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***Silvester***

You reached the evolution threshold!

The Great Will offers its congratulations.

Your evolution will naturally result in the following changes:

You are now capable of absorbing mana.

You can now control the mana in your body.

You will be altered by mana on a fundamental level.

As you live you will be able to gain Attributes.

The Great Will is pleased and offers you its help in acquiring two Attributes of your choice.

Forced acquisition of Attributes will have unintended side effects.

Attributes offered will also be inherited by offspring with the same limitations.

Do you accept?

I hadn't expected this, but I really, really, needed to sleep. Until now, the Status Screen never let me rest until dismissed, and this seemed like an important choice, but I really couldn't care less at the moment. Besides, there’s ever only been one choice for me — one I always took when strange screens offered things for free.

I refused and drifted off into a deep slumber.

I woke up with the sounds of an earth-shattering explosion, followed by screams.

The hell?! I opened my eyes, surrounded by garbage, completely confused and disoriented. It took just a moment for my mind to clear. I remembered the fight and the vague memory of where I fell asleep — the last message was still clear in my mind despite everything.

Before I could dwell on that, though, I needed to understand what was happening around me. I listened for a moment as I heard a few more explosions and screams, but the sounds weren't nearby, so I cautiously moved the trash that was covering me, only barely pausing when I belatedly noticed my healed arm and functioning lung. It wasn’t my first time waking up healed after a serious fight, but that was usually because of a healer — there weren’t healers under the garbage with me.

Outside the heap, it was bright. I couldn't see the sun in the narrow street but, judging from the air and temperature, it was morning. After making sure that the road was clear, I got out and looked around, noticing the trail of blood on the ground. Did someone drag me here and steal my sword? That may be the case, but I couldn’t remember, so maybe I just crawled forward and lost my sword somewhere.

I went to the end of the narrow road and saw where the commotion came from. The arena was half collapsed and I could still see and hear explosions from there. Farther away, I could also hear some explosions, maybe around the city walls.

Is someone attacking the capital?

I thought that the Civil War had ended after I saw the arena reopening, but maybe that wasn’t true — or maybe it was someone else. I saw people screaming, running everywhere, and barricading inside houses and stores.

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Finding an empty house to pass the worst of it would be an option, if it was just a faction fight. I heard, though, that they didn’t involve civilians too much with those, and this didn't seem the situation. If it was foreign enemies, or worse, evil gods' followers, things could be dangerous. If I had to make an escape, it was better to do it during the commotion.

I wasn’t sure what was happening at the walls, but the arena was closer, and I thought it was safer than trying to go to the walls. Was there a ceremony or parade there today? I vaguely remember the servant saying something like that to Zeph.

The capital was a big city and not many were close to their house or had one in the city, so I had to wade through the chaotic streets to reach the arena. It wasn't too far, fortunately.

I also noticed another thing. I was feeling fantastic, both physically and mentally. It was the best condition I had ever been in my life; not even when I was at my peak strength had I ever felt so good. There wasn’t an obvious change in my running speed, and not even in my strength probably — but it was there, I could feel it. And I still felt the mana around and inside me. I didn’t have the time to explore my newfound strength at the moment, though.

As soon as I reached the plaza surrounding the arena, I saw it was already deserted around its walls, with people trying to enter all the side roads around. I had to climb a stand and some windows too to avoid the flow.

As I moved closer I saw bodies strewn around of people killed by debris and, from what I heard and saw from the occasional explosion, I guessed that the battle was still going strong inside. I could also faintly feel a different flow of mana on my skin — it was difficult to tell, as it was a strange and new sensation, but I was sure it was moving more wildly here.

I swiftly closed in on the collapsed wall and climbed up the rubble to look inside, seeing a few groups of people fighting each other in the intact part of the arena. On this side I could only see charred pieces of bodies getting more intact the farther they were from the explosion, and the ground of the arena was also half destroyed, showing part of the underground dungeon and a lot of soldiers' corpses. I watched the fighters for a while, trying to guess who was fighting who. A few soldiers fought with nobles against a smaller group of individuals. I could tell they were Nobles because it usually wore purple, red, or otherwise bright clothing, while priests wore gold and white. The assailants were probably disguised as rich commoners, with clothes that, while looking expensive, were of dull colors, as it was forbidden to wear bright ones for peasants.

I watched for a few minutes as the few assailants got killed, dragging down as many nobles and soldiers as possible with them, and then I understood. They were of a much higher level than I was used to, but I’ve seen too many war slaves to forget. The Skills and fighting style definitely belonged to the people of the Duchy of Calos.

This is not good news. Not good at all.

I had a terrible feeling about this. Those people had so much hatred for this kingdom that if they got inside the city, I doubt they’d just ignore the civilians. This country really didn’t play nice with them in the last war.

I swiftly turned back and made my way down the rubble. As I was thinking of how to escape, I saw a familiar face. It was the kid that brought me food the last few months. He was walking away from the arena a bit unsteadily and I could see blood flowing down his head.

I really didn’t have time to dwell around, but since he was close, and I was also a bit indebted to him, I still went up to him. “Hey kid, do you need a hand?”

He didn’t seem to understand right away, was that the head wound? Well, better for me if he didn’t answer. I’ll ask one more time and run away.

“I’m fleeing from the city, do you want to escape with me?”

He just nodded. Oh well…

I slung him over my shoulder and started running over to where I heard less commotion — he weighed less than my training bags. I wasn’t really sure where the best place to get out of the walls was, since I knew nothing about military tactics or the layout of the city, but I guessed that fewer explosions equaled to fewer enemies.

How the hell did they bring enough troops to attack the capital? We’re in the middle of the damned kingdom! Fucking lucky, that's what I am.

While I ran and cursed in my head, I kept feeling the kid's head bumping against my back.

He may have passed out, I thought. I didn’t want to stop and check how he was doing, though. I was already slowed down by bringing him along; he’d have to hold on.

The road was getting less crowded, as more and more people barricaded themselves inside their houses or shops. As I got nearer the walls, I heard screams, and, after climbing on a few crates on the side of the road, I understood why there were fewer explosions here. A group of soldiers was running towards me in a tight formation, while killing all those who didn't get out of their way.

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