shield of Nourishment, his defenses were nearly imprable.
Amanda noticed this and chuckled, sending an attack that Michael could not even react to, sending him flying off into a nearby building.
"Kuh.. hey calm down already" he waved his hands in front of him, trying to calm her down, she seemed to using a lot more strength than he would have liked.
Her attacks did not stop, every single one of them broke all of his shields, needing to recast them after every single sh.
If he didn¡¯t he felt as if any one of them would kill him.
¡¯But she wouldn¡¯t go that far, right? She is just expressing her frustration.¡¯
Well, I don¡¯t know about you, but she seems pretty serious, I don¡¯t think she will stop until you are heavily injured, good luck.
¡¯Yeah yeah, whatever¡¯ He still felt helpless in front of her, while he did put up a fight earlier, now he was just being tossed around like some kind of a toy.
Michael tried something new, casting multiple Swords of Light and splitting them into many fragmented pieces, if he had to guess, there were more than 400 miniature swords.
Each of which, had the same amount of mana as the rest, making them small but deadly, even if she swats away most of them, the mana dispersion will enhance the remaining ones.
This is a kind of spell he thought of while doing absolutely nothing back in the temple, he got bored of reading the alphabet and the trials were on cooldown.
He forgot the book back at the temple, however, he had already memorized all of its contents, he just had toprehend them.
Amanda did as he predicted, she attempted to swat away the swords, but the remaining ones pushed her back.
"Hm.." She backed off for the first time since the beginning and rubbed her wrist, it had a small cut.
Though just as quickly, it healed itself.
"Good enough" She nodded and walked up to him, this time without any sort of hostility.
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However, he was still on guard, Amanda was pretty unpredictable at times.
"Where have you been?" She asked calmly.
"Would you believe me if I told you I was in a different world" Michael replied teasingly.
He was met with a frown "That would make sense at the very least, you were gone for 2 years, everyone thought you died."
Michael shrugged in response, he was not going to exin every single thing that happened, she wouldn¡¯t understand anyway.
They exchanged in some formalities and she told him a bit of what had happened during the time he was gone.
The slums were recognized as an individual city, his ssmate Tony became the Saint and better yet, Amanda put a bounty on his head, she thought he had betrayed the government.
That shocked him a little, while he did understand his role as a Saint, him leaving unannounced called for a dead or alive bounty, quite frankly, it seemed stupid.
He also found out that a few of his ssmates died, there were dungeon incidents that urred in the 2nd year, everyone thought the troubles had passed after a single year of peace.
They were wrong.
"So what do you want to do, act dead like a worthless rat? Or would you like toe back to the academy? It is starting next week." Amanda asked seriously.
"What level dungeons are they doing currently?"
She thought for a moment before replying "Since your ss is considered elite, they were doing level 70 dungeons with some of the more impressive ones even doing level 100 dungeons."
Well, you can finally level up, it would be helpful to do them as they would help you achieve your mana core faster.
¡¯Fair enough, it¡¯s not like I have an objective besides getting a mana core, I can¡¯t really enter dungeons legally anyway, I don¡¯t want to be branded as a criminal.¡¯
"So uhh.. my Saint title how abo-"
He was swiftly interrupted "No. You failed in your duties, I am only extending courtesy to you because you were a former Saint, nothing more."
¡¯Ouch.¡¯
"What about the higher level dungeon bet we had 2 years ago, is that still on the table?" Michael asked with hope, his golden spoons disappearing with each sentence she spoke.
She seemed in thought for a moment "Hm.. you did grow considerably stronger, I could arrange something simr, don¡¯t even think of getting an individual dungeon."
¡¯At least that¡¯s something..¡¯
"It¡¯s time to head back, I can¡¯t leave my post alone for long, let¡¯s go." She pointed at a car that had just arrived, it seemed she went ahead of it.
Michael looked around and checked his pockets, making sure he didn¡¯t forget anything else.
¡¯Mana refining orb.. check, orb of trials.. here, my sniper... fuck¡¯ He sighed, even if he didn¡¯t use it anymore, it was still worth quite a lot.
All that INT and you forget stuff, I am surprised you didn¡¯t forget those orbs.
¡¯Yeah.. it was not on my mind at the moment, I think I left it tucked away on the bed.¡¯
"Are you asleep?" Amanda called out to Michael with an impatient tone, it seemed he was a little lost in thought.
He ignored her rude remark and went back to the car, the driver was the same one who had driven him all this time.
It was time to head back to Vivum City.
Michael suddenly remembered something "Hey... Is my house still.. well, you know.. mine?"
"Of course not, it was never yours in the first ce, you can stay in the academy dorms" Amanda replied with a scoff.
Guess you are no longer a big shot.
¡¯..Yeah¡¯
Chapter 49: Homeless Saint
They traveled back to the city, it took roughly 20 minutes to drive all the way back, the perks of a bullet train like car, just a tad bit faster though.
Amanda told him she would make the preparations so he could attend the academy again, he couldn¡¯t just waltz back in after being gone for 2 years.
The surroundings of the outer city seemed to change a bit, the Vivum Virtual Reality thing appeared to be the top dog of the market.
Michael asked her about it and she said it was some sort of a technological breakthrough, however, it seemed like she knew more than she let on.
He wasn¡¯t one to pry though, it did not seem like they were on the best of terms, he felt that if he hadn¡¯t healed her father, she would have killed him the moment she saw him.
Amanda told him that the bounty on his head will be rescinded, else he would have been hunted down while walking on the street, definitely not something he wanted to go through.
They finally arrived at the inner part of the city and headed straight for the government building, everything there still looked the same as 2 years ago.
"I rmend staying low for a bit, I need to prepare extra because of your return, I don¡¯t want the current Saint to get thrown under the bus" She said and went inside the building, leaving Michael standing by himself.
¡¯So where do I go now? It¡¯s not like I have a house anymore¡¯
Can¡¯t you just rent something? Didn¡¯t you get enough funds from being a Saint? Even if it was for only a little while.
I guess you are right, Michael pulled out the ID card he had kept in his pocket all this time, unlike his sniper, he didn¡¯t take this one out even once.
However, as he inspected it, his expression crumbled further.
¡¯0 fucking dors? Are you serious?¡¯ He clicked on it and it disyed a mini hologram of the transactions.
They were all directed to all sorts of charity funding organizations.
He was shaking in disbelief, not only was he homeless, he was also broke.
Yikes.
As he was debating on what to do, Michael remembered he still had connections with the slums, even if they became a separate city, the people should mostly be the same.
Walking up to the car he got inside of it, however, the driver shed him a confused look.
¡¯Oh right¡¯
"To the slums" Michael said naturally, like he used to do 2 years ago.
Much to his surprise, the driver shook his head "No can do, you are no longer the Saint and I am no longer your driver."
It just keeps getting worse huh.
"I-I see.." He got out of the car, he needed to walk now, the distance from the government headquarters to the subway leading to the slums was at the very least a 10 hour walk.
Why would you walk? Just run.
¡¯Oh right, I am as fast as a car now¡¯ Michael face palmed, even after all the time he had spent in this world, his thinking still strayed back to his previous world.
He took onest look at the headquarters and began sprinting, looking like a blur to normal people and an idiot to slightly stronger people.
After 2 hours, he finally arrived at the entrance to the slums and to say he was a bit shocked was an understatement.
The previous entrance which was a run down subway station, turned into what appeared an elegant pair of stairs that lead into an esctor leading in the direction of the slums.
¡¯Wow.. they sure went all out¡¯ He thought, if they became an independent city, this was the least they could do.
The barrier which blocked detection had been strengthened somehow, It would be near impossible to sense someone all the way from the upper city, even if Meph tried.
¡¯Yeah that seems to be the case, I can feel mana all around.¡¯ Michael nced around him while standing on the esctor, it seemed the intensified mana acted as some kind of an EMP.
Well, even the slums need privacy.
The esctor turned the corner and the slums were in full sight.
¡¯Holy shit, they did this in 2 years?¡¯ Michael was absolutely shocked by what greeted his eyes.
The city that previously looked like some kind of a ruin, now, didn¡¯t even have a single building that looked run down.
In fact, he could even call this a proper city, one that was equivalent to the top cities he had been to in his previous world.
And all of that in merely 2 years, it was simply unbelievable.
The staircase from before was reced with a massive staircase that looked newly remodeled, by the side there was also the esctor that connected with the stairs and headed downwards.
¡¯How does this work though? You cane down but you can¡¯t go back up¡¯ He noticed the esctor only traveling in one direction.
Turn around.
Michael tilted his head and did just that, all of a sudden, the esctor¡¯s trajectory changed, it was now heading back to where he came from.
Magic and science, what a lovely concept.
¡¯Yeah.. I can¡¯t believe something this simple is so convenient¡¯ He was impressed, however, he got his stuff together and took the esctor down to the new underground city.
There were a bunch of people running around, they all looked healthy, just like when Michael left.
That put a warm smile on his face, it seemed his efforts were not for nothing.
Of course, take pride in your aplishments, but don¡¯t take them for granted.
He understood what the system was referring to and simply nodded, already in front of the mayor¡¯s building where Alfred dwelled.
Some people who noticed him had shocked expressions, some even bowing down and praying, murmuring that the Saint had returned.
Michael merely chuckled at that, even after his supposed death, the reverence did not die down in the slightest.
¡¯Good luck Amanda¡¯ He snickered, not causing trouble his first day back would be too strange.
He walked up to Alfred¡¯s office, along the way, none of the guards attempted to stop him, they all seemed to recognize who he was.
Opening the door abruptly, what greeted Michael¡¯s sight was a bunch of documents strewn around the entire room.
¡¯it is even worse than Reba¡¯s¡¯ He thought with a sour expression, he still didn¡¯t have any clues about her, he didn¡¯t have any contact information at the time, so he didn¡¯t even exchange numbers with Meph or any of his former party members.
Well not like he could have anyway, they were in aa.
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"Get out, I am busy" Alfred¡¯s tired voice rang out from the desk fortified in documents, he couldn¡¯t even be seen.
However, upon not receiving a single reply and having the door still open, he stood up irritated "Hey! Do you even know how ha-"
His words were cut short as he noticed the figure in front of him.
"Michael?" Alfred asked with a trembling voice.
¡¯He is still the same¡¯
"Sup, miss me?"
Chapter 50: Gratitude
"I thought you died!" Alfred went up to Michael and hugged him, tears streaming down his face.
"Come on.. don¡¯t get my white robe dirty.." Readtest chapters at NovelBin.C?m
However, as he said that, he noticed the very bottom of his robe dyed in red, presumably from the previous trial.
¡¯Gross..¡¯ Even with his experience, this continued exposure to gore left a bad taste in his mouth.
Alfred backed away and wiped his tears "What brings you to our humble city?"
¡¯Ah.. here it is.¡¯
"You see.. while I was perceived as dead.. I might have lost all my wealth..."
Alfred¡¯s expression remained the same, a smile still hanging on his face "Why didn¡¯t you say so in the first ce, if you need a ce to stay, this city will greet you with open arms."
He walked back to his desk and took a key out of the cupboard, it was the key to the church "Here, we did some renovations there, however, I can assure you, you won¡¯t be left disappointed."
Michael didn¡¯t know how to react, to some extent, he expected them to wave him away, that¡¯s the human nature he was used to back in his previous world.
However, nothing like that happened, his delusions were wrong and he couldn¡¯t see the people for what they actually were.
And that was grateful.
The doubt settling within Michael had disappeared as he took the key out of Alfred¡¯s hand.
"Thank you.."
"No, thank you" Alfred shed a smile and went back to his duties.
¡¯...¡¯
He silently walked out of the building and headed to the church, the crowd of people had increased exponentially, however, they all made a path for him.
What¡¯s with the silence, are you about to cry or something?
¡¯What are you talking about? No, I am just seeing the people in a different light now, I used to see them as human bags of EXP but now it¡¯s different.¡¯
You are finally being honest with yourself, it¡¯s a step in the right direction.
It had been a while since hest got the system¡¯s approval.
Michael finally arrived in front of the church, it seemed.. bigger, more than twice the size he had seenst time.
The people once again opened the path for him, he unlocked it and went inside, locking it right behind him.
He didn¡¯t want to deal with his former Saint duties at the current moment, all he wanted to do was wash up and sleep.
The inside looked like a church from his previous world, with the room where he lived being hidden to the side.
One thing that remained from the past was the statue ¡¯Gabriel.. Archangel Gabriel, was it a coincidence I came here?¡¯
Surprisingly, I think it indeed was a coincidence.
The system didn¡¯t sound that convincing as it seemed like it didn¡¯t know anything either.
¡¯Right..¡¯
Michael went into his room and ate, showed and got into bed, getting his long awaited nap.
-----
Wake up.
Michael tossed around in his bed, it was still asfortable as he remembered.
I said wake up, you have a guest.
¡¯You should have started with that, your voice is like an annoying mosquito in the morning¡¯ He groggily got up out of the bed and put on his clothing before heading to the front of the church.
Mosquito? Not my fault your deafness carried over from the second trial.
Michael rolled his eyes and unlocked the church, in front of it were many people, but only one stood out.
It was Kevin, the person he least expected to see at the moment.
"You.." His eyes widened upon seeing Michael.
¡¯He still looks like he has a punchable face¡¯
"Come in" He gestured for Kevin toe inside the church, he preferred to talk when there wasn¡¯t a massive crowd around looking at him as if he was some holy being.
Michael shed a small smile and waved at the people around the church, waiting for Kevin to get inside so he could close the door.
As they both went inside, he was about to close the door, he noticed another one of his ssmates, Liam, there was also someone with familiar red hair in the crowd, however, he couldn¡¯t see the face of that person.
He nodded at Liam and closed the door behind him.
"How are you still alive?"
"Shut up, you sound like a broken record, sit down anywhere you like" Michael¡¯s fake facade was gone, reced with the usual dislike for Kevin, he was not sure how they could have been friends.
"I am serious.. you are way too different from the Michael I knew" He snickered and sat down on the sofa that was still right by the statue.
¡¯That¡¯s my sofa..¡¯ Michael sighed and sat at one of the seats at the very front, they were surprisinglyfortable.
"You had 2 years to debate whether I was the Michael you knew and you still hadn¡¯t figured it out?"
"Try regressing and your best friend being a different person than you used to know" He replied in a helpless tone.
¡¯Is he in denial?¡¯
Well, put yourself in his shoes, would you not feel strange talking to your friend who had be apletely different person?
"I understand where you areing from, but drop it, I am not the Michael from your memories and I have no clue who you are" Michael gave him a reality check, he wanted to dispel the delusions Kevin was putting himself through.
"But how.." He suddenly paused, his eyes widening as he murmured "Did the demon have something to do with this?"
Michael overheard it "What demon?"
"The one who had killed me.." Kevin dropped this piece of knowledge nonchntly as if it did not mean anything.
"You got killed by a demon..?"
He shrugged "Yeah, it was too strong, the only thing I recall besides my death was his name, for some reason, I can¡¯t remember how he looked."
¡¯Strange..¡¯
"His name is Astaroth, one of the princes of hell, I can¡¯t remember anything else sadly" Kevin rubbed his forehead a bit.
Well, you were not wrong about something being wrong with his head at the very least.
Michael held back augh ¡¯This is not the time..¡¯
"I see, well that sucks, sorry you died."
Kevin smiled slightly "Of course, thankfully I got another chance at revenge."
¡¯So he is driven by revenge, not a bad goal I guess¡¯ As his thoughts came to an end, a question arose inside his mind.
"How did I die?"
"You didn¡¯t, I didn¡¯t tell you I would be fighting Astaroth, so you lived at least longer than I had" He chuckled at the thought.
"Do you remember how you regressed then? Anything at all?" Michael felt as if that information could help him, since from what he understood, his situation is oddly simr to Kevin¡¯s.
"Nope, I fought, I died, I woke up back in my bed back in this world, even my family is still alive." A warm smile appeared on his face as he finished exining.
¡¯No dice huh..¡¯
Michael thought of asking about mana cores but quickly shot that thought down, oaths exist.
"Well, I am going to go clear my mind, see you next time I guess" Kevin stood up and walked past Michael, stopping just in front of the door.
"A high level dungeon break will happen soon after the academy year begins, it¡¯s as if that ce is some sort of a trouble ma" He chuckled "Will you be there?"
Michael nodded "Yes"
"Good" With that, Kevin left, leaving Michael by himself to his own thoughts.
¡¯A dungeon break huh..¡¯ He got up and stretched himself, preparing to open the church up to everyone.
¡¯It¡¯s about time I dust off my healing skills¡¯
Chapter 51: Mana Core
¡¯That was exhausting¡¯ Michael expressed as he sat back down on his bed.
For thest 4 days, the only thing he had been doing was healing others, however, for some reason, most of them came to the church just to see him.
Most did not even require healing assistance.
He couldn¡¯t tell how much EXP he got as he stopped receiving notifications about it but the system did assure him the EXP was going towards something.
He felt relieved and at the same time a bit concerned, Kevin seemed strong, possibly in the early level 120, he used his knowledge of the past well.
That also means he has gotten new skills, some of which might be better than Michael¡¯s.
He was not a jealous person, he just did not want to be very far behind.
¡¯Any updates on the status?¡¯
Work in progress, I told you.
¡¯Yeah, but not even a single bit of good news? You called that parasite ipetent, yet here you are.¡¯ He said with a snicker.
I will have you know, I could connect your skills with your mana pool and fix the system, however, you wouldn¡¯t be able to use the affinity you have until you get a Mana Core.
Michael seemed a bit surprised ¡¯What do you mean?¡¯
Your heart is pumping out mana without an affinity, the skills are connected to something even deeper than that, however, the connection was severed the moment you learned how to control mana, I assume the process felt a bit.. forceful.
¡¯It did..¡¯ He recalled his struggles of first learning mana control, he had even passed out once.
Achieving Physical Enhancement felt as if he broke through a dam, it was sudden and violent, however, the gains he received in that particr moment were huge.
¡¯So the only way is to get a Mana Core huh..¡¯ He thought with a bitter expression, he had hoped this wouldn¡¯t put him that far behind others.
Well look on the bright side, once everything recalibrates, you will be getting a bunch of new skills and since you figured out how to use mana, you wouldn¡¯t need to level them anymore, they would immediately bump up to the MAX level.
Michael gasped ¡¯Does that mean I canbine my skills into legendary rarity?¡¯
But as soon as he thought that, another issue arose ¡¯Doesn¡¯t that mean I won¡¯t be getting any more stat points?¡¯
You will be able tobine them yes, and no, stat points will also be recalibrated, you will be getting something different as a reward. Discover exclusive content at NovelBin.C?m
¡¯Is that so..¡¯ He felt a bit disappointed, however, he was sure the system knew what it was doing.
Laying down and looking up at the ceiling Michael had a nk look ¡¯So what happens to you once I end up getting a Mana Core, didn¡¯t you say you would disappear?¡¯
Nothing much, I would still be there to help you, however, my range of abilities would not be that useful anymore, I would still be able to automate some stuff for you though.
¡¯That¡¯s a relief, here I thought you might disappearpletely.¡¯
No, that was more so to make you rely on me less, you were like an adult baby back then.
Michael¡¯s expression hardened as he turned in his bed ¡¯Shut up.¡¯
What, am I wrong?
He decided to ignore the system for now, he wanted to finally take a nap, this day had been as exhausting as the rest.
He was a bit surprised how he managed to work here for more than a year withoutining ¡¯Is it the people?¡¯
Michael didn¡¯t feel that overwhelmed before, now, however, the stares were making him a tad bit ufortable.
Just as he was about to close his eyes and fall asleep, a loud knock resounded on the church¡¯s door.
¡¯Seriously..¡¯ He got up groggily, he had gotten sofortable in his bed, yet his rest was cut short.
Opening the door, what greeted his eyes was a familiar individual, one he did not expect to see down here in the slums.
"Amanda, to what do I owe this visit?" Michael put on his Saintly smile, trying his best to rile her up.
However, she ignored his antics "You are needed back at the council, why did you turn off your phone.."
Ignoring thest part ¡¯Needed at the council? Does she mean at that round table meeting?¡¯ He thought with a puzzled expression, why would he be needed there anyway? It¡¯s not like he was the Saint anymore.
"Don¡¯t think too much about it, my father wishes to talk to you in private." She said nonchntly and gestured for him to get a move on.
¡¯Fafnir wants to see me? Is it because of the wish?¡¯ Michael quickly locked the door behind him and followed after Amanda.
As the only way toe down and up from the slums was the subway station, they couldn¡¯t get the car down there.
¡¯She mentioned phone, isn¡¯t the barrier like an EMP?¡¯ He thought back to his previous observation.
An EMP for Mana, not for technology, it¡¯s an intricate design.
The system added as he finally reached the car, heading straight for the government headquarters building.
Stepping into the elevator, they immediately appeared at the very top where the round table was located.
Walking up to the room, Amanda nodded at him and walked away.
¡¯So it¡¯s a 1 on 1 meeting? I still hadn¡¯t decided what I wanted though..¡¯ Michael thought with a small frown as he opened the door in front of him, Fafnir sitting down in one of the morefier looking chairs.
¡¯He¡¯s drooling..¡¯ He noticed that the supposed dragon was asleep.
However, he suddenly sprang up to his feet and walked up to Michael, his expression a bit tense.
"I have somewhere to be human, tell me your wish already" He said in an impatient tone.
¡¯Did he wait for me all these years? Whoops..¡¯ Michael felt a bit guilty, from what he read in the books, dragons tend to be a little impatient.
A little? I am surprised he didn¡¯t just kill you straight up.
¡¯Well, that would be a bit unreasonable..¡¯
"Alright, can you teach me how to form a Mana Core?" Michael asked, not even trying to hide his greed, he knew Fafnir couldn¡¯t do something like that anyway.
However, the next words greatly shocked him "Very well, sit down."
¡¯Huh? System?¡¯
I am not sure.. I can¡¯t think a of workaround...
Even the system was not sure of what Fafnir was about to do, breaking the Oath results to death, was he nning on dying?
Nheless, Michael sat down on the floor as Fafnir sat right behind him.
"Human, what kind of a battle style do you have?"
Michael thought for a moment "I am a healer, however, my offensive magic is pretty strong too, I amfortable with Close range and mid-long range battles as well."
"Show me" Fafnir gestured for Michael to show his spells, he got ready to stand up but was stopped.
