Since the world's evolution, the distances between cities had exploded, often multiplying tenfold. Barcelona sat eight thousand kilometers from Sora's current position, but to navigate around high-level zones and optimize his route through viable hunting grounds, he would need to cover more than fifteen thousand.
'It shouldn't take long,' he mused, watching the little bird peck at a pile of seeds while he finished his own meal.
"I should give you a proper name. Do you have any suggestions?"
The [Piou] looked up, tilting its round body to the side for a moment before returning to its seeds.
"..."
Sora wasn't surprised by the silence; he was beginning to get used to the bird's silence. 'Why did Nathan tell me familiars could talk? Was he just wrong, or is this thing just too low-tier to talk?' He shook his head and resumed the one-sided conversation. "What do you think of [Hiyoko]?"
Sora had spent years taking Japanese classes in his previous life, and the name seemed appropriate for the ball of fluff. When the bird offered no protest, he opened the familiar's interface and locked in the choice.
With his route toward France mapped out, he knew reaching Alès would take a while. He began to run the numbers on what he could actually achieve before the next reset.
'Twelve days left before [Prestige] is off cooldown... at this rate, I should be able to push past Level 40.'
As he considered his trump card, the nuances of the skill began to itch at the back of his mind. 'If I hit Level 50 and trigger [Prestige] manually, will I keep the "safety net" reset in case of a premature death? Or does the entire cooldown start over from zero the moment I reset?'
It was a vital question, but one he had no way of testing for now.
'At this pace, hitting Level 50 might take a month and a half. Wouldn't it be more efficient to reset early and start over?' Even though he was vastly more powerful than his past self at the same level, Sora knew the amount of experience points was too much for him to accumulate within two weeks.
'Just last week, my XP gains dropped off significantly...' he thought, twirling his mana pen between his fingers with ease.
He decided to wait for the right time before deciding. As the pen danced over his knuckles, Sora mentally cataloged his to-do list before his death-activation for [Prestige] became available again.
'I've successfully perfected four techniques from the [Swordsman] class, and the new versions are far superior to the originals. If I can master some of the techniques I lost and perfect my current [Mana Amplifier] skills, I'll become a lot stronger.'
'Twelve days, and nearly ten skills to refine...' Sora looked at the pen that just fell on the floor. 'Even with my talent level and [Mana Evolution], that sounds impossible.'
'I only reset once, and I already have trouble mastering all skills I unlocked. If I were to spend every cycle just mindlessly farming monsters, I'd never actually master the skills before I hit the Level 50 cap.' He started considering the possibility of picking the same class for several lives in a row just to achieve total mastery.
But for the next twelve days, he would focus entirely on his current class skills, while occasionally reaching back into his memories to pull out the [Swordsman] techniques he had lost.
He picked up the pen from the floor, stood up, and addressed [Hiyoko], "I'm going to train. You coming?"
[Hiyoko] seemed to understand his intent and hopped over to tuck itself under his training gear. Sora smiled as he watched the creature flap its tiny wings and hide. It no longer needed protection from the air pressure when Sora moved at high speeds, but it seemed to enjoy its hiding spot.
Sora shook his head and activated a [Monster Radar] to begin his primary activity for the next twelve days: mastering his skills.
And that is exactly what he did. Day after day.
***
After twelve days, Sora stopped training. He drove his sword into the ground and opened his profile to check his progress.
[Status Update]
Profile: Ralph Eden (Sora Hashino)
Status: Alive (Prestige 1)
Talent Level: 2
Growth Factor: 2
Class: Mana Amplifier (Class Level 41, Player Level 41)
Body Level: 4,923,121
Energy Level: 9,010,340
Innate Skill: [Prestige]
Supreme Skills: [Mana Evolution]
Skills: (...)
Class Skills:
Amplify (Level 28) Echo Strike (Level 18) Mana Shield (Level 35) Speed Surge (Level 23) Mana Cascade (Level 6) Mana Resonance (Level 3) Arcane Overload (Level 2) Mana Burst Field (Level 2)
Sora's gaze was immediately drawn to the new skills in his list.
'I didn't have time to train with these... perhaps I'll master them in another life,' he thought.
[Mana Resonance] was the technique unlocked at level 30. It allowed him to link with all buffed allies, increasing the potency of those buffs proportionally to the number of people affected.
[Arcane Overload], unlocked at level 35, was a more powerful but less stable version of [Amplify]. It allowed him to funnel a massive amount of energy into an ally to power their next attack, making it erratic but devastating. The downside was a significant penalty to his mana regeneration after use.
