Alexander swiped away the message taking up his view, but a smaller font still existed of his mission in the corner of his eye, just out of view but enough for him to notice. It freaked him out even more than usall.
'Can you see that, Lunaris? The words and messages won't disappear it just stays in the corner like a dust smudge. What does absorb a soul mean, kill someone?' He asked.
'I also see the display but have no knowledgeof the spell it originates from. It seems to be a sort of magic, as it gives off a powerful aura only we can sense. If we couldn't then the female from earlier would have definitely sensed something was off, but that is only speculation.' Lunaris scanned Alexanders body multiple times, finding nothing harmful or out of place.
'Well I dont seem strange except for this strange ring and necklace. What about you partner? How was the upgrade? I can feel the nanites spreading and somethingelse, Is that happiness?' ,
Alexanders awareness of the nanites increased and so did his outside awareness along with reaching D rank. When he focused on his core and felt it briming with mana, a dull reddish glow nearing orange revealed itself. When he thought about himself as a whole, another message apeared. The same one that popped up when A'rathèl was speaking.
Stats:
//Body:12
//Magic:8
//Stamina:5
Sub stats:
//Souls: F rank:34, D rank:4
"Intresting. Are these stats real? What are these souls I apparently have? The only things I can think of that could have souls, are the dead bodies I still have in the crystal. Let's see," Alexander pulled the bodies out, still fresh from their deaths.
The Goblins' bodies each showed a slight glow [df energy, while a few others had a slightly stronger one.
//Ding!! Absorb Soul? Y/N//
Alexander thought yes and the screen accepted it. Soft white orbs floated out of the goblin corpses, flowing into the Ring of the Firstborne. Ancient runes lit up around the dark stone ring with the absorption of the F rank souls and impowered Alexander with their strength. He didn't feel much but a slight warmth and barely any change to his stats on the screen.
//Body:12.05//
'That felt great, like a refreshing shower, but it faded so quickly. It could be the potency of the soul. I absorbed a F rank soul, so let's absorb a D rank.'
Alexander thought about absorbing the soul and immediately felt a difference. Like tasting wassabi, his senses cleared enough to sense everyone in his immediate vicinity. From the cleaning crew, to the assistants and managers that discussed the earnings from today's auction.
"That lasted awhile, and even left him with hightened senses. He saw things clearer than he did before and even heard smaller details than he could have. The amount of information he could process as a D ranked Hunter wasn't much, as he was still a human and held all the limitations of one, but now that he absorbed a D ranked soul his abilities had artificially increased.
Sights became too much, making him close his eyes, finding no relief from the dark of his eyelids. Sounds were a concussive, overwhelming his mind with footsteps, clacks of pens, buzzing of AC units. What normaly would have been naturaly adjusted in time, had pulled onto him in seconds.
'Adapting to sensory overload... Complete. Sight has been augmented and hearing adjusted.' Lunaris chimed in his head.
Huff! Huff!
'What the hell was that?' His senses returned to managable levels, but where still hightened. He quickly realized that absorbing power at his low level, could be the end of him. '
I'm still to weak to even use this overly powerful skill. I need to strengthen my body and then I can increase my senses. Thank you, Lunaris. It would have taken me days to correct myself. I'm not going to absorb the rank D souls, so I'll put them back easily enough, but the F ranked ones I will. But what about the bodies? I don't have enough space for them and the supplies I bought.'
Alexander felt a nudge from Lunaris and he remembered she could handle that part. He absorbed all 33 souls and felt euphoria for a bit longer as the nanites swarmed the pile of goblin corpses, devouring every organic material and reshaping themselves.
The nanites had evolved twice, their form changing each time to be more efficient at their task. Before they were little more than a collective of slime, now they had moved like sand with crystalline bodies. They attached to a surface and immediately stripped it apart.
Alexanders stats after absorbing the souls and the nanites devouring the F rank goblins now read:
//Body:13
//Magic:8
//Stamina:6
Substats:
//Souls: D rank: 03
//First daily mission completed. Absorb a soul: done. Rewards given.//
"Interesting. I definitely feel stronger, even slightly, by absorbing them and it registered my increase."
Alexander put everything inside the Dimension Crystal quickly to go back to his family who were still shopping, when a hard knock came at the door. The sudden rap, confused Alexander. As his hightened senses couldn't pick up the intruder and even though he knew they where at the door, he still could not.
"Occupied! I'll be out when I'm done," He spoke, heading to the side door that connected to the other hallway. He opened the door as silently as he could, stepping through and closing it quietly.
"Are you trying to escape?" Kalani asked humorously standing behind him. He jumped at her sudden appearance.
"When did you... never mind. Why are you here, scarring the crap out of me?"
"I've been here the whole time. Somebody, bought all the materials I wanted to get under the name Akamai. So I had to find out who wanted to die, using my family's name. But I saw grandpa down stairs, so when I sensed you, I figured he told you about the adoption. I guess I should call you cousin now, huh"
"Call me whatever. Why were you here, don't you and Kahawai have servants to buy things for you?" Alexander be,used as they walked to rejoin everyone.
A slight scowl and redness approached her normally stoic face at his question. "Not ever Akamai is afforded the family funds, especially those who have been all but exiled. Don't get all sentimental on me. You didn't know. But that just means you can spoil your cousin with your new found wealth."
"Heh, yeah no problem." He said compassionately. 'What's another pain in my backside.'
Alexander sensed her apprehension for the first time, her sight was far away as if she was deep in thought, and he brushed her shoulder kindly. Alexanders world turned upside down as he came crashing down on his back. His senses were strong but the speed at which Kalani moved was incredible. He saw every action she took in slow motion, with no way to stop it.
BANG!
Gasp!
"I am so s.." Kalani began.
"No, it was my fault... I touched you without permission... I just need a minute," he responded in pain. Small cracks had formed under his body as he laid there unable to move himself as Lunaris healed his wounds.
A message flashed above him, alerting him to an intresting reaction.
// Critical damage recovered, physical damage resistance, thanks to nanite influence, increases to 1 percent.//
'Resistance? Could taking damage and healing it give me some sort of game like buff? This Guardian thing is so over powered!'