《BECOMING AN IRREGULAR WITH A ROGUE SYSTEM》


 Becoming a reader with the BAIWARS system

    <h4>Bing a reader with the BAIWARS system</h4>


    DISCLAIMER:


    First of all, I want to apologize to y''all.


    I screwed up and locked the chapters top early in the story, so if your enjoying the first chapters, don''t hesitate to use your fast passes until you see fit.


    Until I can do something to repay your coins spent on the early chapters, that''s the only solution I can give you.


    However, I''ll open a reader''s channel on Discord as soon as I reach 1k collections, and we can discuss the matter there.


    *************


    WORLD SETTING:


    That''s an issue that has been bugging you guys, so here goes a few exnations.


    The story happens in a futuristic version of our world, and the first arc happens in a version of the USA.


    I suck pretty bad at geography, so I''m not really good with locations.


    However, the world building will be clearer from the second arc onwards, since the first arc isn''t a story told by the MC directly to the reader (you''ll get it further on the story, it''s for plot reasons).


    The story is written mostly in FPPOV until now, and since the MC isn''t talking to the reader, he doesn''t feel the need to exin the locations, as he''s already familiarized with the world around him.


    From the second arc onwards, there will be (even if slightly) more detailed exnations about the locations.


    But I''m trying my best (since it''s my first Webnovel for real) to connect everything to the plot.


    Even the dots that seempletely amiss.


    Everything is rted and has an exnation.


    So hang on, and if you''re liking the story, don''t forget to save it in your library, vote,ment and review.


    I''d love to see your thoughts on the story.


    And if you guys would be so kind as to give some gifts, I''d bepletely hyped!


    Hope it gets all points exined up til now.


    See y''all on the journey!

 PROLOGUE ARC - THE RUINED WORLD - Ch01. Thief robbing thief

    <h4>Chapter -40: PROLOGUE ARC - THE RUINED WORLD - Ch01. Thief robbing thief</h4>


    I never thought that they were right.


    You know, when people say that when you die, life shes through your eyes.


    But as the hands of my father, Octavius ke, wrapped around my neck, squeezing the air out of my lungs...


    I saw everything that led me to this very moment.


    When I died.


    And came back to life...


    ***


    My second hand holowatch beeped and showed the funds window as I stared at the bakery''s entrance.


    <ZERO CREDITS>


    Shit... My stomach growled like a savage as I watched.


    How can an honest person steal something with an empty stomach?


    I needed some wallets to exchange for a new, second hand datapad, but it seemed my job would have to wait.


    The streets were crowded due to the time.


    It was breakfast time, and regrs flocked the streets, ready to pick up some coffee and food before their daily routine.


    The perfect opportunity to get some credits and grab something to eat, before getting on with my day.


    Walking like I had nothing to do with anyone around, my hands moved almost as if they had a mind of their own.


    The pockets of my hoodie soon were filled with a handful of wallets, rings, and even some nes.


    My stomach was still rumbling, but I felt the smile on my face as I walked away from the street, jogging my way towards the abandoned building where I made my shelter.


    "Tough days, ain''t it, Kurt?" Niki asked as he saw me approaching through the entrance. "Aren''t you tired of going after these useless electronics and forgetting to feed?"


    The Russian smirked.


    Niki didn''t give two shits if I was well fed or not.


    The only thing he cared about was what I brought him everyday.


    "You tell me, Niki. You''re one toin about every single thing..." I said, as I disyed my earnings from the morning.


    "Huh, Let''s see what we have here..."


    And the Russian began checking the contents of the wallets, the jewels, everything.


    But as he went through the jewels, something caught his attention.


    And mine, too.


    But how did I steal it?


    I don''t remember having bumped into any of them.


    "How did you get your hands on it, Kurt...?"


    Niki''s tone was dead cold.


    And as we weren''t the only ones in the building, we all would be, soon.


    It was a pocket watch with an emblem.


    But the problem wasn''t the watch itself.


    It was that, in the world that we lived, not many people used pocket watches.


    Very few of them did, actually.


    How did I steal it?


    "Oh, shit!" Niki grumbled as he put everything in a bag, hurriedly.


    My eyes went wide as I felt the invisible grip of an telekic ability locking me in ce.


    Niki tried to run, but he still got caught by the invisible force.


    Everyone in the building was caught.


    "Oh, fuck..." I Grumbled, feeling the grip tightening.


    "Oh, fuck. Indeed." I hear a voice behind me.


    It didn''t take much for me to realize the mistake I made.


    "How do you want to die, brat?" The voice spoke again.


    If I had breakfast earlier, I wouldn''t have been caught in such a mess.


    The pocket watch belonged to one of the National Wielders Association''s members.


    And if I weren''t mistaken, the voice behind me belonged to none other than Quintus ke, of the monitoring division.


    And my brother...


    "I asked... How. Do. You. Want. To. Die." He said, tightening his telekic grip even more.


    "STOP, please..." I begged.


    I couldn''t breathe anymore, and if he tightened his grip a bit more around me, I would certainly die.


    But as luck would have it, he loosened the grip, and I could breathe again.


    I gasped, coughed, and turned around to see the figure of my brother, in his elegant division uniform.


    "I''m feeling merciful today, so I''ll just give you a piece of advice."


    I looked at him as the air around me became dead silent.


    And soon after, I heard the sounds of bone snapping.


    Niki fell, lifeless, in front of me, his neck twisted.


    Same as everyone on that floor.


    Same as everyone in the building, I imagined.


    Shit!


    Living that life, it was every man by himself.


    If you''re not a hunter, you''re prey.


    And being born a regr, we were all prey to the power of the wielders.


    They had abilities that we couldn''t even dare to dream, and I wasn''t one of them.


    I could just watch as people I spent years in the streets with, fell, lifeless, before the mighty ability of my brother...


    "I was just kidding." Quintus said, with augh. "But I''ll be a nice older brother, and give you a chance. There''s something I need you to do."


    I waited for him to keep talking.


    Because the longer he talked, the longer I would keep breathing.


    "I know you''re quite the thief." He said, looking down at me, as I dared not to get up. "If you were an awakened, and became a wielder... You could even pass the test of the Shadow guild."


    But I was just a regr.


    Joining a guild was nothing but a fever dream for me.


    And there was my brother to prove it.


    He had everything I could ever dream of.


    Power, abilities, a very good job.


    And most of all...


    The approval of our father.


    "But regrs like you..." he kept on speaking.


    And I kept on breathing.


    "Most of you still hang onto the illusion that you have some power over the world. But you don''t, because we carry the power, now. And soon, you''ll all find out."


    I didn''t understand what he wanted to say with that, but I let him speak.


    "And as for you... I have a job for you. Unless you want to die like them..."


    "What''s the job...?" I asked, not really wanting to do it, but what choice did I have?


    "Smart boy." Quintus said, a wicked grin spreading through his lips.


    And I knew it was trouble.


    "There''s something that father has, and he doesn''t need it anymore. So... I need you to steal it for me..."

 Ch02. No honor among thieves

    <h4>Chapter -39: Ch02. No honor among thieves</h4>


    Like I had a choice to begin with.


    I couldn''t even argue with him.


    Because I knew the ce in and out, and if I didn''t do it, I''d just die anyway.


    So I had to go there, because ording to him, father would be spending the whole day in the office.


    Leaving the whole ce for the security.


    And for us.


    "What''s the item I''m going to take?" I asked, twisting my fingers.


    I was anxious.


    Picking pockets from regrs in the street was one thing.


    But stealing from Octavius ke, was on a whole different level.


    He was the owner and CEO of Dawn guild, one of the most prestigious wielders guild in the country.


    The only knight''s guild in the whole country.


    Not to mention, that he was a pretty strong wielder himself.


    Probably B rank, or even A.


    But since he''d be away for work the whole day, if I readied myself properly, there shouldn''t be any issue with his guards.


    "It looks like the fragment of a crystal, you''ll see it when you enter his office."


    Fuck!


    I was a coward, and I wanted to keep on living for as long as possible.


    Even if it was at the expense of such a crazy gig.


    "Sorry, Niki." I said, as I went through his things to get some stuff that could possibly help.


    With a shiver, I also touched my holowatch on Niki''s, soon hearing the beep of a transaction being made.


    [13.897 CREDITS RECEIVED] The holowatch signaled.


    Holy shit! I knew Niki had money, but to think that he carried credits by the thousands in his watch?


    That was insane.


    That amount of money would make my life in the next few weeks.


    But only if I made it out alive from ke''s mansion...


    So I took everything I found that should be useful.


    Which came to three stunning grenades, and a variable density baton.


    Not much,ing from the man with thirteen grand in his holowatch, but it would have to do.


    "Okay... I''m ready." I said, fastening the grenades in the belt under my hoodie.


    "Good, I knew you were a smart kid. Now, get going." He smirked.


    "What?"


    "What? Did you think I was going to give you a ride?" Heughed. "Don''t push your luck. Now go, and if you don''t show up here by night with the crystal, I''ll find you and kill you. Got it?"


    "Like I have a choice..." I grumbled, and started walking.


    My appetite went to shit, but I had to grab a bite, or else I''d end up passing out halfway to the mansion.


    So I bought a coffee and some snacks, and shoved it down my throat.


    One hourter, I was in the outskirts of the mansion.


    In front of me was the main gate, through which, of course, I wasn''t going.


    I took a detour, and ended up in the far east wall, which would do.


    I threw some meat, that I bought earlier from the butcher, to the other side of the wall, and waited for a few moments.


    Luckily, it didn''t take too long before the guard dogs came sniffing for the free breakfast.


    It gave me three minutes to walk a bit more and jump over the wall.


    And as soon as my feet touched the ground, I started sprinting towards the mansion.


    I knew how long the guards would take to notice that someone had broke in, but it wouldn''t be such a big deal.


    They had detecting and fighting abilities, but were all D rank, since C ranks and above, worked all directly to the guilds, in raids and other stuff.


    With the help of the baton, and the grenades, I could take some of them down.


    I hoped.


    But I kept running until I got to the office window.


    Not only Octavius, but also his guards thought that no one would ever be stupid enough to break and enter in the mansion, so it wasn''t protected with magic.


    It turned things way easy.


    Too easy...


    I used a lock pick to get the window open, right when the dogs sniffed my smell, and started barking.


    My skills allowed me to crack the window open in no time, and before the dogs arrived, I was in.


    The office was silent, but it wouldn''t be for long.


    The guards would soon notice the dogs behavior ande to check, so I had to be as quick as possible.


    "Crystal fragment, crystal fragment..." I murmured, going from drawer to drawer, and then for the bookshelves.


    There was an odd-looking book in one of the shelves, and when I tried to take it from its ce, I heard a voice behind me, as the door to the office blew open.


    "HEY, YOU!" One of the guards said, as I took the book. "No, you won''t!"


    "Try me." I grinned, tossing one of the grenades, and covered my ears, turning back.


    KABOOM


    The grenade exploded in a muffled sound through my covered ears, and one secondter, I turned to face the guards again.


    They were all rolling on the floor, blind and most definitely deaf.


    Time enough to check the contents of the book, in which I was most certain that the crystal was, as I shook it, hearing a solid rattle.


    I opened the book, and as I heard another voice, way too familiar for my own good, I saw it.


    A thick shard of a bright, clear-red crystal, shining faintly in my hands.


    "I thought sent you away, so that I would never see you again, son."


    Fuck!


    Didn''t Quintus say that father would be all day in the guild''s office today?


    "It wasn''t me!" I stuttered.


    I held the crystal tight in my hand, even though my first thought was to give it away to him.


    I looked at my father, Octavius ke, and his eyes shone in a bluish glow.


    He wore a suit, even though he was one of the few pdins in the country, and looked me straight in the eye.


    "See, father? Once a piece of trash, always a piece of trash." Quintus'' voice sounded behind him.


    "You traitor..." I said, my voice barely leaving my throat.


    Quintus entered the office and stood beside Octavius, and I knew my life was over.


    "No hard feelings, brother." He said, with a wicked grin. "There''s no honor among the thieves, isn''t that how the saying goes?"


    And he pulled a badge from his uniform''s inner pocket.


    The Shadow guild''s badge.


    My eyes went wide in shock.


    "Did you think you picked all of those pockets in the morning because you were good at it? Come on, little brother... You took them because I let you."


    Father stepped forward, and I felt the ominous presence of his ability surrounding me.


    Freezing me with horror.


    I felt angry, furious for letting me fall into that trap.


    But I was alsopletely helpless.


    Powerless, as father kept moving towards me, and one of his hands wrapped around my neck.


    But he was still deadly quiet, just staring at me, with those bluish glowing eyes.


    Staring into my soul, as my brother kept speaking.


    "I knew you took shelter in the ck market after all these years, and I needed some killing, so I put my association emblem in your pocket."


    He took a breath, and finished his sentence.


    "That''s why, father, we shouldn''t spare him one more time."


    "You''re right, son." Octavius said, holding me by the neck, as I was nothing but a rag doll.


    "I should''ve killed you when you turned sixteen, and didn''t awake. But I''ll fix that mistake right. Now."


    He wrapped the other hand around my neck, and I couldn''t do a single thing, as I felt the air escaping my lungs.


    As I waspletely unable to move.


    And then, as I felt the life leaving my body, my hand burned hot.


    The crystal was still in my hand, how did I forget it?


    But it didn''t matter.


    Everything went dark and numb.


    I was dead.


    ***


    [DO YOU WANT REVENGE?] I heard a robotic voice asking through the darkness.


    What? Am I hallucinating?


    Is it a dream?


    [DO YOU WANT REVENGE?]


    Of course, I want revenge!


    If only I was stronger...


    If only I was a wielder...


    [WILL YOU ACCEPT THE SYSTEM?]


    The... System?


    [WILL YOU ACCEPT THE SYSTEM?]


    If... If it means a chance for me to pay them back... Yes.


    I''ll ept the system.


    [INITIATING SYSTEM BOOT]


    [ALL MEMORIES WILL BE STORED]


    [INITIATING REGRESSION PROCESS]


    And my conscience slipped away through the darkness.


    Into a light that wasn''t there before.

 Ch03. Thief robbing thief - 2

    <h4>Chapter -38: Ch03. Thief robbing thief - 2</h4>


    "ARGH!" I screamed, as I opened my eyes to find myself in a familiar room.


    I sat up on the bed, and my body was covered in cold sweat.


    Wait.


    Why did my voice sound softer?


    I got up and went to the bathroom.


    I was in my room at ke''s mansion. Was it all a dream?


    As I looked in the mirror, I was startled by my own reflection.


    I looked...


    I looked sixteen!


    But before I could retain that information, the door to my room busted open, and I flinched.


    "what''s wrong, master Kurt?" The butler asked, looking worried. "I heard the scream, so I thought someone had broke in."


    Was it all a dream?


    "No, thank you... Alphonse. It was just a nightmare, thank you." I said, as I dismissed him.


    I needed to catch my breath.


    It was one hell of a nightmare...


    "Forgive me, younger master, but you''re probably worried about your awakening. It''s not everyday a young man like youes of age."


    I was still a bit off, so I just asked Alphonse to leave, and when he closed the door, I went straight to the bathroom again, and looked in the mirror.


    I really looked sixteen...


    But what Alphonse just told me... And the dream.


    Nothing of it made sense.


    "And what was that shit about a system?" I asked my reflection.


    And to my surprise, when I asked it, an information window appeared right in front of me.


    "WHAT THE FUCK!?"


    The window disyed just a few simple words.


    [WELCOME, PLAYER]


    [YOU HAVE 04 MESSAGES]


    The window disyed.


    "It wasn''t... A dream?"


    I checked my holowatch, it was still 08h30min in the morning, so I had some time before Alphonse announced breakfast, if I remember it correctly.


    So I sat on the bed, and kept staring at the window that appeared in front of me for a minute.


    yer, messages, system...


    It didn''t make sense at all, but if yesterday wasn''t a dream...


    Then my Quintus really betrayed me.


    And my father really killed me.


    But... How am I back in my room?


    How am I sixteen again?


    No, wait.


    If what Alphonse said was right, I just turned sixteen, and it''s the day of my awakening.


    The day when father found out that I was only a regr...


    But I wasn''t gonna let that happen again.


    No matter what.


    So I put these thoughts aside, and focused on the window in front of me.


    "Open system!"


    Nothing happened.


    "Show messages!"


    Nothing, either.


    ''Shit, how the hell am I supposed to read these messages?''


    *Beep


    [MESSAGES: INSTRUCTIONS


    QUEST


    DAILY QUEST


    UNIQUE QUEST]


    What? Just by thinking of it, the system does what I need?


    I proceeded to open the first message.


    [INSTRUCTIONS: DAILY QUESTS WILL APPEAR TO HELP THE PLAYER GROW STRONGER.


    ACCOMPLISHING QUESTS WILL AWARD THE PLAYER WITH DIFFERENT REWARDS, DEPENDING ON THE QUEST''S DIFFICULTY LEVEL


    FAILING TO ACCOMPLISH SOME QUESTS WILL RESULT IN PENALTY]


    I vaguely understood what it was.


    This system resembled that of a video game, but it didn''t show a status window or anything like that.


    But as soon as the thought popped up on my head, the status window appeared in front of me, covering the message window.


    NAME: KURT BLAKE


    LVL: 01 STAMINA: 130/130


    AGE: 16 HP: 100/100


    CLASS: ??? MP: 50/50


    BASIC STATS


    Strength: 15 Perception: 15


    Dexterity: 20 Intelligence: 10


    Agility: 20 Vigor: 25


    So it was like a game, after all, and if I was at level one on it...


    Then I could really grow stronger.


    "Little brother? Did something happened?" Quintus asked, opening the door.


    "Oh, well... Don''t we know the meaning of privacy in this house?"


    I was clearly pissed, first Alphone, and now Quintus? Fur fuck''s sake!


    "Sorry, little brother. I just heard you scream. Thought something was wrong. But..."


    Then he approached me, squinting his eyes.


    "What the hell?"


    "Did nothing happen? Really?" He asked.


    "Nothing at all, why?"


    "I don''t know. You look... Different."


    "Different?" I raised a brow. "How?"


    "Don''t know." Quintus shrugged. "And why are you looking at me like that? Wanna fight or something?"


    I only noticed it when I felt the taste of blood in my tongue.


    I had bitten my lower lip so hard it bled.


    And I was looking at him with an angry frown that shouldn''t be there, but it probably was because I remembered what he did to my in my...


    Past life.


    But he didn''t.


    "Anyway, if you wanna fight, just schedule it. You know I''m busy." He retorted my silence. "Big day, today, huh?" He punched my shoulder a little hard.


    Frowning at the resistance he felt.


    "You''ve awakened, right? I don''t remember you being that sturdy for a kid... By the way, breakfast is ready, better eat something, today''s a big day for you."


    And he finally left.


    He was right.


    I had awakened.


    I don''t remember a single time in my past life, when I didn''t almost suffocate when he was near me.


    His mere presence was enough to make me feel oppressed.


    But now...


    He didn''t feel normal, but also didn''t feel overwhelmingly scary like before.


    And this thought almost drove my attention away from the system.


    But I still had two messages to read, and I already had a few things figured out.


    So I summoned the message window again, and started reading the three messages left.


    [QUEST: CHANGING THE TIDE]


    [CONTENTS: 1/2 AS A REGRESSOR, WHO IS RELIEVING LIFE BACK FROM A CERTAIN POINT IN TIME, THE PLAYER MUST FULFILL HIS DYING WISH.


    CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE PLAYER''S PAST CAN BE CHANGED, WHILE OTHERS CANNOT.


    THE PLAYER MUST GROW STRONGER TO FULFILL HIS WISH.


    2/2 PLAYER DOES NOT MEET THE REQUIREMENTS TO ACCESS INFORMATION!]


    [REWARD: CHANGE YOUR FUTURE]


    That was interesting, but not being able to read the second part made me feel a bit bad, so I went to the third and fourth messages.


    [DAILY QUEST: THE STRONGER SELF]


    [REQUIREMENTS: RUNNING WITH WEIGHTS 0/10KM


    SIT-UPS 0/50


    PUSH-UPS 0/50


    SPARRING 0/10MIN]


    [REWARD: ???]


    [PENALTY: ???]


    I thought that this system was supposed to help me, but it was trying to kill me!


    Come on!


    A ten kilometer race? With weights?


    Ten minutes sparring?


    Sit-ups and push-ups?


    And what the hell was with the question marks in the reward and penalty sections?


    I felt goosebumps after seeing the question marks in the penalty section.


    If the system is able to make me regress to a certain point in my life, and also give life back to me...


    What the hell can''t this thing do, if I don''t aplish the daily quest?


    But that was a thought for another time in the day, because I still had onest message to read.


    "We''re waiting, little brother!" Quintus called me, now with the decency to not barge into my room.


    "TWO MINUTES!"


    And when I couldn''t hear his steps anymore, I opened the final message.


    [UNIQUE QUEST: FINDERS, KEEPERS]


    [REQUIREMENTS: STEAL QUINTUS BLAKE''S GUILD BADGE]


    [REWARD: UNIQUE SKILL; CLASS UPGRADE]


    I felt a grin over my lips, as the surprise quest made ideas sprout in my mind.


    It was a big day, yes.


    But it was even better, because I would get to know if Quintus is really a member of the Shadow guild or what...

 Ch04. The drive to grow stronger

    <h4>Chapter -37: Ch04. The drive to grow stronger</h4>


    After we had breakfast, and Quintus bragged to father about my recent awakening, even though father kept silent about it, I readied myself to go to the Wielders Association.


    It wouldn''t take long to finish the test and get my results, so it seemed I would have most of the day to test the system''s features.


    When I was ready to leave, Quintus asked if I wanted a ride, since he was going to work anyway, but I politely refused, for two reasons.


    First, I didn''t want to be alone in the same car as my brother.


    Second, I wanted to test out one of the daily quests.


    If the system was nning on murdering me with that amount of exercise, it was best to see if the reward was worth it.


    Way better than just waiting to see what kind of penalty I could receive.


    It was ten kilometers from home to the association, so,if I could just finish running with, let''s say, 2kg weights on my legs, it should do.


    It was a shot in the dark, but the quest clearly said running ten kilometers with weights. It didn''t specify how heavy the weights should be.


    So I wore a pair of jogging pants, my shirt, a ck hoodie, and went to the training room to get some weights.


    After I was ready, I started walking my way out of there.


    It was ufortable in the beginning, but after a few hundred meters, I was able to start running.


    I didn''t want to get anxious about the results, so I didn''t open the quest window, and just focused on running, with as much of a steady pace as I could.


    But when I was halfway from the association, I heard the beep in my head, followed by a notification in front of my eyes.


    [Agility +1]


    So it was already giving results?


    I didn''t think it would make any difference, but the more I ran, the steadier my pace and bnce would be.


    So I tried to push it a little harder, to test the extra point I just acquired.


    And I was right.


    I could run a bit faster than when I gave my first steps with the weights on my legs.


    I went past a park, and slowed my pace as an idea came to mind.


    I opened my status window and the quests window.


    NAME: KURT BLAKE LVL: 01


    AGE: 16 HP: 100/100


    CLASS: ??? MP: 50/50


    BASIC STATS


    Strength: 15 Perception: 15


    Dexterity: 20 Intelligence: 10


    Agility: 21 Vigor: 25


    [QUESTS]


    [CHANGING THE TIDE]


    [DAILY QUEST]


    [UNIQUE QUEST]


    I chose the daily quests and checked it.


    [DAILY QUEST: THE STRONGER SELF]


    [REQUIREMENTS: RUNNING WITH WEIGHTS 8/10KM


    SIT-UPS 0/50


    PUSH-UPS 0/50


    SPARRING 0/10MIN]


    [REWARD: ???]


    [PENALTY: ???]


    As I thought, I was almost done with the running, but I still had the other exercises to do.


    I sopped in my tracks, catching my breath and looking at the park.


    It was a beautifully wooded ce, and it even had an area with some equipment I could use someday.


    But for now, I was content with the in ground by itself.


    I approached the area, stretched a bit, andid down on my chest.


    "Okay, let''s fucking go!" And I began doing the push-ups.


    It was hard in the beginning, and it only got harder the more I pushed.


    But slowly, I was able to finish the fifty push-ups.


    Then Iid on my back and started the sit-ups, which were a bit easier than the push-ups, but also a bit painful.


    When I checked the quest window, this time, it showed both push-ups and sit-upspleted, which gave a strange feeling of aplishment, and as I smiled towards the window, I began running again.


    There were just two kilometers left, and I still had to think about how I would have a spar with my older brother.


    Arriving at the association, I went to the reception desk and scanned my holowatch.


    "Okay, sir. Just go to the second floor and wait with the others." The receptionist said.


    I took the elevator, and when I got to the second floor, fifteen people were already in the waiting room.


    And I knew one of them...


    "Niki?"


    The young Russian looked at me, perplexed.


    "Do I know you?"


    Ah, of course, he didn''t know me when he was young.


    But we did study in the same school.


    Before he received the results of the test, knowing he was just a regr, dropping off school right after that, and going to live in the streets.


    Bing the king of the ck market, not long after.


    "Kind of." I answered. "I know you from school, you''re remarkable."


    Niki stared at me, with those dark blue, curious eyes.


    "I didn''t realize we were the same age, you look older than me, somehow." He said, still looking at me. "Came for the test?"


    We chatted a little, and then it was his time to enter the room.


    "Semenov, Niki!" The voice echoed through the speakers in the waiting room.


    "It was good meeting you, Kurt. See you at school?"


    "Sure."


    And he left.


    Ten minutester, I saw Niki leaving the testing room.


    His eyes were glued to the floor, distant.


    I knew what happened, because I already seen it happen before.


    "Niki!" I called, getting up from where I was sitting.


    He looked at me, still feeling distant.


    I didn''t know what drove me to do what I did, but I went towards him, held his hand in a reassuring way, as firmly as it could get, and said.


    "It''s not over, Niki. I know you might think it is, but if you need anything, call me. I got your back."


    Niki looked at me like I was crazy or something, but I raised his hand, and touched his holowatch with mine.


    The device beeped as I sent added him to my contact list.


    "ke, Kurt!" The examiner called.


    "It''s my turn now, wish me luck." I said, still gripping Niki''s hand. "Don''t forget it. If you need, call me!"


    "You sure are an odd one..." Niki said, but this time, he had a smile on his face. "I will not forget."


    ''Neither will I... Friend. As long as I breathe, you won''t die again.''


    And I started walking towards the test room.

 Ch05. Ranking

    <h4>Chapter -36: Ch05. Ranking</h4>


    The test room was exactly how I remembered it.


    The mana stone in the middle of the room, secured by a ss tank protected with magic, that measured the mana level of the person.


    Theputer equipment that registered the awakened data all around, and in one of the corners, the physical ability measuring machine.


    "Proceed to the physical testing, Mr. ke." The examiner said.


    I walked towards the machine, a long treadmill with holographic projectors around it.


    It measured the awakened running seed in the first half of the test.


    And in the second half of the physical test, the holographic projectors projected countless beasts so that the awakened could show if he had anybat/support abilities.


    But when I was ready to step onto the treadmill, I remembered I was wearing the weights from my early run.


    "Just a second, please. I have to remove this." I said, pointing to the weights, as I lifted the legs of my jogging pants.


    The examiner raised a brow with a judging look.


    But as I took the weights off, I heard the beep in my head, followed by system''s robotic voice.


    [Strength +1]


    [Agility +1]


    [Dexterity +2]


    [Stamina +2]


    Holy shit!


    Six stat points for running with weights and taking them off?


    The test would be way easier than the first time I did it.


    I stretched out a bit, and stepped into the treadmill.


    "Three, two, one, begin!" The examiner said, as I started to run.


    I gave a few sloppy steps at first, getting used with my legs without the weights.


    But as I got steadier, I felt my body grow lighter as I ran faster.


    And I wasn''t even getting tired, so I proceeded to run as fast as my limits allowed me.


    I wanted to see the full potential of my new capabilities in level one.


    But as I seemed to reach my full speed, I felt something off.


    The next second, I saw the image of a beast right in front of me.


    A huge Lizard man, swinging its tail towards my feet.


    I rolled above the beast''s tail and got up again, only to see two more Lizard men charging against me.


    ''If only I had a skill or something...'' But I didn''t have time toin, as the beasts approached really fast.


    The projectors were designed to react to the touch, and Lizard men were just F ranked beasts, so even if I didn''t have a weapon, or evenbat skills for that matter...


    It was time to test a statbination.


    As the Lizard men were almost at melee range, I jumped towards them and grabbed their heads, smashing them against the treadmill at the same time.


    I rolled over, got up again, and kept running as fast as I could, while more enemies appeared.


    My physical test ended twenty minutester, after I got hit by a Minotaur, a C ranked beast.


    I was sweating a little as I got off the treadmill, and the examiner looked at me, silently.


    "... Right... Now, ce your hand in the device in front of the mana stone container..." He said, sounding a bit reluctant.


    And after I ced my palm over the device, it beeped and glowed in purple.


    A few secondster, a screen on the device lit up with a single letter showing up.


    E


    Wait...


    I got an E rank?


    "Is the mana measuring device functioning properly?" The examiner asked one of the operators.


    "Seems so." The operator responded.


    "Hum... Strange..."


    "It''s not that I''m not satisfied with the results." I said. "I mean, I could be a regr, but... What''s strange?"


    "I could ask if you have already been into a Nest before, but that''s impossible due to the age of eptance in guild raids, but yourbat abilities are that of an at least D rank. However, your mana level is... Quite low."


    Shit! I probably got caught up in testing the potential of my stats, and forgot that I''m just a teenager.


    I ended up using the regr skills I acquired in my previous life as a thief...


    Well... That at least exins why I couldn''t do anything against Quintus as a regr back then.


    "We''ll give you a provisory awakened license, so you can apply to one of the guilds after you graduate from school. You cane back in three weeks, I''ll check if it was some sort of interface error or anything of the sorts. Good luck out there, young man." The examiner said.


    But I could still feel his curious stare, as I walked out of the examination room.


    ''So my innate previous life''s acquired skills do make a difference in this current life...'' I thought as I left the building.


    The provisory license would be ready in three days, which gave me some time to figure some things out, and since if I recall it correctly, we were in the middle of spring break, soon I''d be moved from mixed ss to awakened.


