The general classes had been more useful than Alex had originally assumed they would be. There was survival training, Geography, Trap Making, and others that continued to prove themselves to be possibly useful in future. Alex returned to the dorms earlier than the others after realizing that he didnt have a specialized subject. "Well, now or never."
He took a seat on a soft bed, and opened the interface.
[Name: Alexander Cyrus] [Race: Human]
[Age: 16] [Class: Martial Artist]
[Layer: 1-Initial] [Core Rank: Awakened]
[Title: Survivor] [Bloodline: Cyrus]
[Talent: Stealth-Dormant] [Potential: SSS+]
[Profile-Image of Alex]
Alex tapped the class area, and a small separate panel appeared.
[Martial Artist]
[15% more precision with cold weapons,
Increased bodily coordination]
He stared at the panel once again before changing his focus, "Inventory"
[Monster Core x1] [Dry Cereal x6]
[Biscuits x11]
[G- Skill Sheet x 6] [Bottled water x1]
[Soul Fragment –Physical x17]
[Circulation I]
'Ah right, my katana broke'. It was unable to bear the explosion and all that was left was pieces, and up till now, he hadn't found a replacement.
'If eating cores, helps them grow, and absorbing them replenishes our core, what does this do.
'The system mentioned that it improved flow. Does that mean the speed of which I cast spells is faster?'
He pulled out the 'Circulation I' book and flipped it open, surprised to see only diagrams, no texts whatsoever.
The diagrams didnt link either, one was a figure sitting in a lotus pose, whilst the next was an image of a figure that stood still on its two feet. "...What the hell is this?"
After staring at them for a minute Alex rubbed his temple in frustration and begun imatating the poses one by one. Soon, he stumbled upon one that felt different.
The figure posed in a low kneeling position, but with a slightly raised back heel on one side.
Both arms were drawn inward, elbows tucked close to the ribs. One hand was extended slightly forward with two fingers raised forming a vertical line — like a blade. The other hand cupped just beneath the extended elbow, guarding the core. The posture was solid, but to Alex, it looked a little stupid.
He turned back to the diagram and noticed the arrows moving in a pattern to his navel, both internally and externally. Closing his eyes, he felt for his core, and strangely enough, it responded. He felt its pulses, healthy and strong.
Without struggle, the core followed his will and began pulling mana from the atmosphere. Once it entered his core, he felt filled, just like when he absorbed the cores of unblessed.
"System, how much mana did I gain from just doing that?"
[Genenrating Response...]
[1 point of mana]
Hmm, so each time I draw I gain one point of mana.... Then why does the diagram say to expel it?
[Generating Response...]
[The system is not allowed to interfere with training, therefore your question has been terminated]
'Gotta figure this out myself, huh.'
He restarted his progress, moving to the ideal pose and then drawing in the mana. This time, he let out the mana exactly as the manual had displayed.
Thirty minutes quickly flew by with Alex spending all his time meditating...
"I don't feel any different though... Guess I'll just keep the mana within the core, seems more efficient. But, that means eating cores is still the only way to grow the size of my own core."
He vividly remembered the magnum manual mentioned it made core expansion easier.
'Maybe I should've picked that.'
'No. It doesn't matter, I didn't pick it. Just forget about it.'
He left the dorms once again and headed to the library, noticing his body felt slightly easier to control than before. 'So this is the effect of the Martial Artist class, huh.'
Alex opened a door to see a large open field with its center filled with training dummies. The outer perimeter had other small facilities and training equipment.
Once he took a step into the field, the bracelet on this wrist made a clicking sound, slightly alarming him. 'Wait... I can use my magic now.'
Alex's shadow quickly formed a black spike before changing back into its normal state, but the surprise was it evident on his face. It was small, but he noticed it. When he drew out his energy to cast the spell, it moved like rushing water, making the spell activated faster than he expected.
The difference wasn't much, but it was there. About maybe 0.3 seconds faster.
"...So that's the effect of one meditation? Isn't that kind of overpowered?'
Alex pushed his thoughts out and made a ten meter gap between him and a dummy.
'Maybe it increases less the longer I train. Anyways.. Since the system makes my actions a skill once I use it.. Fireball.'
Without a shred of effort, a football sized ball off flames formed upon his palm, but his focus was disturbed when he realized he could feel the heat right in front of his face.
"That's.. Bad. My own flames can hurt me." He had begun growing a habit of speaking to himself.
After a series of tests, Alex discovered his elemental disposition was more inclined to shadow and fire magic than the others, even though he could still use them.
But unfortunately he was hesistant to use fire magic after finding out its disadvantages.
He wouldn't be able to do anything flashy like coating his fists in flames and the like. At least not until he figured out how to work around the damage he'd take.
Alex grimaced at the number of things he had to attain quickly to ensure his safety and begun his self training with a sigh.
