I’d decided to go search for my brother.
There was no bus stop to take to reach my parent’s house. I looked behind me. There was no bus stop to go to . . . No, I didn’t want to think about her. I walked and walked. My legs were burning as I stepped over the rubbles of what used to be buildings.
My mind was a mess, as I auto-piloted myself in the direction I thought to be where my parent’s lived. On the way, I was met with gruesome sightings. A mother holding her child’s mangled body. A father kneeling in front of a collapsed building, no doubt mourning someone he loved. I knew I was supposed to be feeling something but without music, it felt as If I was an emotional chasm . . . Which was weird. It was most likely the after-effect of the evolved Fate Skill I used. It felt as If my emotions were enhanced, used, and exhausted. I felt empty.
The rubble still felt rough under my feet. I wasn’t too far gone yet I supposed. I was still close to a normal human, however close that may be. I checked my status.
----------------------------------------
Status
Name: Natalius Fortanach
Fate: Melomaniac
Class: Wind Mage lv. 1
Stats
-Vitality:10
-Focus:17
-Strength:10
Fated Skills
Passive:
-Emotionally Enhanced Experience
Class Skills
Passive:
-One With The Wind lv. 6
Active:
-Wind Control lv. 7
General Skills
-Earthling Language lv. MAX
Titles
434th Region Seedling [Generation 0]
----------------------------------------
There was growth, it didn’t matter to me if it was minimal. I’d reached a high level in [ Wind Control ] and [ One With The Wind ] a while ago due to my constant use of it and my fast mana regeneration. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say I used the wind more than my hands at this point. I enjoyed seeing numbers go up, so I wasn’t too bummed about not being special anymore. I was ahead of the curve and since I needed my mind on something else as soon as possible I started experimenting with wind control.
The walk on the way to my old house was long. Though I was relatively superhuman at this point, I still got tired when I ran for long periods of time. On the road to my house, the horrors I witnessed only grew, so I decided to do something about it. When I thought about it, the only reason why I and the other Gen 0 guys were chosen was to probably protect the people in the oncoming tests the system mentioned.
Though I knew I was strong to some degree I never really used my powers to a noticeable level until just yesterday. It wasn’t as if I’d ever needed it for much more than running faster and reaching farther. I’d wondered why I was stuck at level 1 with my class but I should’ve known something like this would happen. These kinds of thoughts ran rampant in my head for a while, but at some point, I decided not to think about it too much. I was already in an emotionally decrepit state so thinking too hard would probably not be for the best.
I spotted a little girl walking and all of a sudden I felt something was wrong, looking above her I spotted a chunk of concrete falling towards her. My mind went into overdrive as pushed off the ground activating my wind magic to push my speed as fast as I possibly could. Unfortunately for me, from the speed I was going at, there was no way I could make it so I went for the next best thing. Holding up the chunk of concrete. Looking at its size I knew there was no way I could possibly hold stop this immediately so I went for the next best thing, slowing it down.
The momentum I’d built from my initial dash was still carrying me in the air so I would make it; it was going to be close. Planting my feet into the ground to slow my momentum I adjusted my arms so it would snatch the girl off with my momentum and activated my [ Wind Control ] full force to envelope the chunk and slow it down. Unsurprisingly my mana immediately began to plummet, but that was fine with me as I’d only needed to hold it for a second, and hold it for a second I did as I released the chunk and wrapped my arm the girl to protect her from any flying debris as the chunk crashed down.
The sound released by the crash was harrowing to say the least, but as soon as it went by I looked at the little girl and let go. Her eyes locked onto mine and went to the chunk of concrete as she slowly started crying, it built up into a loud cry as tears flew out of her eyes. She just narrowly escaped death so I couldn’t blame her. Letting out a short breath I stood up and patted her head.
“You’ve got to be more careful.” My voice came out more scratched than I’d expected. I had a guess as to why.
Before I could walk away though I caught something on edge of my sight. A camera.
“Fuck.”
At that point, I couldn’t have been bothered to act, and the most I could do was walk away, this was the age of technology, if he was recording there was a high chance it would be put on a cloud storing service, and if he was streaming there was nothing I could do, so I chose the best option and acted as if nothing happened. I had to find my brother after all.