    To start learning more about Nests, the guilds, and wielder''s sses.


    I would also have to prepare myself for thebat sses.


    It would be a busy semester.


    As I walked out the exit door, I saw Quintus'' car waiting for me, and Niki sitting in a bench.


    He waved as I looked at him, and Quintus got out of the car,ing in my direction.


    I signaled Quintus to wait for a second, as I walked towards Niki, to find out why he was waiting for me.


    "Hey," I greeted him again "did you wait for me the whole time?"


    "It wasn''t that much time. However, I did think you would take less time to leave the building.


    "It seems I don''t have much time, but is there anything you wanna talk about?"


    "I have ns, and I don''t n on going back to school, I already told you that."


    Niki''s hands were tucked in his pockets, but he looked at me with a determination that I had only seen in his adult version.


    ''So, the king of the ck Market will rise anyways, huh...''


    "And if you need anything, don''t hesitate to call me." He went on. "No one ever spoke to me like like that, and I recognize a friend when I see one, so, til anytime, friend."


    But as he turned around to leave, Quintus'' voice sounded right behind me.


    "Get in the car, little brother. Now."


    His voice carried a tone that I had heard before.


    Right after he killed Niki.

 Ch06. Versus Quintus

    <h4>Chapter -35: Ch06. Versus Quintus</h4>


    "I''m just talking with a friend from school." I said, but I knew what was bound to happen if I didn''t obey him.


    Only that I wouldn''t leave it be without confronting him this time.


    "Oh, a friend, that is?" He asked, sarcastic. "And how old is he?"


    "I turned sixteen today, sir." Niki answered, making me wish he didn''t.


    "That''s what I thought, you didn''t awaken, did you?"


    Niki looked down. He probably didn''t know who my brother was, yet.


    And things were already going to get ugly.


    "You shouldn''t hang out with filthy regrs, little brother. Or else you''ll get in trouble, not just with me. You know that, right?"


    The system then beeped in my head.


    [WARNING]


    [THREATENING MANA LEVEL ACTIVITY]


    What?


    My brother was going to attack Niki right in front of the association building?


    "BROTHER!" I shouted, getting between him and Niki, right before he unleashed a telekic wave that made me stumble backwards.


    "Huh?" Quintus raised a brow. "What rank did you get? And I mean really."


    I rposed myself, and looked straight into Quintus'' eyes.


    It seemed that he had already forgotten about Niki behind me.


    "How about we talk about it at home? Let''s say, while we have a brotherly spar?"


    Quintus squinted his eyes and exhaled a bored sigh.


    "Don''t think I''m done with him. But you make a fair, silent point."


    Thank goodness he understood that it would be a bad idea for him, to attack an innocent teenager right in front of the building where he worked.


    Quintus turned around, and I followed him, looking over my shoulder to see Niki.


    He had an intrigued expression, so I waved at him, signaling that it was all good, and left.


    When I got in the car, Quintus turned on the ignition, and I was surprised.


    "You driving?"


    Quintus frowned at the question, and I went right to justifying myself.


    "It''s just that we have drivers, you know?"


    "Yeah, but I had a special errand I needed to run for the guild, so yeah, I''m driving today."


    ''A special errand, huh?''


    Which guild was this errand for?


    But I couldn''t ask myself for long, as Quintus started talking again.


    "Now, would you tell me what the hell was that about an inconclusive result on your awakening test?"


    Of course, he worked for the association, so he wouldn''t be in the dark for long.


    But I didn''t expect him to know about my results that soon.


    "I don''t know, either. Maybe the machine was malfunctioning or something like that."


    "Hum. Let''s see your true results when we get home." He replied, with a grin that sent shivers through my body. "Don''t expect me to go easy on you."


    His reaction to my scream earlier, almost made me forget how much he enjoyed bullying me when we were home.


    "I never thought you would." I murmured, and I''m sure he heard it, because right after that, his face became an evil grin, almost beast-like.


    And I knew I had to be twice as careful.


    We got home, and father had already left, so we went right to the training room.


    Quintus was already entering the ring, and I asked, raising a brow.


    "Won''t we use any gear?"


    "Oh, you can use every gear piece, you won''ty a hand on me..."


    And there it was.


    That grin again.


    Was he wanting to kill me?


    I was ready to get geared up when the system beeped, and a notification appeared in the quest window.


    [QUEST UPDATE]


    [UNIQUE QUEST: FINDERS, KEEPERS]


    [REQUIREMENTS: STEAL QUINTUS BLAKE''S GUILD BADGE]


    [ADDITIONAL: SURVIVE 10 MINUTES IN AN UNGEARED FIGHT AGAINST QUINTUS BLAKE; EARN HIS RESPECT]


    [REWARD: UNIQUE SKILL; CLASS UPGRADE]


    [ADDITIONAL REWARD: UNIQUE SKILL]


    Two skills for the price of one?


    It sounded good, but surviving ten minutes, with no protective gear, would be a pain in the ass.


    Quintus was almost as strong as our father, which made me even less than a match for him.


    So I tried to level the game a bit.


    "Okay, if you go without protective gear, I''ll match up. Will you use your abilities?"


    "Do you really think I need them to beat you senseless?"


    ''Fair enough.'' I thought, going into the ring.


    "You ready?"


    Quintus weren''t smiling anymore, so I guarded myself as best as I could, and braced for the impact that I knew woulde.


    I just didn''t expect him to be that fast.


    His fist aimed for my chin.


    The punch felt like being hit by a truck all at once, and my body stumbled backwards.


    But luckily, I felt it, somehow, and adjusted my body to receive even if a hairbreadth less of the impact.


    I saw stars, though, and after getting kicked in the legs two times, I managed to get some distance between us.


    "You''re way sturdier than I thought, little brother. I really didn''t think you''dst more than ten seconds against me, but you''re getting to the thirty seconds mark. I''m impressed."


    His voice sounded like apliment, but his face showed somethingpletely different.


    Quintus really wanted to kill me, and it had been only thirty seconds.


    But I was doing something wrong there, and my thoughts raced back to the awakening test...


    The treadmill!


    The ring wasn''t wide enough for me to use my full speed, but it had enough space for me to dodge his attacks by gaining distance.


    "aren''t you tired of just running away?"


    Quintus approached from below, with both his arms wide open.


    He was going to bear-hug me, since he didn''t want to use his telekinesis.


    I had less than a split second to react to his assault, and it wasn''t enough time to think straight.


    So I closed my eyes and let my body do the job, hoping it was enough.


    I felt my legs jumping hard, pushing me towards Quintus.


    I kept one knee up, and it connected, somehow.


    After opening my eyes and inhaling my adrenaline back, I saw what I just did.


    It had been three minutes since we started fighting.


    And Quintus had blood on his lips.

 Ch07. Thief robbing thief - 3

    <h4>Chapter -34: Ch07. Thief robbing thief - 3</h4>


    I made Quintus bleed!


    He stumbled backwards, falling on his butt as I looked at him in shock.


    But then I remembered one of the conditions of the quest.


    I had to steal his guild emblem, and I had the perfect opportunity right there and then.


    "Are you alright, brother?" I asked, stepping towards him and kneeling to check on him.


    I didn''t know I had hit him that hard, but hi seemed slightly out of orbit as I touched his forehead, going straight to his pockets right after that, using the quick fingers I learned in the streets.


    Three seconds were more than enough for me to find the badge and take it without him noticing.


    But then I didn''t notice what came next.


    A clenched fist, straight to my jaw.


    And I thought his first punch had hurt.


    I saw an entire constetion of stars in front of my eyes, as I heard my brother''s voice.


    "How dare you..."


    And then he punched once more.


    And twice.


    Three times, and I already found it hard to keep myself awake.


    I raised my guard right when he punched a fourth time, sending me to the ropes.


    "I thought you were a waste, and that your awakening was nothing but a nuisance for us, because nobody wants an E rank... But it seems you do have something up your sleeve. So if you want to stay alive, you better show it, right. Now!"


    I heard the beep of the system in my head, as I felt the familiar, invisible force wrapping around me.


    I don''t know how Quintus changes when he enters a Nets, but I knew he was going in for the kill, when he used his telekic ability.


    [CONDITION ACHIEVED!]


    [RECEIVING REWARD]


    [UNIQUE SKILL: STEAL - LVL 1]


    [DESCRIPTION: LVL 1 ¨C ALLOWS THE PLAYER TO COPY AN ABILITY THAT THE PLAYER HAS SEEN BEFORE, TURNING IT INTO A PLAYER''S SKILL; THE SKILL USE IS AFFECTED BY THE PLAYER''S LEVEL]


    [CLASS UPGRADE: ANALYZING DATA...]


    I didn''t even had to think that hard, to know what skill I would copy.


    I hoped that copying a wielder''s ability would be just a level one feature, because if I could someday actually steal a wielder''s ability and turn it into one of my personal skills...


    Man, it would be dope!


    ''Telekinesis!'' I thought, as I felt my conscience slipping away, further and further by the second.


    "Now I want to see how you deal with real power, Kurt..."


    I thought telling Quintus to shut up would be a waste of energy, and then the system window appeared in front of me.


    It seemed a bit blurred, probably because I was almost passing out, but it was clear enough to read the content.


    [SKILL SUCCESSFULLY COPIED]


    [SKILL: INVISIBLE HAND ¨C LVL 1]


    [DESCRIPTION: Allows the yer to use the mana around him to create a telekic force to be moved at will.]


    [COST: 15MP PER MINUTE]


    Okay, that had to do.


    I focused all my will on staying awake, and thought.


    ''Invisible hand''


    The effect was almost instantaneous.


    My brother''s eyes went wide in shock as he saw me capable of breathing again, panting as my knee touched the mat.


    Quintus'' invisible grip felt like softening a bit, and I could move a bit more freely, too. But not too freely.


    The effort I had to put in just resisting his telekinesis was ridiculous.


    And if I didn''t think of anything real quick, I would run out of mana points to sustain the skill.


    And if it weren''t enough, I felt blood dripping from my nose, along with an excruciating headache.


    I stepped forward as Quintus contorted his face in a horrible way, almost as if he himself was giving his all to overpower my skill.


    Even though I knew it couldn''t be the power of a level one skill.


    I didn''t know what was happening, but I had less than three minutes to do something.


    Anything.


    So I kept on moving forward.


    One step, then another.


    And what seemed to be an eternityter, I was face to face with Quintus.


    My nose and mouth were hot with blood, and I felt my strength waning.


    It was now or never.


    So I focused the mana around me all over my fist.


    I didn''t care if Quintus was going to suffocate me with his ability.


    I had to give my all here, so I focused all my will on that punch, as I felt his grip wrapping around me again.


    And punched, aiming for his jaw.


    Suddenly, I felt nothing but a searing pain in my right hand as it connected with Quintus'' jaw.


    Even his telekinesis seemed to have faded, just as my strength.


    But to my surprise, as I fell face-down, Quintus was falling backwards.


    His eyes were closed.


    So I put my hand in my pocket, and took his badge out, holding it tightly between my fingers, as I turned backwards on the mat.


    If he ever woke up before me, he could kill me, I didn''t care.


    I won.


    And I showed it with a raised middle finger pointed at him, while holding his Shadow guild badge.


    As my conscience faded away.


    ***


    "... Telling you, I don''t know how he did it, but he stole my badge." I heard Quintus'' voice. "And he defeated me."


    "Bullshit!" Another male voice sounded near me.


    I opened my eyes, and the training room had given ce to apletely different room.


    It was a dark room, illuminated buy torches, and there was a hearth in front of where I was lying.


    Fire crept and it feltfortable.


    "Ugh... What happened?" I sat down.


    Quintus was talking to an old man with a shaved head and an ugly scar over his right eye as I woke up.


    "... And you expect me to believe that this E rank defeated you?"


    Quintus red at the old man and came towards the bed.


    "Hey, little brother. How''re you feeling?"


    He looked neither upset, nor angry.


    Quintus looked... Happy.


    And I didn''t know if I should worry about it or not, but I just waved my hand as to show him I was fine, when he said.


    "There are a few things you and I need to talk. But first of all, the old man is Rodrick. He has a few questions before we talk business."


    I didn''t understand a single thing Quintus said, but before I could ask anything, the old man, Rodrick, said.


    "Good morning, sleeping beauty, and wee to the Shadow Guild."

 Ch08. The Red Oracle

    <h4>Chapter -33: Ch08. The Red Oracle</h4>


    I was more surprised to know that the Shadow Guild did look like a giant tavern underground, than to know that Quintus supposedly wasn''t the scum I knew from ever since I was born.


    "I had to rough you up, so you could have a chance at surviving Octavius ke." Quintus said, as we walked through the guild''s hallways.


    His voice was all apologetic and brotherly, in a way I only heard two or three times in my whole life.


    Rodrick led the way, taking us somewhere I had no idea about, but it seemed that we were going deeper and deeper into the ground.


    Even the air felt thinner.


    "I''m sorry, but I knew you had something in you, and even though father told me to kill you if you didn''t awaken... I knew you had it in you."


    "Look," I retorted, feeling a bit sick of his talk "I don''t know how I won against you, but do you have any idea of what you''re telling me just now?"


    He raised a brow.


    Quintus knew how to act perplexed when he wanted.


    We only shared two features inmon, brown eyes and curly, ck hair.


    But it ended there.


    He was a head taller than me, and was more muscr, too.


    His pale skin only made him look weirder.


    In evil weird.


    So much for a confusing older brother.


    And Rodrick just listened as we talked.


    "Listen. I fucking hated you, and I don''t know if there''s ever anything you can do to change it."


    Quintus'' eyes seemed to lose a bit of light there, and it wasn''t due to the dancing light of the torches.


    But I kept speaking, anyway.


    "I mean, do you really expect me to believe that it was all a very well yed act? Me? Your brother?"


    He fell silent after that, and didn''t talk until we arrived at a heavy wooden door in the end of a staircase.


    "Before you go in, just know that I get it, okay? I, too, don''t know if there''s anything I can do for you to forgive me. But at least know that I''m sorry. And I mean it."


    "Go in?" I rebuked, ignoring Quintus'' plea. "I''m going inside whatever that room is, alone?"


    "She doesn''t like visitors, sleeping beauty." Rodrick answered, when Quintus was about to say something. "Also, the secrets she''s about to tell you are yours, and yours alone..."


    Rodrick''s face was as solemn as a funeral, and I wondered if I was missing something there.


    But I knocked on the door anyway.


    And as it opened, I entered to the smoky room.


    I was curious about the she that Roderick had mentioned before, but I was also curious to know about the daily quest and the unique quest.


    I needed some privacy to do it, but I felt like I wasn''t going to get any, so I was about to call anyone, not able to see a in front of my eyes with all that strange smoke.


    But then a female voice called out to me first.


    "You can check it here, don''t worry. We have barriers here that protects us from prying eyes and ears."


    I felt goosebumps, even though the voice was soft, almost like the girls my age.


    And suddenly, all the smoke started to dissipate.


    No, dissipate isn''t the right word to what the smoke did.


    It was as if the smoke was going back somewhere. And when I was finally able to see, my jaw dropped real low.


    It was a girl my age.


    She had blue eyes, dark skin, a long, curly red mane, and the freckles on her face were just... Something else.


    But what caught my attention the most, was that the smoke that surrounded me was going back to her hand.


    As if she was the one controlling it or something like that.


    "I... Uh..."


    I tried to articte anything to say, but she spoke before I could think of anything.


    "You and I are not so different, you see. I''m also the only one of my kind."


    Then my past life came to mind.


    A woman with red hair, that belonged to the Shadow Guild.


    A woman to whom other guilds, and even the government, would pay insurmountable amounts of money.


    Just to hear her speak.


    "The Red Oracle..." I heard myself saying, before I could even shut up.


    "See?" Her eyes shone with what I could only imagine to be happiness. "You''re quite like me, even though we''re different. How else you would be able to know about something that only my future self would be?"


    There.


    She got me, and I didn''t even say too much.


    I twisted my fingers while looking at her, taking step after step towards her almost ethereal figure.


    She had a gleam in her eyes, that made her feel like she wasn''t there at all.


    It was as if she was staring deep into the void of everything.


    "Why am I here?"


    "First things first." She retorted, looking straight at me this time. "You needed to check on something, so you better do it quick. It''s not nice to leave ady hanging..."


    "Right, I''ll keep that in mind."


    So I called the system window right away.


    NAME: KURT BLAKE


    LVL: 02 STAMINA: 142/142


    AGE: 16 HP: 110/110


    CLASS: Rogue MP: 60/50


    BASIC STATS


    Strength: 12 Perception: 16


    Dexterity: 23 Intelligence: 11


    Agility: 23 Vigor: 26


    [DAILY QUEST: THE STRONGER SELF]


    [REQUIREMENTS: RUNNING WITH WEIGHTS 10/10KM


    SIT-UPS 50/50


    PUSH-UPS 50/50


    SPARRING 11/10MIN]


    [REWARD: ???]


    [PENALTY: ???]


    [UNIQUE QUEST: FINDERS, KEEPERS]


    [REQUIREMENTS: STEAL QUINTUS BLAKE''S GUILD BADGE - Complete]


    [ADDITIONAL: SURVIVE 10 MINUTES IN AN UNGEARED FIGHT AGAINST QUINTUS BLAKE; EARN HIS RESPECT - Complete]


    [REWARD: UNIQUE SKILL; CLASS UPGRADE]


    [ADDITIONAL REWARD: UNIQUE SKILL]


    [YOU HAVE UNOPENED REWARDS]


    I was taken aback by how much it changed in just one day.


    My stamina, HP and MP had increased drastically, from my point of view, and I had leveled up, too.


    Not only that, but my strength, dexterity and agility were a bit higher than before.


    But my biggest surprise was to see that Ipleted all of the daily quests and the unique quest.


    I couldn''t wait to see what kind of reward the system had prepared me for it.


    But I could see the Oracle''s curious gaze upon me.


    She even looked like she could see the same thing I was seeing.


    But I was too curious to take it into ount, and she said we were safe from prying eyes, too.


    So I proceeded to check the unopened rewards.


    [DAILY QUEST ¨C REWARD: STAT POINTS X5


    FULL RECOVERY X1


    ARMORY KEY X1]


    [ADDITIONAL REWARD: HIDDEN NEST KEY X1]


    [UNIQUE QUEST ¨C REWARD: UNIQUE SKILL ¨C STEAL LVL 1


    CLASS UPGRADE ¨C ROGUE]


    [ADDITIONAL REWARD: UNIQUE SKILL ¨C PRYING EYES LVL 1]


    I didn''t know what to say or how to react.


    I felt like entering a treasure room, and I didn''t even know what a treasure room looked like.


    I felt the Oracle''s gaze, still upon me.


    As I looked at her, she seemed to be looking at my status window, too.


    And she was smiling.

 Ch09. Invitation

    <h4>Chapter -32: Ch09. Invitation</h4>


    "Why are you smiling?" I raised a brow, perplexed.


    She couldn''t be looking at my status window, too, could she?


    Even my brother couldn''t when we fought, and I used it right to his face.


    "You have a curious ability. I only saw it in dreams, but seeing it in person is somethingpletely different."


    "Wait." No I was even more perplexed. "You said you saw me, in a dream? Howe?"


    "Are you done with what you needed to check?"


    She was strangely polite, for a sixteen year old girl.


    "I think I am, so, why am I here?"


    Her eyes became suddenly serious as she asked, straightforward.


    "What do you know about the Cmity?"


    And as she asked, she got up from the table she was sitting at, walking towards me.


    "I know you have otherworldly knowledge, so don''t worry. You can speak your mind here, we''re free, I already told you that.


    The question and her remark took me by surprise, but Iposed myself back, and tried to recall both what I learned in school and what I learned from Niki and the books I bought from him.


    "If I remember it correctly, they said that, centuries ago, an asteroid fell on Earth, unleashing monstrous beasts from what we now call Nests. What about it?"


    "So you know that the Cmity was the event that gave birth to the first awakened, yes?"


    "Yes, andter on, the awakened who chose to fight against the beasts became the first guild.


    "The Shadow Guild." She said, to my surprise.


    "What?"


    "You heard me. The Shadow Guild was the first guild to ever be assembled, for the sake of the human race."


    "But..." I was, again, taken aback. "But they say..."


    "That the first guild was Dawn Guild, but it''s just biased information, written in history books to make people believe that the ke family reigns above all. But it wasn''t always like that."


    The conversation was taking apletely unexpected turn, and I didn''t know what to think of it.


    I fidgeted with my fingers, not knowing what to reply to that.


    "I''m not here to me you or anything, Kurt ke." She said, almost as if she could read my mind. "If anything, I need your help. But we''re running out of time."


    "What do you mean?"


    But the answer came in form of a loud knock on the wooden door behind us.


    "Your brother, Quintus, and your father, Octavius, are not to be trusted."


    Her eyes were deadly serious, as she spoke.


    "I already know that, but..."


    But she interrupted and went on, in a hurry.


    "Much is at stake here, and if you don''t get stronger in time, I don''t know what they''ll be capable of." But as I was ready to say something back, she finished. "Now, it''s time for you to get going. See you in school, Kurt."


    She winked at me and the door opened, leaving me speechless to a Quintus that touched my shoulder, asking.


    "Is everything okay, little brother?"


    "Before you go in, just know that I get it, okay? I, too, don''t know if there''s anything I can do for you to forgive me. But at least know that I''m sorry. And I mean it."


    "Your brother, Quintus, and your father, Octavius, are not to be trusted."


    Both statements swirled around my head, and somehow, I knew who I could trust.


    "Yes, brother." I answered in the most natural tone I could manage to gather. "I''m fine."


    It was way too much information all at once, in too much of a short period of time.


    The leveling up, the quest rewards, the Shadow Guild, the Red Oracle.


    Of course I was fine...


    Wait...


    Did she say "See you in school"?


    ***


    "Quintus, you go ahead, there are some things I need to discuss with the neophyte."


    Quintus looked at Rodrick as if the old man just pped him in the face, and I can''t say I didn''t like the scene.


    "Yes, I''ll get going, then." My brother answered, clearly holding back the anger.


    And when he finally left, Rodrick looked at me with curious eyes.


    "Did you really knocked the lights out of him?"


    I scratched my head, embarrassed.


    "Truth be told, even I don''t know how I did it. All I know is that when I awakened, I had a simr ability to that of my brother''s. We sparred at home, because he wanted to find out my true rank, and I ended up overpowering him in thest second..."


    "I would''ve loved to see that happening!"


    Roderick''s eyes were gleaming with just the idea of Quintus being defeated.


    "But you didn''t want me to stay just because of that, am I wrong?"


    "You''re right. I wanted you to stay a bit longer because I can''t show you the whole ce just yet. However, I did want to ask you, since you just awakened, and well... Defeated Quintus in a sparring."


    "What is it?"


    Rodrick gave a nice vibe. He looked like a bald uncle, but I knew he could be fierce in a raid, just by looking at hisplexion.


    I heard that the Shadow Guild was the only thieves guild in the whole country, but looking at Rodrick, I couldn''t think so.


    The man was built like a tank, with his brown skin looking like solid iron, and his muscles protruding underneath his shirt.


    I didn''t want to be enemies with him, that was for sure.


    "I want you to join our guild, and I want you to think carefully on it."


    Surprise after surprise, shock after shock.


    The leader of the Shadow Guild, inviting me in person to join them?


    "But... Why? I''m just..."


    "An irregr, like Evelynn, the girl you just met."


    "An... Irregr?"


    Rodrick stared at me as if I had just spoken nonsense.


    "Tell me how can a normal wielder, let alone an E-rank, newly awakened, beat the shit out of a fucking A-rank, despite getting all worn out in the aftermath. And I won''t even start on you stealing his guild badge, right?"


    Both his brows were up, and he couldn''t get more expressive than that.


    I couldn''t say a thing towards his solid statement.


    "You have something special, little man. I don''t know what, but it doesn''t concern me. Just tell me you''ll think carefully and keep in contact. I''ll prepare a good proposal for you."


    Speechless, I just moved my head up and down, thinking about how my life was turning around this time.


    "Now, better get going. We don''t want Quintus angrier than he already is, even though I''d love to see that."


    "You don''t seem to like him much, why?"


    "Story for another time, kid. Now go, take the elevator right at the end of the hallway, and you''ll leave right at the lobby."


    half shocked about everything that just happened, I left, and even though I was done with the daily quests, I needed time to think and assimte all the information.


    So I started running in a slow pace.


    I had awakened, knocked my brother out, found some questions to think about, met a pretty girl, and even got invited to join a guild!


    I waspletely done for the day, so I had all the time in the world to just jog back home.


    Life was good, finally.

 Ch10. Ready to fight

    <h4>Chapter -31: Ch10. Ready to fight</h4>


    I sat down at a bench in the park where Ipleted part of my daily quest, and looked at my holowatch.


    It was 4:15PM, and the streets were not as crowded as they would be in a few hours, with all the regrs going home from work.


    *Ronc


    My stomach growled, but I couldn''t care less about eating.


    I was too excited and eager about everything, to think about eating. Even though I knew I had to, so I set myself up to finish checking what I had acquired from my earlier quests, then I would go to a cafe and grab a bite.


    At least to wait until dinner.


    If it was a game-based, leveling up system, it had to be something like an inventory or anything, so I thought of the word ''inventory'', and the window popped up immediately.


    [INVENTORY]


    [Hidden Nest key x1


    Armory key x1


    Full recovery x1]


    There it was, the little treasure I wanted to take a look at.


    One by one, I checked the items description.


    [HIDDEN NEST KEY]


    [DESCRIPTION: Item ¨C Grants the yer ess to a special Nest; Defeating the Nest''s boss grants the yer a special reward; The yer can use the key anywhere.]


    [ARMORY KEY]


    [DESCRIPTION: Item ¨C Grants the yer ess to the armory; Upon entering, the yer can choose 03 special items; The yer can use the key anywhere; After exiting, the key is destroyed, and the armory will be closed off.]


    [FULL RECOVERY]


    [DESCRIPTION: Item ¨C A Potion that allows the yer to recover HP, MP, and Stamina to its fullest.]


    I studied a bit about guilds and wielders in my previous life, but I never came across information about any items like these.


    My mind wandered about the raids that guilds usually did into Nests.


    Many wielders died in raids, due tock of power, of teamwork, or even carelessness.


    Greater guilds had more money, so they could afford better equipment and supplies, such as potions and buff items.


    But I never heard or read about any item that gave ess to a special Nest or a ce as an armory.


    The Wielder''s market and the Auction House existed for that purpose.


    Much less have I heard of an item that recovered energy like that.


    Even if not the keys, if only I could craft some of that potion...


    I could even start apany and quit depending on the family''s money.


    But I couldn''t live on fantasies, so I threw that idea to the back of my head, closed the inventory, and opened the skills window.


    [SKILLS]


    [Steal LVL 1]


    [Prying eyes LVL 1]


    [Invisible hand LVL 1]


    I already knew what [STEAL] was capable of at level one, and I already used [INVISIBLE HAND] once, but I knew nothing about [PRYING EYES], so I jumped straight to the description.


    [PRYING EYES LVL 1]


    [DESCRIPTION: Active skill ¨C Allows the yer to see another person''s information in form of a status window; The amount of information shown varies ording to the yer''s level.]


    I felt a grin growing on my lips as I read the description.


    I had the feeling that it would make [STEAL] way easier to use.


    As I checked the holowatch, I saw that it was already 5PM, but I didn''t want to go home yet, so I thought a little bit about what I could do next.


    And when I was about to decide, my stomach growled again, way harder than before.


    "Okay, okay. I''ll give you something to eat."


    It wasn''t as if I could go on leveling up with an empty stomach.


    "Leveling up..."


    As I got up from the bench, I finally decided what to do.


    First, I was going to eat something, and then check that armory, because I didn''t want to go to a Nest empty-handed.


    My goal was already set.


    I was going to level up.


    And after having a full meal in the nearest cafe, I went back to the park, and straight to the woods.


    The system said I could use the keys anywhere, so I was about to find out if it really meant it.


    When I found myself the deepest in the park woods, I took the [ARMORY KEY] out of the inventory, and tried cing it into a random tree.


    To my surprise, the tree looked like opening from inside out, as if a door made from a rift in space had just been opened.


    "Whoa..."


    I couldn''t believe my eyes, but I stepped forward, walking into the rift-like opening, and when I arrived at the other side, I believed my eyes even less.


    "What the hell... Awesome..."


    What the system named [ARMORY], was literally an armory, just like in those old history books about medieval times.


    But way fancier than anything I had already seen in this life, or the previous.


    Shelves upon shelves of very fine crafted gears and very fine crafted weapons.


    I tried taking a sword out of one of the shelves, and immediately regretted it.


    I felt a painful electric wave flowing from the de to my hand as the system used.


    [WARNING]


    [THE PLAYER''S CLASS CANNOT MAKE USE OF THE WEAPON CLASS]


    Shit, so I had limitations to what weapons I could use...


    I tried remembering what I had learned of my favorite RPG game, about sses and stuff.


    "So... Rogues are like assassin-inclined thieves. They''re stealthy, light, and deadly. Which means..."


    Light weapons.


    Heavy weapons were meant to deal as much damage as it gets, but they didn''t allow one to move as silently as a rogue needed to, so I walked around to see if I could find anything light enough.


    And after some search, I found a ss encased disy that caught my attention.


    Inside the ss encasing,id four items.


    A light-looking sword, ck from handle to tip, about one meter-long. A pair of ck daggers, so finely crafted, one could say that the elves of a famous fantasy movie had forged them.


    And a silver ring, with a ck gem ornating it.


    I opened the case, and tested the daggers.


    They were light as a breeze, and they seemed to fit my hands perfectly, so I checked on the item description.


    [MIDNIGHT SISTERS]


    [DESCRIPTION: WEAPON ¨C Daggers forged from the blood of a thousand beasts; Used by the dark hero Orkas, during the first Cmity.]


    [AGILITY +10]


    [DEXTERITY +10]


    I couldn''t wait to see the other items, but even though I wasn''t sure about the sword, I checked them all anyways.


    [MIDNIGHT''S EMBRACE]


    [DESCRIPTION: Item ¨C Ring forged from a silvery beast core, embedded with a rune stone that grants the yer a skill; Used by the dark hero Orkas, during the first Cmity.]


