《Obscurity》 Prologue Respectful greetings to all. I would first like to commend humanity for making it this far. I would also like to congratulate all other species of this world for survi¡­
Anyway, your lot is reaching max allowed level for the beginner area. Big guy says twenty years at most. Historically, upon reaching that level, you would be kindly invited to the big girls¡¯ area. You¡¯d even be given a few decades to prepare for your move. Yeah, that didn¡¯t work. The birth area suffered. So, the old things of the many powers decided to be less¡­ hospitable with their invites. Current methodologies can be roughly summarised as being given two choices: planetary decimation or moving to the next map within ten years of reaching the max level. But the big guy is nice. See he was planning this thing; Armageddon I believe it¡¯s called.
I don¡¯t remember seeing that in the document.
This information was obtained through investigation.
May I continue? Thank you. Now with Armageddon, the big guy was going to choose worthy individuals who would inherit the world. This world would have been under his protection which would remove the most troublesome factor civilizations have to consider when having to move. Being a fat fish in the bottom of the barrel. All you would have had to do was move to the new place and enjoy the rest of eternity. Here comes the tricky bit. Now, when we found about this Armageddon, we found the idea interesting, so we asked to handle it for him.
Only your lot.
He refused. Something about us being irresponsible kids prone to mass death and destruction.
He¡¯s not wrong.
Your Highness, please allow us to be done with this.
Oh wow, the two of you agreeing on something.
Shush the both of you.
Do you have something against me, damned lizard?
Allow my boot to explain it to you.
Little cat, shut up. Wyrmling, you were doing something important. Be done with it.
Am I the only one who thinks that aside from the butterfly, this line-up makes little sense? Don¡¯t look at me like that. I¡¯m not disturbing, merely thinking out loud. Wyrmling, continue while I still draw breath.
Ahem. Now, where was I? Ah yes. Defamation I tell you. Each of us acts with the propriety expected of the younger generation of the powers.
The sticks were shoved rather deep in some.
AHEM!! So, a while ago you were supposed to begin your Armageddon. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. But the guys handling it suddenly disappeared The big guy sent a few others, they disappeared. At some point he decided to have us handle it. We¡¯re here. Yay~ We arrived a while ago and reviewed the preparations the original group had done. We found them unsuitable. So, we decided to change a few things. We kept the good stuff. We removed the finding the worthy bit. Kitty even came up with an idea of how to deal with the whole safety issues that tend to worry civilizations. We even get some benefits. Kitty¡¯s idea was a guide system of sorts. Using the guide system, the denizens of this world -from bugs to whales and everything else- can raise themselves way past the level of newly emerged civilizations. The big guy has many rules of how the older civilizations must act when dealing with the younger ones, so you honestly don¡¯t have to worry too much about them. I think I got everything important.
The original document had tens of thousands of words.
Most were unnecessary.
The butterfly has spoken. So yeah, that¡¯s it.
Spirit infusion.
Yeah that. So, for everything to happen in the way we want, you guys need a lot of spirit energy. The planet is a bit lacking in that regard, so we decided to dump some here.
The big guy needed a lot of convincing.
We failed to convince him I believe.
We have showed him due respect already by telling him our detailed plan of action.
Anyway, the increased spirit energy might feel a bit weird in the beginning, but you should get used to it within an hour or two. Now, we¡¯ll start the Armageddon after answering a few questions you might have. There¡¯s lot of you so we might not have the time¡­
Or the desire.
To answer all your questions. Let¡¯s begin.
¡­
Any question? Ah, yes. We¡¯re planning to start the Armageddon within the hour. It is not a joke. I don¡¯t care.
The Armageddon shall last ten years. For the first five years you shall have the guide system with full functionality. I recommend you use it well. For the last half of the decade, the guide system will have fewer functionalities. Note that things may change as the Armageddon progresses.
The guide system shall be activated the moment Armageddon begins. You will accustom yourself to its currently available functionalities at that time. No, I honestly don¡¯t feel like explaining at the moment.