[Mana Burst Field] was the level 40 class skill. It utilized the user's mana to overload the environment, boosting the effects of all ally skills within the zone. This technique had initially piqued Sora's interest, but when he saw it had no effect on him personally, his interest was replaced by disappointment.
'I ended up abandoning [Mana Cascade]...' He had dropped the technique in favor of skills he considered higher priorities.
His other skills had progressed tremendously, and he finally felt ready to recreate them. His power level had also taken a significant leap, surpassing what he had achieved in his previous life.
'I'm already at nine million in energy level... compared to the eight million I had at level 49, it's quite incredible. Would I win against the old Sora? I wonder.' His energy level might be superior, but he knew his physical body was still lagging behind.
'The old Sora might still win...' He smiled before shaking his head to focus on the present. He pressed his finger against the skill that interested him most, and his smile widened as the description appeared. The cooldown for [Prestige] was over.
Sora retrieved his sword and stowed it in his inventory. He stood at the edge of a cliff, the wind whipping through his hair. He had made his decision.
'It would take me an extra month to reach level 50. It's not worth the wait.' He had trained enough; it was time for the next step.
Without warning Hiyoko, who was tucked away in his clothes, he took a step forward.
As they plummeted from the cliff at a breakneck speed, the memories of the last thirty days flashed by.
'This life is quite short...' But as he thought of everything he had accomplished, he smiled. '[Prestige], [Mana Evolution], [Mana Amplifier], my job as an [HR Assistant]... I've done more in one month than I did in years.'
When he heard a piercing screech from Hiyoko and felt her terror through their link, he looked down and saw the ground rushing up to meet him.
He activated [Speed Surge], sharing his energy between his legs and his head. He concentrated the effects of the skill into the specific parts of his body that needed to act; the mana in his head was further split between his brain and his eyes.
His reaction time accelerated sharply, and his velocity multiplied. Just as he should have been flattened against the earth, he vanished the moment he touched the ground, leaving a massive crater at the point of impact.
***
A few kilometers away, Sora was heading toward Barcelona at full speed. Hearing the cries of his companion, he struggled to suppress a laugh.
"Hiyoko , nothing can happen to us while [Mana Shield] is active... it was just a little joke!" When the tiny bird poked its head out of his jacket to check if everything was okay, Sora continued, "We're heading toward a massive city." Seeing the confusion on Hiyoko 's face—an expression he had learned to recognize—he explained, "A city is a place where many people like me gather and live."
The bird shook its head before snuggling back against his chest. Sora chuckled at the reaction. Over the last few weeks, he had grown to appreciate Hiyoko 's company, not even realizing that she brought a little more of a smile to his face every day.
His movements created sonic booms, but Sora knew he could go even faster. His deepened understanding of [Speed Surge] allowed him to use a smaller amount of stamina at the expense of his mana.
'It's slower than my max, but it's perfect for travel,' he thought.
Sora, who wasn't far from Barcelona, maintained his high speed for several minutes and quickly arrived at his destination.
Once there, he ignored the city's grandeur, its beauty, and any changes it had undergone. He first purchased a map of the region. He then headed straight for the bank to deposit everything he owned—down to the last item and the very last gold coin. He then left just as quickly as he had arrived.
When he reached the edges of a Level 80 zone, he stopped and pulled Hiyoko from her hiding spot.
He spoke to her as she sat in the palm of his hand, "Hiyoko, we are about to do something… how should I put it? Something dangerous."
When the Piou chirped, he continued.
"But don't worry. Since you became my companion, you aren't at risk. So, I need you to be brave. Be strong. You might experience something terrifying, but it shouldn't overwhelm you, okay?"
[Hiyoko] looked him in the eyes and chirped happily. She didn't seem to understand everything, but she trusted Sora completely.
Sora sighed. 'I don't know how this is going to go, but it terrifies me more than it terrifies her...'
He let his familiar hide back in his clothes and gave himself two slaps to get some courage.
'It'll be fine! I can do this!'
He took a deep breath and headed toward the Level 80 zone. One step at a time, he forced himself forward until he crossed the barrier separating the two areas. Once that final step was taken, he felt his environment shift. The atmosphere became so oppressive that even breathing was difficult. He felt heavier, and he began to experience something he hadn't felt in a long time: fear.
While he was still adapting to this new environment, a blur appeared before him. Before his brain could even process the information, something struck him and covered his body entirely.
In a single blow, Sora was destroyed.