Time Is a fickle thing. It accelerates and slows down at its own whim. Yet that dilation is so impossible for the mortal mind to comprehend let alone view. Whenever time gets involved you know that it's going to be wild. It either fucks you over, like when you're taking that extended test and it feels like it takes a century (although most likely it's only a couple hours -- all the time it should) or when you're having a great moment and it seems to pass by like a small twig being rushed away by the force of a tsunami.
For Emmanual, it wasn't a matter of how fast time moved, but rather the opposite. Whenever he encountered a difficult challenge, time always slowed to a snail's pace. And in particular life-threatening moments or crucial times when he had to react, time always seemed to move so much slower.
The Greenie, slow as molasses dripping from a pot in winter, attempting to cut off Emmanuel‘s head was proof of that. As the sword slowly descended it allowed him just enough time for his mind to contemplate such things as time and any number of other complexities of the universe.
For God knows what reason he decided to focus on the blade; it looked to be made out of the night sky. The blade had no rust on it, no chips on its edges, no marring. The cross guard, in comparison to the blade, was, well, ordinary. It was simply a slightly curved metal bar with some inscriptions on it. The handle was about the same size as his former blade but instead of the ordinary brown leather wrapping on the hilt, this one was wrapped in crimson leather. Finally, the pummel was a rather large opal that glittered in the light of the sunset.
His examination of the blade was cut short as it had just about reached his neck.
“So it comes to this,” he sighed. He always knew that he wouldn't die of old age or sickness. Something deep inside him always knew that he would die by some other means. When he was in that thunderstorm he thought that was the thing that would kill him. But miraculously, he somehow survived and, as a result, was left wondering what would take him out. so he scoured the land searching for his calling and his purpose. And found nothing Instead he conformed to fit into the daily monotony of life
That monotony evolved into boredom, then complacency, and finally into bone-weary tiredness. He was tired of the day-to-day, of getting up and going to work. He was tired of the pain, he was tired of the people, he was tired of everything. For one last time, he closed his eyes and accepted his end.
But just as he felt the slightest pinprick of pain on his neck, the sword stopped. Reopening his eyes he saw the blade just about to cut off his head. Somehow something, or rather someone, had stopped it. His right arm, or what was left of it, dangled now from his shoulder socket.
To block the blow his hand had sacrificed a large chunk of its flesh and as a result, the sword was stuck in the bone of his arm. And from the wound, the blood started to trickle, then flow, then exit in a torrent.
The tang of iron on the roof of his mouth caused one last memory to flood over him.
It was midsummer. The sky was a beautiful iridescent blue without a cloud in sight. Frankly, the day was too beautiful for a death. But the world continued on, uncaring of mortal sensibilities.
He was inside his grandfather's house. He had just graduated college a couple of weeks earlier and decided to go home one last time before finally beginning work the following fall.
The room he was in was well decorated with old paintings and, of course, an assortment of weapons.
There was a rather large, ornate bed in the middle of the room. On the bed lay his grandfather, nearing his end. His grandfather let out a cough and a little bit of blood spilled onto his chin.
“Boy! Come closer. “Whatever challenges you inevitably face down the road, just remember these things: First, If you actually kept up.. ** Cough, cough ** “Hmmm, your training, you'll be fine. Second, if you somehow come across something that you can't ** huff** handle, keep pushing. Finally, and most importantly, I’m proud of you.”
And with that last statement, his grandfather passed.
The words his grandfather had spoken had been pushed to the back of his mind to protect himself. But his body, as a testament to the man that forged it, didn't forget. Unfortunately, his body -- in its deprived state -- couldn't hold out much longer.
The arm holding back his doom began to quiver. But this time his mind did not curl up. This time he did not accept his inevitable fate but instead rattled at the chains. Before he had nothing to drive him forward, no purpose; but the memory of his grandfather allowed him to remember a promise. That he would push until he inevitably rose to the top. It didn't matter what atrocities or disasters he would leave in his wake, he would ascend.
But there was nothing he could do. His body was on its last legs; his will had been spent. Not even the drive to keep going could keep him alive.
But then he remembered that thing. The thing that had reached out in the dark, the thing that allowed him to win the fight against the wolf. That thing, deep inside him, remembered that promise. And it rattled at its cage. The cage that he had placed on it the night his family died. The cage that his grandfather prepared to open by tempering his body. A cage that had shown its cracks when he had fought the wolf. The cage that now, with the key of a promise, he had long forgotten how to open.
