Chapter 10: The Opposition

Multiple bookshelves stood tall throughout the room, widespread across each wall, stretching from corner to corner. Various books of all shapes, sizes, and colors filled them, giving off a unique sense of depth.

An atmosphere of comforting warmth pervaded the vast library, its inviting tranquility allowing for a pleasant reading experience. In a corner of the room, a lone figure sat at one of the many hardwood tables, perusing through a stack of books.

The sound of pages turning could be heard, periodically disrupting the calm silence.

However, the double-doors that served as the rooms entrance were suddenly flung open with a loud bang, revealing a stunning girl with curly lilac hair, and bright amethyst eyes. She gazed at the lone figure, her expression both expectant and smug as she made her way toward them.

"Aziel Nox, as promised, I've come to deliver your new status plate. You're very fortunate to have me, since the adventurers guild doesn't normally hand these out without going through the proper procedures."

The lone figure, Aziel, closed the book he was reading, finally turning his attention toward Eleanor, who approached him with hastened steps.

"It seems that even if it's the adventurer's guild, they still have to show us some semblance of respect."

Arriving at his table, Eleanor's eyes glimmered triumphantly, taking a seat directly across from him. She quickly rummaged through her bag, removing a rectangular silver plate a moment later. Smoothly sliding it across the table, Eleanor wore a pleased smirk, obviously satisfied with her performance.

"You're really proud of yourself, aren't you…?"

Hearing Aziel's captious remark, she furrowed her brows.

"Is it truly so difficult to show your grati—"

Before she could finish, she felt him gently pat her outstretched hand, his expression one of slight approval.

"Good job…"

His voice reached her ears, his tone lighter than anything she'd ever heard from him.

Eleanor instantly froze in place, her eyes slowly widening in shock. Withdrawing her arm, she rubbed the back of her hand as if detecting his warmth. Though it was a simple gesture, it meant a whole lot more coming from such an aloof person.

Quietly averting her gaze, she swallowed her saliva, an embarrassed but elated smile unconsciously making its way onto her face. The manner in which her pink lips curved, her rosy cheeks glowed, made her seem all the more irresistible.

"I-I see…"

Barely managing to squeak out a reply, she attempted to distract herself from the pleasant sensation building up in her chest.

Noticing the peculiar air surrounding her, Aziel nearly deadpanned. Was it really so strange to praise someone for meeting your expectations?

Deciding to ignore her, he instead focused on the status plate within his hands. A magic circle lay inscribed onto its surface. It was the location where an individual would set a drop of blood onto, thus recognizing them as the owner.

At present, they are the only artifacts that are in widespread circulation throughout tortus. Their main function was to take various parameters of a person's abilities and quantify them, including listing out all the skills that its owner can use.

Without wasting another second, Aziel bit into his thumb, welling up a drop of blood, before pressing it against the status plate. The screen glowed briefly, lighting up in the color of his mana—black and white—as it displayed his statistics.

[]————[]

Aziel Nox • Age: 18 • Male

Level: 3

Job: World Nemesis

Strength: 550

Vitality: 520

Defense: 500

Agility: 550

Magic: 530

Magic Defense: 500

—————

Skills: • Attribute Reduction • Anti-Existence—[+Counter]—[+Armor Piercing]—[+Energy Leech]—[+Negate Healing] • Skill Reduction • Skill Acquisition—[+Ability Comprehension] • Unfettered Motion—[+Successive Motion]—[+Silent Movement]—[+Motion Channeling]—[+Efficient Mobility] • Apex Constitution—[+Immense Resistance]—[+Heightened Condition]—[+Self Restoration] • Expedited Growth—[+Ability Transcendence] • Multi-Hit-Strike—[+Attack Compression]—[+Attack Amplification]—[+Penetrating Strike]—[+Supercharge]—[+Power Stacking]—[+Chain Attack] • Analyze—[+Power Perception]—[+Multitasking]—[+Thought Acceleration]—[+Clear Mind]—[+Thoughtless Activity] • Mental Pressure • Adaptive Combat • Persistence • Insight Mimicry • Perfect Magic Affinity • Tracking Evasion • Image Composition • Extreme Damage Mitigation • Language Comprehension

[]————[]

'Now what the hell is this…?'

