"Hah... Hah..." As he stared at the long list of notifications with wide eyes, Arthur tried to catch his breath. Even though he had just leveled up several times, his body was completely rejuvenated and even felt far better than before.
After such a hard battle, he couldn't immediately stand up again. He needed a few seconds to calm down and that was exactly what he did.
"That... That was close..." He muttered as he finally rose from the ground and looked around him. Shockingly, what he saw wasn't the desert he was in, and instead, he was back in the forest. Looking up, he blinked slowly. The stone door was now closed as if it hadn't been touched before. However, the runes on it were now completely dark with no aura around it.
"And just like that, I'm back here as if nothing happened." He muttered. Although the battle felt real and the results of it were still on his body, it still felt like he was simply in a dream or a world that wasn't real. The threat was real, but everything else felt like an out-of-body experience rather than a real fight.
'Is that just me overthinking? I know that it's a memory fragment which also means that it's something in the past. Still, what was that? The Battle Of The Ethereals... Who are these creatures? And why did they fight with humans?'
Arthur felt lost even though he had received some hints from this memory fragment. But, because of its nature as a mere fragment and not the full memory, he reckoned that figuring something out would be hard.
'I might be able to figure it out if I can find another memory fragment that can actually explain things.' Sighing, Arthur finally stood up and looked at his notifications.
"Now, this is the real deal. I have seen a glimpse of some interesting things." Reading through the notifications, Arthur smiled when he saw all the new stats and levels he gained.
He already could feel the massive increase across all his stats. Every single stat had reached the 20-point mark and exceeded it.
'This is good, really good!' He laughed weirdly. 'I'm already feeling like a beast!!'
Clenching his fist, Arthur saw his muscles pump with energy. Surprisingly, he also felt like he had grown taller and not by a small margin either.
"This is... Hmm..." Looking around him, Arthur walked toward one of the trees and stood next to it to compare. "This is at least... a few extra inches. Holy!! I have actually grown taller!! Hahaha! No, I can't believe it!
My dream has come true!!"
Holding his face, he laughed like a maniac for almost a minute. This particular detail was perhaps the best thing he had received from the game so far. Arthur's height had always been a problem for him. His small stature made him stand out like a sore thumb amongst his peers and put a red circle on his body as a target for bullies.
[Lonesome Warrior's Howl (Level 1)]: Increases physical damage by 30% for 10 seconds. Consumes mana to activate.]
[Do you wish to learn this ability?]
"Yes."
The second ability was also quite strong now that Arthur looked at it. If he used that, perhaps the Ethereal's fight could've gone a whole different way. That made Arthur realize how much abilities are important in this game. A small difference in power can do a lot to a fight, especially if one side is considerably weaker than the other.
Stats and levels are important, but abilities give you far more than just magical powers. It gives you room to use them with cleverness to tackle problems that should've been impossible to solve with mere power.
'The fighting system in this game is just... It's so realistic and yet nothing about it should've been realistic. I don't know how they pulled that off.' Rubbing the back of his head, Arthur shrugged. So far, he was addicted to how versatile one could become with all the different components that make their battle style.
Even a simple extra point in one stat or a new ability could overhaul the player's entire style.
"Now, for the secret third scroll. I wonder what ability Nina decided to give me."
He didn't know why she specifically wanted him not to open it until he was alone but he didn't think much about it. Instead, he simply picked it up and read the content.
[Mortal Slash (Level 1): A heavy sword attack that requires charging up. Deals percentage-based damage to all enemies. Deals 70% extra damage to 'Undead Enemies'. Requires mana to activate.]
"Oh!!! This is really good!" Arthur blurted out when he read the information. Not only did the ability seem to be extremely strong based on the 'Percentage-Based damage' part, but it also seemed to have a special effect on Undead Enemies.
'So far, I haven't met a single undead but this would be really good against them. It's a really nice gift. Thanks, Nina.' Closing his eyes, he silently thanked the beautiful scroll maker for her nice gift.
"I will make good use of this."
With that, he finally looked at the four new items he acquired. A weird hunch told him that he might've received something special.