Chapter Four: Hell Raining
"So tell, why did the gods stop sustaining the Primordial Core?" Benign asked, needing to know more about the decision and if it was done with any good intention.
[That part isn't your battle so you don't need to know.]
Benign's shoulders fell. The system slowly sounded like his superiors back in the military. Always withholding information and giving what they deemed 'necessary'.
Wasn't he supposed to know everything about this case? He had been given a second duty to save some war-loving realms and restore a core. He needed to know it all.
"Whatever," he left the box he just sat on. It was living a fantasy and while he knew things would get serious soon, he wanted to enjoy the ride and take it as his retirement.
[You underestimate what you have to do.]
"Maybe. But I'd piece a unit soon, taking the best soldiers from each realms and have them find this core, while I find the gods. Not to brag, but I survived three wars, have seven years experience, and only twenty-two. I can handle this."
He reached the sea of dead bodies and walked through them. Seeing the men laying side by side and some holding the other made him reminisce his first war and how he felt when his comrades had been killed.
Now, he was used to it and learnt how to direct his unit to a less casualty victory and avenge the death of the lost. "I don't have the time, but I'd like to bury all these bodies."
[Burying isn't a common funeral practice at these realms. You can use Hell Rain to burn the corpses.]
Benign checked if he felt different, but there was nothing to show if the skills integrated with him. Was he just to pull a Kamehameha and see if something would come out?
[Hell Rain had successfully integrated with you.]
He nodded, spreading his hand to his sides. The skill has to do with raining hell, possibly fire, and to make sure his first use of his fantasy skills was memorable, he had to use it for something other than for himself.
"I've to measure the area that'd be hit with the impact first..." he studied the area majority of the bodies laid. It'd be like bombing a field of corpses, and while it'd be absurd in his world, it seemed to work for this one.
Mentally activating the skills, he demonstrated a parting of the cloud.
Their intensity increased and the rays formed massive scorching balls of heat that descending to the ground.
[Hell Rain... Commencing... Level One.]
They were the size of fists falling to the ground, consuming the bodies and the surface of the earth they touched. The intensity made the dead flesh peel without contact.
Benign dropped his tired hands when the required area had been engulfed. He felt exhausted, but not to death. The balls cooled to the rocks of lava. He watched the skies close.
"This is not a skill I can use in one-on-one combat at all." He folded his arms and walked out. "It's not even a skill I can use in a place filled with people. How can I get more skills with different ranges?"
[Complete missions. Missions pop up when there's a threat to your life, or the core.]
[They also pop up when there's an ally you need to acquire, or to move your goals forward. I'd arrange a window for you when you've accumulate two more skills.]
"Do I select the skills I want?"
[You are gifted the skills available.]
Available? Who else used the skills if not him?
"Also, this had been bothering me, but if you don't mind, could you sound more human? Maybe change your voice settings to something more familiar."
[Like your comrade Kendrick's?]
Why would it be that annoying one? Did he seem like he had any attachment to him, or was it because he mentioned him that one time?
[Voice settings changed.]
The soldier shrugged. "You can speak informally too. You are the first member of my unit. What is your name?"
[It is LEG 101.]
"Right. But I can call you...?"
[Legal.]
"Well then, nice to meet you, Legal."
Benign cracked his knuckles. He needed to find a village or someone sane in this desert to rest and gather food and more information.
"To the land of the notorious elves, it is."
[You are already in their land.]
"Then to meet a notorious elf, it is."
After walking across the deserts for hours, he finally sighted a small village and the figure of a lady stood gallantly at the entrance.
He nodded. "That is an elf, right?"
[Obviously. Or what do your eyes tell you? Mermaid?]
Benign rolled his eyes. The unnecessary sass of the machine had begun annoying him. He returned his eyes to the elf that now faced him, holding her steel rod tightly.
She didn't look like a warrior as her skin was too smooth for anyone who went to war. Her thin clothes were certainly no armour, and was just a more covered bikini.
She was tall for the average human girl, and her hair was a colourful mix of blonde and pink streaks. Her ears, pointy and her eyes, purple gave her an ethereal look.
He strolled towards her with confidence. "Well, well, well. With no luck with human girls, maybe, just maybe, I might have luck with elves."
[Didn't you say you didn't want a mission where you take all the women?]
"Yes, but as an after-mission treat? Sure. I don't expect a robot to understand." Benign said as he raised his arms and got closer. "I come in peace, young elf. I am but a humble wanderer looking for a place to rest."
He expected confusion to flash on those pretty eyes of her, but anger swimmer in them, and her lips down turned in disgust that made him freeze.
"Your clothes are funny, wanderer-san." Her tone mocked. "And no, this isn't a place that can be given to beggars. Leave or I'd kill you!"
Benign staggered back, processing what she just said. He could understand her as his skills were in work, but why did those harsh words have to be his first?
Elves weren't unfriendly in those novels, and even Noria was the least friendly, it shouldn't be right off the bat!