Ryu was beyond confused, and frantically looked around, not understanding what had happened. The last thing he could recall was charging his fireball, and seeing the system mention that The All-Seeing- Naruhito- had used his magical ability.
[The All-Seeing (Naruhito) had unconsciously used the magical ability That was the last thing Ryu remembered, and anything after that was pitch darkness. He couldn't even remember what Naruhito was supposed to summon. Ryu glanced at the timer in the room; [Resting time: 23:34:11] 'Did I fall asleep and dreamt of that fight?' Ryu thought for a moment, before immediately shaking away that thought. There were 2 reasons why he had discarded that thought, and it was because, just a moment later after he had thought this, the system window had popped into existence right in front of him. And the second reason is that... "My eyesight is way better," Ryu muttered as he gazed at the wall a couple of meters away from him. He didn't notice it at first, but by putting his mind to it, he could see every small detail about the wall. Then, he glanced at his own hand. He already had good eyesight before, but now, it was as if he was looking at his own hand in an extremely high resolution as if his eyes were an incredibly high-quality camera. Ryu felt a small headache as he continued to observe his body and surroundings. He calmly rubbed his temples and muttered, "Ugh, this feels weird..." He thought that this sudden increase in his eyesight capability was more difficult to get used to compared to when his hearing had been enhanced. It felt weird to see everything around him in great detail. Still, in just a few minutes, Ryu had been able to get slightly used to it. 'This is great,' Ryu thought, as he slowly started to throw a jab, his eyes fixated on the movements of his arm. 'I always focused on reading my opponent's muscles, positions, habits, rhythms, all that sort of stuff. And now, with my eyesight and hearing improved, this is going to be much easier!' Ryu remembered how strong Tokugawa's hearing was, and felt a tiny bit of excitement well up inside of him. Tokugawa's hearing was so enhanced that he was able to hear Ryu's own body, his heartbeat, blood flow, and even the neurons in Ryu's brain. If Ryu's hearing ever reached that level, then his combat prowess would reach an extremely frightening degree. If that Naruhito's eyesight did outrageous things on the same level as Tokugawa, such as seeing through the skin or seeing the firing of synapses, then Ryu would reach an unparalleled level. Ryu unconsciously began to scratch his neck, his body shaking a bit just thinking about how powerful he would be when his sense of hearing reaches the same level as Tokugawa. He felt quite regretful that he couldn't remember anything about that Naruhito guy, or how exactly strong a level 10 Sight Enhancement was. 'Still, I don't know how powerful that Naruhito's guy eyesight was. Hell, I don't even know how I won!' Ryu thought as he tried to recall anything about the previous fight, and glanced at the floating system. [Congratulations! Since you've managed to defeat The All-Seeing [Naruhito], your level has risen by 1! 200 points have been added! As a reward for defeating The All-Seeing, you have gained the ability Ryu clicked his tongue when he read the content of the window. Although Ryu was happy that he had won, he was still completely perplexed by what exactly happened. He had many theories, but the most prominent and likely one Ryu thought was... 'The most likely theory is that I had charged my fireball, and shot it at Naruhito in a panic, maybe because of the impending sense of doom I had back then, and it managed to hit Naruhito straight in the face, instantly killing him.' Ryu thought of that possibility, trying to see if any of his other theories were more probable, 'But, there are a few missing pieces. I don't recall myself shooting that fireball, and, even if I did, why didn't Naruhito dodge? I'd reckon It'd be an easy attack to dodge if I only shot out in a panic.' Ryu's face was getting more and more contorted, until he let out an exasperated sigh, and decided to give up on the whole situation. It did not matter, at least, Ryu didn't think it mattered. He had won, and really, that's more important than what happened in the fight. 