--Somewhere around Day 85--
It was really intense. I had no idea what was going on. At first, I was mad. Really mad. They had killed one of our own. We liked to call him Gentle. He was very gentle. Then, all of a sudden, he wanted out. This was our home though. He said that one of the caretakers have told him about the the soft breeze of beaches. The warm heat of the sun. The feeling of sand between... Toes? Why would you want sand between your toes anyways? Gentle still wanted to go to a beach. What was a beach?
Apparently a beach was a land filled with sand, near an ocean. An ocean was filled with water. Lot's of it. It was beautiful, and very relaxing there. Food could be solved by palm trees. They had things called Coconuts growing on them, they could be eaten, but very chewy. There was also water inside them too. Though, why drink it if we could just drink water from the ocean, can't we?
Gentle always played around. He always seemed to pop out of nowhere. He said it was his "skill". I don't know what a skill is.
In the end, Gentle still wanted out of our home to go see the beach. Though I guess that wasn't all of it. A01 had a role in his behavior. I say A01 is a bad influence, though he does sometimes make a good point. But not all the time.
A01 often talked about leaving our precious home, and Gentle hanged out with A01 a bunch in the courtyard. What I still don't get, is why they would want to leave? Sure, when it is "eating time" it hurts a lot. I want to eat what the caretakers eat. Not, "troll blood" and "snake soup". It hurts to eat that. I also don't like "mana", I want to drink water. Not mana. But as least we have something to eat and drink.
Some of the caretakers were talking to each other about a [Demon King] who ravaged the lands. Talking about different worlds and portals and how they want to destroy everything. If a creature like that is roaming outside home, who's to say the beaches are still there?
Our home is safe. It's great. It has it's shortcomings, but I will live here for the rest of my life. That's what I thought.
It all started with the mutilated corpse of Gentle. Outrage occurred across all of our houses. The bars of our houses were the only thing stopping us from ripping our own caretakers into bloody pieces. However, I needed to think logically. Gentle was killed... Because he apparently helped A01 escape? How is Gentle supposed to see the beaches? Feel the cool breeze? Feel the hot warmth? Eat coconuts by the shore and get sand between his toes? These pieces of shit, the caretakers AND A01. Those fuckers can go to hell. They need to die.
Then the whole world collapsed. Our home was reduced to rubble in a great light. When I awoke, I was underneath mountains of rubble. Purple goo was everywhere. When I touched it with my hand, my hand melted. It also hurt. A lot.
"Are you okay?"
A strange figure approached me. However, my mind immediately knew it was one of us. It was a man who seemed slightly taller than me. He had an empty expression, but his eyes were burning.
"My name is Meru."
"Meru? Ah. Name. I have no name."
Nobody paid enough attention to me to grant me a name. I wasn't a "prominent test subject" so I didn't get a cool code name. My characteristics were too bland and boring. Nothing about me was particularly amazing.
"It is okay," Meru then crouched down a picked up a corpse. It seemed to be one of our caretakers.
"My name was not given. I took it. Here." Meru pointed at the corpse and I realized who this caretaker was. It was actually a Deputy Caretaker, or whatever that meant. This caretaker often interacted with us the most. We knew her name was Meru. Her body was completely mangled and weird purple goo covered her everywhere. But it also seemed her head was cracked open and her insides were ripped out.
"What happened to her?"
"I killed her. I then took her name was a prize."
"How did you kill a caretaker, they're like gods!"
"I used a skill."
"How do I use a skill?" For the first time, I questioned about this 'skill' and how to use it. Before, when Gentle used to talk about skills, I used to tune them out. Skills made Gentle go into a long and lengthy rambling but I never listened to him. Skills might've been how he turned out that way...
Nah, it was definitely that fucker, A01.
Meru then finally explained how to use a skill. However, it really just opened up even more questions for myself.
"You first have to say [Status] to see all of your information."
"Mhm. [Status]."
Then a translucent blue... "window" appeared before me. Well, it seemed like a very flat window.
Name: [To be Decided]
Species: Immortalian
Total Level: 1 (-500% EXP Gain. Can be diluted)
It was completely foreign to me. And yet, felt like home.
"Where are the skills?"
"It is in the [Skill List]."
"Oh. Do I say it? [Skill List]."
Skill List:
[Immortality] Lvl. 1, [Immortal Telepathy] Lvl. 1, [The Solution] Lvl. 1
These are the so-called skills that have eluding me. It feels mind blowing to read these. Immortality? Telepathy? And, a solution? What are these? Some of them are obvious, but what solution?
[The Solution]: The solution to everything. Will generate a skill that has limitless potential. The skill will not have a MAX LEVEL. The generated skill will start off weak at Lvl. 1. This skill will then be locked until next Evolution Point. (SPECIES EXCLUSIVE SKILL)
Oh. I see. These is how Gentle always seemed to appear out of nowhere. So if I use this skill, I gain another skill? That seems easy enough. But...
