"Clear your rooms, say goodbyes, and get out. Van to Dubois airport leaves tomorrow. Given we are farming and selling it, you will each receive 15% of the proceeds from the monster corpse. Dismissed."
Sirus went to the school store, happy with the mana artifact he had used during the fights, and bought it from the school.
[Item Appraisal: F-Rank Mana Necklace
Durability: High
Ability: +2 Mana]
'I assume it means high durability within the context of it being an F-rank necklace, but the more interesting thing is the +2 mana.'
Sirus looked at his stats, comparing with and without the necklace.
[Mana: 15(+2)]
[Mana: 13]
'Damn, I was hoping it was adding two mana on top of my base 15. I am a little surprised it doesn't have the same limit as the Ether Crystal. It's a shame I can't stack these.'
Someone can only wear five artifacts at once, a necklace, two rings, and two bracelets.
'System, what happens if I extract artifacts like this?'
[System Notification: When an artifact is extracted, the artifact's ability is copied to the Host. As this artifact has no ability, the attribute bonus will be extracted and given to the Host.]
'System, why did monsters appear?'
[Cannot answer, insufficient authority.]
'How do I get authority?'
[Cannot answer, insufficient authority.]
'It was a worthy attempt, I guess. But there's still something left to do.'
[Ether Extracted: Mana +2]
Sirus left his dorm room and went to the mortuary, asking to pay last respects to Ivarr.
[Conditions met: Extract General Resistance from Ivarr Balbaninn?]
[Yes / No]
[Yes]
[Skill: (E) General Resistance gives greater vitality and stamina. Apply attributes?]
[Yes / No]
[No]
Sirus walked back to his room and sat on the floor like he was meditating. He held the necklace and tried to feel his abilities within him. After feeling his mana veins and tracking them through his body, he could find and visualize his abilities. Little purple balls orbited around a large pure white ball, like planets and the sun. He watched the beautiful colors intertwine and interweave around his core before attempting to remove one. He tried to move it like a moving mana, and it worked. The ability flowed into the necklace from his center to his shoulder and out his hand.
[Item Appraisal: Tanker's Necklace
Ability: 15% damage reduction from physical attacks. 30% defense increase.]
'Success! And strangely, that's a much better ability than I thought it would be. Well, the damage reduction additive, but multiplicative defense boost makes it much worse. But I'm still happy with it.'
Sirus used the box he was given when he bought the necklace and put it back inside. Ivarr's family hadn't arrived to retrieve his things, given how recent it was. He sat down, wrote a note, and placed it in the box, saying that it was a necklace he had won in a bet. It was easy to look up what room he lived in and walk over. Ivarr's roommate let him in, and he placed the box among Ivarr's other items.
Floki and Sirus said a heartfelt goodbye, but both were still traumatized from earlier and didn't talk too much.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Sirus owned very few things, so he didn't have to pack much. He had sold everything else that belonged to him or his family besides a select few items he had left in a storage center before he left. He had nobody and nowhere to go. But unlike before, he saw it as freedom.
He sat in the airport for hours, contemplating where to live, looking at rent, weather, and hero resources. Sirus eventually decided to live in New York, as disconcerting as that may seem. New England had many heroes due to the high population density in New York City and Boston. Plus, the American Hero Association headquarters was there.
Sirus had inherited a large amount of money, but that money had dwindled. Given that tightness, Sirus rented the cheapest studio apartment in central New York City. It was much smaller than he was used to, alongside living alone, but he was happy. New growth and new change.
Sirus had a traumatic past filled with horrible experiences. But he had never been poor. As such, he had to spend the first week in New York simply searching for good places to eat and shop and what meals were the cheapest. Sirus concluded that being poor sucks.
During that time, Sirus found the job he was looking for, a field reporter for Hero Network News, or HNN. A field reporter travels the New York area, then finds and reports on Miasma outbreaks.
After overthought deliberation, Sirus made a resume, submitted it to HNN, and then walked to the awakening museum.
