Reading the message once again, Lucielle finally felt that all these years of of being mistreated, abused, judged, and running for her life were worth it. Already knowing her answer a faint trace of a smile would grace Lucielle's pristine face as she mentally shouted out her reply 'Yes!'
Lucielle was about to ask the System what it meant by a bit of pain when lightining arced across her brain and she gritted her teeth. A frown formed on her face as she felt the top of her head exploding in pain as two gloriously teal horns erupted from the top of her head. Thinking quickly Lucielle yanked her hoodie up over her head as to hide the horns she had suddenly acquired.
'System what the hell?!? A warning about horns popping out of my head would have been nice to have!' Thankfully the horns weren't too large but they were definitely noticeable with her hair being up in a pony tail. She glanced over at the nearest teenagers but it looked like they hadn't noticed anything so Lucielle breathed a sigh of relief.
In the last 3 years, Lucielle was only just Gate diving but had also sunk a large amount of time into finding out every little thing she could about Lucifer and the Catholic-Christian God. Sadly there was not much as interest in the deity and his angel had died out rapidly in the last three hundred years since the intrusion of the gates.
From among the various tid bits Lucielle had managed to gather she began to craft her own theory about what had happened to God and herself. She theorized something major must have happened before the opening of the Gates that finished her off and silenced God from assisting his faithful when the Gates were opened and the other Gods began to appear. Though with so little information she had no clue whether her theory was accurate or if she was completely off the mark.
The only thing she did know was that if she continued to follow the System she'd become more powerful and that was more than enough motivation for her to continue to dive into the Gates. Snapping back to the present Lucielle stared at the System window before giving her answer. 'Yes I wish to use the Random Skill Token'
Reading the System messages Lucielle felt a shift in her being. It was if the skill was in the palm of his hands and eyes. It felt as natural as breathing but looking down at her hands she saw no flame resting there nor was there any flames flickering in her eyes either when she checked her reflection in her phone.
It took great self restraint but Lucielle managed to resist the urge to use her new found ability in plain sight. She decided to keep it hidden for now lest others find out she's no longer the powerless wall flower she had always been. Another faint smile graced her lips as she was now looking forward to this Gate with more anticipation than she ever had, but also at the fact that she would soon be able to exact her revenge on the various people that had wronged her.
'Relax girl. We can't be exposing ourselves too early. Who knows how far the news would travel if all these people saw us finally awaken an ability. At the very least we should wait till we get into the dungeon and the herd gets thinned out a bit before we start showing off.' She sighed and shifted her gaze back out towards the black desert.
After so many years, Lucielle finally understood what it felt like for people to always talk about controlling their own powers. Even though she had never controlled flames in her entire life, Lucielle instinctively knew how to control the HellFire she now possessed. However she felt like these flames were a lot weaker than their name would suggest.
Remembering the Systems earlier message it had said to her, Lucielle shifted her eyes and noticed a new prompt called Profile had appeared where the timer had previously been. She mentally called out the word 'Profile' and watched as a screen with a stat sheet appeared before her.
Name: Lucielle Everstar
Level: 1, EXP 0/10
HP:10/10
Strength: 10
Agility: 10
Stamina: 10
Spirit: 15
Skills:
Hellfire Lvl. 1: A signature technique of your former life that grants you the power of hellfire. Originally a fire that was capable of burning the sins out of countless souls and hot enough to burn even Deities capable of wielding Divine Fire. Sadly they have been diminished in strength to the point of nearly losing their power to burn souls and barely even being stronger than normal flames but this can be rectified by burning away the sins of others or even burning the sinners themselves. System Note: At the height of this skills power it was even hot enough to make Even Sun Gods and Prometheus himself scream in agony.
Reading the description of the skill Lucielle's eyes widened in amazement until they nearly popped out of their sockets. She knew the powers that Gods blessed them with in the awakening could be strengthened over time, but she had never heard of such a nefarious way of improvement! 'Why do I feel like I'm being set up to be a now?'
From what she had researched, the most remarkable improvement was of a Slayer who, when she was first awakened, received a healing power. Initially she could only heal minor external wounds such as paper cuts and scrapes but with years of continual usage as well as praying to her respective God ,and additional training. Her power became strong enough to heal larger and more severe wounds, or even regenerating small appendages such as fingers and toes. Of course, her Rank was a high one.
