At the beginning I was intending for 'As time goes by' to be a time skip consisting of a few short stories, but somehow each short story became a chapter...

Anyway tomorrow I think I will post another very short chapter. What I mean by very short: if this one has 2000 words, it will have just 800.

Chapter 32. As time goes by. Part 3.

“Haaa…” I make a sigh.

‘’

Status WindowLevel144RaceNorthmenStrength1297Defense969Vitality245Intelligence473Stamina546Vigor519Agility420Presence70ResistanceWater1%Earth0%Ice15%Fire0%Lightning11%Darkness0%Nature0%Wind1%Poison0%Alcohol1%*Titles*

“Seriously… Just 8 levels in an almost six months? That is lameeee, Asger. To the point that someone might mistake you for having a LIFE in this game world.” I say shaking my head in a disappointment.

Lately this became an especially big issue for me, so every time I look at my stats, I get quite pissed off.

I pick a small canteen from inside my coat and drink a few gulps of water. Of course there is a lot of snow all around me but I prefer it in a liquid state so I always keep the canteen warm close to my chest.

“I blame dad and that stupid training of his for this situation… At least what he is teaching me now is somewhat more interesting and I get a bit more free time than before.” I speak my mind out loudly even though I’m completely alone. This is my way of venting my frustrations.

“Haa.. That stupid dad…” I make one more silent mumble before going back to practicing my skills.

I take a few quick glances around to make sure that nobody is watching me, since I always feel like they are judging me. Especially when I’m in the middle of making something or trying new things. But once I’m done and satisfied with the outcome it’s quite the different story.

Yeah… I have brought quite a lot of unresolved issues from my past life…

Noticing that there is no one on the road as far as I can see I start to concentrate.

I’m currently using a dirt road near my house which leads towards the town.

Suddenly an electrical crackling sound fills the air as my body gets covered by a small static charges appearing all over it.

Immediately a feeling of power and energy floods my body and makes me feel like I have just consumed way too much energy drinks.

But sadly this ‘Boost’ skill only gives me a great speed and pretty much nothing else… So after some thinking I have decided to rename it into the ‘So Long (silent: Sucker) !’.

‘This time for sure…’ I think as I look straight ahead, towards were I put ten rocks, as big as a fist, in the middle of the road with spaces of about four meters in between them.

I grit my teeth and start running.

Immediately most of my view blurs out and I can only somewhat make out what is straight ahead of me. And if that wasn’t enough I start to feel the enormous wind pressure from which my eyes automatically want to close.

Trying to keep my teary eyes open I notice a black dot. So to the best of my ability I turn to the left and once the second one comes into my view I make a sharp turn to the right. And this way I zig zag between rocks until I pass the last one.

Finally I stop and look back.

“Yes!” A happy shout escapes from my mouth as I notice that I managed to avoid all of them.

Feeling a bit tired I decide to take another break and lay down on the white snow.

‘This skill would be much more awesome if it didn’t have so many downsides…’ I think looking towards the white clouds in the sky.

“Haaa… I remember seeing TV shows and reading manga where people would be able to increase their speed and use it to overcome all the obstacles. Haaa… So why is it that my skill sucks so hard, so very hard? It’s pretty much impossible to control, energy consumptions is so huge that if I run about 500 meters without rest I would literally pass out from tiredness and if that wasn’t enough, there is NO SLOW MOTION!!!” For some reason I feel very tired physically and mentally.

“Ah! If reality would now appear in front of me as a person, I would SLAP her with all my might and say thank you for your great support.” I mumble to myself while looking at the passing clouds.

“OH! What do we have here?” Suddenly I hear a mans voice.

I lift my head a bit and see a young man coming closer to me. His dark brown hair, on top of his head, are woven into one long braid, reaching below his shoulder while the sides of the head are cleanly shaven. What I can’t say about his beard that didn’t see razor for at least a few weeks.

“Osfrid?” I ask with confusion showing on my face.

Last time I saw him was before I started my training with dad. And as long as I can remember he always had a long hair but it was simply tied into a ponytail.

“What’s wrong? Did you forget the good old me?” He asks with a big grin on his face.

“You just look so different.” I say as I sit up and thrust my left arm up.

Osfrid comes closer, grabs me by the hand and with ease pulls me up.

Finally when I’m back on my two feet he says: “Good to see you, Asger.”

“Ha, ha… Likewise.” After I say this he releases my arm.

“But seriously Osfrid what’s happened to your hair?” I say quite surprised.

“Well…This is the power of love my friend. Ha, ha, ha…” He says while laughing.

“Huh?”

