In the land north of Ingrassia, Sasha had already equipped herself with clothes, and a weapon, aside from a growing armada of golems shaped to look just like her at this point.
[EQUIPMENT:
-Weapon: Tactical Whip "Firewall"
Grade: Legend Class
Description: A whip forged from Magisteel and Hell Moth Silk. It conducts the "Interceptor" vibration waves to slice through physical shields.
-Armor: Operator's Bodysuit
Grade: Unique Class
Description: A sleek, armored bodysuit created via her own Artificer skill. It regulates her body temperature to prevent overheating from ??? magicules.]
She had mostly retained her features from before, black hair, twin tails style, and even the same outfit, the biggest change was that her proportions had gotten thicker, an effect of her new species.
(Image here)
At this point, she had used her unique skills, Artificer, and Compiler to build herself a base of operations underground, protected by a powerful multi-layered barrier, and her still increasing army of golems.
The walls were not rough stone, but smooth, seamless Magisteel plates, humming with the faint blue light of magicule circuits. It looked less like a dungeon and more like a server room carved into the earth.
In the metallic halls empty of any life other than herself and whatever monsters had been captured, she was reviewing the progress of her plans.
"Things are coming together well… At this rate, I'll be able to see him anytime now... Dear OC, soon-" She smiled to herself envisioning a perfect reunion straight from a fantasy.
[Warning: Soul Tether has been severed, connection to 'Beloved' has been lost.]
However, her thoughts were cut off when she felt something break.
"What? No… It can't be… I was nurturing that link for years upon years! How did he?!… Hahaha! I don't know if I should be proud cause of course my dear beloved managed to overcome this much, or mad that he ever rejected a present I so painstakingly cultivated for him…." She spoke with a forced smile, but was breaking down and smashing her golems one by one.
"Calm down! It's surely just the negative influences from this new life. My OC lives and breathes for me. He has abandoned everything for me many times before, and he would do it again, I just need to remind him…" She managed to stop herself, taking a deep breath.
This was a big problem, the seed she had planted from deep within the first life, the one that should have been so ingrained nobody should have been able to tell it apart from his essence, was severed for good.
"So I lost my main way to influence my dear and his thoughts… He's always been one to want control for himself, but he doesn't know what's best for him the way I do. No matter, I can't go after him right now, and my main way to find him instantly was cut…" Before she could stop herself she destroyed even more golems in a frenzy, breaking them faster than they were built.
After all, from back when they were much younger until this point, she had it all in the palm of her hand, so matter the surface level thought, she could see his heart, the deep truths nobody else even dreamed of ever knowing, to be cut out, how?!
In time however, she had to stop her own crashout.
"Arghhh!!! But I need to stay calm, I have to fulfill my end of the deal first, or all my years of work and sacrifice to make us a perfect future will be for nothing. I forgive you dear, I know you are just being poisoned by the temptations of the world. Just like I did on earth, I will find a way to fix it for us." Sasha took a deep breath, and she composed herself, getting back up almost like she didn't just go on a rampage.
Her breathing hitched. Then, her eyes glazed over for a split second as Thought Acceleration kicked in, forcibly regulating her heart rate. The rage was filed away, archived for later. She stood up, smoothing her skirt, her smile returning as perfect and artificial as the golems she had just destroyed.
"I'll go back to building this army for her. After all, I have to respect a fellow woman after her beloved. In the meantime, I'll need to send out drones to spy on him. Maybe I could use packet sniffing to comb through the thoughts of those in Jura looking for him? No… Too time-consuming, I have to keep working for now. I trust my beloved, he'll be fine, grow big and strong for me." She decided as she went back to work, restarting the work she had just jeopardized.
___________________________________________
In the Jura forest, the purple-haired young man found himself going after the monsters of the area.
A group of giant ants ran away as he came after them, and it wasn't too long before he used Great Devourer.
They couldn't run, or hide, from his hand a black fog took the shape of a dome, engulfing them all before consuming.
[Notice: 7 Giant Ants have been fully consumed.]
[Common Skill Telepathy has been acquired.]
[Telepathy: Is a common skill that allows two individuals to have a conversation through their thoughts, using magicules exchange as the method.]
[Common skill Body Armor has been acquired]
[Body Armor: Is a common skill that allows the user to form a shell-like substance harder than steel around desired body parts like armor.]
"So, I don't even really have to eat?… Direwolves next." He nodded to himself and kept moving.
His skill not only allowed him to take in the targets, but consuming them meant he could intake their biomass and nutrients directly through it, resolving his hunger, but not quite the tiredness.
