Once again, he was faced with the same difficult decision: what he really needed was Toughness, but could he really afford to waste three points just to get one on Toughness? And more so: would one point more in Toughness really be effective?

Lucas sighed, thinking about that. His unique constitution came with some great benefits when he considered his death aura and maybe his life aura that was hidden somewhere, but it also brought great shortcomings. It was very hard to fight without getting hit, especially when he was facing enemies above his level. Did that mean that he had to keep increasing his agility forever in hopes of reaching a point when no one would be able to even see him, much less attack him?

Despite being a nice thought, that didn’t seem feasible. People’s journey in a system world was just beginning, and weird skills were bound to pop up here and there. Lucas blades wasn’t going to be the only one. What if his opponent had a skill that reduced his mobility somehow? That thought sent shivers down Lucas’ spine; it wasn’t hard to understand what would happen to him if that were the case.

Searching for a solution, Lucas’ eyes landed on the Vitality stat. Then his gaze shifted towards his arms below. They were swollen, no doubt about it, but they already seemed way better than before. He had almost forgotten how fast his regenerative speed was when compared to others, thanks to his unique constitution. The points he placed there didn’t multiply by three, but his Vitality was more effective than others.

Could the answer to his problem be in this? Instead of making his body stronger, make it easier to recover. Could he perhaps reach a point where he could grow back mangled limbs in a matter of minutes, or even seconds? Lucas got excited with the prospect, but watching his arms, he believed he was still very far from achieving this.

I have to start somewhere, Lucas thought, making up his mind and placing all three points in Vitality. I should really start searching for that life aura again; it might help me recover faster, he thought. But he also wanted to see if he could improve his fireball. As always, there was too much to do and too little time to do it.

He couldn’t stay in that room for much longer, either; his situation was far from ideal. The people from outside couldn’t see who was inside that room. But if someone decided to check after finding out the dead bodies in the other rooms…

As if reading his mind, the prince broke the silence, still standing awkwardly near a wall.

“Are you sure you want to wait here? There are probably others who are waiting to use this room after Rodrick’s session is over.”

Lucas turned to him. “And when will that be?”

The prince shrugged. “I don’t know; there’s a schedule,” he said, then proceeded to explain. “Everyone wants to use the training room, so there’s a schedule that has probably been set for weeks. After Rodrick finishes, another will come, but I can’t say when that will be.”

Lucas thought for a while before replying. “We will leave in twenty minutes.” It was still a risk, but he decided to take his chances. Immediately after he said that, he closed his eyes and began to meditate.

He didn’t have much time, so he decided to focus on the thing he thought would help him the most: his life aura. He knew he had it in him; the tree had said so himself, and on his first skill selection, the skill “life-aura manipulation” had appeared. It even mentioned that it could help his wounds heal faster; that was exactly what he needed to help him with the Toughness issue. So he got to work.

Twenty minutes later, sweat was already appearing on his forehead… nothing. A frown covered his face. He realized he had deeply overestimated his ability to find the life aura. That was probably due to his previous experience with the death aura. When he tried to find the death aura, it had been relatively easy, as the death aura stuck out like a sore thumb, probably because its origins were so distinct from the rest of him. But with the life aura, he didn’t know where to look; his whole body was alive.

Back in the tutorial, when he was trying to find mana inside himself, he had already predicted that would be the case, but he never imagined it would be this difficult. He had hit a wall, and it didn’t seem like he could surpass it any time soon. He considered focusing on the fireball instead, but he was out of time.

Frustrated, he rose when the prince told him it was already time. Looking at the prince, Lucas noticed a nervousness in him. “What? Are you worried Sultan will accuse you of treason?” Lucas asked mockingly, partially to relieve the frustration he was feeling, and it paid off when he watched the prince’s reaction.

“What treason? I’m a captive of yours, and besides, I’m not Sultan’s subject. It’s a partnership; we share the same goals.”

“Hm, I don’t know about that; you seemed pretty happy when I killed that guy.” Lucas pointed towards the man with the glass still stuck in his eye.

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“I had no part in it!” the prince yelled, sounding almost offended. “He was just too weak, it was his own fault. Sultan will understand,” he concluded resolutely.

Lucas found his logic funny; the man who fought to the death with him was weak, but the prince who gave up without even trying wasn’t. Shaking his head, he decided to stop wasting time with this silly discussion and went towards the door.

The corridor was as empty as when he entered the room; apparently, no one suspected that he had infiltrated yet. Moving towards the next door, Lucas noticed that his arms were much better.

This time, I’ll be quick. I can’t keep getting injured, or I’ll never reach Sultan, Lucas thought as he opened the door.