———
Arriving at what used to be my neighborhood was painful to bear. Before the faces of grief, pain and anger were merely strangers, but now I knew some of these people. Every time my eyes met someone I used to know there was a mix of confusion and bewilderment on their faces, that was if they weren’t already grieving their probably now-dead loved ones. It wasn’t every day you saw a dead man walking.
It wasn’t that I knew all these people but that my mother did. We lived in a quaint little suburban high middle-class neighborhood. It had a pool, 2 playgrounds, and the stereotypical neighborhood’s association, which mainly composed of late 40s to early 70s parents or grandparents that talked about whatever people in the neighborhood's association did. My mother was part of them I suppose, sometimes she would bring me with her, and I’d take some snacks and eat while they talked, at least up until I reached the age where my dislike for her couldn’t be held back anymore.
You could say they knew me. No doubt word of my death spread through word of mouth starting from that neighborhood association. Word did travel fast in a small neighborhood. Someone would say something in the association, someone’s grandma would tell their children, and their children’s children would hear, spread it to their friends, and then it would spread to school. I didn’t doubt it. It had happened once before. For a while, I never forgave my mom for what she did, after all, revealing for all to know that your son was madly in love with some girl in his neighborhood ‘by accident’ was less than a great deed in a middle schooler’s eyes, especially when that same girl went to your school.
The point was I was well known, whether it be for a shit reason or not, it was simply beyond my control. As were a lot of things when I lived in that house. That house. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to feel when I saw the state it was in. The state? Devastated some would say, demolished as others would.
On one hand, I felt happy that this damned house was finally gone. This place was the place of nightmares for me, coming back from school some days I wasn’t even sure I wanted to step back inside because I knew what awaited me.
On the other hand, what would I do if Peter was under there. My brother. The one good thing this damned place had.
I walked forward, each step feeling heavier than the last. My heart started beating. This was definitely fear I was feeling. Another foot down and one step less towards my goal. My hand hovered towards my pocket where my phone was-
no
My steps sped up as I approached the rubble of wood and steel. I lifted them one after the other, wood plank after wood plank not even worrying about the fact I was sending them flying and then . . . I saw a hand. Peter? No, this hand was too old to be his. That left . . . Either my mother or my father. I was scared. Was I being melodramatic? No, I didn’t think so. I had only seen this hand, who was to say there wasn’t more. I wasn’t going to waste my time anymore. I lifted the plank revealing my mother’s face. I froze. She wasn’t breathing, plenty of bones were broken, her heart wasn’t beating. She was dead. I didn’t like my mother, but she was still my mother.
I lowered my head as I carried out her body from the rubble and laid her on the side. Getting rid of the rest of the rubble I found that no matter where I searched I couldn’t find anyone else. Not my father, not my brother. My eyes wandered back to my mother’s corpse.
Either they were dead somewhere else or they were still alive. My eyes wandered back to my mother. It felt as if tears were forcing themselves out of my eyes, but I wiped them away before they could get a chance. Standing up I grabbed my mother’s corpse, we never did completely get along, but she had taken care of me as a child. I let a single tear loose and jumped over the debris into the nearby forest. I had noticed the amazed gazes behind but I thought nothing of them. I was going to give her a burial and find my brother.
Finishing my first task I found that the forest floor was moist, it lacked much verdure but for what it lost in verdure it made up with dirt and tall old dark trees. I’d finished burying my mother and wallowing in my self-pity when I heard a sound. The system.
> [ Major update has been rolled out ]
> -General Skills will now be available.
> -Titles will now be available.
> -All earthling languages will now be combined and instilled into all inhabitants as the [ Earthling Language ] skill.
> -Inter-Dimensional Currency will now be integrated.
> -Guild System will now be integrated.
> -Shop System will now be integrated.
> [ Good Luck. ]
> [ Title Granted: Emotional Chasm ]
“hah..”
This thing had no concept of timing. I grabbed my hair and looked up at the canopy above. It was going to rain soon.
I took out my phone and started a song I thought would be perfect for a shit occasion such as this one.
> [ Wallowing In . . . ]
> - | Silence | debuff removed
> - Mana Regeneration increased by 30%
I looked at the title that was granted to me.
> [ Emotional Chasm ]
> You let your emotions guide you. Achieving feats few can only dream of on a whim of those emotions. You can be seen as volatile. kind, sadistic, pragmatic, psychopathic, irritable, only you can know where your emotions will drag you next.
> -Skills tied to emotions have their effects improved by 200%.
