I reckoned I'd completely stepped into D-Rank, be it in terms of strength or Force Aura.

It was an intoxicating feeling to have so much vitality swirling around inside me, like someone who'd suffered from a frail body their entire life suddenly being able to rip apart a car with their bare hands with ease.

I could feel my Aura thrumming against my flesh from within, spreading through every part of me and soaking into my tightened muscles like a drug. My tendons and tissue felt like steel cords beneath my skin, ready to release my new power.

Although I thought I'd feel exhausted after so much stamina usage, I only felt reinvigorated instead.

Like a wall that'd been cracking over all these years had been finally broken down, the barrier was no more.

'Ha, this is amazing.'

Every rank had a massive gap between each other, so the difference between me and the 2 Avatars which I roughly analyzed as being E-Ranks was huge, ability-wise. Well, they were also weaker in a lot of other departments too.

While their Skills were troublesome to deal with and MP was still quite a mysterious energy for me, I wouldn't have much trouble fighting against other Avatars now that I'd acquired some experience against it. Their abilities also weren't very flexible either:

Acceleration raised the user's speed but didn't touch their dexterity or flexibility, resulting in a rigidity that was easy to predict; Abyss Jump's destination couldn't be changed after activation and it apparently couldn't move the user to lower or higher ground; Foresight gave the user the ability to foresee their enemy's actions, but the gunman appeared surprised every time I attacked, and etcetera.

In a way, it was just like something designed for an RPG game, something not applicable in reality.

I was particularly curious about the mistakes from Foresight though.

'Maybe it just calculates the most likely outcome rather than actually seeing the future. It would work well on mindless and simple constructs like the Dark Rose Footmen, but it doesn't seem smart to rely on it when fighting other humans.'

"Errkh..."

"y-You... How did you..."

My thoughts were rudely interrupted by groans of pain and a voice filled with disbelief coming from nearby.

As I turned back to the gunman, I saw him writhing in the ground like a shrimp; clutching the right side of his torso where he'd been hit with his hand. Quite a miserable sight, but I didn't pity him all that much.

'He certainly didn't have any benevolence towards that older guy.'

Pity was something that only the strong could afford to thoughtlessly give, and that only the worthy should receive.

Neither applied in the current situation.

After sighing, I stepped closer with a lazy gait and kneeled beside him to facilitate our next interactions, and while I was at it I also pressed my armoured knee to his throat and squeezed it tightly. Though it was covered in leather to favor the joint movement, I was still heavy.

"G%h@eu&...!"

A curt cry that seemed to be somewhere between a wheeze and a yell came out of his mouth.

'I need to make sure he doesn't use any more Skills.'

Only when I made sure he acknowledged the position he was in did I let up the pressure, and he groaned quietly and gasped for air without yelling or making a fuss a second time. After I quieted him down I shifted my gaze to his supposedly wounded torso, which should've had at least some blood leaking from it but was curiously intact, with no leaking gashes or wounds visible.

After roughly tearing at his chestplate, I found a piece of light grey chainmail armour between it and his shirt, with grey-ish fur weaved into the latticework for some kind of comfort maybe, and a small dash of silver fur around the collar.

The area where I'd hit was noticeably dented and broken with torn hide around it, but a pattern of cyan hexagons crackling with frigid energy had appeared over it, seemingly repairing any all damages I done to it but not healing him at all.

'What a curious thing...'

"Hey. What is this?"

"..."

"Excuse me, did you pass out with your eyes still open? Do you want me to choke you again to wake you up?"

He flinched and his shoulders trembled slightly, his previously droopy eyes shooting open.

"n-No..."

"Then answer me quickly, hmm?"

"Argh..."

"Hurry it up."

Just staring at his face was getting on my n̶̙͊é̵̝̒r̴̛̭̺̈v̸̤̰̑͋è̸̘̃s̴̗͂͝ for some reason.

 

My face contorted into the expression of one who'd been treated unfairly and wronged, but I quickly suppressed those feelings before coughing and opening my heavy lips. I didn't have the advantage now, so of course, I could only comply.

'A wise man knows when to shut up and bow his head.'

"It's... It's an Artifact. I looted the chainmail from some other guy... and then commissioned someone with a production Skill... to graft a monster's hide onto it to gain better stats..."

