Chapter 24- Death Paths (Part 3)
What did that mean? It meant that every creature that Akio gets to know whether it was a human or a nightmare creature would unlock a particular fragment of how it will actually die and present it in his head in the form of flashes of insight.
However, as mentioned before, death can come from endless possibilities so for this weird floating box to specify 'true death moment' then that only meant one thing.
'The future… I can see the future.' Akio thought as his mouth hang open while his eyes kept staring at the floating boxes, not leaving them for a second.
The concept of seeing the future was in and out of itself something only out of myths and legends in Akio's mind. Even a place as vast as Holem doesn't possess many things that could allow someone to take a peek at the future. Time was one of the few absolute laws of the world and manipulating it was just a wild dream for many or even a funny joke for others.
With that in mind, Akio had somehow possessed something that shows him what will certainly happen. Even if it was merely someone's death and even if it wasn't something he can control, it was still an unimaginably strong ability.
However, this power was also a form of a curse for its user. For those who have people that they care for or people they consider their close relatives, the thought of seeing the moment of their death, fragmented and spread apart was akin to mental torture. They would have to taste their loss slowly and wait for that moment, knowing that no matter what they did, it would never change that fate.
It was horrible. However, for Akio, that wasn't a particular problem. He didn't have any loved ones or close relatives that he could lose. The last relative he had was killed by his own hands and had most likely turned into Faint Shriekers' food. Besides, Akio had completely no desire to actually try to get close to someone. The concept of relationships in his head was pretty simple: If you don't harm me then I won't harm you, if you try to harm me then I will harm you. If you have something that I need then I will take it and if you don't, I will ignore you.
That was his whole rule when it comes to people. Anything else is merely a huge risk that could end up biting him in the ass in the future.
So, he didn't really worry much about that. Still, Akio wasn't particularly a fan of seeing death scenes flash in his mind.
The next thing that appeared was the other stigma he had, the Evolver.
[Evolver (Level 1): Holem is akin to the vast ocean, endless and unknown. Yet, you are akin to the fish swimming through it. Your journey is easier yet also filled with different challenges that could prove your worth. Using this skill, the Holem essence required to level up that you absorb from every creature you kill shall be doubled. Increases the chances of Stigma drop rate from creatures you kill by 5%. Increases item drop rate from creatures you kill by 5%.]
The Evolver stigma was drastically different from the Death Paths stigma. The first difference was the absence of a Mark in the Evolver stigma which meant that both of the stigmas were different in their basic concept. There was also the level difference as Death Paths was maxed out while Evolver was only level 1.
The last thing was that in contrast to its counterpart, the Evolver stigma had mathematically quantified effects to a certain extent. Meaning that Akio could basically calculate his chances of obtaining another Stigma from a creature and even an item if he had the rough numbers to work with.
While 5% might seem like a very low chance, it was still a very useful increase in chance.
'That's the cost of having a very strong stigma. I can handle that.' He thought as he looked down at the final part of the system. The stats.
Every stat was very simple to understand and mostly straightforward except the Holem Spirit stat which needed further studying from his side about its functionalities. He only knew that it was a form of energy that Death Paths stigma required to work.
'What is the average number for each stat, though? I'm sure I'm way below that. For now, I will assume that it's 10.' He noted in his head.
"Sigh, I should start moving." With a thought, he was able to make the interface vanish before he looked ahead of him.
The place was silent except for the occasional flickering of the flames of his torch. Since he has been standing in absolute darkness for a while, his eyes started growing accustomed to the environment and the lack of light so he could see better although not by much.
Without further to do, Akio started walking ahead. He had no particular direction to follow nor did he know how vast this place was.
The sound of his bare feet on the ground was louder than he would've liked. His cautious eyes also kept looking left and right, searching for any potential enemies. Being barehanded wasn't really a good thing for the current Akio.
*Tick*
Suddenly, from his left side, he heard something crack. The torch quickly moved to reveal whatever made that small sound. Well enough, there was indeed something that was moving. Emerging out of the darkness was a rather small monster of average human height. It had very dark skin and a reptile-like outer layer that covered most of its body.
The monster stood on two paw-like feet and had a face that was the mix of a lizard and a human. Its eyes were that of a lizard so they were able to move 360 degrees around making it look even more creepy. Then, there was the row of sharp razor-like teeth stuffed into its huge mouth and the saliva dripping from there.
'A human lizard?' Akio questioned as he took a very rough fighting stance.
The monster's speed was very slow as it basically walked toward Akio with its eyes staring directly at him. Its sharp claw-filled hands were moving left and right as if it was searching for something.
'Fuuh, ok, let's try the death path stigma. Oh, wait, how should I even…'
Before he could even finish his thought, the monster had fixed its head aimed right toward Akio, and then suddenly, a long tongue flew out of its mouth, piercing the air at an impressive speed.
Akio's eyes widened as he quickly tried to move his body out of its range. However, because of the huge blunder of not keeping his focus on the creature for a split second, he had to bear the consequences.
*Flick*
The tongue hit Akio in the lower left side of the abdomen. The hit wasn't precise as it missed his vital point and merely scrapped his skin. Blood splurted as Akio made a light groan of pain. His lack of experience in fighting had come to bite his ass way quicker than he expected. Losing focus in the middle of a fight was akin to suicide, after all.
Putting his free hand on the injury, he sighed with relief when he noticed that it wasn't deep at all. He then glared at the monster coldly. Since he made a blunder once, he wouldn't do it twice. Quickly, Akio's breathing calmed down and his mind cleared up. As clueless as he was about how to use Holem Spirit, at that moment, it weirdly clicked for him. It was as this whole time, his instincts knew how to handle this mysterious power.
Instantly, a surge of energy surged through his whole body like a raging tidal wave. The sudden exposure to this huge amount of power made Akio's body increase its temperature at an alarming speed. However, the boy didn't care about that and only focused his entire mind on what he was about to do.
His mind created tens of thoughts in a moment in hopes of one of them triggering Death Paths. Then, it happened.
Akio's eyes suddenly started shining with a faint red light. It was very hard to notice but because of their current environment, the light seemed to be strong, and vibrant yet also extremely ominous and filled with malice.
In Akio's mind, weird images started generating alone and were quickly applied to reality as if the world around him was a part of his mental domain, a sandbox of sorts. Three holographic bodies with no features that had his rough body form appeared and started running toward the creature.
'I can… see it!'
(A//N: Thank you everyone for supporting the book with power stones and comments. I'm deeply grateful. Let's all keep it up :) )