It was early in the morning, and the gleaming sun was rising in the lines of the boundless horizon. Its lustrous sunlight pierces through the silky curtains, entering a particular opened window. Within the window was a beautiful figure who had recently woken up.
Revealing a disheveled nightwear and a ruffled brunette hair was a young lady. She opened her slick eyelids and unveiled sapphire-like eyes that resembled a radiant gemstone. No emotions emerged on her face as she simply gazed forward as if looking at something.
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ā[ššØš§š š«ššš®š„ššš¢šØš§š¬, ššØš® š”ššÆš ššØš¦š©š„šššš ššØš° ššØ š š¢š š”š(šš©ššš¢šš„ šš®šš¬š).]
ā¤[ššØš® š”ššÆš š šš¢š§šš šš¦š©šš«š¢šš„ šš«š¢š¦ šš«š(š+), šš.š šššš«š¢šš®šš šØš šš©š¢š«š¢š, š.š šššš«š¢šš®šš šØš šš”šš«š¢š¬š¦š, š.š šššš«š¢šš®šš šØš šš§ššš„š„ššš, šš.š šššš«š¢šš®šš šØš šš”š²š¬š¢šŖš®š, šš«šØš§ ššØšš²(š), šš„šØš¬š-šš®šš«ššš«š¬-ššØš¦ššš(š+), ššš¢š š”ššš§šš ššš§š¬šš¬(š), ššš„š¦ šš¢š§š(š+).]
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"So that's the title of the special quest. How to Fight... How familiar." The young lady's sweet crimson lips pursed as she raised an eyebrow. She couldn't help but remember it as the words she had said before getting consumed by the virtual world of Aegis.
"But nonetheless, I'm finally back home."
The lady sighed with relief in her eyes. It has been a while since she saw the appearance of her home. After all, she had been gone for months in her humble perspective.
Anyhow, her name was Mercedes. The infamous demon fox of the fortress city and the disciple of the Paragon of War. She had trained in the virtual world to gain strength, and she did. The notification window in front of her was the proof of it.
"Though, it looks like I got a lot of rewards from the special quest. But that's to be expected."
"I was there for months and training myself to death," Mercedes muttered to herself as the memories of the training were still clear in her eyes. The blood and sweat she had sacrificed to be adequate for the finale of the Imperial Grim Art was enormous.
'Although, I'm a little bit curious about why I gained attributes larger than my current ones.'
Mercedes thought while squinting at the notification window. She had gained a lot of attributes, perhaps 10x more than her current ones. This should be expected with her coffin-bringer training, but it was in virtual reality, right?
How could virtual reality affect her real body? She didn't take notice of this during the rewarding of the first special quest, since the rewards were sensible. Even so, the rewards of the current special quest were plenty.
Her body gaining the strength of over 10 average human physique wasn't to be underestimated. She could practically do the things she had done in the virtual reality within the boundary of the real world.
To be honest, it was a little bit scary. Especially with the things she had done in virtual reality. Mercedes didn't want the circumstances of her recent experience to affect her in real life.
'Calm yourself, Mercedes.'
'You should be happy that you got 100% of what you invested in that virtual world.'
Mercedes took a deep breath and calmed herself. There was no reason to panic, and her questions should be sooner or later answered. Besides, if her instincts and mentality in the recent virtual world didn't disappear. Then, she shouldn't have problems efficiently protecting her family.
With this in mind, Mercedes could see the advantages of the situation. She glances at her pale arms which she had used to impale people and take out their hearts. The fact that she could do it now in real life was a bit scary yet exciting.
"I should check the description of the skills I have gotten."
She stared at the notification window and decided to open the tabs of the newly gained skills. Mercedes wanted to learn the current specifications of the skills. It would be good to know its limits and abilities that might affect her.
The first thing that took her interest was the passive skill, the Iron Body. It was an A-Class Skill and seems to be an impressive one with its name alone.
Opening the description tab of Iron Body, Mercedes glances at the entire detailed information of the passive skill. Her eyebrows rose with intrigue in her sapphire-like eyes.
