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“Dialogue”

‘Thoughts’

-Author notes-

Chapter 24: A short rest

“Uff…“ Zephyr stared at the sky. The sun was just starting to come out.

“I have run all night… I’m so tired…”

He had not dared to stop for more than a moment.

Zephyr knew that Beastmen had a great sense of smell and could track him down, but he was not sure how far he had to go in order to avoid their detection.

He decided to rest for a bit beneath some nearby rocks and have something to eat before continuing his escape.

While munching on some dried meat, he noticed something in the corner of his vision.

[Notification]

The white letters were floating in the air with their usual blue background. He had not noticed this during the night.

“Never seen that one before… What do I do?”

He was far from truly understanding this gift he was given. It all appeared so alien to him, having all of his attributes and skills displayed in words and numbers and having the ability to improve them by adding some numbers… it did not make much sense to him.

“Let’s see… Notification.” He said out loud what was written, but nothing happened.

The words “Notification“ remained floating in the corner of his sight.

“Ah… wait!” He thought about something else. When increasing his attributes, he is able to touch the words with his fingers.

He extended his index finger and touched the new message.

As he did, the words disappeared and new words appeared right in the middle of his vision.

[Dexterity has reached 20, new passive skill acquired: Lightning Reflexes]

“A passive skill? What is that?... Lightning reflexes. I wonder what does it do?” He touched the words again, but they just disappeared.

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“Skills.” He said it out loud, and a new message appeared.

[Passive Skills: Lightning Reflexes: Enhances perception of time during combat]

“Aha! I’m getting good at this.” He smiled, feeling satisfied that he was able to figure it out so quickly.

His eyes moved to the description. “Oh! This must be why I felt everything was moving much slower when fighting the Beastmen.”

Zephyr felt overjoyed at having one more tool to help in his survival. But he could not stay here any longer.

After finishing his meal and drinking some water, he took off running again.

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It was getting dark again by the time he stopped.

He had never felt so tired before, and that was saying a lot considering everything he had gone through during the past few weeks.

The spot he chose to stop was a small forest south of Zloria. According to the map, there was a pond here where he could refill his water, and no dangerous beasts roamed this place.

Zephyr rested his back against a tree and drank some water. He finally had some time to think about everything that had happened.

Dalia’s betrayal still weighed heavy on his heart. “How could you?... We had been friends for so long…”

He had known her his entire life. Her father had been friends with his own parents. It was one of the few persons from the village he had any good memories about.

Zephyr still remembers how devastated he had been when she was taken away two years prior. Never thought he would see her again.

If that was not enough, he had been completely humiliated by that Golden-furred Beastman. Treated like some common prey that could be used for his entertainment.

“One day… I will come back for you, Dalia… and for that damn Beastman!” He shouted.

A month ago, he could never have imagined to utter such words. To even think about harming a Celestial would be considered absurd. Like an ant dreaming of killing a bear. But now, he had the power to accomplish this. He had magic and a gift from some unknown Goddess.

“I have killed two Celestials…”

No one would believe him if he went back to Varian Village and told the humans there.

They would take him for crazy. After all, a human killing a Celestial was something that had not occurred since the Great War that took place countless years ago.

“Status”

[Status: Zephyr Level 7

Health Points: 24/24

Mana Points: 24/24

Strength: 7

Dexterity: 22

Intelligence: 11 (+2 reg) (2 mana points and +1 reg every ten points)

Vitality: 8 (+1 reg) (3 points hp per point, +1 regen every ten points)

Luck: 9

Available Points: 5]

“Mmm… I have five points to spend.”

He considered carefully. Increasing his dexterity had brought him a great physical improvement, but to fully appreciate that enhancement, he would need to also increase his strength.

No matter how good his reflexes are and how much control he has over his body, without the power to back it up, its usefulness will be limited. Then there was intelligence. This determined how much magic he could use. At its current state, he was only able to use four lightning strikes. This was his only weapon so this was a very important stat.

Then there was vitality. Arguably the most important one. After all, this was literally his life.

And finally… luck. He still didn't know how important this was, so for now, he will not be putting any points there.

“Let's see…” He placed three points on strength, bringing it to ten, and two on vitality, bringing it to ten.

[Vitality has reached 10, regeneration increased by 1]

“Great! Now I can recover two health points per minute!” That was twice what he previously had.

He now also had more health points, making him more resilient.

He could also feel the effect of the increased strength. Combined with his already high dexterity, he could now move much faster than before.

“Huff… done… Let’s go to sleep now.” Feeling much more relaxed, Zephyr closed his eyes, and quickly his consciousness drifted away.