    [MIDNIGHT BALLAD]


    [DESCRIPTION: Weapon ¨C Sword forged from the blood of a thousand beasts; Used by the dark hero Orkas, during the first Cmity.]


    [STRENGTH +10]


    [AGILITY +10]


    [DEXTERITY +10]


    I tried to take the sword first, since it looked like it was all part of the same set, and to my amazement, I could lift it.


    No shock, no pain, just the faint sensation of the metal''s mana coursing through my skin.


    [WARNING]


    [MIDNIGHT SET IS SOUL BOUND TO THE USER ONCE EQUIPPED]


    [03 ITEMS AVAILABLE]


    [EQUIP THE ITEMS?]


    [YES] [NO]


    The system didn''t even need to ask.


    There were a few things I wanted to know about the set''s history, like who was this dark hero Orkas, and what was that about the first Cmity, but I didn''t think I would be getting the answers in the armory.


    So I took all the items, pleased to know that the pair of daggers was a single item, and equipped them.


    As soon as I thought "yes", the items vanished into thin air, followed by a message from the system.


    [MIDNIGHT SET IS NOW BOUND TO THE PLAYER]


    [THE PLAYER CAN SUMMON THE EQUIPMENT AT WILL]


    Awesome!


    [THE ITEM SELECTION AT THE ARMORY HAS ENDED]


    [ARMORY WILL NOW CLOSE OFF]


    As soon as the system said it, I was back in the park woods.


    And it was already night.


    I checked the hour in my holowatch, it was 7:26PM.


    "Dinner or duty?"


    But I already had the answer in my heart.


    I didn''t want to see my brother''s face after what he told me in the guild''s building, and I was apprehensive about father, so I took the [HIDDEN NEST KEY] from the inventory, doing the same thing I did with the [ARMORY KEY].


    Another door made of light appeared in the tree. But different fromst time, the system announced with a ring beep that almost gave me a headache.


    [WARNING]


    [ONCE YOU ENTER THE HIDDEN NEST, YOU CAN ONLY EXIT UPON DEFEATING THE BOSS]


    [DO YOU STILL WISH TO PROCEED?]


    [YES] [NO]


    You don''t even have to ask.


    "Yes."


    And I stepped forward.


    The Nest''s walls seemed to be made of stone, lit by torches with ck fire in it.


    And in front of me, there were dozens upon dozens of Lizard men, looking straight at me.


    I summoned the [MIDNIGHT SISTERS] and prepared to sprint towards them.


    "Let''s fucking go!"

 Ch11. Into the Nest

    <h4>Chapter -30: Ch11. Into the Nest</h4>


    One thing I can say, for sure.


    Fighting holograms in a simtion to test my fighting abilities was one thing.


    But fighting real beasts inside a Nest...


    It was a whole new deal.


    Luckily, I had some thief''s skills from my past life, that were useful in a Nest, such as dodging, jumping, sprinting.


    And all of these capabilities were basically maxed out because of the system.


    As I lunged, stabbed, shed and pierced, the Lizard men kept rushing towards me, but I dodged, moved, counterattacked and evaded their approach.


    It was exhrating.


    [LEVEL UP]


    [LEVEL UP]


    [LEVEL UP]


    The system announced.


    But the stone corridor where I had arrived seemed to have no end, so I decided to conserve my strength.


    I knew there were many enemies ahead, but there were also many corpses behind me, and I was already at level five.


    After some more fighting, I cleared that section of the floor, and hid in the shadows between one torch and another to catch my breath.


    ''Okay, let''s see what''s new.'' I thought, opening the status window.


    NAME: KURT BLAKE


    LVL: 05


    AGE: 16


    CLASS: Rogue


    STAMINA: 90/175


    HP: 97/140


    MP: 95/95


    BASIC STATS


    Undistributed stat points: 5


    Strength: 16 (+10)


    Dexterity: 27 (+20)


    Agility: 27 (+20)


    Perception: 20


    Intelligence: 14


    Vigor: 30


    INVENTORY


    ***


    CONSUMABLES


    Full recovery x1


    EQUIPMENT


    Midnight Bad


    Midnight''s embrace


    ***


    SKILLS


    Steal LVL 1


    Invisible hand LVL 1


    Prying eyes LVL 1


    I needed to cool my head off, there were so many things I had forgotten about my whole new situation, and I needed to take them into ount.


    First of all, it wasn''t a game.


    The system could look like something out of a console, but it wasn''t a game at all.


    I did feel tired, and I had taken some damage. My mouth was bleeding, and I had a few cuts.


    Even though it wasn''t anything critical, my status window was there to show me that My HP and my stamina were decreasing, and I didn''t know what would happen if my stamina got to zero.


    But I remember quite well what happens if my life drops down to zero, and I didn''t want it happening again.


    Ever.


    So I took a deep breath, and weighed my possibilities.


    I checked the update on my basic stats, and it made sense, why it was seemingly easier for me to deal with the Lizard men.


    I gained one stat point for each basic stat, every time I leveled up. That made me feel a bit more reassured.


    I went into the Nest so eager to test everything I just acquired, depending solely on my basic stats, that I even forgot the most basic principle that I read from one of the books that Niki sold me in my past life.


    Gear up.


    And still had one untested item that I needed to check, so I took the [MIDNIGHT''S EMBRACE] from the inventory, and wore it in my ring finger.


    It automatically adjusted to perfectly fit my finger.


    [A DORMANT SKILL IS READY TO BE AWAKENED]


    [DO YOU WISH TO RECEIVE THE SKILL?]


    [YES] [NO]


    I had a feeling that this system would always be giving me options.


    "Yes." I whispered.


    [ACQUIRING SKILL]


    [SHADOW WALK LVL 1]


    [DESCRIPTION: Active skill ¨C Allows the yer to bepletely unnoticeable by anyone; Enemies of higher power will be able to notice you at the current skill''s level.]


    [COST: 10M per minute]


    It was a cool skill, but I still wasn''t good enough on MP to use it at will.


    I also had to find out which basic stat influenced on my MP.


    It was pretty obvious that strength made me physically stronger, agility and dexterity affected my speed and reaction time.


    And ever since I awakened to that system, I was able to slightly feel things that usually are invisible to the human eye, so I imagine it was due to the perception stat.


    I assumed that vigor had something to do with my stamina, so I was left with intelligence.


    And after some consideration, I got up and prepared to go on.


    I wasn''t going to use [FULL RECOVERY] just yet, because I would probably need it in the boss room, and I wanted to test my luck with my stats and equipment, now that I had cooled off, without distributing the stat points I still had as a reward from my daily quest.


    If I needed to, I would do so before the boss room, but I didn''t need to rush it.


    All I needed to do, was take things steady and level headed, like when picked a lock, or a pocket.


    So I exhaled a deep sigh, pped my cheeks, and started walking again.


    After a sharp turn without a single beast to be seen, the corridor felt like getting wider, brighter, despite the dark torches.


    I tried focusing my senses to whatid ahead of me, and was able to feel a presence, not far ahead.


    It wasn''t so strong, so I activated [SHADOW WALK], and ran towards it, in hopes to kill any Lizard men that waited for me on the way, without getting caught.


    Strangely, though, after one minute of running, I found none, so deactivated the skill, and found myself in a vast stone chamber, lit by countless torches of a vibrant, red fire, different from the hallways that led me to that chamber.


    In the middle of the chamber was a throne twice my size.


    But the most impressive thing was what sat on the throne.


    It was a Lizard man, bigger than the throne itself, carrying a massive battle axe, and dressed in what looked like barbarian clothing, full of fur and leather.


    And the remaining Lizard menid prostrated around him, growling and screeching, probably talking to him.


    ''So I scared you guys away, and you ran straight back to your papa?'' I thought, hiding in a piece of shadow on the wall.


    I wanted to test my new light sword, so I drew [MIDNIGHT BALLAD] from the inventory, and held it tightly.


    I wasn''t used to swords, but its de felt incredibly familiar to my hand.


    Almost as if it was forged bymission.


    So I inhaled, exhaled, and took a pebble from the floor, to drag their attention somewhere else.


    If I was going to do it right, I had to take the minions down first, then go after the big guy.


    I focused my strength on my hand, and shot the pebble right at the wall behind the throne.


    All Lizard men stood up at the same time, even the big one, growling and drawing their weapons.


    And all of them looked in the direction of the sound.


    ''Time to get the job done...''


    And I sprinted towards them with all I had.

 Ch12. Into the Nest - 2

    <h4>Chapter -29: Ch12. Into the Nest - 2</h4>


    It was a ughter.


    I knew I could do mostly anything if I had a clear head, so everything became way easier after I took my time.


    Despite my injuries, even though they were not so serious, I moved among the Lizard men, as if I was going to pick their pockets.


    But I soon discovered that a sword wasn''t a good weapon for that kind of action, so I put it back in the inventory, and summoned [MIDNIGHT SISTERS] again.


    "Sorry, pal. Today won''t be the day I test you in the field." I told the sword, as if it could hear me, and kept moving.


    I also activated [SHADOW WALK] a few times.


    Just enough to catch the beasts by surprise as I stabbed them in the neck, head and torso.


    [LEVEL UP]


    [LEVEL UP]


    [LEVEL UP]


    As the system announced my leveling up, and I walked among the Lizard men, their numbers quickly went down, and the huge Lizard man who seemed to be their king, finally noticed me among themotion.


    He drew his battle axe, and roared loudly, as I tried to put the few Lizard men left between me and him.


    But it seemed like he didn''t care much about his minions, as he swung his enormous weapon towards me.


    I dodged, but the other three Lizard man left weren''t so lucky, getting smashed and cut by that humongous de.


    "Not so urate, right, big guy?" I taunted him, as he looked furiously in my direction.


    I hoped that it could be an effective technique to deal with such a huge beast, that had not just size, but strength, also.


    [GORA''S PET: Tarhuk ¨C LVL 10]


    As I kept taunting it, while running around, making the beast go round and round, I saw the name above its head, and my jaw dropped.


    "Just who the hell is strong and dumb enough to make a thing like you their pet?"


    But the giant lizard man wouldn''t answer, and I had a gut feeling that my daggers wouldn''t be enough to prate his skin. Much less the leathers and furs that covered its body.


    "Okay, time to dance to the [MIDNIGHT BALLAD]!"


    And I summoned my new sword, gleaming of happiness as I could finally test it.


    It had to be an all or nothing, for me, because if that metal thing hit me even once, I could imagine my HP dropping to minus one, so I checked my remaining MP, and activated [SHADOW WALK].


    I still had five minutes, due to my moderated use of the skill earlier, so it should do.


    I focused as I watched the beast, Tarhuk looking around, confused to where I should''ve gone to, and ran straight to its naked heels.


    The de cut through skin, bones and tendons as if it it was a hot knife through butter, and soon as I was done, Tarhuk let out a loud, almost deafening screech, falling to its knees.


    But It wasn''t time to rest, the battle wasn''t over, and I still had to finish that son of a gun off.


    So I took the opportunity, and jumped to Tarhuk''s back.


    He was huge, so I had to take two or three steps to get where I wanted.


    And when I was right on the spot, I jumped as high as I could, using the fall as a boost to dig my de into the beast''s skull.


    Then, one second passed.


    Two.


    Three.


    And Tarhuk finally came down, falling like a massive statue to the ground.


    [LEVEL UP]


    [LEVEL UP]


    [LEVEL UP]


    [LEVEL UP]


    "Whew. That was something..." I said to Tarhuk''s corpse, as Iid on its back to rest for a while.


    But the beast soon dissolved in ashes, giving me a free fall to the ground.


    It wasn''t a long fall, but it still hurt.


    I scratched my back and head, groaning, and looked at the shiny thing that the beast had left behind.


    I took it and checked it closely.


    It was a beast core, and a slightly dark green one, at that. Which meant that Tarhuk might''ve been a D-rank beast.


    ording to the books, beasts were ranked not only from F to S, but also by their cores.


    They went from the darkest green, all the way to tones of yellow, and then to red.


    After that, there was only the ck and silver cores.


    I only heard about and saw the ck core, on that matter. It belonged to the only S-ranked beast that ever set ws on Earth.


    Right after the Cmity, and it was disyed in the national wielders museum.


    About the silvery core, I only knew from what I read of [MIDNIGHT''S EMBRACE]''s description. Aside of that, I never even heard the slightest mention of a silver cored beast.


    Niki once told me that D-rank beast cores aren''t much valued in the market, but he knew some people who used them in experiments that he didn''t ask about.


    And these people paid well for them.


    So I decided to keep it.


    You never know when your friend might show up with those contacts, right?


    But I needed to take a break.


    I was exhausted, and my whole body ached like nothing else, so I checked my status window, to see where I was at, before I could pass out from exhaustion.


    NAME: KURT BLAKE


    LVL: 05


    AGE: 16


    CLASS: Rogue


    STAMINA: 42/245


    HP: 100/210


    MP: 115/165


    BASIC STATS


    Undistributed stat points: 5


    Strength: 23 (+10)


    Dexterity: 34 (+20)


    Agility: 34 (+20)


    Perception: 27


    Intelligence: 21


    Vigor: 37


    So I was in that state...


    My HP was lower than half, and my stamina... Gosh, I was in shambles.


    No wonder my body ached like that.


    "Yeah... But I was damn good..."


    Then, suddenly, everything became ck.


    ***


    I woke up in a jump, surrounded by apletely different ce.


    The night sky could be seen above me, full of stars, and below, a grass so soft, I could justy there and sleep forever.


    If it wasn''t for the bonfire crackling a few steps from me.


    I sat up, and looked at the bonfire, beside which was a man, sitting and drinking something from a smoking bowl.


    I imagined it was a man, because the person didn''t have breasts, neither any curves.


    But that was all.


    He wore a ck cloak and a hood that covered his whole face in shadows, despite the light of the fire.


    "You finally came." The man said, standing up and throwing the bowl, already empty, aside.


    "Where am I?"


    I was lost and confused.


    Just a few seconds earlier, I was in Tarhuk''s throne room, and now I was...


    Where was I?


    But I didn''t have time to ask again, as the man, somehow, looked at me and said.


    "You are in a realm different than yours, far from where you truly sleeps."


    "So... I''m dreaming."

 Ch13. Into the Nest - 3

    <h4>Chapter -28: Ch13. Into the Nest - 3</h4>


    "Yes, and no." The man said, moving towards me. "You passed out after your battle with the Lizard folk and his leader, Tarhuk. Beautiful, what you did there."


    I smiled, embarrassed.


    But as he got closer, I felt something.


    Something was off, but I couldn''t for the life of me, put a finger on it.


    I sharped my senses, and the closer the man got, the more threatened I felt, somehow.


    That man, I had to back away from him, no matter what.


    And I did.


    I moved backwards with an impulse, my instincts screaming in my head ''DANGER, DANGER!''.


    Right when he threw a punch at me, that grazed my nose by a hairsbreadth.


    "WHAT THE HELL?" I stepped backwards once more, as the man lowered his hood.


    Octavius ke, my father, was looking at me with a raised brow.


    I felt heat under my nose, and saw blood, when I cleaned it with the back of my hand.


    "You grew a little stronger, boy." He said, but his voice didn''t quite sound like my father.


    He sounded, I don''t know...


    Kinda robotic?


    I stepped back one more time, summoning [MIDNIGHT SISTERS] behind my back.


    "You know," He spoke again "when I first saw you, I didn''t have hopes in you, at all. But as you grew up, and I noticed that you just wouldn''t awaken, and that made me really angry..."


    He kept on babbling about how he wouldn''t ept a son if he was a regr, but I already knew all that bullshit, and even more...


    Something clicked in my mind, and I realized that the thing in front of me wasn''t truly Octavius, but some distorted image of him.


    So I didn''t hesitate, and sprinted towards him, ready to attack.


    But he blocked my attacks.


    With the same pair of daggers that I held.


    "How...?"


    It was impossible, but it didn''t shock me as much as I thought it would.


    "[MIDNIGHT SET] is bound to the soul of the one who equips them. Curious, isn''t it?"


    "Yeah, very curious." I said, still shing with the thing in front of me.


    The gears in my brain furiously turning, searching for any hint of what I was experiencing.


    But everything about the whole situation felt different from everything I had imagined.


    My des shed against the thing''s, but that was all.


    He only blocked and parried, but every time he was about to connect, I felt it and evaded, blocked, or counterattacked.


    He wasn''t stronger than me.


    So searched for the tiniest opening I could get, and kicked him hard in the chest, sending him a few good steps back.


    "You''re not Octavius. Who are you? What are you?"


    The thing gasped and coughed a mouthful of blood.


    "I''m you..."


    "Bullshit!"


    The thing''s eyes widened in surprise.


    "You''re not me, because if you were, you would''ve foreseen the kick you just received. It would be a never ending fight, and we would die of exhaustion, nothing more."


    It rolled its eyes, and sighed in boredom.


    "You''re a bit better than I expected, but don''t expect me to go any easier on you next time. I''ll keep watching you..."


    And then it started to vanish, the ce around me lighting up in a blinding explosion.


    "Wait! WHO ARE..."


    ***


    "... YOU?"


    I woke up in Tarhuk''s chamber again, heart pounding, confused about what just happened.


    But before I could even try to understand it, there was the system''s beep, followed by a message.


    [THE PLAYER HAS BEEN GRANTED A REWARD FOR COMPLETING THE FIRST TRIAL]


    [RETURNING STONE ACQUIRED]


    [RETURNING STONE]


    [DESCRIPTION: Item ¨C Can be used once; Allows the yer to leave the Hidden Nest; Upon exiting, the Hidden Nest will be closed off forever.]


    [YOU HAVE 01 MESSAGE]


    Iughed.


    "First trial, huh?"


    Things were slowly starting to get in ce in my head.


    I wasn''t facing me, neither Octavius, in the dream I just had.


    I was facing the system itself.


    But why wasn''t it stronger than me?


    I thought that, if the system was able to bring me back right after I died, it would have some godly powers or whatever.


    But it didn''t seem to be able to fend against me.


    Fuck, I was even able to hit it cleanly!


    I sighed, sitting up.


    The more I lived through this, the more questions I had.


    And I didn''t have an answer to any of them.


    At least for now.


    "Well... At least you seem to be showing some intentions here..." I murmured, looking at the description of the item I just acquired.


    The [RETURNING STONE] wasn''t an item I intended to use, unless my solo raid got really out of control.


    I wouldn''t waste this chance of leveling up, no matter what.


    But the appearing of the item felt out of ce.


    Why would the system give me an item that would secure my life, but wouldn''t let me get a second chance to go at it?


    It felt fishy, but I let that suspicion set aside, opening the system window to check my stats, and the message.


    NAME: KURT BLAKE


    LVL: 10


    AGE: 16


    CLASS: Rogue


    STAMINA: 245/245


    HP: 210/210


    MP: 165/165


    BASIC STATS


    Undistributed stat points: 5


    Strength: 23 (+10)


    Dexterity: 34 (+20)


    Agility: 34 (+20)


    Perception: 27


    Intelligence: 21


    Vigor: 37


    INVENTORY


    ***


    CONSUMABLES


    Full recovery x1


    EQUIPMENT


    Midnight Bad


    Midnight''s embrace


    ***


    SKILLS


    Steal LVL 1


    Invisible hand LVL 1


    Prying eyes LVL 1


    Shadow walk LVL 2


    [THE DAILY QUEST HAS ARRIVED]


    I gasped at the message.


    What time was it, for a new daily quest to arrive?


    I checked my holowatch, and cursed to myself.


    10:14AM


    "FOR HOW FUCKING LONG WAS I ASLEEP?!"


    The shout echoed through the stone chamber, and after the sound dissipated, a rift-like door appeared in front of me.


    "For fuck''s sake!"


    Before entering the second floor of the Nest, I had to do some work, so I got down again, and started doing the sit-ups, then turned on my chest, and started the push-ups.


    It was way easier than before, so, remembering the first time Ipleted the quest, when the sparring counter surpassed the ten minutes limit, I decided to go to one hundred of each, in two series.


    After I was done with these, all that was left was sparring and running with weights.


    But there was a difference from the previous daily quest to the current one.


    [REWARD: ???]


    [PENALTY: LEVEL DECREASING]


    The system must be trying to fuck with me, somehow...


    And no way I would let it happen.


    I had to think of something, before the day ended.


    So I activated [SHADOW WALK], and walked towards the entrance to the next floor.

 Ch14. Into the Nest - 4

    <h4>Chapter -27: Ch14. Into the Nest - 4</h4>


    The Nests usually had two to three floors, ording to the books I read on the topic.


    Each floor was harder to conquer than the one before, that''s why they needed full, well-bnced teams to raid the Nests.


    And I was still a bit surprised that I was able to conquer the first floor of the [HIDDEN NEST] all by myself.


    But as I passed through the threshold to the next floor, I felt a different kind of pressure.


    The corridor ahead of me waspletely empty, except for dozens of rusted armors standing in line, with their backs to the walls.


    It was like someone had used them for decoration purposes.


    There weren''t any torches illuminating the ce. Instead, regr braziers hanging on the ceiling cast an eerie light upon the armors and the walls.


    But I didn''t feel any presence ahead of me, and since I had [SHADOW WALK] on, I took that opportunity to test something out.


    I took a pair of gauntlets and a breast te from one of the armors, and it weighted really heavy when I put them on.


    ''Okay, that should do for a while.'' I thought, and started to run, with my quest window open, so I could check on my progress.


    [DAILY QUEST: THE STRONGER SELF]


    [REQUIREMENTS:


    RUNNING WITH WEIGHTS 0/10KM


    SIT-UPS 100/50


    PUSH-UPS 100/50


    SPARRING 0/10MIN]


    [REWARD: ???]


    [PENALTY: LEVEL DECRESAL]


    As I thought, all the exercises I did before were there, one hundred of each.


    What kind of reward would I get if I surpassed all goals?


    With that thought in mind, I started to run as fast as I could with the weight of the breast te and the gauntlets I had on.


    I didn''t follow a fast pace, because I had to conserve as much stamina as possible for the fights ahead.


    Even though I couldn''t see a single beast on my way to the end of that floor.


    ''It looks too easy for the second floor of a Nest.''


    But then the smell came with the full brunt.


    I immediately felt nauseous, and stopped running.


    The corridor stopped a few dozens of meters ahead. There was a closed double door, and from inside it I could smell it.


    Death.


    I didn''t need to get in there to know what I would see if I stepped inside.


    Corpses.


    Countless corpses.


    My quest window showed that I ran seven kilometers to get where I was, so it left me with three more kilometers, and the chance to see if a fight with whatever that was inside that room, counted as a spar.


    I checked my stats, and saw that I only took four minutes to get there, leaving me twelve more minutes of [SHADOW WALK], so I stepped forward, and opened the door.


    It was dark, but I was right.


    The smell was even worse on the inside. And the creature that did all that I was witnessing was looking straight at the door.


    Straight at me, if I wasn''t cloaked with [SHADOW WALK].


    It was a vulture-like beast, bigger than me.


    Luckily, though, not close to being as big as Tarhuk.


    And it was feasting on a...


    Human corpse?


    It was gruesome to watch.


    But what shocked me the most, even more than the smell or the countless bodies all over the floor, what that human corpse.


    Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the one the vulture was feeding on, wasn''t the only human corpse in the vast room.


    How did they get here?


    It was a vast ce, and it didn''t seem to have walls or a ceiling.


    The ce was all covered in darkness, despite me being able to see the floor and the dead bodies.


    And the beast was just looking at the door, breathing, exhaling something like vapor from the nostrils in its beak.


    Somehow, I felt as though it could see me, even though I had [SHADOW WALK].


    Was it powerful?


    But then I looked over its head, and the name exined everything.


    [THE BLIND GUARDIAN: KOTUR''AH - LVL 11]


    ''You gotta be kidding me...''


    So I''ve been spending mana points until now for nothing?


    I unconsciously huffed, and turned [SHADOW WALK] off, frustrated, noticing my mistake right after.


    The beast let out a raspy, drawn-out hiss, and opened its wings to take flight.


    "NO!"


    Shit!


    And I watched as the blind guardian of whatever it was, vanished in the darkness, leaving nothing but silence and death below.


    I summoned the [MIDNIGHT SISTERS] and prepared for anything, because if that thing was as silent and fast as it was big, I would be in trouble if I couldn''t think of anything.


    But before I could even try to conceive any ideas, I felt what could only be the beast''s ws digging into my shoulder.


    "ARGH!"


    I couldn''t think properly because of the pain.


    Despite my stats, the bird''s ws felt like hot metal against my skin, and the strikested no more than a single second, leaving me bleeding, losing HP by the second.


    Now that wound was bad, and I had to think quickly, of anything.


    I didn''t want to die inside that room.


    I didn''t want to be a part of that disgusting bird''s meal.


    So I ran, checking my stats window to see how bad I looked.


    [STAMINA: 200/245


    HP: 150/210


    MP: 115/165]


    I couldn''t hear the damn thing striking, but I could feel the air current right before it rose up again.


    ''Wait...''


    The air current! That''s it!


    I suddenly stopped, almost tripping over a few carcasses, and quieted all my muscles.


    The pain seemed to make everything feel harder to be done, but I focused all I could into that single action.


    I''d have to use all my dexterity and agility in the move I was thinking about.


    Because I had a split second to aplish it.


    Or die trying.


    ''All stat points avable into [DEXTERITY]!'' I ordered the system, in my head.


    Suddenly, I felt my muscles sensibly sharper than before, and with the level of perception I had, I tensed my skin and ears, to be able to listen to any changes to the air current around me.


    I hoped it would work.


    ''Please, let it work. Please, please, please!''


    I rose my hand, as I felt a slight change to the air in front of me, and summoned [MIDNIGHT BALLAD], that appeared right into my raised hand, and I lowered it with all I had.


    I wasn''t so strong, but the additional ten points of strength from [MIDNIGHT BALLAD] helped a lot.


    And the movement was so swift, I almost felt the air being cut along with the damn bird.


    It didn''t even have time to squawk, its body cut in half, falling to the ground.


    [LEVEL UP]


    [LEVEL UP]


    [LEVEL UP]


    [LEVEL UP]


    [LEVEL UP]


    [CONGRATULATIONS FOR ACHIEVING LVL 15, PLAYER!]


    [THE STORE IS NOW OPEN!]


    "Okay, but shut up, that was hard..."


    But I knew that, if I had at least one more floor ahead, it would be way harder.


    But first, I had to take care of that damn wound.

 Ch15. Into the Nest - 5

    <h4>Chapter -26: Ch15. Into the Nest - 5</h4>


    Unlikest time, the entrance for the next floor opened right after I defeated the blind guardian, Kotur''Ah.


    It was hard to find the beast core that the bird had left, because it had fallen among the dead bodies and the blood, but I wouldn''t leave that floor without it.


    But after sticking my hand into that bloody mess a few times, I could find the core, and to my surprise, it was a brighter tone of green. Almost yellow, which meant that the blind guardian was stronger than Tarhuk.


    Then I remembered the system notification about the store.


    It got me curious, because if it was what thought it was, things were about to go at least slightly more my way.


    So I opened the system window, and checked for any updates.


    [STORE AVAILABLE]


    I was alone in there, so I clicked on the [STORE] icon that appeared at the system window, and my jaw dropped to the floor.


    "So you were keeping all of this from me until now?"


    There were healing, stamina, and mana potions, weapons, though I didn''t see the need for it, since I already had the [MIDNIGHT SET], and even armor and clothing!


    I was bbergasted at the sight of all items that the store held.


    So I went for what I needed first.


    [LESSER HP POTION - 50G]


    [MEDIUM HP POTION - 100G]


    [MAJOR HP POTION - 200G]


    [LESSER STAMINA POTION - 50G]


    [MEDIUM STAMINA POTION - 100G]


    [MAJOR STAMINA POTION ¨C 200G]


    [LESSER MANA POTION - 150G]


    [MEDIUM MANA POTION - 300G]


    [MAJOR MANA POTION ¨C 600G]


    Right... I guess it was too much to expect the system to ept my current world currency.


    But was it gold? And how the hell was I supposed to get it?


    And on top of that, why were mana potions more expensive than stamina and HP ones?


    I thought I wouldn''t have other option than to use the [FULL RECOVERY] I safe kept in my inventory for a major emergency, when I scrolled down a bit, and right at the bottom of the window, was an information that got me half relieved, and half pissed.


    [INSERT BEAST CORES TO CONVERT INTO GOLD]


    Why did it always put that kind of sensible information on the bottom of my system window?


    I felt a little frustrated about it, but since it couldn''t be helped, I just focused on the task ahead.


    I had to see how much gold the dark green and light green cores would get me, so I took them out of the inventory, and inserted them in the store window.


    And after a few seconds, a notification popped up.


    [LOADING INFORMATION]


    [CONVERTING BEAST CORES]


    [...]


    [...]


    [YOU HAVE NOW 1.500G]


    ONLY THAT MUCH?


    Shit!


    I went over the potions'' price again, and after a few seconds of deep consideration, I opened my stat window to check on which potion I needed the most, since I had finally reached level ten.


    [NAME: KURT BLAKE


    LVL: 15


    AGE: 16


    CLASS: Rogue


    STAMINA: 250/295


    HP: 200/260


    MP: 155/205


    BASIC STATS


    Undistributed stat points: 0


    Strength: 73 (+10)


    Dexterity: 84 (+20)


    Agility: 84 (+20)


    Perception: 82


    Intelligence: 71


    Vigor: 87]


    I just kept looking at my stat window, not sure of what I should feel about it. But one thing was for sure.


    I was speechless!


    I leveled up nine times in a single Nest!


    To get even slightly stronger was nothing but a fever dream for full fledged wielders, since their rank is set in stone once they awaken.


    But there I was...


    Leveling up.


    Growing stronger and stronger, even though I had a nasty wound on my shoulder.


    And as I remembered it, not only the system sent me a notification about it, but I started feeling a bit dizzy, my vision began to blur a little, and I staggered forward, almost tripping over a few carcasses.


    But I set my feet hard onto the floor, and focused everything I had just to stay awake.


