‘That was tiring’ Michael exhaled a cold breath and stood back up, the light of the pillar had disappeared quite a while ago.
But even then, the little lights that were scattered in different directions remained, still shining as bright as ever.
And it was finally time to check his status, his progress in all aspects was pretty considerable.
‘Status’
+—+
Name: Michael
Age: 14 years old
Race: Human
Affinity: Light [Supreme]
Mana Purity: 73%
Mana Core: Flow
Mana Core Rank: Tier 1Â
-:- 52% 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: 37/100% / Regen 5% HP Per Hour
MP: 95/100% / Regen 10% MP Per Hour
STR: Tier 1 [C+] -> [B-]
END: Tier 1 [B] -> [A]
AGI: Tier 1 [B+] -> [A-]
INT: Tier 1 [A] -> [A+]
CHA: Tier 1 [C-] -> [C]
-Skills / [Skill Merging]
Heat Resistance [Basic] [Passive]
Cold Resistance [Basic] [Passive]
Herald of Light [Advanced] [Passive]
Mirage of Light [Intermediate] [Passive]
Physical Enhancement [Intermediate] [Passive]
Eyes of The Healer [Intermediate] [Passive]
Hand-to-hand combat [Beginner] [Passive]
Shooting mastery [Beginner] [Passive]
Discipline [Basic] [Passive]
Heat Resistance [Basic] [Passive]
Cold Resistance [Basic] [Passive]
Purify [Intermediate] [Active]
Aegis of Light [Intermediate] [Active]
Sword of Light [Basic] [Active]
Piercing Light [Intermediate] [Active]
Veil of Detection [Basic] [Active]
Heavenly Judgement [Advanced] [Active]
+—+
Michael stared at his status with satisfaction, he was halfway to the next tier, and it hadn’t even been an extremely long time since he obtained the mana core.
He doubted that many could contest with his speed, after all, not everyone has opportunities that allow them to befriend a dragon and travel to a whole different world.
But he didn’t let it get to his head, after all, he hadn’t explored even 1% of the possibilities available to him.
Michael had not even left his world, as the two worlds were in a way connected, his journey would officially start once he left through those portals on the Daor continent.
He would ask Amanda for some assistance to get a higher lead, however, he knew his helping hands must stop eventually.
And he wanted it to happen the moment he came back.
He expected to live a normal life at first, going to the academy and acquiring some good friendships, however, each time he took one step forward, he took two steps backward.
The cycle did not seem like it would end, he doubted the academy even had anything left to offer him, his strength had already far surpassed those of his peers and most likely the teachers.
‘Is this fate? A life full of unpredictability?’
Would you be surprised if someone was controlling fate in order to make the Archangel return just a bit faster?
‘With all the shit I’ve been through thus far? Not really..’
Well, chin up. From what I can tell, once you reach Tier 2, a lot of the system capabilities will be unlocked, and you will also be able to utilize the bonuses from skill gains. It had been locked due to your strength being insufficient, however, the seal is slowly lifting.
‘Good to know’ Michael proceeded to stretch and head to the next pillar, he didn’t quite trust the mapping in this area as he had already gotten lost multiple times.
However, as he turned around after walking quite a fair distance away, he was still able to see the lights from afar, one of them even being directly above him, notifying him that he had gone the wrong way.
He turned a bit to the side and immediately noticed the light shine in front of him, leading him to where he had to go.
Had he not been so lost in his thoughts, he might have been able to see it a bit sooner.
Surprisingly, the path was fairly calm, only a few creatures appeared, and they were pretty weak, not requiring a lot of effort for him to deal with them.
But as easy as it was, he knew that at the very end, something would definitely happen, it all felt like a huge buildup to it.
The powerup, the testing—it reminded him of the time he fought the golden-haired Michael, but this time it seemed more uncoordinated.
This time, it was definitely not his own trial that he was going to go through, but someone else’s.
Michael finally arrived in front of another pillar, and just like with the last one, the system subjected him to a moment of tortu-training.
His gains were the same as last time, he absorbed all of the light on the very top of the pillar and gained yet another 10% progress, bringing it up to a grand total of 62%
The mana purity had also grown quite a lot ever since he first started working on it, he couldn’t feel the differences at first, but with every single training session and every single fight right after, he could most certainly feel the difference then.
His swords were sharper, his mana formed quicker, it was a great boon, and from what the system had mentioned, it did not have a limit, meaning it could go as high as he wanted it to.
The only reason it was synchronized with his mana core progress was because he didn’t have any alternatives for increasing its purity at the current moment.
Don’t question how you get the boons, just make sure you are strong enough to deal with what happens after you collect them all.
‘You are right..’ Michael watched as the light dimmed, until finally, it went completely out, signifying that he had successfully collected all that he needed to in this location.
He looked up, expecting there to be a light leading him once again, however, much to his surprise, there was nothing, darkness was all around him once more.
And as he was not paying attention, an attack landed on his body, sending him hurtling back into the pillar, tilting it over and causing it to crash to the ground with a thunderous boom.
‘…Parry it?’ Michael sighed at the system and stood back up, the attack was mostly negated by his shields, all he felt was a small bump.
However, as he looked up at what hit him, he was left a bit surprised. He could finally see the weird creatures.
And they were definitely not monsters, they looked exactly like humans, ones he does not remember meeting at all.
The one in front of him was some kind of a woman, she looked like she had some sort of a grudge against him.
Strength-wise, she was much weaker than him, just like the rest of the ones he killed previously, all they had was the element of surprise.
But now that it was gone, they were nothing but standing ducks.
Michael waved his hand and a sword immediately pierced the woman’s neck, ending her life swiftly.
Now that he didn’t have to worry about the invisibility, he could use his incredible casting time to his advantage, making him quite the killing machine.
But it was a bit strange, killing someone just a bit weaker than him felt way too… easy?
He could have done it with his eyes closed, if he wanted to, he could have simply dodged, yet his instincts were no longer screaming at him to dodge.
‘Did you do something?’ Michael asked the system suspiciously.
How could I have done something to your instincts? You literally got beaten up every single time since you came to this world. Your strength has grown too much, and so have your expectations for your opponents.
‘So you are telling me I got that much stronger without realizing it to the point where I don’t see anyone stronger than me as a threat…?’ He didn’t seem convinced.
I am not going to explain every little detail to you about how your own mind works, listen, you got stronger and your instincts will return to normal eventually, presumably once you get used to fighting those similar in strength to you.
‘Hm..’ Michael seemed deep in thought before a flash of light appeared in the corner of his vision, leading him to yet another pillar.
‘Time to get a move on.. I can’t wait to meet the one behind this.’
