----------------------------------------
A short while later...
----------------------------------------
Rena sure has a lot more patience than I do.
Trying to distract myself, I glanced behind; that hole I'd smashed was far off in the distance now, and, even without the occasional twists and turns or maybe even an incline to spice things up, it still wouldn't be visible.
How long has it been?
This thought spontaneously appeared over and over again against my will; I can only throw it from my mind.
At least Rena seems quite capable of occupying herself; she's been deep in thought ever since the event, idly staring at the passing ground and occasionally brushing her dangling hair to the side.
I'm a little jealous of her apparent mastery of talking to herself...
Actually, when I put it like that, I'm not that jealous anymore.
Hmm, well, there are actually a few things I want to check... and she's not paying attention.
Discreetly, I opened the system window to my side.
I'm already confident she can't see it, but I want to hide my strange movements to avoid questions.
[ [Name: Adrian (Syrin)]
[lvl: 20/20]
[Race: Angel]
[HP: 1503/1503] [MP: 140/140]
[Class: Siege Breaker]
[Stat Points: 0 + (Lesser Blessing of Conah +20 all)]
[Strength: 180]
[Agility: 75]
[Mana: 30]
[Abilities:
[Spatial Awareness lvl 5] [Steel Skin lvl4] [Pain Tolerance lvl2] [Monumental Shift lvl3] [Siege lvl1] [Phantic Mana Sense lvl1]]
[Light Magic lvl4] [Holy Aura lvl1 (*)]
[Lightning Magic lvl3]
[Botanical Magic lvl1]
[Greatsword Arts lvl5] [Greatsword Mastery lvl5]
[Martial Arts (Bloodletting Style) lvl2]]
[Titles:
[Synesthesic] [One against Many] [Monster Slaughterer] [λ-Pride] ] ]
Huh? Why is the aura highlighted?
I'm not even sure what it does, and it's one of the things I want to check anyway... But, considering the effects of the magic, I'm reluctant to even use it.
There shouldn't be any harm in learning something, though.
I focused on the ability, and a new window appeared before me.
[ [Syrin, you have overridden the light alignment of entity: Adrian]
...
It listened to me?! It sounds kind of cute to me now. I love it.
But what's this about overides...
...
[Condition met: Exyin >= 50]
[Your Aura derivitive is not dependent on alignment.]
[You may choose a new aura derivative from the following:
[Regeneration Aura]
[Holy Aura]
[Expansion Aura]
[Hidden Aura]
[Lingering Aura]]
[Auras are unique from the alignment they derive from; only the Holy Aura is distinct as a subspace of light magic.]
I could practically feel my eyes shining.
My instinct is officially unmatched; I knew 50 was a nice... round number.
Choose a new aura derivative? Derivative of what? The alignment?
So my talent stat allows me to choose any aura, and not just my alignment's derivative aura or something?
I wish it could give me more...
It all sounds amazing regardless; how exciting.
There are actually five different auras to choose from... Does this mean there are five for each element of magic? and possibly five alignments within each magic?
Well, that might be a bit of a stretch.
Hmm...
[ [Regeneration Aura:
[You will regenerate (Aura Level) * 0.005% of your health per second.
This rate can be increased with active use of mana, up to a limit of (Aura Level) * 0.5%.] ]
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
[Holy Aura:
[Your aura grants emotional resilience to yourself and allies who have been within its proximity, such as resistance to fear and psychological fatigue.
Your aura also grants resistance to abstract magics, such as Dynamism.
Your aura can also reverse the permanent effects of abstract magics.
Rate of decay for aura on allies outside of its proximity is proportional to their mana control, approximate mind stat, and soul evolutionary rank.] ]
[Expansion Aura:
[Increases the range of all of your auras by 20% per level (Compounding).
Magic can be cast anywhere within your aura's range, but the cost increases proportionally with distance.
The range of your expansion aura can only be increased with active mana use; this cost is proportional to distance and inversely proportional to soul evolutionary rank.] ]
[Hidden Aura:
[Can hide a quantity of magic within the range of the aura, proportional to both the user's level and the aura's level.
Can hide your form.
Can hide your other auras.] ]
[Lingering Aura:
[A portion of any of your auras may be left behind while you move, and this aura can be imprinted with magic to be cast remotely within the lingering time frame given by
(Aura Level) * 0.1 seconds.
Mana can be actively used to increase this time frame without limit; however, more mana is more traceable.] ]
I had to force myself to keep walking normally after reading.
I'm dumbfounded.
My eyes hovered over the words for several more seconds while I figured out how to unpack all the information.
Lots of choices aren't exactly easy...
And they're all exceptional in their own way, and on top of that, it looks like the auras can be combined with your other magics if you have more than one.
I can only lament my lack of knowledge once again...
I don't even know what's possible or what the auras and alignments are for my dark and lightning magic.
Even without the system, I'm confident that by combining magic and auras, you can cultivate some incredibly powerful characters, and they've accumulated knowledge for an extremely long time...
