As it was still evening, Orsted brought Zarestia back to the rented house.
Being keen as ever, Orsted had sensed that Zarestia was acting strange from a few days.
Standing blankly at one place or staring into the space with lost eyes. Her eyes towards him carried strange animosity too sometimes, though he couldn't yet sense any bloodlust in them.
'Has she recovered most of her memories or is there still time?'
This was what Orsted was curious about. The chances of her turning into a mindless murderer was low, but not none. Before she recovered all her memories, he wanted her to have a closer relationship with him.
Around the level where Zarestia would consider him a part of the family. Only at this level could Orsted rest easily.
"Today's hunt wasn't very satisfying...When will you start doing that, you know...what was it again? Yeah, the bounty thing?"
"Crane's employment agency has been repaired by now. It should be possible in a day or two. We will head towards the bath-house in an hour. Keep your yukata ready."
Orsted instructed while walking into his room, planning on upgrading his template.
"Alright~" Zarestia appeared to be looking forward to the famous bath-house.
Closing the sliding door, Orsted felt at home finally. After regulating his breathing, he immediately manipulated the system.
'Add 5,000 dragon points into the template.'
[Ding!]
At the very next moment, an unimaginable amount of power was shoved into his body. For the first time, he felt his strength jump - from being able to contend with Wilhelm or Julius, to surpassing them absolutely.
'Agh...My hands..' Orsted felt his hands burn with strange power.
Before his hands were already tough and sharp. But at this moment, they appeared really like claws of a beast. Along with sharp claws, came information that made him raise his brows.
[Claw Technique: a part of the fundamental fighting style of the Dragon Tribe: Teaching of Nail, Fangs and Wings]
It was the technique that original Orsted used most of the time, barehanded. He liked puncturing a hole into the opponent's chest or the heart exactly, to finish them off. Though it gave him weird titles, it was definitely effective.
[Template Orsted: 10%]
[The host has reached his first milestone!]
[You have obtained the disturb magic and dragon gate.]
[You have obtained 1,000 years of lifespan.]
[The host shall receive 10% of all battle experience that Orsted possessed.]
[The next milestone is 25%]
Having enhanced his mind in the past few days, Orsted wasn't having any problem absorbing the information diligently. However it changed immediately once memories that didn't belong to him were submerged into his mind.
Orsted felt his vision go haywire, twisting everything he was seeing.
It belonged to the original Orsted, though only 10%. It was immense to say the least, since his experience spanned more than 20,000 years.
Only after 30 minutes did Orsted return back to reality, being able to separate himself from the memories.
'...It's immense...from tactics to tricks used against different kinds of opponents. With it, I have covered up my weakness in lacking experience too.' Though happy, he couldn't celebrate at all with his mind scrambled.
It wasn't a joke to say that if he hadn't enhanced his mind, to process information faster in the past week. Orsted would have spent a whole day lost into the embrace of a memory.
Memories make a person in their core. Though receiving only battle experience of the original Orsted, It left an effect on his overall sense of personality.
'I have to say, he really did have a bad habit of ending his opponents with a heart puncture. Now I feel like I have inherited his habit...' Orsted smiled bitterly.
Having a stronger hand to hand combat technique and experience, Orsted wouldn't need to bother using his sword or magic against weak grunts.
'Magic is really more efficient though.' Even with everything, Orsted's heart still tilted towards magic.
Having experimented a lot with his Arcane dragon slayer magic, Orsted was already capable of using wood, metal and ruby elements. With his mastery, it was still impossible to absorb abstract concepts like space, time or star elements.
After somewhat calming down, Orsted back jolted slightly hearing a knock on his door.
"Hey, are you alright?" Zarestia's voice was lashed with worry.
'I didn't make any sound though...'
A frown appeared and vanished quickly on Orsted's face, coming to a rational conclusion quickly.
Having formed a contract with Zarestia, she should be able to sense his sudden growth in mana gate. She had even found his problem with mana recovery, showing worry in the past few days.
"It's nothing. I was just training." Orsted opened the door slightly to show his clean appearance.
"But... Your mana gate just expanded like crazy." Zarestia had almost thought Orsted's mana gate was about to explode from how vigorously it expanded.
"...I'm still in my growth phase." Orsted could only reply coldly and act innocent.
"Do you think I'm an idiot!? That, that doesn't make sense still, you know? It was impressive before, but now it's almost making me wonder if you are a human..." Zarestia could even feel his spirit affinity to have improved, it made her more comfortable near him.
"I'm not a human. I'm a dragon." Would be soon, at least.
"....."
"Anyway, have you prepared your yukata and everything else? We will leave in 10 minutes."
"I'm ready...."
Slide~
Closing the door, Orsted decided to check his status at last.
[Name: Orsted] [Original name: Heil Madstone] [Template Orsted: 10%]
[Dragon points: 1,901]
[Lifespan: 1,789 years 7 months]
[Bloodline: Half human and half-divine dragon (changing)]
[Physique: 18.3]
[Mana gate: 16.1]
[Spirit affinity: 21.7]
[Physical and magical resistance: 22.1]
Techniques -
[The sword god style/ Water god style/ North god style: Saint attainment.]
[Magic: Saint attainment in all elements]
[The reincarnation technique: Upon death, the host will be sent back in time the moment you fused with the template.]
[Side-effect: Your mana will recover 1,000 times slower than usual and your existence would fall outside the natural order of this world - Your existence can still be affected by Authority wielders.]
[Dragon tribe curse: Every living being who places their eyes on you would come to either hate or fear you.]
[Arcane dragon slayer magic: intermediate level.]
[Dragon battle aura: advanced level]
[Claw Technique: a part of the fundamental fighting style of the Dragon Tribe: Teaching of Nail, Fangs and Wings]
[Dragon gate: it creates a coiled dragon shaped monument, which can absorb the opponents magic.]
[Disturb magic: Causes the opponent spell to fail.]
'With this much, fighting against Halibel wouldn't lead to certain death. Cecilus Segmunt would still be an impossible opponent with his swords.' Orsted wondered what level he reached overall.
Halibel appeared a little less menacing, since he was not a frontline fighter, but more of an assassin instead. However, winning against him still appeared hard in Orsted's eyes.
Roswaal, who was supposed to be on the same level as these beings, appeared defeatable in Orsted's eyes in hindsight. Since, he was a natural magician killer at this point.
Controlling the urge to use lifespan to upgrade his template, since it could be used in a better place.
'With [Rewrite] and this much lifespan, I could revive myself even if my body was cut in half. I just have to protect my head....'
Orsted headed towards the Bath-house with Zarestia, after checking himself.