Luca came to a stop at the door. He narrowed his gaze and looked around.
Observing what he could before attempting this 'new' trial. Or what he had called a trial within a trial.
"It's weird…" his thoughts churned when the image of a certain Phantom knight sparked in his head. His lips curled downwards in a frown.
"Did that thing… Was it actually telling the truth?"
For most of his life, Luca had wondered what that thing was. A knight of shadow that literally stalked his childhood.
It had been scary at first. And on more than one occasion, he had often run, but at some point, Luca had concluded that it was harmless.
'Not harmless per se, but it seemed like it wasn't there to attack me… but rather watch me?'
He wasn't certain entirely, but he had formed his own lore on why that thing followed him.
Oftentimes, he had told himself a witch had cursed him.
On a few, he puffed his chest with the excitement of being a selected few who had a guardian angel.
And many more… Luca was suspicious.
'Well, there's no thinking about it.'
Just then, Luca reached within. He closed his eyes and reeled back the Ego that still flickered in debris from his body.
The energy receded as he opened his eyes and glanced at the blood runes inscribed in the air.
Controlling his ego had been instinctual at this point. It was like a stream. Control it forwards and it reveals itself, take it backwards and it recedes.
A small smile formed on his face as he read his now updated status.
'A few things have changed.'
Name; Lucamir Elaric.
Archetype; Undefined.
Ego Rank; Unranked.
Ego Core; Dust White (30.5%)
Ego Synchrony; 40%.
Ego Manifestation; 10%.
Null Resistance; 100%.
Titles; None.
Bloodline; None.
Traits; None.
Talents; Identification Talent[D- Mastery(3%)].
Ego weapons; Longsword[D- Mastery(7.5%)].
Ego Accessories; None.
Bonds; None.
Though it may seem underwhelming at first glance, Luca found it the opposite.
'This is growth, as some would say.'
He clenched his fist slowly. 'And I can already feel the effect of that 35%.'
Trancers begin with the Dust White Core until they become Egoists, and for most, continue to use this until they finally reach the next core, the Particle White Core. After that is the Broken White Core and the Perfected White Core.
Each required a substantial amount of 100% before reaching the next level, and as such, the gap in strength within Ranks with the same Core was quite obvious.
That was even more so when comparing an Egoist of the Dust White Core with a normal Human.
A human is incapable of forming or having an Ego Core, and they lack by a hundred to one, when compared to a single fighter of the Dust White Core.
Someone like Luca at 35% didn't just mean he was far stronger than a mob of humans, but it also meant he was 35 times stronger than them.
Even a thousand of them couldn't hurt a strand in his hair.
The gap was that large.
'Alright, enough dulling.' He puffed his chest and shifted his gaze to his weapon.
'I had lost it in the fight. I'm sure the snow has covered it up, but can I re-summon it even when I've lost it?'
He attempted it. Luckily, he was successful.
'Alright then.' He pushed the looming doors with one hand and delved into the building.
His chest thumped with each step he took.
Finally, as he withdrew within the close space of the skeleton hospital, the yawning wind seized. Replaced by an eerie silence that crept on his skin.
Luca looked around slowly with his sword held out in front. His eyes were glowing ethereally golden in the static darkness around him.
The first-floor reception was a far cry from its former glory. The waiting room was a mess of broken slabs and holographic furniture that flickered maniacally between oblivion and living.
The ceilings were punctured with holes. Large, dark and dripping with what Luca identified as water. The lights were dim– terribly, so.
And the reception desk was carved in two. One piece was still in place, while the other was stuck at the end of the wall.
With one glance, Luca felt his skin turn cold.
"What a sight." He muttered under his breath as he walked forward slowly.
His feet crunched on broken glass and something more. Luca didn't bother to find out.
Curiosity kills the cat, they say.
After reaching the midsection, the light suddenly hummed with an electric buzz and came to life.
[THE FIRST FLOOR DUNGEON WILL NOW BEGIN]
[0/20]
[GOODLUCK]
Immediately, the air turned cold.
And a smell– pungent and stale assaulted his nostrils. Luca grimaced.
He took slow steps back when a click– far from artificial– rang in the air. It echoed.
Luca's blood nearly ran cold.
'For the love of the gods, the way they appear is so random and strange!'
Something crunched. Broken glass?
But Luca was standing still at the moment.
Then the click became a sudden, rhythmic call. A series of consonants warped into the Devil's chant.
The sound of glass breaking began to increase and the smell grew worse.
