《My Hundredth Life》 Prologue I woke up to the sound of screams. They were faded, but slowly grew louder as the fog of my mind faded away. I was laying on my back, on what felt like an earthy surface, my whole body aching slightly. Opening my eyes, I blinked a few times until the moisture vanished and my vision cleared. Not that there was much to see, as there was little light wherever I was. Oh, the screaming? I didn¡¯t particularly care about that. From what it sounded like, no one was inside this structure with me, so I was not in any immediate danger - maybe I was in a bad situation, but no one was, for example, dropping a blade towards my neck right this instant. So that¡¯s a plus. Ignoring the cries and the odd squishing and squelching noises beyond my four walls, I took the chance to confirm, definitively, that I am not dead. ... ...Dammit. I really am not dead. Again. ... The screaming was really starting to annoy me. Or maybe it was my discovery that I am alive once more that triggered my annoyance, and the screams just amplify it. Either way, I could feel my emotions gradually sliding out of control. Even as the sounds slowly began to fade, I felt myself getting more and more heated up. Deep breaths, deep breaths I told myself. Closing my eyes, I focused on my breathing. Countless years of practice has left me able to enter a meditative state in almost an instant, regardless of my position or surroundings. Once, even in a battle...wait, now is not the time to be distracted. Breathe. In. Out. In. Out. Calm¡­ The rising tension faded away, my temperature returning to normal. Good. Now, let me look once again at the thing that tells me I have not yet went to an afterlife.
Name: --- Age: ???
Titles: Master of One¡¯s Soul Fame: ---
Level:If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. --- Class: ---
Health: --- Health Regen: ---
Mana: --- Mana Regen: ---
Stamina: --- Stamina Regen: ---
Strength: --- Intelligence: ---
Vitality: --- Wisdom: ---
Agility: --- Charisma: ---
Dexterity: --- Luck: ---
Soul Force: MAX Soul Resilience: MAX
My status screen. This time, it seems that I only have to think the word ¡°Status¡± to open it. It is also a semi-transparent blue, as most other iterations have had it, thankfully. I shuddered as I remembered the pink and orange screen I once had...never again. Ugh. In any case, This here is my solid proof that I have not yet tasted permanent death. I really wanted to though...living iteration after iteration has become so tiring...I just want to sleep¡­ Ever since the ¡°Reality Break¡± from my first life, the huge, sudden shift from our normal banal lives into the apocalyptic game world, I have been living a recurring nightmare. Magic? Mana? Skills and Abilities? Monsters and Levels? Sounds like it could be fun, when you ignore the countless deaths and horror that came along with them, right? At first it was fun. I was the kind of guy who would spend hours upon hours playing RPGs (role-playing games), both console and online. When the Break happened, and I stumbled upon a guardian sort of class while protecting my family, I thought to myself, ¡°This is it! My life finally has meaning!¡± It was an incredible feeling. And then I took a stray arrow to the knee. Followed by one to the heart. And so I died. Or so I thought. Well, I did die, that much was clear. I mean, kinda hard to live with all your blood pooled around you and a barbed arrow sticking out of your chest. But the question of my demise came in when I ¡®woke up¡¯ and found myself in an entirely different world, living an entirely new life...with an entirely different status screen. Shortly after which, I died again. And woke up again. The cycle continued on, over and over. Die, wake up, live a new life in a new ¡®game world¡¯, die again, rinse and repeat. This is the hundredth time I have awoken. This is the hundredth status screen I have seen. This is my hundredth life. Chapter 1 - Just as I feared Shaking off thoughts of the past and all the tangents they travelled upon, I looked over my new screen and tried to make sense of what I was seeing. So far, I don¡¯t have a name here. Compared to past iterations, as I call them - I long since stopped thinking of them as ¡®reincarnations¡¯, as I am never ¡®born¡¯ into these worlds, I just seem to ¡®wake up¡¯ - I think I could either choose my own name or wait until someone or something assigns me one. Hoping that it is the former, and shuddering again at some of the terrible names I have had in the past, I temporarily set the matter to the side. What really drew my attention was the actual stats...or lack of them. No numbers to define my parameters, huh...I quickly decide that whatever ¡°system¡± governs this world needs me to perform some actions, maybe gain enough experience to qualify as having a level, before it can calculate my values. Which leads me to wonder, how will I go about gaining stats or experience in this world? I have been through too many variations to just blindly assume that killing monsters, if this world HAS monsters to kill, would give me a numerical experience value. One iteration I lived through required me to pray to one of several deities in a pantheon to gain the exp to level up, and given my disposition towards ¡®gods¡¯ at the time...I did not last long in that world. Distracted by memories again, come on, focus! Also setting aside experience gaining for the time being, I took special note of my title, Master of One¡¯s Soul. It seems that this world might acknowledge my...extra ability. Should be interesting. However, I am not touching that yet. Experience - iteration experience, not level experience, this might get mentally confusing really quickly - has taught me that using my soul before it has firmly settled into a new world leads to...unpleasant...consequences. So, despite wondering about another lack of numerical values, I set that to the side as well. Ha, the system was unable to determine my age. Perhaps because it recognizes the existence of my soul? Although I doubt that it would acknowledge my previous iterations, as none of them did before, it must somehow detect that my soul itself does not match the age of my body, causing a sort of error status. Either way, I¡¯m sure this will become a problem in the future if anyone is able to use a form of identification magic or technology to read my stats... Finally, I paid attention to what was missing from the Status Screen. There is no indication of ¡°race¡±. That means either there will be no race changing in this world or race is not considered a core part of an individual¡¯s identity here. I¡¯ll figure out which one it is later. Perhaps after I figure out what Strength, Agility, Dexterity, Vitality, Charisma, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Luck all encompass in this realm. Eight stats to keep track of this time, make this life more complicated, why don¡¯t you¡­The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. I paused in my thoughts, noticing something. The screaming has stopped entirely. The only sounds left are the squishing and squelching. Now, there are a number of things that could cause those particular sounds, but my mind was leaning towards what ought to be the weakest, yet potentially most terrifying, creature of all¡­ Thankfully, the sounds don¡¯t seem to be approaching my direction. Maybe I should actually look around and see what sort of mess I am in? Slowly, I try to move each part of my body. This is the worst part of every ¡®awakening¡¯ - aside from actually being alive and not dead. Ha. My soul was pretty much dumped into a new container, so I have to take some time to adjust to it. Or maybe it is just adjusting to having a body again? After all, I have no idea how much time passes between my death and ¡®rebirth¡¯, so to speak. It could be a second, or whatever shortest unit of time the current world is using, or even a century...I have no way to tell. Such thoughts are a waste right now though, I need to be mobile in case my situation deteriorates from ¡®ambiguously safe¡¯ to ¡®I¡¯m completely screwed¡¯. Okay...toes, check. Fingers, check. Ankle and wrist motions, check. Knees and elbows, check. Hips and shoulders, check. Let me try shifting upwards...oops, forgot to check my neck. A neck check. Terrible joke, but anything to distract myself from the more depressing thought of NOT BEING DEAD. Okay, not helpful. Everything seems to be working fine, so I gradually lift myself into a sitting position, then carefully stand up. Looking around, I appear to be in a room made of heavily packed earthen walls. The ground, as I thought earlier, was packed earth as well. It could be that I woke up in a rural village, but I have long learned not to judge by appearances. This could be the capital city for all I know. There is no furniture, but there are a few marks on the floor to indicate that something was stored here before...so maybe this is just a spare storage room? I¡¯ll find out once I ask someone. If there is anyone alive left to ask. The only door I see is made of wood, which is odd. If the people here have the ability to work with wood to make a door, then surely they could have made the entire room out of wood? Or maybe the walls are packed so hard that they are actually stronger than the door, and the wood was used just because it is lighter to move? Again, I will only be able to tell once I step outside. And if what lays outside is what I think it is, then half of me really does not want to do out there. Creeping along silently so as not not alert anyone or anything, I try the handle on the door, also made of wood. It doesn¡¯t appear to be locked, not that I could see one from this side. Definitely not an old bedroom then. Easing it open as slowly as I could, I peek outside. Blobs. Dozens of bright blue, jelly like blobs, about knee high. Jiggling, twitching, consuming. The place was overrun...by slimes. ...Dammit. Chapter 2 - MORTAL SLIME-BAT! Of all the possible first-encounter monsters, it just had to be the most cliche one of all. Especially these slimes, which seem to be a copy of the slimes from a game I used to play back in my first life...One of the few things I remember from so long ago. It was kind of nostalgic, really. But nostalgia is inaction, and inaction will get me killed. And as tempting as it is to find out if that would be my final death, I would rather not risk suicide in any fashion...not after the first, and last, time. More distractions, need to focus. First thing I need to do is figure out what type of slimes these are. I have encountered a variety of them over the years (I¡¯m sticking with years since it is the easiest to talk about, every other unit of time just feels...weird), and have boiled them down to basically two types: slimes that have no core and slimes that do. Core-less slimes are essentially bubbles of gooey terror that have high mobility and a selective diet. By that I mean that the magical membrane that holds the slime in shape permeates at will to allow food to enter and be dissolved. When the membranes are non permeable, they retain a balloon like surface tension, giving the creature the ability to bounce off of the ground or other surfaces. The best way to take this sort of slime down is to use magic to damage the membrane enough that it cannot regenerate, allowing the insides to dissipate as they make contact with the air. Physical weapons can work, in the right circumstances, but you are highly likely to be eaten before you can finish those preparations. Particularly since those bouncy membranes make a slime unpredictably fast. Slimes with cores, on the other hand, have their own share of troubles. These have a core of varying material that float around inside their bodies. The cores generally stay close to center mass, since that is the most efficient way for its magical influence to spread across the whole body, allowing it to retain its shape. Core slimes have no membrane, and pretty much dissolve anything that gets caught up inside of it for too long. Organic matter gets broken down especially fast, but non-organic stuff can be eaten too, over time. Once again, magic is the most effective way of dealing with this kind of slime, but in a different way. Rather than bursting a membrane, you need to blast away as much of the slime as possible to expose the core, or use a pinpoint attack to knock the core directly out of the body (which is much harder to accomplish). Sadly, core slimes have their own break down as well, as either mucous-producers or mucous-binders. Producers are the cores that magically create their own mucous bodies over time, so, if left alone, a core removed from such a slime will just naturally re-create its own body. That means the core itself needs to be destroyed for the slime to die. Binders are cores that simply hold magical influence over a body of mucous, so simply removing them from the body will be enough to ¡®kill¡¯ the slime. Now, how to tell which one is which? The difference between a core slime and core-less slime is fairly easy to spot; mucous-binders and mucous-providers are far more difficult to differentiate. General rule of thumb, if you see a core, just smash it. No need to figure out which is which.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Another general rule, if the body jumps and bounces, then it¡¯s a coreless slime. If it never leaves the ground, then it has a core. Well, there are the rare core slimes that have bouncy membranes, which are exceptionally difficult to deal with if you don¡¯t know what you¡¯re doing, but the chances that I would run into those at this point are so abysmal that¡­ ¡­. OH YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! These bouncing, jiggling, bright blue balls of death (no pun intended, you pervert) are core-membrane slimes! Okay, I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s not what they are officially called in this world, but I¡¯m using my own naming system until I learn otherwise! How can I tell? For one, I just saw one of them bounce off of an earthen wall similar to what I was surrounded by, and for another, it conveniently happened to be not currently digesting anything, which let me clearly see the black spot in its center. It seemed like this slime was the only one not to find a meal, by the way, which is why I focussed on it so intently. Not just to determine what exactly I¡¯m dealing with, but also to avoid staring at the dozens of humanoid figures being slowly dissolved in the rest of the horde. Yeah, I¡¯m not fighting these things any time soon. No, not because I am scared, I¡¯ve been through and seen far too much to be frightened by these creatures. It¡¯s just that, no matter how accustomed you get to death, seeing someone¡¯s body getting slowly stripped away, skin dissolving, meaty insides exposed, what¡¯s left of their faces showing abject terror...well, I prefer not to look too closely at that if I can help it. Besides, it¡¯s an absolute pain to fight a slime while it is eating someone. Burst that membrane, pop that core, and all of a sudden you get mucous and human remains flooding all over you. Truly unpleasant. Even if they remain mostly stationary during digestion, making them very easy marks, I always prefer to fight them while they are ¡®empty¡¯. Which makes the solitary slime I am observing a perfect target. As I said before, this type of slime is extra tricky to deal with. Not only will I have to somehow disrupt the core, I have to find a way to even reach it in the first place through that selective membrane. Right now, I have no magic skills, and I don¡¯t expect to suddenly learn one and become proficient fast enough to be combat ready before the rest of the slimes finish their meals. With magic not an option, I have no choice but to rely on physical weapons and my own strength...which has yet to be determined by the system. Crap. Plus, there is a larger issue that I have yet to address¡­ As annoying as slimes are, in terms of fighting them, they are relatively easy to defeat if you are prepared. I mean, maybe they are super strong in this world, but typically they are only dangerous when they either gain intelligence or have the element of surprise on their side. Seeing that there are dozens of...former villagers here, and some of them - okay, I had to take a closer look to determine this, ugh - appear to have been healthy adults, I could only conclude that this village was taken entirely by surprise. Hence the screaming I heard earlier, as the shock and trauma of being eaten alive would cause mostly anyone to panic. Therefore, one of two things must be the case. Either these slimes are an intelligent group that planned out an assault on this seemingly out of the way residence...or, more likely, another entity has directed the horde here or is currently actively controlling it. In which case, they would be looking to make sure there are no survivors. Basically, I just woke up in a new body and already I will have to fight for my life against a horde of difficult to kill slime monsters that may or may not be controlled by an intelligent entity that would not welcome my escape, with no current weapons or skills. ...Great. Chapter 3 - Bulk SMASH! Peeking out of my possible ¡®unused storage room¡¯ hideout, I tried to pick out anything I could use as a weapon. Fighting slimes barehanded is just the height of stupidity, unless you¡¯re a monk or some other class that specializes in fighting barehanded. The Bajir¡¯s natural body blades would be so useful right now¡­ No point in empty wishes, though. Just need something, anything would - hmm? Is that what I think it is? Oh, it most certainly would do. Taking a deep breath to help focus my control over my still weak body, I slide the door open wider and dashed as silently as I could to the building across from me. In my peripheral vision I notice that all the structures around me seem to be made of packed earthen walls and wooden doors, as well as glass windows. Very interesting. Maybe once I finish this fight I¡¯ll be able to explore and see why this place is constructed so. Assuming that my hunches are correct and I survive, that is. I also noticed something that was even more important than infrastructure. A slight breeze between my legs and a gentle slapping¡­ Dammit, couldn¡¯t have woken up with clothes this time?! Fighting in the nude isn¡¯t too hard, but wow is it annoying. This needs to be fixed as soon as possible, but not is not the time. In a few moments I reach my target, a length of hardened wood with a base that could comfortably fit in the palm of my hand and a thick head (get your mind out of the gutter, you pervert!). I think back in my first world it would be similar to...what was it...a baseball bat? Might be what it was called. Here, though, this was clearly just a basic club, probably used to train new fighters, getting them accustomed to the weight of heavier weapons. It was discarded along the wall of this building, which I did not have time to identify since the slime seemed to have noticed me. Thankfully, the wooden club was not too heavy for me, though I took it in both hands just to be sure the slight strain was shared across both hands. Alright now, let¡¯s see what this baby could do. But before that - DODGE! The approaching slime just leapt up to attack me, but I made a quick sidestep to avoid it, leaving it to bounce off the wall. It rebounded in my direction, but I anticipated it and sidestepped again. This time, when the slime landed, it bounced forward a little to cancel its momentum, then turned around to face me again. Which makes absolutely no sense since it has no face. Well, at least this world doesn¡¯t have to face copyright infringement...yes, my jokes are horrible, sue me. Wait, please don¡¯t sue me, I have no money yet. Actually, even if I did have money I wouldn¡¯t want to be - This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. DODGE! Sigh, this really is the worst part of ¡®waking up¡¯, my mind is too scattered and unfocused. If I don¡¯t get my act together I will be killed...again. Not the biggest deal, if I am totally honest, but I would only welcome it if I knew that it was the ¡®final¡¯ death. Actually...that¡¯s it. That is what I will use this iteration for. I will find a way to die, once and for all. There will be no more new iterations. This will be the last. A hundred lives have been more than enough. With that thought, my mind finally settled into place. So far, I have been avoiding the slime by instinct alone, making exaggerated movements, wasting precious energy. Now, with at least one goal in mind, everything became calm. My breathing evened out, my eyes focused, my grip tightened. I was ready. The slime, being the unintelligent creature that it was, did not notice my changes. It continued to charge blindly at me, which, to be fair, is not a bad strategy for a slime. It doesn¡¯t feel pain and has unlimited stamina, so in theory it has the advantage over puny humans. Eventually it should be able to catch me and eat me, then continue on with its day. Too bad its opponent is me. I observe the slime as it continues to chase me, noting the timing of its jumps, watching for the walls where it could bounce back into me. With each pass I feel my soul adjusting to my body, granting greater control, allowing me to use less effort to avoid each attack. Soon enough I feel and look as if I am taking a casual stroll, not a care in the world. It was at this point that I struck finally struck back. I shifted my position slightly so that when the slime next lunged at me it would hit the wall behind me. And, just as I predicted, it bounced off the wall again, trying to catch me from the new angle. I sidestepped for what I hoped was the final time. When the slime does its little ¡®double jump¡¯ and hits the ground, it takes a little longer to get back into motion, in the same way that a sack of beans remains on the ground after it smacks against a wall. And this is the moment that I capitalize, using the motion of my sidestep, converting it into a twist of my body, swinging my club up above my head in a two-handed grip, and letting gravity assist me as I bring it down hard onto the slime. ¡°WHHOOOAAAAAAAHHHH!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but release a cry at the same time, slightly increasing my output as my club smashed into the slime¡¯s slightly flattened body. The timing was perfect, as it had just touched the ground half a second before my shaft made its impact (oh, just go ahead and think it, filthy minded people). The membrane, caught between the force exerted by the ground and the force exerted by my wood, popped like a balloon, splattering my lower body and making me frown deeply. ...I really do not want to think about what I look like now. Gooey mess ignored for the time being, I quickly flicked my dripping club, knocking the core away from the rest of the slime. Without any idea as to whether this core is mucous-binding or -producing, I decided to take no chances and just combine two solutions: crack it and send it flying with one strike. I ran over to grab it, intending to give it a good ole home run, but -
You have obtained your first Attribute Core.
...Huh. Things just got a lot more interesting. Chapter 4 - MORTAL SLIME-BAT! ROUND 2
Calculating Experience...
Resolving Attributes...
Congratulations! You have achieved Level 1.
Just as I suspected, the system needed me to actually perform certain actions before it could properly measure my stats. Though, it kind of sucked to think that taking about three minutes to kill a slime counted as enough experience to go from the imaginary level 0 to level 1. Three minutes might not sound like a lot of time, but in reality, combat rarely lasts so long. Everything is usually decided in half a minute on average, at least when looking at one on one combat where the participants are trying their best to kill each other. Large scale battles are a bit different, but still not nearly as long lasting as many would think. Considering that, between myself and the slime, I was the only one not trying my very best to kill the other, three minutes was somewhat understandable. I couldn¡¯t take that luxury with the rest of the horde, though. Soon, they would all finish digesting their victims, and then I would have dozens of blue balls, bouncing off both the ground and walls, trying to snare me in their thralls - and I did not mean to rhyme at all. Wait¡­ Random literary brilliance aside, I took a quick look at the core in my hand, still pondering what the first system message said. Later I will reflect on the fact that I do get system messages in this world, but at the moment I had more tangible issues to attend to. Such as the fact that I now seem to be holding what could be a useful item, but I have no place to store it. Thinking quickly, while having a thankful side thought that these slime cores won¡¯t reconstruct new slimes out of the blue - and no, I am not going to make a color pun here - I decided to place the core exactly where I picked up the club. After all, who else is here to grab it? I mean, it is entirely possible that the mastermind behind this attack, if such a person exists, could come along and snatch my future haul, but...let me not activate Murphy¡¯s Law right now. Funny, I could vaguely remember what a baseball bat was, but philosophical ideas never seem to go away, as much as I would sometimes like them to¡­ Right, thinking is not acting, and inaction equals death. The spot in question was not too far away, I made certain to keep the fight as close to my starting point as possible so as to not get lost. I would have relied on the open door as the indicator, but in my excessive dodging I noticed a few other open doors, and I didn¡¯t trust my sense of direction quite just yet. An exposed core would be much more suitable to the task. I took a quick glance at my updated status screen just so that I could see what I was dealing with before gaining any more levels.
Name: --- Age: ???
Titles: Master of One¡¯s Soul Fame: ---
Level: 1 Class: ---
Health: 50/50 Health Regen: 0.05/s
Mana: --- Mana Regen: ---
Stamina: 60/100 Stamina Regen: 0.1/s
Strength: 10 Intelligence:Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. 25
Vitality: 5 Wisdom: 25
Agility: 12 Charisma: 5
Dexterity: 10 Luck: 10
Soul Force: MAX Soul Resilience: MAX
...Almost what I expected, really. I¡¯ll have to watch my movements to reduce my stamina consumption, but I know that the large loss is from my earliest uncoordinated movements. Now that I am more adjusted to this body I should be losing stamina much less. As for my health, it looks like it is tied directly into my vitality at a ten to one ratio, but it could be pure coincidence. I¡¯ll find out when the stat increases or when I level up again. Still, I could at least safely assume that both values are so low in comparison to the rest of my stats because this is an entirely new body that has not been consciously developed into adulthood. I should be able to fix this easily enough with proper nutrition and exercise, hopefully. Actually, shouldn¡¯t my strength be lower too in that case? Or maybe that is more of a descriptor of how much force I could put out when I try? I really need to look into how these stats work later. It¡¯s a bit strange that I don¡¯t see any mana value, but then again, I didn¡¯t use any magical abilities. A part of me wonders if I will bother to do so in the future, my stance regarding magic changes a bit in each iteration. However, as I had mused before my fight with the slime, it is unlikely that I will pick up a magical ability right here and now, so I decided to leave that thought to the side. Dismissing the status screen for now, I take another look at my surroundings. My introspection only took a few seconds, but coupled with the time I spent coming up with a course of action for storing the core, it was enough time for the first of the ¡®fed¡¯ slimes to become active again. It was a good distance away, so even if it had finished digesting its victim before I could finish my earlier battle, I would have still been able to keep my fight one on one. Unfortunately, I had no idea when the others would start moving again, so instead of waiting for this one to come to me, I approached it at a quick pace. Mindful of my stamina this time, now that I have an indicator of how much I have left, I gripped my club in a two handed grip as the slime and I closed the distance. I took a quick glance around to get my bearings, then waited for the slime to jump. This time I won¡¯t need to dodge. Bounce...bounce...and...there! The slime jumped straight towards me at chest height, and I was ready with a wind up swing. Giving the slime a good horizontal whack, I watched as it flew into the wall at a slight downward angle, only to slam right into the floor. It didn¡¯t get the chance to move beyond that point since I transferred the motion of my horizontal swing into an upwards stance, then repeating the same killing blow I gave the first slime. See, what most people don¡¯t realize is that while the membrane slimes do bounce, they have to make a willful effort to do so. This is not to say that they are fully sentient or intelligent, they just have the barest amount of willpower necessary to move and to select its food. If it is bouncing then it can¡¯t eat. If it is eating then it can¡¯t bounce. A little basic, perhaps, but that should be enough to explain why smacking it around, with the correct timing of course, will leave it vulnerable to a finishing strike. And I have long since gotten used to their timing. Another gooey explosion, another quick flick of the core, and my second slime is down for the day. Barely one point of stamina used this time too, excellent.
Calculating Experience...
Resolving Attributes...
Congratulations! You have achieved Level 2.
...Wait, what now? That shouldn¡¯t have happened so quickly. Do slimes really give that much experience here? I doubt it, otherwise I could expect that stronger monsters will push people into levels that reach the thousands; which might be the case, but that¡¯s rather unlikely. So then, what - Ah...this one had just ¡®ate¡¯. My first slime didn¡¯t get a victim, as far as I could tell, but the rest of these did. In that case, these slimes can provide a greater amount of experience, as they are already ¡®experienced¡¯ in the world. This is not to say that these slimes have never eaten before, just that the first one I killed likely ate slightly less than its brethren. There may also be other slimes in the village that has not eaten anyone yet, but my instincts tell me that there was exactly one slime per resident, whether by coincidence (highly unlikely) or by guidance (quite likely). However, that brings up the question, was that ¡®last¡¯ slime meant for me? The time to consider such questions will come later, right now I have a slime horde to kill. At least , that¡¯s what the next bouncing ball of death is telling me. *** The next half hour or so was a test of endurance. I barely got a moment¡¯s rest between fights, as each slime seemed to finish their meals in almost sequential order. At least, that what it looked like to me, but for all I knew, whole groups of them could have finished at a time out of my line of sight and I would have never known. A few times I was attacked by a pair of slimes, and once there was a trio, but the longer I fought the more my battle awareness asserted itself over this body. While having a new body meant that I did not retain the muscle memory of previous iterations, the fact that the motions were embedded into my mind and soul instead allowed me to overcome the biological factor. In the midst of all the fighting, I mused that this was probably how the system determined my Soul Resilience to be maxed out, though I will still have to learn exactly what the system defines this attribute as later. I have my suspicions, but hard facts are better than assumptions on any day. Each slime also took varying degrees of effort to kill. Many were easy, taken down by a similar combination swing that I used in my first two fights, but when I engaged two or three I had to take a few more moments to find the optimal positions. I was nearly caught a few times, but the close calls only served to heighten my focus and make me more determined to win. Eventually the battles ended. The surrounding area was nearly as soaked in slimey remains as my body, and I almost caught myself slipping a couple of times. Thankfully, it seemed that once the cores were knocked away from the original body, that specific entity could no longer be formed; even better, the knocked out cores were treated as items, so they did not combine with other patches of goo to mucous to create new slimes. Otherwise I would have had much more trouble and I doubted the battle would have ever ended. I hope to never live through that particular nightmare again¡­ Panting slightly, I plopped my exhausted body on the ground to recuperate. I was down to 10 stamina, and had no intention of going anywhere until that was restored. Trying not to think about what I will do when my hunger and thirst settle in, I try to look again at my status screen, only to see the calculating message again. Odd, I didn¡¯t notice any level gain messages throughout the whole slaughter...I wonder what that was about? Contemplating how the level system works in this world, I wait for the calculating message to finish so that I could see what I gained. Chapter 5 - Hi! My Name Is...
Calculating Experience...
Resolving Attributes...
Congratulations! You have achieved Level 3.
Name: --- Age: ???
