2 Weeks Later
Flap! Flap! Flap! Flap!
The pages of a book were heard fluttering in a dark room.
Brown bookshelves were arranged in lines on both sides, with a small pathway in the middle where a yellow-ish orange carpet lays.
In the middle of the room, tables and chairs were set up. Notebooks were pinned on every desk while the pencils were in cup-like holders. Every table had at least one set.
On the table right near a window, a candle shone faintly, just enough for the man on the desk.
"Aren't there any novels or at least any interesting books in here?!" Michael complained out loud, echoing throughout the room.
Currently, he's on the 6th floor of the dormitory, the library.
Unlike the modern interior of the first floor, the 3rd and above still had a middle ages design; Sparkling tiles made out of limestone and grey bricked walls with wood columns.
Thud!
"Damn these are so boring." He sighed as he threw the book behind him, where a pile of them could be seen.
Michael then reached out to his left where a single, green book sat. "Skill ranks and recorded Skills 4567MN-4589MN by Kazeka Vroetz"
"Isn't it 4891MN now?"
"This might be interesting." Michael smiled.
'If my guess is correct, reading can increase the intelligence stat. And even if it doesn't, I would have learned something new' Michael thought as he opened the book.
'Or so I thought, but all these books are common knowledge and aren't even that relevant!' He snapped inwardly.
"Well, I did learn new stuff, it's just not that useful at the moment."
"It's probably nearing midnight now. I hope my guess is right or else I would have wasted an evening." Michael said, staring outside of the window, looking at the bright, blue-ish moon.
'The sun is redder than earth and the moon is blue...' He said inwardly with slight melancholy before opening the book.
Flap! Flap! Flap!
He then read through the book page after page at an incredible speed, forgetting the time as he flipped to the next page with attentive eyes.
"This is better than I thought!"
He was fully absorbed.
Before he knew it, the dark sky had become brighter.
"These skills are nuts!" He exclaimed.
"(Creation) is the one I want to have! Too bad it's a bloodline trait. A royal one at that." Michael said with sparkling eyes before refuting himself afterward.
"Imagine creating an object in your palm just for mana? Not to mention you don't have to prepare the materials needed!" He added, raising his arm in the air and clenching his fist.
"I guess (Wish of Death) is also kind of overpowered." He spoke, bringing down his arm and scrolling the book to page 1,422.
"But you need to sacrifice a portion of your life span to instantly kill an opponent…"
"Maybe if it's a world-ending opponent it can be worth it. Life Stones can take back some of your vitality so it's definitely OP and usable. But it's pretty much gone by now. The last known carrier of the skill died in battle." He explained to himself with a nod, reading a section of the page before rolling his eyes to the one next to it.
"(Insight), (All-Seeing Eyes), (God's Physique), (Insanity), (Snake's Tongue), (Poison Master), (Artemis), (Hell Flames), are all also amazing!" He exclaimed with a lively expression like that of a kid seeing toys in a mall.
"And here I am with a debuff skill…" Michael sighed.
"But fortunately, some of the skills here have methods on how you can obtain them."
"And these 2 are the ones possible right now." He smirked looking at a piece of paper next to the book with anticipation.
"There's that many skills, huh. There might even be more out there. No, there is." Michael spoke with resolve as he sat back, relaxing his back.
He took a deep sigh and looked outside of the window in amazement, blown away at the realization to see the rising sun.
"What?! It's morning?"
'I expected it to take more time since the book was the thickest out of all of them.' He thought immediately after.
He then stood up and grabbed some of the books.
"I guess I can manage to exercise without sleep. I'll just make sure to sleep early later."
'My stamina and endurance have also improved. I can survive the morning and afternoon training as long as I properly control my strength.' He thought looking at his arm.
Compared to before, it was now slightly muscular. Same with his overall build. His shoulders and pecs were more apparent through his clothes. Though it's by a little bit.
"Now, I...have to put all of these back." He added reluctantly, looking at the piles of books all around the table.
30 minutes later, Michael went down bringing a few books with him. He made sure to return the candle wax in a container hanged on the wall.
He was currently going down the stairs with the second floor being his destination.
Floor 1 is a lounge with a couple of guest rooms, floors 2-4 are bedrooms, 5 is a gym, and 6 is a library.
Each accommodation floor has a dining area and bath.
His room is located on the second floor near the stairway.
The dormitory was for knights, but with the looming war, had a lot of vacant rooms. Thus why the king situated the heroes there instead of creating an entirely new place for them.
There are about 10 rooms on each floor from 1-4 and half of the 6th being used for storage.