> -Control of one’s self during skills tied to emotion greatly increased.
> -Emotional aftershock from skills greatly lessened.
“hah . . .”
That did sound like me. I felt like the system was calling me out but at this point, I wasn’t bothered at this point. Taking advantage of the effect currently on me I started moving my hands, feeling the wind. I hadn’t really gotten a chance to really play with the wind before. All I’d ever done was control it. Play with the wind . . . Now that I said it out loud it made it seem like the wind was alive. I didn’t know the answer to that, but It felt alive to me.
I’d always wanted to know what flying was like. As a human, the unfortunate reality that befell us was the lack natural means of flight. I was never really bothered by it of course, but now that I was more than just a human I felt that if I never even tried it would be a shame.
I took a deep breath, and took a step, not on the ground but on the wind. [ One With The Wind ] and [ Wind Control ] synergized so well together it felt as if I had been doing this my whole life. The Melomania effect felt sadder than usual, I knew the effect was great but It bothered me a little just how great it was. It would sound like nothing to an outsider looking in, but lately, I’d been feeling as if all my emotions had been amplified ten-fold, so the usual melancholy felt as if someone was stabbing my heart a thousand times a second.
I didn’t know.
I took another step.
This power felt like some kind of self-hypnosis, except that instead of making me feel one thing, it just amplified what I already felt.
I took another step.
I knew this wasn’t healthy, especially when all I’d been indulging myself on these days were negative emotions.
Another step.
Was I really going to just leave her and act like nothing had happened these past months? Was I just going to disappear?
Another step.
Was I just going to ignore everything and wallow in self-pity forever?
Another.
I was a coward, who never took anything face first.
Another.
My mother was dead and my father and my brother were probably dead too. I’d never gotten a chance to fix these familial relations of mine.
A-
I jumped.
I’d been much higher up than I realized but it didn’t really bother me. For some reason, at that moment I knew the wind would carry me, and it did. I felt the wind support my body starting from my feet, to my head as I blasted off. The impact I would admit was much heavier than I’d imagined as I felt immense pain in my leg. I couldn’t maintain this for long. Shooting myself in the air already took 1/8th of my mana but I had a feeling that flying would drain my mana so I came up with something else before I hit the ground. I couldn’t maintain steady flight so why not just short bursts of speed as I ran, or rather jumped on air.
I tested it out before I got tangled with a tree. This time I’d miscalculated. The impact only ever hit my feet so I was sent flying as I flipped through the air my body flailing around like a rag doll. I struggled to regain control before I got close to the forest’s canopy once again but at the last moment, I stabilized myself as I hit myself with another burst of wind. This time I’d jumped along with the burst so as to maximize the effect.
This was fun, but I’d gone through a bit of my mana so I decided to land by slowing my fall with some wind.
I took a deep breath. That was risky, and I knew it.
I looked in the direction behind me and shook my head briefly. I wasn’t going to let myself wallow in self-pity any longer, I couldn’t let everything drag me down. I needed something to occupy my mind and this looked to be exactly what I needed.
———
9 days have passed.
According to the system in 1 hour the world as we know it will change.
May God Have Mercy On Our Souls
———
>> Have you guys seen that video?? [ Link ]
>> The one with the black kid who literally has THE force? Uh yeah dude everyone’s seen it.
>> It looked more like wind to me, I mean I could kind of physically see the breeze, but that would be insane right??
>> Dude that was so fucking badass, I’m pretty sure I’ve re-watched that video at least 20 times.
>> Too bad we can’t see his face.
>> I bet he’s ugly af lmaoooo
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
>> Sneed
>> It’s only been like a day since the system got implanted in everyone, I’m betting he’s one of those people who had it before the fall.
>> The fall? Is that what everyone’s calling it now?
>> Kind of a lame name but I honestly can’t come up with a better one.
>> Tch, “the fall” is a great name desu
>> T o b e h o n e s t, god I hate this website.
———
The light that seeped through the familiar canopy shone on my eye waking me up from my nap. I’d been in this forest practicing my magic for 9 days now and according to the system, something would change in a couple of hours. My phone had run out of battery days ago so I couldn’t listen to music, but I didn’t really feel the need to at this point. I missed it, but I knew I couldn’t rely on it all the time. Or maybe I could, it was a weird thing. It felt addictive when I did it almost as If I had just drunk water in a scorching desert, but when I didn’t do it it just felt . . . I don’t know, regular.
