'Oh, wise System, enlighten this foolish reincarnator on how one goes about coalescing their Core?'
The System, clearly swayed by my irresistible charm and silver tongue, easily crumbles under my request.
[The prerequisite to coalesce your Core is for all of your stats to be at Tier V]
Except it didn't. This was a prerequisite.
I immediately dropped my head in defeat. It seemed nothing came easy in this world. Luckily, I was already a Tier higher in Will, and my Dexterity was already at Tier V, so I just needed to catch up with the rest of my stats. Although I wasn't sure how long that would take. Hell, how do I even do it?
'Hey, how do I increase my stats?'
[...]
The System remained quiet. I was slightly at a loss and thought that maybe this was another grand secret it wouldn't reveal until I proved my worth. As I was about to inquire, the System responded.
[By training]
'Oh, right.'
I let out an awkward cough.
As with anything, it took training and practice to get good and improve. I felt slightly embarrassed at having asked that now. It seems I've let myself slip quite a lot.
'Fantasy world with stats or not, the basis for strength is still honing your body and skills through hard work.'
I felt a slight smile creep up on my face. That wasn't anything new for me, luckily. Hell, since arriving here, my motivation to grow stronger shot back up, and I feel like I'm looking forward to improving. I guess what they say is true. Leaving your comfort zone really is good for you. All it took for me to get off my ass was dying and being thrown into literal Hell!
'And what do I actually need to do so I can reach Stage 3?'
The System hadn't really answered my question earlier.
[That is unimportant]
'No, it's not.'
Why was it avoiding answering me? It wasn't anything unusual for the System to not answer my burning curiosity, but I needed answers, so I had a better idea of how I could get stronger.
[...You currently possess all the other requirements to reach Stage 3. However, I won't tell you how, since if you choose to advance recklessly without the necessary strength, you will die]
'Oh, and why is that?'
[Beings with weak bodies and lacking strength struggle to coalesce and contain a Core, resulting in death. By my assessment, your current strength is too lacking to possess a Core and you may die by attempting to do so]
'I see. Thank you for warning me.'
I was genuinely grateful to the System. If I currently somehow possess the other requirements to advance to Stage 3, I would probably be tempted to do it even if I knew I would potentially die. All that was left to do was to work on my strength patiently.
As much as I wanted to start training right now, this wasn't the place. For one, now that I've unlocked my System, I should try to get out of this place. I still had some unfinished business.
'I need to find that group of kids and see things through with them.'
I doubt I could do much to harm them, but I at least now stood a chance to put up some kind of a fight. Currently, my small body, despite its power, was severely limiting my combat capability in terms of technique. I couldn't move as I did when I was a human, so I needed to adapt even more to this tiny build. With my normal height slowly returning, maybe I could gain some semblance of my former technique. I had knives for hands now, so I could definitely do some crazy stuff given time.
I hadn't yet tested out my new body, so I threw some practice punches, kicks and did leaps in the tiny space. I could feel my muscles brimming with more power than ever before as they rapidly contracted and relaxed during my set of pracitced movements. I eventually came to a stop, my breathing slightly uneven and my body covered in a thin layer of sweat.
I had definitely grown slightly stronger from my Stage upgrade.
I cooled down for a couple of minutes, then put the thoughts of battle prowess to the back of my mind. I recalled the letter I had read earlier, so I jumped back onto the dusty writing desk and skimmed through it once again.
'Interesting.'
Another thing I had noticed was that the vengeful writer said they were banished, not killed or anything. I was curious about what this meant. Why not just kill the fella if, as the Race description said, Bloodfiends were hunted and scorned? Yet, the writer seemed close to the people of this place. The people living here didn't hate them for some reason. Yet again, another discrepancy.
I decided to lay those thoughts to rest for now. As I was about to jump off the desk to do my final rounds of helpful cleaning, I noticed a tiny glimmer on the desk. It was covered in layers of dust, but there was something there. I cautiously reached my hand out to the shiny object and wiped off the years of grime covering it.
'Somebody's wife's going to be mad.'
In my hand lay a silver ring, its surface engraved with intertwining, intricate patterns. A tiny red gemstone, radiating a faint scarlet hue, sat on top of the ring. Within the ring under the gemstone, a set of sophisticated runes was engraved. It read out "Raxon".
I nodded with satisfaction. It looked like a damn nice ring. I was quite happy with the find left by my assumedly senior Bloodfiend.
'Looks like his name was Raxon. So they probably were a man?'
It was good to put a gender to the vindictive writer at least. I didn't really have a use for this ring, but it wasn't like Raxon was coming back any time soon. So...
