by L. M. Kerr
"So that's him, Anju?" A gruff, middle-aged man spoke out loud as he looked through a pair of binoculars. The man wore a set of army fatigues and military boots, with a cowboy hat on his head. A large knife could be seen strapped to his waist, as could an AK-47 on his back.
While guns only had a certain level of effectiveness against Morenkai, they often were quite effective against other humans, at least in the First Layer.
"Yessir Captain Bola! He's allegedly an Irregular that appeared with Daniel's group and ran off." A younger, lean man that appeared to be in his mid-20s responded. The man had short black hair and was well dressed in black pants, a black shirt, and wore a black scarf. He wore a set of black gloves and, in general, was covered in dark clothes or garments, helping him blend into the fading darkness, standing to contrast with his pale skin.
"A damned Irregular…" Captain Bola, one of the Three Captains of the Saru Group muttered, rubbing his eyes.
"Hadrian wants us to find out his intentions. If he plans on joining the Black Flag Pirates we'll need to kill him here and now… If he joins the Tobagin Party or the Godfather Organization, that is fine, if not optimal. It would be best if we could recruit him…" Bola spoke to himself as he considered his options out loud.
"He did kill a few normal Morenkai on his own and the attack that took out that Abnormal Morenkai was a decent slash, but he has yet to face one of the truly powerful Abnormals… or worse, one of the truly powerful humans…" The biggest threat in the First Layer wasn't necessarily the Morenkai.
The Captain turned to his subordinate, his eyes narrowing. Anju was his trusted lieutenant that had stayed with him ever since the duo arrived with the Second Wave. While they hadn't known each other before the apocalypse, they were fast allies now.
"Anju, follow him and find out where he lives, but stay at a distance. Report back to me when you have that information." As the Captain spoke, he picked up his binoculars again, staring at Micheal.
"How strong of an Irregular are you..? If this is all you have, you would hardly qualify as a C Rank human. Maybe just a high D Rank. That Abnormal could only be considered one of the weaker ones." He rubbed his chin slowly, taking a moment to consider the Ranking system the First Layer used.
In the First Layer, a general way of ranking how powerful someone was had come about. The ranking itself was actually based on a mix of fantasy stories from Earth and the familiarity people had with a letter grading system. Bola had always thought it a bit odd, but he wasn't the one that made the rules here.
F Rank was considered the lowest Rank, set aside for completely normal humans. E Rank was slightly better, for those with basic Abilities that were useful and could fight with teams against basic Morenkai.
'He's at least above those two in strength, that is for certain.' Bola nodded slightly.
D Rank was the first Rank that was considered useful. At this Rank, you should be able to fight against a regular Morenkai and have a real chance at winning, though death was also a possibility.
'At a minimum, he has to be D Rank. Well above average for a newbie Chosen.' He nodded again.
C Rank was reserved for those that could kill a single normal Morenkai with ease and could fight against many types of Abnormal Morenkai evenly.
'He has shown the potential to be a C Ranker, but I'm still not sure...' Bola frowned.
'There's very little chance he's anything higher than that.' The higher Ranks were all very difficult to achieve. Even for an Irregular that was strong from the start, it would be very difficult to come in at B Rank or higher.
Even he himself was only B Rank, and he had been here for 2 years.
Anju, in the meanwhile, prepared to set off, tapping on a bracelet he wore. It was a Low-tier Spatial Bracelet, capable of holding a decent amount of gear. From this bracelet, the black-garbed man withdrew several blackened knives and strapped them to various spots on his clothes, gearing up.
"Anju." Bola called out, waving at his lieutenant.
"Yes, Captain?"
"After you confirm where he lives, wait for a moment and then test his strength." Bola kept his eyes on Micheal as he watched the Irregular cross a rickety rope bridge, his voice cool.
"Find out how strong of an Irregular he is." Bola's eyes flashed. Anju was a powerful C Rank fighter, one that was nearing the level of B Rank thanks to his unique Ability. He was more than capable of going up against some of the strongest experts in the Stardust Cluster, or at least escaping from them uninjured.
"Yessir, Captain!"
.
Chapter 14: Cultivation
Thankfully, as Micheal ran through the central zone, he noted that almost everyone was either in orientation with the newbies or taking the day off due to the arrival of all the new Chosen.
He didn't encounter a single person on his way back, though he did run into a normal shambling Morenkai which he made short work of. The deathly zombies which had proven terrifying to his younger self were nothing more than a footnote on his journey now.
His home base wasn't actually very far from where he had been. In what felt like no time at all, he found himself back atop the skyscraper where he'd decided to set up camp. Overhead, the sky had faded to darkness, evening almost completely slipping away.
The Morenkai were just as randomly active in the day as they were at night. Because the Morenkai had weak visual senses in the first place, the darkness of night didn't hamper them much. Compared to humans who relied greatly upon their eyes, they were typically much better off.
Very few of the skyscrapers would give off any light at night, and there were no stars in sight overhead, nor was there a moon. This made every night one of grim darkness, only occasionally lit up by some of the skyscrapers with lights shining through windows.
