Elliot woke up on his bed, rubbing his tired eyes as he stretched. Damn, the sun was up? Hopefully they hadn’t missed his sister’s awakening. He didn’t want her to miss out on the opportunity, but he also wanted to see what would… happen. Why the hell were there so many people in his room? He understood Keyla, the girl would sometimes sneak into his room and catch him off guard, but his mother and three more people were standing alongside his bed. Two men and one woman. All were looking at him with a grim expression.

His small room wasn’t big enough to handle this many people, forcing them to stand shoulder to shoulder. Honestly, with the way they surrounded him he felt a bit like a lamb about to be cooked. “Uh, hello? Why are… all of you in my… ugh.” Before he could properly ask, his head started pounding. It was as if something in his brain had finally broken, releasing the dam of thoughts in his mind. At least he finally remembered what happened. He’d gotten his butt whooped by Keyla, completely.

Everyone was quick to react to his distress as if they’d practiced this a thousand times. One man ran out of the room, while the others neared him, grabbing his head and chest. “Get him some water.” “I’ll be the first to begin” “Is he going to be okay?” He could hear the voices but couldn’t put a face to them. The voices kept talking but he could no longer focus on anything. Once again, he could feel his fever return.

One of the strangers, the lady, placed her hand upon his head. The cooling sensation of her hands on his burning forehead was comforting, so he let out a quiet sigh of relief. He could feel something worming its way into his body, slowly curing him of the burning feeling deep inside. “Your son was lucky we came as quick as we did. How he managed to get himself to this state I’d rather not know.” She sounded concerned, almost angry. What? So this fever was his fault? He resented that.

Every day he trained his body for ten hours, only to take a refreshing bath afterward and sleep. If that wasn’t keeping his body in good health, what was? “Overtraining is never good for the health, I suggest you limit his use of the body while he can still recover.” The lady said as if reading his mind. If he could flinch he would, but in his exhaustion, he settled for a small groan. His mother looked downtrodden as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “To think the boy would push himself to this state… I’ve failed as a mother.”

What!?

Even in his dizzy state, he managed to force himself up, and reach and grab the hand of his mother, desperate to console her. “It was my fault, Mom... I asked to… I asked to spar even when my head was burning up… I was reckless.” The words came out weak and slurred, but they came out as sincere as he could make them. He hoped it made her happy. He gave her hand a last reassuring squeeze before he let go, unaware of the face she was making. At that point one of the men came back with a pitcher of water, filling a cup and slowly putting it to his mouth.

The cycle continued, healing, drinking water, and then a moment of rest. Until an hour passed, and Elliot felt better than ever. His mind was still buzzing with ideas to use the sword, he’d flown in the last battle, in a state of euphoria he’d never felt before. For the first time in a while, his swordlust had drugged him into reaching new heights. If he just gave a bit more time… “I recommend the boy doesn’t hold a sword for at least a month.” The lady said, interrupting his thoughts. He held a blank look on his face, not understanding for a moment what the hell he just heard.

“A month?” He repeated, to which the surprised healer flinched back. “You, aren’t supposed to be well, yet. How did you?” She studied him for a second before putting a hand on his head, finding that the fever had miraculously gone down. She was stupified, turning to her two colleagues behind her for a second opinion. He knew why he felt better so fast, of course. It was the effect of the skill ‘swordlust’. He had probably passed out before he could satisfy the damn greedy skill, only stopping when he reached a certain point of a fight.

The blue screen was still next to him, showing him just how far he’d gone in the fight with Keyla.

Enlightenment! Due to your skill, “Talent of the insane” You’ve gained a new skill!

Pugilist: You may be violent, you may be not. That doesn’t mean you don’t know how to speak with your fists. Pugilists use every part of their body to commit harm.

Due to the synergistic use of the skill “Pugilist” and “Swordlust”, a new skill has been made from the two. “Battle Savant”

Battle Savant: One can learn greatly through action, but only few can learn anything through observation. As you fight, your body will feel just a tad bit easier to control every second. Your skills are much more potent as you fight, and improve even better through concentration. The more intelligent you are, the stronger the effect.

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That… was quite a lot to take in, quickly he opened up his status screen to dissuade one of his fears.