'Whatever, I'll just assume he couldn't move his body well due to his low level of body control.' Ryu thought, before glancing at the system again and clicking yes. [Name: Sight Enhancement Type: Passive Skill Level: 5 Description: Your sense of sight is being constantly honed, and is massively enhanced. You can see what cannot be normally seen*. *Current things that can be seen: Spirits, Ghosts, Wraiths. The higher the level of this ability, the more things/beings you can see.] The content of the window was a bit more compared to his hearing enhancement. Noticing the higher level of this ability, Ryu came to the conclusion that this was the reason why it was more detailed. 'Level 5?' Ryu thought, a bit confused about why the level was higher compared to Hearing Enhancement, but was quickly able to connect the dots. Tokugawa had a hearing enhancement level of 8, and Ryu got a level 3. Naruhito had a sight enhancement level of 10, and Ryu got a level of 5. Although the theory was shaky, Ryu thought that the level of ability he gets is the same as those he defeated, minus 5 levels. Ryu decided to forget about how levels were set for abilities, and instead, Ryu focused on the part where it said he could see things that cannot be seen. In other words, souls. 'Ghosts are real, huh? Shit, why do I feel a bit creeped out?' Ryu shuddered unconsciously at the thought of ghosts but managed to maintain his composure. The more he thought about it, the less bizarre it seemed. This tower he was in had combat dummies capable of talking and fighting, despite their innards being made of sand. It had beings capable of moving through sheer willpower despite having no sense of touch. It also had a floating system that only appears in games, and even had magic. 'I guess it's not weird.' Ryu thought, before closing the window of Sight Enhancement and going back to the main menu. With a thought, he chose Status. [Name: Ryu Species: True Human Level: 3 Strength: 1.6 Speed: 1.7 Durability: 1.9 Endurance: 3.3 Magic: 1.6 Ether: 0 Skills:...] Upon seeing his stats rise once more, Ryu felt like the excitement in his body rise once more. Now, with these stats, he was superior to the All-Sensing! The only thing the All-Sensing had over him was the durability part, and that was only by a single 0.1 point! Ryu clenched his fists, and with one swift movement, he threw a powerful jab, a jab far faster than before his fight with Naruhito. He was trying to see how much faster he was than before. 'Hmm...' Ryu's face contorted a bit, as he threw another jab, 'It feels odd, it's not a 2 times increase to my speed after my fight Comby.' *Swish!* Ryu threw a kick this time, before returning to his boxing, 'This... It feels like I'm 3 times faster compared to my speed before Naruhito, not Comby. This doesn't make sense. If I level up again, and the multiplier increased, then wouldn't I be 4 times faster compared to now?' Ryu thought of many possibilities on how the stats worked, but he eventually let out an exasperated sigh and decided to forget about it. His current theory didn't make sense, otherwise, Tokugawa would've been many, many times faster than sound even before activating his magical ability. 'Forget it. Figuring out how the stats work would probably give me a seizure.' Ryu decided to stop throwing more jabs, and instead focused on his status again. More specifically, his magic stat. It had risen by 0.5 points, which was a bit more compared to his other stats- with the exception of endurance. 'My magic had increased. Then, doesn't that mean I can cast more fireballs, and its power has increased, too?' Ryu's mind stirred, and he immediately went to his skills and chose to see the statistics of the [Name: Fireball Level: 1 Type: Magic... ... Explosion Radius: 0.9 meters] Ryu felt a bit disappointed upon noticing the explosion radius had only increased by 0.3 meters. He had expected it would increase by 0.5 points since when his magic stat had reached 1.1, it had increased the radius by 0.1. However, Ryu wasn't sad. Quite the contrary, he was still quite delighted, far overshadowing his disappointment. When Ryu had been experimenting and training with the fireballs before, he had realized that with just a 0.1-point increase in radius, the power of the explosion would increase by quite a large margin. Now, the strength of an uncharged fireball was comparable to a fireball that was charged for 4 seconds before his level-up. Ryu immediately muttered fireball in an incredibly low voice, and it appeared in his hand instantly. It was rotating at a higher speed, and its size was a bit larger. Not only that, but the heat that it emitted was higher, too. As Ryu gazed more at the fireball, he noticed there were things popping up from the fireball, akin to an explosion. They were like the solar flares of the sun. He didn't notice those before, and it was only thanks to the enhanced vision he currently had. Ryu winced a bit after staring at the fireball for quite some time, causing his eyes to water a bit. Then, he lifted his arm, and calmly shot the fireball at the wall. *BOOM!