How long has it been since the Earth got an upgrade?

  Day? Day and half? Maybe outside I could figure it out, but here, completely immersed into the process of learning to control my new almost-limb? Don’t make me laugh. I don’t even know for how long I’ve been playing with this thing.

  All my loot, is outside of the room and I am half naked with just the sword in the middle, blurring, always just a meter, two or three, trying to get a grip on another timing-precious thing.

  The tables that were in the room before - the alchemist worktables, aren’t with us anymore. Instead, a bunch of planks is laying around there… Don’t blame me, it’s hard.

  For the first, I would say a few hours, I’ve been just blurring across the room and hitting the walls, with only occasional success of shortening the time of the blur duration.

  Now I’m able to somewhat control it. A meter is the absolute minimum that’s possible, with usually blurring for two and in the worst for three meters.

  I had to rest a lot too. That saying of it draining one's stamina is pretty underrated. I am not able to blur more than five times, without getting exhausted to the point where the sixth blur makes me lie on the ground, struggling to stand up… The seventh one is unconsciousness - yes I’ve tried.

  So after figuring out all those things, I started to train with the sword, to be able to perform the attacks which that huge alchemist used against me - using the speed of blur to give your attacks a huge driving force.

  That means you have to not only control the blur perfectly, but also time the swing perfectly. If you are too early, you just arrive from the blur with the swing not even in the half of its way, losing all the momentum from the speed of blur effect. If late, the swing is already performed and you find yourself uncovered in front of the enemy, with your sword in the position after swing.

  The perfect one, is when you time it the way, that you come out of the blur slightly before your sword reaches the half of the swing. Only then your sword carries the remnants of speed it had in the blur, making the swing at least three times stronger.

  I’ve learned all those things in the hours I’ve spent there and without my passive it would be impossible, but still the strain on my mind is extreme.

  If I have to use my brain for an another hour, I think I’ll probably die.

  I don’t like it, but there’s only one way to solve it… Sleep, a lot of sleep.

  I take my stuff back into the room, close the door, wrap myself into the coat and the second I do, I’m hard asleep.

  ***

  This sleep I just had, makes me feel like I’ve never slept.

  For real.

  I’m fresh, unstrained and ready to take over the world… or at least to get back to things I forgot about yesterday. For example, a few of the System messages.

  So, leaning against the wall amongst all the chopped wood, I bring my focus to the system notifications I got… I’ll assume yesterday.

  Masteries first.

  New mastery learned - [ Greatsword mastery ]

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

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

  I think that the greatsword mastery should have come earlier, maybe after the fight with the knight, but who am I to judge.

  Nonetheless, I had to be close enough to get it right at the start of the fight with the speedy pig, who’s been keeping an eye on my Kairisurge

  My blocking skills and overally my control over the Colossus sword

  It is more like just confirming the theory, that masteries just extend your skills in its coverage.

  Same goes with the Movement mastery

  That should leave just the achievement and…

  The three levels I gained got me to level 10. I’d completely oversee the message it gave me at the time.

  You have reached level 10. You will get assigned your affinity, based on what suits you, now.

  I blink twice.

  You have an affinity to- @?#$!ERROR

  SYSTEM MESSAGE

  No affinity has been found to suit you. In reality, you have natural resistance to most of the known affinities. This is an unprecedented situation. The situation will be observed.

  …

  “Well, isn’t that just great?” I can literally hear irony dripping from my voice on the ground.

  “Hmph! Go fuck yourself, I don’t need any of your affinity shit!”

  ***

  When I finally stop madly walking around the room, it’s mostly due to that I re-remember the last System notification. How can one even forget about getting to choose a new skill? Sometimes I don’t really understand myself.

  Achievement unlocked; Reward granted

  ACHIEVEMENT - Goliath Slayer

  You have slain a creature ten levels above you.

  REWARD

  You can choose one of the three skills which has been chosen based on your actions, when getting the achievement.

  Iron Will [uncommon] [passive]

  Increases pain resistance and enhances mental clarity when injured, allowing the user to stay focused and act decisively even under severe damage.

  Retaliation Strike [uncommon] [passive]

  When you block a hit from an opponent, the next attack gains increased power based on the strength of the last received hit.

  Colossan’s Grip [uncommon] [passive]

  Increased weapon control and grip strength of weapons. Slight resistance to disarming effects.

  “Well well well… is it the System compensating me for the affinity problem? Hmmh, it seems like that.”

  All of those skills are good. I like them all, I want them all, yet I have to choose only one.

