“By the way, perhaps you should invest a little bit of power in a passive defense skill. It would help to mitigate a bit of the damage you are so willing to sponge. And also pain resistance would help you keep going when the shit hits the fan. Only my suggestions, but it could help you a lot. Besides I know some places on the way where we can level a bit without to much risk. There are sites where elementals gather that are no big problem to wipe out. Hopefully they haven’t been farmed lately by other avatars.”

The young man beside her nodded only and brought his available skills up and searched for pain resistance because he had a strong suspicion that this skill would level like crazy in the next hours.

After a short while he found it and the cost was only 5 levels so it left him with a bit of a cushion in case of a sudden death.

Opening his character after buying the new skill he recognized some heightened skills in his elemental powers.

Name

Iranueel

Race

Human

Level

13

HP

101/200

Strenght

10/10

Intelligence

20

Energy

200

E/s

1,5

Dexterity

18/18

Wisdom

15

Stamina

200

SP/s

2,0

Endurance

20/20

Luck

14

Perception

12

Special Power

Soul Catcher

Aura scanning

Skills

Level

Exp.

Skill

Level

Exp

Spellcasting Technique

Journeyman

5%

Mathematics

Apprentice

10%

Fire

Beginner

10%

Physics

Apprentice

15%

Water

Beginner

4%

Chemistry

Apprentice

5%

Air

Beginner

17%

German

Master

15%

Earth

Beginner

9%

English

Master

1%

Mind

Beginner

2%

Latin

Basic

90%

Ether

Beginner

1%

Computer Hardware

Apprentice

15%

Meditation

Beginner

17%

Games

Apprentice

40%

Rituals

Basic

97%

Tinkering

Basic

90%

Cultures

Beginner

89%

Archery

Apprentice

25%

Myths

Beginner

27%

Swordfighting

Apprentice

37%

Spirit sense

Beginner

5%

Knife Fighting

Apprentice

11%

Arabian

Beginner

1%

Chinese

Beginner

37%

Russian

Beginner

1%

Spanish

Beginner

1%

Cooking

Apprentice

7%

History

Advanced

2%

Pain Resistance

Basic

1%

Biology

Advanced

6%

He was quite satisfied with his casting skills, but he would need to increase his knowledge in rituals if he wanted to get rid of Misako’s problem. Perhaps she knew herself a bit about it and he could learn some things from her on the way.

After searching for some defensive powers he was quite downcast because most of them were quite pricy. The only skill that he could buy was Though skin and it cost 10 levels and it only reduced any damage by 1%. That was not much and he didn’t know how that increased when he levelled the skill. So for now he had to take this on the backseat. He always wanted to keep 10 levels at minimum.

And then he began his personal hell and casted his healing spell on the wound. He knew that it would keep his abilities increasing but he cursed inwards for his misfortune.

Misako kept quiet for more than 1 hour. She watched his arm grow from the elbow to the first stages of a hand. She had watched a movie last year in which a similar scene happened.

After thinking for some seconds she remembered that it was about a hero named Deadpool and also that this guy was the epitome of profanity. Iranueel was much more sophisticated, she hoped. At least he showed such prospect.

Iranueel looked at her with a smirk on the lips and just wanted to say something.

“Shut your trap! I know this scene and if you say anything out of that movie I swear that you will regret your words. I will give your new skill quite a gain.”

Grinning the young avatar kept quiet and turned the child like hand around. And then resumed with a grunt. His skill really did gain much from it. It only reduced the felt pain by 10% now but that made the whole procedure much more tolerable. Perhaps he would get a title like Masochist after some time, but he really hoped to find a healer in the future who could make this special occasions much more enjoyable.

It only took half an hour more for him to heal the rest of his Hand back to original size and then he took a small nap to regain some needed mental sanity.

After that he checked his skills again and recognized that air, water, fire, earth and meditating each gained 3% and his pain resistance even 9%. Torture had its perks, it seemed.

‘Never mind’

He glanced over to Misako and prepared his next question with a serious face.

“I know that you lost quite some abilities the last weeks but perhaps we could exchange knowledge about rituals. My lore on it isn’t very profound, so it would be better to get some pointers before messing with your aura.”

A bit of pain crossed her beautiful face and then she smiled again slightly at him before looking back to the street.

“You are right of course. But I warn you, I only am a Apprentice myself in rituals.”

“Oh, that’s much better than myself, so I can learn many things from you, Master.”

Misako reached to him and gave him a peck on the back of his head.

“Call me Master again and I will kick your ass. It makes me feel old and if there is anything a woman doesn’t like it’s feeling ancient.”

And then she began a lecture about anything she knew about different kinds of rituals, their origin, materials needed and what personal would have to be at the place.

It helped Iranueel to get his skill to Beginner.

They drove for almost 2 hours down county roads evading any bigger streets and crossing some smaller villages and towns. Then Misako parked the car at the side of a dirt road and opened the door.

“We are here. 500 meters south of here is a place where smaller elementals gather. We can level here with relative security I hope. So move it.”