บท 57: Someone's bed...

The next morning beams of sunlight shine through the second-story window of Loutiel's pawnshop, where the bedroom that the injured Michael was now occupying. He groggily wakes up, his body groaning with pain as he attempts to roll into his front, he abandons that effort after a moment, and decides to sit up instead, barely managing to do so with all his effort.

"Gooood damn." Michael mutters as he finally manages to sit up afterwards glancing down at himself and the strange pyjama's he was now dressed in. They were blue with white stripes and made of silk, making them incredibly comfortable to wear... He undoes the buttons however and opens the shirt to reveal his front.

There, he could see a relatively large scar where the arrow had struck him last night, and under his armpit, he could feel a similarly sized scar there too. Seems like Loutiel hadn't managed to save his body from being marred...

"Wait... That bastard stole my kill! How much EXP was that Water Mage worth!?!" he mentally exclaims, gripping his hair in great irritation at the massive loss. He pauses though, as he feels the slight scar on his left cheek, presumably from where that archer's arrow had nicked him...

He sighs, "That archer did more damage to me than any warrior or mage I've come across." he mutters, realising just how much damage he'd taken from that single person.

After taking a moment to suppress his rather childish anger at Loutiel for 'kill stealing'. He glances around the room to look for any danger. He knew Loutiel must've taken him to one of his properties, so he wasn't all that worried... After all, why would the man heal him and leave him unsupervised if he intended to do him harm?

Michael lies back onto the bed and pulls the covers over his head as he summons the Book of Commoners. "Let's see how much I've improved..." he whispers as he flips the book open, the pages faintly glowing despite the darkness under his covers.

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Name : Michael Hunt

Rank : Common

Stats :

Strength : 8 > 9

Agility : 11

Intelligence : 11

Abilities :

[Gandalfr] : Enables user to utilise any weapon at two ranks above their current proficiency while granting them the knowledge necessary to use them. While wielding a weapon, temporarily gain +100% in all stats.

[Language Comprehension] : Enables user to understand all spoken tongues, and increase the rate of which they learn reading and writing.

[Curse of Silence - (Origin: Matilda)] : Prevents user from speaking, scribing, or making any attempts to reveal restricted information. - (Removed by Loutiel.)

Spirits :

Shadow Shaman : Lvl 14 > 19

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Only one extra point in Strength!? That seems like far too little for the amount of effort he'd actually gone through... He'd killed a large patrol of gang members, along with two elite fighters, and almost that Water Mage. He'd almost even died, so he was hoping for a little more than just that...

He did have to thank Loutiel when he next saw him though, the fact he'd removed the curse given to him by Fouquet would be worth his thanks alone, even if he forgot the fact that the man saved his life.

Still, his Shadow Shaman Spirit had increased by five levels, giving him enough points to max out the rest of his abilities... He'd expected that to be the end of it, but it seems that he could still level up his Shadow Shaman Spirit more.

Michael wondered what he would receive once reaching level twenty... Would he receive another Spirit? Or would there be further upgrades to Shadow Shaman?...

Honestly, he didn't really know what he was hoping for, as his situation was probably going to be shit no matter what he receives... Unless he was handed a Divine Rapier or something...

Regardless, he turns to the page containing the Shadow Shaman Spirit and maxes out all of its abilities.

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Spirit : Shadow Shaman

Level : 19

Abilities :

Carnival Tricks (Rank 4) : Allows user to form ephemeral shapes, creatures, and patterns to amuse, distract, or frighten.

Ether Shock (Rank 4) : Casts a cone of ethereal energy that strikes multiple enemies.

Hex (Rank 4) : Temporarily transforms the target into a harmless chicken.

Shackle (Rank 4) : Magically binds an enemy in ethereal threads while also dealing damage throughout the duration

Serpent Wards (Rank 3) : Summons multiple Serpent Wards to attack any nearby enemies.

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With all his abilities maxed out, he imagined he'd be able to go toe to toe against a Line mage of this world. That's excluding him using his weapons and Gandalfr rune of course, but it was still fairly impressive, especially considering that most students in the Magic Acadamy were Line mages until they graduate. Only the exceptional few actually managed to become Triangle mages, and it was almost unheard of for any students to become Square mages.

Considering that Osmond, the headmaster of the school, was a Square mage, it was clear to see why it was so difficult to attain such a mastery. Of course, there could be large disparity between two people in the same rank. Someone like Headmaster Osmond would probably be far stronger than Loutiel, but that was only Michael's supposition.

He closes the book and flings it into the air, watching as it dissipates into particles. He doesn't really feel like moving with his injured body, so he instead just conjures a Dog with his Carnival Tricks spell, having it play around the room as if it were a living creature.

It was difficult to do as he had to consciously control it to act alive, as opposed to regular objects or fire which were easy to mimic. He has the ephemeral orange dog sit on his bed, Michael was about to start making it do flips when he hears a knock at the door.

*Knock, Knock!*

"Are you decent? I don't wish to be walking in on a teenager's favourite pastime..." Loutiel's voice asks from the otherside of the door. But before Michael can reply, the man just walks inside with a smirk. "Oh my, I didn't think you engaged in such things." he states, cupping a hand over his mouth as his eyes playfully glance between Michael and the see-through orange dog sitting on his bed.

Michael just gives an unamused glare, his injured body making him far more unwilling to play along with the man's jokes. He swats the dog with the back of his hand which causes it to disappear with a yelp, not breaking eye contact with Loutiel as he does so. "Do you need something?"