《Soul Magician》 Ch#01 Death Soul Magician Ch#01 Death In a dark room a candle was burning with a fickle flame, its dim yellow light brightening the upper corner of an intricately carved wooden bed. An old man his face full of wrinkles was resting his back on a pillow his shaking hands trying to light the pipe placed in his mouth. Cough¡­ cough ¡°Wilson! ...help me with this¡± ¡°Yes master¡± A middle aged man dressed in a western styled butler uniform approached him and carefully ignited the tobacco. ¡°Aah¡­ these decayed bones... a dissapointment, considering it might be my last¡± inhaling a large puff of smoke he turned to his butler with eyes that held a melancholic look which seemed to have experienced the test of time. ¡°Time¡­ truly passes like an arrow. It was just yesterday when my mother scolded me for running out of the church¡± said the old man ¡°Wilson, do you remember when I found you on the streets. How many years was that¡­ 25?¡± ¡°Yes master. Back then I was just 12, if not for your grace I may not have lived much longer¡± said Wilson bowing humbly. ¡°Do you remember my parents? Wilson¡± asked the old man ¡°Sir and Madame? I do remember them¡± ¡°Did you know they were true Christians¡­ cough cough¡­¡± Seeing his master in such a miserable state Wilson wanted to help but was stopped. ¡°It¡¯s alright, at least I want to die with dignity¡± straightening back he wiped the blood off his wrinkled lips. ¡°i wonder what they felt seeing their only son turn out to be a scientist instead of inheriting his father¡¯s position as a religious man¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Wilson, tell me what is evil? And what is virtuous?¡± he asked Wilson shook his head expressing his ignorance. He knew that interrupting his master¡¯s last words will do more harm than good. At least he wanted him to leave without regrets ¡°Well to be honest to me it¡¯s all nonsense. Why? Because for a person who strives to unravel the mysteries of nature all these concepts seem fictional¡±This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. The old man had a self-ridiculing smile but his eyes showed the firm belief he had on his ideals. ¡°It is my regret that I am unable to finish my research. But,¡± sighing he continued, ¡°Nature truly is a bottom less ocean¡± The old man had another fit of coughs. After having few gulps of water he turned to stare at Wilson his eyes devoid of all emotions ¡°Tell me Wilson, have I been good to you?¡± ¡°Master how dare I-¡± ¡°It¡¯s not a request¡± Seeing his master insistence Wilson gave up and continued, ¡°Master may not feel some emotions but to me you always did justice¡± A wry smile appeared on the wrinkled face ¡°just some emotions¡­ Alexithymia is not that simple¡± ¡°Cough¡­ well enough of that, come help me lay down I want to sleep¡± Tenderly tucking his master into bed. Wilson could not help but lament at his master¡¯s weakness. But alas all he could do was express his sadness seeing those bright eyes slowly losing its shine. ¡°Before I excuse myself, do you want me to nip the candle?¡± ¡°No, leave it. It reminds me of my self¡± Breathing his last all he could think of was, what will happen if I die? Where will I go? Will my brain stop functioning? Will I Brian Nicolas be decomposed into nourishment for bacteria? Having such thoughts he stopped breathing. *** After god knows how long, Brian¡¯s vision started to clear up ¡°Ho-- how¡± looking around he could find nothing. All he could see was grey. The sky, the land everything. It seemed like he was trapped in an infinitely stretched grey space. Didn¡¯t I die? Wasn¡¯t I supposed to be buried in a tomb, turned into fertilizer Brian started to walk but to his dismay he observed that he was not covering any distance. ¡°Huh¡± alarmed he looked at his body only to find that he didn¡¯t have one. ¡°Is it a dream? Yes. I think it is a dream¡± he mumbled, he wanted to pinch his hand or bite his tongue to prove his hypothesis but his whole body seemed to be made of grey clouds. Although he had human outline his body was a hazy, blurry and was gray same as the space he was stranded in. There was no concept of time for Brian in this bleak and lifeless gray world. At the beginning he still had his doubts and questions. But the brutal torture of solitude through idle passage of time made him realize the truth. So after a long period of careful deliberation he came to the fact that it was too absurd to be a dream But how come this has happened to me, maybe after death you travel to a new dimension. But what happens now Brian couldn¡¯t tell how much time had passed since he came to this gray world. At first he wanted to speculate but with time his thought process started to get dull and at some point he completely stopped thinking. *** Brian was standing in the middle of the gray world lost in his daze when a faint tremor appeared in this dull world. What started as a faint tremor became a 9 magnitude earth quake. Before he could comprehend what was happening the surface beneath his feet began to crack apart. A single crack extended in a straight line and divided the space into two distinct parts. The intensity of the shacking climbed which caused even the space itself to tremble ¡°What in the world¡­¡± the things happening in front of him seemed so fictional that Brian once again started to doubt his sanity. But as if feeling this shock was not enough the space to his left collapsed into itself causing a black hole to materialize. In a similar fashion the space on his right had a bright light pierce through it which eventually bloomed to become a sun. Ch#02 Angel and the devil Ch#02 Angel and the Devil ¡° Black hole? Sun?¡± confused and afraid he glanced at the black hole, a feeling of extreme suffocation overwhelmed his senses. It had an eerie sinister black aura coming out of it which was causing the gray space around it to blacken. Contrary to it the sun was shining brightly and instead of feeling uncomfortable, his soul felt pleasant and warm. Itgave off a pure and holy aura making it drastically different from the black hole Zrzrzrzrzrzrzrzrzrz From deep within the black hole emerged the outline of a dark silhouette. ¡°hrm¡± feeling an piercing sense of coldness assault his very being Brian turned his head to stare at an entity which seemed to have walked out of a fantasy. A woman with a soul capturing beauty coupled with a heart trembling devilish charm, a pair of curved goat horns were decorated the top of her head like a crown. She had a slender frame with ample breasts and a plump bottom. She was wearing a revealing red dress which lightly exposed her twin peaks and her snow white thighs, her blood red lips matched her red dress. Both her hair and eyes were black which had a depth similar to the devouring hole she came out of. Her hands were grabbing a black whip and she had a tail coming out of her bottom. She looked at Brain a seductive grin etched on her face. ¡°What?!¡± Brian had his alexithymia to thank for or he might have lost his mind to her charms. This women is dangerous he thought ¡°Hmm,¡± Seeing her charms having no effect a frown appeared on her petite face. But the frown turned to a sneer when she felt the change occuring in the sun ¡°Gabriel,¡± she muttered Following her gaze Brian looked at the sun to discover a blonde man holding a golden spear garbed in a white robe. His frame was tall and sturdy with a pair of pure white wings protruding from his back. He was enveloped by a halo of golden light which excluded the same holiness as the sun he was standing in, he looked at jack with a stern and serious expression his aura was calm, steady and peaceful. Brian felt extremely confused and curious as he looked at them, it was the first time he had seen such fantastical entities with such bizarre appearance and bearing Am I truly dreaming? Or have I lost my mind. to be trapped in a barren gray space is one thing but, a winged angel? ...this is just absurd ¡°What are you? What kind of species are the both of you? What is this place? Am I really dead? Are the both of you also dead?¡± asked brain, his blurry soul flickered due to his intense curiosity. Disregarding Brian the women continued to stare at the winged man, ¡°Hey you, winged monkey,¡± she said, ¡°are you going to explain it to him or me¡± The angel¡¯s expression changed to that of disgust as he looked at the women ¡°devil! How dare a disgusting thing like you tarnish the name of a God¡¯s angel?¡± he said, pointing his spear towards Brian he continued, ¡°You can go ahead and do it, I¡¯ll explain myself later. I am a patient man after all¡± As if predicted his response, she puffed out her chest making her pair of breasts seem to burst out of her blouse ¡°I guess I¡¯ll go first,¡±This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡°My name is Veronica DeLafron I am a 2nd tier succubus from the 1st hell ruled by his majesty the devil king Lucifer¡± Lucifer? Hell? But before Brian could comprehend what he was told the winged man continued ¡°Poor soul, my name is Gabriel, the messenger and one of the nine holy arch angles of his majesty the sovereign and the God of Seventh heaven Akaros¡± Feeling his mind spun he blurted, ¡°What is this nonsense¡± ¡°God and devil ?!¡± ¡°Heaven and hell ?!¡± ¡°Ha-ha¡­ is this a joke? Is this some virtual stimulation?¡± Brian started to laugh, how could he a proud scientist throw his lifetime of beliefs and ideologies for such absurd nonsense. Is this how having your beliefs crushed apart feels like. Brian was astonished at this emotional outbreak, but soon his rampaging temper settled down allowing him to analyze the situation rationally. Gabriel¡¯s look became grave he stared dangerously at Brian while veronica burst into laughter ¡°Ungrateful soul¡± he shouted pounding the spear on the ground, the force of the blow was so immense that the whole space started to tremble; Brian felt his soul shudder just from its sound. ¡°How come your faith be so weak !?¡± ¡°How dare you make little of his majes-¡± But before he could continue, veronica interrupted ¡°You don¡¯t have to hear all his bullshit, this winged monkey has some loose screws,¡± she continued smiling at Brian, ¡°I can concur that all this may seem to be a shock to you. But can an intelligent person like you deny what is laid bare before your very sight?