* The sound of an explosion of pure power appeared, and the light of the explosion was much brighter compared to before. A smirk appeared on Ryu's face as he saw the explosion of the fireball, feeling a bit excited. If his uncharged fireball was this strong, then what if he had charged it? Ryu, of course, had to test the strength of the charged fireball. "Fireball." He muttered, his tone a bit shaky. Then, he only thought about charging his fireball, causing the ball to rotate faster, its size to increase, and the light it emitted to be brighter. 5 seconds... 10 seconds... and finally, after 15 seconds, Ryu felt like his mana had been drained entirely, which caused him to be surprised a bit. He had thought he would be able to charge for 8 seconds or so, but he didn't think he could charge it this much! more due to the increased magic stat, but that didn't seem to be the case. Right after that thought, the fireball in his hand shot forward at a disgustingly fast speed, easily surpassing his own speed by many times. Before he could even blink, the fireball had already reached the wall. The moment it made an impact, it was as if the entire world had gone silent for a moment. Then, the barely dim room had turned extremely bright, as if the sun itself had appeared in the middle of the room. A furious burst of sound and heat appeared, so unbelievably bright, so raw in power, it immediately scorched the retina of Ryu, and its bright light could turn night into a blinding day. Its ferocious sound almost ruptured Ryu's ears due to his sensitive hearing, and the shockwave from this raw display of power had caused Ryu to tumble to the ground backward, many of his organs jumbled and skewered by the intensity of the attack. "Oh shit," Ryu blurted out as he tried to cover himself from the attack. The strength of the newly charged fireball was far higher than he had anticipated. He had assumed the new radius would be around 1.8 meters, but he was wrong. The radius of the explosion alone-not the shockwave- was at the very least 2.5 meters. The room itself was only 20 meters in area, so the explosion had taken quite a lot of space. This increase in radius had caused the explosion to be extremely frightening, even stronger than a hand grenade. The explosion wasn't just 2 to 3 times stronger than before- no, it was many, many times stronger. Ryu was only a meter away from the explosion, and yet its sheer intensity, heat, and shockwave had caused him a lot of damage. If he was to be hit by this, then... Nothing would be left of him. He'd get instantly vaporized out of existence. Even his 1.9 durability stat was useless in front of this attack. After the explosion disappeared, there was not a single scratch in the resting room. Ryu started to stand up slowly, blood dripping from his mouth. Despite the internal injuries he had sustained, Ryu was able to move quite comfortably, as if he didn't feel any pain. Normally, any normal person wouldn't be able to even move with these injuries, but not Ryu. The main reason was, Ryu thought, his extraordinary endurance. It was the highest stat he had, so an injury like this couldn't hinder him by much. 'Shit, it hurts...' Ryu winced a bit due to the pain, but he was able to endure it. It was funny, he was always extremely fearful of pain, but after his fight with Comby, it was as if his tolerance of pain had risen tremendously. Not to mention his extremely high endurance stat. After a few seconds, the window system suddenly appeared in front of Ryu, which caused him to be a bit surprised. He could barely see anything right now, but the window was clear, as if it didn't matter if Ryu could see or not. [Detected Host's body is damaged due to the idiocy of Host (Ryu). Healing the Host...] Ryu clicked his tongue, annoyed by the system itself calling him an idiot. Still, at least he was going to be healed. Just a second after Ryu thought this, a green hue of energy appeared and gently touched his body. His internal organs were instantly healed, and he regained his sight shortly after. 'It's not my fault your stat scaling is wonky!' Ryu thought, irritated, before letting out a sigh in defeat. Regardless, at least he was healed earlier than he had expected. 