Masato held fast to the scroll in his hand. Maybe now he wouldn't be just a Normal Hero.

A rare trader had entered the town and bartered with the many players that had swarmed around her – but Masato had waited patiently for the crowd the dissipate before approaching the feeble old woman. A look of bewilderment and annoyance was painted across her bark-like features and she looked up at Masato apprehensively.

"Okay – what'll it be?!" her voice was withered and scratched at his ears.

Masato was intimidated despite her diminutive stature. "Uh – I-I uh…"

"Well?! Out with it!" she spat.

"I'm sorry – I uh, am looking for magic scrolls. New abilities. Dark type. Please?" he muttered. He would never find anything to surpass Mamako, he would always be in her shadow and he would always be the useless son.

The old trader held quiet for a moment before finally responding, "Well you're the only damn customer to use the word please today, unlike those other ingrates. Maybe I have something for you. Dark type eh?"

Masato watched her with a hopeful gleam in his eyes. She rummaged through her bags haphazardly until finally she pulled out a tattered old scroll. The old woman inspected it closely, and then squinted at the young man before her.

"Hrm, this looks you might not be a high enough level to use it effectively. Are you sure you want it?" She asked with doubt.

"Y-yes of course! Please! How much?" he stammered, ignoring her advice. It was old and she didn't seem to care about it, so he shoved his hand into his pockets to pull out some coin.

"One-hundred and seventy-five mam." She said plainly.

Masato stared at her incredulously. "WHAT?! That much?!"

"You want it or not? I best be going if you're done here." She started to put away the scroll, which looked nothing more than a piece of worn parchment that could be over a hundred years old – just like her.

"Okay-okay! Fine. Here," he said with a sigh of defeat. He handed her the coins and she shoved the scroll in his hand. Before he could finish unraveling it, she had gathered her bags and took off with gusto.

"All sales are final!" the old trader cackled.

Masato felt a sinking feeling in his gut, like he had just been scammed. In his rampant need to get stronger to compete with his mother, he had just squandered one-hundred and seventy-five mam on what was probably trash! How would he explain that? What was he thinking?

Finally, he finished unrolling the scroll and stared at the etched writing on the parchment. His fears vanished immediately and he stared in awe.

It was unlike any spell he had ever seen before. This looked really powerful, like something Wise would be interested in. This spell was for him though, not a gift. But could he even…? He read the scripted words on the page and the parchment began to ripple in his hands. The faded ink began to ignite an unsettling violet color with each word he enunciated.

He felt the impulse to stop, not wanting others around him to see him cast this. Something about this felt wrong, like it was some kind of forbidden spell.

Masato vanished around a corner and ran down an alleyway until he was sure he was alone and unraveled the scroll once more. The ink had faded out as if it were just another ordinary scroll. He began to read the words aloud, starting over again and the parchment began to ripple with renewed life.

Each word left his mouth with uncertainty, but as he read down the incantation, soon it felt as if the words were forming themselves and he wasn't even having to think to pronounce them with confidence. It felt strange to him, and he was about to stop but ultimately found he couldn't. The words continued to form in his mouth and left his lips with a dark, brooding whisper. He felt his blood run cold at the sudden lack of control of his character and before long, the sensation was over just as quickly as it had overtaken him.

The spell had finished.

Masato felt a heaviness push down on him, as if his avatar was once again no longer in his control. His hands shook and his eyes went wide as the violet energy surrounded and enveloped his body with dark, ominous tendrils. He felt the dark magic crawl up along his front before diving between his parted lips. All at once it felt like he was holding back the worst cough before that too was just an uncomfortable memory.

Masato felt normal again, though deep inside he knew he had stumbled upon something great. He felt a childish glee well up but he still didn't know what this magic spell did to him. He lifted his arm when he saw a flicker of purple light along the palm of his hand. Runes skittered along his hand, as if animated and alive – responding to his will.

With uncertainty, he extended his hand towards the rear of the alleyway and tried to project something – anything with his mind but nothing happened. He tried again but still nothing. Masato sighed heavily, before looking back to the tattered parchment, but now it was blank.

"I-I guess… casting the spell removed the script from the page? But why? Was it some kind of one-time use spell? What did it even do?! Some kind of cosmetic effect? Did… she really scam me?" He felt that anxiety return with vengeance from before and he waved his hand around in frustration.

Then without warning, a dark lash of energy welled from his hand and whipped through the air before it faded without further effect. "Huh…?" he questioned the situation. He waved his hand around again, this time with purpose and the same lash of energy manifested. As the energy ripped through the air like a whip, a lizard crawling along the wall seized up and fell to the ground.

Masato knelt down and looked at the inert reptile with a puzzled look on his face. In his field of view, he noticed the violet rune for the first time, along with the numbers underneath it.

0/1,000.

It increased by 1.

1/1,000.

Masato felt a rush of realization go through him. "I have to level this skill before it gets stronger?" The scroll caught fire and began to dissipate before his eyes. Before long, nothing was left but ashes that fluttered away in the soft breeze.

He needed to go hunt monsters to level the skill, then he would be powerful like Mamako! The excitement rushed through him with abandon and he left the alleyway to head home, with a detour along the way.

Wise would be jealous. She was the mage, she would hate to know that he could cast dark magic too. This spell didn't seem to use mana at all, it seemed to only work by devouring life force! He felt his own health drain and then replenish for the lost amount as long as his strike connected.

The beast before him fell with an anguished roar.

54/1,000.

"Oh come on, there has to be a faster way!" he grumbled. He had been farming small creatures that fell with a single strike, but as he thinned the herd this left only the larger beasts.

Masato targeted and began to attack another enemy. This one was bigger and burlier than the rest and seemed upset that someone as small as him would dare to confront it. The horns along its face curled down towards its snout, and its thickly muscled body tensed up before attempting to crush Masato under its weight.

The first lash of energy crossed its side, dealing a critical strike!

56/1,000.

Masato paused. The experience rune counted up even though he didn't defeat the creature yet. The beast roared and charged him again almost taking him off-guard but he managed to dodge to the side at the last moment. Masato struck him again, then two more times until the beast fell with a savage scream.

59/1,000.

Masato had been at this for a while, the others would be wondering where he was for so long. He sighed, realizing this was going to take quite some time – time he didn't want to waste leveling.

He gathered his breath and looked at the rune in his hand carefully. "So… this levels up with each strike, not each defeated enemy. So if I found something really strong that could take multiple hits without fighting back – I could…"

A dark image crossed through his mind, causing his cheeks to burn red. Something – no, someone really strong could take the hits and help him level. Maybe he could ask – he choked back his perverse thought and stammered to no one in particular, "No way, I can't ask her to do th-," he paused abruptly. "Can I?"

Maybe he could ask Mamako.

Notes: This is intended to be playful yet darkly perverse. If that is not your thing, maybe next time! Let me know what you think, I have plans to continue it frequently.