Chapter 21: Angellic Blessing
[You have acquired the skill: Soul Absorption]
As I stared at the panel in front of me, a waitress came to tell me that the cafe was finally closing, so I immediately left after paying my due.
Upon taking a step outside, I felt the crisp fall air slowly brush against me, sending a chill down my spine as the breeze continued to persist all the way until I arrived back at my apartment.
The cold air was a nice change to the beating sun, and in the almost empty streets of the night, I could rest easy, knowing that I wouldn't wake up from the sound of a bar fight.
…
"Let's see… is it what I think it is?" I muttered to myself, sitting on the edge of the bed while reaching into my fleshless body.
I gripped something that obviously wasn't there but continued to pull it out until a pale white book with two angelic black wings sat in my hand.
The wings flapped once before slamming open the book, causing a flood of memories to rush through my mind.
It felt like something had gripped my mind, and poured a cup of previous memories back into my brain.
"Huff… huff… huff… huff… Finally," I muttered as the book's bone-white pages began to glow a bright white light, yanking me into the pages.
My body slowly disappeared from the real world, and soon I appeared at the very foot of a white shrine placed neatly on a bed of clouds.
The clouds were under me as well, but the further I walked toward the shrine, the more the pure-white clouds began to turn a smokey gray.
"You're back…." A man smiled at me, his gray wings spreading past the poles of the shrine and his short stubby black horns drawing your attention to his angelic yet demonic features.
His pale white skin contrasted perfectly with his swirling black eyes, but the best part of his body, his slender and almost beautiful figure, was draped over by a set of black robes.
Soon, the gray smoke clouds beneath me crackled with lightning, and the man's appearance was overshadowed by a dark figure.
"Ready to receive your blessing again… Reaper?" The man asked, his booming voice traversing the skies of meta-heaven.
"Of course,"
"Your power is too great for your current stats, and see how your little sponsor has granted you some power other than mine; both powers might clash with each other. Practice until they can finally meet in the middle… otherwise, that stature of yours will be blown to smithereens,"
"I know," I muttered before reaching toward the man's hand and feeling a needle stick straight through the palm of my hand.
A ghastly feeling spread throughout my veins, making my body lighter than ever, yet at the same time weighing it down with little sparks of lightning that coursed through my veins.
"Wait… veins?" I muttered to myself.
"Ah… don't worry. Your skeleton will be able to contain the smoke… though, if it ever leaks, good luck at reeling it in," The man smirked before pushing me with his free hand, sending me falling through the dark clouds and into hell.
It was literal hell with blasting lava and a white sun burning so bright that I could barely even open my eyes.
The scorching heat burned away my skin and then my flesh, leaving just my bones to skydive from meta-heaven and into a pool of lava.
Bloop
…
Upon opening my eyes, I found myself lying in the bathroom of my very own apartment, meaning the hallucinations must've lasted a bit longer than the fallen angel had expected.
『Status』
[Name: Helu]
[Race: Undead]
[Class: Disciple of Smoke]
[Level: 9/20] (0/75) XP Needed
[HP: 23/25 MP: 25/25 SP: --/--]
[Strength: 5]
[Defense: 5]
[Magic: 7]
[Speed: 10]
[Skills: [Empower] [Haste] [Eagle Eye] [Darkness Manipulation] [Conjure of Darkness] [Stealth]
[Pentagram: [Hand of The Souls] [Soul Eater] [Soul Screaming Flames]
[Calvary of Smoke: [Smoke Magic]
[Passive Skills: [Undead Influence] [Dagger Proficiency]
…
"Shhhit… All of my smoke magic skills have been reverted into this trash," I muttered as a gust of smoke erupted from the palm of my hand, danced around the enticing bathroom, and then swirled back into my nose.
I breathed in a long breath, sucking in all of the smoke before pushing it out of my mouth, where it dissipated into the surrounding atmosphere.
"I need a smoke," I muttered, as, without the nicotine, it just wasn't the same.
As I took a step out of my apartment, taking the pack of cigarettes out of my pocket, I walked down the street until I found an adventurer stall.
It was literally just an adventurer guild, but without the hassle of entering the hub, where most of the time, you would be hit on or challenged to a fight.
"Helu Scrass…" I said and the man attending the stall quickly typed something into his computer, clicked his mouse a few times, and then bam, he asked me the sacred question.
"And what have you come here for?"
"Signing up for a dungeon raid,"
"And would you like to create a team or join an already existing team,"
Since I wasn't part of an adventurer guild, I didn't have the restraints of needing to gather raid members, nor did I need to actually stick to the people within my guild.
Being free from the chains of a guild was so nice.
"Join an already existing one, please. And I hope you don't mind me asking for the highest quality team,"
"No! Not all!" He exclaimed before typing something into his computer, but then his face crumpled with a bit of disappointment. "*sigh*... But it seems these greedy bastards want an entrance fee… Ma'am, I recommend going with… this one,"
The man handed me a tablet that reflected the screen on his monitor, displaying all of the raid teams that had the strongest members.
"Hmmm… give me this one,"
"For sure,"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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Weekly Power Status
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