'How would I test my abilities later when they get stronger...?' Ryu thought dejectedly. If his fireball were to get stronger, then he feared that the resting room would be engulfed by the explosion. Ryu felt for the first time this room was incredibly small. 'Whatever,' Ryu thought, as he began to recall the power of the fireball, 'With this, even if the All-Sensing's durability is higher than mine, he'd be turned into toast with just one fully charged fireball.' He felt excited at the idea of instantly killing someone with higher durability than him, but that feeling quickly withered away. Although a fully charged fireball was without a doubt powerful, it still needed 15 seconds of charging in order to reach that level of power. And even then, that All-Sensing person had a magical ability, so Ryu didn't think that he would get a direct hit. 'Still, it's far stronger than I thought,' Ryu thought, before shooting another fireball, this time uncharged. 'It's still pretty darn powerful, even when uncharged. If I continue to train it for the remaining resting time, then maybe my magic would increase, and maybe even the level of the skill would increase. But...' As Ryu thought about training his fireball skill, he glanced at his own hand. He closed and opened it, his eyes glued to it, his pupils slightly shaking. In the next instant, something appeared in Ryu's hand. It wasn't a fireball, rather... it was his sword. 'I don't want to focus on the fireball skill alone.' Ryu lifted his sword, and calmly swung it, its speed imperceptible to the eye. Although the fireball was fiercer compared to his sword attacks, it wasn't his strong suit. He wasn't as proficient at it as he was with his sword. He felt stronger with his sword, more precise, more... alive, really. With the sword, he had more control over what to do next. Unlike with the fireball, Ryu could fight in whatever way he wanted, whereas with the fireball, he had to be at a distance, and he even had a limited supply of mana. Not to mention, he had to constantly focus on it, and his attacks would be predictable. *Swish!* Ryu glanced at the time as he swung another time, and noticed that he had 23 hours remaining. His mind stirred on what to do next, and after a few more swings, he had decided; 'I'll just train my swordsmanship now, and try to incorporate the fireball skill with my current style of combat. If I could train both my swordsmanship and fireball skill at the same time, then...' A light began to burn in Ryu's eyes, and his moves started to get faster. *Swish!* He swung the air at incredible speed, and right after that, he muttered 'Fireball' and shot it in front of him. Then, he thrust his sword, and swung it multiple times, before shooting a fireball in the midst of it. 'Incorporating the fireball skill into my combat style would be the ideal situation,' Ryu swung his sword again at a weird angle, and shot another fireball, 'If I could train them in a way where they would flow seamlessly with each other, then...' *Boom!* *Swish!* Ryu kept on trying to combine his swordsmanship and fireball ability together. That way, he could train both of them. Not only that, but he would be far more powerful and unpredictable. Ryu swung his sword again and threw a fireball. However, the moment the fireball shot forward, it split into many smaller fireballs and exploded. This was one of the ways Ryu had thought of using the fireball skill. With a thought, he could split the fireball into many smaller portions, making them harder to dodge. Although the impact wouldn't be as great, it would be incredibly useful against a fast opponent. "Hah..." Ryu panted before swinging his sword dozens of times in the span of less than a second, and he shot another fireball. This way, Ryu kept on training this way for many hours, his mind entirely focused on the many techniques he could make. Then, after full 6 hours had passed, Ryu simply thrust his sword and stopped. He didn't retrieve his sword, but instead kept it in the same position. His eyes were all focused on the tip of the blade, sweat appearing on his forehead. After a few seconds of staying in that position, his eyes wavering but completely focused on the pointed edge of the blade, Ryu muttered in a shaky tone; "Fireball." A ball of pure flames appeared the instant Ryu finished his sentence. Its size and flames, however, were much smaller and weaker than normal. But, the fireball didn't appear near his hand. Instead... it appeared right in front of the tip of the blade. Ryu's eyes widened at the sight of that fireball, and he felt like his heart would explode any moment now. 