Veritas was ecstatic, he had hunted a few Corrupted, and he had gained their powers.
Overall, he had gained the power of wind, telekinesis, and the last...
Veritas looked around the aftermath, he tapped his foot against the ground and jagged rocks shot up from there.
The rocks protrude outwards, it snaked towards the bear's corpse and mauled it, leaving holes on its body as Veritas hummed in acknowledgement.
'So that's how...'
Veritas realized that to use the bear's power, he had to either tap the ground with his foot or hand.
'System.'
A red hologram showed up, showing him lines of information.
[Delayed rewards are now being accounted.]
[You have killed a Corrupted Windeer.]
[You have killed a Corrupted Windeer.]
[You have killed a Corrupted Psywolf.]
[You have killed a Corrupted Rock Bear.]
[...]
[You have absorbed Paths of the Corrupted you slained.]
[Your being grows stronger!]
Veritas couldn't keep up with the countless pop ups as he blinked a few times.
Then, the pop ups cleared as he now see his full information.
***
[Name]: [Veritas]
[Core]: [Black]
[Sub-Core]: [Pawn]
[Artifacts]: —
[Paths]:
[Agent of #####] [Wind's Blessing] [Telekinesis] [Earth's Blessing]
[Lines]:
[Consume]
Veritas looked at his information, he saw the three new added Paths. Well, sadly not only did he not get an upgrade on his sub-core, he didn't get any new Lines.
It seem that the powers he received only gave him Paths and not the Lines.
Veritas let out an exhale, three Paths and he felt stronger than ever, it was enough boon.
With that in mind, Veritas head back, tracing the path back towards the cave's direction.
The journey back to the cave was nothing short of painful, his legs trembled from the abuse it had and his arms simply dangle weakly.
He felt strong... yet weak at the same time.
On the way to the cave, he had been thinking.
He was weak, too weak against both the wolf and bear. If they hadn't been exhausted, Veritas was sure he wouldn't have been able to kill them.
'Before I get into the academy... I'll join an expedition to a Fracture.'
He had a lot of things planned up. First, he was going to apply for the Academy, and while waiting for the day of his trial, he would apply to join for an expedition.
It didn't take long for him to arrive on the cave and sat down near his bag, it was still there luckily.
Taking his phone out weakly, Veritas turned it on and opened up the map to guide him out of the forest.
On the way out of the forest, he thought to himself...
Now... which Path would he show to the world?
He had given in a daring thought, he would use [Telekinesis] only to help him move discreetly, and the [Wind's Blessing] would be the one shown as his main Path.
He was considering using [Earth's Blessing] as his second Path. It wasn't because he was trying to show off, but it was the fact that a lot of Guardians only have one Path.
Three Path was the most he ever heard a Guardian had, and it was from a Guardian he heard was strong.
Not that he knew who exactly it was, but it must be a famous Guardian.
Now, considering the rarity of two Path Guardian and above, his chances of getting into the Academy would soar.
Eden Academy was the biggest academy in the Eden City, there were other smaller academies but those do not provide the luxury and privileges one would get from Eden.
But Eden was kind, it will give a chance for anyone to apply and undertake its trial for free if its their first time.
So Veritas knew, he had to go all in to get accepted.
He needed experience and strength, he had a goal to get to at least the Knight sub-core, Bishop if it was possible.
But the chances of that happening was low, he heard that going up between sub-cores was not easy.
Nevertheless, he will try.
It took a few short break in between his journey back to the city, Veritas didn't really feel exhausted, but the pain made him stop for a while to rest.
In the breaks, he took his time to refine some things. He had noticed the delays, the time it took for some of his attacke to form.
Veritas had learned some things from using [Agent of #####] on the wolf. Now, his [Telekinesis]' mastery was far ahead of the other Paths.
Veritas tapped his foot on the ground, jagged rocks shot towards the direction of the tree.
The direction of an object that were already shot couldn't be changed even if it were your own, there were exceptions but this was a universal rule.
So... Veritas thought, what if...
The jagged rocks shot from the ground towards a tree, before it suddenly changed direction to the left and then hit the tree behind.
Veritas' eyes widened as he smiled, it worked.
The moonlight cast its light down onto Veritas, lighting up the dark forest as he let out an exhale.
Small whispers caressed his ears, sending a slight shiver on his spine as he heard the incoherent whispers.
Veritas wondered, will he ever get used to hearing these whispers? He had tricked himself into thinking the whispers as a lullaby but it wasn't the permanent solution.
Maybe in a few months or a year or so he would get used to hearing them.
Closing his eyes, Veritas slowly stood up before from the corner of his eyes, he saw a deer that looked identical to the two he killed.
Veritas slowly stood up, wind coalescing around him as a transparent red hologram popped up in front of him once he focused on the deer.
[Corrupted Windeer]
[Corruption Level]: [Kilo]
Veritas' eyes widened.
'So that's how it looks.'
Veritas redirected his attention back to the deer before picking himself up and proppelling across the air like a bullet.
The deer was surprised, Veritas' sudden appearance catching it off guard as Veritas already made his move.
Veritas threw a tree towards the deer before stepping down on ground, activating [Earth's Blessing].
The deer quickly gathered itself and managed to dodge the tree, jumping backward.
But then, sharp jagged rocks impaled its legs, throwing it across the ground like a ragdoll.
Veritas moved towards the rocks, wind coalescing around his right leg before slamming said leg against it.
The rocks exploded, and Veritas used [Telekinesis] to shoot the shard of rocks towards the defenseless Windeer.
The Windeer shrieked in pain, eyes wide looking at Veritas with clattering teeth.
Veritas stood in front of the Windeer, staring down at it as a large tree with its roots pointed towards the deer was behind it.
BOOM
A loud echo traveled the silent forest, dust picked up from the impact as Veritas heard a ding.
[You have killed a Corrupted Windeer.]
[Your being grows stronger!]