by L. M. Kerr
It was commonly accepted, now, that every human had a soul. The Shop and the Abilities it gave were imprinted upon one's soul, in unique and mysterious ways, granting people mystical powers.
The theories about the Point Wall were all very complex and confusing. No one truly knew for sure why or how it worked. All that was really known was that each Layer had a certain limit to the number of Points you could hold, something people called the Point Wall. The number wasn't set in stone and could vary by small amounts from person to person.
As for the Abnormal Morenkai… Micheal didn't know too much about them either, other than that the chance of one appearing was pretty low. He would've done a lot more research and preparation if he had known he was going to be sent to the past, but there was no point in complaining now.
Regardless, the trio before him had pretty bad luck to encounter an Abnormal.
'Slow and steady wins the race.' He repeated the saying in his head and then turned his attention over to the people he had just saved.
Micheal's goal in hunting around the central area on his own was two-fold. One was to gather Points at a fast rate, unobstructed and not weighed down by having to take care of others. While he might be able to save a few lives if he joined any random group for an extended period, millions of people would die in other Clusters.
He didn't have any time to waste. He kept the big picture always present in the back of his head.
The other reason he was here was because he was searching for someone. The Irregular that had arrived in his Cluster during the Fourth Wave, Sophia Morgan of Great Britain. Her presence was a vital part of his plan to reveal the big secret of the First Layer.
Without her, it would take much more time and be much more difficult. It was worth it to spend time looking for her.
'Hmm… Abnormals and Irregulars… whoever originally came up with the names for these two different groups wasn't very creative.' Micheal silently critiqued the amusing similarity.
As Micheal looked over at the trio, he realized something.
He had no idea who they were.
While in stories and books the protagonist always seemed to find exactly who or what he was looking for, in real life things were never that easy.
Micheal had saved them because he saw they were in trouble. While he wouldn't go out of his way to join small groups, he wouldn't just watch as innocent humans were about to die. He was here to save humanity, after all.
Just a few minutes prior, he had been in the middle of exploring the special Ability he had purchased.
The Life Orb Master Ability.
Two small, floating blue orbs could be seen swirling around his head. They were small, a little bit larger than a golf ball. They glowed with dim blue light, foggy and opaque.
Each one was a Life Orb.
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—-Life Orb Master—-
A Life Orb master can manipulate, create, and use orbs called Life Orbs. Life Orbs automatically take the place of a user when that user otherwise would have died. Life Orb Masters cannot have any Type Modifications.
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While Micheal was prowling about for Morenkai to kill, he was also reviewing his Ability.
In his mind, he had a certain amount of innate knowledge that came with the Ability. The Life Orb Master Ability appeared to be tied, like many Abilities, to the strength of his Soul Stat.
Every 24 hours, Micheal could create 1 new Life Orb. The orb would fizzle into existence out of thin air, magical energy flowing around Micheal in mysterious ways to form it. He had no idea how exactly the Ability worked, but he certainly wasn't complaining.
Right now, he felt that he could have a maximum of 3 Life Orbs. Each orb put a certain amount of strain on his soul. He could feel a type of innate connection he had with it, a feeling that if it broke, it would completely heal him, even if he was killed.
He had started with 1 Life Orb automatically and created a second one just a few minutes ago.
He could hide the Orbs, absorbing them back into his soul, or he could let them float around and use them to his advantage. He had the ability to manipulate the orbs as if they were a part of his body.
After some testing, Micheal had found that he could make the orbs fly anywhere within 10 meters of himself. They were tough and durable, easily bumping or bashing into things. He was tempted to try and split one in half with his Grandmaster Sword Mastery, just to see if he could, but he decided to hold off on that for now.
What made him most pleased, however, was an idea he came up with while messing with them.
If he could command the orbs to move wherever within 10 meters of him… and they could float in the air…
What would happen if he stood on them?
After clearing out a skyscraper and making sure nothing dangerous was nearby, Micheal had tested that question out immediately.
"Alright, Orbs." He had muttered, standing on the edge of the skyscraper. This one was one of the shorter ones, a few levels lower than the neighboring buildings. A corpse of a Morenkai could be seen, one he had killed just a few moments ago.
His Grandmaster Sword Mastery plus years of experience as a warrior made taking down individual Morenkai a piece of cake.
"Get over here."
The two blue orbs had floated down to his feet, hovering about half a meter off the ground. Micheal had crouched down and examined them closely.
He pushed on them, and felt as they pushed back, holding their position in space. There was a certain level of resistance, as if they were firmly planted in the ground.
"Hup!" After a moment, Micheal put one foot on one of them, and then jumped up and put his other foot on the other.
"Woah!" He slipped back and forth for a few moments, his arms waving in the air as he caught his balance. He abruptly began to zip back and forward as he tried to not fall, zooming several meters back across the skyscraper before he managed to catch himself.
"Ah! I got it!" After a few seconds, his innate sense of balance kicked in, one he'd gained from years of training. While his body had a lot of catching up to do, all his skills and experiences could still make up for a lot.
