“Wake up boy.” Richter lightly nudged Alaster awake. Though, his light nudge was enough to send the boy flipping through the air.
“Aghgh! What? Who?” Alaster landed awkwardly, but was quick to his feet.
“You’ve rested for long enough. Check your status.”
[Regeneration Obtained]
[Regeneration
Level 1: 0%
Enter a state of enhanced regeneration.
For one minute, Health is continuously regenerated.]
[Pain Tolerance
Level 1<5: 0%<84%
Better able to tolerate pain.]
[Blunt Resistance
Level 1<3: 0%<93%
Better able to resistance Blunt Damage]
“[Regeneration] is a powerful Passive.” Richter commented as he sat down on a tree stump. A tree stump Alaster noted had not been a stump the night before.
“How is it a passive? From the wording, I would think it's an Ability.”
“The System doesn’t tell you everything, it makes you figure stuff out on your own. It is a Passive. You cannot manually activate it. It automatically activates once your health reaches five percent. Upon activation, your health will regenerate according to what your status says, but instead of that rate every minute, it is that rate every second. How much is your Health Regen?”
Alaster took a quick glance, “Sixteen.”
“So when [Regeneration] activates, you will heal for sixteen health every second, for one minute. However, as I said, the System doesn’t tell you everything. It heals you, but you will still feel the pain. And once the Passive ends, you will be weakened.”
“In what way?”
“Dizzy, faint, loss of vision, muscle weakness, and nausea.”
Alaster grinned.
“Why are you smiling like that? Stop that. It's weird.”
“Sorry, but one of my Bonuses temporarily turns me into a Skeleton. In that state, I won’t feel any of those side effects.”
Richter just stared at the boy, and while Alaster couldn’t see the Knight’s eyes, he had a feeling the Knight was contemplating death. His.
Alaster felt his mouth go dry.
“In addition to the side effects, [Regeneration] will be unable to activate again until your health returns to one hundred percent.”
“But if it's the current Health Regen every second, that's sixteen times sixty… which equals…nine hundred and sixty Health. I can only have a max of six hundred seventy-five.”
The Knight just sighed, “Boy, if your health decreases to five percent, what is likely happening?”
“A fight?”
“And do you really think you can avoid being hit, while injured, for an entire sixty seconds?”
“...No?”
“[Regeneration] will almost happen during a battle. It's a last resort. One final cling to life. Once it activates, you have one last chance. But just because it activates, doesn’t mean you can't still die.”
“What are its evolutions?”
“Are [Pain Tolerance], [Blunt Resistance], and [Regeneration] your first Passives?”
“Yes.”
Richter shook his head in disappointment, “Passives are the backbone of any battle. In the heat of battle, where death is only a single mistake away, do you really think you will be able to plan every step? Calculate your little spells? No. You will be too focused on not dying. In a pitched battle, Passives will be what saves you, not your Abilities. Looks like I am going to have to beat some more Passives into you.
But back to your question. Passives don’t have Evolutions. They only Morph. Do you at least know the difference?”
“Yeah, Evolutions happen every five or ten levels, but Morphs are more significant, but only happen once the Ability reaches Adept and Expert levels.”
“At least you aren’t too stupid.” Richter said to himself, “Passives, such as [Pain Tolerance] or [Blunt Resistance], improve in small increments as they level, but will only change when they reach Adept and Expert. [Regeneration] on the other hand, does not improve at all, but will still change at Adept and Expert.”
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“How do you level them?”
Alaster couldn’t see Richter’s face, but he just knew the Knight was smiling, “Just like Abilities. You gotta use them.”
Richter stood up and cracked his knuckles, “Let's begin, shall we?”
“Shit.” But that was all he had time for before Richter was upon him once more.
The Forest once again filled with the sounds of armored fists beating against flesh and cries of pain. However, this time, Richter didn’t stop until the Boy’s health dropped to five percent.
With one final blow, Richter sent Alaster flying into a tree. Alaster landed in the snow on his knees as blood flowed from his head and mouth and his vision dimmed. However, he could feel his body quickly repairing itself. It was strange and discomforting, nor did it take any of the pain he was feeling. Less than a minute later, his body was fully healed.
“That is [Regeneration].” Richter confirmed.
“That is amazing.”
[Regeneration
Level 1: 0%<5%
Enter a state of enhanced regeneration.
For one minute, Health is continuously regenerated.]
“Only five percent?” Alaster exclaimed. He felt cheated. Being used as a punching bag by the Knight, who refused to remove his gloves, and taken to the edge of death, and he had only gotten five percent.
“Correct.” Richter said as if that was natural.
“How do you even get [Regeneration]? I just woke up and had it?”
“You receive it after receiving ten times your health in damage within a twenty-four hour period.”
Alaster shuddered, “No wonder more people don’t have it.”
“Correct, also why you don’t meet anyone with a high level of [Regeneration]. However, as I previously stated, [Regeneration] will happen in the middle of a battle more often than not. So you need to be accustomed to it enough to still defend yourself, even as your body knits itself together.”
Alaster groaned, “And when will that suit you?”
Richter looked up in thought, “Good question…let's say level twenty.” He looked down at Alaster, still kneeling in the snow, Alaster could have sworn he saw an evil glint, “You get to [Regeneration] to Adepthood, and I will consider this part of your training complete.”