¡± ¡°But-¡± he wanted to retort but recalling how unreal his previous experiences were and how mythical they felt he forced himself to swallow the bitter pill. True, let¡¯s figure my situation out first ¡°Alright, so what happened to me? Why am I here¡± asked Brian Gabriel once again looked at brain with his pure and holy smile, his previous anger and fury dissipating into thin air, ¡°poor soul, your reason for being here is the mutation of your elements¡± ¡°My elements? ¡± ¡°Yes elements¡± he pointed his spear towards Brian releasing his domineering aura, ¡°Due to some reason, the affinity of your elements are neither aligned to darkness nor light¡± ¡°hmm?¡± still confused by the explanation Brian looked towards the person who he thought was more reasonable ¡°hahahahaha¡± laughed veronica, ¡°oh Brian you don¡¯t have to look at me like that, what that winged monkey meant was, souls have an affinity at death, based primarily on their spiritual and emotional tendencies of either good or evil¡± ¡®Alexithymia,¡¯ the disease he had since birth popped in his head ¡°but why? ¡± ¡°Pitiful soul, tell me, what is good and what is evil,¡± asked Gabriel ¡°A perspective of the society to perceive things to maintain law and order,¡± he replied ¡°As you already know the whole of the universe is governed by certain laws, even on earth people have perceived some of these laws like that of force. ¡°But there is a law which none of the humans have perceived and that is a law that deals with the soul. ¡°according to the law, having done good or evil effects your soul¡¯s affinity with the elements, a newborn human has a high affinity with water and earth but with time according to the deeds it has done or his emotional tendencies and beliefs its soul will either be contaminated with darkness or blessed with the holy light. When the contamination reaches a certain point, the soul is then extracted by the laws and sent to either heaven or hell based on its current affinity¡± Brian was once more stunned speechless, and here I thought that nothing else would surprise me anymore he sighed,¡± so my soul is what¡­ something in between¡± Nodding her head she confirmed his speculation, ¡°yes you somehow managed to keep a balance between the affinities, which is why you are stuck here between heaven and hell¡± Scanning this new space he convinced his bewildered soul to the new reality. God and devil, soul affinity is this the afterlife told in the bible, it truly is astonishing. All things considered what an interesting afterlife. A wide smirk appeared on his foggy face ¡°What now?¡± he asked confronting the two otherworldly existences Ch#03 the Ancient War Ch#03 the Ancient War Hearing Brian, the air around veronica turned solemn, the previous playfulness vanishing off her face, her black pupils shimmered as they peered at Gabriel asking for his opinion. Nodding his head, he shouted pounding the spear causing a tear to form on the gray space. ¡°By the will of his majesty, poor soul you are required to fight¡± ¡°Fight?... Who?" ¡°Demons,¡± said veronica ¡°there are 7 heavens and 3 hells with their respective kings and gods,¡± continued Gabriel, ¡°a few thousand years ago the king of the 3rd hell Ruler of Death Dracuza and the Gods of 4th and 5th heavenly layer rebelled which resulted in a colossal war causing a massive disturbance of elemental energy in the tri-dimension creating the space between them to tear¡± Veronicas eyes shone dangerously she clenched her whip making it vibrate sending waves of spatial disturbance, ¡°but unknown to us an alien race sneaked through those tears and are now leaching off earth¡± She looked at Brian her pair of horns growing, pointing straight to the sky, her body radiating dark baleful tendrils of black smoke causing the space around her to morph and distort. Her abyss like eyes peered into Brian causing his soul to tremble under the extreme pressure, ¡°we are not here to request so don¡¯t get the wrong idea. Also I assume you wouldn¡¯t be keen on living here for eternity do you Brian. Or am I wrong?¡± Fighting through the overwhelming pressure he looked at veronica ¡°although I am fine with what you want from me, but based on what abilities am I to fight something even Gods are struggling against¡± A snort escaped from Gabriel making the surrounding space to shudder, he looked at Brian a magnificent, overbearing aura erupted from him, ¡°ungrateful soul, how dare a pitiful being make little of my lord¡¯s abilities¡± a ball of light started to manifest around Gabriel finger, the light started to grow and a spark of lightning emerged from within. what in the world is that¡­Brian could feel that as long as the ball touched his soul he will cease on existing ¡°A blasphemous being like you is better off perished¡­ be gone¡± ¡°ENOUGH¡± shouted veronica her eyes blazing with fury, she shook he hand causing the tip of her whip to collide with the golden ball making the light on the angel¡¯s finger to vanish, ¡°you might not have forgotten your orders do you? Gabriel¡± Gabriel who seemed to have remembered something retracted his stretched hand, the colossal aura around him started to recede back leaving only the pure round halo of light. He looked at Brian his anger subsided. ¡°Magic¡± he said ¡°ma-agic?¡± Brian glanced at veronica, considering he might not be able to reason with the angel. ¡°When you die, based on your elemental affinity the soul can interact with the element to perform magic ¡°you however are able to perform both holy and dark magic¡±This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Brian glanced at himself, a blurry gray body, someone who can¡¯t walk or touch his own body a pitiful ghost is able to do magic, something only told in fantasies. But considering the mutation of his soul, this unrealistic space, the glob of golden lightning and those chill inducing black tendrils of smoke coming off veronica. These bizarre phenomenon¡¯s pointed at one thing, the most fundamental part of a fantasy. Magic. A lot of his questions seemed to be answered as he considered the ability of magic. When coming in terms with this fantasy a thrilling sensation started to assault his senses. It felt similar to when he was able to make a breakthrough in one of his researches or the moment he found something worthwhile to look into Aah yes this is it, this sense of thirst, how much I missed this feeling, although he didn¡¯t have eyes his body started to squirm in agitation wanting to know more ¡°how am I to use magic¡± suppressing his agitating soul he asked ¡°That¡¯s something you¡¯ll have to figure out yourself¡± ¡°Huh¡± Brian seemed to have heard wrong ¡®by myself¡¯ ¡°how ca-¡± ¡°It¡¯s something we can¡¯t explain, after all you are a mutation. One of a kind¡± veronica seemed pleased with Brian''s suffering, her horns went back to normal and a seductive heart trembling smile appeared on her face, ¡°he-he you don¡¯t have to be so worried¡± purposefully stretching her words she continued, ¡°once you return you¡¯ll figure it out magic is like a sixth sense, also we have something that might give you some help¡± Veronica stretched her hand manifesting a glob of black light, ¡°This is a gift from the king of hell Lucifer,¡± she said, the glob of black light flew straight into Brian¡¯s chest, he felt a cold chill spread throughout his soul. Seeing veronica, Gabriel¡¯s also manifested a ball of golden light seeing Brian flinch he smiled ¡°Don¡¯t worry this is a blessing from my sovereign, it will be a help for you in your journey poor soul¡± the glob of white light flew over and merged with Brian. Brian studied his chest area after finding that nothing was different he looked back at Gabriel who had a pendant with a golden chain levitating on his hand ¡°Consider this a gift from me and veronica¡± Gabriel pushed his hands causing the pendant to fly over to his side Studying the item he saw a half black and half white gem embedded in it, the black part of the gem had an inscription of a red colored eye while a golden spear was inscribed on the white part ¡°through our investigations we have found that the demons require word essence to keep on living, and to do that they have built various labyrinth¡¯s though out the earth for the past thousands of years to extract its essence and if we let them be than earth will surely be destroyed in the near future, what we want you is to locate and help our forces in destroying these labyrinth¡¯s,¡± ¡°The rest of the information which we think is necessary for your survival is stored in this¡± Brian wanted to grab the pendant, but it traveled through his arm and fixed itself around his neck. The gem shined one last time then it became lack luster. If a person didn¡¯t pay attention it would seem to be an item bought from a pawn shop not a magical pendant given by an angel. ¡°Let¡¯s not waste more time¡± Gabriel drew a circle with his spear, a golden light shone on its tip with each circle the space in front of him started to break apart. "are you just going to keep watching¡± Hearing Gabriel, Veronica''s eyes shone with a blue hue. The whip in her hands slithered forward its tip falling in the middle of the golden circle causing a blue ripple of energy to spread from the tip filling the entire circle making it seem like a golden framed mirror filled with crystal blue water. The blue energy kept swirling forming a small vortex. Retracting her whip she pointed at the blue vortex ¡°that is a spatial portal¡± Brian looked at the portal and sighed. He thought of himself dead only to be thrown into a world he found absurd. But the series of events that followed made him consider that nature is all changing. What made him doubt his ideals now fueled him to discover more about this mystical part of nature, with laws that allowed for magic his own home world now invaded by angels, devils and demons. Veronica pointed at the portal, ¡°that is the door which will lead you back to Earth. All you have to do is walk into it¡± ¡°I hope you will not disappoint my Lord¡± Gabriel looked at Brian with his prideful golden eyes. Brian was shocked to find a hint of expectation within them ¡°I think you should go now¡± veronica shook her hand telling him to hurry off. Brian took a final glance at his surrounding then slowly made his way into the portal Ch#04 Back to Earth Ch#04 Back to Earth Entering the portal he saw the space around him began to warp and contort. The immense pressure from space travelling caused his soul to morph and change into different shapes. Trying hard to keep control over his senses He remained oblivious of the fact that he was travelling millions of miles per second jumping from one dimension to another. After what seemed to be a long time Brian started to regain control over his senses. The first thing greeting his eyes were gigantic LED screens mounted on brightly lit multifloored buildings, a multitude of colorful advertisement boards decorating the top of every shop and a great number of people filling every corner of the street giving an overall feeling of a bustling city ¡°back to japan huh,¡± ¡°Lets see what this pendant does¡± hoping a reaction from the locket he tried to fumble it around but the locket remained dull without much movement Dissapointed Brian started to examine his soul. To his surprise his previous gray soul now had a black vortex spinning in its heart region. Intrigued he attempted touch it all to have his hand passing through the vortex, ¡°not again¡± grumbling he tried to concentrate thinking that sufficient concentration might evoke some reaction. 