Draven didn't have the time to muse. He quickly cleared the site of every piece of evidence to the best of his ability, leaving the dead body, and left for his house.
It was a long trek due to no money for a taxi, and also, cars avoided the Blue Plane. When he got home, it was already mid-afternoon. He took a quick shower. What surprised him was the state of his body. All his injuries had healed, like he was reborn anew. Though he still felt dizzy. However, he was scared of sleeping even with his droopy eyelids.
His paranoia kept saying, 'What if you sleep and never wake up? What if this is an illusion?'
Or maybe it was because of the person he killed, but the darkness when he shut his eyes spooked his nerves.
Draven decided to check his skill.
Lying on his flatbed, he opened his Elite System.
A holographic panel sprang into his vision.
–––
[Name]: Draven
[Class]: None
[Race]: Human
[Legacy]: Soul Mystic (Sealed)
[Rank]: Transient
[Order]: First
[Soul Vitalis]: 51
[Mana]: 0/10
>Physique: 2
>Constitution: 1
>Will: 10
[Skills]: [Mental Serration], [Soul Sense], [Stasis], [Igni Vitalis], [Soul Covenant (Sealed)]
[Gears]: [Oculus Visor]
–
[CURSE OF VOIDHELL]
–––
Draven's eyes read from the top, pausing on the legacy.
'It is sealed?'
He continued reading, halting again on his rank and order.
Draven mumbled, "So, I have less than 200 days to ascend from First Order Transient rank, to the Second Order Transient rank, to the Third Order Transient rank, before reaching the First Order Primal rank? Sigh. Non-stop ascension then. Although it's difficult, it's not impossible like… 50 days. I would have just died already."
He froze at the Soul Vitalis column.
"What does it do? From the teaching of the basic academy, there's nothing like a Soul Vitalis column. But if the Soul Mystic said it was a gift, then it must be important," he mumbled. "Wait… he said he would gift me 50 Soul Vitalis, right? Why is it 51? Hmmm… it must be an error from him? Or he decided to add a bit?"
His eyes lowered to the next column.
"10 mana to ascend to the next Order, easy. 2 for Physique and 1 for Constitution. Yeah, that makes sense—standard stats for a normal First Order Transient Elite. But…" Draven's calm voice suddenly rose in shock, his eyes widening. "10 for Will? I thought the highest for Will on Earth was 5? It has to be the legacy, right?"
He paused, his expression shifting to one of confusion and curiosity as he muttered, "But where is the flaw the Soul Mystic spoke about? Is it the seal on the legacy?"
"Well, as long as I survive and get rich, that's all that matters," he shrugged, brushing off his worries.
"Now, time to test my skills. I'll be heading to the plane for real this time."
His eyes then gleamed with childlike excitement, like a kid about to unwrap a long-awaited gift.
Draven opened his skills one by one:
–––
[Skill: Mental Serration]
[Rank: Transient]
[Order: Third Order]
[Description: When activated, this skill imbues attacks with mind-penetrating fangs that bypass physical defenses to prickle the mind of the opponent.]
–––
"I need an opponent to test it," Draven nodded. "Next."
–––
[Skill: Soul Sense]
[Rank: Transient]
[Order: Third Order]
[Description: Perceives the innate pressure radiated by every soul when activated within your soul range.]
–––
Draven activated it to test it.
He felt a strange sensation in his chest, followed by a soft caress from various directions. He closed his eyes to focus, and the sensation became clearer to the extent of him knowing the approximate direction of the caressing sensation.
'Is that the pressure of the souls? Those must be from humans, right? Or living things?' Draven pondered in doubt. 'After all, only living things have souls… from my knowledge. I might be wrong.'
He deactivated it and opened the next after thinking for a while, with the plan to test it when he was outside to trace the origin. Besides, it was impossible to leave it active all the time because it felt like many fingers were caressing the inside of his chest. The feeling was nothing pleasant.
–––
[Skill: Stasis]
[Rank: Transient]
[Order: Third Order]
[Description: After experiencing death and witnessing the gates of an underworld, you returned to the realm of the living with a unique ability. This skill allows you to slow your body's activity to an almost complete standstill, reducing your presence and hastening your recovery rate during moments of stillness.
⟨Condition: Only works during stillness!⟩]
–––
Narrowing his eyes, he read the description again.
He ran his fingers through his hair. 'I never witnessed any gates of the underworld. Besides, that curse talked about wine, and I never remember drinking anything.'
Even now, living again felt surreal, making him doubt whether he had died in the first place. He wondered if she had mistakenly given him sleeping fluid instead of poison. Yet, the curse and the skill above were proof of his death.
After several minutes of fruitless thought, unable to make sense of his situation, Draven decided to test the skill.
The instant he activated it, a sudden shudder wracked his body as if he'd been plunged into a frozen lake. His heartbeat slowed, his breaths grew shallow—so faint he could barely feel them.