***
A small jacket that seemed to be hand sewn by a five-year-old hung on a small wooden cross on a mountain peak. A battered teddy laid by the cross's side, swaying peacefully in the direction of the wind…
Kuh! Alex woke up on his bed and made a weird sound, when he realized where he was, he got out of bed and left the room hoping not to wake up his dorm mates.
'Another nightmare… I need to go there.' Alex reminisced about his childhood years, remembering everything that changed after the incident, he sighed and wiped away his thoughts. 'Tomorrow'
***
Alex took the bag of clothes that were handed to him in the morning and went to the registration office.
"Miss Rose, I'd like to leave the safe zone for a bit."
"Okay"
"There's no… procedure or anything to let me go?" Rose raised an eyebrow before responding,
"You dying outside is none of our business, why would we bother to stop you from leaving? You think we're obligated to save you guys?"
"Oh, right."
Walking through the portal and experiencing another nauseating experience, Alex thought about his ability.
*** YESTERDAY
It was late at night, and Alex stood at the field of the school, preparing to awaken. In his mind he called out, 'Z, I'm ready.'
Suddenly a cold feeling was felt all over his body. A large circle with the symbol of chains appeared beneath him before it engraved itself onto his shoulder. The cold was still there, it was chilling to the bone and Alex's face became pale. Alex bore through the immense cold he felt, hoping it would be over soon, and as if hearing him, it begun to cease, right when he thought it was over though, his body suddenly became hot, and a black slimy substance bled through his pores. After a small rest, Alex called for the system. 'Stats'
[HP-24/24] [MP-9/9] [STAM-39/39] [ATK-30DMG/HIT]
[CRIT-75]
[AWAKENED:+3]
STR-15[12+3] SPD-15[13-1+3] DEF-8[5+3] INT-3[2+1]
VIT-13[10+3] CHAR-10[6+1+3] SOUL-5[2+3] LUK-0 TOTAL-68
STAT POINTS-0
MANA REGEN-1.5/5 MIN
HEALTH REGEN-3.5/5 MIN
'Skills and abilities'
SKILLS
[Shadow Transmission Lv3 G-] [Inspect Lv2 G-]
[Mana Cons:8] [Mana Cons:1]
[Water Stream Lv1 G-] [Massive Earth Pillar Lv1 G-]
[Mana Cons:6] [Mana Cons:20]
[Black Icicle Lv1 G-] [Earth Wall Lv1 G-]
[Mana Cons:4] [Mana Cons:7]
ABILITY
[Wrath Of Chains] [Mastery level: Minor degree (0.00%)
[Rank: G-]
'Inventory'
[Bag Of Clothes x4] [Dry Cereal x5]
[Beast Core x1] [Biscuits x12]
[Wooden Katana x1] [Bottled water x22]
[G- Skill Sheet x 6]] [Orange Juice x4]
[Wooden Katana x1]
[Soul Fragment –Physical x17]
'The mana consumption probably changed due to my affinity changing… [Wrath Of Chains]'
No sooner had Alex willed it did he suddenly fall on his knees, "What's going on!?"
[DING]
[GENERATING ANSWER: MP [0/21]
[WARNING: YOUR MANA HAS REACHED ZERO, YOU WILL ENTER AN UNCONSCIOUS STATE IN A FEW SECONDS]
"How did I lose all my-" His words were cut short when he suddenly fell unconscious.
***30 MINUTES LATER
"Ugh" Alex got up from the grassy floor and wiped his face, "System, how did I lose all my mana?"
[DING]
[GENERATING ANSWER: THE ABILITY, [WRATH OF CHAINS] REQUIRES 150 MP TO USE. UNLIKE OTHER ABILITIES WHICH ARE DISPELLED ONCE MANA STOPS FLOWING THROUGH THEM, [WRATH OF CHAINS] CREATES PERMANENT MATTER, THAT IS, ALL CREATIONS STILL EXIST EVEN WITHOUT THE FLOW OF MANA].
'Interesting, but doesn't that mean I don't have enough mana to even use my own ability?'
[DING]
[GENERATING ANSWER: NOT NECESSARILY. IF THE PLAYER FINDS AND EXTERNAL SOURCE OF MANA, THEY CAN DIRECTLY USE THAT MANA TO ACTIVATE THE SKILL]
***CURRENTLY
Alex skipped from roof to roof, watching below, looking for a group of zombies. He was already pretty athletic, but his class had made it much easier. 'Ah, right there… Huh? Is something going on?' Alex noticed what seemed to be a human being standing between a group of zombies. 'Even I can't handle that many at once.
'I was going to use a few incendiaries to kill them but that person seems to want to fight them alone. '
'It's an old man?' Now that he thought about it, he hadn't really seen any adults since the start of the game, stopping, he wanted to see how the situation would turn out, if the man died, he would take his items and kill the mob, if he didn't, I guess he's just look for another mob. He had what seemed to be a diamond tattoo on his left arm, looking at the bla-
One.