1min, 2 min¡­ after an hour of continuous fruitless effort his felt his soul getting tiered, wanting to give up he felt a slight discomfort in his head. ¡°Aghhhhhhhhhhh!¡± Suddenly assaulted by a severe pain he fell down clutching his head. It felt like a snake drilling his head making its way to his eyes. When the sensation finally reached its destination, a current of warm energy spread from his eyes to fill his whole soul. He felt the energy changing every inch of his being making his soul experience a fundamental change. After a few moments, the energy which seemed to have materialized magically disappeared. Looking at Brian, his soul was still blurry but coupled with the black vortex a third eye appeared on the center of his forehead, the eye had a golden pupil which shone magnificently in the dark night. ¡°Huh¡± Brian seemed to have felt the presence of another organ, through a little concentration he managed to peer out through his third eye, it felt like opening a door to a new dimension. Looking around the whole world seemed more vibrant and colorful, there were various tiny balls of light floating in the air like little fairies the moment he wanted to touch them they slid away from his grasp, even the sky was full of these lights hit by a sudden thought he speculatedThese must be the elemental particles Standing in the middle of the street with people passing by and even through him, his eyes fell on a person¡¯s neck making his eyes go wide with astonishment. He saw a very small creature resembling a parasite attached to the back of every human young and old. it had a long tongue sticking out of its mouth waving through the air as it ate the elements. Occasionally its rear would release a ball of either dark or light element. The parasites of some people were completely black. These parasite looked rotten as they released a chilling sinister aura looking at them Brian felt his soul throb, the black vortex in his body started to rotate much faster, he felt a tremendous urge to devour them like a hungry predator.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. What the hell are those things¡­ parasites? What will happen if I swallow them A middle aged man walked towards Brian he was wearing a black suit and was carrying a brown hand bag with a facial expression full of lust he glanced at a high school girl¡¯s ass licking his fat lips. The parasite on his neck was devouring the particles with a rate much faster than the others, the black aura it gave was much more potent than its other companions while having a vulgar feel to it. Seeing the parasite the urge to swallow came to him like a tide, it was extremely severe much different from the other ones he saw. Blinded by his hunger Brian instinctively ripped the parasite of the man¡¯s neck Grabbed by Brian the parasite shivered and gave a piercing cry filled with unending despair and unwillingness. Unperturbed by its pitiful throes Brian swallowed the parasite, landing in his mouth it dissolved into a stream of dark energy, which was then devoured by the spinning vortex causing a cool sensation to spread through his chest ¡°Huh¡± Brian looked at his chest to his surprise he noticed a tiny black crystal the size of a grain of sand forming inside the vortex. The crystal continued to grow only to stop by growing double its previous size. ¡°How can?! ...Yes, the third eye¡± looking through his normal eyes he noticed that he couldn''t see the black crystal The golden eye seemed to have lifted a veil of his mind allowing him to peer into the dimension containing all magical things. The man on the other hand gave a grunt and fell on the ground after a few seconds his eyes rolled over exposing the white of his eyes, white foam started to emerge from his mouth as his body started to wither and age at a visible rate when the withering stopped all that was left of the man was skin and bones. Noticing the body the sorrounding people started to scream and run in all directions Hearing the screams Brian woke up from his revere, he found it hard to comprehend what he had done, he couldn¡¯t feel a shred of guilt after killing a man. he blamed his emotional condition but he couldn¡¯t help but reconsider. ¡°It isn¡¯t that simple¡± It was a fundamental difference. Shrugging his shoulders Brian once more concentrated his gaze towards the black crystal, he welled to move it, and to his surprise it started to move per his will. The moment the crystal left the black vortex the locket on his neck started to vibrate and a force of suction appeared from within which broke of Brian control and sucked the crystal within. ¡°What the¡­¡± The locket released a ray of piercing red light causing a series of letters to appear in his sight Name: Brian Nicolas. Age: None. Gender: None. Class: (level 01) Magician. Special Class: (level 01) Soul warrior. Blessings/curses: Curse of the abyss: increases your affinity with dark elements by 10% Blessing of virtue: increases your affinity with light elements by 10% SP(soul points): 100/100 MP(magic points/mana) light : 0.2/0.2 Dark: 0/2.1 HP(health points): user not possessing a body. Strength: user is currently in spiritual form. Perception: 5 Endurance: 2 Agility: user not possessing a body Abilities Dark magic (user should be at level 2 to unlock an ability. Mana capacity insufficient) MACRON swallower (lv 1): allows you to swallow 3 MACRON¡¯s per day. Light magic (user should be at level 2 to unlock an ability) Special class abilities Soul possession (lv 1): allows the user to possess a single soul Possession: 0/1 Ch#05 MACRONs Ch#05 MACRONs ¡°What is this, a record?¡± The first thing that he noticed was his blessings and curses, ¡°these should be those balls of energy they put in me¡± having one of his questions answered he glanced back at the rows of red words Slowly, he started to read his status ¡°soul warrior?¡± Considering him being able to use magic, Brian understood the class Magician, but all he could speculate about the soul warrior was to relate it to his mutated soul Looking at the words, most of them made no sense. But after careful deliberation he concluded that the aura released by the magical creatures should be Mana, and the crystal that previously formed in his chest region was also a more refined form of it. ¡°So these parasites are called MACRONS¡± Brian couldn¡¯t help but salivate remembering the gush of energy he felt after consuming the macron. ¡°swallower,¡± A title which gave him the ability to eat macrons. What perplexed him was the Mana capacity. Seeing that eating a macron increases his dark Mana by 2 points how was he supposed to increase the capacity of light Mana Brian grumbled looking at the pendant stuck to his chest ¡°But the Mana I gained has just been devoured clean by this thing¡± Although he felt a bit sour about his first mana crystal, but he was happy with his gains Brian once more looked at the withered body that was lying in the middle of the road surrounded by a large amount of people ¡°Looks like this is what happens when my very soul is completely different from others¡± ¡°It¡¯s better to assume that along with my body, I seemed to have lost my connection with humans¡± As a human, although he didn¡¯t fell love or compassion but there was still this feeling that they were of the same race. When people slaughter a cow they don¡¯t feel guilty, as to them it is not a fellow human it is just food. Looking around Brian spotted the dark MACRON¡¯s in his vicinity, but the intensity of their mana was much less compared to the previous man ¡°Considering I can only eat up to three macrons, I¡¯d be better if I looked at other places¡± Having made up his mind Brian started to walk around the streets his sight landed upon an old lady she was wearing a white scarf while being supported by a man who seemed to be her son. The MACRON on her neck had almost turned golden and was emitting globs of pure white light Brian could feel his third eye resonating with the golden macron. The macron itself was giving off a soothing and caring aura reflecting its host¡¯s thoughts causing the people who passed by her had a visible change in their mood. When Brian looked at the macron he didn¡¯t have the urge to swallow it, on the contrary he had a feeling that it was untouchable, as if it was protected by some unknown power Brains eyes narrowed ¡°well this is interesting¡± he began to approach the old women. When he stretched his hand towards the MACRON a ripple of energy emitted from it which shoved his hand to the side, he felt a piercing pain torment his magic eye as if someone was pricking it with a sharp needle. Brian clutched his head and started to scream, it was the first time in his whole life that he felt such a brutal pain the pain was much more severe than his previous experience, the pain lasted for a few seconds then stopped Brian hurriedly backed away from the old woman as he vigilantly glanced at her from a distance ¡°What the hell was that¡± he muttered, even remembering the pain gave him the chills. BEEP the locket on Brian¡¯s neck gave a piercing noise as it beeped with a red light and a row of words appeared in front of him ¡°User has made contact with a Lv. 2 MACRON¡± ¡°User has made contact with a blessed MACRON¡± ¡°User is advised to refrain from making further contact¡± Brian eyes twitched while black lines started to appear on his forehead ¡°The MACRONS have a level too, and from the looks of it I have to be on the same level as them if I even want to touch them¡± ¡°But what does the blessing mean¡± Brian pounded on the pendant in hopes of getting an answer, but to his disappointment the pendant remained unresponsive ¡°for now let¡¯s focus on the dark elements¡± Brian started to move around the city in order to find a dark MACRON similar to the man in suit, during his search he passed by a dark alley from which he heard a shrill scream, judging from the sound it seemed to be a desperate plea of a woman. ¡°A woman?