'After all...why not? Why shouldn't I keep it?'
I tried to slide the ring onto my index claw, but it didn't quite fit. Just as I was contemplating storing it in my mouth, the ornate ring vibrated slightly, before resizing itself and smoothly sliding onto the base of my claw hand. I stared at the wondrous ring for a moment as my jaw grew slack. Was this what I thought it was?
'A magic item!'
Based on what I'd heard from the antagonistic youths earlier, this finely crafted item resembled a Storage Ring. As the name implies, it's a ring that stores things. Pretty neat!
'Now, how do I use this?'
I happened to have a bunch of stuff to store away nearby.
I walked up to the nearby Essence Shards and observed them. A calmly pulsating brown orb stood out among the group, as it was smaller than the surrounding crimson orbs. I picked it up and tried willing it into the ring.
Nothing happened. I was prepared for this. After all, a magic item needed magic energy, right? I wasn't sure how Essence worked, but I had Intelligence at Tier II, so I must have some competency in that field.
Where was Essence stored? Logically, in my own body. I haven't done this before, since I've almost constantly been in action or recovering, but now it seems like a good time to test this out. I've been putting it off for too long.
Meditation seemed like the most likely bet for it to work.
I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths before directing my attention inwards. I sat in silence for a couple of minutes. I focused on my breathing and began sensing every crevice of my body. Head, torso, limbs, heart, lungs, nerves, muscles, bones, bloodflow - I focused on everything I could think of. Eventually, I reached a meditative state, where I had no thoughts. All I heard were my shallow breaths along with the rhythmic beating of my heart. I forgot about everything and simply waited
...And waited.
...And waited.
At some point, I lost my sense of time, but then I sensed something. A pleasant rising heat within myself. The strange, soothing sensation of a concealed flowing energy enveloped every inch of my body. It felt like warm waves coursing through my whole being, calmly breaking the shore. I remained unperturbed by this newfound sensation.
The waves were lazy and languid without direction. They felt uncontrolled, like a senselessly splashing body of water. It was basically a bundle of unused energy just sitting in my body. This was the dormant Essence within my body. It was about time I began whipping it into shape.
I tried to will it to move towards my finger, and a small portion of Essence ever so slowly began to make its way towards the ring. I felt my mental energy draining at an alarming rate as the Essence made its way through my body at a gruellingly slow pace. This tiny amount of control took all the focus I had. It felt that if I were to slip for even a second, all the Essence would calmly revert back to its own directionless path.
After minutes of despair-inducing dedication and focus, the ethereal energy touched the ring. The orb in my hand glowed as it lost its brown hue and turned into a mass of white sparks, flying into the ornate ring.
I didn't react and calmly picked up the rest of the orbs and the letter, just in case, so I wouldn't have to repeat the whole process again. Soon, the final orb flew into the ring, leaving my hands and mouth free for the foreseeable future.
I collapsed onto the floor once again. A wave of chills went down my spine as I realized I was covered in a layer of cold sweat. Maintaining so much focus was, putting it nicely, fucking difficult.
I felt like I didn't have to go through the whole process to withdraw something from the ring. I could tell that I simply had to will for one of my stored items to pop out.
I sat on the dusty floor for a couple of minutes before getting up and making some final rounds of the place. It was time I got a move on. My favourite Mafia players were waiting somewhere after all.
There was nothing else left in the room. I went up by a Stage, got a System and even permanently borrowed Raxon's Storage Ring. I already had plenty of fond memories of this place, so I was going to miss it.
I approached the door of the house and exited. A crimson fog immediately greeted me once again, along with the makeshift defensive line. I felt another chill run down my spine as the temperature shifted.
'Now, where shou-'
[Middle Layer Trial qualifications met]
[Trial will begin automatically]
The System spoke up unprompted. It had never informed me about anything in this manner.
'Trial, wha-'
[Please survive]
A moment later, I heard the rattling sound of a chain being dragged across the ground within the depths of the crimson fog.
It was slowly inching closer to me.
There wasn't much to think about. The System already warned me to simply survive and nothing more.
I dashed over the defensive line into the depths of the fog. I heard something crash violently behind me, causing the nearby ground to shake.
Within an instant, I knew.
Even with my newfound strength, I wasn't beating whatever was chasing me.
I forgot all my worries and ran.
In a world where strength ruled supreme, only the strong got to survive and thrive. I could tell...
Currently, I am not part of the strong. With my strength, I have the privilege to flee and pray that I survive.
The sound of rattling chains continued to echo from within the crimson fog, slowly shifting towards my fleeing figure.