"Show me while sitting on the ground" He said and ced his hand over Michael¡¯s head.
¡¯What is he doing?¡¯
Just do what he says, I think I understand where he was going with this.
Michael nodded and began casting his attack magic one by one, followed by a few Mana Shields to add variety andstly, Shield of Nourishment which he had cast on himself.
He had Physical Enhancement on at all times, so he was sure Fafnir would notice as well.
"Hm... I see" Fafnir suddenly stood up and picked Michael up by the head.
"I need you to use up every single bit of mana you have."
¡¯Won¡¯t I pass out again though?¡¯
You passed outst time because you didn¡¯t have any training in using it, now you do, trust him, you will be surprised.
Michael nodded and began using skill after skill.
¡¯This better be worth it.¡¯
Chapter 52: Mana Core (2)
Are you alright?
¡¯Does it look like I am alright?¡¯
Michael was currently lying on the ground, struggling to even breathe properly, he used up all of his mana and now, he couldn¡¯t move a muscle.
"Good enough" Fafnir once again picked him up and sat him down.
"I will start."
As those words rang out, Michael¡¯s body waspletely paralyzed, he could feel some strange pressure moving all around his body, however, he couldn¡¯t resist it or interact with it in the slightest.
It stopped his mana from regenerating, every single time that pressure came into contact with it, his mana disappeared.
Michael gritted his teeth, even if he was paralyzed, he could still feel the overwhelming pain assaulting him.
All of a sudden, the pressure halted and began concentrating in his spine, his mana which had been disappearing earlier, suddenly began flowing around his spine, seeping inside of it slowly.
The pain Michael was going through made him not be able to think clearly, he couldn¡¯t even hear the words the System was telling him.
¡¯Guhhh... this is fucking torture!¡¯ he eximed, nearly passing out, however, a sudden jolt of pressure forced him back awake.
Forcing himself to endure this, he noticed a single golden thread appearing at the bottom of his spine, traveling all the way to the top.
It felt as though a sharp knife was cutting him open with every single second that passed, the pain was only growing worse.
All of a sudden, the golden line finally reached the very top of his spine and he could no longer feel the connection of mana within his heart.
It made him panic a little bit, for all he knew, something went wrong.
However, that seemed to not be the case as in the next moment, all the pain suddenly stopped, as if what he just gone through was nothing but a dream.
But it wasn¡¯t, the mana that had been actively swirling around his heart, was not there anymore, the only thing remaining was a smallyer of colorless mana that he had cast around his heart.
That was to prevent him from dying in a single hit.
Good job, you endured it.
Michael scoffed ¡¯Yeah? Then why can¡¯t I move huh?¡¯ he attempted to move his arms, however, it was to no avail.
He looked out of the window and noticed it was already bright outside, when he came here it had just be dark.
¡¯How long was I at it for..?¡¯
As his body still felt paralyzed, he heard a sound from behind him, it was Fafnir, for some reason, he seemed deep in thought.
"I didn¡¯t expect the core to form so cleanly.. you really are something else aren¡¯t you?" He grinned widely.
I can finally recalibrate your status, it should be ready by the time you start the academy, don¡¯t bother me unless you are dying or something.
The system remarked rudely, causing Michael¡¯s brow to twitch ¡¯Suit yourself.¡¯
Taking a nce at Fafnir "So.. what just happened?"
"I tried something and it worked, no need to thank me" He replied proudly.
Thought those words caused Michael to be a little confused "What do you mean by that?"
"Well, I saw your healing skills are pretty solid, so I thought you would survive the forceful Mana Core forming, I had never tried it before but you seemed desperate.. It was also a wish so I couldn¡¯t refuse either" Fafnir put on an innocent smile.
However, Michael was not as amused ¡¯Did he just gamble with my life?¡¯
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"Hey, it wasn¡¯t that dangerous, I had your mana under my control, worse case scenario you would have been paralyzed for a few days, nothing too serious" Heughed loudly.
Just as he was about to question the dragon¡¯s intelligence, he was interrupted.
Fafnir looked at him with a serious expression, a stark contrast to his previous antics "I deemed you perfect for a Flow core, it has the qualities of enhancing your speed, whether it be physical or mana rted" He stopped for a moment then continued.
"With it, you can intertwine both types of fighting into a single battle style, hence why it is called the Flow Core. This is also the core that I have." Fafnir huffed proudly.
"You canbine your spells, causing even greater destruction.."
¡¯That sounded a little bit ominous.¡¯
Michael nodded to everything Fafnir said "How do I.. I don¡¯t know.. Level it up?"
He was met with a chuckle "Once you get ustomed to using it you will understand, although our cores are the same, our paths are not."
¡¯Fair enough.. The system would probably exin anyway..¡¯
Michael finally regained some ounce of control over his body, being able to stand up on his feet, albeit still a little wobbly.
I said I was going to go but your doubt is annoying me.
¡¯What now..¡¯
The reason he asked you to drain your mana out was that he wanted to perfectly assimte with your body, He could then form a Mana Core as if it was his own.. It¡¯s a genius idea.
¡¯Oh.. that does sound prettyplex¡¯ Michael had to agree that it was definitely impressive.
However, it didn¡¯t change the fact that it was dangerous.
¡¯Can you tell me about the other types of cores then?¡¯
No, I am busy.
Michael sighed ¡¯Sure, whatever.¡¯
Turning to Fafnir who was just standing by the side, staring at him "Thank you, if not for you, I would have been stuck."
"No problem human, don¡¯t go bber about the cores, you are now under an oath" He warned Michael before sitting back down in his chair, falling asleep nearly instantly.
¡¯The oath.. I didn¡¯t even feel anything like that.¡¯
Nheless, Michael did not want to overstay his wee, so he went out of the room and down the elevator.
He expected to see Amanda, however, she was nowhere to be seen, the same going for the other workers, the entire building seemed empty.
Walking right outside, he saw the driver from before.
They made eye contact and the driver shook his head.
¡¯So they drive me here but won¡¯t drive me back.. the government is a bunch of cheapskates.¡¯
Michael could imagine Amandaughing at him, maybe it was her way of revenge for all themotion he had caused back in the slums.
After all, the previous Saint returned while there was already one in position, it was bound to create great controversy.
Some might even begin questioning their Goddess Sophia.
¡¯Well.. not like I care¡¯ He stretched a bit and began running back to the slums, he couldn¡¯t wait until he moved into the academy dorms, this workout was not something he wanted to do.
Especially after what he just went through.
The moment he thought about it, a sharp pain traveled across his spine ¡¯It still hurts..¡¯
Arriving back at the slums, he noticed there weren¡¯t a lot of people outside, it was after all, still morning.
It took a bit longer than before to run back, the mana which he had used to previously enhance himself, was currently flowing through the spine and into all of his nerves.
He was still not used to this so he messed up the output, making him run out of mana in the middle of his run.
¡¯I am back though.. that¡¯s all that matters.¡¯
Michael walked back to his church and was prepared to go back to sleep, however, a massive crowd of people was gathered.
"Oh! It¡¯s the Saint!" They all cheered.
A sour expression appeared on Michael¡¯s face as he noticed that he might not be able to go back to sleep after all.
¡¯2 Days straight of work.. Fuck¡¯
Chapter 53: The New Status
A/N: Please refer to the new auxiliary chapter for tiers, stats and types of mana cores. Also after this chapter, I will no longer be writing every single skill in detail, I will put that in auxiliary also.
*
It is done.
Upon hearing those words, Michael immediately jumped out of bed, almost tumbling to the ground.
¡¯I thought you wouldn¡¯t make it, the academy is in 6 hours¡¯ He expressed a sigh of relief and called out for the status
+---+
Name: Michael
Age: 14 years old
Race: Human
Affinity: Light [Supreme]
Mana Purity: 14%
Mana Core: Flow
Mana Core Rank: Tier 1
-:- 0% Progress to next Tier -:-
-Titles:
* Ruthless Combatant
# Raise all your stats by 1 Minor Rank when facing enemies at least 1 tier above you
* Being of Light
# Increase the effectiveness of your Light affinity based spells by 25%
* ???
-Stats
HP: 100% / Regen 5% HP Per Hour
MP: 100% / Regen 10% MP Per Hour
STR: Tier 1 [C+]
END: Tier 1 [B-]
AGI: Tier 1 [B]
INT: Tier 1 [B+]
CHA: Tier 1 [D+]
-Skills / [Skill Merging]
[Herald of Light] [Advanced] [Passive]
# 250% increase in casting speed, 500% for Light affinity based spells
Eyes of The Healer [Intermediate] [Passive]
# See the ailments, illnesses, curses, and any kind of mind magic of those in your field of vision.
Hand to handbat [Beginner] [Passive]
# Increases STR by 1 Minor Rank when fighting using only your hands
Discipline [Basic] [Passive]
# Mental magic has a 20% reduced effect on you
Shooting mastery [Beginner] [Passive]
# Any kind of projectile has a 20% increase in velocity
Purify [Intermediate] [Active]
# Purify everyone and everything around you, curing all diseases and illnesses
Cost: 5% MP
Radius: 200 Meters
Shield of Nourishment [Basic] [Active]
# Heal 20% HP and apply a 20% HP shield. Heal 10% after shield is broken.
Cost: 2% MP
Physical Enhancement [Beginner] [Active]
# Increase all stats by 1 Minor Rank
Upkeep: >1% MP/S
Sword of Light [Basic] [Active]
# Summon 1 or multiple swords containing the Light affinity.
Cost: >1% MP/S
Shield of Light [Basic] [Active]
# Summon 1 or multiple shields containing the Light affinity
Cost >1% MP/S
Veil of Detection [Basic] [Active]
# Feel the mana of everything and everyone in an area around you.
Cost: >1% MP/S
+---+
Michael¡¯s smile twitched slightly ¡¯System..? Where are the skills you told me about?¡¯
Well.. to unlock certain abilities.. I had to sacrifice them.
The system¡¯s nonchnt words made him widen his eyes in disbelief ¡¯Are you fucking kidding me? Just how many skills did you sacrifice!?¡¯
Hm.. All but 1? I only left Herald of Light since it looked to be something you would want, the others would havebined into bad skills anyway.
¡¯You are unbelievable..¡¯
Michael nced at his new status a few more times, not understanding half of the things on there.
However, one thing made a frown appear on his face.
¡¯Did my healing skills get worse?¡¯
As I have told you, all your skills were readjusted for the future, you might think of it as worse for now, however, you would understand that it is much better for you.
¡¯Yeah? Do tell me how exactly? I would need to cast my Shield of Nourishment 5 times to heal someone back to full health, does that seem good to you?¡¯
If you think your 8000 HP heals would work on those who have a Mana core, then you are wrong. The HP amounts can no longer be put into numbers once you are strong enough, percentages are the only way.
Michael was still not convinced but it¡¯s not like he could do anything anyway so he merely nodded ¡¯If you say so.¡¯
He didn¡¯t know how to feel, while he did grow significantly stronger, the loss of the skills felt like a big blow to him, even if most of them could not be used practically, some could bebined into better skills.
¡¯So how do I increase my mana core tier?¡¯
Do you remember the feeling of the thread moving from your lower spine to the upper spine?
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Michael slightly shivered ¡¯How could I not.. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll ever forget that pain.¡¯
Whatever, you need to absorb mana and slowly weave it upwards, once you reach the very top, your tier will increase, simple right?
¡¯Are you telling me I have to go through the same pain again?¡¯
Of course not, this process usually takes longer than a few hours, you were in pain because your mana core thread was forcefully stretched out.
¡¯Fair enough, so I just have to what.. absorb mana into my spine?¡¯
Yes, to the very bottom of your spine, once a certain amount umtes, you will see the mana thread forming, after that, you just have to absorb more and weave it upwards.
¡¯Alright.¡¯
Michael stretched a bit and began walking towards the academy, it was still in 6 hours but he didn¡¯t really have anything better to do, he had already informed Alfred about him leaving again.
The system exined some details regarding the mana cores and his new stat calctions and although it confused him, it was a bit better than not knowing anything at all.
Along the way, Michael tested out his skills, shooting them high up in the air, his casting speed was indeed many times faster.
It seemed his title added a small bonus to it as well, he had assumed it was only to general power, however, he was wrong.
His casting speed was currently 525% faster than what it should have been,bined with his Flow core, he assumed it was at the very least double that.
That made most of his spells instant cast, his spells cast even before he finished his thoughts of casting them, it was definitely something he was satisfied with.
Michael tried asking the system about what kind of abilities it unlocked after sacrificing his hard earned skills, however, it refused to answer him.
I will tell you when it¡¯s necessary, for now, just quiet down and use your skills or whatever.
¡¯Why are you treating me like some sort of a child?¡¯ Michael grumbled and arrived at the inner city, he still had roughly 1 hour to spare before the academy started.
He was addicted to casting his new spells, a thought was all it took tounch a destructive sword flying incredibly fast into the sky, he believed that no matter what he did, he had abative advantage against most of his peers.
As he slowly made his way to the academy, he noticed something something in one of the stores, it was a clock, disying the time.
¡¯8:20..¡¯ Michael looked on nkly.
¡¯I amte again.¡¯
As a sigh escaped his mouth, he picked up the pace and ran with his full speed towards the academy.
He felt reborn, although he was still not at 100% since the mana core forming was pretty rough, he was many times stronger than he had been previously.
It was like night and day.
He ran inside the academy, zipping past the receptionist who barely even managed to react to his speed.
¡¯8:24..¡¯ Michael thought in relief before suddenly halting.
¡¯I am not the Saint anymore.. will she let my bullshit pass?¡¯
What? Afraid you will be expelled the first day youe back?
¡¯...¡¯ He took a deep breath and stepped forward, pushing open the ssroom door.
Chapter 54: Party
As the ssroom door swung open, everyone immediately turned to look at the culprit, that being Michael.
The moment they noticed, most of them had shocked expressions, seemingly finding it hard to believe that he was still alive after all this time.
"You arete" Lena¡¯s irritated voice rang out from the podium, she had a small scar on her chin now, something she definitely did not have thest time he had seen her.
"Sorry.." Michael expressed and sat down, he was d she was in a forgiving mood, else he would most certainly be put into detention.
He nced around the entire ss and frowned, clenching his fists tightly.
¡¯A few died? There were 11 left, with me being back we were now at 12 in total, far behind the previous 20 students.¡¯
Such is life, they were either too weak or too unlucky to had died.
¡¯I suppose you are right, it¡¯s a pity they died so young though..¡¯
He noticed the seat right next to Liam was still open and that¡¯s where he decided to sit.
Liam seemed to change quite a lot, his previous nerdyplexion long gone, Michael felt like he could finally be taken seriously now.
As for the others, Tony was still staring daggers at him, Kevin and Elizabeth did not show a reaction and finally Chloe, she was surprisingly one of the people with shocked looks.
It was hard to understand why, it¡¯s not like they even knew each other, quite frankly, he did not have any friends aside from Kevin, yet even then, it was a one sided friendship.
¡¯Even after hearing his story, I still don¡¯t like him..¡¯ Experience more tales on NovelBin.C?m
Although Kevin tried to hide it, he seemed way too arrogant, even his interactions with ssmates from time to time made it seem like he was trying to act superior to them.
Michael hated those types of people more than anything.
"Now that everyone is finally here, I can start the exnation" Lena sighed while holding her forehead, it seemed she was still tired of Michael¡¯s tardiness.
"The first year consisted of training you. The second of honing you. And now, this year you will finally be put to the test, whether you are worthy of going out into the world to fight monsters."
¡¯Likest year wasn¡¯t dangerous enough.. they are now going to make the kids fight alone, aren¡¯t they?¡¯
"Since all of you make up 12 people, make groups of 4, they will be your party until the end of the year" Lena instructed and sat down on the podium.
The moment Michael stood up, Kevin instantly approached him, a small smile on his face.
"Yo" And with those words, leaned back on the window sill, trying his best not to let the smugness show.
¡¯This guy is shameless¡¯ Michael couldn¡¯t help but sigh, however, as much as he didn¡¯t like Kevin, he was definitely someone he wanted in his party.
Minus his personality, his skills and experience are worth a fortune.
Michael could see Tony walking around the entire ssroom, talking to people and trying to get them over to his party.
Yet for some reason, most of them ignored him, even shing looks of disgust at him.
¡¯What did he do this time?¡¯
Liam stood up and walked up to Tony, trying to cheer him up and eventually agreeing to join his party, it seemed the two of them became friends over thest 2 years.
¡¯A delinquent and a nerd, what an oddbo¡¯ Michael shrugged, it¡¯s not like he wanted to invite Liam anyway, from what he saw of his skills in the spars, he was not someone he wished to leave his back to.
He noticed a few people ncing his way, Chloe and Elizabeth, coincidentally, neither of them had a party yet.
Michael got out of his seat and walked up to Chloe first as her seat was a bit closer to him.
"Wanna join my party?" He asked t out, he felt like she might be a straightforward person, hence he didn¡¯t try any sweet talk.
Chloe simply nodded without saying anything, a sign of eptance that put a smile on Michael¡¯s face.
¡¯2 powerful people in my party, only Elizabeth was left¡¯ He thought and walked up to her seat next.
She wore a nk expression or so it appeared that way to others, however, to Michael, it was a bit different.
¡¯Those eyes.. they are just like mine.¡¯
Her expression might have been nk but her eyes portrayed her inner greed, she is the type of person to want to get something out of an arrangement.
"Do you want to join our party?" Michael asked nicely, to which, Elizabeth quickly shot him down.
"Nope."
"Suit yourself." He shrugged and started walking away, preparing to head in the direction of some random ssmate whose abilities he remembered being one of the weakest.
However, just as he expected.
"Wait" Elizabeth stood up from her chair and in a slightly trembling voice said "I will join your party.."
¡¯This easy? Here I thought she would be more stubborn.¡¯ He chuckled inwardly, he expected her to y this little not caring charade of hers a little longer.
"I see.. but I already picked out the next member of our party though?" Michael teased and began walking again.
"You.." She jumped over the table and sent a kick his way, to which he summoned a small Shield of Light in the blink of an eye,pletely blocking her attack and sending her flying through all of the desks and seats in the ssroom.
¡¯Uhh..?¡¯ He was a bit confused by what just happened, all he did was cast a simple shield, yet it looked like some sort of an attack spell.
Spells are at their most powerful once they are just formed, what you did just now is called a Magic Parry, pairing that with one of the Light affinity¡¯s inherent traits, Reflection, and your current boost in skills, you basically attacked her with more than 2 times the power of her own kick.
¡¯Holy shit..? Isn¡¯t that a bit overpowered?¡¯ Michael finally realized a portion of his strength.
He initially thought the Flow core was not that special, however, he now felt like if he had any other core, what he did just now could not be replicated.
The sheer speed was unfathomable, a mere thought at the correct moment couldpletely turn the tide of a battle, it was simply insane.
¡¯But why did she have to try kicking me that hard?¡¯
Michael walked up to her, she seemed a little dazed so he cast a Shield of Nourishment to heal her, making her finally stand up.
He turned to Lena and was met with a re ¡¯Whoops?¡¯
Elizabeth finally stood up and looked at Michael with her eyes slightly widened.
Just as she was about to say something she was interrupted.
"You can join, just don¡¯t attack me or whatever, it¡¯s not very nice" Michael chuckled and walked back to his seat, not taking responsibility for the damage he had caused.
¡¯It¡¯s her fault anyway, she was the one who kicked me.. I just defended myself¡¯ He nced at the damage and felt a trickle of sweat drop down his neck.
If that is your way of defense, then good luck paying off the damage.
Those words made Michael flinch ¡¯I am still broke..¡¯
He looked around, noticing that aside from the chaos he had just caused, everyone managed to join a party.
Lena finally stood up "Good, I will now tell you your objective..."
Chapter 55: Assignment
"You all mustplete a request, it will be assigned by the academy and the difficulty will be determined by your level" Lena exined.
¡¯That seems simple enough, though how does my mana core trante to level?¡¯
It doesn¡¯t, the detector won¡¯t pick anything up, it will just say you are level 200 or something, it can¡¯t go past that.
Stay tuned to NovelBin.C?m
Michael nodded, it made sense if he thought about it, Mana Cores were not something he heard about a lot in the world, if the devices could detect them, it would have been a different case entirely.
Lena gave out a level detection device to each and every single person present, waiting patiently for the results.
¡¯Hm..¡¯ Michael ced his hand on it and just as he expected, it disyed a flickering Level 200.
He handed it back to Lena and sat back down in his seat, noticing a shocked expression appearing on her face.
The others gave their detection devices back, however, none managed to get the same reaction out of her, only Michael¡¯s level surprised her.
She handled them all and sorted through a stack of papers she had right beside her, pulling out 3 documents in particr.
Lena gestured for each of the parties toe pick the documents up one by one.
¡¯Level 400 in total / Maximum Difficulty Assignment¡¯ Michael nced at the words written in bold and showed a slight smile.
Just as he was about to open the document up, he was swiftly interrupted by a chilly pressure directed at him, it was Lena.
"Don¡¯t open it alone, do it with everyone present. On that note, everyone get out of the ssroom" She pointed at the door and waved her hand.
The others had sour expressions as they immediately began staring at Michael with betrayed expressions.
However, the displeasure did notst long as everyone eventually got out of the ssroom, 2 parties heading for the cafeteria, meanwhile Michael¡¯s party was walking out of the academy.
¡¯She didn¡¯t specify if we had to be inside or outside, it should be fine..¡¯ He thought as he led his other party members to a nearby cafe.
However, he remembered something the moment he entered the cafe and it was that he waspletely broke, not a single dor to his name.
Michael looked at his party members who had been silent since the ssroom and gestured for them to sit down by a table.
A nearby waiter came up to them, wearing a professional expression "What would you like to order?"
"Soup, extra sour cream" Elizabeth was the first one to speak up, followed by Kevin "I¡¯ll have 3 cups of coffee, you can choose which, I trust your rmendation."
A shiver went down Michael¡¯s spine ¡¯Is he trying to act cool?¡¯
He took notice of the glint in his eyes, he could see shamelessness, or maybe it was just Michael not liking Kevin, nobody knew.
"I will have the cookies then" Chloe finally spoke up.
The waiter nodded and finished writing down their orders, all their gazesnding on Michael "And you?"
"I will have water.. or bread, whichever is free" He said, masking his inner embarrassment with a poker face.