*Ding*
You have created a Legacy
For this achievement, you have gained the title Legacy Progenitor.
*Ding*
You have gained the Legacy of the Cataclysmic Swordsman
You are the vessel of destruction. With your blade, you can cut through mountains. With your magic, you can annihilate your foes. Let none stand in your way, for you are the Cataclysm.
*Ding*
You have gained the skills of swordsmanship, fire magic, lightning magic,
and mana manipulation.
*Ding*
You have inherited the legacy of the Iron Body.
The holder of this legacy has increased physical toughness.
For this, you have gained the title Heritage.
*Ding*
You have gained the skills
Iron Bones and Iron Skin.
*Ding*
For enduring more than 5 days of torture you have gained the title Beaten but not Broken.
*Ding*
Due to the rigorous stress your mind has experienced it has been greatly enhanced. You have gained the title Fortified Mental Foundation.
*Ding*
For having a combined total of more than 250 stats before the F rank you've been granted the Lesser Prodigy title.
*Ding*
For having a combined total of more than 500 stats before the F rank you've been granted the True Prodigy title.
Not having time to think about the changes to his body Emmanuel just slammed his two loose attribute points into his Constitution.
Then a wave of power smashed into him. The wave of power he experienced when he killed the wolf felt like he was overdosing on steroids; this one felt magnitudes stronger as if he now held the power of the sun within him. His body creaked as a wave of sheer force poured through him. He let out a scream so guttural and bass that it even made the Greenie about to strike him jerk back in surprise.
Luckily for Emmanuel, the Greenie pulled back hard enough that its blade, with a wet squelch, fell out of his arm and hit the deck of the platform with a loud thud. The blade in his wound had somewhat negated the torrent of blood flowing from his body. But now, with its removal, the blood exodus reached a whole new level.
Although his body protested, he reached for the blade. As firmly as he could he gripped the handle of the blade. Using the sword as a lever he pulled himself onto his knees. Biting back the scream bubbling up from his gut, he looked around for a target.
The two Greenies that had dragged him here had already jumped off the platform and seemingly disappeared into the crowd. That left the impeccably well-dressed Greenie and the one in heavy armor.
Seeing as the latter was protected by full plate, he doubted he could kill it or at least kill it in a timely manner. That left the noble. Unfortunately, there was a rather large issue. How was he going to kill the thing? He was practically immobile with his legs in the state they were.
He supposed he could slowly hobble forward using the sword as a cane. But he doubted that tactic would work. Instead, he began to pull mana from his core. Before when he pulled from his mana stores it felt like a small stream. But now they felt like a raging river in spring. The mana was also far easier to control than before; now he just had to nudge it, ever so slightly, in the right direction.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
With this new control, the blade quickly started to hum then a faint mist appeared. Not a second later the spectral edge appeared and it grew, and grew, and grew until it reached 2 m past the tip of the blade and 50 centimeters past its edge.
And with as much force as he could produce from his core, he swung his entire body in a circle. This accomplished two things. First, it made the blade spin around. Second, it launched him into the air.
Fortunately for him, his blade was able to bisect the Greenie nobleman horizontally, resulting in its intestines spilling out into an impressively large, steaming pile.
But his sword didn’t stop. It continued its ark until it reached the armored Greenie. To his utter surprise, it actually cut right through its armor. Emmanuel hacked off one leg followed by the armor on the second leg.
This resulted in the Greenie, from the force of the blow, being catapulted into the crowd. Which with seemingly no mercy the crowd tore the armored greenie like rabid animals. He winced at the brutality the Greenies displayed. but was promptly reminded of his situation.
Due to the force of his swing, Emmanuel also catapulted himself off the platform and began hurting gearing toward the crowd. But before he could be devoured by the crowd, the system once again saved his ass.
*Ding*
You have killed Goblin Baron level 15; you have gained XP.
*Ding*
You have killed a Goblin Commander level 16; you have gained XP.
*Ding*
The splitting strike has reached a level 9.
*Ding*
Splitting strike has reached a level 10.
You can now evolve splitting strike. Please select the evolutionary path in the skill menu.
*Ding*
You have reached level 10. Your stats have increased and you have two stats points to allocate.
