A gust of wind blew through my air, and I opened my eyes. I was in a forest surrounded by Blackwood Trees and Shadowdust Berry Bushes. My eyes gleamed, and I immediately brought one of the spatial rings close to the berries, sucking them into the ring. I then brought out a sharp foraging knife and started to chop off some of the bark of the Blackwood Trees.
'These bark pieces and berries will be extremely beneficial, both in cultivation and using the bark to craft armor.' I started to walk away before I heard a number of growls. I gulped. I slowly turned my head back, only to see a number of Duskfang Bears.
'I'm an idiot,' I thought while creeping backward slowly. Suddenly, I turned and ran. The bears let out a roar of rage and chased after me. I put my spatial ring before saying a command. "Start System."
Numerous panels started to appear around me, as well as a grey eye appeared at the top right corner of my vision with the number 1 right next to it. Soon after, I heard a feminine voice.
"Welcome, User. The Tutorial for the System of Killing will now begin. Please select your starting- "
"My respects to Administrator Mira of the 4th Division in the Administrating Division of the System of Killing," I said respectfully. "As for my starting class, I would like to see the Hidden Selection."
"Two questions. First, how does a mortal like you know my name? And second, Soul Coins will be extracted if you would like to access a class from the Hidden Selection. Are you sure? You don't seem like a Soul Adventurer to me . . ."
I was waving a Crimson Soul Token in front of my vision so that she could see. "First, take a look at that. And this time, I'll definitely save you from ■■■." I paused. "Oh, you can't hear that. Well, last time, I was your lover. This run, I will succeed. Mira, give me Void Combatant as my Hidden Class. For my Attribute, System of Killing. My Elemental Circles will be Void and Black Soul Lightning."
"User Authorized. Alex Cyatri, 1st Ranker in Immortal Rating of his previous life, has started his 153rd Run in Midgard."
[Emergency Quest Delivered]
[Quest Info: Hunt half of the Duskfang Bears chasing you.]
[Bonus: A top 10 Ranker will appear to hunt the remaining 5.]
[Additional Buffs: Basic God Stats will be temporarily given.]
[Rewards: +100 Kill Counter, Stage 2 of Void Mastery]
[Failure: Death]
Quest . . . Begin!
During the period of time that I was selecting my starting powers, time was frozen. Once the word "Begin" was said, a burst of power shot into my body, as well as the bears being given the ability to move again. I smirked.
'Oh, this feels so nice,' I thought. 'Even if it was a fraction of my old power, it contrasted the large difference between my current power and the power of a Basic God.'
I imagined a black saber forming in my hands, as well as sleek black armor covering my body, extending backward like dragon wings. This was the Soul version of the B-Rating armor Black Dragon's Guardian Armor that I had created in my last run.
[Author's Note #1: "Run" in this story means last life, last incarnation in a world.]
The bears skidded to a halt, fear showing in their eyes. They tried to run away, but it was way too late. I mimicked slashing a saber. This resulted in slashing the black saber upwards, and the large black saber hovering in front of me did the exact same movement. The bears in a row were cut into neat little halves while keeping their Soul Cores intact.
In a fluid motion, the black saber disappeared after cutting the bears in half while I dashed forward and put my palms and hands together.
"Oh, you really are quite interesting, Soul Master. This is the Bodhisattva Hand Technique, is it not?" Mira questioned.
'I'm BUSY! Ask me this later when I'm NOT trying to focus on manipulating an Intermediate Deity Ranked Technique when my Physique is High Mortal Tier.' I thought furiously back. It was true; I needed my concentration for this, otherwise, my body might burn up from the strain of using a technique that required immense bodily strength.
"First Hand, Buddha's Divine Strike!", a loud voice shouted around me.
A golden aura encased my hand and started to slowly approach the last remaining bear, accelerating as time passed. In a few seconds, the bear had a palm indent on its chest, with white foam leaking out of its mouth and eyes rolling into the back of its head.
A golden bead flew out of its chest and into my Void Space, while I was stringing together different magic commands. These were magic commands to link my Void Space as well as my Personal Armory together.
DING!
[Emergency Quest Complete]
[Basic God Stats Revoked. Top 10 Rating Ranker will appear shortly]
[Stage 2 Void Mastery Unlocked // +100 Kill Counter]
[Quest Clear Rating (Under 3 Minutes): SSS+]
[Bonus Reward: Baby Pet of User's Choice]
The bears immediately noticed the drop in my aura after the God Stats were revoked and started to charge back at me, rage clearly visible in their eyes.
"You better run, 'cause there's no chance that you can survive against 5 Dusk-" she warned.
"Twist and turn, space of this Earth. Bend to my will. Open . . . Gateway to the Endless Void!" I chanted while holding my left hand out and making two circular motions with my right hand. Numerous small black holes appeared around the bodies of the bears, leaving small gaping holes throughout the corpses.
"Oh, my!" Mira exclaimed. "How intriguing . . . "
[Notification: Top 10 Ranker will not come. Hidden Quest Started!]
[Hidden Quest: Kill remaining Duskfang Bears]
[Rewards: +2 to all Stats, Unique Stats Fully Unlocked]
My eyes widened, in both shock and excitement. I licked my lips, and a sadistic grin spread across my face.
"Let the Killing begin," I muttered.
Abruptly, the black holes widened to the size of he bears themselves, and white teeth started to form at the edges of the black holes. Immediately, the black holes greedily stretched to encompass the bears in the endless space, resulting in multiple loud sounds of crunching. Then they shrunk into nothing.
"Kekekeke. How interesting. There seems to be a little child here slaughtering our Duskfang Bears." a voice chuckled lightly.
I immediately looked up, and my face turned stone-cold. There were demons in the trees rustling above me, and they definitely didn't look very friendly.
However, before I went to deal with that, who helped with the First-Hand technique?