21 Chapter 21: Grinding Skills and the Confrontion

'Alright, system, explain how I should level up this Arcane Thief class and unlock better skills,' Axel asked the system. All this class system was quite and confusing to him.

Thankfully, the system's response was clear and quite detailed.

[When you unlock a skill, a certain amount of information on how to enhance it becomes accessible to you. Further information will become accessible as you enhance the skill using the existing methods.

For example, when you unlocked your skill 'Presence Reduction,' you have unlocked the basic information to enhance it. Once you progress, further information will be unlocked.

As for unlocking the skills, there are several ways to do it.

1) Unlocking the skills that you already have. For this, you just need to use that skill and you will unlock a limited amount of information on how to further enhance it. This is how you unlocked your Presence Reduction and Blending. 

2) Unlocking the skill by learning it from other sources. For example, if you learn invisibility from other sources, you will unlock the Arcane Thief Invisibility. 

3) Skills can also be unlocked by performing specific actions related to that class. For example, for your Arcane Thief Class, the main action you will have to do is steal, along with some other actions. The more you steal, the more skills you unlock. The more difficult the task is, the better skills and better information you will unlock. 

The Class will progress the more skills you master. Thus enabling you to unlock a new class.]

Axel's eyes glazed over as he processed the words.

"The more I steal… the more I progress?" He murmured. Was this a dream? It's like you're getting sponsored to do what you love to do and get better at it along the way. 

Right now, he had four options: 

1)Train in the skills he had unlocked.

2)Try unlocking the Skills he already had by using them.

3)Try stealing some things to unlock

4)Try unlocking the skills by learning them from other sources.

After his last experience, and with his body's current condition, he doesn't really want to risk getting caught once again. So, the third option is out. As for unlocking the Skills he already had, he doesn't know what skills he already possesses. So it will be like blindly shooting a target. 

Learning from outer sources to unlock and then start making progress… it'll be taking too much time. 

So, it'll be best to just learn what he has already unlocked for now. He already has a lot on his plate as it is. 

Axel sat down and accessed the information he had on the skills he had unlocked. 

Since this was the basic information, there were physical and mental exercises that'll help him along with tips and tricks in both the skills. There were body movements and maneuvers which he hadn't thought of himself as well. There was even a diet plan he had to follow which included magical ingredients he didn't know about.

Aside from the practical part, Axel was already feeling like he had progressed just by reading the basic tips, tricks, and techniques. 

"Hot damn..." Axel was overwhelmed. This information was gold. That was just a figure of speech since this is much more precious than any amount of gold. Especially for a thief. 

'System? This is not even all the information? Then what am I getting after I progress?' He asked the system. He couldn't imagine what else could be better. 

[There are potion recipes, rituals, breathing exercises, etc, to be unlocked that'll help prepare your body to channel much better and more potent magic so that you can be prepared for the advanced aspects of many skills. Then you will unlock the advanced techniques. You have a long way to go.]

'Woah…'

Axel didn't understand everything, but he understood one thing clearly: This is going to be awesome!

"Let's get started then,",

He began with the skill 'Blend': To blend in the surrounding.

He first performed some of the basic exercises, the ones he could perform with his physical condition. 

He then began to practice the movements that were described following the images in his mind. 

It was quite painful and he couldn't focus well. 

[Congratulations. You have unlocked the Skill: Pain Tolerance.

A true thief can be silently near all the pain in order to not get caught and complete his theft. Increases the tolerance to pain. 

Current progress: 57%]

"....?" 

Axel looked at the 57% bar on the interface in wonder. It was so much higher than his other skills. That's right, pain had been his constant companion throughout most of his life. Heck, he had even taken on the most torturous spell without losing. Then why is he getting put off with his current pain? 

"Damn laziness," he muttered. Axel realized that he was just being lazy and not taking this training seriously. Is it not important enough? Well, of course, it is. It can save his life at a critical moment. 

So this time, he just gritted his teeth and made his body move. 

This time, he could focus much better. Soon, he fell into a trance which he calls the Zone.

It was a mysterious experience. Closing his eyes and following the movements in the images, his originally crude and practical movements seemed to gain much more grace and finesse in real-time.

[Progress: 10 -> 15%]

But he soon had to stop since it looked like his body had had enough. 

He decided to try out a mental exercise that was common in both 'Blend' and 'Presence Reduction' skills. He sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes. 

He closed his eyes and made his breathing even. Words floated in his mind as his mind started to calm and he followed them. 

"Remain motionless, reduce to zero the amount of unnecessary extra effort."

"Free of everything that hinders or oppresses you. Let go of all of your worries and burden."

"Completely relax mind and body. Slightly open your arms laterally, turning our palms slightly upwards."

"Direct the head in a straight and natural frontal-upward direction so as not to restrict the flow of breathing."

"Sense the surroundings. To Blend in, you must be aware of your surroundings first."

"Make sure to….

…

The instructions continued, and Axel followed all the steps. As he progressed, he started to feel a slight pain in his body, meaning that his magic was indeed moving, albeit in small amounts.

After he was done, the results were quite good. 

[Progress in Blending: 15%->21%]

[Progress in Presence Reduction: 15%->17%]

'This is good,' thought Axel. This exercise was common in both the skills and it was also quite relaxing along with being very effective. Stealing food from great hall wouldn't be a problem anymore.

By now, he was quite spent and his eyelids felt quite heavy. But, he still had one thing left to try. 

He took out his wand and looked at it for a while. 

'System, how strong is my current bond with my wand?' he asked.

