[You have slain the
[You have inherited the Dark Core.]
"Huh?"
Hearing that message, Kevin tilted his head in confusion.
This was the first time he had received a notification from the SYSTEM beyond the usual count of remaining players.
Kevin frowned slightly.
Up until now, the SYSTEM had felt distant, almost passive. It could be described as a background mechanism that simply existed to track survival and nothing more. But that same system had just displayed a different message.
He shifted his gaze toward the dissipating remains of the Tyrant-class Shade. The writhing mass of darkness was unraveling, its unstable form collapsing inward as though whatever held it together had finally been severed.
Beowulf.
So that was its name.
'…Figures you'd have something like that Wait, why did I think it would have something like that? More importantly, it's the shadow of the
It was quite frustrating.
There were so many things that he needed and wanted to know, but it was impossible when the SYSTEM kept cockblocking him at every turn. The so-called game master of this Deathmatch clearly had a rather twisted sense of humor
Kevin dragged a hand through his hair as he forced himself to calm down.
Getting irritated or angry wouldn't change anything. If anything, it would just cloud his judgment
'Anyway, let's check this out.'
With the Shade leaving behind no visible core and that strange message still lingering in his mind, Kevin's curiosity got the better of him. Without wasting any time, he opened his profile interface.
[Player Profile]
Name: Kevin Pierce | ID: 0047
Dark Core: V
Attributes: [Mana Sensitivity], [Transmigrator], [Starless]
Stats:
| Strength: D
| Agility: D+
| Constitution: D
| Mana Capacity: C-
At first glance, nothing seemed to have changed.
His stats remained the same. His attributes were untouched. Everything appeared… normal.
But there was an immediate anomaly.
Where his Aether Core should have been, something else had taken its place.
Dark Core.
Displayed plainly, as if it had always been there.
Why did it change?
Kevin frowned, focusing on the unfamiliar entry as he wondered if there was any way to access more information.
As if responding to that exact thought, a new screen appeared.
| Dark Core
| Dark Core Description: Born from the shard of memory left to wander in the desolate Forgotten Lands. As a fragment of the
| Status: Integrated
| Stability: 72%
| Growth: Active
| Properties: ???
| Compatibility: High
Kevin's eyes narrowed slightly as he read through the additional information.
"Integrated…?"
It seemed the foreign core had already fused with him.
Strangely enough, his body didn't feel anything weird or out of place, nothing that would normally accompany something like this. In fact, he felt more or less the same and his mana capacity hasn't increased either.
According to the SYSTEM, though, it was already a part of him.
"That certainly doesn't sound ominous at all."
Trying not to shudder, Kevin shook his head as if to banish something and swept his gaze to the next line.
Stability: 72%
"…That's lower than I'd like."
If it could be measured, then it could probably drop.
And if it dropped...
Kevin didn't bother finishing that thought.
Instead, his attention moved downward.
Growth: Active
Properties: ???
Compatibility: High
"…So I don't even get to know what it does."
He let out a quiet scoff.
How typical. This was as cliche as it could get. Still, one important detail stood out the most.
Compatibility: High.
At the very least, it meant his body — or perhaps his soul — wasn't rejecting the Dark Core. In fact, it seemed to be accepting it rather well. Which, somehow, made it even more unsettling.
Kevin slowly lowered the interface, his expression turning thoughtful as he contemplated.
A fragment of the
A core that had replaced his own.
And a system that only chose to speak when something like this happened.
From a certain point of view, Kevin could only describe himself as both fortunate and unfortunate.
He had been lucky enough not to spawn in a completely random location after his transmigration, yet unlucky enough to end up with a rather peculiar Succubus as his Companion. He had been fortunate enough to survive the horrors of the Forgotten Lands, yet cursed enough to be thrown into them in the first place.
He had even managed to overcome the Shadow Wolf—
Only to be rewarded with a mysterious core that offered no explanation, no clarity on its functions, and no indication of whether it was an upgrade… or even something far worse.
Certainly, it wasn't something he could simply brush off as a stroke of luck.
Up until now, everything that had happened to him could still be loosely attributed to chance. Survival, encounters, even his Awakening and transmigration. All of it could be explained away as circumstances aligning in his favor.
'Guess everything won't go my way.'
Still, out of everything, why did this have to happen to the most fundamental aspect of himself?
Kevin squeezed his lips in dissatisfaction and then suddenly froze. Acting on a particular impulse, he tapped on the impulse and checked on his Soul Ability.
†
Soul Ability: [Ars Requiem]
First Form: [Dismantle]
Second Form: [Shred]
Third Form: [Void]
Forth Form: [???]
Fifth Form: [???]
Sixh Form: [???]
Seventh Form: [???]
†
"This is..."
Shocked, his eyes widened.
The Third Form for his Soul Ability has been unlocked!?
Growing excited, Kevin focused on the newly revealed line.
Third Form: [Void]
Third Form Description: [Absorbs incoming forces which can either be reflected back or converted into stored energy.]
"…That's…"
He trailed off, unable to immediately settle on a proper reaction.
It sounded absurd.
Not powerful in the straightforward, destructive sense like Dismantle or Shred, but something far more… unfair. If he could attack the attacks of his opponents and reflect them back, wouldn't that make him broken?
Shaking his head, Kevin decided to think more logically and not allow himself to be distracted.
No matter how he thought it, there didn't seem to be any setbacks.
Up until now, every confrontation he had faced boiled down to one thing; killing the opponent before they could kill him.
There was no real room for error.
If something stronger, faster, or simply more durable appeared, his only options were to outmaneuver it… or die. But this was a huge game changer. But absorption alone wasn't the most important part.
It was what came after.
Reflect back or converted into stored energy.
These two were his main interests. Something that could turn the mundane "him" into a terrifying opponent.