No Pain No Gain
Time moved slowly as I moved to pierce the sword straight into where I can feel the evolved beast's heart using 9th Sense.
*Stab*
'Rawwwwrrrr'
The A-Rank Evolved Beast let out a shout filled with pain. It just shouted and stood in the position I stabbed the sword in, it didn't swing its arms around to try to hit me away.
"..."
I waited, and I could see its HP that is approximately 45,000 drain drastically.
I kept the sword in the beast and I stared at the light in its eyes go out; trying to recollect myself because what just happened doesn't feel real to me.
'Ttri-ting'
[You have just killed an Evolved Grizzly Bear]
I could see the system notification with the normal futuristic interface and blue background, then several more showed up one by one and covered each other slightly, but still makes it look cramped.
[Evolved Grizzly Bear's mana core properties are being analysed...]
[Analysis Complete]
[You have stolen skill: Bear Slash]
[You have stolen skill: Bear Charge]
[You have absorbed and learnt Evolved Grizzly Bear's beastly type magic]
[You have stolen ability: Body Reinforcement]
[All body stats +10]
[You have gained +500 MP]
[You have gained +1000 EXP]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[You are now in LV.6]
Wow. I couldn't understand what's happening.
'How did I steal its skills and ability?'
I pondered on the question and came to the conclusion that it is because I pierced the bear's mana core, or more like touched it.
The sword I'm holding feels like and extension of my hand and although it doesn't fit my size I can still wield it perfectly.
'Ttri-ting'
[Power signature 'Deception' detected]
'Deception? Where have I heard that word?.... Dad!'
[Analysing...]
[Analysing : 20%...]
[Analysing : 50%...]
[Analysing : 100%]
[Analysis Complete]
[Deconstruction initializing....]
[Deconstruction Complete]
[Middle Seal has been unlocked]
[Further restrictions placed on system has been lifted]
[You have learnt skill: Deception 3rd Symbol – Blink]
I think I understand it now, I unknowingly copied Dad's power signature by replicating his skill.
'Ttri-ting'
[Analysing...]
[Analysing : 30%]
[Analysing : 70%]
[Analysis Complete]
[You have unlocked a portion of "King Arthur's Will"]
[You have unlocked weapon: Excalibur (1st form)]
'K-King Arthur's will!!???'
"D-Danton? Is it dead?" I almost forgot about Elise because of the questions swelling in my head.
"Yeah! It is."
'Thud'
I landed on the ground with my butt out of exhaustion, close to Elise. I just stared at the system messages in front of me, making it look like I was staring at the beast in front of me that died standing.
Elise just sat there, staring at me with eyes of disbelief. I turned to meet her gaze but this time she didn't blush, she just stared.
I decided to lighten up the mood, so this bookworm won't bombard me with questions.
"I told you I'll protect y--"
As I was speaking my head felt heavy, followed by my body. I could feel my eyes slowly give out as I fell on the ground.
The reason is simple: I've exhausted all my strength; I only managed to stay this long up likely because of my endurance.
***
'Ahh.'
I woke up due to the morning sun piercing through every corner of the room I am in.
My vision is blurred, so I used my hands to rub my eyes. At least, I tried to move them, but I got no response.
My whole body suddenly screamed at me in pain, to remind me of the night before.
I can't move my arms and legs: all I can do is stare at the wooden ceiling.
I turned my neck around and noticed I can move it too; so I scouted the room and realized I am in my room, and I'm on my bed.
I feel relieved that at least I wasn't captured by some bandits or something since I left my body in Elise's hands.
"D-Danton are you awake?"
In my head I thought:
'Ohhh! No no no! Please don't be who I'm thinking you are! Please don't be who I'm thinking you are!'
*Foot steps*
She entered my point of view,
'Oh Geez! It's her'
Elise is here.
She ran out of the room with light steps and is probably going to call my mother.
A few minutes later, I felt someone move with speed through the door, and Elise behind the person.
"Danton dear, why did you get yourself this hurt? You made me scared." Mom hugged me tight with tears running down her face.
She always becomes like this when I get hurt, apart from the times she inflicts them of course.
I feel so pissed at myself for making her feel like this just a week after dad died. I am the one that insisted we should venture deeper into the forest.
"...Mom, I'm sorry for making you feel this way. I promise you will never see me this badly hurt any longer." I bit my lower lip in anger because I let my childishness cloud my head.