If one wanted to hunt in the night, they were typically forced to bring a light of some sort or some type of night vision goggles or Ability. Bringing a light out at night made you stick out like a sore thumb and was ill-advised. Conversely, using an Ability slot for something like that was usually an expensive and potentially wasteful choice. The night vision goggles were the best option, but were also quite expensive to purchase from the Shop.
Micheal had usually opted just to sleep at night, like most humans. When he gained the Ki Cultivator Ability, he'd used that time to meditate as well.
"Hmm." His eyes narrowed as he stopped in front of the door that led to the bowels skyscraper.
'That feeling is still here.' The feeling of being watched and followed had persisted this whole time. No matter how he moved or ran, it never left him. It was a type of sixth sense, a feeling that rose the hair on the back of your neck. The type of feeling you wouldn't recognize unless you had felt it many times before.
Several times he had taken casual sweeping looks around, trying to spot the tracker. All, unfortunately, to no avail.
'Whatever.' He mentally shrugged, putting it aside for now. Someone, or some group, had likely seen him taking out the regular Morenkai and wanted to keep tabs on him.
He pushed open the doorway, moving down into the skyscraper. As soon as he opened it, however, he froze.
He sniffed the air.
'Someone has been through here.' He frowned again.
'It seems I'm not the only inhabitant here.' It wasn't exactly surprising. There were tens of thousands of people in this Cluster, while the number of skyscrapers was only in the thousands.
'That or they lured a Morenkai down here to trap and kill it.' Micheal could remember back when he had been on a Hunting Team in the Saru Group how they would lure a Morenkai in and use the close corridors of the skyscraper hallways to their advantage.
The walls and doors here were all extremely sturdy. Even the powerful shambling Morenkai couldn't break them down.
He moved into the stairway and down the stairs. He paused as he moved down a single floor, listening carefully to the world around him.
Faintly, he could make out the hum of various air con
ditioning units working, a few fans running…
He couldn't make out anyone or anything else.
He shrugged again.
'Eh.' He couldn't be bothered worrying over something like a rookie.
He quickly made his way down to his floor, the 30th, entering the dimly lit narrow hallway. The plain grey walls were soothing and relaxing, a nice change from the monstrous Morenkai up top.
When he entered his room, he found that everything remained untouched. While he hadn't actually left anything in here, he had already decided this was where he was going to live.
With that in mind, he turned around and walked over to the office desk that was set in the corner of his room. The wooden edifice was aged and worn looking, though, like almost everything else that was originally here, almost virtually indestructible and impossible to move.
From the bottom of one of the drawers, he pulled out a short wooden doorstop. These were found in almost all rooms, one of the secrets you picked up over time if you lived in the First Layer.
He placed the stop in front of his door, nodding his head sharply. There were no natural locks on any of the doors here, you had to make your own. This doorstop would serve for now. It would stop anyone from entering for at least a few moments, giving Micheal time to awaken and react.
With that thought in mind, he sat down on his bed and began to meditate. He concentrated on relaxing his body, taking in several deep slow breaths.
Gradually, he became fully calm. He felt at peace with himself and the world around him, entering a state of peaceful relaxation.
This was the Cultivation State, as experts termed it. The mental state one needed to enter into if they wished to cultivate their ki, or inner strength, and increase the might of their Ki Cultivator Ability.
Entering this state was actually quite difficult. It had taken Micheal years to be able to get it down perfectly, and even longer to be able to enter into it at will for as long as he wanted. It was the type of thing you couldn't teach, but had to learn naturally on your own. He had heard that some geniuses were able to enter into it reliably within weeks of gaining the Ki Cultivator Ability.
'I can enter into it perfectly on literally day one… I'm probably setting a record in that regard.' He smiled ruefully. The longer and more perfect your Cultivation State was, the faster you could grow your Ki Cultivator Ability.
WHOOSH
The air around Micheal vibrated slightly as his body began to slowly absorb ambient energy from the air itself. The feeling was like having a warm blanket tossed around your body, filling you with comfort.
'My current Ki Cultivator Ability is at the Mortal Tier.' All of his veins and organs had been reinforced, filled with a weak layer of warm protective energy.
To progress, he needed to increase the amount of energy stored within his body by absorbing it from external sources, like the air around him. The process was a slow and gradual one, but if he kept at it, he should be able to steadily improve his stats across the board.
'I can sleep after I cultivate for an hour.' He set himself a time limit, aware that he shouldn't rush his cultivation. Upgrading his Ki Cultivator Ability was something he needed to do step by step. With the knowledge he had, as long as he took his time it would be impossible for him to make any mistakes.
'Focus… relax…' His eyelids fluttered as he entered his Cultivation State, absorbing energy from the world around him. Gradually, he felt his Ki Cultivator Ability begin to grow in strength, bit by bit, enhancing his stats.
.. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Meanwhile, back on top of the skyscraper Micheal was meditating in…
Anju looked over at the entrance, his eyes pensive.
'This Irregular… why is he so freakishly alert?' He mentally swore at the weird swordsman, complaining in his heart.
The entire way here, Anju had been forced to stalk him from an extremely far distance, using his binoculars to barely maintain line of sight. Several times the warrior had gone on large sweeping glances, his eyes seemingly taking everything in.