Even the waiter seemed a bit dazed for a moment "Sir.. they are both free."
"Good, I¡¯ll get both then."
The waiter looked at Michael for a few moments before writing down the final order and walking away.
Your ears are a little red.
¡¯Shut up..¡¯ He nced back at his party members who all except for Kevin did not seem to care that much.
"Do not worry o previous Saint, the heavens will bless your water and bread" Kevin said as he shed an imaginary tear, failing to hide the massive smirk forming on his face.
¡¯This guy is going to have a field day with my misfortune..¡¯
"Would you like to receive a Saintly punch perhaps?" Michael waved his fist around sarcastically.
Suddenly, Elizabeth mmed her hand down on the table, startling Chloe who appeared to have dozed off.
"Stop acting like children, show us what kind of an assignment we got already."
"Fine.." Michael rolled his eyes and pulled the document back out, cing it right in the very middle of the table.
Elizabeth didn¡¯t waste time and immediately grabbed it, opening it up and reading it out.
"You are tasked with escorting an armored vehicle to its destination..? The vehicle holds high value inmates who could prove to be a massive threat if they manage to escape.. what is this!" Herposure lessened more and more with each sentence she read.
"Why are we getting a mere escorting assignment!? Aren¡¯t we at level 400bined huh?" Elizabeth threw the document, embedding it cleanly into a wall.
¡¯Did she just embed paper into a brick wall.. alright¡¯ Michael was a bit impressed by that, however, he had to agree with her thoughts.
An escort for someone with our power.. something was not adding up.
However, Michael had to defuse the situation somehow, an assignment was an assignment "So.. what level are you guys now?"
"122" Elizabeth was once again the very first to reply, though this time it was because of frustration.
"138" A proud and arrogant voice rang out, it was obviously Kevin, he didn¡¯t even try to hide it anymore.
"131" Chloe was the veryst to reply as always, Michael noticed that for some reason, she seemed a little distracted, dozing off from time to time as well, it seemed unusual.
¡¯Well what do I know, maybe she just hadn¡¯t slept in a while.¡¯
Michael nodded his head a few times, registering that Kevin was now the strongest of the 3, with Elizabeth falling behind by quite a few levels.
However, he could not help but admit that it was impressive, as talented as the other 2 were, she was still able topete with them at a simr level of skill.
And that was due to the hard work she put into her swordsmanship.
Michael had not seen it in quite a while, but he could only imagine how good she was by now.
"What about you?" Kevin rxed in his chair holding one of the coffees the waiter ced down.
"Level 200? I think?" At those words, the others immediately fell silent, their eyes widened in surprise.
But there was one person who had a grave expression on their face, it was Kevin "Did you form it already?"
¡¯Does he mean the mana core?" Michael thought for a moment and gave a slight nod, earning a long sigh from Kevin.
"You are something else man.. definitely not the same as the oth- never mind.."
¡¯He was about to say other one huh.. how much longer is he going to tryparing the two of us?¡¯
Michael had given up on that thought, it was nothing new, Kevin was still as delusional as always.
Just as Elizabeth and Chloe were about to barrage him with questions, he immediately changed the topic "The assignment is in a week, what do you guys think about practicing our teamwork in a dungeon, it doesn¡¯t hurt to be safe."
They backed away, sulking a bit that they could not get their questions answered.
However, no oneined, everyone was in agreement.
"Good, then shall we start tomorrow then?"
"Why not today?" Elizabeth was of course the one to interject, she seemed to be the impatient type.
"..Or today... Is that fine with everyone else?"
Upon receiving nods of confirmation, Michael stood up and picked up the bread that was on the table, putting it into his pocket.
"Let¡¯s go."
Chapter 56: Good Party
¡¯What is with these people?¡¯ Michael was currently standing in the very back, watching the 3 others kill lizard monsters.
They had no form of teamwork, quite frankly, they were stealing each other¡¯s kills and nearly injuring one another.
He had to heal Elizabeth twice because she kept trying to race Kevin for a kill and got a cut or two.
Meanwhile, Chloe, she was the fastest of the 3, she could disappear and reappear anywhere within the dungeon due to her spatial magic.
However, Michael still could not see how they got this far with ¡¯teamwork¡¯ like theirs.
Strength.
¡¯Sure, they are strong, but let¡¯s say a stronger opponent attacks them, what are they going to do then?¡¯
Run.
¡¯...¡¯ Michael sighed at the system¡¯sment, it seemed like it was finding this situation equally as bad as him.
While he could attack and stabilize their formation, he thought there was no point, these mobs were mere level 60¡¯s, something he could kill all of them with a simple Sword of Light.
After leaving the cafe, they headed straight back to Lena to ask for a dungeon, it seemed like under the teacher¡¯s supervision, they could enter any dungeon they liked.
Of course, it had to not be way too high of a level, she could not afford any more student casualties or else the Elite ss would be disbanded.
¡¯On that note..¡¯ Michael turned back to Elizabeth and Kevin, who were just about to collide with one another and cast Shield of Nourishment, he didn¡¯t want the magic parry incident to happen again, not right now anyway.
They bumped into each other and kept going, killing the lizard monster with both of their shes.
Kevin opted out of using a weapon, he could manipte his shadows in any way he wanted to.
¡¯Say.. did they go through ascension or whatever? I sure didn¡¯t..¡¯ Michael thought while looking over to make sure they didn¡¯t identally aim for each other¡¯s necks.
You skipped both of them, you should be getting one every 100 levels, now your next one will be once you achieve the next tier, which from what you can see, will not be very soon. But yes, they went through something simr.
He nced at his status and saw the t 0%, it made his brow twitch but it was not like he had a mana core for long, it hadn¡¯t even fully stabilized yet. Enjoy exclusive content from NovelBin.C?m
Get over it, you will have a chance to increase it faster once you begin traveling, for your first objective, go to the Daor continent.
¡¯You mean that super dangerous continent? Anything special there?¡¯
There are a few gateways to other realms, it¡¯s an interesting ce in which more than a few worlds are connected, though this world¡¯s humans think it¡¯s some kind of a monster hotspot.
Michael tilted his head ¡¯Isn¡¯t it though?¡¯
No, if all of the monsters came from the other worlds, this particr world would have been long eradicated, the only thinging through are strays which are not exactly the strongest.
He thought back to the history lessons he had barely paid attention to, however, from what he recalls, it took raid parties weeks to kill even one.
¡¯Then are the people who have mana cores in those other worlds?¡¯
Yes.
¡¯I see..¡¯ Michael cast yet another Shield of Nourishment on Elizabeth and Kevin, the previous one seemed to have broken.
¡¯Why are the people who have mana cores still in this world then? Isn¡¯t it more beneficial to travel to another one?¡¯
It is, some have certain circumstances why they can¡¯t or won¡¯t, some might be exiled, others are just caring for their families, as you might notice with Amanda.
Michael nodded, in exchange for getting stronger, she kept her sick father safe, it was pretty admirable.
From what he gathered, the other realms/worlds are dangerous, quite frankly, he wasn¡¯t sure if he could do much if he went there, however, he would have to as his journey just started.
"Guys.. I think that¡¯s enough" Michael finally interjected, from his very keen observations, he was able to tell that this party is absolutely hopeless.
Teamwork was not in their vocabry, the only one that he might be able to work around was Chloe because she was more of a solo fighter, the others were too but just worse.
"What do you mean? The boss monster is literally in front of us" Elizabeth grumbled and pointed at the massive lizard that stood tall, spear in hand.
Michael nced at her with a nk expression and sent 3 Swords of Light, 2 aiming for the boss monster¡¯s heart, thest one for its brain.
It was not able to dodge in time due to the sheer difference in speed and skill, so it simply folded backwards lifelessly.
"What boss monster?"
"Pft.." Kevin almost let hisugh slip as he headed back towards the portal, Chloe following right behind him.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth stood rooted on the spot, not knowing what to say to his antics.
"Cat got your tongue?" Michael snickered and headed out of the portal, leaving her behind.
He saw Kevin standing by on his phone and walked up to him, whispering quietly "Is the dungeon break you were talking about going to happen during our escort assignment?"
He shook his head, signaling no and went back to browsing his phone, not paying any more attention to Michael.
¡¯Wow, finally not being annoying? About time¡¯ He was satisfied, it seemed Kevin might have finally gotten over denial phase.
Chloe was sitting by the side, eating some kind of a sandwich, he was not sure how she managed to get that here.
However, just as he thought that, a small crack appeared in the air and out came yet another sandwich.
¡¯Oh right.. spatial storage or whatever¡¯ He looked at it with interest but noticed it seemed a bit different.
Usually the items just up and appear, these ones came out of a little crack in space.
¡¯Will I ever get such an ability..¡¯ He felt a little bit jealous because of how convenient it seemed.
It¡¯s possible, however, don¡¯t expect it to happen any time soon, you are still fairly weak in the grand scheme of things.
¡¯I know that.¡¯ Just as Michael finished talking with the system, Elizabeth finally came out, a small frown still hanging on her face.
She nced at him and her frown deepened for a moment, before walking to Chloe and beginning to talk about something he could not quite hear.
¡¯How do I make this party more.. party-like?¡¯ Michael was in deep thought, as hopeless as they were, he wanted to at the very least, make them semi-functional as a party.
He called out for them, especially singling out Kevin and Elizabeth "You two.. need to get your shit together, as for Chloe, try to fight around them for now."
They seemed a bit surprised that he cussed, however, he was no longer the Saint, why should he hold his thoughts back?
"What do you mean? I can clearly kill the monsters on my own but he keeps trying to steal my kills!" Elizabeth eximed in frustration while sending a re at Kevin.
To which he simply shrugged "You are the one who is stealing my kills."
¡¯...What did I sign myself up for?¡¯
Chapter 57: Escort
It was finally the day, they were about to head out and officially start their assignment.
However, Michael was currently busy writing a test that he hadn''t even studied for.
''How was I supposed to know they revise what they learned every year.. and why exactly did I not get excluded'' Michael grumbled and kept marking down the answers.
While it was certainly difficult, it wasn''t exactly something he couldn''t solve.
The way his brain worked was, he referenced the question to other simr questions he had inside of his brain and out came some kind of an answer.
Whether that works or not, he would find out after the test was finally graded.
''She really doesn''t like me huh..'' During the test, he noticed Elizabeth ncing at him from time to time with a frown.
He didn''t understand what caused such animosity between them.. maybe it''s because of the way he made them practice their teamwork?
''It couldn''t have been that bad though right..?'' He made them switch positions and only act if one of them was in danger.
It did not work.
Chloe was the only one who followed through most of the time, however, even then, her solo battle style could not be hidden at all.
As for the other 2.. Michael lost all hope.
No matter what kind of a strategy he tried employing with them, it always failed.
Their thirst for kills was too strong, they keptpeting with one another.
''I guess that exins why Elizabeth was so close in level to them.. She goes around straining herself to get kills'' He concluded.
Kevin was obviously stronger than her, however, she tried her best to keep up with him.
And Chloe.. Was just Chloe.. Nothing out of the ordinary was wrong with her, she could work in a team.
Or so he hoped.
The test finally ended and Michael gave his paper first, trying to avoid eye contact with Lena as much as possible while heading for the ssroom exit.
He sessfully made it out and headed outside, he told the others to meet up outside after the test was finished.
Frankly, he was one of thest people to leave, those who finished earlier could go do whatever they wanted.
And that just so happened to be all 3 of his party members.
"You arete.." Elizabeth was the first one to talk as always.
"I am notte, you are just early.." He ignored her as a vehicle began approaching them.
They were supposed to be picked up right after the test ended, Elizabeth was just being pissy about it as per usual.
They all got in the car and were driven to some remote area, in front of them was a massive armored van.
The strangest part was that Michael could feel a very faint trace of mana from the people inside of it.
All of them definitely had mana cores, but just like him, they didn''t seem that far advanced.
There were only 4 of them, if Michael caught them off guard, he could possibly kill them all, that''s how confident he was in his current abilities.
His mana core seemed to have be more stable over the course of the week, he felt like he could finally output 100% of his total strength.
However, he hoped he didn''t need to, it was supposed to be a simple escorting assignment anyways.
A burly man came up to them and began exining their task.
"The 4 of you will be inside of the van, you need to ensure that they don''t pull anything funny, if they do, tap this button twice" He pointed at a watch on his hand that had a single button in the very middle.
He then proceeded to give each one of Michael''s party a watch, it felt weightless.
''Hopefully, this one isn''t a dud like the one back in the bank.''
That one was a tracking device, this one is a device that would notify the other side ording to thebination, which in this case are the 2 taps he was talking about.
''That one was a tracking device? Fucking Gareth..'' Michael was speechless, he hadn''t talked to him in ages, but even when he had, nothing about a tracking device was mentioned.
For all he knew, the button was just malfunctioning.
Everyone put on and adjusted the watches given, then proceeded to follow the burly man inside of the van.
''I don''t understand why we have to guard them from the inside, if they got out my party members would be in danger.'' Michael thought about it and questioned the man leading them.
"Don''t worry about that, there will be an extra 2 people on board with you, they are pretty strong themselves" He finished off with a smirk and opened the back doors of the van.
And just like he felt earlier, 4 people were seated in some kind of thick cuffs, it seemed to be restricting all of their movement as they didn''t even move their heads to meet Michael''s eyes.
''The 2 others that man talked about aren''t here yet..'' He noticed and sat down right in the middle of the 2 strongest inmates.
Michael did that so he could feel the mana better, if they began circting it, he could immediately immobilize them.
As for the 2 weaker ones? He believed his party could at the very least handle one.
Even if their suppression wears off, they would momentarily be weakened.
At least that''s what he hoped, even up close, he could feel very faint mana flowing from the 4 inmates, must have meant it was sealed somehow.
You are right, the cuffs do act as a suppressant, they restrict both their physical abilities as well as most of their mana.
''Neat little item.. would not want something like that on my hands ever.''
All of them finally sat down, theplete and total silence was a bit unnerving, however, it was better than the chaos that could potentially ensue.
One of the inmates began staring at Michael, his eyes werepletely nk, it reminded him of something.
Michael channeled some mana into his eyes, enhancing the effect of Eyes of The Healer.
''I was right.. he is mind controlled'' He observed and turned to look at the other ones, they too seemed to have some sort of mind control ced on them.
What troubled him was that he didn''t know whether this was ced by friend or foe.
"Can you speak?" Michael asked the one who was still directly staring at him.
However, he waspletely ignored, instead, the other inmate right next to him began staring at Michael as well with the same nk eyes.
''What a freak show.. System, can I dispel it somehow?''
You would have to refine purify a little more to be able to do that, if you tried recklessly weaving the mana, you would most likely free them instead with their mind control still intact.
''Pity.. well let''s just hope there won''t be any incidents..''
After a couple more minutes of waiting, the 2 people the burly man talked about finally arrived.
However, Michael''s expression was serious as he looked at one of them in particr.
''He is mind controlled as well..''
Seems whoever did this, can y around with emotions pretty well, if you didn''t have experience dealing with mind-controlled individuals and you did not have that skill, even you would have not noticed a difference.
Michael had to admit it was right, they bypassed the stronger individuals he had seen earlier, slipping into the crowd as if they were not literally mind-controlled.
''At least the other one is fine.. if a battle were to ensue, our odds of winning would be much higher.''
The armored van buckled a little bit and began finally moving, their escort assignment had finally begun.
Chapter 58: Escort (2)
"So how''d ya kids manage to get this gig anyway?" The person who was not mind-controlled finally spoke up.
They had been sitting in silence for at least a couple of hours, even Elizabeth who usually runs her mouth was quiet.
Everyone felt equally as ufortable, well except for Kevin, who was still idly swiping on his phone.
Michael spoke up since the others did not seem keen on talking "It was an assignment directly from the academy."
"Is that so? Do you know who these people are?" The man pointed at the inmates, who by now, were all staring at Michael with their unnerving nk eyes.
"No, we were only informed that they were high-value inmates, that''s all"
"High value? That''s pretty urate, all 4 of themmitted horrid acts that no human should ever even think about."
The air grew chilly as the man looked at all 4 of the inmates with disgust, it seemed that whatever they did, was worse than Michael had imagined.
"I see... good riddance then"
The man nodded and the silence once again returned, it seemed he was just bored and wanted to strike up a conversation.
''I don''t m-hm?'' He noticed another gaze and saw the second guard who was mind-controlled, looking at him, that made 5 in total now.
''Are they going to pull some shit soon? They arepletely ignoring the others, Chloe was even peacefully dozing off..''
I can''t feel any fluctuations, it seems like they are simply observing you.
''Why would they observe me? Aren''t they mind-controlled intopleting a task and that''s all?'' Michael was a bit confused by the system''s words.
Yes, and you are an obstacle to their n, if they have a chance, they will attempt to kill you, so yeah, don''t let your guard down.
''How annoying..'' Michael recast Shield of Nourishment on each of his party members, as well as the only guard that was not mind-controlled.
Kevin stopped scrolling through his phone and looked directly at him, it seemed he noticed something was wrong.
Michael shook his head slightly and gestured with his hand to back down, he didn''t want to start a fight just yet.
''I wonder if we are close.. too bad this van doesn''t have any windows'' The ominous feeling continued growing until finally, something out of the ordinary happened.
The once steady road turned bumpy, it was enough to move them around the van and even made Chloe finally stop dozing off.
Michael turned to the only guard that was not mind-controlled, seeing a confused expression on his face "Tell me.. was a road like this supposed to appear?"
Just as the man was about to speak up, the armored van suddenly stopped, sending the cuffed inmates flying to the very front.
''Feel anything now?''
It''s an ambush.
The system''s voice descended and Michael immediately reacted, sending multiple Swords of Light right at the mind-controlled guard.
He was not able to react and was pierced through all of his vitals, this one was not extremely strong, just barely stronger than his 3 party members.
However, strength in number was a thing, even if Michael could potentially kill them all, there''s always a worst-case scenario in which he can''t.
The man tried moving around his limbs but failing, it seemed like some sort of a marite with its strings cut off.
And then finally, all movement ceased as its eyes regained a bit of color before he finally copsed, his body lying lifeless.
''Did he regain control at the very end..?''
Michael looked on confused, however, the stares of everyone present were starting to be ufortable.
Especially the other guard''s who just witnessed his friend suddenly die.
He stood up and shouted "You fuc-" But was interrupted by the very back being opened up, a bunch of people appearing in their line of sight.
Kevin was the first one to react, sending out a wave of shadow, absorbing a few of the people and turning them into his underlings.
The enemies were switched with their own shadows, it looked freaky but the effectiveness was great.
It was an ability he had shown Michael a few times, he said that currently, it was only temporary, however, in the future, he would be able to control others for as long as he wanted to.
Immediately, they began shing at each other and missing, it seemed Kevin got the weakest of the bunch.
"Tch" He clicked his tongue and made half of the bodies appear out of their own shadows, slicing their own throats.
Michael was not idling by either as he instructed Elizabeth to guard the inmates with the guard, she was the least versatile out of the bunch, he didn''t want to risk her dying from an unknown attack.
Chloe and Kevin on the other hand, had great survivability, even if the worstes, they can easily escape.
But just to be safe, he instructed them to not stray too far away from the armored van, as much as he trusted in their capabilities, the 4 inmates were still people with mana cores.
Elizabeth alone would not be enough to defend against them all.
''Please act as a team this time..'' Michael put his hopes on them and got out of the van, unleashing a torrent of swords, prating everyone in his sight.
He looked around and noticed they somehow ended up on a mountain, the driver must have been mind-controlled as well if he managed to drive smoothly enough to mask going up a mountain.
It was the first time he saw snow in this world, it didn''t snow in his previous continent and Vivum had some sort of a field blocking it fromnding on the ground.
''Would have been a really beautiful sight..'' He sighed and looked at the pools of blood scattered all around the snow.
It looked like they were close to the peak, he could see the very peak not too far away.
And he could also feel someone stronger than the people around him currently, it was at least someone as strong as Michael himself.
''Is that the mastermind?'' Just as he thought that, the presence disappeared, it seemed whoever it was, realized he had been found.
''Still.. he''s probably at the very peak'' Michael thought and nced around, another wave of people began rushing at him.
They were pretty low-leveled, it seemed half of them might even be simple civilians.
The highest level out of all of the ones he had killed so far, was probably around level 60.
Casting Swords of Light a few times, he killed more of them, from what he could see, none of them were mind-controlled or brainwashed, they were rushing at him of their own volition.
It made the kills not feel as impactful, however, it still made him ufortable.
''It''s like some sort of a cult..'' No matter how many of them he killed, more kepting.
"Kevin" He called out to him while he was fending off the others with his army of shadow-possessed cultists.
"What''s up?" Kevin asked calmly, it seemed the sight before him did not phase him in the slightest.
"I am going to go up the mountain to deal with the person behind this, keep the others safe, alright?"
As much as he didn''t like Kevin, his skills were the real deal.
There was Chloe as well, however, she seemed to not be in the best condition, she was holding back.
If this was her from the dungeon, she would have gone in and killed most of these cultists, instead, she was sitting by the van, not using her spatial affinity at all.
''Elizabeth seems to be at least doing her job'' He noticed her holding a sword up to their necks.
Michael finally decided to go up, he trusted his unorthodox party to handle themselves and prioritize the inmates'' lives, even as unexpected as this situation was, they could stillplete the assignment.
Be careful, the one up there is a bit stronger than you.
''Don''t worry, I am not going to be careless.''
Chapter 59: Escort (3)
"You are finally here" A man wearing an odd-looking ck robe spoke.
''So this is him?''
Michael was at the very top of the mountain and the only person in front of him was this oddly dressed man, he couldn''t see his face clearly for some reason.
"Not the talkative type? That''s fine.. you will die soon anyways" The man chuckled and a transparent barrier appeared around him, it looked like a magic shield.
''It does not look as strong as mine though..'' Michael kept observing him, it did not seem like he was as big of a powerhouse as he thought, but nheless, he would not let his guard down.
The man stepped forward and with lightning speed and took out a sword from his robe, appearing right in front of Michael.
He attempted to sh him in half, however, it did not work, Michael cast his Shield of Light at the veryst moment, effectively parrying the attack.
But unlike the time he parried Elizabeth''s attack, this guy did not suffer that much damage.
''He weakened his attack at the very end.. smart.'' Michael couldn''t help but admit that despitecking magical skills, he more than made up for it with experience.
