Keith travelled towards the gate of the Kavala Wastelands. For the past few days though, he had moved at a slower speed. Instead, he opted to train himself since he became awakened.
Surprisingly, he didn’t feel any problem with killing. The guilt he should have felt was not there. Whether he would feel guilt from killing another human was an entirely different problem.
During these few days, he had acquired useful knowledge from Elena and acclimated to having her constant chattering in his head. She was right; Artificial Intelligence was a term that was an insult to her. She was far superior and even had her own personality. Her voice was like white noise, after a few days together he could tune it out if she grew annoying.
Apparently the reason his Inherent Skill never awakened was because it mutated due to her. He had actually inherited that disgusting family’s skill. In Wraithos City, there were four families who were considered “Noble”.
The Windsor Family, their wealth was immeasurable. They owned the Heavenly Wind Auction House. As long as someone had enough money, they could acquire anything they wanted. Of course the money wasn’t paper money; rather it was mana gems or rare commodities used as mediums of exchange.
The Graves family was the most secretive. Not much was known about them. Their power was hidden; no one knew how powerful they were. Word of mouth and rumors stated they were in the assassination business, but no one was truly sure.
The Hellflame Family was the rowdiest of the four families. They were impulsive, violent, and chose to talk with their fists, magic, or skills rather than actually talking. In pure military might, they were probably the strongest of the four families by relying on their inherent skill, Hell Flame.
Finally, the Silvermoon Family, they were the family that Keith hated the most. Why? He was a useless young master who was banished from them for being weak. The Silvermoon Families greatest strength lied in politics and their Inherent Ability. They had connections everywhere and through the years they had gathered many favors that people owed them. They were essentially loan sharks that forced people into debt with them; of course it was debt with interest.
The Inherent Skill was known simply as The System. It was a one of a kind ability that was extremely versatile. There was not a known skill that had near as many functions as the System. The Silvermoon Family saw the world in a game-like state. Everything could be measured in a value of numbers. This was why the family became politicians. They could view others weaknesses and strengths. Viewing their own status, appraising others, they could do it all. Even when learning magic or martial arts, they could see what their level of proficiency was and how long before they advanced to a new level of strength.
Countless people wanted to marry into the Silvermoon family; they were ranked as the first out of the four families of Wraithos City. The children, if they were lucky, they would inherit both The System and whatever the other parents Inherent Skill was. Even men would choose to set aside their pride and marry into the Silvermoon Family, opting to change their last name.
As for why they were called the Silvermoon Family, when the family first rose to prominence it wasn’t because of The System. At the time it was a heavily guarded secret that the first Patriarch of the family hid as he amassed power. The true reason was the family had Martial Arts that were nearly as heaven-defying. It was known as the Silvermoon Arts; supposedly it was left behind by a Divine. With this skill used in tandem with The System, this was how the family achieved its present status. The Silvermoon Arts were closely guarded and only those within the family that were trusted could learn it.
Needless to say, Keith didn’t learn the Silvermoon Arts. He was cast out of the family at sixteen because he was not an “Awakened”. The family valued everything numerically due to The System. If a family member wasn’t of use, they were to be thrown out. But that was only if they didn’t know any valuable information. If that was the case, they were to be killed immediately under the excuse of treason against the family.
As for Keith, he was banished on his sixteenth birthday when it was safe to assume that he was an ordinary person. He was of no value; the family wasn’t going to waste time or money trying to let him learn Martial Arts or Magic if he didn’t have The System, or even the Inherent Skill of his mother’s family. He was not worth it to learn the Silvermoon Arts either.
Now he knew the reason that he didn’t awaken was thanks to Elena. It turns out he did inherit The System, however, it mutated. This was why he was thrown out. No one in the family ever failed to inherit The System, he was the first, or supposedly he was.
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Anthrus was Keith’s Grandfather from hundreds of years ago. He was a direct descendent, apparently from his mother’s side of the family. Elena had stated only someone who was a direct descendent could inherit his abilities. They must also meet certain criteria.
Elena was apparently his only disciple from when he was alive. Due to being a soul for hundreds of years, her strength slowly depleted and she had forgotten many things, such as her name. One of the few things that she remembered was her mission.