Spirit is the result of the fusion of the body and soul. Spirit energy is what powers the spirit. You can use spirit energy to improve your spirit. And since spirit is the result of the body and soul, any improvement in spirit will affect the body and soul positively. The guide system has a lot of benefits which have to do with spirit. You can start figuring it out when we begin.
Yeah, the big guy. Generally positive things about him.
I would prefer him dead.
His kids are delicious.
A busybody.
He¡¯s a fan of elvenoids. A rare opinion among those here.
You mean non-existent.
Yeah, it probably would have been better for you guys if he was handling this. But he can¡¯t. He¡¯s big, you¡¯re squishy. Not the best combination. His brats were much more equipped to handle it. But yeah.
The dinner table was quite welcoming to them. They just couldn¡¯t resist.
You got us. Don¡¯t worry too much. The big guy had a lot of conditions regarding how we must handle it. We know they exist. Your lot isn¡¯t worth excessively pissing him off, so we¡¯ll act with moderation.
I believe that is enough. The leftover questions are not worth answering. Begin the Armageddon.
It¡¯s been barely a few minutes. I¡¯m not complaining, I¡¯m just pointing it. Look I¡¯ve already pushed the button. Stop looking at me like that. We¡¯re supposing to be overseeing the Armageddon, glare at that. Chapter 1 The bus driver had reacted poorly when voices started sounding in everybody¡¯s heads. For some reason the guy had accelerated, on a winding mountain road. Sya doesn¡¯t have a driving licence, he wasn¡¯t even planning to get one anytime soon, but from his inexperienced opinion, he was supposed to hit the brakes once he noticed he messed up. He didn¡¯t. Instead, he swerved. Have you ever watched as a bus turned a ninety-degree corner and in the pit of your stomach, you¡¯re worried it¡¯s going to fall over? It didn¡¯t. Now, have you been in the bus as it did the exact same thing? You¡¯ve been through this hundreds of times in your life, you¡¯ve been fine each time. But each time there was that ¡®what if¡¯ running around in your head. It¡¯s one of those times you really wished your brain would shut up. Now, ¡®what if¡¯. What if strange voices in your head wake you from your sleep. Your bums feel tingly as you sit up straight and check if you didn¡¯t drool. You didn¡¯t, thankfully. The voices in your head continue. You listen carefully. It¡¯s not NF, nor is it Rosendale and it¡¯s not Ed Sheeran. You¡¯re pretty sure those are the only people in the playlist. And they¡¯re supposed to be singing. The bus suddenly jerks forward. That gets rid of any lingering drowsiness. You open the curtains, and outside the window you see rapidly moving cliff walls. Maybe you¡¯re still drowsy because that didn¡¯t ring any alarm bells. Instead, you calmly check if someone on the other side has their curtains opened while feeling for the airpods in your ears. Both are still there blaring ¡®Neighbours¡¯ into your ears, the strange voices continue independently. The woman in the row in front has her curtains opens, you stand up slightly and angle your head so you could see above the seats. You see the slope of a spur on the other side, it¡¯s rather steep. You¡¯ve taken the journey between KZN and Gauteng dozens of times already, so your brain immediately figures out you¡¯re at the escarpment. Not your favourite part of the journey. You don¡¯t do well with heights, so you sit down, and your hands find the armrests. You don¡¯t grip too tightly, don¡¯t want the guy next to you to look at you strangely. Glancing up you spot the red cord above you, just where it¡¯s supposed to be. And then the bus swerves. Bus and swerve are really terrifying when used together. It¡¯s even worse when you know escarpment has a place somewhere in there. Now add the centripetal force and the tilt ¨C was it small or big, you honestly don¡¯t care at this point. Whether by bravery or cowardice you don¡¯t immediately jump to grab the obviously much safer cord, instead your grip on the armrests tightens. A sound makes you turn your head to see that a guy had pushed the emergency button and was now this close to jumping out the window. An overreaction, right? Do you think this mockingly or hopefully? Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. *BANG! It was hopelessly. The bus hits something. You don¡¯t care what. The tilt has upgraded to a roll and that cord is looking really irresistible. You don¡¯t know how you reached it, but you did. The backpack attached to the lanyard around your neck is a bit uncomfortable but you¡¯re currently considering way more important things: Should I close my eyes, or should I look? *** He had passed out. He remembered the bus rolling; people being thrown around and eventually the sound of trees snapping. That had eventually ended, being replaced by the sound of people in pain. He remembered feeling the cord in his hand, a glance told him he wasn¡¯t the only one who had that idea, but it served those on the right better than those on the left. The last thing he remembers was feeling as if somebody had just dumped a ton of water on his head. When he woke up, he was on the floor, covered in blood. Although his body hurt here and there, most of the blood wasn¡¯t his. He groggily stood and looked around. Towards the back of the bus were neatly lined up bodies, dead as can be. On and around the emergency exit were some men coordinating with some men walking inside the bus to move everyone outside. The young and elderly seemed to have already been moved out, they were currently moving out the women. As for the guys who hadn¡¯t woken up on their own, they¡¯ll probably get there. He went to the emergency exit and the guys there helped him up and out. Sya looked around as he jumped down and walked away from the turned over bus. Too many people doing the same work tends to impede the work. He detached the backpack from the lanyard and opened it to take out his phone before moving the backpack to his back. Looking at the time, it seemed he had passed out for a while. The trip from Joburg to PMB is a bit less than six hours. He left at nine and now it was few minutes to four while he was still at the escarpment, basically the halfway point. The internet didn¡¯t work, too far for a signal to reach him. He put the phone in ultra-saving mode before returning it to the backpack. He walked to the group gathered a distance away from the group. A plump middle-aged woman who practically radiated a matronly feel seemed to have taken control of things. A few guys were gathered a bit to the side of the group, so he went to stand about a metre and a half behind and to the side. He never was good at assimilating with new groups. So, he had some experience of being part and yet outside the group. Standing too far would make you stick out. At which point a caring part of the group would assume you don¡¯t want to intrude and kindly invite you. Standing too close would mean you have to actively participate at whatever the group is doing. A good distance is where people immediately assume you¡¯ll participate and yet don¡¯t stick out even when you didn¡¯t. The matron seemed to be reliable, and he didn¡¯t trust himself enough to try and figure out everything by himself especially when a better choice is readily available. So, he had to stay close by. The thing about good distance is only true when the group doesn¡¯t have that super friendly guy. Sya watched as a coloured dude in his twenties approached him a bit and the group¡¯s attention followed him. Sya was tempted to back up a bit as he watched him come to stand less than half a metre away, way too close for a bloke you don¡¯t know. That would have gathered unnecessary attention though, so he didn¡¯t. ¡°Hey bruv, what do you think of this Armageddon thing? The guide system thing is a bit confusing.¡± Chapter 2 Sya didn¡¯t know what he was talking about, and his confusion must have been evident since the guy decided to explain. ¡°In the bus, did you hear any voices in your head?¡± Sya nodded, he had mostly forgotten about those after everything but others knowing about them was worrying. Did everyone hear them or was it just him and someone found out somehow. ¡°Heard them but didn¡¯t hear what they were saying.¡± ¡°They were on about starting the Armageddon¡­¡± ¡°Bullshit.¡± His mouth was faster than his brain, expressing his opinion in the most simple and thoughtless term. One of the guys offered him a fist pump for that, the others were just shaking their heads. A black man - there were three black men beside Sya, so let¡¯s call this one ¡®really-short-shorts¡¯ - beside whistled to catch his attention, once he got it, his chin pointed to the main group. The main group was mostly elderly, women and children, most of the adult men helping at the bus or standing apart from the group. One of the kids, a boy of ten or so years had a greenish-white light radiating from his hands. The light fell onto an old woman¡¯s arm and the scrapes and bruises started to fade. They didn¡¯t disappear completely before the boy¡¯s light weren¡¯t out. His head tilted in confusion as he tried to make sense of what he had just seen. He couldn¡¯t so he asked, ¡°Someone, help me out.¡± ¡°We had to cobble the entire story together since everyone, yes including me, was too busy screaming to hear the entire thing. Still doesn¡¯t say much aside from Armageddon starting and it¡¯s gonna last a decade, and they are giving us some guide system to help us through it.¡± Let¡¯s dub him ¡®orange hoodie¡¯. ¡°Just think really hard about anything along the lines of yourself, help or system and it should pop up.¡± ¡®Why-a-mohawk¡¯ for him. ¡®Let¡¯s try ¡®Status¡¯¡¯
Name: Siyanda Mathe Stage: 0 Spirit Reserves(Total): 5.34 Spirit Reserves(Refined):0.01 Mana: 3 Store Evolution Requirements: Ten Skills unlocked Cultivated system bought Physique by a minimum of 15% 15 Units Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!