However, Michael was no pushover either, just as the man headed in for another attack, he summoned a single Sword of Light, discing the sword''s trajectory to gauge his reaction.
He wanted to use this battle as practice, he hadn''t had the chance to test out his full capabilities ever since he obtained a Mana Core, but now was the perfect time.
The sword didn''t bounce back as much as Michael would have liked, if he had gone for a second attack, it would have missed.
''Well, too bad for him, I could send out hundreds of Light swords, they barely use up my mana anyway'' He snickered and continued sending attacks one by one targeting different vitals each time.
From what he could tell, the man had a Dantian Core, at first it seemed like he was a mage due to his outfit, but it appeared he was not.
''What''s the word.. hard work and talent? I don''t even know which category this guy falls into'' Michael definitely found the man strong, however, that was about it, his experience made him a decent fighter but not the best of swordsmen.
He felt like even Elizabeth had better swordsmanship, that''s hard work right there.
The battle went on like a stalemate, Michael did not attempt to go for his vitals as he was just testing out his skills.
Meanwhile, the man was trying his hardest to kill Michael, aiming for his heart and neck with each blow or so it seemed anyway.
He backed off and put on a wide smirk "Shall we start the real fight then?"
The moment his words fell, he unsheathed another sword he had been hiding inside of his robe.
''He was a dual wielder? I''ll be damned'' Michael finally began taking this fight seriously, the pressure the man began emitting was many times that of earlier.
He actually felt threatened, even after the massive strength increase, there was always someone stronger.
Told you not to underestimate him, you could have just tried ending the fight early, now it''s down to pure skill, which quite frankly, he beats you in that aspect.
''I know'' A frown appeared on his face as he cast a few Shields of Light and recast Shield of Nourishment.
A week went by and he didn''t really take one thing into ount, he couldbine the 2 skills.
Too much was on his mind and the system didn''t remind him either, now was not the time to do that though, if he did, he could potentially lose the fight if the skill came out not the way he wanted it to.
Don''t me me for it, had you actually thought about it, you would have realized you could do it.
''Yeah right, you forgot as well didn''t you?'' Michael sighed and summoned a few Swords of Light preparing for battle.
All this time, the man patiently waited, he could not see his expression but for some reason, it felt like he was amused.
"Are you finally ready?"
Michael replied with a few Swords of Light to catch him off guard while he cast the other ones high in the sky.
However, as he thought his n was going great, he felt a few of his shieldyers break, turning around he saw the man with the 2 swords.
''The fuck?'' He quickly nced back and noticed the man was still standing where he was earlier, yet for some reason, there were 2 of him now?
The mana he felt from both of them was the same, however, he noticed one of them had less mana than the other.
It was the one who had been stationary all this time.
''So he is some kind of an assassin type huh.. how annoying'' He stared at what he thought was the man, but suddenly, his mana halved and he became stationary once more.
''He''s doing it again'' Michael used his Detection skill and tried locating where the man was, however, no matter where he looked, he could not find him.
That was until anotheryer of his shields broke and the moment it did, Michael sent an onught of Swords of Light, piercing the man''s body.
He was not naive enough to think he might have killed him right then and there, as the mana from the other bodies did not disappear, it seemed to have replenished instead.
''So he creates some kind of mana clones that restore the mana he spent on them when they die..? That seems bullshit'' Michael thought with a frown and shot his Swords of Light at both of the remaining bodies.
One was pierced, the other one blocked, however, that was enough to notice some kind of an irregrity.
The reaction time was slow, the first one seemed to have tried to block the attack but was not able to, the moment it died, the second one managed to react in time.
''I am not fighting the main body, am I?'' Michael finally came to this conclusion and spread out his Detection as far as he could.
He felt a faint trace of mana spread around the entire peak of the mountain, with one area in particr being more dense than the other ones.
Looking directly at that location, he did not see anyone, however, the faint trace of mana he felt earlier trembled before going back to normal.
''Found you.''
Michael pretended to cast a Shield of Light, however, in reality, he lined up the Swords of Light that were still high in the sky towards the location where the man was located.
And with a mere downwards hand gesture, they all flew down simultaneously, turning that particr area into a death zone.
The swords ran down for a solid 5 seconds before they stopped, the mana consumption from this attack was 10% surprisingly.
"The fuck are you made of?" The man who somehow survived that attack appeared beside Michael, his clothes torn, revealing his peculiar appearance.
Completely white hair and eyes, it seemed unnatural, he looked pretty young too.
"Surprised you dodged that, you sure are a slippery one aren''t you?" Michael smirked at him and began casting his Swords of Light.
''The fight finally begins..''
Chapter 60: Escort (4)
[Kevin''s POV]
''He just up and leaves huh, some things don''t change, do they..'' Kevin reminisced about the past and controlled his shadow puppets to do his bidding.
The battle was by no means difficult, they were all pretty weak.
Gazing up at the very top of the mountain he could feel an enormous amount of mana being unleashed.
It was so much that he could even feel it down here and so could the others.
''Just who is he fighting?'' Kevin thought with a frown, capturing more and more people with his shadows due to them being distracted by the mana pressure.
By now, he had most of the people under his control, he let Chloe deal with some of them while shing a smirk at Elizabeth.
As boring as this battle was, she was still apetitive person at heart, seeing her rival dominating the battlefield while she was guarding 4 immobile inmates, made her eyes shake with rage.
''Pft.. she''s funny'' Kevin nced around him, most of the cultists had already died, however, what troubled him the most was the fact that this battle did not happen in his memories.
Back when he was in the academy, Michael was just barely qualified for the Elite ss, even then, he was the weakest of the bunch.
Nothing had changed as the years went by, he was just a slightly above-average healer.
It all changed in the 4th year when all of a sudden, he began improving at drastic speed, by the end of the year, even catching up to Kevin, that''s when they became friends.
''3rd year.. ourbined levels were under 400... I suppose it made sense why we didn''t get this particr assignment'' Kevin thought with a small smile.
The party remained the same for the most part, Michael was not there back then either, it was the current Saint, Tony and he was not very high leveled.
''He''s a scumbag in both worlds as well..''
Just as those thoughts finished, a wave of mana bore down on all of the people present, it seemed like the fight up there wasing to an end.
However, he didn''t have time to celebrate as in the next moment, he heard a cracking sound, followed by Elizabeth flying past him.
The armored van slightly distorted, revealing 4 of the inmates who for some reason, now had white eyes and long white hair.
Kevin looked on with a serious expression ''Are they.. members of the Evangelist?''
They existed even in the past, however, their roots were too deep in society as at any moment, someone could turn into an Evangelist.
''Disgusting dogs..'' Kevin took a deep breath and prepared to fight them.
Chloe also came up to him and stood a bit behind him, with her style of battle, she could potentially take one of them out.
However, Kevin was not too optimistic, after all, he could feel that every single one of them had a Mana Core, they were basically the peak of this particr world.
He could only rejoice in the fact that in exchange for power, they give their sanity and rationale up to the demons which their poweres from.
That is the case for most of the Evangelists however, Priests and above can control those said demons, borrowing their power without a cost.
"Liz, you alright?" He turned to the limping Elizabeth and called her a pet name which made her brow twitch in annoyance.
"Don''t call me that.. I am fine, I only dislocated my knee" She said as she started wiggling it around, eventually popping it back into ce and standing straight.
"Good, listen, we can''t win this fight, we have to head over to Michael, he''s the only one who can defeat them" Kevin said, not taking his eyes away from the 4 inmates who were staring at him with their creepy nk white eyes.
He noticed the guard from earlier in one of their hands, his body torn apart, only the agonizing look of pain remained.
''...'' Kevin began moving at a safe distance with the 2 girls behind him, trying not to make too much movement as that would likely cause them to attack.
''They are like rabid dogs..''
He noticed the mana intensity spiking at the very top of the mountain before it finally disappeared entirely.
However, that was enough to startle the 4 inmates as they immediately began running to the peak,pletely ignoring the 3 people in front of them.
''Well.. Sorry Michael, good luck...''
-----
[Michael''s POV]
''Fuck you.''
He wiped the blood off of his face, it took him all he had and half of his mana to deal with this annoying swordsman.
Every single time he sent a Sword of Light, he was met with a block and counterattack, even as he sent hundreds of them like earlier, for some reason, the man was left unscathed.
That was until Michael went close range and began unleashing all sorts of attacks, be it Swords of Light or simple meleebat, it seemed to get the job done.
He also figured out how the man managed to block his attacks, as the Swords of Light approached him, a ck color enveloped his swords for just a mere moment, dispelling Michael''s mana.
However, it seemed to have a cooldown of some sort, he was still getting injured despite having that ability.
Michael guessed he could only do it once every 10 seconds.
That was nothing to Michael as he could attack thousands of times in 10 seconds.
''d that''s over with'' Michael finally stood up from the ground, the caved-in face of the man lying right below him.
Past a certain point, it became hard to converse with him and his attacks became wilder, maybe that''s why the fight didn''tst any longer.
Good job, you killed him.
''Thanks..'' Michael dusted himself off and noticed his robe had been ripped up.
Don''t worry about the equipment in this world anymore, none of them will give you any buffs.
''Is that so.. I kind of liked this robe though...'' He sighed and suddenly straightened his back.
A few strong presences were heading his way.
''Did the 4 inmates escape? What about my party?'' Michael quickly spread out his Detection and heaved a sigh of relief after finding out they were safe and moving towards him.
He began stretching, however, as he was doing so, he noticed the hair of the man he had just killed turning a ck color, the whitepletely disappearing.
''Too bad I can''t see his eyes, maybe they changed color too'' Michael snickered as he finally saw the 4 inmates in the distance.
They did not seem nearly as strong as the one he had just fought, however, as they had Mana Cores, they were to not be underestimated by any means.
The moment they were only around 30 meters away from him, Michael began casting Swords of Light before sending them at incredible speeds towards them.
From the battle he just had, the deadliness and speed of his skills increased further.
However, his brow twitched as he noticed their appearance, it was the same as the man''s he just killed.
And just as expected, the Swords of Light approached them and their bodies were enveloped in a ck aura, dispelling Michael''s attackpletely.
''...''
Chapter 61: Escort (5)
Michael saw them running at him like brutes, only reacting once he shot his Swords of Light at them.
It seemed the quantity did not matter as for some reason, they were able to keep the ck aura around them enabled for longer.
That, coupled with a shorter cooldown, basically made them nearly immune to Michael''s attacks.
''This is a bit bullshit no?'' He asked the system and recast Shield of Nourishment on himself, he was going to save Shield of Light for parries as he thought they might just work.
Yes, well, they are unstable, using that power makes the body suffer and eventually copse, the only reason they are fine is because they lost their minds.
''So they will only give up once they run out of juice huh.. seems simple enough'' Michael nodded and began casting Swords of Light at intervals, trying to get them to use the ck aura as frequently as he could.
He had already noticed theirck of intelligence, making this a simple battle of attrition.
However, the fact that they could so easily block his attacks annoyed him, ording to the system he had the highest grade of Light affinity, yet he wasn''t able to pierce through some mana-dispelling barrier?
You are overconfident, these people are borrowing power from a greater being, technically, it is he who is dispelling your attacks, not them.
''As I thought, bullshit'' Michael nodded to himself and prepared to cast more of his Swords of Light when he suddenly began feeling a tad bit dizzy.
''Shit.. my mana is almost out'' He hadn''t paid much attention to it all this time since the consumption was not great, however, it finally added up.
At most, he had 5% mana remaining, definitely not enough to deal with these guys from range.
That''s why, Michael decided to scrap his idea of running and charged straight at them, using a tiny portion of his mana to push the others away, making it a temporary 1 on 1.
The man was as creepy as earlier and he was also the weakest of the 4.
He mindlessly threw a punch, his fist covered in that ck aura, however, Michael was currently not using mana externally, he was merely enhancing himself.
That is why, he easily dodged the attack and hit the man with one of his own, aiming to w off his neck.
He managed to make contact and rip out the man''s throat but even then, he didn''t see any signs of stopping.
This way of fighting startled Michael, he never fought an opponent that could survive with a fatal injury.
However, he could tell that it had some effect, as blood poured out and his neck twisted backwards, his skin slowly turning purple.
''Fucking brute'' Michael kicked him away and shed with the other 3, the one he just fought seemed to be getting slower and slower by the second.
It was not long before he finally copses.
The others didn''t seem that much different, just stronger, making it difficult for him to pull the same stunt he did with the other one.
It did not stop him from trying, but the moment he did, one of them dashed at a speed that made it hard for Michael to pull his hand back in time, resulting in his arm being crushed by pure force.
He tried pulling the arm back, however, no matter how hard he pulled, it wouldn''t budge.
''Fuck..'' He took a deep breath and cut his own arm off, the one who had grabbed it earlier still holding it.
His arm began regrowing at a speed that was faster thanst time, he expected it to be fully grown out in a couple of minutes.
But every minute mattered, they would not wait for his arm to grow back either.
''2% of my mana is left, one is dead, one is slightly injured and the others were fairly fine.. this is not looking good.'' Michael looked around with a grave expression.
They did get a bit slower since the start of the fight, however, so did Michael, it was truly a battle of attrition now and he was losing.
''A barrier-piercing attack.. how can I make that fucking work..'' He thought and began channeling his mana, creating an extremely slender sword that seemed nearly invisible to the naked eye.
Michael keptpressing it, until only a portion of its original mana was left.
And finally, he sent it forward, like an invisible dagger, flying at the strongest of the inmates.
The ck aura around the man glowed brightly, however, instead of the small impact that should have happened, Michael''s attackpletely passed through the barrier, creating a small hole where the man''s heart was.
''Hah.. the barrier did not see it as an attack due to the low amount of mana it had.. I am a genius'' A smile appeared on Michael''s face but it onlysted a moment, as that attack cost nearly all of his remaining mana.
''Though it does not matter, they are finally here'' He nced behind the inmates and saw his party members quickly approaching.
Chloe disappeared and reappeared behind one of them, slicing straight into his back before being flung to the side by the sheer amount of mana he had unleashed at that moment.
Kevin caught her with his shadows and approached the inmates, a small vortex of shadows swirling inside of his palm.
All of a sudden, a shadow materialized by his side and he finally sent the swirling vortex, aiming for Michael.
''The fuck?'' As he was thinking of dodging, he noticed the look on Kevin''s face, it screamed to trust him.
And as much as he did not like him, he decided to put his trust in him, this situation was pretty bad already anyway.
The vortex hit Michael and his view suddenly changed, he switched ces with the shadow Kevin had summoned just a moment ago.
"How are you holding up?" He asked Michael and nced at his arm which was slowly regenerating.
The others seemed to notice it too and had bewildered expressions.
"Out of mana, stall for a couple of minutes and I can finish them off" Michael exined and stepped to the very back of the party, slowly preparing the barrier-piercing Sword of Light he had cast earlier.
All 3 of them nodded, it was surprising to see Elizabeth so quiet, he expected her to start nagging him the moment she saw him.
Michael chuckled inwardly and saw Chloe dash in, disappearing and reappearing behind one of the inmates once again,nding a clean slice on his back.
She was aiming for the neck, but their instincts were good enough to evade deadly blows.
Elizabeth readied her stance and began walking up, her sword slightly by the side.
One of the inmates noticed her slow approach and dashed towards her, aiming to kill her in one blow.
However, as he was just in front of her, he suddenly stopped, a shadow tentacle bound his foot.
She took this chance to deal a blow, but just like with Chloe, it evaded the moment her attack was about tond in a fatal area.
''So they really can work as a party'' Michael smiled to himself as he raised his arm slightly, due to the surrounding mana being so thick from the fight, he was able to regain his mana a tad bit faster.
"Move!" He shouted and they immediately backed away, Chloe teleported back, while Elizabeth was switched with a shadow.
Michael lined the attack up and just like earlier, pierced both of the inmates through the heart, ending their life swiftly.
He looked at all of their bodies and noticed their hair had returned to the color he saw back in the armored van, their eyes too.
However, he didn''t have much time to admire it as his knees buckled, he finally ran out of mana and fought the urge to not pass out.
''That was a tough fight..''
Chapter 62: Escort (6)
"Put me down."
"No."
"..Put me down."
"No."
Michael was currently suspended in the air via Kevin''s shadow, he could not move for at least a couple more minutes, that is until he enough of his mana.
''This guy..'' He was speechless, he was being treated like some sort of baggage.
Turning to the side, he saw Elizabeth wearing a massive smirk, it seemed her mood had be better the moment Michael became incapacitated.
''She really likes seeing me suffer huh..''
"So where exactly are we?" Michael asked as he looked around, they were pretty high up the mountain, just a bit above the clouds.
Kevin noticed him regaining enough mana to break his shadow control and released him, dropping him onto the snowy ground.
"Far.. The driver was in on it so he floored it, too bad that van was military grade, else we would have noticed something was before it was toote."
Michael sighed and stood up off of the ground, tripping Kevin with a Shield of Light at his feet.
"Far or not, we technically failed our assignment, let''s get back so I am not assumed dead again."
"Stop it you two, who cares about the assignment anyway" Elizbeth butted in between the both of them before they started fighting.
They grumbled and made their way back to the van, hopeful that it still worked, however, upon arriving they all had nk expressions.
The one most confused was Michael "Why.. Where did it go?"
Trail marks were visible, they appeared to be heading towards the right side, where a steep drop down the mountain awaited.
''God damn it..''
"So our ride is gone, anyone have any ideas?" He asked turning to the others, however, just like him, they seemed to not know what to do.
That was until Chloe finally spoke up after being silent all this time "I can take us down the mountain with my abilities.."
Everyone immediately turned towards her with widened eyes "You can teleport multiple people!?"
"Yes.. though it consumes almost all of my mana to do so, I can at the very least speed up our journey" She replied in a shy voice.
Due to her being a space mage, her detection skills stretch further than yours, too bad she was half asleep or else you would have noticed that something was wrong earlier.
''Yeah..''
"That''s great, when can you teleport us down?"
"I can do it now, you guys just need to be closer to me." Chloe exined and summoned some kind of a spatial barrier that had a radius of a few meters around her.
''Is that it?'' He walked up into it and felt a strange energy engulf him, the gravity felt distorted as well, some parts of his body were heavy while the others, not so much.
The rest of the party approached her too, getting within range.
And the moment they did, their surroundings suddenly shifted, they all found themselves in an area that barely had any snow, even a bit of grass.
Chloe''s knees buckled and she almost copsed, however, Michael caught her just in time.
"Thanks.." She stood back up and straightened her back, looking at the sight before them.
''Damn.. how high up were we?'' Michael looked at the mountain in front of him, he could not even see the top as it was above the clouds.
It seemed pretty steep, he could not imagine how the armored van even managed to get all the way up there.
Even then, the impressive one was Chloe as she managed to take all of them down the mountain, saving a couple hours of travel.
It would have been more annoying than difficult to get down, the terrain was not favorable in the slightest.
Michael looked down where the grassy ins began and saw a city in the distance.
However, from its size, he guessed it was most likely a vige instead.
They all walked towards the vige together and upon arriving, were stopped by frail looking guards.
"S-Stop!" One of them shouted, clearly startled by the appearance of the 4 people in front of him.
Elizabeth stepped up first as she looked the least disheveled out of the bunch, with Michael practically looking like a hobo now.
"Hello, could you please let us pass? We are lost" She asked with a never before seen kind expression that sent shivers down Michael''s spine.
However, to the guards, she looked like an angel "O-Of course" They immediately stepped aside.
''Are they naive?'' Michael wondered as they didn''t even check for IDs or anything of the like.
They did check, just not with any ordinary method.
But contrary to his beliefs, they were in fact monitoring the 4 of them with something he could not quite feel.
Michael and the rest passed by them and headed to a building that had a sign with ''Association'' written on it.
It seemed that was how they were getting these kinds of assignments, he just hadn''t paid much attention to the inner workings before.
However, the others seemed aware of it, that''s all that counted.
''It does seem familiar..'' He noticed the simrities between the Association and the Adventurer''s Guild as the inside looked eerily simr.
But instead of pieces of paper being stuck to the wall, there was some kind of a holographic interface that disyed all of the requests people had given out.
They were not here to take a request though, instead, they headed straight for what appeared to be some kind of a receptionist, even if they were not dressed as one.
Upon noticing the group approaching they put on a small smile "How could I help you?"
"Send a pickup request to Vivum Academy, they will understand why" Elizabeth said nonchntly and sat down on one of thefy seats by the reception.
"Pardon? Uh- Okay.." The receptionist seemed a little confused but listened nheless, they had badges indicating that they were indeed from that Academy.
The rest of the party sat down as well, Michael finally getting a bit of rest, his mana had recovered by nearly 20% now.
''This day was something else..'' He sighed and closed his eyes, however, a sudden scream interrupted his attempt at sleep.
"Please! Is anyone a healer!? My daughter is injured!" A woman ran through the entrance of the association with a young girl in her arms.
She seemed to be bleeding out of her nose and ears, definitely no simple injury.
''Well, there goes my sleep..'' Michael stood up and walked up to the mother and daughter duo, casting Shield of Nourishment 5 times in total to get her back to full health.
After hees back, he will finallybine his skills and also figure out how to cast a heal with just his mana alone, he thought it would be more efficient that way.
The mother cried in happiness upon seeing her daughter visibly getting better, thanking Michael from the bottom of her heart.
He simply waved with a smile, going back to hisfortable seat and lying down.
"I guess you can still be a Saint when you want to huh?" Kevin''s voice rang out with a chuckle.
Michael scoffed and sarcastically remarked "You think?"
He did not want to deal with Kevin''s bullshit right now, he was too tired and he just used up another 10% of his mana, making thest hour of progresspletely disappear.
At least you did a good deed.
''I suppose..''
Chapter 63: Escort (7)
"Wake up" Kevin said and began shaking the sleeping Michael awake, a grave look on his face.
"What''s wrong?" Michael pushed him away and groggily got up, it felt like he had slept for at least a couple of hours, better than nothing at all.
"We can''t get in contact with Vivum"
''Hm?'' He seemed a little confused, they couldn''t get in contact with such a massive city?
Before Michael was about to ask further questions, the receptionist from before walked up to them, informing them of what was happening.
"It seems the mountain is at it again, it''s blocking the connection needed to reach Vivum, something must have happened up there.."
''Something happened? Yeah.. Us'' Michael sighed and looked at the others, they too were wearing understanding expressions.