Like Rodrik, the man who was interrupted in his training looked pretty mad at being interrupted, but Lucas didn’t give him time to voice his complaints. After leveling up, he was even faster than before, and he moved like a tiger towards his opponent.

Caught off guard by the sudden charge, the man raised both of his swords. Lucas pretended he was going to face them head-on, only to dodge in the last second with a twirl and reach the man’s back. When both of his swords landed on empty air, he felt a stinging pain in his back multiple times, and he could only groan before he lost sensation in his body and fell forward.

*You have killed Human – lvl 10. Experience earned.*

Before the man even collapsed on the ground, Lucas was already walking towards the door, passing in front of a very shocked prince. “Let’s go!” Lucas yelled at him, touching the door handle.

Since he wouldn’t be able to control his life aura anytime soon, and improving his fireball wasn’t a simple matter either, he decided to finish the people inside the rooms as fast as possible. The fewer opponents to fight him afterward, the better.

The next rooms went much the same way, with only the last one giving him a little bit of trouble, lasting a little over two minutes. The man inside was level twelve, the same as his, and not a pushover. However, as soon as Lucas began to abuse his speed and throw multiple attacks his way, the man’s body became so filled with cuts that he simply collapsed after some time.

Not even breaking a sweat after his latest battle, Lucas considered whether he should continue forward. “What’s next?” he asked, turning to the prince.

“The door at the end of the corridor leads to the cafeteria; from there, you can reach the dormitories, the arsenal, and Sultan’s office.”

“How many more men are there?” Lucas asked.

“Let’s see, you have killed ten, so that leaves…”

“Actually, I killed three before those,” Lucas said, talking about the ones he had killed when he was with Faruk.

Apparently, the prince wasn’t aware of the deaths that had happened before, which left Lucas wondering: was this a thing the system did to facilitate things for him so that he could kill one at a time, or people just didn’t want to inform the prince for some reason?

“Well, there’s still seven left, apart from Sultan and his right and left arms,” the prince replied, hiding his surprise.

“Right and left arms?”

“Yes, they are only below Sultan himself in the hierarchy… and me, of course,” he answered. Lucas’ eyebrow raised hearing that.

“How strong are they?”

“Very,” the prince said simply, but his face concealed a deeper meaning. Lucas caught a glimpse of the prince’s wicked intentions through his eyes, but he didn’t care. Nicholas was able to finish this floor, and he wouldn’t admit that that man was better than him. So his only option was victory.

Thinking that far, Lucas considered his options. He had already reduced their numbers by more than half, but if he entered the cafeteria right away, he would probably have to fight against more than one at the same time.

Instead of doing that, he could stick around for a while in that room and use the time he had left to try and improve his weak points. If people came looking for him, well, at least he had some field advantage when compared to an open space like a cafeteria, where he would be an easy target for archers and whatnot.

Having decided on what he was going to do, Lucas sat down again after informing the prince of his intentions. This time, he decided to shift his focus towards the fireball. The life aura was still a concept that eluded him, but he had learned to control his mana much better since entering the tower, and he felt ready to take the next step to improve his fireball.

With full focus, Lucas followed the same process the old man from the tutorial had taught him. However, this time, when the ball was formed, he began trying to compress it. At first, it seemed like he was making progress, as the size of the ball began to decrease and the power within seemed to become more concentrated. But after a few minutes of this, he faced a problem.

Like an iron spring, there’s only so much pressure you can apply before the compressed power starts working against you. With sweat pouring from his pores, Lucas had already given up on the idea of keeping pressing it, but he also had no idea how he could dissipate all that power safely. After a few nervous seconds, he wasn’t able to hold the pressure anymore, and all that power exploded, rushing outside his body like a broken pipe.

The prince was scared out of his mind, thinking Lucas had finally grown tired of him and decided to kill him, when the peace and quiet from the training room was replaced by a raging inferno coming from the direction where Lucas was sitting. When he looked at him, however, he found Lucas lying on the ground with a painful expression on his face. He began to walk towards him when he heard a faint voice.

“Don’t even think about it; I can still easily kill you,” Lucas said, with killing intent escaping through his clenched teeth.

The prince, who was about to make a move, felt like he had been caught doing something he shouldn’t and changed the subject.

“What are you doing anyway?”

Lucas smiled faintly. “Don’t worry about it.” He had failed; that much was obvious based on the state his body was in. But what he didn’t expect was that he would gain a skill while doing it.

New skill acquired!

Skill: Fire Blast (Common)

When you find yourself surrounded by opponents on all sides, your best option might be to blast them all away. Explode the fire within you and take down your foes, but beware; you might not emerge unscathed. Adds a small bonus to the effect of magic while using Fire Blast.