Titles: Master of One¡¯s Soul Fame: ---
Level: 3 Class: ---
Health: 50/50 Health Regen: 0.05/s
Mana: --- Mana Regen: ---
Stamina: 20/100 Stamina Regen: 0.1/s
Strength: 16 Intelligence: 26
Vitality: 5 Wisdom: 26
Agility: 13 Charisma: 5
Dexterity: 14 Luck: 14
Soul Force: MAX Soul Resilience: MAX
At some point I really need to decide on a name. I actually had a few in mind, but it since I have not yet needed to use one I let the matter simmer in the back of my mind. Maybe I¡¯ll just walk around with a blank name tag and a marker, so the first person I meet could just fill it in for me¡­ In any case, I was both pleased and confused by my new status screen. First, only level 3? Seriously? I figured that wrecking a whole horde of well-fed slimes would give me a bit more than that; even though slimes generally give little experience to begin with, the second slime I killed brought me all the way up to level 2. Sure, they aren¡¯t made of silver and didn¡¯t dash away after their first attack on me...but the rest of these things should have added up to quite a haul. Also, aren¡¯t my stat gains a little weird? I didn¡¯t get to look at what I had at level 2, but from what I could remember at level 1 I am fairly certain that the distribution was not even. 4 points of strength, 1 point in agility, 4 points in dexterity, 1 point each in wisdom and intelligence, and 4 points in luck¡­and to top it off, everything was automatically assigned, instead of the usual free points that I could choose to distribute...hmm¡­ Now that I think about it, it actually makes a bit of sense. I didn¡¯t perform any actions that would raise my vitality, for example, so naturally it did not rise. I put forth all my effort into each swing of my club since I needed to be sure I could burst each slime membrane and knock out the core, so my strength rose accordingly, along with my dexterity for controlling my weapon so well. Agility only went up slightly since I did not rely on speed so much as I relied on timing and counters, but it still went up at least. Thankfully my charisma didn¡¯t change for better or worse, or else I would have to imagine someone actually likes seeing naked men covered in blue slime. It also seems that this stat isn¡¯t so fickle that it could decrease on its own. I suppose my luck went up since I never got hit, and the only damage I took were from tiny cuts and scrapes from the environment. As for intelligence and wisdom¡­Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Those two stats were unnaturally skewed to begin with. Unless...maybe they weren¡¯t? What if the system took into account all the deductions I made based on my experience from previous iterations? It definitely did not account for all of my total accumulated knowledge, or else I am sure the numbers would be much higher - that is, if I chose to consciously think of every memory I have from these hundred lives, which would turn me into a driveling mess. How do I know? Experience. Enough said. If that was the case, then I have a pretty easy way to increase both of those stats in later levels. Just observe the world around me, analyse what I see, use critical thinking to properly draw conclusions, and fact check whenever possible. Considering that my intelligence and wisdom both went up by 1 point each, and that I spent all of level two fighting and thinking no more deeply than keeping active track of my environment and opponents and the angles of my swings, I believe I could safely assume that those gains were made when I achieved level 2 and stayed the same through level 3. I don¡¯t know how high the threshold is for increasing those stats, but at the very least this line of thinking should give me some progress whenever I level again. Finally, I think I figured out how the leveling system works here, though I might need to gain one or two more levels to be certain. Rather than a seemingly arbitrary increase in power that adjusts my body for me, I think that the system examines everything that happens between one state of being and the next, then adjusts the status screen to reflect any changes. For example, I was an unknown entity when I first woke up, hence my lack of any stat value at all. Then I observed my situation, made deductions, planned according to those deductions, and acted out my plan, killing my first slime as a result. The system was then able to get a baseline for my stat values and awarded them to me along with my first level. Each time I gained a level after that, I either exercised my body and made it a bit stronger or used more of my mental acuity, and the system recognized my achievements. Basically, I have to put in the effort to get stronger, as opposed to artificially raising my power through using the system. I wonder if others in this world recognize the distinction, though they shouldn¡¯t have any other system to compare it to. For all I know, they could see things quite differently. After all, I have not yet seen everything related to the system and how it is used yet. Actually, that reminds me...aren¡¯t all the cores I knocked out called ¡°Attribute Cores¡±? They don¡¯t quite sound like the beast cores I used to use in tome of the xianxia iterations I lived through, but they do seem to be very similar. In which case¡­ I scanned the ground around me and located the closest core. Crawling over to it (no one else to see me, so I¡¯m not going to care about my appearance for now), I gripped it in my right hand and examined it. I didn¡¯t have any sort of identification skill, so I could only rely on my physical senses. It was a small black sphere that fit easily in the palm of my hand. The surface was completely smooth, and I had to rub my hand on the dirt ground a bit to remove some slime or else I would have never been able to grasp it. I couldn¡¯t tell if it had any particular smell, and I wasn¡¯t about to taste it, so I could only use the few details I already picked up to distinguish it from other stones in the future. Now, how to use it...judging by the name, I assumed that the cores could be used to increase my attributes, though I have no idea which one or by how much. Well, nothing else to do but experiment. For my first attempt, I decided to simply place the core against my forehead and try to focus my thoughts into joining the core to my being. To be honest, I should have switched to a less compromising position - like sitting down, for example - but I felt rather comfortable on my left elbow and knees at the moment so I didn¡¯t bother. Thankfully that did not inhibit my experiment, which actually surprised me when I succeeded.
You have successfully absorbed an Agility Core! Agility growth increased.
That...was a strange message. Even more strange was the sensation that flowed from the core into my body, what felt like a twinge of mana. It circulated through my limbs and settled into my muscles, as far as I could feel. I checked my status screen and saw that my agility value stayed the same, so maybe what the system message meant was that I would find an easier time increasing my agility when I work on it later? That seems like a very interesting proposition...would this growth increase stack with the other cores? Slightly giddy with the idea, I finally got to my feet and ran around gathering up all the cores I could find. Some of them were knocked into odd places, as my focus during the fighting was to just get the cores away from the slimes rather than getting them into any particular spot. As I went, instead of trying to gather all of them into one pile, I decided to just absorb them all as I picked them up. I had no idea if there was a limit to how many I could absorb, or if there were any diminishing returns, but I simply did not have the means to carry them all and experiment in leisure. I still didn¡¯t even have clothes. And while I did notice some clothing and sacks in some of the buildings I passed, I again chose to continue with my earlier decision, as I had no idea how long the cores would last. Would they disperse after a certain amount of time? I didn¡¯t know if despawning was a thing in this world. No, it was better to simply do what I could and face any possible consequences later. I discovered that not all of the cores were agility based. Roughly a third of them were actually vitality cores. I was excited at the first vitality core I found, hoping that it would directly increase my vitality, only to be slightly disappointed by a similar message as when I absorbed the agility ones. So, no easy fix to my low vitality. I also discovered that I could absorb the cores right in my hand, without having to touch it to my forehead, which made me feel a little less silly in the end. With a few more experiments, I determined that I could absorb a core through any skin contact so long as I focused specifically on doing it. Whether the particular body part I absorbed it through made a difference or not, I had no idea, but I decided to start absorbing them through the skin over my heart. If anything, I might get a greater increase in growth potential per core that way. I wanted to place the agility ones directly against my leg muscles, but I still had no way of telling them apart from the vitality ones, so I left that idea alone for the time being. When I finished with the last core, I noticed that my body was tingling with energy. I decided to sit down again and focus on breathing, working on getting what was possibly foreign mana to settle down evenly inside of me. I lost track of time in the midst of this, but eventually my body felt like it calmed down, though the sense of ¡®freshness¡¯ still lingered. Maybe I was getting too close to a possible limit, beyond which absorbing more cores would have harmed me...I¡¯ll have to research this later as well. I opened my eyes, intent on exploring the village and collecting anything useful, only to find a face inches away from mine. ¡°Aaahhhh!¡± I cried, toppling over backwards in an attempt to create some space. Just how deeply was I meditating to not notice this person?! Stupid, stupid mistake! A burst of laughter from my observer stopped my movements. In that moment I realized that the person who startled me was female...and I¡¯ve just shown her gooey, half-mast glory. Yeah, that¡¯s not embarrassing at all. ¡°You¡¯re so weird! Why are you naked and covered in slime? Are you some kind of pervert?¡± She asked in rapid succession, not giving me a chance to respond. I really don¡¯t like that sort of personality. And really? Walking up to a naked stranger and asking him if he is a pervert at point blank range? Yet, I am the weird one? I finally get myself into a less...awkward position, sitting back on the ground with one foot flat in front of me with its knee by my cheek. My other leg was curled up beneath the first, giving me an appearance that covered my genitals but allowing me to surge up to both feet in an instant if I needed to. After all, I knew nothing about this...young woman? She certainly doesn¡¯t look old, but she¡¯s clearly not some kid either. Since she seems to now be waiting for an answer, and I finally have a chance to converse with a resident of this world, I decided to introduce myself properly. For this iteration, I chose to keep my original birth name from my original life, and the last name that I always used whenever I decided to do more than just ¡®exist¡¯ in an iteration. This time, I meant to do more than just exist...I intend to survive until I get the answers I seek. Full name decided, I answered her. ¡°Hello, my name is...Zareb Sindile.¡± Chapter 6 - It Was You?! ¡°Zareb...Sindile, huh? What an odd name,¡± the strange woman remarked. She looked at me intensely, as if trying to understand something about me. Her gaze was focused on my face, instead of other places, thankfully. Still, just because her eyes weren¡¯t roaming doesn¡¯t mean mine had to stay still. So while she was contemplating whatever was going on in her head, I checked her out. Not her figure, I truly didn¡¯t care about that. I was on the alert for any hidden dangers. I simply did not trust her or this situation I found myself in. She had dark grey eyes, surrounded by a somewhat clear face of light colored skin. Her cheeks were slightly sunken, the only indicator I had that she might not have been eating well lately. Her black hair was lanky and slightly disheveled, but mostly kept out of the way by a hair tie. She was wearing what looked like dark colored leathers, with no skin visibly exposed below her neck. In this way, it was a little hard to get a good look at her figure, but there was no mistaking she was female. Overall, I saw a kind of rough beauty in her. With a little more nourishment and hygienic upkeep, she would turn into a sparkling beauty, at least to me. And that was exactly why I was wary of her. Her face was blank, with maybe a hint of amusement, but not enough to shift her features one way or another. Generally I could tell what sort of personality a person has based on their smile, and a bit less accurately using other expressions, but blank faces give me nothing wo work with. So, for now, I brought my focus back to her eyes and waited for her to make her next move. ¡°What about me other questions? What are you doing here, why are you naked, and are you a pervert?¡± She asked. Why such a focus on whether or not I¡¯m a pervert? Maybe her lewd mind is plotting something...okay, sure, I¡¯m not in the best position to complain, but I felt that she placed too much importance on that word to begin with. Going with my standard story for situations like this (I had to come up with something after the fourth or fifth time or so when I was immediately interrogated upon waking up in a new iteration), I gave her what should be a plausible tale. ¡°I was attacked by bandits and knocked unconscious. I only just woke up here a short while ago without my belongings, so I can only assume they brought me to their base for something. Or maybe some kind villager found me and brought me home? I was just looking around for someone to tell me where I am, but it seemed that this place was being attacked by slimes. You are the first person I have seen since I woke up...I hope the other residents are safe.¡± She listened intently without interrupting, nodding once or twice as if confirming the details. I stopped at that point to keep things simple. The best lies use the least amount of words, after all. ¡°So then you killed all the slimes here? Without clothes?¡± ¡°Um¡­yes?¡± I purposely dragged out my response, trying to give myself an extra second to work out what angle she was trying to get at. What is she thinking? ¡°With that club?¡± She pressed, pointing at the weapon a few feet away. I didn¡¯t bother walking around with it as I wanted to pick up the cores as quickly as possible.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°...Yes?¡± I dragged out again. Maybe she knows how difficult it should normally be to kill slimes with physical weapons. Not difficult, I should say, just tricky, which amounts to the same things in most people¡¯s minds anyways so it¡¯s a moot point. ¡°Did you use magic?¡± At this point I figured I wasn¡¯t going to get a chance to ask her the same questions in return, but I humored her as she might become a source of information later. ¡°No, I don¡¯t know anything about magic.¡± Not in this world, yet, at least. ¡°I was just really lucky in hitting those things.¡± The amount of luck I would have required to survive this horde as a normal person would be enough to win me every lottery in existence. ¡°Oh ho? Well, on that matter I believe you, since no one would have been dumb enough to do close combat with Blue Slimes without magic,¡± she said. So that¡¯s what they are called here? Just...Blue Slimes? So bland, ugh. But why does she sound as if¡­ ¡°You were watching me?¡± I asked, with an intentional slight frown. ¡°Why did you not help me then?¡± ¡°Yes, I saw you swinging that stick around, with all the ¡®luck¡¯ you could muster. I didn¡¯t see when you started because I was busy with something else, but I came to watch when I noticed all the extra noise,¡± she explained. With my eyes focused on hers, I suppose she expected that I wouldn¡¯t notice her casual hand movements. They rested on her hips in what many would consider a non-threatening manner. Hmm. She continued speaking, saying, ¡°I can also tell you that you were lying about being taken captive by bandits or being rescued by some goodie-goodie villager.¡± Uh oh. ¡°Why would you say such a thing?¡± I asked, pretending to be appalled. ¡°Because I am the daughter of the former leader of this bandit troupe. And I set the trap that killed everyone here,¡± she declared. ...Yup, totally saw that coming. ¡°You did? Why? This makes no sense.¡± ¡°Why? Because these fools only wanted to pile up the money they stole instead of using it to get the comforts in life. I mean, look at this place! Not a single proper house in sight!¡± She gestured wildly, but then relaxed into the same ¡®casual¡¯ position as before. Well, I did wonder about the architecture here, but¡­ ¡°So, since you¡¯ve already lied to me once, I have no reason to believe anything else you might have to say. Therefore, I¡¯ll give you a choice. Either swear to follow me as I build up a new, proper bandit group, or die right now.¡± Ha...hahah¡­.hahahahaha¡­..so cliche! I struggled hard not to laugh in her face, as it might make me miss a critical moment. Though, maybe a hint of it leaked out when I gave her my response. ¡°Sorry babe, I have a rule against following murder-happy pretty girls, so I will have to decline.¡± Her face twisted in anger for a moment, but then, as if thinking better of it, her body language relaxed completely. I tilted my head a bit, surprised in the change...and that¡¯s when she moved. She lunged forward with a dagger in her right hand, aiming to end my life in one strike to my throat. Her attack almost caught me off guard. Almost. Too bad for her, I was expecting such a move. My own right hand darted forward, grabbing hers by the wrist and yanking her towards me. Using her momentum, I pulled myself above her while pushing her off balance and into the ground. I quickly placed my left foot on her back and used my leverage to twist her arm until it popped out of its socket. She screamed in pain as she dropped the dagger. I grabbed it out of the air with my left hand, twirled it slightly to an underhanded grip, then dropped myself fully on top of her, burying the blade into the back of her neck. She died in an instant. Sigh. Well, anyways, time to look around and see what the rest of this place has to offer. I stood up, resolving to search her body once I have actual clothes on, and walked away. Chapter 7 - Theres More To The Core? I barely took two steps before I stopped. Partly because of the blue screen that appeared in front of me. Partly because I realized I didn¡¯t even get her name. Sigh.
Calculating Experience...
Resolving Attributes...
Congratulations! You have achieved Level 4.
Level 4, huh...I suppose it was a fair assessment, considering that I just killed a human being, having much higher intelligence and will than the whole horde of slimes combined. Let me mentally clarify, higher intelligence and will than this particular horde of slimes put together. I once lived through a world where one of its nine oceans was, in reality, a massive collection of slimes under a hive-mind...go ahead and try beating that thing in a game of chess. I certainly wouldn¡¯t again¡­ But that is a memory for another time. For a moment I paused and considered what to do. Yes, I had already decided to find clothes before looting my would-be killer¡¯s body, but I also felt like I was just procrastinating an unpleasant task. It shouldn¡¯t bother me after all these years across so many iterations, but searching the body of a recently slain woman who looks about my age when I first...died...it just rubs me the wrong way. Maybe because it makes me wonder about my family...my first family...whom I would never see again¡­ Sigh. At least they don¡¯t have to share the embarrassment of seeing me standing in public wearing nothing but my birthday suit, rather close to a dead body, and still covered in bright blue juices. Yup, time to change something about this awkward situation. My mind focused once more, I began to walk to the nearest door in sight. The bloody corpse over there said that this place was a bandit camp, so there should be a fair amount of items worth using, especially for concealment and travel. No matter what world I was on, or what the condition of my body was when I ¡®woke up¡¯, there was one rule I stuck to like a fanatic with his religious dogma. Always learn the best method of stealth available. You can never go wrong with stealth. It doesn¡¯t matter what occupation you hold, how skilled or unskilled you are, whether you use magic or not, stealth is one of, if not THE MOST valuable skill in ANY arsenal. After all, you can¡¯t die by your enemy¡¯s sword if they can¡¯t find you to begin with. However, right now, stealth is my tertiary goal. Primary and secondary are cleaning up and information, respectively. As I walked, I opened up my status screen to see what changed.
Name: Zareb Sindile Age: ???
Titles: Master of One¡¯s Soul Fame: ---
Level: 4 Class: ---
Health: 50/50 Health Regen: 0.05/s
Mana: --- Mana Regen: ---
Stamina: 20/100 Stamina Regen: 0.1/s
Strength: 16 Intelligence: 27
Vitality: 5 Wisdom: 27
Agility: 15 Charisma: 5
Dexterity: 15 Luck: 15
Soul Force: MAX Soul Resilience: MAX
So, one point in dexterity, luck, intelligence, and wisdom apiece, huh...and two points for agility? Interesting. I shouldn¡¯t have gotten that large of an increase, if my theory about stats and leveling is correct, which I believe it is since my intelligence and wisdom both went up. I wonder if it has anything to do with the Attribute cores I collected? That¡¯s the only explanation I could think of, since I did nothing else related to agility except push myself to move as fast as possible to take down my so-called assassin. Okay, no one called her that, but it¡¯s my mind so my rules. Then again, I have no idea what actions are related to each stat in this world, just my guesses and prior experience. This is part of why I needed information, hopefully I could find something in the remains of this camp that will help me understand how this world works. Still, soap and water first...or whatever this world¡¯s equivalent is. Maybe I should look for that information first after all¡­ The door I was walking to was mostly closed, but as I pushed it open I discovered just how lucky I am. It was a bathhouse! I did look through every building earlier to check for remaining slimes, but I did not register most of the details. Now that I was not in a battle state, I could clearly see that this place was used to wash up not only the body but clothing as well. It seemed that the laundry was done recently too, perhaps yesterday, and left out to dry. Before I could get dressed though, I needed a bath. I saw a bathtub to the side, conveniently filled with water (maybe someone was about to take a bath just before they were taken from behind by the slime? And no, banish that thought you pervert!) with what looked like a bar of soap and a scrubbing brush, also made of wood, but a different material bristles, on the ground next to it. Not caring about the temperature of the water, I eased myself in, grimacing as the dried up bits of slime started to muck up the water. It only got worse as used the scrub to scrape away as much of the slime as I could find. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Once the water was well and truly ruined for any living being, I stepped out of the tub and pushed it to what I hoped was a draining hole a few feet away. It was large enough that, as I tilted the tub over to empty out the water, nothing spilled around the edges; the fluids went right down with no trouble. That task completed, I looked around for more water, and spotted several buckets by the opposite wall. Really, though? Why would anyone carry water across the room and not just keep both the buckets and the tub by the same wall? Sigh¡­ In any case, the buckets did indeed have water, and so I carried them over one by one to refill the tub. This time, I took the bar that was on the ground and pretended that it was soap, trying to lather myself up. Fortunately, it seemed that it was soap, and I was finally able to clean and rinse off my body properly. I was curious about the water source, but didn¡¯t see anything that could have served the purpose. It was possible that they formed the water by magic, whatever kind they have in this world, but it seems unlikely, since such a mage would be harder to kill by a surprise attack. Still, I truly did not know enough to draw a proper conclusion, so I dropped the thought as I emptied out the wash tub again. Cleaning up after myself, leaving the room a bit more tidy than when I found it, I looked over at the laundry. It appeared that someone was responsible for washing the laundry of the entire camp, as there were enough folded items to clothe a few dozen people. This should give me more than enough opportunity to find something that fit me. I dug through the piles and pulled out the most likely candidates. A dark brown tunic, dark brown leather pants, a leather belt, and what appeared to be...boxers?! First the earthen walls with glass windows and now boxer shorts? This world just doesn¡¯t make sense. It¡¯s like a multitude of time periods from my first life were smushed together into one weird mess. Actually, these boxers seem to be made out of some sort of stretchy silken material...not elastic, as I used to know (and miss, over my many iterations...it¡¯s the little things that give you the most comfort that you tend to take for granted), but maybe a type of spider silk? In any case, it was clear that these were not exactly like the underwear of my home world, but still similar enough that I knew I could comfortably wear them. Also, for the sake of knowledge, I did look through the women¡¯s side of clothing too. Not to be a pervert, but to understand what type of culture I will be encountering. It appears that the undergarments are also similar to that of my home world, with bras and panties of sorts. The bras were identifiable only in that they have actual cups, but no clasps. Instead, there were straps that helped with back support and weight management. I couldn¡¯t tell how they were placed on or taken off, but that¡¯s not my problem since I wouldn¡¯t be wearing them. These were designed for comfort and practicality, not so much for appearances. Likewise, the panties were not some skimpy pieces of fabric, but instead looked substantial enough to keep that region warm and dry. What did I get from all of this? I felt I could safely assume that gender discrimination was not as prevalent here as I had seen in other worlds. There may well be some, but not enough to be oppressive from one side or the other. One of the key signs of inequality I have noticed time and time again is what kind of underwear each gender is socially forced to wear. It is far more complicated than that, with many more factors involved, but clothing is always a good place to start looking if you want to see how a culture operates. In any case, I left the women¡¯s clothing alone since I had no use for it (no, not even as a disguise as a woman in the case of a matriarchal society, I learned the hard way that I am no good at impersonating the fairer sex), and picked out a few spare items from the men¡¯s side to travel with later. I carried them all on my shoulders as I went from building to building, scavenging for whatever else may be useful. In the end, I found a sturdy leather backpack; a pair of leather boots that fit me nicely and a spare that did not fit quite so nicely; a good haul of dried rations, including dried jerky and what felt like crackers, except far more filling than their appearance suggested; a few bottles made of a flexible material that I would have said was plastic, but truly wouldn¡¯t make sense in this world - unless their magical science was advanced enough to make a form of plastic; and two sleeping rolls that I could comfortably lay on. Everything else I found was either not useful in the long run, would spoil over time, or just impractical for me to take on my own. I secured everything as best I could to the backpack, and walked around with my arms free to the last two buildings I had yet to check. I left the club where the girl was, since I did not want to use that slime covered shaft of wood anymore if I could avoid it, and if I did need to grab it then I might as well pick it up at the same time I go through her stuff. The first of the two buildings I entered turned out to be a sort of training hall. Actually, isn¡¯t this the same place where I first picked up the club? I went outside and circled around the building until I was certain that the wall where I discovered the club belonged to the training hall. So I woke up right next to the best place to get armed...That might explain the relatively high luck stat I had with my first level. Shrugging, I went back inside and examined the weapons that were stocked there. Most of them were knives, daggers, short swords, bows and arrows, all of either wooden or metal varieties. Beyond them I saw a few of the larger weapons: a glaive here, a few spears there, and - My eyes lit up when I saw my favorite piece of therapeutic release. A morningstar. Typically, morning stars are at least six feet long, with a wooden shaft and a metal head. The head carries a central spike, along with several other spikes surrounding it, allowing the wielder to both bludgeon and puncture a target. It would have made my fight with the slimes much easier, as this weapon would be especially effective at bursting their membranes and causing havoc to their cores. Still, I had no idea if puncturing the core would have prevented me from using it afterwards as an item, or if I would have been able to do actual damage to them in the first place, so I suppose it was better that I had the club first. The morningstar I gazed upon now was actually in similar length to the club, meaning it was much shorter than normal. It was about three feet long, maybe four with the central spike. The shaft still looked like wood, but the bottom of it seemed to be encased in metal, probably to help balance the weight of the shaft against the weight of the head. The head had a multitude of thick spikes spaced out evenly, making it truly look like the rays coming from the sun, as an artist¡¯s rendering would have it. I couldn¡¯t tell what type of metal was used throughout the weapon, but it looked strong enough to last for a number of battles. I gently, almost reverently, grasped this beauty and held it aloft. It felt good and heavy, not in the sense that it weighed a lot, but more in the sense that it had purpose. This weapon was made to be used, and use it I shall. ¡°If you do not have a name already, I shall call you Rising Sun,¡± I spoke out loud. I had the tendency to name the weapons that might end up saving my life. Even across the many iterations I have lived through, this sentiment has not changed among weapons masters. It was almost like a fundamental law of the universe. Unfortunately, I understood from experience that each iteration is literally it¡¯s own separate universe...but that is yet another story for another time. If I don¡¯t keep my thoughts focused on the here and now then I may never get the answers I seek. I looked around and found a strap I could use to carry the Rising Sun. I held out a little hope that there would be a magical pocket dimension where I could store some items, since carrying around even a morningstar of this size would quickly become a hassle, but for now I could manage with securing it lengthwise across the back of my waist, just above my butt. With that done, I picked up a couple of the better looking daggers, and, just in case, a sturdy bow and a quiver of arrows. I would have prefered not to take them, as was almost overburdened with all the other stuff I gathered, but I knew that having a ranged attack available will save me a lot of trouble in the future. Failing to plan ahead is planning to fail, and I don¡¯t like failure. Finishing up my preparations, I left the now abandoned armory and went to the last building I had not checked. Although the various homes and utility structures showed signs of people having just been there (prior to becoming slime food), none of them showed signs that my attacker had been active there. So this must be the only place she could have been occupied in. It was a decently large building, still one floor like every other structure around me, but the size made me feel as if it held particular importance. Walking inside, my hunch was confirmed, as I saw a spacious desk and chair, along with an open chest by the wall filled with items. There was also a partitioned area where I could tell a bed and a chest of drawers were, but the drawers were open and seemingly emptied. On the desk itself were a number of paper documents. Curious, I started with the desk, hoping that the papers there would tell me something good. After reading through several pages, I decided to shrug off my equipment and sit down, because what I found was a gold mine. There was a meticulous record of all supplies within the camp, including the stolen goods. It seems that wonder-assassin had consolidated all of the records that the bandits kept and was going through them to see what was the most useful or valuable. There were even details about when the group had made attacks, who was hit, what was stolen, and the value and use of each item. That¡¯s how I discovered that they had once robbed a merchant who was bringing books to a library in a city not too far away. This merchant was supposed to be hiding a few rare books, including ones related to magic, amongst a number of other books that were written for children and educational purposes. While I found myself extremely annoyed that this bandit group would steal books destined to help kids develop into bright young adults, I had to admit that this was convenient for me since I would be able to get the basics of this world without asking a potential murderer. I scanned through the list of stolen books, and discovered that there was one dedicated to the use of cores! I decided to start with that one, as it held my interest the most, and I had time to go through whatever I wanted. I doubt that anyone would find this place and myself anytime soon. According to the record, all the books were actually held in that partitioned room I saw earlier, as there was another chest that I couldn¡¯t see from my earlier position. As I searched through it for the title I wanted, I mentally gave myself a pat on the back for the training I did in the late thirties or so of my iteration count. Tired of waking up in new worlds where I had to learn entirely new languages, I spent an entire iteration training myself to be able to pick up any language immediately. This is one of several abilities I tied into my soul, once I understood I could use my soul in such a manner. Now that I have a few levels in this world, I will get back into the habit of using the powers I developed for myself outside of every system, but for now I will just focus on my ability to read this new language and translate it into concepts that I could understand. Finding the book I was looking for, I went back to my chair and started to read. And by the end, I was both enlightened, and a bit confused. The attribute cores I used earlier are not typically used that way. Instead, they are gathered and condensed through magical means into Stat Cores. Whereas I absorbed a core and raised the potential for my status to grow, Stat Cores immediately raise a specific stat value by an amount relative to the density of the core. However, this is not a cheap method, so it seems that the common folk sell the attribute cores that they find for a little supplementary income from the Mages Guild (yes, there was a brief mention of a Mages Guild, but only to highlight where the cores go in this economy), and in turn, those with higher wealth buy the condensed Stat Cores to raise their own stats without putting forth any effort. While this new information concerned me, what I was far more interested in was the information the book had...on Elemental Cores. Chapter 8 - Already On Hiatus According to the book I was devouring, there were a few types of cores. First, the Attribute Cores that I already discovered on my own. Then the Stat Cores, which I might find in a large city, or maybe even among the stolen goods if I was lucky, though I was not yet sure if I wanted to use them. Something seemed a little...off, to my instincts. Next comes the Elemental and Specialty Cores. The book briefly mentioned Specialty Cores, but since they are, by nature, ¡®specialized¡¯, I would need to find another work that focuses exclusively on them in order to gain any true understanding. However, I did discover that this category of cores included Inventory Cores, which was given as an example. Going by the scant few sentences provided, these cores gave an individual access to a pocket dimension that can be used to organise and store items. A decent inventory system, finally! Of course, I made a mental note to get that more advanced research, to uncover the known limitations of that space. What this book mostly focused on was Elemental Cores. Apparently, this world has developed a way of incorporating magic, via cores, into technology. I don¡¯t mean the kind of technology that I was used to from my first life, like toaster ovens and juice blenders, or the high tech gear from a couple of iterations I lived through, like the quantum cannons (don¡¯t ask about those, I couldn¡¯t wrap my head around them...not even after my Commanding Officer literally wrapped my head around one when I accidentally turned his foot into a chicken. Sheesh, it¡¯s not like Med-bay didn¡¯t fix it in a second¡­). Instead, they combine the various elements in the cores with items to create a sort of magi-tech. For example, refrigeration: the basic idea is that a fire core is used with a wind and water core to remove heat, maintain a bit of humidity, and keep the air inside the container circulating. There was no information on how exactly this was achieved, but I figured that I wasn¡¯t going to get the inner workings of a fridge from a general core book. Other examples included using light cores for, well, lighting; water and wind cores for the equivalent of a washing machine, with fire and wind for drying; wind cores purely for propulsion of land vehicles; and the most outstanding example, lightning cores embedded in weapons for magical damage. The other elements could be used for weapons and armor as well, but the only example for lightning was pain and paralysis. Hmm, I wonder if they just lack an understanding of how electricity works¡­ In any case, using elemental cores allows for a wide range of technological advances to be made, which my current book did not expand upon. I might have to raid an actual library later to learn more. One piece of information that stuck out to me, though, was the necessity for affinities. In order to keep this technology running, someone has to give the cores an initial ¡®kickstart¡¯. A person needs to have at least 10% of affinity with a particular element, and then use that element enriched mana from their own body to start up the core. For example, a refrigerator needs someone with 10% of wind, water, and fire affinities each to inject their mana into the cores on a regular basis in order for it to continue running. How long the machine lasts between recharging depends on how much power it needs to drain to serve its purpose, as well as how high the charger¡¯s affinity is with each respective element involved. So, someone with 15% affinity across the board can grant a longer operating time than a person with just 11% of affinity. A person gains an elemental affinity by absorbing the corresponding Elemental Core. At the same time, they unlock that element of magic within their bodies, the strength of which correlates to the affinity level. The more cores absorbed, the higher the affinity grows, but I seem to be missing a critical piece of information since the book does not make any mention of needing someone with more than 16% affinity levels to work with start a machine... There is more to how this all works, but my solitary book could only tell me so much. A quick scan through the records of stolen goods tells me that I am unlikely to learn more about it here, so I just put the book among the other items in my backpack to review later. Taking a few minutes to let all the information settle in my head, I look at the list yet again, this time trying to see if any Inventory Cores were recorded. If so, I would have a much easier time traveling around, though I would not be opposed to the exercise I would have in carrying all of my loot normally. Hmm, there¡¯s an idea...have an inventory, but keep my backpack on just to trick possible thieves into believing what they saw was all I had? But would that work in this world? Maybe the first thing individual does is get an Inventory Core, just like everyone gets clothes at some point...something to think about later, I suppose. My search bears no fruit. It seems the bandits were not fortunate enough to steal any cores lately, just mundane items. Perhaps they were not very good bandits. Still...they must have had someone with magical skills here, in order to create the buildings in the camp. Someone with earth and fire magic, especially for the glass windows...or those could have been stolen too, but I can¡¯t see any bandit group being happy to relieve a merchant of his precious supply of basic windows. Well, can¡¯t question the dead. Unless this world has necromancy, which I don¡¯t particularly like anyways. Too much of a reminder that sometimes, death is not quite the end. I grabbed my pack and walked out the door, mulling over my gains. Sadly, there is still one thing left to do...pilfer the only corpse remaining in this open tomb. I made my way over to the bandit leader¡¯s daughter, as she claimed to be. Jane Doe, I name thee. Her blood has finally stopped flowing out, but her body is still warm. I slightly regret leaving her for so long, as she is now laying in a pool of the red wine of life, which means maybe half of her stuff may be ruined for use. Oh well. I shrug and begin to pat her down, doing my best to ignore the emotions rising beneath the surface of my mind. I don¡¯t find much, until I look into the satchel that was thankfully tied at her back, leaving it free from the dark liquid damage. Inside I find a second dagger, this one smaller and seeming to be more appropriate for throwing. Though we were too close to each other for most people to consider launching a weapon, if she had used that as a distraction I might have been in trouble from my position. I guess that¡¯s why my luck went up a point last level.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. I also found a map and what looked like two cores. The map was marked with red and blue signs. In blue, I saw the words ¡°slime spawns¡±, and a number of dots in a cluster. I figured that¡¯s where she gathered up all the slimes she needed to wipe out the camp. In red, there were no words, but a path that lead from a circle down a path and through a wooded area. The red path was marked incrementally with tiny x¡¯s, probably denoting landmarks I could use to orient myself. So, the little lady here did not have the path memorized and needed help finding her way to and from the camp, huh...it also seemed that the bandit camp was actually in a rather secure location, dead center between three mountain peaks. Studying the image some more, I realized that those three peaks were backed by even taller peaks, almost making the location look like a claw within a larger claw. I glanced up and shielded my eyes from the sun - was it noon now? - and tried to see where each peak was. I could only see the three smaller mountain peaks surrounding me; the larger ones were probably too far away or just not visible at my position. I turned my attention back to the cores and the system message that came with them.
