Incarnate ^8001 paused and groaned while rubbing his chest.‘Tenyen the Crusher?’ he thought as he looked up at the armored figure that was lodged in the valley wall. ‘That’s…accurate.’The name of his opponent didn’t inspire much optimism in him, but the next thing the glowing tablet pointed out was rather interesting. Finally, he was getting more information about the Kanva – acquired skills!‘I have to match Tenyen in the same respect his skill empowers? What is that supposed to mean?’ the Incarnate thought. He had been on an adrenaline high, but all that energy was somehow lessened by the need to employ more than a few terrestrial brain cells right now.While it was great that there was an answer for how to get the supernatural abilities he had been curious about, there was no expansion. He was going to have to figure it out… without dying. That option was very much still on the table.Evidence of this began when Tenyen dropped from where the rebounding of the force he had di
The Incarnate sat down, panting hard.His eyes didn’t leave the view of his fallen opponent’s split head, which oozed rotten juices and pungent, shrivelled fleshy bits.He would have loved to celebrate his victory and rejoice in the fact that he was still alive, but his mind was still trying to process what it saw.What was this thing?A walking corpse?Even though the Incarnate hadn’t tried to initiate a conversation with Tenyen, it wasn’t because he hadn’t thought it would be possible. He hadn’t even noticed that his enemy was THIS strange.He had thought that conversing with the armoured figure would be pointless. If this was a Trial, one that was guaranteed to be immensely difficult, in fact, then there was probably no room for talks. Besides, being used to the battlefield in his old life, the Incarnate wasn’t in a habit of trying to share a sentiment chat with a clear enemy. Usually, when opposing opponents went on long monologues, it was either to distract or to buy time.
A look of recognition showed itself on the face of the large dog, and the Incarnate knew it was far from being a good sign. Even if the dog didn’t have eyes, it took more than flesh organs to express loyalty, and the Demonling recognized the creature’s subtle emotions. Its master lay dead on the ground, and it… grieved.The Hollow Demonling held his shield tight, feeling the growing tenseness in the atmosphere as the large dog’s focus returned to his figure… and then pounced!Its companion did the same.The Incarnate… also sped forward.It wasn’t exactly bravery that inspired this motion.His esteem and confidence had seen a significant rise after his relatively quick exchange with Tenyen, yes, but the main reason he lunged at the massive dogs without much hesitation, was simply because of his past experiences.When facing a large target, it was better to attack first or to at least make sure you weren’t the one caught without momentum or a steady stance. As warfare with large,
The Incarnate felt his black slam against something hard and dusty… unfortunately.The body of the foul-smelling, shaggy dog falling on top of him right after, made him taste the flavor of dirt before he realized that wherever he had fallen or sunken into, was very, very dark.Panic set into the Incarnate. He blinked furiously.Where was he?How did he get here?This unknown was much more vexing than the pain in his flesh and bones right now.He tried his best to stand, and when he did, he realized that while the Valiant Subject’s Ward was in his hand, Tenyen’s mace was not. It must have fallen from his grip when he slammed on the ground.‘That’s not good.’Just as the Incarnate began sweeping the ground with his legs to see if he could locate the weapon, he heard the growl of the remaining dog once again. It pounced.Determined to not feel the sweet sting of his ribs again, the Incarnate dived to the right only to smash into a wall… somewhere, face first.Perhaps because th
Days slowly passed; three days, to be exact.At first, the Incarnate was shocked when his old, internal clock told him that a full day had passed since he faced and killed Tenyen and the dogs. It was almost inconceivable to him that he would get so much downtime.So, so much of it.For an Incarnate like ^8001, he almost began to prefer his old days at the front lines to this. It was so boring.For him, entertainment had started to get a bloody meaning as he aged. He remained rooted in his own ideals even to death, refusing to house demons of indifference to human lives like his fellow soldiers, but the Incarnate couldn’t deny it.War became the totem of his bones and liquor became the medicine for his soul.Here, in |Prospect For Reincarnation|, he had neither… for days.His body didn’t punish him for this lack as much, as it was new, but his soul did.The former, as he discovered in the past three days, didn’t nag him for food at all. In fact, it was only after the Incarnate
The Incarnate steeled his resolve and took a step forward. There was no other choice. The call of the Spirit Essence from the doorway made him believe that going down the slope instead was a terrible mistake. Maybe other Incarnates who chose something similar were rolling in their supernatural graves right now. ‘Well, I guess I could always come back. Maybe,’ Incarnate ^8001 thought morbidly. He placed his bare foot on the first step. The floor was a lot colder here, maybe because of the Spirit Essence. He continued on the path, feeling the light brush of energy against his skin. Silently, the Incarnate scaled the stairs, finding with each meter he traversed that he had a decently long way to go. That was both a good and a bad thing. Even though he didn’t have much trust in his Equipment when thinking about the horrors to come, he still held them both tight. The Valiant Subject’s Ward had most of the Incarnate’s faith, though, after all, the mace, as the glowing tablet identifie
[You are within range of a Legendary Far Ji (Unique Quality)][Find its source and pay a fitting price to claim it for yourself]The Incarnate was taken by surprise.‘A Legendary Unique Quality?’ he thought.Where?He strained a little and remembered the grading system he had seen for Far Ji. Apparently, there wasn’t much to remember. It simply went from Rare, Legendary to Divine.From the moment it was made known to the Demonling the ranks for Equipment, Acquired Abilities, and Unique Qualities, he became able to comprehend the differences without needing to employ knowledge from his old world. This made all the difference.‘Legendary… That’s nothing to scoff at.’This was especially true when comparing what Legendary meant in the context of the grading system for Acquired Abilities, which went from Common, Rare, Epic, Legendary, Transcendent all the way to Divine.The Incarnate gulped. He had had worries about whether or not a Far Ji would be useful, given how it was going
The Incarnate screamed.This time, he lost himself for a few seconds, and that ended really badly for him.It seemed the katana had actually missed its desired target on his body when it hit his side. Like the Incarnate, the sword’s master seemingly wasn’t capable of seeing through the dark. Or perhaps, it was the Incarnate’s erratic movements as he fell that prevented the enemy from aiming properly at his vitals?Whichever was true didn’t mean much.After all, once the sword exited from the Incarnate’s back, it turned… and started stabbing at his back brutally, and rapidly!This successive stabbing plus the tumbling down the stairs was torture for the Incarnate and for a moment, he almost lost consciousness!However…“NOT YET!” the Incarnate roared, pushed his feet against the ground with as much strength as he could muster, and leaped up!The force of his jump caused him to rise and slam hard against the ceiling of the narrow corridor and then plummet to the stairs, but his