I looked at my mom’s grave. I’d stayed close to it the entire time, but only as a means to get closure. At first, I felt weird doing it, but after just spilling out my feelings it helped me out a great deal. Thinking back on everything that had happened after I was turned into a seedling also helped. I looked back on my decisions only to reaffirm that I was, impulsive, to say the least. The kidnapping affected me more than I’d like to admit, and in ways that I didn’t really understand yet.
I looked out onto the distance. I was going to have to go back into society soon.
I knew that basically only a few parts of the world were destroyed, so I wasn’t worried about finding a place, but what really worried me was what was going to happen in a few hours.
I’d been thinking about it during my 9-day stay and I thought to myself that since I was [ Gen 0 ] of this region which seemed important I should indulge the title and get stronger to at least contribute to society in some way shape or form. The way the system worded things it seemed like the world was going to be invaded or something.
I put my shirt back on and launched myself towards my house. I’d gotten better at controlling what I deemed flight, or maybe the right way to describe it was consecutive self-launching wind magic. The practice also sent my [ Wind Control ] skill from level 7 to level 10 to which at that point said level MAX. From what I could see the level showed my proficiency. I didn’t have anyone to compare to, but it seemed a little fast. [ One With The Wind ] also leveled up though it was still a small bit behind as it went from level 6 to 7.
I kind of wanted to stay a little longer in the forest, but I was starting to get hungry after 9 days of not eating, so I continued my pseudo-flight.
After about 4 minutes, I arrived in what used to be my old backyard. The impact of the shock wave had destroyed most of the foundation but I could still feel some familiar things underneath. I lifted up some of the rubble and walked towards what used to be my room.
My clothes were still there, some were recognizable to say the least, and others were beyond my reach at this point.
I scavenged some, and came up with a black oversized hoodie with some cringe writing on it, and some black jeans.
I kept my shoes on but I wasn’t sure they would last long with all the beating they were taking.
After changing under some cover I came out mostly looking less homeless, not that I wasn’t at this point.
My steps quickened into a run as I set up for my pseudo-flight. I was pretty fast these days on the ground, but the air just felt so much better as I jumped disappearing into the horizon.
———
5 . . .
4 . . .
3 . . .
2 . . .
1 . . .
[ Congratulations on making it alive. Damages caused by our seeds will be reversed. We thank you for your patience and wish you good luck. ]
———
Evelyn and Adam slept somewhere together in the public hospital, or maybe a better way to describe was everyone was sleeping or half-awake while I was up and outside. I’d seen the notifications and I assumed a lot of people did but not everyone went outside to look. Some were too tired, too depressed over the losses they’d suffered.
I saw some spherical objects descending from the sky as they let out a wave of energy I was sure everyone in the world probably felt. It felt otherworldly.
Witnessing them reversing the damage done to an entire city, I wasn’t so much shocked about them reversing the damage done to the city, but the sheer power I felt radiating off of them. It was . . . Domineering to say the least.
The sheer display of what could only be described as magic had my eyes glued for the entire process until they just disappeared. As if they’d never been there to begin with.
The buildings and infrastructures of society affected by the waves were restored, but I had a feeling that the world would change very soon.
———
[ We thank you for your patience once again. Your planet will now be undergoing changes, and we wish for your continued survival. ]
———
Landing behind a nearby building. I looked up at the sky where the objects had just been along with the notifications that had just come to pass.
“The world is going crazy huh . . . “ I sighed, sitting down on the sidewalk.
I was still going to search for my brother but at the moment I felt like I had nothing to go off of. From my point of view, he had just disappeared.
Standing once again I brushed the thought off. I would figure it out when it came to me, and that time probably wasn’t now.
Jumping off once again I enjoyed the breeze hitting my body as I pushed myself forward in bursts. Before I could continue though I noticed something. Going on in a nearby forest. Animals were running out left and right, uncaring about leaving what used to be their safe haven. They looked scared. I didn’t understand until the sheer mana hit me, giving me a nasty feeling, much like a headache.
I had trouble catching myself mid-air but I managed.
Looking at the direction from which the mana wave came from, I could see the trees moving, it looked like a mini earthquake in the general direction. It kept going for maybe 10 seconds until it stopped.
“Well, that doesn’t seem good.”