You have obtained your first Specialty Core.
Without any way to identify them, I had no idea what would happen if I absorbed them. On the one hand, although I did not want to unlock any affinities just yet until I learned of any limitations or other drawbacks, it might help to start accessing magic as early as possible. I had no doubt that if I was going to find the answers I sought about my constant reiterations, I was going to end up tangling with some super powered being or another, and walking into such a confrontation without the biggest stick I could muster would be less than wise. On the other hand, I did not want to do something irreversible, only to discover later on that it was at this point where I screwed over this life. Decisions, decisions¡­ Ultimately, I decided to risk absorbing them. I had no idea when I would ever be able to find someone who could tell me what each core was, so the only way to find out was to let the system tell me after they merge with my being. Even if it turns out to be a detriment, this is the best option I have available at the moment. Maybe my luck stat will be high enough to influence the outcome...except that my theory seems to be correct, and my luck value is just a recognition by the system of how fortunate I have been so far. Dammit. Anyways, I picked a core at random and willed it to enter my body. Feeling the foreign mana, much less pervasive than when I absorbed dozens of cores without rest, I further willed it to settle into my being, to become part of me. A moment later, the system let me know just how much of a lucky bastard I am.
Congratulations! Inventory System Unlocked!
Calculating Experience...
Resolving Attributes...
Congratulations! You have achieved Level 5.
No battle experience needed this time? Maybe there was a threshold for other types of experience, like knowledge and core absorption? Too many questions! I have too many things to understand about this world before I could even begin my personal quest! And with that thought, another hit me. Why am I in such a rush to leave this place? There is still a ton of resources here that I could use, especially all the texts that I did not even look at back in the leader¡¯s house! Or office, whatever that place was. Even if I had not gotten a magical inventory, I should at least use my time here to learn as much as I could before moving on. There should be plenty enough food for me to stay holed up in secrecy while I train my body and my mind, though I would have to look for a source of water. Maybe there is a mountain stream I could use nearby...But yes, this is a golden opportunity I should not waste! Filled with determination, I belatedly realized that I did not absorb the other core yet. Riding on the feelings of success, I began the process, hoping against hope for a second boon from this universe.
Congratulations! You have learned the skill [Identify]!
My feelings of triumph was tinged with flashes of annoyance and indignation. Seriously?! I could have used this quite a while ago! Mumbling to myself about the unfair fairness of my newest life, I turned to the last task I ought to do before diving into my plans. I needed to bury the body. I gazed upon the corpse in front of me, desperately trying to focus on the good emotions I was feeling not a moment ago. Instead, what came to the front of my mind was a mixture of despair and sadness. She just reminded me of her...though she looks nothing like her, I think, just the fact that she was young, attractive, female, alive, made me remember her. After so many years, I had lost the memory of her features, her likes and dislikes, even the arguments we used to have. And looking at the figure on the ground right now, I hope that she never encountered a similar fate. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry,¡± I whisper out loud. ¡°Sorry I could only shield you...sorry I could only give you a chance to survive. I don¡¯t know if time stopped at that moment, or if it continued on until you turned to dust, but I hope that you made it out alive and continued to live a happy life. I will never forget you, Risa...little sis.¡± Silence reigned in the little clearing for a few minutes as I stood there. Then, without any fanfare, I turned to go find a shovel. Chapter 9 - Time To Hit The Ole Dusty Trail
Name: Zareb Sindile Age: ???
Titles: Master of One¡¯s Soul Fame: ---
Level: 5 Class: ---
Health: 50/50 Health Regen: 0.05/s
Mana: 100 Mana Regen: .01/s
Stamina: 20/100 Stamina Regen: 0.1/s
Strength: 16 Intelligence: 30
Vitality: 5 Wisdom: 28
Agility: 15 Charisma: 5
Dexterity: 15 Luck: 16
Soul Force: MAX Soul Resilience: MAX
It has been one month since I woke up in this world. After my first major battle and assassination attempt, I spent the remainder of my time in the former bandit camp studying every book and exploring every nook and cranny. It was a good thing I did, as well. I found a lot more items that were cached away, buried or hidden in obscure locations. Among them were what seemed to be personal items, including jewelry, journals, armor, small weapons, and even a handful of cores. Those I [Identified] and absorbed immediately, though they did not increase my level as I hoped they would. I figured the Inventory Core was a special case, giving me a large amount of experience coupled with the knowledge on cores I picked up beforehand. In any case, I did not gain another level in the past four weeks, which only mildly bothered me. Still, I had great expectations for my next level up. Assuming my theory of how the Attribute Cores work is correct, when I next gain a level I should see a significant increase in my agility and vitality stats. Over the last few weeks I did everything I could to train my new body; sprints, jogs, push-ups, every exercise I could think of to make my body healthier and faster. Sure, a lot of those exercises are meant more to raise muscle strength, but a strong body is also a healthy one, so even while I gain strength points on my next level I should see an even greater gain in vitality points. I also made sure to eat three full meals each day, although I was a bit uncertain about some of the fruits and vegetables I found in the bandit stores. Most of their stored food looked similar to what I had come across in other worlds, and thankfully they felt and tasted similar too, but others were just bizarre. I mean, why on earth - or whatever this planet was called in this iteration - would there be a fruit in the shape of a pair of testicles? I¡¯m just glad they were bright green or else I would have had the worst impression of the deceased bandits. Okay, I already had a bad impression, but the color made it a little better! And no, I am not being racist towards fruits!A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Other than my body training, I discovered a few neat things about my abilities in this world. Namely, that I had them. And I could create them. A sudden crackle in the bonfire I was sitting by caused me to snap out of my reminiscing. This was the last night I would spend in the ghost camp, as the easy access food was running too low. I figured that it was time to end my seclusion and begin my exploration of the outside world. I had only meant to practice creating a fire out of dry wood and kindling for the last time before heading off to sleep, as I couldn¡¯t rely on any elemental magic as yet; but somehow I found myself reflecting on all that I have learned and gained since waking up. Even after all these years, the mind still mystifies me in how it could get so caught up in something. I opened up my inventory one more time to check all that I would be carrying with me. A transparent blue screen, similar to my status screen, displayed itself before me, showing a 10x10 grid. A hundred slots for items, and it seems that similar items could stack, though to what maximum number I have not learned yet. Most of my slots are empty, since I wanted to be efficient in what I stored, and some of the items had stacked anyways; but the remainder was quite a haul. I had several bedrolls made of some sort of plant fibers, they were quite comfortable to sleep on actually. At least they were better than other things I have slept on. I also carried several dozen empty bottles of the same material I found when I first started exploring the camp. Some of them held water inside while the rest were empty, so I had no clue if these were specifically water bottles or if they were intended for any liquid. I¡¯d find out later. There were a few stacks of weapons and clothes, which did not seem to count as armor, so I got nothing by Identifying them aside from the names. The remainder of the preserved food went in as well, and I hoped that the subspace properties of my inventory would keep them preserved as indefinitely as I needed. Another thing to find out later. After checking on the hygiene products (I was surprised to discover toothbrushes, but couldn¡¯t figure out what they used for toothpaste, so I just used a minty sap that I found that hopefully wasn¡¯t intended for anything...else), I closed the inventory screen and opened the map screen. One of the cores I absorbed over the month turned out to be a General Map Core, the name of which lead me to believe there were other types of map cores to be found. This core allowed me to see a hovering image of any map I had previously seen, but I determined through constant study that I needed to have registered every line and point on a map before it would be rendered by the core. If I just glance at a map, the core would only show what my mind registered in that glance. It was not much of a drawback to me, as I prefer to study everything in great detail regardless. The map screen showed me the six mountains again, but this time with a name. The bandit camp was situated in the middle of the Hidden Claw Peaks, which makes an interesting sort of sense - the three smaller mountains were hidden within the three larger mountains, making it look almost like a hidden claw. I looked over the path that would lead me out of the mountain range and onto what seemed to be a main road between two major cities. The closer one was marked on the map as the city of Rasenbur, and I decided to make that my destination. It was time to leave this desolate place and see what the rest of the world was like. I pulled out a bedroll, placed it a comfortable distance from the fire, and set myself down to sleep under the clear night sky. *** ¡°AAAHH! SOMEONE HELP ME!¡± I glanced over to my side as a woman continued screaming, backing away from several creatures. The looked like wolves, except they had feathers instead of fur and a wide, flat tail reminiscent of a bird¡¯s. They had beaks as well, but they were shaped in such a way that when opened, very sharp looking teeth were revealed. Overall, I thought they were some strange mix between a wolf and a bird of nightmares. On each of their foreheads appeared a spherical stone, which I assumed to be Cores, similar to what the slimes possessed. Honestly, I didn¡¯t care for the situation. It was the third day since I left Hidden Claw Peaks and I had only made it to the main road yesterday. The General Map Core wasn¡¯t so good at helping me with distances and their relation to time, so I had no way to tell how long it would take me to reach Rasenbur. It seems I would take longer than I thought. And helping this random woman who just so happens to need help as I came along would only delay me more. She looked to be older than me, but not by much. With short, tree-brown hair and a dark olive complexion, she looked like yet another possible beauty that could be willing to kill me for whatever reason. No thanks, I would rather get to an actual populated area first before dealing with more crazies. I kept walking, ignoring her cries and the growling screeches of the Harpy Wolves, as my Identify skill informed me (don¡¯t ask me how they managed to make that combination of sound). They were a few meters off the main road anyways, so I had no reason to go out of my way. Once I passed by, when I reached what I estimated was halfway out of the range at which her shouts would reach me, I heard her go silent along with the wolves. Curious, I stopped for a moment, wondering what happened - BOOM BOOM BOOM! Huh. Wonder what that was about...Meh. I shrugged and continued walking without bothering to turn around. Really, I would have investigated, but I wanted to find a stable place to hole up and venture forth from, or else I would get too sidetracked and make more mistakes. Before I got too far, I heard some footsteps quickly approaching me from behind. Going by the pace and sound, it wasn¡¯t any of the wolves, so it must have been the woman. I was proven correct as she grabbed my shoulder and spun me around before I could do it of my own free will. I hate when people do that. ¡°What¡¯s the matter with you?! Why didn¡¯t you help a woman in distress?!¡± She demanded of me. ¡°You looked like you had it covered,¡± I replied with a blank face. Looking at her up close, I could see that she was indeed cute, though I wouldn¡¯t personally rank her as ¡®beautiful¡¯ until I got to know her better. Her eyes were a deep green, which, combined with her hair, made her seem like a part of the forest that surrounded us on either side of the road. She could probably blend into the trees very well with just the right casual clothing. She gave me a disdainful look. ¡°Seriously? I¡¯m surrounded by four Harpy Wolves and screaming for help and you thought that I was okay?¡± I shrugged once more, with her actually being able to see it this time of course. ¡°You are alive and talking to me, are you not? That means you are okay. Is that all you wanted to harass me about though? You rudely interrupted my journey without even a proper greeting and scolded me even though I had no obligation to help you, a total stranger.¡± I didn¡¯t need to be a prick, but I was kind of annoyed by her presumptuous attitude. Of course, I could be in a world where men were expected to defend women no matter the circumstances, but those were the iterations that I hated the most. I was far more of a proponent of equality. The woman looked at me strangely for a while, then sighed as if there was no point in arguing with me. Remembering the bandit daughter that did something similar a month ago, I tensed slightly, not enough to be noticed visibly, but enough that I could respond quickly if needed. She looked away for a moment, then looked me back in the eye and said, ¡°You¡¯re right. I shouldn¡¯t have expected someone I did not know to risk his life to save mine. And I guess I did harass you for a misguided reason.¡± She offered her hand to me. I guess handshakes are a thing in this world? That makes my transition a little easier. ¡°My name is Lilia, by the way. Think of this as a small apology for harassing you.¡± Well, I guess I could accept it like the gentleman I am. ¡°I am called Zareb. Your apology is accepted.¡± I gripped her hand and gave it a firm pump. Lilia smiled and returned my grip. ¡°Paralysis Touch!¡± She cried out. My body went numb and I lost control over all of my limbs. Every muscle and joint locked up. My balance was destroyed and I found my body tipping over. Lilia pushed me gently so that I would land on my side. The fall didn¡¯t hurt, as the paralysis seemed to have blocked my pain receptors as well. Thankfully i could still take some shallow breaths, but that seemed to be the full extent of my movement. Really, though? What is wrong with the women here? Chapter 10 - That Conniving Thief! I couldn¡¯t move, not even a twitch. I was able to take shallow breaths through my nose but that was about it. The rest of my body was locked in position, almost as if I was encased in ice. This is what I get for being a gentleman...Sigh. ¡°As I was saying before you fell to my feminine wiles-¡± she paused to giggle at her own joke ¡°-my name is Lilia, and I will be relieving you of your valuables today.¡± Ugh, did she really just say that? And why is it that I keep running into shady women? I could do nothing to stop her as she rummaged through my backpack. ¡°As I collect my compensation for your refusal to help me with the wolves, allow me to share a few details with you. One, even if you did help me and survived the battle, I would still become the new owner of your items. However, I would have been more discreet about it.¡± Ah. So it was an act to begin with, a con to get me to lower my guard around her. Perhaps after I had ¡®rescued¡¯ her from an unpleasant death she would have insisted to travel with me until we reached the city, only to rob me in the middle of the night and disappear without a trace. How wonderful. ¡°Two, you were right about me taking care of myself. You might have heard the sounds of them dying a little earlier. Thanks to my Poison Jab I was able to place a highly volatile poison in their systems that reacts quite violently with their wind mana. Why am I telling you all this? So that you will understand how stupid and dangerous it would be to come after me for revenge. I have far more surprises than you could begin to imagine.¡± Ha, if only you knew Lilia...Thanks for the info. Now I know that your primary fighting style is based on physical contact with your body, you can handle poisons very well, you probably have a resistance to them, monsters can have elemental attributes, and - Wait. Three explosions, four wolves...don¡¯t tell me¡­ ¡°And three, even if you want to come after me, I doubt you would have the time or the chance while dealing with the rest of the pack.¡± ...Dammit. After her speech, Lilia finished up looting my backpack while humming an annoyingly happy tune. My only concern was how long my paralysis would last. Sure, I wasn¡¯t enthused by the idea of dying to a pack of four-legged chicken, but I was confident that I could handle them. Lilia miscalculated when she targeted me. I could easily break through the paralysis effect, as a result of my self-imposed training over the last month, but I didn¡¯t want to use my newly defined Soul Arts just yet. No need to use my trump cards when my life was in no danger. She also didn¡¯t bank on me having an Inventory Core, which, as far as I could tell, is undetectable by normal means. My backpack was merely a ruse to prevent anyone from thinking I was carrying more than I should be able to. While Inventory Cores were not particularly rare, according to the books the bandits stole, they were also not exactly as common as dirt. Usually only those who could afford the expense and had a practical reason to use it would actually make the effort to buy one. Or steal one, if they were so inclined. All in all, Lilia was only able to grab the few weapons and food supplies that I kept in the pack in case I came upon thieves like herself. Since even my facial features were locked in place I didn¡¯t have to expend the effort to act offended or betrayed...as offended or betrayed as a stranger could be in this situation. Noticing no pack of her own, I assumed that she had an Inventory herself, which would allow her to keep up the ruse for as long as she had slots. She would probably then move to a new location or head back to her base of operations, if she has one. I figured she was more of the former, constantly on the move so that it would be harder to exact retribution. Not that I particularly cared one way or the other. Thieves are just a natural part of any world, some more so than others. As long as she didn¡¯t threaten my life directly or take something with sentimental value, as little as I had for anything these days, I couldn¡¯t care less about her choices. Lilia finally walked around to a position where I could see her. ¡°Well, you have about a minute left before you will be able to move again, but I doubt it would take so long for the Harpy Wolves to find you. I left the fourth one alive, after all, so it should be leading the other half of it¡¯s pack to our location right now.¡± She reached into the open air and a bottle appeared in her hand. Yup, Inventory Core. ¡°However, you will be the only one they find. Thanks for the profit,¡± she said, winking at me. Then she poured the contents of the bottle over her head and replaced it in her Inventory. Stepping over my prone body, Lilia departed the scene, her footsteps rapidly fading away. And then I heard the Harpy Wolves. Their growling screeches were faint at first, but grew louder and louder as they approached me. I still couldn¡¯t move, but I felt some feeling slowly returning to my muscles. A sign that the effect was wearing off? Just as the wolves entered my field of vision, I finally felt the release of my body. I collapsed in a heap, but got to my feet as quickly as I could, taking Rising Sun out of my inventory in the process. I slightly shook each limb just to make sure I had full range of motion, then set my stance.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. A fleeting thought struck me as I realized that this will be the first time I used Rising Sun in combat. I got a bit excited, unable to wait to see how much more havoc I could reak. The Harpy Wolf leading the group looked like the walking remains of whatever Lilia did to its brethren. Most of its feathers were gone, and in several places there were ruptures of meat and skin, as if something exploded against it. I guessed that she adjusted her ability slightly to leave one wolf alive, and that was the result. The other four wolves accounted for the missing members of the eight-pack and looked perfectly healthy. They stayed behind the injured one until they had me in their sights, after which they charged on ahead directly. Without any more need for guidance, their speed drastically increased, along with the fever in their eyes. These wolves were out for revenge. I took note of their speed from before and after. I should have been slightly worried, for although I had plenty of experience fighting foes that broke the speed of sound in a casual walk, this new body of mine is nowhere near that point. Skill and experience are wonderful weapons, but they can only do so much with such a poor base. The Harpy Wolves were fast enough that they would pose a significant threat to me if I wasn¡¯t careful. However¡­ I couldn¡¯t remove the mad grin from my face. I unintentionally leaked out a bit of my Battle Intent, the system¡¯s pitiful attempt to categorize my intentions to absolutely slaughter any enemy before me. The wolves, committed to their charge, faltered and stumbled when they felt it, causing them to almost dogpile on top of each other. Oops. Can¡¯t let my control slip. There will be a time for that later, but for now...I need to train. I pulled back my Battle Intent under a tight reign while the Harpy Wolves got back to their feet. Not willing to let the opportunity slip past, I dashed towards the recovering wolves, who were bewildered by what they experienced. In their confusion, I got within range of the largest of the bunch. Shifting the momentum from my dash into the swing of my right arm, I planted my feet in the ground and delivered a powerful horizontal smash into my target¡¯s head. It exploded in a splatter of beak, flesh, and brain matter. The core in its forehead was also dislodged, but I noticed that it didn¡¯t fall too far away, almost as if it hit some sort of resisting barrier. This sparked a memory of the morning I wiped out the slime horde; the cores were always rather close to the place where I killed a slime. I didn¡¯t pay much attention to that detail back then, thinking that it was just how the binding magic between the slimes and their cores functioned, but now I suspect that this applied to all creatures and their cores - the core seems to be bound to the body it came from after death, likely temporary as there was no mention of transporting bodies along with cores that are sold in cities. All of these thoughts occurred in the span of less than a second. I learned quite early on that thinking too slowly in combat, especially against higher level or stronger enemies, was an almost guaranteed death. I couldn¡¯t afford to die to some simple wolves. Using the force of the miniscule recoil I felt when sending my first wolf to the afterlife (lucky bastard, it might just cease to exist, sounds like paradise to me), I swung again to make a second attack to the next nearest beastie. This time I couldn¡¯t get a headshot, but I did manage to make it wonder if it was born with a fully intact spine or several pieces of one. The weight of my Rising Sun smashed the wolf heavily into the ground and my eyes barely caught the moment when this one¡¯s core slightly popped out of its skull. A bit of energy released from death causing the core to be removed, perhaps? That would certainly make harvesting them more convenient, especially factoring in the bound-to-body aspect. Turning my attention away from the two dead wolves at my side, I leveled my gaze at the remaining enemies. The injured wolf was lying on the road, eyes closed, panting heavily. It seems that it was far too injured to contribute more to the fight. Putting him to the side, I took stock of the two healthy wolves. Both of them stared at me with a mix of anger, hatred and fear. It made sense. After all, I did just slaughter half of their number in the space of a few seconds. They looked at one another, sharing a short series of growls and squacks (seriously, they just sounded wrong), then one of them, slightly slimmer than the other, began to slowly circle around me, never letting me out of its line of sight. I met his (or her, knowing my luck with that gender so far) gaze and played along with their obvious ploy, gradually turning my back to the second wolf. The slim one kept up a quiet growl the whole time, in what I deduced was an attempt to muffle the approach of his partner. My senses, though not as developed yet as I would have liked, were still too sharp for that to work. Keeping my eyes locked with that of the wolf in front of me, I calmly waited for any indication that the trap would spring. After a few moments of glaring at each other, I noticed the wolf baring its jaw slightly wider, as if about to attack. Trusting my instincts, I quickly spun around, bringing my lovely morningstar vertically to chest height in order to meet the lunge of the second wolf. The speed and timing of his jump made him crumple headfirst against my weapon, almost like slamming into a wall and sliding down. However, I couldn¡¯t get one of my favorite comedic effects since it was ruined by just a bit too much forward momentum and my slightly off-balanced stance. And then there were the spikes to consider too... I was not looking for laughs though. I was looking to survive. ...This time, at least. The collision between bludgeon and wolf pushed me back towards my earlier opponent, which was exactly what I wanted. I loosened the tension in the hand holding Rising Sun, then changed the direction of the pressure I applied to the weapon, utilizing every motion and force involved. This let me bring down the spiked head of my wonderful shaft right into the back of the neck of the first wolf, who was trying to get at me from the ground as opposed to jumping at me like the other. He, too, died with that blow. And then it was over. I mean, there was still the injured one left, but it was hardly a threat in that condition. It looked only slightly better than the four corpses around me. I might as well just put it out of it¡¯s misery -
Calculating Experience...