One second passed after Alex blinked when the old man had suddenly disappeared and all the bodies lost their heads.
Alex looked around for where the man was but he seemed to have gone elsewhere.
'Hmm..'
'Oh well'
Alex shrugged it off and kept moving towards the mountain range, if only he saw two cold eyes right on the building behind him. Luckily, those eyes weren't filled with killing intent, and disappeared shortly after.
***
A golden-haired child stood in the way of his mother, preventing her from beating his brother who bled through his nose. Many marks and scratches could be seen on his body. "M-Mom, please stop, I-if you continue, I-I'll fight you!"
The boy looked up to his mother's face, only to see a sharp rock headed his way…
---
On a mountain, the two children who looked hurt conversed "-Why did you do that, you know she hates you more than me! She wouldn't have hurt me too much."
The little boy who bled from his nose earlier yelled at his big brother, worried about his destroyed left eye,
"You don't have to worry too much, you know my eyes are special, they'll heal even in this condition. Enough of mom, look what I found today!"
It was something strange about him. His eyes had supernatural regeneration, and he even once saw their mum whilst looking at a wall. They had learnt not to talk about it, since it could bring trouble.
Little Alex grabbed a battered teddy with an eye missing and shoved it into the child's hands. "A teddy!? This is too much, if mom see's it she'll really kill you."
"Mom can't do that, after all, I'm her helper, when she roams no man's land, I search the garbage. Without me those loan sharks would have already done something, at least we don't have to roam no man's land"
The boy listening to Alex's logic reluctantly accepted the bear, but he seemed to love it already.
---
Alex passed the last thread through the hole, finally completing a jacket during the winter.
He rubbed his pale frosted hands together and carefully folded the jacket, but it seemed he didn't make if for himself, he walked to a large bin and opened it, revealing his cold little brother who tried to warm himself up with the trash.
Alex raised him up before he put the jacket on his back, the boy who hadn't noticed his arrival until the jacket laid on top of him looked at the jacket, then at Alex, who said, "I found it in a nearby dump, don't worry about it, just wear it and rest."
Alex closed the dump which had been riddled with holes to give air inside and went back to the main street rubbing his hand to generate heat.
---
Alex kneeled on the ground, covering his cut eyes.
His mother smiled at his moment of weakness, and targeted her knife towards his head. Alex was unaware of this, he never expected it to happen…
***Present Time.
Alex stood in front of a cross and wiped a tear from his eye while clenching his fists so hard that he started bleeding, remembering that moment. He looked at the jacket. He removed a chrysanthemum from his own shirt, wrapped in a handkerchief, and laid it in the arms of the teddy.
***
Pu-chi! Little Alex heard the sound of flesh being pierced through, and strangely enough, it wasn't him. Raising his head up, the scene that was before him scarred him more than what his mother had ever done to him.
The figure of a little brown haired boy who wore a birthday hat stood in front of him, with a knife sticking out from his stomach through his rags that he called a shirt.
They slowly dyed red and spread even more as the boy fell on his knees. The woman left hold of the knife realizing what she had done.
She turned and ran with no destination, just trying to get away from the crime scene.
"Axel! Axel! Alex lifted up his dying body with his little arms and ran out the shack screaming for help.
Luckily, there was a doctor on the streets at the time and he performed immediate first aid trying to save the child, when he suddenly noticed the end of the knife which hadn't entered his body was wet with a substance just like water…
It was poison, this was a thought-out plan. In less than a minute the ambulance had appeared and tried saving Axel's life which he clung to. In the ambulance, he seemed to mutter something, and when Alex brought his ear closer, he wished he hadn't heard those words.
"... Thank you…"
…
…
…
***
Alex let all his tears flow and blood dripped from his hands, coloring the grass red.
'Even if you were just my half-brother, to me, you are someone I will never forget. Thank you, for everything…'
Alex turned and begun walking away, leaving behind his memories of his half-brother.
Soon after Alex had left, a feather fell on the cross and mysteriously melted into it, if one used [Inspect], they would see a new revelation.
[Artifact]
[Rank: B+]
[Sanctum]
[A safe zone that no creature of lower rank and evil intent can trespass.]
[Effects: Restricted Violence, Double regeneration speed, Calming Effect, Chance of awakening soul type skills. Deceased souls gather here, they can be contracted.]
. . . . .
. . . . .
. . . . .
CURRENT PLAYERS: 6,657,919,709
NO OF DEATHS: 9430
TOTAL NO OF DEATHS: 8,136,758,296
CURRENT GAME: TUTORIAL
CLEAR TIME: ONGOING
Note of the day
ARTIFACTS
Items which have special effects and are above a certain value are considered artifacts