"How long will it take for the connection to reestablish?"
The receptionist thought for a couple of moments "Not sure,st time something like this happened, it took a couple of days, though the time could vary."
"I see..."
''So we have to find something to do for a couple of days huh.. maybe a few requests?''
Michael was curious about them so he asked the receptionist "Do we need anything else besides an ID to ept those requests?"
"No, an ID is sufficient."
''Good'' He nodded to himself and headed over to the holographic interface, checking out all of the requests.
His party seemed a bit surprised, they expected Michael toze around, however, here he was, actively searching for work.
The requests had minimum levels, some of which even reached in the hundreds, though they were rted to monster subjugation.
There were also some that were a bit menial, it reminded Michael of the time back in the first trial.
''Catch a cat.. pft'' He found it oddly funny for some reason and continued scrolling through the requests, looking for a certain type he wanted to ept.
Just as he began scrolling once again, Kevin walked up to him and pressed on the hologram, disying a list of categories.
"You are like an old man that doesn''t know how technology works.." He snickered and walked back to the others.
''...'' Michael was speechless as he looked at the disyed categories, pressing on the Escort category.
He thought that maybe, by traveling to another nearby vige, he could save a lot of time.
''Escort a VIP around the vige.. No.. Escort a VVIP to a nightclub.. ?'' The more he looked, the more he waspelled to think all of the escort requests were a dud, so far none of them seemed like simple protection requests.
But he guessed since the people were VIPs, they could get away with putting a request in the wrong category so it would get more attention.
Just as he thought all hope was lost, he finally stumbled upon a request that he was looking for, it was some kind of a truck of goods traveling to a faraway vige.
Michael obviously didn''t want to go all the way there, thankfully, it seemed that it would stop at every vige along the way, which was exactly what he wanted.
''Too bad it''s not heading towards Vivum but away from it.. we are pretty far out already'' He thought with a small frown but nheless, decided to ept the request.
The process was simple, he had to fill in his information and the person behind this request would reach out via the Association.
He told the others about it and they eagerly signed up, it seemed none of them were eager to spend their days here doing nothing, waiting for the connection to stabilize.
After finally filling out the request forms, they headed out of the association, the receptionist told them to check in tomorrow to see if they were contacted.
The vige seemed lively and the mountain they just came down from could be seen in the distance, this ce looked oddly peaceful.
"So Michael, where do you n on staying the night?" Elizabeth suddenly walked up to him and asked with a small smirk on her face.
''She''s doing it again..'' He sighed and thought about it for a moment.
He had no money to his name and there was definitely no way to get it fast, well, unless he borrowed it from others.
Why don''t you ept one of the easy requests, a few of them might be enough to let you stay the night somewhere.
''Have you seen the rewards? 5 dors, what am I supposed to do with 5 dors?'' He doubted that spending the night would be that cheap, while this was a vige, it wasn''t exactly run down.
And to add to that, there were no visible inns or anything of the sort, it was way different than the previous vige he was in.
Well.. just ask Kevin then.
Michael shrugged and turned towards his party, noticing the annoyed expression on Elizabeth''s face, after all, he had just ignored her antics.
"Hey Kevin?"
"Need money?" Kevin instantly understood his intentions.
"Yup" Michael shamelessly replied and was met with a sigh.
Just as Kevin was about to lend him some money, Chloe spoke up.
"My family owns a building in this city, you guys can stay there for free.."
The entire party once again turned towards her with surprised expressions, it seemed as if she had an answer to all of their problems.
However, in this case, only Michael had a problem, nheless, they were all equally grateful, no one likes spending money if they can get a better deal, which in this case, was for free.
"Thanks Chloe" Everyone thanked her and she simply nodded, her ears turning a little red due to her being the center of attention.
She quickly turned around and began leading the rest to the hotel and upon arriving, they couldn''t help but widen their eyes.
''So.. the massive building I saw from before was a hotel huh.. her family''s hotel..'' Michael began questioning life, how could someone be so rich?
The others had simr looks, with Elizabeth sharing the exact same expression as him.
Chloe walked through the front doors and was greeted by all of the attendants who were walking around the first floor.
''Damn.. we have a real big shot in our party..''
See, that''s what you should aspire to do before you leave this world, get a lot of money.
Michael tilted his head ''Aren''t you greedy..''
The system and he bantered for a bit while following an attendant who was leading him to the room where he would be staying for tonight.
Opening the door, a room the size of an entire floor greeted his eyes, he was getting the rich person treatment.
He waved at his party and went inside, lying down on thefortable bed.
''I wonder how my stats are looking after the fight?'' Michael wondered and called up his status
+---+
Name: Michael
Age: 14 years old
Race: Human
Affinity: Light [Supreme]
Mana Purity: 14% -> 16%
Mana Core: Flow
Mana Core Rank: Tier 1
-:- 1% Progress to next Tier -:-
-Titles:
* Ruthless Combatant
# Raise all your stats by 1 Minor Rank when facing enemies at least 1 tier above you
* Being of Light
# Increase the effectiveness of your Light affinity based spells by 25%
* ???
-Stats
HP: 67/100% / Regen 5% HP Per Hour
MP: 11/100% / Regen 10% MP Per Hour
STR: Tier 1 [C+]
END: Tier 1 [B-]
AGI: Tier 1 [B] -> [B+]
INT: Tier 1 [B+] -> [A-]
CHA: Tier 1 [D+]
-Skills / [Skill Merging]
Herald of Light [Advanced] [Passive]
Eyes of The Healer [Intermediate] [Passive]
Hand to handbat [Beginner] [Passive]
Discipline [Basic] [Passive]
Shooting mastery [Beginner] [Passive]
Purify [Intermediate] [Active]
Shield of Nourishment [Basic] [Active]
Physical Enhancement [Beginner] [Active]
Sword of Light [Basic] [Active]
Shield of Light [Basic] [Active]
Veil of Detection [Basic] [Active]
+---+
''Hm.. decent improvement, it''s time tobine some skills...''
Chapter 64: Skill Merge
Remember, while you canbine skills of the same rarities, you can''tbine offensive and defensive skills together, it would make a jumbled up mess.
''I understand'' Michael nodded to himself and beganbining.
The first skills he wanted tobine were Shield of Nourishment and Shield of Light as he believed his defenses were currently a bitcking.
[Skills merged, generating new skill]
Aegis of Light [Intermediate] [Active]
# Create a protective barrier around yourself or others, absorbing 40% HP damage until broken. Alternate to healing mode to heal 30% of total HP. Able to cast an outer shield which can be used to parry attacks.
*Shielding Mode Cost: 5% MP
*Healing Mode Cost: 3% MP
*Outer Shield Mode: 1% MP, Refunded if parried or blocked sessfully
''No ding? But still.. what a good skill..'' Michael was in awe at the options of the skill, it really didbine both of his skills and upgrade them greatly while also keeping most of the options intact.
However, the longer he looked at the skill, a sudden question arose ''Say.. the 40% absorption, is it their HP?''
No, the Shield absorbs damage equal to 40% of your total HP which is many times higher than normal, basically, if you were to cast a Shield on anyone under level 200, they would receive a very high HP shield that wouldn''t break even if you hit it a few times.
''Huh? Just how high is my HP?'' He wondered, was 40% of his total HP really that muchpared to others?
Remember the 1:5, 1:6 scaling to your HP and MP? It is still happening but it''s not exactly written in your status, just like before, it will increase the stronger you get, specifically, every single time you increase in Tier.
''Well, shit.. I guess my skills are a little better than I had thought'' Michael chuckled and was prepared tobine Purify and his new skill, but noticed he couldn''t.
It required 3 skills instead of the usual 2, he still could notbine passive skills with active skills, so he had to hold off on this for now.
There was also the Veil of Detection skill which was in another category of its own, so he couldn''tbine it with anything either.
''Hey, the skill I used to kill those inmates, why isn''t it up here?'' Michael wondered as he kept scrolling around his status interface, not seeing anything new pop up.
He remembered the system saying that one mustprehend how to use an ability first before it turns into a skill.
And that was exactly what he did earlier, he condensed the mana into a small sword, reducing its detectability but greatly increasing prative power.
Hm.. You are right, give me a moment to check it out.
After a few minutes ofplete silence, a familiar sound resounded in his ears, one he was supposed to hear earlier but didn''t.
-Ding
[New Skill Generated]
Piercing Light [Intermediate] [Active]
A miniature sword that condenses and masks its mana. Has high defense pration with considerable killing power.
*Cost: 5% MP
A smile appeared on his face for just a moment before his gazended on the rank of the skill.
''I can''tbine it..'' Michael attempted to drag the skills in there and it did not work.
He also triedbining with the other intermediate skills he obtained, however, it was also to no avail.
''Well fuck.. at least the skill appeared'' He sighed and gotfortable on the bed, though no matter how much he rolled around, he couldn''t fall asleep.
''Hey, why is my spear ability not recognized as a skill?'' Michael absentmindedly asked the system.
They are the same as your Swords of Light, meaning they don''t count as an individual skill.
''I see, then can you tell me a bit about my stats? Some of them increased after the battle.''
You overexerted your mana as well as dodged most of their attacks, even if your arm got cut off at the end, you still pushed yourself to the limits.
Michael''s expression turned into a frown, it was good that it managed to heal before they entered the city, but losing an arm did not feelfortable in the slightest.
''So the best way to increase your stats is to just fight stronger opponents?''
Pretty much.
''Pretty straightforward eh.. say, can you tell me what kind of system abilities you unlocked by sacrificing my hard earned skills?''
I will once you go back to the city, this ce is not really the best for that.
''Stingy as always'' Michael grumbled and stood up, going out of his room and leaving the hotel, contrary to his earlier battle, he was not sleepy at all.
Yet it was already night time and he had nothing else to do except walk around aimlessly.
Despite it being nighttime, people were still actively running around with smiles on their faces.
It looked peaceful.. just like the city in his trials did.
He felt a bit paranoid, the previous Michael''s memories were pretty emotional as he had some attachments with the people of that city.
However, he would not sumb to these memories, even if they were technically his, he only viewed them from a third person point of view.
The same went with that Fallen who had ughtered his entire city.
While he did feel the emotion of rage and regret from the Fallen, it was not to a point where it would influence him, maybe that''s just because of the low synchronization, Michael did not know.
''I should have just tried falling asleep..'' He sighed and continued walking around, trying to tire himself out.
But that seemed to not work as he eventually ended up in front of the Association''s building which was still open.
Going inside, Michael noticed that it was pretty lively, when they had first got here it was pretty empty but now it felt like a true Adventurer''s Guild.
However, the moment his thoughts finished, he suddenly halted, a frown appearing on his face.
''System? What the fuck was that?''
What do you mean?
''You know exactly what I mean, why are his emotions bleeding into mine?'' He asked and turned around from the people, hiding his frustrated look.
Don''t worry about it, the memories are just slowly being assimted within you, the Association brought back memories, hence why the assimtion quickened.
''So what? When it finally assimtes, what happens?''
Nothing bad if that''s what you are worried about, you will simply remember their memories, their battle styles and all other stuff that only benefits you.
Just as Michael prepared to ask another question, the system interrupted him.
No, you will remain who you are, you will not lose sight of who you are either.
Michael was silent, finally removing the frown from his face, albeit his worries did not disappear, after all, he remembered what happened at the end of both of those memories.
And that was, the number of people that came before him, The coward was 812th and the Fallen was 6411th.
That raises the question, will he remember all those thousands of memories? It seemed like it could negatively impact him.
You will remember eventually, once your synchronizationpletes, however, until then, worry about yourself first, the past stays in the past, it won''t bite you or hurt you, the same goes for the memories, once you get stronger, I will be able to filter the bad ones out.
''I see.. Thanks for the reassurance I guess'' Michael thanked the system while still harboring some doubt.
He walked up to the hologram and began scrolling through all the requests, before his eyes finallynded on one in particr, making a small smile appear on his face.
''Ooh.. a find the cat request for 6 dors, this one might be a bit special.''
Chapter 65: Brat
''This is delicious..'' Michael eximed as he stuffed a whole slice of pizza inside his mouth, he hadpletely forgotten the taste of pizza.
Thest time he ate one, was when he still lived in luxury and had a private chef all to himself.
However, he was not able to enjoy it for long as he could see his party approaching the Association building.
All the while he was close by, inside a restaurant, eating a cheese pizza.
Michael was sad to leave it there as he just started, but he didn''t want to leave a bad first impression.
''Fuck.. why didn''t I buy it to go.. there''s also a massive line so I can''t really ask for them to put it in a box'' He sighed and picked up 2 slices, heading out to the Association building.
Over the course of the entire night, he found a grand total of 7 cats, earning him roughly 35 dors, enough to buy 2 whole pizzas.
Even the receptionist was surprised since not many take those types of requests, however, there is always that one person who did.
He caught up to his party and saw Kevin looking at him with a frown "Where have you been?"
Michael ignored him and stuffed thest slice of pizza inside his mouth, watching as the receptionist walked closer to them.
"The one who put up the request has contacted you, he is in the room over there" The receptionist said and pointed towards a door located at the other side of the building.
Everyone nodded and walked towards the room, opening the door and seeing 2 people inside.
An elderly man and some young looking girl were in front of them, the man had a longsword on his back.
''A swordsman.. He looks pretty old to still be fighting though'' Michael gazed at him up and down, no matter how he looked at it, this seemed a little strange.
Just as they were about to introduce themselves, the girl stood up and crossed her arms "How dare you bete?"
''..A brat.''
"Do you think your payment will remain the same after this discourtesy?" She kept rambling on, scolding them as if they were a couple of hourste.
When in reality, they were here early.
Elizabeth''s brow twitched and she spoke up before anyone could stop her "What the fuck is your problem?"
''Well... Shit'' Michael and Kevin facepalmed, while Chloe had her mouth wide open, seemingly shocked at how the entire situation was unfolding.
"You.. You!" The girl seemed shocked as well, backing away and gesturing for the man to stand up and draw his sword at them.
However, he just simply sighed and stood up, walking up to them "I am sorry about that, my name is Torin and she is Selene.. the one overseeing this escort request."
Michael could see the apologetic expression clearly stered on his face.
''So the brat is our boss for now'' He couldn''t help but look around to see what the others were thinking, but they too had mixed expressions.
"I see, it''s a pleasure to meet you both" Michael decided to put on the Saint act like before, he even got a new white robe from one of the people whose cat he saved.
He no longer looked as shabby as before.
But his little act seemed to not work on Selene as a scowl appeared on her face, clearly expressing her displeasure with the 4 of them.
''How can someone be like this? She was rude first?'' He thought for a moment when something popped up in his head.
The system once exined how most of the rich children were.. special and it seemed she was too.
Torin nodded at his attempt and began exining the contents of the request since Selene refused to do it.
Long story short, they were just supposed to protect the truck at all costs as it contained some expensive materials that were being transported across a few viges.
Selene took up this mantle as a show of respect for her family, yet it seemed she was still too used to being treated like a princess.
And here was Elizabeth, constantly trying to piss her off.
Michael honestly found it funny but at the same time, he had hoped this girl wouldn''t take all these words to heart, he didn''t want to antagonize a rich family.
Even if he was considered decently strong, it was only in this world, if someone strong was exiled from another world and came here, Michael would be squashed like a bug.
Or so he thought, he hadn''t met any beings like that besides Fafnir and even then, he didn''t act anything like the noble dragon he portrayed himself to be.
There was Amanda too but he couldn''t quite gauge her strength, though he doubted she was stronger than Fafnir.
They quickly got the dealings finished and checked back in with the receptionist, confirming the start of the request.
"Michael, can you go calm her down?" Kevin turned to him with a helpless expression.
By her, he referred to Elizabeth who was still fighting with Selene, from the side, they looked like two good friends.
However, "For a rich girl, you sure are an idiot, didn''t your parents hire a private tutor for you or something?"
"You.." By now, Selene was speechless, she didn''t know how to deal with someone so vulgar.
"What''s wrong, are yo-"
"Stop already" Michael interjected between them, interrupting Elizabeth as she was probably going to continue hurling insults.
"Aren''t you a humble Saint?" She snickered and backed away, he was surprised it was that easy to get her to stop.
Turning to Selene, he noticed her eyes which were shaking as if she was about to cry.
Michael didn''t bother to appease her, she would get over it anyway.
They eventually arrived in front of a truck that looked the same as the ones from his previous world, the key difference was that it looked slightly longer than he remembered.
As they approached the front of the truck, they saw extra side doors, like those of a fire truck.
"You guys get in there, we will be in the very front" Torin opened the doors for them and gestured to get in.
And after everyone was finally seated, the truck started moving.
The destination was some kind of a vige that had simr architecture to the one they just left.
Michael was silent, trying to observe Torin as he appeared to have let his guard downpletely.
From what he managed to find out, he was around level 60, not exactly the highest of levels for someone that age.
''Hey system, can you tell me what is the highest Tier someone has reached in this world?'' Michael questioned, he was going to be sitting idly by for the next 6 hours at the very least, better to have a conversation with someone.
Not sure, probably the very peak of Tier 2, the amount of mana needed does not exist in this world, meaning you can''t exactly Tier up unless you travel to another world.
''Then what about the monsters? Do they also follow the same rule of Tiers?''
In this world, you will only find monsters that have Mana Cores once you go to the Daor continent, until then, most will be fairly high leveled, but nothing you can''t handle.
''I see.. well, that''s something at least.. though the monster I saw in the copsed dungeon was definitely one with a Mana Core, right?'' He thought back to the time he was inside a dungeon with Shingen.
Yes, both him and the wolf boss monster had Mana Cores, they weren''t extremely strong though, probably around the peak of Tier 1?
''So not much stronger than the current me then?''
They are stronger but you are quite versatile, if you have all of your mana, you might even be able to take one of them down, though don''t get too overconfident.
''Sure sure'' Michael nodded to himself, seeing his party either on their phones or asleep, well it was mostly Chloe who was asleep all the time, the others not so much.
He chuckled and closed his eyes as well, his fatigue finally catching up to him.
''Wake me up if you feel anything strange.''
I am not your rm clock.
Chapter 66: Dream
"Where am I?" Michael looked around with a confused look, just a few moments ago he was talking with the system before falling asleep.
Now here he was, standing inside some strange ce, a vast expanse of nothingness all around him.
He tried walking and the moment he did, he heard a crunching sound beneath his feet, it was getting louder and louder as he walked forward.
All of a sudden, a bunch of mirrors appeared out of the ground, the amount he could definitely not count.
Wherever he looked, he saw mirrors, surprisingly, not a single one was the same shape or size as the other.
Michael found it odd and mysterious, yet for some reason, he couldn''t help but approach one of them.
The single mirror looked incredibly normal as opposed to the rest of the mirrors, however, he felt like it resonated with him.
Just as he approached it and ced his hand on top of it, every single mirror in the room disappeared, except for the one in front of him.
Michael did not take his eyes away from it, instead, he looked further, it felt like his Eyes of The Healer passive skill was being activated, albeit more naturally.
He kept staring into the mirror and eventually, something stared back at him.
It looked like an older man, almost identical to Michael, however, he had golden hair, not ck.
''Who is this guy..?'' Just as he wondered that the man in the mirror made a small gesture thatpletely startled Michael.
''He moved?''
The man in the mirror suddenly made eye contact with Michael and all of a sudden, a small smile appeared on his face as he began moving his mouth.
However, it was silent, although he was trying to talk, his words were not going through.
"I can''t hear you.." Michael said aloud, hoping his words reached him.
And surprisingly, they did, as in the next moment he suddenly stopped trying to talk, resorting to scribbling something on the mirror instead.
''It''s thatnguage from the temple..'' Michael began paying full attention, trying to understand it fully.
However, the sentence wasn''t as long as he thought, the man in the mirror just kept repeating it but nheless, it was enough to stir up Michael''s curiosity.
"What do you mean I am thest one?"
The man smiled and began writing on the mirror once again.
''You were once one of the first, now you are the veryst'' Michael noted down and frowned.
"Can''t you be a bit more specific?"
The man appeared to sigh and began jolting down a short sentence.
''Last Pureblood Archangel.''
Those words seemed to startle Michael a little bit, while he knew he was rted to some higher power, he didn''t expect he himself to be the higher power.
Just as Michael was about to ask a few more questions, the strange world he found himself in began to shake uncontrobly and cracks began appearing on the mirror.
The man noticed this too and just before the mirror finally broke, waved at Michael with a small smile.
''...Last Pureblood Archangel huh..'' He thought to himself as the world around him slowly began cracking, simr to how a dungeon copse happened.
However, he was not able to see what happened next as he suddenly jolted awake, finding himself back in the truck.
''What a strange dream..'' Michael thought to himself, absentmindedly sitting while his party members were still on their phones.
But no matter how much time has passed, the memories of what had just happened did not disappear, in fact, it felt as if they were engraved inside his mind.
''System?''
What?
''What do you mean what? Check my memories'' Michael asked the system to hurry up as he wanted to know whether it knew more about this than him.
What are you talking about? You fell asleep and the next moment woke up, I understand if you struggle to sleep, it''s only natural while on a journey.
''...It can''t see those memories?'' He was a bit confused at this oue, this is the first time the system was not able to see something inside his mind.
Did you.. hit your head?
The system seemed to express genuine concern which slightly pissed Michael off.
''Nevermind..''
He guessed that if the system couldn''t see those memories, meant that it shouldn''t see them or at least that''s the hunch he had.
If the timees when he finds out more about the system besides what he knew from the trials, then he might just exin what happened in his memories.
Michael sighed and sat back down, he once again lost the urge to sleep, the only option he had was to sit through this entire ride to the next vige.
And that''s what he did, simply ncing out of the window and enjoying the passing view until they finally arrived.
Along the way there surprisingly weren''t any disturbances, he had expected to at the very least see a monster or two, however, it waspletely empty.
Even those cultists he saw from before, he was expecting to encounter at least one of them as well, after all, he killed 5 people from their not so little cult.
Especially since they all had Mana Cores, he doubted that they werepletely worthless, he definitely angered somebody with those actions.
Stepping out of the truck, the entire party made their way to the Association''s building, despite the vige looking a bit shabbier than the previous one, the buildings were ced in an oddly simr way.
As they were walking, a thought popped into Michael''s head as he turned to Chloe.
"Hey, does your family also have a hotel here?"
She nced at him for a moment then pointed at a wide building in the distance, causing Michael and the rest of the party to sigh.