Resolving Attributes...
Congratulations! You have achieved Level 6.
- after I check out my new level. Update! Not a Chapter...Yet This post will be deleted after tomorrow as I do not want it to stay on everyone''s mind. So...a lot of things have happened haha. Most of it I won''t get into due to the personal parts that other people play, but essentially I was out of commission for a while starting with a certain incident...that being me stabbing myself with a knife while removing the pit from an avocado. ...yeah, I know. ANYWAYS - I am completely healed now! Many of the life circumstances I have mentioned before have not been fully resolved yet, but suffice to say, I now have ample time to write more chapters, and all of you lovely people can expect new posts starting tomorrow! As is mentioned in the synopsis of this story, I have a specific purpose for writing this, a goal in mind, providing a safe place for my Kitten. This goal has not changed, and I need to achieve it now more than ever.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. But don''t you folks worry about that, I just want you all to understand that I will NOT leave this tale unfinished! Speaking of which, you will notice that there is now a cover, though temporary~ I asked someone I know to create a legitimate one for me, but who knows when it will be finished...if ever...huh...but yeah, temporary cover to separate my piece from the rest of the unknown masses, yay~ There are a couple of other minor edits that I will make to the story, none of which will affect the plot, they are more cosmetic than anything else. However, those edits will not be displayed here on RR, rather, they will be in my google doc. That way I can better keep track of the differences for when I fully publish the first book. Anyways, tl;dr I AM BACK...tomorrow! Also! I have to give a HUGE thank you to everyone who kept following my story even without updates from me! I lost 2 people, but the views still went up somehow! You folks are all awesome, and I hope I can satisfy your curious minds with the way I plan this story to go. See you all tomorrow~ Chapter 11 - Well, That Explains The Name
Name: Zareb Sindile Age: ???
Titles: Master of One¡¯s Soul Fame: ---
Level: 6 Class: ---
Health: 50/150 Health Regen: 0.1/s
Mana: 100 Mana Regen: .01/s
Stamina: 140/180 Stamina Regen: 0.2/s
Strength: 18 Intelligence: 33
Vitality: 15 Wisdom: 33
Agility: 35 Charisma: 6
Dexterity: 17 Luck: 17
Soul Force: MAX Soul Resilience: MAX
I opened up my status menu and took a quick note of the changes. Now I have a more accurate representation of my growth over the last month. When I previously checked my stats at level 5, that was just before I started training in earnest, focusing on eating as balanced a diet as I could manage, sprinting and running, lifting weights, doing everything I could to push my body to the limits. The results...are a bit surprising, to be honest. Only 2 points in strength, compared to a massive 20 in agility? That must be the effect of the Attribute Cores...the growth rate is truly something else, if a month of heavy training could only bring my strength up by a miniscule amount in comparison. Resolving to take a more in depth look and analysis later, I closed the screen and brought my attention back to the present. Four broken Harpy Wolf corpses were waiting for me to loot, plus the heavily injured one not too far away. The last one had not moved this entire time, but I could tell it was still alive by its noisy breathing. Figuring I should put it out of its misery rather than letting it suffer while I dismember its brethren for parts - I mean, uh, collect potentially valuable resources, yeah - I approached its prone form and raised my [Rising Sun] to grant it mercy.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. THWACK! I leapt backwards in a split second, the arrow striking only empty air as my arm was yanked out of its trajectory. A second barely audible snap alerted me to a follow-up shot, timed too far apart to be some sort of System Skill, but too close to the first to be from the same shooter. Whatever the circumstances, this arrow would hit me before my feet could touch the ground and let me dodge. Double Jump. In the same second that I worked out my dire situation, I activated one of the abilities I taught myself in the mountains. A platform of mana instantly formed beneath my left foot, giving me a surface to exert force upon in mid air. I jumped for the second time in a row, evading the second arrow, and creating a considerable distance from my original position. But much closer to my hidden adversaries. Before I could capitalize on the moment, I suddenly heard a voice in the trees. ¡°Watch it, you idiot! You nearly killed the wolf!¡± A second voice, somewhat whiney, replied, ¡°Shut up! I didn¡¯t aim anywhere near it! And how can you complain when you missed too!¡± The first voice, clearly aggravated, called back, ¡°I wasn¡¯t trying to hit him! You startled me with your stupid shot and made me release mine, so it¡¯s your fault he¡¯s still walking!¡± A slight pause ensued before both voices cried out at once. ¡°¡°He¡¯s still walking!¡±¡± By the time those words left their mouths I was already upon them. Dash sent mana flowing through my leg muscles, boosting my sprinting speed significantly for a short time. Using the sound to pinpoint their location, I found them several trees behind the road, in the middle branches. I didn¡¯t have any real ranged attacks yet, so the best I could do was throw a few of the knives and daggers I pulled out of my Inventory. I made sure to hold my hand behind my back, under my shirt, when transferring them, just to keep up appearances. Yes, I know, in a life or death situation appearances are the last thing to worry about, but sometimes a little forethought can save you a ton of trouble in the future. I don¡¯t plan to let these men live, but in the off chance that they get away, I would rather them not realize that I had tricked that thief earlier. And I had no doubt that they were watching the whole incident. These lovely gentlemen even took the time to confirm my suspicion, while using the trees for protection against my airborne blades. ¡°Let¡¯s get back to Lilia, we can¡¯t be held responsible for whatever he does now!¡± Voice number one exclaimed. Oh, as if I would let you leave that easily- BOOF! Both men threw some kind of ball to the ground that exploded into smoke. This world has smoke bombs?! What are they, ninjas?! No, I can¡¯t insult ninjas that way, they are rarely so openly chatty on the job, and they certainly wouldn¡¯t be this incompetent...though I say incompetent when they managed to escape. Sigh. I didn¡¯t get much of a good look at them, with the lighting and our distance from one another, but they looked to be somewhat taller than I with bodies just as slender, perfect for high speed flexible movement. Coughing and waving my hand through the smoke to clear it, I can tell that their movement skills were at least decent, since I couldn¡¯t tell what direction they left in. Still, at least I know that I could recognize them by voice if I ever met them again. They won¡¯t escape me a second time. Only I get to choose when and how I die, no one else. Wait, were they actually trying to kill me though? Judging by what Grunt number 1 said, they were trying not to hit the injured Harpy Wolf...but why? They were definitely working for Lilia too, or at least associated with her, so...I don¡¯t get it. I could understand Lilia leaving me alive, or leaving me with the chance to live. Many thieves stick with stealing and avoid murder like a plague. It¡¯s one thing to take a person¡¯s possessions, another to take their lives. That is a burden most people are not strong enough to carry. I could even understand her overly dramatic behavior, doing the cliche ¡®damsel in distress¡¯, telling me her name...all of that can be seen as a grab for attention. She wants to be known as a thief, maybe for the challenge of pulling off a heist even when everyone is expecting it. But where do the flunkies come into play? Well, one thing I know for certain, if they were willing to put arrows into me to stop me from killing a creature that was already on death¡¯s door, then there must be damn good reason why. Hmm...let¡¯s find out, shall we? After collecting the weapons I threw at the duo, I moved back over to the Harpy Wolf. Still in the same spot, still alive somehow, but clearly struggling. Poor thing, I will let you rest in a moment. Opting to use a regular dagger instead of my traumatising morningstar, I calmly lifted the head of the beast and looked it in the eyes as I slit its throat. That is a burden I have long since learned how to carry. As the light faded away from its eyes, I began to feel a slight pressure in the atmosphere. Something clearly changed with the death of this wolf...hold on, didn¡¯t Lilia say that these were the other half of the pack? Then, this would be the last one¡­ An idea slowly formed in the back of my mind, but it wasn¡¯t solid enough for conscious thought. It was, however, enough to give me a sense of approaching danger. I quickly stood up and went around to each of the corpses, noting that they had already begun to decay at a rapid pace. I gathered the cores that popped out of their heads when I killed them, and I began to suspect that it was the separation of core from body that caused this phenomenon. Further shoving that thought to the back of my mind to share company with every other concern I held, I tried to focus on the task of getting out of the area. I didn¡¯t even think to try to salvage what I could from the bodies, my instincts told me there was just not enough time for that. I made it maybe sixty feet from the site of the battle when I heard the cry of another Harpy Wolf...but this time much louder, and more...human-like? Now that I think about it...oh. That¡¯s what was bothering me. As much as Identify told me that what I fought were called Harpy Wolves, I only saw an awkward fusion between bird and wolf. Harpies have a different nuance to me, at least by the memories that the name drags up from my first world...shouldn¡¯t they look a bit- THOOMP! -a bit more...like...that...oh dear. A monstrosity landed in front of me, blocking my path. It was at least three times the size of the creatures I just fought, with features that clearly defined it as an adult of the species. It - no, she, had well defined hind legs, ending in brutal bird claws that looked like they could shred through trees with no problem. Her forelegs were actually her wings, heavily feathered and equipped with similar claws as her hind legs, albeit slightly smaller. Dangling from her chest were a pair of breasts that looked eerily human, bare skin without adornment. She was clearly well endowed, and if this was an actual human woman I might have indulged in the view a little more. As it is, they only served as a pleasant distraction from her head, which was the true nightmare. Front facing, piercing eyes, over a fleshy protruding jaw. A short mess of hair on top of her head, completely at odds with the feathers donning most of the rest of her body. When she opened her mouth to screech at me, I could clearly see the hardened beak hidden underneath the flesh. My Identify skill marked her as the Harpy Wolf Matron, the leader of the pack. ...Crap. Chapter 12 - First Boss Battle, Mini Boss? Who Cares, Just Die! The Matron and I locked gazes, hers fierce, piercing, like a hawk. Do hawks exist in this world? I mean, wolves must exist in some form or another since the system labeled this creature as a Harpy Wolf, but maybe that¡¯s just what my personal blue screen translates the actual name to? Or are there ¡®normal¡¯ animals along with ¡®monster¡¯ animals coexisting on this land? Huh. Something to look into for sure. Right after I, you know, survive. Our staring contest stretched on for what seemed like an eternity. A gust of wind blew a speck of dirt into my eye, making me blink first. As quick as lightning, the Matron struck. She lunged forward with a screech, throwing out a claw in an attempt to disembowel me in one blow. I threw myself backwards, the claw nearly catching my clothes as it caught the empty air above my contorted figure. Following through with the motion, I turned my dodge into a full backflip, creating some much needed distance. However, the Matron didn¡¯t stop with just one attack. She launched towards me, her second claw spread open, trying to trap me in its grasp. Noting the position of her front limbs, I made a calculated evasion, bringing myself to the side of her incoming claw, leaving her unable to transition into a third attack. With her defenses wide open, I opted to deal the first true strike. Feet planted, shifting the momentum of my dodge into my upper body, I swung my [Rising Sun] in a two-handed grip right into the Matron¡¯s side. It was a bad position for a blow, so I did not expect to do more than superficial damage, maybe tear out some chunks of flesh and feathers if anything. Imagine my surprise when my lovely morningstar barely knocked the Matron back a foot or so. What kind of defensive power is this?! My shock nearly cost me, as the Matron recovered quickly enough to lash out at me once more, this time using her wing membrane for extra reach. I hastily jumped back even further than I did before, taking a moment to reevaluate my opponent. Judging by the feeling I got when my weapon bit her body, I theorized that her feathers were likely as strong as, or maybe stronger than the material of my [Rising Sun]. Also, with such a large figure capable of flight, I should assume that either her bones are just as strong and lightweight or she uses magic to assist in staying airborne, or a mix of both. Glancing attacks, even with my spikes, are not likely to do much here. I should try to hit her as directly as I can, the coat of feathers would somewhat soften the blunt force, but if I could get the spikes to pierce through and then rip out of her, then I would have a fighting chance. If that doesn¡¯t work, well...I would have to get extra creative earlier than I thought. The Matron attacked again with a screech, swiping at me from the left then the right. I continued to dodge backwards, leading her off the road and into the surrounding forest. Taking the fight into the more densely packed areas, I used the trees to help block her attacks. The Matron clearly didn¡¯t like this tactic, as she almost rampaged through everything in sight to get to me, shredding the wood regardless of if I was in range or not. This blasted thing has far more stamina than I do. ¡°Come on, you oversized chicken-puppy!¡± I taunted her, hoping she would lose herself. While she may not have quite understood what I was saying (my language skill does not extend to entities that cannot use spoken words), she certainly got that I was insulting her in some way. A headache inducing screech followed as she started targeting me directly again, shrugging off any obstacles in instead of smashing through them like before. Well, that might have backfired a little. Still, with less destruction going on, I was actually able to start using the terrain to boost my own abilities. Quickly glancing at the area to memorize the position of the trees, I prepared to strike for real damage. First, I avoided a claw attack with a leap to the side. While in mid air, I activated Double Jump at the cost of 10 Mana, instantly forming a platform under my feet to kick off of to gain more height. Right before I reached the apex of my second jump, I kicked off of the tree that my trajectory had propelled me towards, sending my body through a third jump over the form of the Matron in just a few seconds. I swung my body in a small circle and, with the assistance of gravity, drove my morningstar into the right shoulder of the Harpy Wolf. As I suspected, the feather coat mitigated the blunt damage significantly, but clearly did not block all of it. The spikes on my weapon were able to dig right in, and I let my body weight help in yanking it the whole thing back out as I fell to the ground. A meaty piece of the Matron¡¯s shoulder joined me.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. If the Matron was loud when she was angry, she was absolutely ear shattering when I ripped out a part of her. She reared up in pain, flailing around with her chest widely exposed. An idea struck me in that moment. I was not proud of it, but pride means nothing in the face of survival. I was not yet at the point where I would risk taking a hit from one of her claws. With a mental apology to women everywhere, I rushed forward and smashed my [Rising Sun] into her disturbingly magnificent breasts. What is more disturbing than lovely human boobs hanging off of a crossbreed between a nightmare chicken and vicious wolf? Lovely human boobs that practically explode in a splatter of blood and flesh right into the face. Thankfully I was able to close my eyes in time to prevent blindness, but ugh, this will be an absolute pain to clean up later. The Matron¡¯s screams went so high that I could barely hear them anymore, I think her voice actually gave out. Not too surprising, really, considering that her lungs may have been punctured by the multitude of spikes on my weapon, along with her heart. Just as I was about to tear out my weapon and her rib cage as one, I noticed an immediate change to the feathers on her body. They all stiffened simultaneously, pointing away from her flesh and turning her into a crossbreed between a nightmare chicken, a vicious wolf, and a well endowed hedgehog. The air, heavy with the stench of blood, now filled with the scent of ozone...oh no. No, no, no, no, no. Don¡¯t you dare- For the umpteenth time today, I threw myself backwards and activated Double Jump, this time in rapid succession, abandoning my weapon inside of the Matron¡¯s dying body. Though I prefer to use this ability only sparingly to conserve mana, my instincts demanded that I created as much distance as possible. Dash was out of the question with no straight path to follow, so I pushed myself to jump almost parallel to the ground to get away. At the last possible second, I used a final Double Jump to get behind a boulder for cover. It was almost not enough. CRACK!! BOOM! I heard the sharp blast of electrical discharge behind me, and felt the impact of dozens of items striking the forest around me. It was over in a single moment. Giving myself a minute to calm down, and to check on my depleted mana, I steadied my breathing and peeked around my boulder shield. Wow¡­ The area was littered with dark brown feathers...feathers that were embedded into the ground, the trees, even the rock I was hiding behind. The trees...the feathers didn¡¯t stop at the first or second, but the third layer of trees. There were clear holes in all the rest where they passed through. I would have been absolutely shredded if I was a couple of seconds slower. Shaking my head at the near death experience, doubting that it would have been the death I sought, I made my way back towards the now plucked body of the Harpy Wolf Matron. I had to be careful, as the feathers strewn through the ground were still stiff and sharp enough to cut me. It seemed that this was the Matrons final attack, maybe only triggered in or near death. Her body appeared to unleash an electrical burst that shot out her feathers like an omnidirectional railgun. If I were an outside observer, I would call it awesome. Actually, if I were an outside observer, I would probably be dead. Maybe this is why those two archers high tailed it out of the area after they couldn¡¯t stop me from killing the last Harpy Wolf, they knew that even if I killed the Matron they likely would not have survived the aftermath. They didn¡¯t expect me to be capable either. Oh well. Drawing close to the body, I saw the handle of my morningstar sticking out from underneath it. I winced, hoping that the weapon was still intact. It really is a good piece of equipment and I hope to be able to use it for a while longer. Slightly holding my breath, I pushed the Matron¡¯s body over to the side and found my wonderful weapon very much one piece, just covered in blood and...roasted gore. Huh, definitely a ¡®final stand¡¯ sort of ability if it cooks itself in the process. Resigning myself to a couple of hours of both cleaning myself and my [Rising Sun], I turned my eyes to the most interesting item on scene. The Matron¡¯s core. According to the books I read in the bandit camp, every monster in this world has a core. With such a powerful owner, this core could be something quite different from what I got off the slimes. It only lay a short distance from the body, as opposed to the launched feathers, which were several yards away at the closest. I reached over to pick it up and was welcomed by not one, but two notifications.
You have obtained your first Elemental Core.
Congratulations! You have obtained one of each of the known Core Categories. You have earned the Title: ¡°Well Rounded¡±!
...Why does that sound so lame¡­ Chapter 13 - On The Road Again A couple of hours later, as far as I could tell from the position of the sun, I was once again on the road to Rasenbur. At least, I hope I was. When I finally found the road after a long, tedious walk, I simply chose to turn left and march onwards. If only my luck stat actually affected the present, instead of simply being a record of my past fortunes...sigh. Well, I¡¯ll eventually see how lucky I am this time. As I walked, I wondered how much I would get for the Matron¡¯s claws, if I could even sell them. After I received my title, I took the time to separate anything useful from the beast¡¯s corpse. It took some effort, but I was able to salvage the claws from all four limbs, the short beak inside of the fleshy mouth, and a handful of feathers that somehow failed to be launched. They were soft, but strong. I didn¡¯t have nearly enough to make even a small armor piece, and I actually wondered at how effective an armor made from these feathers could even be, but I did have a plan to use them. Yes, they provided a strong defense for the Matron, but that was with thousands of feathers overlapping each other, possibly even strengthened from a miniscule amount of electrical power from the beast. I would have to use the same amount, and pack them in such a way that they would fit my much smaller frame, before I could enjoy anything approaching similar benefits. Not to mention that I would look utterly ridiculous, dressed up like a giant chicken. No, instead I decided to leave all the other feathers where they were embedded. I had the suspicion that they would be useless as a defensive crafting material after the electricity ran through them, considering that they were stiff and strong enough to pierce through several trees. Maybe I could have collected them to use as makeshift weapons, but it would be too much effort for an unreliable resource. Plus, I did try to extract one of them, but it was somehow still highly charged, and I got the distinct impression I would be unpleasantly shocked if I touched it. Best just to leave them where they are. Thinking back to the electrifying experience reminded me of the last bit of loot, the Attribute Core. Identify revealed it to be a Lightning Core. According to the common knowledge of this world, Lightning as an elemental affinity has very limited usage. It is known for its destructive capability, when used in a massive attack, but it is also regarded as highly unpredictable and dangerous even to the wielder of such power. The inhabitants of this world have no industrial use for lightning, as they don¡¯t have the concept of electricity. Instead, mana is the key energy source for pretty much everything. In other words, no one has a clue as to how dangerous electrical power can truly be. The advantage goes to me. I held off on absorbing the core, as I wanted to gain a better understanding of elemental affinities first. Hopefully when I reach Rasenbur I¡¯ll be able to gain access to a library, or whatever equivalent they have here, and figure out exactly what the risks and benefits that I have not already worked out are. In the meantime, I seem to have a lot of walking ahead of me. Bored, I took the opportunity to look through some of my status details. The new title, ¡°Well Rounded¡±, was just that, a title. No bonus stats, no additional effects. Just a short description, almost like an ¡°achievement¡± from some of the old tech games I used to play...was it in the fifth or sixth iteration? I lost track, but I know there were more than just a few iterations where I played ¡®video games¡¯. Every time I picked one up I marvelled at the irony of playing a game while living life as a game...but play I did, nonetheless. It appears that in this iteration, titles are just another part of the life record, an acknowledgement of an accomplished task that could have been either deadly important or utterly pointless. I already held the title ¡°Master of One¡¯s Soul¡±, which I ascribed to my prowess in using my soul for cheat-like abilities, so I figured long ago that titles would have some significance here. Like ¡°Well Rounded¡±, my first title gave me no bonuses, but I didn¡¯t have any expectations in that regard to begin with since what I could do is...not normal, to say the least. My train of thought suddenly diverged into multiple paths, the eternal conundrum of an introvert. First, something bothered me about ¡°Well Rounded¡±. I obtained Specialty, Attribute, and Elemental Cores, but am I not missing something? What about Stat Cores? Does the system not recognize them as a category since they are man-made? It would make sense if that is the case, since the system let me know that I had obtained one of each type...it is the most logical conclusion. However, I intend to get a definitive answer once I find a library. The need just continues to grow¡­ Second, in thinking about my personal cheat-abilities, I decided to look over my Talents Menu and confirm once again that the system recognized the way I used my soul. It took a while before I discovered how to access the skills I created, in part because I kept thinking of a skill menu. That was the problem - this iteration sees ¡°skills¡± as one category and ¡°abilities¡± as another, but together they are listed under my ¡°Talents¡±. I wonder if people call them collectively as Talents or individually per name...just another thing to learn in the city.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
Talent Menu
Skills Inventory Identify
Abilities Double Jump Dash
Soul Arts Battle Intent Battle Memory Universal Tongue Cleanse Aura
The way I understand it is like this: Skills are things that I can learn from Specialty Cores and have no activation cost. There may be some Skills that can be created or learned without using a core, but so far I have not seen any evidence of that. I could use Identify and Inventory without restriction, though there is a limit to how much I could hold in my Inventory. Skills, in my mind, are part of the essentials of living in this world, and the more Skills one has, the better easier their life will be. Abilities are on the opposite end of the spectrum, for me at least. I personally created both Dash and Double Jump based off of my experience in manipulating mana to augment my movements in previous worlds. It took a long time to adjust my mindset to how mana feels in this world, so I decided against creating anything too fancy. Simplicity is often best, after all, and even complexity is built off of simple parts. In any case, Abilities are not exactly needed for everyday life, rather, they are more battle oriented. They have costs, maybe even cooldown periods in some cases. I haven¡¯t encountered a core that teaches an Ability, but I still have a lot to learn about this world. Finally, my Soul Arts are listed. I didn¡¯t give these...arts, for lack of a better word since I don¡¯t want to mentally mix them up with Abilities, I didn¡¯t give them their current category name. In fact, when I discovered how to access this menu, the Arts were already there. I found that the descriptions of each were more or less accurate, but I felt certain that there would be more than just these four...I¡¯ll have to rectify that as soon as possible. I liked how the system detailed the effects of each Art. Battle Intent is basically my mastery over bloodlust, my ability to direct my own and perceive that of others. With it, I could detect anyone trying to attack me and how, even if they are well covered through stealth. I could also hide my own intentions and prevent my opponent from knowing in advance what I plan to do, or focus my intent so that my opponent does know what I will do and breaks under the pressure of knowing that they can¡¯t stop it. Battle Intent is a wonderful tool, but I try not to actively use it too often as it affects my mental state...but no need to worry about that right now, not on this peaceful walk. Battle Memory is essentially what I have been using ever since my first fight with the Blue Slime (what a boring name, really). All of the combat experience I have gained over my last 99 lives has been imprinted on my soul. Those experiences are slowly being impressed upon my new body, gradually rebuilding it until I regain the muscle memory and reflexes that I held at the peak of my fighting condition. In this way, I don¡¯t exactly have to fight over and over to turn my body into that of a veteran, I could develop that figure just through normal training and daily activity. As much of a cheat Battle Memory is, the real overpowered Art is my Universal Tongue. Tired of learning a new language from scratch, I pretty much spent a few iterations working on my soul to the point where it could recognize nearly any language, written or spoken. The only problem is that I¡¯m still not actually learning the language. Instead, my soul takes in the intentions of the speaker, or the words that I read, and provides my brain with the closest translation of words that I know. The same happens when I speak; I am not actually speaking the native language, but the recipient hears it as such, they get what I intend to say. If I am not careful, serious complications could easily arise from the use of this Art, so I do try to physically learn new languages still...when I don¡¯t feel lazy or apathetic¡­ My final Soul Art, Cleanse Aura, is my ¡®cure all, end all¡¯ ability. With it, I can negate most negative effects placed upon me, so long as they are magically sourced or I could fight it off naturally. For example, when I was paralyzed earlier, I could tell that it was due to an Ability because of the foreign mana invading my body. Actually, maybe it could have been a spell, I don¡¯t fully know how magic works in this world yet, if there are even such things as spells as a separate category from Abilities...why does my list of research topics keep increasing? Sigh. In any case, since there was foreign mana inside of me, I could have activated Cleanse Aura to rid myself of the effects and move freely. I saw no need to use it though, as I sensed no intent from her to kill me. It¡¯s best to keep certain things a secret unless absolutely necessary. I could have also used this Art if the paralysis was caused by a poison that could be naturally cured by my body, meaning without the use of another foreign substance. With that case, though, I would immediately cleanse myself, as most likely it would be a life or death situation. Otherwise, if I had the time and resources, I would actually find such poisons and ingest them over time to build up a resistance against them. One of the oldest and most