Even though I couldn't even breathe properly without my side hurting, I clenched my teeth and endured.

"There are production Skills too, huh?"

As the woman absentmindedly brushed her fingers against it, her eyes suddenly lit up and she stared into the air.

"The Pelt Of The Lady Of Battle?"

She muttered it aloud without thinking, but that was enough for confusion to set in.

"Huh...? h-How can you see the Artifact's... Status Board if you're not an Avatar...?"

"I never said I wasn't though."

"But that doesn't make any sense...! What about those weird powers then then?"

Not only did they exude a feeling that was incomparable to a Skill's, she also didn't have to say anything to activate it. There were plenty of Skills in the Star Market, but none allowed a "chantless" ability activation like she was using.

"Is there a rule that Avatars can only fight with Skills? Or that they can't use something independent from the System?"

"No, but--!"

"Then shut up and don't make a hassle, hmm?"

"A$rg&h...!"

At that point, I knew she was just saying a load of bullshit to quiet me back down...

She increased the pressure on my throat again, and my expression turned devastate as I acquiesced for now. I whispered a few curses under my breath, but she seemed to be too preoccupied with thinking about something else to hear me.

Then, she looked at me and asked again:

"Alright. Next question, tell me about Status Boards."

How the hell did she not even know about that if she claimed to be an Avatar?

My mind was spinning. Were Challengers also able to access the System like us and we just didn't know? But hadn't the Gods said that it was a privilege only to Avatars? They'd cheat us and omit a lot for entertainment, but they never outright lied to our faces. They thought it wasn't up to their divine status or something.

But, there wasn't anything I could do other than answer her.

That didn't mean I would question her a bit though. Even the smallest answers could provide some sort of clue about... just this entire situation as a whole, so I resolved to do some digging and beating around the bush before speaking straight.

"Didn't you say you were an Avatar? How can you not..."

"Alright, I'm giving 30 secs to answer before I strangle you."

"Wait, what?"

"Just got reduced to 20 seconds. C'mon, hurry up."

She rested that dreadful knee on my neck again, and I felt my blood pressure rise.

'This fucking bitch...!'

God, did I really sin that much?

 

[The Pelt Of The Lady Of Battle (D)]
[Usage Restriction: Level 23+]

[Description: An armour who the Lady Of Glorious Battle, patron of brave soldiers, took a liking to and imbued with heroic vigor.]
[Innate Skill: 〈War Requiem〉 -20% damage received by all attacks, +15% to vitality/MP recovery when greatly injured.]

The information was still resting comfortably near the side of my vision, like a mocking reminder.

One of how foolishly courageous I suddenly became after getting just a little bit of strength.

I'd realized that I was at a clear disadvantage due to neglecting to inform myself about the System after presumptuously thinking that its enhancements would be no big deal, so I wouldn't pass up the chance to get answers without drawing any bothersome eyes.

"Alright, fuck! Alright, I'll tell you!"

His face was red from humiliation and he looked like he was about to pop a blood vessel.

"You just need to say 'Open Status'... and the Status Boards will appear... You can see your Levels with 'Open Profile' too..."

"Huh, that's simple."

Wasn't there anything stopping it from appearing in the middle of a fight? Well, I do imagine those weren't really common words someone would include in a battle cry when they were in the middle of battling for their life.

"Open Status."

With a ding, windows covered my entire vision like a soft curtain:

• [Main Quest - 3rd⇓]
• [Skill Shop - Top 50⇓]
• [Channel Rankings - Top 100⇓]
• [Faction Rankings - Top 25⇓]
• [Hall Of Fame - Locked⇓]
• [Clan Boards - Locked⇓]

"Ooh, what a bunch of stuff."

I was interested in the Channel Ranking and Faction Ranking things, but I decided to open them in descending order first and reined in my curiosity. Softly, I tapped on the arrow of the upmost Main Quest tab, and it opened up like a futuristic scroll:

• [Main Quest - 3rd⇑]

{Slay The Challengers}.

Description: O' great Avatars, champions from other planes of existence have invaded Earth and seek to greedily conquer it for themselves; defeat them and receive handsome rewards, or face extinction at the hands of these otherworldly outsiders.