    [ALERT]


    [AN INFECTION HAS BEEN DETECTED]


    [EMERGENCY QUEST HAS BEEN ISSUED]


    [EMERGENCY QUEST]


    [THE ENEMY WITHIN]


    [REQUIREMENTS: STAY AWAKE FOR 03 MINUTES WHILE SUFFERING FROM THE EFFECTS OF THE BLIND GUARDIAN, KOTUR''AH''S INFECTED CLAWS]


    [REWARD: UNIQUE SKILL]


    [OBS: HEALING POTIONS WILL NOT TAKE EFFECT WHILE THE EMERGENCY QUEST IS ACTIVE]


    I wanted the system to shut up, or at least to cut the bullshit.


    An emergency quest to fight the infection, that would give me a unique skill. That was cool.


    But to cut me from using any means I deemed necessary to heal myself?


    Was the system really trying to get me killed?


    Then, why did it go through all the work of allowing me ess to the armory, to this Hidden Nest?


    Why even give me such cool stuff, such as the [MIDNIGHT SET], if it wanted me to die, to begin with?


    "Well... Fuck it, and fuck you system! I''m gonna survive this, no. Matter. What!"


    So I gritted my teeth, nted my foot on the floor as if it were roots from a tree, breathed in, and then out, slowly, feeling my head spinning.


    I didn''t know how much time had passed, but the longer I tried to fight it, the more severe the effects seemed to be.


    I felt so feverish, that it was like overheating, and the more I felt my skin getting hotter, the lighter my head would feel.


    The dizziness turning to drowsiness, and soon after that, even if I was fully awake, my legs gave up underneath me.


    And I fell face-down to the floor, having just enough strength to turn my head not to choke upon the blood.


    I kept breathing.


    Inhaling, and then exhaling.


    I didn''t know if I was even awake anymore.


    Everything around me felt fuzzy, and suddenly, I felt a grip over my legs, then the world spun dizzyingly, and I felt like I was going to vomit.


    Was I hallucinating?


    "Don''t worry, friend. Everything will be over soon. Just hear my voice and keep breathing."


    The voice sounded likeing from a male throat at first. It sounded like Quintus, but then it sounded like Evelynn, the Red Oracle, also a stranger''s, and I couldn''t see a single thing in front of me.


    Everything was so red.


    The next moment, or an hour after, I couldn''t know, I felt myself being dragged somewhere.


    Then, everything turned to light.

 Ch16. Unspoken truth

    <h4>Chapter -25: Ch16. Unspoken truth</h4>


    [CONGRATULATIONS, PLAYER]


    [YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY ENDURED THE INFECTION]


    [REQUIREMENTS FOR THE QUEST ¨C THE ENEMY WITHIN ¨C HAVE BEEN MET]


    [REWARD RECEIVED]


    [UNIQUE SKILL ¨C MASTER OF ALL POISONS]


    [DESCRIPTION: Passive skill ¨C Allows the yer to resist all kinds of poisons and infections; Also grants the yer knowledge in the concoction of poisons.]


    [AN INFECTION HAS BEEN DETECTED]


    [MASTER OF ALL POISONS IS NOW IN EFFECT]


    [3...]


    [2...]


    [1...]


    [THE INFECTION HAS BEEN ELIMINATED]


    "You have a remarkable strong will, young man." I heard a voice beside me.


    When I opened my eyes and sat up, feeling as if nothing had happened, probably due to the new skill [MASTER OF ALL POISONS], I saw a man sitting down in front of me.


    He felt strangely old, wise, but didn''t look like it.


    He wore a hood, but from what I saw from his face, his white skin had almost no wrinkles, and his blue eyes, full of knowledge, reminded me of Niki''s.


    He was strong, thinly muscr, like a ranger. Or even a thief.


    He probably was one, judging the fine, ck cloak he wore, covered with ck leather pauldrons.


    And under the cloak, I could discern traces of an also ck, leather armor, covered in small rivets and full of crevices, where he kept some of his weapons, such as throwing daggers and other things.


    I could even discern the glimpse of des under the top of his boots.


    Remembering the first time I woke up near a stranger, I immediately summoned the [MIDNIGHT SISTERS] and jumped a bit far away from him, guarding myself and preparing to strike.


    "You don''t need to feel threatened by me, young man." He said, and both his voice and his demeanor didn''t feel threatening.


    Not even my perception used anything wrong about him, so I slowly lowered my daggers.


    "Assuming that you''re already familiar with the features of the system, you already know who I am, right?"


    What kind of question caught me off guard, making me frown at what the man said.


    "How do you know about the system?"


    "Judging by the pair of daggers you carry, just look above my head, and I think you''ll know."


    I heard him and looked above his head, but when I saw his name, I couldn''t believe it at first.


    It couldn''t be, right?


    [THE DARK HERO, ORKAS ¨C LVL ???]


    "Wait! How are you the boss of this Nest?" I was shocked, my hands trembled for some reason. "I... I thought that..."


    "You thought that, since the system had granted you ess to the [ARMORY], and you found the [MIDNIGHT SET] there... My trusted equipment set, that I would be some hero that fought in the First Cmity, and died long time ago, leaving traces of my existence within this system?"


    I was speechless.


    Yes, that was exactly what I thought, but then...


    "How is it that you''re..."


    But he didn''t let me finish my question, immediately answering it.


    "I''m not here to fight you, despite being the boss of this entire Nest. I''m not even a beast, as you can see." Then, his eyes became bitter, sad even, as he went on. "Many came before, and all have died by my des, because I was controlled by the $#%¡§&*. But something happened when you stepped in here, and when I felt..."


    "Wait, you were controlled by who?"


    I thought my ears were ying tricks on me, so I asked one more time, and then I understood.


    "I was controlled by the ******."


    Yeah, my ears weren''t ying tricks on me, but why was he speaking like that?


    "You weren''t able to understand when I said the name of what took control of me, were you?"


    "No, I just heard you say something in, like, anguage I don''t understand, or something like that."


    The man scratched his chin, and thought about something, for a very long time.


    I started to feel ufortable, when he finally spoke again.


    "It seems that, though you have more control over the system than the others, you still have a long way to go, so I''ll give you a piece of advice, before I send you on your way."


    "What is it? And what do you mean by send me on my way?" I was confused at that point. "Aren''t I supposed to defeat you, or else I won''t be able to get out? And what do you mean by having more control over the system than the others? Who are they? And does it mean that I''m not the only one to get this system?"


    "In the present, you are, yes, the only person to acquire the system, but you are not the first one to have used it. However, since I can''t tell you much about the ****** and the **********, as I can see judging by the look of confusion in your face again, I''ll tell you this."


    He gave a grave pause, as if thinking about something, but suddenly, he spoke again, approaching me.


    "The system is nothing but a tool for you to level up and grow stronger Don''t let it ****** you, or else you''ll ****** like me. Because I wasn''t strong enough to ovee the ******''s will. Use the system, but don let ** *** ***, don''t forget it!"


    Then, he didn''t seem to pay attention to the look of confusion that I had, because he kept speaking, despite how I tried to interrupt him.


    But I knew by then, that the system wasn''t something to be fully trusted.


    Which made sense, judging by how it had been acting inside the Nest.


    I couldn''t say much else, though, because Orkas was ready to say goodbye.


    He touched my shoulder, and then I felt as if an electric wave crossed through my body, different from when I grabbed the sword, back in the [ARMORY], though.


    I saw things in my head, while Orkas touched me.


    Scenes of war, bloodshed, and wild beasts running amok.


    Orkas was fighting the beasts along many others, that I imagined were the first generation of awakened.


    And there was a white Dragon fighting by their side.


    The scene changed to that of the white Dragon, dying by Orkas'' side, and he cried.


    "Don''t worry about me, my only friend..." The Dragon said. "I had my part in it, and I''m d I fought by your side. Now, there''s onest thing I need you to do for me..."


    "Yes, anything, just... Don''t die, please..."


    "If you do that, then I shall always be by your side..."


    "What is it, Arias?"


    "take my core, and forge something from it... I want you to wear me wherever you go..."


    "I shall do it, and you''ll be proud of what I''ll make of it!"


    "Thank you... Orkas... My only... Human... Friend..."


    And then the Dragon, Arias, vanished in ashes, leaving a tiny, glowing orb, behind.


    And when Orkas took it, I could see that what it was.


    It was a silvery beast core...


    "The silvery beast core from which [MIDNIGHT''S EMBRACE] was made..." I heard myself saying, dumbfounded.


    "Now you know a bit of the story, young man." Orkas said, taking his hand off my shoulder. "And now, I give you my blessing, so you can carry out your mission. Now go, you may leave this Nest, and one more thing..."


    I heard him as I felt an invisible force pulling me away from thest floor, and his voice got more and more distant.


    "YOU''RE DOING GREAT! IT TOOK ME TWO YEARS TO GET TO LEVEL FIFTEEN! Keep up the hard work, and you''ll soon surpass the **********..."


    And the next second, I was back in the park woods, falling over my butt, a bit tired, but my shoulder wasn''t bleeding anymore.


    [YOU HAVE ACQUIRED ORKAS'' BLESSING]


    [THE ANCIENT DRAGON IS NOW LOOKING UPON YOU]


    [ONCE YOU REACH A CERTAIN LEVEL, A SPECIAL FEAT WILL BE AVAILABLE]


    I had leveled up a lot, ording to Orkas, much faster than him, though I couldn''t know how big of a deal that was.


    And I even got his blessing, even though I didn''t know what it meant, despite the system notification.


    But I didn''t feel good.


    The images that Orkas showed me were still engraved in my head, and I felt... Bitter, sad, even.


    I looked at [MIDNIGHT''S EMBRACE],fortably sitting around my ring finger, and remembered Arias'' final moments and words.


    "Don''t worry. I won''t let you go to waste."


    I got up, and looked up to the sky.


    It was almost the middle of the day, so I started walking.


    I was hungry, and I still needed toplete my daily quest.


    There were many things left untold, and I thought I knew just the right person to whom I could ask the questions in my head.


    It was time to make an official visit to the Shadow Guild.

 Ch17. The rematch

    <h4>Chapter -24: Ch17. The rematch</h4>


    I didn''t run home.


    First I passed by a cafe and had a proper meal.


    I couldn''t believe I spent almost two days in a Nest, so I was starving.


    The guys at the cafe stared at me for a moment, as if I was some homeless person or what, and by the time I had ordered my meal, I heard some of them whispering stuff about me, which got me a bit irritated.


    "You know that it''s not polite to whisper about someone behind their backs?" I said, out loud, to everyone that I heard. "Now, why don''t you guys speak you mind? Out loud, so I can hear you!"


    I was irritated by them saying things behind my back, but somehow, I felt angrier than I should have.


    [MIDNIGHT''S EMBRACE] felt warm around my finger, and then I realized why I was angry.


    I still remembered it.


    It was as if I could feel the bond shared between Orkas and Arias.


    And seeing Arias die had shattered me, even though I hadn''t known her.


    So I was pissed off.


    And I just let it flow.


    The guys who talked stood up and surrounded my table.


    "Or what?" One said.


    "Are you gonna beg us to take back what we said?" Other retorted.


    "Shut up, guys." The third of them intervened.


    He looked a bit more reasonable than the other two, but as my perception was a lot higher than before, I could sense that he wasn''t saying that, for me to feel safer.


    He had a threatening aura around him, so he should be a strong wielder.


    "Can''t you see we''re disturbing the youngd? We should help him, instead of making jokes. How about that..." he kept saying, as he shoved his hand against my face.


    Which I didn''t allow, of course.


    I activated [INVISIBLE HAND] right away, and his hand stood there, inches from my face.


    "Wha..."


    But I didn''t let him finish.


    I stood up, and activated [SHADOW WALK], looking at their wide, shocked eyes.


    After that, I waked by them, and when I was behind the reasonable-looking man, whom I imagined to be the leader of the trio, I summoned one of the [MIDNIGHT SISTERS] and leaned it against his throat.


    I wanted to cut him, but I held back, just letting the de touch the skin of his neck, gently, and uncloaked [SHADOW WALK].


    "if you don''t want to die, I''d kindly suggest that you''d be a bit more reasonable. And one more thing..."


    Then I wrapped my hand over the back of his head, and shoved it down the table, immediately breaking it, to my absolute surprise. But I didn''t let my shock keep me from finishing what I had to say.


    "... If you''re a wielder, act like one."


    I turned around, ignoring the twopletely astonished and scaredckeys, and going straight to the cashier, to get my order.


    "I''m sorry, if you let me, I''ll pay for the table by the end of the week, because I don''t have much credits on me by now. Is it okay?"


    The cashier, a young-looking woman, with brown hair and coppery eyes, looked at me with a bit of shock.


    "You don''t have to worry about it, young sir." She said. "These three have been causing trouble around here for a while already, so we did need someone to teach them a lesson."


    I smiled at her and she smiled back, I took my order and went back home walking slowly, eating my extra big burger while I walked.


    ***


    when I got home, it was almost 3PM, and Quintus was waiting for me in the living room, which took me by surprise, because it was still Wednesday, so he certainly had work to do at the association.


    "What were you doing that it took so long at the guild?" His tone was ice cold, and I knew that there weren''t any worries in his voice.


    Just pure, cold anger.


    "I called Roderick, and he said that he still had business with you, and that he invited you to spend the night and have breakfast with him at the guild. Now..."


    He got up and walked towards me, but my senses told me that he felt much less of a threat than before.


    ''Is he truly an A-rank?''


    When he got close enough, he poked me with his index finger, right into the wound left by Kotur''Ah.


    "... Did he take you on a raid with him? You look like trash. And what business is it that he has with you, that he can''t even tell me about it?"


    Good thing, that I was already recovering from the damage, and Quintus poking it didn''t hurt as much.


    "Don''t do this, brother." I felt strangely bored by his actions.


    I had taken so much of his bullshit from ever since I learned to walk, that I was already over my head with it. "Also, isn''t Roderick the leader of Shadow Guild?"


    Quintus paused for a brief moment, his jaw dropped a little. And I used the momentum to strike a deadly blow on him.


    "So, if he''s the leader of the guild, why should he answer to you?"


    Emotional damage.


    Quintus stood right there, his lips bobbing up and down, as if he wanted to say something back, and just didn''t know what.


    Then his rage built up and he couldn''t take it any longer.


    His fist, loaded with mana, flew towards my face.


    I knew it was a huge bet, but I had to show him that I wasn''t the Kurt he once knew anymore.


    I had to show him that I was way stronger than before, and I had already won against him once, even though it was by sheer luck.


    I''d make sure that this time it wouldn''t be like that.


    So I just let his fist hit my face.


    And my head went immediately down.


    But it didn''t hurt as much as the attack from Kotur''Ah''s w.


    I looked up at him, and smiled, spitting a little bit of blood from the damage, that were still there.


    "Is that all you got, older brother?"


    I had a smile on my face that even I couldn''t describe if I saw it.


    Quintus'' eyes glowed, bright red, and I felt the familiar grip of his telekinesis around me.


    "How do you want to die, brother?"

 Ch18. The fall

    <h4>Chapter -23: Ch18. The fall</h4>


    I thought I earned Quintus''s respect when I first made him bleed, but I guess he must have a short memory span, or he was too hot-headed to remember that.


    But his words made me remember one thing.


    Something that I most definitely didn''t want to remember.


    But I guess I had to keep that in mind, to not forget the reason I came back to life.


    When I felt the grip of his telekic ability tightening around me, I used [INVISIBLE HAND] to counter it.


    Which I was able to do with more ease this time.


    [YOUR SKILL ¨C INVISIBLE HAND ¨C HAS LEVELED UP]


    The message from the system exined a lot, because as I felt the mana surging around me, it enveloped me like an armor to protect me from Quintus'' grip.


    And it allowed me to move way more freely than the first time.


    My nose didn''t even bleed this time.


    So I walked towards him in a single step that made him flinch ever so slightly, but I saw the startle in his eyes.


    And it felt good.


    "I don''t think today''s the day I die, older brother."


    And then I activated [SHADOW WALK], taking himpletely by surprise as I vanished from his sight, right in front of him.


    ''That''s right, brother. I learned a few new tricks.'' I thought, as I passed by him, and I even thought of doing the same thing I did to the three bullies at the cafe, but I just couldn''t let him question even more of how much I''ve changed in such a short period of time.


    So I just kicked him as hard as I could, in the back, making him stagger forward.


    "THAT. IS. ENOUGH!" He shouted, releasing such a strong wave of mana, that I flinched for a second.


    Now he looked scary.


    His eyes glowed in a darker tone of red, and his telekinesis felt like is was stronger than before.


    Keeping me from approaching him.


    I deactivated [SHADOW WALK] before I could waste any more mana on a useless effort, and I looked at him, dead in the eye.


    "I told you, this is not the day I die. Now, why do you hate me so much?"


    "I told you before!" He yelled at me. "I just wanted you to..."


    "No!" I spoke, and now it was my time to get serious. "I don''t want that bullshit that you tried to sell me at the guild. I want the truth!"


    And started running around the living room, as hard and fast as I could.


    There had to be a way to get close enough for me tond a clean hit.


    So I thought, and as I ran around, the system sent notification upon notification.


    [YOUR DEXTERITY HAS BEEN INCREASED BY 1]


    [YOUR PERCEPTION HAS BEEN INCREASED BY 1]


    [YOUR AGILITY HAD BEEN INCREASED BY 1]


    [YOUR STRENGTH HAS BEEN INCREASED BY 1]


    [YOUR VIGOR HAS BEEN INCREASED BY 1]


    [YOUR DEXTERITY HAS BEEN INCREASED BY 1]


    [YOUR PERCEPTION HAS BEEN INCREASED BY 1]


    [YOUR AGILITY HAS BEEN INCREASED BY 1]


    I didn''t know that running like this would increase my stats like that, but it was a good thing, after all.


    At least this time the system wasn''t trying to fuck with me.


    I ran, and as I did, I felt myself getting lighter and faster, and my senses sharpening almost as much as my des.


    And then, finally, I could feel it.


    As Quintus sent shockwave upon shockwave toward where I was, just one second toote, I felt the mana around him.


    It did feel like a huge and impregnable dome, but it wasn''t.


    He controlling the mana to spin all around him, like a hurricane, and for that mana control, I had to give him some credit, but I found the w in his technique right at that point.


    I started to close the gap between the two of us, still running around him, but where I once had mana enveloping my body from the [INVISIBLE HAND], I then mimicked him.


    But on my end, I focused the mana around me to spin in the opposite direction as Quintus''s mana rotation.


    My head began aching right after my mana collided with my brother''s.


    I knew I was forcing myself to do something that not even a C-rank wielder could, but I had no choice.


    He was going all out with his telekinesis, so I had to go all out with the much I intended to show, too.


    I felt my nose bleeding again, but unlikest time, there were five notifications from the system.


    [YOUR INTELLIGENCE HAS BEEN INCREASED BY 5]


    [YOUR SKILL ¨C INVISIBLE HAND - HAS LEVELED UP]


    [YOUR SKILL ¨C INVISIBLE HAND - HAS LEVELED UP]


    [YOUR SKILL ¨C INVISIBLE HAND ¨C HAS LEVELED UP]


    [DAILY QUEST HAS BEEN COMPLETED]


    [REWARDS: FULL RECOVERY X1; HIDDEN NEST KEY A-RANK ¨C BLAKE''S LIBRARY ¨C X1; STAT POINTS X5]


    [ADDITIONAL REWARDS: *************]


    Suddenly, my head ached like it was being smashed by a truck, and I couldn''t think anymore.


    All the mana around me was released against my will, and my body spun,pletely out of control, my senses being the only things that showed me what was happening around me.


    When I hit the the wall, and then the floor, Quintus immediately calmed his mana down, huffing.


    As if he was actually exhausted.


    Then I heard his stepsing closer and closer, dreading and regretting the moment when the system let me down.


    "I don''t know what kinds of tricks you have under this filthy sleeve of yours, but I won''t let you pull any of them, anymore."


    My head ached so much, that even Quintus'' blows didn''t feel so painful, but some of them made me see a sea of searing white stars.


    Then I felt my body get lifted, probably by his telekinesis, and be dragged somewhere.


    And I didn''t think I would wake up at the Shadow Guild this time.


    If nothing happened anytime soon, I would probably not wake up at all...

 Ch19. By frenzied force

    <h4>Chapter -22: Ch19. By frenzied force</h4>


    [EVELLYN''S POV]


    Today, I woke up in cold sweat.


    The thing is, I don''t feel afraid of when I dream, because even before I awakened, I used to have this dreams.


    I dreamed of what was, of what is, and what hasn''t yet been.


    I carry many secrets, and it''s very much part of who I am, or who I will be.


    The Red Oracle.


    But in order to actually have a future where I be that figure, I needed Kurt.


    He doesn''t know that, but he''s a fundamental part of my story. That''s why, when I saw him entering my room, even before he won against his older brother, Quintus ke, my heart raced.


    If only he knew how much trouble he will get to go through because of me...


    Would he have taken a different path that took us separate ways in a different reality?


    Even if I knew it, though, it wouldn''t change the fact that he had already taken the high road towards his future.


    But in that dream, there was no Kurt.


    There was nothing but a ck void of nothingness after Quintus killed me and wrecked havoc in the guild.


    What makes me more frustrated about it isn''t dying by itself.


    But not knowing what''s gonna happen after that.


    I know that death is part of the process. Especially my death.


    Because every time I died, I always knew what I had to do next. Where I should go, to keep on carrying out my mission.


    It''s only that this time it didn''t seem possible.


    It felt as though my permanent death was... Inevitable.


    So I did one thing that I wasn''t used to.


    I left my room, and went upstairs to speak with Rodrick, the guild leader.


    When I arrived, he was having a drink at the guild''s bar counter, so I got behind him, and poked him in the elbow.


    "May I speak with you, sir?"


    He flinched for a second, andughed real hard.


    "If you kept silent for a little bit longer, I swear you could''ve made me have a heart attack. What do you need, Eve? I know you don''t leave your room, unless it''s something urgent."


    He looked at me in the eyes, very curious about what I had to say.


    Rodrick was a good old man, despite being a thief.


    And he was a thief, despite his enormous size.


    "Quintus ke ising here, I don''t know when, but it''s today..." I put all seriousness possible into my words. "We need to get ready."


    Rodrick looked at me for a moment, and I could almost hear his thoughts.


    "Little girl, Quintus is not a threat to the guild, and you know it. He might be a spy, just like you warned us about, but he''s nothing more that just that."


    I knew I couldn''t tell him about the dream itself. It never worked out well, when I told people of what I had dreamed of... But if I didn''t tell him, I wasn''t going to be the only corpse in front of the guild.


    So I breathed in, slowly, and with all my determination, I began exining everything.


    "Rodrick, I know you can''t see things like I see, and I also know that you''re not supposed to know how what I know works. But right. Now. I''m telling you. I dreamed of Quintus keing to the guild, fully enraged, almost as if he just killed somebody. I''m worried that he might''ve done something to Kurt... He feelspletely different, and when he arrives, he will go all out on you." I gave a brief pause, for Rodrick to understand the depth of it. "And then... He''s going to kill me."


    But right then, before the guild leader could even consider what I just told him, we felt a tremor above ground.


    Rodrick looked at me, his eyes wide in surprise.


    "He''s here!" I told him. "We can''t let him get here, we must go upstairs!"


    "Did you see anything of the the situation''s oue?"


    I shook my head.


    He sighed in frustration, turning around and going to the elevator, and I followed him.


    "No!" He held my arm. "If what you said is really going to happen, and it most certainly is, then, you''ll die if you follow me, so stay in your room, okay?"


    I clenched my fists and retorted right away.


    "No! I don''t know why, but I feel like I must see this through, so please, Rodrick... Don''t make me convince you."


    He sighed again, let go of my arm, and warned.


    "If that ke bastard gets toy a single finger on you, I''ll kill him."


    "Let''s hope that Fate don''t get to that point..."


    And we got going.


    ***


    When we finally arrived above ground, the guild lobby was in shambles, with destruction all around.


    And Quintus was in the middle of it, yelling like a maniac.


    "IF YOU DON''T BRING ME THAT BASTARD RODRICK IN THIS FUCKING INSTANT, I''LL TEAR THE WHOLE SHADOW GUILD IN PIECES!"


    He looked crazy, almost frenzied, and the mana around him felt wild.


    "So you''re finally showing your true colors, ke?" Rodrick spoke, walking towards him. "What do you want here, and why don''t you calm down just a little, so we can have a proper talk?"


    Rodrick was the most reasonable person in the entire guild. No wonder he was the leader.


    But when it came to the guild itself, and protecting its members, he would always be something else entirely.


    I never seen it happen in person, but I had dreams about it, and I also heard stories from the other guild members, so I already knew what was going to happen.


    And that was Rodrick''s first step.


    He would try diplomacy at first, always level-headed.


    But I didn''t think it would work this time.


    "How about you tell me what''s so important about Kurt, and I don''t tear your oh-so precious guild down...?"


    "Come on, Quintus, I don''t want to get rough on you... Let''s just solve by..."


    But Quintus didn''t want to solve it by talking it out.


    Right before Rodrick finished his sentence, Kurt lifted the whole reception desk with his telekinesis, and threw it at Rodrick in an immense speed.


    It really looked like he was putting no effort at all to it.


    However, Rodrick was strong, too, and used his Iron Body ability to smash the desk into bits, before it did any major harm.


    He was one of the very few A-ranks to rival with Octavius ke himself, which meant that, if things were escting that quickly, it would end up pretty badly to one of them.


    And all of us would be caught us in the crossfire.


    Quintus took the time as an opportunity to get closer to Rodrick, enveloping his fist with his telekinesis, and punching him right in the face.


    If Rodrick was any weaker, he would''ve stumbled backwards, and I would get hurt.


    But I had to do something.


    Anything!


    That was when my body moved by itself, and I put myself between them, shouting.


    "STOP!"


    I was part of the guild, too. So I couldn''t just stand back and watch, even though Quintus was way out of my league as a wielder.


    Even if I was an irregr.


    But Quintus didn''t even flinch.


    He just wrapped his ability around me and threw me sidewards, where I hit a wall, and a searing pain crossed my leg.


    I looked at it, and saw that it was pierced by one of the shards of the desk that Rodrick just destroyed.


    But I got up, frenzied by the thought that something had to happen.


    Rodrick wouldn''t stand a chance against Quintus as he was right now, and I had to give even the tiniest help if I could.


    Even if it meant making fatee true.


    So I forced my way in between them again, shouting as hard as I could, despite the pain.


    "STOP! PLEASE!"


    Then I felt my choke closing, and my body being lifted.


    Quintus was using his ability to strangle me.


    "One more move, and she dies." He said, as I felt it bing harder to breathe. "Now, why the little day dreamer is out of her room? WHY IS IT THAT EVERYTHING IS HAPPENING AND I. DON''T. KNOW. A THING!?"


    He squeezed harder, and I felt as if my lungs were about to explode.


    "HEY! QUINTUS!"


    I heard that familiar voice, sounding just a little far away.


    Quintus released his telekic grip over me, and turned around.


    Kurt was there.


    He was all wet, bloody and messed up, but he looked fine.


    In my eyes, he looked like a hero...

 Ch20. True awakening

    <h4>Chapter -21: Ch20. True awakening</h4>


    [KURT''S POV]


    Everything felt fuzzy, and when I opened my eyes, my whole body felt like it was smashed and crushed.


    I was in a tight space and it was dark, so I couldn''t see a thing in front of me.


    I breathed slowly, trying to handle the pain, and when I tried to move one arm, I saw stars.


    Shit, it was broken...


    When I focused a bit more, I could hear the sound of the outside. It sounded muffled, like I was underwater or something.


    ''A tight space, muffled sounds outside... Does Quintus think that we''re in a mafia novel or something?''


    I was certain of it when I came to my senses.


    Quintus had put me in a barrel, and thrown me underwater so I could die, whether by suffocation or drowning.


    The system once gave me a quest to survive a match against him and earn his respect.


    Some respect, huh?


    I hurt everywhere, but couldn''t even stretch out.


    What the fuck happened to the system back then?


    I tried opening my stats window to see what my state was.


    NAME: KURT BLAKE


    LVL: **


    AGE: **


    CLASS: *****


    STAMINA: ***/***


    HP: ***/***


    MP: ***/***


    BASIC STATS


    Undistributed stat points: *


    Strength: ** (+10)


    Dexterity: ** (+20)


    Agility: ** (+20)


    Perception: **


    Intelligence: **


    Vigor: 88


    INVENTORY


    ***


    CONSUMABLES


    *** ******** **


    ****** **** *** *-**** ¨C *****''* *******


    EQUIPMENT


    Midnight Bad


    Midnight Sisters


    Midnight''s embrace


    ***


    SKILLS


    Steal LVL 1


    Invisible hand LVL 5


    Prying eyes LVL 1


    Shadow walk LVL 2


    I looked at my stat window, shocked, and sighed in frustration, letting out a painful grunt.


    Fuck! It hurt just by merely breathing...


    And now I couldn''t even check my stats?


    "Come on, what the fuck is wrong with you?"


    I knew that the system wouldn''t reply. It never did, but I was so frustrated and in pain, that I was probably going crazy.


    But I couldn''t bepletely helpless in this situation, right?


    ''Come on, think... You have to think of something..."


    But nothing came to mind other than mind-wrecking pain.


    "WHY WON''T YOU LET ME CHECK ON MYSELF, FUCK!?"


    I was going to die, sooner orter, so screaming underwater in a tight space wouldn''t make any difference.


    "Come on... You came to me for a reason, right?"


    I don''t know what I was expecting to happen, but I kept speaking, even though the air began feeling rarer by the minute.


    "I know that you wouldn''t allow me this second chance, if there wasn''t anything for you in it... So I know you won''t just let me die here."


    But nothing happened.


    I felt the bitterness of despair growing inside me, the madness about to take over and make me do something stupid.


    I still had my skills, but I knew that if I used [INVISIBLE HAND] to break out from the barrel, I''d be instantly dead, unable to swim to the surface.


    "I fucking swear on my life. On my past one and the current one that you allowed me to have, that if I die here, I''ll do whatever it takes to reincarnate or some shit, and I''ll destroy you... Trust me."


    But only silence.


    "No... Matter... What... I''ll fucking destroy you..."


    I knew I was going to die, and when the full brunt of the realization hit me, I just epted it.


    I would keep my promise, and do whatever it takes toe back in any way possible.


    I would destroy that fucking system, even if I had to tear it with my own teeth.


    "I WILL KEEP THAT PROMISE NO MATTER WHAT!"