More than once Anju had been forced to throw himself down and hide, at one point even bruising his knees from the impact.
If he hadn't been under strict orders to find out where the Irregular lived, he would've ambushed the man right then and there. It was ridiculously difficult to follow the man and remain undetected.
'But I managed, thankfully.' He grumbled silently.
'Hmph, there's a reason I'm called the Black Knife Ninja.' His eyes flashed cooly as he struck a pose, kneeling slightly with a knife in his hand.
After waiting a moment and realizing there was no one there to compliment him, he sighed again. He was ready to get this mission over with and return back to base.
'Let's go find his room.'
.
Chapter 15: Shadowalker
Micheal felt cool energy flow into him, bit by bit. He was at peace with the world, his mind relaxed. Micheal had mastered his Cultivation State to such degree that he could actually focus on other things, letting himself cultivate in the background.
'Hmm… should I purchase a gun? It might be worth it to have some long-range attacks. Right now my body and soul can't handle the stress of casting out long-range strikes via my Grandmaster Sword Mastery.' He silently mused,
'If I recall, most people on the First Layer hunted with either guns, special weapons and Artifacts, or unique Abilities. The sheer physical defense of the Morenkai leave few other options. Regular weapons will just glance off, magically sharp weapons are needed to harm them, though Basic Sword Mastery or similar Abilities can enhance most good edged weapons enough to cause some damage. ' He thought it over.
It was also possible to lure a Morenkai off a skyscraper and make them fall to their death. This counted towards gaining Points, though the danger in this hunting method was very high. He had often used this method, depending on luring the Morenkai onto rickety rope bridges and making them fall.
If you didn't come into the First Layer with a sufficiently powerful weapon or Ability, you had to take risks if you wanted to grow stronger. Originally, Micheal's first time here had been full of great danger.
'Hmm. My sword itself is sharp enough that, even if boosted by Basic Sword Mastery, it would be enough to injure a Morenkai, though killing one would take time.' He mused in his head.
Micheal's Steelborn Sword was an Artifact he had purchased for several thousand Points, a durable sword that could withstand a lot of use. He had specifically purchased it because of its durability, knowing his Grandmaster Sword Mastery Ability would put a lot of stress on the Artifact.
While it was true he could use practically anything as a weapon if he coated it in a layer of energy from his Ability, preserving the regular tool after using it once would be extremely difficult.
The energy, called Sword Energy by some, was sharp and powerful. If it didn't have a solid medium to meld with, it would damage whatever was used. A regular blade would suffer internal damage after just a few swings and probably break within minutes. A branch would barely last a few seconds.
'I do have some experience with a gun.' He stretched his arms out as he continued to think, feeling his body over.
Today's exertions had taken a bit of a toll on him. His mind was incredibly sharp, as were his instincts, but his body was unable to keep up. His physical stats were so much lower than they had been before it wasn't even a fair comparison.
Micheal envisioned his current state by comparing it to a speeding car, racing through a city at more than 100 miles or kilometers per hour, and a regular person trying to run and keep up. The regular person would take far more time to navigate the city than the speeding car.
Even if the regular man knew the exact same route and path he would need to take, able to perfectly mimic the car, it wouldn't be the same.
Micheal knew exactly what his body needed to do, exactly when and where, but was struggling to force his body to keep up. He had slightly overloaded himself
today with his movements.
'Adapting to this body will take some time. I'll need to account for that tomorrow when I go to practice.' He sighed. Starting over again was a far bigger pain than he had thought it would be.
Just as he was in the midst of deciding what to do, Micheal abruptly blinked, turning his head ever so slightly to the side.
At the very edge of his awareness, he felt someone's presence.
Throughout his journey through the 7 Layers, Micheal had picked up something akin to a sixth sense. Scientists theorized that this concept had to do with the soul and the presence of other souls. It was why someone's killing intent could sometimes be physically felt if it was powerful enough at high levels.
Certain feelings, emotions, these things were broadcast by your soul and could be subtly picked up upon if you didn't guard yourself.
It was this sixth sense that allowed him to notice he was being followed, though he couldn't determine who or where.
And it was that same sixth sense that tingled now, instinctually letting him know he was in danger. He didn't make it all the way to the Seventh Layer by ignoring his instincts.
He hadn't heard or seen anyone. But he could sense a very subtle awareness.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Micheal flicked his wrist slightly, tapping on the Low-Tier Spatial Ring that could be found there. Immediately, a long steel blade appeared, held out in front of him as he stood up.
WHOOOSH
Micheal's room was lit by a lamp that was set on the plain desk. This light flickered and dimmed as a gout of darkness abruptly floated underneath his door, forming a vaguely human shape.
'A Shadowalker!' Michael instantly recognized the Ability.
The Shadowalker Type Ability cost 96,000 Points in the store. It transformed one's body, granting them higher Endurance and Recovery and a small increase in Strength, as well as giving them the special power to 'Shadowalk.'
A Shadowalker could morph their body into dark essence, invulnerable to regular blows. This essence was like a gaseous fluid, able to change shapes and moves through spots where regular humans could not.
