Under their intense looks and surprised eyes the bad premonition he’d been subconsciously trying to avoid had been proven correct. The apocalypse had only been the beginning. “So I was right. This is only the start of something much worse.” As they were looking at each other he starting to think that this so-called apocalypse wasn’t as simple as he had first assumed. Looking into the flames he thought back to the first message he got but came up blank. It was very open ended and didn’t outright say almost anything so did that mean that only the system itself wasn’t going to do anything but anyone else could?

There wasn’t enough information for anything other than conjecture and guesswork. Though it still pisses me off that the she hulk trumped me like that. Fucking hell I’m pissed and keeping a straight face just makes me more pissed. Alright let's go with another option. Looking back up he stared straight into the ice queens eyes and said “So since you didn’t kill me and from what I understand it was mostly the muscled idiot over there who took action without consent then how about me and her have another go at it.

If I win you take me back to this adventurers guild or wherever you took that mission from and if she wins I tell you what I got from the dungeon willingly plus whatever other questions you have and one demand of yours.” Out of them all the Corona looked the most surprised and none spoke for a good minute but i kept eyes on her since her reaction would tell me the others decisions. Finally “How did you guess I was the party leader?” Even with his natural resistance to beautiful women he almost signed at how beautiful her voice was and had to shake himself out of it to answer.

“Very few are stupid enough to voluntarily point out the leader to a complete stranger in a world where might makes right. And I noticed his glance over at you before as though reflexively asking permission. Following that line of thought it's not that easy to get a harem going all around only one guy but if that guy is only a toy for the others then the story changes.” He had to forcefully stifle his laugh as they all looked at each other in shock. With any remotely sentient creature the women usually were the ones on top with humans as the sole exception, which he’d always found kinda dumb in the first place since women were usually better at almost everything except fighting and even then he new more than a few that could give even him a run for his money.

The more he watched the more it seemed like they were having a silent conversation, No they are having a conversation, telepathy? After a minute or so their eyes focused on him. The Ice beauty nodded and said “Your terms are agreeable and it will work well as compensation for you if that's all you want?” “Yeah. That will work fine.” Then he got up and stretched for a second as the woman took practice punches and equip a set of sleek black gauntlets and shin guards.

System Dual Mode activated

Perfect. After a minute or two he took a zero stance, which was basically just standing tall with his arms and legs loose and limbered, he could see that she didn’t see him as an opponent and he was going to capitalize the shit out of that. Someone snapped their fingers and he forced his mana to flood his system but formed the type into electricity. The world came to a near halt and the Elf woman seemed to appear in a half crouch almost a foot in front of him throwing a punch in almost slow motion but his body would barely move. With a sudden inspiration he expanded the lightning through his skin and muscles as well so he could have his body follow his mind and discharge anything left over through his skin into whatever he hit.

Flowing his body around the punch he raised his knee and lowered his elbow onto hers simultaneously as her punch went by. As he released the electricity through his skin he felt her nerves become temporarily overcharged and useless. Moving faster than even she could follow he switched around to her back and launched a lower roundhouse kick into her side then flipped over her right shoulder to launch a spinning uppercut into the gap just below her chest cavity.

Suddenly he felt the world return to normal speed and felt his mana hit one percent. The world seemed to freeze as an expression of disbelief appeared on the buff chicks face. He felt his body lock up and went to one knee as the backlash of pushing both his magic and body that hard. It had only been a theory at first because he knew that the brain runs on electrical signals and since there was magic now then their body had to have changed somehow but it was a literal shot in the dark.

Suddenly he felt hands propping him up as a thump registered next to him. It was his opponent, and she was out cold. “Guess that means I win.” and then he followed right after. After what felt like an eternity he finally woke up and the first thing he realized was that he was in an actual bed, the second was that he was in his birthday suit. Looking around it was quit spartan with just a closet a bed and a small counter behind the door. Groaning at the massive wave of pain that shot through his head he waited for it to die down before putting his clothes back on. He opened the door and the smell of food hit him like a slap to the face.

Following his nose and rationalizing it as where there was such heavenly smelling food there had to be people he stepped past a set of stairs going up at the end of the hallway and found himself in a huge common room. What looked like fifty tables loosely spaced between them with between four and six chairs apiece. A huge bar ran the entire length of one wall with a notice board sectioned into four parts running along the other. “Judging by the lost and confused look on yer face you must be the local that Corona’s team brought back totally unconscious.” Behind a second counter just to his right he saw what had to be a model for felines in human form.

Standing at about five feet four inches with sunny blond hair and neon green eyes with vertical slit pupils and cat ears on top of her head she gave off an air of the ‘don’t fuck with me if you value your life’ caliber but still felt approachable and easy to talk to. Unconsciously he muttered “How the fuck do you get an aura like that?” She jumped like he had stepped on her tail as she said “How are you reading my aura? That shouldn’t be possible without your awakening, and your clearly in need of your test.” Seeming to shake herself out of it she says “As you might have guessed this is the adventurers guild headquarters for the area. From what I hear your world has legends and stories about it but for the most part their only partly true so let me guide you through the explanation.” Guurgle. With a smirk she added “After we get you something to eat.”

