Power Up.

Cain woke up staring at a white ceiling...

"Ugh!"

He let out a grunt as he sat up on the bed he was previously laying down on. He stared at his surroundings, taking in and mentally processing his current situation. He noticed that his senses had become many times sharper than before.

'What the hell happened?'

It took him a moment, but the memories came back to him.

'I won?!'

He could remember delivering the final blow to the {Miasma Devil}, but he couldn't remember anything after that. It was like his memories had been cut off from there. He became even more confused when he saw himself inside a room.

The room looked exactly like what you would expect from a sick bay. Due to his increased senses, the strong smell of bleach, and the bright green curtains sent very strong nasal and optical signals to his brain, giving him more than enough information for him to figure out exactly where he was. He was in the sick bay located in his department complex. He recognized its interior because he had visited it on more than one occasion...

'How did I get inside the sick bay?!' Cain thought to himself.

When he didn't see his {Bloody Katana}, he instantly went on high alert. He checked inside his inventory, but it wasn't there either.

'Someone has my weapon!'

Cain concluded in his mind that the person that had taken his weapon was most likely the person that had put him into the sick bay.

Since he was pretty injured during the fight with the {Miasma Devil}, he expected himself to be covered in wounds, but he didn't find any on his body when he checked. Even his clothes had been replaced with a set of shirts and pants given to patients staying in the sick bay. The thought of someone seeing his naked, and defenseless body instantly set him on edge. If the person had wanted to take his life, they didn't even need to do much.

'I have to get out of here, but first...'

He decided to check his status screen for any changes...

Name: {Cain Lenosi}

Level: 15.

Strength: 60.

Agility: 74.

Stamina: 0/49.

Vitality: 32.

Defense: 22.

Control: 3.4.

Perception: 2.5.

HP: 50/3,200.

MP: 0/2,100.

Magic: 42.

Resistance: Poison- 0%.

Skills: Golden blood, Mana Blade, Lightening Edge, Blade Mastery Lvl. 2, Burst Step, Metal Creation Lvl.1, Golden Severance, Metal Manipulation.

Titles: Champion of Ashur (locked).

Free attribute points: 10.

System points: 0.

{Inventory}. {Shop}.

The first thing he noticed when he opened up his status screen was how drastically his stats had increased, especially his perception and control stats. His control stat had jumped from 1.9 to 3.4, while his perception stat had increased to 2.5 from 0.5. This was a very drastic increase that he hadn't expected.

However, after scrolling through the notification logs, he realized why. Apart from gaining a whole 5 levels, he had received tons of extra stat points when he had killed the {Miasma Devil}. He had gained even more when he had subconsciously created the skill he used to kill the {Miasma Devil}, {Golden Severance}.

{Golden Severance}: Condense an immense amount of metal attribute elemental mana into a concentrated beam of world light, capable of splitting anything it comes in contact with only for a single attack, and increases attack power by 500%. The attack consumes 500MP upon usage.

Cooldown: 5 minutes.

"So powerful!"

{Golden Severance} was indeed very powerful. In a single attack, Cain could sacrifice 500MP to release a devastating strike powered with metal elemental attribute mana, increasing his attack power by 500%. It should be noted that attack power was a physical property that is proportional to the strength and mana of the host. Skills that were heavily dependent on magic primarily would have their attack power proportional to the Magic stat of the individual, while those that required physical strength would have their attack power proportional to the strength stat.

The only downside to this skill was that he could only use it once every 5 minutes. As powerful as it was, he could probably only use it once in a fight.

He had also gained a few other benefits. His {Blade Mastery} skill had leveled up, increasing his power on a foundational level.

'System, how did my {Blade Mastery} skill level up so fast?'

{Replying to host: The way most internal skills worked, for an individual to gain S.P. (Skill points), said individual would have to use the skill very frequently. For skills like {Blade Mastery}, the individual would have to improve their overall skills and comprehension in the way of the weapon}.

Only by continuous practice and increasing proficiency could the skill level up. As Cain was already proficient in welding a blade, alongside the improvement he had made during the fight against the {Miasma Devil}, it was a given the skill would level up quickly.

Cain also has another skill he didn't have previously.

'Metal Manipulation? What's the difference between this and my Metal Creation skill?'

'If it's anything like its name, then...'

Cain activated the {Metal Creation} skill and {Metal Manipulation} skill at the same time.

A golden-colored spike appeared floating above his palm. Previously, he would have been able to create it, but now, he was also able to control it without making any physical contact with it. The two skills were a very dangerous combination. Cain's lethality had been raised by several levels.

The spike spun in the air, creating sparks due to the intense amount of friction. This was a result of Cain's high magic stat. With 42 points in mana, Cain only needed to expend 3MP to create the metal spike and 1MP every 5 seconds to maintain the motion. Like a bullet, the metal spike flew out and buried itself into the wall.

