MrLux

Hi, everyone. I just wanted to say I'm sorry for the recurring delays the novel is having, my job is currently sucking every ounce of energy I have, stopping me from bein able to write anything, but I won't give up. I'll keep on writing every opportunity that I can get.

So thank you for your patience and happy new year! (1 day and 22 hours late)

Jason, the captain of the 37th battalion of the second army from the kingdom of Medina was at his desk in his office writing reports about the events of the last month to his superior as it was expected from him every month as captain of a battalion.

He sighed as he put the pen made with medina crystals, a crystal that forms inside the Medina flower and the origin to the name of the kingdom.

"Sigh. I am running out of ways to say "nothing happened" with thirty lines. She always complains that my reports take too long to get to the point, but if I gave her an on point report… Sigh. Maybe I should have accepted that transfer to the royal guard, but noooo, my lazy ass had to decline the offer…" He lamented.

Suddenly the door to his office was sung open with such force that it broke off the hinges and fell down to the floor.

“Jason, I knew you were here!” Krisno, the vice-captain of the same battalion as Jason, said as he entered the room.

Jason sighed as he sheathed his sword and placed it on his side before looking at the door on the floor as he put his hand on his temples.

“Krisno… That’s the fifth door just this month, if you keep doing this every time our budget for repairs is going to shot through the roof” Jason said as he looked away from the door and the leopard man in front of him to look at a paper detailing the finance budget for the entire month and the next, already placing the costs to replace the door in them mentally.

His thoughts were cut abruptly as Krisno dropped a stack of papers on his desk, right in front of him.

“Aaand.. What’s this supposed to be?” He asked, as he picked them up and began reading.

“Reports from three weeks ago, about a mysterious figure blowing up a dungeon wall on a dungeon city followed by a dragon entering the dungeon itself” Krisno said, waiting patiently for the next question he was sure would be coming.

“Riiight, and you needed to show me this instead of figuring this out yourself and just presenting me a report for?” Jason asked, just as Krisno expected.

“The dragon entering the dungeon…” He said, making a small dramatic pause with a grin on his face long enough to displease Jason, but short enough to continue before Jason needs to ask again. “According to witness, it’s a shapeshifter”

Jason paused for a moment, confirming he had heard Krisno correctly. After receiving a nod from him, Jason got up from his chair and walked to an armor stand that held his armor. His armor consisted of blue steel, a metallic alloy made using mainly iron as an ingredient and ice dragon’s blood as catalyst. It irradiated a cold aura when ambient magicules flowed through it, and of course if someone forced the flow of magicules, the cold aura would be stronger and bigger.

Krisno watched as Jason placed his hand on the armor and the room temperature dropped several degrees in mere moments, causing the windows to fog up and water begin condensing on every available surface.

“Where is it?” Jason asked and Krisno answered immediately.

“It’s the Carter city, so approximately a week if we depart tomorrow” He answered.

With a flash of white light, the armor had been transferred from the armor stand, that now stood empty on its place, to Jason himself where it covered his long ears that easily identified him as an elf.

“Go tell the others, we depart today” Jason said.

My eyes slowly opened and I saw a wooden roof in front of me. I tried to move but my body felt like it was on fire and not even [Pain Reduction] did anything to help with it. Looking around with just my eyes I could tell I was inside some kind of room on a comfortable bed, at least it would be comfortable if it weren't for the pain that moving a single muscle caused me.

Where am I? What happened? I thought to myself as I tried to activate [Knowledge Library] only to feel it had vanished, and it was not the only one. I had an almost intrinsic feeling of connection with my skills, but some of them had suddenly vanished.

[In the dungeon city of Carter city, inside room 14 of Rosie's Inn]

A voice similar to [Knowledge Library] spoke inside my mind. It almost felt like the same voice, but I could tell it wasn't, it was more powerful, incomprehensible more powerful.

Wait, wait, wait. What are you? I asked it in my head as trying to speak would only cause more pain, and it had answered a question I made only in my mind so I could just assume it was reading my mind.

[Ultimate Skill [Logic Gate Automata, God of Axioms], currently operating under 2% of total capacity]

Ultimate skill? What? And what do you mean under 2% of total capacity? I asked, my confusion increasing by the second.

[Ultimate skills are the pinnacle of the skill System, the final evolution any skill can achieve and the way ascended creatures can impose their will onto the universe. Currently operating under 2% of total capacity because expansive soul damage combined with the lack of proper soul strength to obtain an Ultimate skill]

I thought about what it just said. Some keywords to take note were "ascended creatures" and "impose their will", meaning that Ultimate skills are the way gods can alter reality itself.

[The assumption is mostly correct]

Wait, if it is true, doesn't that mean that one needs to be a god to evolve an Ultimate skill? I asked.

[Negative, the energy and will force required to evolve an Ultimate skill are usually found on ascended creatures but it is not impossible for a non-ascended creature to, by defying fate itself or by predestination, break the natural order and obtain an Ultimate skill]

I fell into thought for a moment. Whatever happened with me when that machine broke? I asked.

[Affirmative]

What happened, exactly? I asked again

[Would you like I replay the System's messages you've lost while your mind was unconscious?]

