Black Sword and Fragments [Vol. 1: Unforeseen Conspiracy]

Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Level up

“I did it! I won against a Magicule beast!”

A minute had passed since Allastor lay on the dry leaves, and now that he had recovered from the tiredness he felt before, Allastor get up and he immediately came closer to the Devil Rat's corpse. He held his sword tighter as he sliced off its body into pieces. He only stopped slicing at the corpse when he found a small glowing ball. This ball is white and it is also coated in white glowing smoke.

“This could be its Life core.” Earnestly said by Allastor. He bent down as he grabbed that glowing object. “I only need to break this thing to absorb the stored magicules of this Devil Rat.”

Allastor grabbed tightly at the Life core. It made a crackling noise as it get crushed within his hand. Liberated energy of magicule spread to his surroundings. He immediately tried to absorb it into his body.

although, he was shocked by what happened next. He was expecting that the magicules will be automatically absorbed by his body after crushing the Life core, but he wasn't expecting that only a small percentage of the energy will be absorbed by him. The bigger portion of energy has been absorbed by his cursed sword. 

“Hey, hey! How can I step into Level two bronze rank if almost all the magicules that I could get in a Life core will go to you?” Allastor's forehead wrinkled as he shook his sword. yet, he immediately stopped and sighed. What he is doing is futile. His sword doesn't even have a life to respond to the young man. 

Allastor shook his head and looked intently at his sword. He recalls the time when he got this sword from the Old merchant. He can recall that the black metal used to make this sword looks so simple. in spite of that, at this time, this sword became even blacker. That change gave a different and mysterious feeling to Allastor.

“Just how...” Earnestly whispered to him, “What is this sword?”

Currently, Allastor is thinking about the possibilities that may happen if this sword will be able to absorb other magicule energies. He is thinking that this sword may become even stronger or bad news might happen if it continues absorbing magicules.

“What if there is an evil and powerful entity inside this sword?” Allastor closed his eyes as he rubbed his chin. A few sweats also dripped down from his forehead while thinking about that. “But that thing is impossible. A situation where an evil elemental was trapped inside an ancient thing only happened inside a book.”

At this time, Allastor recalled what the Old Merchant told him. “But what if, the Old sir was right?” Allastor paused for a moment. “Could it be possible that I will die when this sword continues absorbing magicules?”

A ripple of wind passed by in that area, making Allastor's ash gray hair dance gently. Even though Allastor intended to stop using the cursed sword now that he has a doubt, he couldn't do it. He has no choice. As long as he doesn't have enough money to buy a new sword, he will resort to using the cursed sword. He knows that even the cheapest sword cost forty Silver coins.

Allastor looked at his palm with a shard of the broken life core.  These are the pieces of life core from a magicule beast. 

The life core is the source of magicules of everything in the world. Even rocks, trees, and plants have this life core and energy. nonetheless, compared to the rankers and magicule beasts, the magicules in nonliving things are much weaker. In the first place, they have no consciousness to become stronger, unlike the living beings

On the other hand, the only way for the rankers and magicule beast to absorb particular magicules from the other beings is to crush their life cores.

Allastor's attention returned to the magicule beast's corpse. He separated its tail from its body. Aside from the required part of Devil Rat to finish his quest, Allastor intended to collect the other parts of Devil Rat.

Allastor then immediately stored the whole corpse of the magicule beast inside his space bag. All parts of the magicule beast are important. Their skin can be made as cloth, their meat depends on the species that can be eaten, and the hard parts of their body can be made as swords or shields.

*   *   *   *

“Ha! Sword bash!” shouted Allastor. 

His sword glows as he slashed vertically. Squirting sounds of blood resonated in a loud reverberating thud.

In the last draw of his sword, the body of another Devil Rat fell to the ground. This was his ninth win against a Devil Rat.

Approximately 6 hours have passed, and currently, Allastor isn't that nervous unlike his first time fighting a Devil Rat. He can now properly use his sword technique from the Grade E Sword Mastery book.

Allastor immediately came closer to the corpse and again started slicing its body. And when the thing he was expecting to see appeared before his eyes, he immediately grabbed and crushed it. Again, the rich energy of magicules pervades the air. A small percentage of it has been absorbed by his body, while the larger portion, of course, has been absorbed by his cursed sword.

He already tried storing the cursed sword before inside his space bag—he was hoping at that point that all the magicules will finally go into his body only. still, he wasn't expecting that even though the sword was inside his space bag, it still absorbs the same large portion of magicules from the crushed Life core.

Allastor's forehead wrinkled again at the cursed sword. nevertheless, not long after, his forehead immediately smoothens as he heard a reverberating mechanical voice inside his head. 

[Ting!]

[You have leveled up!]

“All right!” Allastor said while smirking. He was so happy with the news he heard that he became stronger by one level. He pouted as he narrowed his eyes on the sword. “But only if this sword wasn't absorbing the large portion of magicules, might be, I'm already at level three now or if it is not the case, I might be on the peak of level two..”