Just before he died, Anthrus asked Elena to look after the descendent who would inherit his position. She accepted without a single doubtful thought. This was the only request her master ever made, and she would never let him down. With his mastery over souls, he turned Elena into a soul body. But she was too weak to manifest right now. Then he split off a portion of his soul, and merged it with hers. This soul fragment held memories of all his abilities, weaknesses, and strengths. Anthrus sent Elena to Earth where his only descendent was. This person never even knew he was their ancestor. Although he was reclusive, Anthrus never failed to keep track of his descendants over the centuries.
Elena was tasked with finding someone who was a suitable inheritor. This person must view life and death fairly. A mindless killer was not someone who should have power over life and death. For hundreds of years she travelled from one descendent to another, lying dormant in their body in the hopes that they would be worthy of inheriting their ancestors mission. Sadly, she was running out of energy to transfer to the bodies of another descendent, none had met the requirements. Even if he was a master of souls, not even Anthrus could allow a soul to live on eternally by itself. If he was constantly using his powers to sustain the soul then it could maintain its form. But typically there were only a few options.
The soul would fizzle into nothingness, or they would await the trials of the Heaven’s where it would be decided if they could reincarnate or must suffer punishment before being allowed to reincarnate. Of course, if a soul dissipated they would simply cease to exist as if that person had never lived in the first place. The final option was the most dangerous. A soul could devour other souls in order to grow stronger and survive longer, long enough where they could forcefully steal the body of someone or something. However, this was taboo, and any soul discovered to have done this was usually punished with true death, they would never reincarnate, but instead would cease to exist.
When she was about to lose hope due to her energy nearly being depleted, Elena chanced upon Keith. His mother died in childbirth. Keith was now the only living descendent of Anthrus, his mother’s family was small albeit wealthy, and she was the only heiress to the company which was now in his father’s hands.
Keith’s mother was someone from an extremely wealthy merchant family, second only to the Windsor’s wealth, but they were not strong enough to be considered one of the great families of Wraithos City. His mother had no abilities. She was an ordinary person. Her parents did have Inherent Skills but she never inherited them, and it seemed that neither did Keith as well.
It was his mother’s dream to marry into the Silvermoon Family. With her beauty she did. Keith’s father never truly loved her though; he only married her so he could take over her families company. Once married, and after consummating the marriage, Keith’s mother became pregnant with him. Since that night, his father never even looked at his mother again, instead opting to play around with his other wives.
Personally Keith hated polygamy, it was not true love. Then again he didn’t know what true love was. But when he was born, apparently he was to be the last host for Elena. If he wasn’t worthy; she would dissipate upon his death.
The moment she entered his body Elena was surprised because the moment she linked to his soul, a mutation occurred. Her soul body and the memories that Anthrus sealed in her were forcefully merged into The System causing it to mutate. The System was sealed afterwards. A stipulation had been added in order to use The System. He had to kill and absorb the souls of the dead before it would activate.
All these years… for eighteen years he thought that he was useless. It turned out that he wasn’t. Now, unlike other members of the Silvermoon Family, his Inherent Skill was unique, it was superior to The System that the Silvermoon Family was known for.
It had no other purpose than to make Keith the perfect inheritor of Anthrus, his grandfather. Its goal was to let him successfully inherit Anthrus mission. What that mission was, he probably wouldn’t know for a long, long time.
Whether it was fate or something else, Keith didn’t care. He didn’t particularly feel any kinship to Anthrus, but despite this he felt he had a purpose in life.
The Silvermoon Family threw him out? Why should he care? They showed their true colors, they weren’t a true “Family”. There was no doubt that if they knew his mother’s and his ancestry, they would never banish him. They would probably expend all methods to nurture him to be the inheritor of the family, becoming its patriarch. As long as they could use him to learn the secrets of one of the four Divine Pillars, they would never let him go. This was a secret that must be kept at all costs.
They weren’t worth it. No, even though he didn’t know his Grandfather at all, he wanted to inherit his position. Perhaps it was filial piety or something else, he didn’t know. But one thing was unmistakable, he was curious as to what this “Mission” was, and he also wanted to know why the four most powerful Divine Monarchs suddenly disappeared. It was such a shocking event that even mortals knew about it.
Although it was a goal that was far off in the future, Keith didn’t care. Now he had a reason to gain power, to become unrivalled on the battlefield. Not much was known about Anthrus except for the fact that he was the Grim Reaper. No one that fought him ever lived. Naturally if he was going to inherit his position, Keith felt that he must not be any worse than Anthrus. He must become unrivalled if he wants to be the Monarch of Life and Death.