"Do you mind sparring with me?" A voice suddenly spoke from behind him.
Felix quickly spun around, clearly startled, as he hadn't noticed when the person had gotten so close.
"Ah…" he blurted in surprise when he recognized the lady to be one of the Sages from the banquet.
She had a charismatic smile on her beautiful face, with strands of her damp hair stuck to it.
It took everything in him to resist the masculine urge to move the wet strands from her face. And this might likely be the first time Felix was grateful for being a woman, as he could stake his life on his 'six inches' ripping his pants open this moment to take a peek.
"Oh… W—What?" He stuttered.
"Do you mind if we spar?" She asked with an unwavering smile.
"With me?" He asked perplexingly. "S—Sure."
"Very well," The Sage said as she crossed one of her arms behind her and positioned the other before her like a sword. "You can call me Jessica."
Felix was momentarily lost at her fighting stance, then decided to drop the dummy weapon, awkwardly raising his fists instead.
"You can call me Fel—Felix." Yeah, he might need to work on that name later.
"Felix," Jessica iterated, her eyes darting to the dummy sword and then back at him. "Pick up your weapon."
"Ah. Wouldn't that be unfair for you?" He asked innocently, but was sharp to notice the vein that popped in her forehead.
Jessica didn't reply but just widened her smile.
"Did I say something wrong?" Felix mused to himself in uncertainty as he bent to pick the dummy sword. Then the hairs at the back of his neck suddenly stood on end.
Swoosh!
Jessica's foot narrowly missed Felix's head, whipping across it as he instinctively fell back, his danger alarm ringing.
"What the hell?!"
Felix looked up at the Sage in confusion, not understanding why she would want to take his head.
"The enemy would never give you a chance to pick up your weapon," Jessica spoke monotonously as she circled him. "Get up." She ordered.
Felix didn't feel good with the way things were going. But wasn't this what he wanted: to train?
He tried getting on his feet when Jessica's foot whipped at him again, aiming for his head once more. But Felix was prepared for it this time, or so he thought.
He decisively raised his hand to catch the Sage's foot midair before it could get to him, but what followed was a sickening crunch as the Sage's foot made contact with his hand, knocking the broken arm back and whipping at his face.
Felix was knocked back and was left rolling on the wet field from the momentum. He involuntarily spat blood, clutching his broken nose with his arms as his brain went blank from sheer pain.
He couldn't think of anything besides the pain, which left him disoriented.
"Get up! The enemy wouldn't wait for you to pick yourself off the floor," Felix heard the Sage say.
From her voice, he could tell she was circling him. His danger alarms were ringing nonstop in his head, and he couldn't help but feel fear in that moment.
He shakily forced himself to his feet. It was obvious to him now that this was no sparring session. The Sage was clearly using him to let off steam. And he was unfortunately just a scapegoat.
Felix's fear became anger at that moment. Then rage.
His eyes darted from Jessica to the sword lying not too far off, and within the range of his telekinesis.
"Go on. Run for it," Jessica said with an amused smile. She was clearly enjoying this.
"Fuck! I hate this bitch."
Felix quickly willed the sword into his grasp, and it flew towards him but before he could get a hold on it, the Sage was already before him.
"Fast!"
She grabbed hold of the sword instead and smacked him across his face, sending him flying to the floor.
She then brought the sword down on her knees and snapped it in two, and kicked him in the head once more. This time, Felix could no longer move a muscle as he lay huddled on the floor with blood coating his left eye from an internal injury.
"So much for an SSRank…" Jessica sighed in disappointment.
She kept on rambling about something Felix could no longer hear, not because he'd been annihilated, but because his favorite skill had just been activated before he got the chance to.
He'd decided against activating this skill at the outset as things might get out of hand, and yes, that was how much Felix was confident in it. But since this wasn't what he had in mind for a spar, he might as well go all out now.
[OVERDEATH skill activated!]
[All your attributes have been temporarily increased by 100%!]
—
[OVERDEATH Lv1 | Active/Passive]
Active:
At level 1, grants the user a 100% increase in all attributes, bypassing detection and negating every restriction by the class system.
Passive:
Automatically activates when the user's vitality recedes below a critical threshold.
—
[+1 Constitution]
[You have leveled up! Lv1 >>> Lv2]
[You have been granted a 50% increase to all attributes for 60 Seconds]
[You have unlocked the skill 'Life Surge' Lv1 | Active/Passive]
[You have unlocked the skill 'Blade Aura' Lv1 | Active]
[You have unlocked the skill 'Dominator' Lv1 | Passive]
Felix forced himself to his feet with newfound strength. The adrenaline and dopamine rush that came with leveling up intoxicated his system.
The Sage, who was lost in her monologue, suddenly noticed the change in temperature and looked around to see Felix struggling to stay on his feet once more.
For the first time, she felt her danger sense ring and the hairs at the back of her neck stood on end.
She snickered in part amusement and part disdain.
Without further delay, she blurred from her spot, charging at him to finish him off in one blow.
What she didn't know was that Felix wasn't 'struggling' to stay on his feet; his injuries were all healed up, and he was trying to contain the sudden explosive power ravaging his system and needed to channel it somewhere else… on something or on someone.