-2 Hours later…
If I were to describe the castle interior, the word Amazing won’t suit it enough.
Using the new profound knowledge of construction, I scanned every little part of the wall, finding nearly no irregularities.
By the way, the halls are about 2 meters wide, extending for who knows how long.
If it weren’t for my mental map, I would be lost a million times.
Strangely enough, I couldn’t actually find anyone.
I looked through the rooms, they were either closed or empty.
Even the kitchen was empty.
However, I would have thought that it was like such for long if not for the smell of cooked food.
It was… Aromatic?
Nevertheless, I’m still exploring.
Let’s say that I have explored less than a quarter of the castle, just for clarification.
After about 30 more minutes of mindless exploring, I decided to return back to my room.
It took me about 30 more minutes, until I realized how ‘Deep’ I had explored.
What intrigued me was that the fact that when I ring the bell, the maid would be knocking in mere minutes, while here I am, barely able to guide myself back with the help of the map.
Suddenly, my vision starts getting blurry.
Without control, my body adjusted into a fighting pose that I have never seen before and started using ‘Cure’.
Thankfully, my vision started to fix up, and I could see that the halls have become dark, as if I was in a basement with no lights.
However, I was just as prepared, conjuring a small orb of light.
Rather than one, I started conjuring a lot of them since the cost is immeasurable with the help of my achievements.
Sending 4 in front of me and 4 behind, while keeping 2 above me, I started moving carefully while activating the rogue ability ‘Sneak’, with the aid of the hidden skill routes.
A couple of minutes in, and I could hear a sound.
I moved closer while perking my ears to listen.
“I can’t find him..”
“Well, search again. He is probably lost somewhere, look inside the rooms carefully, he must have hid when we started the barrier.”
“Yes boss.”
Two unrecognized voices were sent to my ears, so I quickly cancelled all of the orbs.
I moved closer towards the boss, who was alone, and started inspecting him.
A large, yet slim stature draped in black clothes like a ninja, with two knives on each side of his waist, and probably others hidden under his clothes.
Wait, how do I know that?
Ugh… Those books are starting to affect my mind in a strange way.
No matter.
Using my new speed and strength, I dash at him and kick him in the knee, making him stumble, while I followed up with a chop at the back of his neck, making him fall unconscious.
My body moved on it’s own, while I only commanded it to subdue him.
That was somewhat easy, yet unnatural.
I thought that he was going to resist more, since he was a “Boss”, but I was wrong.
To avoid alerting his subordinate, I took his arms and started pulling towards an open room, then tied him with a ‘Magic-Nullifying Vine’, and gagged him with it as well.
Ironic since it is made with magic.
I started searching his body for anything of use, or any tool that might show my presence, and I found one.
Using the ability ‘Inspect’, I looked at his necklace.
--Necklace of Communication
-A silver necklace enchanted with Communication.
-Can only communicate with it’s counterpart.
-Durability : 14/15
Well now..
As long as it is not worn, it will not activate, so I’m not worried about the other guy hearing what is happening.
I start taking out all his weapons as well, then store them in my inventory.
Convenient.
Since my work is done, I leave the room and close the door, then reactivate Sneak.
Up until now, I have not met a single person other than those 2.
They said something about a barrier, so might it be that only the 3 of us are present in it?
If so, then either I need to knock them out to cancel it or wait until the time limit is reached.
Barriers have two types, Timed and Lifetimed.
The timed barrier will stay for as long as it was meant, even if the caster is knocked out or killed, making it the most efficient type.
Lifetimed, on the other hand, use magic for as long as it is casted, so if the supply is cut off, it will dissipate.
And since I knocked out the man and even covered him in magic nullifying vines, the barrier still exists.
While I was inspecting his items, I used it on him too, showing me his status screen.
His stats are more focused on agi and str, proving that he is a rogue-classed person.
His STR and AGI were averaged at 90, while his level was at 41.
I still need to learn about from which level a person is called strong, and I hate being in the dark.
As I continued to dawdle over useless topics in my mind, I found the other accomplice.
He was stealthly opening doors and checking the insides like a predator.
Just when he got out of his recently entered room, our eyes met.
I moved backwards, but his eyes were still on me.
Suddenly, I was met with large bloodthirst that made me flinch.
Using that opportunity, he dashed at me with his dagger unsheathed, prepared to kill.
At that moment, a text appeared saying “Absolute Luck activated.”