  What a pity.

  Okay, let's disqualify them one by one, otherwise I don't see a way out of this.

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  Adrenaline is a badass thing which enables me to fight the way I fight. I may even be addicted to it at this point. It makes me unstoppable even when I’m injured, thus the Iron Will

  A small giggle comes out of me as I think about myself when fighting. Yeah, there’s no way I’m gonna suddenly stop acting like a lunatic.

  Still, that puts the Iron Will

  I’ve grown quite a liking to that big ass sword past the quite small amount of time I’ve been wielding it. The only problem with it is its weight and the impossibility of delicate manipulation which make the Colossan’s Grip

  But the Retaliation StrikeRetaliation StrikeMaaan, that blow would be like a big boy in Japan - “Ka-boom, and his body would be blown away.”

  The only problem is, how I would manage to hold the swords, if I would be blocking the way to counter attack. The thing is, as I’m usually blocking now, I position the sword to be pinned to the ground, so it can’t be blown away from my hands.

  And also, even now I have problems holding the sword mid swing, so if the swing would be even just a two times stronger, the sword would be sent flying outta my hands.

  It actually makes me a bit frustrated. I’ve already nearly chosen this skill.

  Without any more thinking, I chose the Colossan’s Grip

  But I won't regret my decision, that’s a no no.

  To cheer myself up at least a bit, I take my sword to see what my new passive is capable of.

  The second I got the sword in my hand, I know I’m not sad anymore.

  Where I had to use a lot of strength in my grip to hold it, now I feel no strain. I ain’t wielding it like some greenhorn anymore, but like a guy who has some experience with it.

  It’s not even about the appearance. It’s about how I feel the sword in my hands.

  Till now I had to restrain myself to simple swings only, because I wasn't capable of much more… But now? I can almost wield it with the same finesse like a short sword.

  I may not be capable of slicing up a cucumber with it yet, but what after I level it up?

  If I suppose it’s possible to level up skills, then I bet, on a rare rarity I could be capable of something like that, with a sword nearly as big as me…

  That’s a crazy thought.

  I check up all my pockets, if It contains all the things it should contain and I won’t forget there anything before leaving.

  Potions are there, dagger’s there and my idiotism is in my head, so I shouldn't be missing anything - time to leave and move on.

  ***

  Back in the library, I have no intentions to read through colossan’s heroic battles again and I don’t have a patience, nor interest to look for anything useful in those books… That’s if I suppose there IS something useful. Which I highly doubt.

  Yup, onwards to the exit.

  ***

  Onwards to the exit my ass.

  I’m fucking trapped there, the double doors serving as a exit are locked.

  And since there is no keyhole, I fucking bet it’s magicaly locked which I don’t have a damn idea how to open!

  Breathe in, breathe out…

  …Chill.

  “There’s gonna be a way.” My voice sounds so determined, that it actually makes me concerned about those damned doors.

  My intuition is not the only thing suggesting the doors are based on magic, the runes on it are also quite telling.

  “For fucks’ sake.”

  It’s kind of funny, you know. No human being - the most annoying and retarded beings, could make me so upset and annoyed like a locked door or some overtuned monster.

  ***

  On one hand, the magic of this new reality fascinates me and I wanna learn more about it, and on the other, I actually hate it.

  I can’t use it.

  I don’t know how to learn it.

  “Hmpf.”

  Whatever.

  I think I managed to solve how the door's magic works… Well not quite, but I have at least an idea about it.

  The doors are all inscripted in some runes, but some are bit emerged from the surface.

  So my idea is that those emerged ones must be somehow activated in the right sequence - like a code.

  That means there has to be somewhere hidden a hint leading to the right combination.

  No one is that confident to remember it forever - everyone writes those things down, especially if it’s a door code.

  Only thig left is to find it.

  ***

  I’m done with this dungeon; fed up enough.

  It’s not hidden anywhere in the bookshelves next to the doors. I’ve been studying it and it’s books for the past few hours, and you know what I found?

  NOTHING!

  There’s no hint of the right sequence, no code.

  So after smashing the bookshelves into pieces in pure madness, I went to search for it near the entrance, mainly looking around the receptionists table.

  And of course, I found nothing, which to be honest I’ve already expected.

  My last hope was the body of the dead librarian.

  At that point I was so desperate I’d even go through his clothes, searching for… something, anything, yet I ended with bare hands again.

  Absolutely lost, in the last tremor of hope, I rushed upstairs, where my fight with the alchemist took place.