effective tricks in the book, second only to ¡°don¡¯t let your opponent poison you in the first place¡±. Nodding at the Skills, Abilities, and Soul Arts currently at my disposal, I continued my trek to Rasenbur, making mental notes and plans for when I finally arrive. I am long overdue to start my quest to find the answers to all my questions. ...I truly hope I am going in the right direction¡­ Chapter 14 - I Dont Wanna Go To Jail! Rasenbur. The closest city to the former bandit camp, as far as my map indicated, Rasenbur sat upon a wide flatland, with clear, level ground surrounding it. The city is protected by a moderately high stone wall, perhaps 20 feet tall, with additional stone watchtowers evenly spaced out every 30 feet or so. I couldn¡¯t tell if there were other entrances, but from where I stood I could see an opening wide enough to allow four vehicles to pass through side by side in complete comfort. A portcullis was clearly visible, though I couldn¡¯t tell at this distance what sort of metal was used. Knowing that magic played a huge role in this world, I figured that it was not simple iron, probably some alloy that allowed for a better defense. Then again, I have lived through worlds where people were stupid enough to ignore the threat of magic when building defensive structures. Though, there is always the matter of the cost of materials. I don¡¯t know why I am so distracted right now. Actually, I think my thoughts are so scattered because of the one thing I did not expect when I finally caught sight of my destination. The lines. I never thought there would be such a line to enter the city, but there wasn¡¯t just one line, but four! Thankfully each line had a distinct purpose that I could reason out. The four lines were divided into lanes, each running parallel to the others. The two on the far left were for exiting the city, while the two on the right were for entering. Starting from the furthest left, the first lane was for people exiting by mount or vehicle; the second lane for those exiting on foot; the third for those entering the city on foot, while the last, the one furthest to the right, was reserved for those entering the city by vehicle or mount. It looked quite orderly and well designed, ensuring that traffic flowed as smoothly as possible. Unfortunately, there were quite a lot more people in my lane than any other. Naturally, I was in the third lane, entering the city on foot. The day before, I finally encountered other travellers, ones of the normal, non-criminal kind, and they confirmed that I was in the right direction. A man and woman together, they had the look of a couple returning from some exploration, with heavy laden packs and short swords hanging openly at their waists. Maybe they were adventurers? While they did not welcome me to join them like some long lost brother, they did let me stay close enough to them to enjoy the presence of other people. It was unavoidable, at any rate, since we were heading to the same place. When Rasenbur finally came into view, many hours of awkward vigilance later, they stayed back and kindly insisted that I go on ahead of them. No trust towards strangers at all, huh? I wonder if that is common in this region or if those two in particular had some bad experiences before. I didn¡¯t make a fuss and thanked them for their company. Striding on ahead, I saw that the road we travelled on was just one of a number of roads that converged into the four-lane path that cut into the city. My map did not indicate anything like this, I only saw the two cities and one road connecting them. Of course, I should have realized that there would be much more than that to the area, especially considering how long it took for me to get here in the first place, but for some reason the notion never crossed my mind. I have to try to be more aware than that, I can¡¯t let simple reasoning escape me so easily, not when it could make all the difference in learning how to die...and stay dead. Bringing myself back to the present, I looked around at those in each of the lanes. The lanes were divided by waist high stone walls, all of a dark grey color. They would not prevent anyone from hopping over with some effort, but they do provide some measure of protection from those who are riding vehicles or creatures. To my immense interest, I saw both. Four-legged reptilians with moderately long tails, wolf looking creatures that were twice my expected size, a few bird-like mounts with strong legs, stubby wings and long necks, all in line with two, three, and four wheeled contraptions that looked similar to the cars and motorcycles of my original world. The vehicles, however, appeared to be much simpler in design compared to what I knew, and I doubt they had such things as seat belts and airbags. Still, I had to remind myself, magic. If this world has refrigeration, I am sure that they found ways to make vehicles safe. Also, I definitely have to find out what they are called so I could stop thinking of them as just ¡°vehicles¡±. My line moved forward at a slow, but constant pace. The other lanes were somehow processed much faster, but then there weren¡¯t that many people traveling ¡°in style¡± to begin with. I soon found myself just staring at the foot traffic, with all the various mounts and vehicles already inside the walls or long down the roads to other places. As I got closer to the gateway, I was finally able to see part of the procedure for gaining entry.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Two tables were set up by each of the entry lanes, elevated so that the person sitting behind it would be at average eye level without needing to strain their necks. At each side of the table stood a guard with a spear in hand. Two clerks, four guards altogether for my lane. I figured that this way, if one clerk had trouble, the guards could resolve it quickly while the second clerk continued on as normal. The more I observed, the more I saw a practice of efficiency. I wondered, though, what exactly these clerks do with each individual. ¡°Next!¡± Looks like it¡¯s time to find out. I walked over to the the free clerk, nodding to the guards standing at the sides before turning my attention to the man at the table. ¡°Good day sir, identification please,¡± he politely stated. ...Uh oh. ¡°I do not have any good sir, I apologize for the inconvenience,¡± I responded without hesitation and in a clear voice. The man frowned slightly and sighed, the guards looking slightly more alert and focused on me. I hoped this wouldn¡¯t turn out badly. ¡°Any person entering the city without identification is subject to a fine of two gold coins, a full Scan, and is highly advised to acquire a form of identification before leaving. If said person leaves without obtaining identification and attempts to reenter, they will be subject to arrest and confinement for a period lasting no more than 14 days; upon release, they will be magically branded with the Rasenbur Mark, which will serve as proof of untrustworthiness until proper identification has been procured. Refusal or inability to pay the fine or submit to the full Scan at this time will directly lead to confinement of no less than 7 days and no more than 30 days, as well as the branding of the Rasenbur Mark upon release. You may obtain proper identification from the Adventurer¡¯s Guild Hall or the City Hall at any point during your unconfined stay in Rasenbur. Do you understand all the proceedings as I have outlined them?¡± The clerk¡¯s voice was cool and businesslike, completely uncompromising yet not disdainful in any way. There was a lot to consider from his words, but it basically boiled down to: no ID, you¡¯re in trouble. I took a moment to think through everything he said, then replied, ¡°I understand everything. Where do I go to see about paying the fine?¡± I guessed that this would not be something he took care of personally, as it would be inefficient to hold up the line for every person who had to pay up. Speaking of currency, I had to remind myself that two gold is a significant amount. It wasn¡¯t obscene, but it would definitely hurt a lower class individual who had to spend it on a fine. I don¡¯t know yet how the wealth is distributed in this country, but I do know that the currency goes as follows: 100 copper coins equals one silver, and 10 silver coins equals one gold. There are other denominations as well, but those are used by the government and large organizations, as far as I understood it. Copper, silver, and gold were all that mattered for common circulation. It seems I was right about my guess as the man didn¡¯t have me empty my pockets on the spot. The clerk nodded his appreciation at my cooperation and said, ¡°The gentleman on my left will guide you where you need to go, for right now I need to conduct the full Scan. Do you agree to the use of my skill on your person?¡± Ah, the lovely sound of consent. I could never get tired of it. ¡°Yes, I agree, I will submit to the Scan.¡± The clerk nodded to me again, then his gaze sharpened in focus as he activated his skill with a clear voice. ¡°Scan!¡± I felt a rather unpleasant sensation wash over me, as if someone was staring at my insides from every angle. The feeling vanished as shortly as it appeared, however, leaving me somewhat disoriented. No wonder they need to ask for consent¡­ I shook myself and met the eyes of the clerk, who I noticed was frowning more than before. That can¡¯t be good. ¡°Sir, are you aware that binding an Inventory to yourself without approval by one of the main Guilds is an offense punishable by confinement term defined by a Guard Captain?¡± the clerk asked in a serious tone. The guards at the side were far more interested now, hands tightening on their spears. Yeah, that¡¯s definitely not good. ¡°No, good sir, I was not aware of that,¡± I told him. ¡°I will submit myself to the punishment, however, since ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it.¡± I tried to be as cooperative and polite as possible, hoping that it will build these men¡¯s respect and put me in better standing when I dealt with their superior. The clerk looked at me a bit coldly, but did not say anything more. Maybe I saved myself from a stronger reaction because I did not argue? Whatever the case, I added yet another thing to figure out when I get the opportunity: why is it such a crime to have an unapproved Inventory? The guard on the clerk¡¯s right, receiving a gesture from the man, stepped forward and beckoned to me. ¡°Follow me and don¡¯t cause any trouble. It would not end well, I promise you.¡± He spoke without feeling, neither bragging or threatening. It really was...a promise. I only nodded and followed him quietly. About 15 minutes later I found myself sitting in a small locked room with only a single window set in the door. Sigh. Not even one foot in a city and I¡¯m already a criminal. Chapter 15 - So Thats How It Is Just as I got into a somewhat comfortable position to doze off, I was rudely awaken by the door slamming open. Was that even necessary? ¡°That was not necessary,¡± a voice confirmed. I mean, seriously? Wait. Did I ask that first question out loud¡­? I finally noticed the two individuals who dragged my nearly unconscious self back into the land of the waking. Okay, that didn¡¯t make sense even in my foggy mind. All that walking and fighting and standing in line for the past few days must have worn me down more than I thought. I definitely need to see if increasing my vitality would help fight off long term stress or not. Standing before me were a middle aged man close to my height and a petite woman with a business-minded look. Both wore uniforms similar in appearance to the guards¡¯ clothing, with the exception that the man¡¯s looked somewhat more elaborate and of higher quality. I figured that he was the Guard Captain the clerk spoke of before, or one of them. The woman was slightly red in the face, having been reprimanded for her excessive force with the door, but otherwise looked serious enough. I gave both of them my full attention, having finally shaken the cobwebs from my head. ¡°I apologize for my subordinate¡¯s less than professional entry,¡± the man started. Good, it seems that I hadn¡¯t blurted anything out. ¡°I am Captain Geoffry Wulflame, and this is Lieutenant Mya Strauss. We are here to assess the claim against you regarding your Inventory and mete out the appropriate punishment.¡± Well, they weren¡¯t being pricks about it, so I could give them as much respect as they have shown me. ¡°I am-¡± Captain Wulflame held up a hand to stop me from continuing. ¡°Please wait until we have finished our examination, at which point we will ask you to answer some questions. This way we can get this over with as quickly as possible. We do not have the time to handle every infraction like yours, but by law it is only someone at my level who can settle your term of confinement.¡± His voice carried the same undertone of weariness that I could expect from most law enforcement leaders, the good ones at least. I shut my mouth and waited for them to make the next move. He continued, saying, ¡°As standard procedure, I am obligated to inform you that our Scan will not reveal information on your stats or personal Abilities. We will only confirm your general info and any Skills created by the use of Specialty Cores. This information will not be used against you in any way, except in the case of specific unlicensed Skills, particularly the Inventory. A full list of prohibited Skills can be requested for review at any point after your sentence.¡± Seeing no further interruption from me, Wulflame turned to the woman, Lieutenant Strauss, and said, ¡°Lieutenant, go ahead and Scan him and state the information out loud.¡± Lieutenant Strauss nodded and focused her gaze on me. Once again I felt that incredibly uncomfortable sensation of someone staring closely at my insides from every angle, and I had to suppress the urge to fight against it. Maybe I should try to manipulate my mana to block this feeling...would it also cause the skill to fail? That¡¯s a possibility worth looking into, but not right now, that would be too suspicious. For now I just needed to endure. The sensation did not pass quickly like when the clerk used Scan on me, but instead persisted as the Lieutenant started speaking. ¡°Name, Zareb Sindile. No indication of racial modifications. Titles...oh, he has two, ¡°Well Rounded¡± and¡­¡±Master of One¡¯s Soul¡±? Age...undetermined?¡± She became increasingly confused as she read the details of my status screen. Actually, just how much ¡®general information¡¯ are they seeing here? ¡°Sir, my Scan is not making any sense, something is wrong.¡± Wulflame turned a curious eye my way, and I struggled a bit to make steady eye contact while suffering under that discomfort. Please turn off that Skill already¡­ The Captain and I stared at each each other for a long moment, until Strauss interrupted. ¡°Sir?¡± She questioned cautiously. He broke eye contact first, saying, ¡°I just read him too, we¡¯re seeing the same thing. Remind me to talk to that clerk later, he only spoke of the Inventory and failed to mention the very concerning fact that our guest here has no age.¡± ...Oops. I kind of forgot about that. Yes, I know, Strauss literally said it out loud just moments ago, but...I don¡¯t know, it only clicked in my head at that moment that anyone who can see my status screen would get suspicious, especially someone with authority! No doubt about it, learning how to block Scans is now one of my top priorities. Strauss nodded to her superior and finally cancelled her Skill. The unpleasant sensation left my body and I sighed in relief. Hold on, they didn¡¯t even ask for my consent! Well, I suppose it doesn¡¯t matter at this point, I¡¯m already in trouble to begin with...but still, it would have been nice to ask.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Wulflame looked at me again, but this time I noticed a difference to his gaze. It seemed like he was searching for something. ¡°We did not state it clearly just now, but we did confirm that you have an Inventory and no form of identification. Allow me to ask you a few follow up questions just to be sure. Are you, or have you ever been, affiliated with any Guild or company?¡± ¡°No,¡± I answered simply. No need to give in depth responses when none were asked for. ¡°Have you ever held any form of identification before coming to Rasenbur?¡± I nearly smirked, thinking that I could easily say I¡¯ve had over a hundred kinds of ID throughout my lives, but I always prefer to keep my mindset in one iteration at a time as much as possible. Therefore, I answered as though I had lived in this world all my life. ¡°No, not that I am aware of.¡± The Captain¡¯s eyes narrowed at that and I realized I should have stuck to a simple ¡®no¡¯ like earlier. ¡°Not that you are aware of?¡± he asked. Sigh, well, since I just had to let that slip, I decided I might as well try my ¡®origin¡¯ story with him and see where that takes me. It is pretty much the truth anyways, and the only person who could call me out on it is dead by my own hands. I made sure to look both the Captain and the Lieutenant in their eyes as I told them, ¡°I can¡¯t be certain that I did not have identification before, I woke up in the middle of a bandit camp not long ago with nothing on me. The camp was in the middle of a slime attack when I came to, and I was the only survivor. I can¡¯t remember anything that happened before I found myself there, and everything in my possession right now, including the core that granted me the Inventory Skill, I got from the camp. In fact, I did not even know what core it was until I absorbed it.¡± I stopped myself there, realizing that I was getting too caught up in the tale and revealing what were probably stupid decisions in their eyes. Who in this world would just absorb a core without knowing what it did? For all I know there could have been some sort of ¡®instant death¡¯ cores in that camp, and I would have died without learning a thing...and who knows if it would have been the death I was looking for. No, what I did was risky and stupid, even though I ultimately benefited from my circumstances. Lieutenant Strauss had mix of skepticism and bewilderment on her face, but Captain Wulflame was neutral. ¡°So, you woke up in what you somehow knew to be a bandit camp, despite claiming memory loss, happened to be the only survivor, and absorbed an unidentified core in that condition, is that correct?¡± Putting it that way...yeah, definitely sounds unbelievable. ¡°Yes, that is correct sir.¡± Silence reigned in the room as the three of us stared at each other; Wulflame and I at each other, Strauss switching between us. Finally, Wulflame said, ¡°Lieutenant, please track down Maize and bring him here. Tell him that his...expertise is required.¡± Still looking absolutely confused, Strauss only nodded and left the room. Wulflame pulled out the chair opposite of me and sat at the table, letting us converse at eye level for the first time. ¡°I believe you,¡± he started. Wait, what? Apparently I couldn¡¯t quite keep the confusion off of my face, as he continued, ¡°First, your story is so absurd by normal standards that I could only take you as being honest. I have no doubt that you are hiding a lot of details from me, but that only lends you credence in my eyes. A liar would have went into far more detail, spinning me a tale more deeply seated in the realm of possibility.¡± ¡°Are you saying that being kidnapped by bandits isn¡¯t possible?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but ask. That woman did say that she was the daughter of the leader of a bandit camp, didn¡¯t she? Do bandits not bother with the occasional kidnapping in this world? ¡°Oh no, it certainly is possible,¡± Wulflame agreed. ¡°However, they would never target a lone traveler, even a seemingly easy target like yourself.¡± Hey hey, now. I have my pride buddy. ¡°It would be much simpler to just kill you and loot your corpse.¡± Thanks for the reassurance, I guess? ¡°If bandits were to take anyone, they would go for at least a caravan¡¯s worth of people, so long as they feel confident about taking care of the guards and any potential hidden fighters. No, I can believe that you woke up in their camp, and you may or may not have been one of their members, but you were not taken by them.¡± I couldn¡¯t think of how to respond to his words, so I chose to remain silent. The Captain went on to say, ¡°I believe I know your circumstances, as much as you think you can hide them. Your strange title, your unidentified age, even the fact that I could understand you despite not having a Translator skill - yes, I can tell the difference between the words you speak versus the words I hear, your lips don¡¯t make the right motions - all of those details lead me to one conclusion. It is fortunate for you that our government has the proper knowledge and experience to handle those like yourself.¡± What...is going on here¡­? I could only sit in confusion as Captain Wulflame tore my ¡®origin story¡¯ apart. He can¡¯t know that I¡¯m not from this world, can he? How? No, I must be missing something, I can¡¯t let him shake my composure so easily. Maybe he means I¡¯m some sort of ancient being, awoken from a long slumber, or something like that¡­ At that moment, the door opened again, this time less enthusiastically. Lieutenant Strauss returned, towing a man slightly taller than myself behind her. His head was shaved, with only the black roots visible, but his beard and mustache were full and dark. He looked like a lightweight, yet he gave off a sense of unshakeable sturdiness. He wore no armor, just casual clothing, so I could see his lack of physical muscle, but my instincts told me that he was strong. Very strong. His face was gentle, though, as if the thought of violence would never cross his mind. I was instantly wary of him. ¡°Ah, good, you found him,¡± Captain Wulflame said. ¡°Mr. Sindile, this is Cornelius Maize.¡± Turning to Cornelius, Wulflame declared, ¡°I think we found another Re-iterated.¡± ...WAIT, WHAT?! Chapter 16 - Answers So Early?! No Way! No. No, no, no, no, NO! This can¡¯t be happening, he did NOT just say that! There¡¯s no way, right?! It can¡¯t be, it wouldn¡¯t make any sense! Another Re-iterated?! It can¡¯t be real, no, it- But¡­ What if¡­ ...Is it true¡­? That...would...mean¡­ ¡°Everyone, leave the room, now!¡± I barely heard the new voice as it barked out orders. I couldn¡¯t see when something slithered up around my arms and legs, holding me in place. As the implications of meeting someone like me, someone who was re-iterated, hit me, my mind floated in a sea of chaos...and bloodlust. Something was going to die. I will make sure they die. In the slowest, most painful way possible. Echoes of tortured screams filled my ears, phantoms of brutalized bodies blocked my sight. I sank into the madness, wishing nothing more but to wrap my hands around a throat and squeeze until it turned cold in my grasp. I nearly lost myself completely, struck with the idea - the absolute absurdity! - that I was not alone. That there were others like me. That someone or something made this happen. I¡¯ve spent countless years dancing on the edge of insanity, endlessly wondering if I was in an extended hallucination, hoping and praying and begging that I would wake up. I¡¯ve been snatched away from my family, given a new one time and time again, only to be taken away from them over and over. I¡¯ve watched my loved ones perish before me, repeatedly, until my heart just...gave up. There was no more room; no drive to share myself out once more; no reason to burden myself with what I was guaranteed to lose. I surrendered my ability to love. I came to terms with my new reality, that with no connection between each world, there was no one to blame. I have met Great Spirits, gods, demons, ¡®creators¡¯, magical and divine beings of the highest order across my lives...and not one had any clue, not about myself nor about the other worlds. They were all certain, in their ¡®infinite wisdom and knowledge¡¯ that their universe, multiverse, planes, dimensions, wherever they reigned - they were confident to the highest degree that they were alone. That they created their world, or knew who did it. That the places I spoke of could not exist. They were useless. And so I accepted that each iteration had nothing to do with the others. I accepted that I alone traversed the multiple realities, that I alone suffered the curse of being reborn without end. That no one was responsible for my torment. But someone is responsible. And that someone will answer to me. With that thought, I slowly pulled myself out of the depths of my mind, not yet willing to reign in my emotions but recognizing that I can¡¯t act upon them without a target. It was only then that I noticed my restraints, a set of chains made of stone wrapped around the majority of my body. I faintly remembered the feeling of something sliding against my skin earlier...just how long was I under? There was only one person left in the room. Cornelius Maize...Re-Iterated. My bloodlust nearly flared up again, but I kept it in check, quickly deducing that he was probably no more responsible for his status than I was for mine. I know I certainly did not choose this existence. No, Cornelius is likely to be in a similar position to myself...but he may still have answers that I do not.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Noticing my gaze, and perhaps sensing my regained stability, Cornelius finally addressed me. ¡°Are you calm now? You kinda lost it for a bit there.¡± I wanted to tell him that I¡¯m fine, but I really am not. I doubt I will be any time soon. Instead, I asked, ¡°Why am I restrained?¡± My voice came out much colder and harsher than I intended, and I reflexively winced at the sound of it. If Cornelius noticed anything, he chose not to remark on it. ¡°I was not about to have you hurt innocent people...or yourself. With that amount of bloodlust you were putting out, I figured it would be best to restrict your movements for everyone¡¯s safety.¡± ¡°What about your own?¡± I asked out of curiosity. He wasn¡¯t relaxed, but he wasn¡¯t poised to defend himself either...interesting. ¡°Even if you managed to break out of those chains,¡± he gestured towards my predicament, ¡°I am confident in my own survival. My life will not be wasted here, I promise you.¡± Cornelius spoke with such self-assuredness that I could only wonder at what abilities he might possess. I could tell that he was not bragging or being boastful, he genuinely believed that he would survive whatever rampage I might unleash if I lost control. Not that I ever intended to cut loose like that, not here at least, but I hope for his sake that his confidence is not unwarranted. ¡°And now?¡± I asked. ¡°Will you keep me tied up or do I have to prove to you that I am safe now?¡± In reality, I wasn¡¯t quite sure of myself at the moment, but I hate having my freedom taken away. Maybe I could break his bonds with brute force, but that would be counterproductive and might lead him to deal with me permanently rather than risk trying to contain me again. Cornelius gave me a level stare and said, ¡°That depends on you. I can still feel your desire to cause harm, even if not as sharply as before. You¡¯d better control yourself some more or else our conversation goes nowhere. Again, I will not risk you hurting innocent people with your misplaced rage, wherever it came from.¡± Hmm. That was quite reasonable of him. As much as I wanted to lash out, I knew that it would only harm my purpose in the long run, and I can¡¯t have that. I nodded while looking him in the eye, then closed my eyes and focused on breathing, reigning in all of my emotions and sealing them away for the moment. I could not let my bloodlust go rampant, especially not with my Battle Intent. While my Soul Art does incorporate my bloodlust, it is so much more than just that. It weaponizes my destructive aura, hones it, focuses it, sharpens it. My bloodlust is a savage animal compared to the highly trained martial artist that is my Battle Intent, and if my Art had been inappropriately used then I would be in far, far more trouble. So I mastered myself and only opened my eyes when I was in complete control once more. ¡°Tell me¡­¡± I began, after making sure I could speak normally. ¡°...how many ¡®Iterations¡¯ have you lived through?¡± I needed to confirm something. This would be my first true step, my first lead into finding what I seek. Cornelius gave me a strange look, I think it was the first time I saw any sort of reaction on his face. Why are all the men I¡¯ve met so far so emotionally withdrawn and serious? Then again, I only just met the guy and I didn¡¯t exactly give him a great first impression. ¡°What do you mean ¡®how many¡¯?¡± he asked, clearly confused. Now I am confused too. Is this his first one? ¡°Didn¡¯t that...thing tell you the same story as everyone else?¡± ¡°...What thing are you talking about?¡± I asked, equally puzzled, but with a faint idea growing in the back of my mind. One that I did not want to acknowledge despite my quest for truth. Sadly, or fortunately, however one chooses to view it, Cornelius confirmed what my subconscious already partially worked out. ¡°The entity that caused the Reality Break told us that we would be placed here after we die, as part of his grand experiment. We only get this one chance though, if we die here then we don¡¯t get sent anywhere else.¡± I could feel my rage struggling to break out, but I clamped down on it with an iron grip. Someone really is playing around here and I need to know why. ¡°Did this entity have a name? Did they say what this...experiment was all about?¡± Cornelius shook his head, I couldn¡¯t tell if he noticed how tense my body was at that moment. ¡°No one knows much more than what it told us. We don¡¯t even know if it has a gender. All we know for sure is that it brought the System to Earth. It brought the massacre that ended the lives of 80% of the population. It brought us nothing but chaos. But it left us with one clear directive, a purpose.¡± He paused and looked me straight in the eye as he said, ¡°It told us...if we want to know anything, we have to work for it. Fight for it. Bleed for it. Become strong enough to meet it face to face.¡± His look turned complicated. ¡°And when we do...kill it.¡± Chapter 17 - And So It Begins I laughed. I couldn¡¯t help it. ¡°Ha...aha...haha hahaha hahahahaha HAHAHAHAHAHA!¡± No, the sound that escaped me could not be considered a laugh. It was more akin to the maniacal cackle of a deranged man. ¡°This thing wants to die?! What a coincidence! I¡¯ll be happy to oblige!¡± The irony was too much! Whatever entity it is that has dragged me through a hundred different lifetimes, that gave me the gift of multiple families and partners to love and be torn away from, that refused to let my soul rest in peace...that entity wants someone to kill it?! Cornelius was taken aback, he looked at me as if I was insane...well, maybe I am at this point. I could feel the manacles around me tightening slightly, as if he was worried that I might break out and attack him at any moment. ¡°What is wrong with you?¡± he demanded. I managed to calm myself down enough to explain. ¡°I¡¯ve been searching for the longest time...searching for whatever it is that has been keeping me alive. Not just alive, re-iterated. Do you have any idea how much I want it to end? You say that this thing will only re-iterate you once? That after this life, there is nothing else? Oh how I wish I could have that! I have died so many times, loved and lost so many times, been denied my final rest so. Many. Times! If killing this...entity will give me what I want, then all the better! Even if it doesn¡¯t, I¡¯ll kill it for all the torment I should never have gone through!