Ben laid on the ground staring at his newly formed arm. A light blue appendage appeared from where his right arm used to be. The arm was about a foot longer than a normal arm and at least 30% bulkier. Strikingly enough, the other end of the arm had what looked like a human claw attached to it. It had the basic form of a normal human hand but was twice as big and the fingers looked like sharpened speartips.
Looking at the closed fist of his new arm, he saw shattered pieces of his former halberd. He had unknowingly squeezed the wooden handle so hard the weapon had split in two. The edge of the halberd fell on the floor in front of him.
He remembered hearing a bunch of notifications, but he wasn’t able to see what they said. His mind had automatically pushed them away. He could guess, though.
Not that it mattered. He could see through the translucent part of the arm around his shoulder, that he was still injured. He was still bleeding, the headache had only gotten worse and his mind was a mess. He looked at the soul arm, but couldn’t even move it.
He heard Nathan shouting in the background. The wolf had likely taken Nathan as his next opponent. Probably because the rest were already out of commission. He couldn’t hear Rolo yelling as he was likely to still be unconscious.
Ben was about to make his final prayers for the third time this morning, when a flash burst through the escape door and entered his forehead.
Ben spasmed on the ground as the energy of the flash ravaged through his body. It looked like he couldn’t handle that amount of energy. After a few seconds, the spasms stopped when a rejuvenating energy coursed through Ben’s body.
Focusing on the energy coursing through his body, he noticed the majority of it went into the shoulder of his dismembered arm. Ben could see his wound close at a rapid pace. After five seconds the shoulder had completely healed, leaving a tiny stump. Not even a scar could be seen. The rest of the energy circulated through the rest of his body, which happily absorbed the healing energy.
Ben couldn’t believe what he was seeing. A beam of energy entered through the escape door and entered his head, after which it completely healed him. Even the mental shock of losing his arm was gone.
He quickly stood up using his new arm, almost losing control and flinging himself to the other side of the room.
‘’Ben!’’ Nathan shouted with a shield in his hands. Steadying himself, Ben quickly ran up behind the wolf.
Noticing something was wrong, the wolf turned around. It had sensed energy ripples forming behind him, but he stopped worrying when it saw the human was still injured on the floor. However, the energy ripples were suddenly getting closer.
Before the wolf could turn his head and spot Ben's approach, Ben already had his soul hand cupped around the wolf’s head. A wave of energy went through his arm into his hand after which his hand squeezed as hard as it could. Pieces of the wolf’s brain splattered all over the place after which Ben dropped its lifeless body on the floor. It was dead, just like that.
‘’…’’ Nathan stared at Ben and his soul arm. The longer he stared at the soul arm, the larger the frown on his brow got.
‘’Wh-‘’ Nathan was about to ask something when Ben interrupted him.
‘’I don’t know,’’ Ben said as he squatted down next to Rolo.
‘’…’’
‘’Pff, couldn’t you have done this earlier?’’ Nathan said with an angry voice. It didn’t seem like he was expecting an answer as he walked away to check up on Kara. That’s right, they had no time to waste. They had to get up and leave.
Ben almost thought Nathan accused him of withholding this power when he could’ve saved them. Maybe even save John. But it didn’t look like Nathan had such thoughts. He must have seen Ben get his arm bitten off. If he had this power before, he would’ve used it then.
Ben gently slapped Rolo on the face checking if he’d wake up. If Rolo remained unconscious they had to carry both him ánd Kara along. And he knew Nathan was in no state to carry even one person. It didn’t seem like his slaps were waking him up. He was out cold.
‘’How is Kara?’’ Ben asked.
‘’Still out cold,’’ Nathan replied. ‘’How about Rolo?’’
‘’The same.’’
Ben tried to think of a solution that didn’t include waiting for one of them to wake up. Who knew when they would wake up. Enemies had probably heard the commotion. It wouldn’t take long before another horde of wolves arrived in the basement.
‘’Aah,’’ Ben said as he put his hand on his head.
The headache was getting worse. From the moment John sacrificed himself, the headache had only gotten worse. It started as only slightly noticeable, but he felt like it had already developed to a full-blown migraine. It wasn’t just painful, he also felt slightly dizzy. The colors around him started fading, almost as if he was starting to creep into some kind of dreamlike state.