“You see about five months ago I wanted to propose to Andrea. So I bought from a merchant a good razor for 14 gold coins to clean myself for the occasion. Anyway I always wanted to have a style like this but it’s very hard to get a good, sharp blade for shaving here, in North…” Happily explains Osfrid.

‘I heard this from father… That long lasting, good quality razors are only made by dwarfs and because of that their price is quite high. So not many northmen buys them. Anyway… WAIT!! WAIT!! WHAT??’

“You… Proposed… To… Andrea?” I ask shocked and add in my mind: ‘That captain which looks like gorilla?’

“Ha, ha, ha… Not just proposed.” He says while showing his right hand to me and adds: “I married her.”

Amazed I look at his hand and on the thumb I can clearly see a golden ring which isn’t real but more like painted on his skin.

Suddenly word: “Wow!” leaves my mouth.

“You see, if you try hard, even a beauty like her one day can become yours. Just never give up.” He sounds like a teacher explaining the way of life to his student.

This is one of those situation when I don’t know how to respond: whether to laugh or cry.

“But… Isn’t she much older than you?” I ask him.

“Asger, we live only once so no need to be picky. Who cares about 50 years here or there? Relationship is simple if you want her then do her.” Calmly says Osfrid.

‘Ah!!!’ I scream in my head as for some reason I imagined how Osfrid and Andrea make love…

“Ughhh…” I say with a small shake trying to forget the image of two robust bodies, covered in sweat, while being tangled with each other.

In reality just now I came really close to vomiting, but noticing my pale face and shocked expression Osfrid misunderstands me and says: “Don’t be jealous for me. I’m sure soon enough you will find a great woman yourself.”

‘If god is merciful I won’t ever meet such a woman.’ I think, and after a moment I add: ‘Maybe I should start praying just in case.’

“Anyway what are you doing here?” He asks while looking towards the rocks placed by me on the road.

“I’m training my skills.” I say happily that the topic for our conversation got changed.

“Really can you show me?” Osfrid asks a bit exited.

“Mmm… Sure!” I answer him and start looking around to pick a target.

I chose a tree about half a meter think and about 50 meters from where I am.

“This skill is a combination of two other skills. The first one is an ‘Attack aura’, which dad has been teaching me lately.” I say looking at Osfrid.

Just like father taught me I concentrate and tense all of my muscles. As I put more and more pressure on my body I imagine fire spreading from deep inside me. And just like that imaginary fire I begin to feel how my heartbeats steadily increase and suddenly a power starts rushing into my veins.

As this power spread through my whole body, a small red particles start to penetrate my skin which creates an illusion of red mist covering my body.

Once I learned this skill I understood how simple it is. It’s just an adrenaline rush controlled by a small amount of inner energy. So yeah nothing fancy. By the way attack and defense auras simply exist because if one strengthens both of his parameters at the same time, he will simply burn his energy very fast. This way aura will last just a few seconds.

“The second skill is a boost used by magicians.” Saying this I immediately let my inner energy surge within me.

Small electrical discharges start appearing over me. But what’s interesting is that they for some reason suck up my red mist of ‘Attack aura’ and becomes the bright red in color.

Seeing me covered in bright red electrical discharges Osfrid whistles and says: “I have to admit this looks badass.”

Hearing him my lips curve into a smile and I say pointing with my finger: “Look at that tree.”

“Ok.” He replies in an excited voice.

“I decided to name this attack simply as ‘Hello’.” I say while forming my right arm into a fist.

And I rush towards my target. In a blink of an eyes I’m already in front of the tree swinging directly at it with my full force.

*Bang*

The moment my fist connects with a tree a noise rings as wood splinters scatter to all sides.

For a second or two I just stand there unmoving, until I finally direct my attention onto the place of impact. What I notice is like a small crater surrounding my arm while it as if a drill went deeper and reached even a core of tree which is about half a meter thick.

Happy with the performance I start to relax and as a tensions starts to leave my body, a huge wave of pain floods my mind.

Immediately I pull my arm out and start rubbing my completely numb hand by now. While frowning a bit I think to myself: ‘If only I had a bit bigger defense then I wouldn’t be…’

*Whoosh!*

I hear a gust of wind as it passes over the of the trees.

*Crack*

*Crack*

Suddenly my thoughts are interrupted by the sound of breaking wood. Instantly I turn my head towards the source and see that a tree is already not standing straight as it was at first.

Maybe because it happened so fast I just stare at it blankly and the thought that I could be in its path doesn’t even cross my mind. Instead for some reason I just loudly shout in my head: ‘Timber!!’.

Only as it finally hits the ground with a loud sound, I wake up from this trance and notice how close it has fallen.

As I stand there drenched in a cold sweat, I hear Osfrids voice: “That’s definitely a great way to say ‘Hello’…”

== End of chapter 32 ==