The distant celestial bodies shone brightly in the night sky, illuminating the woodlands of Bolbaran.
Constant howlings of mysterious beasts can be heard while numerous luminescent lifeforms lit the deeper parts of the forest.
The night was tranquil, as the wind blew its soothing sigh.
***
Gasp
Raven suddenly woke up.
Feeling the cold ground beneath him, he quickly stood up.
The surroundings was dark.
Peeking outside the window, he saw that it was now night.
"It seems that I've passed out earlier."
Raven silently muttered to himself.
Although he prided himself over his mental fortitude due to his previous profession, he can't help but be driven in excitement towards spells like a child that was given a new toy.
Since he can now use his internal energy without reserve, he studied various combinations of essences earlier. Raven even applied some physics knowledge behind them while observing the process of its formulation through the system.
It's been quite productive as Raven's horizon was constantly being broadened regarding the mysterious energies that governed this mysterious world.
Well, although he did all those activities in a smaller scale, he forgot that his energy wasn't infinite, causing him to immediately pass out when it hit rock bottom.
"Fuuuuuuu..."
Taking a deep breath, he conjured a fire ball in his right hand.
Crackle
He then threw it at the distant torch hanging on the wall.
Whooosh
Crackle
Seeing the torch being lit, Raven's countenance broke into a grin.
He was really satisfied by the insta-casting ability provided by the system.
He can now use it in a fight!
Crackle
Under the torch's blaze, he walked towards Uriel to check her condition.
"Mm. Her breathing was much more stabler than a while ago."
Raven quietly said.
Seeing that Uriel's condition was now beginning to stabilize, the day of her recovery will be just around the corner.
"Right! There were more additional functions unlocked after the upgrade. I also remember seeing a shop on one of its modules."
Raven silently exclaimed. He nearly forgot about the other stuff because of how immersed he was when he discovered insta-casting.
'I wonder if there were some medicine that Uriel can use over there', he thought.
"System."
Ding!
[ Profile ]
[ Shop ]
'There you are. Shop!'
Ding!
[ Weapons ]
Steel Knife - 5 SP
Steel Sword - 15 SP
Steel Axe - 15 SP ...
[ Armors ]
Leather Gloves - 20 SP
Steel Helmet - 20 SP
Leather Pauldrons - 25 SP ...
[ Elixirs ]
Minor Energy Potion - 20 SP
Minor Stimulant Potion - 50 SP
Body Cleansing Solution - 120 SP ...
[ Spells ]
Plasma Pulse - 100 SP
Wind Tendrils - 150 SP
Earth Scorcher - 200 SP ...
[ Miscellaneous ] ...
Seeing rows upon rows of items being listed below the 'Shop', Raven can't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva.
Numerous items of different values dazzled his entire view. Weapons, armors, elixirs, and even spells were present!
"SP? What is SP?"
This was the only thing that he was quite confused about.
{SP stands for Soul Points. Soul Points will be the main currency for all the transaction within the system. Collect Soul Points through soul extraction.}
A mechanical voice then quickly answered his question.
After hearing the answer, he was a bit stunned. Although the system didn't directly said it, he knew what the system wants him to do.
He basically needs to kill.
Everything that he will kill and extract a soul from will net him some soul points, which then will be in turn used for any transaction within the system.
"Does the system wants me to be some sort of a murder maniac?"
Shaking his head helplessly, he continued while sighing.
"So how many SP do I currently have?"
The answer also swiftly presented itself.
Ding!
[ SP: 0 ]
Raven's right eye twitched slightly towards the figure.
He expected it to be low, it was the starting money after all. You know, to test things out.
But he didn't expected it to be zero!
A flat zero!
Even nightmare difficulty in games would let the player off with a crude sword or something.
But heck, this mode didn't even let him buy a knife!
Well, it was the real life after all.
He can only brush it off with a dejected sigh.
"Looks like I need to work harder from now on."
When suddenly...
Crash!
Roar!
A loud crashing sound echoed outside, accompanied by two different types of beast roars that shook the atmosphere.
"What the fuck is going on?"
Raven frowned instantly, darting towards the only window in their house.
The luminous bugs outside scattered like buzzing flies, as dust and rumbling rocks broke the surroundings.
There, Raven saw two silhouettes battling each other out. The glow from the sky cascaded down their enormous bodies.
One is an eight-meter bipedal beast, pounding the ground with its two huge arms. Rocks and trees broke whenever its arms hit something.
The other one was a quadruped. It only reached five meters in height, but its nimbleness was surprisingly high for its giant stature.
Roar!
Standing on its hind legs, the quadruped beast suddenly roared towards the sky, runic symbols lit up on its neck.
Whooosh
The calm breeze drifting by the forest then turned into a gale, as a huge force beckoned them to coalesce into the maw of the quadruped beast.
As if sensing the impending danger, runic symbols also glowed on the bipedal beast's chest.
Rumble
Rocks from everywhere seems to be magnetized onto its body, covering it entirely.
Raven was dumbfounded by the intensity of the two monster's fight. It was a first for him to witness a battle in such a grand scale.
Only 3D, CGIed movies back on Earth can compare to this kind of exciting scene!
But although he want to continue watching, he knew it wasn't the time because the safety of him and Uriel will be jeopardized.
"We need to get out of here."
Seeing the ever growing ball of destruction forming on the quadruped beast's mouth, Raven knew he only got a little bit of time.
Not dallying anymore, he swiftly picked up Uriel into his embrace and opened a concealed door from the ground, quickly jumping towards it.
Thud
Closing the door, he ran swiftly away from the vicinity.
When suddenly...
Boom!
An explosion so strong, even the atmosphere shook due to its intensity.
Huge tremors shook the hidden passageway, as debris of different sizes fell from it.
Swish
Raven calmly darted between the falling debris while protecting Uriel in his arms.
Now that his soul has completely recovered and is much more stronger than before, the sensitivity of his senses have increased by an unbelievable amount even without activating Oracleosis, dodging all the falling debris with ease.
Whooosh
Finally getting out of the passageway, Raven then retreated towards a high place which he had assigned for emergencies before.
Boom!
Another explosion sounded.
Raven even stumbled slightly from that one even though the distance between him and the battle was now very far.
"What monstrous creatures!"
Observing the chaos from afar, he can't help but mutter in amazement towards those beasts.
It was a heartfelt admiration from him since this battle wasn't some false videographic effects.
It was a real one, a live one!
"From the past year that I've been here, it was the only time that this kind of situation happened. Could it be connected to the disaster that occurred earlier?"
Now that they were in a much more safer place, Raven started having some speculations towards this puzzling incident.
He saw numerous territorial fights between beasts during the past year that he stayed in the forest, but none can compare to this one.
It was like comparing some stupid gang fights to a country border war.
The magnitude was on a completely different scale!
Even though there was a chance that some other factors also resulted into this kind of mess, he thought that the only variable that can trigger those factors will be the disaster that occurred back when the system was upgrading.
"But I think this situation favored me greatly."
Disasters and opportunities were the two sides of the same coin after all.
What did Raven currently lacked in the moment? Wasn't it Soul Points?
Then those two rampaging beasts were a god-sent opportunity for him!
"Fufu... go on, give it all your best. Fight each other to death."
Coldly chuckling, his eyes narrowed as a plan brewed through his mind.
< Chapter 12 > Fin.