[Hostiles detected ]
[Initiating combat mode]
[Detected that it's host's first battle with system]
[Activating corresponding system protocol]
As soon as he heard that, the system screen appeared in front of him
[Would host like to activate the combat tutorial?]
[Yes] [No]
"Combat tutorial?, well I suppose it's quite self explanatory"
Zen looked forward at the crowd of scorpions surrounding him and ignoring the system prompt he dashed towards the closest one and threw his fist out at it.
He was only about an inch from punching it before he suddenly froze similar to the scorpions. A few seconds later he regained his ability to move and although confused he once again tried to attack it only to be frozen in time once again. At this time the system prompt appeared in front of him again and this time with bigger and bolder letters
[WOULD HOST LIKE TO ACTIVATE COMBAT TUTORIAL]
[YES] [NO]
Zen looked at the screen, thought for a bit and suddenly raised his hand and gently placed it on the scorpion, this time he didn't freeze.
Sighing he thought
"It seems the system has taken measures to ensure i don't cheat, the moment I move my body with the intention to attack or even try to escape i freeze... well in that case I have no choice"
He looked at the screen in front of him and took a few steps back from the scorpion before selecting
[YES]
A new screen suddenly appeared
[Combat tutorial active]
[Name: Zen???(Hollow)]
[Species: (Base - human) (Bloodline - ?????)]
[Class: soul sage???]
[Profession: Assassin???]
[True name/soul name:???]
[HP 40/100]
[Sp 10/10]
[AE 100/100]
[ Strength: 11.6]
[Agility: 13.5]
[Endurance: 12.4]
[Intelligence: 12.8]
[Vitality: 10](bloodline effect)
[Charm: 50](bloodline effect)
[ Wisdom(class specific stat): 10]
[Souls 1/3]
[Skills]
Looking at the stat screen Zen could notice a few differences.
First of all was the new (hollow) in his name section and although Zen knew what it meant, he felt like it was more of a title than a name.
Also for some reason his stats seemed to have improved since last night although not by much.
Below the skills tab were a few that seemed to have been greyed out but Zen didn't pay any attention to those, His focus was completely on the souls tab which was slightly glowing almost as if beckoning to him.
He selected it and a new screen opened up and as he read the only thing on it his eyes slightly widened
[Human soul: Freya]
Confused at the familiar name he tapped on it to reveal the souls stats
[Soul]
[Name: Freya]
[Species: human]
[Ability: lightning]
[Soul ranking:Epic]
[Status: inactive]
Hollow looked at this confused, could this really be the Freya he knew?. He looked lower and there were a few more tabs but only one wasn't greyed out and it was even glowing a little
[Equip]
He selected it and he suddenly heard a mechanical voice in his ears
[Would you like to activate and equip soul Freya?]
".....Yes".
Although unknown to him something began to change in that very moment.
The white in his eye suddenly turned an abyssal pitch black and so did his pupils at the center of his eyes with his iris turning a glowing deep blue . The next second his eyes seemed to crackle and release subtle sparks as electricity seeped out of the blue ring surrounded by darkness that was his eyes "
"Hnnngh(a groggy yawning sound)"
Zen, surprised, began to look around but he couldn't see anybody who could have made that sound ,he was definitely sure it was a yawn but simply the thought of it sounded ridiculous in a situation like this
"Haaahhhh, finally"
"....is that you fre–"
"Haaahhhh...nnngh, Yeah it's me. Took you long enough,do you know how long I've been in this thing?!, I've been waiting for days for you to figure this thing out....well, better late than never i guess "
Said Freya still sounding half asleep although it was unknown how she was yawning or even tired without a body .
"But that's not possible you're dea–"
The system voice interrupted him
[Soul, Freya successfully equipped]
[You have one new message]
The system screen suddenly opened up
[Greetings host of the system,if you're seeing this then congratulations, you just took your first step. Here's a bit of advice, if you're wondering how to use those skills, simply access the system, once that's done simply will it and it shall be. Don't forget, the system's a part of you now. Anyway if you ever want to talk don't be a stranger, send a text or even better come over and visit some time, it's hella boring around here , oops, hope i didn't do anything wrong, okay bye]
The message ended there and suddenly something else appeared on the screen
[New quest received]
[Who am I?: Discover your true identity. Hint: what is your full name?]
[Reward:???]
[Completion rate: 0/?]