BOOM!

The spike blasted a bowl-sized hole into the wall.

Seeing the power he held in his hands, Cain couldn't stop his breath from quickening.

He was excited, he couldn't deny it...

With the power he held onto now, opponents on the same level as the {Miasma Devil} would be a piece of cake.

Although Cain hated the {Miasma Devil}, he couldn't help but be grateful to it. It had proven to be a worthy opponent. Even in its death, it had benefited him so much...

Suddenly, Cain was able to hear footsteps approaching the room. Although he was without a weapon, he wasn't bothered. With his new array of skills, he was powerful enough to face any potential enemies.

The handle to the door turned, and a head popped into the room.

"Eh? Looks like you are awake!"

The person who had just barged into the room was his former class monitor, Susan.

"Susan?"

Although Cain still had his guard up, he relaxed his tense muscles a bit when he saw a familiar face.

"I'm glad to see you are all better," Susan said, looking relieved.

"What happened? Why am I in the sick bay? Are you the one who brought me here?"

"Well... It's more complicated than that. It's best if you follow me if you want a better explanation. Can you walk now? Your injuries were pretty heavy." Susan expressed her concern. There were no signs of false in her voice or mannerisms, but Cain was someone who was naturally always on his guard against others. This was due to the kind of upbringing he had. He found it hard to trust others.

"Alright..."

However, he was confident in his power. Even though he could be walking into a trap, he wasn't all too worried.

***

Cain stared at the group of people all seated before him with a complex expression on his face...

'Well... it wasn't a trap... I think?'

Cain recognized the group in front of him as the same group that left the hall with him the other day. As it turned out, they had escaped the fate that had befallen those who had stayed in the hall.

Cain also noticed that they all were armed with weapons as well.

Apart from Susan, the teacher David, the fatty Vincent, as well as the other guy he had fought the {Bladed Devil} with, Blaze, were all seated there. Aside from them, there was also a green-haired dude with a crazy glint in his eyes, a dark-haired, handsome, tall skinny dude playing with a staff in his hands, two other dudes seated together, one with icy blue hair, and the other with blond hair. Although they were both handsome as well, they had contrasting mannerisms.

The blue-haired guy seemed like the shy type, he didn't hold any weapons, but he wore a pair of fighting gloves. He did seem comfortable beside the guy with blond hair. From the looks of it, they were most likely friends, from the way they conversed with each other. The guy with blond hair was different from the blue hair guy. He had a perpetual stone-cold expression on his face. He also observed the room with eyes that seemed to be constantly taking in and calculating his surroundings. The only time the sharp glint in his eyes reduced was when he talked with the guy beside him.

The last person in the room was the weird, beautiful white-haired girl Cain had made eye contact with that day. When Cain looked at her, he noticed that she had been looking at him. As a result, they made eye contact once again.

When Cain looked into her eyes, he saw something he hadn't seen in the eyes of the others. He couldn't describe it, but the way she stared at him reminded him of someone. The look in her eyes was almost the same as the look in the eyes of a certain someone...

"I think we should start with introductions?"

David the teacher said, trying to break the ice.

"All of us here already know each other, so let those who don't know Cain please introduce themselves."

"Hi! The name's Manny!". The green-haired, crazy-eyed guy said with a grin on his face. The look in his eyes reminded Cain of those bloodthirsty mutants.

"Good day, My name... is Steve. A pleasure to make your acquaintance." The tall, dark-haired guy some theatrically.

'Do all of them have mental issues?!' Cain wondered to himself...

"I'm Hunter, this is Dan" The blond-haired guy introduced himself, and the blue-haired guy seated beside him.

"Hi..." Dan said in a quiet but sturdy voice.

'Yeah... They are all crazy. Not that I'm any better myself...'

"Evangeline."

The white-haired girl had a voice akin to the sweetest of melodies. Like an angel's whisper, her voice was truly beautiful. However, there was a hint of coldness, as well as, oddly enough, mischievousness in her voice. Still staring at Cain, she slowly let out a smile, the same smile a predator would have when it had finally found prey. The smile disappeared as quickly as it had formed, however, making Cain think he had just imagined it.

"I'm Cain."

"Hahaha! Good to see you, brother."

The fatty, Vincent said with a sly grin on his face.

Cain instantly remembered what he has told the fatty when he had split up from them.

"I've made up my mind. If we meet later, maybe I might change my mind. But for now, I prefer to move alone."

Those were his exact words, and now, they had come to bite him in the ass.

"So what do you say, you gonna join us now, right?"

Cain began to think...

While moving with a group might be limiting, it also had its pros. With people to watch his back around, he would not be in danger if he so happened to be put out of commission like what had happened the previous day. However, he couldn't bring himself to trust the group of people he barely knew.

In a split second, various thoughts ran through his mind, before he settled on the most optimal move to make then.

"Alright... I'm in!"