Taking him over to the bar she had him sit and grabbed something from below the counter. With a wave of steam the source of the smell appeared before him. A small mountain of meat and vegetables spread liberally with some kind of sweet smelling sauce heaped on a plate bigger than his chest. Without further ado he dug in like a ravenous hobo that had been starved for weeks on end. Soon all the food was gone but he was feeling unbelievably sated. With a chuckle she continued where they left off.

Seeming to fall into full teacher mode she made a cute little cough into her fist as she starts “Ok, the board you see over there is the quest board where you can take any number or type of quest from the usual subjugation type or running deliveries to different recipients. It can be really anything that a member or former member can pay for but many of the most difficult are guild funded so they usually pay better. For certain circumstances like if a member was captured or targeted then the guild may cover the cost. On this floor we only have the F rank quests but since you were unanimously recommended by Corona’s full team then you will be able to immediately take the test for E rank when we put you through your awakening.

Usually the guild will not interfere with the daily life of those who are a member but sometimes the guild will directly order you or request you to do different tasks they believe you are well suited for, of course the compensation is fair as well. The ranks go as such, from weakest to strongest they are F, E, D, C, B, A, G, S, SS, SSS, M, MM, MMM. From the research we have gained from your world so far then starting at D class would be considered as a superhuman, I believe is the term. C class would be along the lines of ‘one man army’ is the term I think, from there on you don’t have anything I’m familiar with to quantify it for you. For now let’s go and get you tested for affinity and awaken you so if you would please follow me.”

He could only follow her in a daze, he’d half expected it when he met those elfs and that dwarf but having it confirmed was something else. So the jump between just D and C class is superhuman to one man army? If it's that much of a qualitative change then what the fuck about the rest? What about Demigods, Demons, Dragon, Monsters, or even Gods? Do they not even have a place in the scale? Oh dear god, this is definitely what the frog in the well felt like when he climbed out of the well. He cut off that train of thought though because they walked to the end of a hallway and entered a door into some sort of arena that definitely put the one in rome to shame.

For at least a mile all he could see was smooth stone surrounded by a fifty foot high stone wall with stone benches for hundreds of thousands of people going all around the arena. There were a few sparing bouts going on but he could just barely see the tell tale flashes of light from weapons and armor but everything else going too fast for him to see. Standing near the middle was what looked like a lion man with an oversized pair of gauntlets and several weapon racks close by. Coming closer he could see that all the weapons were blunted but otherwise they were just as real as anything else here.

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“Yo-Ho Johanes I brought you more fresh m- I mean another non awakened for the test.” All I could do is stare at the receptionist and she could probably feel it cause she just kept fidgeting and looking everywhere but at me. “Ah just what I needed to break this monotony, then come and put yer hand on this stone boy. It’ll give us a general feeling on where your magical and physical abilities are at.” Doing as they say he put his hand against the crystal and his status page popped up but this one was above the crystal. As they read through it they both grew more and more flabbergasted by the second. Then they started reading through his notifications on the side. Suddenly they relaxed and simultaneously said “So that's how it is.”

Yet he was still in the dark as to what they were even panicking for. Until the lion man started talking again. “Ok kid I think I understand the general scope of your situation but I’ll be damned if I’ve ever seen a bloodline like yours kid, that penalty is no joke. But still seeing what it gave you at the first five percent mark I can roughly understand why. Still it's gonna make it far harder for you to get stronger in the short term. Now, I can see why you got recommended by that crazy bunch for E rank so quickly. Seeing your class I can’t really help you except for having Mary here give you some basic mana manipulation skill books and a profession that will double as training the rest you will have to figure out largely on your own. Your class is just too rare for a small branch like ours to really have any information pertaining to it.

They explained your own unique circumstances already as well as the others in that building near where you were found and are shepherding them here as we speak. For now let’s get you your guild card while Mary explains the rules of being an adventurer. I take it you wish to join?” When he nodded he left with the receptionist and went back to the front counter. “So for the basic rules we really only have four that are heavily enforced. One is to treat your fellow members with the respect they are due as sentient beings, two anyone who specifically requests asylum from us will vetted by the officers of the guild and only they know who they are. If they are granted then no guild member will try to harm them and do their best to aid them in times of need.

Three is that the guilds orders will always be handed through someone with the minimum rank of officer or staff, the only other way is through the guild badge message telling you to return from your current assignment immediately. And four is that you will never kill someone inside the guild building, anything less is allowed except deliberate torture. Other than these there is only one Iron clad rule that must be followed. There are many kinds of strength but they all share one thing in common ‘Might makes right’ in this world.”