"How do I use [The Solution] skill?"
"From what I've gathered, [The Solution] skill can be used just by saying it's name, with the intent of using it,"
"Well, it seems all of them work that way. [The Solution]!"
Congratulations! You've gained the skill, [Harden]. The skill, [The Solution], will now be locked and cannot be used until next Evolution Point.
Hmm.
"What skill did you get? I got the skill [Claws]."
"I have the skill [Harden], though I wonder what it does. I guess it hardens?"
[Harden]: It hardens your body and makes it as tough as a rock! Probably. Your skin will be hardened but your flesh and bones will not. It will at higher levels though.
Ah, an explanation. That's nice.
"Oh, your hand is gone. You have [Immortality] so it's fine, but you'll need to die in order for your hand to regenerate again."
I stood there for a second. "I see," then I looked around for a decent-sized rock to bang my head open and kill me.
"Don't bother, I picked up this pointy thing from the caretakers."
Meru was talking about a sword. I too, used to call it a pointy thing. Till' I heard the caretakers talk about how they left the sword in one of our kind's body. I should've known already about the [Immortality] since I'm alive under all this rubble. And when our caretakers had discovered it, they weren't exactly all hush hush about it. Probably a bad idea.
"Meru, please cut off my head."
"Sure thing."
I kneeled down, ready for his sword to cut me. A clumsy slash cut through my head. It was the wrong way, I meant for him to cut me by the neck and take off head, but instead my head was cleaved in half. It still works either way. I'm just not sure which one would've been less painful.
After the extreme surge of pain, my world went black. Then instantly back to light. I was still kneeling before Meru, just this time, I had my head intact, and my missing arm is back. I thank Meru for letting me know about this.
"What does your skill [Claws] do?"
"It needs the use of mana, and forms a pair of claws on my hands. It's like, really sharp mana nails. It also floats right above my real nails."
"That sounds cool," At least cooler than my skill. I mean, not to be ungrateful, but [Harden] sort of sounds useless. Considering that I'm [Immortal]. Wait, not really. They said if they remove the Ego then we die. Just like with Gentle and that other guy before Gentle. I don't remember who it was.
"Ah, friend, what should I call you?"
That question quickly caught me off guard. I mean, a name isn't that big of a deal, but having one would feel nice. However, how would I get a name? Unless...
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
"Can we find a caretaker and take there name?"
"Sure. That's what I did."
In actuality, it wasn't that hard to find a caretaker. It's just that half of there body was crushed and purple goo seemed to be moving around there body. Most were dead, but we found one crawling away from some rubble. The caretaker's legs were completely gone. Only the torso, arms, and head remained. It seemed the lower half of the caretaker's jaw was missing. Purple goo seemed to be dripping from there mouth so who knows.
"Meru, what do we do now?"
"Ah... I just killed them. Just, gave them a good scratch. Then they died."
"I see, but uh, I don't know the name of this caretaker."
"How about we asked," Meru back at it again with his brilliant idea. Asking is always a good idea. So I just walked up to the crawling half-dead man and asked them a question.
"What is your name?"
"Ghff... Shulk!"
Then they vomited blood all over me. Now I know his name. Shulk! Or maybe it was Ghff? No, Ghff sounds like the vomit noises. Shulk must've been his name.
"H-help..."
Oh he talked.
"Is Shulk your name?"
"Wh-what? Jus-just please help me. I'm losing to-too much blood."
"How are you able to talk fine without your lower jaw."
"Ma-mana transmission. H-hey, get that healing potion i-i-in my pocket."
"First, tell me your know."
"I-it's SHLUCK!"
Ew, he vomited again. So much blood. It stained all over my clothes. I wonder how these are still intact. Oh, the man is dying. I think he said it was Shluck, or Shulk. Eh, Shulk sounds better.
"Hey, Meru, do I just, kill him?"
"Yeah, just use your [Harden]."
"Okay, I'll assume I just say it with intent. [Harden],"
Then I felt all of my... thingies, squeeze. My skin seemed like rock. Though underneath this hard exterior was an extremely soft interior compared to my skin.
"Now just hit him."
"w-what are you guys talking about? Hey! Get some medical personnel to come here and a-aid me! I saw s-some test su-sub-subjects escape."
Then I smashed him with my fist. It collided with his skull and I heard a distinct cracking noise. Then I smacked him again. And again. And again. And I continued to smack him. It was like I was holding a rock in my hand. Eventually, my hand became bloody, and his head became unrecognizable.
So, it turns out [Harden] could be used as a weapon. I didn't of that.
"Wait, what was his name?"