  Looking through the pieces of the work tables was meaningless and the alchemist had no clothes - the only possible place were walls… empty walls.

  I’m completely mentally drained and ruined. Standing in front of the door helpless, maybe I coul-

  I’m gonna hurt someone.

  I know it’s my own fault, but I hope there is a boss or at least a strong foe behind those doors.

  I’m gonna need him to cool myself down.

  There, right next to the doors, on the right side is the code, the sequence, minimalistically written on the stone wall.

  I think I’m gonna lose my mind.

  …

  Actually, I may have forgotten about another problem.

  How do I input the code?

  ***

  Another hour comes by, and I have yet another breakdown.

  I can’t input the sequence.

  Every possibility I could think of, I tried. The doors didn’t even flinch about it.

  First of my many ideas was to simply press the runes.

  Simple strategies are the best, right? They can’t fuck up in that many ways, you know.

  So this one fucked up in the basics - the runes can’t obviously be pressed.

  I tried a few more physical related inputting of the code but, of course, none of them worked.

  I even tried to think the code “aloud” and as stupid as this sound, I really thought that’s gonna work… To be honest I just hoped and already knew, my hope will be useless because I’m always stuck with the worst option in those types of scenarios.

  So here I am, sitting for yet another hour trying to “feel” the mana as I found it described in one of the,here in the library, rare books about magic. I had to be looking for at least two hours to find this highly impractical toddlers story book, which should help their parents figure out if their little monster does have magical talent.

  The book is enormously pissing me off.

  It’s written in series of stories, which should inspire the micro demon to try those “mana-awakening-exercises”, but the twist is, to actually get the whole thing, you have to read through a TWO HUNDRED pages of cringe stories for toddlers, written in small letters because the parents gonna be the ones who read it!!!

  ***

  The book looks a bit worn out…

  …MAYBE it is because an unnamed “someone” lost it a few times while trying to learn “feeling” the mana from studying that devil's book.

  Naturally, I can’t feel the mana even after several hours of trying it.

  Usually I’m pretty good at controlling, thus suppressing, my emotions when needed.

  But there’s no need for that now and I actually stopped controlling myself that much since the reality changed.

  Which leads me to tearing the book apart and then again and aging, until there are just pieces of it.

  Then I grab my sword and with a rageful scream attack the doors.

  “FUUUCCKKK MANAAA!”

  I keep swinging against the doors for a few minutes, the bash in it with my shoulders, making myself a painful bruise and in the climax of my emotional unstability performance, I even attack the doors in the connection with Kairisurge

  I’ve been able to cut through some of the runes, which even made the doors flinch a bit.

  They did not open, of course, that would be too easy, but the seam in which you weren't able to put a paper is now big enough to put in there my pinkie.

  No I’m not that crazy to actually try it - what if it closes again?!

  So instead I thrust in there a tip of my sword, widening the seam and through the gap looking right in the face of the skeleton on the other side.

  Well, this one, like the others I’ve already encountered, is normal human size.

  I don’t like how his empty eye sockets are gazing through my eyes into my soul… or at least it feels like it.

  Whatever.

  He will be the first to go down, right after I open the damned doors.

  “Aaarrrrggghhh!”

  I may had broke the locking mechanism, but the doors are still made of metal, thus still heavy as fuck.

  But I am not an ordinary human anymore… I’m lvl 10 human now.

  But hey, jokes aside, my physique got a huge buff since I got all these levels. They aren’t there just for fun.

  So even though the doors sure weigh a lot, I break them open with only one roar and help of a laverage with the sword.

  Behind the now open doors is waiting for me a comando of skeletons. Two armored ones and four normal losers - lvls 14 and lvls 8.

  With a quick blur of Kairisurge

  I lead the blow into a spin, using the force of my momentum to do the nearly same thing with the next armoured fella who's right behind him, only on a bit lesser scale - his remaining halfs aren’t sent flying.

  Finishing the unarmoured ones was like a walk through a park - pretty boring.

  LEVEL UP

  Eleventh level is down, baby.

  I step over the skeleton bones into a dimly lit room. This one, on the first look looks like a crossroad. Load of closed doors… No, they are more like… sealed?

  On the second look it still looks like a crossroad and on the third look it looks like a crossroad leading to a boss room.

  Huge double doors, normally used by humans as a castle gate, are there slightly open. They are ornamented with golden symbols and artistically decorated with paintings. A mist, colored to dark purple, by the surrounding torches, is coming out of them, leaving no room for doubts.

  This is a boss room.