As victor got the confirmation from the system that his mother can be traced, he was really happy that the system can perform that task but also worried because according to the system, She will be in major danger in the following days.
'I have to complete the quest fast or I will regret it for the rest of my life' said victor as his sanity started to decorate just the thought of what happened to his mother before but the skill came to help him calm down and relax a little.
'system, What the condition needed to be complete for the quest' said victor hurriedly in his mind.
[Master, System job is to use any means necessary to help Master achieve any goal. Master's mother being a blood relative with the same DNA has its data in the world's database taken by the Eden system but it will take a long time to search for the exact DNA similarities among billion of people. So to make it easier to search for the right person, System has provided a quest that needs to be completed in a specific time. It will be both beneficial for the Master and Master's mother.]
[New Quest Available]
[Quest: A bond created by blood]
[Mission: Rescue, Master's mother is in an unlucky position and she has been forced to join in an alliance for protection and survival. She can be used as a cannon folder if she is not saved in time. If the Master cannot complete the quest in time, Her system authority will be revoked and can lead to death through the unknown measure. Master is advised to control his anger and achieve the mission successfully.]
[Condition needed to be fulfilled]
: Achieve top 1 in ranking for 20 hours straight.
: Achieve world announcement through the different methods to gain reputation.
[Reward: Can Give Points to Loved ones, Tracing Speed increase]
'Hmm... isn't this a nice surprise? I was worried about how can I protect mom as I can't just let her battle beasts but this makes it easier for me' sighed victor as he saw light in the darkness which was consuming him over time. He was worried that during the fighting, a beast can sneak up on her and attack, or worse case she might get poisoned or killed by another human.
'Thanks, System for the quest but how do I complete the world announcement quest' Asked victor he was quite confused but he did have a theory about how it worked.
[Master, Quest is just for increasing Master's popularity which will make it so that Master's mother will try to keep in contact with Master making it easier to trace her exact location. World announcements are like an achievement that can be earned through completing certain requirements that will be impossible complete for a normal person and the first person that completes the requirement his/her name will be announced as an achiever from the world system.]
"Hahaha, is it like placing a big bounty on my head as everyone will have their attention toward me but fuck it! If it helps in finding mother then just some bullshit popularity isn't that bad right, System? All I am doing is just some killing right who's gonna say I am doing anything bad?" said victor as a little light expectation came into his heart of finding her.
Victor looked at his ranking and saw that others were catching up, so he ran in the direction of the arrow. He knew he cannot lose 1st position at any cost so If any weak beast came near his sight, all got killed as no one was spared. In an hour, he encounters eight F-rank insects, frog, bunny, and worm increasing his rank rapidly. sometimes he even had gone overboard and gotten hurt all over his body, his left arm still injured, his Right leg full of scratches, his back had a bite mark, and a broken left shoulder.
Victor was still walking and putting some herbs that had been identified through the system's help to heal faster. His body was covered with leaves and anyone can smell the fragrance of herbal medicine. Although Victor isn't a doctor, System helped him find the right medicine to heal the different injuries with the method to apply those medicines to different parts of the body.
In the air, a hint of iron started to mix and a bloody smell started to sweep throughout the forest. Victor on the path got the whiff of the iron and got interested but was also cautious that a sudden smell of blood isn't a good sign. He was still curious about the smell so he moved toward where the smell of iron was strongest.
As victor got near a path that had been created through continuous trampling of some heavy beasts. He followed the path and saw an area of 10 meters filled with blood spattered all over the grass and some blood was still a little fresh. Some human parts like clothes and arms were scattered around the place.
This place looks like a bloody battlefield with footprints all over the place with blood and human body parts squashed into a paste. Victor didn't feel too much different about the dreadful scenery and looked around for any clue and found many big footprints overlapping a human's footprint. The location looked more like a person was killed by being trampled than in a battle. A knife was on the ground with blood covering most of its part, so victor didn't notice it at first but the shiny part caught his eye.
[Rusty knife]
[Durability: 6/10]
Victor cleaned the knife and put some venom on it and kept it in storage. A knife is a one-handed weapon with low durability that gets its durability lost with every strike done. There are some chances when the durability doesn't decrease but victor's knife only has 4 durability so he played safe by finding a replacement.
A trail of blood that was leading deeper toward the forest 'Looks like these humans here have been trampled by beasts and dragged deeper into the forest. Many of these footprints are covered with blood trail and all of them lead the same way so if any possible reason all of them are gathering is because a predator attacked them and ran, or someone is calling these beasts to come together and not attack each other' thought, Victor, as there was no sign of fighting between Beasts rather just footprint going in the same way.
