Chapter 51. Rank 6 — Part Five

Slowly, my consciousness returned. I opened my eyes and saw a stone ceiling.

Oh… when did I fall asleep?

The memories of losing consciousness rushed back all at once.

Damn. What happened? Why did I feel that hellish pain?

I tried to move. Everything seemed fine.

"Oh, you're awake," Rem’s voice came from the side.

She was sitting not far from me.

"What happened?" I asked, still not fully understanding what had occurred.

"Actually, I should be the one asking that," she replied. "What happened to you? You were just standing there, silent. Then your expression suddenly changed, like you were in terrible pain… and you just collapsed, unconscious."

"I don’t really know myself," I answered. "I just felt pain in every part of my body."

"And how do you feel now?" Rem asked.

I stood up, moved my arms and legs, and even jumped.

And that’s when a small problem appeared.

I had only meant to jump lightly—not launch myself almost three meters into the air.

"I think I’m fine," I said, forcing a smile, trying to look like everything was perfectly normal and that I had absolutely nothing to hide.

Of course, I couldn’t say that I simply misjudged my jump because of my suddenly increased physical strength. To be honest, I felt far better than before. Almost too good. My body felt overflowing with power, like energy was desperately searching for an outlet. I wanted to destroy something, to test my limits…

No. I can’t. I need to keep myself under control. This is just excitement from the sudden increase in power.

"So, how many free attribute points did you use to get stronger?" Rem suddenly asked, like a bolt from the blue.

Damn. How did she even know that?

"What are you talking about?" I said, trying to look like I had no idea what she meant.

"Fine. If you don’t want to say it, I won’t push," Rem replied. There was a hint of disappointment in her tone.

"Five hundred thousand… a little more than five hundred thousand," I finally said.

"You used five hundred thousand free attribute points?" she asked again.

"Well… on each," I answered.

"On each?" she clarified.

"Yes. Strength, defense, and speed. Five hundred thousand each," I said.

She fell silent for a moment, then asked in a different tone,

"So you used more than one and a half million free attribute points at once to strengthen your body?"

Her voice was clearly disapproving.

"Yes," I replied.

What else could I say but "yes"?

She looked at me with obvious judgment.

"And how was it?" she suddenly asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked, not immediately understanding.

"How did it feel when you used more than one and a half million free attribute points at once to strengthen your body?" she asked.

Ah. That’s what she meant. The sensations before I lost consciousness came flooding back.

"At first, it felt good," I began. "Almost like leveling up."

Then it felt like my entire body was being pierced by tiny needles. Millions of tiny needles—every part of my body.

I paused for a second.

"The pain kept increasing until I just lost consciousness. That’s it. You saw the rest."

"That’s about what I expected," Rem said.

"What?" I asked. "You know why it hurt that much?"

I really wanted to know. I absolutely did not want to experience that again.

"You don’t actually think free attribute points are just numbers in your status window, do you?" she said. "When you use them, the system changes your body. When you spent one and a half million points, the system rebuilt your body to match those values. In just a few moments, your body was altered far too drastically."

So if she was right, this was entirely my own fault. Physically, I became nearly a hundred times stronger in just a few seconds. No wonder it hurt so much.

"So if I want to avoid that kind of hellish pain in the future, I should only spend a thousand or two thousand points at a time?" I asked.

"No," Rem said. "Now you can spend a hundred thousand, a million, or even two million at once if you want. Though I wouldn’t recommend two or three million immediately. But one or one and a half million is perfectly fine."

"What?" I said in shock. "I really don’t want to feel that pain ever again."

"You won’t," Rem replied calmly.

"But I did feel it when I spent one and a half million points," I protested.

"That’s because you were far too weak to begin with," she explained. "Your stats increased by dozens—if not hundreds—of times compared to before. All at once. That’s why it hurt so much."

"Now, even if you spend a million points, you’ll only become about twice as strong. The sensation will be completely different. Not pain—more like a pleasant feeling."

Oh. Now I understood.

That really was much better.

"Oh, I need to ask one more thing. How long was I unconscious?" I asked.

"About thirty minutes," she answered.

"Oh, that’s less than I expected," I said.

"There was no reason for you to be unconscious for long," Rem explained. "Your body changed in just a few seconds. After that, your brain simply rested, recovering from the pain."

"Physically, you’re completely healthy. That’s why you didn’t stay unconscious for long."

"If you’re feeling fine, I prepared this for you. You should use it," Rem said, gesturing to the side.

I looked over. There were two buckets and a large basin.

What did that mean?

I looked back at Rem, confused. She averted her gaze.

"You should probably wash up a bit," she said.

"What? Wash up?"

I looked down at myself.

Well… I was in rags, but—

Damn. I completely forgot.

All my clothes—already torn—were now soaked in blood. My blood. It had already dried. Even my skin had dark brown stains in places.

So yeah. I was covered in dried blood.

Damn, why didn’t I notice this earlier? We’d been here for hours.

I looked at Rem. She had fought too, but she looked neat and clean.

"Thank you…" I muttered awkwardly.

"When you’re done, the food will be ready too. Come eat," she said, then walked away.

I quickly found some clean clothes. Well… relatively clean. Old and torn in places, but still much better than what I was wearing. Those clothes were completely soaked with dried blood and sweat. They’d probably start smelling soon—if they hadn’t already.

I walked over to the basin and buckets.

Oh. Good thing this place was enclosed on three sides. All that was left was to close the screen—then no one would see me. At least some semblance of privacy.

I washed myself quickly and thoroughly, as best I could. There wasn’t much water, but I couldn’t complain. I washed away the blood, dirt, and sweat, feeling a little better.

When I stepped out from behind the screen, I felt awkward moving forward. Why hadn’t I thought about this earlier?

And then I remembered something else.

There’s no toilet here at all.

Normally, I just went out into the forest when I needed to. That was it. Even the thought of doing something like that here, in the training room, felt absurd. No way. I wasn’t even going to think about that.

But the real problem was different.

Rem and Sherial couldn’t leave this place on their own.

If they needed to… I could teleport them outside. Anytime. That was logical. Simple. Just teleportation.

But how was I supposed to say that out loud?

The words sounded fine in my head, but imagining myself actually saying them in front of them was unbearably awkward.

Alright. Not now.

I’ll think about that later.

Enough. Better focus on something else.

Alright… status window.

Time to see what changed.

[Status]

Name: Alisar
Level: 160
Experience: 4,674,553,339 / 7,000,000,000
Rank: 5

HP: 15,301,190 / 15,301,190 (+15,056,100)
MP: 80,840 / 80,840
Strength: 507,595 (+501,870)
Defense: 505,639 (+501,870)
Speed: 516,885 (+501,870)
Intelligence: 2,550
Magic Power: 2,545
Magic Defense: 2,989
Free Attribute Points: 0 (-1,505,610)

Skills:
Swordsman (Rank 3)
Berserk (Rank 2)
Poison Resistance (Rank 5)
Reinforced Stomach (Rank 2)

Special Skills:
• Training Room (Rank 4)
• Alchemy (Rank 3)

Whoa… now that looks impressive.

Over fifteen million HP.

Strength. Speed. Defense.

Damn. I really did become strong.

Could I handle that monster now? That giant abomination?

No… probably not. But one thing is certain—next time, I won’t look this pathetic. And I definitely won’t be knocked to the brink of death by a single hit.

Yes. Next time we face that monster, it will be different.

Although… if I’m being honest, the current plan doesn’t even include me in the fight.

And that’s a problem.

Alright. I’ll get my chance to test my strength sooner or later.

Definitely.