But that wasn't all. A creeping numbness spread through his limbs, dulling his senses until even the bedsheet beneath him seemed to vanish.
'Have I lost my sense of touch? No… it's still there, but barely.'
He raised his hand, and warmth flooded back into his body. The numbness receded, his senses sharpening once more.
'It deactivated? What a troublesome skill. That cold, numb sensation… unpleasant and unbearable. Ugh. Why do I keep getting troublesome skills that feel unpleasant if left activated?'
–––
[Skill: Igni Vitalis]
[Rank: Transient]
[Order: Third Order]
[Description: Ignite your Soul Vitalis to forcibly compress and channel nearly all of your Physique and Constitution into one or two body parts, drastically enhancing their power.]
⟨Warning: While active, all non-enhanced body parts suffer severe weakening, reducing strength, speed, and defense to their absolute minimum.⟩
–––
Draven tried to activate it with a thought, but nothing happened.
'Not working? Hmm… Let's try this.'
He then thought of enhancing his arms.
[–1 Soul Vitalis.]
A dull chill spread over his both arms, accompanied by a surging strength. But his body abruptly felt a bit drained. It was a distinct feeling he remembered, when Berserker Z1 was exhausted, but this one didn't drain him completely.
He groaned at the contrasting sensation between his body and arms. Luckily, the cold wasn't numbing or affecting his joints.
Another panel appeared in his sight.
–––
ARMS ENHANCEMENT
>Physique: 4
>Constitution: 2
—
NON-ENHANCED BODY
>Physique: 1
>Constitution: 0.5
–––
Draven's eyes and mouth rounded as he read the values.
Suddenly, the skill deactivated and warmth returned.
'So soon?'
He decided to activate it and note the time, while wasting another Soul Vitalis.
'1 Soul Vitalis, 15 seconds.'
With gleaming eyes, Draven calculated, 'I just need to ascend, and I can maybe increase the value and time. That way, the enhancement will be at its peak.'
Draven thought of something and decided to test only one arm.
'Urgh! Another Soul Vitalis wasted.'
–––
RIGHT ARM ENHANCEMENT
>Physique: 6
>Constitution: 3
—
NON-ENHANCED BODY
>Physique: 1
>Constitution: 0.5
–––
'Shit! The enhancement for one arm is… crazy. Three times the First Order Transient Elite's values.'
Raising his right arm towards the broken ceiling, he clenched it, relishing in the new strength coursing through it.
It deactivated in fifteen seconds, bringing him back to reality.
'The last skill…'
–––
[Skill: Soul Covenant (Sealed)]
[Rank: Transient]
[Order: Third Order]
[Description: (Sealed).]
–––
'This skill is sealed. But why?' Draven thought, his brows furrowed. 'And there's barely any information about legacies online, except for the part where Hara was struck by one that flew out of a Ruin site, and he rose to become a powerhouse. That sounds like a fairytale. And if that's true of how Hara got his legacy, life isn't fair; making me plan and scheme, killing me at the end when I got mine, and stamping me with a damn curse! I know life was never fair but… this level of bias…'
Draven's eyes dropped to the Gear column.
'Gears are obtained by killing monsters, and I only killed Sera…' The thought made his expression grow complicated. 'If killing humans can also give Gears, what's stopping others from hunting new Elites for Gears? After all, we aren't strong. Is that why new Elites are to stay in the academy for two weeks until they enter the Plane?'
A shiver ran down his spine at the idea, but he quickly pushed it aside, trying to ease his growing paranoia that was adding to his existing paranoia.
"Let's see."
–––
[Gear: Oculus Visor]
[Rank: Transient]
[Order: Second Order]
[Type: Mask]
[Description: A faceless mask.
⟨Scope⟩: Enhances the eyes when activated.]
–––
After reading the description, he summoned it.
A sleek, lightweight, angular black metal mask with a pair of dark red lenses shaped like squinting human eyes materialized in his grasp.
The lenses attracted his attention.
He placed it against his face, and surprisingly, his vision remained the same.
Draven activated ⟨Scope⟩, and his vision became clearer, so much that he could spot the blemishes on the ceiling.
"Woah…"
He turned his head, playing with the enhanced vision.
Suddenly, his chest tightened.
Draven took a deep breath, but it only worsened. He opened his mouth to suck in air, but it was like there was an obstruction in his throat. He gasped, his eyes widening in horror as darkness invaded his vision.
He quickly dismissed the gear, but it didn't stop it.
Battling to stand, he realized his limbs were as weak as jelly.
Lying paralyzed, Draven's thoughts spun, his breath coming in short gasps.
'Am I dying again? Is this the end? I knew it! It was all an illusion! No. No. No. The curse…'
That was his last thought before blacking out.