12 "You are on your way to the afterlife."
Neo grinned, as the cloud of darkness receded gradually, the faint light of dawn piercing his eyes. He was in a cave; there were crystal cones protruding from the roof and the floor. Neo knew they were called stalactites and stalagmites, but he didn't know which was which, not that it mattered anyway. His happiness had been quenched by the sight in front of him. One look was all it took for him to know that he was not in a human settlement; in fact, he was far from it. The entrance to the cave was in sight, the visage of a glowing white sun towered above the world. "Where is this place?" Neo mused, walking towards the entrance of the cave. He felt something thin press against his pale skin. Neo looked down to check what it was, before he could recover from the shock that he was stark naked; an arrow pierced through the air with insane speed and lodged itself firmly into his shoulder. The force sent him reeling to the ground. Almost immediately, two more arrows flew from different directions, lodging themselves on the floor beside him. For the first time in many years, Neo appreciated his gaunt figure. Throughout Neo's days, he had always been known to find himself in awkward situations, like one time in the junior academy when his old trousers split open during sports week, revealing his underwear, or when he fell gracelessly into a mud puddle, eating a sizable amount of it before someone helped him up, not to mention all his ridiculous days at the work stations. All these had Neo numb to many other awkward situations he found himself in, but Neo couldn't help but marvel at his current situation. It was a whole league ahead. Several leagues even. He was lying on the floor, butt naked, with a wooden arrow protruding from his bloodied left shoulder, under a web of booby traps. "Arghh!! That hurts." Neo winced, trying to retract the arrow from his shoulder, all to no avail. It seemed the arrow had found its root in his bone, so Neo gave up and decided to study his surroundings instead. From Neo's worm eye view, he could make out several nearly invisible strings sprawled across the cave, each attached to some sort of booby trap, making movement or escape almost impossible. Neo sighed. "I will figure out something later, but for now, I need to check out what is in my soul core," Neo thought, receding into his mind. Although his teachers at the junior academy would never teach above their pay grade, they always found it fun to teach the students everything about the mysteries of the afterlife. It was as though they were learning themselves. So Neo knew bits and crumbs about the afterlife; the only thing that had been completely alien to him was the dreadful allegiance trial. Neo shuddered just thinking about his experiences there. Finally, Neo found his soul core. It was like a part of his memory that has been locked up and hidden, only to be opened when he entered the afterlife. Neo had the feeling that it had always been there, hiding in plain sight. The soul core has been said to be the part of a being where the body, soul, and spirit connects. Neo connected to his soul core like he was trying to remember a memory, and then it shrouded his mind like a vivid imagination. Everything inside his soul core looked to be covered by this misty haze except for some shimmering golden lines of myriad shapes and sizes. Neo could have sworn that he saw it physically if he didn't know any better; it felt clearer than any of the imaginations he ever had. Neo concentrated on the golden light for a moment, and he started to understand every line and shape for what it was. It was like the lines and shapes were whispering and speaking into his mind. It felt very… strange. It read: REAPER'S GLYPHS [language of the divine] Name— Reapling Neolin. Progress: Beast souls— 1 Monster souls— 1 ….. Innate ability— Crimson nebulae Remarks: You wield a tremendous power; its prowess can only be limited by your mortal body. Neo was momentarily shocked, but then he continued. He had totally forgotten about his bleeding arm. Reaper's gifts— soul stinger Reaper's remark: Energy is the foundation of all things. Perks: You gain great affinity to souls of the living. You can repair or destroy it. Quirks: During each attack, your souls becomes exposed. Progress— 0 Neo stared at the glyphs with disbelief. He had never heard of anyone with two abilities before, but there he was. He was quite sure it was the reward he received for passing the allegiance trial. Neo suddenly wasn't annoyed for going through that hell anymore. In fact, he felt that it was well worth it. He would definitely go in again for another ability. On second thought, no, I won't, Neo thought, a nasty grin plastered to his face. There were so many things unfamiliar to him, and so many questions rushing into his mind, but he shoved them aside and