As you cannot level up further, all excess XP has been lost.
Please select a class to level up further.
*Ding*
As you have reached level 10, you can now evolve.
Would you like to evolve?
Yes No
Seeing as he had no other options (considering he wanted to live), he selected the yes button. This time, luckily, the system didn't send another prompt asking if he was sure. Instead, he felt energy course through him. Unlike mere moments ago, the energy didn't make him want to scream; in fact, it didn't hurt him at all. Instead, it felt like the healing potions the Goblins fed him. Except far greater. It felt like the heavens themselves reached down and plucked him out of his cradle and attended to all of his needs.
His skin started to glow a golden hue as a comforting aura surrounded his presence. His legs snapped back into place. His bruises and cuts and scars sunk into his flesh. His missing eyes seemed to appear out of nowhere refilling his empty eye socket.
The bone on his left arm stabbed through the knob of an arm. Forming the skeletal structure of the remainder of a forearm and then his hand. The tendons surrounding the bone followed his muscle and then it was all smoothed over by skin.
And just as the green fingers started to graze him, he got yet another notification.
*Ding*
You have evolved to F rank. You have gained the title of The First Step.
The legacy of the Cataclysmic Swordsmen has advanced.
Quickly processing the information, he shoved it to the back of his mind promising himself he would go over it later when he wasn't in mortal danger. And just as the first Goblin got a hold of him, he moved. Swinging his fully recovered legs down he completely obliterated the skull and brain of one of the many goblins in the crowd. With the momentum from his kick, he was able to right himself and land on his feet.
He was once again thankful for his instincts: he had kept a tight grip on the sword throughout the evaluation process. With a breath in and out he began to carve through the Goblins like a scythe through wheat.
He now realized why some of the Goblins were significantly smaller than the others. The larger ones had evolved to G grade. Unfortunately, no such Goblins appeared in the crowd
This made the fight, frankly, rather dull. A couple of hundred corpses later he stood in the plaza alone.
*Ding*
You have killed 423 goblins of various levels.
You have been awarded XP. All XP has been lost.
Please select a class to advance further.
Frustrated by the message, he decided to finally investigate his status to figure out what was going on.
Name:
Emmanuel Agerico
Level:
10 G
Class:
Warrior (Upgrades Available)
Stats
Strength: 93
Constitution: 81
Dexterity: 78
Agility: 73
Perception: 69
Wisdom: 95
Intelligence: 101
Unassigned attribute points: 4
skills
Swordsmanship:
Rank novice 1
Fire Magic:
Rank novice 1
Lightning Magic:
Rank Novice 1
Mana Manipulation:
Rank Novice 1
Iron Bones:
Rank novice 1
Iron skin:
Rank novice 1
Class Skills:
Splitting strike:
Rank novice 10 (Upgrades Available)
The Gift of Gab:
Rank universal
Analyze: Rank universal
Titles
Big Shot:
+5 to all Attributes
Mover and Shaker: +10 to all attributes
System Heretic: +5% to all attribute points
Beaten but not Broken: +2 to all attributes
Forged Mental Foundation: +20 to intelligence and wisdom,
Heritage: +5 to all attributes
Legacy Progenitor: +10% to all attributes
Lesser Prodigy: +10 to all attributes
True Prodigy: +10% to all attributes
The First Step:+ 25% to all attributes
Legacies
The Cataclysmic Swordsman: F
Grants to the holder of this Legacy
+25% to intelligence Agility
+15% to Strength, Constitution, and Wisdom
+10% to Dexterity, Perception
Increase the leveling speed.
Sword adjacent skills increased by 250% with 75% greater effect
Fire magic and adjacent skills increased by 175% with 50% greater effect
Lightning magic and adjacent skills increased by 175% with 50% greater effect
Iron-Forged Body: G
+5% to all stats
The first thing he noticed was his monstrous stats. This was, of course, all explained by the plethora of new titles he had achieved. He also noticed that instead of the normal two unassigned attribute points, he had four.
There were so many things that he had to do, but the first thing was to upgrade his class.
Although it had only happened a couple of times, he was still peeved by the loss of XP.
After all, he had worked so hard to get to those levels, and for all that XP to just vanish felt wasteful. So for once he did the sane thing and brought up his choices to upgrade his class.