I sat down on the couch in the living room.
I just went out for a short while to buy myself a pack of smokes to lessen the anxiety and excitement I am currently feeling.
"Alright, V, first thing first, do you know who created you?"
"I apologize, Sir Cain, I do not know the being who created me into existence"
"How do I know if you're telling the truth?"
"Sir Cain, my sole purpose is to guide and assist you, and since I reside in your soul the moment you die I vanish along with you"
"You'll die when I die?"
"That is exactly what I meant, Sir Cain"
If that's true then I guess I could put some of my trust in this voice inside my head.
"V, can you explain to me what exactly is God's Guidance?"
"It is a blessing bestowed upon you, Sir Cain, whose creator I do not know of, at the moment it is only available to make you acquire powerful marks."
I stood up from my couch in disbelief
"I- I can acquire marks?"
"Yes, Sir Cain."
"How?"
"With this, Sir Cain"
Suddenly another transparent window appeared before me
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(Choose a Mark you would like to acquire)
Mark of the Maid with Many Names
- She was like a ghost, undetectable and invisible, an unseen threat, that left trails of bodies without ever making a single sound.
"The presence of the bearer can now be significantly reduced at will"
Mark of the Tyrant
- A sea of blood flowed from those who defied him.
"The bearer can now be able to emit an intimidating presence, that can be used to threaten or subdue a person"
Mark of the Observer
- Nothing could stay hidden from her amethyst eyes.
"The bearer is bestowed with the skill to see through the abilities of marks ingrained in other beings"
Mark of the Shieldbearer
- No sword nor magic could pierce his shield.
"Allows the bearer to emit a strong and sturdy aura"
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"Choose a mark you would like to be ingrained, Sir Cain"
I was appalled by this sight, in front of me were marks of powerful humans that now I have the opportunity to have.
As I scan each and every single one of them I couldn't suppress my complete and utter shock at what was happening and my hand started shaking.
"How many can I choose?"
"At this moment, you are only able to ingrain a single mark"
"At this moment? Then that means in the future I'll be able to get more?"
"Correct, Sir Cain"
"How will I make my body able to bear more marks then?"
"Merits, Sir Cain, with the more merits you gain eventually you'll be able to be granted the opportunity to acquire another mark"
"How many merits do I currently have?"
"You have 10,000 Merits, which were gained from achieving to regress to the past"
I nodded in agreement and then proceeded to ponder on what mark should I choose.
The Mark of the Maid, might not be the mark I want right now since I have some experience not standing out and attracting attention to a certain degree and have no other use for it currently.
The Tyrant's Mark, the description sounds ominous and the ability to dominate others with your presence alone is very alluring since this mark essentially makes you a badass, but other than that I don't think this will be good getting, well at least right now.
The Mark of the observer, this feels kind of useless, All it does is make you see through the marks of others, if I choose this I will get the satisfaction of seeing what the marks of the 7 gods specifically do but I don't think that will be useful for the time being.
As I look at the final Mark, I started to smile, the Mark of the Shieldbearer just couldn't be any more perfect for me, with this I am still able to keep the experience and skills of using the stigma of the shield in my past life since I'm planning to acquire the stigma of the sword this time around and coupled with that this mark also makes you able to manifest a stronger version of defensive aura.
"I choose the mark of the shieldbearer"
"This will cost 10,000 merits for it to be ingrained, Sir Cain, are you sure?"
"Yes"
"Understood"
There was then an incredibly painful burning sensation coming from my left shoulder, I immediately fell to the ground as the excruciating pain I felt was too much for my legs, I clenched my teeth as I tried my best to not let my screams of anguish come out of my mouth.
After a minute or so of rolling on the ground trying to endure the hellish pain, it finally stopped and slowly diminished.
I was breathing abnormally as I slowly calmed myself down.
I picked myself up from the ground and rolled my sleeve to check my left shoulder.
There was a tower shield the size of an apple carved into my skin like a tattoo, the shield was bearing a symbol of a dove in the middle.
Then a familiar-looking window appeared in front of me
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Name: Cain Leobrera
Age: 17
Marks of Men - The Shieldbearer
Marks of ??? - None
Marks of ??? - None
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I then try to manifest the defensive aura granted by the mark and to my surprise, It was very sturdy and tough, but the main way of controlling and manipulating it feels incredibly similar to how you would use the aura from the stigma of the shield.
As the azure aura envelops my body, my smile just keeps getting wider.
"With this, I might be able to block more than one attack from a demon"