continued. Specter— Ten lives per second (soul tied), bone of contention (soul tied) Skin- Phantom- Neo concentrated on the "Ten lives per second," and some new sets of golden shapes and lines sprung forth. Specter— [ten lives per second] Rank—monster Enchantment: — ten strikes, ten lives: [perk] - This specter will continue to grow until the wielder can reap ten lives with ten distinct strikes, within the frame of a second. [Quirk]- The growth is harrowingly slow. Neo frowned in confusion. He knew quite a bit about specters since they were the coolest part of being a visitor to the afterlife. So there were quite a sizable amount of rumors about them, of which he had never heard of perks or quirks. Even the meaning of the "soul tied" in front of the specters was another source of headache for him. He just had too many questions and no one to answer them. Neo ignored the questions gnawing at his mind and he continued checking out the glyphs. Specter— bone of contention Rank— unknown Enchantment— I regret it scholar— [perk] This bone will always be your sharpest weapon….. [Quirk] ….but it will never take any life. Neo sighed. That was by far the weirdest glyph he had read that day. He understood that he got [ten lives per second] from the death of the mutant monster, but he didn't understand why the rank of bone of contention was unknown or why Reaper decided to give it to him as a specter in the first place. He had a few guesses though. It might probably be because his first kill was secured through the help of the bone or probably because of the deep feeling he felt when killing the man, which was evident in its enchantments. Either way, he had ended up with one of the weirdest specters in history. Neo turned back to the glyphs and read again, hints of confusion written on his face. "This bone will always be your sharpest weapon but it will never take any life." "I wonder what that means."13 Neo checked out the skin and phantoms, and they were unsurprisingly empty. They were supposed to be extremely scarce anyway, so he didn't bother himself too much about them. As far as being cool went, skins and phantoms were also considered top-notch, albeit not as cool as specters, but in Neo's own opinion, they were as cool as specters, even much more so. The usage of skins and phantoms was rather simple. A skin will provide the wielder the ability to transform into a creature for a specific period of time. The usage time and cool-down period is dependent on the level of the creature. Phantoms work in an almost similar manner except for the fact that the wielder summons the creature whole without having to transform into the said creature. As for the perks and quirks, Neo already had a probable explanation for that. "[Bone of contention]," "[ten lives per second]," and Neo's second ability "[soul stinger]" were all Reaper's gifts, and they all had perks and quirks, so that pr
14 Neo was trying to fight himself free from the creature that was hell-bent on snuffing out what was left of his life. What's worse, Neo was bleeding from multiple places as blood cascaded down his naked body like a crimson stream. Speaking of blood, upon closer inspection, one would notice that Neo's blood wasn't touching the ground at all. Once close to the ground, it would suddenly turn into a spark of red lightning and dance out of existence. Neo's body also seemed to be undergoing the same transformation. His veins were slowly being replaced by red bolts of lightning as they flickered, and red sparks erupted from and around his body. Then the bolts of lightning made their way around his body, dancing and flickering. Neo's eyes shone a deep red hue as his strength exploded in leaps and bounds. He moved with inconceivable speed, grabbed the Herknidae, and pummeled it with his fists. A huge chunk of flesh vaporized out of existence, revealing the blood-soaked innards of the cre
15 "So uhm, a mutant beast would give me a beast soul, berserk two, and Amok three. The same logic should work for the monsters, devils, and the others I guess." Neo thought, finally alighting from his train of thoughts. Then he moved on. Innate ability— Crimson nebulae Remarks: You wield a tremendous power; its prowess can only be limited by your mortal body. Neo suddenly paused. The memory of him wreathed in crimson red lightning and the backlash to his body that followed flashed through his mind. "Now it all makes sense." Neo nodded weakly in understanding. He then continued. Reaper's gifts— soul stinger Reaper's remark: Energy is the foundation of all things. Perks: You gain great affinity to souls of the living. You can repair or destroy it. Quirks: During each attack, your souls become exposed. Progress— 2 Specter— Ten lives per second (soul tied), bone of contention (soul tied), cave mantle Skin-? Phantom-? Neo stared at "[soul stinger]" for a
