Day broke with radiant brilliance, the first rays of the sun gently kissing the dew ladened treetops. Insects buzzed and birds woke in their nests, adding warbling birdsong to the symphony of sensations that greeted him.

Azrael tried to stifle a yawn, but was still forced to raise his hand and cover his mouth. He’d already walked quite a distance throughout the night, letting his feet carry him along the rough road. The lake was already far behind him, lost to him beyond the horizon. It truly was amazing how far a human could cover on foot, when they didn’t stop for breaks.

His body, strengthened beyond the realms of a normal human by the game, could easily hold a steady jog all day. Compared to that, walking was nothing. The distance he could cover, compared to a normal human, was further increased when he used [Shadow Step] to speed up his journey back home.

Always keeping an eye on the road’s position, Azrael had used the shadows cast by the full moon to accelerate his journey. In terms of travel, so long as there were shadows it truly was afantastic movement skill, though the diving in and out of shadows did take some practice.

He wasn’t even hungry, despite the time and distance that he had travelled, leading him to think that stats also somehow affected hunger in some strange way. Was it some type of saturation? A hunger bar, similar to the hidden stamina bar? Or was hunger affected by stamina? A form of satiety?

Finding his thoughts turning to his [Status] Azrael slowed, stopping his shadow jumping and returning to the road at a leisurely pace.

He’d put it off for so long – checking his [Status]. Originally, he’d been tempted to check it after every notification he received, but when he was training or in combat that was simply unviable and a slip of concentration would result in a beating.

Later, when he’d finally learnt Mors’ footwork and made his discovery in the real world, he’d stopped himself from checking, realising that a change in [Status] didn’t necessarily equate to a growth in combat prowess.

While he might have understood the skill better and made progress like that, it didn’t actually represent him using the skill to its upmost effectiveness. In a way, by having his growth determined by numbers, he was limiting his potential growth, because it narrowed his way of thinking. In the end he just hadn’t checked, too busy trying to devise new ways to beat Mors.

Anxiously swallowing Azrael summoned up his notifications, letting the rows upon rows of blue boxes take up the entirety of his vision. A moment later they all shrunk down, merging and becoming a comprehensive overview, as Sera heard his silent plea. Only one or two important ones were left unchanged.

Congratulations!

For continually fighting and resisting against a stronger opponent you have gained STR+5

Congratulations!

For continually suffering and enduring beyond even superhuman limits you have gained END+9

Congratulations!

For managing to continually avoid attacks from a faster opponent you have gained AGI+6

Congratulations!

For continually managing to perfect your movements on your own and against a stronger opponent you have gained DEX+8

Congratulations!

For continually finding strategies to fight against a greater opponent you have gained INT+6

Congratulations!

For understanding and discovering more than you realised you have gained WIS+4

To say that he was pleased would have been a massive understatement. The stat gains for the last month were… crazy. That was the only word Azrael could find to describe the situation. Only a crazy person could have achieved that.

Even just reading through the descriptions for the individual stat gains showed what he’d gone through and showed how much of a masochist someone would have to be to earn such stats.

Almost every notification emphasised that he’d continually thrown himself against a greater, stronger and faster opponent, continually suffering and enduring. He wouldn’t consider himself a masochist, but the only other, and probably more accurate, option was also quite terrifying – he was a battle junkie.

Considering the fact that he had a black beast inside of him that was more than happy to rip, tear and kill anything that stood in its, their? way he… wait… maybe it was worse than just being a battle junkie. His avatar had black hair and golden eyes. He had a black beast inside of him that was ready to unleash destruction on the world and he had named himself after the archangel of death.

Did that make him a Chunnibyou? Was he a chunni battle junkie? Did he have eighth grader syndrome?!?!

Azrael struck a pose in the middle of the road, one hand covering his face, the other pointing at an imaginary opponent.

“Fu fu fu” he laughed slowly in a deep voice “I see you have fearlessly come to face me, but you do not truly know who I am. I am the darkness that slumbers in your nightmares. I am the shadows that wreath your heart and the dark beast that preys upon your thoughts. Fear me, for I am fear itself. I am you inevitable ending. I am death. I am Azrael”.

He held that pose for a moment later, before dropping his hands and looking around, while feeling more than a little embarrassed. Nobody had seen that, right? He looked around again. Right?

When he, inevitably, didn’t see anyone he let out a sigh of relief and continued checking through his notifications, ignoring the situation that had just happened. Nobody had seen it and that meant it had never happened. Definitely.

Congratulations!

[Mana Manipulation] (Lv.27) has advanced to [Mana Manipulation] (Lv.32).

Congratulations!

[Mana Control] (Lv.29) has advanced to [Mana Control] (Lv.32).

Congratulations!

[Dramatic Flair] (Lv.3) has advanced to [Dramatic Flair] (Lv.11).

Congratulations!

[Calm Mind] (Lv.14) has advanced to [Calm Mind] (Lv.21).

Congratulations!

[Reinforcement] (Lv.13) has advanced to [Reinforcement] (Lv.24).

Congratulations!