‘Is this an aftereffect of the arm?’ Ben thought. But that would be unlikely. The headache had already started before his arm appeared. It must be because of John’s explosion. Although he didn’t feel anything, out of the group he was the most exposed. Rolo was squatted behind a shield, whereas Nathan and Kara were hiding behind some storage boxes. He was the only one standing upright, with his upper body fully exposed. ‘Maybe I was hit by John, but just didn’t feel it’.
Ben’s thoughts were interrupted when Rolo groaned and opened his eyes.
‘’AAAAaaaaah…’’ Rolo’s scream quickly died out as he noticed he wasn’t in harm’s way.
It must have been a surprise seeing an enormous blue arm arching over him like that.
‘’Shhh…!’’ Nathan whistled from the storage room.
‘’Can you move, Rolo?’’ Ben asked.
‘’Think so. My head hurts, though. Give me a minute,’’ Rolo replied.
He must have hit his head when the wolf knocked him away. Taking a moment to check up on his body and affirming he hadn’t broken anything, Rolo stood up. Ben grabbed his shield and handed it to Rolo. Rolo just looked at Ben’s arm but didn’t say anything and started arming his shields again.
Ben left Rolo to get ready and walked to an open area in the basement. He started swinging his new arm around but quickly had to stop. He couldn’t control it properly yet. He almost flung himself against the other side of the wall when he tried to swing it. Looking at his claw, he squeezed it as hard as he could. There wasn’t any measure to verify how strong it was, but looking at his broken halberd, it must pack a punch.
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Ben walked to Rolo and motioned him to walk with him to Kara and Nathan.
‘’We need to carry her,’’ Nathan said.
‘’Rolo, can you take her on your back?’’ Nathan said. ‘’I definitely can’t, and Benjamin here needs to defend us.’’
Rolo hesitated but nodded when Nathan explained. He saw how Ben wasn’t able to control his arm properly yet, and Nathan wasn’t in any shape to carry her yet.
Rolo squatted in front of Kara as Ben and Nathan placed her on his back and moved her arms around Rolo’s neck. Rolo put his hands under her legs and stood up.
‘’Good to go,’’ Rolo said.
Realizing there was still something, Ben ran out and walked back in with his soul arm pushing the bag with John’s body in it into a corner of the storage room.
‘’Let’s go,’’ Ben said.
The group gave their last goodbyes to John and walked to the escape door. Ben and Rolo gave Nathan some extra time to mourn his dad. Nathan wasn’t crying, nor did he look angry. He stared equanimously at his unmoving father, taking it all in before he left for the escape passage.
Ben took this time to take one last look at his severed arm laying on the floor before he walked through the escape door.
Ben took the lead with the others slowly following him. Their pace was slow since everyone besides Ben was heavily injured. Looking at the end of the escape passage, he could see the light at the exit was still a few minutes walking away from them. He took this moment to look at the notifications he received.
[Soul manifestation awakened: Soul Arm]
[Soul skill awakened: Piercing Grasp]
[Congratulations! You leveled up!]
[Congratulations! You leveled up!]
[Congratulations! You leveled up!]
[Congratulations! You leveled up!]
[Congratulations! You leveled up!]
[Congratulation! You have slain a Lv.6 Mimic Wolf!]
[You gained 26 bronze coins!]
[Congratulations! You leveled up!]
Ben perked up as he viewed the list of notifications. ‘So it’s a… Soul Arm…’’ Ben thought. Not only did he get a hint of what his arm was, but he also noticed the new skill he got. Piercing Grasp must be the skill he used when he killed the wolf. He activated it when an energy wave went through his arm into his claw, resulting in the late wolf’s death.
Not only did he get the soul manifestation and a soul skill, but he also leveled up five times because of it! Ben somehow felt relieved to know that killing wasn’t the only way to level up and get stronger. It looked like skills and soul manifestations could also increase your level. Ben opened his status screen with a hint of excitement.
Name: Benjamin Neilson
Level: 10
Class: None
Titles: None
Constitution: Normal
Soul Manifestation: Soul Arm
Strength: 23
Dexterity: 13
Vitality: 10
Endurance: 10
Perception: 11
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 10
Will: 14
SP (+): 35
Wealth: 44 Bronze Coins
Skill(s): Piercing Grasp (Lv. 1)
Ben took a glance and noticed some things had changed. New rows had been added for his Soul Manifestation and his skill. He wondered why his soul arm didn’t count as a skill. Were soul manifestations somehow different? It felt different at least.
