"Here's your status sheet. Take it and get out."
Loki said sharply, shoving the parchment against Judas' chest with more force than necessary.
Judas blinked, taken aback by the sudden hostility.
"What's the matter with you?"
He asked, one brow arched, his tone more puzzled than annoyed.
"Tsk, just read your status and leave. There are other people waiting outside."
Loki snapped, crossing her arms and turning away with a dramatic huff.
She refused to meet his eyes.
Judas frowned slightly, still holding the parchment.
"Right..."
He muttered, unsure what had triggered her attitude.
With a resigned shrug, he unfolded the sheet and began reading.
========================================
Judas Spade
LV 2
STR: D 599 ---> A 888
END: C 651 ---> S 997
DEX: C 612 ---> S 918
AGI: C 618 ---> A 890
MAG: S 901 ---> SSS 1153
Mage - I
SKILLS: [The Blessing of the World Tree]
[Elemental Master]
[Eternal Persistence]
[The Venerated One]
[Penitent Executioner]
MAGIC: [Otherworld Thaumaturgy 5th-Tier]
[Body Reinforcement]
========================================
Judas silently did the math in his head.
A combined increase of over 1500 points... most of his parameters had ranked up three times since the last update.
'Most of these probably came from training with Alfia.'
He thought, recalling the grueling sessions he had with that silver-haired woman.
There was also his victory in the sparring match against Ais, which earned him a decent amount of excelia.
Still, one thing stood out.
The huge increase in his endurance stat.
The only parameter that surpassed it in growth was magic, which continued to dominate his status page.
'My endurance is almost at SS... I don't know if I should be proud or concerned.'
He thought, tapping his chin with a finger.
"Well, I'm off."
He sighed, folded the parchment neatly, and handed it back to Loki.
"Shoo, shoo!"
Loki said, waving her hand dismissively as if pushing him out of the room.
His eye twitched, but he took a slow, steady breath to calm himself before turning toward the door.
As he opened it, he was greeted by the familiar sight of Tiona, Tione, and the rest of the Loki Familia members waiting outside.
"Ah, Judas! So it was you in there."
"You done with your update?"
Tiona said, tilting her head and flashing him a grin.
"Yeah," Judas nodded, slipping his hands into his pockets.
"You can go ahead."
"Hehe, don't mind if I do."
Tiona chirped, skipping past him into the room.
"Goodnight, everyone."
Judas said as he started walking down the hall, giving a small nod in acknowledgment.
"Good night."
Tione replied, followed by a few others echoing the same.
...
Walking down the corridor on his way to his room, Judas happened to run into Ren, who was carrying a bulging brown sack slung over his shoulder.
"Judas! Here, take this."
Ren called out with his usual grin as he tossed the sack toward him.
"Hmm? What's this for?"
Judas caught it and carried it in his hands.
When he loosened the string and peeked inside, his brows raised slightly... a small pile of gold coins shimmered under the corridor's faint lamplight.
"It's your share that I won from the bet."
"Thanks to you, my wallet's never been this full."
Ren said proudly, puffing his chest out.
"Oh... so that's why you were in such a good mood during the banquet."
Judas let out a small chuckle.
He shifted the bag in his hand, the pleasant jingle of coins echoing softly through the hall.
"Haha, don't sweat it."
Ren replied with a lighthearted laugh, patting Judas' shoulder before strolling off down the corridor, still humming to himself.
Left alone, Judas watched him leave for a moment, then sighed.
The day's fatigue finally caught up to him.
Returning to his room, Judas set the sack down on the floor somewhere near the table before immediately collapsing onto his bed.
The soft creak of the mattress greeted him as he sank into it, every muscle in his body finally loosening after a long day.
For a moment, he just lay there staring at the ceiling, his mind blank.
He let out a long yawn, rolling onto his side before closing his eyes.
Within moments, his breathing steadied, and the faint flicker of the lamp beside his bed was the only sound that filled the room as he drifted off into the land of dreams.
...
The dream this time wasn't a memory fragment from a past life.
It was a memory from seven years ago.
South of his village, a few kilometers away, stood a hut in the middle of a fog-covered swamp.
Inside was a much younger Judas Spade... an eight-year-old boy, barely three months after he had successfully formed a perfect mana core.
A burst of mana erupted from the hut, making the frail wooden structure tremble.
"I finally did it... my first ever star! I've finally reached the first tier!"
Young Judas grinned proudly, staring at the lone star flickering and revolving around his mana core.
In his excitement, he immediately thought of testing his newfound power.
'There's a goblin nest by the lake... they should make decent training subjects.'
With that thought, he stood and stepped out of the hut.
"Now then, there should be a new set of spells I can use now,"
He said, raising his hand.
"Let me see..."
『Boost』
Mana flared around him, cloaking his small frame in a warm orange glow.
Then, with a burst of speed, he dashed westward.
'As a first-tier mage, I should be about as strong as a Level Two adventurer.'
He thought confidently, sprinting past the lake until he reached the mouth of a moldy cave.
"Grr!"
"Awerg!"
Goblins poured out of the shadows, clutching crude weapons and glaring at him with bloodthirsty eyes.
Taking a deep breath, Judas steadied himself and gathered mana in his palm.
『Fireball』
A small magic circle flared to life.
Sparks ignited, condensing into a blazing orb nearly a meter wide.
His eyes narrowed.
Without hesitation, he hurled it forward.
"Direct hit!"
The explosion tore through the goblins, charring them to ash.
But the noise drew more... growling, snarling, closing in from all sides.
Surrounded, young Judas smirked and conjured a magic circle in each hand.
"Call me Goblin Slayer, 'cause all of you are about to die."
He fought for what felt like hours as smoke and the stench of blood filled the air.
When silence finally returned, he stood amid a carpet of mangled corpses, his chest heaving, his right eye streaked with blood.
By the time the last goblin fell, the sky had turned orange and the sun was already sinking.
"Ah, shit! I lost track of the time!"
Young Judas froze as realization dawned on him.
There were very few things he was afraid of.
Even when surrounded by a horde of monsters, he had shown no hint of fear.
But when he thought of his mother...
"My mother is going to kill me."
For once, the fearless boy trembled... not before monsters, but before the wrath waiting for him at home.
After all, if there was one thing he'd learned in life, it was that mothers were the most terrifying beings in existence.
---
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