I let myself land on the ground and pondered on whether or not I should go check it out or not. On one hand, something felt really dangerous about that place, on the other if I didn’t check it and something good happened to be there, then I’d regret it for the rest of my life.
Deciding not to think about it too much, I launched off once again until I reached the edge of the forest.
“I just left one now I’m going back in another.” I gave out a weary sigh before I continued my walk.
A notification popped up.
> [ Breach Discovered ]
> [ Alpha Wolf’s Domain ]
‘I guess it really was important, whatever a breach is.’
‘Alpha Wolf’s Domain . . . Sounds pretty intimidating.’
Psyching myself up I took another step and continued. The forest felt different from the outside. The air felt thick. Some of the plants I didn’t recognize, the animals that stayed behind were even weirder. They felt dangerous, and that thought was rewarded by a nearby wolf growling at me. It was big, It had light brown fur with hints of black In certain areas. It’s deep yellow eyes followed my every step, as its teeth grew more and more visible.
I thought to myself for a second. ‘Wait a second I’m pretty fast, pretty sure I can outrun this thing.’
And so as I ran, I looked back to see the Wolf chasing after me which caused me to frown. ‘What did I ever do to this guy?!’
His leg muscles bulged at every bound, and he was starting to catch up to me.
I whispered to myself out of frustration “Bloody hell.”
This definitely wasn’t normal. I was about as fast as a car at this point, but the wolf was still keeping up. Was this the effect of the breach?
> Congratulations you’ve unlocked [ General Skill: Identify ]
I ignored the notification for now.
I looked back at the wolf as I felt my stamina dropping, I couldn’t keep this up for long.
Turning myself around mid-sprint I made the choice to kill it. It didn’t seem like it was going to stop chasing me and I wantonly used my mana to fly a few minutes ago so there was no way I could just do that. I was going to have to rely on myself. I saw the wolf lunge at my feet body and realized it was now or never so I set my right foot back and kicked the shit out of it.
The wolf’s body was hard, damn hard so after that kick, I felt my right foot throb. Though I hurt the wolf decently enough it wasn’t enough to where it was visible. I launched myself wolf in a hurry to keep it down, so when I landed there the first thing I did was launch a punch, and then another, and another. The wolf struggled under me, and on more than one occasion almost launched me off, but I could tell it was getting tired.
Having noticed I regenerated a considerable amount of mana back I launched a fist at the wolf's jaw and backed it up with wind. A sickening sound followed as my fist dug through its head.
I kept punching. “You-
and punching. “Could-
punching. “Have-
punching. “Just-
and punching. “LEFT ME ALONE !!!
> You have defeated [ Wolf - lv. 5 ]
> [ Class: Wind Mage ] has reached level 3 ( 10 stat points awarded)
‘ah, so that’s how you level . . . I should’ve guessed.’
‘I’ll keep the points for later.’
I was exasperated. This wasn’t my first time killing, but it still felt like shit. If this was anything like how I thought, it was going to get worse. I looked at the spot at which I’d entered the forest.
I scratched the back of my neck. ‘Should I go back?’
I looked back to where I felt the mana wave come from. No, I was going to go. No more coward shit.
I stood up, brushed my hair back, and shook my arms to get rid of the blood. With little to no success. Sighing, I started walking anyway. I was going to change.
———
The wolves chasing me really didn’t want to let me be a coward. I killed another 5 wolves which brought me to level 5, but it seemed that my killing spree had brought attention to me. I didn’t like attention. I’d gotten damaged from a few stray bites and claws so I decided to put 10 in vitality. I wasn’t going to get careless and die here.
The extra vitality started recovering some of my wounds as I sped up with my newfound stamina from the extra endurance. The boost in power felt good. Actually, it felt great, I’d never seen my body heal this fast and I doubted anyone ever had, yet. Though it was only minor cuts that were hit, I felt great.
I once again used my sudden stop strategy as I turned around and pulled the leading wolf into a kick using my wind magic. I quickly stabbed his heart with the compressed wind but found that it took too much out of my mana. Leaving that body behind I started running in the opposite direction of the wolves so as to make them lose traction and gain my distance until I killed one of them, it was very inefficient when I thought about it but I didn’t really want to test how sharp those claws were. I continued this process until there was one wolf left.
We both came to a stop as I put my hands on my knees and fought to catch a breath. “It’s just you me and buddy.”