The greater the number of Challengers bravely slain by your hands, the more princely the loot shall be. If 7 Challengers aren't subjugated before 1 month's time, a great power boost and [Ownership] over their area shall be their reward - {2/7 Eliminated} & {14/31 Days}.

"Challengers? So that's the kind of thing you thought I was."

Briefly, I remembered that hearing them mutter something at the start about these so-called Challengers and how my powers seemed weird, and now I knew why. These Avatars, who'd only seen other Avatars use MP-based Skills and nothing else, would naturally assume that I was one of those Challenger that needed to be killed.

The issue about them trying to kill existences that were held in such great esteem by even the System itself alone, I promptly ignored.

'Anyways, looks like it'd be a problem if I reveal my Force Aura...'

While they were very weak by my new current standards and didn't have much they could use against me, it didn't take much to wager that much stronger Avatars would appear in the near future. Specially as I got close to power hot spots like my target.

'I'll need to ask about him later, as well.'

I unceremoniously clicked on the 2nd tab:

• [Skill Shop - Top 50⇑]

1st-Combat Physique {124,700 Avatars} - 195 Star Points.

2nd-Armament Knowledge {120,200 Avatars} - 165 Star Points.

3rd-Basic Assault Magic {118,500 Avatars} - 250 Star Points.

"Passive Skills are a thing too, huh?"

"Oh, yeah..."

He looked like he was biting his tongue not to say something. Wasn't he actually a really cranky guy?

'It's not a very good trait.'

"Hey."

"What...?"

"Tell me all your Skills."

"Ughh..."

"Don't try to hide them."

"i-It's... Armament Knowledge, Basic Marksmanship, Spirit Bullet, Foresight, and Darkness Jump."

"Alright then."

Hm. Wasn't there a way to check if he was lying or not?

"There's probably a way to search for Skills with this, isn't there."

"..."

"Isn't there?"

"...Yes. Just click on the looking glass."

Sure enough, there was a small symbol on the corner of the screen, similar to a sapphire looking glass. I clicked on it and a small bar booted up in front of me, awaiting input. Since there weren't any keys, I assumed it was voice-activated as well:

"Armament Knowledge."

"Basic Marksmanship."

"Spirit Bullet."

"Darkness Jump."

"Foresight."

All of them were actual registered Skills, so at least it seemed like he wasn't lying about their existence. It didn't mean he couldn't be lying about not having others though, not that I thought it would matter much at this point.

I proceeded to ignore him after that, since I didn't really care from the beginning whether he was saying the full truth or not.

After opening the 3rd list, I sucked in air through my nose.

• [Channel Rankings - Top 100⇑]

1st-Roderick Powell {United States Of Almeric & 246 Gods Viewing}.

2nd-Ignas Horatia {Istaly & 239 Gods Viewing}.

3rd-Declan Flaherty {Republic Of Reland & 171 Gods Viewing}.

'Is this serious?"

United States Of Almeric, Istaly, and Republic of Reland. I didn't even need to think hard about it to see they were my old Earth's countries with slightly changed names, like someone had Ctrl+C'ed and Ctrl+V'ed them. I sighed after looking at it for a few moments.

'Let's just ignore it.'

What caught my attention was the first ranked's name.

'There he is.'

A truly massive viewer count.

There was an extraordinary gap between him and the third one, but since the second ranker wasn't that far off I guessed they must've been equivalent to a character essential for the "story's plot" or something like that... probably.

"By the way, what're Channels?"

I directed my question to the gunman again, pushing those thoughts out of my mind.

"Well, every Avatar has a Channel that lets... the Gods view and chat with us... They also use give us Blessings sometimes..."

"Blessings?"

"They're, uh, special Skills that can only be given by a God... and every Avatar can only have 1 of them... When the Gods give us their Blessings, it means they... take a small part of all our feats, like killing strong monsters... and contributing to Main Quests."

"It's basically like giving someone company shares... but its your achievements instead..."

With that I realized just how little the Slayer's Legacy had given when it came to information, as things like Blessings and Channels weren't even mentioned or touched upon at all. It was good that I learned about that soon since it reiterated something important — don't place my trust in it completely.

"But why would they want that?"

That all aside, I couldn't understand why something powerful like a God would want to parasitize off humans like leeches.

"Ah, when they ascend to godhood, they abandon their mortal bodies behind to become deities... All that's left is the True Name, which they hide behind... some nicknames so we can't influence and change them through our worship..."

