.....

Name: Damian Reed

Age: 17

Titles: Child of the Blood Moon, ???

Skills: Berserk (Total Used: 2) (I), Imagination (I), Soul Absorption (I), Crimson Eyes (S), ???

For a title or skill description, say what you would like to see described.

Market Inventory Gold: 318 Notifications and Messages: 3

Search:

.....

I entered the Notifications and Messages section. At the top was the notification:

[You have successfully absorbed Donald Nord's Triple-Layered Hexagonal Shield ability.]

Below it was another:

[You have successfully absorbed Maria Nord's 'Intermediate Alchemist' skill].

Before reading the message, I had to think about what to do with these two abilities. The Shield ability wasn't bad at all when I thought about it. It could protect me in tricky situations in the future.

Still, I decided not to keep it. After all, I could protect myself without a shield. I could dodge attacks or even take them head-on without too much damage. Normal weapons and swords hardly hurt me at all, and only system weapons have any effect on me. Even then, I heal so quickly that it hardly matters. So the most logical choice would be to discard it.

[Do you want to absorb the skill?]

Even modern technology has had a 'don't show this notification again' option for years, but this 'System' nonsense doesn't. Sometimes I wonder if we're more advanced than this.

"Yes."

[Skill is being absorbed... Skill absorbed. Your durability has increased].

"Great. Now for the woman's ability."

Her skill was one of a kind. The potions sold by the system are both expensive and difficult to earn the currency for. Plus, I'm not the type to save money. If I see something I can buy, I spend it immediately. My funds are already running low these days. In this situation, an external supply of potions would be incredible - both for me and for the others.

Potions brewed by alchemists sell for exorbitant prices, and even after commissions and taxes, the amount of money they pocket is staggering. Such a source of income for our company, especially for my father, would make him very happy.

But I won't use this one either. The first reason is simple: I don't need potions. My ability to regenerate rivals or even surpasses any healing potion, and it's non-stop.

Things like durability or speed boosts would be nice, but I don't need them either, because I've only used about fifty percent of my speed so far, and that was in one of my older missions. As for durability, I haven't been in a situation that really tested it for a long time.

Special effect potions are usually used for tactics, but I don't need tactics. All I need is raw power.

The second reason is that people must never find out that I can steal skills - especially my father. He only knows of two skills I have: Berserk and Crimson Eyes. As far as he's clued in, my regeneration and strength come from the title 'Child of the Blood Moon'. He has no idea of my other skills or titles -even though I don't know what they are.

If he were to find out that not only do I have other skills, but that I can steal them, life would be a hell for me. And it is impossible to keep that from him. The information network we possess is beyond what I can imagine, and someone would undoubtedly whisper it into his ear. It's not a risk I can take. Besides, absorbing abilities makes me stronger, so it's far more beneficial this way.

[Do you want to absorb the Skill?]

"Yes."

[Skill is being absorbed... Skill absorbed. Strength, speed, and intelligence have increased. Your Soul Absorption skill has a new feature. You can now use souls to make potions.]

You've got to be kidding me. Even though I chose not to keep the skill, I still gained it.

What are the odds of that happening? The System must be in a generous mood today.

It was time for the message. I sat up from where I was lying and took a deep breath before opening it.

[Sender: Anonymous

Remember. Remember what you have done. Remember what was done to you. Remember who did it. Remember what was taken from you. Remember what you took. Remember that night.

If you want to remember, I'll be waiting in front of the library on Monday 9 May at midnight].

"This... what kind of message is this? Who sent it? What do they know? And what should I remember? What night are they talking about?"

My mind overflowed with questions, my thoughts spiraling into chaos. After a few minutes, I managed to calm down. I had to approach this logically, dissecting the message piece by piece and trying to make sense of it.

I glanced back at the message. The sender was anonymous. Great, a perfect start. The first word was 'Remember'. Not much to go on. Let's keep going.

'Remember what you did.' Hmm. Could this be from someone with a grudge against me?

But then there's 'Remember what was done to you' and 'Remember who did it'. Okay, that doesn't seem like a personal vendetta.

'Remember who did it,' it says. Someone did something... unpleasant.

'Remember what was taken from you.' Taken from me? What was taken?

'Remember what you took.' What did I take?

I paused before reading the last sentence, trying to put it all together. Taken separately, the sentences seemed disjointed, as if they didn't quite fit together. Maybe I'm just too sleepy to think straight. I yawned.

'Remember that night.' I tilted my head, frowning. This guy really puts a lot of emphasis on the word 'remember'.

Wait a minute... no fucking way.

Of course! How did I not get it sooner? Fuck my head, how could I have missed it? But how does this person know about that night?

The night they're talking about is when I was eight years old - the night I almost lost my life. It was before I was adopted. That night was associated with the major event that caused me to lose my memory. In fact, I lost almost everything. I could remember the basics, who I was, but nothing about who my parents were or what I did for the first eight years of my life.

Then I recalled what my adoptive father had told me about that night.

.....

"What did you say?"

"Dad, why don't I remember anything?"

I was 10 years old when I asked this question. Before going to bed, I went to see my father in my black and green pajamas. I had asked myself at the time, 'Why don't I remember anything? I thought my dad might know something, so I decided to go and see him.

"Son, this is a long and sad story. Do you really want to hear it?"

Damian's eyes were resolute. "Yes, Dad."

Logan's smile was warm and sincere, unusually so. "'Alright, son. Come sit on my lap."

He turned his chair and patted his knee gently with his hand. Damian rubbed his eyes and sat on his father's lap. "'Well, son, if you're ready, I'll start. The day you lost your memory..."

.....

But what he told me was far from what I had expected.

