A burst of raging fire expelled from Alucard's palms and quickly spread around and ravaged the entire bear with flickering crimson flames. A blast that close-up did more than simple added damage, especially since it struck him in the face.

*RRAAAOOORRRR*

The beast's shriek echoed loudly through his eardrums as his movements and desperation became more frantic. Yet, Alucard hung on despite it all, his teeth showing even more visual cracks as he gripped his sword with two hands now, watching the fire spread around the beast as it slowly sizzled underneath him with nothing it could do to retaliate.

Yet, what did was also to his deficit… As the beast burned, so did the odorous intensity of the cooked fur and meat entering his nostrils. However, now it seemed like the smell of his burning flesh would also be added to his nostrils...

The flames that were previously on the beast had spread all the way up and caught his entire body on fire, slowly coming up from his shoes and engulfing his entire face in one fell swoop. Fire was one of his major weaknesses, and it seemed like he had taken himself out with his own attack.

Yet, the flames did not burn him at all, they felt more like a small tingle compared to the massive burst of pain one would have expected. He did not at all smell any burning from his flesh and even his silver hair was still intact like nothing had happened.

His face completely on fire, illuminating through the darkness of the night like a flickering torch, Alucard smiled, his piercing blood-red gaze shining through as he cried out in victory, a rush of satisfaction and adrenaline vigorously pumping through his veins unlike ever before.

"HAHAHA, IT WORKED! NOOWWWW DIEEEEE!!"

With two injured, shaky hands clasped on his blade, he lifted his burning sword out of the mad beast's head and raised it into the sky, the light of the incomplete moon reflecting from its surface. And, in one final attempt, he rammed it down into that open wound with more vigour and ferocity than prior, completely tearing its brain apart.

*RAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoOOoooOooor…*

At last, it was finally all over... The bear cried its final cry; it lost all the exasperated energy it had remaining and came crashing down on the ground with a heavy slam. Alucard, who was still breathing heavily, hanging on to the blade on his hands did not have enough energy in his legs to jump away. So, he came crashing down along with it...

He was flung away from the sword still planted on the bears head and skitted across the grassy and muddy terrain, enduring all the pain as he finally stopped moving, resting stationary on his back as he stared up at the light of the incomplete moon with a wide smile on his face.

"Heh… I did it…" He mumbled softly to himself before slightly chuckling through the immense pain.

He had pushed his body way beyond its limits and it was clearly seen through all the torn, exposed flesh, popped blood vessels and his cracked, nearly nonexistent teeth.

In-game terms, that bear must have been at least 10-15 levels higher than him. In a pure, 1 vs 1 confrontation, he was no match and would not fair any better than a fly— one clean swipe would have been more than enough to take him out. He always thought of his game knowledge as nothing more than a gimmick that would never actually help him in real-life situations. But, without it, he might not have been alive right now.

He could not believe he had just survived through all of that… He had taken too many stupidly dangerous risks in such a short amount of time out of pure reflex and survival instincts it was crazy to think about. Yet, nothing was more stupid and dangerous than what he did in the end.

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Using a fireball spell in such close proximity when he had an extreme weakness to fire was asking for suicide. In Rebirth, other than a few recoil spells, players were extremely resistant to the flow of their own mana, and any damage inflicted upon themselves from their own spells would be almost non-existent. This was one thing that Alucard had foolishly never tested prior to this encounter.

It was a more than likely outcome that this feature was not carried over to the new world; friendly fire on party members didn't work after all, so why should this? Alucard knew the risks yet did it anyway due to the heat of the moment— it was his only chance at victory, and it luckily worked.

He had no idea why it did work while friendly fire didn't and, his pain and feeling of happiness completely overshadowed any will to find answers. But, if he had to guess, then maybe this feature that players were resistant to their own mana was written somewhere in the game's lore, while the friendly fire was simply a game design choice implemented by the devs for a more streamlined experience.

Still, despite being a top pro player, he was not very versed into the game's rather extensive lore. So, his theory could never be anything more than simple speculation.

*Argg…*

Suddenly, the still smiling and heavily breathing Alucard felt the last shred of flames extinguish from his body, along with the final whimper from the bear meters away from his laying corpse, making him turn around to see its charred, now completely lifeless figure.

[ +500 XP! ]

[ Level Up! ]

[ Level Up! ]

[ Congratulations! You have reached the requirements to unlock the "Battle Mage" class! Would you like to unlock it? ]

[ Yes ] [ Not Now ]

He looked up with blurry vision to see a barrage of notifications flood his field of view, making his injured, beyond recognizable smile shine even brighter.

"Perfect…"

Not only did he level up twice, but he received a class he had been wanting ever since he settled on his build.

"Battle Mage".

It was an alternate path to the "Wizard" Job class. The only difference was the battle mages were better suited for a close-quarters combat build. They focused more on short, quick burst attacks rather than the ones that took longer to charge yet dealt more damage. It also provided a different selection of buffing spells found at certain levels of the class that was different from that of a wizard, and for his build, a battle mage was more than perfect.

In rebirth, a class could be unlocked by performing specific actions. And, the requirement to achieve the battle mage class was to either perform an extremely close-up spell attack to kill a considerably higher level enemy or ten low levelled enemies. And, seeing that it was lingering flames that completely took out the raging bear, what he just did seemed to count as completing the requirements.

From what he had seen, the classes so far seemed to be identical to Rebirth both in nature and in requirements. Yet, part of him doubted it would last for long. He could not help but think if the other citizens of the world experienced and have the same thing. Or, if all of this would sound completely foreign to them.

He closed his eyes to calm his nerves for a few seconds before he looked up at the text above him once more and chose the obvious answer.

[ Yes ]

And, before he was able to assign his stats to complete his victory ritual, he heard a voice enter his ears that sounded more like a crying little girl than anything else.

"MYYyyYYyYY LOooOrRrrRRddDD!" I'm so happy your okaaaayyyyyyyyyyy! *sniffle* *sniffle* When you were burning up, I was so scared you were gonna die!!" Luck flew at him like a damsel in distress, hugging his ashen cheeks with his whole body as his tears began to stick and make contact with Alucard's skin.

*Oow*

Although part of him thought that Luck's actions were over the top and annoying, for some reason, he didn't mind, if anything, they brought him comfort.

"Heh... Thanks… But, it kinda hurts rubbing on me so hard… And what do you mean by that? There was no need to worry! Did you not have faith in me? I was never in real danger! I'm completely *.... …. Fine…"

Seemingly out of nowhere, a massive wave of pain ravaged his entire body, like all the strain he had been enduring was suddenly combined into one and shoved down his throat all at once.

His eyes went hazy; he was starting to lose perception and feeling of the world around him ever so slowly and painfully. Was this what he got for pushing his body too far?

"M-MY LORD! Don't worry! I'll heal you! Hold up! Please!"

As his darkness enshrouded vision was nearing pitch darkness, he heard a faint, staticky mumble enter his ears and the slightly glowing, golden figure of a winged fairy flapping its chipped wings and showering him with dark energy.

That was when he could hang on no longer and his vision went black...