¡± a cold smirk appeared on Brian¡¯s face as he proceeded into the alley. He could see the concentration of dark elements increasing as he got closer to the voices ¡°Help! Somebody help me PLEASE¡± ¡°heh, heh scream all ya want slut nobody is gonna fucking hear ya¡± ¡°ya boss and I gonna give ya a fuckin ride¡± Walking through the alley he could see the dark elements flying towards a certain direction ¡°Seems like I am close, judging from the voices there seems to be two male and a single female¡± Brian continued to advance but he stopped in front of a concrete wall about 2.5 meters long, when he looked above the dark particles seemed to gather at the other side of the wall, he could even hear the pitiful screams of the women as the two men tore off her clothes ¡°A wall¡± Brian felt himself fall into a dilemma, ¡°what am I supposed to do, I can¡¯t even jump considering that I am a spirit¡± ¡°Wait¡­ yes a spirit¡± Brian slowly placed his hand on the wall, but instead of stopping his hand went into it, when he moved forward his whole body vanished into the wall. ¡°That felt weird¡± coming out of the other side Brian observed his soul for any particular change ¡°it seems I can move through walls now¡± ¡°Suga boss check this bitch, she has a nice pair¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°Fuck, get off man¡± suga pushed the other man aside ¡°I am first¡± The women had almost all of her clothes torn apart exposing her petite body. She was desperately trying to cover her privates with her bruised hands. The look in her tear filled swollen eyes were filled with helplessness and despair. One of hoodlums had a large build with his hair dyed red, the second one looked extremely sinister, he had a very skinny build, his face was covered in tattoos and had piercings covering his nose, lips and ears The thing that got Brian¡¯s attention was a snake tattoo on the back of both of their hands ¡°Is this their gang symbol?¡± NO! Screamed the women, looking at her despair filled eyes his body shivered with excitement marveling her helpless body. ¡°Don¡¯t worry bitch, ya gonna feel real good real soon¡± Suga licked his lips as he took out a knife swiping it through the air ¡°Hey Rex hold this slut up¡± Hearing Suga the red haired man face fell, but he still proceeded to grab the women¡¯s hands despite her shrill screaming ¡°Don¡¯t worry I won¡¯t mess her up too much, ya will be able to have some fun as well¡± Rex Expression brightened a lustful look appeared on his face, he took a deep sniff of the women¡¯s hair ¡°Yes Suga boss, heh this bitch seems tight¡± Brian saw the concentration of the dark elements drastically increase he could feel a faint amount of mana gathering inside of him as well, the vortex on his chest started to rotate once more waiting to devour Looking at the MACRON¡¯s he saw a black flame lit on top of them the felling they gave off was even more intense then the middle aged man But when he looked at the women, he felt a bit baffled her macron was pulsating as it released an enormous amount of white elements Brian could hear its screaming its tongue stretched towards Brian pleading for his help, as if sensing a dangerous predator even the black macrons stopped releasing black flames as they made little squealing noises Suga halted his footsteps, he shivered and cold sweat appeared on his forehead ¡°What the fuck was that¡± his eyes squinted into thin slits as he carefully inspected his surroundings. Why did I fell such an immense sense of danger? Holding the women Rex looked no better than Suga. ¡°Rex you felt it too¡± ¡°ya boss, that was fucking terrifying¡± ¡°You go check it out, see if someone is there¡± The macrons seemed to have noticed me Brian halted his advancement as he studied the MACRONS ¡°Even if they do it¡¯s inevitable¡± Brian approached Suga and grabbed his MACRON. Suga twitched and fell on the ground withering into a bag of bones Swallowing the MACRON he felt the energy fill him up ¡°I like this feeling, it feels so satisfying¡± Brian eyes turned cold and ruthless, he directed his gaze towards Rex Ah! The women screamed while distancing herself from the dead corpse, Rex who was still busy looking turned around after hearing the scream ¡°What the fuck did ya do to boss you fucking cunt¡± Rex sprinted towards the women his eyes red and his muscles bulging ¡°No-No it wasn¡¯t me, it wasn¡¯t me¡± clutching her head the women started to scream. A smirk appeared on his cloudy face when he saw Rex sprinting towards his direction the prey brought itself to the hunter He grabbed the MACRON and swallowed it in one gulp the MACRON turned into fine threads of dark mana as it was devoured by the vortex turning into two grain sized crystals When Brian finished swallowing the second dark MACRON, the light MACRON on the women¡¯s neck started to pulsate as a glob of white light flew out of it into Brian On previous ingestion¡¯s Brian felt that whenever he ingested a dark MACRON a part of him still remained locked now when the glob of white light entered him he felt that lock shatter and his whole soul brimming with energy The locket once again gave a red light ¡°User has successfully obtained light mana essence¡± ¡°User dark mana is maximized for the current level¡± ¡°User light mana is maximized for the current level¡± ¡°User is advised to level up and absorb more essence¡± Seeing the notification a smile appeared on Brian¡¯s face. ¡°Reached the maximum capacity for mana¡± Brian traced the gem on the pendant with his fingers ¡°Need to level up?¡± ¡°How in the world do you want me to accomplish that?¡± Brian sighed warily scratching his head ¡°For now I should find my lab to perform some tests¡± Light was coming of a huge computer screen lightning up the dark room, in front of the screen sat a blonde man, His facial features were obscured by the darkness only his blue eyes were visible which shone with a severe light as he focused on the screen ¡°Later this evening a body of a male was found on the streets of Tokyo. The man Makuda Shunso was found dead his body completely withered. The doctors have yet to confirm his cause of death¡± The man frowned, his brows etched upwards like a pair of sharp swords ¡°Ishihara what is the meaning of this¡± ¡°Sir, according to the reports a spatial gate was opened in Tokyo, according to the data gathered the gate was opened near the causality¡± ¡°What were the energy levels¡± asked the blonde man ¡°The energy levels indicated the transfer of a lv. 1 to lv. 2 being¡± ¡°Alright dispatch someone to investigate and deal with the issue before more bodies start to pile up¡± the blonde man stood up from his seat and disappeared into the darkness ¡°Yes sir!¡± In a hotel somewhere In Tokyo ¡°Ah¡­ yes baby¡­ ah¡± ¡°Do it harder¡­ ahn¡­ yes more¡± A man and women were enjoying a bout of heated sex, when the phone on the table next to the bed started to ring ¡°The fucking phone,¡± grunted the man he grabbed the women and shoved her aside ¡°But¡­ baby I wasn¡¯t done yet¡± ¡°Its work¡± the man looked at the number his gaze visibly sharpened, He motioned towards the women. This caused her to abruptly stand up and go out of the room showing her plum naked bottom ¡°Hunter Code 7810 here¡± ¡°Remove the target as soon as possible, payment and information has been sent to your personal GAT¡± The man looked at the watch in his hand and pressed a button, which then displayed a number of words in front of him ¡°Mission rank F¡± ¡°Target is supposed to be lv.1 to lv.2¡± ¡°Payment 555000 yen¡± ¡°location Tokyo¡± Brian who was oblivious to all of this was still in the alley as he looked at his current status Name: Brian Nicolas. Age: None. Gender: None. Class: (level 01) Magician. Special Class: (level 01) Soul warrior. Blessings/curses: Curse of the abyss: increases your affinity with dark elements by 10% Blessing of virtue: increases your affinity with light elements by 10% SP(soul points): 90/100 MP(magic power/Mana) light magic: 5/5 Dark magic: 5/5 HP(health points): user not possessing a body. Strength: user is currently in spiritual form. Perception: 5 Endurance: 2 Agility: user not possessing a body Abilities Dark magic (user should be at level 2 to unlock an ability) MACRON swallower (lv 1): allows you to swallow 3 MACRON¡¯s per day. Light magic (user should be at level 2 to unlock an ability) Special class abilities Soul possession (lv 1): allows the user to possess a single soul Possession: 0/1 Brian frowned ¡°my soul points have gone down?¡± Ch#06 Possession Ch#06 Possession ¡°The decrease in my soul points should have been the backlash from that golden macron¡± Leaving the women with his two withered victims Brian started to move out of the dark alley, but instead of following the conventional path he decided to use his ability as a ghost. ¡°The amount of Mana I received from those two is 2.5 each ¡°but how come the light MARON gave me whole 5 points of mana, when its purity was less than the old women¡¯s which means it wasn¡¯t a level 2¡± ¡°Maybe it has to do with me lending a hand¡± ¡°And what is essence?¡± Brain scratched his head in frustration ¡°ah, no need to confuse my head with things that I can¡¯t understand¡± He then glanced at the pendant hanging by his neck, his eyes shone with a mysterious light ¡°I hope you have some answers for me¡± In his thoughts Brian seemed to forget about what was happening around him, he had walked to the middle of a road, a brown colored SUV was approaching him in high speeds. Brian was jerked into reality by the sound of the running engine, wanting to jump away he found that it was too late. Shit! Brian held his hand over his head ¡°Oh wait. Why should I care, I am a soul after all¡± VROOM Brains lower half vanished into the SUV¡¯s front bonnet, but then something happened that even Brian had not expected, he came into contact with the women driving the car, the moment his soul touched the women¡¯s body he could feel a similar existence like himself hiding in the females body , shivered up in the corner looking at him with dread. The MACRON over her neck also started to rapidly pound like a beating heart ¡°Hmm is this her soul?