ā<ā¼>ā
[šš«šØš§ ššØšš²(š)]
ā[šš«šØš§ ššØšš² š¢š§šš«ššš¬šš¬ šš”š š®š¬šš«'š¬ ššššš§š¬šš¬ šš§š šš®š«ššš¢š„š¢šš² ššØ š š”š¢š š” š„ššÆšš„ ššš²šØš§š šš¢šØš„šØš š¢ššš„ š„š¢š¦š¢šš¬. šš”š«šØš®š š” š¢šš¬ š§šš¦š, šš”š šš§šš®š«šš§šš šØš šš”š š®š¬šš« š°š¢š„š„ š«šš¬šš¦šš„š šš§ š¢š«šØš§. ššš«š šš§š šš®š«ššš„š. š š«šØš¦ ššØš§šš¬, š¦š®š¬šš„šš¬, š§šš«šÆšš¬, šš§š ššØ ššÆšš§ ššš„š„š¬. šš„š„ šØš šš”š š®š¬šš« š°š¢š„š„ šš±š©šš«š¢šš§šš š š š«šØš°šš” šØš š”š¢š š”-ššššš§š¬š¢šÆš š«šš¬š¢š¬ššš§šš. šš”š š©šš¬š¬š¢šÆš š¬š¤š¢š„š„ ššØš§ššš¢š§š¬ šš”š š¬š®š-ššššš šØš«š² šØš š¬š”šØšš¤-ššš¬šØš«š©šš¢šØš§, š©šš§ššš«ššš¢šØš§-š«šš¬š¢š¬ššš§šš, šš«š¢šš¢ššš„-šš„šØšš¤, šš§š š”š¢š š”-š©š”š²š¬š¢šŖš®š.]
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Reading through the detailed description of the Iron Body, Mercedes couldn't help but reveal a smile of satisfaction. This was the result of her training. A body that was akin to iron. She was proud of it despite having to suffer dozens of days through harsh training.
"Hehehe... It looks like my unnatural ability to pierce through people with my bare hands finally has its passive skill." Mercedes remembered how much she used her hands to severe anything that dared to become her enemy.
'But I need to carefully confine myself when using it. A combat ability is useful, but my reality is different from the virtual one. There are consequences and I can't kill anyone without a valid reason.' Mercedes calmly thought.
She decided to lay low for the time being and get stronger. The nation she was currently dwelling in, was the Unified Continental Government. Or Federation for short, hadn't fallen to the level of the Imperium which had encountered a world-ending apocalypse.
The nation was still at the highest of its authority and power.
Mercedes also didn't have high connections like her master, which protected her from the grasp of the Imperium. In itself, reality, she was powerless despite being somewhat powerful.
"I feel a bit irritated by this fact for some reason." Mercedes silently mumbled before continuing in her investigation of the newly gained skills. She gazes at the notification window once again and opens the description of the second passive skill.
It was none other than Heightened Senses, the B-Class Passive Skill.
"Heightened Senses, huh. I can already guess what it is. But what are the limits of the heightened senses? Will it continue to be heightened as I get stronger?" Mercedes had numerous questions, and they will be answered as soon as she reads the description of the skill.
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[ššš¢š š”ššš§šš ššš§š¬šš¬(š)]
ā[ššš¢š š”ššš§šš ššš§š¬šš¬ š°š¢š„š„ š¦š®š„šš¢š©š„š² šš”š šš®š«š«šš§š šššš«š¢šš®šš šØš š¬šš§š¬šš¬ š°š¢šš”š¢š§ šš”š š©š”š²š¬š¢šŖš®š šššš«š¢šš®šš šØš šš”š š¬šššš®š¬. šš”š š®š¬šš« š°š¢š„š„ šš ššš„š ššØ ššØš§šš«šØš„ š”šØš° š¦š®šš” šš”š š¬šš§š¬šš¬ š°š¢š„š„ šš š”šš¢š š”ššš§šš šššš°ššš§ šš”š š¦š®š„šš¢š©š„šš¬ šØš šš± šš§š ššš±. šš”š š„š¢š¦š¢šš¬ šØš šššš” š¬šš§š¬šš¬ š°š¢š„š„ šš, šš± šššš«š¢š§š , ššš± šš¢š š”š, šš± šš¦šš„š„, šš± ššØš®šš”, šš§š šš± ššš¬šš. šš”š¢š„š š¢š ššš§ šš ššØš§šš«šØš„š„šš, š¦šØš¬š šØš šš”š šš¢š¦š š¢š š¢š¬ š©šš¬š¬š¢šÆš.]
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"From my understanding, I can control the settings of the heightened senses which is a piece of good news. I wouldn't want to hear someone taking a dump from kilometers away from me."
Mercedes sighed in relief, not wanting to be annoyed by having too many senses. The ability to manipulate the settings of the skill wasn't to be underestimated. In an instant, her sight would resemble an eagle's eye, being able to see something kilometers away from her clearly.
Along with the increased hearing that might give her extraordinary hearing capabilities such as echolocation, and a sense of smell that rivaled the best of hunting dogs. Mercedes could see many things that could be used for the skill.
