The stairs are made clockwise - that’s if the castle is under attack and the attackers want to get into the tower, they wouldn't have enough space on the stairs to swing a sword.

  But if you are defending, nothing prevents you from doing so.

  Or if you’re not as big as those guys were. I have to be squeezed to the left side of the stairs to be able to launch a proper swing, but in necessity, I can.

  …little do I know how soon my stupid wish will be fulfilled…

  ***

  Another closed door on the top, luckily not locked.

  I don’t know what I’ve expected, honestly, but the alchemist laboratory was not it. Yes, now it makes complete sense - if it blows up, it won't hurt anyone up here, but who would have guessed it at first.

  The room itself is rounded, its walls lined up with tables, alchemical tools on them. The princess is lying on one of them.

  Yes, there actually is a princess… somehow.

  On the table right in front of the door is lying another colossan, alchemist I guess. His body is missing a few parts, but otherwise his corpse looks whole.

  But ain’t no way I would leave all the loot here. That’s not happening. I can feel my mouth stretching into a happy grin full of expectation for this upcoming fight.

  So I step in… and nothing. He doesn’t move.

  The tables are full of alchemist equipment, but there are very few potions, at least according to what I see. Table with parchments is the one I’m looking for. It’s on the left side of the tower.

  He is still there, dead and unalive.

  The parchments are blank - all of them. That’s unfortunate, I hoped that maybe, I could learn some alchemy.

  I take one of the papers in my hands, but it seems pretty normal. It is a very old piece and this environment doesn’t help either.

  Retentive parchment (Rare)

  Parchment used for long-term storage of spells and enhanc-

  My instincts throw me to the left, saving me from being crushed - two huge fists destroy the table with parchments.

  He is not lying there anymore. Instead, his hugeness towers over me. His eyes glow dark purple, a shade darker than the torches all around there.

  I don’t have time for further examination; he’s on the move again.

  It’s a direct punch this time. I block it with the sword.

  Bad idea.

  The impact is hurtful, one of my shoulders nearly crushed.

  I’m sent several meters back with just that one punch that I even managed to block.

  Then he blurs, disappears, and in an instant reappears right in front of my face, fist outstretched. I’m sent flying this time, thrown into the wall.

  I'm a bit dizzy from the impact, but manage to roll away from his next attack.

  His fist lands at the place where I’ve been just a second ago, crushing the stones there into little pieces, making a little crater.

  He’s too fast for me to counter him in real time - .

  I start a heavy swing before he starts moving.

  He blurs.

  I swing.

  My weapon meets his fist.

  The punch pushed me back, but I left his fist splitted in two halves… Not like he cares at all, he got a few holes in the body already, yet he’s at the move again.

  I’m still not steady on my feet - I can’t dodge; I have to block.

  I stick the sword into the ground, and his other fist cuts itself against it.

  The reanimated corpse takes a few steps backwards. It seems like he’s giving me a few breaths for good…

  But then he blurs again. No more time for thinking, I roll forward and slightly to the left. My opponent didn’t disappoint and went for another blow, again.

  The roll brings me right beside his right leg with knee completely open. I have to aim slightly above me, but one heavy swing, and he doesn’t have to care about joint pain for life - I destroyed it.

  He drops to one knee and before I have time to react, he dashes backwards, making a space between us.

  I wanna chase him, but something shimmers in the air.

  He’s throwing alchemist flasks at me.

  I get into the sprint, trying to get as far away from my last position as possible, but even with both hands cutted open, his throws have power.

  It blow behind me. I still sprint. Quick check of my behinds - it was a freezing flask, which would have frozen me in place. Another flask shines in the air. I’m still sprinting… which may not be that good to be honest - he pre-aimed.

  I’m too fast to immediately change direction, so the only thing I can do is speed up (not much, I’m already at my limit) and at the last moment roll forward.

  …Have you ever tried somerset at a high speed while carrying a big ass sword? No? …I don’t recommend trying it.

  The flask hit the ground, and I thank the System I was fast enough to dodge. The hissing and bubbling behind me suggests that the acid would eat me away in a matter of seconds... like the stone behind me.

  All this happened in only two seconds, but another flask is in the air.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  It’s too close to dodge.

