It was peculiar. Despite the fact he had been punched in the face, the old man didn’t react at all.

“I guess I could say ‘ow’ if that would make you feel better?” The old man pushed my hand away as he stood up. “If you want to punish someone, why not go after the one who caused this whole situation?”

“And who’s that?” It was difficult, but I held back my anger as he walked away. It wasn’t like my attack had any effect at all, so a follow up was useless.

“Bael. He’s the one who sneaked into the world, the one the cult follow as their god.” The old man sighed and turned to face me. “He has called your friends over to coincide with his awakening, so all you need to do is speed it up a little. If you break him out early, it won’t be long before you see your friends again.”

“Wait, so I don’t have to wait for a thousand years? Why even mention it then.” I spoke through gritted teeth as I glared at the old man. “Are you just trying to get me angry or something?”

“Well, not really. It will be extremely difficult to speed up his awakening by any significant margin. A thousand years is the baseline.” The old man turned and walked towards the wall. “The prediction is based on the best possible case scenario, but worse could happen. The ripples might even reach your original world. Bring all the saints together, gain strength, then think about fighting a god.”

“Fine.” His suggestion was a good one. If this ‘Bael’ character was behind everything, he had to pay for it, no matter how long it took me. “Are you going to send me back?”

“Not for a while, no. It will take at least a year for your soul to reform.”

“A year? What if they do something while-”

“It doesn’t matter, that’s how long it will take.” The old man lost his temper and turned back to me. “It should be impossible for you to go back at all. The stars aligned to give you this chance, so don’t mess it up by rushing to your death.”

A year was a long time to wait, but he was right. If I tried to force my way back it would cause more issues than it solved. If he had given me a year, so I had to use it wisely.

“Well, what do you plan for me to do for a year? You aren’t going to leave me in this room, are you?” I stared around at the four walls. Whilst the room was large enough for general use if I had to stay confined in it for a year it would drive me crazy.

“You’ll have to stay here. If you leave, your soul will fade. It’s barely holding together as it is.” The old man walked to one of the walls and tapped it with his finger. A section slid to the side, which revealed a long, dark corridor that stretched off into the distance.

“Seriously?” I tried to run behind him, but he pushed me back without a glance. As I stumbled across the floor, the door closed behind him.

“I’ll send you some books. Practice your skills. A year will fly by, trust me on that.”

“Wait, can you get a message to my friends?” I called out the door creaked shut. “Tell them to watch out for the guy who shouted at the goddess. He’s the one who killed me!”

The door, which had been an inch from closing, opened slightly as the old man peaked back into the room.

“Wait, he killed you? Are you sure?”

“Well, he pushed me off a building. I don’t remember hitting the ground, so maybe your little spell pulled us away before that happened.” It wasn’t nice to imagine my death, but even if he hadn’t directly killed me, he had still attempted it. “Just tell them, please.”

“I’ll try to pass on the message.” He frowned as he stared at me for several seconds. “You stay here for a bit, I have something I need to check.”

“Wait! What does that even mean!?”

As much as I shouted for him, the old god didn’t respond in the slightest. He had abandoned me once again, but at least this time he hadn’t tried to murder me.

Or maybe he had…

There was no food or water. I had the same outfit, but all of my gear other than the staff had been left behind when he pulled me to this place. A quick calculation indicated dehydration would get me long before the year ended. Maybe the old man didn’t notice this fact due to him being an immortal?

“He’ll send some food and drinks later. He has to.” I repeated to myself as my eyes roved around my new home. The walls were bland and uninteresting and the furniture was similar. There were two chairs and a single table, which had held a full assortment of weapons on my last visit.

This time, its top was bare. The only other issue was the lack of bathroom facilities, but the old man must have planned for that. Even he would need to use the toilet occasionally, right?

… Right?

To pull myself away from my spiral of worry, I set myself a challenge. My staff had followed me, so at least that gave me the chance to run through a set of exercises. After the short lesson from Bryan had been combined with the fragmented memories of the videos I had seen in the past, a short course was created.

Pre-stretches. Important to make sure the exercises didn’t injure me.

Pushups, situps, crunches, weights. For the last one of that selection, I had to thread my staff through the chair legs to create a makeshift set of weights, but it was better than nothing.