¡± Brian could feel that as long as he tried he could suppress the existing soul even destroy it ¡°User has made contact with a low tier lv1 human soul¡± ¡°User has the ability to possess¡± The pendant gave the notification in red Brian eyes shone with a white and black light as he approached the hosts soul, the soul itself was almost transparent with a hint of golden and a bit black at the heart region completely different from his gray soul with a deep black vortex in the center In response to brains approach the soul started to shiver and shrink in the end it became the size of an infant¡¯s fist and levitated in the head region, the women¡¯s eyes started to lose focus and her eyes turned dull, when Brian looked he saw a golden strand connecting the soul with the MACRON the strand was occasionally shimmering with a faint black and white light As if hit by a sudden enlightenment he grabbed the strand and broke it then pushed the other end to his head, when the stand touched his head, Brian was assaulted by a piercing pain a stand of white energy pierced out of his head similarly a stand of black energy came out from the vortex and melded with the golden strand, both the three strands melded in to a mysterious runic symbol, it was a circular symbol with golden outer corners and various black and white patterns intersecting with each other. Astonished he studied the runic symbol, the black and white pattern appeared to be some ancient wordings but regretfully even with his knowledge regarding archeology he couldn¡¯t find a matching language. ¡°What is this¡± he muttered ¡°Soul spell pattern established¡± ¡°User soul is connected with the body¡± ¡°Possession successful¡­ adjusting the body to required standard¡± The women¡¯s body started to physically change, her skin turned from yellow to pale white while her hair turned to a pure snow white with only her eyes retaining their original black pupils but the blackness had a mysterious depth to it, it looked like the pupils of a devil dark and sinister Brian could feel the connection between him and the body, but the impression he got was like sitting in a robot that would move according to his thoughts. It felt extremely bizarre. ¡°Is this how it feels to possess someone?¡± bran checked his newly obtained body when the SUV started to shake by sliding off the road. Damn the car! Brian hurriedly stepped on the brakes the tires gave a squealing noise as the rubbed against the rubble then after blowing some dirt it came to an abrupt stop. ¡°Phew that was close¡± The locket gave a red light ¡°Transformation successful¡± ¡°Transferring memories¡± ¡°memories?¡± Brian felt a bit baffled but then his soul was assaulted by a severe pain as huge amounts of data started pouring into him After a few seconds Brian felt that if this transfer continued any longer he would explode from the sheer amount of information Assume a normal human being, although the brain is filled with various information about things he experienced and heard throughout his life, but most of this information remains buried deep within the brain. Right now all that information was sent into Brian in the span of few seconds so the sheer amount of pressure he felt was immense ¡°Memories transfer complete¡± A notification popped in front of Brian ¡°Finally¡± Brian felt his inner state return to normal. When he looked at the rune floating in front of him the words on the symbol seemed much more complex. ¡°It¡¯s over¡± Brian muttered rubbing his forehead He could tell that all the memories seemed to have been absorbed by the soul rune. As long as his consciousness touched it he will be able to access those memories ¡°How peculiar and interesting¡± Brian¡¯s consciousness drifted along the golden strand towards the rune. ¡°let¡¯s see what these memories hold¡± when his consciousness touched the rune an attractive force emerged from it all Brian felt was his sight spinning and everything going blurry when his vision cleared he found himself in a dark space with lights flickering at various places like stars in the black sky. When he focused on a particular light it started to float towards him. What he saw next left him stunned for a brief moment ¡°What the hell¡± The light was a fragment of the women¡¯s memory. It displayed the memory like a movie ¡°Ho-w? How is this possible¡± Brian stuttered as he shoutedYou could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°The more I learn the more absurd it gets¡± Brian felt astonished as he looked at the memory fragment. The fragment was about the early ages of the female. Brian felt it was unnecessary for him to look at it so he proceeded to focus on other fragments. When he diverted his attention to other fragments the previous fragment stated to disintegrate into nothing causing his eyes to shimmer. ¡°So the memory fragment that I don¡¯t need is deleted from this space¡± Brian looked around he noticed that some of the lights were much bigger than the others also there were few lights which were connected to each other via a white line. ¡°Seems like I have to look at all the fragments one by one¡± brain started to go through the various scattered memory fragments, it took him about an hour of search before he managed to get a fragment that had some useful information ¡°Finally!¡± brian let out a long breath The fragment showed a recent part of the women¡¯s life. Brian came to this conclusion after analyzing the pattern by which the fragments were arranged. The arrangement seemed like a tree with a shining golden light for the base and various white fragments branched out of it. Brian noticed that there were still some fragments which roamed the dark space like metros in the starry sky. The memory fragment in front of Brian showed a TV in which a reporter was reporting breaking news ¡°Since the past year supernatural incidents related to espers have drastically increased¡± ¡°Esper related crimes are increasing day by day. Today on Tanakawa Street a 32 year old male with his 8 year old child were found brutally murdered by the notorious esper Black Blood¡± ¡°According to the spoke person Mr. James Yazura of the national bureau of Esper control (NBEC) they are very close to finding the real identity of the culprit¡± ¡°now¡­ the question remains. Are we truly safe in this new era of espers? Can we truly trust the bureau and put our lives in their hands?¡± ¡°This is Azu Tanaka reporting from Tazakawa¡± Brian was stunned after viewing the memory fragment ¡°1 year ago? Espers!? What in the world has happened?¡± Brian focused on the calendar which hung beside the TV ¡°2020!¡± he drew a deep breath ¡°that¡¯s 2 years after my death¡± ¡°Which means the incidents started happening a year after my demise¡± Brian felt it somewhat weird ¡°but why surface now? They have been hiding from the humans for hundreds of years why show themselves now¡± After racking his Brian for some answers he sighed, ¡°No point in stressing my mind. What I am curious is that so called bureau but this fragment won¡¯t give me anything about it¡± Bran glanced at the hundreds of lights in the dark space ¡°guess I¡¯ll have to look through all of them¡± This time it took Brian almost 5 hours before he finished going through the rest of the fragments ¡°Nothing!¡± Brian muttered heavily ¡°Other than a few names this women seems to know nothing about the bureau and judging from her daily activities she seems much informed¡± ¡°Seems like this bureau is quite secretive, the information given to the civilians is limited to just the spoke persons, even the information regarding the espers have been tightly confined¡± ¡°No wonder the people seemed so distressed¡± Brian then shifted his sharp gaze towards the bright golden light ¡°Of all the fragments as long as my consciousness wills it they come floating towards me. As for that golden light no matter how much I tried it won¡¯t budge from its place¡± He started to well his consciousness to flow towards the golden light. As he got closer instead of finding a memory fragment he only felt the golden light getting more and more intense and piercing. When he was just a meter away from the light an attractive force similar to the one that sucked his consciousness appeared and swept his consciousness inside the golden light All Brian could see was piercing golden light then everything went blank. When Brian recovered his vision he was sitting in a car his hands on the steering drenched in sweat his body burning like a furnace Brian looked around confirming his whereabouts ¡°phew¡­ that was intense¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ let¡¯s see¡± Brian touched the screen attached to the front of the car. Responding to his touch the screen showed a list of options. Brian pressed the news option which automatically set the radio frequency of the car to a news station ¡°Earlier this evening in the bustling street of Tokyo a 40 year old man was found dead¡± ¡°According to the authorities the culprit for this murder is a new esper they are calling him the ¡®devourer¡¯ based on the condition of the victims body¡± ¡°The investigators on site are waiting for the special unit from the national bureau of esper containment¡± ¡°As expected¡± muttered Brian ¡°The body I left is a little problem¡± Brian had a grave look on his face ¡°I don¡¯t know what methods they have in tracking me. I have to be more careful from now on¡± Brian proceeded to open the GPS system of the car ¡°Now where was my house¡­ right!¡± Brian typed a few words then a destination popped up on the screen Washizawa, Tokyo *** Brrrr The skies started to rumble as black clouds emerged from the west obscuring the rising sun making the city plunge in to darkness. Water started to pour from the skies drenching the land the occasional lightning thundered in the skies like roaring dragons A black colored bike was speeding on a road, its sleek body giving a unique sense of beauty. ¡°Fuck!