Stratos was at a loss. He had just managed to finally get his bearings, but already there where people breathing down his neck. It hadn't even been that long that he returned here, but already he was facing danger. He immediately began to think about the best way to get out of this.
'Chip, initiate terrestrial scanning protocol, constantly running. Establish map from memories and scans and display on HUD. Lastly, calculate optimal evasion route"
[Affirmative. Rendering map. Done. Head to the area displayed]
With a soft exhale, Stratos started moving skillfully to the rocky outcropping, seemingly a good area to hide from these people. He felt like he was back in his comfort zone. After all, he had dominated the rankings of <
'Chip, scan and give me their data'
[Not enough data to give accurate readings. Recommend host to update the database. Displaying threat levels based on energy readings]
Emmediatly, 5 glaring red dots showed up on the HUD. Stratos was shocked by the perceived danger rating. After all, it had been a long time since he had been in a truly dangerous situation, and he had forgotten for a moment that he was currently in a weakened child's body. The flaring red was an effective reminder that he was in a lot of danger, especially since he wasn't sure if he would be able to transmute the life essence as he had done before. That was an instinctive response guided by the Chip, and even if he could, he didn't currently have the energy too. So all he could do was watch as they approached his area, and hope they didn't have any means to detect him. After all, this was no longer his home ground, and he didn't have enough understanding of the abilities in this world.
Finally, the group drew close enough for him to observe properly. Last night, things were dark, so there were no memories regarding the number of pursuers or how they appeared. They were about 5 of them, clothed top to bottom in some dark green clothing, with masks covering their faces. Although Stratos wasn't the most important family member, he was still a descendant of a powerful practitioner that was still alive. As such, as rampant as they dared to be, they weren't dumb enough to do so openly and took good care to hide their appearances.
"That little trash's body isnt here. Don't tell me he managed to escape. Too many rewards are sitting on this, so you guys had better get in shape and find him quickly" the person that had commanded them earlier spoke again. He seemed to be the leader amongst this group. Although he felt the voice was familiar after scanning through his memories, he still failed to place it. But now that the Chip had recorded the voice, in the future he would be sure to recognize him. "Spread out. I saw him getting hit, so even if he managed to survive, no way he got far. Find him. I want physical confirmation of his death"
With that, the 5 of them began to move. Luckily, seeing as he hid quite near to where he came to, they seemed to move in other directions. But even then, he knew it was only a matter of time before they doubled back or found something to expose his precense, unless he acted first. He began to think of how he could get out of the situation with the skills he currently had, but he couldn't apply his past knowledge properly in this body, and had little understanding of how transmutation worked in this world, not to talk of the power system he had stored in his memories. That, he had even less understanding of. Thankfully, he heard a prompt that gave him more hope of getting out of this situation alive
[Prelimenary analysis of Kraft and Transmutation phenomenon complete. Applying overlapping principles. Energy-related protocols under development. Established.]
With that, Stratos immediately detected a change in his HUD. He began to see flowing particles that he came to understand was Kraft. Also, a new stat was added to his display, Body Qi, which currently displayed as 0/3. As he looked, he saw various spots where the Kraft gathered into a whirlpool, with seemingly dead areas around them.
Looking around, he discovered why this place was a forbidden zone. The Kraft here was too volatile, seemingly ready to erupt at any time. Now that he could sense it better, he realized that he had been quite lucky so far, but now he could feel it slowly affecting him, degrading his body.
He immediately ordered the chip to counteract this, so that the high concentration was now being utilized to better his body instead of destroying it. In the future, he would benefit more from high Kraft regions with this increased sensitivity.
But that was in the future. Right now he had more pressing matters to deal with and very few ways to do so.
'Chip, what new methods are available now. Something to either increase my strength quickly or to deal with these guys. Display best methods based on speed and access in present situation'
[Only one suitable method found. Recreating the previous life essence, now known to be called Body Qi, host can boost body back to optimal levels, with a chance of progression. Side effects unknown. Simulated to be extreme pain. An unmet requirement, high volatile Kraft concentration for easy manipulation needed. Scanning. Found. Displaying route]
Stratos was shocked. It seems that the Chip wanted him to once again go through what killed this body in the first place. It had detected another eruption, and wanted to use the volatility of it to more easily transmute it into an energy form beneficial for this body. Remembering what he went through before, he was about to say no when he heard a prompt that made him change his mind immediately.
[Warning! Host detected]
'Damn, how where they able to sneak up on me'.
[Unknown energy field detected. Caused interference with scanning systems. Adjusting protocol to avoid future interference]
"There you are brat! Don't know how you survived that, but you where foolish to stay here. Prepare to die!"
Without thinking too much, Stratos immediately booked towards where the geyser was going to erupt. He wasn't sure how much that would really help him, as the original Stratos died from it, but he knew that even if it was only a chance, that is at least better than the certainty of death that awaited him if he chose to stay.
"Come back here, how far can you run! You just stepped onto the path, while we are already 4th Step Mortals. If you stop, we'll make it quick. If not we'll torture you before killing you off slowly!", sadly for the assassin, he was no longer dealing with an immature 9-year-old, so his words didn't even distract Stratos as intended. Instead, he pushed even harder, paying close attention to his weakened body to ensure he doesn't collapse.
[Warning! Unknown fluctuations releasing from enemy's body. Similar fluctuations to boost type skills from <
He could see the 5 of them starting to close the gap even quicker than before. Thankfully, it wasn't the leader behind him as he had gone farther ahead. That, plus the way the assassins had spread out, gave him just enough time to reach the geyser. He suddenly stopped, preparing for the eruption, but the 2 assassins closest to him took it as him giving up and immediately leapt towards him, wanting to get the reward for being the ones to directly kill him. After all, not many in their line of work had the reputation of killing someone from House Deshar.
Sadly for them, the Kraft erupted at that time, covering all 3 of them. The other 2 assassins were shocked, the piercing screams of their comrades enough to make them immediately stop where they were and back up.
"Ha, what an unlucky brat. Getting hit twice by a geyser. I don't know how he managed to survive the first time, but it seems the universe wants him dead. Once the geyser subsides, you 2 go in and get the bodies. Now that there are only 3 of us, the rewards we personally get will be more!"
The 2 assassins really where excited. With this, they would be able to go a long time without taking any contracts. Retirement looked all the more closer to them. Because of this, they failed to notice the cold glint that flashed through the leaders eyes as he said this.
'Fools, why do you think the Mistress sent me with you 4 idiots, did you really believe that excuse of me knowing the area wel?. For daring to take on the contract against House Deshar we put up, don't even think about seeing the sunset.'
Of course, he knew that he was only ordered to do this to keep things quiet. But its better to give yourself a noble reason. With that thought, he lunged at the 2 of them from behind once they got closer.
With the 3 distracted, no one noticed the change Stratos was currently going through. They probably won't have been able to notice i tanyway, but that's besides the point