Given it was New York and his finances, Sirus had no car and was forced to walk everywhere. Although he could run 30kmh or 19mph, he couldn't, given it would involve using mana.
For the sake of average citizens, regulations were put on awakeners:
All would need to be registered under the government, which was highly contested, but initially passed due to the danger monsters posed and the lack of heroes.
Active participation in hero work requires certification through the government or private entities, like Shoshone School.
Public use of abilities or mana is forbidden without hero certification or job license.
Job licenses usually included healer or blacksmith awakeners who did not participate as heroes. So despite Sirus' hatred of how slow he was forced to go, the legal trouble he got would be too annoying.
But despite his speed, he still made it to the museum at a reasonable hour. The awakener museum was originally an enormously popular attraction, displaying the tremendous human triumphs over monsters. It has recently lost visitor interest due to awakener TV shows, live news, and encountering Miasma Pits in the wild. However, it was still a major attraction within New York City. Despite that, Sirus wasn't there to view but to steal; to be fair, the museum wasn't using the monster's abilities.
Not desiring a public display, Sirus waited in the bathroom for everyone to leave the museum before exploring it himself.
'I guess it ramps up from here; these are all F and E-rank monsters. More importantly, though, why don't they have an ability aura? Does degradation over time have an effect, or is it that they were harvested?'
Sirus passed through higher and higher ranking halls, becoming increasingly anxious at the lack of abilities in the monsters. Once he reached the S-rank monster hall, the two monsters inside had abilities.
'Finally. I was starting to think this wasn't going to pan out! Let's see who these guys are... Oh yeah, I think I remember reading about these monsters: the Dragonlord, Kamish, and the Ultimate Doppelganger. They happened before I was born, right? Yeah, 2024. Enough reminiscing; time for theft!'
The monsters were behind glass walls, but that didn't inhibit Sirus' ability.
[Conditions met: Acquire Lightning Dragonlord's ability?]
[Yes / No]
[Yes]
[Ether Extracted: Skill
[Skill: E-Rank: Electric Charge:
Electrify: For 5 minutes, all attacks are imbued with electric elemental damage and agility increases by 10%. Cooldown: 1 Hour
Note: Pull a shocking prank on your friends by electrocuting them!]
[Conditions met: Acquire Greater Doppelganger's ability?]
[Yes / No]
[Yes]
[Ether Extracted: Skill
[Skill: E-Rank: Appearance Shift
Transformation: Use mana to change physical characteristics. The Host cannot transform beyond the normal range of current species. Changes do not affect physical strength.
Note: Cosplay as an octogenarian!]
'Why is my luck so abysmal! I could've had hundreds of abilities; why didn't they? I thought there was a mistake when these monsters had a purple aura, but I guess not. The more pertinent question is why their ether disappeared, but that doesn't matter much now; I should leave.'
There was a lack of valuable items to steal at the museum; anything of value was stripped before they were donated. As such, security was relaxed, and Sirus left without an issue. Though just to be safe, Sirus had used the tried and true disguise of a baseball hat and hoodie and used his wire to pull himself up to lighten his footsteps.
Sirus walked outside and received a call.
"This is Lillian Halstead. Is this Sirus Navarro? Can you come in tomorrow at noon for an interview?"
"Yes, and yes."
"Perfect. See you then."
"Of course, thank you!"
*Click*
'That was surprisingly quick; I guess she was busy."
Sirus walked home again, excited to try out his new ability. He wasn't particularly tall or handsome but muscled and toned from training.
'This is weird to figure out, but I think I've got it. If I focus mana into the area I want to change and visualize it, it will shift.'
Sirus tried many different appearances and changes. He could appear scarred or blind without those affecting him directly. Though if he removed his ear, his hearing would be impaired. More usefully, he could give himself calluses on his hands and feet, making them harder.
'Shrinking your spine seems to hurt quite a lot; who would have guessed? It makes me re-think the idea of making myself taller, especially since it would be a constant drag on my mana.'
Although he didn't make any large changes like height, Sirus did beautify himself a little, smoothening his skin and unifying the colors in preparation for his interview.