Aziel blinked a few times, wondering if something was wrong with his vision. This kind of stat sheet was never before seen by him nor anyone else; it completely diverged from the established principles of this world.

'But I'm the damn opposition…?'

"So…? How is it?"

Tearing his gaze away from the absurdity in front of him, he calmly lifted his head, looking up at Eleanor who'd only just composed herself.

Her jewel-like eyes twinkled with curiosity, patiently awaiting the results of his appraisal. She was already expecting him to reveal it, as they had reached a nonverbal agreement the previous day—or so she thought.

"…It's not much."

His words prompted her to inch closer, bewilderment coloring her face.

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean…?"

"Don't worry about it, there's nothing to look at."

"What? Are you implying that you won't show me?"

"It kinda sounds like that, doesn't it…?"

Fed up, she moved in closer, hoping to catch a glimpse of the black and white screen. However, Aziel swiftly slipped it into his pocket before standing up, immediately heading for the door.

There was much to experiment with, not mentioning his questionable 'job', the sheer number of skills and derivatives required a complete reevaluation of his current capabilities. While demons and beastmen could potentially have stats ranging from 300 to 600, it was also their maximum, indicating that he likely wasn't even human to have such stats at Level 3.

"Y-you rascal! I was made to show you my own yesterday, but you refuse to divulge yours?"

Heels clicking against the hardwood floor, Eleanor hurried to follow behind him, a slightly miffed expression on her face.

"Have you really gotten so brash that you'd pressure me into showing you…? 'Fuck me', right? You obviously don't care."

"You…! You're shameless, a shameless man! Incorrigible!"

Aziel hummed disinterestedly. It wasn't so much that he refused to show her his status plate on the basis of mistrust, but because he found it amusing to mess with her. While he, of course, didn't trust her wholeheartedly, he'd already seen through her character from their very first encounter.

Even if she was a follower of Ehit, he knew she would keep her mouth shut. That was just the kind of person Eleanor Von Saville was.

"Get back here right this instant, Aziel Nox!"

******

Arriving within a tree line outside of the estate, Aziel removed the status plate from his pocket, examining the description of each skill carefully. He had eventually shaken Eleanor off his trail, and left with the excuse of 'going for a walk'. This was precious time he couldn't afford to waste on trivialities.

Aziel decided to first focus on his movement skill; 'Unfettered Motion', as it had a practical application. The original skill possessed the ability to fluidly move around in any environment or conditions, even allowing feats such as kicking off of any/all surfaces including intangible and ever-changing surfaces.

In essence, it was a skill that enabled him to move with complete ease on land, air, or water, without the restrictions of any binding effects, acceleration, or inertia.

With that in mind, he lifted his foot, positioning himself as though he were walking up a flight of stairs, and stepped forward with the intention of moving upward.

'Oh…I might be onto something…'

Unsurprisingly, his foot stayed in the air even with the added weight, standing atop it like solid ground, reminiscent of the time he stood on water. Pushing himself off the ground, he wobbled momentarily, stabilizing himself after a few seconds.

At this moment, Aziel's body was completely in the air with no support.

Licking his lips, he suppressed the smile threatening to split his face. No matter who they were, what individual didn't want to try flying or standing in the sky at least once?

'That's some cool ass shit…'

With casual strides, he walked through the air, giving off a unique feeling of incongruity. Jumping, dashing, spinning, it didn't matter, he remained elevated, only landing back on solid ground when he desired to.

As he'd initially expected, he was also capable of moving up the side of trees, defying gravity in the most astonishing ways. What shouldn't have been possible was achieved effortlessly.

He spent the rest of the evening testing out his recently discovered skills, only stopping when he discovered Eleanor searching around the estate alongside her servants.

'The hell am I, your boyfriend…?'

Aziel shook his head with a sigh, deciding to return a bit later.

Only a few days remained until it was time to leave, thus kicking off the prelude of his journey.