Do you not see the door handle? I am sure I healed your eyes again though?
‘Are you…’ Michael took a deep breath, refraining himself from bashing the system for the 10th time today.
He assumed the giants didn’t exactly have a hard time opening the door, after all, they were called giants for a reason.
However, he, himself, was not exactly the tallest person alive, his height should be around 185cm, and this door was certainly not made for him.
Even while he was standing up straight, he only amounted to 1/10 of the size of the door, he was like an ant in comparison.
The giants most likely had to partially transform in order to open it themselves, a full transformation would make them as big as the entire mountain after all.
Just try pushing it open?
‘The door has a handle.. why would pushing it do anything..’ Michael sighed at the system’s stupidity but decided to try it anyway.
He placed his hand on the door and gave it a little push, not expecting anything to happen.
However, much to his surprise, the door opened just as easily as a normal door despite its grand size.
Told you so.
‘Fuck off…’ Michael kindly dismissed the system and headed inside, he couldn’t see any light from the outside.
But he could just wait inside for his mana to be fully restored, then he could cast a few swords of light to provide some kind of light source.
However, the moment he stepped into the room, the door closed right behind him, leaving him in complete darkness.
Hmm…
‘What?’ Michael asked the system as it seemed like it caught onto something.
With practically the little bit of mana he had, he couldn’t even tell what was around him.
It reminded him of the time he first arrived in this strange place, his senses completely overshadowed by the mist.
And it was the same now, except instead of the mist, there was darkness.
Michael decided to use a bit of his mana to create a single sword of light, he overestimated its cost, even as he barely had anything left, he couldn’t feel it being used in the slightest.
That gave him an idea, however, just as he was about to ask the system about it, he was interrupted.
It won’t work.
‘Why not? You were able to turn physical enhancement into a passive skill.’
It was something that gave a flat bonus, your swords of light, even though they take a very small amount of mana to cast, you are able to cast thousands of them. It is not possible for me to make a skill like that free as it doesn’t exactly have a limit.
‘That sucks.. but whatever’ Michael shrugged it off, it would have been too good to be true anyways.
He looked around while waving the few swords of light he had summoned, however, he couldn’t see anything at all.
The swords illuminated a few meters around him, leaving the rest of the area in pure darkness.
Michael didn’t feel any malicious intent coming from the darkness, it felt like it was some kind of a protective barrier instead.
‘..But from who?’ He wondered when suddenly, the light of his swords began dimming before eventually, it completely disappeared, leaving him in complete darkness once more.
‘…’ He decided to remain quiet, not moving a single muscle.
The darkness seems to be blocking out most of the sound, you just look stupid right now.
Michael proceeded to ignore the system’s words and continue listening, waiting for even the slightest bit of sound to reach his ears.
And after just a few more seconds, he heard an extremely quiet step, one he wouldn’t have noticed if he had not been paying attention, he might have missed it.
He immediately summoned a sword of light and dashed towards the step, instantly slashing down without even making sure what it was.
And the moment he did, he felt his sword connecting with something, something that he could not quite see.
No blood had been spilled, yet it seemed like whatever that creature was, it was knocked back quite a fair distance away from him. It skidded across the ground before disappearing into the darkness once more.
This is perfect.
Michael was slightly startled by the system’s statement and as he was about to question it, his senses suddenly heightened.
He could feel the cold similarly to how he had back in the cave with the moonlight, however, this time it was a bit more intense.
‘You fucking bastard!? Are you trying to get me killed?’ He was slightly panicking because he was not used to fighting with such heightened senses.
Every time he took a step, it sounded as though someone rang a bell directly inside of his ears, it hurt a fair deal.
But much to no one’s surprise, his pain didn’t last long as his eardrums burst once again, leaving him temporarily deaf.
‘Stop this shit or I’m actually going to die!’ Michael exclaimed at the system, the cold was bearable, however, the senses were increased far too much for his own liking.
Bear with it, trust me. What’s better than absorbing mana directly while also fighting someone? Nothing.
‘Fuck you…’ Michael stopped all his fiddling around and remained completely still, eventually, his hearing came back.
However, unlike last time where he could just barely hear the footsteps, this time, they were loud, much too loud for his liking.
But nonetheless, it made it a bit easier for him to find the creature, kicking off, he arrived right in front of it with his eardrums once again in tatters.
The sword once again connected and the creature retreated, however, unlike the last time, he could hear it breathe.
And its breathing was shallow as if it had just received a fatal wound.
Michael definitely felt like he looked silly, every time he moved, his eardrums burst, he had to stop like a statue in order to even fight.
He still found it rather difficult to control the mana while in this heightened state, so he couldn’t cover his ears with anything to protect them from the sound.
And the system wasn’t kind enough to exclude hearing from the list of senses it enhanced.
However, as he was focused on the breathing, he noticed yet another pair of footsteps, ones right behind the creature he just fought.
And much to his surprise, one of them let out a squeal before its body fell to the ground.
Michael didn’t need to be a genius to know that the one who was killed was definitely not the one who had just arrived.
He stood incredibly still, waiting for the strange invisible creature to come at him.
But it didn’t, instead, its footsteps got further and further away, until eventually, Michael could not hear it anymore.
He let out a deep sigh and sat down, moving around felt painful and the feeling of constantly having his eardrums burst was not pleasant in the slightest.
‘You fucker… what were you thinking?’ Michael asked the system with genuine curiosity, it seemed way too random for it to spring up something this dangerous upon him.
Relax… it wasn’t that dangerous.. that creature you hit a few times was another Wraith, probably one associated with darkness.
He felt like it skimped out on a few details so he urged it to speak up ‘And is that all?’
As for the other one… I am not really sure, who knows what these giants keep in their training rooms.
‘…You said most of your memories are fragments from mine and the past me’s memories, right?’ Michael asked with a blank look.
Essentially..?
‘Was I ever… you know.. some kind of a gambler?’
Of course, many times in fact, but that’s besides the point. Go on an absorb the surrounding mana, it is quite dense so you can restore it a bit faster. After that, I will increase your sensitivity.
Michael rolled his eyes at the system’s comment and got comfortable.
‘Sure… keep watch for whatever that thing was..’
You would be able to feel it yourself, but okay.