    I shouted, I yelled and I screamed for what felt like hours.


    And suddenly, something felt warm in my chest.


    Comfortably warm, despite the cold and the pain.


    [WARNING]


    [EXTERNAL FORCE TRYING TO INTERFERE WITH THE SYSTEM]


    The system''s notification sounded with a ring in my head, but the warm sensation kept on flowing through me.


    [WARNING]


    [EXTERNAL FORCE TRYING TO INTERFERE WITH THE SYSTEM]


    "What do you want me to do? Even I don''t know what''s going on, and why''s it that you''re saying something just now?"


    I was pissed, and I can''t deny that I was crying.


    But somehow, that warm feeling inside me made me feel gradually better.


    Little by little, the pain subsided, and I was able to breathe more easily.


    I didn''t know what was happening, until the system sent a message that made my world turn upside down.


    [DUE TO THE PLAYER''S AWAKENING, THE PLAYER''S STATS HAVE DRASTICALLY INCREASED]


    [DUE TO THE PLAYER''S AWAKENING, THE PLAYER''S SKILL LEVELS HAVE REASONABLY INCREASED]


    [DUE TO EXTERNAL INTERFERENCE, THE SYSTEM WILL BE REBOOTED IN A FEW SECONDS]


    [3...]


    [2...]


    [1...]


    [SYSTEM REBOOT COMPLETE]


    [WELCOME BACK, PLAYER]


    I... I awakened?


    But... Wasn''t the system, kind of, like, my awakening?


    I was speechless, but the warm feeling was still there, and even before I read the messages, despite the damages dealt by Quintus, I could feel that something had drastically changed within me.


    But I would still die anyways if I didn''t do something about the situation I was in.


    My arm was still broken, but at least now, it seemed that the system was functioning properly again.


    NAME: KURT BLAKE


    LVL: 15


    AGE: 16


    CLASS: Rogue


    STAMINA: 86/500


    HP: 53/600


    MP: 500/500


    BASIC STATS


    Undistributed stat points: 5


    Strength: 130 (+10)


    Dexterity: 200 (+20)


    Agility: 200 (+20)


    Perception: 300


    Intelligence: 250


    Vigor: 200


    INVENTORY


    ***


    CONSUMABLES


    Full recovery x2


    Hidden Nest Key A-rank ¨C ke''s library


    EQUIPMENT


    Midnight Bad


    Midnight Sisters


    Midnight''s embrace


    ***


    SKILLS


    Steal LVL 10


    Invisible hand LVL 10


    Prying eyes LVL 10


    Shadow walk LVL 10


    I thought I wasn''t seeing right, but the way my body felt, even though I was pretty beaten, couldn''t deny the data I was looking at.


    But my stamina and HP were pretty low, which meant that Quintus did a good job in beating me to a pulp.


    But not enough to kill me.


    And I was going to repay him with interest, as soon as I got to the surface and found out where I was.


    But first things first.


    I knew that the [FULL RECOVERY] woulde in handy, so I opened the inventory and took it from there.


    Immediately, there was an delicately crafted crystal sk in my good hand.


    I opened it, and chugged it down in a single sip.


    The effects couldn''t even bepared to that of a drug''s.


    I felt my whole body being put together again, and as my bones mended, and my wounds healed, I could feel the entirety of the effects of my increase in power.


    I felt invincible.


    So I used [INVISIBLE HAND], and as I felt the mana enveloping my body, I reinforced it to make me able to breathe underwater, until I reached the surface.


    After that, I focused a little harder, and immediately the barrel around me exploded like it was made of paper, and the water revolved around me, like a godly hand, trying to reach me.


    But my [INVISIBLE HAND] wouldn''t let it.


    I used mana like a propulsion to get me out of the water faster, and when I emerged, breaking out several meters high from the water, I instantly knew where I was.


    I was in the port side of town, a almost half a day from home by foot.


    But it wouldn''t take that long for me now.


    I fell, almost in anding, right at one of the docks, and immediately began to run, thendscape passing by me like a streak of colors.


    The sun was still halfway towards the horizon, and I didn''t get any notification about a new daily quest, so I wasn''t out for long.


    When I got home, I stopped one of the guards, and asked.


    "Is Quintus still at home?"


    "No... Sir." He answered, surprised by my looks. "He went straight to the Shadow Guild, and ordered us to let Mr. Octavius know."


    Shit!


    He probably was holding a grudge against the old man Rodrick, and if he went there, things would probably escte, judging by the way he acted when we fought.


    So I sprinted hard towards the Shadow Guild''s building.


    Only to find the lobbypletely wrecked.


    And Quintus holding Evellyn, the Red Oracle, by her throat, with his telekinesis.


    He was killing her, and Rodrick was behind her, probably unable to do anything, or else Quintus would just kill her more quickly.


    My blood boiled in my veins as I watched it.


    "HEY! QUINTUS!" I shouted, hoping to get his attention.


    Which I did quite sessfully.


    He immediately looked at me, letting go of Evellyn, who was about to hit the floor, if it wasn''t for the old man Rodrick.


    "How... HOW DID YOU..."


    And the mana around him began swirling wildly, just likest time.


    "KID, WATCH OUT!" Roderick shouted through the noise of the wind.


    Quintus instantly moved closer to me, his eyes glowing in that dark red tone, and his fist packed with mana, ready to hit me.

 Ch21. Death by hatred

    <h4>Chapter -20: Ch21. Death by hatred</h4>


    I didn''t need to think even once.


    The energy flowed through my body like it was part of me.


    I felt electric.


    ''Shadow Walk'', I thought, and when Quintus''s fist was about to hit me in full, I just vanished in front of him, letting my body do the rest of the work, lowering myself and evading the punch to get behind him.


    I uncloaked myself right after that, going towards Rodrick and Evellyn.


    "Are you okay, guys?"


    "Wait... Wha- how?" Rodrick asked me, his jaw dropped to the floor.


    "No time to chat, leave and take care of Evellyn, she seems in a pretty bad shape."


    "But, what about you...?"


    "Take her, and leave. Today, not even that psycho can take me down." I smiled.


    Quintus was sending wave over wave of telekic power, trying to make me stumble, but I felt like it wasn''t much, holding it all back with ease.


    In thest second, I remembered one thing I should ask the guild leader before he left.


    And my brother kept attacking from his distance, getting even more pissed that his power wasn''t even phasing me.


    "Hey, old man?"


    "Yes."


    "Do you have my back when the associatione after me? We''ll discuss the termster, but as of now, I''m stripping myself from the ke name, and disowning myself from everything they have. And I''m also epting your offer to join the Shadow Guild. So, what do you say?"


    "Young man," Rodrick looked at me with a strange seriousness in his eyes "if you kill Quintus, I got your back to the ends of the Earth!"


    He turned around, and left.


    That''s what I needed to hear.


    Now, that everyone had vacated the building, I could go all-out against Quintus, without worrying about anything.


    Everything felt just so right inside me, like a silent storm building up, ready to obliterate anything in its wake.


    My [INVISIBLE HAND] acted like a shield, protecting everything and everyone behind me, but now that I didn''t need to protect anyone, I just released my invisible shield, and let Quintus'' mana storm wash over me.


    And as I imagined, it felt like a breeze.


    I didn''t know the parameters of the system forparing rankings and levels, but one thing I knew, for sure.


    Right then, I was stronger than my brother.


    Quintus stopped attacking, once he saw what his attack did to me, his jaw dropped, but his eyes were bloodshot with rage.


    "For a member of the association''s monitoring division, you sure have a short temper."


    "YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT!" He shouted.


    But everything became suddenly quiet, and his telekic storm ceasedpletely.


    "You always find a way to turn things to your favor. How?"


    And he sprinted towards me, now, unsheathing the sword that only now I noticed he was carrying.


    Things were going to get more interesting.


    "If you weren''t such a bully, I wouldn''t have needed to find ways to turn things my way."


    I evaded his attack with a single movement sideways.


    He kept striking, shing, cutting and lunging, but his dended on nothing but air, as I easily dodged all of the strikes.


    "IF YOU WEREN''T BORN, MAYBE I WOULDN''T HAVE BEEN SUCH A BULLY!"


    I wanted him more pissed off, more enraged.


    I wanted him aggravated.


    Only then I would be able to see the true extent of the power that frightened me my whole past life.


    But he didn''t seem to change his pattern ever, and I was getting tired of games, so I summoned the [MIDNIGHT SISTERS] and turned [SHADOW WALK] on.


    "Is that truly all you got?" I asked, while Quintus shed all around, in hopes that I wouldn''te closer.


    I evaded, dodged, and blocked all his strikes, cutting his thigh and his elbow.


    He dropped his sword right after, screaming and exploding that enormous power storm that I already felt once, but stronger, somehow.


    It felt like a tornado hade down to Earth.


    And Quintus began bleeding from his nose and eyes.


    "See, little brother? I can do it, too!" He spoke, but his voice soundedpletely out of tune, with a maniacalugh dripping all over it.


    "Yeah, and I''m proud of you for it, but I learned fromst time, brother..."


    I swirled all mana around me in the opposite direction of Quintus''s, and it felt much smoother than the first time I tried it.


    I didn''t need to do this, but I had to show him.


    I had to make him know, even if only at death''s door, that I wasn''t that Kurt anymore, and that he should acknowledge it.


    I went closer and closer, the two mana streams colliding like waves, sending sparks of ck and dark red energy everywhere.


    And then I strengthened my stream even more, overwhelming himpletely.


    Imanded the mana around him to restrict him, like he did to me countless times before.


    Like he did to Niki, before he was killed.


    And like he did to Evellyn, before I arrived.


    I wanted to ask him why he hated regrs so much, and why he hated me so much.


    But he spoke first.


    "Did you know that after you were born, I was cast aside, because of the little genius you were?"


    He had a bitter smile on his face, and the blood looked like tears in his eyes.


    "What?"


    "Yeah... You learned anything they taught you, so fast. And even if I had the best grades at school, or even ingressed in the association, it wouldn''t matter, because Octavius ke had a new little genius. But then, suddenly, everything changed. And he changed. And then I didn''t have a single chance to get his approval on anything, because he was so obsessed with his new project. I thought that I had to kill you, so that I could get his attention once more, but it didn''t seem like it was going to cut, so I just took it personally, and you became nothing but a thorn in my side. So I decided that I should end you for good."


    "Wait... You hated me so much just because father didn''t put you in first ce?"


    Even I didn''t remember father doing such a thing to me.


    Then how...?


    But Quintus, then, burst outughing.


    "I''m just messing with you. You''re always so innocent, it gives me nausea! Until the day before yesterday, you were nothing but a regr, and you even seemed to be the weakest of them all, so why shouldn''t I pick on you?" He gave a brief pause, and his grin became a frown. "But then, you suddenly awakened, and became quite hard to hit. I even admired you a little bit. The tiniest bit, after our first fight. But I did. I don''t know what makes you so special, but once I get rid of you, I''ll give your body to father, so he can study you, and maybe... Give you to..."


    Snap.


    Listening to him talk only made me feel sick.


    How in the world there were such sick people?


    But he got an ending perfectly fit to him, dying with a snapped neck, just like Niki, in my previous life.


    "Now you won''t have anything to hate, anymore. I just hope you find a better purpose in your next life."


    I was tired, and I thought that killing someone would make me feel different.


    Guilty, perhaps.


    But I felt nothing.


    I turned around to go downstairs and check on Rodrick and the Red Oracle, but as soon as I took the first step, I heard behind me.


    "Don''t take another single step, if you want to live..."

 Ch22. Questions raising questions

    <h4>Chapter -19: Ch22. Questions raising questions</h4>


    I turned around, again, and saw a man with in a uniform that I knew all too well, from the monitoring division.


    He had medium, unruly blond hair, green eyes, and slim features. The man walked towards me with a dignity that got me thinking if he had gotten a promotion or something.


    He approached me, and scanned me from head to toe, with a squint in his eyes.


    And after a bit of what I thought to be careful consideration, he finally spoke again.


    "You''re under arrest for the murder of a monitoring division member, configuring an act against the Wielders Association itself."


    I raised a brow towards him, confused for what he was doing there right when I killed Quintus, instead of when he started to wreck havoc in the guild.


    But right when I was about to ask about it, I felt Rodrick''s presence, followed by his voice behind me.


    "You guys are pretty quick... When it''s convenient..."


    Him and the Red Oracle were getting out of the elevator.


    And the oracle already looked better than before.


    The guild must have one hell of a healer.


    "Division members always go on patrol in pairs." The blond man answered. "Now, before I take him into custody, can any of you exin to me how a sixteen year old awakened, is capable of killing one of the association''s A-ranks?"


    So that''s why he looked apprehensive when announcing my arrest...


    "Well, all I can say is that, either the awakened is also an A-rank, or he awakened to be an S-rank wielder." The oracle said, looking at me strangely.


    "Also, aren''t you any interested in knowing why he killed Quintus ke?"


    "No, not really." The monitoring division guy acted nonchnt.


    So he was one of these people, too...


    "But since you seem to think there''s a logical reason for an unofficially ranked awakened to kill an association''s employee, let''s hear about it."


    "Okay, then." Rodrick responded, turning towards me and saying. "Why don''t you go downstairs and eat something? Take Eve with you, you two, lovebirds, really seem to have some things to talk about."


    And then he winked at me.


    I took some time to process what he just said, but when I did, I immediately corrected him.


    "No, no, old man! It has nothing to do with it, whatever it might mean..."


    I didn''t look at Eve, but Rodrick retorted, before sending us on our way.


    "Uhuh, right. Now, off with you, youngds!"


    As I walked, I could still hear what he was saying to the blond man, and I hoped that it turned out our way, since the Shadow guild had lost some things today.


    Rodrick was such a lovely old man, despite his constitution and serious look.


    But he already got my back when I went to the [HIDDEN NEST], so I knew him and I would get along more than just fine.


    But when I came to my senses, leaving my thoughts aside, I heard and saw the Red Oracle calling me, by my side.


    "Kurt? Kurt? Are you listening?"


    "What? Oh, sorry, I was a little bit lost in thoughts."


    "I asked what happened. First of all, you look like you just went out for a swim, second, it''s like... I don''t know..."


    Her eyes darted me as she stopped on her tracks and scanned me from head to toe.


    She looked curious.


    "it looks like I didn''t meet you. It feels as if I don''t even know you from three days ago. What happened to you?"


    I stopped a few steps from her and looked at myself.


    She was being kind, I didn''t look like someone who went out for a swim.


    I looked like garbage.


    I wouldn''t be surprised if someone told me I was smelling like fish.


    "Well, long story short, Quintus and I had a fight, right after I came back from..."


    "From your breakfast with Rodrick."


    "Yes, precisely, after I came back from the breakfast with the old man. I almost had the upper hand there, but then, something happened, and I ended up half-dead, in the bottom of the port. I guess that sums it all up."


    She gasped, and for a moment, she was just a regr girl in front of me. There was nothing of that ethereal presence that surrounded her in that room, the first time I visited the guild.


    And it was weird, but funny at the same time.


    I couldn''t imagine the almighty Red Oracle, acting like that in front of anyone.


    It made me chuckle.


    "What? Why are youughing?"


    She pouted her lips.


    "It''s just that... You know, you''re the Red Oracle and all, and yet you are..."


    "Just like every other girl?" She said, and for a moment, I thought she looked disappointed.


    "Yeah, kinda. But it''s refreshing, too."


    Her face lit up like a Christmas tree after that.


    "It is, really. Knowing that I''m not alone in this world. That there''s another person as... Different as I am."


    Her expression changed from lit to serious in a blink, and I wondered what I said wrong.


    "We are different, you''re right." She gave a grave pause, and then followed. "But we''re not the only irregrs in this world. And I''m not the Red Oracle, yet."


    I felt as if when I called by her title, she acted out a bit, but I had to know why.


    "Did I step on your toe or anything?"


    Even if she wasn''t the Red Oracle, yet, she was the only person who seemed to have some answers, and I was desperate for some answers.


    "You really don''t know how to treat girls, do you?" She huffed, waking a bit faster, but I followed her with ease.


    Which seemed to make her even madder.


    So we went to the elevator in silence, while the Red Oracle... Evellyn, puffed her cheeks, looking...


    Frustrated?


    "Fine!" She finally said. "Let''s grab something to eat, and go to my room. We can talk privately there."


    I nodded, and then we arrived at the tavern floor of the guild.


    "You guys have a thing for medieval stuff, don''t you think?"


    But when she was about to answer, we heard Rodrick''s voice from the other side of the tavern.


    "Thank goodness I found you two! You need toe with me, immediately."

 Ch23. A shadow over everything

    <h4>Chapter -18: Ch23. A shadow over everything</h4>


    I found that a bit annoying, to not be able to stop even for dinner, but I approached Roderick, and Evellyn came right behind me.


    "What is it?" We asked, almost at the same time.


    Roderick raised a brow, but acted like ignoring his own thought, and spoke right away.


    "You two need toe with me, now. We found something that only Eve might be able to figure out, and you might want to see it, too, Kurt. After that, we can call it a day, and solve everything that we need for you to join the Shadow Guild. Also, you can sleep here from tonight on."


    I didn''t know what to say for a moment, the memories of my past life resurfacing and making me feel as if I just received an act of kindness from a stranger.


    Which Roderick seemed to notice, because he quickly retorted.


    "You didn''t think I would let a fellow wielder, and a strong one, at that, without a roof over their head, did you?"


    I smiled, but kept quiet and just followed him.


    I didn''t want him to notice any more of my emotions.


    We took the same elevator to go up, but this ride was much more silent than the previous, and I wondered what was so important, that required both me, and Evellyn.


    But Rodrick seemed a bit on the edge, so I asked about another topic that, undoubtedly, concerned me.


    "And what about Quintus''s death?"


    "Chief Lenc refused to believe what his eyes saw, so, after I told him about Quintus''s strange demeanor in thest few days, and how he tried to kill you and came here to contend with me, wrecking havoc all over my guild, and if it weren''t for you, we would be in a pretty worse shape than we already are... Well, let''s say that we agreed to tell the monitoring division that I killed Quintus after he didn''t ept to solve whatever business he had unfinished reasonably. And it''ll stay at that. Is that good enough, young man?"


    I looked at him and smiled, quietly.


    It was more than good enough.


    He told me he got my back, and delivered what he promised with interest.


    So I was determined to pay it back, also, with interest, one day.


    And with that thought in mind, we arrived at the lobby again.


    Quintus'' corpse was still there, and the man from before, whom Rodrick had called chief Lenc, seemed to be expecting us.


    "Wee back, and I''m sorry by my rudeness from earlier. I didn''t know I was in the presence of such illustrious consultant."


    He said all that while looking at Evellyn, which made me think.


    But I kept my thoughts to myself, and just looked at Lenc, solemnly ignoring me while speaking.


    "I went through Quintus''s body, and found something that has been quite the topic around the association,tely, and might... Exin why he was acting so... Off."


    He, then, took something out of his pocket, and gave it to Evellyn.


    But chief Lenc looked like he wanted to stay between me and Evellyn.


    As though he didn''t want me to see it.


    So I cloaked myself and got behind Evellyn in one step, uncloaking my [SHADOW WALK] after I was close enough to see her hands, elevating my presence just enough for him to notice where I was, before reappearing.


    He staggered a few steps back, muttering "What the hell!", as I smiled.


    I looked at Evellyn, and she was deadly quiet.


    Even her breath seemed to have stopped.


    Then I looked at her hands, and noticed a guild badge within them.


    A badge that I never saw in any book before.


    It was a ck sun crowned with thorns, and two hands holding it in their palms.


    I wanted to ask what guild it was from, but I felt just from Rodrick''s gaze, that I had to remain silent for a bit longer.


    And after a few more minutes, Evellyn suddenly came back to her senses.


    She staggered backwards, almost falling to her knees, but I held her firmly.


    She gasped when she felt my touch.


    "What? Weren''t you...?"


    "What happened? What''s that badge?"


    "That''s not the right question. The first question you should be doing is why did Quintus have not just one, nor two, but three guild badges on him?"


    "I don''t mean to disrespect you, chief, but for the chief of the association''s monitoring division, you surely seem to not know shit..."


    Rodrick''s tone felt like a joke, but I did feel the same.


    I''m sure the people in the monitoring division were meant to know more.


    After all, they were the ones who kept the wielders at bay.


    Weren''t they?


    Lenc snorted at Roderick''s question, and Evellyn spoke in his stead.


    "It''s the New Dawn guild''s badge... They''re..."


    "They call themselves the harbingers of the Pure ones." Lenc followed. "It''s just a hoax, no one has ever seen them in action, even though rumor has it that, from time to time, some regrs die by their hands."


    "And let me guess, you never found a single body, nor a clue that could lead to that guild, yes?"


    My question was greeted by another one of chief lenc''s snorts, but it was easy to see through him now, after what he just said about the rumor, and what the guild represented.


    "I think it wraps things up, right? How about we call it a night, have dinner, and go to sleep? We have business to attend to tomorrow, right, old man?"


    "I guess you''re right. I think we have enough on our tes and none on our bellies, and I''m starving!" And with a polite smile that showed incredibly white teeth, Rodrick turned to chief Lenc and said. "How about it? We call it a night and wrap it up from here?"


    "Yeah, whatever. Just keep one thing in mind..." He looked usingly at me. "Keep your new freak on a leash, or else we will."


    He asked for it.


    When he finished his sentence, I released a very threatening portion of my power towards him, just so he could feel it, and after that, I just tried to make it sound as cute as possible.


    "Woof, woof!"


    Lenc jumped backwards and almost armed himself forbat, immediately rposing himself.


    "Freak!"


    Then he just dragged Quintus'' body out with his telekinesis, and we were left alone, for once.


    "So, let''s get downstairs and grab some dinner?" Rodrick had arge smile on his face. "Your act just now was priceless!"


    Evellyn wasughing, too, but just for a moment.


    "Do you mind going ahead? I need to stay with my thoughts for a little bit."


    "Sure, but if you take more than five minutes, I''lle find you." Roderick''s expression was serious at that answer.


    "It won''t take that long." Her tone was, somewhat, reassuring.


    Then we walked towards the elevator.


    "Good thing we''re finally going to eat something, old man. I''m starving."


    "If you call me old man once more, I''m gonna smack you in the head." And heughed wholeheartedly.


    "You could try." Iughed to, and he wrapped my shoulders with one of his big arms.


    Evellyn was left alone with her thoughts.


    And I felt like having a family, for the first time in my lives.

 Ch24. Understanding

    <h4>Chapter -17: Ch24. Understanding</h4>


    Evellyn didn''t take too long to show up, but she seemed a bit off, after the couple minutes she spent alone above ground.


    Rodrick told me to live her a bit on her own, because she always acted like that when she had visions outside her dreams. That she just needed some time to adjust to reality again, so I let her be.


    We ate, talked, and Evellyn evenughed a little bit, looking a bit better than before.


    Then we went to sleep, and I was even amodated in one of the full-fledged guild members'' rooms.


    After I showered, I threw my clothes away, and wore the new ones that Rodrick told me I could use from the wardrobe.


    A ck shirt that matched my ck shorts.


    And I knew that tomorrow my look would match my ss, because wherever I looked through the wardrobe, all I could see was ck.


    So I went to bed, and reviewed everything that happened thest few days.


    "Am I dreaming...?"


    I couldn''t believe how strong I felt.


    It all felt so surreal, that if I woke up tomorrow in the abandoned building where the ck market operated, I wouldn''t be surprised.


    So I opened the system window to check everything.


    NAME: KURT BLAKE


    LVL: 15


    AGE: 16


    CLASS: Rogue


    STAMINA: 500/500


    HP: 600/600


    MP: 500/500


    BASIC STATS


    Undistributed stat points: 5


    Strength: 130 (+10)


    Dexterity: 200 (+20)


    Agility: 200 (+20)


    Perception: 300


    Intelligence: 250


    Vigor: 200


    SKILLS


    Steal LVL 10


    Invisible hand LVL 10


    Prying eyes LVL 10


    Shadow walk LVL 10


    INVENTORY


    ***


    CONSUMABLES


    Full recovery x2


    Hidden Nest Key A-rank ¨C ke''s library


    EQUIPMENT


    Midnight Bad


    Midnight Sisters


    Midnight''s embrace


    ***


    "Damn... I really am stronger than I was before..."


    *knock knock


    "Come in, I''m not naked!"


    The door opened, and my jaw dropped a little when I saw Evellyn''s face inside.


    "Still awake?"


    "I thought it was Roderick, what''re you doing here?"


    I didn''t mean to sound rude or anything, so I cleared my throat and was ready to correct myself, when she entered, sat down beside me, and smiled awkwardly.


    "It''s okay, I know you''re not that kind of person."


    I raised my brow.


    "So you know some things about me, yes? Care to share?"


    She smiled, but her cheeks reddened.


    "I''d have to tell you a few secrets about me first, but today''s not the day I do so. However, I''m not here to talk about it tonight."


    "What did youe here to talk to me about, then?" I felt like a jerk, but I wanted to sleep.


    And something in her felt... Off.


    "I want to talk to you about the New Dawn."


    "The purist guild that chief Lenc told us that was nothing but an urban legend?"


    "They''re real." Evellyn''s tone was ominous.


    "I know, and I''m pretty sure that the chief is a part of it, too. If not the whole Wielders Association." She widened her eyes at me. "Come on, it''s not that hard to catch. Quintus always hated regrs, the chief was trying to arrest, and he ''clearly'' tried to use Quintus'' death as an excuse."


    Evellyn looked at me like I was some interesting piece of an amusement park.


    I leaned closer to her, and looked deep in her eyes.


    "Are you sure you''re okay? You seem a bit... Off."


    Evellyn''s cheeks got burning red for some reason, and then she backed away from me like I was a bomb or something like that.


    "No! I mean... Yes, I''m fine. It''s just that... You seem to know many things, but still, you know too little about things..."


    "Should I feel offended?" I raised my brow.


    It surely wasn''t apliment.


    She sighed and got closer again.


    "You grasped the basic shape of a bigger conflict, even though I''m not the one who will show you its full picture, yet." She whispered, looking lie apletely different person. "However, even if you became stronger than before, now, you still haven''t understood the most basic fundament of real life with this... Ability of yours."


    "And what is it?"


    I was getting a bit annoyed by her. She appeared to know everything better than me, and even knowing that she would be the Red Oracle, someday, I felt odd when I was... That close to her.


    But when I thought she was going to answer me, right when I blinked, she got even closer.


    And she kissed me.


    Not a french kiss, but her lips touched mine.


    And I felt her voice in my head.


    More than that.


    I felt as if she was reading my memories, like a book.


    And she was inviting me to read it with her.


    It felt like turning pages, and every page I turned with the help of her hand, I would recall something of myst few days.


    But it felt like I was seeing it through her eyes.


    "Look at it, and understand what you''recking." I heard her voice in my mind, as I watched the scenes of me fighting Tarhuk and his Lizard Men, then the fight with Kotur''Ah, the vulture beast.


    As I recalled every situation in the past few days, I felt my body getting heavier, and my eyelids wanting to close.


    And everything I could remember, before dreaming with all that happened, was Evellyn''s strangely sweet embrace around me, as I fell asleep.


    ***


    "Good morning, sleeping beauty!" I heard Rodrick''s voice at the door.


    My head felt heavy, but I, myself, felt a bit lighter.


    But since I didn''t know what it meant, yet, I decided to throw it in the back of my mind, and get up.


    "Morning, old man. Are we going to finally talk business today?"


    Rodrickughed heartily.


    "Yeah, today''s the big day for you, rookie. Let''s go grab some breakfast and take a walk, shall we?"


    So that was it.


    I was finally going to join a guild.


    "Oh, Eve told me some things about youst night."


    I raised my brow in suspicion.


    "Oh, did she?"


    "She did. And despite you being powerful enough to... Unalive Quintus, it doesn''t change the fact that youck some realbat experience, so, I''m going to train you."

 Ch25. Training

    <h4>Chapter -16: Ch25. Training</h4>


    When the sun rose in the horizon, I woke up and got ready for breakfast.


    But it''s strange, living underground.


    Not that everyone lives in the guild''s headquarters, but Evellyn and Rodrick do, and they asked me toe live with them.


    Rodrick gave me the offer when we were eating.


    "It''s okay if you don''t want to." Rodrick squeezed my shoulder when I looked at him with an expression that clearly told him I wasn''t sure. "We can fetch a nice apartment downtown for you."


    So I decided to give it a try.


    I signed the paperwork, that offered me housing, an ie of 50.000 credits a month, and what I wanted even more than the money itself.


    The right to raid Nests with the main squad of Shadow Guild.


    But for me to raid with them, I had to fulfill the only condition added by Rodrick.


    "After breakfast, you gotta win against me in a one-on-one."


    I thought he was joking, but when I raised my head from the oat meal I was eating and looked at him...


    His eyes were as serious as Quintus''s when he said he would kill me.


    Every. Single. Time.


    So I knew Rodrick was really serious.


    I just shrugged, knowing I could count on my newly acquired high stats to do the job.


    "Okay, old man. But don''t me me, if I hand your ass to you on a te."


    Rodrick smirked, but it was almost a grin.


    I knew he didn''t have any bad intentions towards me, but was that in his eyes...


    Confidence in his capability of wining against me?


    As he smirked, he just got up from the table, and left the cantina.


    I looked at Evellyn, who just looked back at me, silent, almost chuckling.


    "What?" I raised my brow.


    "Nothing." She couldn''t take it any longer, and let out a chuckle that was more a wholeheartedugh than anything. "It''s just that, if you end up getting too cocky, the captain might as well hand ''your ass'' over to you."


    I widened my eyes to her, because I definitely wasn''t expecting that kind of answer from her.


    I finished my oat meal silently, thinking of what could make Rodrick so strong.


    And when I was done eating, I went to the showers. Evellyn waited for me outside, and after I was clean and dressed, she took me to the training grounds.


    Different from the guild headquarters, the training grounds were held above ground, on the top floor of the guild''s building.


    I looked at the whole floor, filled with gym equipment, and dozens of small arenas all around.


    Was that the reason why Quintus never used the training room at home?


    I chuckled bu the thought, and Rodrick immediately noticed me.


    "Impressive, isn''t it?"


    "You bet, old man." I greeted him with a fist bump. "But, how''re we going to give our all here? Aren''t the walls too... Thin?"