After some more thought, I removed the holy aura from my mental mind map.
Aside from the fact that it's a "subspace" of light magic, it's not as synergistic as the others, and I don't want my strength to be fundamentally dependent on others.
Suppose that means the others are usable? Well, if they aren't, then the choice doesn't matter.
I have no idea what "abstract" magic or "dynamism" are, but the cool names are certainly not enough for me to gamble my choice away either.
That said, regeneration aura is the next to go; I want to be strong enough to win, not wormlike enough to survive. The way I see it, having a recovery aura limits the possible combinations I could use when mixing auras together in the future, especially if I can get my hands on other magics.
Choosing it would limit my diversity in the long run... besides, if I'm fast enough, I won't get hit.
...
The last three are all pretty exceptional in their own rights.
The Hidden Aura is probably the best on its own, but when I take into account the endless possibilities of the other two...
I want the expansion aura.
So far, I've neglected my Mind stat... but that was because using my lightning magic was extremely efficient, and now that I've used both light and dark magic... I'm sure that's the effect of those runes on my scales—to make it 'cheaper'.
Since it's cheap, I can use it with the expansion aura extremely effectively.
As for the lingering aura, its main use would be to hinder the movement of enemies and keep them on their toes, which doesn't really suit how I want to fight.
I want to be fast and won't need some kind of crowd control.
On top of that, the expansion aura is just the safer option; I think it has much more potential to act in conjunction with other magics.
Rolling my shoulders, I relaxed my mind from all the thinking and let out a sigh.
If only the system wasn't so vague.
It feels like a long time ago, but when I first read the information on the Contractor class, it made it clear that I would gain something from the summoning.
I guess it's not over yet; perhaps I need full control of my body or a class, but regardless, I want this light magic—now especially, if only for the aura.
Thinking back, the idea crossed my mind a few times, but a part of me wanted seige or steel skin for safety, but one is based on strength and the other on health, so I wasn't to bothered about it.
However, with these auras... even if I can't use light magic properly, its aura alone is magnitudes more valuable than any of the other skills.
I hesitated for a moment but locked in my choice.
[Syrin, you have obtained [Expansion Aura]]
Hehe, I like it.
The urge to immediately use it hit me, but I held myself back, not wanting to startle Rena any more; besides, this whole aura charade wasn't even what I had wanted to try.
I looked to the top of the window, where my name was shown next to Adrian's, and focused on it.
A new window appeared, and I smiled upon seeing I was correct.
[Remnant of the One: System Interface
[Name: Syrin] [Level: 11/20 (1442/1775 exp)]
[Health: 329/329] [Mana: 83/83]
[Bloodline: λ-Pride Demon]
[Soul-type: Inner-world (Grade I: Garden)]
[Class: Choose]
[Special Class: [Contractor (Active)]
[Stat Points: 83
[Strength: 12]
[Agility: 75 (Principle of pride +55)]
[Mind: 10]
[Enyin: 31]
[Exyin: 50]]
[Abilities:
[Scale-cast lvl4] [Phantic Mana Sense lvl1] [Stealth lvl4] [Ambidextrous Manoeuvring lvl4] [Spatial Awareness lvl3] [Pain Tolerance lvl2] [Basic Mana Control lvl1] [Botanical Magic lvl1]
[Lightning Magic lvl3]
[Dark Magic lvl1]
[Martial Arts (Bloodletting Style) lvl2]]
[Titles:
[Synesthesic] [One Against Many] [Monster Slaughterer] [λ-Pride] ]]
Ahh, how refreshing.
For some reason, my interface gives me a more homely sense of calm than the other one; I almost just want to leave it hanging there.
[Agility: 75 --> 78]
It feels a bit ludicrous, so I hope it works...
I've noticed that, whenever I use my mana sense, it's quite obvious that the soul threads extend out from both of our souls, and I'm just taking advantage of his strength.
When my agility increased by so much, so fast, the arrangement changed, and the colours of some of the threads coming directly from my soul to the body changed to mine; now not using his as a medium, I guess.
Which makes me wonder...
Switching back over to the other window, I checked the stats.
[[Stat Points: 0 + (Lesser Blessing of Conah +20 all)]
[Strength: 180]
[Agility: 78 (Syrin)]
[Mana: 30]]
Hehe, would you look at that.
I nodded to myself, now more confident in my belief that complete all-rounders are a bad idea, at least for Demons.
But maybe there's a limit...
"Look, the exit!"
Rena's sudden exclamation caught my attention, and she outpaced me, walking in front; she's clearly eager to see the light of day again—if it's even day anymore.
I huffed a laugh, seeing that she was not as patient as it seemed.
...
[Steel Skin: Increases HP by 5% per level to a max of 25% and your skin will require 20% more force to pierce per level to a max of 100%]
[Monumental Shift: Use a sudden burst of Mana in exchange for an explosive increase in strength in a ratio of 1% : (Ability Level)%
Allows the user to instantaneously utilise their full strength.]