I was sitting on my bed, holding a piece of paper about the size of a playing card, with Anti-Magic Flow written at the top.
This was the reward I received for defeating Revchi yesterday. I could pretty much tell I had to tear the card to learn the skill. The extra point to SEN had already been added, and I could feel my reflexes and instincts were sharper than before.
Taking a deep breath, I tore the card apart. It vanished instantly, and a reddish-black hue flew into me. Just as I expected, a splitting headache hit me as the skill imprinted itself into my brain.
The Anti-Magic Flow was simple in concept: if I moved the anti-magic through my body along the path provided by the skill, it would boost my physical abilities and passively increase the upper limit of my anti-magic. How much it increased depended on my level of mastery.
I thought about it as I sat cross-legged, like someone from a cultivation novel. When I activated the skill, it began providing me with step-by-step instructions on how to move the anti-magic.
Wait a minute... Don't tell me the skill just gives instructions—it doesn't do it for me? WTF!?
Still, I didn't have much of a choice. I started moving the energy along the path—from my heart to my head, then to my limbs and senses—before returning to the heart and completing the cycle. Not gonna lie, it was hard. One slight misstep, and I had to start over. And given how slowly it was flowing, that happened a lot.
After several attempts, I managed to complete the cycle a few times before I became too mentally fatigued to continue.
Physically, I felt lighter on my feet. I opened the system, but it didn't show anything new:
{
Status:
Name: Asta
STR: 25
AGI: 20
INT: 30
SEN: 6
AMP: 10
Menu:
Shop
Inventory
Quests (!)
}
Well, nothing new—maybe it was just my imagination. But hey, I had a new quest now.
I opened the quest section to check out the new content:
{
Quests:
- OPM/SM Workout (Daily)
Rewards:
- Stats per completion (randomly allotted) +3
Duration:
- 1 month
}
But this is what I was doing every day? I sighed and clicked the screen off.
After getting out of bed, I went about my routine and eventually made my way into the kitchen. Sister Lily looked at me, then returned to her work.
After returning to the church, we had to tell her about the incident with Revchi—especially since our clothes were torn in several places. She was angry and worried at first, but that anger soon turned toward the Tower Master and Father Orsi, who had complied with the Tower Master without resistance.
Yeah... she was definitely still pissed about yesterday.
"Good morning," I said, trying to lighten the mood. Sister Lily didn't say much, but it was clear she wasn't in a good mood.
"Yuno, it would have happened anyway—even if the Tower Master hadn't invited us," I said, grabbing the dishes from her hands and placing them on the table.
"But we could've helped you if we'd been there!" she said, not thinking clearly.
"No, you wouldn't have. You would've been a burden. As harsh as that sounds, it's the truth. You had kids with you. And besides, neither you nor Father Orsi is good at combat—you know that."
"But he wouldn't have attacked if all of us were around."
"Do you really think a priest, a nun, and a couple of kids would've been enough to deter him?" I asked, making the obvious point.
Sister Lily went silent. I didn't say much else, and soon the others came in. Yuno looked at us, realized what was going on, shook his head, and sat down. The kids didn't know what had happened, and we weren't planning to tell them.
After breakfast, Yuno headed to the Magic Tower for his spar, while I made my way toward the skull.
A lot had happened, but I couldn't afford to skip training—especially since I was now gaining stat points. Though it was annoying that I had no control over how they were distributed. Still, I started checking out my other rewards.
First up: the combat suit. It looked similar to something from Assassin's Creed: Syndicate and came with some passive stat boosts.
{
Item Info:
Name: Combat Suit (Rare)
Effects:
1. Stores AMP for emergency use (0/100)
2. Decreases AMP consumption.
3. Resistant to physical attacks.
4. Self-repair.
}
Despite being a rare-grade item, its attributes were somehow better than the legendary sword. Then I checked the Body Enhancer.
{
Item Info:
Name: Body Enhancer (Uncommon)
Effects:
1. Increases the body's physical limits over time.
2. Eliminates physical defects
}
Not bad, honestly. I clicked on it, and a vial appeared in my hand. I uncorked it and stared at the transparent liquid before gulping it down.
Tasteless—like distilled water.
I didn't feel anything right away, but I just shrugged and donned the combat suit. It fit perfectly. I checked my inventory, and sure enough, my previous clothes were in there too.
Even my shoes had changed. Damn. Not that I was complaining.
I made my way to the skull and started my training.
It was the usual routine, which I finished in about three hours. Sitting down again, I opened the interface—I still needed to check the shop and the quest creation feature.
I opened the shop, and the very first item that caught my eye was...