I followed that with a series of offensive and defensive staff combinations. The varied fights I had been in had given me a window into the world of combat. Thrusts, swings, parries, counters, dodges. My staff gave me a long reach, but my main advantage could be a downside if my enemy moved into close range.

So, it would be best to work on my ability to keep them away.

Speed and skill came before power.

“Accelerate!”

The slight increase in speed from the buff would be good to keep up as much as possible. If my body moved faster, that would help my mind and reactions improve in response. The only peculiarity was my mana pool, which was stills immobile at one hundred and ten…

It hasn’t gone down?

The pool was still at the maximum amount. A quick check confirmed the buff had came into effect and that its timer was in place.

“Strengthen.”

The amount didn’t drop, but my muscles clenched as the buff gave me a boost in power.

“Buffed strike. Buffed strike. Buffed strike!”

It still didn’t go down. My heart simmered with excitement for a few seconds before it cooled off. It wasn’t possible this effect would last once my body was returned to that world. If this gift from above wasn’t made use of now, it would be a shame I would live with until my dying day.

First things first, I had to use the abilities enough to understand their effects. That was based upon total number of uses and the perception of the user. Whilst I didn’t have much faith in the second part of the equation, the first section could more than make up for it.

“Accelerate! Accelerate! Accelerate!”

The buff effect didn’t increase, but the time was reset with each use. As my shouts echoed out across the room again and again, I dashed back and forth like a madman. Maybe if my body got used to the effects of the buff, that might speed up my comprehension of the ability.

Time passed, though my perception of it dulled after the first few hours. Despite the constant movement and the shouts that rang out from my mouth, my body felt as lively as ever. No fatigue, no tiredness. My throat didn’t ache at all from the constant yelling.

A perfect place to practice.

After what felt like ten thousand shouts, the voice rewarded me with the phrase I had waited for.

**Congratulations, Accelerate has reached (beginner) proficiency. Additional details and effects will be listed in the ability window.**

My steps paused as a wide grin cracked open on my face. Before I could pull out the guild card to read my abilities, the truth of my situation dawned on me.

It had burned to ashes, along with the rest of my equipment.

“Damn it!” I smashed my staff into the floor. It didn’t leave a dent, but at least my frustration had been vented a little. If it wasn’t possible for me to see the effects directly, all I had to do was look forward to the rewards of my labors in a year.

How far will my abilities grow in that time? I can’t wait!

Once Accelerate had been increased, it was Strengthens chance to shine. After the same process had been repeated, this time with staff thrusts and strikes instead of the mad dashes from before, the voice reported my victory once more.

**Congratulations, Strengthen has reached (beginner) proficiency. Additional details and effects will be listed in the ability window.**

“Yes!”

No one saw my victory celebrations, but I did it anyway. This voice was the one thing I could rely on. It didn’t lie, or try to trick me. It hadn’t tried to murder me. Though it was just an automated announcer, it felt like a friend.

And right now, that’s all I needed.

As I continued to work on my abilities, the announcements helped me focus. From Basic to beginner, to intermediate. After that, it slowed down. Hours, days or maybe weeks passed without a word.

But it didn’t matter.

With each strike, my compatibility with the staff grew stronger. At first, it had been difficult to swing it without stumbling or catching myself accidentally, but after a short time, I could spin it around my head like an action hero. Whilst the actual gains in battle weren’t confirmed, it should give me a good base to move on from.

Transmutation was harder to increase. One of the chairs was sacrificed as a test dummy, which gave me enough material to grow it to beginner. Over time, the wasted pieces increased until the chair vanished into dust. I had tested the crafting skill, but it ignored that entirely. Those skills were locked in this area for some reason.

So I used the other chair for Transmutation practice.

I don’t need a chair... It’s not like I can get tired anyway.

After the second seat had gone, it was the table's turn. It was a difficult choice, as it would leave the room entirely barren, but it had to be done. The floor and walls were unresponsive to my efforts, and the air itself rejected my powers entirely. The table was coaxed through many tests and practice runs before it too had disintegrated into nothing.

Not long after my experiments ended, the old man returned once more.

“What the hell have you done?” He stared around at the empty room. I had been mid-way through a session of staff practice, and his arrival annoyed me more than it helped.

