Soren's fully repaired body lay on the invisible ground.
The darkness permeating every part of this world, except for the same two orbs of light on opposing sides.
One a blinding white light, the other an unsuspecting burgundy.
His eyes flashed open, mind confused and not used to this transition.
The lack of scenery and abundance of everyday colors here was always disconcerting.
Adjusting to his newly found body that wasn't bloodied or dismembered, he stood up, taking a look around. Maybe there would be something different this time just how there was last time.
This was not the case. Everything was the same.
'That book said that we could only choose from the side we picked the first time, so why is that white light still here?'
He was supposed to get a new ability from his most recent death.
'That light should have still disappeared though, right?'
Zooming in, he heard the familiar, but still unpleasing inhuman voice.
"Do you choose this heavenly ability?"
Turning away slightly confused, his stats screen showed up.
[-Name: Soren Lopel-]
[-Affiliation: Demonic Candidate-]
[-Worlds Ascended: 1-]
[-Physical Attributes-]
[-STR: 4-]
[-AGI: 7-]
[-END: 5-]
[-VIT: 8-]
[-RS: 8-]
(----View Abilities----)
(-----View Items-----)
[--Enter Next World--]
'Hmm, demonic? I don't like it. I need to get my stats up. I want them to be high, no I want them to be better than anyone else.'
Soren wasn't sure how he was going to deal with his fights.
'That multiplier can cause catastrophic changes in someone's stats. I have to be prepared to deal with them.'
His last fight against the spider taught him a few things. One, he was weak right now, he didn't have high stats and his ability wasn't any good currently. Two, his reaction speed was incredibly useful and was the sole reason he didn't straight-up die. This was his biggest advantage right now. Lastly, the spider had something similar to lightning which increased its speed and applied paralysis.
'Were monsters meant to have those?'
He looked back at his status.
'There's a new option? View Items?'
'I don't remember getting an item.'
Clicking on it, a new screen popped up. This time there was not a whole lot on the screen.
[-Items-]
[-You can only have 1 active at a time-]
[-Current Items: Shocking Speed-]
'Wow, how nice of them to tell me I can only have one active. How do I even activate it?'
He tried focusing on the item name and surprisingly, first try, additional information popped up.
[-Shocking Speed(Inactive +/-): Double the speed of any body part/s and if said body part pierces an opponent, paralysis will occur for 1 second-]
'And I get a definition? These Celestials are treating me so well.'
He may have thought that, but realistically, he was forced to play this game.
Pressing the plus button, the interface changed showing its completion.
[-Items-]
[-You can only have 1 active at a time-]
[-Current Items: Shocking Speed(X)-]
'This will help me in all my future fights, but it didn't say there were any limits. I'm not going to believe that though, I need to experiment and gain experience with it to find out. Can't have it randomly cut off mid-fight.'
Thinking about his newly found item which was more like an acquirable ability. That didn't make any sense to him, but he was more interested in something else.
He was supposed to get his first non-permanent ability after his latest death.
Even though he knew it probably wasn't there, he checked his abilities anyway.
(-Abilities-)
(Permanent Ability: Ability Plundering: Low chance to swap any current non-permanent ability with any slain enemy ability.
(1: Deaths needed = 0)
(2: Deaths needed = 5)
(3: Deaths needed = 10)
(4: Deaths needed = 15)
(5: Deaths needed = 20)
(6: Deaths needed = 25)
(7: Deaths needed = 30)
(8: Deaths needed = 35)
(9: Deaths needed = 40)
(10: Deaths needed = 45)
'Yep, alright time for me to make a decision. I shouldn't be able to, but I can pick a heavenly ability even though I already picked demonic before.'
This wasn't the hardest decision he's made, no, in fact, it was quite easy. Who wouldn't want to be on both teams? Just pick the team that's winning.
'No one could suspect anything because you can't normally do this so, heavenly it is. Maybe they're winning whatever war that's going on.'
He looked into the white light for the first time with expectation, not used to such a bright color at all.
The prompt sounded, "Do you choose this heavenly ability?"
"Yep."
With that, the light brightened, becoming more like a sun that made one look away.
And then the brightness faded, the orb turning into its normal bright white color.
He hurriedly clicked on his abilities tab.
(-Abilities-)
(Permanent Ability: Ability Plundering: Low chance to swap any non-permanent ability with any slain enemy ability)
(1: Gods Plea: When begging for your life, you gain 5x strength for 5 minutes)
(2: Deaths needed = 5)
(3: Deaths needed = 10)
(4: Deaths needed = 15)
(5: ...)
Soren blinked once, then twice. Unbelieving of what he saw.
'I have to beg for my life? Me? The one who should have everything I desire. Begging, seriously?'
'While the activation is unreasonable, the effect is quite good. A 5x boost to strength for saying some demeaning words. Wonderful.'
This was something he would get rid of. He wanted nothing more than to change it out right here and now, but he couldn't.
Sighing, he thought, 'At least, it's usable and pairs with Shocking Speed.'
He had begun to become comfortable here in the void, however much someone could anyway.
Because this was the case, he laid back on the see-through ground and rested his eyes. His thoughts floated around this whole situation. He missed his parents, more so than he ever had. He missed their teachings and philosophy on life.
Soren wasn't sure if he was making them proud or not, but that didn't matter.
'Whatever this eternal battle is, I will win. I will win for myself and not for the celestials who are watching from somewhere else.'
With this last thought, he fell into a slumber.