by L. M. Kerr
After reaching a place where no one could see him, Micheal had called out his two Life Orbs and jumped upon them. His green robe was long enough that it could cover the Orbs up, though he wasn’t particularly worried about being spotted out here. If he ran into anyone, he would just switch over to his Cloud Stepping Shoes.
He then began to zoom off on his journey, continuing north as he gradually headed towards the end of the land that had been, in part, ceded to humanity by the Divine Might Sect. The air whipped past him as he flew, staying low to the ground as he practiced using his newly strengthened Soul.
He constantly worked on rotating his Life Orbs, manipulating them in odd turns or abrupt reversals, and all sorts of patterns designed to experiment with his Soul. He needed to adapt quickly to the increased power, knowing that it could make all the difference in battle.
As he grew more adept with the increase, he could also feel something unique about his Life Orbs.
They almost felt like they had grown… sturdier, as if they became more durable as his Soul grew stronger. They felt like they could endure more powerful blows, though that was something he wasn’t likely to test, not if he was trying to stay disguised.
Alongside that, Micheal also vaguely felt as if something else had changed. He couldn’t know for sure, not for a couple of days…
But he had a feeling that the number of Life Orbs he could create, in total, had increased.
If his guess was right… then he could now store one extra Life Orb, which meant he had an extra life when push came to shove.
‘Man… the power to die and come back to life…’ He shook his head slightly at the thought, still incredibly pleased. After his duel with Prime, a thought had become cemented in his mind: This Ability was truly mind-bogglingly powerful. While he now knew it couldn’t heal injuries to the Soul, the fact that he could disregard injuries to the body was already incredible.
He could really see why users with this power were famed for being unkillable.
Micheal began testing his Cloud Stepping Shoes as he flew, getting to a point where he was comfortable with his Soul. Unfortunately, he quickly found an issue with them.
That issue wasn’t something he could solve: the enhanced gravity. His body, as of right now, wasn’t super powerful. Physically, he was on the level of an average Third Rate Warrior, something that wasn’t anything special.
If he wanted to use his Cloud Stepping Shoes to jump high into the sky, and then use that height to glide long distances, his physical strength currently wasn’t quite enough.
Just jumping that high, alone, would be extremely exhausting. While his Strength stat was at 80, his Endurance and Recovery stats were only in the mid-50s. His body would grow tired long before he reached anything approaching a decent height.
Such exhaustion would ruin any potential perks he might gain from being up so high, leaving him vulnerable to attack. His Life Orbs could restore injuries, but they couldn’t restore spent energy. Exhaustion was a poison he would be unable to shed through normal means.
As a result, he stuck to just soaring along the grass, only half a meter or so above it. He made fast speed and kept up his practice, blazing along steadily.
The farther from the Spawning Grounds Micheal moved, the more and more rugged the landscape had become. The grassy plains where nothing seemed to grow gradually faded into the raw wilderness. Hills, forests, and a mix of wild territory spread out before him, dotted with wild animals, though he had yet to see any Magic Beasts.
And it was here that Micheal finally saw his first ‘Slum.’
He spotted it in the distance as he flew up one particular hill.
It was a large, motley collection of tents, houses, and shoddy walls covering an area of several kilometers. Some of the homes seemed well constructed while others were in disrepair and falling apart. Garbage littered the nearby area, some of it half burnt, as if people had attempted to clean up but given up halfway through.
In this meshed-together attempt at a Camp, Micheal could see hundreds of figures resting or moving about. His eyes narrowed as he zeroed in on them, a frown appearing on his face.
Elderly folks that seemed too brittle to have even made it to the Second Layer, crippled or horribly disfigured warriors that were barely making it by, those of weaker mind or those that had suffered severe shock…
After two weeks, every Chosen had to make a choice to join an organization within the Human Alliance. When you did that, you had to meet certain goals to stay within that organization.
If you were unable to meet those goals multiple times, you could be expelled and banned from staying in, or near, any of the ‘Camps’ that protected the ‘useful’ humans.
In other words, these people were abandoned. Too sickly, too useless, too injured, too dumb, there were a variety of reasons that someone might be rejected from one organization or another. Very few people would be willing to take care of invalids in this horrible death war with other races.
Micheal turned and spat to the side, a vile taste filling his mouth as he looked away. He could see people literally collapsed on the sides of the road, begging for anything.
It cost a few Points a week, at most, to live here on the Second, even in these barren lands. Yet, for someone that shouldn’t have made it here in the first place, or was too injured to care for themselves, that could be an unreasonable burden.
‘It was like this for a while in the beginning.’ In Micheal’s first life, the harsh Slum/Camp system existed in his time as well, many months down the road. This setup was cruel and heartless, and ended up costing countless lives, an unacceptable loss in Micheal’s eyes. It was also stupid, at its core. Humans could only have a limited number of Abilities, in most cases; it made no sense to just throw people away. There could be so much value in every single person!
It was actually the Purgatory Church that first made major moves to fix this system, setting up food and care kitchens and hospitals in all of the shanty towns that began to develop, especially as hundreds of millions of people reached the Second Layer. Things got better, but not for a long time.