That day, a group had come to our house. Armed and trained. They knocked on our door in the dead of night. Nobody knows exactly what happened inside. But by the time they arrived, it was too late. They found my mother riddled with wounds. Her body was covered in sword slashes and bullet holes. She couldn't be saved.

There were bodies all around her. About 25 of them, my father said. They were searching for survivors when they found me, wedged between the bodies. My body wasn't much better than my mother's, full of wounds. Everyone was shocked that I was still alive. I barely had a pulse. My father took me to the hospital and that's how I survived.

And all this happened on my eighth birthday.

I get goosebumps just thinking about it. If I could remember it, how would I feel?

I had become so caught up in this life that I had forgotten something important. But thanks to this message and that memory, I remembered what I had forgotten: my true goal. After hearing this story, my goal had always been vengeance. To remember what happened, to know who did it, and to take revenge. That's why I joined the Crimson Swords. That's why I continued with the assassination missions. Doing it for love was always in the background. I was searching for information. Anything related to that day, to those who were there. That was why I did these things - because you never know where a clue might come from.

But I didn't even know where to start. It was an incident that even my father hadn't been able to solve, that he hadn't been able to trace back to its cause. Nothing useful came out of the bodies. They were all officially dead in the records and they weren't connected to anybody. That was the first and only time my faith in my father was shaken - because he couldn't solve it. But even that faded with time. The disappointment I felt towards him disappeared and I neglected to pursue the matter. I just let it slip away.

My memory is very strong. I can remember many things, but I had forgotten what was most important to me. Maybe deep down I'd given up, thinking I'd never find the answers. Or maybe the excitement of experiencing things I'd never felt before had pulled me away from my goal. But now things are different. Now I remember, and more importantly, I can actually do something about it.

I don't care who this person is or how they know what they do. I'll find out when we meet. Until then, I must be patient and hope that this person survives. Hope they live long enough to tell me the truth. To remind me of what really happened. So that I can finally take my revenge. That has always been my ultimate goal, my reason for living. And it will be from now on, too.

I left the message without deleting it and returned to the main system screen. I laid my head back on the pillow and skimmed through my titles and skills.

First up, Berserk

[Use the power of ?? in exchange for a percentage of your sanity. The more sanity spent and the stronger your opponent is, the more power you gain.

If you become enraged, this ability triggers using a small amount of sanity.

If you die, this ability resurrects you and triggers using almost all of your sanity.

This ability cannot be used at will. Certain conditions must be met for it to be used, and these conditions are associated with the user himself.

When this ability is used, half of your stored souls are automatically used to strengthen you.

While the ability is in use, your pain is suppressed and all damage is regenerated, except for Decapitation.

This ability lasts until there are no more threats around you. Once there are no threats, the ability ends and heals you depending on how much have you hurt.

When the ability ends, you automatically absorb and store the souls of everyone you kill.

When all these processes are over, this ability takes the sanity spent, the number of creatures you have killed, the number and quality of souls absorbed, and the amount of time the ability has been used and calculates it with a special process. Your humanity is lost by the result of the process and the ability absorbs the lost humanity and evolves. This process cannot be prevented.

Each time this ability is used, you gain a predetermined effect or power. This effect can be positive or negative.

Other abilities and effects cannot remove the restrictions and sanity uses of this ability.

Note: The lost humanity is recovered little by little when you spend time with people you care about.]

A very broken yet dangerous skill. Perhaps it's this skill that caused my memory loss. Perhaps this loss of 'humanity' is why I've become such a savage. And perhaps that's why they call me a monster. But I don't care about any of that. I only care about protecting those around me and achieving my goal.

Next, Imagination

[You can use your powers in any way you want, without any restrictions. This skill can evolve.]

It is a potent skill, but I cannot use it to its full potential because of the risk of using a skill other than the ones I have. Maybe I will use it in the future.

Next, Soul Absorption

[You can absorb the souls of the people you kill and you can use them for different purposes and you can store them.

If you absorb the soul of the people you kill, you also steal their abilities.

This ability can evolve.

Souls owned: 218]

One of the main sources of my strength. Not to mention, it's accumulative.

And last one, Crimson Eyes

[Passive;

You can neutralize illusion skills

You can see the invisible

You can adapt to your opponent's speed, strength, and skills

Automatically activates with more power when using the Berserk skill

Also, in the case of Berserk, blood starts to flow from your eyes

You can follow the people you target (track skills can evolve)]

The reward for using Berserk a second time. I've probably had this skill since I was 8 years old and used it without realizing it. The first time I used it was at a ceremony when I was 12. It would be nice if I could distinguish between lies and truth with this skill. If I'm lucky enough, I'll steal it from someone.

My titles are next. It would be more accurate to say titles, but almost all of them appear as question marks. I wonder what they are, but there's nothing I can do about it now. Even if I could, there are more important matters at hand.

Finally, the only title I know what it is.

Child of the Blood Moon

[The reward for survival in the Children of the Blood Moon scenario.

Title skills;

Blessing of the Blood Moon: Your body and soul have transcended human limits.

Protection of the Blood Moon: You are immune to all negative effects, mental attacks, spiritual attacks, and curse-style attacks.

Gift of the Blood Moon: You can use multiple abilities at the same time and in harmony with each other.]

When I was little, my father told me that on the day I was born, a scenario took place. A nightmare scenario. There was a blood moon in the sky and wild creatures on the earth. My father sacrificed me that day to save me.

I've carried that title ever since. It was this title and my father that brought me here, that opened the door for me to become so strong. It is because of them that I have come this far. But I lost something very important because of that scenario. If my father had been alive, I might not have had the life I have. My life is pretty good right now. Yet sometimes I wish he was alive.

"Whatever. That's enough for today. Tomorrow will be a new day, a new beginning."

I closed my eyes and fell asleep.