Alaster didn’t want to stand back up, but he did so anyway. He needed to save his Sister, and this Knight would not let him leave until he considered Alaster trained. He was not going to let this Knight stand in his way.
“Let's get started.”
Richter grinned under his helmet. It had been a long time since he met someone this willing to accept great pain. [Pain Tolerance] did not reduce the amount of pain felt, only increased the Mind’s ability to feel pain without being affected by it or shutting down. Rolling his shoulders, Richter raised his fists once more, while the boy across from him raised his sword.
‘This is going to be fun’
* * * * *
Four hundred times. Alaster had been forced to the brink of death four hundred times. The days and nights had merged into one big blob of endless pain and misery. Alaster wasn’t sure how long it had taken. He didn’t even want to know. All he cared about was that it was over. Finally over.
“Get up, we aren’t done.”
Alaster whimpered, wanting to cry, but having no tears left.
Nonetheless, Alaster obediently stood up. He had learned the price of disobeying Richter. The cruel Knight knew the most effective ways to inflict pain without reducing Health.
“[Regeneration] finally Morphed, see what changed, then we have to get you accustomed to its changes.”
[Regeneration
Level 1<20: 5%<0%
Enter a state of enhanced regeneration.
For ten minutes, Health and Mana is continuously regenerated.]
“Mana huh? Should have expected that, but that still pisses me off. But ten minutes isn’t bad.” Richter sat down on his stump, even as he made Alaster stand.
“Sir, what was your Adept Morph for [Regeneration]?”
“Well first, you should know a few things about me. I have a Special Constitution.”
That wasn’t surprising, Alaster had long suspected the Demon before him to have a Special Constitution.
“Except it wasn’t one of the good ones.”
That was surprising.
“What does it do, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“It completely removes my ability to use Mana. My body actively rejects it.”
Alaster was shocked, he had always been taught that all living things had Mana. He didn’t even know you could survive without Mana.
“However, as always, the System is fair, in its own cruel way. While I was unable to use Magic of any kind, it enhanced my physical attributes. Including in any of my Abilities or Passives. However, I first had to get there. I remember starting out as a Novice. Even fighting against the weakest Monster almost resulted in my death, because Mana doesn’t just allow the use of Spells, it also enhances your body, not that anyone would notice unless they didn’t have any.
I was pathetic. No one wanted to party with me, because I was so weak, so fragile. I was dead weight on anyone I partied with. But I didn’t give up. I trained until my body gave out. I shed more blood against Monsters than even a hundred people had in their bodies. But the Human body is nothing if not adaptable. Slowly, but surely, I was getting better. But that didn’t mean my life was suddenly easier. Compared to others my level, I was still pathetic. In fact, there was one group of my peers that actively bullied me. They sought me out to insult and beat me.”
Alaster stared at him, “...”
“I beat you. I don’t insult you… at least not at the same time. It's different. Now shut up and listen.
Because I couldn’t use Magic, they took great joy in using Magic to beat me to a bloody pulp. But, because my Body naturally rejected Mana, I was able to receive [Magic Resistance]. To this day, I have only met four other people who have that Passive.”
“Why is it so much harder to get than [Regeneration]?”
“Because, its not [Fire Resistance], or [Wind Resistance]. Its [Magic Resistance]. You are resisting the very foundation of Magic. I got both Fire and Wind Resistance, they used those spells against me enough. But while those spells use elements as a medium, they were still powered by Mana. And Hostile Mana still affects the body, and the body gradually adapts to everything. After I got [Magic Resistance], I began to actively seek out those bullies to level it. Because as much as the Guards of my City turned a blind eye to them bullying me, they would not have been able to ignore a murder.
So the bullies never got too close to killing me. And I took advantage of that. By that point, I already had [Regeneration], so every day, I pursued them. Gradually, their spells stopped having any effect on me. My [Magic Resistance] had morphed to completely negate any Magic used against me that didn’t remove at least five percent of my health. If it did, only then did the Passive take effect, reducing the amount of damage the Spell did.
I soon became known as the Mage Killer, despite not having killed anyone. Mages came from all over to challenge me. But none could defeat me in duels, so they began to ambush me while I was hunting. That was the first time I’d ever killed anyone. I grew stronger and stronger, as did my [Magic Resistance]. Magic was practically ineffective against me. But because I couldn’t use Magic, I focused on my physical skill, Abilities, and Stats. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t defeated numerous times. But every time I was, I trained even harder and returned to emerge victorious.
That is the kind of mindset you need. Always survive, always grow stronger, and always win.”
“You still didn’t say what your [Regeneration] Adept Morph was.”
“I told you all that so you wouldn’t feel bad. My Regeneration Morphed to triple my Health Regen every second for an hour, and it activated once my health reached twenty percent.”
Alaster blinked rapidly, “The hell? How did anyone beat you?” He exclaimed.
“Because there are things in this world much stronger than you could possibly imagine.”
“Hold on, that was only your Adept morph? What about your Expert Morph, cause there is no way you of all people don’t have it Expert Level.”
Richter chuckled, “Perhaps I will tell you after you complete your training.”
“What’s next?”
“Well, it took you a month to get [Regeneration] to Adept Level. Now, we are going to work on your actual physical skill, regardless of Abilities or Passives. How well you can use that sword, as well as other weapons. Should be fun, no?”
Alaster only groaned.