[New quest received]
[An electrifying first fight: Obtain an excellent or above combat evaluation from the system for this fight]
[Reward:Depends on the evaluation]
[New quest received]
[Don't be a stranger:Find whoever it is that is sending you these messages and meet with them]
[Reward:???]
Zen looked at the three sudden quest and thinking back Zen suddenly realized that the person who was sending these messages was intentionally triggering quests for him.
The first quest must have been triggered when they mentioned his true name and identity however the system had left before he could see it, and the last one must have been triggered when they mentioned texting or visiting.
For whatever reason it seemed like this person was actively trying to make him advance as soon as possible,so much so that they were forcing quests upon him, and from the looks of it none of these quest would be easy"
Freya seemed to be recovering from her long sleep and her brain seemed to be getting more active.
"Hey,zen? Those are beasts right?"
Knowing what was coming Zen answered
".....Yes"
Freya stayed silent for a second before she suddenly realized what was happening and she nearly shouted Zen's ear off
"What the fuck is going on?! why are we surrounded by beasts!!!?"
Zen covered his ears with his hands, he had always had strong senses, that with the fact that Zen felt like Freya's screams of rage were coming from inside his head made it unbearable to listen to her.
"Could we focus on surviving first?"
Freya took a metaphorical deep breath, she wasn't the kind to loose her cool easily but anyone would be surprised if they woke up and found themselves in this situation.
Before any more words could be said the scorpions suddenly started moving again revealing that the system had stopped whatever it was doing before. Zen quickly decided to save pleasantries and catching up with Freya for later
"Freya, can you help me in this situation?"
"... I'll do what I can but don't resist me"
"What do you mean?"
"Don't tell me you haven't noticed, do you even know what you look like right now?" Asked Freya.
Before Zen could ask what that meant a scorpion suddenly lunged towards Zen pincer first. Zen was about to dodge but Freya's voice suddenly suddenly stopped him
"Don't move"
An invisible silhouette appeared behind Zen and placed it's arms over Zen's.
Zen's currently blue irises glowed brightly and he was overcome with a strange feeling. The scorpion at this point had gotten close and pounced trying to get him .
Zen's tranquil and literally nearly empty eyes glowed violently and he suddenly took a strange stance as he brought his arm back as if preparing to throw a punch except his palm was spread out before striking out. Throughout all this Zen felt similar to a puppet on a string,he felt like he wasn't actually moving but following a set of predetermined movements.
As his hand gained speed small arcs of electricity suddenly appeared on his palm and by the time it was only a few inches from the scorpion a large burst of lightning suddenly shot out of his palm and with almost no resistance went directly through the body of the scorpion and out into the sky.
"What just happened?" Asked Zen confused as he looked at the sand scorpion that had stopped moving.
[Lightning manipulation-10AE ]
[Basic tier sand elemental(scorpion) defeated]
[Tutorial active,unable to claim exp]
Freya seemed pleased at their success
"Not bad, this is how I can help you. If you want to understand then look at your stat screen
Although Zen knew it was risky while being surrounded he still decided to check and indeed something was different
[Name: Zen???(Hollow)]
[Equipped soul: Freya]
Species: (Base - human) (Bloodline - ?????)]
[Class: soul sage???]
[Profession: Assassin???]
[True name/soul name:???]
[HP 40/100]
[Sp 9/10] (-1 every minute)
[AE 100/120](100+20)
The rest of his stats remained unchanged
A bit more experienced he tapped on the equipped soul tab and another opened up
[Soul skills]
[Lightning manipulation]
[Lightning ball– 5AE,1SP]
[Lightning bolt–10AE,2SP]
[Volt steps–(varying)]
[Storm stream –20AE, 5SP]
[Thunderstorm –50AE,10SP]
At that point Zen had to stop reading to jump out of the way of an oncoming pincer attack
"Okay, explain how this works exactly"
" it's just what you read in that message, you will it and it will be , basically that means you think what you want to do and then you just...do it, I'm able to help you this time because of the tutorial mode but don't count on it next time, oh and you might want to take off your gloves "
Zen looked at his hands and noticed the palm area of his glove on his right hand was a bit scorched from the electric blast
A bit surprised at how he had missed that he pulled off his gloves and put them into his pockets revealing the symbol on the back of his right hand.
