Henry dug frantically for a while before he eventually discovered something else besides bones. He was grasping the buried object when he heard a strange voice in his head.
'High Grade - Star Tainted Sword - Fifth Level Human Realm Artifact Found.' The voice scared Henry, and he dropped the sword to the ground.
-" Who is there? Show yourself!" Henry trembled in fear as he tried to identify where the voice came from.
-'Insufficient energy to start the system; emergency mode is activated.' The voice rang inside Henry's head again after a few seconds.
-" System? Energy? What is happening to me? Did I hit my head in the landslide? " A HUD suddenly appeared in Henry's view in the midst of his freakout.
-'System Emergency Mode Activated. The host will have ten hours to fulfill the requirements for the system's permanent activation. Failure will result in the system's ejection from the host soul.' As soon as Henry heard the voice, he leaped in surprise once more.
-" Who are you? What is this system thing?" Henry finally realized that the voice was coming from inside his head.
-'System's Level is too low for the desired information; please raise the system to level eight to unlock the necessary privilege for this question.' Henry was irritated since the voice didn't answer his question, leaving him even more perplexed.
-" How do I level up this system then? And what are the requirements for its permanent activation?" Henry regained his composure and attempted to comprehend the situation.
-' The host can level up the system by obtaining and hoarding treasures; the system will consume the energy of the hoarded treasures for its operation, and part of the energy will be passed on to the host as well.' Henry exhaled heavily at the last sentence, due to his mana deficiency, he had always assumed that his life as a wizard or warrior would end prematurely.
'For the system's permanent activation, the Host will need to obtain ten artifacts in the second level of the Human realm.' Nonetheless, the system's final remarks caused Henry's face to fall.
"Do you think I'm rich or something? Do you have any idea how much this quantity of treasures would cost?" Henry was enraged because if he had so many treasures, he wouldn't have to go treasure hunting in this damned mountain.
-' System Emergency mode has some features to help the Host in his journey.' The moment the voice faded a small map appeared in Henry's vision. A small red dot shone on it. 'Star Tainted Sword - Artifact in the fifth level of the Human realm found.'
Henry's eyes popped as he looked towards the old and dusty sword at his feet. He picked it up and the system spoke again. -' Host acquired a treasure, Do you want to use it for system activation? Treasure used for the system activation will be completely consumed and won't be recovered.'
Henry was about to say yes, but, he stopped as he heard the system. He felt it was quite a waste to use this artifact to activate the system. He constantly browsed the artifacts shops in the city and he knew that even a sword like this would sell for quite a bit of money -" If I use a treasure of a higher level will it count as more than one treasure?" Henry decided to take things slow.
-' 'If Star Tainted Sword is consumed it will count as four treasures.' Henry fell into deep thought as the system answered.
If he sold this sword in the city he could get quite a bit of money, enough to buy more than ten level two treasures and still have a bit left. -" I won't use this treasure right now." Henry made up his mind and was preparing to leave the mountain when the system spoke again.
-' Host can analyze the energy from the new treasure, should I proceed?'
-" What this will do?"Henry stopped as he waited for the system to answer.
-' After analyzing the treasure energy, the host will be able to use the treasure with no penalty and scan the surrounding areas for treasure with a similar energy signature.'
Henry's interest instantly picked up as the system answer surprised him. -" So I can hunt treasures that are similar to this one, right? Go ahead and scan it then." Henry had suspicions that this sword came from one of the graves that were destroyed by the landfall so he was almost sure that he could find more things like this nearby, it was just that the area he needed to cover was too big.
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He even thought of getting a shovel and coming back, but now that he knew that the system could help in finding the treasures, he felt a lot more confident in gathering all the loot from the graveyard.
-' Analyzing the artifact Star Tainted Sword, 10%.... 15%¨... 30%.... 60%' Henry waited patiently for the analysis to end, his anxiety grew each time the analysis bar increased.
-' 85%... 99%.... Congratulation on analyzing your first treasure. System Space storage unlocked.' Henry let out a deep breath as the process ended.
-" System, scan the area around me for other treasures." Henry ordered the system to begin its scan as soon as the analysis was finished. His heart started to beat increasingly faster as he looked at the map.
After a few seconds, twelve red dots appeared on the map. -' Twelve energy signatures similar to Star Tainted Sword found.' Henry's breathing stopped as the system shocked him once again.
-" T-T-T-T-Twelve? Are you joking? Twelve swords just like that one?" Henry ran towards the nearest red dot without a single thought and began to dig. After a few seconds of digging, he found another sword next to a pile of bones.
Henry bowed and cupped his fist towards the bones in a gesture of gratitude and picked the sword up. 'Star Tainted Sword - Medium Grade - Fifth Level Human Realm Artifact Found.' Henry gulped as he stared at the sword.
"Do I need to analyze this sword again?" Henry quickly asked the system.