As Micheal looked on at this horrifying facet of reality, a feeling of helplessness began to fill him.
‘How would I fix this..?’ As he confronted the issue, he couldn’t help but feel useless.
He was no genius when it came to management. What he knew best was combat, battle, swordsmanship, and training. He knew how to kill his enemies and develop complex battle plans, to take out anyone that was going against him.
But he couldn’t stab starvation to death with a sword. He couldn’t heal the injured with a dagger. He couldn’t solve poverty with his fists.
Micheal sighed and looked away.
It was an issue that needed work… but it wasn’t his top priority right now. He had a few ideas on how to approach it, but none that could be implemented immediately.
The First Layer had been handled, especially with the messages he’d sent to his various allies before he left. What he needed to focus on, for now, was handling the things that needed immediate attention here on the Second.
The Slums could wait a few more weeks.
Saving the Farian that could stop the Great Disaster could not.
It wasn’t long before the infamous Sanctum of the Second Layer would open, where everything would begin to unfold, all over again… he had precious little time left as it was.
However, to save that Farian, Micheal first needed to reach the territory of the Silent Sword Sect.
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Chapter 5
Micheal passed by the Slum, avoiding any interaction as he continued to soar along the ground. Whenever he saw a party or group in the distance, he made immediate detours and went out of his way to avoid contact. While this corner of the Second Layer wasn’t very populated, bands of humans roaming about were not at all uncommon to see.
This wilderness abounded with wildlife that was much stronger than that of Earth. Deer, mountain
lions, wolves — many of the animals Micheal knew from Earth were common here, but in much stronger forms. They weren’t at the level of a Magic Beast, but were powerful enough to make them difficult for regular humans to hunt.
As he moved, Micheal was aware that whatever he did here could potentially leave a trace that others could track. His new identity as ‘Legion’ would need to be completely separate from his identities of ‘Heron’ or ‘Micheal.’ At the bare minimum, there would soon be millions of people after his head.
After all… when word reached the Second Layer that he had killed the Godfather… Well, it wouldn’t be pretty. Even though this was the Second, many people here still appreciated and respected the Godfather Organization of the First. There was a reason no infants or young children had been spotted in the Slums Micheal had seen.
Very few young humans existed on the Second Layer, and most of those were only from being born here on the Second. Most children lived on the First Layer within the Godfather Organization. Very few people would begrudge someone for taking care of lost siblings or family members, especially as they realized how terrible this reality was.
The Vile King couldn’t know exactly what happened thanks to Micheal’s efforts in the battle with Cameron. The longer Micheal could prevent him from knowing that he was actively working to stop Constantine’s plans, the bigger Micheal's advantage would be. Being forced to hide his identity, especially as hundreds of millions of people began to pour through to the Second, was a small price to pay.
The lands around him continued to return to the wild, the grassy, peaceful plains long forgotten. In this abandoned corner of the Divine Might Sect’s territory, only humanity and Magic Beasts could be found.
And as Micheal travelled farther northward, he spotted his first roaming Magic Beast.
Most Magic Beasts lived in mystical-looking mountain ranges or Magic Forests. Such places were not uncommon on the Second Layer, and were, in fact, almost commonplace. There were tens of thousands of fog-shrouded mountains, faintly glowing forests, or magical lakes, each packed full of magical creatures of varying power.
In these areas, Magic Herbs or very rare Helion Treasures could be found and eaten, a staple of a Magic Beast’s diet. These magical plants, fruits, or even rocks would reappear after being devoured in an inevitable cycle, one of the special aspects of the Second Layer. The rarer Helion Treasures even possessed the ability to reform themselves entirely on their own, channeling massive amounts of natural energy.
Still, some of the weaker Magic Beasts might find themselves unable to compete for enough food in their vast enclaves. Creatures like this would take to roaming the outside world, looking for prey to hunt on. Byrens, humans, or regular beasts, it mattered not to them.
The first creature of this kind that Micheal spotted was a beast he found roaming only an hour past the Slum.
A large, one-and-a-half –meters-tall wild dog, with spiked black fur that fluttered faintly in the breeze. Bulging muscles could be seen under its sharp-edged fur, giving it a primal appearance. Its eyes glowed with faint, blue light, while its deadly teeth gleamed white.
It was a Black Needle Dog, a Low-Tier Magic Beast.
When Micheal spotted it, he slowed down slightly. He eyed the creature from the air, around 200 meters distant from it. The beast was currently munching on a white deer’s carcass, one of the many normal animals that inhabited the Second Layer.
Low-Tier Magic Beasts would normally require a team of Third Rate Warriors to take down. Even Low-Tier creatures were ferocious monsters that contained a huge amount of strength.
However, taking down Magic Beasts came with ample rewards. Their bodies were magical, containing resources that humans could only buy from the Shop, including some materials that couldn’t be purchased at all.
In addition, every Magic Beast came with a Spirit Crystal embedded within them. The Crystal operated as the ‘battery’ of a Magic Beast, a type of tough organ that stored their energy. Just like humans, Magic Beasts cultivated a type of energy that was roughly equivalent to Ki.
