[You have encountered a vital existence of this world]
[Task: Intertwine your faith with the vital existence
Reward: High grade ability enhancer]
Standing in front of me was the protagonist of the novel. The world's guardian, Kara Vanguis. "You want to fight me?" I asked in confusion.
It was heavily implied in the novel that Kara liked to fight. She was reckless and always charged in without a plan. She eventually improves and becomes a lot more levelheaded in the later parts of the novel. But the story hasn't even started yet, so she's still some hot-blooded kid.
"Yeah! I'll prove that I'm a better choice to participate in the Star hunt!"
"Star hunt?"
[You have been chosen to participate in the Star hunt]
[Task: Defeat 100 goblins
Reward:?
Task: Defeat 100 cave spiders
Reward:?]
"One at a time please," I grumbled.
"What are you talking about?" Kara looked at me in confusion.
"Wasn't referring to you," I replied.
"Don't care. Fight me!" Kara drew her sword.
It was an ordinary iron sword. No aura was flowing through it at all which told me that her gift was not activated.
"We're in the middle of the wa-" Whatever I was going to say was cut off by a dome appearing around us.
"No longer a problem," Kara grinned as she dashed forward.
I drew the short sword on my waist just in time to parry her strike. The sword felt familiar and foreign at the same time in my hands. My body knew how to wield a sword, but my mind was still conflicted. With each attack I blocked from her, I felt the power behind it.
"Is this only what someone chosen over me is capable of?" Kara taunted, and it honestly irritated me a bit.
"Aura rush!" I turned into a blur and appeared behind her.
Her eyes widened but managed to lift her sword up just in time to block an attack. With the speed adding to the force of the attack, Kara was blown back and crashed into the magic barrier.
She staggered a bit and used her sword to balance herself. "That's more like it!" she exclaimed.
At that moment her sword began to change. The average iron sword turned into a viridian blade. A green aura shrouded the sword, creating a mist effect as Kara raised it forward.
She herself was not shrouded in aura, so I was still certain that her strongest gift was not activated, which meant her other gift was in play. As the protagonist of this world, Kara Vanguis had five abilities. Two gifts and three skills, all of which being strong enough to make a person famous by having just one.
"Blade of ancestors," Kara said as her sword hummed.
"Would beating her complete the task?" I whispered.
[Yes]
"Alright," I raised my sword forward. "Show them how hard you've trained Raveil."
Curse devourer worked in a strange way. Upon being activated, it will instantly consume a portion of the curse and strengthen me, but a bit more than half of the curse's power will be slowly devoured overtime within my body. That's the only thing that stopped me from turning "The Corrupted Forest" into "The purified forest".
[Curse of corruption has been completely devoured]
[Curse of corruption has been completely devoured]
[Curse of corruption has been completely devoured]
[Curse of corruption has been completely devoured]
[Curse of corruption has been completely devoured]
[Curse of corruption has been completely devoured]
With all the curses I absorbed earlier being finished eaten by my gift, panels kept appearing, but I chose to ignore it as I focused on the ability that has been sealed within this body.
Kara rushed forward with impressive speed from someone not using aura on their body.
"Grave of swords."
My aura exploded.
------
Asha really cared for Kara. She was her closest friend, knowing each other even when the Vanguis family was still a commoner family and not the Barony it is today. She adored Kara's righteous personality, although she could be quite the handful sometimes.
She would often beat down anyone that thought they could bully her. Kara can take down a trained soldier despite not completely unlocking aura yet, and her swordsmanship was the best that Asha has ever seen in her life. She was just naturally gifted to be the strongest in the world.
And Asha was currently watching her friend get thrown through a magic barrier.
"Kara!" Asha rushed to her side, pulling out a healing artifact.
"Was that Aura?" "Is that Raveil Gray?" "He's still alive?" Asha could hear the crowd muttering as they crowded around the area.
Raveil Gray approached them, his sword already sheathed. "I apologize," that's the only thing he said before walking away.
------
It hurts.
All I could feel was a burning sensation in my chest.
"What's wrong?!" I yelled as I reached my dorm room.
[Sudden absorption of a large quantity of Aether has caused an overflow within the body's core]
"How do I fix it?"
[Would you like to transfer the excess energy to the ego [Revenant]?]
"Would that help?"
[You asked how, then ask if it would help?]
My eyes twitched. "Do it."
[You have ascended to Rank 1 level 4]
[Revenant has ascended to Rank 1 level 7]
"Well, that's not fair," I commented when I saw that I jumped two levels, but Revenant jumped to level seven from one.
Honestly, with my limited knowledge of how things truly worked in this world, I had no room for complaints. Reading it from a computer screen was a lot different from living through it. Aura was described as a rejuvenating, empowering, and energizing sensation, but what I feel is a major heartburn. I could only dread what mana would feel.
"How strong would Revenant be compared to fighting others?" I asked out loud as I fell on my bed.
[Revenant would be able to defeat up to a Rank 1 level 10 duelist]
"Damn," I sighed.
Finally feeling a bit better, I decided that I wanted to get some stuff done before I black out.
I rummaged through my pockets to find two cards. One low grade and one high grade ability enhancers. "Use both of them on Curse devourer."
[Curse devourer has been upgraded to Mastery level 9 (56%)]
******
Raveil Gray
Duelist rank 1 level 4
Gift:
Grave of swords - Mastery level: 10 (10%)
The user will be able to nullify any swordsmanship they face
Curse devourer – Mastery level 9 (56%)
Grants the user the ability to devourer any curse and strengthen the user
High grade curses may be converted into an ego when combined with the right materials
Curses with traits may grant the user with bonus attributes
Skill:
Aura rush – Mastery level 10 (89%)
Aura shrouds the user's body, and a burst of aura shoots them forward.
Ego:
Revenant – Rank 1 level 7
Companion
Death's grasp
Instantly kills a corrupted being
******
"I have a strange feeling that this is still not good enough."