POV: Seth
Cleaning his sword on his walk back to the city access point Seth couldn't help but feel something was off when he had pierced the boy's heart.
No, I'm being paranoid. Focus back on the Battle. Seth thinks back to the fight with the mage, his first with that type of enemy.
Heh... first mage kill, even before that bastard! Seth gleefully chuckles internally, outwardly however he had a stoic and slightly depressed aura and expression.
He had just killed a child after all, what kind of emotional turmoil could this hero be experiencing? The public would wonder.
Seth chides their naivety behind his carefully crafted façade.
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Returning to the church training grounds, he takes out his sword and thinks back to the Mage.
Energy bursting from his core, covering his body, strengthening it.
Moving the excess Drana down his arms, up his wrists into his fingers, exiting his body into his blade.
The energy coating it, infusing it, leaving a small second blade of energy surrounding it.
The second blade emanating power and stability to all that see it.
For the brief moment it was holding together, failing to hold together as the energy loses its structure.
The excess use of Drana that Seth hadn't been able to control was spilling out even before the energy blade had formed.
Cracks beginning to spread throughout the energy blade as even the edge of the construct that was being formed starts to dissipate, until it's durability could no longer hold, energy exploding sending the small energy blade covering the sword exploding outwards, burying themselves deep into the floor and walls, quickly disappearing thereafter.
Fuck, forcing it to hold together through quantity isn't working. I've hit the limit of brute forcing this. Seth exhales, if he had been able to properly hold together the energy blade, he would have just launched Energy Slashes constantly and easily defeated the mage who had no defense to it.
The only issue for why he couldn't currently was the range, or more specifically the decreased stability and eventual dissipating of the Energy Slash when the energy blade isn't being used correctly.
Think, Think about how that Mage used her energy to bring forth her Magic. They put Mana into a prebuilt Spell Circle usually also formed and created from Mana which gives the desired effect. What am I missing in comparison to her? Stability!
Stirring his Drana up again, he tries to use the smallest quantity of it he could, slowly moving it into his blade.
Noticing a lack of anything visibly, he slowly increases the Drana.
Sweat falling from his brow as his concentration reaches a new found high, slowly, bit by bit the Energy Blade comes into existence, still a small spill of Drana, but that was fine.
The Energy blade was barely holding together.
"YES! HAHAHA HOW'S THAT FEEL YOU FUCKING COMMONER! I KNEW I WAS RIGHT, YOU ARE THE DIRT BENEATH MY FEAT, AND I WILL SOAR FAR HIGHER THAN YOU WILL EVER REACH, BECOMING. A HERO! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
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He releases a portion of his pent up emotions, quickly reigning them in and looking back at his sword, the Drana drained from it.
Not on the level of using it in battle, but... Seth smirks as he realizes he's a step further than before to becoming a Hero, and surpassing the most hated existence in his life, or well, lives.
Jacob.
"Commoner Bast-"
~Ding!
"Took a while for that kid to bleed out."
Pulling up his notification list scrolling he notices two notifications, quickly reading the first of the two.
You have successfully formed a Pseudo-Drana-Energy-Sword!
Ha! My efforts were rewarded by the Guide Itself! Though usually these notifications don't have any alerts?
Shrugging it off he smirks, not letting the confusion his eyes falling on the second notification, reflecting in his eyes as his mind starts to fall down into a unending pit.
Quest: Purging Evil Has Failed!
Penalty Issued: -5 Levels.
"What...WHAT!!! Guide! There must be a problem! I killed everyone related to the stolen records! And i've even got the records!"
Incorrect!
Someone who knows of the documents is alive!
They still have the documents!
"What?! I have the documents...right...he...re?" Seth looks through his Storage Ring but couldn't find any trace of the records.
"This...Doesn't make...!" A startling realization shocks his system as he remembers the Mage he had fought.
"Her god damn trinkets!" He exclaims, remembering her pull out two objects that both made illusions.
What if...That brat had one! He concludes.
"Wait wait I can fix this, just give me a couple hours!"
Quests cannot be renewed!
Once the designated time limit has passed there is no redo!
Feeling the system drain away 5 of his levels he is left in excruciating pain as he feels his body getting stretched with Drana escaping through the gaps between his atoms, existing on another plane of reality not effecting the covalent bond between them.
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ERROR KEY EVENTS HAVE DEVIATED FROM PROGRAM F.A.T.E
"WHAT! Terminal pull up recent quests and Key Events planned by F.A.T.E."
Reading through the countless quests and Key Events that should have come to fruition.
"The future companion of Hero Jacob, Seth failed Quest: Purging Evil."
She states cross checking this was the deviating event with the predicted events.
Quest
Purging Evil:
Description: A human who has betrayed mankind and turned to one of the demonic powers, Mana, has infiltrated Perros and stolen important documents from the church.
Goal: Eliminate the Mage, kill all those who know of the Documents and the information within.
Reward: 2000EXP, Skill: Mage Seeking Eyes.
Failure: -5 Levels.
Time limit: 5 days
Do you accept?
Y/N
"Why is the Penalty so high? At most it should have been 3?"
THE BASE SYSTEM THE QUEST SYSTEM WAS EXTRACTED FROM HASN'T BEEN MODIFIED AND AS THUS THE PENALTY SYSTEM HAS REMAINED THE SAME AS IT ORIGINALLY WAS
"Damnit." She sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Okay, run diagnostic on the deviation of F.A.T.E."
Analyzing...
ENTITY 1#19#52401 HAS DEVIATED FROM F.A.T.E
ENTITY 1#192#52401 NEVER SHOULD HAVE INTERACTED WITH ENTITY 2#125#497
"Someone has defied F.A.T.E? Oh Sh-TERMINAL Has there been any new souls in the Cycle?!"
Searching...
NO UNKNOWN SOULS CREATED OR HAVE ENTERRED THE REINCARNATION CYCLE SINCE ANOMALY #1
"Then what has made this mortal start to defy F.A.T.E? Damnit I'm going have to do damage control."
As if she had seen the future a intense light bursts forth with the light of a thousand suns.
"OMNIA! I demand to know what is going on! Why has one of my Hero Candidates failed a quest he shouldn't?!"
"I believe you are talking about Seth?"
Getting a furious nod, she begins to explain the situation...
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