I am supposed to be a befitting Chess King that my teammates can look up to. I am disappointed in myself.
"... The town men carried you back home with several life-threatening injuries decorating your body, and you expect me to believe that?" Tears still rolled down mom's cheek as she spoke, but the only thing I could focus on was what she said,
'Life-threatening injuries!'
'The penalty of all those exercises were 'death'. If I even missed one digit from the endurance, strength, stamina and speed stats I would have... died!'
"Can you guys please allow me to rest a little? I will be fine after a few hours of rest, I promise." I just need to send them away, so I can process my thoughts.
"O-Okay." Mom reluctantly gave in. She laid me back down and dressed the wrappers before leaving.
After noticing she has left, but Elise hasn't I just had to ask.
"Wh--" I couldn't finish the question I wanted to ask before I was interrupted.
"T-Thank you! For saving my life. I've never been saved by anyone before. I will grow stronger, so I can save you too!" Elise spoke with determination which caught me dumbfounded to be honest.
"You being here is already saving me." I spoke flirtatious words for the fun of it and also me being sincere, then her face flushed red, and she ran out of the room while shouting 'get well soon'.
I calmed myself and opened the notification window with just a thought and started navigating through.
[Name : Danton Stonehead]
[Species : Human]
[Job : Beginner White Candidate (Chess King)]
[Level : 6]
[EXP : 160/350 (45.71%)]
[HP : 30/220 (13.64%)]
[MP: 510(100%)]
[Strength : 48]
[Stamina : 33]
[Speed : 6.5mps]
[Intelligence : 130]
[Agility : 40]
[Endurance : 60]
[Magic Type : Beastly]
[Magic Class : (none)]
[Grade : D-Rank]
[Abilities : Omega Eye (partial), 9th Sense(partial), Body Reinforcement(partial), Sword Art(partial), System]
[Skills : Bear Slash, Bear Charge, Blink, Astral-Projection]
[Evolution : Possible]
[Status : Injured]
[-Additional Information-]
[Weapon : Excalibur (1st Form)]
[Armour : (none)]
[Mana Definition : (unknown)]
[Power Signature : Deception(copied)]
[Hidden Power In Bloodline : King Arthur's will]
As I saw this, all I could do is gasp for air in awe.
I am now stronger, somewhat.
'Abilities have now joined the table. And I guess my magic type was got from the bear, so I likely didn't have before then.'
'So I am a descendant of King Arthur. I'm sure it's from Dad, now the question is: how many more are out there?' I thought to myself as I looked into the description of Excalibur and the new skills I just got.
[Name : Excalibur (1st form)]
[Type : Weapon]
[Grade : S-Rank Weapon]
[Description : Excalibur (1st form) is a piece of the original Excalibur made by Merlin and upgraded by King Arthur]
[-Skills-]
[• Blood Drain]
[Description : Victim looses one-third of their total HP every second]
[Status : Always active]
[Cost : (none)]
[• Full Shock]
[Description : Victim gets stunned for as long the sword is touching the victim]
[Status : Always active]
[Cost : (none)]
[-Attributes-]
[• Mana connector (allows mana to flow into sword)]
[• Can harness all magic types]
[• Doubles effect of magic skills done through it]
'Wow! This Excalibur is amazing. I will look for all the other pieces when the time comes.'
[Name : Bear Slash]
[Type : Skill]
[Grade : B-Rank]
[Description: Infuses mana into slash and increases sharpness and damage 10x]
[Effect : Shock]
[Cost : 30MP]
'How is it going to be when combined with Excalibur's blood drain?' Just thinking about it sends shivers down my spine.
[]
[Name : Bear Charge]
[Type : Skill]
[Grade : C-Rank]
[Description : Infuses mana into charge, increasing speed and body reinforcement 10x]
[Effect : Shock]
[Cost : 20MP]
'Great. But I don't think I'll be using it that much... Haha! Who am I kidding?'
[]
[Name : Blink (Deception 3rd Symbol)]
[Type : Skill]
[Grade : S-Rank]
[Description : Warps space to move to a designated location]
[Cost : 200MP]
[Limit : Can only travel maximum of 10 metres]
'So this was Dad's skill... It's so strong and will be superbly useful. Haha , I can literally teleport.'
I kept on checking the stats of other things I can do until I dozed off saying,
'I'll check Astral-Projection later.'