The level behind the skill indicated he could grow the skill more powerful as well. But if the skill could be upgraded, could the soul arm not? The soul arm didn’t have a level behind it. As powerful as his soul arm was, he didn't know how strong the enemies they would surely encounter would be. Would his soul arm be strong enough by that point in time? He wasn’t so naive to think the wolves were the strongest enemies they would face.
Next up was his SP. He currently had 35 free points to distribute over his stats. He was tempted to assign everything to Strength. When the system started he couldn’t even pierce the wolves, but as he put more points into Strength he started puncturing their hide and muscle. To him, it felt like Strength impacted his combat power the most.
Ben shook his head. It didn’t matter how strong he was, if he went down after one hit it would all be over. Fighting the wolves, he realized how fragile the group actually was. The wolves could take multiple hits, but he would probably be beaten after one direct hit.
Not to mention, his headache. Or could it even be called a normal headache any longer? When he looked around him he noticed he couldn’t see colors anymore. Everything looked like different types of gray to him. He got goosebumps. What would happen to him if this kept getting worse. He had to do something about it.
He figured an increase in Vitality would help him get rid of the weird state he was in. Ben mentally assigned some points to Vitality, when he stopped.
He noticed the revitalizing feeling spreading all over his body. It wasn't as strong as the flash of energy that entered his body, but it was refreshing nonetheless. But the headache didn’t go away. ‘What is going on.’
Realizing Vitality wasn’t going to work, he added a point to Endurance. However, that also didn’t help. His skin only felt slightly rougher to the touch. He then added a point to Intelligence and Wisdom each, but again nothing happened. He figured the headache might be magic-related, but it had no effect.
Then he went to Will. When he added a point he finally felt the headache subside a little. Realizing Will might be his saving grace, he started putting all his points into Will. He sighed out of relief when the color in his vision slowly returned as he put more points in. He continued putting points into Will until he ran out of points and looked at his status screen.
Name: Benjamin Neilson
Level: 10
Class: None
Titles: None
Constitution: Normal
Soul Manifestation: Soul Arm
Strength: 23
Dexterity: 13
Vitality: 12
Endurance: 11
Perception: 11
Intelligence: 11
Wisdom: 11
Will: 44
SP (+): 0
Wealth: 44 Bronze Coins
Skill(s): Piercing Grasp (Lv. 1)
His status seemed incredibly unbalanced with all the points into Will. But he felt like he had no choice. It was the only stat that could help him with his problem. The headache actually gave him an impending feeling of dread. Like if he didn’t do anything about it, he’d eventually die.
Checking upon himself, his vision had returned to normal and his headache was noticeably smaller. He should have felt relieved, but the fact that the headache was still there worried Ben. What if it got worse again. What if he just patched it up only for it to slowly get worse.
‘What are you getting distracted by hotshot’
Ben flinched. He knew he didn’t hear Nathan say anything, but his body somehow knew the message came from Nathan. Even though he was sure he didn’t hear him say anything. Rolo also didn’t react. Ben looked at Nathan who was staring back at him.
‘You heard me’
Ben was confused as he didn’t see Nathan’s lips moving at all.
‘’It’s a skill’’ Nathan said. ‘’Just a heads up. Don’t be surprised when I talk to you the next time.’’
Rolo turned to face Nathan with a questioning look, but soon after he had the same surprised expression Ben just had. Nathan probably signaled his thoughts to Rolo as well, to show what he could do.
‘’Please tell me you can’t hear my thoughts,’’ Ben said.
‘’There’s nothing interesting inside of your head anyway,’’ Nathan replied. ‘’I bet you don't have any thoughts. You didn’t even notice your arm pulsing just a second ago when you were staring at the air. You scared Rolo there for a second.’’
‘’Was it?’’ Ben asked.
Rolo nodded slightly blushing.
Ben inspected his soul arm again. It somehow felt denser. It wasn’t heavier, heck it felt lighter than his normal arm was before it got severed. But it was definitely more powerful. ‘Is that the effect of Will?’ Ben thought.
Perhaps Will affected his soul. If Will affected his soul manifestation, it could have a direct connection with his soul.
‘Does that mean… my soul is wounded?’ Ben thought. He put all his points into Will because it helped him recover from the weird colorlessness and his headache. If Ben’s hunches were correct, and his soul was truly wounded, he was in some deep shit. How would he go cure a soul? He didn’t have a clue.
Ben’s ruminating thoughts were disrupted by the sounds of wolves growling and people screaming. The closer they got to the end of the passage, the louder the sounds became.
‘What are you waiting for?! Go, you idiot.' Ben heard in his head. Ben started sprinting.