"But if they're completely unknown, they'll just disappear... So, you know..."

"They tie themselves to promising Avatars with great achievements to remain existing."

"Yes, that..."

After humming a bit, I checked the fourth one:

• [Faction Rankings - Top 25⇑]

1st-Saviors {21 Members}.

2nd-New World {4 Members}.

3rd-Draconic {79 Members}.

I guessed the Hero's group must be somewhere between the top 3.

"Hmm... Are these things like RPG guilds?"

"Yeah... They can have additional stuff like Faction Boards for them to communicate information... And they can also share a Faction Channel so they all rake in... a bit of the attention from their viewing Gods..."

"Question, is there a reason Avatars who've already gotten a Blessing keep appealing to the Gods?"

"They also sponsor us Star Points if they're really entertained... but they've already given away their Blessings or we aren't qualified..."

I hummed as a sign that I understood, satisfied that he was answering better and much more reliably than expected. I'd wondered about how the Avatars gained these 'Star Points' or whatever when I saw them in the Skill Shop tab, and now that I knew I couldn't help but briefly admire just how cunning these Gods were:

Instead of making a bunch of half-baked, useless or stupid reasons for the Avatars to keep entertaining them after receiving Blessings from their respective Gods, they introduced a new type of currency which they absolutely needed for their growth.

Exploitative? Yes, but very efficient too.

On that note, I decided not to ask him about the Factions since I wagered he wouldn't know much.

'He's a really weak one, after all.'

I fleetingly felt like I was forgetting something important in this conversation, but I couldn't quite remember what it was.

Anyways, onto the final 6th and 7th tabs I went:

• [Hall Of Fame - Locked⇓]
• [Clan Boards - Locked⇓]

"Hey, when will these 2 open up?"

"I don't, uh, really know..."

"...Really? That's all you have for me?"

His face paled a bit as I purposefully exaggerated my frown at him.

"Ugh, It's really all I know!"

"...Alright then, I can't blame you for that, I guess."

"Huff..."

He sighed, looking mentally exhausted. I guessed I wouldn't be able to pry much more from him.

And finally, I went over to the final command.

"Open Profile."

[Job: Lancer Of Steel | Attribute: None (0) | Power: Lv.48.]

'Hmmm... My Level seems pretty high, I guess.'

I didn't know this world's standards for Level, and I was a bit iffed about that Attribute count being null in both aspects. After thinking a bit I just chalked it up to some errors since I was from another world and didn't originally belong here.

Then, I closed it and started thinking.

While I'd only informed myself of the System and some of the customs of the Avatars in this conversation, I still felt like I'd learned quite a bit about other important issues. Other than that, I'd picked up some key things from their conversation before the fight — I now knew that Roderick was residing in a military fortress – Outpost Gheist – and that he killed the former leader, the General Brerick.

It was the next stop to my journey.

"Alright then, thank you for all the information."

"Then..."

He immediately turned hopeful...

"You can go to wherever the hell you want to, as long as I don't see you again."

"t-Thank you! Really, thank you!"

...But it seemed so obviously fake... Like he wasn't even trying to hide it.

"Don't say too much."

"Alright..."

He closed his mouth tightly like a dog listening to its owner.

I sighed inside my heart at the second-hand embarrassment from the scene of him suddenly being so energetic before me, thinking about the things I'd seen earlier. He was a ruthless bastard who used someone as bait before slaughtering them like cattle, and even conspired with the General to try and kill my target. But still, I didn't care much about those things at all.

The reason I'd attacked to begin with was that I saw how they were bad people and ruled that I would only need 1 of them alive to answer all my inquiries, but otherwise, I didn't really have any personal grudges against them.

It was because of convenience, not clumsy self-righteousness after seeing them kill a man who appeared just as bad as them.

So, I honestly thought it wouldn't be that bad to let him go and hope that he wouldn't cause any more trouble after I'd taught him a few manners about being an upstanding citizen. He'd probably still end up dead some way or another, too.

'Well, I guess he won't really have the chance to change his ways, but it's still a nice thought.'

Before standing up and leaving, I briefly peeked at his clothes:

"Ah, and before I go, give me that Artifact thing."

"...What?"

"Your regenerative armour. Give it to me."

