"It's been three days since I arrived at this place. My injuries have mostly recovered thanks to *looks at the monk* this guy... What should I do next?"
Lost in his thoughts, Asta sat down in the corner, pondering about his future actions with the system panel in front of his face. The trait screen was opened, showing a singular trait with description that caused Asta lots of worry.
[Trait: Transformed Human
Mode: Devil
A transformation created through transplantation of a devil's heart. Can be controlled.
Effect: Increased physical potential, switchable forms]
The trait was a nuisance, a problem Asta didn't ask for but still received. Luckily he could control the form but the outbursts to do violence that came with it were major shackles to his freedom.
"I can't even train.. Atleast I still got my anti-magic."
A black energy could be seen pumping from Asta's body, slowly taking some sort of energy into his Body which Asta presumed was mana.
The anti-magic he had was a abyssal level compared to massive amount liebe used to give him, however not everything was a bad as well.
He could now feel a connection to his anti-magic just like normal mages felt to their own. It was different from before, almost as if he could sense the very structure of it.
"I should probably start moving or atleast training, I don't like these thin mus– KIYAACK!!!"
A high pitched shriek escaped Asta's mouth as he felt a stabbing pain pierce into his skin. He turned, finding the monk applying medicine onto his wound.
"I told you to tell beforehand! That thing hurts!! "
"What's the fun in that?"
A vien pops up Asta's face as he frowns.
"My pain is fun? *pulls up his sleeve* Should I tell you what fun is?"
"Hehe, you wanna pop your wound again?"
... Asta sighs, giving up on teaching the kid a lesson. He owns him his life and a little companipnship doesn't hurt.
The monk's name was Lats, a kid picked up by monks just like Asta was picked up by father Orsi after being left outside the church.
Honestly, Asta could relate to him, they were both rebellious and didn't want to bother with all the praying but still did so out of respect for their caretakers.
"Now tell me more about the story of wizard king!"
"Fine fine...Where were we anyway? "
"You told about that Devil like zagrid."
"Oh that bastard! Then, listen–"
For the past three days, this pattern has continued where Asta told Lats of the kingdom's past as he knew. Every night, Asta would would tell Lats about the true version of story that most people in the kingdom didn't knew.
The two together repeated the story again, talking and commenting as they laughed and mocked each other to get a reaction.
Eventually midnight came and Lats slept out of exhaustion, leaving Asta who could no longer sleep even if he wanted to just sitting there alone.
However as Asta tried to out a blanket on Lats, he noticed a book in his pocket. For a moment he considered leaving it alone but his curiosity peaked when he saw the title.
"Breath of Soul", the book's the title reminded him of the Soul magic Lucius uses, a problem he could only solve after having a absurd amount of anti-magic in his attacks.
But now that his reserves were weaker than ever, he couldn't help but try finding anything that might help him.
He pulled out the book and opened it while putting the blanket on Lats. The language was similar to clover kingdom's and it was pretty easy to read, however the words written were definitely not easy.
" What's this crap? *squints eye* sense your soul and merge it with your ki? How the heck am I supposed to sense it!? At least give me a hint or somethin–... Hint!"
Asta stopped mid reading, his focus shifting towards his memories as he remembered the second option in the panel- the hints section.
With a quick swipe of his finger, he summoned the panel, navigating through as he opened the hints panel to reveal the seven hints he had available.
[Hint (1): increase control of ki, mana Or other similar energy.
[Hint (2): Train harder *thumbs up*
[Hint (3): try reading books, side note- dumbass.
[Hint (4): aren't you supposed to be fighter? Make yourself a weapon.
[Hint (5): Submit materials- a grimoire.
[Hint (6): Ever tried a devil's heart? Heard it tastes good.
[Hint (7): Wounds heal, the more you get the faster they heal.
[Hint(8): Learn to sense the soul, using ki helps]
.... The hints left Asta speechless, just looking at the panel made him feel as if someone was insulting him.
"Which bastard made this shitty thing!? The hints feel like less like suggestions and more like a smug bastard mocking me!!" He cried out at the panel, his body rising and down as he took deep breaths to cool himself.
He noticed something different too, there was a eighth hint, a hint regarding the thing he just learnt in the book. It was almost as if the system was reading his thoughts since it came with a side advice.
A doubt formed in his head, his eyes locking onto the panel as he asked it a question in his mind.
'Are you reading my mind or something?'
He questioned the panel, receiving no answer in return and sighed. He was probably just overthinking but a ping on the panel caught his attention.
[The system uses Host's memories as foundations, the hints are based on Host's thoughts so that he could understand]
... Dead silence swept over Asta, a depressive wind sound following behind as he felt himself blanked out on the spot.
His eyes blacked out(not literally). A realisation dawning as he realised that the hints like that because that's what he thought about.
"I am... A dumbass?" He thoughtout loud as he fell to his knees, finally figuring out that he himself has thought of himself as a dumbass.
The night passed away while Asta slowly recovered by self-reflecting. His pride itself has went down quite a notch and it was gonna take a lot of time to heal now.
_____
Next morning, the sun rises as the sunlight slowly expands into the hut from the Hole in the roof.
Lats awakens, lazily looking around with near shut eyes as he found Asta looking depressed in the corner. He greeted him with wave, receiving a silent wave in return from the still blanked out Asta.
"What happened to him? Did he had a nightmare?"
Lats didn't knew of the inner turmoil Asta was in nor did he care for it. His morning schedule was quite tight unlike Asta's, so he didn't bother asking and went out to freshen up.
Outside he bathed, switching into a pair of monk clothes which were stuffed into a makeshift cabinet in the huts. The style was same for all of them, the same old yellow fabric with wide sleeves.
In his hurry, Lata didn't even notice that he was wearing the clothes he gave Asta three days ago. But since it didn't smell after washing, Lats just moved up towards the main temple on the mountain peak, completely unbothered.
Meanwhile Asta finally came out of his stupor, finally recovering the emotional damage he had suffered. He found the book still in his hands, it's pages still open as if telling him to continue reading.
"better than sitting around doing nothing."
One by one the pages flipped, each page raising Asta's curiosity and regret further.
The book told of a method to protect again mental attacks, as well a sort of full body and sense control just as if it was a superior defense versiom of his ki techniques he learnt in land of sun.
Inside was also a workout technique to create denser muscles while retaining much less outer bulk, a envious technique but the final part was what made him no longer be able to hold it in.
" A good enough mastery could help a person increase his height to 6...ft..."
The words slowly sank in, causing Asta's eyes to open wide in amazement as he felt as if one of his dreams was around the corner.
He could envision himself– a taller version of him looking down at Yuno who had always mocked him for his height.
The imagination of paying back all those years of short jokes flooded in as motivation. The pain didn't matter to Asta anymore, only the results regardless how much he will need to endure.
It was time for him to train, not his body but his senses and mind. He was now determined to do it any cost, even if it took him days to find the meaning of the "infuse the soul".