"Well, you have everything you need, you're on your own now Zen"
For some reason it seems both Zen and Freya had that strange calmness and composure even in tumultuous situations that was meant to belong to veterans which was seen in how quickly they had adapted to this situation,the only difference was that with Freya it was actually explainable .
"Fine then" said Zen as he ran towards the scorpion that had just tried to attack him and with a renewed vigour he decided to try an old tactic with a new electrical twist.
He went for an uppercut below the head of the scorpion and just as he expected it entered its sand form and it's body loosened up to negate the damage. As soon as this happened Zen thrust his hand into the sandy body of the scorpion looking for the core.
Just like the last time the scorpion panicked and swung its elongated tail at him but this time he wasn't planning to just take it , he opened his palm and aimed his free hand at the approaching tail
"Lightning bolt!" He yelled out and the next second a ten foot long bolt of electricity that somewhat resembled a spear shot out of his hand and landed squarely on the segmented tail blowing it to bits and scattering pieces of sand everywhere
"Direct hit!" Yelled Freya excitedly
The next second Zen pulled his hand out of the scorpion with a small spherical crystal in his hand
"Well that worked well enough" said Zen as he looked at the scorpion struggle in futility as it eventually turned to a regular pile of sand without the item powering it .
Zen shook his hand trying to get some of the sand off his clothes and put the crystal into his pocket with the other one, Zen knew he could no longer waste cores like water as it would be much more difficult to get them from now on even though his uses for them were limited,plus there was no reason for him to say no to a perfectly good core so why not?
[-10AE,-2SP]
Zen sighed hearing the notification about losing SP, although he didn't know what would happen once it reached Zero he could guess and he definitely didn't want that to happen .
"Freya,we don't have enough time or energy to take them all out like this,i need a better way and I don't even have a weapon, i need a weapon"
"...."
"Freya?"
".... wait for it "
[Detected that the host is in need of a weapon]
[Accessing arsenal]
[Freya's soul branded weapon]
[Branded weapon : Thunderstorm blade (dual)
[Equip stats]
Strength+30
Agility+45
HP + 15
Defense + 10
Durability+150
[Skills]
Pulse wave: create an electric shockwave in all directions for twenty meters
AE-5
Cooldown time: five minutes
——————————————————————
Stun(passive): Fourty percent chance for an attack with this blade to stun the enemy for three to five seconds. The stun can stack.
_____________________________________________
Shock: causes the user electrical damage for a burst of adrenaline
-5HP,-10AE
_____________________________________________
Reunion:????
Requirements:[Strength:50], [Endurance:50]
_____________________________________________
Would you like to equip
[YES] [NO]
Without thinking twice Zen selected yes and he heard the system in his mind
[Requirements to equip not met]
[Detected that system tutorial is active]
[System will aid in equipping]
Zen's hands were suddenly bathed in a bright blinding light and when it faded there were two identical swords in his hands
"Hmmmm, are these really Freya's blades? Something feels different"
He was quite familiar with these swords and there was something just not right about them, they seemed almost incorporeal.
Zen took a deep breath and decided to think about it later,it seemed like he would have a lot of stuff to think about if he survived this .
The blades were completely identical with each hilt having a strange semicircular shape and the blade on that side being completely flat and straight for a reason Zen knew.
He gripped the hilts tightly and dashed towards the closest scorpion close to him, his eyes crackled with electricity as small bits of blue lightning seeped out of his eyes although unknown to him.
He reached the scorpion in a matter of seconds, he knew he had to finish this quick and without any hesitation he leaped headfirst over the scorpion's head as he locked on to the one place that had bothered him the most, the tail.
As soon as he noticed he'd gotten in striking range Zen brandished both blades with all the strength he could muster and luckily for him the scorpion was currently in it's physical form .
The scorpion yelled out as its segmented tail fell to the ground severed from its body.
Zen landed directly behind the scorpion and without hesitation turned around and jumped on its back and stabbed both swords into its body intending to shatter the core as he still remembered exactly where the core for the last two beasts was. Zen knew this would work,he had already seen the blades cut through the scorpion's body like a hot knife through butter and indeed in the next second the scorpion lost its form and became another pile of sand on the ground.
There were there ways to defeat elementals, either use the first method and keep cutting them down over and over again until their cores are completely depleted of energy, The second method which was simply destroying the core,or the last which was to completely over power it. The problems with these methods was clear. Using the first two methods would most likely render the core useless, and the final method didn't simply require one to be stronger than it but t in a completely different league, Zen obviously didn't have that kind of strength and he didn't have time for the first so unless he had some sort of unique attack which he was pretty sure he didn't, destroying the cores was his only option.