“I’m busy. What do you want?”

“Oh, really?” The old man shook his head and tossed a pile of books at my feet. He had brought ten in total, and their titles ranged from ‘Supporters: An advanced guide’ up to ’Monsters and you: An in-depth look’. It was difficult to hold back the mad desire to Transmute them, but I managed it.

“Thanks.” I glanced up at the man who had visited me. “Can you bring some things for me to practice on. I ran out.”

“One thing, Rook. Your body will be slightly different when you return. You won’t see it normally, but whenever you pass an advancement test you will also go through what we call a ‘reconstruction.”

“Wait, what did you do to me?” I lowered the book and glared at the man. After my extended period of incarceration, I had dropped any level of fear towards the person who could be a god. “Don’t tell me you're messing with me again?”

“Of course not, I don’t have the time for that. This is a good thing for you.” He ignored my rudeness as he stared down at me. “Whenever you go through the reconstruction, all of your injuries will heal. Your mana and stamina will also be returned to their maximum. It would be a cheat if you didn’t have to be out of combat for it to work.”

“Oh, right. I guessed there would be a catch. You can’t make things easy, can you?”

“Just be happy. This is needed for your soul to recover, otherwise, I wouldn’t have wasted my energy.” The old man huffed irritably. “I don’t know why I bother. Oh, be careful in dungeons. If you pass your advancement in one of those, you’ll still pass through a reconstruction, but you won’t gain your new skills until you leave. that’s the same for everyone, but it's worth keeping it in mind.”

“Oh, so you can’t get new skills in the dungeon from your advancement? Got it.”

“It’s not that simple, but it doesn’t matter. Technically you can, but it takes a massive surge of power to break through. You’ll never go through something like that.”

“Why even mention it then?”

The old man glanced at the empty room and shook his head. I ignored him and settled down to read the books he had provided. Now would be a perfect time for a table and chair, but that was in the past. The floor was comfortable enough as I lay down and devoured the books with my eyes.

Time passed once more. The old man returned with bags full of rocks, ores, leather and wood. We spoke rarely, but with each visit, he seemed happy with my progress. He didn’t mention the time, but it felt as though it was a few days or so between each visit. It helped me keep track of the time as I worked my way towards the final rank for each ability.

**Congratulations! Strengthen has reached (master) proficiency. This ability has now been mastered. Additional details and effects will be listed in the ability window.**

**Congratulations! Accelerate has reached (master) proficiency. This ability has now been mastered. Additional details and effects will be listed in the ability window.**

**Congratulations! Buffed Strike has reached (master) proficiency. This ability has now been mastered. Additional details and effects will be listed in the ability window.**

Unfortunately, my Transmutation had paused at intermediate. It wasn’t as easy to grind as the other abilities, but I felt as though it was only a short distance from reaching advanced…

“Oh, good timing.”

The voice made me spin around in a moment of panic. It was rare that someone would come to speak to me, and the old man always announced his visits long before he arrived when the wall opened to admit him into the room. This new voice was different, but it was someone I knew.

“Rose! Good to see you.” I smiled and lowered my staff. She had helped me in the past, if you could ignore the time she almost killed me. Either way, a friendly face was always welcome. The old man was always grumpy on his visits and barely spoke more than a few words before he stormed off.

“You reached the master rank in three abilities, but you're still not level ten. Your quite the oddity, aren’t you.”

“Is master such a good thing? It didn’t take too long, did it?”

“Seriously, you must be as dumb as a bag of rocks.” Rose shook her head as she giggled at me. “Well, I guess your passenger might have affected your sense of time-”

“Wait, ‘passenger’? What do you mean?” I tried to grab her shoulder, but my hand went straight through. Rose backed away a step and gave me a weird look.

“The woman, not sure of her name. Apparently, she’s impressed with how well you’ve done. She told me that she likes to see you-” Rose tilted her head to one side. “She didn’t want me to say that. Ignore me, I’m going crazy.”

“…Is her name… Claire?”

“Oh, look at the time. We really need to head off.” Rose glanced at an imaginary watch on her wrist. How she knew such a reference was beyond me. “The old man gave me his spare power, so I’m good to go. Your year is up, so he’s sending us back together. that’s nice, right?”

“…what do you mean by ‘year’?”