Everything in the world had a side effect, but it was never expected for such an Item to possess one. The Blood Flask had managed to restore his condition to a stable state that allowed him to move and pulled him away from the cold grasp of death, yet it forced him into a deep but brief slumber. Since it was a single use item, it vanished from the system's [ITEMS] tab the moment it was consumed.
By the time Cloud awoke, the next morning had already arrived. His vision was blurry at first, struck by a dim light that still felt harsh to his newly awakened eyes. He raised a hand to shield his face before slowly crawling toward the room without paying attention to his surroundings. He pushed the door open and stepped inside with lingering morning fatigue. Soon, he sat on the bed and collapsed flat onto the soft surface.
It felt entirely different from his makeshift carton bed and gave him an overwhelming sense of comfort, almost like metaphorically resting upon the clouds themselves.
Come to think of it, clouds had always been used by people to symbolize the tranquil beauty of nature, peaceful or joyful days, and a distant serenity drifting high above the world without concern for the chaos below. But Cloud's life could not have been further removed from that meaning. There had never been anything tranquil about it. His days were reckless, dangerous, and often absurd, filled with mental and physical struggles he could barely survive and problems that never seemed to end. Comfort had never been a part of it, and peace even less so.
If anything, the name felt like a quiet irony the world had chosen to play on him, because nothing about his life resembled the gentle stillness people imagined when they looked up at the clouds.
…Well, that was off topic. He was already accustomed to that.
Cloud grimaced.
'Damn, I woke up to overthinking. Quite the morning.'
He was slowly recovering from the lingering exhaustion of the morning, at least. The young peasant looked toward the glass wall in his room and brooded, recalling his disgraceful defeat yesterday. Considering the fact that he had fought against a Draconic God in a Knight form, the acknowledgement he received was enough to regard it as a graceful defeat instead.
To be honest, he did not regret it one bit. If anything, the fight had given him something far more valuable than victory.
Cloud had finally understood why his skill kept failing him. It was not the skill that was flawed, nor was it weakened despite being only Level 1. The flaw lay with him. Every time he used it, the flames reacted violently and barely stabilized before he hurled them outward again. He had been forcing the ability to function instead of properly controlling it. The devoured energy was meant to be compressed, contained, and shaped before release, but he had been treating it like a crude counterattack.
What he lacked was simple and painfully obvious: control, and the patience to maintain it even under pressure.
But the fight had revealed far more than that. His entire approach to combat had been clumsy from the very beginning. Every movement he made was rough, unbalanced, and driven purely by instinct rather than knowledge.
He possessed no real sense of timing, positioning, or how to properly read an opponent's actions. The Devouring Crown had not even needed to move in order to overwhelm him. Ignivar had simply remained where it stood, breathing fire lazily while Cloud struggled merely to survive each exchange at first. Looking back on it now, the truth was impossible to ignore. He was completely untrained as well.
His greatest mistake had been his dependence on a single advantage. The entire battle had revolved around Devouring Combustion, and the moment Ignivar altered its approach, that reliance collapsed instantly. When the dragon transformed into the Draconic Knight and ceased using its breath, the battlefield shifted entirely. There were no flames to devour, no energy to convert, and suddenly the skill he had relied upon became useless.
That moment alone proved something important. If an opponent could remove the condition that allowed his ability to function, then he had nothing left to rely on. It was a harsh realization, but also a necessary one if he ever wished to improve.
This was the exact reason he had wanted Ignivar to become his battle mentor, but the request had been rejected without hesitation.
Furthermore, since his entire progression pathway depended on beasts, Cloud understood that it was about time he began searching for other creatures to tame.
Unfortunately, that would be an extremely difficult task for him at the moment. Doing so would require venturing into Portals, to which he currently had no access. In addition, beasts were far rarer to encounter than monsters, which existed almost everywhere.
Regardless, he would eventually have to make progress toward resolving that issue.
He facepalmed, trying not to recall the extent of his own foolish display.
"I really need to improve my combat efficiency too, not only my skill mastery… Oh, that reminds me!"
Cloud suddenly remembered the training schedule introduced to them yesterday by Instructor Chris. He quickly searched for his phone to check the time. It was already 10 a.m., which meant curfew was over, and in the next hour, training would begin.
Of course, he had remained adamant about not participating, but after yesterday's battle, attendance had become very much compulsory and even important to him.
Perhaps he would be able to learn a thing or two during that time.
He looked down at himself after finally regaining some peace of mind.
Noticing the numerous bloodstains, the rough tears in the tracksuit, and the suffocating smell clinging to it, Cloud concluded that a very thorough bath was necessary before he ate anything.
He would also have to find a way to dispose of the tracksuit since no evidence could be left behind.
On the other hand, his thoughts returned to the matter of eating.
Strangely enough, he did not feel hungry at all, despite the fact that he should have awakened with severe hunger gnawing at his stomach.
Instead, he felt nothing at all.
Cloud stretched and rubbed his temples.
'Huh. Is this also because of the Blood Flask? Just how many things does that dragon have in store…?'
Briefly considering the idea of simply killing the Draconic God and stealing all its loot, he snorted at his own thoughts.
Truly, he was beginning to dream far beyond reality, perhaps because smashing his head against the cave wall had caused serious damage to his brain.
Nonetheless, every problem had a solution, no matter how high the wall appeared.
Sooner or later, he knew light would come, and perhaps sooner than expected, since the system and this Ability had already opened a door for him.