The idea that they faced a dragon and killed it was still too daunting for Mikella’s weary mind. Even now, as she slowly forced herself to stand, seeing the dragon’s corpse lying in front of her felt too unreal to witness.
But if the pain still affecting her body was anything to go by, it was definitely real. And so was the blinking notification at the corner of her vision. Lots of them, actually.
She automatically opened it up, but soon a wave of incredible energy entered into her body. It was like a wave of unknown emotion flowing into her, exasperating the pain by twofold as her body began to scream out in terror.
But at the same time, compared to the pain the dragon dealt to her, it also brought a sense of exhilaration and pleasure that made Mikella extremely uncomfortable. At one part, she wanted to scream and get away, and in another she wanted to bask in this feeling forever.
Thankfully, it didn’t last forever as the energy soon ceased, and several notifications dropped into her vision. Unlike the usual, they were extremely numerous.
> Pain Resistance Level Up! It is now Level 2.
>
> You have gained +1 VIT from your skill.
> You have gained +1 END from your skill.
> Sword Mastery Level Up! It is now Level 3.
>
> You have gained +1 DEX from your skill.
> Acrobatics Level Up! It is now Level 2.
>
> You have gained +1 STR from your skill.
> You have gained +2 DEX from your skill.
> New Title available:
>
> Opportunist:
> You take your chances regardless of the heavy risks. Your gut instincts will not lead you astray.
>
> You have gained +2 STR from your title.
> You have gained +2 DEX from your title.
>
> Title Skill attained: Not-Lucky Shot.
> Not-Lucky Shot (Title), Level 1 (Maxed)
> You keep doing lucky shots. That’s the point. Whenever you attack with either physical or magical attacks , you increase the chance to deal double the damage by 1%.
> Level up! You are now Level 8. You gain 4 free points (4 FP total).
Mikella couldn’t believe the amount of notices flowing by her vision. It took her almost a few seconds to grasp the amount showing up, only then to realize the implications behind them.
Just like with Zeke,she also gained a Title. This one in particular felt… a bit off, if she was honest, like the system itself was making a joke. But despite only being activated 1% of the time, dealing double the damage was better than any kind of resistance from Trailblazer.
Plus, having all these skill ups and levels was definitely sweet.
She opened up her status screen with an eager grin. It was addicting her numbers grow, actually showing her growth compared to the real world. Even now, as her body was in agony from injuries, she read slowly and with purpose.
> Name: Mikella Ashton (Opportunist)
> Race: Human
> Novice: Level 8
> STR: 17
> DEX: 21
> INT: 6
> SPI: 5
> VIT: 11
> END: 12
> Free Points: 4
>
> General Skills:
> Sword Mastery (C), Level 3
> Pain Resistance (U), Level 2
> Meditation (C), Level 2
>
> Acquired Skills:
> Acrobatics (R) Level 2
>
> Title Skill:
> Not-Lucky Shot (T), Level 1 (Maxed)
With that new addition, her status looked even more incredible than it did before. She put her free points into Endurance this time, bringing it up to 16. She could always put it into Vitality, but now that her Strength and Dexterity were getting pretty high up there, she needed to have the energy to last for a bit.
Perhaps later, she’ll invest into Vitality when it starts to lag. She was tempted to put points into Intelligence because–honestly, how can anyone stand having such a low Intelligence? But she knew better than anyone else how pointless it would be to bring that up.
She closed it up, trying to find Zeke to tell him the good news. As she imagined him geeking out as usual for her new title, horror painted her face after finding him. He was on the ground, shivering like he was convulsing.
“Zeke!” Mikella ran, ignoring the screaming pain in her body as she knelt to the shivering man, realizing his state for once.
He was pale–blanched even. His skin was dried out, some patches of it even looked shriveled up. She tried touching him, but it was like touching a corpse when a frigid cold met her touch.
Despite the burning blisters on the exposed parts of his skin, his teeth were clattering fiercely, ready to break each other apart from the force. He looked desperate to huddle himself, but his body wasn’t acting to his wishes, locking up or flailing about.
“Zeke!” Mikella shouted, instantly bringing out a barrel and taking a pink pear out. She never really enjoyed the stuff herself, strangely, despite that most of the fruits were similar in taste.