She said that last one with a look that in no uncertain terms said there will always be someone stronger and only fools sought trouble where there is none. With a simple nod he conveyed that he understood the gravity of her words. With a smile that said many things and a wink that seemed more than a little mischievous he became abruptly aware of several hostile gazes from behind. Not wanting to make further trouble he just waited for her to come back with his new books. When she did and held out the books he reached his hands up and knocked her gently on the head while saying “Don’t make needless trouble for others and thanks for the books.” Without another word he chose a secluded seat roughly halfway across the room.

Opening the book he felt the knowledge rush into him.

Congratulations you have learned the ability Mana Augmentation

Congratulations you have learned the spell Mana Barrier

Congratulations you have learned the ability Elemental Augmentation

Congratulations you have opened the Advanced profession tree Necromancer

Necromancer

A Tier 2 profession that takes the motto of 'your loss is my gain' to the extreme. Necromancers are few and far between but are almost universally powerful mages that utilize the corpses of enemies as battle puppets. The stronger the mage the stronger the undead under their control and with a keen understanding of the energies of life and death they make a terrifying foe and peerless ally because of their flexibility in how they can apply their magic.

With a hiss of indrawn breath he came out of the stupor and Immediately looked towards the receptionist who was giving him a confused and blank look when she saw his stunned and incredulous expression. With utmost caution he got up and went back over before asking the uses of the Augmentation and barrier magic. Not fully understanding his meaning she told about how they were basic spells that almost every mage learned that taught the principles about how magic interacted both inside and outside the body. She was completely oblivious about how with a few alterations the augmentations could adapt a body to be completely immune to lower level spells and even use mana to bolster their physical body once you understood and adapted the principles.

Feeling beyond giddy he returned to his room and started very, very carefully experimenting on how to increase the performance of his body. After only two or three hours he started to see results as his body was repeatedly strained past its limits and healed just as fast. He opened his eyes to yet another massive DING

Congratulations you have discovered your first way to enhance your physical body without the aid of the system. Each progressive increase will be more difficult however and your body has not yet fully acclimated to the previous influx of status points, would you like to speed the process? Note: the current level of your body will essentially be magnified by 15 times and the probability of death and/or permanent mental harm is above 80%

He already knew his answer so taking a minute to slice a few strips off the few pieces of leather armor he had forgotten about from the dungeon and made himself a pure leather bit tied it tightly in place in his mouth. Mentally preparing himself as best he could he hit the soundproofing button by his door he hadn’t noticed till then and hit yes, Almost simultaneously a slow and deep burn started in every cell of his body. At first it was tolerable but it kept increasing exponentially until he was constantly on the edge of blacking out but he knew that he would die if he gave in now. With everything he could bring to bear he stopped trying to hold in the screams and maintained his half conscious state, letting the system do its work.

Eventually the darkness and his screaming died down and he actually woke up fully. Just the act of standing sends floods of strength he had never felt before coursing through his muscles. The world seemed slightly different but that was primarily because he was taller by about six inches. Other than being slightly larger he didn’t feel too different, probably because his stats were all almost equally increased. He felt faster, stronger, and heavier than before. Like he had more mass than would be normal for a human his size. He quickly pulled up his status.

Name:Niko Bolas

Class:Grand Summoner (Tier 2)

Main Profession: Necromancer

Secondary Profession: N/A

Level: 1016

Class Level: 1

Stat points:0

Bloodline Awakening 5.6% (+100 to all stats)

Health: 3,100

Mana Pool: 1,425/11,425

Soul Density: 81,056

Soul Mass: 11,425

Status:

* Strength- 315

* Constitution- 310

* Dexterity- 293

* Agility- 298

* Intelligence- 110

* Soul Density- 81,056

* Soul Mass- 12,330

Summoning abilities:

* Goblins

* Imps

* Juvenile War Troll

Active Abilities:

* Elemental manipulation

* Soul Weapon

* Equals Pact

* Summon Strengthening

* Summon Meister

* Mana Augmentation

* Elemental Augmentation

Passive Abilities:

* Chaos Dragon Monarch Bloodline

* Unlimited Potential

* My might is yours

* Elemental absorption

* Elemental perception

* Iron Skin

* Health Regeneration (10%)

Hmm, main reason that went so well is probably because of the health regeneration. Other than that everything gained quite a few points and Intelligence is now unlocked I see, but it probably only helps me on the cognitive and practical level instead of mana capacity and such. With that sorted he realized he was just starting to get hungry again which startled him quit a bit since he’d eaten enough to feed a family of four from before. Wow must have taken longer than I had thought. Ah well that just leaves more time today for getting a feel of the place. Now then let’s see about my guild card and what being an adventurers all about. He couldn’t help but give a childish grin as he thought of all the possibilities the future would hold.