They walked into the Association''s building and headed straight to the receptionist, exining the same thing they had to the previous one.
The conversation was quick and they were told to stand by for a moment while he attempted to contact Vivum.
However, only after about 5 minutes, the receptionist came back, a small frown on his face.
"Sorry.. there is some kind of a disturbance, we can''t get in contact with Vivum."
''Again? There''s no way it''s the mountain this time..'' Michael thought, while the vige was indeed further away from Vivum, it was nowhere close to that mountain from before.
"Do you know when you will be able to contact them?" Elizabeth snickered with a sour expression.
"I am sorry.. we don''t."
Michael decided to stand up and head back to the truck, the others following right behind him.
"Something is not right.." Kevin walked up to him and said in a cautious voice.
"Really? What gives you that impression?"
His eyebrows twitched upon Michael''s sarcasticment, however, before their argument began to escte, Elizabeth stepped in front of them once again.
"Wait until we are back in Vivum to fight, you guys are being annoying."
''Says you'' He rolled his eyes and noticed the truck had still not begun moving, meaning they had time to get on the ride heading for the next vige.
Michael sent Kevin to go talk to Torin while he headed back inside the Truck with the others.
"Hey.. Why do you still pretend to act like a Saint?" Elizabeth''s voice rang out from the side, she had a serious expression on her face for some reason.
"Maybe because I am a nice guy?"
His reply was met with a scoff "A nice guy? You? Don''t kid yourself, give me an answer or I''ll keep bothering you."
''Unreasonable as always'' Michael sighed and looked straight into her eyes.
"What do you think I gain by acting strong? Being strong means people fear you, by acting nice I give off the impression of a weakling" He replied nonchntly.
However, Elizabeth did not seem convinced "So you do it just for the sake of it? Do you really expect me to believe that?"
Michael walked up to her and suddenly summoned a bunch of Swords of Light, circling around her neck.
"Of course it''s bullshit, I only do it because I can" He finished off with augh he had been holding in since the start of the conversation.
The Swords of Light dematerialized and only Elizabeth was left, a scowl clearly stered on her face.
"I don''t like you.."
Chapter 67: Incident
Torin was nice enough to ept them back, after all, he didn''t believe he was strong enough to defend the supplies all on his own.
And since Selene was from a rich family, payment was not a problem, even if she didn''t exactly like them, having an extra pair of hands could never hurt.
The ride to the next vige did not take as long as the previous one, it took only around 2 hours, all the while Michael simply stared out of the window.
He realized how beautiful the world was, as none of this scenery even came close in his previous world.
Lustrous mountains, clear skies and what stood out the most was the mana he saw flowing around, it had all kinds of different colors, making the sight incredibly beautiful.
Just like before, they arrived and headed straight for the Association''s building, asking the receptionist to contact Vivum.
But yet again, they were met with bad news, so far 3 out of 3 viges were not able to contact the massive city, it simply did not make sense to him.
However, he could not imagine what could have happened, he doubted the city managed to be overrun or attacked, the amount of strong people there could defend against anything.
There was also Amanda and Fafnir, the 2 of them made up for most of the power of the entire city, it definitely would not be able to fall.
The only conclusion Michael hade to, was that this issue was on their side, whatever was happening, revolved around them.
He had no leads as to what it could be or who it could be, the likely suspect would be those cultists he fought, however, with Chloe around, it would be difficult for them to go unnoticed.
Michael triedparing his Detection with hers and found out that she could see roughly 3 times more than he could, what a boon that space of affinity of hers was.
He wondered how strong she would be once she obtains a Mana Core, same goes for Kevin as well, the two of them would be powerhouses.
But there was also Elizabeth, who aside from being a swordswoman, she didn''t show any special affinity.
The only thing she had going for her was her hard work and swordsmanship.
''Well.. I hope it works out'' Michael thought, he honestly didn''t want to see someone like her be forgotten, she was incredibly strong for someone her age.
However, she was also starting to be as annoying as Kevin.
''Almost..''
They once again headed back to the truck, bringing the news of their failure to contact their city.
And once again, with the permission of Torin, they were allowed to apany them to the next vige.
Torin had mentioned that they would be stopping in 2 more viges, 2 more chances to contact Vivum before they had to think of another way back.
The ride was once again short, with the receptionist''s answer being the same, by now, they began to have little hope in the next trip being the one.
Kevin went up to Torin and without even a word spoken, they were allowed to apany them to thest vige.
This trip was by far the longest, it took them around 13 hours to get there, Michael even took a small nap.
However, what greeted their sight was not a vige, but a huge charred wastnd.
In the distance, he could see a few embers of fire that were yet to be fully put out, the ones responsible for this clearly had done it not too long ago.
''Savages..'' Michael noticed a few burnt corpses strewn around, some even being dismembered.
He turned to his party and they too had conflicted looks, meanwhile, Torin was covering Selene''s eyes, protecting her from the sight that was before them all.
No one had anything to say, there was not much one would even say in this situation, it was something beyond their wildest expectations after all.
All of a sudden Chloe turned her head in a single direction and shouted "There is somebody there!"
Michael immediately dashed as fast as he could, beginning to feel the people she talked about.
They numbered at least 20 and were at least level 100.
He appeared right in front of them and noticed their shabby clothing with daggers on their waists and booze in their hands.
They seemed to notice him as well as some of them even beganughing at him, one of the bigger guys even stepped up.
"How did ye survive brat?"
All the while Michael stared at them, finally understanding the big picture.
Their daggers had blood on them some of which looked pretty fresh, they had multiple barrels, some of which didn''t even look like booze.
Instead, it was most likely something mmable.
''I see...'' Michael sighed and closed his eyes, feeling the mana of all 20 individuals present.
And with a mere thought, pierced every single one of their heads, not leaving a single one alive.
His party finally arrived and looked at the blood pouring out of their bodies, staining the grass further.
They took a few looks around and understood why Michael did what he had done, these people were most likely the culprits behind this incident.
However, no matter how much he thought about it, something didn''t add up.
''How could someone so weak be able to overtake an entire vige.. System?''
Well it''s because they were most likely not alone, while the viges certainly were not as strong as the cities, they had more than enough manpower to defend against a few bandits, even if they were level 100.
''Can you feel anyone then? Aren''t your senses a bit better than Chloe''s?'' He asked while leading the party back to the truck inplete silence.
I can feel a faint remnant of mana, whoever did this most likely had a Mana Core and judging by the mana signature, it matches that strong cultist you fought.
Michael frowned ''So it''s them again.. fuck.''
He turned to Kevin, the supposed regressor "Do you know anything about those cultists?"
That question seemed to make his eyes widen a bit in understanding "Are you saying they were the ones responsible for this?"
Michael nodded and was met with a serious look from Kevin.
"They are called Evangelists and as you said, they are cultists worshipping some kind of a demon."
He paused for a moment then continued.
"..They likely took some sacrifices from this vige and burned the rest down..."
''Sacrifices, are demons summoned by sacrificing someone?''
Yes.
Michael''s expression hardened and he looked directly into Kevin''s eyes.
"The 5 we killed, could they have been trying to replenish what was lost?"
He was met with a nod before Kevin turned and walked up to Torin, not wanting to talk about this any longer.
Elizabeth and Chloe were just simply standing by, listening to the conversation with disgusted expressions.
''System, do you know anything about the Evangelists?''
After they were mentioned, I acquired some information about them, ording to the rankings, you killed 1 Priest and 5 heretics, the others were just cannon fodder.
''So that swordsman was a Priest huh.. is he considered weak on the food chain?''
Yes, it goes Cannon fodder, Heretics, Priests, Bishops, Arch-Bishops, Apostles, Numbered Seats and finally, The Founder.
Michael looked at the charred city in front of him ''They are much stronger than the Priest, aren''t they.''
Much stronger, the weakest Bishop is Tier 3.
''Fuck.. I can''t even imagine what the Founder is like then.'' He sighed and turned around, heading back into the truck.
Even if they reached their destination, they would have to return somewhere.
That''s when they will try to find a way back.
His whole party had conflicted looks now, especially Elizabeth, he didn''t expect her to be the most affected out of all of them.
Yet there she was, her hands shaking...
''This will likely not be the first time something like this happens..''
Chapter 68: Mansion
Torin turned to Michael and his party, gesturing that they finally arrived.
Since thest vige they were heading to was destroyed, they had no choice but to head back and report the results.
And that''s exactly what Selene went to do, she looked a bit anxious as she stepped out of the truck and headed towards what appeared to be a massive mansion.
''Holy shit.. it''s like 3 times bigger than what I had'' Michael admired the sight in front of him and then remembered they also had a rich kid among them, that being Chloe.
"I am not sure what you kids are nning on doing, I can try getting in contact with Vivum, for all that''s going to do though..'' Torin grumbled and left the truck as well, following after Selene.
"Hey, Kevin?"
"Yes?"
"That ''incident'' you warned me about back in the slums, exactly when was it supposed to happen?" Michael questioned, trying to confirm his hunch.
Kevin looked back into his eyes "It should be another week, that''s at least how it wasst time" He said out loud, confusing Chloe and Elizabeth who were sitting next to them.
"Right, where was it?"
"..In the city?" Kevin answered in a confused tone before his eyes widened.
"You don''t think..."
Although Michael simply nodded at him, that was exactly what he was thinking.
Back when he was stuck inside of a dungeon, the connection to the outside waspletely severed, the same went both times.
However, this situation is supposed to be a dungeon break, not a copse, he was notpletely sure if the scale affected it in a simr way.
But that''s the only conclusion he hade to, nothing else made sense.
You might be right, after all, his knowledge of the future could becking, since as you might have realized, some things are indeed different.
''Do you mean to say that it could actually be a dungeon copse instead of a dungeon break?'' Michael thought and realized it might be possible.
While the general knowledge Kevin shared was correct, it deviated a bit from the actual reality.
''What a shitty time for something like this to happen..'' Michael sighed and watched as Torin approached them, his expression didn''t seem like it bore any good news.
"Nothing" He said with a shrug.
Michael got out of the car, the others following after him.
"How far away is Vivum?"
Torin thought for a moment before replying "With our fastest transport, we could get you there in maybe a day? A tad bit longer perhaps."
That confused Michael a tad bit, while they did drive around the viges quite a lot, in the very end they arrived at the mansion that was only a few hours away from the mountain they found themselves on earlier.
''I am sure we were inside the armored van for only a couple of hours, how are we so far away?''
The others shared the same thoughts as it did not really make sense, unless one of those Evangelists did something, however, he doubted they could pull something like that off.
Especially if they only had Tier 1''s on standby.
"I see, could we use that transport then? We really need to get back to Vivum" Michael pleaded with Torin.
"You would need to talk to the head of the house for that, Selene will be done shortly, after that, you can try your luck."
For some reason, Torin''s voice didn''t sound convincing.
''The head of the house must be a bit interesting, It would exin how hey managed to raise a daughter like.. that'' A shiver went down his spine as he thought about the blind arrogance she showed.
Torin led them inside the mansion, it had all sorts of luxurious items strewn around, even a chair made out of gold.
"That seems a bit unnecessary.." Elizabeth snickered, looking at all of the useless items that were covered in jewels.
Just as they approached a massive door, Selene walked out with tears in her eyes, ignoring thempletely.
''A father who makes his daughter cry.. We are dead.''
"Well, you are free to go in now, I''ll be going after Selene now" Torin said and departed.
The party went inside and were met with a stern looking man who currently had a frown stered on his face.
And upon noticing them his frown grew deeper.
"Were you the ones who bullied my daughter?"
''Fuck.'' Michael was about to facepalm but stopped himself, paying close attention to the man, specifically to his mana.
''It''s as if he has a Mana Core.. but he doesn''t, is this what it feels like to be close to forming a Mana Core?'' He wondered.
Yes, he will reach it soon, judging by where most of the mana was forming, it will be a Dantian Core.
''Interesting..'' Michael seemed to understand and stopped paying attention to the man''s mana.
He nced at Elizabeth and smirked, making her flinch.
"No sir, it was only her.." He faked an apologetic look and pointed towards her.
However, the expected reaction did note "I see... Thank you girl." The man said with gratitude.
''What?'' Michael seemed confused and the man continued further.
"Selene needed a little bit of toughening up, once again, thank you."
He then suddenly sat up straight, his previous fatherly expression gone "What do you kids need?"
Kevin stepped up and began exining the entire situation, how they couldn''t contact Vivum even after all this time.
The man listened attentively "I see, so you want to use the fastest vehicle I have then?"
"That''s right" Kevin nodded back at him.
"Very well, I''ll assign you transport, however, in exchange, I need you to do something for me" A sly smile appeared on the man''s face.
''Of course, it wouldn''t be so simple..''
Kevin''s brow twitched "And what is that exactly?"
Just as his words finished, the man suddenly mmed down a map on the table, it looked like a rough sketch of some kind of an outline.
"This is?" Everyone was equally confused at what this was, for all they knew, the head of the house would ask them to clean his mansion''s tunnels, it certainly looked like that on the map anyway.
"It''s a dungeon map, it opened not so far away and we would like to monopolize it before the government catches on" The man said with a straight face.
''Tax evasion... no wonder he is so rich'' Michael chuckled inwardly and listened on.
"What I want you to do is, clear it, simple as that, I would handle the rest."
Kevin tilted his head "Is that it?"
The man smiled slightly "That is it."
However, Michael had an ominous feeling so he walked up to the man "Why can''t you clear it?"
He clearly had enough strength to clear it and if the dungeon was close by, then why not head over and do it himself?
"I can''t kill the boss monster..." The man replied and his expression turned sour.
"You can''t kill it? With your strength?" Michael was even more sure the man was trying to bullshit them.
"No... You see, the boss is.. different, only one person can attempt it, the rest stay outside of the boss room."
Michael raised his brow "Different?"
"Yes.. once I entered the boss room, I saw my daughter standing there... I couldn''t fight her so I ran away" The man looked down at the ground in what appeared to be shame.
''He does know that it''s not real right?''
"So is that all? When can we go?" Michael decided to just ept his offer, he was confident in dealing with this quickly.
"Thank you" The man expressed his thanks and stood up, leading them out the back door.
The moment they walked out of the mansion, a blue portal was right in front of their eyes.
Michael looked at the man who now had a poker face "So by not far, you meant right outside?"
"Yes."
''..Well, at least we won''t have to travel far...''
Chapter 69: Mimic
The party of 4 entered the dungeon and what greeted their sight was a dimly lit corridor and a small yet annoying rattling noise assaulting their ears.
Michael could see a few spider like creatures, it made a shiver run down his spine as he was not a very big fan of them.
And neither was Elizabeth as it seemed her hand holding the sword was slightly trembling.
"What¡¯s wrong Elizabeth, scared of a few spiders?" He couldn¡¯t help but tease even though he himself was a bit spooked.
The others looked at them with pitiful expressions and began killing the spiders, it seemed they were not as affected as the two of them were.
Kevin and Chloe dealt with them swiftly, the spiders were very low level, akin to even goblins, perhaps even a tad bit weaker.
But Michael had to keep in mind that the boss would likely be a bit troublesome.
From what he gathered, it most likely was some kind of a monster that dealt with emotions, much like the first monster he had faced in this world.
It would show him an illusion, a loved one perhaps, maybe even his father?
But Michael was not stupid, he knew the past was behind him.
He talked with the group and they mutually agreed that Michael would be the one dealing with the boss monster.
"Kevin, what¡¯s with the look?" Michael nced at him and saw a conflicted expression.
"I think I have heard about a monster like this before.. it¡¯s a mimic" Kevin said and began exining.
"They are monsters who eitherpletely copy an individual or someone they love, they are annoying creatures because they can perfectly copy you, albeit for a pretty short time."
¡¯So am I basically going to be fighting myself then? That sounds pretty interesting¡¯ Michael thought with a raised brow.
It would be an interesting experience, fighting against himself after all.
"It¡¯s alright, I got this" He reassured Kevin and they began moving deeper into the dungeon, following the map straight to the boss room.
As he was walking, an idea suddenly sprung into his head ¡¯System, what are the chances of me fighting one of my past selves?¡¯
Hm... Not sure, but it is certainly a possibility.
The reason this thought sprang into his mind was because of the encounter he had in his dream, he was not sure if the mimic could see it, but if it could then it wouldn¡¯t end well for Michael.
Though that was for the future him to handle, he had all of his HP and MP at a maximum, he had new skills that could even pierce defenses.
Even if he fought himself, he was confident in not losing.
As a massive door finally greeted their sight, Michael stepped up and walked towards it, cing his hand on top of it.
However, it did not seem to budge, he channeled some mana and tried again, surprisingly, the massive door slowly creaked open.
He turned to his party and nodded before heading inside the boss room with the door closing right behind him.
¡¯It¡¯s quiet..¡¯
Michael looked around and saw torches being lit, eventually revealing the ce he was in.
It was an arena of sorts, a circr one at that.
However, what caught his eye was the weird blob in the very middle, it seemed like some kind of a slime.
But as he approached it, the blob began morphing, its body expanding and eventually taking shape to look simr to Michael.
However, just as the being finished transforming, it suddenly popped, its slimy body flying in all sorts of directions.
Just as Michael was about to rejoice at the fact that the battle ended without him having to do anything, the blob once again came together, this time much faster.
And much to his surprise, turned into the same figure he had seen in his dream, the older golden haired Michael who he had seen in the mirror, was now standing right in front of him.
"Can you hear me now?" He tried talking, his voice a little choppy as he attempted to readjust it.
"I can" Michael replied skeptically and watched as a halo appeared above the man¡¯s head.
¡¯System, you still there?¡¯ He attempted to call out to the system who ever since entering the boss room, remained quiet.
And that did not change, he did not get any kind of a reply from it.
"It¡¯s no use trying to contact it, you won¡¯t need it anyway" The man said and reached out for the halo, shrinking it and putting it into his pocket.
He noticed Michael¡¯s perplexed look and chuckled "Don¡¯t worry about it, I don¡¯t want to have an unfair advantage against you."
Michael watched as the man began cracking his knuckles and suddenly made a few Swords of Light manifest.
¡¯Is he serio-¡¯ As he was thinking that, he felt a few more Swords of Light appear from behind him, flying towards him at immense speed.
He protected himself with Aegis of Light, while at the same time attempting to dodge, however, as he was in the midst of a movement, the presence of all the Swords of Light disappeared.
And in the next moment, he felt a sharp paining from his arms and legs.
Looking over, he noticed there were fist sized holes, like those he himself made with Piercing Light.
However, in the next moment, a golden light enveloped him, healing him and making his previous injuriespletely disappear.
The man looked at him with a small smile and once again, summoned a few Swords of Light, this time a bit less than before.
Michael attempted to counterattack this time, casting Swords of Light to deflect the attacksing at him.
As he sent his own Piercing Light towards the man, before reaching him, it suddenly felt difficult to control.
And in the next moment, he felt another hole appear on his body, this time it was in his abdomen.
¡¯Did he just reflect my fucking Piercing Light spell?¡¯ Michael groaned while bearing with the pain.
"You seem a little distracted, what¡¯s wrong Michael?" The man walked up to him and healed his injuries once again.
Michael ignored the man¡¯s words and attempted his strategy again, this time preparing to parry anything that came at him.
He could feel a Piercing Light spell approaching him and he waited for just the right moment, before using the Parry Mode on Aegis of Light.
However, to his surprise, the spell stopped right at that very moment, before continuing forward and making another hole in his abdomen.
¡¯I can¡¯t reach him neither can I defend against him..¡¯ Michael cast a heal on himself a few times, patching up his own injuries before attempting to rush at the man again.
This time, a normal looking Sword of Light appeared, heading towards him at a rtively slow speed, something he could either dodge or block, it did not look strong at all.
However, the closer it got, the more he felt that something was off.
¡¯It feels just like a normal Sword of Light, sure as hell looks like one too... so what¡¯s going on?¡¯ He kept paying attention to it.
Casting a few shields in front of him, he prepared for the small impact, but it never came.
The Sword of Light slowly traveled through all of his shields, not even making contact with them, before finally arriving in front of Michael and cutting his arm off.
He looked at the man in front of him with shock.
¡¯Just who the fuck am I fighting?¡¯
Chapter 70: Mimic (2)
"Why do you keep trying the same thing, can''t you see it''s not working?"
"Well, what do you expect me to do!?" Michael snapped back at the man and stood up, his arm dangling by the side.
The golden haired man sighed and healed him once again, before looking straight at his eyes and casting yet another slow but powerful Sword of Light.
''5th one is the charm..'' He readied himself and began interweaving the shields while also casting his own Swords of Light, trying to make the mana fluctuate so it could get dispelled.
From what he found out, the spell he was using only bes deadly once it reaches Michael, until then, it''s a slow sword that was traveling through all of his spells.
But Michael knew that it was impossible topletely make the spell ignore all his shields, at least that''s the conclusion he came to.
The spell approached his shields and he began bombarding it with his very own spells, however, to no one''s surprise, it still went through everything and pierced his body once again.
"It''s been 5 attempts now, you sure you want to continue?" The man walked up with a smile and healed him.
"I would love it if you just told me how it works, you are testing me aren''t you?"
"I won''t and yes, I am testing you"
''Just what is he doing for it to pass through all of my spells like that?'' Michael could not figure it out no matter how much he tried.
There must be some trace of mana, that kind of spell wouldn''t work without mana.
As he thought about it more and more, his eyes suddenly widened as he turned to the golden haired man "Again."
The man shrugged and walked backwards before once again casting his slow spell.
However, this time Michael was prepared, he understood that for this spell to function, there must be some kind of a mana signature, wherever it may be.
He began casting a few shields around himself just in case and used his Detection skill to the maximum, covering the entire arena.
The golden haired man seemed to notice this as he raised his eyebrow, making the spell fly a tad bit faster.
All the while, Michael was monitoring the entire arena, his guess was correct as he couldn''t feel any manaing from the Sword of Light.
Instead, it was located somewhere else.
And that somewhere was right behind him, moving at the same pace as the sword, slowly approaching his body.
Michael grinned and cast a shield directly on that approaching signature of mana.
However, to his surprise, he was still hit, his arm plopping to the ground.
He looked at the golden haired man with with wide eyes "Did you just do that on purpose?"
"You surprised me a little bit, I didn''t expect you to figure it out" The man chuckled and healed Michael again.
"Yeah? So in the moment of surprise, you decided to cut off my arm?"