The result was pretty great.
He could fly.
The orbs rested snugly up against his feet, pressed up against him as if they were naturally supposed to be there. It only took a few seconds to get used to it. It almost felt like he had a pair of rockets attached his feet, flying him over anywhere he looked at. Using them, he could move and shift the orbs to carry him anywhere within 10 meters.
There were certain restrictions he found, through some very basic testing. The Life Orbs could float freely, but there seemed to be a need for him to be within 10 meters of a surface of some sort, one that was durable enough that it could bear his full weight. He found it impossible to fly freely above 10 meters from any surface, though he could glide for long distances.
In the inner city style Cluster, where he was constantly surrounded by towering skyscrapers, it was almost a given that he would constantly be within 10 meters of one surface or another.
He needed to test and explore the Ability more, he had tons of questions.
The feeling of flight from his own power was something he had never experienced. After all the fierce battles and hardened war he had been through, the sheer exhilaration of soaring through the sky and flying over skyscrapers… it was a very welcome break.
He kept practicing, and one thing led to another, he spotted a woman about to be killed, and now he was here, staring at the shocked trio.
"Th-thank you very much, sir!" The woman caught her breath first, hobbling to her feet as she clutched at her chest. It seemed she'd broken or cracked some of her ribs.
The other two of the trio, both men, looked at Micheal and the dead Abnormal Morenkai with a hint of fear in their eyes.
"It was nothing, I was just passing through." As Micheal responded, he paused for a moment and then queried,
"While I have you here…
have you met or heard about an Irregular, or any new Fourth Wave Chosen, named Sophia?" He looked intently at the woman.
The woman paused for a moment, her eyes widening as she blinked. Micheal felt his hackles rise in anticipation. Did he get lucky and run into someone that had found her already?
"Nope, never heard of her."
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Chapter 12: Deal
He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Why react like that if you haven't heard the name?… He mentally sighed.
"What group are you from, if you don't mind me asking?" Micheal began to wipe the edge of his blade on the ground of the roof. Some of the blood from the Morenkai had landed on it after he cut through it and released his Grandmaster Sword Mastery Ability. He couldn't maintain the cutting layer of energy for too long at his current level of strength.
"Uh, not at all, sir! We are humbly part of the Mayoral Alliance! My name is Lana, a Third Wave Chosen! How should I address you, sir?" The woman hobbled over and picked up a handgun she had dropped as she spoke, nodding at Micheal respectfully.
Lana felt a subtle feeling of raw danger whenever she looked at him. The man had the eyes of a vicious predator, breaking down anything and everything in sight. She felt at her very core that if she tried to attack him, she wouldn't stand a chance. The man before her was an expert. As a result, she didn't dare act out of line.
She pulled out a small red pill from her pocket as she finished, swallowing it whole. Micheal recognized it as a Low-Tier Healing Pill, a magical medicine that could boost one's Recovery stat temporarily, allowing one to heal from injuries at a much faster rate.
"You can call me Micheal. Oh?" As Micheal heard the name of the group, memories flashed into his mind.
Back in his first year, when he was still on the First Layer, Micheal had constantly been out grinding up Points so he could purchase the Ki Cultivator Ability. He had made some friends after a few months of constant training and work, but none that he truly trusted. They were more allies of convenience, working on the same Hunting Team. He'd never felt that feeling of camaraderie or trust that he felt with Shin.
Most of them had died well before the final battle took place. He couldn't even remember most of their names, though if he saw them he'd recognize them.
His first year had been an incredibly lonely one. As one of the weaker humans in the First Layer, his original run had been brutally hard. He had experienced things… seen things… things he would never allow to happen again.
And as his mind flashed back, one memory, in particular, showed up. The memory was a bit vague, but Micheal could remember the conversation, if not the faces of everyone in it.
He had been talking to one of his 'friends,' an overweight Middle Eastern man named Karif. They were hiding down in a skyscraper, a group of them hanging out together and playing poker with some cards they'd found in a drawer.
Karif had shared some gossip he'd heard.
"And it turns out the Black Flag Pirates Pirate Commander Devin took over two-thirds of the Godfather Organization's territory in a surprise attack." Karif spat into a trash can he'd pulled up to the side, chewing on some tobacco.
"They damn near cleaned ship with em', the bastards. Not that I care much either, mind, the runts the Godfather Organization saves are a waste of space. But someone's got to take em in. Not good to kill so many of em." He leaned over and spat again, shaking his head.
"Hmm?" Micheal had been surprised to hear that. The Godfather Organization had quite a bit of influence. They could be found all over in thousands of separate Clusters. Their strength, however, was spread extremely thin as a result.
All of the truly strong experts would remain in the Main Cluster, trying to tackle the stronger Morenkai that could be found there to gain Points or move up to the Second Layer.
Conversely, the Black Flag Pirates were a band of reprobates that declared the old way of life was over, embracing a new philosophy of freedom. It really just meant they robbed and killed to survive, led by a pair of muscular brothers that feared nothing. Well, they said they feared nothing. The fact that they had stayed behind in the Stardust Cluster for 3 years while their peers moved ahead told a different story.