He then arrived in front of his room after a couple of minutes, he entered and dropped off the books on his bed before going to the dining area. Blowing out the fire in a lamp by his desk which he forgot to put out the previous night.
As he went inside, just as he expected, everyone was already up. Some, if not finished, we're almost done.
Michael walked to the second nearest table to the door and sat beside Zack. Ignoring the stares that are starting to annoy him. 'Just what did I do to make them that angry at me?' He thought with a sigh.
"A little late now aren't we?" Zack said.
"Goodmorning," He added with a bright smile.
"How can you be so happy on a Monday morning?"
"Monday is a start to a new week," Zack said with a huge grin.
Michael looked at him and sighed. "Same as ever."
"What's wrong with that?"
"Nothing," Michael answered with a smile as he stood up.
He looked at Zack's tray and saw broccoli on the side. "You're not eating that?" He asked.
"Stop pretending, you know I don't like this crap. Go ahead and take it," Zack said, pushing the almost empty tray towards Michael.
He took a single piece and walked towards the food counter.
"You need some vegetables also, I won't take your nutrients away from you." He said with a smirk turning his gaze to a paper attached near the door;
"EAT EVERYTHING OR ELSE +100 LAPS" with Duke's name and signature at the bottom with a smiley face written beside it.
"Michael! C'mon, you like this shit right? Just take it, I don't mind! Like you always do!" Zack pleaded, looking at the green broccoli with disgust.
"Look, if it's about that one time I didn't help you up, I'm sorry. But let's settle our differences just this once, okay?" He added with a forced smile and a bulging vein on his head. He had thought that Michael would take it like usual.
Michael laughed inwardly as he continued walking, ignoring the pleading man.
He took a tray and filled it in half. The training was about to start soon and he certainly did not want to get appendicitis.
The meal consisted of rice, steak, broccoli, and mashed potatoes. He grabbed a glass of milk also.
He then walked back to Zack after, with the tray on his left and the cup on his right.
Whilst walking, his eyes turned maroon for a few seconds before dimming. He had used (Thorough Analysis).
[ Name: Clive James ]
[ This disgusting tree… ]
[ Irritated, Drowsy, Disgusted ]
[ STR: 41, AGI: 36, INT: 23 ]
Holographic messages appeared almost simultaneously. Michael nodded his head before calling out 'Close' inwardly.
Troink! Troink! Troink! Troink!
One by one they faded along with their obnoxious sounds only he could hear.
Michael shuddered at the chime.
'Why do they only make sounds when I close them?' Michael wondered with a slightly flustered expression. 'Do the others with (In-Depth Analysis) also have this?'
But whilst walking, a group right in front of him started giggling. There were 3 of them. All had somewhat disproportionate parts one way or another, but they were all stacked.
Suddenly, just as he was about to pass through, one of the boys put their feet forward followed by a shit-eating grin.
Michael, who was in deep thought, didn't notice. But just before their feet crossed, an image abruptly appeared in his mind.
An image of a person tripping. It looked like him... it was as if he was looking at himself in a third-person view.
He suddenly jerked and instantaneously hoped to avoid the foot. Landing gracefully.
The boys looked at them in disbelief with their jaws open while Michael continued walking forward as if nothing happened like a badass when in truth, he was just as surprised as them.
His hair all around stood and his skin became pale. Despite the cool in the heat moment, he was frightened of what had just happened.
Something about seeing himself in another angle, in another body creeped him out. It felt as if it wasn't him, he was scared he would lose control.
It brought back unnecessary memories in a flashback which made him even more downcast.
But all of that doubt and fear soon dispersed as he saw Zack force-feeding himself the broccoli, holding in his vomit with a literal puking emoji as his face.
"PFTT! What are you doing?!" Michael laughed out loud.
"What would you expect, you asshole?!" Zack yelled with a red tinge on his cheek, spitting out the broccoli before eating them again.
"What the fuck?!" Michael exclaimed with disgust.
"Can't you see the sign, you dipshit?! Tanaka got in trouble last week because of this also!" He shouted followed by a brown-haired, semi-bald boy looking at him with a frown.
But their bickering was cut short when a person suddenly slammed the door open.
"Sir Duke is calling! Hurry up! He said it was important!" A blonde-haired boy shouted at the top of his lungs.
On his side was a sword in a blue scabbard and a book on his left attached to the same belt as the sheath inside a rectangular pocket.
And a white bandana with the emblem of the kingdom wrapped around his forehead; a sun rising in between two mountains with blue like swirls littered all around it in a circular shape.
Soon after the booming announcement, he turned his head towards Michael and grinned.
It was Chase.
August 2, 2021