[Dagger Arts] (Lv. 23) has advanced to [Dagger Arts] (Lv.32).

Congratulations!

[Meditation] (Lv.28) has advanced to [Meditation] (Lv. 30).

Congratulations!

[Search] (Lv.8) has advanced to [Search] (Lv. 10).

Ah, bliss. True bliss. Stat gains were great, but it was skills that really helped highlight his time, effort and growth.

Despite the slower leveling at higher levels, he had managed to push three skills, [Mana Manipulation], [Mana Control] and [Dagger Arts], to level thirty-two. So far, he had managed to push five skills past the first advancement. It was just a pity that [Mana Sense] hadn’t also levelled up, not that he’d used it that much.

Spying the content of the next notification he eagerly read on.

Congratulations!

Through hellish pain, harsh discipline and inhuman effort you have mastered the basics of Mors’ [Footwork].

[Footwork]

To attack and to retreat. All stratagems of war are founded in the basics.

You can swiftly and accurately traverse across solid ground.

Actually, that was a little disappointing. It wasn’t exactly that he was dissatisfied, either. The description accurately summed up what he’d gone through to learn that skill.

It had been a hellish nightmare that had threatened to break him so many times. He’d gone to bed unable to move and had struggled to rise the next morning. The correctional beatings with the stick during training were quick, sharp, effective and above all painful. Mors had been a merciless drillmaster, but despite all that the skill had the simplest and least flashy name of all of his skills. It was simply [Footwork].

Even the description of the skill seemed a little lacklustre. He could swiftly traverse solid ground by jogging too. Despite all that he couldn’t deny the skills potential and effectiveness. Applied effectively he could potentially be untouchable in a battle.

His final notification cheered him up a little bit more though.

Congratulations!

Through gaining a greater understanding on the versatility of the elements you have gained a level in ‘Sorcerer’ INT+1 WIS+3 END+1.

Any bonus or addition to his status was welcome. A level in a class was just as welcome. It gave stat points that he didn’t need to suffer for. They came as part of the parcel. So, while potentially less effective than purely leveling up stats, just leveling classes had its own set of merits.

Finally, Azrael pulled up his updated [Status], reading through it with a gamer’s pride.

Status

Name: Azrael

Class: Runist (Lv.4), Sorcerer (Lv.6), Lord (Lv.4), Thief (Lv.1)

Race: Human (78%)

HP: 380/380

MP: 380/380

STR: 26

END: 38

DEX: 31

AGI: 24

INT: 38

WIS: 40

Titles:

{Sinner}, {Heretic}, {Master of Status}, {Rune Master}, {God Watched}, {Lord of the End Forest}, {Teacher}, {Oath Maker}, {Void Touched}, {Trickster’s Blessing}, {Void Walker}.

Unique skills:

[Status], [Elemental Mana], [Aura], [@#%& Self], [Shadow Step], [Footwork]

Skills:

Weaving (Lv.2), Crafting (Lv.16), Spear Arts (Lv.20), Mana Sight (Lv.26), Mana Manipulation (Lv. 32), Soul Sense (Lv.15), Mana Control (Lv.32), Dramatic Flair (Lv. 11), Stealth (Lv. 24), Calm Mind (Lv. 21) Lord’s Domain (Lv. 2), Lord’s Insight (Lv. n/a), Leadership (Lv.6), Void Shaping (Lv. n/a), Reinforcement (Lv.24), Dagger Arts (Lv.32), Meditation (Lv.30), Mana Transfer (Lv.5), Craftsman’s Eye (Lv.1), Intimidation (Lv.6), Search (Lv.10).

Everything was so beautiful. Stats and Skills were like good investments. They just went up, up, up and up.

He was surprised though that [Footwork] was under unique skills. He’d been taught that, so shouldn’t others be able to learn it? Was it because he was the only one who currently had it, or was there something more that he was missing? Realising that he probably wouldn’t get any answers now, if ever, he focused on the biggest positives from his recent gains.

He’d gained another 100 points in health all up and his mana capacity was also increasing. With his increased mana regeneration, he was regenerating a shot of elemental magic in less than ten minutes.

While that didn’t sound like much it was impressive compared to when he started. That was just his base regeneration, without even taking the effects of [Meditation] into account. With [Meditation] it was almost a full point of regenerated mana every minute. He looked forward to the day he could just fire out [Magic Bullet]s indiscriminately, without having to worry about his mana regeneration.

He smiled at the thought. A magic marksman. That didn’t sound too bad. Maybe he could get custom daggers to fire lasers. Magic plasma daggers? Transforming gun daggers?

He let that train of thought continue for a while, before he dismissed his [Status] and stopped walking for a moment. He took the moment to close his eyes and take a deep breath. It was good. Life was good.

He was on his way home again. He was stronger than ever and surer of himself than he’d been in a long time.

With a little hop Azrael jumped into the closest shadow, reappearing out of another one a dozen meters along the road, before vanishing again. Small bursts of [Wind] accelerated the process further, letting him dive in and out at a fantastic speed.

He still had a long way to cover.