Kade stood in front of his capsule for the third time, in about just as many days. The pristine chrome surface reflected his resolute face.

He’d decided on a course of action. After all, yesterday he’d had plenty of time to mull things over.

Some things, he’d realised, were worth defending. He didn’t want to engage in conflict, but it was only a small moment compared to the potential conflict that could occur. Running away wasn’t resolving his issues, it was avoiding them.

And he’d changed since that initial incident years ago. He was no longer the same person, angry at the world and the hand he’d been dealt. There were ways other than violence to solve issues.

Azrael was a new start for him and New Earth was the same, a whole new beginning. It meant he could be who he wanted to be. And he wanted to protect the things that were precious to him. Gods all know he’d lost far too many of those. Azrael – death and rebirth. They’d killed him once, but he would rise like a phoenix.

Internally he cringed as he stepped into the capsule. That had sounded cheesier than he’d thought. At least Sera hadn’t heard that.

Inside the game he was surprised to see Sera stand between the usual two sofas like a drill instructor. Her hands rested upon a wooden sword in front of her and a red strip of cloth was tied around her forehead.

“Are you ready?” she demanded.

He looked at her perplexed. “To enter the game?”

“Revenge, soldier”

“Since whe…”

“I said ARE YOU READY SOLDIER?”

“Sir! Yes. Sir!”

She glared at him.

“I mean, Ma’am! Yes. Ma’am!”

“I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”

“MA’AM! YES! MA’AM!”

“Then get a move on!”

She moved up to him and slapped him across his bottom with the flat of the blade, sending him falling into blackness. For a second he was falling, then he was not.

Azrael opened his eyes to find himself lying on his bed in the cave. He sat up. His cave was almost exactly as he left it, ashes from the fire and a small stack of firewood by the wall. The only indicator of four days passing were the leaves and branches of his bed. Once green, they had dried out, leaving the leaves brown and scratchy against his skin.

He checked his body. He was naked and his skin as pristine as the day he’d been born. All his wounds were gone and when he checked his mana pool he was glad to see that it was full. He’d sorely ignored this precious resource in his last battle and when he had tried to use it it had been too late. He didn’t have enough experience at using it in pressuring situations yet. It was something that he was hoping to rectify.

Setting his plan aside for a second he opened up his status, curious at all the notifications he’d ignored during the battle.

Congratulations!

For pitting yourself in battle with a spear you have gained a level in [Spear Arts].

[Spear Arts] (Lv.1)

advances to [Spear Arts] (Lv.2).

Congratulations!

For pitting yourself in battle with a spear you have gained a level in [Spear Arts]

[Spear Arts] (Lv.2)

advances to [Spear Arts] (Lv.3).

Congratulations!

... [Spear Arts] (Lv.4).

…

…

…

Congratulations!

For pitting yourself in battle with a spear you have gained a level in [Spear Arts].

[Spear Arts] (Lv.7)

advances to [Spear Arts] (Lv.8).

Congratulations!

For showing masterful skill in combat you have gained DEX +1.

Congratulations!

… you have gained DEX +1.

Congratulations!

… DEX +1.

Congratulations!

For pushing your speed to the limit you have gained AGI +1.

Congratulations!

… you have gained AGI +1.

Congratulations!

… AGI +1.

Congratulations!

… For Enduring past your limits you have gained END +1.

Congratulations!

… you have gained END +1.

…

Congratulations!

For Enduring past your limits you have gained END +1.

He looked at it in admiration. The stat gains were huge! It seemed the system scaled the rewards in accordance with the danger. It seemed although Exp was no longer a thing for leveling, combat was still rewarded.

Although he wondered why he hadn’t gained this much when he fought the wolf. Was it a level, or skill difference? Maybe it was fighting better equipped opponents? Or there could be other factors that he wasn’t aware of. Still, it was a lot of gains in a short period of time, though he’d have to look into a way to compact the information. Looking through the notifications like this was too tedious. He continued reading.

You have Died.

Due to your death you have lost three levels in [Spear Arts].

[Spear arts]

is now (Level 5).

Due to your death you have lost INT -1, AGI -2, DEX -2, END -3.

His felt a pain deep in his gamer soul as he saw that last one. If he lost that many stats at a low level, how bad would it get if he died at a higher level? He shuddered even thinking about it.

Seeing that the notifications ended he checked his actual status.

Status

Name: Azrael

Class: Runist (Lv.2)

Race: Human

HP: 80/80

MP: 120/120

STR: 6

END: 8

DEX: 10

AGI: 7

INT: 12

WIS: 7

Titles:

{Sinner}, {Heretic}, {Master of Status}, {Rune Master}, {God Watched}.

Unique skills:

[Status]

Skills:

Weaving (Lv.2), Crafting (Lv.2), Spear Arts (Lv.5), Mana Sense (Lv.3), Mana Manipulation (Lv. 4), Soul Sense (Lv.3).

He sighed looking at his status. Of everything that he lost nothing hurt as much as losing that point in intelligence. He’d needed that for his plan. Everything hinged on smoke and mirrors. Deception and misdirection. And for that, nothing was as big and showy as magic, especially fire magic.

Getting comfortable in a seated position Azrael pulled a thread of mana from his core. If he wanted to learn fire magic, he figured he would first have to master a mage’s staple spell – Fire bolt.

Nothing was as terrifying in a game as watching a dragon blast a huge ball of flaming instant death at you. The ‘fire bolt’ spell was basically that, except smaller.

The amount of energy that such a spell could hold was enormous. There was a reason that dragons were known as the creatures most in control of mana.

Mana was energy and fire was energy. Now he just needed to figure out how to convert it. Spinning the thread into a ball over his hand he began racking his brains.

There had to be some sort of trick, right?