¡°He didn¡¯t flinch.¡± ¡°My loss.¡± Money was exchanged as the coloured guy spoke again, seeming to have taking the position of de facto leader among the guys, ¡°The store is interesting but before you do anything let¡¯s call the boss lady over. She¡¯ll complain otherwise.¡± One of the guys literally yelled ¡®boss lady¡¯ and the matronly woman looked over for a moment. She finished whatever she was doing and walked over with a placid face. Looking at Sya, she spoke, ¡°They have explained what is happening I believe.¡± ¡°We told him about the Armageddon, showed him how to open the thing and told not to buy anything.¡± Sya didn¡¯t even have to say anything. ¡°Good, now please open your store.¡±
{STORE} {Skill Shop} {Physique Shop}
¡°If everything is the same, you¡¯ll find skill shop and physique shop. Is it so?¡± Sya nodded. ¡°Good. Now, some of us have been awake for more than two hours already and this is what we¡¯ve figured out. The currency used by the shop is total spirit reserves. If you¡¯ve looked at the evolution requirements, you probably guessed that you could have ten skills but please note, you can only have ten skills. For physique, you can only buy one. This probably means that physiques are more important. Do you understand everything I¡¯ve said thus far?¡± ¡°More or less. But how did you figure all of this out?¡± ¡°The kids. The system tends to their wishes if they do it hard enough. Hasn¡¯t happened to any of the adults yet. First, the little doctor,¡± she pointed at the little boy who was now resting beside a teenage girl who was probably his older sister. ¡°One of the first to come to, wakes up to find his mother struggling to breathe, a cracked rib had punctured a lung. Panics and wishes to do something, the skill store opens showing two skills [Regenerative light(I)-2] and [Regenerative light(II)-5] from what we can gather. Takes the second one and starts using it on his mother, takes a few uses but eventually the bleeding stops, the rib is pushed out and the lung seemed to be better, the rib wasn¡¯t fixed though. ¡°From this you can understand that skills have tiers. A tier two skill is a better version of tier one. A tier two can do the same for less mana, which is what we¡¯ve found powers skills, compared to a tier one. It can also do it to a greater degree than a tier one and even do something a tier one can¡¯t. The skill that helped us figure this bit out is [Flight], a kid heard an adult talking about superpowers and she said she wanted one, the store offered [Flight] among other things¡­¡± ¡°Such a burning eye.¡± Orange hoodie added. ¡°Do not disturb me. Now, all the tier one version does is lift you half-a-metre off the ground, a tier two version ¨C bought by another kid who thought the first looked cool - lifts you a full metre and can also propel you forward. As for how to use skills, all you must do is think about the skill and it would activate. Any questions?¡± ¡°Yeah, if skills are split between tiers and you bought the tier one, is it possible to upgrade to the second tier?¡± ¡°Yes, it is possible, but for some reason upgrading to tier two costs fifty percent more than just buying tier two, but you can actually bring down the price it seems. We are not totally sure how, but it seems to have something to do with how much you understand the skill. A tier one [Flight] costs 1.5 units while a tier two is 4 units, an upgrade from tier one to tier two will thus be 6 units. All four kids who took the skill reported the same thing. We allowed the kids to play a bit, they mostly stopped trying to fly since the skill would guzzle their mana in a second if they tried. At that point they mostly used the skill to jump really far. As they continued playing the distance each jump could cover continued to increase. At some point one of the kids with a tier one [Flight] checked the store and found the upgrade costing only a bit more than 2 units. The teenagers watching over them found out and told me, after checking in with all the kids I found out that all of them had a price discount.¡±