Gabriel was desperately searching for something, anything that he could use as clothes. Luckily, night had already fallen, allowing for Gabriel to sneak near some poor guy's home. He stole some of the clothes who had been left to dry off, just a simple cloak along with pants, two shirts, shoes and underwear. Once he had put it all on, Gabriel was already feeling much warmer.
He started tearing apart the spare shirt. The tissue was wrapped around the extremities of his limbs. His fingers, his feet and his wings had all been burned by the explosion. Although he had casted Heal more than a few times, it hadn't been enough.
Luckily, the burns on his feet weren't severe enough to stop him from walking.
Gabriel looked at his new skills.
[ Fly ( lvl 1 ) ]
[ Description
Allows you to fly longer ]
[ Bless ( lvl 1 ) ]
[ Description
Temporarily improve stats of an object or a person ]
[ Sanctuary ( lvl 1 )
[ Description
Attacking or being attacked becomes permanently impossible in a chosen ten meter zone ]
He looked at his status next.
[ Status
Gabriel Everly
Level 1
Bloodlines : Dove ( lvl 1 ), Angel ( lvl 1 )
Strength 42
Agility 57
Charm 120
Endurance 53
Magic 121
Skills : Magic Missile ( lvl 3 ), Heal ( lvl 2 ), Lunge ( lvl 1 ), Stealth ( lvl 3 ), Track ( lvl 1 ), Eyesight ( lvl 1 ), Devour ( lvl 2 ), Bless ( lvl 1 ), Fly ( lvl 1 ), Sanctuary ( lvl 1 )
Stat Points : None ]
Damn. He didn't think he could win the tournament with those stats, but he would definitely get in the first ten. But that wasn't enough, not if he wanted to live. He sighed.
He couldn't do much right now because of the burns from the explosion. He had managed to heal himself until he was out of mortal danger and the burns on his feet weren't very painful. But the burns on his arms, wings and face were just too severe and too hard to heal with his skill-level.
Luckily he could still fly because of the new Fly skill he got, but grabbing and hitting were still hard on his hands. And he was maybe, just a bit sad that his face had gotten burnt. In his human body, his face had always been ugly. Not out of any inherent ugliness, but because of the constant starvation caused by his disease. Now he could finally see a healthy face, just for it to get burned.
He sighed, he still liked this better than his previous body.
He continuously cast Heal on his hands.
[ Heal ( lvl 3 ) ]
He continued casting Heal while opening the Shop. The system said it should have more options now that he had leveled up.
[ Shop
1 Stat Point : 1 Shop Point
Animal Instincts 6 Shop Points
Singing 5 Shop Points
Basic Swordsmanship 7 Shop Points
Appraisal 7 Shop Points
Shape Shifting 10 Shop Points
Meditation 10 Shop Points ]
He huffed. Why were there so many cool skills now when he had already spent all his Shop Points. Ah…
[ Heal ( lvl 4 ) ]
His hands still hadn't healed ? It's been hours already… Perhaps the bomb was infused with some kind of demonic energy to slow down healing. Whatever. He supposed he could sleep it off for just a day. He would still have nine days left, and with how fast the system boosted his growth, nine days should be more than enough.
Gabriel tried to transform into a bird again to no avail. Instead, he curled up under a tree to sleep. He gathered moss to use as cushions. His wings covered his body, acting as a blanket.
He closed his eyes, but sleep didn't find him. He shifted, hoping that a more comfortable position would get him to pass out.
He felt a light through his eyelids. He sighed. There's no way it was sunrise already, so where did the light came from ?
He opened his eyes, frowning. Another screen has popped up.
[ Quest
Pass the entrance test of the Demonic Sect
Time Limit 1 Day
Punishment Death ]
Gabriel froze. His eyes widened. He cursed in his mind. He slowly got up from the cozy nest he had made himself. The time limit changed.
[ Time Limit 23 hours 59 minutes ]
He cursed, aloud this time. Guess he could sleep later. He shifted his limbs. The pain was still there, but it wasn't as unbearable as before. Gabriel hid the ascension fruit under the tree.
He cleaned himself up before leaving again for the one of the buildings of the Demonic Sect. He hid his wings beneath the cloak. His shaggy haircut hid the feathers where ears should have been.
He walked to the main gate. The sun hadn't even risen, yet people were already waiting in line. People his age were waiting in typical martial artist robes that was so often found in the Eastern Kingdom.
The clothes Gabriel had stolen were from a small village at the border between the Eastern and Western Kingdom. His clothes were more of the typical Western pants and shirt he often saw on western peasants. It made him stick out like a sore thumb. Thankfully, his cloak hid made him just a bit more discreet.
At the gate, a man was using some kind of orb, a magical tool to appraise the candidats qi, which was the equivalent of magic.
Soon it was Gabriel's turn. While the man stared at him weirdly, surely because of his strange attire, he didn't say anything. The martial artist put his hand near Gabriel while his other hand was holding on to the appraisal tool. A number corresponding to his magic stat appeared on the orb. The man seemed impressed but let him go without a fuss before going to the next candidate.
Gabriel advanced with the rest of the people who had been let in. There was a surprisingly low amount of martial artist for the number of people that had been outside.
Was that it ? Was that the test ? It seemed very anticlimactic.
" Candidats ! " Yelled an old man in the sky. " To join the Demonic Sect you must go through this door " He pointed towards a large metal door. " , that will open in an hour. Only twenty candidates will be able to go through this door and become disciples. You must your numbers until only five are left. "
The man left without further ado.
Everyone was eyeing each other with distrust but not surprise. The Demonic Sect was notoriously known for its dog-eat-dog philosophy.
[ Quest
Kill 5 candidates ]