-' Further analyzing the system will raise your mastery of the treasure and its variants, when the host reaches 100% you will also gain insight into the treasure's history and crafting method.' Henry listened to the system explanation attentively, he looked at his system interface and saw that his mastery over the Star Tainted Sword was just 15%, so he asked the system to analyze the new one he just gathered.
While the system was busy analyzing his new sword, he got to work digging the rest of them, After the system finished the analysis of the seventh sword he received a notification stating that his mastery had reached 100%.
Henry checked the sword in his hand and was surprised by the amount of information he had access to. The system now indicated what materials were used in the crafting of the sword, and even how to make another one, it also gave information on the background of the sword.
-"Sword made by a blacksmith in the Star Gazing Sect, This Sect had the custom of rewarding a sword for each one of their cultivators. This sword followed the cultivators from the moment they were initiated into the sect to their death. Because of the star-blessed iron used in the sword crafting it periodically materialized images of a starry sky, so even in their eternal rest the member of the Star Gazing Sect could observe the stars." Henry gasped as he read the information about the sword, he thought that this perk was quite nice as he loved history.
Henry gripped the sword seriously and tried to use it. The sword was so heavy that he barely couldn't swing it around, and after a few tries he frowned; -" The system said that I could use the sword without penalty, but it looks like I can barely wield it."
-' The system only affects the innate ability of the sword, not Host sword skills.' The system quickly answered Henry's question.
Henry felt that the system was insulting his sword's capabilities, but, he decided not to argue with it. -" Innate ability? What is this?" Henry had missed almost every martial arts or magic class during his stay in the Magic Academy, so he didn't have any idea what the system was speaking off.
-' Host's mastery over treasures only affects the control over the innate energy of said treasure.'
Henry decided to try again, but, this time he closed his eyes and focused on the sword. As he concentrated on it he felt energy surge through the blade, he took a deep breath as he opened his eyes and saw that the sword was coated in a blue hue, Henry swung the sword towards a big piece of rock a few meters from him. A sharp blue aura flew out of the sword and cut the rock in half.
Henry nodded in satisfaction as he saw the slash. -" With this, I can defend myself if something bad happens." Henry was emotional, this was the happiest he felt in a long time, and with a jovial mood, he quickly went to gather the last four swords.
As he dug the last one he touched a big piece of metal. -' Host found ?????????? - ?????? -??????????????.' The system response made Henry confused, it looked like he found a treasure, but the system couldn't identify it.
With his eyes gleaming he quickly dug more and as he uncovered more of the metal piece, he noticed that this was the door of the building where he found the mysterious book
-" System what rank is this treasure? Why can't you give any information about it?"
-'System's Level is too low for the desired information; please raise the system to level forty-five to unlock the necessary privilege for this question.' The answer shocked Henry, for his previous question he need the system to be on the eighth level, and just for information about the treasure, it required level forty-five.
-" Did I just find something really good here?" Henry's grin was terribly large as he looked at the door. " System can I store this door in the inventory?"
-'Yes, but you won't be able to use it until you achieved the required level.'
Henry quickly stored the door and picked up the last sword. He looked at this inventory with his eyes burning. He was glad that he had visited the mountain yesterday, he felt that his streak of bad luck was finally over.
-" Twelve swords in the fifth level of the human realm, six of them are low grade, two high grade, and four medium grade. Did I just become wealthy all of a sudden?" Henry felt his stomach grumble as he daydreamed about the money he could make with his system. " Fuck, what time is this? I didn't eat anything since yesterday."
Henry decided to go back to his home now that he finally finished cleaning up the place. He still had eight hours until the deadline for the system activation so he decided to clean himself and eat before going out to sell some of his spoils.
Makayla, Henry's sister, was on her way to the city exit closest to the mountain when she heard a person call her. Makayla looked around to find one of her Magic Academy classmates waving at her.
"Hey Makayla, where are you going? Do you want to go shopping with me?" Isabella, Makayla's friend, was accompanied by her family.
-"Sorry, I'm really in a rush right now." Makayla hastily declined her invitation, as she was too concerned about her brother to do anything else at the moment.
Isabella noticed Makayla acting strangely, and anxiety was obvious on her face, so Isabella assumed something bad had happened. - "Are you all right? Is something going on?" Isabella was one of Makayla's closest friends, so she was aware of her problems, particularly those involving her troublesome brother.
-" Yeah, it's nothing. I just need to do something now." Makayla turned and was about to start running again when she saw a young man not so far away from her. " B-B-B-Brother?" Makayla almost didn't recognize her brother because he was caked in mud.
Her worry turned to anger when she saw that her brother was safe; despite his appearance, he didn't appear to be hurt.
Henry froze as he saw his sister. At first, he thought that he was hallucinating, after all, his sister was supposed to be in the Magic Academy. "Makayla? Don't tell me that you're skipping class?"
Henry's question made Makayla even angrier. How could her brother be so shameless? Not only he had left the store closed he even tried to accuse her of skipping classes.