¡± Somehow I surprised myself with that rant, breathing a bit heavily when I finished. Cornelius had a strange expression on his face, I didn¡¯t bother trying to decipher it. I spent the next few moments centering myself, bring my emotions back under control again. One of the major disadvantages of a new body is the lack of emotional stability; it takes time for me to synchronize my control over my emotions, since they are both chemical and psychological. Not to mention, my mental stress is unimaginable, despite all the time I¡¯ve had to master myself. It¡¯s just...so...frustrating. I can¡¯t...I just...I need to end this. I absolutely need to end this. ¡°...Okay then,¡± Cornelius slowly spoke. He appeared to have caught himself, after being surprised at my outburst. ¡°Well, you have every opportunity to do so here, I think.¡± We continued staring at each other for a while longer, unable to break the awkward tension that arose. Just as I was about to say something, anything really, a knock sounded at the door. Both of us jumped slightly, then smirked at our foolishness, and then scowled at each other for mirroring reactions. Finally, Cornelius got up and opened the door while I backtracked in my mind to see if I could figure out when exactly it closed. Naturally, I failed. ¡°Is everything okay in here? It suddenly got quiet,¡± a voice said, the person behind it blocked from my sight. ¡°Yes, I think we¡¯re okay for now,¡± Cornelius replied while gesturing behind him. The stone shackles around me quickly receded until only my feet were bound. Anyone looking in from most angles would only think that I am free to move around. What game is he playing? Is he trying to downplay my danger factor? Or is he trying to hide his abilities from his own companions? Assuming they are truly comrades, that is. Cornelius stepped aside in a moment, allowing the Captain and his Lieutenant to reenter the room. I actually forgot about those two for a bit. Captain Wulflame met my eyes with a mostly steady gaze, though I detected a bit more stress in his face. Lieutenant Strauss, on the other hand, was visibly trembling. Not so much that people would notice, but my perception of these things was relatively high. They definitely felt my bloodlust. Oops. Cornelius must have understood the situation even before I did, as he immediately began to explain. ¡°Mr. Sindile here -¡± ¡°Please, call me Zareb, I never really liked the prefixes,¡± I said with a small smile, trying to ease the tension. He frowned at the interruption, but nonetheless continued, ¡°- Zareb here has been through a very difficult time, and after hearing his story I can somewhat understand his reaction. Forgive his outburst earlier, he means no harm to us or the general population.¡± He turned to me with a stern expression. ¡°Isn¡¯t that right, Zareb?¡± Understanding what his intentions were, and appreciating him sticking his neck out for me, for what reason I don¡¯t know, I calmly agreed with his words. ¡°That is right Mr. Maize -¡± ¡°Please, call me Cornelius, Zareb.¡± I could only hold back a laugh, he certainly has some bite! ¡°- of course, Cornelius, you are absolutely right. I apologize for my...outburst, earlier, I¡¯ve just had a very rough time re-iterating into this world, and my resentment is aimed only at the one responsible for it, no one else. In fact, I intended to spend my time here learning as much as possible in peace and quiet before heading out to search for answers. It seems that I might actually get them this time.¡± Captain Wulflame and Lieutenant Strauss clearly didn¡¯t understand what exactly was going on, but they at least relaxed once both Cornelius and I reassured them that I was not a threat. I might have even convinced Cornelius of my sincerity, as his shackles discreetly sank back into the ground, leaving me a free man. Or at least, as free as a man could be in an interrogation room. ¡°Alright, if Cornelius is vouching for you then I can place a bit of trust in you,¡± the Captain finally said. ¡°However, if you break the law in any way, not only will you be persecuted with prejudice, but Cornelius will suffer in credibility and reputation amongst us Guards, which cannot be easily regained. Do you understand, Zareb? Your actions will not just reflect you, but the man who stands right beside me.¡± ¡°Yes, I understand Captain.¡± What am I, a rebellious youth? Been there, done that, far too many times. Wait, this body did go through puberty, right¡­? One would think so, but I don¡¯t want another one of those ¡®surprise¡¯ human variations that only sexually mature at the fresh young age of 60. I shuddered at the memory. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Everyone in the room threw me questioning looks, but I shrugged and said, ¡°Unpleasant memory, let¡¯s not talk about it. Anyways, what is going to happen now? I still need to be penalized for my Inventory ability, correct? Actually, could anyone please tell me why there has to be a punishment for that?¡± The others decided not to press into my weird action and instead addressed my concerns. Lieutenant Strauss took the initiative, saying, ¡°It would be better if you heard the explanation once instead of multiple times, so we will leave that to the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. You will be taken there to have your identity processed and your Inventory registered, which will allow you to travel freely in and out of the city.¡± Slightly annoyed that I still wasn¡¯t getting a straight answer, I decided to try something else. ¡°Do I necessarily have to register there or can I be associated with any other guild? I remember the clerk at the gate telling me that I can gain identification from any of the major Guilds.¡± The Captain turned to Lieutenant Strauss to continue, as she started us down this path. ¡°Yes, you can obtain identification from any of the Guilds, and you should try to register with as many of them as you are qualified for as a matter of fact, but these are not normal circumstances. First, you have an Inventory from an unknown core, which automatically falls under their purview. Second, you are unfamiliar with the laws of this world, and the Adventurer¡¯s Guild is best equipped to teach you what you need to know to survive. Third, you are one of the Re-Iterated. Their existence is not widely publicized, and one of the main responsibilities of the Adventurer¡¯s Guild is to ensure that this fact stays that way. Basically, no, you do not have much choice right now; the alternative is a lengthy stay in our hospitality.¡± Wow. Well, when she puts it that way, I suppose I can only follow along for now. ¡°Okay, I understand. Is there anything else we need to take care of here, or...actually, I¡¯m assuming that I will be ¡®escorted¡¯ to the Guild to ensure proper processing?¡± I figured that having someone who understands the nature of the relationship between Re-Iterated and the Guild would be sent to make the whole process smooth and discreet. At the same time, that person would probably make sure that I actually get there and not run at the first chance. Captain Wulflame took this chance to speak up, ¡°As Cornelius is more familiar with the details than Lieutenant Strauss or myself, you will be placed in his care. While the presence of Guards is strong in the city, they cannot be everywhere at once. We are confident in his ability to bring you to the Adventurer¡¯s Guild safely. You would be wise to rely on him.¡± Translation, Cornelius is my babysitter and I better behave or else he will give me a time out. Even if I were to consider turning against him, which I wouldn¡¯t because he saved me a lot of awkward explaining, but if I were to consider it I would still have second thoughts. Cornelius seems to be an earth mage of sorts, and in my experience, a good earth mage is not someone to mess with. As evidenced by the stone restraints that I could do nothing against. Yet. The man in question appeared to have been expecting this outcome and was ready to take us on our way, but the Captain held up his hand. Ugh, what now? ¡°Just one last thing before you go. While you may not have been intending to attack any of us, the fact that we felt this much aggression as bystanders tells us how powerful your bloodlust is. Those in the Guard can somewhat resist, having some experience in battle, but the general population is full of citizens that have never held a weapon in their lives. Please do what you can to refrain from unleashing such...savagery in public.¡± Oh great, a muzzle. Sigh. I understood his concern, and I agree with him, it¡¯s just...I hate being told what to do. It gets under my skin, like I have to conform to society¡¯s ideals for society¡¯s sake. Why should I care? Society no longer holds as much meaning for me, after watching it collapse a couple of times. Maybe I¡¯m just too jaded. Sigh¡­ I guess it isn¡¯t too much to ask for now. I gave my consent, and Captain Wulflame finally allowed Cornelius and I to leave. With the two Guards left behind us, I followed Cornelius out of the guardhouse and onto the road leading to the city proper. The guardhouse was built in such a way that it was attached to, and extended from, the city wall, but the wall itself was separated from the actual city by an expanse of empty land. It may not have been as empty as it looked, however, as I assumed that there were additional unseen defenses there. Or the city planners could have simply left that land there for possible expansion, who knows. I could try to look it up later...if I remember. I have too many other things to look up first. As a matter of fact, I could try to satisfy some of my curiosity right now, since we had a bit of a walk before reaching the genuine city of Rasenbur. ¡°Cornelius?¡± ¡°Hm?¡± Haha, a grunter. If not for my radical first impression I¡¯m certain we would have gotten along well. In a few months, maybe. Probably with a random situation that holds no special significance to anyone else but one of us. Yup, that¡¯s just how introverts work. I¡¯m just going to assume that he is one for now. ¡°That magic you used on me earlier...are you an earth mage by any chance?¡± I decided to get straight to the point. He turned to look at me while we continued walking. I suppose gauging my words. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say that I am an earth mage, exactly...but I am quite proficient with earth magic.¡± Something about his response tickled my brain, and I¡¯m not sure if it was good or bad. ¡°Are you saying then that earth mage is not your class?¡± ¡°Ah,¡± he exclaimed in understanding. ¡°No, my class is called Earth Guardian. It¡¯s not what it sounds like though, don¡¯t confuse it with Guardian of Earth or something like that.¡± So he does have a class! I won¡¯t call it a strange one, because I have seen far weirder names...why anyone would want to be a Town Weeper I would never understand...but his class does not seem standard to me. ¡°What¡¯s the difference? You know what, why not just tell me the details of an Earth Guardian, no need to go into the differences yet,¡± I said. Despite willingly telling me the name, Cornelius seemed reluctant to go into more detail and we suddenly entered an awkward silence again. Yeah, smooth going¡­ Just as I was about to open my mouth, and probably shove my foot in it, Cornelius spoke up. ¡°Look, We only just met, and while I have a responsibility to you for making sure you get registered, especially as a fellow Earthling, I don¡¯t really feel comfortable sharing too much of my information just yet. For all I know, you could be a phenomenal actor and use this chance to learn about my weaknesses, only to turn on me at the most opportune time. Maybe in the future I can trust you more, but that trust needs to be built.¡± I pondered his response for a bit in silence. It made sense, certainly, it was a valid fear. No one should just freely give information on their abilities to a complete stranger. All the times I¡¯ve seen people do that in previous worlds, especially in the case of pick-up-groups entering dungeons for the first time, just made me think of how dumb they can be. Then again, I¡¯ve long since stopped caring about trust. I will work with anyone and everyone, and give as much info as they might need, with the confidence that I can power through any betrayals directed my way. Confidence, or apathy, it alternates, really. Still¡­ ¡°Okay, I can agree with your reasoning, but then why would you risk your reputation for me? I clearly made you uncomfortable with my outburst earlier, I mean, you had me in chains for crying out loud.¡± Did I sound whiny? Nah, I didn¡¯t sound whiny. That was a perfectly reasonable complaint- I mean, response to my potential havoc-wreaking. Yeah. That. ¡°...Because I figured that you were the best chance I would ever get at achieving my own goals,¡± Cornelius eventually replied. ¡°Someone with your drive and determination will definitely make it to the top of the Spire.¡± The what now? Before I could ask him any further, he stopped, and looked forward to see why. It seems that we made it. Cornelius announced in a grand gesture, ¡°Welcome to the true city of Rasenbur, one of the eight capitals of this continent.¡± Chapter 18 - Becoming An Adventurer ¡°Welcome to the Adventurer¡¯s- Ah, Cornelius! How can I help you today?¡± ¡°Hey Gracey, just here to get this guy registered as a new Adventurer. How have you been? I think this is the first time I¡¯ve seen you working the afternoon shift.¡± The Adventurer¡¯s Guild hall was quite the impressive structure. The place exuded practicality and ¡®no-nonsense¡¯ vibes, while still holding an elegantly artistic style. There were three sets of double doors lining the front side of the building, with the middle set being the largest and the two on the sides identically smaller. Clear and distinct lines were painted on the ground, giving clear directions to anywhere a guest might need to go. The clerk desks were easily accessible and in plain sight, and there was always at least one clerk free to help anyone with questions. At the far left and right sides of the line of desks were wide staircases that lead to the upper floors, which I could only see a small part of from my standpoint. Judging from the size of the building that I saw from the outside, though, I could tell that there was a lot more space being used than is visible. I could easily tell how well they can manage high volume traffic. I liked this place. As a matter of fact, I found myself enjoying most of the architecture of Rasenbur. While, of course, there were a few odd buildings, the journey from the edge of the city to the Guild hall close to the center was filled with simplistic, yet elegant houses. Many of them were two stories high, but there were a good number of four, even five story structures. Going off of hunches and my vast experience of exploring various cultures, I could tell that most of those multi-story buildings were actually apartment complexes. How fascinating...usually, in a world of sword and magic, one would not even think of the concept of publicly sharing living quarters like this. Sure, there would be the typical inns with all their rooms for guests to sleep in and a common area where the innkeepers serve food, all of which could be viewed in the same light as a hotel in ¡®technologically advanced¡¯ worlds, but having an entire home, a private residence, linked up with other residences in such a fashion? In a world where up and coming magicians experiment with forces beyond their control, and warriors practice with lethal weapons? Highly unusual indeed. ¡®Swords and magic¡¯ and ¡®apartment housing¡¯ tend to be mutually exclusive. Our walk to the Guild was completed in silence, but it seemed natural as my head operated on a swivel taking in all the sights and I already pegged Cornelius as the ¡®silent but deadly¡¯ type, not very good with social interactions and only speaking out when he needs to. Which is why I was utterly baffled when he started interacting with Gracey. He was smiling...and laughing. This just feels...wrong. ¡°So this guy came in yesterday, literally waving around a handful of severed Duckmine heads with this goofy expression on his face, and before I could even call him out on his stupidity he¡¯s already slamming the whole thing onto the desk!¡± ¡°Wow, what an idiot,¡± Cornelius says. ¡°But wait, I don¡¯t see any scorch marks anywhere, were they all duds? No one got hurt, right?¡± He seemed genuinely concerned. I guess I would be too...if I had any idea what Duckmines were. Gracey shook her head with a bright smile, it was quite adorable. ¡°Nope, no one got hurt, but they weren¡¯t duds either! He was just amazingly lucky that the beaks didn¡¯t hit anything with enough force. Didn¡¯t stop me from nearly having a heart attack though!¡± Cornelius¡¯ face eased with relief. ¡°Oh yes, incredibly lucky indeed.¡± There was an edge to his voice when he said that, one so subtle that I doubt many people would have picked up on it. Gracey certainly did not seem to. ¡°Otherwise, I would have had to track him down and kill him for hurting my friend.¡± Cornelius had a small grin on his face at that moment, as if he was only joking around. I could tell that he was completely serious. Gracey, on the other hand, laughed and said, ¡°You would have to beat Hank to him first, you know how he is.¡± Do I detect...a friendzone?! Poor Cornelius. ¡°But yeah, I think we forgot about your friend here. That guy is basically why I¡¯m on this shift today, I can tell you the rest later, how about we get...sorry, what was your name?¡± Oh, finally they remember my existence, I was wondering if Cornelius was just going to fail-flirt for the rest of the day. ¡°I¡¯m Zareb Sindile, nice to meet you Gracey.¡± She smiled at me, it was truly a kind smile. I wonder how she has survived in what is essentially a customer service job for so long with her bright demeanor. Then again, there are just some people who are like that. ¡°Welcome to the Adventurer¡¯s Guild, Mr. Sindile. Or do you prefer just Zareb?¡±If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Zareb is fine, I¡¯m not much for formal addresses.¡± ¡°Very well then Zareb, you¡¯re here to be registered today, am I right?¡± I was fairly sure our purpose was obvious, so I was tempted to be snarky, but then I reminded myself that it is always better to be polite to service workers so long as they are polite to you. After all, without service workers we would have...no service. It really is counter-intuitive to mistreat the people who handle your documentation, food, laundry, whatever the case may be. Before I could say anything though, Cornelius stepped up and intervened. ¡°Gracey, he needs to be registered today.¡± At his emphasis on the word, Gracey gave him a perplexed glance before her eyes widened in understanding. ¡°Ah, I see,¡± she said softly. ¡°I will be right back then.¡± She stepped back and turned up the narrow staircase behind her seat. All the desks were supported by thick pillars that reached all the way to the higher floors. Each pillar has its own ¡®hidden¡¯ staircase like the one Gracey just ascended, I presume for access to individual storage spaces. It was quite the ingenious architectural design, in my opinion. Once she was out of view, I turned to Cornelius, who was still gently smiling, and said, ¡°She¡¯s pretty cute, huh.¡± His expression returned to the stern one I was accustomed to seeing, but hints of gentleness remained. ¡°She is,¡± he replied. After a distinct pause, he added, ¡°Don¡¯t even think about trying something with her.¡± I smirked at him. ¡°Like what you¡¯re already doing?¡± I teased. He scowled at me, but did not continue. I nearly laughed. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t worry, I already figured she¡¯s in a relationship by the whole Hank thing.¡± This time Cornelius chose to clarify, ¡°That¡¯s not why I said to not bother her. Even if she was single, I wouldn¡¯t trust you to take care of her. She is my friend. I have no intention of letting careless guys take advantage of her.¡± Huh. I see, okay, I can understand his character a little more then. ¡°So I take it Hank is an upstanding specimen of the human race then?¡± I asked a little sarcastically. I saw a frown flash across his face for an instant before it returned to normal. What was that about? ¡°He is...okay. Leave it, though.¡± I wanted to ask more, but at that moment Gracey came back down. Did he sense her coming or something? Gracey held out an item to me. ¡°Please channel some of your mana into this. If you don¡¯t have conscious control over your mana yet, I am qualified and happy to assist you.¡± My mind still pondering the exchange I just had, I didn¡¯t think to give her a response and simply stretched out my hand. Making contact with the metallic card in her grip, I easily poured a few points of mana into it. In hindsight, I should have really asked what the device was before freely giving away my mana, but thankfully it didn¡¯t turn into a disaster. The metallic card grew warm and gave off a soft glow for a moment before returning to normal. ¡°There,¡± Gracey said, ¡°this will serve as your Adventurer¡¯s Card from now on. It is bound to your mana signature, so no one else can use it to steal your identity. This card will reflect your status screen; when activated, it will display everything except your basic stats. To activate it, simply channel some mana into it like you just did. The effect will remain visible for any length of time, depending on how much mana you use. Go ahead, take a look and verify that it is working properly.¡± I glanced down at the card that now rests in my hand and noticed that it did indeed show only a part of my status screen. Name, titles, class, fame, level, and- ¡°Uh, my age¡­¡± I didn¡¯t know exactly how to address the matter, but on the card it clearly says that I¡¯m 25 years old! What exactly is going on here? Cornelius quickly said, ¡°Your age is correct, Zareb. There are no mistakes when we register.¡± His expression was quite suggestive, as if he needed me to understand something quickly. I certainly understood, alright. The Adventurer¡¯s Card in my hand must be specially made for Re-Iterated folks like us. Judging by his reaction, I gathered that Cornelius also has the same problem with his age, though I should verify that in the future. Our cards must work to hide information that would be difficult to explain if we were normal inhabitants of this world. No wonder everyone insisted in me going here first. If the Adventurer¡¯s Guild was responsible for suppressing information on Re-Iterated, then it would be prudent to cover my discrepancies as soon as possible. ¡°Ah...yes, everything is in order,¡± I nodded to Cornelius and Gracey. ¡°Good,¡± Cornelius said. ¡°Now, Gracey, before we all forget, can you give- umpf!¡± A pair of arms suddenly sprouted around Cornelius! For a moment I had the impression that he was spontaneously sprouting arms - wouldn¡¯t be the first time I saw it happen - but then I realized that those arms belonged to the person who just hugged him from behind. I couldn¡¯t see the person¡¯s face, of course, but I got the distinct feeling that it was a girl. Quite curious. Cornelius did not seem surprised in the least. ¡°Hi, Kitkat,¡± he said softly, while gently stroking those arms. I thought that he was being easy with Gracey before? She and I might have well as been the same piece of dirt he needed to scrub off his foot compared to how his demeanor turned when this Kitkat person appeared. Sorcery, I claim! Dark magic in the works! ¡°Meow~¡± came the response from behind him. What the hell? Placing his hand on top of hers, holding her in place, Cornelius casually turned back to Gracey and continued as if nothing happened. ¡°Can you kindly explain to Zareb the things he needs to know as a new Adventurer in this world? Also, try to be especially thorough about the matter with Inventory Cores, since that¡¯s how he ended up in trouble in the first place.¡± Gracey only laughed, not saying a word about the interruption, and prepared to give me what promised to be a long speech. Many of my questions should be explained, but at the moment there was only one at the forefront of my mind. Who in the world is this girl? Chapter 19 - Its A Cat! ¡°The reason why Inventory Cores are such a big issue is that they allow people to carry dangerous items without detection,¡± Gracey began. ¡°This is a major security risk for any city, so we take precautions to ensure that no one enters our walls illegally.¡± I paused for a moment to consider the irony of her words. This rhetoric is eerily reminiscent of a certain politician from how many iterations ago...though he was more of a clown than an actual political leader. Not the funny kind of clown either, more of the ¡®why has no one killed it with fire yet?!¡¯ type of thing. Now that I think of it, that guy got into an argument with another man-baby leader over whose hands were bigger, or some stupid reason like that, and ended up pushing the button that destroyed the world. So glad that iteration is behind me. Back to Gracey though, was that really it? Inventory cores are illegal because they can be used to hide dangerous stuff? You might as well ban all forms of bags and luggage in that case. Clothing too, people can clearly hide lethal weapons beneath them. I looked Gracey straight in her eyes and clearly said, ¡°That sounds absolutely ridiculous.¡± I didn¡¯t intend to sound rude or offended, the absurdity of the reasoning just changed the tone of my voice¡­ However, Gracey did not seem to mind. Instead, it looked like she was expecting such a response from me, going by her amused expression. Before I could continue, she beat me to the punch. ¡°That was just a simplified reason, given to lay the grounds for further understanding of the circumstances, it¡¯s standard procedure here. You have a backpack with you, correct?¡± I do¡­ ¡°Yes,¡± I confirmed. ¡°Why?¡± She asked. ¡°Why have a backpack when you have an Inventory core to store everything in, including that very same bag?¡± I opened my mouth to respond, but then paused, remembering why I bothered to pick up the bag in the first place. It was to give thieves a target they could focus on instead of me, minimizing my damages. ¡°Almost forgot about Lilia, right right¡­¡± I muttered out loud. Although I was muttering to myself, everyone¡¯s attention suddenly intensified on me. What did I- oh, maybe because I mentioned Lilia? Come to think of it, there might be a bounty on her, especially if she kept naming herself and leaving her victims alive. I noticed that Cornelius was especially focused on me, and the arms wrapped around him seemed to squeeze a bit tighter. A comfort squeeze? Trauma? Something else? Better question is, exactly how long is she going to hold on to him? ¡°What do you know about that thief?¡± Cornelius demanded. ¡°Nothing, beyond the fact that she robbed me and left me to die on the way here,¡± I told him. ¡°I¡¯m guessing she¡¯s a major problem around these parts?¡± Cornelius gave me a sharp look, almost as if he was searching for lies, but even if I was lying he would never be able to tell. I¡¯ve had far too much experience in spinning the truth to be found out that easily. In any case, he eventually let up and said, ¡°She is. There is a bounty out on her, but it¡¯s not that important right now. Let¡¯s not take up too much of Gracey¡¯s time, the crowd is picking up and we don¡¯t want to hold up the line.¡± I looked behind us and saw that he was serious, the room was filling up more than when we first got here. I wanted to point out that we could have been done earlier if he wasn¡¯t flirting so much at the start, but it didn¡¯t seem appropriate this time. There will probably be opportunities to tease him later, it¡¯s kind of fun getting under his skin. Turning back to Gracey once more, I paid attention as Cornelius brought us back on topic. ¡°Gracey, I can handle the other things he needs to know, just tell him about the Arena after you finish with the core. We¡¯ll come back when you¡¯re free another time to get more in depth.¡± Oh yeah, I¡¯m sure he wants to get ¡®in depth¡¯ alright. Who said such a pervy thing? Surely, not I? Gracey nodded, ¡°Sure, that¡¯s fine. Okay, so going by what you said about Lilia, you seem to understand that not everyone has an Inventory skill and you can use a visible bag to mask the fact that you have it. That means you also understand that there is no way for a person to know you have an Inventory unless they use Scan, which is also not typically available to the public. What you may or may not know is that the Inventory cannot be accessed by anyone other than the owner, so searches and theft are practically impossible.¡± Okay, I did not know that last part, I guessed it but only now has it been confirmed. I can see why this skill is more of a security threat, but... ¡°So what do people do then? The public knows that Inventory exists, but they need to be registered to use it, wouldn¡¯t there be a tidal wave of complaints?¡± Gracey smiled at that. ¡°Maybe around the time when the government started regulating it, yes, but there was an alternative ready at that point, so the complaints never got too loud. Bags of Holding were widely available since finding Inventory Cores was rare at the time. They are not as secure, since anyone could access them, but they were much easier to search by the guards in case of suspicious activity. Also, theft is not as much of a problem, since accessing them is pretty obvious most of the time.¡±This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Now I get it. These Bags of Holding give the general public the ability to carry many items easily, but are also easy to investigate for the sake of security. Someone with an Inventory, however, can get away with a lot more because it would be impossible to see what they have before entering the city. However, since it would be foolish to outright ban people with those skills, the government decided to provide a layer of accountability by relying on the Adventurer¡¯s Guild to keep track of their members who have the skill. It all makes sense now. ¡°Okay, I understand the situation, I can see why I was held by the guards. Thank you for clearing that whole mess up,¡± I said to Gracey. She gave me another one of those adorable smiles, I could really get used to this treatment. ¡°Now, about this Arena? And then we have to go, I guess, according to Cornelius here.¡± ¡°Ah, yes,¡± she began. ¡°The Arena is a place located in each of the 8 capitals designated for gaining combat experience. It has multiple types of challenges: simple practice against other Adventurers, monster battles, tournaments, execution matches, pretty much anything you could think of.¡± I frowned at the ¡®execution matches¡¯ but I figured I could learn more about each of the options if I go there directly. ¡°Are there any requirements for gaining access to the Arena?¡± I asked. ¡°You need to be registered with a guild, any official one, before you can have the right to use the Arena. More than that, there aren¡¯t any requirements...just a bit of a stipulation.¡± That doesn¡¯t sound good. ¡°What sort of...stipulation?¡± ¡°If you choose to use the Arena you must agree to be available for a draft in times of war. No agreement, no Arena,¡± Gracey said firmly. Ah crap...I hate being roped into situations like this. Let me choose who to fight for myself, don¡¯t push me into doing it for your interests. ¡°Is this something I need to decide here and now?