But she knew that the sight of these pears always cheered him up. She grabbed one and immediately crushed the pear, realizing how easy it was now compared to before.
It was literally juiced up to the point that mostly liquid fell down to his clattering mouth, forced open by her hand. Thankfully, his arms flailing about didn’t get in the way, but she wished it would stop soon. Just looking at him in this state agonized her.
“I-I-I-I g-g-g-gotta…” Zeke tried to say, his expression in pain and agony but still conscious somehow. She actually hoped that he was knocked out during all this. She can’t imagine what it’s like actually living through this sensation.
“It's okay, it's all over. Just focus on recovering…” Mikella softly said, trying to keep him still as the juices of the pink pear fell to his mouth. After a few seconds of it, his skin was actually starting to return to normal, so she crushed another pear without remorse.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
After a while of constant shivering, clattering, and plenty of fruits, Zeke finally returned back to his normal color and condition.
He was still shivering, now closing himself up with his arms and legs in a fetal position. He closed his eyes, unable to handle the strange coldness afflicting him. Most likely he’s been trying to put himself into Meditation, but his condition made it impossible to get into it. She knew she had to be in a good state of mind before trying to recover her lost energy.
She didn’t know what else to do. The only thing she could think of doing was offering her body for warmth as she forced Zeke to open up and accept her embrace. She brushed his hair while forcing his head to nestle against her neck, hugging him tightly.
She certainly felt warm, thanks to the damn dragon’s fire, so she hoped that it would be passed onto him. In the next few minutes, Zeke finally stopped shivering, now embracing her back.
Eventually, Zeke finally spoke his words without the shivering causing his sentences to go awry.
“W-W…What hap-ha-happened?” Zeke managed to say, still struggling to keep his shivering down.
“We beat the dragon,” Mikella spoke calmly, brushing his hair. She found it odd how pleasing it felt. “And you got pretty messed up. I gave you some fruits.”
“T-T-Thank y-y-you…” Zeke managed to say, somehow being the important thing to say first and foremost. She chuckled at that. He always tried to be polite whenever he could. “A-A-And you…?”
“I’m fine,” Mikella said, eventually letting him go. Facing him once again, she was relieved to find him almost back to normal.
Then, when his eyes finally focused on her, he realized what happened, his eyes going wide in alarm.
“O-Oh god… w-w-what have…?”
“It's fine, don't worry about it.” Mikella interrupted him. Somehow she could tell that he wanted to apologize for being so close to her. She waved it off as she asked the better questions. “Anyways, what happened? Why did you feel so cold like you just sat in a freezer all your life?”
After a few seconds of careful and controlled breathing, Zeke managed to return back to his usual self. She also saw a bit of light forming properly in his eyes, turning his direction onto her.
“My Mana…,” He said with clarity, but a somber tone entered his voice. “I ran out of mana.”
“Oh…” Mikella squeaked. She knew that was mostly her fault for her blatant disregard of her movements while dealing with the dragon. “Right, you said you feel cold when you run out of Mana.”
“Not that…” Zeke shook his head, causing Mikella to grow concerned. “I actually ran out of Mana way before you killed the dragon.”
“What?!” Mikella shouted. “What do you mean? You shouldn’t have casted any magic then!”
It wasn’t just the idea that he ran out of Mana a lot earlier than she expected that surprised her. He made that final barrier that forced the dragon upwards, giving her the leverage she needed to deal the final blow.
She wasn’t certain whether that actually did damage, but it definitely looked like it packed a wallop. She was certain that was the final bit that caused his body to freeze up as it finally reached zero.
But if he was already at zero when he made that last barrier…
“It didn’t actually kill me or make my head explode, thankfully,” Zeke said, shaking his head. “When I realized I ran out, I had this god-awful headache, but when I kept going, it just… sapped all the warmth I had. My body just couldn’t keep up. I couldn’t move, I couldn't’ even think straight.”
Zeke shivered, but more out of the fear of it happening again rather than the cold. She can’t even imagine what that would feel like. Running out of stamina was one thing–your chest feels like it's burning and you can barely breathe. But in his case, his body became so cold that he could barely move even in decently humid weather.
They decided then and there that Mikella will just have to take the hits herself instead of relying on the barrier on the last vestiges of his mana.