It was an excellent passive skill, which Mercedes deeply needed to solidify her core strength.
'It isn't farfetched to think that I have become a hundred times stronger than before. I'm not a strong human anymore, but also a skilled one.' Mercedes was a bit satisfied, but she knew that it was far from enough.
She needed to continue until she stood at the very top of reality.
"This isn't the time to be satisfied. There are more things that I can do, especially with AEGIS alongside me." Mercedes mumbled while clenching her fist. She glances at the window covered by a silky curtain and took notice of the blue sky.
Before standing up, she took a final glance at the last passive skill that she had recently received from the special quest. It was a skill that she understood but also confused her for quite a bit.
Mercedes couldn't help but wonder what it really meant, so she opened the description tab and the wide detailed information about the passive skill materialized.
"Calm Mind... Is it related to mental resistance?" She questioned before staring at the fully materialized detailed description of Calm Mind. From the information within it, Mercedes could already guess that Calm Mind was a useful skill to have.
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[ššš„š¦ šš¢š§š(š+)]
ā[ššš„š¦ šš¢š§š š©š«šØš¦šØššš¬ ššš„š¦š§šš¬š¬ š°š¢šš”š¢š§ šš”š š®š¬šš«'š¬ š©š¬š²šš”š šš§š š¬š©š¢š«š¢š. šš šš«ššššš¬ šš§ ššŖš®š¢š„š¢šš«š¢š®š¦ šØš š«ššš¢šØš§šš„ šš”šØš®š š”šš¬, š°š”š¢šš” š°šš«š š”šššÆš¢š„š² š«šš¬š¢š¬ššš§š šš šš¢š§š¬š šš¦šØšš¢šØš§šš„ š®š«š šš¬. ššÆšš§ š¢š§ š ššš§š šš«šØš®š¬ šš¢š«šš®š¦š¬ššš§ššš¬, šš”š š«ššš¢šØš§šš„ šš”šØš®š š”šš¬ šØš šš”š š®š¬šš« š°š¢š„š„ š§šØš šš šš„šØšš¤šššš šš² š¢š§š¬šš¢š§ššš®šš„ šššš«. ššØš°ššÆšš«, ššš„š¦ šš¢š§š š°š¢š„š„ š§šØš šš„š°šš²š¬ šššš¢šÆššš š¢š§ šš„š„ š¬š¢šš®ššš¢šØš§š¬. šš”š š¬šššš¢š§š š¬ šØš šš”š š©šš¬š¬š¢šÆš š¬š¤š¢š„š„ š”šš š¬šš š¢š ššØ š”ššÆš šš§ šššš¢šÆššš¢šØš§ š°š¢šš”š¢š§ šš§ š©š«šššš«š¢šØš®š¬ šš§š š¬ššÆšš«š šš¢š«šš®š¦š¬ššš§ššš¬.]
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"Similar yet different to mental resistance." Mercedes furrowed her eyebrows while looking at the description interface of the passive skill. Some of the descriptions of the two passive skills overlaped, but there was a clear distinction between the two of them.
Mental Resistance creates a defensive barrier around the psyche which protects it from harmful mental attacks. It also lessens the effects of negative emotions to not destabilize the mind.
Calm Mind, on the other hand, appears to be the same but different. It creates a barrier within the rational thoughts to not be affected by emotional and instinctual urges.
It meant that the two of them were protecting different things.
Mercedes was also relieved that she wouldn't become emotionless because of the Calm Mind and the Mental Resistance. She wouldn't want to face the combination of the two. But it seems that they have been tailored to not negatively affect her.
After confirming the passive skills she had gotten, Mercedes stood up and didn't bother inspecting the active skills. The Imperial Grim Art and the Close-Quarters-Combat were fighting arts that she understood like the back of her hand.
They had been ingrained deep within her mind and muscles, making them a second instinct for the young lady.
She walked towards the wardrobe and took out some clothing, which were still mostly the old ones. Seeing it with her lustrous gem-like eyes, Mercedes squinted her eyes and decided to go shopping on this very day.
"But before that, I need to take a hot bath."
Mercedes yawned and slowly navigated towards the bathroom. She was carrying her towel and some spare adjustable clothes. Having a hot cleansing in a tub was the best reward for her hard training that lasted for weeks.
A couple of minutes later, a sultry voice escaped the bathroom.
"I can't wait to meet Mom and Kiara." Mercedes grinned as her gorgeous figure was shrouded by dense and hot steam. She closed her eyelids and slumped back to the tub brimming with steamy water.
Mercedes finally relaxed after days and nights of tense circumstances.