  I grab the sword real tight and blast that flask away - like with a baseball bat…

  …At least I try.

  You know, to my defense, I had no time to think it through, so I realise how bad an idea that was, only after an inferno surrounds me and roasts me alive.

  My hair and eyebrows burn away and my skin is in literally burning pain, but otherwise I’m surprisingly okay, only my coat is smoking a little. It successfully protected me from the fire… It’s not rare for nothing, I guess.

  The fire around me disappears and I can finally see the undead bitch again. Fortunately he’s not attacking right away, instead I see him chugging a flask with a green liquid.

  It’s a regeneration potion.

  All the damage I did to him is forgotten and healed (if that’s the right word for undeads).

  I don’t have time for any more cursing.

  He blurs again and reappears in front of me.

  Unfortunately I don’t have time for blocking either.

  Next thing I know is that I’m flying and my whole body hurts as hell. I hit the wall, the impact takes my breath away and I can feel a few of my ribs being broken. Nonetheless of that, my legs brace against the wall I hit and I bounce of the wall, right at that fucker.

  Normally, you would expect at least bit of surprise on the enemy face, but this fucker just dodge slightly to the side, to my surprise not even using the speeding up blur.

  A quick confusion runs through my mind. He was using it rapidly, one blur after another, why did he stop?

  He may dodge the decapitation, but I still manage to cut through his right shoulder, completely destroying the joint.

  I land on both feets, my momentum putting me in a slight slide.

  “No more right hooks, bastard” I spit out a burl of blood.

  It is fucking hard to fight against creature that is insensitive against any pain, because he’s at attack AGAIN!

  He’s back on me, right arm clinging down lifelessly… bad wording again.

  Instead, his left hand does the swing, and it’s a hook again.

  .

  I step slightly backwards, his fist missing me by just a few lengths of a fly.

  I have to step away a little bit more, then proceed a hand-cutting-away swing.

  The beast, for the first time making a sound, roars at me in anger.

  I won't let that opportunity slide away, so I dash forward, missing his knee but cutting through his thigh.

  He drops in the knee and I don’t hesitate, again, and run my sword through that said knee, using the momentum to carry the sword around my axis, proceeding to perform something like a pirouette and cutting right through his second knee.

  He falls on four, showing no signs of being able to fight back.

  My ribs hurt and burned skin on my head doesn't help either, but I have work to finish.

  He can’t stand up, completely movement impaired, only his head turning at me aggressively.

  I would love to proceed with decapitation, but he won’t give me a space for that.

  So I just split his head.

  Diagonally.

  Bit morbid, I would say, but it’ll do.

  Level up

  Level up

  Level up

  New mastery learned - [ Greatsword mastery ]

  Mastery upgrade - [ Movement mastery ] (basic) -> (common)

  Mastery upgrade - [ Greatsword mastery ] (basic) -> (common)

  Achievement unlocked; Reward granted

  “Aahhhh, phew.” I let out an all-telling sight.

  The feeling of my broken ribs rubbing against each other is something I could truly live without experiencing. Not even talking about all the bruises I collected through the fight.

  “Wow, this was… intense”

  ***

  My passive already got rid of the physical exhaustion, but the mental one is still there. The fight put a lot of strain on me.

  If it wasn't for my passive, I would be dead from exhaustion mid fight. It really gave me the edge to endure the hellish pace of that speedy bastard, recovering enough of my stamina between the slashes and dodges for more dodges and slashes.

  I’m pretty worn out, but that doesn't mean I’m not grinning. I love this world. No matter how dangerous it is, it brings me all the things I always craved, but haven’t been able to get on the old Earth.

  My life is not boring anymore. No more shifts and money issues. Just a pure living of this new life.

  It makes me feel alive, something I haven’t been able to feel before.

  “Hmm… hehe, could I fight death?”

  Despite all the pain it causes me, I get up, ready to search the room and the corpse.

  It may be a bit reckless, but I leave the sword on the ground, not having enough strength to drag it with me. The dagger I put from my improvised belt to one of the many pockets in my coat, must be enough.

  I should look first for the regen potion, but since I’m closest to this beast, I let my curiosity take over.

  Then I stop.