It replied with a growl and an eye full of hate. That upset me. ‘You were the one who tried to kill me, dumb fuck’
Breathing one final time I launched off meeting its teeth with my fist which surprisingly imploded its head.
> You have defeated [ Wolf - lv. 5 ]
‘That was, cool.’ I looked at my hand as I realized what I just did and tried to replicate it. The compressed air I had tried to turn into a blade started out too wide and mushed the wolf’s head in the process. I played with the concept of the move for little bit before moving forward.
The more I walked the more nervous I got. The mana radiating from that place was getting stronger, and it made my body feel . . . Stuffy. A few wolves could be seen in the distance so I identified them
> [ Alpha Wolf - lv. 25 ]
> [ Wolf - lv. 13 ]
> [ Wolf - lv. 19 ]
I caught my breath and immediately ducked. ‘WHAT ??!’
Crawling over to a nearby tree and planting my back against it I tried but failed to keep myself calm. In a game in terms of levels usually, a ten-level difference would barely matter, but this wasn’t a game however ironic that sounded. The level difference felt huge. I wasn’t so stupid as to run in and hope for the best, but at the same time hadn’t I told myself to not be so cowardly?
This was too scary though, way too scary. I couldn’t look back but I did have something that I could use.
[ Wind Control ]. I only ever used it when I wanted to lift stuff and fly, but sometimes it could be used as a probe. To feel a general area out. I could feel the mana roiling off of the wolf but that immediately went left as I felt the wolf look in my general direction. Fuck could it smell me? There was no way I could sneak up on it them.
Sending my wind out again, I slowly got on my belly and crawled away. Unfortunately for me, the wolves had started walking in my direction.
‘Are you fucking kidding me?’
I hurried my crawling as fast as I could but I could now hear their footsteps. They were on to my scent. My options were thinning and I didn’t see much more options other than to fight them or try to run away. I was probably outclassed in every sense of the word.
Stuck between a rock and a hard place I made the most reckless choice yet and charged a quick pseudo-flight boost as I launched towards the main wolf. I crashed into it as my shoulder took the brunt of the impact. I was quick to recover from the ensuing roll but so was the wolf as we dashed towards each other once more. I noticed the other wolves approaching fast so I decided to end this as quickly as possible. In another following dash, I grabbed the Wolf’s snout challenging its strong bite with a dose of blind bravery and replicated my imploding move from earlier as I focused the wind into pressurizing his head into going into itself. The wolf being higher level gave it more resistance towards my attack but I could see in its eyes and its trashing that it was starting to affect him.
I would’ve finished him too we’re it not for one of the other wolves that slammed its body against mine pushing me away and helping out the higher-leveled wolf.
I took in a breath. Maybe this wasn’t so hopeless after all. They greatly out-leveled me, but I greatly outmaneuvered them.
I stood facing the 3 wolves once more. This time my eyes bore into theirs, I was going to finish this.
They’d learned their lesson from the last interaction so they stayed close together as they approached me. I had to admit they were smart, but I could see no possible way in how that could help them so I just repeated what I’d previously done and launched myself at the biggest wolf. If I was going to win this I was going to have to get rid of the strongest first.
Reveling in my own head about how smart I was for a second, I crouched down, stared at the big bad wolf, and pounced. This time I wanted to make it quick and somewhat cool to look at for my non-existent audience. My launch carried me forward but my body was upside down as I positioned my arms to grab the wolf’s head as soon as I reached its position. I was fast, very fast, but I held on and clutched the grab as my momentum carried the wolf with me once more. This time I put a significant amount of my mana all at once and crushed its head. Its blood didn’t even splatter on me as it kept inside the pocket of wind that had crushed its host’s head.
> You have defeated [ Alpha Wolf - lv. 25 ]
> [ Class: Wind Mage ] has reached level 11 ( 30 stat points awarded)
> [ You have gained 2 new class skills for surpassing the level 10 threshold on your class ]
I felt power thrum in my body as my level quickly rose from 5 to 11 in one kill. I felt as if I’d ascended into a higher state of being for a second until I realized there were still two wolves left. Putting 5 points in Vitality and 5 in Focus I embraced the feeling of power and I continued my hunt.
I could see that the wolves were now hesitant to approach me after that bloody, or rather bloodless display of strength. I was much stronger than I’d realized.
