Dragon's Wrath: The Cursed Returnee

Ethan completed the sixth stage after a few minutes. Still, given that sometimes the monsters used some annoying battle formations just to stall for time, he didn't have enough time to learn the support spells that Emily was trying to teach him. Since he was trying to save his mana from learning them, the monsters eventually noticed that Ethan could only attack them physically and thus decided to use that to their advantage.

"While you still have some leeway to deal with the monsters here, things are proceeding as they should be on your magic training," Emily said. "Maybe if you equip some defensive items, things will improve a little bit."

"Nah, it is fine," Ethan said. "We can use that mode where monsters won't disrupt us, and I don't really want to use anything aside from my sword in a simulator."

Ethan had a few reasons to decide that. First of all, he needed more time to think about the skills that would increase his health and stamina, just like Meditation could increase his mana. Also, Ethan noticed that he couldn't quite concentrate on using his mana when the opponents had a certain level of power and intelligence. Although the lizardmen weren't that powerful, their strategies were quite annoying, to say the least. For the time being, until Ethan builds up his strength up to a certain level, he should focus just on one thing at a time.

After ending that run, Ethan, Emily, and Ian left the simulator to choose the next mode. At that point in time, he even had forgotten about the problems that he might have caused, but once he left the room, he recalled them. Why? Because a lot of students were around the room and had been watching them. Among them, two stood out from the crowd. A tall black-haired boy who, despite the age, seemed physically pretty well-built and a blonde, blue-eyed girl around Ethan's height. He could easily tell who those two were.

They looked pretty imposing and arrogant, but Ethan could tell that they had the skills to back up their attitude. The girl had as much mana as Hannah had, and as for the guy, he seemed a warrior type as well. So, Ethan could feel some familiarity coming from him. However, at the same time, Ethan felt a sense of distance. That guy was probably stronger than Ethan when he defeated the demon king, yet, after fighting until the point where he obtained all that power, Dante didn't seem damaged like Ethan was. Probably because he didn't have a cursed power.

Although that was a rather common development considering the age of those involved, Ethan paid them no mind. Dante and the girl didn't come to pick a fight. That became clear since they didn't say anything for several seconds and just stared at him. Considering that Ethan didn't want to waste time doing pointless things, he just ignored them and activated the room again.

"Hey, you," Dante said.

"Are you talking to me?" Ethan asked after turning around. "Sorry, but my name is not 'hey, you. You should look somewhere else."

"I will remember this," Dante declared.

"What will you remember more?" Ethan asked. "The fact that me using your name was just an accident or that I didn't know your name at all?"

Ethan thought of showing the game where he picked up those lines from, but after seeing the glint in Dante's eyes, he gave up. There were people like that, people too prideful and who were impossible to reason with. Given that he kept his powers upon returning home, Dante had been and probably still is being praised for it and for his accomplishments. Even more so considering who his father was. Although it was a pity, it didn't really matter as long as he used that power to do some meaningful things. As far he could tell, Ethan lost all the progress he obtained in the past year but didn't lose the core of his power for a reason. Dante probably still had the strength for something similar, so Ethan could only hope for that he won't do something stupid until he learned why he still had that power.

"Hehe, that was interesting," Ian said. "It is a pity nothing anymore interesting happened after that."

"… Say, Ian," Ethan said after a long sigh. "Your father must be a pretty serious guy, isn't he?"

"I suppose. What of it?" Ian asked.

"I was just wondering what he would think if he saw his eldest son wasting time like this at school," Ethan said. "For the good or the worse, you are his heir, after all."

"No worries," Ian said. "He doesn't really care what I do with my time as long as I do my part. Besides, my coming to school actually benefits him."

"Is that so?" Ethan asked.

It was unfortunate, but Ian will have to wait for a while before Ethan finds a way to make him learn his place. Regardless, while Ethan and Ian were talking. Emily resumed her own training. Although Ethan had imagined that she would need some time to train her mind in order to keep her running for a few weeks, in just two days, she had progressed quite a bit. While he was watching her, Ethan had an idea.

"Maybe that is how…" Ethan rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

Before Emily could resume her explanations, she saw Ethan joining her. However, instead of following her steady pace, Ethan began to run at his top speed while using Quickness and Dash. At first, it looked like Ethan had gone mad since he began to run for no apparent reason. Still, after a few minutes, Emily and Ian understood that hadn't been the case.

The very moment Ethan's stamina became empty, his speed decreased considerably, and the skills he was using to boost his speed stopped working as well. Despite all that, Ethan forced his body to keep moving. Until it reached a point where his health was being consumed to keep him running.

Congratulations! You learned the skill Vigor!

Effects: Passively increases your Stamina by ten percent per level.

Restores your stamina by one point per minute after using all of your stamina.

Lv 01 – 0/100

"Hehe, now we are talking," Ethan smiled in satisfaction despite the fact that his legs were trembling like leaves.

Ethan learned the skill he needed to increase his stamina passively. Although it was a bit troublesome given that it could only be activated after he spent all of it, he was more than satisfied with it since that skill also could work alongside Rest. However, that made Ethan notice something.

"Now that I think about it… this is a rather weird method to increase stamina. The right way would be, as I explained to Emily. Slow and steadily… Although this is convenient, it this a bit hardcore, and even considering the standards of my power."

Ethan recalled that he increased his stamina with the Walker's boots and some other skill while he fighting for the Hedo kingdom. Still, he couldn't quite remember which skill was, but considering Vigor, it was less efficient and also less hardcore.