Noticing that Azael looked surprised, Corvo walked closer and asked, “How is it? Something good happened?”  

Azael leaned in, examining the skill more carefully. His brow furrowed as he tried to make sense of it. “I’m not sure yet,” he said slowly. “But... it seems that I gained a Negative Skill?”  

“That’s great!” Corvo said, smacking Azael on the back with a laugh. “Negative Skill? Sounds good! But what’s that?”  

Azael scanned the description again. “It’s called Inversion,” he said. “It means negative as in ‘opposite’?”  

“Opposite?” Corvo repeated, scratching his head. “What does that mean?”  

Before Azael had time to answer, they heard a girl’s voice cut through the air.  

“There you are!”  

A girl with black twin-tailed hair strode toward them, gripping a spear in one hand. Her boots crunched against the dirt as she closed the distance, her sharp eyes locked onto them.  

“Beryssa!” Corvo said. “Why are you here?”  

She planted her free hand on her hip, puffing out her cheeks. “After the mission, you just left without saying anything!” she snapped. “Of course, everyone was worried something happened.” She paused, then added with a huff, “Not me, though. I just came because the leader told me to get you!”  

“Oh, is that so?” Corvo said, laughing. “Sorry about that. But I believe I already said that I was going to accompany my friend who just awakened?”  

Beryssa ignored him. Instead, her gaze flicked to Azael, scrutinizing him. Her eyes narrowed slightly—she was clearly trying to check his stats. After a moment, she snorted.  

“Hmph! Don’t think just because you have an anti-spy skill, you’re strong.” She crossed her arms. “If you’re playing around this place, clearly you’re low-leveled.”  

Azael stared at her. “I didn’t say anything,” he said, appalled.  

“But your eyes did!”  

“My eyes?” Azael snorted.  

What nonsense is this girl talking about? He couldn’t help thinking.  

"Okay, that's enough," Corvo said, getting in between those two. He placed a hand on each of their shoulders. He then looked at Beryssa. "Why don't you come back for now? I'm still have something else to do with my friend."

"No, you come with me!" Beryssa said, pulling his hand firmly. Her grip looked strong enough to leave marks.

"I told you I had some unfinished business," Corvo said.

"No, leader told me to bring you back, and I will!" Beryssa said. Her foot tapped impatiently against the ground.

"But..." Corvo hesitated, his eyes flicking uncertainly towards Azael.

"Just go," Azael said, feeling tired already. He massaged his temples. "I will testing things myself first, I will show you what I found tomorrow."

Seeing that Beryssa won't give up, Corvo can't help but agree with it.

"Alright, promise!" Corvo said. "I will come get you in the morning!"

"Yeah, yeah, just go already," Azael said waving at him.

With that, Corvo gave in and went with Beryssa. After both of them left, Azael didn't linger either. He turned and made his way back home.

Inside his dark, quiet house, Azael moved to the table. He pulled out a match from a box resting there and struck it against the rough strip. The sudden, warm light pushed back the shadows in the small room, casting flickering shapes on the walls.

He then activated his newly acquired Negative Skill, Inversion. A faint, unseen energy seemed to radiate from him, covering the small flame. Slowly, unnaturally, the warm fire began to twist and change. Its light dimmed, its heat vanished, replaced by a spreading coldness. Before his eyes, the flame solidified, transforming into a small, hovering icicle where the fire had been.

"As I expected," Azael murmured. He released his power, and the process reversed. The ice instantly melted back into a flicker of flame. 

He can inverse elements. Fire into ice. Maybe even light into dark? And so on. The possibilities seemed vast.

Not only that, he was sure he could Inverse all kinds of things too, not just elements. There were plenty of concepts he could try applying this idea to. It seemed like he needed to think much more creatively to unlock its full potential. And the best thing was, using this skill didn't drain his mana. Or maybe that was to be expected. Considering his stats would keep dropping as he kept leveling down, his mana pool would keep getting lower too. A skill that didn't use mana was crucial.

Besides that, there were clearly limits. He could sense a boundary on how much area he could affect with Inversion at once, and a distinct cooldown period settled over him after using it. But he could also tell that this Negative Skill would get stronger the lower his level number became. Not that he was eager to keep leveling down, though. The thought was unsettling.

Azael sighed heavily, unstrapped his sword and put it down on the wooden table. The blade clattered against the surface. All his effort learning and training with the sword suddenly seemed like it might be wasted time now. With this negative skill, his situation wasn't totally hopeless, but it still meant his original plan wouldn't work anymore.

After his parents were killed by monsters ten years ago, Azael's single goal had been to become a player like Zachael Arby. Zachael was a legendary player, said to be the first to kill a Codestar Overlord, one of the direct followers of The Dark Programmer. That was the power Azael needed.

To reach that goal, Azael has been working hard, training. And he’s planning to keep doing it—grinding all the time, trying to level up as much as possible until every last one of those monsters disappears. Even if that means he's going to fight alone.

He will gain power through a crazy amount of effort and hard work.

But... that plan clearly won’t work now with his new condition.

He knew now that he could gain Negative Skills if he leveled down enough. But he couldn't just blindly chase more skills without a proper plan. It was too dangerous.

Even if he managed to gain an Overpowered Negative Skill – one that could kill a monster in one move, for example – he couldn't just use it randomly. He needed to be hyper-aware of what he was doing, or else he might level down even further. The consequences were terrifying.

Who knew what would happen if he accidentally killed a boss-type monster, or even an Overlord? Maybe he would level down so much that his HP dropped to Zero. What would happen to him then if that actually occurred? Would he just die instantly, right there and then? The chilling thought made him feel cold inside.

"This is going to be hard," he sighed.

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