"His name was Shulk."
"Hm. Then I guess your name is now Shulk."
I surprisingly felt happy at having a name. It made me feel more happier than I thought. To have a core identity. Huh.
You leveled up! You gained a new class!
Alert! Your [Status] menu has updated a critical point!
Name: Shulk (NEW!)
Species: Immortalian
Total Level: 2 (-500% EXP Gain. Can be diluted)
Class? What is class?
"Hey, Meru, what is class?"
"Ah, did you also get that message too? I don't actually know."
"Maybe it's like the [Skill List], so we just have to say [Class List]."
[Class] [Level] Immortalian 2
Oh? Isn't Immortalian my species? Why is it a class? What is a class? Like learning? Like knowledge? So, my Immortalian knowledge is now Level 2? Nice!
"Hey, Shulk, did it appear?"
"Oh, it did."
"Really? [Class List]. Oh it did, I have 3 levels in Immortalian."
Well, now that I've obtained a name. What else could I do? I could, maybe, find a new home. The caretakers weren't all that nice. Seeing as I've just killed one. Maybe, I could go to a beach. That would be very nice.
"Shulk, do you want to find more caretakers? I want to take revenge."
"Hm. Sure. Why not, sounds fun."
Yeah, although I don't share the same sentiments of revenge like Meru, I think killing more caretakers would be better than aimlessly wandering around. And so, me and Meru left to go hunt for other caretakers.
----------------------------------------
--Somewhere around Day 89--
We've gathered a group of about 1,000 strong. And even more. Most of the caretakers are dead. The only threat now is those dark creatures roaming around. There is a strange, "poison", that still stays in the body even after death. Some of us are either dying over and over again, or never wake up again. However, we're still collecting all of the bodies of our comrades who haven't woken up. We believe that they will wake up eventually.
Some other Immortalians shared some information. [Attribute List].
[Attributes]
[Level]
Agility
17
Strength
18
Intelligence
11
Dexterity
10
Vitality
16
Endurance
17
Luck
2
The [Attribute List] is a list of basically your combat power, or something like that. There are some strange terms I still don't understand. However, it is all in good time.
Our team have hunted down many caretakers, though, because there is so many of us I usually never get a hit in. Some of the members are a bit too chaotic. But it's fine. Meanwhile, a lot of the Immortalians are actually camping outside the ruined mountain. We've talked with them, and once we're finished with killing all of our caretakers, they will leave.
If anyone one of us wants to join them, we'll have to quickly hurry to there camp. We also keep finding lone Immortalians still wandering the mountain. A lot of our species is trapped under the rubble. If there is some piece of stone still piercing there body, they won't wake up. A sort of team as been created to excavate our kind out of the mountain and return to camp. No fights have broken out surprisingly, I thought we all would've started killing each other. Thankfully, the hostility is still concentrated towards the caretakers. I don't know why, but the rage of Gentle being killed is still fresh in there minds. Though, none of them blame A01, that bastard.
Speaking of A01, I haven't seen him at all in the crowd. Maybe he's already left the mountain and has gone exploring. Ugh, I hate that man. My hate for the caretakers are long gone. After seeing that helpless caretaker get crushed beneath my fists, I realize they're not that big of a threat.
Although, all of the caretakers we've found have been heavily injured, it still felt good to kill them. Then emptiness. A lot of other members feel the same way, we're now just hunting down the rest of the caretakers as like a duty. We must do it. For all the lives that could be lost, and were lost.
----------------------------------------
---A few minutes before the Void Creatures return with the "caretakers"---
"So, Shulk. You need to make a decision."
"Sigh. This is hard."
"It doesn't need to be. It shouldn't be."
I was standing across from Meru in a small little make-shift room. I don't really know how we made this. Probably one of the many skills we have.. We were clearly in disagreement in something. During the days we excavated the Immortals out, we recovered close to a 100,000 Immortals. However, the mountain was too big and too corrupted to continue digging further. We didn't have the right skills, we couldn't last in the "Void Fog" which appeared out of nowhere. None of our members woke up after breathing it in. We suspect poison so we took there bodies with us until the poison get's filtered out. All in all, probably a lot more Immortals are trapped in that mountain. We'll eventually come back though. Once we get stronger.
However, due to having so many people in one place, conflicts had occurred. The camp that had been set up outside the mountain were soon ready to leave. However, that camp was split in two. One faction wanted to go to a forest in the north. Another faction wanted to head east to the coast. While those who weren't in any of those just planned to wander around.
Meanwhile, the hunting and excavation team had differed to the plans of those in the camp. Our teams were a lot more stronger, however, we were all immortal so force didn't really matter. So our teams had wanted to head to civilization. The closest one was down in the south, but there was also a city in the west.
