—
Name: [Zarek Ashborn]
Role: [Hero Candidate]
>[Hero Spirit: Ashborn Demon] (LOCKED)
Profession: [Mnemonic Anato Scribe]
Core Stats:
>[Strength: C] <B+>
>[Dexterity: C] <B+>
>[Intelligence: CC] <B+>
>[Endurance: C-] <B+>
>[Charisma: C] <B+>
Talents:
>[Axiograft: C-]
>>[Abilities: Graft]
[Comprehend, Imprint, and Graft]
>[Empty]
>[Empty]
>[Empty]
Skills:
>[C Class Scouting: C+] <C+>
>[A Class Unholy Beacon: A+] <A+>
>[A Class Ash Reborn: A-] <A+>
…
Notes:
[—]
—
This time, there was no "great progress" notification. Zarek had no choice but to manually pull up his status page to see if there had really been no movement, only to see that there definitely had been.
Not only had his Intelligence been Limit-broken, but [Ash Reborn] had stepped from B+ to A- mastery. That was huge, not to mention a side benefit that Zarek had really not been expecting at all.
Though he had hoped for it, he had honestly thought that he would have been expecting too much. But it seemed that focusing on three accumulated lifetimes' worth of Ash Intent comprehension had forced the issue.
Zarek wasn't sure if he could have done this before. At the very least, it had felt very far away. But there was something about having real Intent swirling around in his body that made the process far smoother.
It came with such ease that he didn't even notice it like he had noticed the change to his Intelligence. If he hadn't scanned his entire status page out of habit, he just might have missed it.
It wasn't just this either. Axiograft had finally progressed from D+ to C- as well!
'It looks like I'll have to do more manual checking here. Either the system is more pissed off at me than usual, or… it's not present here at all… at least not in its usual form.'
This was odd to Zarek considering the status page itself should be the root of the system, no? Without the system, shouldn't improvement be impossible?
Somehow, he felt like he was stumbling onto something more important than he knew…
Zarek pulled up the second treasure. It was a compass.
This was the first treasure he had kicked in this world. The moment he saw it, he knew that he was actually on the right track.
Normally, the function of this compass was to point out Hubs and Godsfall Tears. It was a B Class one, so not only could it do this, but it could even give a quick summary so long as the target was beneath A Class. If it was A Class or above, it could still find them; it was just that there would be no description.
When Zarek first saw this compass, he thought that it might be a "checkpoint" item. It might even send him on a wild goose chase until he finally found the Hub or Godsfall Tear that had the right "description."
So when you thought about it, it was either Zarek make the wild decision to hop right in, or he give up on ever going back to Priya within three months.
But… where would this compass direct him in a world where the system seemed completely inactive?
If there was no system, then there could be no Hubs or Godsfall Tears. It was the system that should spawn them, no?
But then again, just moments ago Zarek thought that it was the system that was responsible for the status page, but now it was gone and the status page was still there…
Unless it wasn't gone at all?
Well, the answers would be here.
Holding the compass up, Zarek poured a small bit of Godsfall into it and let it spin.
Suddenly, it began to go wild, rotating even faster than his status screen's compass had. For a moment, Zarek thought that he was well and truly fucked. If this wasn't going to work, would he ever get out of here? Would he have to wait for a Lurker to spawn and hope that it formed a portal to leap out of?
But he had just learned that there were more worlds than Earth, so who was to say he'd even end up on the right planet or not? How would he deal with all of this?
He was just about to spiral into a new pit of thoughts when the compass stopped, practically beaming out in one direction. The tug was so strong that Zarek had to catch it and stop it before it jumped out of his hands.
'The compass is… not supposed to react like this.'
As far as Zarek knew, these compasses were rare, but their functions were pretty simple and straightforward. However…
He shot off in the direction it pointed. He would have tried to remember the landscapes around him just in case it was important, but there was nothing at all to pay attention to. It was like it was nothing but a rolling flat plain of black cloud, which made Zarek all the more curious about where he was going…
Given how flat this place was…
Shouldn't he see it by now?