¡± ¡°Of all the times, it had to rain now¡± muttered the man driving the bike dressed completely in a black leather suit wearing a red helmet ¡°Hey Roxy how much time left till I reach the crime scene¡± The man pressed a button on his helmet and shouted ¡°Robin don¡¯t be so impatient¡± rang a sweet female voice in robins ear, ¡±You are almost there, judging from your current speed you will reach destination in half an hour¡± ¡°For god¡¯s sake why am I so unlucky¡± Robin rolled the accelerator and tore through the rain in much high speeds After a period of high speed driving robin saw red and blue lights glowing in the distance closing in he saw a few police cars parked in various places on the street. A yellow lane was placed for restricting the citizens with police officers standing guard Unperturbed Robin drove his bike towards the crime scene. Only to come to a screeching stop just a few meters away leaving a long black trail on the drenched road He lifted the lid of his helmet showing his red eyes which glowed with a sinister black light ¡°Roxy can you trace the mana¡± ¡°Nope¡­ you have to approach the body so that I can analyze the Mana pattern of devourer and trace the disturbance of elemental particles created from his Mana signature radiation¡± ¡°Alright¡± Getting off his bike and went towards the crime scene. Seeing robin approach the police officer on duty shouted ¡°YOU STOP! This is a crime scene. Citizens are not allowed to pass through¡± Robin¡¯s eyes flashed with coldness as he glanced at the officer. The officer¡¯s heart shuddered when he saw the cold red eyes. Robin flashed his bronze colored badge hidden beneath his leather jacket. The badge had a single star inscribed on top of it with the initials NBEC inscribed in the middle The officer expression went through a tremendous change. He backed up his face pale ¡°b-be-bureau¡± ¡°Sir plea-se sorry for my previous offense¡± the officer know towed towards robin expressing his guilt in shame ¡°It¡¯s alright. Take me to the body¡± saying this robin followed the officer inside the barricade where lied a withered corpse ¡°Attention! The case has been taken up by the bureau. I am robin Vanhaulen. I am a bronze officer and I would like to request you to please leave and clear the premises so I may able to do my job¡± Hearing robin the surrounding officers started whisper ¡°What the bureau¡± ¡°So now they come eh-¡± ¡°shh¡­ look at his eyes¡­ how scary¡± ¡°Ah¡­ Umm. Mr. Robin don¡¯t you want our help in something. You know all my officers have been here for the past 6 hours¡± a glasses wearing man spoke as he glanced towards robin trying his very best to make eye contact ¡°No need! As for your compensation the bureau will handle it¡± Hearing Robin a flicker of excitement flashed in everyone¡¯s eyes ¡°Yes, yes¡­ thank you very much¡± the officers started to shout dispersing the surrounding unwanted spectators Seeing the officers leave robin let out a long breath ¡°finally some peace and quiet¡± Standing in front of the corpse he started to stretch his body, looking at the corpse his eyes became focused. Extending his right hand towards the corpse he started to mumble some strange words ~wo-hs-mur-shaman~ ¡°Spell rank 1 inspect¡± ¡°ACTIVATE!¡± large amounts of dark Mana started to leak from his body which then formed a complex black rune in front of him. Robin pointed his finger which had a smaller version of the Rune continuously spinning. Various tentacles started to come out of the black rune which started to fumble through the corpse with some penetrating it Controlling the rune through his consciousness he moved the tentacles, after swiping the area with the black tentacles the rune on Robin¡¯s finger disintegrated leaving two wisps of black mana twirling on top of the body ¡°Hmm that¡¯s weird¡­ according to the data we only had a single being now there are two energy marks here¡± ¡°What do you mean, robin¡± Robin pushed a button on his tracker. A blue beam of light enveloped the two wisps for a few breaths of time. After a beep the light retracted ¡°did you get the data¡± ¡°ya got it¡± ¡°You are right these are two signatures, but according to the sensors one of them belongs to our dead man¡± A deep frown emerged on robin¡¯s forehead his complexion went grim ¡°It means we have ourselves a wretched soul¡­ this is bad¡± ¡°ya it is¡­ there have been two eruptions of Mana undulations of the same signature as our devourer. The first one is 500 meters to your west in an alley and the second one is more intense and the point of origin is 1km from the second eruption¡± ¡°What! More intense, which level was it?¡± ¡°It was probably between lv 2 to 3 which means we have an evolving wretch¡± Meanwhile a brown SUV stopped in front of a 3 floored building. The building itself looked abandoned with broken windows and a rusted front gate the rumbling thunder in the sky coupled with the heavy rain made the building look more haunted Ch#07 the Lab Ch#07 the Lab The SUVs front door opened and a pair of slender legs could be seen poking out of the car followed by a woman in a professional cut blue suit. Unperturbed by the rain drenching her body she crudely swept back her snow white hair. ¡°Finally here¡± The woman was obviously possessed by Brian. He proceeded towards the front metal gate but he found it chained up and locked shut. The lock itself had rusted through the passage of time. Brian shifted his eyes to a carving done on the side wall ¡®Home to Professor Brian Nicolas¡¯ Brian sighed ¡°time truly is unforgiving¡± By applying a bit of force the lock gave a shrill crunching noise and fell off, ¡°they could have used a better quality lock¡± Using a considerable amount of force, Brian with much difficulty opened the metal gate What greeted him was a wide clearing and a cemented pavement with lush bushes at the side leading to the buildings entrance. The bushes had overgrown, the building looked old it had cracked dusted windows and the paint was falling apart. It had been almost 3 years since he stepped into the building. According to his memory the entrance to the lab should be an elevator in the basement. Making his way to the entrance he saw the glass door with just its outer frame. The inside of the building was in shambles. ¡°It seems that in the past year, my home has already been ransacked. Hopefully my private lab has remained intact¡± The elevator to his lab had a code input. Anyone without the knowledge would think of it as a store room instead of an entrance leading to a place filled with high tech machinery. Making his way down the emergency stairs Brian stood in front of a wooden door with a metallic store sign. Grasping the nob and twisting it the door opened. Taking a deep breath he walked inside. The interior of the room was dark and empty. Brian walked to a corner and randomly pressed on the wall. BEEP With a robotic noise a panel came out of the wall. The display had a numeric keypad and a blank space with the word ¡°enter pin¡± on the top. ¡°Got to appreciate solar energy, thankfully the lab still has power¡± Brian entered the pin, the panel slid back into the wall and with a buzzing noise the whole room began to light up The floor tremored and the whole room started to move downwards. When the elevator stopped a sliding door opened in front of him. Passed the door Brian could see white tiles with white ceiling and various machines and panels beeping with robotic sounds ¡°Back home¡± Brian caressed the pendant, ¡°hopefully I¡¯ll get some answers¡± Walking on the white tiles Brian stood in front of a meter tall circular machine, pushing a button on the side panel Brian heard a monotonous robotic voice. ¡°Welcome professor, please confirm instructions¡± Facing the circular machine he shouted, ¡°Perform a full body CAT scan¡± ¡°Affirmative¡± rays of blue light shot out of the circular machine enveloping every part of brains body. After a few seconds the moving lights went back into the machine. A series of statistical data appeared on the panel screen Looking at the data his brows creased into a frown ¡°Nothing, not a single abnormality¡± Having predicted the outcome Brian couldn¡¯t help but being regretful ¡°Like I thought magic is completely obscured. Energy from a different dimension¡± Having achieved nothing he went to the prototype section, throughout his life Brian had been researching energy. He tried to find new more efficient forms of energy and one of his life¡¯s works was lying in front of him ¡°I never thought that I¡¯ll be touching this ever again¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. A silver colored .44 semi auto magnum desert eagle is what it looked like but its interior was completely different. Its body was made of a special alloy called Termatium with a tensile strength twice that of titanium and a weight lighter than steel. In its interior Brian had constructed a mini energy reactor, its purpose was to use the formed energy in place of the conventional bullets and gun powder creating a prototype for a laser gun. Failing to produce enough energy the project was termed a failure, opening his third eye Brian looked at the two crystals hovering in the vortex ¡°Let¡¯s see what happens if magic is used in the reactor¡± grasping the pistol in his hands Brian slowly with extreme concentration welled a crystal out of the vortex. The crystal made its way through his hands to slowly fall into the reactor. When touching the reactor, the crystal as if influenced by brains thought burst into treads of black energy which started to seep into each corner of the gun, starting through the reactor the whole body of the pistol went through a dramatic change. Various black lines started to appear on its exterior giving its already elegant body a devilish charm. After changing the whole body the remaining mana settled into the now mutated reactor ¡°How in the¡­¡± Brian could feel a connection formed between him and the gun. He felt that as long as he welled it, the energy stored in the reactor would immediately burst out leaving through the barrel. Brian body started to shiver, his hand grasping the pistol tightened, ¡°finally, I knew it¡± It had been ages since he felt this much excited. He had finally completed one of his unfinished works. Also now he had found a way to use his magic offensively ¡°Would this be considered as magic?¡± shaking his head Brian went to the center of the room, the whole wall was fitted with a giant computer screen. Typing on the keyboard he tried to look for former sightings of Espers ¡°Hopefully I might get a lead to what I am supposed to do by these so called Espers¡± After an hour of search, he managed to hack into the local police network. Form the database he found that the police had found traces of a supernatural phenomenon in Yoyogi Park ¡°Hmm, the locals seemed to have reported repetitive sightings of an Esper every Sunday¡± looking at the clock, today was also Sunday. Clenching the pistol in his hands a confident smile appeared on his pale face *** Standing in the alley the rain had stopped pouring. Robin was inspecting the bodies of two hoodlums ¡°You said it was reported by a woman¡± An annoyed voice replied through his ear piece ¡°yes, how many times you have to ask¡± ¡°But i-¡± ¡°Shut it. Let me finish, according to the lady she was being assaulted by the two men when they started to freak out and then, boom they died¡± ¡°Hmm, so our previous speculation was right¡± robin scratched his head filled with red hair, ¡°ahh¡­ fuck it, so did you get any results from the sample¡± ¡°No the labs are still processing it. I¡¯ll send you the location when they are done searching for his mana signature¡± ¡°Hey roxy why are you so useless¡± ¡°haaa¡­ what did ya say dickhead, you want to die¡± robin had said it as a joke but having his ears tortured by the strings of unending curses he sighed ¡°Shit, alright I am sorry. I¡¯ll never do it again¡± ¡°¡­¡± Seeing her unresponsive behavior robin started to sweat fuck she¡¯s going to skin me when I¡¯ll go back to the headquarters ¡°Hey dickhead, we tracked that son of a bitch¡± came Roxys sweet voice in complete contrast with her choice of words ¡°Huh¡­ send me the location¡± jumping on his bike robin started the engine causing the exhaust to blow up smoke ¡°The target is mobile and seems to be moving towards Yoyogi Park, you better get this job done cuz you owe me dinner¡± ¡°haa?