¡± I asked cautiously. Another smile. ¡°Oh no no, you can do that any time you go to the Arena, we don¡¯t take care of that here. Just be sure to keep your Adventurer¡¯s Card with you when you go. In fact, you should really keep it on you at all times, especially in your Inventory, since you are now legally allowed to use it. If you decide to agree to the draft, your card will be needed for the contract.¡± Great, a contract is involved. Oh well, I¡¯ll decide on my own what to do when the time comes, even if I agree to the draft for the sake of being able to use the Arena, I will exercise my free will regardless. If the government comes down on me for breaking my agreement, well...it won¡¯t be the first time I¡¯ve fought against a nation. ¡°Are there any specific benefits to having access to the Arena? What I mean is, something beyond the obvious experience you can get from fighting in the different scenarios,¡± I inquired. ¡°I would say that the battle experience is more than enough, but I think I know what you are getting at. Why fight there when you can train outside of the city, something like that?¡± Gracey asked. I nodded, that was exactly what I was getting at. She continued on, saying, ¡°Think about it like this. When you train in the Arena, depending on the type of matches you fight, there are healers on hand who can tend to any injuries you incur. They are free of charge, as they are typically apprentices who need the practice to raise their skills, but you can also pay for an advanced healer to look after you. That is the recommended option for when you do the higher tier fights, by the way, although there is always a risk of serious wounds no matter what kind of fight you participate in. Still, it is better to have healers of any capacity here rather than out in the wild, where the environment is less controlled and they are more exposed to danger. Also, because the Arena offers a wide variety of opponents, it is a great place to learn about certain monster weaknesses before you travel anywhere. Finally, this place is a reliable, stable way of gaining levels, which is more than what I can say about doing free-training.¡± Is that so...I wonder if anyone else has realized that the leveling system is not based on gathering a predetermined amount of experience, but entering different states of being based on your personal growth. I should discuss this with Cornelius later, he should understand what I mean since he is also from Earth, we should have an outside perspective with our culture¡¯s background in video games that should provide a different insight than what the natives here have. Still, I think I will end up trying this Arena, it may prove even more useful than the impression I¡¯m getting from Gracey. Especially considering that I have no desire to constantly enter and exit the city walls just to train, even if I won¡¯t be hauled into the guardhouse every time with my new identification. The line for entry is just ridiculous, I could spend that time more wisely just remaining in the city for now. ¡°Alright, I will consider the Arena later,¡± I said to Gracey, to indicate that I have no further questions. ¡°Well, I think that¡¯s all for today, we¡¯ll come back another time if necessary. Thanks Gracey, you were a big help as always,¡± Said Cornelius as he smiled at the clerk. As he guided us away from the desk, Gracey said, ¡°No problem! Take care, and good luck showing Zareb around!¡± I like her, she¡¯s sweet. Stepping away so that the line could move forward, Cornelius, myself, and the mystery woman attached to him managed to make our way outside to an open space. There, we stopped, and I finally got to see the identity of our third member. She¡¯s not human! Slightly wavy black hair that gradually turns into a shocking blue at the bottom, reaching down towards the top of her chest. Deep green eyes that sparkled in the light of day. A pair of pointed ears on the top of her head that twitched and swiveled towards any noise. A prehensile tail with black and blue fur, identical to her hair. Tight curves that befitted her petite size, as she stood a full head shorter than Cornelius. She was a deadly mix of sexy and adorable, with a face that can pass for both an adult and a child at the same time. It almost hurt to look at her, as she is definitely arousing but makes you guilty for the reaction! A blend of cat and human...a cat-girl! Cornelius was watching my expression, searching for what, I don¡¯t know. ¡°By the way, this is Kitara Lyana, my closest friend. Kitkat, this is Zareb, he is one of us.¡± Kitara gave a small wave and cheerfully said, ¡°Hello! Nice to meet you!¡± Oh, my melting heart! Chapter 20 - Home Is Where The Heart Lies ¡°Uh, nice to meet you too Kitara, hello¡­¡± Once I regained my senses I managed to utter out a response. Best friend? If I had a best friend like that...you know what, I don¡¯t even want to think about it, too dangerous! Instead, I turned to Cornelius, saying, ¡°Okay, I think we both know that an explanation is in order here.¡± He looked like he was holding back a smile, whether from amusement or something else, I couldn¡¯t tell. ¡°Oh? What exactly is it that needs to be explained?¡± He¡¯s not going to make me say it out loud, is he...there is no need to create unnecessary tension, so I took his question another way. ¡°I would love to know why someone this adorable-¡± I pointed at Kitara ¡°-is best friends with an ugly bastard like yourself!¡± I smirked at them and relaxed my posture, hoping they would take it as the joke I intended. Kitara burst out laughing, and even Cornelius broke out an actual smile. ¡°We¡¯ve known each other for a loooong time,¡± Kitara said once she got her laughter under control. ¡°He¡¯s pretty much the only person I regularly talk to now.¡± ¡°What has it been now, 35 years or something?¡± Cornelius asked her. ¡°You mean, that we¡¯ve known each other? I think so, yeah. I lost track.¡± ¡°Me too, for some reason I could never get the years right, even though I can clearly remember how we met.¡± Hold on, something isn¡¯t right here. ¡°How would you have known each other for 35 years when neither of you look older than 20?¡± I had to ask. Both of them looked rather young, in fact Cornelius looked like the youngest out of the three at the guardhouse. Now that makes me wonder exactly what kind of relationship he had with the guards to have been called in to deal with me¡­ Cornelius turned back to me with a knowing look, ¡°You¡¯re forgetting that we are all...special, here.¡± He looked around for a bit, and I realized that we have been speaking rather openly with any number of ears around us. We were already drawing attention, mostly because of Kitara, if the direction of their gazes gave any indication. It seems that non-humans are not exactly common around here. However, I did not detect much animosity, if anything. Instead, the crowd¡¯s eyes held...pity? Strange. ¡°Let¡¯s go back to our place first, then we can discuss things properly,¡± Cornelius said while vigilantly scanning our surroundings. I suppose he is somewhat accustomed to this behavior, as he was only slightly tense, not at all agitated as I would have expected from any normal person in a similar situation. ¡°Is that alright with you Kitkat?¡± ¡°I guess, it¡¯s up to you Corny,¡± she said. Corny?! Oh boy, I am going to love this. Corny- I mean, Cornelius, heh, noticed that Kitara was not exactly comfortable letting me, a total stranger, into what I presume is their shared home, but it seemed like he felt he had no choice. ¡°Our place is the best for privacy, I don¡¯t really want you there but this is important. Do I have your word that you will behave? I will not be happy if I have to discipline you in my own home.¡± What am I, some unruly school kid? I didn¡¯t appreciate the way he spoke to me, but I did have to admit that we didn¡¯t quite get off on the right foot. ¡°You won¡¯t have any trouble with me, I promise.¡± In the end, I agreed to his suggestion, and together the three of us walked in silence to a different part of the city, eyes following us at every turn. Finally though, we stopped in a scarcely populated area, where a number of one story residences stood. While most of them were made of stone or wood, the house we entered had walls and ceilings made of packed earth, similar to the buildings I first woke up in. However, although the material was different from the neighbors, this house was no less elegant in design. Countless swirls and patterns decorated the walls, and the shape of the roof seemed to be carefully crafted to withstand any sort of rain. I could be mistaken about the effectiveness, but the appearance was there. There were square holes for windows that were evenly spaced out, but instead of wooden covers that I was expecting, there were actual panes of glass. The inside shared a likeness to the outside, packed earth for the internal walls, but ¡®modern¡¯ furniture like wooden chairs, tables, and book shelves. I could see several doorways, each door also being made of wood, but since they were closed I couldn¡¯t tell what lay behind them. My guess is, this entire house was made by an earth mage, but furnished separately. I wondered if it was more expensive to be done this way or if it actually saved money. Then I realized, Cornelius might have actually done this himself. If so, then he would have saved a ton on construction costs because the only thing he would have spent was mana! ¡°This is quite an amazing home,¡± I remarked out loud. We were all sitting in what I would call the living room, where guests could be properly welcomed. ¡°I have to ask, since I know you can manipulate earth to some degree, did you build this place yourself?¡± Cornelius gave me a small smile, a genuine one, and said, ¡°Yeah, this is all my work. It took a few weeks to get it exactly the way we wanted it, but the basic structure, the rooms and everything, all of that was done quite quickly.¡± ¡°How quickly are we talking here?¡± Kitara spoke up before Cornelius could answer, ¡°He set it up in a day! Isn¡¯t that awesome?!¡± I had to admit that I was pretty impressed. I had worked with earth manipulators in the past, I even dabbled in it myself once or twice, but building a home out of the earth by yourself using magic in just one day was not exactly a common ability. ¡°That really is incredible, how long did it take you to get so skilled? And how was it allowed for you to build in the middle of the city like this? I have so many questions, we I¡¯m still waiting for the ones I asked before to be answered-¡± ¡°Oh, do you want something to eat?¡± Kitara interjected. ¡°...Um, sure¡­¡± I said, slightly put off. That was a little abrupt, her sudden words threw me off slightly. ¡°What would you like to eat?¡± ¡°Uh, I don¡¯t know what you have, anything would be good I guess. I¡¯m not a picky eater,¡± I decided to say. ¡°He is definitely not like you Corny, haha!¡± She directly teased Cornelius. ¡°I¡¯m hungry, so I¡¯ll make us all something. Do you want anything, Corny?¡± Cornelius smiled at her and said, ¡°How about we all have pancakes then Kitkat?¡± ¡°Yes! I was actually in the mood for that, I¡¯ll be right back,¡± she said while happily moving towards one of the doorways. Apparently it lead into the kitchen, I was pretty curious about how that would all work in an earthen home. Then I realized that it would probably work just fine, since heating and refrigeration does not rely on electricity here, but core magic instead, it doesn¡¯t matter what the house is made of. Most likely, any room could function as a kitchen if you bother to move the appliances around. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. I still wanted to see an actual kitchen in this world though. Maybe they could give me a tour later. Cornelius watched Kitara leave, I could feel a deep sea of love in his gaze. I wonder, does she know? ¡°You¡¯ll have to forgive her,¡± he finally said to me. ¡°She does that quite a bit, but not intentionally. You¡¯ll get used to it.¡± It seems he understood what I was experiencing, the not-quite-rude segway that left my thoughts derailed and unfocused. ¡°Let me answer some of the things you asked about first, and then I want to ask you a few questions myself,¡± he continued. ¡°Sure, go for it, I¡¯m all ears.¡± ¡°Kitara and I knew each other from back on Earth. We were close friends back then, probably closer now with certain obstacles out of the way, but we were inseparable from the day we met. When the Reality Break happened we stuck together, facing even more dangerous trials than what we¡¯ve been dealing with up to that point.¡± He paused with a faraway look on his face. ¡°Those were the worst times we have ever lived through, yet at the same time they were the best.¡± I completely understood where he was coming from. I felt the same way when the Break happened. Being able to wield amazing powers but also having to watch as so many people got hurt...even after all my lifetimes, I never forgot that time when everything first changed. Cornelius cleared his throat and went on. ¡°Anyways, by that point we had already known each other for about 10 years. I was determined to keep her safe and happy, and so I did everything I could to protect her in the changed world. Unfortunately, it was not enough. There was...an attack. We both ended up dying at that time. I don¡¯t know what her experience was after death, but when I died, I found myself in an expanse of ever-changing blue. It was there that I learned about the entity and its promise.¡± ¡°So you actually met the thing?¡± I interrupted. Cornelius looked at me as if I was a simpleton. ¡°Didn¡¯t I say it earlier? The entity told us that we have to meet it in this world, so no, I didn¡¯t actually interact with it.¡± I frowned. ¡°Hey, you did say something like that before, but you never went into explicit detail. I wasn¡¯t going to make an assumption off of the one time you spoke about it.¡± ¡°Not my fault you flipped out the moment I mentioned it,¡± he countered. Okay, he does have a point, but that should also be a point in my favor since he should have realized I wasn¡¯t exactly thinking clearly right then. But, to be the bigger man, I decided to move things along. ¡°Well, whatever, tell me what happened in that room so we can get to the other questions I had,¡± I insisted. It was his turn to frown at me. ¡°Patience, damn,¡± he said. ¡°All I saw were these screens of text, just like the notifications we get here in this world. They explained that I would be re-iterated - and yes, that was the specific term used, we didn¡¯t come up with it ourselves - into this world, and that this is the only time it would happen. I was allowed to keep the class I had in my previous life if I chose, but the price for doing so would be that I would start over as a baby. That wouldn¡¯t have been much of a downside, except that I retained all my memories and cognitive functions...It is not fun having an adult mind in a toddler¡¯s body, I don¡¯t care what anyone else says.¡± Believe me, I understand you, brother. I, too, have had my unfortunate share of starting over ¡®fresh from the womb¡¯. But wait, you got to keep your class? So. Un. Fair. Unaware of my internal grumblings, Cornelius continued his narrative. ¡°At least keeping my class let me do a few things that would have been impossible otherwise, like finding Kitara. I won¡¯t go into the details, but I had hoped that she would have been given the same choice that I had, and for once it turned out I was right. When I was old enough, I searched for her, and we were eventually reunited in this world. We have been together ever since.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s how we can say that we¡¯ve known each other for 35 years,¡± he concluded. ¡°Combining the time we spent together on Earth with how long we¡¯ve been here, it has been that long at the very least.¡± I nodded and took the time to digest his words. ¡°You know,¡± I said, ¡°that whole ¡®searching for the best friend you hoped was still alive¡¯ thing could be pretty romantic when you look at it a certain way.¡± With a brief pause, I then added, ¡°Or it could be entirely creepy, you know. Just saying.¡± Cornelius rolled his eyes at that and leaned back into his chair. ¡°I don¡¯t care how other people see it, what matters is that we have each other.¡± At that moment Kitara walked back in with two plates of pancakes, one with twice the size stack than the other. I was given the smaller plate, while Kitara and Cornelius sat together and shared the bigger stack. There was a good deal of syrup and fruits piled on top of each. I watched as Kitara took the first bite off of their plate, only to use the same fork to feed Cornelius the second bite. It looked so natural that I almost thought nothing of it. Cornelius looked rather content at the treatment, despite having his own fork that he used as well. I couldn¡¯t help but blurt out, ¡°Are you two really just best friends?¡± ¡°¡°Yes¡±¡± They both responded at the same time, Cornelius still chewing. He took a moment to swallow, then added, ¡°Yes, we are just friends. Very close friends, but strictly platonic.¡± The pain in his voice was so slight that I might have never caught it if I hadn¡¯t noticed some time ago how much he loved this woman. Just friends, huh...I feel sorry for you. Trying to avoid us slipping into yet another awkward silence, I said, ¡°It¡¯s just rare to see a friendship so deep, I¡¯m pretty envious of you two.¡± I definitely wasn¡¯t going to say something as tactless as ¡°you two would make such a good couple!¡± That was a surefire way to ruin the atmosphere. Instead, I forcibly changed the subject. ¡°We still haven¡¯t gotten to my other questions though, like why you think I could help you get through the Spire, whatever that is, and how you¡¯re related to the City Guard.¡± The moment I brought up the Spire things got awkward. Exactly what I did not want happening. ¡°You want to bring him to the Spire?¡± Kitara asked with a stern tone. ¡°When were you going to bring that up?¡± ¡°I only mentioned it to him as a reason for why I was willing to cooperate with him,¡± Cornelius calmly responded. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I haven¡¯t actually told him anything yet. We still have a lot of preparations to do before we can even think of leaving, so we can use this time to see if he really would be worth our trust.¡± Hello, I¡¯m sitting right here. Don¡¯t pretend I¡¯m not in the room. I stared at them both with a blank face, but neither one took notice of me. ¡°We only met him today, we know nothing about him.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why I said we can use the time that we have Kitkat, we can get to know him and see if he can help. I already know that he has the motivation to get to the top, and I can trust its source. Even if he doesn¡¯t go with us, I can guarantee that he will do it himself.¡± ¡°Then why not let him do it himself? We should be working with people that we actually know and trust, Corny¡­¡± ¡°Kitkat, I don¡¯t trust any of the people we know because I know them. I don¡¯t trust them to protect you when I can¡¯t. Zareb here, I can at least trust to keep us moving forward while I focus on defense. It would be a good set up.¡± ¡°...Do you really think it would work?¡± ¡°I really think it would work.¡± ¡°Is either one of you going to tell me what¡¯s going on?¡± I finally said, impatient and annoyed. They both looked at me, a bit apologetic as if they forgot I was here. Then Cornelius spoke. ¡°Ah, sorry...you see, the Spire is the goal of pretty much everyone here, natives and Re-Iterated alike. It is this world¡¯s only dungeon, filled with countless monsters, mazes, puzzles, and traps. It is the most dangerous place on the planet.¡± He took a deep breath and released it in a sigh. ¡°It is the place where the entity lives.¡± Chapter 21 - An Awkward Talk About Race And Religion ¡°...Okay, so two questions. One, how do you know this, and two, why exactly are we not already there sticking a few feet of cold steel down its throat?¡± Going by the very fact that we are sitting here casually discussing residence of the thing that put me through hell instead of making any decisive moves already tells me that the situation is a bit more complicated than they are letting on, but I wanted to see what answer Cornelius would give. Surprisingly, it was Kitara that spoke up in response. ¡°Just because we know where it lives, doesn¡¯t mean we can just walk in there like we own the place,¡± she said with annoyance. Huh, did not expect any attitude to come from her with that cheery disposition she has been putting out so far. ¡°We can¡¯t enter the Spire until we meet a few conditions,¡± Cornelius clarified. ¡°One of those conditions is that anyone trying to gain access must be in a party of three. No more, no less.¡± A party of three¡­? I almost laughed, but held myself in check. ¡°The sacred Trinity, am I right?¡± I asked instead. Kitara burst out laughing while Cornelius looked confused for a moment. ¡°The priest, the little boy, and the god who watches in secret!¡± Kitara cackled. It was my turn to be confused, what in the world was she talking about? Whatever it was, Cornelius obviously got it, since his face darkened to a surprising degree. ¡°Kitara¡­¡± he admonished with a low tone. ¡°Haha, sorry Corny, it was just too perfect¡­¡± Kitara said. She didn¡¯t seem all that apologetic. Then again, I think my preconceptions about this woman has been cracked well enough that I lost confidence in being able to read her. She still seems like a pure hearted girl, but those last two remarks...I¡¯ll have to pay more attention to her from now on. ¡°Am I missing something here?¡± I was forced to ask. ¡°Really man, do I have to spell it out? It was a Catholic joke,¡± Cornelius grumbled while turning away. Kitara¡¯s myrth finally faded as she looked at his face. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Corny, really, it just came out¡­¡± Sighing, Cornelius said, ¡°I know Kitkat, I know...it¡¯s just...difficult for me, okay?¡± Kitara reached over and hugged him, pressing her petite head against his chest. That really was inconsiderate of me, I¡¯ll try to avoid jokes like that in the future, okay?¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± was all he said in return. They were quiet for a moment, and I used that time to try to process what was going on. I more or less failed. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m assuming that Catholic is a religion or something? That¡¯s the only context that¡¯s making sense to me right now, but I still feel like I¡¯m missing something else.¡± The two of them looked at me with disbelief on their faces. ¡°What do you mean, you ¡®assume Catholic is a religion¡¯, what part of Earth did you even grow up on?¡± Kitara demanded. Why do I get the impression that she really wanted to ask ¡®are you stupid¡¯ at the end of that¡­? Before I could say anything, Cornelius¡¯ expression changed to one of an epiphany. ¡°Right, you did say back in the interrogation room that you¡¯ve been re-iterated more than once...I was going to ask you about that-¡± ¡°Interrogation room, what?¡± Kitara focused on him instead of me now, leaning back to look him in the face. ¡°Long story short, he was brought in because he had an unregistered Inventory Core and the Captain suspected that he was one of us, that¡¯s how I met him,¡± Cornelius said as quickly as possible. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, there was nothing too serious like an attack or anything- but...then again, you have to explain how you know Lilia,¡± he finished as he turned back to me. ¡°One thing at a time though, since it seems we have a lot of misunderstandings to clear up.¡± I couldn¡¯t agree more. ¡°Yes, please, let¡¯s try to figure out one thing at a time so that we can all be on the same page.¡± Kitara returned to her previous sitting position and Cornelius made himself comfortable for our extended talk. ¡°Okay, let me get this first point out of the way since it will bug me forever if I don¡¯t. Religion first, then your re-iterations. Back on Earth, I was a devout Catholic. I still am...mostly. Kitara here is, what, atheist? Agnostic?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just go with agnostic, or something like that. Obviously there is a higher power out there considering what happened to us and where we are now, but whether that is god or whatever, I don¡¯t know. I just don¡¯t like organized religions and their brainwashing,¡± Kitara said. ¡°...Fair enough, but let¡¯s not get too far off point, though I know that¡¯s my fault,¡± Cornelius continued. ¡°Now, right, Catholic and Agnostic here. Both are systems of beliefs, though one is organized and the other is not. I won¡¯t get into all the controversy surrounding the Catholic Church, but there tend to be a lot of nasty jokes made that honest practitioners get rather upset about.¡± He seemed to want to give Kitara a pointed look, but visibly stopped himself. ¡°Anyways, when the Reality Break happened, a lot of people¡¯s religious views became...well, chaotic would be the best word I guess. I wasn¡¯t plugged into the talks from around the world, you know, too busy trying to keep my kitten and myself safe, but from what I heard, people were losing their minds. Some religious folks tossed their beliefs away in the bloodbaths, some held onto them even more tightly to the point of fanaticism, and some just...warped their views.¡± He paused for a moment, then pushed on. ¡°I didn¡¯t know what to feel myself. For the sake of keeping myself focused and sane, I chose to believe that my faith was not misplaced, that my God still exists and is above all the insanity that we were facing. For a while, that was enough, I was able to ignore any discrepancies and just focus on doing what I could for the two of us. When I died..and encountered the messages from the entity...then re-iterated here...it threw me for a loop. I had many years of idle activity, nothing to stop me from trying to really figure out what to believe in. Was I going insane? Was this a test from my God? I couldn¡¯t tell, because the only direct answer I ever got was from the thing that set us on this path. I want to know whether or not my religion was true, whether the God I worshipped for so many years was real...or a lie.¡± Silence reigned in the room for a long moment. ¡°Maybe we will find the answer at the top of the Spire, Corny,¡± Kitara soothed. ¡°Maybe¡­¡± was his despondent reply. I could understand his plight. As much as I couldn¡¯t remember the religions from Earth, I still struggled a lot with the idea of worshipping a god that may or may not have existed across multiple lifetimes. In some iterations I actually met gods, or beings that called themselves such, and that only brought about more confusion for me. In the end, I decided that it didn¡¯t matter which god was the ¡®true¡¯ god, since none of them seemed connected to my other lives...until now. Before, it was a matter of give-and-take: if helping a god benefitted me, then I would work with them. However, I stopped worshipping anything, blindly or otherwise, a long time ago. I didn¡¯t want to go down the theological philosophy route at the moment, since we still have a lot more to talk about, so I said, ¡°Okay, I understand that point. You wanted to talk about my re-iterations next?¡± Cornelius nodded. ¡°Yeah, you made it seem like you were brought to life multiple times, how many times exactly? And how is it that you still look so young? I know that Kitara and I were actually born again - ha, I¡¯m technically a Born Again Christian, huh?¡± Kitara burst out laughing once more, Cornelius right along with her. I figured it was yet another religion joke. I hope this doesn¡¯t happen too often¡­Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°Sorry, sorry, I kinda needed that,¡± Cornelius said. ¡°But yeah, we were literally born from parents in this world, and as far as we can tell, we have both lived a full 25 years here. I mean, I guess there might have been some fluctuations in time, but it doesn¡¯t make sense that you¡¯ve been through multiple lifetimes.¡± ¡°Yeah, that really doesn¡¯t make sense, were you not born here too?¡± Kitara added in. I honestly did not know how to explain my circumstances, though I had an idea or two. ¡°I don¡¯t know how much time passes between iterations. By that I mean the amount of time anyone stays dead. It could be a second, or it could be centuries, I have no idea. All I know is that this is the hundredth time that I¡¯ve started a new life and I¡¯m sick of it. I don¡¯t want this to keep going, I don¡¯t want to wake up again when I next die. If the entity can tell me about that, then I¡¯ll beat him down all he wants.¡± My face darkened as I said, ¡°More than likely, that thing was the reason why I suffered for so long. I just want to know why. If I can¡¯t get that much, then I¡¯ll settle for a final death.¡± ¡°Wow. A hundred different life times?¡± Kitara asked. ¡°That must really suck.¡± It was my turn to suddenly laugh. ¡°That¡¯s a bit of an understatement.¡± ¡°I used to read a lot of literature about immortality, the darker side of it,¡± Cornelius interjected. ¡°I can¡¯t say I completely understand what you¡¯ve been through, but at the very least I can say I get the concept. If what you¡¯re saying is true, you really are an unfortunate bastard.¡± ¡°Oh my goodness, did Corny just say ¡®bastard¡¯?!¡± Kitara cried out in mock surprise. Cornelius rolled his eyes and smiled softly. ¡°Yes, I did, don¡¯t get too excited now.¡± Kitara turned to me while laughing and said, ¡°This guy rarely curses or uses words like that, it¡¯s like a miracle when he does.¡± ¡°Oh, I see,¡± I said with a chuckle of my own. ¡°We¡¯re getting distracted though, what were the other things we needed to talk about?¡± That helped them focus on the task at hand once more. ¡°How long have you been in this iteration so far, Zareb?¡± Kitara asked. I had to think for a moment. ¡°Should be just over a month and a week? Let me be clear, I ¡®woke up¡¯ in this body totally bare, I didn¡¯t grow up in this iteration at all.¡± ¡°Thanks for the imagery,¡± Cornelius said with a grimace. ¡°Still, that is definitely not like how the others were re-iterated here. I haven¡¯t met too many of our kind, but the Adventurer¡¯s Guild does keep track of that sort of information. I don¡¯t have much access to it myself, I just know that, in general, those who are re-iterated are born in natural births, just with their memories and such intact. How is your level? Which, by the way, is another requirement concern for the Spire, each member of the party needs to be at minimum level 15- AH! Now I get what you meant by the Trinity, that was really bothering me!¡± I had to laugh again. ¡°Yeah, the religion thing threw us all off, but I meant the Trinity in role playing games - tank, healer, and damage dealer. One to take the damage, one to heal the damage, and one to dish out the damage.¡± There was no escaping these sacred roles. It didn¡¯t matter what game system was in place, as long as people are needed to work together in a group, said people would somehow naturally form eventually. ¡°Oh right, I completely forgot that was a thing,¡± Kitara said. ¡°Not that the roles existed, just the whole thing about it being a trinity or whatever.¡± ¡°Yeah, I forgot too haha,¡± Cornelius said. ¡°But we¡¯re getting sidetracked again, we can talk about our roles for the party later if everything works out. Your level, Zareb?¡± I pulled up my status screen for the first time in a while just to confirm the information.
Name: Zareb Sindile Age: ???
