Leon groaned as he felt his Mana core expand, sending fiery power into his veins.
He had been training his Mana for around a week straight, occasionally stopping to exercise.
[Mana Cores: 2/7]
Leon grinned at the notification. After hard work, he had managed to gain another Mana core. However, he felt the next five would be almost impossible to get.
Standing up, he activated his AI.
“Sir? What will you wear today?” The AI’s crisp voice cut through the air.
Leon pondered for a moment. “Just give me a shirt and pants.”
“Very well.” With a clanging sound, the clothes dropped from a vent in the ceiling.
“Give me a towel too.”
“Very well.”
Wiping off his sweat he looked at his muscles. They were much more defined, with him being able to complete the training regiment that he had struggled so much with at first with ease.
Slipping on the black shirt and brown pants, he looked in the mirror.
‘All done.’
Activating his Genesis Watch (the phone-like hologram thingies), Leon called Clement.
Soon, the old demon’s face appeared on the screen.
“Are you ready?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. A maid should be waiting for you. Just follow her. Hopefully, we can solve your taste problems.”
Cutting off the call, Leon left his apartment building, remembering to activate his mask Skill.
[You have activated the Skill [Hunter’s Seal]
A maid of small stature was out there, gesturing for Leon to follow her.
Both leaving the building, they headed out into the metropolis, Leon wincing at the loud noise.
After walking a bit, they both arrived at the hospital where Clement had been after he had fought the duel.
Going in, the maid approached the counter.
“I have an appointment for Mescha.”
The nurse nodded, looking at her Genesis Plate.
“Go to room 145. Witch Rafael will meet with you soon.”
Nodding, the maid and Leon went up to the room, the maid leaving shortly after.
‘Rafael? Why is a demon named after an angel?’
Although Leon didn't know much about angels and demons, he knew that Rafael was the archangel of healing. Though it made sense, after all, that a witch in this world was the same as a doctor, it still felt rather weird.
Sitting on the cot, he looked at the room. Sniffing the air, he again wondered why it smelled like silver.
Suddenly, the door opened, letting in a woman clothed in a black cloak, with her face hidden by the shadows of the hood.
Wordlessly, the witch looked at Leon, and then grasping a scalpel, cut her skin, letting black blood dribble into a clay bowl.
All Leon could do was make a mental cross in his mind.
‘I thought the Inner Districts were advanced?’
The witch, taking the clay bowl, did some kind of Skill, letting a weird green liquid appear out of the air and into the bowl.
Soon, the smell of blood was replaced with the familiar smell of silver.
‘So that’s why.’
Then sighing, the witch began an incantation, her voice surprisingly pure and soft, almost like it belonged to a young girl.
“Gthro osshi zyakvyg zpersvekj, gthr osshi iejiir lpersvekvor, vur gthro osshi zerjex zhigshafaerr.”
And then, Leon felt something weird, almost like something was binding.
It felt like locks were snapping on his soul.
And then the witch poured a bit of the connotation onto his head, letting the blood flow down.
[Your soul has been bonded into this world]
[Synchronization: 0%----[10%]---------------------------------------100%]
Seeing the notification, Leon’s mind began running. ‘Is this a bad or good thing?’
However, his thoughts were cut short as he felt like the locks on his soul had just been truly locked by a key.
Finished, the witch bowed, walking calmly out of the room.
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Nodding silently, Leon took the stairs down, and out of the hospital. Then, seeing a stand filled with towels, he bought one for one Rener. Then, wiping off the blood, he walked over to another stand.
Alecto had given him an allowance, so he had some money, which made the smell of the tantalizing pork even better.
Looking at the menu, Leon chose a dish that looked a bit like Mongolian pork over what looked to be a hearty brown stew.
Paying the stand money, he brought the dish to his nose.
The smell alone made him almost pass out.
Sitting down on a bench, he sunk his spoon into the soup and put a fatty piece of pork on top of the soup.
Slowly, raising his mask until his mouth was visible, he silently prayed to the Gods that he would be able to taste it.
Then, he raised it to his lips, slurping it up.
Immediately, a flavor he had not tasted in months exploded in his mouth, making his stomach gurgle in anticipation.
The soup was a salty and cozy liquid that tasted almost like miso soup. The meat was the best part, complimenting the soup with its savory and slightly sweet smoky flavor.
Feeling tears coming into his eyes, he went to wipe it off, only remembering that he had his mask on.
‘Ah… so this is life.’
Finishing the bowl quickly, Leon looked over at the synchronization screen. Unlike his other notifications, this one had still not gone away, remaining in place.
[Synchronization: 0%--------------------------------[80%]-----------100%]
‘80%? Should I be dreading what’ll happen?’
Honestly, though, Leon wasn’t that worried. After all, the entities that had put him here had already given him a quest. There had to be another reason for this synchronization.
‘I better get back to the apartment. I don’t want to be in public when it happens.’
Throwing the paper bowl and plastic spoon away, he went back to his apartment and lay on the couch as he looked at the notification’s number slowly going up.
Soon, the number reached 100%, which caused the screen to disappear, being replaced by another one.
[Synchronization has been canceled]
Staring at the sudden screen, he blinked in surprise.
‘Why was it canceled?’
Waving his hand in front of the notification, Leon tried to see if there was any hidden message, but true to its word, he had not noticed any change within him.
