It has been two days since Ben and his two subordinates had started travelling. They have not even rested properly in these two days, and kept walking till their body started hurting. This prompted them to stop and rest for a while. So they sat down to relax a bit.
After relaxing his body, Ben checked his system interface.
[Universal beast system]
[Owner: Ben clarckson]
[Ability: Flame thrower (+)]
[Skill: Basic physical skills]
[System ability: Absorb Urja, Language translator]
[Urja level:190= 265]
[Power level: 380= 535]
[Create abilities/skills]
[Subordination limit: 2]
[System mission: Conquer the Jasper forest.]
[Time limit: Two months]
[Reward : A useful ability]
..
..
His Urja level increased from 190 to 265, and Power level crossed half the mark of a thousand.
During their journey, Ben had come to know that the Urja absorbing talent of the system was not so simple as to just kill and absorb. Whoever kills first will get the whole urja.
His system will go full on deductive mode once either of his subordinates got in a battle.
It will determine whether their opponents are strong enough.
If the opponent turns out to be strong enough for the current level of Ben then the system will not let his subordinates completely absorb their Urja. Most raw urja will be transferred to Ben and a small amount would be given to his subordinates.
This will only work when their opponents are strong. If they are weak enough for the current Ben then the system will let most urja be absorbed by his subordinates.
This mechanism is there to prevent a situation where his subordinates could become more powerful than him someday.
Just like when Bob and Job both pursued and killed that black haired adventurer woman.
The system didn't let her urja be absorbed by any of them. It simply waited for both of them to bring back the body to let Ben absorb it himself.
The adventurer was considered powerful enough to be useful for Ben's current growth so the system let him absorb the Urja.
If their distances had been too far apart then without any other choice, the system would have let his two subordinates absorb the urja, and through that transfer most of it to Ben.
'This system seems to be capable of independent thoughts….I wonder whether I am some experimental pawn of a very powerful being out there in the Universe.'
Ding!
[Owner is not some experimental pawn…..there is no powerful being controlling the System. System is alone. Owner got the system, and was thrown into this world….all of this was just an accident.]
'Huh what? An accident? and you really can read all my thoughts huh? I am being creeped out here you know?.'
[....No comments….]
'Okay okay, What kind of accident? Can you tell me? I want to know everything, including how I died, and how I came here.'
Ding!
[System can wake up a memory of the previous owner of the system, and give that memory to the current owner. The memory contains what the owner wants to know about.]
'Wait! Previous owner?....there was a previous owner?'
Ben was a bit shocked. He realised that his transmigration wasn't so simple, there were too many mysteries involved!.
'...Okay give the memory to me, don't make it painful though..!!!!' He couldn't finish his inner sentence before losing consciousness due to an extreme level of headache.
…
Inside a deep forest filled with tall trees everywhere. At the corner of one of the trees sat three creatures. These creatures included two goblins and one Lion.
Yes, they were Ben and his two goblin subordinates Bob and Job. On their way to the south, they had dug a big hole and buried their friend Pop.
Ben wanted to at least give his short lived subordinate a respectful burial so he ordered Bob and Job to dig a hole. They had also erected a stone on the ground with the name Pop.
The two goblins noticed their boss closing his eyes so they didn't dare to disturb his sleep. They simply moved a bit closer to guard him from any sudden attacks from wild beasts.
These two had matured a bit after experiencing that incident which had made them lose one of their companions.
….
Deep inside Ben's Consciousness, a scene was currently being played repeatedly before the eyes of a tawny yellow coloured beastly figure. That beastly figure was Ben.
He was currently seeing the scene of his previous self travelling in a plain African forest while guiding a group of travellers in a third person's perspective.
He saw all the things including how so many black portals appeared and wreaked havoc everywhere. How he saved a little child but in the end everyone died including himself.
Lastly, he saw how brutally he had died, and his body together with a Lion fell inside a dark portal.
After seeing all this, Ben shook his head and sighed…
'It is enough...get me out of this system!.'
With his order, the system didn't disappoint, and quickly let him wake up in real life.
Outside, Ben slowly opened his eyes and inspected his surroundings. He was feeling dizzy all over, his surroundings seemed to be moving in a zigZag pattern.
After a while, the dizziness disappeared, and Ben calmed down his nerves before he began to recall what he had seen in that dark space.
All the scenes he had seen, everything became clear again!. He felt a sense of familiarity.
'No wonder! It seems like this lion was the true owner of this system, but due to some unforeseen events I had accidentally become its owner, replacing this Lion's consciousness, and taking over his body.'
Some of the mysteries became clear to him. He now at least knows how he was transmigrated here.
'Those black portals must be somehow connected to my transmigration. No matter what, I have to travel back to Earth, and find out my secrets or maybe this world could also have some clues regarding those black portals.'
All these things didn't bother him much, he could find out more about them in the future after becoming powerful enough to be worthy of knowing those secrets.
Presently, what intrigued him so much was the system, and this Lion. How did this system come into existence, and how can that Lion become its Owner?
The system once told him that it was created by someone, and it had the mission to create Universal beasts. It seems like currently there is no one controlling the system.
This could lead to many possibilities. Maybe the creator had died long ago, and now the system was alone finding owners everywhere creating powerful Universal beasts.
Or maybe the system is being lied to. It may doesn't even know that it is currently being controlled by someone.
There were other possibilities as well but Ben wasn't some genius intellectual that could think of countless possibilities at once, and simply choose the most appropriate possibility to reach a conclusion. No, he didn't have such an ability.
'Maybe I could simply create an ability or skill that could make my mind sharper...but I don't think energy could do that...it could also be very painful...whatever! Everything comes down to Power anyway. If I was very powerful then wouldn't I be able to know all kinds of secrets? I should keep increasing my strength plus with the creation ability I could become very overpowered.'
Ben decided to keep focusing on increasing his strength, he didn't find it worthwhile to increase his brain sharpness at least for now. He didn't even know what to do to increase it.
He was mostly an average person based on intellect. He couldn't come up with a perfect solution for every situation like a main character from some novel.
'If I become so powerful, filled with almost every overpowered abilities and talents then won't I be almost invincible? My Brain sharpness would automatically increase with my increase in power and experience too.'
After thinking of this, and deciding his future paths Ben suddenly stood up.
Seeing his actions, Bob and Job, who were eating some roasted meat, also hurriedly stood up.
"How far are we from the South area?."Asked Ben while staring at his two subordinates.
Hearing his question, Bob replied.
"It is not that far, we are very close to the south. After crossing that big, ancient tree with many claw marks left behind by the grey wolves we would officially enter the woods of the south area."
Ben nodded to show his understanding. According to Bob, the wild beast groups of this forest seemed to leave behind their marks on some very ancient things like trees, rocks etc to warn others.
Those Ancient things are easy to identify among a group of ordinary things. Like the tree that is being used as a marking point by the Grey wolves. The tree is much thicker and larger than the other trees nearby.
It also emits a kind of vibe which makes others instantly identify it as a very old tree. Other beasts or adventurers travelling here could identify them, and avoid those dangerous areas.
The pathway from the West to the South area was connected to this tree. Not ony these two pathways, all the pathways leading to other areas were connected in some other way.
Every pathway had some unique marks left behind by other beast groups to indicate that this area was their turf.
All these signs or marks can only be understood by those who are experienced or have already gathered some form of intelligence.
Otherwise, a complete newbie like Ben would not be able to figure out which area had what group of beasts.