    "You have good senses, kid, I''ll give you that." Rodrick smiled from ear to ear. He seemed to having fun, whatever there was in his head. "But no, we''re not gonna fight here. We''re gonna fight ''there''."


    And having said that, he pointed to the opposite wall of the room.


    The wall seemed to be made of ss, but I could feel the intense manaing from it. It must''ve been imbued with some high rank mana, so it could probably withstand the blows of a B-rank wielder, to say the least.


    But if it was there where I was going to fight Rodrick, the wall probably was built to withstand even S-rank wielder.


    In the middle of the wall, there was a heavy metal door, that gave entrance to the true stage where the show would take ce.


    The whole room was an arena, and it waspletely different from a conventional ring, with ropes and all.


    The floor was entirely covered by tatami, and as I looked closer, I could see the mana fluctuation on the two metal walls and the two ss ones.


    A shiver ran down my spine as I got more and more excited to use my full strength.


    It didn''t matter if I did it, I knew the arena would withstand it.


    "I can see you''re pretty excited, kid. How about we get down to business?" Rodrick grinned at me.


    But I saw him going towards a pile of protective gears, and getting some.


    I raised my brow.


    "What?" Rodrick smiled. "I know you''re pretty strong, kid. I won''t underestimate you, and since I''m giving you this, I''ll go full force on you, so if you need some,e get it."


    I couldn''t help but to ept Rodrick''s offer.


    He was being nice, but I knew that he really wasn''t underestimating me, so I grabbed the headgear, the gloves, and the shin guards.


    "I didn''t know we were going to spar like boxing, old man."


    "Oh, but we won''t. However, it would be bad if we really hurt ourselves in the process, right?"


    "No going for the kill, then?" I smiled.


    "What? I''m not your brother, kid. But if youpare me to him once more, I might as well give you some of your teeth."


    Rodrick had a smile on his face, but his eyes gave away that I had stepped on his toes.


    I shut my mouth, finished wearing the protective gear, and waited for Rodrick to open the door.


    As he did, I could feel the mana flowing from the walls even better.


    It was almost as if they were alive, brimming with magic power.


    "Quite the job you did in these walls, old man."


    "Best technology the money can buy." Rodrick smirked.


    As soon as we entered the arena, I felt a sudden change in the air.


    There was an overwhelming pressure that wasn''t there before.


    I looked behind me, and Rodrick was already in his fighting pose, ring at me like I was some kind of prey to him.


    He was silent, only his breathing and the pressure of the mana around him giving signs that he was alive.


    I inhaled, exhaled, and started stretching out.


    If I was going to win against him, I''d have to use all I had.


    Even if I had to run until my legs burst.

 Ch26. Training - 2

    <h4>Chapter -15: Ch26. Training - 2</h4>


    I started running around Rodrick, but as soon as I caught enough speed, he did one thing that I definitely wasn''t waiting for.


    He stomped on the floor, and immediately the ground started shaking.


    It seemed like the whole building was going to copse over itself, and I stumbled forward, rolling more than falling.


    And in the process, I hit my face onto the floor, and tasted blood from my nose.


    "Fuck!"


    "What, kid? You''re already giving up?" Rodrick smiled at me, gesturing for me toe at him.


    What was he thinking?


    But when I charged at him, as fast as I could, he almost seemed to know each of my movements.


    He stepped aside, ever so slightly, living only his foot in my way, but I managed to jump over it.


    Just so he could grapple my in mid-air.


    "Kid, you''re not ready to raid a Nest, I''m sorry to inform you this, but you''re not."


    He squeezed me almost gently, and let me down.


    I felt my insides revolving.


    Why was I so frustrated?


    "But..." I tried to say, but Rodrick interrupted me.


    "Kurt, you''re now a member of the Shadow Guild, and it means you''re one of the best. But if you can''t put to use even ten percent of the abilities you have... Then why the hell are you even here for?"


    Those words hit me like a mad truck.


    But they also made me rememberst night, with Evellyn.


    And they made me realize what was so ingrained in my mind, that I haven''t noticed it in the slightest.


    In my past life, I grew up with nothing.


    So, when I came back, when I was presented with the system, I only thought of the powers that came with it.


    Of course, besides that thing almost trying to kill me when I needed it the most.


    But when I acquired my powers, I was so eager to use them raw, that I forgot the most basic shape of the mechanics of a wielder.


    "It''s not the powers of a wielder that makes them who they are... Not their strength or their magic... It''s their whole..."


    Rodrick was about to leave the room when he heard me mumbling about it.


    "What?"


    "Nothing. I..." I paused for a moment.


    Did I really want to go against him once more?


    No! Even worse.


    Why was I even faltering?


    "I want to go again!" And at my remark, Rodrick''s lips curled upwards, ever so slightly, that the line his lips once were, hardly became a smile.


    He went towards the center of the arena once again, and posed forbat.


    "Just wait a second, please."


    And I opened it.


    My system window.


    I opened it so many times before, but I never truly analyzed it. I never truly understood my stats and the perks of my skills.


    So it was past the time for my to finally understand itpletely.


    [NAME: KURT BLAKE


    LVL: 15


    AGE: 16


    CLASS: Rogue


    STAMINA: 500/500


    HP: 600/600


    MP: 500/500]


    [BASIC STATS


    Undistributed stat points: 5


    Strength: 130 (+10)


    Dexterity: 200 (+20)


    Agility: 200 (+20)


    Perception: 300


    Intelligence: 250


    Vigor: 200]


    [INVENTORY


    ***


    CONSUMABLES


    Full recovery x2


    Hidden Nest Key A-rank ¨C ke''s library


    EQUIPMENT


    Midnight Bad


    Midnight Sisters


    Midnight''s embrace]


    [SKILLS


    Steal LVL 10


    Invisible hand LVL 10


    Prying eyes LVL 10


    Shadow walk LVL 10]


    My basic stats showed me clearly how fast and strong I was, but I was only using that.


    Even when I wielded the [MIDNIGHT SISTERS] or the [MIDNIGHT BALLAD], that was all I used, strength and speed.


    Ibined some of the other stats when fighting against Quintus, but there was more to it.


    There had to be more to it.


    [PRYING EYES]!


    I was such a dumb fuck!


    Immediately after I thought of the skill''s name, Rodrick''s window appeared in front of me.


    And God... I was surprised by what I saw.


    [NAME: Rodrick Steel


    LVL: **


    AGE: 32


    CLASS: Brawler


    STAMINA: 800/800


    HP: 1000/1000


    MP: 400/400]


    [BASIC STATS


    Strength: 350


    Dexterity: 120


    Agility: 100


    Perception: 400


    Intelligence: 120


    Vigor: 600]


    [SKILLS


    IRON WALL


    IRON BODY


    THUNDER FIST


    WARCRY


    FRENZY]


    "I thought you were all thieves around here..."


    "What?"


    Shit, I thought I had said that in my mind!


    "Nothing, I was just thinking out loud, old man. So, are we gonna start it or what?"


    "I wasn''t the one hesitating, but just don''te at me running like you seem to always do." He added, with a sigh. "I know you have a few more tricks up your sleeve. Use your head, kiddo."


    And then, it was his time to charge towards me.


    But as he ran, incredibly fast, let me add, I was already one step ahead of him.


    I activated [SHADOW WALK] and disappeared from his sight, moving towards his back, but strangely, Rodrick seemed to know where I was, and sent his elbow right at my face, and the next second, I was flying towards the wall, tasting my own blood.


    "Silent and untraceable, I have to give you that." He said, pping. "But too predictable, you already used it on Quintus while I was watching, remember?"


    Shit!


    I needed time to think, but if I made the wrong decision...


    No.


    It was training, and training meant that I had to practice quick thinking in real battles, so I had to do it.


    I moved a bit further from Rodrick, and stood there, silent, thinking of what I could do to surprise him, to catch him with his guard down.


    He wasn''t expecting me to go all out on him in a fist fight, so I thought it should be a good idea.


    [STEAL]


    [THE PLAYER CAN CHOOSE EITHER TO COMPLETELY STEAL THE WIELDER''S ABILITY, OR TO JUST COPY IT]


    ''Copy, it wouldn''t do any good in stealing the old man''s power.'' And I thought of the skills I wanted to copy.


    I imagined the ability''s names were pretty self-exnatory, so I wouldn''t have any problems with just the three of them.


    [COPYING...]


    [IRON BODY SUCCESSFULLY COPIED, CONVERTED INTO ¨C BODY FORTRESS]


    [THUNDER FIST SUCCESSFULLY COPIED, CONVERTED INTO - SMASH]


    [FRENZY SUCCESSFULLY COPIED, CONVERTED INTO - BERSERK]


    Yes, that should do the trick.


    I uncloaked [SHADOW WALK], and coughed, making Rodrick turn around to face me.


    "So you finally got tired from hiding and thinking...?"


    "Kinda..." I smirked, cking my knuckles.


    Rodrick raised his brow and raised his fists, rapidly gesturing for me toe at him.


    I smirked.


    "Alright, then."


    I thought of the skills, and I felt the effects immediately, as [BODY FORTRESS] made my skin feel like solid steel, and I gathered as much mana around my fist as possible, feeling it crackle with electricity, as [SMASH] got put into use.


    Rodrick''s eyes went wide, as he quickly reinforced his own body with [IRON BODY], and I focused my strength on my legs, sprinting towards him with my clenched fist, ready to hit him.

 Ch27. Dèja vu

    <h4>Chapter -14: Ch27. D¨¨ja vu</h4>


    I felt unstoppable.


    Step by step, in a single second, I got to melee range and prepared to punch Rodrick as hard as I could.


    Even though we were wearing gloves and protective gear, I simply knew that my blow was going to deal some significant damage to him.


    Rodrick guarded himself, and I prepared the punch.


    But before I couldnd an inch of my glove on him, I felt something strangeing from outside the arena.


    I withdrew my fist, leaving Rodrick frowning, perplexed.


    "What was that just now, kid?"


    "It''s an ability of mine, but I''ll tell you about itter. What''s happening outside?"


    "Outside?" Rodrick tilted his head, looking at the ss wall.


    He didn''t seem to have very sharp senses, but he was the leader, so he had to had another way topensate for it.


    I looked outside too, and to my horror, Evellyn was sprawled on the floor, having a seizure.


    "We finish itter, kid!" Rodrick stormed outside the arena, followed right by me.


    He ran towards the opposite wall, where there was a tiny case with a first aid kit, anding back with a syringe, he stuck it in her neck, applying all its content on her.


    A few secondster, she was fine again, but her eyes were wide, and her breathing was erratic.


    "What happened Evellyn?" I looked at her, feeling like something was very wrong.


    "I... Uh..."


    She still seemed to being back to her senses, but when her eyes finally focused again, she spoke nonstop.


    "You have to go to Octavius'' house! He''s going to use the crystal, and if you don''t stop him, we''re all... we''re all..."


    And she passed out.


    Rodrick checked her pulse, and saw that she was fine. She just passed out from exhaustion, so he called a healer, and ordered them to take her to her quarters.


    "Care to tell me what she was talking about?" Rodrick squinted his eyes at me.


    "I don''t know exactly, but father does conduct some sort of experiments in hisb, at the Dawn Guild''s headquarters, and sometimes he brings work home... She''s probably talking about something like that."


    "Right... I know how reckless he can be sometimes, but I also know that Eve''s visions are that of the future, so it hasn''t happened yet."


    "Yeah, but we don''t know when Octavius is going to do whatever he''s going to do, so I better hurry!" I looked firmly in his eyes.


    "You?" Rodrick raised a brow.


    "Yeah, why?"


    "Alone?"


    "Why?"


    Rodrick looked at me and squeezed my shoulder.


    "Kid, I know you''re an awakened, and that you''re almost a full-fledged wielder. But no matter how powerful you are, you can''t go in there alone. I''m going with you."


    I was ready to object, but he squeezed my shoulder tighter, and the way he looked in my eyes...


    He looked like a worried father.


    But I had to go there alone.


    It was the best chance to test the new [HIDDEN NEST KEY] I acquired.


    And I didn''t know if I would have another chance to do it that easily.


    I looked at Rodrick again.


    "You won''t let me go alone, will you?"


    "You''d have to knock me out cold, for me to not follow you."


    I raised my brow.


    "What made you like me so much, old man? It''s not just because I''m important to the guild, right?"


    Rodrick slightly grimaced at me, and before I even noticed, I felt his huge hand pping the back of my head.


    "Don''t get too cocky, kid!" Heughed wholeheartedly. "Only if your dreams! Now, do you want to go now, since you''re in such a rush?"


    Yeah, I wouldn''t be able to test the key this time.


    But I''d at least get a chance to go at my father without falling into a trap.


    And he''ll be pissed when he notices someone stole from him.


    I smirked at the thought.


    "Okay, let''s go get ready, then."


    ***


    An hourter, Rodrick and I were geared up to leave, and Evellyn was awake, so we got to her room to say bye.


    We told her it wouldn''t take long, that she should wait for us to have lunch together, and we got going.


    Rodrick took me to the building''s garage, and got into a very nice van, he turned on the ignition, and the car moved, silently, all the way towards ke''s mansion.


    We parked a few blocks away from the entrance, and Rodrick asked me.


    "You know the house, kid. What''s the n?"


    "I was thinking of doing this alone, for starters, so I already had a solo n in my head, but now, I guess we''re gonna have to improvise. I could cloak myself with my [SHADOW WALK], but that would work only on me, so how about you creating a distraction at the main gate, so that no one thinks that you''re actually helping someone get in?"


    Rodrick thought about it for a while, smirked, and squeezed my shoulder.


    "You get it your way even when you can''t, right?" Heughed. "Alright, kid. But don''t get yourself killed, if you can, get in and out without getting caught, and when you''re done, blow something up so I know that I can stop smashing things."


    I smiled.


    "I thought you were all thieves in the Shadow Guild..."


    "We all have our own way of stealing things, kid. Now let''s go."


    Our own way of stealing things, huh?


    I''ll keep that in mind, old man.


    I started running in a particr direction, already activating [SHADOW WALK], and Rodrick ran towards the main gate, already activating his [IRON BODY].


    It was going to be quite the show, but it was a pity that I wouldn''t be able to see.


    As I approached the far east wall, I felt a slight sense of d¨¦ja vu, but it was going to be different this time.


    Still cloaked by [SHADOW WALK], I jumped over the wall, falling smoothly on the grass.


    I saw the dogs ying around, and they didn''t seem to notice me, which was even better, so I began running towards Octavius'' office window, lock-picking it way faster than the first time.


    When I got in, I could still feel the strange sense of d¨¦ja vu overflowing through the air.


    It was here where I died in my previous life...

 Ch28. Blind rage

    <h4>Chapter -13: Ch28. Blind rage</h4>


    I went for the bookshelf, and reached for the one book I had reached for once, before dying.


    I took it, and shook it slightly, hearing the familiar sound of a tiny, solid thing rattling inside it.


    Soon, I heard the noise of crashing and exploding outside. Rodrick was already having his fun.


    I wanted to test the key, but I didn''t know how long it would take, ever since my first raid took more than a day, and there was no way to know if father would be in his office when I left the Nest.


    Yeah, I had to get away, or else we''d be in lots of trouble, so I headed towards the window.


    And that was when I saw a drawer in father''s desk.


    It was slightly open.


    I pulled it,pletely opening it, and my eyes went wide at what I saw.


    Lidded jars filled with... Human organs.


    And atop of them, there was a guild badge, but it wasn''t his badge, from Dawn Guild.


    And it confirmed my theories concerning what chief Lenc said, about the New Dawn''s Guild.


    It was real.


    And my father, Octavius, belonged to it.


    "Incredible, isn''t it?" I heard my father''s voice sounding from the door.


    But he couldn''t be able to see me, right? Not with [SHADOW WALK] on.


    "You can unveil yourself now, son. This ability of yours is useless with senses like mine."


    A chill ran down my spine as I raised my face, and noticed that he was looking straight at me.


    And his eyes glowed in a strange reddish hue.


    The same red that glowed in Quintus'' eyes when he went crazy at Shadow Guild''s headquarters.


    "Come one, son. It''s past the time you and I talked properly."


    I sharpened my senses, trying to feel how powerful Octavius was, and if I could be able to, at least, put up a fight against him.


    "what are you doing here?" I sighed, shivering, as my senses red an rm through my mind.


    I didn''t know how, but he was even more dangerous than before.


    He had grown even stronger than in my previous life.


    So I had to find a way to warn Rodrick so he could run away.


    I turned visible again, and Octavius smiled.


    "You became so powerful, my son. Why did you hide this amazing gift of yours from me? When I heard that you were forsaking the family''s name and all that came with it... It hurt."


    "Come on, now, father... Say that when you actually ''are'' around to see us growing up and all."


    Come on, Kurt... Think, think, think!


    "That was only because I didn''t know if you were one of the pure ones."


    Pure ones?


    "So you''re really part of the New Dawn''s Guild?"


    He snorted, walking slowly towards me.


    "My son... Do you really think that I, the founder of the Dawn Guild, would be a mere part of another guild?"


    Octavius was almost oozing malice, and I couldn''t move.


    It was as if I was frozen where I stood.


    I had to buy some time.


    "So... You''re the one behind the regr''s deaths that the association call a hoax?"


    "They have to die, for the good of the pure ones." Octavius shrugged. "Or do you think that they have some value, other than being rightful subjects in the future where we, wielders, reign above all?"


    I expected everything and anything from this mission.


    But I never imagined that I would stumble upon such an overwhelming truth.


    I sharpened my senses, feeling everything around me, and amplified to an extent that I was even able to feel the ruckus caused by Rodrick outside.


    "You still think that the regrs are worthless..."


    I focused all my attention on the mana outside, moving around the security guards that were trying to put up a fight against Rodrick.


    "Because they are. What else would they be, if the world itself gave birth to ''us''?"


    I felt the mana around them, and grabbed it with [INVISIBLE HAND], feeling the security guards getting lifted above ground.


    "You''re crazy."


    I imagined the mana as an extension of my hand, and pulled all the guards together, hitting them against each other, knocking them out cold.


    "Please, son... Don''t tell me that your mother did infect you with her ideals of equality..."


    Please Rodrick, get it.


    "My... Mom? What''re you talking about?"


    Octavius moved even closer, an my whole body twitched as he reached out with his hand, touching my cheek.


    "I''m talking about how she would always keep you away from me, and never stop spewing that nonsense about how regrs were the base of our society."


    "W-what... Did you do to mom...?"


    "I only did what was best for the family." Octavius caressed my cheek, looking deeply in my eyes.


    And for a second, I could see the scene in front of me.


    Mom''s body on the floor.


    And Octavius'' hands, drenched in blood.


    "You... You killed... Her..."


    I felt my blood boiling in my veins, and the book, still in my hands, was getting warmer.


    "I only did what was best for Quintus, for you, and for the guild."


    His eyes shone in that red hue, but they were cold as ice.


    Completely emotionless.


    I didn''t feel the book turning to ashes in my hand.


    I didn''t feel the crystal inside it glued to my hand.


    I only felt rage burning inside me.


    And I only heard the deafening scream that left my throat, as I grabbed Octavius'' hand, and the mana around me exploded outwards.


    Octavius flew against the opposite wall, and I stepped forward.


    All fear inside me had vanished, giving ce to pure, nk fury.


    Everything around me looked blurry, and there was something in my hand.


    I looked at it, and it was Octavius'' arm.


    I looked at him, and he was smiling.


    "So beautiful, so powerful, that''s why I created the New Dawn, my son. Because I knew someone like you would be born one day, powerful enough to rule above the regrs like a god!"


    But his arm was regenerating.


    "KURT, NO!" I heard a voice sounding, muffled, from somewhere.


    But I moved forward, with everything I had, before Octavius could have his arm back.


    So I aimed at his heart.


    And I felt my hand piercing through flesh.


    My vision gradually came back to normal, feeling my hand crushing Octavius'' heart.


    But when I saw it more clearly...


    Rodrick was looking at me, his eyes reddened, bloodshot.


    And my hard was piercing through his chest.

 Ch29. End/Beginning

    <h4>Chapter -12: Ch29. End/Beginning</h4>


    [EVELLYN''S POV]


    "NO!" I woke up, covered in sweat, as the world came into focus.


    "Are you okay, Eve?" I heard Za''s voice by my side.


    Strangely, Za''s the only A-rank healer who can take care of me when I get hurt, or when I pass out, like in thest few days.


    "Get your car, we need to find Rodrick and Kurt!"


    He looked at me with wide eyes, because he knew that if I ever said something like that, it meant trouble.


    So he got up, and stormed out of my room to get his keys.


    With Za''s purplish eyes, height and his slimplexion, anybody would think that he''s one of the most gifted thieves in the guild.


    But he couldn''t hurt a fly if you asked him, he was one of the kindest people to ever ingress in the Shadow Guild.


    And the only one without a single stain in his past, and that was why I only allowed him to heal me when I was down.


    Not that the people in the guild were evil or anything, but when you have abilities like mine, everything changes, just like it did when I had that vision of Kurt''s father using the strange crystal he had stored in that book, inside his office.


    I''m starting to feel that no matter what I do, tragedy will fall.


    And if we weren''t fast enough, Rodrick would be the victim this time.


    So I got properly dressed, and ran towards the guild''s garage, where Za was already waiting for me with his keys in hand.


    "Ready for a ride, miss?" He smirked.


    Another thing about Za, he was one hell of a getaway driver.


    I got in, buckled my seatbelt, and before I could even ask him to put the pedal to the metal, we were already speeding up towards the guild''s exit.


    "Where to, miss?"


    "ke''s mansion, as fast as you can!"


    "You offend me, miss Evellyn!" He changed gears, and the car went on through the streets even faster than before. "May I ask you why are you carrying ''that''?"


    He was referring to the little sphere I was carrying in my hands. It looked like it was made of blue ss, but it was pure, raw mana, concentrated in a single solid piece. A very rare thing.


    "I stole it from Rodrick''s arsenal, it''s pretty likely that we''ll have to use it."


    "And why would that be?"


    "Will you stop talking as if you''re some kind of butler or anything like that, please?"


    "No, ma''am." He smiled. But I was getting tired off his good manners, we weren''t in a time for ying games.


    "Then just shut up and drive!"


    His eyes went wide, but he just mumbled a "Yes, ma''am" and focused on the road.


    It were the ten longest minutes of my life, but we got finally got there.


    But when we got out of the car, in front of the main gate...


    There was no mansion anymore, and Kurt was surrounded by Association''s monitoring division agents.


    And he held a body by its cor, still punching it, as if he couldn''t hear what the agents were saying.


    Za flinched at the sight of Kurt, but I moved forwards, trying to get a bit closer, to understand what was going on.


    But I regretted my decision as soon as I crossed the gate''s threshold.


    "It''s a pity you''re not alive to listen to my advice." I heard chief Lenc say, with an irony that made me feel like he was d that it happened, whatever that was. "But I told you to keep your new freak on a leash."


    I already knew what happened.


    I dreamed of it, probably while it was happening.


    Kurt got angry, and he ended up killing Rodrick, while he couldn''t see everything that was happening.


    And when he finally came back to his senses, his abilities went rogue on him, exploding all at once, turning him into an uncontroble beast that only sought vengeance.


    But the truth was...


    He killed Rodrick, and then he killed his father, Octavius ke.


    And it didn''t matter how much I wanted to help him...


    He couldn''t be helped at this point, or at least for now.


    And I had to go back to the guild, to give the members the news that our beloved leader... Was now dead...


    I felt tears in my eyes as I saw the members of the monitoring division shooting tranquilizers at Kurt, but I couldn''t do anything for him...


    They had him where they wanted, and even if just for the meantime...


    He was on his own.


    Because it doesn''t matter if or when our paths will cross again.


    This is where my journey draws near to its end.


    And where his truly begins...


    ***


    Kurt was on his knees, still punching the lifeless body of his father, until chief Lenc pulled a firearm-like device, and shot him six times.


    It took a few seconds, but Kurt finally dropped down, letting go of Octavius'' body.


    Lenc approached him, and noticed he still had his eyes open, so he crouched down, and whispered into his ear.


    "You may have killed our leader, but the New Dawn is more than a guild, boy. It''s an idea, and ideas are bulletproof." He stood up again, this time speaking out loud. "Kurt ke, you''re under arrest for the murders of Quintus ke, Rodrick Steel, and Octavius ke. You''ll be taken under the Association''s custody, which will give you a fair trial and h-h-h. Boys, keep him sedated at all times, we''ll seal him once we arrive at the headquarters."


    The other six agents focused their telekinesis on Kurt, lifting his unconscious body and taking him to one of the nearby squad cars, following Lenc''s orders.


    And when they arrived at the Association, Kurt was taken immediately to the monitoring division building, a stern building with five floors, all built in metal and ss.


    Kurt was already a bit awake when they ced him inside a cell made of what looked like ss, but the mana that came from the walls, floor and ceiling was astonishingly powerful.


    But it didn''t matter, because Kurt just stared at Lenc, his eyes as lifeless as those of a fish.


    "You look pretty weak, for someone who took down not just one member of our division, but also leaders of the two most prestigious guilds in the country. Now... What are we going to do with you..."

 Ch30. Memories

    <h4>Chapter -11: Ch30. Memories</h4>


    The Shadow Guild set up a huge wake for Rodrick, one week after Evellyn announced his passing.


    And since a guild couldn''t survive without its leader, they held an election to choose a new leader.


    No one in the guild knew of what truly happened that caused Rodrick''s death, but even though, Kurt never showed up in the guild''s headquarters again.


    Weeks passed, school break hade to an end, and the teenagers went back to their sses.


    But despite Evellyn''s most desperate attempts, she didn''t find Kurt anywhere near school.


    Because after everything that happened to him, he decided to drop school, and even though he was still a member of the guild, he still didn''t want its members to see his face.


    So he resorted to one person who had already been in his life once, and as life would have it, was already making his way up to the top in the city''s underground circle.


    Niki was running his eyes through the pages of a very old book, with a very impatient customer in front of him.


    "That''s going to be three hundred credits, my friend." Niki smiled.


    "Just three hundred?" The middle-aged man''s eyes went wide, and he started gesturing in anxiety. "Do you know how I struggled to put my hands in this edition of ''Meditations'' from Marcus Aurelius himself?"


    Niki studied the man carefully.


    He had white hair, despite his age, and looked too anxious to be telling the truth, and with the knowledge Niki had in philosophy, he could easily understand why.


    "Not enough to bring me an original copy. It was transcribed and transliterated by the author, meaning that most of Marcus Aurelius'' words here are adapted to nowadays'' understanding. So, three hundred credits or nothing."


    The man rolled his eyes, and he showed a firearm, previously tucked in his pants.


    "That''ll be everything you have, then." He grinned.


    "I wouldn''t be so sure." Niki''s face showed only boredom. "Kurt, how about showing this gentleman some manners?"


    The man looked around, a bit startled.


    "Come on, man, there''s no one here besides the both of us, stop bluffing and give me everything!"


    Suddenly, then, he felt the cold touch of metal on his neck.


    "You heard Niki." Kurt''s voice sounded behind the middle-aged man. "How about some manners? That, or I can''t guarantee your safety anymore."


    Niki smiled.


    "That''ll be three hundred credits, ''sir''. What do you think about the offer?"


    The man smiled, nervously, and answered, putting his gun at the table.


    "I-I''ll take it. Th-thank-thank you."


    Kurt moved aside after the man received the money and walked away, almost running.


    "You''re getting quite good at it, my friend." Niki smiled at him, as Kurt unveiled himself from [SHADOW WALK]. "I almost believed that I was alone in the room with the man."


    "Good." Kurt nodded to his friend. "Was the book really just a copy of the original?"


    "No." Niki grinned. "But it''s always good to put some pressure into the clients, or else, I would go bankrupt even before putting it to the real business."


    Kurt smiled faintly.


    ''Niki will always be Niki... But that''s probably why he''s going up so rapidly here anyways.''


    "You seem a bit troubled, my friend. Why don''t you go upstairs and get some rest? I don''t think we''ll have any customers for the next few hours, but if anything happens, I''ll let you know."


    "Thanks." And Kurt walked towards the stairs leading to the abandoned building''s penthouse.


    It had been three weeks since he reached out to Niki, and moved to that old, abandoned building. And it brought so many memories.


    "I guess some things can''t really be changed."


    It was the same old building where Niki had consolidated the underground ck market headquarters in Kurt''s previous life, and he didn''t feel veryfortable with living in there again.


    But after what happened at the association, he was d to at least have a ce to call home.


    Kurt sat up on his bed and opened his stats window.


    He scrolled through the information, and stopped at what he wanted to check.


    [INVENTORY


    ***


    CONSUMABLES


    Full recovery x1


    Hidden Nest Key A-rank ¨C ke''s library]


    [SKILLS


    Steal LVL 10


    Prying eyes LVL 10


    Shadow walk LVL 10


    Master of All Poisons LVL??


    ****** LVL**


    ****** LVL**


    ****** LVL**


    ****** LVL**]


    "Shit! They really sealed some of my skills... But at least they weren''t able to seal my innate ones."


    Heid down and started at the ceiling, remembering what happened, and thinking of how long he would take to pay the monitoring division back for what they did to him.


    ***


    "You look pretty weak, for someone who took down not just one member of our division, but also leaders of the two most prestigious guilds in the country. Now... What are we going to do with you..." Chief Lenc grinned at Kurt.


    But Kurt just kept staring through the leader of the monitoring division, as if the man was nothing but a ss window.


    Lenc red at Kurt, and his hand shed towards Kurt''s face, and his head went sideways, blood spilling from his nose.


    "It doesn''t have to be like this, you know? Say something, anything. Just tell us you''re sorry or what. We''ll be good to you, to some extent."


    Kurt''s eyes finally focused on Lenc, and he said.


    "I already killed Octavius, and Rodrick''s dead because of me,so there''s really nothing you can do to hurt me anymore."


    Lenc sighed.


    "It seems like you weren''t listening to me back at what was left of the mansion... Boy, oh boy... You did kill our leader, but it doesn''t mean you put an end to the New Dawn." Kurt''s eyes twitched ever so slightly, causing Lenc to smirk.


    "Huh, a reaction, finally... Yes, that''s what I told you. But since you ''also'' killed the leader of the Shadow Guild, I''ll cut you some ck and let you go with no more than a warning notice."