¡­ got it¡± turning the bikes throttle Robin sped out of the alley leaving only the sound of the engine reverberating. Driving the brown SUV Brian he reached the Park, the sun had just risen and the trees were still wet with rain creating a humid atmosphere. The surrounding was quiet and peaceful. The birds were sitting on top of the trees bathing in the morning light. Shoving the gun behind his back, Brian activated the pendant Name: Brian Nicolas. Age: 24(possessed) Gender: Female (possessed) Class: (level 01) Magician. Special Class: (level 01) Soul warrior. Blessings/curses: Curse of the abyss: increases your affinity with dark elements by 10% Blessing of virtue: increases your affinity with light elements by 10% SP(soul points): 100/100 MP(magic power/Mana) light magic: 5/5 Dark magic: 2/5 HP(health points): 50/50 Strength: 1 Perception: 5 Endurance: 2 Agility: 1.2 Abilities Dark magic (user should be at level 2 to unlock an ability) MACRON swallower (lv 1): allows you to swallow 3 MACRON¡¯s per day. Light magic (user should be at level 2 to unlock an ability) Special class abilities Soul possession (lv 1): allows the user to possess a single soul Possession: 1/1 Ch#08 Beast Ch#08 Beast Skimming through his status he noticed the strength and agility bar ¡°Comparing the points it seems to have calibrated my status with 1 being the average strength of a human¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ my soul points have gone back up¡± pleased by the revelation that soul points restore automatically he looked at his Mana consumption making him grunt in frustration ¡°Supposing the surrounding elements restore my soul points, how come my mana is down by 3 points?¡± ¡°Haah¡­ the pendant, it consume a portion of my Mana to activate¡± hitting the pendant with his skinny pale fists he shouted ¡° how am I supposed to restore my Mana with a limit of 3 macrons¡± ¡°Duk¡­ bam¡± with a forceful push Brian exited the SUV. Facing the park he recalled the information he had previously gathered ¡°Although no human casualties were reported, the visitors seemed to have heard high pitched shrill noises, while according to some statements they heard a monster growling¡± Reading from a pink colored smartphone in his hand, ¡°according to the park authorities there has been a noticeable decrease in the number of domestic animals especially dogs¡± Confused his brows creased together into a frown ¡°this Esper or monster likes to eat dogs?¡± Unable to find any answers, he took a deep breath. Checking the pistol on his back he walked into the park. After a few minutes of strolling through the park he stopped in front of a large piece of land filled with trees. It could be called a miniature forest judging from the number of trees. A large wooden warning sign was placed by the pavement it read ¡®Visitors are advised to refrain from going further. The area is still under development¡¯ ¡°Most of the voices were heard from this area¡± opening his third eye Brian studied the flow of dark elements Confirming his speculations he found a considerable increase in the density of dark elements, squinting his eyes, he found a slight irregular movement of the elements far ahead in the skies. A faint grin appeared on his face ¡°Seems like the reports may turn out to be true¡± Adjusting his state of mind he took out the pistol, grabbing it with both hands Brian with extreme caution proceeded to move towards the disturbance. Passing through the trees he could see the movement of dark particles much clearly. The disturbance jumped from one place to another. At some point the disturbance would be to his right and after a few minutes the same fluctuation of dark elements would happen a few meters away ¡°SKRRAHHH¡± Brian heard a shrill scream, it sounded like the dying throes of a women mixed with the growl of a beast. The growl had a low pitch it felt sinister like a wailing ghost sending a shiver down his spine. Both the sounds seem to have come a few meters away from his current position Brian started to sweat, even if his dull emotions prevented him from feeling fear he still experienced a massive amount of pressure. ¡°The unknown is scary¡± he muttered, sharpening his senses he started to slowly move forward. But the thing that surprised Brian was lack of any elemental disturbance in the skies. Getting near Brian spotted a black shadow moving through the trees. After further inspection the black shadow turned out to be a 2 meter tall cat looking monster with two enormous fangs protruding out of the jaw to reach its dark brown eyes. Its charcoal black fur had numerous red spots making it resemble a crossbreed between a black panther and a saber toothed tiger. Clenching a blood soaked body between its sharp teeth¡¯s it walked slowly, the muscles of its body rippled with every movement giving out an oppressive feeling. ¡°Huh¡± through his third eye Brian could see a huge ball of dark red energy pulsating at its heart region but to his surprise other than the ball of energy the monster released no aura or Mana radiation. If not for his third eye he wouldn¡¯t have noticed the beast at all. ¡°Ah yes, A cat¡± hit by a sudden thought, his eyes shimmered darkly. A cat by his animalistic instincts tends to keep its bestial tendencies suppressed explaining the periodic fluctuations in the elements as well as the massive disappearance in the number of dogs. But looking at the monster under no circumstance does it resemble a small lovable cat. Tightening his grasp Brian pointed the nozzle at the beast¡¯s dark body. ¡°I won¡¯t be able to accurately aim, have to close the distance¡± channeling his Mana the lines on the pistol started to glow with a dark light. As if sensing brains approach the beast ears stood up, its nose started to move sniffing the air for any uninvited visitor Brian who was on high alert started to sweat. With extreme haste moved his body behind the cover of a tree barely hiding his slender frame. Unknown to Brian his sudden movements were picked up by its sharp ears. Turning his massive head its brown eyes peered towards Brian¡¯s location ¡°GRAAAA¡± ¡°BOOM¡± with a heart shivering roar the beast launched its massive body towards Brian like a bow leaving its string. ¡°Shit¡­ I got found out¡± bending his body Brian prepared himself to roll out of the trees protection just as he rolled out, a swift claw appeared above his head smashing the tree, the force of the blow causing him to fall on the ground, after rolling a few time he looked up to his horror a deep claw mark could be seen on the bark, the beast looked at Brian with naked fury in his eyes baring its sharp teeth it growled savagelyThis story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡°This is bad, the beast is too strong¡± Flexing its frightening muscles the beast once again threw it self towards Brian, before he could react a claw hit Brian across his chest blasting him through the air. ¡°Boom¡± his body landed on the ground blowing up a huge cloud of sand creating a pit on the hard ground ¡°Dammit¡± relying on sheer will he shakily brought his body to up onto two legs ¡°agh¡± puking a mouth full of blood he felt a severe pain in the chest, inspecting his body he found the torso caved in with blood flowing out but looking at the pistol in his hand a weak smile appeared on his face His body bungled up Brian looked extremely miserable, as if out of energy he once more fell flat on the ground ¡°Garr¡± glancing at its collapsed prey, a hideous grin appeared on the beasts face. Slowly walking towards Brian it nudged his body with its paws Brian who had left control of the body watched the beasts with cold eyes ¡°Yes closer, just a bit closer¡± Sniffing his body the beast gave a content purr, as if confirmed about its prey¡¯s death the beast stretched its mouth wide open as to grab the body ¡°Now¡± forcefully activating the soul rune he once more took control of the body and pointed the barrel glimmering with black lines at its opened mouth, startled the beast wanted to move away but it was already too late ¡°Shooo¡± A black light pierced its mouth straight to its brain. The beast gave a painful cry backing away, after taking a few steps its 2 meter tall body fell on the ground, looking at Brian with its despair filled eyes it gave one last growl before the light in its brown eyes faded away Slowly standing up he walked up to the corpse after kicking it a few times he peered at it through the third eye after seeing no movement of energy a deep breath escaped his lungs relaxing the tensed muscles ¡°finally, now let¡¯s see what this beast is hiding in his heart¡± peering through its open mouth he shoved his bloody hands down its throat after a few moments of shuffling through its organs his hands finally touched upon a cold hard object, with a sharp pull his hand came out holding a fist size red crystal with a few glimmering gray lights in its center As if sensing the crystal the pendant hanging by his neck started to vibrate ¡°User has obtained a demon crystal *¡± A notification popped out of the pendant, but this time a star was attached. Touching the star a new row of red words appeared in the air ¡°Demon crystal: a soul refining crystal (Can be used for leveling) ¡± As if seeing a ray of light after a century of darkness a smile bloomed on his bloody face, glancing at the red crystal he had the notion of doing some tests but after remembering his previous failure he shook his head Coming out of his female vessel he popped the crystal into his mouth, similar to the macron it immediately dissolved into streams of red energy, but instead of being swallowed by the vortex the energy spread throughout his soul filling him with a sense of extreme bliss. Leaving the gray spots of light as they