Our hunting and excavations teams were also in disagreement. You see, some of our members have turned... slightly bloodthirsty. The rage in there eyes grew by triple fold. They wanted revenge on all humans. No, not humans, all creatures that weren't them. I had adapted to the pain during "mealtime" but apparently others had not. They still felt the pain and it even seemed to increase over time as "mealtime" became more and more frequent.
So, they planned to head to the city in the west. While the other half, who merely just wanted to interact with other species than our own, wanted to head to the south. I was split. I wasn't angry at any species. A01 was the one I hated. Surprisingly, that fucker hasn't turned up once. He's most likely left the mountain.
"So, what will it be? Join us, or leave," Meru had tried to convince me many times. He was sadly part of the "KILL EVERYTHING!!1!!" faction. Which hurt, a lot. I too, had tried to convince Meru to just kick back and relax. No need to go murderhobo on every single being.
"I'm sorry, Meru. I'm just not that into it anymore. This, killing."
I lied, killing felt great. My instincts were yelling at me to join this faction of killers. However, every time I thought about it, Gentle would appear in my mind. These weird morals would pop up and stop me. Of course, I still want to kill. Just maybe, not kill innocent lives. Not killing Gentle's across the world. Though if I saw A01 I would kill that bastard in an instant. Then kill him again. And again. And again.
What was I doing again?
"Damn it, Shulk. Those monsters ruined our lives. These levels, we could get back at them. Become the true rulers of this world."
"So you're saying kill everything which is not us?"
"Well, I suppose not EVERYTHING, but most things!"
"Meru, listen buddy, I-"
Before I could finish my sentence, a loud rumbling shook the whole mountain. Soon all of the remaining purple and dark creatures were raised up to a giant swirling... portal? Is that a portal? I think so, at least. All the monsters were going back into the portal, but we also noticed these blue circle things, about a thousand of them. They were coming from various locations, but they were all heading towards the portal. Then after it seemed like nothing was heading inside, the portal snap shut. Now the purple invasion was over.
However, the various poisons, fog, and goo were still left in the air.
Meru, ignoring everything that just happened, turned to me and talked. It seemed he was super determined to get me to his side.
"Shulk! C'mon! What's so great about interacting with other species? They might treat you with scorn and think you're different. Which, I guess you are."
Huh... Wait, did I even tell Meru where I was planning to go? Ah, this is why my intelligence is my lowest stat besides luck.
"Meru. I'm going to the coast."
"Wait what? Not to the south?"
"No, other species suck. I'm going to the coast because Gentle always wanted to see it."
"Oh, it's the beach. The one you told me about," Seeing this revelation, Meru decided to drop the matter. He was a true friend, he understood that nothing can change my mind about this. Ah, it was completely my fault this happened in the first place.
"Now that's been resolved. I guess it's time to say goodbye." Meru was already saying goodbye? That's when I realized that the hunting team was already about to leave. The Immortals down at the camp would still take an hour or two before they finally split ways. I sigh and give Meru a hug.
"I'll miss you, Meru."
"Me too. Stay alive."
"Hah, you too. Continue on with your, err, killing operations."
After saying some last words Meru departed and disappeared into the horizon. We will definitely meet someday. After all, we have forever to find out.
----------------------------------------
-Year 1 since the Immortals escaped-
We immediately kept some log to let us know how much time has passed. It's only been a few hours since we started traveling. We are a group about 35,000 strong. We'll probably be the second group to reach there destination. The forest group will reach first. While the hunting teams will reach much later.
I was kept in the front, since I served in the hunting teams. During the journey, weird creatures approached us. Though almost all of them ran once they saw the first 1,000 of us. We didn't really get disturbed. We ended up reaching the coast in only a day. Once we saw the ocean, all of us were simultaneously mesmerized. This is the thing that Gentle was talking about.
Soon, we settled down and tried to make some sort of make-shift hut. It wasn't working well in the sand, but eventually they somehow got it to work. It could only house 5 people max. So we would need to create many more.
Oh and, you can't drink the ocean, at least not the normal way. Yeah. So we looked for those Coconuts, but strangely we couldn't find any. Thankfully, some Immortal had a special skill. It was called Perfuming, err, "Purry-fye" or something like that. It made the ocean water drinkable! Of course, we first had to find some cups. And also place to live. And stable source of food. And protection from foreign forces. And stability inside the community.
I see a long road ahead of us. At least I can tell Gentle he was right, feeling the cool breeze, feeling the hot rays of a flaming ball, and feeling the sand in between your toes.
If I could tell Gentle one thing now, it would be that swimming is amazing. So much so, that almost all of us went swimming. Of course, don't go too far. Some had actually drowned but we quickly saved them.
It was all fun and games, till the first Immortal drowned and was washed away.