The heads of the Black Flag Pirates were First Wavers, and had taken full advantage of their several years head start to build up quite a bit of strength.
"How did they catch them by surprise?" Even if the Godfather Organization was spread thin, it still had a number of capable fighters within it.
"Turns out one of them smaller teams infiltrated the group, pretending to join. I think they called themselves the Mayoral Alliance? Their leader is a Fire Caster named Abel. I heard it was an inside ambush." The talk from there had devolved to other unrelated gossip as everyone their bemoaned their lives and tried to put their minds off the hellish existence they were living.
Micheal hadn't thought much of it at the time. After all, what could he do? He certainly didn't have the strength to butt in.
Now… however…
His eyes flashed as he made a grim, mental promise. If he had a chance to encounter either of those two parties… The Black Flag Pirate Brothers or the Fire Caster Abel, Head of the Mayoral Alliance, he would kill them both directly.
He was here to save humanity, but that didn't mean he was soft. Some people were better off sleeping in the warm embrace of the earth than alive and spreading pain.
He would take them out if he was strong enough to handle them, that is to say. After all, his body right now was still very weak compared to where they would be at. He had only just arrived while they had been here for years.
He pushed these unpleasant memories to the side as he returned his focus to Lana. He glanced at the other parts of the trio, an idea forming in his mind.
"Say, Lana… I can see that you and your friends here aren't exactly skilled in hand to hand combat. I'm guessing all three of you have open Ability slots, right?" He gestured at them, his voice commanding. His every moment was full of powerful intent, giving him a strong force of presence.
The trio nodded passively, none of them responding out loud. They all kept looking at Micheal in respect and a bit of fear. In their eyes, he was a powerful expert that could easily wipe any of them out.
"I've got an offer for you. If you accept, I'll teach all three of you how to achieve Basic Sword Mastery without spending Points. With that at your disposal, you should be far stronger at defending yourself when it comes to close combat."
Basic Sword Mastery was an Ability one could buy in the shop. It cost 10,000 Points and gave one a decent edge in melee combat, an Ability that Micheal was well aware could be trained to higher levels.
It was possible to achieve this Ability without paying for it. However, very few people actually were capable of that or had the knowledge on the steps to do so.
"What would you ask of us, Swordmaster Micheal?" As Lana spoke, she clenched her fists, an eager light shining through. To her, this felt like a lucky chance to break past the deadly pattern of monotony she had settled into. A chance to rise above the daily dangers of surviving in the central area and no longer have to live in fear.
Micheal smiled,
"Nothing demanding. Just use every source you know to help me find a woman named Sophia Morgan, an Irregular that has the ability to create illusions."
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Chapter 13: Ranking
After settling things with Lana and her allies, Micheal had left. They agreed to meet up on the upper floor of this skyscraper in 2 days to discuss what she had found.
Micheal didn't have super high hopes, but they weren't low, either. Sophia had been an Irregular that was obsessed with finding her little sister, a girl that had vanished as part of the First Wave. Partly as a result of that, she was on the hunt constantly for more Points, using her unique Fairy Eyes Ability to her advantage.
She hunted solo at first, and with her Ability in tow, as well as the fact that she was smart enough to pick up the Ki Cultivator Ab
ility, she didn't need company, though that didn't last long. She eventually ended up joining the Tobagin Party.
The Mayoral Alliance was a group that hunted in dangerous areas like the central area. Sophia was known to have hunted here, relying upon her rare Ability. There was a real chance Lana would interact with her, or at least hear about someone who had.
Micheal tossed the thoughts to the side as he looked up at the sky, frowning slightly.
The daylight had long since fled to evening. The World of Endless Skyscrapers had a day and night cycle just like Earth. There were clouds and even, on rare occasion, rain and thunderstorms.
The world itself was barren except for the Clusters, from what he had been told. Someone with a unique Artifact that could map out places had set it to map out the entire world, learning a bit more about the tens of thousands of Clusters that existed.
'Damn it, I don't know enough about the First Layer, apart from its big secret.' He sighed, once more annoyed that he didn't pay more attention to this stuff.
'I should head back.' As he realized how late it was getting, he turned around, looking back the way he came. He put his Steelborn Sword away after ensuring there was none of the black blood of the Morenkai on it. The blood was mildly acidic and if you didn't clean it off, it could ruin your weapons.
He began to jog back home, keeping his eyes peeled for movement as he started crossing over one of the bridges back the way he came.
As he moved, however, he couldn't help but feel as if he was being watched. He kept glancing around as he jogged, his eyes narrowing. No matter what he did, he couldn't shake the feeling.
"It's probably just a scout. If it's something else, I'll deal with it when the time comes." He shrugged, not feeling particularly worried. Even if he was attacked by a surprise attack, the worst that would happen is he would be killed and then come back to life thanks to his 2 Life Orbs.
The reassurance that Ability gave him was incredibly confidence boosting.
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