Name: Elliot Dresmr

Level: 1

Occupation: none

Class: None

Strength: 58

Vitality: 14

Dexterity: 24 (+12)

Agility: 16 (+8)

Intelligence: 63 (+31)

Wisdom: 14

Charm: 28 (+14)

Luck: 3

Skills: Strength of a Tyrant (Passive), Cunning of a snake (Passive) Talent of the Insane (Passive) Pk Memory- AA “Elliot Dresmr” (passive, concealed) Aerial maneuvering (Passive) Battle Savant (Passive)

Unused stat points: 0

Quest:

He breathed in a sigh of relief, even though the “pugilist” and “Swordlust” skills had been removed, his status boosters from “Swordlust” hadn’t been removed from the- “What!?” He exclaimed out loud as he noticed the boost in intelligence. He quickly shut his mouth again as he realized everyone in the room had turned to him in alarm. “Ah, nothing… Carry on.” He feigned a yawn and fell back into the bed, turning away from the people as if to act asleep. He kept his eyes glued to the screen, however.

This wasn’t an ordinary boost… This worked well with what he had, too well actually. He was honestly scared about gaining such a large boost of the stat in his mind, unsure of how it would react with his brain. He didn’t feel any different, though, so maybe this was just a boon? He had to test this out, something with this insane of a stat boost couldn’t be considered normal. …Wait, of course, it wasn’t normal. It came from a ‘synergistic’ skill. What the hell did “Synergistic” mean? Did it mean the two worked well together? If that was the case, then wouldn’t gaining more skills be beneficial for him?

From what he remembered of the skill “Battle savant”, It would definitely help with that. This all seemed too good to be true, he thought as his body vibrated with excitement. He couldn’t take it anymore. Stopping his act of sleep, he threw himself out of bed, bursting out the door before anyone had a chance to stop him. “Stop him! He cant be moving around yet!” The lady said, her voice fading in the background as he bolted.

No damn way was he going to stop now, not when he was so close to reaching a higher understanding. “Ahaha!” His laughter came out maniacally as he heard the thudding footsteps of his sister behind him. He turned, seeing her completely stoic face as she hunted him down. He grinned as he jumped into the air and jumping off the side of a wall, not being able to help himself. He knew he was going to get caught, if not by his sister then by his absolute powerhouse of a mother. That didn’t mean he couldn’t have some fun, though. He barely made it to the training hall before Keyla tackled him to the ground, knocking the air out of his lungs.

And like that, his personal hell began. Time had passed by incredibly slowly after that. His mother had been serious about keeping him from training. Every time he happened to near the training hall he’d mysteriously find himself waking up in his bed. He’d tried countless times before he realized that woman just wasn’t going to quit. Knocking out a poor defenseless child… he was in his recovery phase, for heaven’s sake! Because of this hell, he’d been forced to do nothing but keep Keyla company and occasionally help around the house, which was definitely less than ideal.

Eventually, after so much grueling time, Elliot felt like he’d go insane. He counted the marks he’d put in his room, eyes hollow all the while. “Two days have passed.” He muttered to himself, unable to accept the truth even as he spoke it from his tongue. He’d lost all passion to continue living at this point, and wasted away in his room for the past four hours. Those were four hours he could have spent improving himself…

Was this due to his luck? Due to his choosing the card “Talent of the insane”? He should have never done that. “Ahh… Why must I have tempted fate?” He muttered to himself as he laid on his bed, listlessly. He heard the door open, but he didn’t have the strength or energy to look at the intruder. He could make a guess, either way. Keyla watched the boy in front of her, the light of the window shining off his pale, smooth skin as he looked in the air with restless, sad eyes. It looked like someone had jumped out of a painting of distress and sadness… She couldn’t help but feel disappointed at the petty reason behind this scene, however.

She punched him lightly on the side, probably not sure how much strength she had to put for a ‘sick’ person like him. He didn’t react, barely even turning his eyes towards her. She didn’t get the hint, though. She crossed her arms with a pout, looking at him like a bug. “Mom says we have to go get salt. Do as your told.” She seemed angry, but he knew she wouldn’t have hit him lightly if he had only been acting sad. He was about to wave her off, but then a screen appeared in front of him.

Quest given! Your sister is worried about your mental health! Join her on her trip to obtain salt to ease her worries! You’ll receive one free stat point as a reward.

Oh, goddamnit.