Right was not the time to think too much, he wanted to get things done, and certainly make a reasonable improvement, cause right now, he felt far too weak.
Using Magic Sense and Harem System to find the direwolves, he coated himself in fighting spirit before dashing there.
The search wasn't long or hard, it didn't have to be, so long as it took his mind off things.
His martial arts skills allowed him to move his body with adeptness and effectiveness, using the terrain to his advantage, he managed to travel unimpeded, reaching his destination rather fast.
The direwolves lying down in the midst of the trees, a pack of 5, simply resting before the next hunt, didn't have a chance of reacting before they became prey.
Jumping into the fray, he stomped one of the wolves into paste by coating his feet and boots in a higher concentration of aura, before he landed adding more weight to gravity's pull.
[Art Aerial Stomp has been acquired.]
[Aerial Stomp: Is an offensive Art that uses the concentration of aura in the legs after the user has risen to a high altitude to increase the impact of the fall into a powerful stomp.]
Crunch! Splat! Crack!
The ground was damaged as minor cracks resulted from the impact, and the other direwolves got up to escape, but it was already too late.
Black fog expanded from him and took them all in.
[Notice: 4 Direwolves have been fully consumed.]
[Common skill coercion has been acquired.]
[Coercion: Is a common skill that allows its user to evoke pressure on a target or group of targets using their voice.]
[Common skill telepathy has evolved into common skill thought communication through consumption.]
[Thought Communication: Is a common skill that allows the user to communicate telepathically with one or multiple individuals.]
[Extra skill Ultra Smell has been acquired.]
[Utra Smell: Is an extra skill that gives the user a greatly enchanted sense of smell.]
"Hmmm, I'm doing well on finding a tracking, but now that my sense of smell improved I noticed… I'm too easy to detect." He focused and contained his aura, and magicules leak.
A dense of powerful purple bubble of pure presence was shrunk into his body until it disappeared.
"Hmm, I didn't mess up and let her control me for so long, I could have learned stealth from Gido, unlike with martial arts, I have no real point of reference for it. Let's try anyway." He walked into the shadows of the night to blend in.
From there, he moved as sneakily as he could through the forest, and after a few hours of moving around like that, nothing changed.
At this point, it was very late into the night, and the tiredness only felt heavier.
"As expected, it didn't work… I'll need to either find a stealth-type monster or learn from someone." He found a tree, and climbed to the top, before lying down and calling it a day.
It wasn't that he had no understanding of stealth at all, but to him it was still a nebulous idea, yes he had seen or read various stories that involved it, however never was it semented in his mind as more than an advantage you had to prepare rather than a learnable skill.
This dissolution in his mind stopped him from having a strong enough standing for Infinite Talent's sub-skill Insta-skill to be able to crystallize, much less being able to learn it on his own through its other sub-skill, comprehend.
'It's a lot… I died to her… Then I woke up in this world, and things were fine. Only for me to almost lose it? I almost killed Ellen… I don't like it, losing control in such a manner. I can't allow it to happen again…' He looked at the moon in the sky as those thoughts crossed his mind.
He was free, at least for now, and he planned on staying so.
'If I do something, from now on, it will always be a reflection of my will. I'm no moralist, never was, but needless killing doesn't help either. At some point in a world like this, I'll have to do it, if I want to reach the pinnacle, I have to be ready to do it, but it will be my decision.' He frowned just thinking about the, the memory of her trembling figure before he shook it off.
There was no going back, what was done, was done, but so long as he lived, tomorrow would be another day.
'Even then, just so I know I'm me, I'll set a rule, one to ease my mind, and to allow me to make the most of everything, even enemies. Except immediate real-life threat to my loved ones or me, I won't kill until the third strike. I'll give three chances only, nothing more or less. I swear! Instead, I'll use them to my benefit.' The purple-haired young man took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he made a promise, not to the world, not to others, but rather to himself.
The silence of the night as the wind carried a light gust with the scent of leaves, an oddly refreshing breeze.
ʼIn a way, it's a challenge. If I can win, and reach the pinnacle without needless killing, doesn't that mean, I'm just better?… Well, I will be. Starting today. For now, I need to get my head out of it.' Closing his eyes again, he let himself go for the night, finally falling to his tiredness.
The night was surprisingly calm, as the first day he spent in this world came to an end.
Despite the rocky start, there was much to be seen ahead, and a whole world full of work wonders he knew, and others he had no idea about.
His past was just that, and as the first step towards a real future began with the severance of a connection that dated back to his childhood, so did the road ahead require the resolve to build something new.
No matter the case, a decision has been made, and a wider world awaits as the journey has only just begun.