"Ed, it's too soon for us to meet. But that doesn't mean I can just stand and see you die," A deep voice spoke before Ed lost his consciousness.
Ed was supposed to fall; his body had reached its limit, but contrary to that, his body moved. But unlike Ed's usual flashy Spirit Glow, it was merely a faint one. How could this counter such abominations?
Slash!
Ed's body moved as if he had been fighting for decades, and he made no extra movement; everything was controlled.
Thud.
Heads dropped from the beasts. Blood trickled, but it was not red; it was dark green, the blood of nightmare creatures.
Just like that, Ed ended those abominations. With the same ability as Ed, the entity slayed creatures with precision beyond comprehension.
-
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-
'How am I alive?' Ed muttered under his breath as he opened his eyes. He had no idea something mysterious had taken control of his body and slaughtered those beasts.
"How did I come here?" Ed scanned his surroundings. He found himself lying on a massive altar. On the altar, strange letters with blue liquid were carved, which seemed to be a language Ed didn't recognize.
He stepped away from the altar, and the blue carving vanished instantly, as if it never existed.
'This place is strange,' Ed thought as he stepped out of the altar room. It appears he was in some kind of fortress. The walls were made out of black stones, materials he had never seen or heard about.
'Are they Fortress guard, then this place must be!' Ed spotted creatures carrying spears. The creatures walked on all fours, with two horns and sharp maws. According to that book, they were guards; unless one did something wrong, they would not attack.
- - - Ed Orves Pov- - -
This place was strange in a cursed land like this. How can there be such a bizarre structure? It's all. But here I was witnessing the scene that I tried to reject. I had walked quite far away, and I came across a strange room. When I entered that room, it sent a chill down my spine. This was a feeling unlike anything I had ever felt, a feeling of closeness. At the far end of that room, a sword was struck to the ground.
[Evil energy detected]
[Resistance +1]
The familiar mechanical voice rang beside Ed's ear. In that instance, Ted's earlier laid-back demenor replaced by a well-guarded one.
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Away from Ed, meanwhile, in the academy.
"Is this the place?" A voice asked. It was a woman in her mid-20s. She is Analisa Frost. She had scarlet red hair, violet eyes, and she was clad in black armor.
"Yes its the Azurlea Academy's first branch," The man beside her replied. He was Arivel Frost. He had pale green hair, golden eyes, dark skin, and wore a combat uniform.
The Azurlea Academy has its own branch each year. While the first year was mainly newcomers, they lacked advanced facilities. But even that facility alone rivaled most schools throughout the continent, which was amazing and frightening at the same time. Over the years, the academy had become a powerhouse alongside the royal family. At this very moment, the two royal family were on their way to join the academy.
"Its been a long time since we last met him. Is your cousin is he still as arrogant as ever?" Analisa chuckled.
"Ah, him, Yeah he is arrogant, but he is still one of the strongest. We can't ignore that, can we?" Arivel said he formed a small barrier-like thing in his palm.
"Yeah, you're right, but it's strange hearing you praise someone else knowing your personality," Analisa said.
"Why is that?" Arivel took a step forward, opened the door to the class, and asked, tilting her head slightly toward her.
'Here it is again, his fake personality taking shape. If everyone knew how twisted this bastard truly was, then…I can't imagine the disaster' Analise sighed.
They entered the class, which was the combat class.
"I'd like you to introduce you to the students joining from now on," Gist announced.
Beside him was Leonard and he continued.
"Its the Frost siblings," Leonard said as Analise and Arivel entered.
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Ed now stands on a mountain of corpses of unknown beasts.
[Nightmare Soul obtained X100]
'System'
-host name: Ed Orves
-Class: Swordman
-Technique: N/A
-Strength: C+
-Agility: D+
-Spirit Energy: SSS+
-Souls: 101
- - -
"Still, these creatures are a pain in the ass to deal with," Ed muttered as he strode forward.
Earlier, when the system had warned him, countless nightmare creatures the size of goblins appeared. They wielded knives, but they lacked intelligence, which was good news for Ed. They were simply weak, but their numbers were truely pain. But Ed didn't complain as he would gain souls; he would burn constantly, but a creature this weak made barely any difference.
Slash!
Ed slashed. Another head dropped to the ground.
Violet Blood was oozing from their wounds. Ed could do this all day, but stamina was a factor, too.
[Swordmanship levelled up to 3]
As the system voice rang beside Ed's ears. His control over the sword drastically increased. Before this, Ed could behead one at a time, but now that his Swordmanship skill has gone up levels, he could behead multiple at a time.
Ed had done butchering all those wrenches and moved to take the Sword Struck to earth itself. The closer he got, the more familiar he felt toward the sword.
"!" As he pulled out, his mind seemed to be battling against something untouchable. But it was not as severe as before because now Ed constantly heard screams and wails of 101 souls; compared to that, it was a plaything.
[You have obtained a technique]
[Soul devourer of heavens(S+) acquired]
Techniques are essential for all combatants. No matter how desperately one fights, training if they don't have a proper technique, they would at one point be stuck at a level. Each person can wield and use one technique at a time, and wielding countless techniques would result in inefficient progress. As an example, if one could ascend to A-rank with their technique using multiple technique slow down their progress. Often obtaining technique made people ascend from F-rank to A-rank. Each technique has a rank.
But to Ed, obtaining a technique was a fortune, not everyone get's a S+ ranked technique the first time.