Now the skill she had acquired was barely more than a common flame with the passive effect of burning souls, but according to what the skill description said she could level the ability higher through the burning of sins or of sinners themselves and eventually even be able to harm a God. How crazy is this System and by extension herself?!? It was insane enough that even she, for a fraction of a second, believed this power was actually a Rank SSS power.... but that thought didn't linger in her mind for very long as she quickly grounded herself.
In all these years of being abused, mistreated, and fighting for her own life there had been one important thing she had learned: Hope was for the weak and the delusional to wrap themselves in to make themselves feel better. Glancing back at the skill description Lucielle began to asses how best she could use this power at its current level rather than fantasying about it would one day be capable of.
Without her noticing it at first, her hand had balled up into a fist and her plain nails had sunk deep enough into her flesh to draw blood as if her body was confirming that this was really real and truly happening to her. If someone had managed to see Lucielle's amethyst colored eyes at that moment they would see the eyes of a different person. Whereas before Lucielle's eyes were filled with a biting cold and her face the face of indifference itself now it was possible to see the flames of determination beginning to stir, the determination to become stronger than ever before and to reclaim what is rightfully hers.
A loud buzz would snap everyone's attention to the front of the bus as the speaker blared out, "Alrighty we're here Slayers. The cubbies to leave your personal belongings are in the usual place. If you're new, just follow what the more experienced Slayers do and get the hell off my bus" The bus driver had a strong accent but his message was clear as we saw the Giant Blue Gate before us.
If we had been of a higher Rank of Slayer he would have been much more respectful to us, but since the government essentially treated Rank F as cannon fodder used to clean up the garbage that was deemed too beneath the stronger Slayers to be bothered with. That is to say, the Gates that were assigned F to E rank weren't worth a lot of money for the materials that could be harvested from them. Thus the profit they as F to E Rank Slayers was minimal. The only time there was a higher payout was if less people made it out alive from the gate as their share of the profit would be distributed among the surviving members. Half of their profit would go to whatever remaining family they had left or it would just be sent back to the government while the remaining half would go to the surviving teammates.
The Rank D Slayers or higher would generally start in the Rank E Gates if they decided the Rank F Gates wouldn't payout enough. Rank E Gates weren't so difficult for them so they'd gain decent combat experience while also receiving a decent payout. Down here in the Rank F Gates, only Slayers of Rank F and E appeared to scrape by a meager amount of money to survive back in the city.
Lucielle had always wondered why people even came to these Gates, knowing the danger and the miniscule amount of profit they would obtain. But after looking at the other teenagers she knew the answer. They were deluded into thinking they were powerful, untouchable, and about to rule the world because their power was so amazing. She knew when the time came that they realized how wrong they truly were it would ultimately be too late. Their bodies would be marred with scars and bloodied if they were lucky and eviscerated into mince meat if they weren't as lucky.
Getting off the bus, Lucielle saw the teenagers following after the adults as they made their way towards the gate. If they had been closer to her they would have heard a melodic laugh that would have rattled their brains as Lucielle watched on with amusement at the sheer disparity in atmosphere between the two groups, one who had never known the horrors of the Gates and the other that had risked their lives in these hell holes.
But this time things would be different for Lucielle this time. This time, instead of crushing weight of worry she carried on her back, she felt as light as a feather. Feeling the power of the Hellfire begging to be released from her eyes and hands, Lucielle gazed at the giant Gate as if it was the best leveling farm she could have asked for.
'Things will be different this time. I will be different this time....though I wonder how many of them will still be alive when they see how much I've changed' A cold smile spread over her lips before she heard an obnoxious laugh resounding from behind her as she stored her phone in her cubby below the bus.
"Pff you're still using a Whiteberry? Even though you've been a Slayer all these years? Does that thing even work anymore it's so out of date!" One of the few straggler teenagers had noticed her putting her phone in her cubby as they did the same with their much more expensive Dendroid XLR. "I guess maybe the life of a Rank F Slayer doesn't really amount to that much." The teenager laughed loudly with the disdain evident in his voice.