'It worked!' He thought happily, his eyes burning with excitement. Although the fireball was weaker than usual, this was still a huge achievement. Ryu tried countless times to make his fireball appear anywhere else besides in front of his hands, but he was never successful, until now. Ryu thought this new discovery would increase the techniques he could make, and his unpredictability would soar through the heavens. No one would expect a fireball to appear right in front of a sword, after all. 'My control of this ability is probably not that high yet, but with time, that fireball would be as powerful as when I normally use it!' Ryu thought excitedly, and the fireball shot forward, making a rather pitiful explosion. Ryu didn't stop and immediately continued his training. He swung his sword repeatedly, perhaps hundreds of thousands of times, and occasionally, a fireball would shoot out from either the sword's edge or the tip. The fireballs were, at first, pitiful, incomparable to when Ryu fired from his palm. But as time passed, the size of the fireballs increased, and their flames became stronger and stronger. Eventually, when a few hours had passed, the fireballs were now almost the same size as when he threw them from his hands. Ryu didn't celebrate, or anything like that. His mind was entirely focused on training as if the fireball increasing in strength was something normal, something to be expected. Ryu swung his sword again, the speed he was swinging had increased, and with time, he was able to completely incorporate the fireball skill into his swordsmanship, with every few swings or so causing a fireball to appear. Then, after 2 hours, Ryu suddenly ducked, as if he was dodging an attack. Then, he thrust his sword at a disgustingly fast speed. At the tip of the blade appeared a fireball that shot forward at where he was aiming at it. Ryu ducked to the side and sent a lightning-fast kick to what was behind him. Then, he moved his body in a weird way before throwing a powerful jab, with a fireball following soon after. Ryu kept dodging, blocking, and attacking. His movements were odd, it was as if Ryu was currently fighting someone. In truth, this was called shadow fighting. It was where someone would train and fight as if there was an opponent. Although the room was entirely empty, Ryu didn't see it like that. In his view, there really was someone- no, not just someone, but 2 people- in the same room. These 2 beings were unleashing attacks at an incredibly fast speed. One used kicks and punches, while the other used an invisible sword. They were Comby, and Tokugawa. Despite both of them being dead, they were well and alive in Ryu's vision. They attacked with full power as if they were truly there. At some point in the training, Ryu had begun to unconsciously shadow train, and was not the least bit surprised by the appearance of these two, as if it was natural. Ryu ducked, dodged, swung his sword, threw a jab, used a multitude of martial arts, and used his fireball skill. All of them were incredibly precise and perfect, far better than Ryu was just a few hours ago. With every passing moment, Ryu's movements would get smoother and more experienced, and his attacks would become more precise. Slowly, Ryu forgot about the timer and his upcoming match. He kept focusing on the 2 figures that kept on trying to kill him. To Ryu, they were entirely real. When they landed a hit on him, Ryu felt pain, even though they were just imaginations of Ryu. Every time he killed them, they would be brought back, better than before, as if they had adapted to Ryu's attacks. Tens, hundreds, maybe even thousands of times, Ryu had managed to kill them. But they were restless, unable to truly die. Time flowed at a fast rate. An hour, then two, then five, then ten hours. Ryu just kept on fighting, constantly improving with each passing second. As time passed, Ryu had become completely oblivious to the notifications of the system; [Lesser Skill [Lesser Skill [Lesser Skill [Lesser Skill [Lesser Skill...] ------- [DING! Congratulations! You have gained the skill [Name: One with the Sword Type: Passive Skill Level: 1 Description: The sword is the mind. When the mind is right, the sword is right. When the mind is not right, the sword is also not right. He who wishes to study the sword, must first study his mind.* *Your mind and body had become one with your sword. Your sword is now akin to your limb and would follow every movement perfectly. Attack speed will increase by 2 times when using a sword.]