Yes, please. I said

[Replaying…

…Replay finished]

Wow, that’s a lot. I thought to myself as the flood of information in my brain stopped. Then I opened my status screen to see the changes that happened.

Wait a moment, why are my status so low? And what is this Mana Burn? I asked [Logic Gate Automata]

[Mana Burn is the name of a condition when a creature that possesses a physical body has so much magicules stored or flowing inside them that it causes severe damage to both body and the magical matrix, also called mana channels, that connect the soul and body of a creature. At this moment, both your body and soul have sustained severe damage. Approximately 80% of your body is currently suffering from Mana Burn, and your soul is covered in 45% of damage]

In my mind I saw a visual representation of my body, at least my current body, meaning the black panther one, covered in red marks that represented the areas where I was suffering from Mana Burn. 

The room’s door opened and I saw in the corner of my eye Jana walking inside, she had changed her clothes and hair cut and almost looked like a completely different person from what I remember. She walked inside and saw I was awake.

“Oh, hey, you’re finally awake” She said as she moved to my side. I could swear I heard this phrase being said somewhere else, but I didn’t remember.

“...Hi…” I said slowly. I felt pain in both my body and my soul, for some reason.

[Warning, normal skill usage at this moment is not recommended. Recommendation: skill management by [Logic Gate Automata, God of Axioms]. Do you accept?]

Yes? I thought, not really sure of the answer.

[Skill integration adaptation is now under way. Estimated time to completion is 2 minutes and 13 seconds…]

A small timer appeared in the corner of my vision counting down from the time my skill said to me.

“Don’t try to talk yet, the doctors said it’s a miracle you’re still alive considering how much of your body it mana burned” She said, before continuing to speak. “Before you try to ask, again, don’t try to speak, you’ve been asleep for almost three weeks. The guards had you apprehended for a few days after you were brought back from the dungeon by some dungeon spawns, but after you weren’t responding to anything they tried to wake you up, I managed to take you to this inn after promising to allow the guards to ask you some questions after you woke up. Celeber gave me this metal card and said she managed to create an account for you using your temporary documentation, she said this is how we can pay for stuff without using coins and stuff and that all the money the demon lord gave you”

Jana showed me a metal card that looked oddly similar to a credit card, but I could tell it wasn’t made of plastic like normal credit cards, but by a strange shining metal with complex magical inscription on it, judging by how it shone in my vision.

“By the way, are you hu-...” Jana began asking, but a growl from my stomach answered her question before she could finish. “I imagined, you didn’t really eat during those three weeks you’ve spent asleep. Here, I bought some porridge for you”

She moved to a table next to the other side of the room and picked a bowl of something that resembled milk flour I used to eat when I was a little kid and brought back to the side of the bed I was on, pulling a stool to sit next to me as she handed me the bowl. I tried to pick the bowl, but a twinge of pain stopped me.

[Recommendation: Do not make any kind of large movements as your body is still healing]

Seeing I was not able to pick up the bowl, she picked the spoon and was about to feed me herself. I managed to speak a single word.

“Why?” I asked.

“It’s because you still can’t eat by yourself. I saw you trying, but failed, so I’m doing it” She said. I shook my head and asked again.

“Why?” I said again.

“Ohh, why am I feeding you, understood…. So, you see, it’s kind of embarrassing for me to say this, but… You’re the only one I know, kinda, not really but still. My entire life up to three weeks ago was a complete lie, you know? Everything I have been taught was lies fabricated on top of half-truths built by a racist megalomaniac who was making experiments to see if an isolated human village, away from normal society, could become a racist zealot that followed his commands like a good puppy. My village wasn’t the first, it was only the last and younger experiment. His notes detailed how we were complete failure and how he was planning to start again… by burning everything and everyone to the ground” She explained

Jana was looking at the wall, her eyes not focusing on anything. Suddenly they snapped back to me.

“Sorry, went on a tangent there. What I’m trying to say is… You’re the only person I know in this strange place that is in, kinda, the same boat as I am. What I'm really doing is grabbing onto whatever I can or I fear I might just lose my mind" She said with a sad chuckle.

Seeing her smile hiding the sadness in her eyes made me want to give her a comforting hug, but I couldn't move so I stared at her. She noticed it and placed the spoon with porridge on my mouth, I couldn't react in time as a sweet flavor filled my mouth. The porridge was surprisingly good.

She kept me company for a few hours, before she had to leave to buy some things and call the guards so they may speak to me. During that time, [Logic Gate Automata, God of Axioms] had finished adapting skills integration and it deactivated some skills while absorbing four magical skills, both [Magicule Detection] and [Magicule Manipulation] as well as [Fire Magic] and [Cold Magic].

After the skill absorption, it ran a scan on myself and told me my regeneration skills were working almost in overdrive to fix my body, and that was causing more problems to the link between my body and soul, so it had to take control. I guess this would be the same as if an AI took direct control of an automated program?

[Prioritizing regeneration of mobility. Partial motor skills will be restored in 3 hours and 15 minutes and 24 seconds. Full motor skills will be restored in 5 days]

And with that, I had no other option but to way to at least I could move again.