“Hah… Hah…” As he stared at the long list of notifications with wide eyes, Arthur tried to catch his breath. Even though he had just leveled up several times, his body was completely rejuvenated and even felt far better than before.
After such a hard battle, he couldn’t immediately stand up again. He needed a few seconds to calm down and that was exactly what he did.
“That… That was close…” He muttered as he finally rose from the ground and looked around him. Shockingly, what he saw wasn’t the desert he was in, and instead, he was back in the forest. Looking up, he blinked slowly. The stone door was now closed as if it hadn’t been touched before. However, the runes on it were now completely dark with no aura around it.
“And just like that, I’m back here as if nothing happened.” He muttered. Although the battle felt real and the results of it were still on his body, it still felt like he was simply in a dream or a world that wasn’t real. The threat was real, but everything else felt like an out-of-body experience rather than a real fight.
‘Is that just me overthinking? I know that it’s a memory fragment which also means that it’s something in the past. Still, what was that? The Battle Of The Ethereals… Who are these creatures? And why did they fight with humans?’
Arthur felt lost even though he had received some hints from this memory fragment. But, because of its nature as a mere fragment and not the full memory, he reckoned that figuring something out would be hard.
‘I might be able to figure it out if I can find another memory fragment that can actually explain things.’ Sighing, Arthur finally stood up and looked at his notifications.
“Now, this is the real deal. I have seen a glimpse of some interesting things.” Reading through the notifications, Arthur smiled when he saw all the new stats and levels he gained.
He already could feel the massive increase across all his stats. Every single stat had reached the 20-point mark and exceeded it.
‘This is good, really good!’ He laughed weirdly. ‘I’m already feeling like a beast!!’
Clenching his fist, Arthur saw his muscles pump with energy. Surprisingly, he also felt like he had grown taller and not by a small margin either.
“This is… Hmm…” Looking around him, Arthur walked toward one of the trees and stood next to it to compare. “This is at least… a few extra inches. Holy!! I have actually grown taller!! Hahaha! No, I can’t believe it!
My dream has come true!!”
Holding his face, he laughed like a maniac for almost a minute. This particular detail was perhaps the best thing he had received from the game so far. Arthur’s height had always been a problem for him. His small stature made him stand out like a sore thumb amongst his peers and put a red circle on his body as a target for bullies.
With years, he expected himself to grow taller, at least a few inches taller. Yet, his height remained the same since he was 11 years old. He tried not to think about it much, but he would be lying if he didn’t envy the tall people for their god-given gift.
“Oh well, not anymore, suckers! I’m coming for you!” With a proud grin, Arthur finally looked at the other notifications. “Hmm, I also gained four new items. Let’s see what this thing gave me.”
The moment he opened the inventory, Arthur’s eyes fell on three particular slots. Ignoring the four new items, his face completely froze. He stood there, completely flabbergasted. Then, as if he lost strength in his legs, he crumbled to the ground.
“You have got to be kidding me…” He muttered as he facepalmed. “Arthur, you absolute moron of a human being. I forgot about the three new abilities Nina gave me! Aghh!!!!”
Cursing loudly, Arthur felt like crying. When Nina gave him his new abilities, she told him to check them later and so he put them aside for when he came back online. Yet, because he was too excited to go explore, he forgot that he had received those abilities and went ahead with his plan.
“If I used them… The battle would’ve not been this goddamn hard!” Smashing his fist on the ground, he felt like hitting his head on the tree trunk from frustration. But, in the end, he decided to stop his tantrum.
“Oh well, I made it way harder for myself than it should’ve been. But, it’s a good learning curve. I was able to use my brain rather than storm through the battle with sheer strength.” Arthur muttered as he tapped on the three scrolls and made them manifest on the ground in front of him.
Then, he picked one of them up.
[Wretched Crawler’s Eye (Level 1)]: Increases the ability to see in the darkness by 30%. Consumes mana to activate and maintain.]
[Do you wish to learn this ability?]
“Yes.”
Almost instantly, Arthur felt new information flood his mind as the scroll vanished into thin air. He acquired the way of activating and maintaining the Wretched Crawler’s Eye.
“Good, now I can actually see in the darkness.” He muttered. “Hm, actually, I feel like my eyes can see a little better now. Am I hallucinating?”
Although the ability didn’t mention any passive effects, Arthur felt like his eyes had gained a new depth to them that they didn’t have before.
“Weird. But, I’m not complaining. Let’s get the second one.”
[Lonesome Warrior’s Howl (Level 1)]: Increases physical damage by 30% for 10 seconds. Consumes mana to activate.]
[Do you wish to learn this ability?] ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
“Yes.”
The second ability was also quite strong now that Arthur looked at it. If he used that, perhaps the Ethereal’s fight could’ve gone a whole different way. That made Arthur realize how much abilities are important in this game. A small difference in power can do a lot to a fight, especially if one side is considerably weaker than the other.
Stats and levels are important, but abilities give you far more than just magical powers. It gives you room to use them with cleverness to tackle problems that should’ve been impossible to solve with mere power.
‘The fighting system in this game is just… It’s so realistic and yet nothing about it should’ve been realistic. I don’t know how they pulled that off.’ Rubbing the back of his head, Arthur shrugged. So far, he was addicted to how versatile one could become with all the different components that make their battle style.
Even a simple extra point in one stat or a new ability could overhaul the player’s entire style.
“Now, for the secret third scroll. I wonder what ability Nina decided to give me.”
He didn’t know why she specifically wanted him not to open it until he was alone but he didn’t think much about it. Instead, he simply picked it up and read the content.
[Mortal Slash (Level 1): A heavy sword attack that requires charging up. Deals percentage-based damage to all enemies. Deals 70% extra damage to ‘Undead Enemies’. Requires mana to activate.]
“Oh!!! This is really good!” Arthur blurted out when he read the information. Not only did the ability seem to be extremely strong based on the ‘Percentage-Based damage’ part, but it also seemed to have a special effect on Undead Enemies.
‘So far, I haven’t met a single undead but this would be really good against them. It’s a really nice gift. Thanks, Nina.’ Closing his eyes, he silently thanked the beautiful scroll maker for her nice gift.
“I will make good use of this.”
With that, he finally looked at the four new items he acquired. A weird hunch told him that he might’ve received something special.