His body can recover–that much is clear. But she feared what effects that would do to him if he kept going beyond his limits. Like driving up a credit card, you’re gonna have to pay for it eventually.
“Thanks for looking out for me, Zeke,” Mikella said, sincerity pouring out of her. “But promise me to never do that again, okay?”
“Yeah,” Zeke nodded. “Still… we did it.”
Zeke offered a weak smile. It looked exhausted and drained of energy, but there was a clear sense of pride. Mikella smiled back as she told him the good news of her recent upgrades.
A few minutes of chattering went by as they went towards the dragon to loot it. Zeke also leveled up to 8 just like Mikella. Rather than explaining it all, he just sent her the notifications.
> You have defeated Lesser Wyvern, Level ***
>
> You have gained experience points.
> Level up! You are now Level 8. You gain 2 free points (4 FP total).
> Pain Resistance Level Up! It is now Level 4.
>
> You have gained +1 VIT from your skill.
> You have gained +1 END from your skill.
“Zeke, stop getting hurt!” Mikella shouted while still reading the notifications. “Your Pain Resistance is higher than mine! I’m supposed to be the front-liner, aren’t I?”
“Hey, I can’t help it,” Zeke shrugged, and that got a winced from his still recovering arm… which she realized that the bone somehow returned back to his arm. Gross. “Not like I want to get hurt!”
She had to give him that, but she still grumbled about it. Wasn’t he supposed to be the mage? He was getting higher Vitality than she was.
Eventually they went over to the dragon to loot it. Well, actually, it was a Wyvern according to what the system said, which she realized made sense considering that this dragon-like thing didn’t have any wings. If it did, she shivered at the possible conclusion that it could fly around in this giant room.
Despite him having dibs since he went all out, he let Mikella loot the wyvern. There wasn’t really much of a difference since they share everything anyways–but apparently as a gamer he gives credence to those that do the most damage in the fight. She agreed to that.
The entire carcass slowly dissipated, almost as though invisible flames were going up and devouring the wyvern. After witnessing it alive, almost killing them, and seeing it die–it felt poetic. Beautiful to Mikella’s eyes, even.
But what came out was the definition of the opposite of beautiful.
The two noticed that this time, there were two books on the floor. Two Skill Books.
They looked back at each other, then at the books. For a solid moment, they didn’t know what to do.
One one hand, learning any skill from a skill book is a terrifying experience. Something literally gets rewritten deep within your mind and spirit, causing an intense reaction from your body due to the change. It doesn’t take a genius to learn that learning a skill is actually as daunting as trying to learn one naturally.
The only changes were that the amount of time it takes to learn one is as easy as just a few minutes. But everything from how it works to how it feels is utterly condensed to the point where you mind cannot handle anything else, trying to process all the information at once.
That’s what Zeke believed how it works, as it would explain the immense amount of pain that occurred. Mikella could still remember how her body felt when she learned Acrobatics. She felt all of her training in gymnastics, ranging from years of training, education, and proper diet, were all rolled into one sitting. It was not a pleasant experience, even if they can learn another potentially awesome skill that could save their lives.
On the other hand, it was exactly that. An awesome skill that could save their lives. Zeke’s barriers literally saved her ass from getting burnt to death and her Acrobatics easily helped her win the fight. Without those two skills, they would’ve have a hard time beating the wyvern.
Hell, without the barrier, they wouldn’t even have gotten here at all. So with great hesitation and trepidation, the two picked up the two Skill books in hand, checking the contents out for themselves.
Strangely enough, the two Skill Books they picked up for themselves were exactly the sort of skills they needed to learn for themselves.
On Zeke’s hand:
> Skill Book: Recovery (Rare)
>
> You are only able to learn this skill after meeting the following requirements:
>
> SPI: 450—ERROR!
>
> Your Otherworlder state changed the requirements. Adjustments will be made.
>
> There are no requirements. You are able to learn the skill.
On Mikella’s hand:
> Skill Book: Hawk Eyes (Rare)
>
> You are only able to learn this skill after meeting the following requirements:
>
> DEX: 500–ERROR!
>
> Your Otherworlder state changed the requirements. Adjustments will be made.
>
> There are no requirements. You are able to learn the skill.
The two just gawked at the skill books, and rather than excitement–dread filled them.