    "You''re kidding me, right?" Kurt vaguely snorted.


    "Of course I am." Lenc''s grin became evenrger. "We''ll beat you half to death, like Quintus did back then. But this time, we''ll do it ''with the intention'' of hurting you." He gave it a brief pause, and after realizing that Kurt wasn''t going to give any more reactions, he went on. "Oh man, you''re so boring! You know how hard it is to keep up appearances? Whatever! We''ll beat you, break you, and then... We''ll seal your abilities. And with that, you won''t have anything as a wielder, anymore!"


    Lenc broke out in a maniacalughter, but Kurt just stared at him, silent.


    Seven days.


    They broke bones, punched, cut. The monitoring division had all kinds of torturing techniques for wielders, and after one week, when Kurt was almost nothing but a dead man, they finally used it.


    A device that looked like a ss cage, kept at the underground of the monitoring division.


    They ced Kurt inside, and then an unknown man, thin, old with grizzly hair and wrinkles all over his skin, ced his hands over a red stone that looked very much like the crystal he stole from Octavius.


    And after the old man ced his hands over the stone, Kurt only felt pain, until he was left with nothing but darkness.

 Ch31. Unholy confessions

    <h4>Chapter -10: Ch31. Unholy confessions</h4>


    When Kurt woke up again, he was in an alley full of trash.


    He tried to move, but his limbs wouldn''t obey him, and when he put more effort to it, an insurmountable wave of pain would cross his brain.


    "Broken legs, awesome..." He snorted painfully. "At least I still have my arms.


    But before he could put the thought that crossed him mind to action, he remembered Lenc''s words, right before the chief went on to torture him.


    ''We''ll beat you, break you, and then... We''ll seal your abilities. And with that, you won''t have anything as a wielder, anymore!''


    So he tried opening the system window.


    NAME: KURT BLAKE


    LVL: 15


    AGE: 16


    CLASS: Rogue


    STAMINA: 36/500


    HP: 109/600


    MP: 500/500


    "Good, it still works." And he scrolled down to check what mattered the most to him.


    [SKILLS


    Steal LVL 10


    Prying eyes LVL 10


    Shadow walk LVL 10


    Master of All Poisons LVL??


    ****** LVL**


    ****** LVL**


    ****** LVL**


    ****** LVL**]


    "MOTHERFUCKERS!"


    The scream sent pain through Kurt''s entire body, but it wasn''t as unbearable as the rage he felt towards the monitoring division.


    "No... Towards the whole Association... They have to pay..."


    But then, he remembered everything, and the memory made him gopletely numb again.


    ''Yes, in the end, they''re just charging you the price for your sins...'' A voice that wasn''t his thoughts, echoed through Kurt''s mind.


    "Who the fuck are you...?"


    ''Oh, don''t mind me. No, wait, please, do mind me! See what I did?'' And the voice cackled like an old, hoarse bird. ''You know me already, but at the same time, I think you don''t. So let''s just be good friends until you do...''


    "It isn''t an answer..."


    But everything went quiet, then. And the voice ceased to speak in Kurt''s mind.


    "Great! Now I''m also going insane...? Fuck that, I gotta get out of here!"


    He scrolled up on the system window, and found his items with a sigh of relief. He took one [FULL RECOVERY] out of the inventory, and opened the crystal lid.


    "One down the hatch..."


    Drinking every drop of the sk''s content, he felt his bones mending, his blood returning, and even his lost teeth growing back.


    A few secondster, he was up and kicking again.


    He thought of going to the cafe from that day and by some food, but when he checked his wrist, he noticed that his holowatch''s screen was blinking in red.


    "No, no, no... Oh shit."


    The holowatch kept blinking with a <NO DATA> sign.


    Before, he was a nobody, expelled from home and killed by his brother. He then became someone powerful and dear to the Shadow Guild''s leader.


    But now, he became a nothing.


    "I''m a ghost, as good as dead..."


    And as a ghost, starving and without a single credit on him, Kurt thought that there was only one ce he could go to, so he left the alley and started walking, already feeling a lot better with his stats fully replenished.


    He needed time to think, and to see a friendly face.


    ***


    After one hour of walking, cloaking himself with [SHADOW WALK] from time to time when he saw members of the monitoring division walking by, he finally arrived at the ce.


    ''Looks a bit deserted, but it still feels like the good old ck Market headquarters...''


    The entrance was guarded by two men wearing leather jackets, sunsses, and earpieces.


    It would look rude and pretty weird if Kurt cloaked himself and showed up in front of Nikipletely unannounced, so he walked towards them, and asked like it was nothing.


    "Is Niki in here?"


    the guards looked at Kurt through the sunsses and exchanged nces.


    "Selling or buying?"


    "Tell him that Kurt''s here to repay for the favor." And after the guards clenched their fists, ready to get aggro on him, he added. "Don''t worry, guys. I''m a friend of his, from school."


    They exchanged nces again, and nodded at each other.


    "Okay, but you stay here."


    One of them went inside, and after a few moments, Niki appeared with a different guard, smiling and waving at Kurt.


    "Why are you looking like a dead fish that went trough a garbage can, my friend?"


    "You''re looking good, too, Niki." Kurt gave a faint smile and walked towards him.


    "Come, let''s go inside and eat something, you sure look like you need a meal."


    Niki turned around and led the way, with Kurt walking a bit faster to stay by Niki''s side.


    They walked for a while, climbed some stairs, and when they arrived at the third floor, Kurt''s jaw dropped.


    The whole floor was Niki''s office.


    "Sorry if it looks a bit messy, the people wille tomorrow to help with organizing everything." Niki pointed at a chair so that Kurt could sit. "What do you think about Chinese?"


    Kurt''s stomach replied with a rumbling growl, and he looked a bit embarrassed at Niki, whoughed wholeheartedly.


    "That pretty much answers the question. But what brings you here, my friend? And why do you look like shit?"


    ''I missed your honesty, man...'' Kurt thought, and before he answered the question, Niki typed something in his holowatch.


    "The food will be here in no time, now, spill the beans."


    "Niki," Kurt''s tone became darker, almost grievous "I have to tell you something, but... First of all, how did you do... All this, in, like... One month?"


    "Ah, this?" Niki''s arms seemed to embrace the whole building. "My father is a very influential man from a shady organization of wielders, which basically means that he''s from the mafia. So he taught me how to thrive in the most difficult situations, and as you see, I learned it pretty well."


    Kurt''s eyes went wide, and his lips bobbed up and down, not knowing how to retort that kind of answer.


    "But... Why did you drop school? Why are you living in the streets?"


    Niki looked at the office walls for a moment, silent, then turned back to Kurt, smiling.


    "Just because papa taught me how to survive doesn''t mean he was a good papa, so I decided I would go at it by my own... And take over the world in a different way than my father''s."


    "That''s why you''re starting the ck Market?"


    Niki''s eyes widened and his brow went up as Kurt spoke.


    "How do you know that? I mean, I didn''t even name it yet, but ck Market sure has a nice ring to it. Anyway... How did you know that was my n?"


    Kurt''s face went deadly serious, and he rested his chin over his hands.


    "That''s what I want to talk to you about..."

 Ch32. Silence

    <h4>Chapter -9: Ch32. Silence</h4>


    "So..." Niki looked intently at Kurt, analyzing all his expressions and gestures, but his friend didn''t show any signs of lying. "When you went to take the testst month, you didn''t awaken. It was this strange system that you acquired from dying and... Going back in time?"


    "I know it sounds crazy, but it''s what it is..."


    "And ording to you... I died because of you."


    Kurt breathed in deeply and nodded. He already expected Niki to not believe him, but he waspletely taken aback by what his young Russian friend did after.


    Niki took a notebook, walked towards Kurt, and as he observed Niki''s movements, his friend slightly smacked the notebook to the back of his head, smiling.


    "That''s for stealing from me." Nikiughed. "I don''t like when people steal from me, even if I''m dead. But it doesn''t sound crazy..." Niki gave it a brief pause. "It sounds ''bat shit lunatic'', Kurt. But I believe you."


    "You do?" Kurt''s eyes lit up for a second, a faint glimpse of happiness crossing them.


    "Yes, even more because I know what those bastards at the association are capable of. But you know..."


    Niki paused for a moment, as if considering something, but dismissed the thought, immediately speaking.


    "I know we know each other from school, but when I met you at the Association, I also understood, somehow, that you were different. Like I knew you from somewhere else. And what you just told me actually exins that feeling."


    They kept talking, and Kurt kept telling Niki about the differences between the previous version of his world and the new one, and how guilty he felt about Rodrick''s death.


    The food arrived, they ate, and Niki told him to go to the penthouse.


    "You''ll be living here from today on. You need headquarters and I need more manpower, so let''s go up together, and teach those Association ''suki'' one lesson they will never forget, my friend!"


    And so, Kurt spent thest three weeks honing the skills he had left, helping Niki to establish the ck market as a solid organization, without the need to worry about Quintus anymore.


    However, he knew that the Association still presented a big threat, and needed to be dealt with.


    ***


    Kurt woke up in the dim light of his room, with Niki at his door.


    He focused his sight, still a bit groggy, and noticed Niki''s hands moving, ever so slowly, as if trying not to draw someone''s attention.


    ''H.I.D.E. Oh shit!'' Kurt thought when he opened his mouth to speak.


    He activated [SHADOW WALK] in no time, and when Niki saw Kurt turning invisible, he let out a sigh, and finally spoke.


    "Come in, and see that I''m telling you the truth."


    Niki stepped aside, and Lenc entered the room.


    He had a wicked grin on his face as he stepped in, but the grin slowly vanished, as he searched the room from side to side, finding nothing but a few second hand electronic devices.


    He red at Niki, who simply shrugged.


    "I told you the man was lying." Niki said, performing nonchnce. "Why would I hide a wanted man here, when my business is blooming so beautifully?"


    Lenc grunted, but before he left, the chief looked dead in Niki''s eyes, and said.


    "You may be telling the truth, but you''re still a regr, so you better behave. I''ll be charging higher fees on your business from now on." He grinned. "And if you don''t meet pay every single credit by the end of the month, you''re going to know what happened to the guy who told me that Kurt was here."


    He then turned around, and left the building.


    Niki waited for a few minutes before speaking.


    "Okay, Kurt, you can show yourself now. Kurt? Kurt...?"


    But Kurt didn''t answer. Only silence apanied Niki in the room.


    ***


    Kurt followed Lenc until he left the building and went to the monitoring division squad car. There, he entered the car and prepared to take off.


    There was a man with him, in the backseat, the man who threatened Niki with the firearm earlier in the day.


    ''So he did go to the association to rat me out, but how?''


    And even before Kurt could think of an exnation, Lenc got in the car, checked his holowatch, and when the screen appeared in front of the chief, there was a photo of Kurt, from his register.


    And above the picture, the words WANTED blinked in red.


    ''Son of a...''


    But the car sped off before Kurt could finish the thought.


    He ran back inside and found Niki looking for him.


    "Goodness, where were you?"


    "No time to exin, Niki, I need your services!"


    Niki immediately frowned and his expression became dark.


    "What did Lenc do...?"


    "He''s going to kill the man from earlier, and I need to record it. I have a n."


    Kurt told his n to Niki, and he smirked.


    "Consider it done, my friend! Go to the basement, I keep my secret stash there, you''ll find everything you need-"


    Before Niki was done speaking, Kurt ran off to the basement, and when he arrived, he remembered in the same instant everything about the ce.


    "Oh, yeah. I''ll need theseter." He grinned, looking at the boxes filled with various dried herbs.


    But in the meantime, he just took a smart recorder, a microphone, and an oni mask he found lying around, running off to the street, while activating [SHADOW WALK] again.


    ''I''ll need some mana potions if I keep spending mana like this, while I''m not able to level my intelligence up.'' He smiled at the thought.


    It had been a while since he felt the thrill of a mission, and the way the adrenaline coursed through his veins made him feel good for the first time in a long month.


    Kurt focused his senses, to be able to feel Lenc''s mana signature. After a few seconds of concentration, he could find the chief''s trace.


    And he was moving towards the docks where Quintus had thrown Kurt down the water in a barrel.


    A grin sprouted through Kurt''s lips.


    "Hunter bes prey..."

 Ch33. Silence - 2

    <h4>Chapter -8: Ch33. Silence - 2</h4>


    Lenc stopped the car on the farthest side of the docs, and the middle-aged man cried out for help as he was dragged out of the car by the chief''s telekinesis.


    "Don''t even bother screaming, there''s no one around here to help you. Also, why would someone help a filthy regr like you?"


    "W-why are you doing this?" The man cried, trying to crawl out of Lenc''s grasp.


    "I won''t waste my breath on a maggot, so just die, will you?"


    Lenc tightened his invisible grip around the man''s head, but before he could finish the job, he heard a loud CLANK near him. His eyes went wide as he turned around to check his surroundings.


    "Who''s there?" He narrowed his eyes and tried to focus, searching for any trace of a presence, wielder or regr''s, but couldn''t find any.


    He looked at the man again, sighed and threw him back in the car, locking him in with his ability.


    "So you want to y, huh?" The chief snorted, but despite his best efforts, he couldn''t hide the slight shaking in his voice that almost made him stutter.


    ***


    Kurt looked at Lenc from a distance, smirking.


    ''So this is what fear looks like on the outside?'' Kurt smirked, approaching Lenc and not saying a word.


    The leader of the monitoring division looked around, inhaled deeply, and calmed down.


    "It must''ve just been a bird or something." Heughed nervously.


    Suddenly, then, a dagger flew towards the concrete floor, between his feet.


    He staggered backwards with a loud shriek and raising his guard.


    "SHOW YOURSELF! AND I WON''T HURT YOU!"


    ''Look who''s all high and mighty now...''


    Kurt kept silent, deciding that it was now time to wait.


    Lenc turned around, his hands glimmering with a faint yellowish energy.


    ''Hum... Something new?'' Kurt thought to himself, activating [PRYING EYES]


    [NAME: Laurent Lenc


    RANK: B+


    AGE: 30


    CLASS: Brawler Knight


    STAMINA: 280/280


    HP: 600/600


    MP: 1/1]


    [BASIC STATS


    Strength: 140


    Dexterity: 130


    Agility: 150


    Perception: 150


    Intelligence: 10


    Vigor: 50]


    [ABILITIES


    Telekinesis LVL 15


    Dissociation LVL 5


    Singrity LVL ???]


    Kurt raised his brow at the Lenc''s info.


    ''Only one mana point?''


    But then he focused on Lenc''s abilities. He already knew Telekinesis very well, but the other two felt quite unfamiliar to him.


    [Dissociation LVL 5


    DESCRIPTION: Allows the user to forget certain events, keeping them safe from any lie detection ability.]


    [Singrity LVL ???


    DESCRIPTION: UNIQUE ABILITY ¨C Allows the user to focus all mana particles around him in a radius of 20 meters in a small single point at the palm of his hand. Anything that this concentrated energy touches turns to nothing.


    COST: 1MP]


    ''This makes a lot more sense now. [SINGULARITY] is a very dangerous ability, but [DISASSOCIATION] must have some kind of trick, or else he wouldn''t be able to remember being a member of the New Dawn Guild or anything... Anyways, no time to think about it now, let''s just see if he goes ording to my n...''


    "Oh, so you''re just here to watch, and want me to use this dagger to finish the job?" Lenc asked out loud, his voice shaking less than a few seconds before.


    But as he tried to reach for the dagger, it disappeared, going back to Kurt''s inventory.


    ''Not so fast, dirty fingers.''


    "Okay, then, I''ll just do it the way it has to be done." Lenc almost stuttered again.


    He took the middle-aged man from the car with his telekic ability, and brought him to his knees.


    "No, please, don''t kill me! What did I do to you?" He begged.


    "What did you do?" Lenc snorted. "Do you have to do anything other than being a regr? You ''all'' must die or surrender to the pure ones! Now let your blood be one more piece of the pavement for the new era!"


    Lenc raised his hand towards the man, ready to squeeze his head, but right the next second, a ck sh crossed the air, and he recoiled his hand, grunting painfully.


    "WHAT THE FUCK!? I THOUGHT YOU JUST WANTED TO WATCH!"


    Only then, Kurt decided it was time to show himself. He wore the oni mask, put on the hood of his ck leather jacket, a gift from Niki, and turned [SHADOW WALK] off, carrying both [MIDNIGHT SISTERS] in his hands as he slowly walked towards Lenc.


    "WHO ARE YOU!?" Lenc shrieked, holding his arm.


    His hand had been cleanly severed from the arm, lying on the concrete floor, like a dead animal.


    "IF YOU DON''T SAY ANYTHING, YOU WILL BE CHARGED WITH GRAVE ASSAULT AGAINST A LAW-ENFORCING AGENT OF THE WIELDERS ASSOCIATION!"


    But Kurt didn''t answer. He just walked towards Lenc, looking at him through the eyes of the oni mask, when he noticed the faint yellow glimmer in the chief''s hand.


    He also felt the mana around him fading, noticing that Lenc was really going to go all out, using [SINGULARITY] against him.


    ''Better to not get hit by that thing...''


    He started to run, almost vanishing from Lenc''s field of view.


    Kurt sped up towards the middle-aged man, grabbing his cor and preparing to run away, when Lenc shouted.


    "NO, YOU WON''T!"


    Suddenly, Kurt felt an enormous weight over his whole body, making even walking very difficult.


    ''Shit!''


    In that split second, Lenc switched from using [SINGULARITY] to exerting all his control over the mana around him, to make a gravity mass over Kurt and his victim.


    Kurt covered the man using his body, trying to shield him from the mana''s weight as he walked.


    He put one foot in front of the other, the gravity over him somehow unbearable, when a thought crossed his mind.


    ''Wait! I can feel the mana overwhelming me, even though it''s just my raw strength supporting my body... What if I...''


    He focused on the mana above him, and for a fleeting second, he felt it as he saw Lenc walking towards him.


    He felt the sensation of the invisible grip he used to have around the mana.


    Kurt focused more and more as he walked, one step after the other.


    [THE PLAYER SHOULD NOT EXERT EXTERNAL FORCE INTO THE SYSTEM]


    [SYSTEM INITIATING COUNTERMEASURES]


    [PLAYER WILL BE-]


    ''Shut the fuck up!'' Kurt thought, gritting his teeth and holding on to the fleeting sensation of the mana around him.


    He felt a little blood dripping from his nose, but ignored it, focusing his senses more and more.


    The more he focused, the more he felt the warmth of his awakening spreading through his body, to the point that he finally managed to force a little bit of the mana overwhelming him, to work in his favor, shielding him from Lenc''s oppression.


    It allowed him to break free from the mana''s weight, and run with Lenc''s target from the docks.


    In the little distance, he heard the chief screaming in utter rage.


    After a few kilometers, he dropped the man down, looked in his eyes, and gestured with his head.


    ''Run, you punk!'' Kurt thought, turning his back on the man, and running back to the ck Market.


    When he arrived, Niki looked at him and his eyes went wide.


    "Dear God, what happened, my friend?"


    "Long story short, Lenc tried to kill the man from before, but I was able to stop him, and now I have a recording of him announcing his true intentions towards the regrs. And by unmasking the monitoring division, we''ll have the upper hand against them."


    Niki''s jaw dropped at Kurt''s exnation.


    "Okay, I get your point, but what''s up with the mask?"


    "I couldn''t have Lenc see my face, or else he would issue an execution order and ''you'' wouldn''t be safe. I won''t let that happen again."


    "Hum... Fair point, but do you have a name for this ''character'' you''re ying the role of?"


    Kurt thought for a while, remembering that he didn''t say a word while fighting Lenc and smirked.


    "Silence."

 Ch34. Nightmare

    <h4>Chapter -7: Ch34. Nightmare</h4>


    Niki smiled wickedly.


    "I like the way it sounds, Silence. But why? You don''t speak?" He scoffed.


    "Can''t show my face or my voice, right?"


    Niki''s eyes went wide.


    "You REALLY didn''t speak? You''re crazier than I thought, Kurt!" Then heughed wholeheartedly. "But I''m d you could save the man, even though he was a trash bag. A life is a life, right?"


    Kurt nodded while Niki took some paper towels and handed to him, so he could clean his nose and mouth, red with blood.


    "Also, Niki..." Kurt looked at him seriously, as he was turning to leave Kurt''s room. "I need to ask you something."


    Niki stood silent, looking at Kurt.


    "I saw some boxes in the basement, filled with what I thought were pots of flowers, herbs and other things like that. What are you going to do with them?"


    "Oh, that? They were already here when I arrived, so I was thinking of selling them to a gardener or something." Kurt startedughing at the idea. "Why are youughing?"


    "Nothing. It''s just that selling poison to a gardener wouldn''t be so good." He coughed whileughing.


    "Poison?" Niki looked at Kurt with wide eyes. "How do you know that?"


    "It''s one of the skills I acquired because of this system." Kurt paused when the thought struck him. "Which reminds me of something, but mind if we talk about it while going to the basement?"


    Niki nodded and led the way as they talked.


    "So, something strange urred during the fight with Lenc, and it reminded me of when Quintus almost killed me."


    And as they went down the stairs, Kurt told Niki about everything that happened when he fought Quintus and was left for dead inside a barrel in the bottom of the docks.


    "So you ''did'' awaken, then? But I thought this system of yours was some kind of a friendly thing or whatever. Why would it bug on you like that? And two times, like one wasn''t enough."


    "I don''t know, and I probably lost my only chance of understanding it."


    His tone became darker as Niki looked at him, a question mark beaming in his brow.


    "Evellyn, the girl who will be this person in the future, the Red Oracle. She''s a member of the Shadow Guild, and I killed their leader, so yeah..."


    "You really believe that?" Niki''s tone was strangely doubtful when he asked, and Kurt noticed it.


    "Niki... When you were alive in the previous version of my life, we hung out for years, like, we spent the rest of our childhood ''and'' ten years after that, we were still around each other. If there''s one thing I learned about you, is that no matter in which version of my life I am, you''re always the best when ites to gut feeling. So... Do you really not believe that she sees me as a viin even now?"


    "Kurt, Kurt, Kurt... My little brother of the same age, if what you told me about her is certain, then she ''is'' an oracle, right? So she can see past, present ''and'' future. And if she can see all this things, who can guarantee that she didn''t see you and your situation when she told you about this... Crystal thingy?"


    Kurt thought about it, but became silent until they reached the basement.


    Kurt showed Niki the boxes, but when Kurt himself looked at them again, the system window that showed their names and utilities was full of glitches.


    "What the fuck?"


    "What?" Niki frowned at Kurt.


    "Nothing, just the system window. It''s glitched. Probably still bugged from before. Anyway, I remember some of the contents of the boxes are deadly nts, so I was thinking-"


    "You don''t even have to ask!" Niki gave a big smile. "They''re yours, after all, you''re helping me establish my business without getting into more trouble than the necessary, and you''re also helping people by hunting those monitoring division suki down. What else can I say?"


    Kurt smiled and let out a big sigh.


    "I was thinking of moving down here, too. In order to turn this ce into aboratory."


    "I''ll ask my men to reorganize all this stuff and move your things down here, then. Now, how about some Italian?"


    "Sounds wonderful." Kurt nodded. ''How can Niki be so young and still have all this hunger for the luxuries in life?''


    Heughed inwardly, following Niki outside.


    ***


    After dinner, Kurt went to his room andid his head in the pillow, mulling over everything that happened during the day.


    And when he least noticed, he fell asleep.


    ***


    When Kurt opened his eyes, there was a ck sky over his head with no stars, and below, a red liquid vastness surrounded him.


    "Where am I?"


    Kurt felt a slight sense of familiarity, but strangely, the feeling also carried an urgent sense of danger.


    He tried moving forward, but the more he walked, the more the red liquid would rise above him, so he tried walking backwards, with the same result.


    It seemed as though no matter what he did, the red substance would irrevocably swallow him whole, so he breathed in deeply, and waited for that to happen.


    When it did, it was dark under the liquid, but Kurt didn''t feel like he was under water. The sensation was more oppressive, more overwhelming.


    His heart beat faster, but he chose to ovee the fear for that unknown situation.


    ''It''s just a dream...''


    He looked around, trying to see something and noticed a faint, ck glow towards what seemed to be the bottom of that strange sea, so he swam harder and harder, in order to reach that ck light.


    Only that when he paid closer attention, it seemed like he wasn''t the only one moving there.


    The ck light was moving towards him too.


    And before he could try to move away from whatever that was, he saw his surroundings getting darker, followed by an impressive and overwhelming force grabbing him.


    Kurt couldn''t breathe and couldn''t speak, so he could only wait for whatever that thing was, to reveal its form.


    But it didn''t.


    It only squeezed Kurt tighter and tighter, until he couldn''t not scream, filling his insides with that strange, red liquid.


    "YOU... CANNOT... OVERPOWER... THE...-"

 Ch35. Rogue System

    <h4>Chapter -6: Ch35. Rogue System</h4>


    Kurt woke up drenched in cold sweat, startled with Niki gently poking him.


    "You looked like you were having one hell of a nightmare, my friend."


    "I was." Kurt retorted, panting heavily. "I need a shower." He got up, staggering a bit, and almost bumped into Niki. "Sorry."


    Niki looked at him, frowning, but shook his head, dismissing any thoughts.


    "I just wanted you to know that yourboratory is ready, and we don''t need to move the things from here to the basement. I bought some new stuff for you."


    "What are you? My rich foster dad or something?" Kurtughed faintly, but humorously.


    "Friends must look out for each other, right?" He smiled, leaving the room.


    But he stopped in his tracks, and turned around.


    "Also, Kurt, we need to talk about Silenceter, okay?"


    "Sure."


    But Kurt wasn''t thinking straight. All he could think about was that oppressive sensation of being smashed to death by the unknown force in his dream.


    "What the hell was that..."


    He turned the cold water on, and let it wake his muscles up. Meanwhile, he opened his system window.


    "What the fuck..."


    He clenched his fists, flexed his muscles and jumped a few times, still feeling his strength and speed, and from underneath the running water noise, Kurt focused his senses to see if he could still feel and hear everything else outside.


    Everything still worked perfectly.


    Everything ''but'' the system window.


    It looked even more glitched than before.


    "Why is it like this?" Kurt let out a tired, angry groan, finished showering, got dressed, and got ready for breakfast.


    ***


    "What are you going to do now that you have a secret identity, Kurt?" Niki asked while shoving a muffin into his mouth. "I mean, you are kind of a ghost without your register, which means that, if you can''te up with a n to make you and Silence two separate beings, the monitoring division will quickly find out that you are the one who attacked their chief, and they will suree after you."


    "The only problem, if I don''t have a register, I can do pretty much nothing without your backup, man. And it''s not just the monitoring division... It''s a whole guild I''m fighting against..."


    "Wait, you didn''t tell me this, exin." Niki shoved another muffin into his mouth and waited.


    "So, there''s this purist guild that preaches about the wielders'' supremacy, and they want to rule society above the government. They''re called New Dawn, and were founded by my father, which probably means that they were named after the Dawn Guild. Anyway, they were sought as an urban legend, since regrs disappear from time to time, but as I found out, Lenc, from the monitoring division is behind it, along with, probably, the whole division."


    "Which exins the public opinion seeing the disappearances as a mysterious circumstance, and believing this New Dawn to be an urban legend..."


    "Precisely."


    Nikiughed.


    "And here I was, thinking that turning the ck Market into a guild was a crazy idea."


    Kurt choked on his coffee.


    "You WHAT?"


    Niki smiled mischievously, squinting his eyes and looking directly at Kurt.


    "You heard me. I even got in touch with a friend of my father''s who''s closer to me than to him, in order to help me with it. I thought of meeting her in two or three months, BUT since you too need some tech expertise to work in your favor, I can arrange a meeting with her sooner than that. What do you think?"


    "What do you have in mind?" Kurt even seemed to forget the system issue for a moment, amazed by Niki''s wits.


    "I was thinking that you should go back to school. That way, it''ll be way easier to conceal the identity of Silence, if you start going out there saving people and stuff."


    Kurt stopped with his coffee halfway to his mouth, his eyes a bit wide.


    "Go... Back to school?" The thought made the food turn in Kurt''s stomach, he breathed in deeply, and faced Niki. "I don''t think I can do that..."


    "Because of the Red Oracle and everything that happened with the Shadow Guild?"


    Kurt nodded.


    "Do you trust me?" Niki sipped his tea and raised his brow towards Kurt.


    "With my life, man." Kurt sighed, smiling faintly.


    "Then listen to what I told you yesterday. It will all be alright, and maybe you will even find some help. What do you have to lose?"


    Kurt finished his coffee, got up, stretched himself and sighed again.


    "I''ll give it some thought, okay? I''ll let you know."


    "My system is more glitched than yesterday, so..."


    At that moment, Kurt''s eyes went wide with realization, and he looked at Niki with a strange fire in his eyes.


    "What do I have to lose... Right? That''s a bit depressing, but you''re right after all. Talk to this friend of yours, I''ll go back to school. I don''t know if Evellyn will ever want to talk to me anymore, but if there''s anyone who might have an answer to why my system is acting up like that, it must be her."


    Niki gave a soft, mischievous smile.


    "That''s my brother!"


    ***


    After they got back to headquarters, Kurt went to the basement, in order to check how hisboratory looked, and it looked amazing.


    Clean tables, sks, beakers, test tubes, and the pots were all unboxed over one of the tables.


    "You never cease to impress me, Niki..." Kurt smiled. "I''ll put it to good use once I get the system functioning properly again."


    He went back upstairs and heard Niki talking to someone on the second floor.


    ''A special delivery, today?'' Kurt frowned, walking towards the second floor.


    He tried activating [SHADOW WALK], just in case, receiving immediately after his attempt, a glitched message from the system.


    [*%& PLAYER %$# LOST *$&#" OVER THE SYSTEM]


    [SKILL LEVELS DECREASED IN HALF]


    Kurt gritted his teeth at the letters in front of him.


    ''You''re going too far with whatever you''re trying to state here, but let it be...'' He huffed. ''Remember what I told you when I awakened? I meant it. I''ll destroy you if you don''t behave, even if I don''t know how, I''ll find a way."


