Why does it always have to hurt so much?

A legendary Skill Orb! Konrad couldn't believe how lucky he was...Or how lucky Octavia was. It was she after all, who pulled the lever today...

With great expectations, Konrad grabbed the skill orb and read the inscription.

[}Status Deterioration Block {]

"Huh?..." The name was weird but it sounded like a very good thing. His status wouldn't deteriorate? Like...no mater how lazy And gluttony he behaves? If it was really what the skill does, it would be an amazing ability... but Konrad wanted to know exactly how it worked, so he called out observe!

[• Skill Orb (Status Deterioration Block) •]

| Rank - S

| Description: A Skill Orb won by Konrad Caster in the ¶0>|¥#¶∆¢π∆. This particular Skill Orb, causes the users bodily strength to cease Deterioration, meaning that none of his statistics would ever lower from inactivity and natural causes. The side effect of the orb is a greatly increased longevity of the user.

______

This...was even better than he hoped! This single skill might have been one of the best things he ever found in the Gacha! It wasn't only stopping his body from getting weaker without training. It also removed the deterioration in-between the training! That basically meant, his strength could go ONLY up!

Then another thought came to his mind.

"This is going to hurt like hell, doesn't it?.." He muttered.

" #SIGH# there's no helping it. Tavy, i expect to feel a lot of pain after using that orb. But like people say... 'No pain, no gain'. Please don't worry about me. While i go through whatever happens to me you should try to relax or even train if you want to.." Konrad tried to reassure his Familiar.

*B-But Daddy! I can't stand seeing you hurt! I-I don't want to see you hurt...* Octavia was practically in the proverbial 'tears'.

"Oh Tavy...I know...but there's no other way. Those things are basically changing my body! It's just like with the Random Greater Strengthening and your Bloodline Awakening." He said, trying to convince her.

But Octavia had another thought. 'Just like my Awakening? Then I'll do the same as you Daddy!' She remembered the Health Potion Orb that she grabbed earlier in the day and forgot to return to her Daddy.

Konrad was surprised, when she suddenly changed her mind and agreed with him about taking the reward. But nevertheless he grabbed the Prize Orb and willed to use it.

To his surprise The Orb wasn't used like anything before though! The Reward suddenly exploded into golden cloud that on closer inspection consisted of a huge number of golden runes from the magic language! Konrad had no time to realize it though because the golden smoke started to directly enter his body from every direction, through every price and every part of his skin. That of course, led to an extreme pain that surpassed everything that Konrad felt before. why he couldn't pass out was a mystery but the sudden appearance of Octavia, and the taste of a Healing Potion in his mouth made the Pain lessen slowly until finally disappearing completely. He didn't know how long it all lasted but he felt really exhausted His eyelids were already heavy and his consciousness was fading. He barely managed to say thank you to Octavia, before succumbing to the world of dreams.

_________

'If Daddy uses that Orb, then I'll help him by giving him the Health Potion! I can't stand seeing him in pain!' Thought Octavia while awaiting for Konrad to use the Skill Orb.

When he was using the Random Greater Strengthening, she wanted to do just that but he passed out before she could use the Potion. After that, she kept the potion in case her Daddy was hurt and luckily she did... Because he was just about to once again do something to hurt himself!

She watched as he raised the Orb in front of him expecting him to swallow the pill that was supposed to appear but instead of a pill, the orb exploded into a golden mist! Octavia was surprised and even more worried. What was going on?! She didn't know.

But just as those thoughts went through her mind, the mist 'Attacked' her Daddy! It looked as if it was forcefully tearing into him, breaking his skin, and causing her Daddy to cry out in pain. It was horrifying and Octavia was temporarily frozen in horror. But she quickly steeled herself! It was her Daddy! Her beloved Daddy! She will help him and she will be brave! That's what her Daddy would want from her!

The Prizes Orb that she carried, suddenly transformed into a vial of potion that she guided towards Konrad. He was wriggling and thrashing around, completely covered in blood but it wasn't a problem for her. The blood didn't disgust her, and the wriggling wasn't an obstacle for someone like her whose body was in definition, wiggly and elastic.

She easily moved onto his chest and put the potion into his mouth while holding him in a somehow still position.

She cheered when the potion finally took effect and the wounds on his body began to close rapidly. Thankfully they were only small surface wounds so even though there was a lot of them, the Lesser Health Potion managed to heal them all.

"T-Thank you T-Tavy...I'm ok now...Just...sleepy..." He managed to whisper before falling asleep.

Octavia could finally sigh in relief seeing Konrad sleeping peacefully. She laid on his chest, observing him and before she realized, she also fell asleep.

_________

"Ughhh..."Konrad groaned after waking up from his sleep. He was still laying on the uncomfortable, solid light that formed the entire subspace. A small weight was also pressing onto his chest. His eyes landed on it, easily recognizing the form of a sleeping Octavia.

'Guess she was also exhausted from all that worrying. I have to make it up to her later...' He thought.