Just after that, he seemingly stumbled over nothing, halting his attack midway.
Doing the same as him,I readied my stance and dashed at him too, then gave a chop sideways.
Yet, just before my hand hit him, he disappeared from my vision.
Feeling danger behind me, I instantly ducked, avoiding a slash at my neck by a hair's breadth.
At that moment, my blood started to boil and adrenaline rushed through me.
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A weird, yet great feeling.
I tried to counterattack by swiping my right leg at his, but he avoided it easily.
I stood up and got on guard once again, then observed his movements.
-Ding.
“Dagger Mastery has leveled up by 1”
I got startled by the announcement, which gave him another opportunity.
His dagger, pointed towards my heart, was narrowly dodged by sidestepping to the right, which he tried to counter with a slash.
Using my left hand, I took hold of his right wrist, stopping his slash midway, then giving a strong punch in his solar plexus, making him groan.
Taking advantage of that, I went behind him while still holding his wrist, but he recovered quicker than I thought.
He rotated his body and tried to slash me with a knife, which I avoided by going backwards.
He dashed at me once again, but I predicted his attack.
I dashed at him, then slide under him while holding his legs, making him fall flat on his face, then I punched as strong as I could on his head, giving off a strange crackling sound before another announcement.
“Congratulations, you have defeated a person 45 levels above you.”
“You have leveled up x10”
“Achievement gained : The Role Switcher : By killing something 30 levels or more above you, you have achieved the impossible. +20 in all stats”
What?
I.. killed him?
I know that it was a life or death battle, but I never intended to do that..
Ugh…
My body feels sluggish.
With that, my vision started to black out.
…
Huh..
Where is this?
I get up and scan my surroundings.
Right now, I’m on an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room.
Then, I notice the door opening slowly.
The person that entered was the maid.
“It seems you have awaken, sir.”
“What happened?”
“I went to check on you many times but I never found you, then after asking all of the staff to look for you, we found you inside the hall on top of a dead assassin’s body..”
Oh.
I killed him, huh..
Argh.. my head is hurting.
I try to stand up, but the maid urges me to stay on the bed due to the physical and mental fatigue.
I have no way to argue with that, so I stayed.
I asked her if there were more books than the ones she had given me, and she answered with yes, however no one is allowed to take them out of the royal library.
After some silence, my stomach grumbled.
Which reminds me of..
“How long was I out for?”
“6 hours.”
“Then.. Could you please get me food?”
She nodded then bowed and left the room.
After making sure that she left, I raised my arm and looked at it once again.
The arm that killed the first person in my life.
Then it struck me.
The assassins were human, even though our main enemy is the demon army, or so I’m told.
So… why?
Did one of the countries ally with them?
Or was what I was told false?
Theories upon theories kept popping up in my head until the maid entered once again.
I put all my current thoughts in a corner, then took the tray and started eating.
The maid excused herself to report to the king that I woke up, then left.
Mmm..
The food is certainly made by a professional.
I wonder if I could ask the cook for his teaching methods, or maybe just observe him.
Hmm..
I layed on the bed after putting the tray on a nearby table, then started allocating my newly acquired points.
My HP and MP increased by 1000, showing me that one level increases them by 100.
Since I have 240 points, with the 40 from the Headstarter title, I put 100 in AGI, since it allows me to react quicker, then 50 in WIS and 50 in STR, and lastly 40 in DEF.
WIS increases my thinking speed and my MP regeneration/s, while STR to allow me to defend better.
As for my 100 skill points, I started unlocking the rest of my tree, opening up hidden routed that don’t compare to the original ones.
While unlocking, there were skills that turned Stats into a better version of itself.
How? You ask.
Normally, 1 point in VIT gives 50 HP, and slightly increases regeneration.
After unlocking the skill, VIT became VIT+, doubling its effects.
I kept unlocking until I got dry of points, while feeling as if my body was reconstructing itself.
Then, I reached 8 branches connecting to one.
When I checked them all, they had a red-coloured ‘Repeatable’ next to them.
When I read their description, I was in awe.
Each skill gives me 10 stat points according to the branch.
So branch 1 gives me 10 stat points in STR, and so on.
However, the last skill had ‘???????????’ all over it.
The name was unknown and the description as well.
Yet, the cost was 1000.
Yep.
If it costs so much, that means it is important, or so I thought.
But, I’m not saving up for it right now.
Due to the effect of my class, any monster, be it weak or strong will still give me XP.