Titles: Master of One¡¯s Soul Well Rounded Fame: ---
Level: 6 Class: ---
Health: 150/150 Race: LOCKED
Mana: 330/330 Soul Force: MAX
Stamina: 180/180 Soul Resilience: MAX
Strength: 18 Intelligence: 33
Vitality: 15 Wisdom: 23
Agility: 35 Charisma: 6
Dexterity: 17 Luck: 17
It seemed that with my new level I gained quite a few new stats. It became even more clear that there was a direct relationship between my health, mana, and stamina, and certain stats...which is rather curious considering my insights into the leveling system, but I could look into that later. ¡°I¡¯m level 6 right now, though I don¡¯t know if that is good, bad, or average,¡± I told Cornelius. Both he and Kitara raised their eyebrows at my words. They looked at each other, before Kitara said, ¡°We¡¯re both level 12 and we lived here for 25 years. You got so many levels in a month? That¡¯s ridiculously fast.¡± So many years and they¡¯re only level 12? That really doesn¡¯t add up. I wonder...maybe it has something to do with my multiple past lives? If I am right about states of change being the basis of the leveling system, and that the levels are a record, then perhaps the reason why I leveled so quickly is because of my heavily saturated soul. The more my soul settles into this body, the more my past experiences affect its being, meaning that my body and mind (technically) are growing at pace that no one else could match. I wonder, then, what level will I be when body and soul are fully merged? Will the number even matter? ¡°Hmm, okay, so I probably need to hide the fact that I got 6 levels in a month, right?¡± I said with a grin. Kitara rolled her eyes, it looked cuter on her than Cornelius, yet somehow also more condescending. ¡°Obviously you should hide that, no one should even know that you¡¯re re-iterated.¡± Cornelius smiled and touched her shoulder. ¡°I¡¯m sure he was just joking Kitkat. Even if it was in poor taste.¡± Maybe I need my own friend in this world, if only so that these two would stop ganging up on me¡­ ¡°By the way, I don¡¯t know if this is appropriate to ask, but what¡¯s the deal with the locked race thing in the status screen?¡± I asked. I wanted to know if this was something only I dealt with, or all Re-Iterated people, or¡­ What I did not expect was for both of their faces to sprout awkward looks. Cornelius scratched the side of his head before saying, ¡°We...don¡¯t know.¡± Ah, so they have that too...but then Kitara¡­? ¡°And before you ask, Kitara is a special case that we¡¯re not going to talk about right now.¡± What, does he speak for her now? She has a voice of her own...but it looks like she agrees with what he said. Maybe she just let him say it instead of dealing with the awkwardness of telling me directly herself. I didn¡¯t get the impression that she had a problem speaking up for herself so far, but perhaps this was a more sensitive topic. I decided to let it go for now. ¡°Alright, that¡¯s fine,¡± I said. ¡°What else do we need to go over?¡± Cornelius stood up. ¡°Actually, I¡¯m getting a bit tired, and I¡¯m sure you haven¡¯t had a chance to rest yet. After all, you only just got into the city today. Let¡¯s take a break for a while and then talk again later at dinner, okay?¡± All I could do was slowly nod and watch as he walked away, entering the door next to the kitchen. Kitara gave me a look, then got up to follow him. ¡°Oh, you can use the first door over there, it¡¯s a spare bedroom. Make yourself comfortable,¡± she said before entering the same door as Cornelius. Somehow, I feel like I messed up big time. Chapter 22 - Contemplating the Elements I was laying in the bed of the guestroom, legs crossed and left hand behind my head. In my right hand was the Elemental Core I looted from the Harpy Wolf Matron not too long ago. If anyone was to spy on me at that moment, they might think that I was contemplating the marvels of the universe, deeply reflecting on the experiences that brought me here. In truth, I was wondering how stupid I could have been to not ask about cores the first chance I got. Elemental affinities still escape my understanding. Of course, I know how they work in worlds I have been to previously, but I know very little of how this particular system operates. I could eliminate a few possibilities: I¡¯m not restricted to having one element, at least not early on, according to the book I read back at the bandit camp; using only one core does not give me full access to an element, otherwise there would be little sense in basing the entire world¡¯s technology around it; and none of the common cores will grant anything like a mixed element. Actually, I doubt that any core would do that, but I¡¯ll say ¡®common cores¡¯ because as little as I know about the elemental system here, I still know even less about Specialty Cores. For all I know, there could be a Mud or Mist Elemental Core, combining things like earth and water, or water and wind respectively. I get the sense that it¡¯s not likely in this world, but again, my information is limited. Regardless, just going by the words of the aforementioned book, each Elemental Core is limited to a single, pure element: fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, light, or darkness. In the past I managed to dabble in all of those elements, and obscure ones besides that, such as ¡®poison¡¯, ¡®blood¡¯, ¡®plasma¡¯, ¡®gravity¡¯, ¡®time¡¯, and ¡®space¡¯. Some of them were fundamental laws of the universe rather than an elemental force, but the systems of magic gave me access so I never complained. In any case, each and every one of them could be wielded to deadly effect, and I had enough creativity to draw out their maximum power. In my hand was what I could only imagine to be a lightning core. Considering the Matron¡¯s final attack, it would only make sense. I hadn¡¯t bothered to Identify it yet, partly because of how chaotic the aftermath of that battle was, and partly because I completely forgot to do it. A quick use of the skill proved me right, though it didn¡¯t give any information beyond the name [Lightning Elemental Core]. Well, at least it¡¯s better than nothing¡­ The question, though, is what to do with it? Back in the bandit camp, when I first learned that this world doesn¡¯t function with electricity, using mana instead, I figured that if I ever started wielding lightning here then I would have a massive advantage, based on my vast experience. But..is that the best choice? I have no intention of being another jack-of-all-trades when it comes to magic, it¡¯s going to be all in or not at all. If I am going to go up against something that is powerful enough to drag me across multiple, separate universes and hope to win, I can¡¯t monkey around with a bit of fire magic here and a little water magic there. I need absolute dominance. I was already leaning towards lightning, as very few elements come close to its tremendous power, but I can¡¯t discount the other elements just yet. I have to consider the other six elements that this world has to offer. Fire is typically great at doing damage. Explosions, encirclements, wildfires, a lot of havoc and destruction to be wrought. However, fire is not just ruin, but also rebirth and purification. In some iterations, I was able to use my insights into fire to heal injuries, even treat diseases. Using fire on a macro or microscopic level can bring tremendous benefits. The only problem is control. Fire resists control in pretty much every world one could think of, even the best pyromancers I have encountered eventually succumb to their own flames, whether injuring themselves or destroying something they were trying to protect. Water is one of the best elements for healing, in part because it is the cradle of life itself. Well, most of the time, there was that one iteration...um, yeah, anyways, healing. Healing is excellent, but I need to be able to do damage as well. In my experience, water can do impressive amounts of damage, either through pressurized bursts or enormous waves. One could even use ice, if they are proficient enough, and ice is amazing at crowd control. It tends to be very hard to suppress a target with numbers if those numbers are frozen solid. However, for as much power as water holds, it takes a lot of it to do anything significant. Bringing a tidal wave to crush enemies? Good luck dealing with the soggy aftermath, once the stress of summoning and controlling all of that water is over with. Earth is a solid choice, every pun intended. When one is stuck between a rock and a hard place...it probably was the earth mage that threw the rock there. I should probably end these stone-cold jokes and just get my thoughts rolling- why can¡¯t I stop?! Anyways! Earth magic! Very dependable, hard to avoid since the majority of us walk on the ground, and even airborne enemies should be wary of shards of stone blasting them out of the sky. As Cornelius demonstrated earlier, earth can also be used for crowd control, those earth shackles would be quite difficult for any normal person to break out of, though the ease of such constraints pales in comparison to that of water and ice. Earth can also, obviously, be used for construction purposes, mainly building fortifications and defenses quickly. It is quite the versatile element, with few downsides if the user knows what they are doing. The one, inescapable downside, though, is that earth magic tends to be slow. With enough experience and practice, an earth user could create rapid effects, but in the beginning it would be slow, and gaining that expertise equally so. Wind can be truly devastating. While many people tend to see wind as gusts of sharply focused air, or large gales, or tornadoes, the true power of wind is that the element deals with the very air we breathe. I have seen wind magic used to suffocate an entire room full of people before they even noticed something was wrong. I¡¯ve seen, in systems that allowed such effects, wind users create static electricity in the air and generate lightning strikes. They weren¡¯t as powerful as the true lightning element, but they were still dangerous. Sadly, wind has a similar issue to water, in that in order to do significant damage a lot of it is needed. I can¡¯t rely on an element that takes too much effort to prepare and control. Light and shadow...two sides of the same coin. Usually, at least. Sometimes there are some funky rules when it comes to those two elements. Now, I typically see light used for healing, blessings, the more ¡®pious and divine¡¯ sort of deal, while shadow is pretty much the opposite with curses, concealment, all the ¡®demonic and evil¡¯ stuff. Of course, much of the time this is a direct result of how a world¡¯s system is set up, but I have encountered a fair number of systems that were much more ambiguous in the matter, and the notions of good and evil that were attached to each element were socially constructed rather than naturally given. Very rarely have I seen a world where light and shadow complement each other instead of being antagonistic. Personally, I see each element as a tool. Tools are not inherently good or evil, they just are, and can be used for any purpose imaginable. That said, regardless of my personal opinion, I usually don¡¯t have much choice but to abide by the rules of the world I currently live in. If light and shadow are mortal enemies then I need to either pick a side or stay out of the way. I¡¯ll have to observe how the people of this world view those two elements, but either way, I have no interest in choosing one, or both. Ignoring the potential situation of getting dragged into a war that I simply do not care about, neither light or shadow tends to give me the power that I am searching for. Sure, they can be devastating elements to use, especially against other people of a similar caliber, but against deity level beings? I have yet to see that end well. Especially considering that, most of the time, the connection between either light or shadow comes directly from a being of that level. That...is just not my thing. Yeah, it seems that lightning will be my path in this iteration. I¡¯ve had a good amount of experience handling it in past lives, but I will need to devote myself entirely to mastering it if I am to have any chance to deal with the entity at the end of my journey. Looks like I have a lot of work ahead of me¡­ A deep sigh escaped my chest. All this contemplation about elemental affinities only served as a temporary distraction. I spent all this time avoiding the awkward situation I left back in the living room earlier. Honestly, I shouldn¡¯t be feeling guilty at all since I did nothing wrong. However, I clearly brought up something uncomfortable for the two of them, or Cornelius at least, in my line of questioning. Interestingly enough, Kitara did not seem nearly as bothered as Cornelius when I asked about the locked race. Instead, she seemed more concerned about his reaction than the topic itself. Yet, the race matter clearly has to do with her specifically...in that case¡­ It seems, if I let my train of thought play out, that something drastic happened to Kitara that caused her to change her race. Perhaps it was an item, or a quest reward - do they have quests in this world? It seems unlikely - or a curse by some dark magic practitioner...whatever the cause, I get the impression that Cornelius wanted to stop it but was unable. Kitara brushes off the incident as if it was nothing, or maybe she has no memory of it, any number of possibilities, but Cornelius is unable to get past it. Of course, I could be completely wrong about my deductions, but I have seen these signs in others often enough that I feel certain of my accuracy. Oh well, not my concern honestly. Just as long as we could all work together efficiently then it is none of my business what happened between those two. What race I am doesn¡¯t even matter so much, provided I don¡¯t have any fatal disadvantages. So far I haven¡¯t been craving blood, or feeling a beastial desire to howl and run wild, or resisting a sudden urge to dive into the sea, which means I can assume that I am as close to human as possible. That is good enough for me at the moment.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Another sigh. Still procrastinating. I pushed myself off of the bed and went in search of my hosts. Leaving the bedroom, I saw the other three doors of the abode. Two of them should be their personal bedrooms, assuming they don¡¯t share one, and the last should be the kitchen...wait, is there no door for a bathroom? There should be...so maybe they do share a room, huh. In any case, I stood still for a moment and used my senses. I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply, searching for the scent of food. After a moment my stomach started growling, at the same instant that I caught the scent of food. It seemed to be strongest in the direction of the furthest door away from me. I was about to pat myself on the back for a job well done...but then I realized that it was a pointless effort since I directly saw Kitara come from that door earlier with food. Stupid. I walked over to the kitchen door, hoping that they were both there so that I wouldn¡¯t have to add more awkwardness by checking on them in their rooms - room, singular? Might be best not to think of it. Opening the door, I let out a breathe of relief, as Kitara and Cornelius stood by the kitchen counter side by side, murmuring to each other softly as they ate what looked like cookies. Bastards are eating cookies without me, how dare they¡­ ¡°Oh, hey! Want some cookies? They¡¯re chocolate chip!¡± Kitara calls out to me once they notice I entered the room. Cornelius grabs the plate they were eating from and holds it out towards me. Alright, they offered me cookies, they are forgiven. Chocolate chip too...how long has it been since I¡¯ve had chocolate chip cookies¡­ ¡°Thank you,¡± I said as I grabbed one. ¡°Did you buy these or make them yourselves?¡± I bit into the cookie and my brain lit up in pleasure. Oh did that hit the spot! ¡°Made them!¡± Kitara declared in what has to be the cutest voice I have ever heard. Her expression bright and cheerful once more, transforming her into the ideal girl that every warm-blooded man would fight to protect. I felt my heart stirring, not with love or anything so deep, but a firm desire to make sure she does not suffer sadness...Is there any magic involved? I don¡¯t want to believe that¡¯s the case, but I can¡¯t ignore the possibility. Although this feeling is harmless so far, I loathe the idea of being manipulated in any way. I am the master of my mind, body and soul, no one else. Cornelius interrupted my musings before they sank into a dark spiral. ¡°Kitkat and I prefer to be as frugal as possible, we grow most of our own food and make our own provisions. I say ¡®we¡¯, but it¡¯s really her that handles most of the food haha.¡± ¡°Damn right I do, that¡¯s my job,¡± Kitara said in a rather self-satisfied voice. It seems that they do well to take care of one another, Kitara with the food and Cornelus with the shelter. I wonder how they divide the other aspects of their lives. If not for the fact that they both adamantly call each other ¡®friends¡¯ I would have long since thought of them as a couple that had been married for decades. Before they could start praising each other endlessly, I brought up my reason for seeking them out in the first place. ¡°Okay, so I would like some advice, if the two of you are up to it? It¡¯s about an Elemental Core I picked up earlier, I need to know any necessary information before absorbing it.¡± Cornelius and Kitara looked at each other, as if confirming that they are okay for conversation, before Kitara said, ¡°Yeah, we can help you out. Is this the first time you¡¯re taking on an element?¡± ¡°In this iteration, yeah.¡± ¡°Oh. I don¡¯t know what you¡¯ve been through before, but I can tell you what you should know for this world. Um, basically, once you start using the elements you have to decide pretty quickly whether you¡¯re going to specialize or become a jack of all trades,¡± Kitara began. ¡°So the same usual dilemma that plagues every type of game out there, huh,¡± I commented. A flash of annoyance crossed her face, likely due to my interruption, before she continued. ¡°It¡¯s a little different from what you might be thinking, but yes. The higher you build your affinity with one element, the harder it is to build up affinities with every other element. And if you want to have access to all the elements, your affinity with each will be very low.¡± Cornelius jumped in at this moment. ¡°Think of it like this, the affinity itself has a percentage system, but it¡¯s a group percentage. If you try to use all the elements equally, that¡¯s 7 elements taking up the 100% that makes up your mana. That means the highest you could raise them all equally would be 14%. There are a few industrial workers who have 14% in all elements just for practical purposes, being able to operate pretty much every machine in this world except for specialized equipment, and all they need to do to fix that is to raise the particular affinity needed by the remaining 2% of their pure mana. So you can have someone with 14% affinity across the board with a 16% affinity in fire, for example. And since it is impossible to change your affinity once you started building it, those people will never gain access to the true power of any given element.¡± Kitara interjected, ¡°Somehow you could always explain that part better than I.¡± Cornelius grinned at her, saying, ¡°It took me a long time to get the right words for that explanation, hard work and effort!¡± Kitara rolled her eyes and said, ¡°Yeah, you were just overthinking things again one day, as usual.¡± He laughed, and Kitara took over from that point. ¡°Anyways, that¡¯s how multiple elemental affinities work, it usually isn¡¯t good to raise all of them unless you are working for a big company or the government and getting paid a LOT. Most people here stick with 3, maybe 4 elements and raise those as far as they can. It does take a lot of resources to build your affinity up to something that will keep you alive outside of the cities, but not as much for if you want to live inside. Since we¡¯re working under the assumption that you will be going with us to the Spire, though, that should mean you won¡¯t be looking to have the affinities of a city dweller.¡± After digesting their information for a bit, I decided to reveal a part of my plan to them. ¡°I already know what I want to do with my affinity, I¡¯ll stick to one element. Is there anything I should know about that particular path?¡± This time Cornelius took the lead. ¡°Oh really? Then you will be like me, I also focus on one element. Obviously, it¡¯s earth. Not too many people do a single element affinity because it would normally take far too much time, money, and other resources to raise it to the maximum. In fact, the difficulty of achieving 100% affinity in any element is already on a legendary level. I haven¡¯t heard of or met anyone who has done it...but whoever does would be unbelievably powerful.¡± I somewhat anticipated his response, but Cornelius made it sound more serious than I imagined before. I wonder exactly how much power he was talking about...well, one way to find out. I¡¯ll just have to walk the path of lightning to the end and see what lies there. ¡°Oh yeah, what element did you-¡± I did not notice his question before I directed my focus to the core in my hand. Too late to catch the remainder of his words though, I already began the process of absorbing the core. An electric shock passed through my body, scouring every part of my being, subtly changing my mana and settling in. I nearly lost control of my limbs, it was only with a huge surge of willpower that I did not drop to my knees. It felt like it was going on for minutes, hours even...but in reality it took no more than a few seconds. Then it was done. I felt...different, yet familiar. I felt...complete.
Congratulations! You have unlocked your first Elemental Affinity!
Calculating Experience...
Resolving Attributes...
Congratulations! You have achieved Level 7.
Name: Zareb Sindile Age: 25
Titles: Master of One¡¯s Soul Well Rounded Fame: ---
Level: 7 Class: ---
Health: 150/150 Race: LOCKED
Mana: 380/380 Soul Force: MAX
Stamina: 180/180 Soul Resilience: MAX
Strength: 18 Intelligence: 38
Vitality: 15 Wisdom: 38
Agility: 35 Charisma: 6
Dexterity: 17 Luck: 17
Elemental Affinity: Lightning: 1%
Chapter 23 - What a Long Day, Am I Right? ¡°...What did you just do?¡± Cornelius frantically asked. ¡°I think he just absorbed a core, I can¡¯t tell which one though,¡± Kitara said, concern clear on her doll-like face. The electricity from the core finally started to fade away - no, that¡¯s not quite right. It settled into my being, submerged, but certainly not gone. I felt as if I could call it into existence with my will. Just as I was about to do so, I remembered where I was and decided to warn my hosts. ¡°Hold on, I¡¯m going to try something.¡± Without giving them the chance to protest, I swiftly backed away, held up my right hand, and focused on generating a spark between my thumb and index fingers. I felt a tingling sensation spread throughout my body, starting from my center and rapidly rising through my chest and arm. A whiff of ozone drifted into the air as a spark of energy was brought to life between my fingers, bright and chaotic, with a soft buzzing sound accompanying it. I quickly cut off the connection, satisfied that the feeling of control was just as I had hoped, similar to what I have experienced before. With this, I have taken my first step on the path of power. ¡°Dude, did you just summon lightning in our house?!¡± Kitara screamed at me. ¡°That is not cool, what is wrong with you?!¡± Cornelius looked like he was about to calm her down, but then thought the better of it and instead turned to me, saying, ¡°That was kinda dangerous Zareb-¡± ¡°Kinda?! He could have hit both of us!¡± Kitara shouted. I admit, I might have been a little reckless and impatient, but I had it under control¡­ ¡°-I don¡¯t think he would have hurt either of us Kitkat, but yeah, that was a stupid move to pull with no warning,¡± Cornelius continued. ¡°I did warn you, I said I was going to try something,¡± I said calmly. ¡°You need to say a lot more than that for it to count as a warning! Like, I dunno, maybe ¡®hey, I¡¯m going to try using the hardest element to control a few feet away from you¡¯ would have been better?! Do you do the same thing with women, just go ¡®hey, I¡¯m going to try something¡¯ before ramming them raw?¡± I can¡¯t be too certain, but I have an inkling that this catgirl is pissed off. Perhaps not without reason though. ¡°I don¡¯t do stupid stuff like that, I haven¡¯t even been laid in...you know what, that¡¯s not important, the thing is that you are right. It was foolish of me to just rush into things like that. I am sorry for scaring you. However,¡± I stood firm and spoke clearly, ¡°I have more experience than you can imagine in manipulating the elements. I assure you, I have perfect control over this lightning. Neither one of you will ever be harmed by my power, so long as we work together.¡± They both remained silent for a long moment. Kitara threw her hands in the air with an exasperated look on her face. ¡°Just don¡¯t do that again, seriously. We train our magic outside, not inside.¡± The twitching of her tail told me that she was still agitated, but slowly calming down. Cornelius gave me a disapproving stare. I couldn¡¯t tell if it was for the spark I conjured out of the blue or for upsetting his friend - most likely both, but more the latter. I met his stare evenly. What¡¯s done is done, I was perfectly ready to move on. Besides, I could even say this was a bit of revenge for all the jokes earlier. ¡°So...lightning,¡± Cornelius began after a while. ¡°Why not another element, if you don¡¯t mind me asking?¡± I could tell that he was trying to be calm and civil, the peacemaker in the room. I chose to cooperate with him rather than escalate the situation further. ¡°I considered all of them, though to be honest, I based my choice off of how I dealt with the elements in previous worlds. I did read up a little on how magic works here, but I am certain that even though I am missing a lot of information, lightning will give me the greatest advantage out of them all.¡± ¡°I see,¡± he resonded. Cornelius took a moment to consider his next words, before saying, ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure you¡¯re aware of this, but the residents of this world don¡¯t have much regard towards that element. In fact, for those who want a balanced set of affinities at a higher level, they actually disregard the lightning element. It¡¯s not too common, since a lot of the ¡®Full Balanced¡¯ individuals, as some call them, claim a certain sense of discomfort in their mana when they tried to keep a single element out of the equation, but everyone feels it differently. To some, it isn¡¯t a discomfort at all. I can¡¯t put any weight into their words since I focus only on earth, but what I can tell you is that even the people who strive to raise all the elements equally would rather ignore lightning.¡± ¡°I did notice that some of the books I read made scant references to using lightning, but I simply figured that the people here were not advanced enough to see the potential. Is that not the case?¡± I asked. ¡°Hm, it¡¯s something like that I suppose,¡± he replied. ¡°You and I both know, coming from Earth, just how useful and powerful electricity can be, but they just have no use for it here. We used it because it was an excellent medium of energy that everyone could benefit from. Here, the population has access to mana, which does a lot of what electricity can do and so much more.¡±The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°However, none of that is really important. What you need to be concerned about is the scarcity of resources to bring your affinity up to the point of being useful.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± I thought that it would be easy to stock up on lightning element cores since it seemed few people would have a use for- wow. Yeah, I am dumb. ¡°Never mind, I see what you¡¯re talking about...since not too many people care about raising their lightning affinity, even if the cores I need are on the market, the fact that they are not high in demand means that it would be harder for me to get them in bulk.¡± ¡°Exactly right,¡± Kitara jumped in suddenly. ¡°You¡¯ll have to find your own supply of lightning cores to raise your affinity,¡± Cornelius confirmed. Well, I never expected things to be easy¡­ ¡°I¡¯m okay with that. I presume this will involve a lot of hunting down lightning based creatures and taking their cores?¡± ¡°¡°Yup.¡±¡± Came the double reply. A small smirk appeared on my face. ¡°Yeah, definitely okay with that. Before that, though, I want to try out this Arena we talked about earlier. I want to make sure all of my combat skills are in order before stepping foot outside of the city.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t recommend that for someone who only just unlocked their affinity,¡± Cornelius warned. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter how much control you claim to have, you must have only, what, 0.01% available? That¡¯s barely enough to kill a Duckmine, assuming you hit its beak with your element.¡± I still have no idea what that monster is, but judging by his tone it¡¯s a rather weak creature...but wait, shouldn¡¯t his words mean that their reaction was completely overblown? I frowned, saying, ¡°If that¡¯s the case then why were the two of you screaming at me just now? I wouldn¡¯t have hurt either of you!¡± Kitara opened her mouth, but Cornelius responded first. ¡°That¡¯s because we don¡¯t know how strong the core you absorbed was, for all we know it could have given you 5% affinity, which would certainly be enough to kill a person when you don¡¯t control it. Plus, just look at Kitara! She is a lot more sensitive to electricity that either of us, so of course she would react that way.¡± I turned to look at Kitara, and noticed for the first time that she actually had patches of fur on parts of her body. Short fur, but it looked soft and silky...and it completely matched her milky white skin tone, which explained why it took so long before I realized it was there. It completely added to her cuteness factor. But yeah, I can see what they were saying. I keep stumbling into these awkward interactions with them, this has never happened to me before... what is it about the two of them that constantly trips me up? ¡°I¡¯m over it already,¡± Kitara threw in. ¡°Let¡¯s just move on already.¡± No arguments here. ¡°Sorry again, but yeah, let¡¯s move on. I have 1% affinity, by the way, I guess since it was the Harpy Wolf Matron¡¯s core that I absorbed. I didn¡¯t know how big of a deal that would be, are you telling me that people usually start off with .01% and build up from there?¡± Cornelius¡¯ eyes widened for a bit at my words, but then he spoke as if it was normal for people to casually name drop a deadly creature like the Matron. ¡°Usually, yes, but some get lucky and start off with a larger boost. It depends on the core they use. Since every other element is more desireable than lightning, you would find a larger market for more powerful cores that accelerate your affinity growth.¡± ¡°Good to know,¡± I nodded. ¡°In any case, I should be fine in the Arena, I am more than capable of defending myself even without new lightning powers. Those I¡¯ll develop later.¡± He considered my words for a moment and slowly agreed. ¡°Alright, you and I can go and get you registered in the morning. I typically go there to train, so we¡¯ll use the chance to take care of you as well. Kitkat, you want to come with us or will you be crafting again tomorrow?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll come with,¡± she said. ¡°I need the exercise, and I could drop off the pendant at the same time.¡± ¡°Okay, cool. Oh, Kitara makes enchanted jewelry for a living, she¡¯s the best in any of the eight capital cities, probably the best on this continent,¡± Cornelius proudly said when he saw the confusion on my face. ¡°Ah, I see, that sounds impressive,¡± I replied. Admittedly, I was quite curious in her ability. I spent an iteration or two delving into enchantments. Of course, the process is different across systems, but I always believed that support skills like enchanting, potion making, crafting of all sorts, should be heavily invested in. Give me a blade designed by a master level blacksmith, enchanted by a life long professional, and coated in the strongest poison that the blade could handle, and I would wreck nearly any foe. I doubt I would go too deeply into such skills this time around, but it certainly would not hurt to see how best to augment my power in this iteration. ¡°I would love to know how you do your work, maybe we can talk about it on the way to the Arena tomorrow.¡± ¡°Why not now?¡± Kitara asked in a cute voice. I think mentioning her passion must have put her in a much better mood, I didn¡¯t detect any of the irritation she showed towards me earlier. ¡°Haha, I would normally spend hours talking about enchanting and jewelry craft, but for now I want to get some actual sleep. It has been a really long day and it¡¯s finally catching up to me.¡± And maybe create a skill or two before bed...actually, no, I don¡¯t want to upset them again if anything does go wrong. Although I claimed I have full control, I should not have said that before testing every aspect of my new affinity first. I¡¯ll do that in the morning, outside, before we leave. ¡°Oh, shoot, you¡¯re right,¡± Kitara said in understanding. ¡°Yeah, go ahead and get some rest. Really rest this time!¡± Cornelius nodded in agreement. I bade them both goodnight and went back to the guest room. Stripping off my clothes, I sank onto the bed and let my head rest upon the pillows. I had no clue what materials everything was made of, but my goodness was it soft...I felt myself relaxing deeply before I even knew it. The day finally ended. I found civilization, got arrested, became an adventurer, met other people from Earth, ate cookies, created lightning between my fingertips, and learned of a super powerful, suicidal being that is capable of dragging my miserable soul across multiple realities without a problem. ...Sometimes, I miss being bored. Announcement I apologize! I honestly never thought I would do this, but...I need to go on hiatus. For an undetermined amount of time. There are too many things going on IRL that absolutely take precedence over my writing, and so I must put this story on hold for the time being. However, that does not mean I will give up on it, no no no. As I stated before, the only promise I will make to you, my lovely readers, is that this book willbe complete. Whatever it takes, however long it takes, it will be finished.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. So please, bear with me as I take care of some incredibly important responsibilities, and I will return... Once again, I do profusely apologize! (And as a parting note, when I do come back, there will be more than just My Hundredth Life starting up again...I have another story that has been fighting to burst out of my skull and I cannotwait for you all to enjoy it)