"Pretty much."
Michael sighed and stood up, standing a few meters away from the man.
"So now what?"
The golden haired man raised his arm and it looked like it had begun to deteriorate "Fight me."
With those words, the whole arena was suddenly covered in an array of swords, all aiming towards Michael.
''Fuck.''
The spells all approached him at a very fast speed, however, once they got in a certain range of him, the speeds suddenly shifted, each one of the Swords now traveling at a speed different than the other.
That meant Michael could not parry them all, he had no choice but to use a Shield to block all of the attacks.
However, his expression turned sour the moment he noticed a few of the swords, they had no mana.
''Is he crazy?'' Michael cast shields all over the hidden Piercing Light spells, making them fracture and dissipate.
Had this been an actual Piercing Light spell, not one used as a sneak attack while the Sword of Light traveled at him, then he might have lost here.
However, he was lucky the spell was significantly weakened.
A few spells managed to make it through and hit Michael but he still had enough mana to heal himself, as long as the injury didn''t instantly kill him, he could live.
Those thoughts continued as the barrages became even faster, the golden haired man''s hand and at least half of his body was now gone.
But the smile did not leave his face, it looked as if he was proud.
Given the nature of the spells he was being hit with, he had no choice but to defend, any attempt at a counterattack would get him killed.
As the onught of spells seemed to nearly overwhelm Michael, the attacks finally stopped.
He turned to the golden haired man and he saw the Halo from before floating right above his head.
"I rmend you use all your heals for this one" He said with a casual tone and sent a wave of mana right out of the Halo.
At first, Michael did not feel anything, he thought that Halo must have malfunctioned or something.
However, as the seconds passed, the surrounding gravity began increasing, it felt incredibly heavy.
Even moving his head began getting difficult.
But the pressure did not cease, instead, it increased, making his bones start cracking, causing him immense pain.
However, due to the increase in gravity, he could not even move his mouth to scream, he could only try to endure it while casting heals on himself, just barely keeping himself upright.
As his eyes began closing, he noticed a golden light expanding outwards, covering the entire arena.
And then, a calm, yet authoritative voice rang out amidst all of the silence "Sanctuary."
At those words, Michael finally lost consciousness, not able to endure the pain any longer.
-----
Are you still alive?
''What do you think?'' Michael was sprawled out on the ground, his limbs bent and twisted.
He was not sure for how long he had passed out, however, since his party had not entered yet, it was probably not for long.
''Where were you?'' He asked the system, a tinge of annoyance present in his tone.
Not sure, it seemed I had been disconnected from you for a couple of moments, only recently did Ie back.
''Nice timing.'' Michael said sarcastically and used thest of his mana to heal himself, just barely having enough.
He stood up and looked around, the entire arena looked.. cleaner.
As if the battle had not just happened, more so, all the blood he had spilled was nowhere to be seen either.
It looked the same as when he had just gotten there.
However, his gazended on something that was definitely not there when he first arrived.
And that was the Halo which the golden haired man was wearing, at the start and at the end of the battle.
He went up to it and picked it up, surprisingly, a notification appeared right in front of his eyes.
[+5% Synchronization]
As he was about to show his confusion, another notification came, this one a bit more serious than before.
[20% Synchronization reached, Would you like to enter the Halls of Reflection?]
[Yes/No]
Michael looked confused ''What is this?''
One of the processes of making you remember your past, you got it a bit earlier than anticipated, however, don''t ept it yet, wait till you are back and have a lot of free time.
''A lot of free time huh..'' He thought and noticed the massive arena doors opening, he quickly shrunk down the Halo and put it into his pocket, hiding it from his party.
They all looked bewildered upon seeing his appearance, while he was not visibly injured, the dried blood and tattered clothes were a clear indication of a tough battle.
''Guess I''ll have to bullshit my way out of this...''
Chapter 71: Legacy Piece
"So the boss monster.. melted your clothes?" Kevin asked for reassurance with his brow raised.
"Yup."
"And the dried blood, you are telling us that it''s not even yours?" He looked at the spots that were clearly dyed red, pretty much Michael''s entire body was red from blood.
"Exactly."
Kevin was about to say something but stopped himself, heaving a sigh, he turned around and left.
The same went for Elizabeth and Chloe, they looked at him with a weird look and walked away, leaving him on the ground,pletely out of mana.
''Why do all my fights end with me running out of mana...'' Michael grumbled and slowly began standing up.
It felt as if he built a bit of an immunity to the fatigue one felt once they ran out of mana.
However, that did not mean he was fully immune, his head was still throbbing in pain.
The fight from earlier was still engraved in his mind, the golden haired man was an incredible fighter, if he had truly gone all out, Michael would not have stood a chance.
But despite that, he had learned a lot, even if he got absolutely destroyed, he managed toprehend the skill the other him used.
And because of that,
-Ding
[New Skill Generated]
Mirage of Light [Intermediate] [Passive]
# You canbine and mirror two or more skills, choosing which one is fake and which one is not.
Michael looked at it with widened eyes ''It''s a passive skill?''
It looked pretty broken for a mere intermediate passive skill as well, he assumed it would fit into the Advanced rank at the very least.
But he won''tin, a good passive skill will go a long way.
He then took out the Halo out of his pocket ''And then there is this.''
Michael did not know what to do with it, so he simply decided to put it on his head.
The moment he did, it simply plopped down on top of his head, he expected it to levitate or something, but it did not.
''I knew it was stupid to try... it''s probably broken'' He sighed to himself and attempted to lift it off his head.
However, to his surprise, it was noting off, he was able to lift it above his head just a bit but it felt as if it was locked in ce, not moving any further.
He let it go and it started levitating just as he expected earlier.
Suddenly, a sharp pain spread through his head once more, many times sharper than before, making him nearly pass out once again.
But as suddenly as it had appeared, it disappeared just as fast, instead, a golden notification appeared right in front of his eyes.
[1/5 Pieces of the Legacy have been collected]
[Cost of all skills reduced by 50%]
Michael''s eyes were shaking as he looked at the reward he had gotten, it practically answered his prayers, making his skills half the cost.
It meant he no longer had to worry about the mana costs while fighting, well not as much anyway.
He nced at his status for a moment and saw Physical Enhancement ''System, can you move it into the passive skills category? I mean, I have it on all the time and it doesn''t even appear in the system as a buff, plus with this reward, it won''t use any mana anyways.''
I''ll try, I can''t promise you that it will work though.
Michael proceeded to sit back down and wait, he still had to figure out how to hide the Halo from others.
And at the same time, his party could ry that wepleted our end of the deal, it was turn for the head of the house toplete his.
A few minutes passed and the system''s voice rang out.
I managed to do it, even the rank of the skill increased.
''It increased?'' Michael raised an eyebrow and opened his status, his eyes widening upon seeing the rank of the skill.
Physical Enhancement [Intermediate] [Passive]
# Increase all stats by 1 Minor Rank
''Why did it jump up by 2 whole ranks when it was just a Beginner ranked skill at the start?''
It cost mana to use, meaning it was inferior, now, the skill has reached its true capabilities.
''Well.. that''s a good haul, anyways, what do I do about this Halo? Can I take it off or hide it somehow?''
I can''t analyze it, you must get stronger, however, can''t you just wear a hat or something?
''Are you serious?'' Michael ignored the system''s antics and began ying around with the Halo, moving it a small distance away from his head.
However, even as he pulled it away further and further, it kept returning back to where it originally was.
''Fuck, do I have to actually start wearing a hat now?'' Michael started honestly considering it but in the next moment, another golden notification descended.
[Crown of Arch-Angel Michael] [Soulbound]
# Teaches a new skill every single time you Tier up.
*Next Skill: Sanctuary
''Oh it''s an item... that gives skills..? What an interesting Halo this is'' Michael yed around with it a bit more before finally letting it float above his head.
It seemed he couldn''t make it go away no matter what he tried.
''Though the crown of an Arch-Angel huh... I wonder why they are called crowns? It certainly doesn''t look like one'' He thought to himself and finally stood up, heading out of the dungeon and meeting up with his group.
For some reason, they chose to wait for him, well he did make them wait only 10 minutes.
But judging from Elizabeth''s visible scowl, he might have taken a bit longer.
"Took you long enough.." Kevin sighed and started walking back to the mansion.
And so did the others, which slightly confused Michael.
''Can they not see it?'' He thought as he began touching the top of his head, still feeling the Halo floating up there.
''Weird.. but that works out.''
Michael and the others arrived in front of the head of the house''s room and let themselves in, finding the man asleep on the sofa.
As they were about to wake him up, they noticed another person in the room, Selene, who appeared to be handling the paperwork.
"The transport has already been prepared, thank you for the help" She said in a tone that did not seem anything like her previous self.
"Thanks?" Michael blurted out and headed to the very front of the mansion, his eyes widening upon noticing the ''transport'' Selene mentioned.
It looked like a military grade helicopter, Michael had been in one of these when he was serving and they were extremely fast.
Now that begged the question, even with this amount of speed, it would take them a day to get back to Vivum?
''It would be faster to just head to another city altogether..''
From what he learned back in the first year of the academy, there are 10 major cities on this continent, with them being in the one at the very edge of the continent.
But even then, it was still likely the strongest out of all the cities, even if by a small margin.
Michael knew that was only on paper since there were people like Fafnir and Amanda.
It was highly likely that beings of simr power were dwelling in the other cities as well.
Though that was for him to find out in the future, the only thing he was interested in wasing back to Vivum.
The party headed inside the helicopter and sat down on thefortable seats, with Michael still wearing his tattered clothes with the addition of a Halo.
''It was a pretty bountiful assignment.. even if we did fail.''
Chapter 72: Change
[Reba¡¯s POV]
¡¯...¡¯
¡¯...¡¯
¡¯How long has it been?¡¯
"Let me out..." Reba weakly said, the white room making her voice echo.
She did not know how much time had passed, a few years? A decade? Her perception of time had long gone.
And the notes.. she kept receiving notes from Reinhardt.
She did not know what his goal was, he mostly asked about how she was doing.
Reba didn¡¯t even bother reading them past a certain point, immediately ripping them up the moment a note appeared.
However, today was a bit different, for some reason, she was not able to rip the note apart no matter how hard she tried.
¡¯It¡¯s definitely made out of paper¡¯ She examined it and tried ripping it again but was unsessful.
She sighed and decided to indulge upon his whims, reading the indestructible note.
-----
I will be picking you up shortly, get ready.
-----
¡¯Picking me up? Is he finally going to let me out of this ce?¡¯ She thought with a tinge of hope but it was quickly extinguished.
¡¯Yeah right... like I would be free after all this time..¡¯
Over the course of time, her emotions seemed to dissipate, only mirroring who she once was.
That¡¯s why despite this situation and the hopelessness she ¡¯felt¡¯, her expression never changed even once, it remained nk.
She stood up and waited, not moving even an inch, she found it fun to remain silent because, past a certain point, she would forget all of her troubles.
Reba found sce in that,plete silence, as if you do not exist, just viewing the world from an outsider perspective.
It was calming, it was liberating.
And the best part? She regained her powers, however, getting out still proved to be impossible.
She twisted the space around herself making it shatter but even then, it did not lead to anywhere.
So Reba stopped trying, what was the point anyway?
Just as she was about to practice her powers again, a deep crack in space appeared, much different from her miniature cracks.
And out walked a man with golden hair andpletely white eyes, he looked captivating.
But she knew better than anyone that Reinhardt¡¯s appearance did not mirror his personality.
He nced at her and put on a small smile "You have grown in these past couple of years, Reba."
For some reason, the hate she felt all this time, was no longer present, she simply felt.. empty.
However, one question still remained inside her hollow mind after all this time.
"How is Michael?"
Reinhardt did not seem surprised, so he instantly replied "Good, actually, he recently managed to kill one of our lower executives in this world, that¡¯s quite an achievement."
"I see" Reba nodded and continued staring into his white eyes, unsure of what she wanted to do moving further.
She guessed that the best course of action was to follow him, was there anything left for her after all this time anyway?
"Anyways, drink this" He took out a ss from a small gap in space and handed it to her, it was some sort of a red liquid.
¡¯Blood?¡¯ She thought with a slightly amused look, was he trying to make her drink blood?
"It¡¯s not blood if that was what you were thinking" He chuckled and gestured for her to drink up.
However, she was still skeptical, after all, she remembers hating this man in front of her.
"Why would I drink this?" She tilted the ss, pouring its contents on the ground.
But instead of the liquid falling and hitting the ground, it suddenly reappeared back into her ss through a crack in space.
Reinhardt looked at her with the same small smile, however, she felt like it housed a bit of anger this time.
"Drink it."
¡¯Hm...¡¯ Reba picked up the ss and began drinking it, not seeing any way out of this.
The red liquid tasted surprisingly good, it was like a perfectly aged wine.
However, her sight momentarily darkened, causing her to get slightly startled.
But in just a few moments, she was able to see again, the sight before her causing her previously expressionless face to twitch.
"What did you do?" She waved her hand through her hair which had now changed colors, it turnedpletely white.
Reinhardt suddenly made a crack in space and a mirror came out,nding right below her, showcasing her pure white eyes.
She nced at him with a weary look but was met with a massive crack in space, with him gesturing for her to follow.
And she did just that, going through the crack, appearing in some sort of a ruined area, with an abnormal looking night sky.
There were stars, however, they seemed way too close, almost as if she were to reach out for them, she could touch one.
ncing around she began seeing a multitude of people, some looking the same as her, while the others looked more like Reinhardt.
The golden hair and white eyes looked creepy yet at the same time captivating, she still could not understand why.
They walked through the ruins and arrived in front of a being who had been gazing at the stars above, seemingly lost in them.
But the moment they got closer, he turned to them, his piercing golden eyes and flowing golden hair giving her a sense of familiarity.
He gazed at her for a mere moment beforending his gaze on Reinhardt.
"Asmodeus.. Is this it?" He asked with a neutral tone that seemed to contain a tad bit of disappointment.
¡¯Reinhardt is Asmodeus?¡¯
"Well, what did you expect? A candidate like her does not appear very often" Heined while grumbling.
The man did not linger on the topic, slightly rolling his eyes "I suppose not, I take it you will train her?"
"Of course."
¡¯Just who are these people?¡¯ Reba was confused by what was happening in front of her.
However, as her thoughts finished, the angelic looking man turned to her, his eyes felt like they were piercing right through her soul.
"You do not have to worry about who we are, all you need to know is that you are now a part of the Evangelists and will remain as such until you die" He dered with a resolute voice before nodding at Asmodeus.
He took it as a signal and proceeded to create another crack in space, albeit this one was a lot smaller than his previous one.
But nheless, he signaled for Reba to go in.
She refused at first, however, he was not nning on ying around, sending the already opened crack towards her, engulfing her and making her disappear.
Reba reappeared in some sort of a facility, much like the ones she used to see back in her world, however, the key difference was the surroundings.
Dried blood was covering the ground, it seemed like it would never wash away.
But before she couldin at the sight, a door opened in front of her, revealing another white haired, white eyed man, staring at her emotionlessly.
"Are you the new recruit?" He asked her, impatience was clearly audible in his tone.
Reba tilted her head and nodded "I guess?"
And upon those words, was immediately flung by the arm inside of the room, revealing a few more simrly looking people.
However, the amount of blood nearly made her puke, it was like a fountain, these people were all bleeding from all sorts of wounds.
The man who pushed her walked up to her and patted her on the shoulder with some metallic item, it was a de.
She turned around and met his sadistic smile.
"Wee to the Evangelists."
Chapter 73: Vivum
[Michael¡¯s POV]
¡¯They weren¡¯t kidding when they said this trip would take a day..¡¯
What do you expect? These continents are many timesrger than the ones of your world.
¡¯I mean yeah, but, how are there so many viges?¡¯
Over the course of the entire flight, Michael counted at the very least 80 viges and they were all of simr size to one another.
Better yet, the view was beautiful and there were all sorts of canyons and mountains, despite the technological advancement, nature was unaffected.
¡¯Well for the most part..¡¯ He thought while thinking back on the mana he felt permeating all the surroundings.
He could guess it did change something, maybe that¡¯s why the continents were so big?
¡¯Anyways..¡¯ Michael looked around himself, noticing the others had snoozed off already, with only him still being awake.
He also noticed that his Halo couldn¡¯t interact with the surroundings, only he could touch it, besides that, it went through everything it came into contact with.
That made his life a little bit easier and plus the benefits it provided, this trip was worth it.
In the distance, he could finally see a few skyscrapers, it meant Vivum was just a couple of minutes away.
Despite his previous conclusions, Vivum appeared to be fine, at least from a distance.
But the closer they got, the more he noticed that the city was untouched, it looked like just another regr day.
¡¯So the problem was on our side... but what?¡¯ He was now truly confused but decided to let it go, debating the unknown would get him nowhere.
They signaled for the pilot tond near the Academy and he did, dropping the 4 of them off in the massive courtyard before flying away.
Michael turned to Kevin "What¡¯s the time right now?"
He checked his phone and then pointed it at Michael, showcasing the time which showed 7:00 AM, meaning they still had time before ss.
However, as those thoughts entered his mind, he felt a presence appear and head directly for him at a speed that he could simply describe as monstrous.
Before the impact happened, he created a Shield, parrying the full brunt of the attack and sending it back to the one who had done this.
The person was sent flying for a bit before halting in mid air, stopping themselves from flying any further.
They levitated for a bit,nding in front of Michael with widened eyes.
"You.. already?"
"Nice to see you too, Amanda" He rolled his eyes at her antics, she seemed to attack him every single time they met, he was just able to catch her off guard this time.
"Where have you all been? You suddenly disappeared during the assignment, what happened?" She asked in a slightly worried voice.
Michael sighed and turned to Elizabeth, gesturing for her to exin.
He thought she seemed too lively these past couple of days, she could deal with the aftermath while they go do whatever they wanted.
However, much to his surprise, Amanda stopped her and turned to Michael "No, I want to hear it from you, follow me" With those words she started walking backwards, a car appearing just like the time he came back.
¡¯She jumped out again...¡¯ He chuckled inwardly and waved to his party before finally heading right after her, entering the car and driving to the headquarters inplete silence.
The elevator ride upwards was also the same, for some reason she seemed to be a tad bit irritated.
They entered the room with the round table and it waspletely empty, it was just the two of them there.
She went around and sat on the chair meant for the leader, while gesturing for him to choose any seat he liked.
Michael nced at her with suspicion "So... did we need to head all the way back here? You know I have sses right?"
She simply chuckled "sses? You really think I care about something like that?"
"Why not? It¡¯s always good to know more" Michael tried joking around with her but upon taking another look at her, noticed the serious expression on her face.
"Did my father help you create that Mana Core?"
"He did..?"
"Did he tell you about anything else?"
Michael looked back to that time and he remembered Fafnir falling asleep immediately after helping him "No."
She sighed andid back on her chair "I see, he does tend to forget important things sometimes.."
"I guess..? Was I supposed to be informed of something?" He asked in a slightly confused tone.
"Yes.. You see, this world is only one of many, with others being hidden in other realms. This world is also one of the weakest, hence why you don¡¯t see many people with Mana Cores running around, it¡¯s just not that advanced" Amanda exined while rocking back and forth in her chair.
"Not that advanced? Does technological advancement not count?"
"Technologically, we have some grounds, however, power wise as I said, we are pretty weak." She answered patiently before continuing her earlier exnation.
"Luckily for us, we just so happen to have a portal leading to another realm inside of this building."
¡¯Huh?¡¯
"You might have seen it, back when we were showing you around, it was a medievalnd, not as technologically advanced, but the strength of the individuals there was nothing short of formidable."
Michael thought about what she said and his eyes suddenly widened.
When he first entered the elevator, he remembers seeing some kind of a medieval city right below him, it looked strange but he didn¡¯t put much thought into it.
The thought that it was a different world entirely didn¡¯t even cross his mind, he still did not know about that back then.
Amanda smiled upon seeing his expression "You might have heard of the new, well kind of a new thing that Vivum has released, VR.
"I did hear about it.."
"We were able to connect that world with this one, the people who buy the Vivum VR can enter that realm any time they like" She said with a nonchnt expression.
However, Michael was left even more shocked ¡¯Did she just say they connected the worlds? How is that even possible?¡¯
"That world had a weak portal and it needed an anchor, it was the ce where my father and I lived at first, we only came across this world by mere coincidence and due to that, it was not extremely hard to tie the two of them together."
¡¯So she came from that world..? It¡¯s making less and less sense as she keeps talking..¡¯ Michael sighed and continued listening.
"It works via mana projection, the VR is simply a massive amplifier that sends out a portion of the individual¡¯s mana straight into that world, allowing them to control it from here like some kind of an avatar, pretty cool, right?" She chuckled sarcastically.
"Y-yeah.." Michael was absolutely speechless.
"Now then, that brings me to my next topic, would you like to enter that world normally? Not through an avatar but with your actual body."
He thought for a moment and nodded, this seemed too good to be true, however, he was not one to pass up such an opportunity to get stronger.
"Good, I will have everything ready by next week, you can go now" She gestured for him to get out.
Michael got up and headed out, it seemed that she didn¡¯t really care about what happened to them during the assignment after finding out about his Mana Core.
He didn¡¯t mind it though, with strengthes opportunity.
Walking to the elevator and heading down, he was on his way to the academy.
However, as he finally arrived, he noticed a clock on the wall, right above the receptionist¡¯s desk, it said 8:10 AM.
¡¯Damn it...¡¯
Chapter 74: A New Realm
It has been a week now and unlike what Kevin had predicted, no dungeon break happened.
Michael had been eagerly waiting for it too, it was the perfect chance to see how much stronger he had gotten ever since he came back.
No chance to do that though, he also failed to make a pure healing spell, he just couldn''t figure out how to heal someone instead of harming them.
He kept trying to envision a heal while focusing on the wounds he inflicted on himself, yet even then, it did not work.
However, today was the day, it was finally time to head to the realm Amanda mentioned.
All he had to do was wait for the call and he would go.
The academy was as boring as before, Lena had been given a rundown by the others of what happened.
And because of that, now even assignments are being postponed, just like the dungeonsst time.
''What a shitty academy..'' Michael couldn''t help but express, every single time he has been out so far, an incident happened, of course, the temple one was mostly his fault.
He also realized that his club had been disbanded and ire was nowhere to be seen, she most likely graduated while he was stuck in the temple.