I squeezed my fists as if to affirm that I truly had done what I had just done. ‘Hah…’
My eyes focused back on the wolves as I launched myself towards the next higher leveled one and took the much more straightforward approach of kicking it into a tree as I took to deleting the other potential bother, instantly killing it.
> You have defeated [ Wolf - lv. 13 ]
I looked back to the struggling wolf that I’d kicked beforehand and finished him before he could recover.
> You have defeated [ Wolf - lv. 19 ]
> [ Class: Wind Mage ] has reached level 12 ( 5 stat points awarded)
‘Oh that felt . . . good’
I shook the blood off of my body this time with magic, I felt badass, I felt unstoppable. I finally had something to take up my mind with and with that, I set off deeper within the breach.
As I walked though, I remembered the notification that stated I had gained after I killed the first wolf. New abilities. At first, I ignored because I was in the middle of a battle but to be honest, now that I’d finished I was excited to see what new things I’d gotten. So I checked.
> [ Breeze Domain ]
> In your domain, none can escape your whims. The winds are your messengers as you are their harbinger. You will be able to establish an area in which your perception envelops all.
> [ Gale Armor ]
> The wind is not known for its tight and impenetrable defense but for its flexibility and elusiveness. Just as normal elemental armors have their own aspects when it comes to defense, wind represents itself with its redirection. You will never truly be hit, and when you are, the impact will be greatly lessened. You will be untouchable.
My two new skills, though not as directly broken as the first two were powerful In their own rights. The first, breeze domain went far, like really far. I could feel stuff from like a mile away. Though it started getting blurry after a good distance away from me. I felt a small drain on my mana regen whenever I tried extending it for more than a mile that slowed my mana regen so I kept it at its regular length.
The second, gale armor sounded exactly like how I thought an armor made of wind would work. Activating it, I felt some mana exiting my body as it solidified into what looked like strands of air moving on top of my body. It covered me from head to toe as it molded itself into what seemed to be Gladiator Armor which was separated into three parts. The helmet resembled a murmillo gladiator’s helmet as it covered the entirety of my face but was left with small holes that made it resemble a grill. The second part was the shoulder guard that guarded the aforementioned area plus my arms, as it went down to form a scary-looking gauntlet. The third part was the classic gladiator pteruge or better know as the gladiator skirt. It started out as a belt that transitioned into the long strips that seemed to blow with the wind but were solid enough to tank a hit. In total, it made me look intimidating, especially the helmet.
No matter how you looked at it, the Gale Armor barely protected any of my body and was there for the aesthetics . . . Which was I thought until I tried feeling out where the mana that was draining from me was going. The armor was actually covering my whole body, it only just hardened in specific parts for the aesthetics. I looked at myself once more, whatever made this skill had taste.
———
A sigh escaped my lips as I looked at my sister’s face. I was happy she was safe, but with everything that was going down again . . . I was worried for her.
I was worried for all of us, Alastor, Chizu, they were like family now to us and I couldn’t let my family get hurt. I knew this but the worst part about this was I had no idea what I was protecting them from. I knew that things would change soon, or maybe they’d already changed, but I wasn’t prepared.
I could that my strength wasn’t sufficient enough yet.
I heard my sister wake up “Hrmm-sup bro”
I gave her a smile and a reply “Good morning.”
“Is Las still outside?" she asked as she stood up and stretched.
I scratched the back of my head. “Probably, but you should go too, something big happened.”
She sported a confused look on her face but it soon changed to one of surprise as she gazed out of the window.
I’d seen what those objects in the sky had done but I’d kept quiet so as not to wake Evelyn.
Now that she was seeing the after-effects of their power, I started wondering what her reaction would have been when it
I was amazed. That power, that was the type of power I needed.
“Wooooahhh dude, that’s amazing.”
I chuckled at her amazement, she never did fail to take my mind off of things.
I let out a short. “Yeah.”
Taking a second to continue my train of thought I finished the sentence. “You wanna go outside?”
“course!”
She happily skipped down from our temporary room as we exited what seemed to be a repurposed hospital. Stepping outside we were met by Alastor sitting on a nearby bench.
He flashed a warm smile as he got up. “You’re finally out eh..”. Patting down his pants he started walking towards a nearby thicket of the forest. Evelyn gave me a quick look once again, but this time I didn’t know.
I shrugged and walked behind him as Evelyn quickly followed.
> [ Breach Accessed ]
> [ Alpha Wolf’s Domain ]