[You are now a Level 2 Bronze rank. One of the hidden conditions has been met.]

[The [King's grail skill] has been added to your skills list!] 

[The [King's grail skill] has three main skills and only the [Keen eye skill] is currently opened right now] 

In the next announcement of the system, the eyebrows of Allastor jumped out. “King's grail skill? What kind of skill is that?...”

Allastor doesn't have any idea about this skill. Because on the list of known skills inside the Kreo Kingdom that can be obtained by rankers, the King's grail skill does not belong there.

Alastor earnestly turned his attention to the little trees facing him, but it didn't last for three seconds. He sighed deeply before saying, “King's grail...”

[Ting!]

[The [King's grail] has been activated!]

[The King's grail skill is composed of three main skills.] 

[Keen Eye skill] 

[???[Locked] ] 

[???[Locked] ] 

[Please choose the skill you want to use.]

"Hmm. . ." Said Allastor, "Keen Eye skill!”

[Ting!]

[The [Keen Eye] has been activated. The user can now be able to visualize what the system is portraying inside the user's mind. And as an addition, the user can now see the details of himself and the little details and information of the other things!]

[Additional information: To improve the effect of [Keen eye skill], the user should increase his rank—for the skill's effect is directly proportional to the user's rank.]

[The [Keen eye skill] does not require magicule energy to activate. But it could be canceled by the user if he wills it.]

Aside from the voice of the system inside his mind, Allastor can now see from the air what the system is saying. Allastor looked from his left and to his right, and now, he can see that on top of the rocks and plants, written a different set of words. There, the words “Granite, Rhyolite, Kimberlite, Dino-grass, Splitting oak tree” etcetera could be seen. And because of this, Allastor's expression brightened.

Allastor looked at his cursed sword, only for him to see the word “Unidentified”. having said that, he did not question what he saw.

“This sword might be cursed, but at this time, I am lucky...”

He smiled for a bit and stored the corpse of the devil rat inside his space bag. After that, Allastor halt when he realized that he already traveled too far inside the Kurnell Forest. He couldn't even remember the signs he have marked while making his way deeper.

“Wait. How could I return with this?” Allastor said as he looked from left and right, “Where should be the way out again?”

Allastor's voice became weaker.

It is as if his confidence has reached the lowest possible when he saw four magicule beasts surging toward him. Even though they are still far away, with their floating names on top, Allastor can see them with his Keen eye skill. 

Even though he can't feel the presence of the arriving group of magicule beasts, his Keen eye skill helps him to see if there are enemies nearby. 

He is just earnestly gazing at the group of arriving magicule beast, and again, he gripped tightly on his sword. His forehead wrinkled as he noticed that one of these magicule beasts is a Green cougar.

!!!

“How? This is abnormal!” Said the shocked Allastor Frauzz. “How can a Devil Rats and Green Cougars get along with each other?!”

Allastor backed out for a bit. And again, he can feel fear from the pulsation of his heart. It was only the name of Green cougar he can see, even so, his fear was already this much.

Allstor is aware of how strong a Green Cougar is compared to a Devil Rat. Even a newly born Green Cougars are already on a Level four bronze rank, what's more, they can also reach level thirteen silver rank. As time passes by, Allastor's grip on his sword became even tighter.

“Cursed sword,” earnestly told by Allastor as he waits for the arrival of magicule beasts. “If you can keep me alive after this, I promise I'll give you a better name. I won't call you cursed sword anymore.”

Even though Allastor wants to run away outside this place, the truth is he has no choice. He couldn't run blindly, now that he is in the deeper part of the Kurnell Forest. He forgot the way out. And if choose the wrong way to run, he might end up in a more dangerous situation, and it would be possible for Allastor to encounter a much stronger magicule beast compared to the Green Cougars.

*   *   *   *

A loud clicking and hammering of metal can be heard in the surroundings. 

Currently, Allastor is exchanging blows with three magicule beasts.

Even though Allastor is only at level two right now, he can still be able to fight with two-level one devil rats and one level two devil rat at the same time. And about the green cougar companion of the three devil rats, it was only sitting nearby and earnestly watching the fight. Allastor didn't know the reason for the green cougar not joining the fight, but, for Allastor, it is good news. 

The three devil rats, using their sharp claws and teeth, leaped towards Allastor simultaneously. however, their attacks were easily parried by the young man. A violent ripple of forces and magicule energies formed between his sword and their sharp claws—causing their arms to quiver. Allastor step back and violently withdrew his sword. 

But, his action did not end with only that. Just right after the moment, he steps back, he immediately surges toward the three devil rats.

He smirked. And as his sword started to glow, his voice reverberated. “Sword bash!”

To be continued... 

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STATUS:

ΔName: [Allastor Frauzz]

ΔRank: [Bronze]

ΔLevel: [2]

ΔWeapon Mastery/is:

[Grade-E Sword Mastery--Maxed]

ΔNormal-Skills list:

[Sword-bash]

[King's grail]

+keen-eye

+???(Locked) 

+???(Locked) 

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