'I need to get my back against the wall… I can't have them surround me without knowing what they are first.'
He lowered his body to the ground. Observing until he reached the black entrance door.
Then he waited.
The light dimmed once more at that moment.
The cold was reduced by a hundred degrees. Luca could swear it was the same as outside, but he couldn't compare!
The situation wouldn't give him the leeway.
Within the darkness, his eyes glowed with a shimmering gold. And with them, he spotted blood soaked redded eyes. Multiple of them, staring right back.
He gulped.
"Kkkkkraxckkkk!"
A creature, deformed and warped, rushed from the darkness in a black blur.
Luca dodged to the side. His gaze never left the beast as it smashed, headfirst, into the entrance door.
A loud eruption of sound occurred as the light dimmed back on.
Luca's eyes bulged at the sight before him.
Forelimbs are the size of its entire length. Hindlimbs, bent backwards at an awkward angle. Eyes that were redder than blood.
Lips that were peeled, replaced by bare, canine rows of teeth. Skin that looked like the underside of human skin and a tail that extended with the rest of its body.
And this creature, though slim as a broom, towered over Luca by at least seven feet.
Luca jumped to the side immediately on recognition, but his talent did its work, anyway.
[NULL SPAWN, GRADE 1]
'Grade 1?! That scary thing?!'
The creature screeched. Its voice throbbed with its gurgling, wet throat as it pounced towards Luca.
The rest followed. Some rushed out of rooms, and a few from even the waiting room.
Luca dashed around, dodging and swinging his sword in tandem.
'Null Spawns!' He screamed in his head as he sliced through the underside of a Spawn. Nothing.
The creature grabbed him and flung him across the room.
Luca was sent hurling into the wall with an explosive force. The air shifted as he crashed into it. Blood from closed wounds reopened while a fist of it forced its way out of his mouth.
Luca gasped.
'Its not like the Buds!'
Of course it wasn't.
Null spawns were different. Uncanny, dangerous.
They were the second in the grand schemes of evil things to watch out for. Spawns were the corrupted versions of normal humans, only the original Ego potential is taken into account to create them. And thus, Grade Gradess5 existed.
Once humans, the Abyss took the human features and turned them into this when it failed its challenges.
The thought dawned on Luca.
'So this would be my fate if I were to fail the Trance?!'
He sat up from the rubble of stones as the creature's closed.
'Hah! How cliché.'
His gaze landed on the creature's as the light shut off.
'The Spawns are different from the Raptors. The Raptors were short. Their limbs were even shorter… it was easy to figure out their body structure.'
The Spawns were upon him once again. A wicked, wet laugh ensued in the air at the same time.
Luca didn't move. In fact, he let them close the gap. He let them lean in.
If he wanted to study these things. To find their workarounds. Their body movements. The way they think. The way they functioned, then he would have to let everything play out as it should.
If they saw him as prey, and on the brink of their grasp, they would naturally reveal everything.
And indeed, they did.
They whipped their elongated forearms in a grasp, inching closer to Luca.
Luca's pupils dilated and an ethereal gold oozed out. At that moment, time had slowed for Luca. And the creature's movements had begun to unravel in his presence.
Their breathing and rising chest. Their tensed muscles coiled and relaxed. Even the way they saw him. He perceived their very information on how they viewed the World.
Then his ears perked up. He heard it.
Slow, arrhythmic beating. Alien, different. It was a heart, alright, but it was that of a beast.
A golden light streaked the sky as Luca moved.
He willed his Ego from his arms to his sword. It surrounded it. Blazing with a golden black like ravaging flames.
He leaned forward with his head down, then blasted forward.
'Their long arms and tail are the main body balance structures.' His sword moved like a whip. It slashed through the air with thin precision. Golden lines followed in its wake.
The first spawn was sliced through its limbs.
'Then the right centre. It's heart.'
He stabbed forward.
His sword carved through the creature's chest.
It protruded out from the other end as a blast of energy erupted from its tip.
Time resumed to flow normally.
The creatures snapped in a frenzy. Loud banshee cries cracked Luca's ears as he appeared behind them with the first still stuck to his blade.
He kicked it off. His gaze never left the hungry Spawns.
[1/20]
Luca didn't need the Trance to let him know that one was dead. Its black blood dribbling down his longsword was enough confirmation.
He slashed through the air, causing the blood to plaster on the broken tiles in an arc.
A quiet dare played on his face as the creatures snarled at him.
Their steps were weary from caution.
Luca smirked and lunged forward.
"Come!"