    [YOU %@$NOT OVER¡§$%&# THE *******]


    After seeing the glitched message, he felt a tingling pain in the back of his head, but gritted his teeth even harder, choosing to ignore it, and kept walking up the stairs.


    He stopped suddenly, his eyes going wide with the memory.


    "Wait... The nightmare... It''s you!?"

 Ch36. Everything Starts with an N

    <h4>Chapter -5: Ch36. Everything Starts with an N</h4>


    When Kurt arrived at the second floor, he noticed that it wasn''t that Niki was getting a special delivery, but just that he was talking to a holographic projection on his holowatch.


    "Oh, you''re here, Kurt. Good,e here." Niki called him, and Kurt approached, raising his brows at the projection.


    "it''s nice, isn''t it? It''s a new piece of tech in which the government is working to bettermunications and streaming services. Nadia was kind enough to send me, but it took a while to arrive and I just found it on my desk."


    "Nadia...? The girl you''re speaking with?" Kurt looked confused.


    "So he''s the runaway guy who cut Laurent''s hand out?" The woman in the projection asked.


    She was stunning beautiful. Dark green eyes, red curly hair, freckles all over her face.


    She reminded him of Evellyn, but more mature, and without the mysterious aura of when they were at her work study at the guild.


    "Exactly. Kurt, meet Nadia Cross. Nadia, this is Kurt, and he''s been one of my most valuable friends and assets in thisst few weeks."


    Nadia smiled at Kurt, who blushed a little bit, but smiled back and waved a silent hello towards her.


    "So, since my silent brother here isn''t going to talk, I''m going to spill the beans right away. We need to go over your ce, because Kurt needs to retrieve his register and go back to school."


    Nadia looked at Kurt, then at Niki, scratching her chin.


    "Let me see if I got it right. You want me to ''retrieve'' his register?"


    Niki smiled brightly.


    "Exactly. The monitoring division tortured him and erased his register, but he needs to go back to school for reasons I can''t discuss with you without his permission."


    "Hum, guys?" Kurt raised his hand. "I''m here, you don''t have to talk about me like I''m not in the room." He smiled awkwardly.


    But his heart beat faster every time he looked at Nadia.


    Was it because she reminded him so much of Evellyn? He remembered the way her lips touched his and shook his head violently, feeling the slight pain from the incident at the stairs.


    "Join the conversation then, my friend."


    Kurt nodded and began to talk.


    "Yes, I need to retrieve my register, because just creating one from scratch won''t do."


    Nadia looked at Kurt with a gleam of interest in her eyes.


    "Hum... Another risky job that would probably get me in prison faster than I could say vodka?" Niki nodded, smiling. "Right, then. I''ll send you the address and you meet me there after the Legends of Aluria finals end. I''m not missing this game for the world!"


    Niki chuckled and muttered "Nerd" under his breath, but Nadiaughed and sent a few kisses before ending the call, making Kurt even more ufortable than before.


    "What are you two, if I''m not intruding?" Kurt squinted his eyes towards Niki, but Niki just shook his head slightly.


    "She''s just a bit of a very extroverted friend. Did you like her?"


    "She reminds me of Evellyn, the Red Oracle."


    Niki hummed and looked at Kurt, a slight tone of mockery permeating his voice.


    "So you like this Evellyn girl, yes?"


    Kurt kept silent, but the slight red on his cheeks gave it away.


    "Oh, so ''that'' is why you were so reluctant on going back to school... You don''t know how to look at her after what happened..."


    Kurt just looked around, trying to find a specific and very interesting spot on the office walls when Niki passed by him and pped his back.


    "Tough up, my dear brother! You won''t get the girl unless you take the shot. Besides, there are more pressing matters that we need to attend now, right?"


    "Yeah. So," Kurt finally felt a bit morefortable in the situation "what did she mean by the finals of Legends of Aluria?"


    "Brother..." Niki stared at Kurt, deadly seriousness glowing darkly in his eyes. "You do know about the existence of the inte and online games, right? It''s the twenty-third century after all."


    Kurt red at Niki and slightly punched him in the shoulder.


    "Idiot."


    Theyughed, and then Kurt replied.


    "Of course I know about the inte, but never yed online games. I just know the basic concept, so... This Legends of Aluria is an online game?"


    "Wait!" Niki frowned. "You know about the inte, but never yed a game before, so how are you thinking of showing the video you recorded of Lenc trying to kill the man from before?"


    "I, hum, was thinking of letting you handle this?"


    Niki chuckled.


    "Oh boy, it seems like we have a whole world to show you. But... What was the word like, back in your previous life, then? Weren''t there any live streams, content creators or anything of the sorts?"


    Kurt sat down, tool a deep breath, and asked.


    "Do you really want to know?"


    Niki looked apprehensively at Kurt, but nodded, and Kurt started speaking.


    ***


    After Kurt told everything he remembered, Niki was speechless. He never imagined that wielders could represent such a threat to society as he knew it.


    When he heard Kurt say that he was killed by Quintus, supposedly a member of the Shadow Guild, but nothing more than a spy working for his father, owner of the Dawn Guild, he thought it was okay.


    That it was nothing but an isted problem.


    "We can''t let the same thing happen to this version of your life."


    "I guess that''s why I came back, right?"


    "Yes, but how do we stop it?" Niki looked worried, for the first time after he told his father he was going to drop school and quit the family.


    "First, we need to find a way to stop the New Dawn guild," Kurt looked determined "but for that to happen, I need my system functioning properly again, and I need Evellyn for that."


    "So you need to go back to school and try talking to her. And to do so, we need Nadia."

 Ch37. Alarming discovery

    <h4>Chapter -4: Ch37. rming discovery</h4>


    Night came with the tournament finals, and after it ended, she was gritting her teeth because her favorite team lost.


    But when Nadia finally prepared a rxing bath in her tub, with wine and some good music, she heard the ringing of her door bell.


    She grunted and went to open the door, with Niki and Kurt on the other side.


    "Oh shit, sorry guys, Ipletely forgot about it because Ruler of Mortals just lost the finals of LoA. Get in."


    Niki looked perplexed.


    "RoM lost? But didn''t they have the deadly duo, Ruun and Kora?"


    "Yeah, right? Go figure." She shrugged.


    As Nadia and Niki kept having that small talk, Kurt paid closer attention to her.


    She did look a bit like Evellyn, but her presence was more like a nerdy effusive girl. Nothing like Evellyn, but she had her own charm.


    "Kurt? You there?" Kurt felt Niki''s knuckles gently hitting his forehead.


    "Sorry, I was just thinking." Kurt shook his head.


    "Yeah, for so long that we''re already done talking about LoA." Niki chuckled. "We''re ready to begin."


    "Actually," Nadia coughed. "I thought I could take a shower before doing this, how about you guys help yourselves in the kitchen if you want something to drink or eat, and I''ll be right back?"


    "Fine by me." Niki shrugged.


    Nadia went to the bathroom, and Niki just sat down on her couch. He called Kurt to sit with him, but he was busy checking her room.


    It looked like she used to record stuff, with cameras, light rings, microphones, and then Kurt connected the dots on why she was so fixated on the game from earlier.


    "Does she record the matches and transmits them somehow?"


    "You''re joking, right?" Niki scoffed. "You seriously expect me to believe that Octavius raised you in such a stern manner? What? Why''re you looking at me like that? You know you do sound like someone who lived under a rock, right?"


    Those words caused Kurt to look at the floor for a few seconds. He was sure he remembered something about it from his previous life.


    But he couldn''t ess the memories even if his life depended on it.


    Kurt looked at Niki, but in front of him there were two Niki.


    "What''s going on? Why do I feel so..."


    And he passed out.


    ***


    Kurt woke up in cold sweat again, with Nadia rubbing a cold towel on his face.


    "What happened? Where''s Niki?" Kurt''s breathing was erratic.


    He looked around, but Niki wasn''t anywhere to be seen.


    "He had to go back to the... ck Market, but he asked me to take good care of you while he''s away. Are you okay? How''re you feeling?"


    "I see." He smiled faintly. "Did I pass out?"


    Nadia looked at him, sighing.


    "You don''t know what happened?"


    Kurt shook his head.


    "All I know is that I was trying to remember something, then my head felt fuzzy, and next thing, I woke up with you on my face."


    Nadia chuckled, but her face was half serious.


    "What were you trying to remember?"


    "Do you know what needs to be done to make a system work properly again?" Kurt sat up, feeling less dizzy. "I mean, Niki told me you''re ustomed with tech stuff, so I thought you might know something about it."


    Nadiaughed. Her voice sounded like a crystal cascade to Kurt''s ears, which made him focus a bit more on the world around him.


    But he couldn''t forget the nightmare he had while he was out.


    ''Whatever that system is, it''s definitely trying to kill me, but why?''


    "If I know something about systems?" Nadiaughed again. "Kid, I hacked the government than you have socks in your drawer. And they never caught me." She winked at him.


    Kurt''s mouth went agape as Nadia told him that, and a slight smile ran through his lips.


    "Cool. So, what would I need to do for a system to work properly again?"


    "First of all, we need to know what kind of system it is. Then, we have to run a diagnosis, and if there''s a virus or anything like that, we gotta get rid of it. Why?"


    She sat a bit closer to Kurt, her eyes scrutinizing him inch by inch, as if he was something very interesting to her.


    "A virus...?" Kurt scratched his chin, ignoring Nadia''s question. "What if the system already presented some malfunctions from the very beginning, like glitches, or even some kind of... Bad behavior?"


    Nadia frowned, took a finger to her chin, and looked straight at Kurt''s eyes.


    "Bad behavior and glitches, huh? I could say that the system has a virus, almost a hundred percent sure. OR..." She paused for a moment. "But that''s quite unlikely nowadays, since it has moremon use among higher organizations aiming towards war or something... Anyway, if I might add one more possibility, I could say that the system ''is'' the virus, or at least some bad intent program."


    Kurt frowned, countless thoughts running through his head, but he sighed, nodded, and went straight to the next topic, as if dismissing what he was talking about.


    "Right, and what about my registration? Can you do anything about it?"


    She smirked and it sent shivers down Kurt''s spine.


    "It''s done." She smiled genuinely.


    "What?"


    "You heard me. I didn''t need anything from you that wasn''t already in the government''s mainframe, so I just rearranged some lines of code, changed one thing here and there, and you''re back to life. Also, this is for you."


    She handed him a little box.


    Kurt opened the box, and found a holowatch inside, all ck, but in the same model as Niki''s.


    "Wait... Is it...?"


    Nadia smiled.


    "You can''t use your register without one of these, right? So I decided to give you one of the newest, because you''re friends with Niki, and he told me you''re an awesome wielder. Also, you did me a favor by teaching Laurent a lesson."


    "Wow, thank you. I''ll repay the favor one day, that''s fore sure."


    When Kurt was wearing his new holowatch and configuring the basic settings, Nadia saw something blinking in her PC screen.


    "Oh shit!" She got up and went to the device.


    "What happened?"


    Nadia''s tone sounded urgent.


    "I''ve been crossing some data regarding the vanishing of the regrs since three years ago, but it had been so erratic that it didn''t seem to have a pattern. But I guess you''re a lucky charm." She smiled, still unable to hide the worry.


    "The regrs'' vanishing? You mean the urban legend of the purist guild?"


    "So you know about it?" Her eyes went wide.


    Kurt waited for her to check the information, so he could see if he could tell her all he knew.


    "God almighty in the heavens..." Nadia covered took one hand to her mouth. "It''s going to happen."


    "what? When? Where?" Kurt looked at the screen, but there was a map disyed in such detail and with so much data that it was hard for him to find the right point where he could focus.


    "Seventh Star High, within three weeks from now."


    Kurt took a few steps back, his eyes wide in confusion.


    "Okay, now I have more than one reason to go back to school."


    "Wait, you study there?"


    "Yes."


    "Then why are you going back after what I just told you?"


    Kurt weighed the possibilities, pondering for a while, then looked at Nadia with an serious expression.


    "Because there are friends who need me there, and because I''m going to be the one who will start the fire that will burn the New Dawn to ashes."

 Ch38. Do or die

    <h4>Chapter -3: Ch38. Do or die</h4>


    "But I think I need you to help me spread the mes." Kurt swallowed dry.


    He took the smart recorder from the inner pocket of his jacket, and handed it over to her.


    "y it." And Nadia did as he told her.


    The video showed Laurent Lenc, chief of the monitoring division, threatening to kill a regr, until someone showed up and fought him.


    The recording was almost five minutes long, and Nadia watched it as if it was a full-length movie. Her eyes didn''t leave the screen for a second, and after the recording stopped, she looked at Kurt.


    "Was that... You?"


    After a few seconds of consideration, Kurt reached the inside of his jacket and took a mask from there, showing it to Nadia, who immediately went crazy over what she was seeing.


    "Oh my God! You''re... You''re like a superhero, even nowadays when we have the wielders to raid the Nests and keep the peace. Well, supposedly. That''s so amazing! But... What do you need me for?"


    "You''re after the New Dawn guild, right?" She nodded. "Do you want to help bring them down?" She nodded again. "Then I need you to support me as much as Niki is. I''ve been having some issues with my abilities, and I can''t do it alone like that, so... I want you to be part of the... Team?"


    Nadia''s eyes glimmered with enthusiasm as she got up and hugged Kurt, taking himpletely by surprise.


    "OH MY GOD WE''RE GONNA BE SUPER HEROES!" Kurt couldn''t help butugh in her embrace. "What''s the n?"


    And Kurt told her what he needed to do with the video.


    They spent the other half of the day creating a social identity for Silence, a channel on YouTok and everything else.


    She uploaded the video, and in less than ten minutes, it already had ten thousand views and some morements.


    <User3256: is it some kind of movie advertisement?>


    <QueenBunny1407: OMG that mask is so creepy!>


    <ReDante505: Are you all guys nuts? Fuck the mask or the whole setting! That''s Laurent Lenc, from the Association''s Monitoring Division!>


    <Hades307: Holy cow you''re right! Is he just going to kill the man?>


    <QueeRaven: And his words... My god! Does it mean that the purist guild thing is real?>


    <HimikoT859: The masked dude is kinda hot, tho>


    Kurt felt a bit overwhelmed by all the information and thements, but most of them showed initial hostility towards Lenc, which was a good thing, so Kurt left Nadia to do her job, telling her that him and Niki would be back in a few days.


    When he arrived at the ck Market, the ce was inplete chaos, with wounded guards all around, and all the floors were torn apart.


    Three guards were left alive, and when Kurt asked them what happened, the answer sent shivers down his spine.


    "The... Monitoring Division... They took... Master Niki..."


    Kurt gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.


    ''Come on, it''s no time to get angry. Think, Kurt. Think!''


    It took a great deal of effort for Kurt to cool down and think straight, but after he remembered what happened at where now is the ruins of ke mansion, he pped his face with his two hands, and his eyes immediately fell upon his new holowatch.


    He activated the call function, and just as he imagined, Nadia''s contact was there, followed right by Niki''s.


    He touched the screen, and a few secondster, Nadia picked up with a big smile on her face. But the smile vanished gradually as she saw the serious darkness in Kurt''s eyes.


    "What happened?"


    "I think Lenc has taken Niki, I need you to trace his location, ''now''."


    Nadia didn''t say a word, he just turned to herputer, and started typing, opening program windows and typing some more, in a speed that almost made Kurt dizzy, but after one or two minutes, she looked at the screen again.


    "I''m sending you the data through your holowatch, follow the red dot and you''ll find them. But please, be careful, and whatever you''re going to do, make sure you''re recording it."


    "Got it." And Kurt ended the call.


    He opened the link Nadia sent him, and there was a real time map with a red dot pointing to a location near the docks.


    ''Why am I not surprised?''


    He tried opening his system window to check on what he might need for the mission, but only to find the whole thing glitched.


    "Tsk!" Kurt gritted his teeth and started to run, feeling the strength in his legs.


    He could still run at his usual speed, so he put all his strength on his legs, and everything began passing by him like a huge blur.


    [THE-PLAYER-*&%¡§-NOT-MAKE-*&]


    "SHUT UP BEFORE I BREAK YOU!" Kurt shouted through his gritted teeth as he felt the sharp migraine kicking in. "If you try to kill me, I''ll take you with me!"


    He followed the streets, turned where he needed to, and less than five minutester, he arrived at the designated location.


    "Nadia, can you tell me anything about where I am?"


    "There are five readings inside the abandoned warehouse to your left, one of them belonging to Niki. The docks are empty, though. Oh, are you still with the holowatch box?"


    "Yes, why?"


    "Lift the bottomyer inside the box, there''s a pair of ear pieces that''ll make ourmunication easier."


    Kurt did it and found a little earphone-like piece, he put it in his ear, and was able to clearly hear Nadia''s voice.


    "Now, I guess you didn''t wear your mask yet, so do it. There''s a skylight on the roof, so you could watch them from there. Whatever you do, don''t get caught! I''m assuming the four unidentifiable readings are from members of the monitoring division, and no matter how strong you are, it''s gonna be tough to take them all at once."


    "Don''t worry, I''m already thinking of a n." Kurt said as he ran towards the warehouse.


    He focused, remembering that the level of his skills had been decreased in half.


    But it didn''t mean he couldn''t use them, so he activated [SHADOW WALK] and ran as fast as he could, jumping towards the roof of the warehouse.


    When he arrived at the top, he could see the skylight. Kurt approached and silently prayed for his weapons to not be bound by the system constraints.


    The [MIDNIGHT SISTERS] appeared in his hands as soon as he called for them, and he looked down inside the warehouse.


    He activated the smart recorder and saw with great relief that Niki was still alive.


    But only for a while.

 Ch39. Do or die - 2

    <h4>Chapter -2: Ch39. Do or die - 2</h4>


    "SAY IT!" Lenc''s voice echoed through the warehouse. "WHY ARE YOU, A REGULAR, PLANNING ON CREATING A GUILD?!?"


    Niki''s face was an ugly sight, swollen and full of bruises.


    ''What did they do to you, my friend...'' Kurt clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white.


    "Did they tell you already?" Niki said in a muffled voice.


    "What? WHAT DID THEY TELL ME?!" Lenc urged him to speak.


    "To... Go... Fuck yourself." And heughed a mouthful of blood.


    Kurt saw the handing towards Niki''s face. This punch would definitely kill him if it hit.


    He took one of the [MIDNIGHT SISTERS] and before he could think properly, threw it towards Lenc''s hand.


    ''Say goodbye to your other hand.''


    The sound of metal cutting through flesh and bone was almost audible from the skylight as Kurt jumped through, still cloaked in [SHADOW WALK].


    Lenc shrieked in pain as he issued orders to his followers, all wearing ck cloaks with the New Dawn guild symbol embroidered in gold on their backs.


    "THAT BASTARD IS HERE! GET HIM!"


    But none of them knew where to look for the masked man, while Lenc squirmed in pain.


    ***


    [KURT''S POV]


    I felt a wild rage building up inside me, and somehow I knew that the emotion taking over my heart wasn''t mine, so I had to do whatever was in my power to suppress it.


    I remember very well what happened thest time I let my feelings get the best of me, and I''m not letting it happen again.


    I''m also not letting you die again, Niki.


    The migraine still insisted in making home in my brain, so I walked around with each step sending a huge shock to my head, but it didn''t matter.


    The first of Lenc''s followers was right in front of me, guarding Niki as if he was some very important item.


    ''He''s not a thing. He''s my friend!'' I thought as I moved my hand towards his throat.


    Killing someone with telekinesis, or when you''re in a blind rage is one thing. But killing them when you''re wide awake, and with your hands holding the death''s tool, is something else entirely.


    I felt the de sliding through the skin of his neck faster than the regr eyes could conceive, and all that was left was the ck glimmer of my de''s trail in the air, and the blood spurting from that open neck.


    I couldn''t speak or else I would fall out of character, but I didn''t feel like it. They had taken Niki, they had taken my friend, and left him in that miserable state.


    They had to pay with their lives.


    Keeping them from hurting other regrs was just a positive side effect.


    As I moved towards the next man who looked at his fallen partner with eyes wide an open sea, he gives me an unexpected surprise as I slide my de through his neck.


    It only leaves a slight mark, and the sensation of my de sliding through his skin reminds me of someone I knew and was very dear to me while itsted.


    They were trying really hard to get on my nerves today, right?


    But even if it weren''t really Rodrick''s ability being used to protect that guy''s body, it was enough to make my blood boil.


    "IF YOU MAKE ONE MORE MOVE, I''LL KILL THIS FILTHY REGULAR!"


    That was when everything froze around me.


    Lenc had his... Wait, I did cut both his hands off!


    But he was definitely holding Niki''s head on his hand, and the other arm, as I saw it, made me remember the incident at ke''s mansion.


    Where Octavius severed arm grew back, but I thought it was just my head ying tricks on me because I was too enraged to differ reality from hallucination.


    But Lenc''s severed hand was growing back.


    And his eyes gleamed in a maniacal tone of red.


    "Whatever you must do, do it! There''s no need to-" But his sentence was cut in the middle by Lenc, who squeezed Niki''s cheeks so hard it probably broke his jaw, judging by the painful grunt that he let out.


    The bloodshed stopped.


    "Good boy. Now show yourself!" Lenc ordered.


    ''Okay, you want it, you have it.''


    I uncloaked myself from [SHADOW WALK], and they saw me, right by the one who had strengthened his body, and he took a few steps back, eyes wide in fear.


    "Why are you so scared, Zeke? He''s in our hands now." Lenc''s eyes shook, and I felt something strange inside of me.


    As if something in him was resonating with something in me.


    I felt an indescribable urge to get closer to him for reasonspletely unknown.


    And then the system beeped.


    [THE PLAYER MUST GIVE HIMSELF]


    [ASSIMILATION IS MANDATORY]


    [THE PLAYER WILL NOT OVERPOWER THE *#¡§$%@#*@¡§]


    So it was the system again...


    But Lenc didn''t have the same kind of power, did he? Or else he would''ve known who I am by now.


    No.


    I focused on the sensation of the mana around me, the memory of how [INVISIBLE HAND] used to work, and as subtle as ever, I called upon the [MIDNIGHT SISTERS] to appear behind Lenc, in his blind spot.


    I knew they would try to beat me senseless, so I had to do it quickly, and I was right.


    Once I raised my hands, to show them I was unarmed, the one with the reinforcing ability came in full strength towards my lower body.


    If it weren''t for my high stats, it would''ve been a killer blow, but I curved my body to let him think that he caused me more pain than I was actually feeling.


    ''Three...''


    One more blow, and this one hit the mask, with a little bit more force than the previous one.


    I felt the heat of my awakening inside of me growing, and the sensation of the mana intensifying as blood trickled from my nose.


    I gotta get a better grip of this motherfucking system, or else I''ll always get punched at least once!


    ''Two...''


    I raised my head just enough to see what was happening, and other of Lenc''s followers had joined the fray. It was getting a bit harder to maintain focus.


    But Lenc was exactly where I wanted him.


    He was looking at me with malice in his eyes, with a lost for blood that could put any murderer to run calling for mommy.


    ''One...''


    And I clenched my fist, as I saw both the des of the [MIDNIGHT SISTERS] piercing through Lenc''s chest.


    It took Octavius'' heart to make him stop, so I imagined that it would take Lenc''s too.


    His dead body dropped like a sack of potatoes to the concrete floor with a final, surprised gasp, and his followers looked back to see him dead.


    ''Poor mistake.''


    I summoned the [MIDNIGHT SISTERS] back to my hands and activated [SHADOW WALK] again. But this time, I already knew what to expect.


    The reinforcer armed his guard, protecting both his neck and face, but I was quicker this time.


    Despite the migraine, which I was being quite sessful in suppressing, I gathered the mana around me, swirling around my fist, and focused the better version of [INVISIBLE HAND] in a single blow directed towards Zeke''s stomach.


    The effect was instantaneous.


    He could harden his arms and neck, but wasn''t able to harden all his body at once, and he fell unconscious.


    From when I copied the ability from Rodrick, I can definitely say that his were nothing but a cheap copy.


    A few secondster, my des were bloody and the four members of the New Dawn were down.


    But when I looked at Niki, he could barely breath, and his face was purple.


    He was dying from asphyxia.

 Ch40. Do or die - 3

    <h4>Chapter -1: Ch40. Do or die - 3</h4>


    My heart was beating so fast I could feel it in my throat.


    WHY CAN''T I JUST SNAP AND FIX ALL THIS?


    WHY''S EVERYTHING TURNING OUT EXACTLY LIKE MY PREVIOUS LIFE?!?


    "Kurt? KURT?"


    As I calm down, I''m able to hear Nadia''s voice more clearly over the earpiece.


    "What?"


    "You need to think fast, I took control of the smart recorder so I could stream the warehouse live while you were fighting, but I''m going to end the live stream now, so you can focus on saving Niki."


    "Tell me when you''re done with it." And in the meantime, I thought and thought.


    "Done."


    Right when she said it, I remembered my inventory.


    I still have one [FULL RECOVERY], and prayed it worked on regrs too.


    I tried calling for the [INVENTORY], only to see nothing but a glitched window followed by a system message.


    [THE PLAYER HAS LOST THE RIGHT OVER THE SYSTEM]


    [SYSTEM SHUTTING DOWN]


    The heat inside of me was bing unbearable, but so was the anger and frustration.


    I couldn''t hold back the shriek that came out of my throat.


    I was losing the only thing that kept me alive until now.


    I was...


    No.


    I''m not.


    "I''m not going to let you go that easily..."


    [SYSTEM SHUTTING DOWN IN 3... 2...]


    But before the system could count to one, something happened.


    The ring in my finger, [MIDNIGHT''S EMBRACE], became white hot, and I felt a familiar presence somewhere above me, and time felt like it froze around me.


    |You depend too much on this system, but I understand your the powerlessness that leads you to depend this much on it.| A voice echoed all around.


    "Who are you? Can you save Niki? Do I... Know you?" I felt too powerless despite my strength, to truly understand what the voice said after that.


    |No, I cannot save your friend, but you can. And you do know me, even if you do not think you do. I have been watching you from my cradle in the skies, to see what would be of you since my best friend fell victim of the same treacherous act you are suffering from now.|


    "Wait... You are..."


    I remembered it, even if I almost came to forget it.


    After my arrival at the final floor of the [HIDDEN NEST]. I met Orkas, and he showed me that.


    I felt as if the presence nodded, somehow.


    |Are you ready to see my face and hear my voice, young human?|


    I didn''t feel like I had a choice to begin with, but I didn''t understand why the presence asked me that, since it felt so warm and friendly.


    "I''m not sure, but I don''t feel like I have a choice."


    "That''s alright, kid. I''m not going to hurt you, even though looking at me might hurt." The familiar voice sounded behind me.


    I felt my heart climbing all the way to my throat, and I felt tears welling in my eyes.


    When I turned around to look, I didn''t feel like more than a child wanting to cry my eyes out.


    Rodrick was standing right in front of me with his warm dark eyes and his enormousplexion.


    "I... I... Didn''t..."


    "I know kid, and you don''t need to say you''re sorry. Rodrick knows that you didn''t mean it, that you didn''t want to do it. He wanted me to tell you that you weren''t just an asset for his guild, but also like a son to him, because he could never bear children, and he always wanted a little boy."


    I couldn''t.


    I just couldn''t.


    I fell to my knees and couldn''t keep the barrage of tears from bursting out. And amidst the tears, I felt Rodrick''s huge hand caressing my hair. I took off my mask and hugged him, even though I knew it wasn''t him really.


    I just needed to give back the half hug he gave me after Quintus'' death.


    He already treated me like family then, and I felt itpletely.


    After a few seconds that didn''tst long enough, he let go of the hug and I was able to stop crying. I got up and looked at him, but it wasn''t Rodrick anymore.


    "I''m sorry you had to go through so much torment, my child." My mom said, looking at me with her warm, light brown eyes. "You have to grow stronger, but you achieved an impossible feat that''s overpowering the [CONSCIENCE] to the point of it wanting to retreat from your body. Not even my Orkas was able to do so before it killed him."


    "But it didn''t seem to work out in the end. I still can''t seem to be able to save anyone around me." My shoulders went down with the weight of the world. "And even worse, this time I killed an innocent person who actually cared about me."


    "Oh, but you can save Niki. You just need to ess your inventory and take the [FULL RECOVERY], right?"


    "Not without the system..." I could hear the life leaving my voice as the words went out my mouth.


    "I can''t help you with much, but I''ll give you one thing. It''ll probablyst for five minutes or so, which will be enough time for you to restart the system and save your friend. But when you go to sleep tonight, I''ll be watching over you, so fight with all your strength, because your awakening is the most unique of all."


    "what do you me-"


    Before I could finish my sentence, I looked up to see an enormous white dragon looking at me, and I could tell it was immensely powerful.


    So powerful, that I couldn''t even sense it with my perception.


    The dragon let out a deafening roar that felt like crushing the space around me, and after it silenced, it lowered its head towards be, touching its forehead with mine.


    |When you fully ovee the [CONSCIENCE], you will be able to call me out, and I wille down, to never leave your side again.|


    The next second, Arias was gone, and there was a system message in front of me.


    [SYSTEM FORCEFULLY REBOOTED]


    [01 MINUTE TO COMPLETE SHUTDOWN]


    It was all the time I needed.


    I opened the inventory, took the [FULL RECOVERY], and immediately opened it, opening Niki''s mouth and making him drink everything.


    "Try to swallow it, brother. Don''t you dare die on me again, please." This time, I didn''t hold the tears back. It was all that I could do.


    Because if he died again...


    "Don''t... Worry... My friend. I''m... Already feeling... Fine." Niki said, panting heavily, finally able to breath again.


    Thank God. Thank God...


    "Let''s go home, brother. You need to rest."


    He looked better, but as I imagined, the [FULL RECOVERY] effects were slower on regrs, so I took him on my shoulders, and left the warehouse.


    "Nadia, can you find us a ride? I don''t think it''ll be good for us to be seen like this in the open."


    "On it." She immediately replied. "Did you save him?"


    "He''s fine, we need to go home." I sighed, immeasurable relief pouring out.


    Five minutester, one of the ck Market''s guards appeared with a white,mon car, we got in, and rode home.


    Niki went shower, and I went to my room, where Iid my head on the pillow, and tried to stay awake for a little while longer, unsessfully.


    Secondster, shadows covered my sights, and I was again in the middle of that red ocean.


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