I woke up in a Hospital Ward with a slight haze clouding my head, no pain. What happened?.. Shared my spell with mom and dad. Got lost. Got in a fight… Memories of my last confrontation flashed through my mind. Waking me up with a rush of adrenaline. Then I remember seeing the arrow sticking out of the idiot's head.

… I killed someone, and nothing. The sight of blood and brain spraying out as the wind arrow penetrated his head was clear in my memories, but all I feel looking at the scene is indifference.

"How are you feeling?" I find Dr Ann sitting on the chair beside my bed. "I patched up your wounds until my diagnostic spell no longer detected any lacerations or internal wounds."

I take a moment to get a better feel of my body. "I feel fine, thank you Dr Ann. What happened? how bad was it?" I ask, curious.

"You were shot in the back with two disks, your own creation I believe. One couldn't get past your armor, just skirting along and then flying off into a wall, fortunately. The other one seems to hit the armor just right as it managed to saw through and lodge into your back, on a straight collision course towards your right kidney. Lucky for you, it got stuck hitting the lower ribs.

"Though, now that you're up, we would like to know what happened between you and Budiman that things had to go this far. It's been a big mystery as one of you was unconscious, and the other one no longer among the living." She answered.

I nod to her explanation. "I'll explain when everyone's here… What spells did you use to heal me?" Once again, just curious. She went and pressed the call button then answered, "Lesser Heal and Pulsense Trauma. Why?"

"I've also got the Lesser Heal spell, just didn't expect it to work so well. The description mentions only minor wounds." I explained. She then told me about how the doctors and nurses agree that it's a matter of perspective, to the multiverse, our fatal wounds are not so fatal. Also, she proudly mentions that most of them got Lesser Heal up to Advanced mastery after a few uses and experiments. Tsk, nerds! I wish I were that smart.

Soon enough, the leaders and several key figures enter the ward looking grim. And that, is how I end up explaining what happened.

"So you decided to attack him straight out because he provoked you?" Herman asked me.

"No, it's because if I back off this time, he's just gonna get worse." I reason.

"It didn't occur to you that attacking someone just because of a little provocation is an overreaction? Why didn't you go find me? Or any of us." He admonished me.

"Actually, I was looking for them," I pointed at the couple. "If you're telling me I should go find help every time someone provokes me, then tough luck. You heard how he began by shoving me off balance? That's a little?" I look him in the eye. "My only regret is for giving him the chance to attack back, that's a lesson I learnt the hard way."

The look in his eyes tells me he's gonna argue back. "Look, you already know he was overly hostile for no reason, ever since the day we met." I cut him off, "did you talk to him about it?"

"He mentioned something about not letting him try your wares." Herman replied.

"Honestly, I don't remember seeing him. But, I work in a sports equipment store at the mall. We usually only tell people off when they're, like, using the equipment under guise of trying them out." I tell him, "like testing the six kilo barbels for three sets of twelve. Who does that? We had to tell off plenty people, sometimes multiple times a day. You know how people are, it happens."

He seems lost for words, but said. "Still, don't you think you went too far?"

"Maybe, only by giving it time can we answer that. But I didn't want to risk finding out. The world is changing, we are all changing." I look at the doctor. "Would she be able to heal wounds like mine within hours a few days ago? Course not! Well, your security was unreasonably hostile to me, a threat. Intimidation didn't solve that, so I took the alternative. You prefer I find some spell to forcefully control his actions or something? I prefer to just do what I did."

He was clearly about to retort back before getting cut of. "Eyang!" Linda interceded, eyes focused on me. "Kak Zen, if you see me in danger, will you help?" Silently, I nod at her question. "what about if you see a stranger instead?"

"That would depend on the situation." I tell her, "I'll most likely help, unless the risk of death is too high."

She nodded along with my answer. "Then, what if helping me will put you in danger?" I stare at her for a moment, then look at Jennifer and Henry, then Herman before answering. "I'll probably find a way. But, that's why it's best to prevent those situations, which is also the reason I did what I did. He was a risk. If he has a grudge from something as petty as telling him off, well, that just proves it further.

"Look, I don't plan on becoming a serial killer or something. It's done and I'll do it again if I must." I clarify, Herman left silently, Linda following after him soon after, leaving the couple standing on my bedside.

"I heard, he picked a delinquent teen off the streets and gave him a job." Henry told me with a shrug. That does explain his reaction, "well shit, he must hate me. Probably loved him like a son or something."

"Nothing that cliché!" Jen remarked. Which made us chuckle halfheartedly. "He did care for him and was sure Budiman would reform soon."

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

I shrug, "maybe so."

"So what'cha gonna do now?" Henry changed the subject.

"Leave I guess, it feels too stifling to be here right now. I'll go check where the goblins are coming from. Maybe leave tomorrow after I take care of some things." I answered him.

"I don't like it when you go off on your own." Jennifer said with a sad face, probably her baby hormones speaking. To which Henry replied, "we can't be with him forever honey. Let our child experience the world and learn how to be independent."