Of course, strong monsters give more depending on the difference in levels.
So whenever I wish to level up, all I have to do is defeat monsters.
I hope I don’t have to fight humans again..
…
Staring blankly into the ceiling, 2 hours passed.
What woke me up from the trance was the knocking on the door.
“Are you awake, sir?”
“Yeah, come in.”
She enters the room with a girl wearing a white robe while carrying a wooden staff.
“Who’s this?”
“This is our royal healer, she will check on you.”
The ‘Healer’ chants something, and a white light envelopes me, making me feel warm.
Then she chanted something else, making light envelope me once again, but nothing happened.
“Do you feel alright?” The healer asked, with an unnatural male-like voice.
“Yes, thank you.”
She smiles as her brown, straight hair dances in the air.
She then excuses herself to report to the king once again, but I insisted on joining her to meet the king.
I have a couple of questions that have to be answered.
After a short argument, they agreed and now we are on our way to the throne room.
Beforehand, I had turned on the mental map, now allowing me to visit him whenever I need.
Once we reach the doors, the healer motions the two guards, and they open the door.
Just as before, I’m greeted with the king and his daughter at the throne, with Alfred on their left side.
When the king noticed me, his face drained of colour as I flashed a big smile.
Him getting scared proves that something is wrong, or so I thought.
The maid stops me in our tracks as the healer went forward and told the king about my condition.
He thanked her, then told her and the maid to leave as we have a discussion.
I don’t look behind me and stare at the king, hearing the sounds of the door opening and closing at last.
“Now then, my dear king, could you explain why there were human assassins after me?”
Alfred gets on guard, and so does the royal guards at the pillars.
“W-well, since the demon king conquered the south, he took the remaining alive humans and controlled their minds.”
“Hmmm… And why was it that they were talking to each other, and they reacted exactly like a normal minded human would?”
His body started shaking even more, then he shouted.
“THIS ONE IS A FAILURE! KILL HIM!”
Just as the last word was said, the mage erected a shield over the king and his daughter, then started doing something to the guards.
My instinct told me that what she was doing was not fine, so I equipped one of the daggers I took from the assassin then dashed at her.
Alfred, dashed at me to try to defend, however, my newly upgraded stats gave me the edge, allowing me to reach her before him.
I put the dagger in a piercing stance, and thrusted it at the shield, making it crumble in the process.
She was startled, however, I took the chance and slashed at her neck, feeling some resistance from her robes, but I still continued, beheading her in the process.
-Ding.
“You have learned all the abilities possessed by the human..”
I ignored the message as Alfred has caught up to me.
He swung his halberd downwards, making me dodge to the left, while he tried to switch its pose and slash sideways.
Unfortunately for him, I anticipated that with a newly acquired skill called ‘Battle Sense’, allowing me to know how and when he will attack, as well as warning me of attacks from blindspots.
Just like… this!
I jump quickly, dodging the fireball casted by one of the guards, then I myself did the same, however, mine was 5 times larger than his, which was the size of a tennis ball.
I targeted Alfred, since he was my main concern while controlling my direction in the air with ‘Air Manipulation’.
The ball, faster than the guard’s, reached Alfred at bullet speed.
Unable to dodge it, he was hit square in the face, giving off an explosion.
Dust surrounded his face, but when it dissipated, he became headless.
-Ding.
“You have..-”
I ignored the message just like the one before it, then proceeded to create blades made of air.
I swung them at the 8 royal guards, cutting all of them in half, before getting down on the ground and looking at the king with a bright smile.
At that moment, I stopped thinking about whether I should kill them or not.
When I get betrayed, my first thought is to ‘Kill’, yet I never took it seriously up until now.
The king and his daughter, shivering from fear, as I’m standing inside a battlefield unscathed.
“D-demon!”
What?
Ugh..
I took my hand and started massaging my forehead.
“Now look here.. I never actually came with the intention to fight, ya’know.”
He looked at me with a terrified expression.
“As a thank you for teaching me about this world, I’m willing to let you live, as long as you tell me where the royal library is.”
He started nodding frantically.
Tsk, is that how a king should act?
He rings for the maid, and she enters quickly, surprised by the sudden scene before her.
“T-take him to the r-Royal library..”
He was shivering as he said those words.
I showed a smile toward the maid, as she fixed her composure quicker than the king.
Shame on him, I thought, as I walked out of the throne room with her.
…
=====Chap1 End====