When regular Byrens killed a Magic Beast, they would remove this Spirit Crystal. They could then slowly absorb energy from the Crystal to help further their Ki Cultivation. In this aspect, Byrens had an advantage over humans.
When a human killed a Magic Beast, the energy in that creature’s Spirit Crystal was automatically absorbed and converted into Points. There were few exceptions to this rule, and because of this, it made it very difficult to acquire Spirit Crystals through any means other than trade for humans.
The drained Spirit Crystal dissipated into dust, becoming mostly worthless. The other materials that a Magic Beast contained, however, were still worthwhile. These were the main tools humans used for trade at this time.
As Micheal scanned the Black Needle Dog, he roughly gauged its power.
‘It’s stronger than an Abnormal Morenkai, but not on the level of a Monster Class Morenkai.’ He could tell this with a simple glance. Its physical power wasn’t bound to be too high, nor was its physical defense.
However, when it came to Magic Beasts, raw strength wasn’t everything. Most of them contained weird abilities or powers that set them apart from each other.
To humans, these marauding Magic Beasts were a plague that took countless lives. After all, if it took a full team of Third Rate Warriors to safely kill one, then groups of humans that weren’t at that level, or individual Third Rate Warriors that weren’t with a team, were easy prey.
Micheal hadn’t encountered one of these before, but could remember reading a vague description of the creature thanks to his Ceaseless Mind’s perfect memory. The fact that it was covered in quills and spikes likely meant it had a defensive or close-range offensive power, something the description he’d read confirmed.
After scanning his surroundings and noting that no one was nearby, Micheal began to approach the Black Needle Dog.
He didn’t hide his presence nor did he set up any special traps. Instead, he rested his hand on the hilt of his sword and simply flew forward.
It took only a couple of seconds for the Black Needle Dog to notice him.
The dog had been in the middle of chomping down on a large deer hind leg when it froze, its nose twitching. Its entire body shivered as it turned to look at the fast-approaching Micheal, a low, rumbling growl echoing out.
Micheal ignored that as he continued to fly forward. He bent his knees slightly as he moved, his gaze calm and steady.
The wild dog’s growl evolved into a roar as the Magic Beast dropped the deer leg and took several steps towards Micheal. Its fur spiked up even further, making it look painful to touch.
By this point, Micheal was just a dozen meters away. He had leapt off of his Life Orbs and was sprinting forward, his every movement measured and precise. The tension built up as the roaring wild dog prepared to launch itself at Micheal, its white teeth gleaming.
Just before the Magic Beast leaped, just before Micheal was about to make contact…
Micheal’s eyes glowed as he stared at the Black Needle Dog and unleashed his full killing intent.
An invisible wave of emotion, conducted by the power of his Soul, washed forward and encompassed the Black Needle Dog. A feeling of overwhelming bloodlust and intimidation, born from more than a decade of brutal warfare and combat at the highest level.
That invisible wave of emotion slammed into the Low-Tier Magic Beast and froze it in its tracks. Its entire body grew still in terror as it felt this pressure land, neutralizing its attack before it could even get started.
By the time it even tried to recover from that shock, it was already too late.
In the split second that it stood there frozen, Micheal decapitated it in a single slash. His right arm had struck forward lightning-fast, Advanced Tier Sword Energy coating his blade as he cut through the Black Needle Dog’s tufted fur like it was paper.
A wash of red blood spattered out as the Magic Beast collapsed, killed i
nstantly.
.
—-Points Obtained—-
Points: 267
.
Micheal flicked the notification to the side as he smoothly spun around, sheathing his sword in a graceful movement. He eyed the Points total, sighing slightly.
It wasn’t exactly a huge number, but it was much higher than the Points you would get from killing most Morenkai, and it was only the lowest ‘Tier’ of Beasts you could hunt on the Second Layer.
It was a travesty that humanity abandoned so many of their own to various Slums, not when Low-Tier Magical Beasts could provide so many Points. This was enough to provide a basic meal for at least a hundred humans. People's appetites grew stronger as their bodies became more powerful, but it wasn't at anything approaching a high level here on the Second.
After a second, he gazed down at the corpse, wrinkling his nose slightly.
“It’s no good.” He frowned as he stepped forward and grabbed ahold of the wild dog’s body. He picked up the pieces and quickly stored them in his Mid-Tier Spatial Ring, saving it for later.
Low-Tier Magic Beasts were ferocious, but Micheal’s skill level vastly outweighed his own body’s strength. That, combined with his abnormally strong Soul, meant that no Low-Tier Magic Beast was bound to be a match for him, no matter how powerful or odd their abilities might be.
Advanced Tier Sword Energy, in his hands, was deadly enough to shear through the skin of any Low-Tier Magic Beast with ease. His physical strength was enough to carry him for now, and he could always use the Bracken Enhancement Fluid if he truly needed to, giving him the versatility he needed to handle most situations.
As well, while he wasn’t at the level where he could use Master Tier Sword Energy without serious injury, his powerful Soul was almost at that point. If he could get several more points into his Soul stat, he would be able to freely use the lowest level of Master Tier Sword Energy with minimal injuries.