"That's so crispy we could wrap a chicken with it and make Ayam Geprek." I complained, but laughed anyway. "I'll be back, Jen. No gamer worth his set up will go get himself killed when the real world is turning to become like his wettest dream." Henry nods at my words with a proud look on his face. "Hmm, taught him well, I did. Go forth, young padawan," earning him a smack and I, a glare.

They left me alone soon after, Dr Ann seems to have slinked off without our knowing. Probably earned herself the sneaking skill. Anyways, on my todo list. Check updates, claim the free spell, fix and improve Magico Disk, and go stress shopping for, well, there's gotta be something to buy.

'Updates please.'

** DING **

Skill obtained Fear Resistance.

Skill obtained Pain Resistance

Skill level up, Fear Resistance 1 > 2

Skill obtained, Heavy Armor Proficiency

Skill level up, Fear Resistance 2 > 3

Skill level up, Pain Resistance 1 > 2

Skill level up, Heavy Armor Proficiency 1 > 2

Skill level up, Pain Resistance 2 > 3

Skill level up, Pain Resistance 3 > 4

Skill level up, Heavy Armor Proficiency 2 > 3

Skill level up, Pain Resistance 4 > 5

Spell mastery rank up, Wind Arrow Basic > Intermediate

Slayed Budiman Kasih lv 1

1 Syscred and 2 Exp awarded.

I guess all that pain while experimenting with Herman didn't go to waste. Now then, nothing else to see there, time to claim the free spell. By Inspecting Spell Dilettante, I called out the prompt and all of a sudden, a massive list of spells appeared before me in The System's trademark, the hovering blue box. Holy shit, this would take weeks. I scroll down and see an endless amount of Apprentice rank spells, uhh, 'sort by rank, descending'. The list blink and reset back to the first entry, this time showing a Novice rank spell, phew. That rule limiting my choice to only the highest rank spell I currently have sucks.

Anyways, free spell. I've had my sights set on a very standard convenience that is present in almost every video game, the player's inventory. So~, filter again, 'spatial storage spells.' The list became much, much shorter. 'Alphabetical order please, Inspect' x5.

** DING **

Arcane Vaults. Embrace your inner Dragon! Engrave simple seals using a special formula imprinted with a drop of your blood within the walls of an enclosed room with only one way in or out. Infuse your mana along the engraving to attune the room to you at 1 mana per meter of engraved line. The attunement process may be spread out between sessions for as long as contact is maintained between you and the infused mana. If done properly, the room will seal its doors and only you can easily access the room from anywhere. Otherwise, it acts as a room should be. Seal engraving and formula recipe provided upon purchase.

Novice Repository. You can't look fashionable carrying a massive bag of supplies on your back. Spend 90% of your mana to construct a one cubic meter personal spatial storage, bonus size also provided according to 10% cm of mana spent on a random side. Cost of withdrawals or deposits are free, paid for from ambient mana. The spell may be recast for another 90% of your mana to reconstruct a new space anytime, collapsing the old space and losing anything inside, it will change to accommodate the new mana spent..

Pocket Suspense. Three in one, stay sharp! Rip a bubble of space and time to preserve and store your belongings, it resided in and is anchored to your soul. The bubble may be configured to half, quarter or halt the passage of time, each will respectively hold as much as 75%, 35% or 5% the mana invested in tearing the bubble plus the strength of your magic, in cubic centimeters. The bubble will hold an item within the limits regardless of shape.

Quasi-Inventory. One bag to fit them all, for your information, Quintuple equals five times. Spend one hour to cycle your mana and attune a bag, pouch, sack or pocket to quintuple its interior space, a password may be set during the mana cycling process to limit access into the bag.

Spatial Organ. It's not about what's on the outside, but what's on the inside. Create a spatial organ to store items, you may indicate where and what size the organ is. The organ must have an opening for entry and exit, it has a pocket space of up to ten times its outer dimension and will freeze 5% of your maximum mana pool for as long as the organ exists within.

They are all so interesting, I feel giddy inside. Maybe except for Spatial Organ, I find that's slightly disturbing, maybe it was made for a massive creature or something. As for the other four, they should all work fine. Though judging from my current maximum mana of 351, Pocket Suspense -- who names a spell that? -- might not provide the amount of space I need at its slower settings. Besides, where or how do someone even check how much magic power we have? And what does it mean three in one.

Quasi-Inventory is pretty mainstream, though it does not limit what size bag we use, which is slightly exploitable. But also clearly flawed, what if the bag got stolen?! Novice Repository also sounds mainstream, safer but for slightly less space. And lastly, Arcane Vaults would probably provide the most space for now, assuming I can find and convert a big room, but that would take too much time and, I dare guess, resources.

What should I chose for the free spell… hmm~

Free… It's free! I hastily close the blue box and open the CredStore to compare their prices with a cheapass grin on my face. 'novice spatial storage spell, sorted by price highest to lowest. Thanks'

Pocket Suspense 2800

Arcane Vaults 2300

Novice Repository 1750

Spatial Organ 1600

Quasi-Inventory 1200

A quick check of my balance shows 564 Creds, which increased to 27,682 Creds after claiming the profits from more people purchasing Magico Disk and two sales of the new spell. I'm so rich!.. It took a little longer but I finally decided upon which to claim and purchase.

**DING **