  The feeling of forgetting something important struck me with colossal force.

  Since I can’t tell straight away, I just stand there with an absent expression and open mouth.

  Then it clicks.

   Colossan Alchemist - lvl 23 (corpse)

  “DAMN… I’m pretty good… Wow” And a few more sounds of disbelief come out of me.

  He was sixteen levels above me and I still beat the shit out of him, like we were equal - which we obviously weren’t.

  I’m better.

  Besides the elixir bandolier, which is now empty, he got only pants, thank the System for them - I don’t wanna feel inferior.

  There’s also a tattoo on his back, lining his spine from the neck, down to… I don’t wanna know how much down. That tattoo doesn’t look like a natural one, it’s colour is too bright - not like a tattoo ink on a skin and it’s partially dimly glowing.

  That’s not normal, I bet even for a tattoo from the magic world. Or is it?

  To me it still seems suspicious, but whatever. It’s not like I have any business with it.

  I got from this fight a few notifications, which I’ll go through later, but otherwise I’m pretty disappointed - there’s not much loot.

  ***

  Regardless of that being said, I left the corpse behind and went to look for some loot, and I have to take back what I said.

  There may be a few things to loot, after all. Not much, but still some, and some even of a high quality, I would say.

  For an alchemist's workshop, there are very few elixirs here. To be honest, I should be grateful for at least the three I found. One freezing flask ( Frost Bomb Flask (Rare) Regeneration Potion (Rare)

  One of the regen ones disappears immediately, and I feel my ribs getting back in the state they should be in and all the bruises fading away.

  But that’s not all I found. Under the potions that have been blown to that place is something… something similar to what I’ve already seen, but little bit forgot about.

  Retentive parchment (Epic)

  Parchment used for long-term stora- Oh fuck, I’m so dumb. Of course!

  Even Usain Bolt wouldn't be ashamed of that sprint back to that big ass corpse I've performed.

  My stupidity sometimes surprise even myself, of course he had to have some external help to move that fast - to blur.

  And that’s exactly what the tattoo is - external help.

  Parchment used for long-term storage of spells and enchantments.

  There’s only one problem… How do I extract it from his body to the parchment?

  In every fantasy book with magic I’ve read, you should just somehow feel the mana with your senses or some.

  I don’t feel anything though, so for the lack of better ideas, I just slap the parchment on that tattoo.

  Surprisingly it seems to work.

  The tattoo, and even the inside of the parchment starts to glow and after a few seconds, it seems like the parchment sucks in the glow of the tattoo and the tattoo itself too.

  And I’m left with this.

  Permanent Body-Enchantment Spell - Kairisurge (Epic)

  “DAMN! How do I use it?!”

  Kairisurge is a body enhancement in the form of a tattoo, enabling the user to excessively speed up in exchange for his own stamina.

  “Not helpful.”

  Proven methods are always good.

  So I just slap the parchment on my back.

  And die.

  Or at least it feels exactly how I would imagine dying to feel like.

  ***

  I have no clue how long it took, but I find myself lying on the ground, covered in sweat, and my teeth hurting from how hard I had to bite the bullet, trying not to scream.

  The parchment fell on the ground not far away from me, blank and more worn off than before.

  Retentive parchment (Rare)

  The only place I can see, when I’m trying to figure out if it worked, is my lower back, but as it seems, it’s enough. There, along my spine is an abnormally black, tattoo.

  Back on my feet, as I’m thinking about it, I start walking around. Not long after I start, I also stop… Involuntary of course - I am in the wall.

  Figuring out how my new toy works is done I guess, and it didn’t even take me that long, only a bumped nose.

  I start blurring across the rounded room, hurting myself by running into the walls and overaly getting a grip onto it. It’s actually fucking hard to control.

  You can’t turn in the blur, so if I overshoot it and there’s an obstacle in the way, I have to just bash through it.

  Controlling the length of the blur is also pretty hard. You have to “activate” it just for a picosecond to blink through “just” a two meters. I don’t know if you realize it, but that’s fucking hard. It’s like trying to move with your ring finger, without moving with any other finger - fucking hard thing to do and needs practice.

  So I practice.

  I got a new and extremely interesting toy, so I guess I’ll stay here for a while.