[Basic tier sand elemental(scorpion) defeated]
[Unable to claim exp]
"Okay,i can do this,i just have to...."
"Well this just got a whole lot more impossible" said Freya as they both watched at least a dozen more scorpions rise from the ground to replace the ones he had slayed .
"Zen, we need to retreat"
"Not possible, were in an illusion"
"Well then you need to think of something fast"
"..... what about that last skill? Reunion, you probably already know which one it is "
"It's feasible but can you take it? You know what happened last time "
{FLASHBACK}
Nine years ago
It was nighttime in an unknown location that was definitely not on earth which was clear due to the two different colored moons in the night sky.
A young boy that looked about five to six years old with a striking resemblance to Zen sneakily came out of a large house almost like he didn't want anyone to see.
Looking at him he had the same emo style haircut covering his right eye and the only difference was that unlike Zen now who had cold soulless mechanical eyes and whose every movement seemed to lack life or even the very will to live this boy had a cheeky and vivacious expression on his face.
On the child's shoulders were a pair of blades which he stealthily snuck out of the compound and towards the woods
"Freya's finally asleep,i can finally try it out" he thought as he remembered how cool that move that Freya did was, he had begged her for hours to let him try and she said no, and so like every mischievous young boy with curiosities bigger than his own head there was obviously only one option he could choose to respond to
He suddenly began to have second thoughts as he neared the woods
"Freya won't be happy if she finds out.....ah forget it she sleeps like a log there's no way she'll find out " and with that he was off.
With confidence and familiarity he made his way through the dense forest in the middle of the night. There was no reason for him to fear, after all silver was around so he was safe.
After about thirty minutes he stopped thinking this was a good spot and put grabbed the swords by the hilts tightly. He tried his best to mimick Freya's actions and slammed the flat sides of the swords together
The moment the blades got to about three inches of each other they suddenly stopped and with a bang a large explosion of air was released and the poor kid was sent flying towards a large boulder.
There was a sudden flash of blue ligh together with the sound of thunder and lightning and out of nowhere with insane amounts of speed a woman suddenly appeared behind the boy.
She spread out her arms and gently wrapped her arms around him completely nullifying all his momentum and stopping him in place as she stopped him with a hug.
Her light blue hair which exceeded her waistline flowed in the wind and her penetrating deep blue eyes stared at the boy in her arms intensely as she pressed him against her flawless and voluptuous body that could make men go mad.
"Azrael, what are you doing here, and are those my blades?"
He opened his eyes and found himself in the arms of an angry Freya who was still in the blue and red floral pyjamas that matched his .
He suddenly felt like his blood had froze as he fidgeted and squirmed in her arms
"So?, explain yourself"
"F-freya,. listen i can explain"
"Including why you have my swords?"
"Y-yes,of course"
He then started squirming as he was thinking of an excuse but couldn't come up with anything good.
He opened his mouth and was about to say something when he suddenly winced in pain, seeing this Freya spoke strictly
"Don't move too much, you've probably broken a few ribs, now tell me the truth or I'll break another"
However she couldn't help but think with a hint of pride
"This kid shouldn't be above six years old and he didn't react much at breaking a few ribs, hmph,as expected of this little monster of mine"
Meanwhile Azrael was still thinking of a plausible excuse when she suddenly interrupted him
"Just admit it"
"I was playing with it"
Freya took a long sigh and looked into his eyes
"Buddy...."
"....." He turned his face away not wanting to look at her
"It's okay you can look at me, I'm not upset just worried, and look you got hurt" she looked at him with a gentle smile as she spoke her voice got softer and more tender until it was only a bit louder than a whisper .
"Let's go home" said Freya as she turned and started walking towards the house with Azrael still in her arms.
He meekly nodded
"I don't feel like sleeping, would you play cards with me?"
"Definitely not, the last time you and Rio played that game you burnt the house down"
"....." The boy looked disappointed as his head drooped down. Freya couldn't bear seeing him like this and finally cracked
"Okay fine, we'll figure something out, but right after you're going to bed, besides we have to fix that rib of yours"
His face suddenly lit up as he answered happily
"Okay mom!"