16 It was a mural. There were three people, and two heads were missing. Neo stared at it in bewilderment, straining his eyes to make out its shape under the light bioluminescent insect lantern placed in the center of the room. After studying it for a while, Neo discovered the mural was only quite familiar with the portrait in Neo's house, but it was definitely not the same. Neo and his elder brother's head was intact in the portrait, but their parent's head was faceless, for a reason Neo would kill to find out. And strangely enough, as far as Neo knew, that was the only portrait that survived the fire. But the mural in front of Neo contained only three figures: two headless tall people, and a relatively short person with his/her head intact. It was just a bogus cave wall painting made with makeshift colors after all. So Neo couldn't quite figure out the gender or the facial features of the short person. Neo studied the mural for a while, but he couldn't figure out anything s
17 Come night, Neo's bizarre host was back, with a scary creature that looked like an ape from head to torso, and then had the lower limb of a walrus. Neo was… definitely not going to eat that."Dinner here," he said, dropping the carcass with a loud thud. "Nice mantle by the way," he added, his voice as husky as ever.Neo nodded in reply. He then swallowed and summoned up courage. "So what can I call you?" Neo asked grinning."Seeker… call me Seeker," he replied, walking towards his boulder. Seeker shifted the boulder with one hand, making Neo's eyes widen in surprise. As he was about to enter, he suddenly halted. Throwing investigating glances around the room. Neo's blood froze.But his fears didn't come through. Seeker entered, oblivious to Neo's infiltrations. Neo breathed a sigh of relief.*The next morning, Seeker went out to hunt and Neo decided to tag along. He wanted to get familiar with the environment in case he needed to beat a hasty retreat. Walking along with him, Ne
18 "Welcome, kid, to the valley of endless battle," Seeker said to the still discombobulated Neo. Neo was still reeling in shock when he suddenly felt a strong push from behind, and he lost his footing, falling from the cliff. His voice echoed, accompanied by a series of loud curses, but his voice was quickly drowned by the sound of battles below. He really wanted to arrange his thoughts, but the sight of the ground that kept growing bigger and bigger made his eyes twitch violently."What to do... What to do..." Neo thought as he tried to swim in the air. He only ended up looking stupid.Suddenly, a large arm grabbed his waist and glided over the battle below to a relatively safe place. It turned out it was Seeker after all. His feather mantle wasn't for show; it was actually a makeshift wing suit. "Never gets old," Seeker said, putting Neo down after the landing, almost laughing out loud. Neo, still exasperated, walked up to Seeker's towering figure. His voice was stifled amids
19 Neo picked up the sword, but it was too big and clumsy for him. Suddenly, the sword disappeared into a rain of golden sparks. "[You have acquired a specter]," a magnificent voice boomed. Neo flinched, hearing Reaper's voice. "Surprise!" Seeker said. As soon as Neo got closer, Seeker explained, "So, I untethered the sword from my soul core, and since you picked it up, it quickly recognized you as its master."Neo grinned weakly as he summoned the sword. It was very thin and long, and from a distance, it looked like a dark spike with red markings. Neo also noticed that its look was almost completely different from when Seeker wielded it. "Cool, it's of the demon rank," Neo thought, waving the sword in the air. "Alright, go on now, and if you die, I will kill you," Seeker remarked, snapping Neo out of his daze. Neo muttered some words that sounded like curses as he proceeded towards the battle in the distance with mixed feelings. His mood looked forlorn, but he tried to encoura
20 Neo sat down beside the fire. It was night again, and the blood-red moon towered above the sky, inviting the deadly creatures that dwelled at the mountain peaks to a feast. The world quaked as they battled for their stomachs' fill, making Neo remember what happened earlier that day. He had lost his first battle, and if it wasn't for Seeker's timely intervention, it could have been his last. Neo didn't know if to be grateful because it was Seeker who sent him to fight in the first place. Eventually, Neo spoke, his voice faint."Thank you..."Seeker paused, his teeth biting down on an especially large chunk of meat, with his makeshift helmet raised."...for the other time," Neo added.Then the confusion on Seeker's mind finally cleared."It's nothing, just eat up, it thickens when it gets cold," he replied.Neo stared at the black soup in front of him in disgust. It was a slurpy soup made from the gargoyle's blood. Seeker said the skin of the mangled fox was not edible the day it wa