flew into the vortex devoured and changed into 3 hovering dark mana crystals After a few moments the energy was dissolved into his soul refining it and upgrading it to a new level Glancing at the pendant he directed a little amount of mana into it causing his status to pop out Name: Brian Nicolas. Age: 24(possessed) Gender: Female (possessed) Class: (level 01) Magician. Special Class: (level 02) Soul warrior. Blessings/curses: Curse of the abyss: increases your affinity with dark elements by 10% Blessing of virtue: increases your affinity with light elements by 10% SP(soul points): 110/110 MP(magic power/Mana) light magic: 6/6 Dark magic: 6/6 HP(health points): 15/50 Strength: 1 Perception: 5 Endurance: 2 Agility: 1.2 Abilities Dark magic (user should be at level 2 to unlock an ability) MACRON swallower (lv 1): allows you to swallow 3 MACRON¡¯s per day. Light magic (user should be at level 2 to unlock an ability) Special class abilities * Soul possession (lv 1): allows the user to possess a single soul Possession: 1/1 Level up bonus: spatial storage (lv 1): allows user to store a single item* (The item should possess user¡¯s mana signature) Brian felt happy seeing the increase in mana, ¡°My soul related class has leveled up, but my other class¡± frowning he touched the words to have his hands pass through them ¡°what about this star¡± touching the star a stream of formless energy exited the pendant towards his head, he felt a piercing pain and information about a technique started to appear in his head A new row of words appeared beneath his soul warrior abilities ¡°Soul eradicator (lv 1): allows the user to attack an opponent¡¯s soul¡± After passing through the pain, he shifted through his new memories and was astonished by the lethality of this new technique. As long as he welled it a ripple would be sent through his head towards the opponent soul, as long as the other person¡¯s soul points are lower than his it would eradicate its soul. But similar to its absurd fire power it came with a huge backlash the ability consumed about half of his current soul points for each attack. ¡°Judging by my SP I can perform it for a maximum of 2 times¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ spatial storage¡± touching the star the pistol in his hands vanished into thin air ¡°Item stored¡± looking at the new words he felt his whole body shiver ¡°Spatial storage, thi-this¡± sighing he closed the status magic! How many more surprises will I get? Limping around he started to look through the forest in hopes of finding the beast¡¯s lair ¡°This body is too damaged. I should probably replace it as soon as possible¡± Remembering the body carried by the beast, he dragged his body past the smashed tree. Standing a meter from the dead body he saw an opening in the ground, it looked like a sewerage hole Looking through his third eye he saw nothing out of the ordinary, ¡°nothing, guess I can¡¯t push my luck much¡± ¡°Hrm¡± As if sensing someone¡¯s gaze he turned around ¡°Who!?¡± Standing a meter away a man wearing a black leather suit was looking at him with his dark red eyes. Ch#09 Quest Ch#09 Quest The man looked 6¡¯2 with a solid build, the black leather suit outlined his chiseled body, with his red hair and red beard it created a wild and fierce air around him with a hint of darkness. Looking at Brian¡¯s heavily wounded body. The air around the man visibly sharpened, eyes shimmering with curiosity his mouth opened ¡°Hey Roxy you still getting the signal¡± ¡°Yes d#%khead where will it go¡± ¡°heh¡± opening his palm a black hue appeared around his red pupils what a pity, if not for her being possessed shed be quite a stunner ¡°Who!?¡± seeing the unresponsive behavior Brian shouted. He had been observing the man with his third eye, the one thing he confirmed was that the man is a lot more dangerous than the cat monster The macron behind his neck was completely different, other than being completely black it had two horns protruding out of its skull with tentacles covering its whole body, 3 bright red flames were lit in the space between the horns burning the surrounding elements. Observing the massive movement of dark elements above the man¡¯s head Brian confirmed his hostile intensions. Ignoring the cold emotionless pair of eyes he said, ¡°No need to pretend, I¡¯ll kill you then I am going to have a cold beer, you¡¯ve had me running all day¡± Unconvinced, Brian shouted once more, ¡°How did you find me?¡± ¡°hmm¡± how come this low level wretched soul is talking so much, I remember them not being able to think much less talk but since the vessel is quite injured by fighting that low level beast, I¡¯ll be finishing this quite easily. ¡°How!?¡± ¡°well dumb s!%t, because you ghosts are simply walking torches¡± losing his patience he finally responded¡­ this ghost really is quite suspicious having such thoughts he remembered it being a mere lv 2 ghost. Keeping himself vigilant he started to channel his Mana Looking at the vortex forming above robin, Brian knew that he was out of time. Connecting the dots he had already figured out the reason for him being tracked. How come I didn¡¯t notice, my soul should have been creating fluctuations in the elements. I¡¯ll have to restrain myself from now. ¡°Can you tell me your name?¡± ¡°bas ruka shuu~~¡± ¡°Well what a shame¡± leaving his last sentence Brian jumped down the sewage hole ¡°f$%k¡± ¡°Rank 2 spell piercing tentacles¡± he shouted controlling the magic rune he sent the tentacles behind Brian ¡°Shit¡± sensing his failure he jumped down the opening, eyes burning with rage SPLASH Landing in the slimy, black water he looked up to see Brian limping off in the distance ¡°F#%king annoying¡± channeling his mana, the horns on the macron started to grow enveloping his whole body in a coat of black flameThe story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. A large amount of dark elements started to gather in front of him to take the shape of a meter long spear. Controlling the intricate rune on the tip of his finger he shouted ¡°Rank 2 spell dark spear, go¡± Like a bullet the spear flew off piercing through the head bursting it apart like a water melon with brain matter splashing through the narrow tunnel making the headless body fall into the grimy water. Making his way through the sewage water he reached the floating headless corpse. ¡°huuu¡± after inspecting the body and confirming the absence of any irregularity he contacted Roxy. ¡°Hey any signs¡± ¡°No nothing¡­ well bravo d#%khead you finally did it after taking so long¡± feeling the naked mockery in her tone black lines appeared on his forehead ¡°It¡¯s not my fault, this was a tricky one¡± ¡°heh, yeah totally¡± ¡°f$%k I should have noticed the hole¡± he muttered climbing up the sewage hole. Running through the tunnel Brian let out a deep sigh. The dark spear had almost claimed his life. If not for his swift decision in abandoning the body he might not have gotten away with just a scratch. ¡°Magic truly is fatal¡± he lamented Running through the dark humid tunnel he remembered the beast ¡°previously I had been confused but, the park blocks the sewage water on Sundays for weekly maintenance¡± Running for a while he finally came across a sewage opening, grabbing the rusted metal step which had turned a bronze orange the pendant attached to his soul started to quiver lightning up the dark tunnel. ¡°Quest: identify and remove the Demi human Rewards: store opening¡± Looking at the side he saw a map roughly depicting his location and a red dot indicating his target ¡°Store opening? Is it similar to spatial storage?¡± At first he wanted prepare some equipment¡¯s for a demon beast hunt, but considering the idea of getting some answers he decided against it. ¡°It¡¯s a human right? I hope it doesn¡¯t turn out to be another unintelligent beast¡± Making up his mind he decided to follow the map towards to his quest location. ¡°fuu¡± coming out of the sewage hole, Brian took a deep breath. Following the map he had traveled to the suburbs of Tokyo. Looking around the sun was shining brightly on the clear blue sky. The roads were still wet from rain and little kids were jumping and rolling in the puddles their small giggles lightning the atmosphere. Scanning the map he found the red dot consistent with the establishment in front of which the children were playing. It seemed to be a single story house with the words ¡®Christian Revival Church and Orphanage¡¯ written on it ¡°A church¡± The front door to the church opened, a man seemingly in his late thirties came out. With balding head and a beer belly he slowly walked towards the kids. Spotting the man one of the kids cheered as he ran towards the man ¡°Uncle Masuno! Its uncle Masuno¡± seeing the little kid tottering towards him a warm smile appeared on his face ¡°hey little Taku, what¡¯s you been up to,¡± he asked pinching the kids chubby cheeks ¡°ow!... hehehe¡­ ya know, we are playing in water. Uncle Masuno wants to play?¡± looking at him with innocent eyes the chubby kid replied cutely Ruffling the boy¡¯s hair Musano faked a tough face, ¡°alright enough playing, sister Kammie is waiting inside¡± ¡°You want to get adopted right?¡± Hearing the word adoption, the boy¡¯s chubby face jiggled a trace of panic showed in his innocent eyes ¡°oh no! I forgot, sister Kammie is gonna spank me¡± grabbing Musano¡¯s had the boy started to plead with tear filled eyes ¡°Uncle Musano you gotta help me¡± Seeing the kids behavior Musano smiled, ¡°don¡¯t worry sister is not going to spank you if you hurry, now go tell the other kids to prepare¡± Hearing Musano the boy revealed a bright smile on his dirty chubby face ¡°Yes uncle Musano¡± Brian overlooked the whole situation with cold indifferent eyes, ¡°I should possess the man considering his relations with the church¡± Making his way towards Musano Brian with no hesitation threw himself into the man¡¯s body. Musano¡¯s soul shrank into a ball and started to shiver. Looking at the pitiful soul Brian tried to communicate with it After a few tries he concluded that although he could not have proper conversation with the soul he could still make it move the body per his commands He had went through the trouble of not creating a soul rune to avoid the Bureau¡¯s radar ¡°though I don¡¯t know their tracking method, it¡¯s better to be cautious¡± Opening his third eye he peered towards the church, seeing a large amount of dark particles hovering above the church creating a black cloud, the whole building was enveloped with a gloomy air contrary to what it presented. ¡°Let¡¯s see what you are hiding¡±