But besides that, he awaited patiently in his new dorm room which was unsurprisingly small, for such a big school, one would assume it would have big dorms too.
s, he was wrong, at least it had all the necessities he would need.
Just as he was starting to grow impatient, his phone rang and he immediately picked it up.
"Get over to the headquarters, I have to do a little debrief before you go" Amanda said and hung up, not giving him any time to respond.
''Sure..'' He got up and headed out, he didn''t really want to go to ss today so he skipped and was waiting for the call.
But now that it''s here, he could finally move forward, Kevin and the others are still fairly weak, he could not take them with him.
If only Fafnir could do to others what he did to him, it would give him some reassurance in a tough fight.
But he was nowhere to be seen, Michael thought maybe he went to explore the world, after all, being immobile for that long would cause one to get bored.
As Michael was walking while lost in his thoughts, he finally arrived at the headquarters and stepped into the elevator.
It closed and he waited to be brought to the very top, however, the darkness persisted for a longer time than usual.
And suddenly, he found himself on a grassy in with Amanda standing in front of him with her back turned, overlooking the sight below them.
He walked up to her and looked down, being left breathless upon the sight.
When he first saw this world back in the elevator, he thought it was just a simple medieval world much like his dream.
Then he found out that it housed strong people, it made him a bit excited at the prospect of a medieval world with strong opponents he could practice against.
However, the view in front of him did not align with any of his previous thoughts, it just simply felt unreal.
There were inds in the sky that each varied in size but due to the sheer number of them, they were hard to ignore.
He also saw mountains that reached incredibly high, looking as if only a small quarter of their true size was visible before they pierced the clouds.
This world was bigger and certainly more unique, his world looked incredibly simple inparison.
Aftering out of his stupor, he noticed that they were currently standing on one of those floating inds.
Amanda turned to him with a small smirk "Surprised?"
"What do you think?" He rolled his eyes at her words and continued to look around, it definitely did not look like the same world.
He could even see houses a few on the floating inds.
"Stop dawdling around,e" She pointed behind him and upon turning around, he saw quite a few buildings, almost as if they were in a city or a town of sorts.
Amanda started leading him through the streets while exining what he couldn''t do.
"Don''t stray too far off into the mountains, and by no means, tell the natives of thisnd about you being from another world, they are a curious bunch.." She said in a slightly sour tone that seemed to indicate a past grievance.
"Is that all?" Michael asked impatiently, it seemed like this talk could have been finished a lot faster.
Amanda noticed his impatience and stopped in ce, sending a small re in his direction "Yes, don''t get into too much trouble and try not to kill too many people, some are from our world."
"Okay."
''I''ll try not to..''
She gave him a little map depicting the surroundingnd, it had some areas marked off with a red cross.
He assumed those areas were the dangerous parts she had talked about, it was in his best interest not to go there.
''Anyways.. I forgot to ask how strong the people here actually are'' Michael looked around and took note of the people in this town, they appeared to be from his world.
''Not the natives'' He nced at the map and saw a town not too far away, an hour''s walk at most.
And that''s what he did, heading for the nearby town to gauge the strength of its residents.
Amanda had mentioned that he was only allowed to be here for 2 weeks at a time, that was because apparently, the mana in this ce could negatively affect him if he stayed too long.
But from what Michael felt, it was many times denser than his world, he felt like his spells could contain more power.
''System, what Tier could I reach in this world?''
I don''t know, Fafnir seemed very high tier while Amanda was not so low herself, so I can''t give you an estimate.
Michael nodded before another thought popped into his head ''I see... Can people break through their worlds'' limits and Tier up many more times than they should be able to?''
There are rare asions of that happening yes, however, I highly doubt that was the case for Fafnir and Amanda, their tiers are way too high for this realm.
''So are you saying she lied to me when she said she was from here?''
I won''t imply anything, but yes, that is probably what happened.
''Is that so..'' Michael grumbled and began heading for the next town,
There were small pathways that connected the floating inds, they were pretty narrow but rather safe to walk on.
He would have run to the next town, however, he wanted to take in the sight, the sun shining through the clouds looked incredibly calming.
Why do you keep acting like an old man?
''Well, I was quite old before I died, wasn''t I?'' He walked onto the next ind, seeing a few houses and walking past them, the town was much further away.
He still wondered why there were no towns in his world, there were only viges and cities, the people refused to acknowledge them as towns, even if they were much bigger than them.
''What a bunch of weirdos..'' Michael sighed and kept crossing the pathways between the inds before finally arriving in front of a town.
And immediately, he could feel the mana from the outside, making his eyes widen slightly ''None of them are weak..''
He felt that no one was below Level 50, even the children running around were at the very least that level.
There were also those who had Mana Cores, quite a lot of them to be exact.
Furthermore, he felt like a lot of them were stronger than him, at least mana wise.
''System, can I raise my progress towards the next Tier faster here somehow?''
Yes, but first make sure to find a ce where no one would bother you, the abilities I unlocked would take up a bit of your time, possibly all 2 of your allowed weeks here.
''Would it be worth it?''
Certainly.
Michael made up his mind and nodded, he visited this town just to gauge their levels after all, he had no reason to stay here.
''It''s time to go sightseeing.''
Chapter 75: Barren
Michael walked around the inds, looking for a quiet ce, however, it seemed that no matter where he went, there were always people around.
The areas where there was no one were way too open, he wasn''t sure what he had to do yet but he assumed that it would require some privacy.
You are not wrong, just find any ce where no one would bother you, why don''t you just go to the bottom?
Michael seemed a bit puzzled and walked to the edge of the ind, looking down but not seeing the ground.
''I am not above the clouds and I can see mountains, but I can''t see the ground, do you seriously think something is down there?''
Why wouldn''t there be? Have you ever thought that you might just be a little high up, this is the same world as the one you saw that city after all.
''You are right..'' He contemted for a moment and looked around, trying to find any way to get down.
However, nothing was in sight, all the inds were connected with no pathway leading down.
But just as he was about to give up, he remembered the map Amanda gave him, it contained a good amount of information.
He took it out and stared deeply at it, finally finding some kind of a hint.
''Most of the mountains were crossed off, but there is one not too far away that wasn''t..'' Michael put the map back in his pocket and started heading in that direction.
After walking for a few minutes, he noticed that the mountains did not seem like they were getting any closer, perhaps being even bigger than he initially thought.
However, he began seeing a mountain in the distance that did not seem as big as the others, it did not pierce the sky and it looked just barely tall enough to reach the floating inds.
''Is that mountain small or are the others just too big?'' He kept walking towards it.
And upon arriving just before the mountain, he realized his assumption was incorrect, the mountain was by no means small.
He nced around and looked at a town not too far away ''Just how do these people breathe up so high in the air?''
Michael thought that even as strong as they were, it would still prove difficult to remain at this altitude for long.
I am feeling a lot of mana from inside of the mountain, it was most likely what caused it to grow to such proportions.
''That would make sense..'' He jumped down,nding on the very top of the mountain, it was a pretty small drop and it would not require much effort to get back up.
Michael began sliding down, trying to keep his bnce by using mana, however, that onlysted for a few seconds before he lost control and started tumbling down the entire mountain, his shield absorbing most of the damage.
''Well.. at least I will get down easier'' He sighed and resigned himself to his fate, watching as the inds above him slowly started disappearing.
Afternding on some sort of a ledge, he recast a shield on himself and stood up, looking down on what was below him.
A barrennd greeted him, contrary to the greenery above, it looked terrible.
There were no cities in sight either, just a few scraps and nts from time to time, even if they werepletely withered.
''System, do you have some kind of a GPS function?'' He asked and started descending again, this time carefully.
I do, do you want me to mark this mountain on the map?
Michael tilted his head in confusion ''You are going to mark it on the map?''
Just as his wordsnded, a blue screen appeared in front of him, copying all of the details of the map Amanda had given him but with extra detail and more areas.
He ced his hand on it and it zoomed in a little, providing a better view of the surroundings, he was being shown as a green dot.
''Could you always do this? Because you know.. it would have been really useful a couple of weeks ago..'' Michael grumbled, it would have been useful when they were lost.
No, only recently did I unlock an ability like this, I have alsopiled the maps of your world.
''Ohh.. you are finally going to rank up from being a Wikipedia, nice'' Michael chuckled and finallynded on the barrennd.
...I can also assist you in battle now.
''Oh? What do you mean?''
I can remotely cast your skills and that map you see, it shows you all hostiles in a certain area around you.
Michael''s eyes widened as he remembered the system telling him something about automation quite a while ago, it appeared today was that day.
''So.. Can you cast my spells at full efficiency?''
Yes, I use you like a catalyst of mana and in turn, I can cast your skills as we are tied together, if a tough opponentes along, you would be at least twice as efficient as before.
A small smile appeared on his face but as he was about to enjoy this little power up, the system shot him down.
Of course, there are downsides. Since I am using you like a catalyst, the mana costs of the skills I cast are significantly increased, I will only be using Aegis of Light for the most part as it can restore mana upon sessful block or parry.
''Way to ruin my mood'' Michael sighed and continued walking forward, zooming in on the map and seeing the ground level where he currently stood.
The map was separated into the sky inds and the ground level, he tried zooming more in or out but there was nothing.
He was able to see some kind of a settlement and a thought popped into his head ''The data of the areas are live right?''
They are, when you get closer you should start seeing some people on the map.
''I see, well I''m going to head there then, not too far behind it is some kind of a grassynd, I''ll try to find a ce to stay there.''
Suit yourself.
Michael decided to pick up his pace, there was nothing around him that could make him want to admire the surroundings.
Upon getting roughly 5 kilometers away from the settlement, he was able to see some dots on the map, they varied in color.
A lot of them were green while a few were red or even yellow.
''Wasn''t your detection range a bit higher?'' He asked with curiosity.
That''s how much I can actually feel and transmit live, anything above that would provide quite a massive dy as the mana travels pretty slowly over these types of distances, even if the mana is denser than on your world.
''Hm? How does that work? Shouldn''t denser mana mean you can use more of it? Why would the detection range remain the same?''
Denser mana does not help with Detection, it in fact hinders it, I can bypass it but you can''t, so be happy with what you have.
''Sure.. though why are the red dots growing in number?'' Michael looked at the map and sped up his pace, he felt like something was wrong.
The green dots became dimmer before disappearing, meanwhile, the yellow dots began slowly changing to red.
''What''s happening?''
A fight, hurry up if you want to save at least a couple of people.
Michael began running at full speed, casting Swords of Light and sending them into the sky above him.
''Shit.. there''s trouble wherever I go..''
Chapter 76: Settlement
''What the fuck are they doing..?''
In front of his eyes were a handful of people, however, they were all red dots with only a single green dot remaining.
That was not what shocked him though, it was the fact that the red dotted people were in fact not people at all.
They were some kind of humanoid monsters that appeared to be munching on the humans they killed, it was definitely not a beautiful sight.
Even at his full speed, he wasn''t able to get here in time, the whole settlement was filled with civilians and close to nobatants.
And then there were these monsters, who even at their weakest, seemed to be in the high Level 180s with some even having Mana Cores.
However, Michael was not exactly worried, he might have been in trouble if they fought when he first created his Mana Core, but now, they were simply stupid monsters that were slightly powerful.
He cast a shield and a heal on the remaining human who appeared to be in pain, his expression immediately softened before finally passing out.
The monsters tried scratching at the man, however, the shieldpletely negated their attacks, causing them to scream in frustration before lunging at Michael.
He decided to test out the system''s capabilities, more so the speed at which it can react, he wanted to make sure he could trust it to have his back.
Just before the humanoid monster connected their sharp nails against his body, a small shield appeared, the size of a nail.
However, that did not matter as it was able topletely negate the attack while also blowing off the monster''s arm, sending it flying high into the air.
''Damn, that was nearly perfect'' Michael whistled and continued watching the monsters, the strongest of them had weary looks.
What do you mean nearly perfect? It was perfect.
The system snickered at him in a gloating tone.
But the weakest ones seemed to not care as they dashed at him with full speed, ws stretched out, ready to kill him.
There were multiple this time, he was not sure if the system would be able to handle them so he adjusted his body, preparing himself to dash away in the case of them piercing his defenses.
The system swiftly reacted, casting a shield right in front of their attacks before they even managed to get close to him, sending them backwards.
Michael widened his eyes upon that realization ''You can intercept their attacks like that as well?''
Yes, but they are not as powerful as the ones closest to your body.
He nodded and nced at the monsters the system had just blown away, they still had their arms attached, however, their fingers appeared to be broken.
Just as he thought that, the previously broken fingers quickly mended themselves, making popping sounds while the monsters slightly groaned.
''That healing ability is a bit insane..''
Michael did not know what kind of monsters they were, however, their healing was certainly no joke.
If he had topare them to another monster, it would be like a troll, just one the size of Michael himself.
Their strength was fairly sufficient as well, definitely enough to make even him have troubles if he were to fight with his strength alone.
But that was only because he hadn''t focused on strength in the slightest, it was basically his lowest stat.
Well, besides charm, he was not sure why it wasn''t going up.
I wonder why.
''Shut up..'' Michael sighed and waved his hand down, finally getting tired of this charade.
Suddenly, the whole sky was reced by a golden color, the Swords of Light raining down on each of the monsters.
They attempted to dodge but were unsessful, most being instantly killed.
However, there was a single one that was still somehow alive.
Michael walked up to it and summoned a Sword of Light, holding it in his hands before shing down.
But something unexpected happened, making his expression turn sour
"W-Wait!" The monster screamed, its bloody body shaking while it stared at him.
"You can talk?" He asked in an unsure tone, for all he knew, it could have been some kind of a mimic, talking monsters were not exactlymon.
There was Meph, but he was not exactly sure if he could be categorized as a Monster, he did look one, but he didn''t act like one.
"Y-Yes.. p-please spare me..." The monster begged for its life while blood was pouring out of its mouth.
''What a shitty situation'' Michael grumbled and put his Sword of Light away.
"What are you?"
"I-I am a s-shadow.."
Michael tilted his head in confusion "A shadow?"
"Y-Yes, wee from the people who have died, a portion of their souls were separated and we inhabited them" It said while its eyes were beginning to slowly blur.
Are you nning on saving it?
''Are you an idiot? Of course not'' Michael shot back before looking down at the monster with cold eyes.
"Why do you deserve to live?"
The monster seemed startled by his question "W-Why? I-I..." it kept trying to speak but it couldn''t find the words.
It knew better than anyone that what it was doing, was absolutely wrong and undeserving of life.
"Can''t find the words?"
Michael kept looking down at the monster as it was stammering, trying to think of any sort of an excuse to be kept alive.
"You make me sick"
With those words, Michael resummoned his Sword of Light and sent it right at the monster''s heart.
As much as the monster did not deserve to live, he would not prolong its suffering for his own entertainment.
He wiped off some of the blood that managed to end up on his clothes and looked at the only alive human left.
''What it said about being a shadow, was it the truth?'' He asked the system.
In a way, they actually appear once an undead reaches Tier 1, they cast out some former impurities, that being their shadows.
''And the shadows can get as strong as the undeads?''
They can''t go above Tier 1, however, the sheer number of how many there were,pensated for that.
Michael looked around and noticed around 22 monster corpses, it seemed the system was right.
He massacred a small pack of them, well he was still a bitte.
At least you saved one.
''At least I saved one...''
Michael walked up to the still unconscious human who upon closer nce, appeared to be a child.
He could see a bit of dried blood around his waist, the monsters must have bitten him.
The more he looked, the more he began disliking these monsters.
Too bad it was a type that never goes away, they were like parasites.
When there are humans, there are also undead, and when there are undead, there are also shadows.
He picked up the child by the cor, tossing him over his shoulder.
Michael was not really sure what to do with him but it beats leaving him alone, if he finds a settlement he could take him there.
''But there doesn''t appear to be anything nearby..'' He thought while ncing at the map, the settlement that had just existed, was raised to the ground by the monsters and Michael''s Sword of Light attack.
The closest town was back up in the floating inds, however, it was easier getting down than climbing up, it would take him quite a while to do that.
Even longer while he was carrying the child.
Michael walked around the monsters and out of the settlement, choosing a location that seemed deste enough to not be bothered.
He took a nce at the child on his shoulder and sighed.
''Guess you are with me for now...''
Chapter 77: Safe
It seemed like the child would not wake up, Michael had been walking for thest 2 hours, trying to get to this grassy location he found on the map.
And yet, all this child was doing, was grumbling and tossing around on his shoulder, not looking like he would wake up soon enough.
Or that''s at least how it seemed on the outside, however, Michael still had some memories from his time at the orphanage, he could tell a few irregrities apart.
"Should I just leave this kid here? It''s not like he wants to wake up anyway, my shoulder is starting to hurt" Michael said in a slightly sarcastic tone.
However, to the child, it seemed like it was about to be abandoned again so he quickly sprang up from his shoulder, almost falling head first to the ground.
You could have used better wording for that you know...
''Mincing words won''t bring his family back to life, I don''t want this kid to lose himself to his own delusions.''
"Are you alright kid?" Michael held him by the foot, mere centimeters off of the ground.
Just as he was about to put him down on the ground, the kid started crying, holding his arms around his eyes while the tears fell onto the ground.
''...'' Michael decided to give him his time, slowly rotating him so he doesn''t feel dizzy and putting him on the trunk of a nearby tree.
He had not arrived at the grassy ins yet, however, the trees remained, albeit, they were all withered away, just barely standing.
This barrenndcked water, the sun was shining for most of the day as well, it must be like torture.
''Howe the floating inds aren''t casting a shadow of the sun?'' He thought while making some distance between himself and the kid, he didn''t want him to feel afraid.
After all, Michael still had a bunch of dried blood on his clothing.
Not sure why there are no shadows, probably for the same reason you can''t see the floating inds from all the way down here.
He nced at the mountain he hade down from and could just barely see the very peak.
There was nothing else around it, as if those inds never existed in the first ce.
''I guess the humans of the ground level do not even attempt to climb to those heights, what would one achieve besides glory?'' He thought to himself with a bitter expression.
He knew the world was unfair, frankly, the barrens had it the worst.
The city he had seen back then was lively, the people looked happy and certainly not malnourished orcking anything in any way.
Yet, a simple nce at this kid could tell someone that he had been mistreated and not fed.
Such is life, there are some worlds that are even harsher, where the weather is so hot, if you were to go there as you are now, you would melt in an instant.
''Are you referring to hell?''
No, hell is even hotter than that, I am just referring to a slightly higher realm than what you are used to seeing.
Michael shrugged and nced back at the kid, by now he had already finished crying, wiping the tears away from the corner of his eyes.
"What''s your name?" He asked the kid in a gentle tone, trying to not seem frightening.
"..Orin" The kid huped in the middle of his word, however, Michael ignored it.
"I see, my name is Michael."
Michael did know how to deal with kids to a certain degree, however, he had never dealt with a kid who was on the verge of mentally breaking apart.
He thought for a moment before asking the kid "Would you like to apany me for a little while? Until we find you a ce to stay..?"
The kid gazed at him with slightly hollow eyes and nodded, continuing to wipe away the nonexistent tears.
"Stop doing that" Michael walked up and flicked the kid''s arms away from his eyes, they were starting to get bruised for all the rubbing.
However, that seemed to set something off inside the kid, as he once again began bawling his eyes out.
You said you were good with kids?
Michael tried keeping a straight face and ignoring the system''sment, however, he couldn''t help but let out a sigh.
''I guess I should have been a bit more gentle with him..''
You think?
After another couple of minutes, the kid finally stopped crying, it seemed as if he ran out of tears.
"Sorry about that, can you please not rub your eyes? You are hurting yourself.." Michael said with a small smile and healed the kid, causing a golden light to envelop him for just a moment.
Orin''s gaze remained fixed on his own hands, they were previously tattered, but, now they were silky smooth.
As if all that hardship he had gone through moments ago was all but a dream.
Orin put his hands down, finally listening to Michael''s nagging.
"Good, look, there is a cool ce close to here, follow me there and after that, we can go searching, deal?" Michael pointed at the far off distance, there was a tinge of green just barely visible.
A small glint appeared in Orin''s eyes that definitely did not escape Michael''s gaze, causing a faint smile to appear on his face.
''How about that?''
It was better, at least he''s not that afraid of you now.
Michael felt proud of this little aplishment, in the grand scheme of things, it did not seem like much, but at the current moment, he was happy.
"You are safe for as long as you are with me, don''t worry" He added for extra reassurance and started walking towards the greenery.
Orin was right behind him, his steps were a bit slower than Michael''s so he had to slow down to match their pace.
Michael tried striking up a conversation, however, besides the time Orin told him his name, he had not talked since.
He took a nce at his map, making sure there were no hostiles around him.
However, a yellow dot appeared in front of him, it was only one, however, Michael felt a bit uneasy.
''System, what exactly does yellow mean?'' He knew green meant they were good, while red meant they were evil, was yellow something in between?
They are individuals who do not choose a side, they killed both monsters and humans and under certain circumstances, they could either change to red or green.
''So wait, what happened back in the settlement? I swear I saw them turning red but in the end, they still died..?'' Michael asked with a tinge of confusion.
They thought that siding with the monsters would guarantee their survival, why else do you think some of those people died in more humane ways than the others.
Looking back on it, he could remember seeing sword wounds on some of the dead, he just didn''t exactly pay attention to it in that moment.
''So, should I try to attack whoever that yellow dot is?''
From what I can see, don''t, just try to pass by peacefully.
He could sense a bit of unease in the system''s voice, he assumed that meant the yellow dot was someone strong.
And upon arriving near the forest, he saw a lone woman sitting on a rock, staring at the sky.
She noticed him and locked her gaze with his.
Her green eyes mirroring the forest in front of them, she looked quite enchanting.
But nheless, Michael chose to not antagonize her, so he just simply walked forward, ignoring her attempt to taunt him.
He walked past her and into the forest, neither of them saying a single word to one another.
Meanwhile, Orin was just walking by his side, not paying any attention to the surroundings, nearly tripping on a few pebbles on the ground.
''That felt.. disturbing'' With those thoughts, he walked further in eventually arriving in front of a small grassy area with a cave by the side.
Michael took a deep breath and settled down, he saw a few red dots on the map, he assumed they were either monsters or food.
''I can eat monsters right..?'' He asked the system for confirmation.
Do you know how to cook them?
''I can learn..?
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