…
Zarek ran and ran.
One day became two, and then three, then four before he ran out of stamina and was forced to rest.
In all this time, he didn't come across the slightest hint of danger, so he just collapsed into a peaceful rest in Thalion's tent, all the more thankful he had taken it away with him.
Then he began again.
Another four days, another rest.
It wasn't until the fifth cycle of this, burning through almost an entire month between his running and rest, that he finally saw something in the distance.
A hill.
At least he thought it was a hill…
It took another three cycles of running and resting before it became a mountain, and then another two before it became something a lot larger than a mountain. It practically felt like the sky. Zarek couldn't see anything beyond—it was just a wall of endless blackness.
But the compass kept pointing toward it, so he kept running, and just kept going. He didn't allow himself to stop.
By now, the time sink was so much that he had no choice but to keep going. It would sure be a case of the sunk cost fallacy if he, quite literally, didn't have any other choice.
But when he was hitting his third month here, Zarek finally came to a stop. Or, rather, he had no choice but to. Enjoying the story? Find more at MV-LEMPYR.
He slammed into an invisible barrier while going at a decent pace and fell back on his ass.
"Son of a bitch…"
Zarek winced, feeling as though he had run into a completely immovable object. There was just no way a normal barrier would be able to stop him with his current strength, but he also doubted that anything here would be normal in the first place.
Picking himself up, he snapped his broken nose back into place, shaking his head and wincing again before he checked on the compass.
Luckily, he hadn't run into the barrier with it.
Usually, he would check on it every few minutes or so because running with it held out was ridiculous and a needless waste of extra stamina given how far he had to travel.
Plus, he wasn't a normal human. Someone who was blindfolded and without landmarks to take advantage of would easily start veering to the left or right. But Zarek was too in tune with his body to make a mistake like that.
'Well… what now...?'
Zarek looked down at the compass to find that it was still pointing straight again. If he had been spawned right here, he would have thought that an entire part of the sky was completely black, divided from the red sky. It was only because he had come from so far away that he knew this black… thing, was actually a thing separating him from seeing the other side.
Should he try to run around it?
There was just no way. That would take months more, and it might not even work.
'Is this thing radiating an aura? A barrier, maybe? I don't see any Matrices, so that seems like the most logical conclusion. But also… my Scouting Skill is only C Class—'
A thought hit Zarek's mind. 'I should have thought of that ages ago. If I could use Axiograft to reforge [Tempting Fate] into a stronger version of itself, there's no reason I can't do the same for my Scouting Skill.'
He had learned many more Scouting Skills than taunting Skills in his life. And now, it should be even easier since Axiograft was at C Class.
Zarek focused, his intent pouring into his body.
'Come on now…'
Across four lifetimes, he had learned over a dozen Scouting Skills. There were overlaps among some of them, but each one had its own unique tweaks and changes, just like they had for the taunting Skills.
But these Scouting Skills—for a real warrior, especially one without strong Intelligence and Charisma—were one's lifeblood. Zarek had trained and drilled them so many times they were as much an extension of himself as [Ash Reborn] was.
Zarek took a sudden breath, his eyes flashing open. Once again, there was no notification, but he saw it right there.
His C Class Scouting Skill had become S Class. Not only that, but he practically felt his mind fracturing as his Charisma hurried in an attempt to catch up, rocketing from C, to C+, and then to CC, and then CCC.
It would have continued if not for Zarek forcefully cutting off the sensation. His Growth Potentials were far too weak to give up on Core Breakthroughs.
But that meant the splitting headache remained. His S Class Scouting Skill Mastery was too powerful for his current mind to take. And that was when something even more shocking happened.
When his Charisma no longer seemed to have room to grow upward, it grew laterally.
His Growth Potential—it was shooting up.
Zarek hardly had the time to register the meaning of all of that because the invisible barrier had suddenly become something completely and wholly different.
'What… the hell… is that…'
There was only a single pair of words radiating in his mind again and again.
Ashborn Demon.
But deeper than that, Zarek could only translate it to one thing.
'… Me?'