Victor followed the bloody path until he saw an ancient tree that had no tree around it as if other trees are avoiding that single tree. Many bloody paths were connected to that tree and they all Ended at the tree as the last point.
The environment was filled with the smell of iron and many beasts surrounded the tree but no one was fighting each other and just standing there like a loyal dog waiting for its master. Victor was surprised to see so many F and E rank beasts close to each other and not get influenced by the red moon.
Victor got near one of the beasts and it still didn't react but just stood there with no reaction suddenly a message popped on his screen
[Skill: Calm heart and soul (Activated) ]
[Skill: Upgrade skill to→D]
[Condition: Withstand bloodlust and aura of rank E beast 2/20]
'Huh, why is the skill is being used? is something attacking my mind?' thought victor as he was shocked to see that the skill activated again. Most of the time the skill works passively but it got activated forcefully by the System means something is trying to attack his soul and emotion.
'Heh, It's this tree, right? I don't think this many beasts will be peaceful without any ruckus if somebody wasn't controlling them. Hey System, is the tree attacking with spiritual pressure or aura?' Said victor as he thought he guessed it right.
[Master, it's not the tree but its guardian [Mind eater worm]: A subspecies of silk worn but these species tend to go toward mind attack and have the ability to control any being with lower mind status than itself. These species have a soft body but it compensates it with slaves it makes by controlling other beast's minds. At the moment, The Mind eater worm is in the process of creating a slave army of Beast because all the beasts have less rationality and will not think properly. It attracts the beast through the scent of the Divine fruits and makes them slaves, after being slaves no beast escapes its grasp. This species is also known because of many possibilities of causing beast tide and they are found on trees with rare fruits or herbs on them. During the slave-making movement, No slaves can move and defend themselves as they lost all their thinking capabilities. So, it uses time like this to make slaves and other times hide among trees with camouflage. Most of these species get killed by Beasts due to their habit of trying to control others so they have a low population.]
Victor was shocked to listen that a single bug can control all these beasts stronger than itself, Even he would have been a slave if not for his skills constantly fighting with the worm's brain attack. He was thinking of killing the bug but a message came from the system
[Master, A New quest is available to open.]
[Condition: Use the Mind eater bug to its fulfillest capacity without killing it]
[Reward: Upgrade of skill calm heart and soul to Rank B]
'Use the bug to its full capacity, hmm... can I not just use this to attract other E and F rank beasts? while it tries to make them slaves I will just kill them and gain points. Haha... I was so close to killing my golden goose, don't worry buddy I will keep you safe and secure till the end of the event' thought victor with a vicious smile as he knew that the monster can't move after the bug started to gain control of them and the bug itself cannot harm him.
Victor started to run around cutting the throat/ air pipes of the beast with ease like a run in the park. No beast put up any resistance and he killed almost 40 F rank and 3 E rank beasts.
Suddenly, a warp of herbal scent started to sweep from the tree and almost attracted any being to just attack it and snatch that treasure. Victor was little affected by it but recovered and realise how this worm attract other beasts.
Soon, In almost 3 minutes a herd of beasts with horns like a goat and bodies covered with mud started to run toward the tree. Likewise, a lizard with sharp teeth and a Bird with a beak like an eagle, and many more started to run toward the tree.
Any beast that comes, 20 meters from the tree halt its feet and slow down near the tree and stand there peacefully. Victor who was unaffected started to murder those beasts which have shown sluggishness. In this batch alone he killed 5 E rank beasts, After a few minutes, again the process repeated.
This continued until victor killed 10 more E-rank beasts. A sudden notification came to his mind from the system
[Skill: Calm heart and soul (Activated) ]
[Skill: Upgrading skill to→D]
[Condition: Withstand bloodlust and aura of rank E beast 20/20]
'hmm... so killing also does the job I guess' thought victor as he was curious about what might be an upgraded skill.
[skill upgrading to D rank.... skill successfully upgraded....calamity of Heart and soul ]
[Skill: Calamity of heart and soul]
Rank: D
function: Soul healing, Decreases and accumulate the negative impact of emotion and skill of opponent related to soul and feelings.
Effect: A passive skill that will calm down the heart rate and balance body function with nourishment to the soul but also store all the negative emotions that can be used as a weapon of mass destruction during the need of time.{After Calm comes the calamity, accumulate the negative emotion and release a powerful attack. Stronger the emotion, the more powerful the attack.}]
[Master, New quest available to open]
What might be the new quest that the mysterious system gave to Victor?