"My stats soared!?" Normally, when one levelled up, they usually only gained a few stat points added to their stats. It was almost unheard of for someone's stats to increase by more than 10 points in just a single level up.
'What could be the reason behind this?' Harold scanned the window over and over again and after half a minute passed, he finally realized it.
"I see. Is it because I only have two stats to level up?" He murmured.
As a ghost, he didn't require things like strength, speed and vitality so those stats were permanently in the zero. On the other hand, it also meant that the stat points that were supposed to go to them would flow into the stats he did need.
"So, you mean that with a few level ups, my Intelligence can catch up with a high rank mage?" Hope blossomed in his chest… until he remembered that he couldn't use magic.
"Damn it… I should have gone to magic school." Harold muttered and looked at his status window and focused really hard.
[SP: 5]
'I got five skill points out of a single level up? Not bad.' Harold nodded; his mood having being recovered from the previous gloom.
[Recalculating SP…]
When that message appeared before him, Harold blinked and saw that the SP value started fluctuating and he panicked.
"Ah? Eh? What is going on?" Harold swerved from side to side until the SP finally settled down.
[SP: 100.]
"YOU'RE KIDDING ME!" Harold yelled, mostly in shock as he saw the value before his eyes. He truly believed that the system had started glitching out and was ready to lodge a complaint to the GMs.
'Or not, since you know, this kind of benefits me.' He smirked and started dancing around. Or tried to until he heard the familiar sound of wolves and decided to hide.
Harold was one floor below the one he had fallen from and died. And as a result, the environment was completely different from before.
Unlike the sunny haven that was the previous floor, this one was dark and gloomy and was exactly the place where ghosts showed up. Trees with withered trunks and branches loomed over the area he was in.
In this environment, wolves, bats and other creatures of the night were the most common.
'I guess I am the ghost in this scenario.' He mused as he entered a tree and squeezed himself within.
'I'll get back to the mystery of the sudden SP increase later. For now, let's analyze what skills I need.' Harold was not going to delude himself that the skill points he had was a large quantity.
'Doing that would only make me regret spending it later." He reasoned and thought about the skills he needed.
After making his decision, he scanned the environment one last time with his perception and after making sure there were no dangers, he made his move.
"[Skill Store]" Harold said as he squeezed himself as much as possible into the tree trunk. The reason being that once one chose a skill from the store, they would immediately black out.
'I don't know whether it would still apply to me now that I'm a ghost, but better safe than sorry.' Harold said and closed his eyes.
The skill store was a unique place. The amount of skills it had ready to be learned was so large, Harold thought it might just contain every skill to ever exist.
It presented itself as simple lines of text that appeared in the user's vision. If one wanted to know the details of a skill, they could simply focus on it and it would come into view.
'For the longest time, there were always two skills I wanted to get.' Of course, he had never seen it with his own eyes since the skill store only showed the users what they could get with their current skill points but that didn't stop humans, master of information.
"If I remember correctly, Appraisal should cost 30SP, Space Magic should cost 40SP and Fire Magic should cost 10SP. Which means I should still have some left over." Harold didn't plan to spend every single skill point he had at the moment. There were some situations where the skill points one had could save their life.
Long before he had even died, he had always had his eyes on those three skills. And now, even in his afterlife, he had the chance to acquire them.
"Select [Appraisal], [Space Magic] and [Fire Magic]." Harold said and three lines of text glowed briefly before they dissolved into golden particles and sank into his body.
"Here comes the headache." Harold gritted his teeth as he prepared for the incoming headache and passing out. As a ghost, he would not yield to matters of the flesh like headaches.
A moment later, when it hit him, he instantly passed out. Turns out, his will and fighting spirit was for nothing.
….
"Ugh…" Harold groaned as he opened his eyes and saw a giant wolf with its mouth open as wind elemental particles gathered in its mouth.
'Shit.' Harold raised his hands and activated [Ghostly Manipulation] and pushed against the energy blast and forced it deep into the wolf.
"Eh?" Harold blinked surprised as the wolf exploded from its own attack.
'I didn't mean to use that much force though.' Harold looked at his hands as he floated up and grinned.
"Looks like I've become more powerful." Despite his power, there was a simple thing he forgot. And that was the fact that wolves rarely move alone.
"Awoooo!" Countless howls split the air and Harold felt the ever-familiar threat of danger on his neck. But this time…
"I'm not that scared." After all, the combined forces of the wolves would not be enough to take him out. He could feel it in his bones.
"Wait, do ghosts have bones?" That was the last thought he had as he was surrounded by canines who definitely looked like they weren't playing around.