System Online
It was the middle of the night and his room was completely dark save for the glowing blue panel that reflected in his eyes. Jason was sitting up in bed with fists clenched and an excited grin plastered across his face as he counted down the seconds.
[Time Until Full System Unlock: 00:04:20]
Tonight marked the 15th year he'd lived in this new world and knowing the kind of things that lurked around out there, he was beginning to feel unnerved at how weak he was in comparison. His Slayer Magic's had plateaued a while ago due to his lack of instructions and though his Devil Fruit was more intuitive, it had similar hurdles with his insufficient stamina. It might not have bothered him so much but events unfolding as time passed had put him on edge.
His first real wake-up call hadn't come from some stray devil or anything, no, it had surprisingly come from his own father.
About a year after his sister was born, Jason was awoken in the middle of the night by a system notification that informed him it had just defended from a mental attack. He didn't know what had come over him that evening, but instead of jumping up and attacking the perpetrator, he'd opted to just sneak a peek through his closed eyes.
Afterwards, he was so shocked by what he saw that he just laid there until his father left. For the next month, every night he'd come back to Jason's room and do the same thing before going over to Jinah's as well. It'd taken Jason a week to figure out what was going on and after he had, pieces of his father's past started to fall into place.
It turned out that his father possessed a Sacred Gear, an Alphecca Tyrant to be exact, and was using it to strengthen both his and Jinah's minds against mental manipulation. With such a Sacred Gear in his possession, it made sense how he'd absconded from both his family business and the UK entirely without fuss. Why he had to do so in the first place was unknown to Jason, but he didn't particularly care. For all he knew, God could've just made it happen and for no other reason than Jason needing to be placed in the middle of DxD canon.
All this newfound knowledge had the effect of Jason taking his own training far more seriously however. He didn't know if his father had the ability to sense magic, but he guessed it was unlikely as he hadn't brought it up after all that time. Nevertheless, he at least made sure no one was around when he practiced from that point on.
The second event that really kicked his training into gear had happened shortly after the first, the birth of one Issei Hyoudou.
Jason had been visiting his mother at the hospital she worked at when, by chance, he'd seen the Hyoudou name on one of the door plates. An asked question filled to the brim with innocent, childlike curiosity had gotten him his answers without drawing any suspicion.
He'd already checked years ago that Kuoh Academy was still an all girls school and had no plans to change anytime soon, so no useful information there. The birth of the protagonist however, finally helped Jason nail down when the canon events would start, roughly 17 years later in 2008.
Jason didn't have any plans to kill Issei or take his Sacred Gear, for one he was just a child and Jason wasn't a monster. The Boosted Gear wasn't all that attractive to him either, there had to be reasons why no gods or other peak individuals had tried to take it in the past. Ddraig was no Ophis and the Boost's had to have a limit, one that Jason could easily surpass on his own. As long as Issei kept his eyes off and hands away from his sister, Jason couldn't care less what he did.
The next few years went by normally. Jason went to school and passed with near perfect marks. He was no prodigy however and was surprised by how much he'd forgotten over the years. He remembered just enough to never need to study but as the grade years went up, his test scores gradually became less outstanding. His parents didn't complain about it much though, they were just happy their son could take care of himself while they had their hands full with little Jinah.
One thing they did take notice of, was his skill at playing the guitar. After some fierce negotiations with his mother, and her side of the family's disappointment at not being able to brag about him becoming a concert pianist, they finally relented to the idea and allowed Jason to take lessons.
This was one scenario where he took full advantage of his juvenile brain's ability to learn at a far faster rate than an adult. While it was just treated as a hobby, Jason could proudly claim that he'd mastered playing the instrument more than any of the failed attempts in his first life within just a few weeks. At the present time, he'd even finished his acoustic recreation of 'River Flows in You,' a few years before Yiruma composed the original on piano. It was no 'Playing God,' but he was working his way there.
It sucked that there was no internet video streaming in the 90's, Jason had no plans of becoming a professional musician but he'd post videos of his 'original' songs for this world to enjoy. From what he could see, the lack of good manga and anime spilled over into the rest of the entertainment industry for the most part. By 2005, he could probably dominate YouTube with just a few songs played in his spare time, God knows they'd thank him for it.
[Time Until Full System Unlock: 00:01:09]
Jason took a deep breath and thought about his plans for the years to come in order to take his mind off the slowly ticking timer.
He'd start high school next year at Ye Ran HS, a place that sounded familiar but he couldn't remember from where. He didn't recall if DxD had ever mentioned any school other than Kuoh Academy either, so it could be canon for all he knew.
The three years that followed he planned to join the track team and earn himself a full ride to any university of his choice. He was going to fully abuse his supernatural prowess and skim by right under the national records in order to save his parents from needing to pay his tuition. They could easily afford to send him anywhere in the world ever since his paternal grandparents had passed a year ago and left his father their full inheritance, but Jason knew how much his father was pained over touching what he felt he no longer deserved.
Jason didn't know where he wanted to go, but he did have a plan on what to study in mind. Since he was due to graduate high school in the early 2000's, he planned to get a degree in both finance and economics. His goal was to take full advantage of his future knowledge and make a mint out of the upcoming tech boom. Even though this world wasn't the same as his last one, the overall trends were and with the right investments, he'd never have to worry about mundane money for the rest of his life.
It wouldn't have a substantial impact on the supernatural side of his life that was bound to take precedence, but he didn't want to have to worry about something as small as money with a huge threat looming on the horizon.
