New Experience

While Ralf was receiving his punishment for his failure, Michael and Tiffania were celebrating their success, even if the mission hadn't gone exactly as planned.

After the duo had escaped from the burning Cendri and gotten a good distance from it, Michael was forced onto his knees in front of Tiffania to accept his punishment. His complete disregard for the innocents in Cendri had bothered her, and it didn't need to be said how disappointed she was that he still didn't seem to actually care about the people he'd affected.

So, after they'd had a long, long talk, in which neither could find common ground on this subject, she punished him... With a flick on the forehead.

...

Yep... It couldn't be understated though, that flick stung for like, two seconds!

Anyway, after they'd escaped Cendri, they'd kept to themselves, making sure that they weren't being tracked or followed. And after a couple days of walking, they reached a small town South West of Albion's capital city, called Chasata.

This was actually the first time Tiffania had visited a town in many years(Barring Cendri, but that didn't really count...), so she was visibly trembling in excitement. Michael only realised his mistake when she grabbed his arm and happily skipped into the town centre where a couple stalls had been set up.

Crappy, most likely-fraudulent jewellery vendors, unhygienic roasted meats, second-hand clothes... Despite the fact that Michael made his doubts known, Tiffania was undeterred, making like an American tourist and taking too much interest in literally everything...

She was fooled by the jewellery vendor, she ate that peculiar smelling meat with gusto, and she purchased a tower of second-hand clothes that may or may not still have the blood of their previous owners marring them... But throughout it all, Michael couldn't bring himself to rain on her parade.

Just seeing her enjoy herself like that was money well spent in his opinion, even if he doubted the quality of the goods he'd ended up having to buy for her. Nonetheless, the day soon ended with the duo buying a room at an inn, both exhausted by satisfied with the time they'd spent in Chasata.

He throws himself onto the double bed and watches as Tiffania tries on the various clothes and jewellery she bought. And yes, it was her that demanded they have a double bed, apparently not wanting to change the sleeping arrangement they'd had in the cave... Not that he was complaining of course.

So, while Michael held her hand, Tiffania drifted to sleep, allowing him to finally check up on Book of Commoners.

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Name : Michael Hunt

Rank : Common

Stats :

Strength : 15

Agility : 23.3 > 30.6

Intelligence : 15 > 16

Abilities :

[Gandalfr] : Enables user to utilise any weapon at two ranks above their current proficiency while granting them the knowledge necessary to use them. While wielding a weapon, temporarily gain +100% in all stats.

[Language Comprehension] : Enables user to understand all spoken tongues, and increase the rate of which they learn reading and writing.

[Basic Mana Manipulation] : Allows user more control over his magic, spells, and some abilities. Mana efficiency and control of power is increased.

[Pain Tolerence] : Allows user to endure great amounts of pain with little to no negative effects as a result.

Affinities :

[Lesser Water Affinity], [Lesser Fire Affinity], [Lesser Lightning Afffinity], [Lesser Darkness Affinity]

Spirits :

Shadow Shaman : Lvl MAX

Slark : Lvl MAX

Riki : Lvl 8 > 18

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Yeep, his Agility was soaring, which wasn't really a problem, but it left his other stats falling way behind. By the time he got the Intelligence gain Skill from Silencer, he'd probably be as fast as the Flash or something!

His Riki Spirit's level was nothing to be scoffed at either, despite the fact Cendri was destroyed, he hadn't actually done all that much... Killing hundreds of low-tier guards, sure, but he'd only actually killed a couple Dragon Knights, and he highly doubted that the people the berserk dragons killed contributed to his EXP gain.

Indeed, there were only a couple of levels left until he maxed out his Riki spirit, which would hopefully pave the way for higher tier spirits.

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Spirit : Riki

Level : 8 > 18

Abilities :

Dagger Specialization (Rank 3) : Massively increases speed of user's growth when using daggers of any kind.

Smoke Screen (Rank 4) : Throws down a smoke bomb, silencing enemies and causing them to miss attacks.

Blink Strike (Rank 4) : Allows user to teleport behind an ally or enemy.

Tricks of the Trade (Rank 4) : User disappears for a short duration, attacking the backs of nearby enemies throughout the duration. Once over, user reappears where he had previously been standing.

Cloak and Dagger (Rank 3) : User fades into the shadows, becoming invisible. Attacking the backs of enemies grants bonus damage based on the user's Agility. Becomes visible when attacking or attacked, cannot go invisible while enemies are observing user.

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Michael grins as he looks at his Riki spirit's status. Compared to his strength back in Cendri, he'd probably be able to wipe out the dragon knights without too much difficulty... His main problem of not being able to reach them was gone since he maxed out his Blink Strike, and with Tricks of the Trade maxed, it didn't matter how much they threw at him, he'd be able to avoid it simply by using this ability.

The maxed-out Cloak and Dagger was by far the biggest improvement however, the fade time(time since being seen and being unable to turn invisible) had lowered tremendously, and the Agility boost when attacking the flanks of enemies would undoubtedly be deadly, especially when combined with his ridiculous Agility stat.

He hadn't yet had a chance to use Smoke Screen, but the increased radius and duration would cripple any unmounted or manoeuvrable mages with ease. All in all, Michael would consider himself an absolute mage killer.

With that done, he checks on Rhasta and thanks the troll for letting him use his Serpents in Cendri, and tries to see if Slark had returned yet from the ocean... Only to find a fresh message written in the beach sand, "I ain't no slave, hairless monkey!"... The fact that Slark made sure to write his rough dialect in English amused Michael slightly, not even to forget the fish's taunts, but this was this and that was that...

With a sigh he closes the book and allows it to disappear, wondering if he and that slimy prick would even speak on polite terms. He doubted that Slark knew what polite meant, but he could dream, couldn't he?