[Currently, it's quite weak.]

'Huh?' Axel's droopy eyes opened up upon hearing that. 

'The bond is very weak? Why?'

[Good looks can only take you so far, Axel. You have treated your wand poorly until now.]

"What the heck?" Axel would accept that he hadn't really gone out of his way to treat it better, but he didn't think that he had treated it poorly. 

'Can you explain?' 

[When was the last time you polished it?]

"...You need to do that?" 

He hadn't polished it at all.

[Yes. You need to treat it like a person. Preferably, like a girl. Other wands don't need such treatment, but Cherub wands are quite sensitive and have a womanly heart. It would be advisable to polish/groom it daily. Aside from this, there are several other reasons.]

[You have never praised it for its work. The time when you charged the electric zap spell to your limit, you were not the only one who was struggling. These are some of the reasons.]

"...." 

'Am I a scumbag?' 

His actions did seem quite scummy. 

"Well, I'll try to do better," he muttered. Thanking it and treating it like a woman seemed too much for his sanity at the moment, but Axel made sure to polish it before sleeping that night. 

….

Late at night, the front door of a house slowly opened and a woman slowly stepped in. The woman's beautiful face was expressionless and her posture was straight. Nothing would have seemed wrong with her if not for her gaunt face and her pale skin. 

She slowly made her way up the stairs to her room, not making any sound. Just when she had opened the door to her room she heard a voice from behind.

"So… you finally decided to show up?" Asked the voice. There was something peculiar about this voice. It wasn't loud and it didn't contain much emotion. Yet, it had this terrifying quality to it and it that made the pale woman flinch. 

"A-Andi? You're awake? Why are you up at this time of night?" Asked the pale woman. Her previously expressionless face had changed into a bright and cheerful one. But her voice sounded a bit hoarse. 

Andromeda wasn't fooled by her sister's fake smile. 

"I am awake because I have been waiting for my sister who suddenly disappeared out of nowhere. Do you think I can sleep?" She asked, still trying to keep calm and sure enough, her eyes were bloodshot and the dark circles also indicated her lack of sleep. 

If she could have felt worse, Bella did. Which was an achievement considering how bad she was already feeling. 

"Andi, I… I—" she began, her visage not looking that of a genus minister but of a little girl being scolded. 

"Don't Andi me this time, Bella! There is a limit to how absurd actions your actions can be?! You are running a country and you have a family who was worried sick that you might have been kidnapped or worse! What was so important that you couldn't even properly inform anyone?! Just tell me, was it something so urgent that you couldn't inform us, yes or no?" She demanded, her voice containing more disappointment than anger. 

"...."

Bellatrix opened her mouth to speak, but no she couldn't respond. 

She simply hadn't bothered to care about anything else. 

Andromeda shook her head in disappointment. 

"And don't even get me started on how you are enjoying... torturing children these days!" She raged.

This made Bellatrix flinch. A crack appeared in her mask. 

"Do you have ANY idea how much damage your actions have caused Axel?!"

The Occlumency shields Bellatrix had been using went down and her cheerful persona broke down like a sand castle.

But Andromeda was just getting started.

"It was already a miracle that boy had been sane after the things he had been through. 

He had already built walls around himself so high that he didn't trust anyone! He has never even talked to anyone properly and never had any real joy in his life. Neither did he ever have someone who'd care if he was tortured to death! 

'Because no one would care enough!' that's what he had answered when I had asked why he was emotionless even after being tortured. Did he not have feelings? He did! But he didn't express them because no one cared!"

Andromeda paused as she breathed in deeply, trying to calm down. She was never the one to lose her composure. But this time, she had. She was explaining all this to explain why she minded it so much if Bellatrix targeted Axel.

Calming herself, she continued in a lower voice. She was so disappointed that she couldn't even bring herself to be angry. She was just… so disappointed… so regretful...

"And to such a boy, you… said those words! For WHAT?! Your amusement? You could have easily taken the memories without saying those hurtful words, whether they were true or not," she said, her voice lowering further during the last part. 

She herself didn't know how much of Bellatrix's words were false anymore. But by now, she at least knew that she cared. In such a short time, while helping the boy gain happiness, she had come to care about him. 

It was quite surprising, considering the fact that there was no end to the pitiful patients she had treated professionally in her 10 year career. The conditions were unique and the boy had a way of drawing people in. Even without intending for it or even while consciously avoiding it. 

"H-How…?" Tried Bellatrix. She didn't know how Andromeda knew this.

"You want to know how I know this? It's because the boy sent me the memory. He had to! He was the last person you were with and then you disappear without a word! The Aurors were going to take action! He might have been scared!"

She looked at Bellatrix who had totally lost composure at this point. 

"Well?" She asked, looking for a response.

*Sniff* 

*Sniff* *Sniff*

Though whatever response she was expecting, she certainly wasn't expecting this reaction. She hadn't seen Bella cry ever since the time she found out about her savior's death.

Like a dam that had broken, Bellatrix broke down in sobs as she hugged Andromeda. 

*Sob* "Andi…" *Sob* "I screwed up, Andi. I screwed up so bad—"*sob* 

"?!?!?"

Andromeda was so surprised that she even forgot her anger and disappointment for a moment. All she could do was slowly hug her back as her weary mind finally eased after having her sister back. 

"We'll… we'll figure it out. We'll make it up to him, Bella. I'll make sure that we do."

***

A.N.: POWERSTONES...?

The plot starts from the next chapter.

What's Voldemort been up to?

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