Shrugging his shoulders in confusion, Leon walked out of his apartment, heading down to the gym.
‘Ah well, maybe it was for the best.’
[You have activated the Skill [Dimensional Storage]
As the portal activated, Leon pulled out his falchion, the blade whistling as he did so.
With his Genesis Watch, he called for the AI, setting the training difficulty to level 2. This would mean that the dummies that would appear would be using level 2 fighting styles.
Although Leon had only trained with level 1, he was now sure that he could at least manage this much.
Slowly, the dummies appeared, their impassive wooden faces having red target marks painted on them.
Positioning the falchion in front of him, Leon rushed forward, attempting to catch the dummies off-guard.
However, the dummies reacted quickly, sending multiple cuts into the air, which Leon blocked swiftly with his sword.
Using his momentum, he hit a dummy in the head, slicing it clean off. However, as he did so, multiple dummies punched on him, their blades flashing.
[Cosmos’s First Step: Heat Death]
Using the Skill, Leon sent the dummies back, most crashing hard into the walls.
Not losing his chance, he sent several more heads flying until he was pushed back as the remaining few began activating their level 2 fighting styles.
Since most level 4 and lower styles were mass-produced by many teachers, many were the same. Therefore, the dummies were using the [Silent Paths] art, which was a style that mainly focused on powerful but quick feints and tricks meant to drive the opponent back.
Luckily, Leon’s Mana awareness had grown significantly, helped by the fact that he had two Mana cores. Seeing pure Mana coiling at the edge of the swords, and making calculations on where it was directed, he could easily dodge the attacks.
And with this strategy, he dispatched more of the dummies, leaving none left.
Breathing heavily, he returned his sword to the storage, while taking a deep drink from a fountain that was inside the gym.
Wiping the water off, he returned to the fight zone, putting the level to 3.
However, he also made it that the targets this time were low-level demonic creatures, which had been captured for this very purpose.
‘Let's see if my [Mesmeric Trance] works on creatures.’
The creatures appeared, looking like the Lost Ones, but these had sharp horns that stretched to the ceiling. They growled at Leon, appearing to show great disdain towards him.
Tensing his Mana cores, he prepared for the Skill.
[You have activated the Skill [Mesmeric Trance]
Immediately, Leon felt a pressure on his head bearing down, as the creatures suddenly seemed to snap their mouths shut, looking at Leon with slightly clouded eyes.
‘Oh? So it does work.’
“Uhm… run in place.”
Nodding in reply, the creatures began running, a rather funny image as they seemed as if they didn’t know how to do the thing he had asked them to do.
Seeing his experiment work, Leon released the Skill.
Then quickly, he again grabbed the falchion from the [Dimensional Storage]. The reason he had put it back in was that the Storage could repair or clean anything, which made it one of the best utility tools.
He looked at the blade, pleased to find that the wood dust that had previously coated it was gone.
As the creatures charged at him, he dove into the fray, avoiding the sharp gnashing teeth. Using his sword, he tried to recreate what he had seen the late Archlord Belial do, the style that had him use his scythe almost like a fluid being.
Trying to imagine his arms as a part of the sword, he attempted to become an impenetrable tornado, but failed, as multiple bites appeared in his arm.
Gritting his teeth in frustration, he backed off, dislodging a couple of legs and heads in the process.
This time, he tried to do a combo with his First Step, activating it. As soon as the creatures were sent flying back, Leon propelled forward, mortally injuring half of them with a clean sweep.
Quickly, he also finished the rest of them with bashes to their skulls. Seeing the tiny robots come to clean up the blood, he put his sword back into the storage to clean off all the blood.
Then, he wiped off his sweat, heading back up to his room.
As he lay on the couch, breathing heavily, he realized how bored he was.
‘It’s my first break in such a long time.’
Since he had practiced his fighting and Mana, he decided to work on unlocking his Second Step.
Since his Skill Tree was related to the Cosmos, Leon inferred that he should learn more about that subject.
Activating his Genesis Watch, he once again called Clement.
“Ugh. What do you want? I’m in an important meeting.”
Leon rolled his eyes. Clement was very important, with him always boasting about how important his meetings were. Honestly, though, Leon could tell how bored Clement was.
“Is there a library here somewhere?”
Clement nodded. “There's one next to the gym. How did you not know?”
Sticking up the middle finger, Leon shut off the Genesis Watch, heading back to the stairs, singing, “I’m so bored… I’m so bored… so bored….”
As he passed the gym, he realized that there was a small door nestled into the dark corner. Opening it, he stepped into a small, dark, dusty library. Walking on the creaky wood, he began to survey the books when a voice came from behind.
“Who is this fucker?”
Leon spun around, raising his fists, but realized that there was no one there. Peeking out from behind a bookshelf, he looked at three demons who looked to be around Leon’s age holding a smaller one in a chokehold.
[You have activated Hunter’s Seal]
As the mask covered his face, he looked on as the three demons began to kick around the boy, taunting him.
‘Ugh. I can’t study with this noise.’
Leon peered closely at the bullies. They carried themselves almost similarly to the punks back on Earth.
‘So even this place has shit like that.’
Sighing, he activated his Mana core and stepped out of the shadows.
‘At least it’ll be good practice.’