His hand involuntarily moved to stroke the Slime only to stop midway because something peculiar caught his eye.

He had a tattoo!

But not any normal tattoo, but a golden coloured markings from the magical Language, that swirled and turned in a mystical pattern from his wrist to his elbows!

He laid there stunned, watching as the golden runes slightly glowed and very slowly moved over his skin. He could feel his magic, resonating with the Language, His magical senses, honed through massive amounts of training, told him that what he was seeing wasn't even physically there! it was the magical manifestation of the power he received, coursing through his veins!

When Konrad used a spell, The magic formation needed for the spell wouldn't appear in the real world unless he put a lot of power and concentration into the spell. It was a very interesting discovery, that made Konrad aware of the possibility of magic manifesting in a visible form, outside of his magic sense. He never considered it very important, but now, seeing the magic manifest under his skin, Konrad realized that he was wrong.

This...if there was a time that people didn't knew magic, but the Mana was present and existed in large quantities, then observing natural manifestations of Mana could lead to the creation of spells and formations! If he lived in a fantasy novel then this could be the root of all magic!

Konrad thought about the reason for this sudden manifestation of magic and in the end came to the conclusion that because of how strongly and continuously the skill affected his body, And after mixing with his Mana and blood, The magic manifested in the form of those 'Tattoos'. Or maybe it was the weird way the Skill entered his body?

In any case, there wouldn't be enough power in the Skill to manifest separately from him, but because it wasn't supposed to work outside of his body, it was enough to appear under his skin. His reasoning might have been flawed, but he didn't care. It looks so cool!...And so conspicuous...

'Ughh... I have to hide them now right?' He thought with a groan.

Suddenly, as if they answered to his unsaid thoughts, The markings faded and disappeared! 'What?!...Huh... I guess it's not so bad after all. Seems like It's sensitive to my will... I guess that should be obvious...it's a Magic Manifestation and magic is at the least halfway intent based anyway... ' With a thought, the markings started to appear on his forearms once again, and once again disappeared.

'Damn it's so cool! i need to show it to Octavia when she wakes up!' He thought.

His eyes once again fell on the sleeping Slime, that was still, comfortably situated on his chest... He smiled at her fondly and began to stroke her, just like he intended before being sidetracked.

They continued to lay like this for another while, but a small thought was passing through Konrad's mind. One small but very important aspect of his current position.

'...Damn...This floor is so hard!'

__________

Current Status

[• Konrad Caster •]

| Race - Human

| Class - Magic Swordsman

| Status - Healthy

| Mana ~ 72/72 MP

| Mana Regeneration - 7/min (2x5%/min)

| Blood Capacity - 6500/6500ml

| Blood Replenishment - 500ml/4daysx4 = 500ml/day

________

| Stats:

Strength - 15

Perception - 15

Agility - 17

Intelligence - 14

________

| Skills:

- Language Comprehension:

- [@π&¥@&€#∆££#&∆¶$

- Language Of Birds

- Health Regeneration: x4

- Mana Regeneration: x2

- Lesser Mana Affinity

- Space Storage: 14 m^2

- Observe: Basic

- Status Deterioration Block

________

| Soul Bonded Artifacts:

- Cooking Grimoire

________

| Familiars:

- Octavia [ Slime ]

________

| Description:

Konrad is a...

.

.

.

...Hard.

________

//Konrad's inventory list//

- Steel Broadsword

- Steel Gauntlets

- Steel Armour Chest Piece

- Compass Of Random Journey

- Map Of Revealment

- Medium Health Potion

- 7x small light orb formations

- Invisibility formation

- sound muffling formation

- Gacha Space transport formation

- Teleportation formation (->Greece)

- fire ball formation

- Smartphone

- few changes of clothes

- Jar of dirt

- two buckets of wet cement (for later)

- four empty buckets

- Orichalcum ore ≈30kg

- Orichalcum Ingot 5kg

- Mithrill Ore ≈10kg

- Mithrill ingot 5kg

- Adamantite Ore ≈10kg

- Konrad's favourite knife

- Konrad's personal Grimoire:

- Fire magic ( Fireball, Fire Bolt, Fire Wall )

- Light magic (Light Ball, Light Lance, Flashbang, Invisibility)

- Wind magic (Wind Ball, Wind Blade, Air Wall, Vacuum Sphere, sound muffling)

- Mind magic (Aura of ignorance)

- notepad for quick observations.

- •Apprentice Tome Of Swords And Shields•(completed)

- bunch of different trinkets he thought might come in handy someday...

- Spelunking equipment

- Diving equipment

- Hiking equipment

- Climbing equipment

- Prize orbs:

[} User targeted Summoning (Another World Hero) {]

[} Common Gemstone Draw {] x2

[} Lesser Mana Potion {]

[} Lesser Health Potion {] x5

[} Pure Iron Dagger {]

[}Mana Capacity +1{] x3

[} Steel Gauntlets {]

[} Pure Iron Broadsword {]

[} Medium Health Potion {] x2