"But why...?"

"My spoils of war, of course."

My face blatantly exposed my thoughts of 'Isn't that a obvious?'

"..."

"Come on now."

"Ok..."

He touched the upper right corner of the chainmail and a bright cyan rune flashed, and then the whole thing was reduced to a glowing blue crystal in the shape of a cross-like star. Even though he looked dejected and quite despondent, he handed it over obediently.

"Thank you again."

"..."

I stood on my feet and turned around, continuing on my way while playing with and juggling the crystal in my left palm. Although I looked relaxed though, I was constantly circling the Force Aura around my body to boost my senses.

Honestly, it was something I couldn't even dream of doing in the past unless I wanted to have a heart attack or a violent seizure from overproducing magic power, but now I could do it freely without much of a care in the world.

As I turned the corner of the destroyed street I looked up at the now dark night sky and hummed softly, looking at the spherical silver moon on the horizon as I walked. The smell of putrifying bodies was still there even though there weren't any insects, but I ignored the eerie, silent atmosphere and only focused on the path ahead while sidestepping the corpses.

It was a smell I'd gotten used to by now, so it didn't bother me too much.

A few minutes later I stopped playing with the cyan crystal and looked at it for a while, then pressed down on it until cracks appeared, crushing it into powdery fragments. I couldn't quite explain it, but it was like I just knew what to do to claim it as mine.

Brilliant white light escaped from the small pieces and enveloped my body, seeping into my clothes as I felt the metallic and furry chainmail settle above my skintight suit yet below my mixed pieces of armour.

The sensation brought a bit of extra safety.

But before I got accustomed to it, I first patted my nape and tried to smooth over all the goosebumps.

I'd had them since I'd finished talking to the gunman earlier.

'It should be around now that it happens.' is there a name for something which can only exist in a group

A loud howl with metallic and scratchy undertones rang out a few blocks behind me, and a bloody scream followed shortly before being quickly silenced. I'd seen the monsters who'd made that sound when I was talking to him, but I didn't show it.

[Armoured Shade Hound | Grade: Uncommon | Power: Lv.35]
[Innate Skill: 〈Coordinator〉 +20% stats when in a large group or pack.]

There was an entire band of them around me while I finished up interrogating him, and he only didn't notice them because I was taking all of his already drained attention. They looked like wild dogs in armour, but I could see through the small gaps that instead of living wolves inside them, there were only corpses that appeared crudely preserved somehow roughly stuffed inside.

And among the yellowed bodies who refused to rot, fresh crimson blood still leaked from every nook and cranny.

They had some familiar traits like the two-headed eagle heraldry stamped on their chests, but aside from that, they were entirely different from the Dark Rose Footmen. I'd glazed most of that information quickly, since I ignored them to keep my calm:

They had sabertooth-like silver fangs and thick claws stained with blood, bright azure flames with deep violet streaks inside their long-slit visors burning like brimstone, and small, glowing abyssal flowers on their joints with spiked vines coiled around it.

From my subtle counting, I knew that there were at least 40 of them, but they still hadn't attacked me.

'They certainly had the strength with their numbers and that Innate Skill, so why did they stay away?'

I pieced it together though after analyzing it thoroughly with the thought that they mimicked natural animal behavior in mind:

They lacked the subtle depressions and scratches on their armoured bodies like the Dark Crown Footmen, indicating that they didn't face much combat; although they were larger than normal wolves their leaner frames made them look like they were made for high speeds rather than enduring combat; and lastly, they kept away from me and only seemed to be coveting the weakened gunman.

With a look of realization, I snapped my armoured fingers.

"Oh, they're scavengers!"

The armoured Shade Hounds didn't attack me because they probably deemed fighting me as more trouble than it was worth, so they only went after someone who was already quite close to dying. It was my luck that I'd decided to fight those 2 after all.

After I discovered that though, I couldn't help but wonder about their differences from the Dark Crown Footmen I faced:

More intelligent gazes, more cunning behavior, and preserved bodies stuffed inside... almost like batteries.

'I'll try and get more information about them after I reach Outpost Gheist, probably ask the Avatars there. Although their situation doesn't seem that good since so much internal strife is going on, they still should have some information on monsters.'

Then, I locked it away inside my mind for later and kept trekking silently.