Jason eyed the numbers ticking down as they closed in on 0. His palms were drenched by this point and he was sure that had someone walked into his room at this moment, they'd either think him possessed or insane with the way he was so eagerly staring at 'nothing.'
[Full System Unlocked]
[+1 Unread Message]
'Finally!' He screamed in his mind, after so many years of waiting he could finally see what God had left for him.
With shaking hands, Jason instinctually tried to swipe away the message notice only for his finger to pass through the screen futilely. He briefly berated himself for forgetting that his system didn't work like that before thinking about what he wanted and, finally, got a look at his full status for the first time.
Instantly, his eyes went wide and his mind blanked at the obvious implications of what he was seeing.
_______________________________
[Status]
Name: Jason Hale
Level: 1
Race: Human
Class: Shadow Monarch
Covenant: N/A
—————————
HP: 500/500
MP: 60/60
SP: 70/70
—————————
Vitality: 5
Attunement: 6
Endurance: 7
Strength: 5
Dexterity: 6
Resistance: 4
Intelligence: 6
Faith: 4
—————————
Souls: 0
Humanity: 0
Shadows: 0/30
[Skills] [Equip] [Shop]
_______________________________
Jason thought back on his conversation with God all those years ago and cursed in his mind at remembering what was said. 'I have the perfect world to send you to and by growing there, you'll also help me by putting an end to that terrible place!'
"Terrible place…" he growled out the words. There weren't many places that could be worse, maybe Bloodborne or the 40k universe but he didn't dare mention them and tempt fate.
Taking a deep breath, Jason forced himself to think about the issue logically. The Dark Souls universe might not be as bad as he's working it up to be, the franchise should only be so difficult because you were restricted by the confines of video games and the minimal options they provided.
Once he got over the initial shock and outrage of the revelation, Jason felt a lot better about his odds of success. While definitely not his first choice, he had easily spent months of in-game time playing the Soulsborne series' over the years and could probably travel through all of Dark Souls 1 with his eyes closed. With the extra abilities he possessed and the free movement of a living person, he could get through the world far easier than a game character.
He got excited about the army he could create as well. Depending on how the world works, he could potentially create legions of Silver Knights that charged in on the backs of demons led by Quelaag herself, or hordes of drakes with Kalameet at the head.
There were also some confusing possibilities that came to mind. If there was New Game + would he be able to get two Shadows of the same boss? Would he need to do everything the same as in the game to win and when he did defeat the final boss, would the game reset like once did as well? He didn't know which he preferred honestly.
Further speculation wouldn't do him any good however, so he decided to check out what else his system had to offer. Thinking about opening the section in his mind, the Skills page opened up.
_______________________________
[Skills]
{Passive Skills}
•Shadow Veins: Lvl.MAX
•Shadow Human: Lvl.3
•Slayer Seeds: Lvl.1 Lvl.1 Lvl.1
—————————
{Active Skills}
•Shadow Slayer Magic: Lvl.2 Lvl.1 Lvl.2
•Shadow Devil: Lvl.3
—————————
{Class Skills}
•Shadow Extraction: Lvl.1
•Shadow Preservation: Lvl.1
_______________________________
'Okay,' he thought. 'That's a lot of "Shadow" being thrown around. I'm glad I don't have to shout out my skill names or I'd be on the fast track to becoming either a chunni or an edgelord. But does it count as being chunni if your actually still in middle school?'
Shaking his head and deciding that he'd just have to live with it, Jason started to dive into the skill descriptions. There were a few he'd never seen in Solo Leveling but he could guess where they originated from. Thinking the skill name and willing more information to appear, the first description popped up.
_______________________________
[Shadow Veins] Lvl.MAX:
The user's mana has been stained by your power and is forever tainted with it, for good or ill. Magic having to deal with darkness and shadows will flow through you more easily. However, you will find magic not of this type impossible to invoke through normal means.
_______________________________
Jason heaved out a sigh and flopped down on his back, this would greatly hinder him in the Dark Souls universe. The only magic he could use would be the dark sorceries and maybe a miracle or two. He doubted he could access the black pyromancies either as he'd never be able to use a Flame.
While the dark sorceries were incredibly powerful, so were the crystal ones. That's not even considering all the miracles or pyromancy he'd never be able to use, a caster was pretty much the most broken build in Dark Souls and he'd been locked out from 99% of it before he'd even stepped foot in the Asylum.
Shaking his head, Jason pushed the regret to the back of his mind with another sigh and focused on the second passive.
_______________________________
[Shadow Human] Lvl.3:
The combination of a Darkness Human, the power of the Shadow Monarch, and three Shadow Slayer Seeds. While the abilities of the three are merged into a greater whole, the balance is a precarious one and requires the user to maintain a certain equilibrium.
_______________________________
'Well, that was uninformative,' he mused.
If he had to guess, his Devil Fruit was basically just like any other Logia now, except with the added storage space. [Shadow Slayer Magic] already had a 'turn into shadow' move so with that incorporated into the Yami Yami no Mi it would lose one of its glaring weaknesses. He didn't know what kind of 'equilibrium' it was talking about but, he'd just have to find out more on his own as it leveled up.
It was interesting to know that he'd already gotten it to Level 3 yet it hadn't gained any new abilities within the description.
'I guess it's more of a mastery checker then,' he thought to himself before moving on.
He didn't need to delve deeply into the [Slayer Seeds] or magic info, he already knew what they did. A quick look confirmed his thoughts and so he moved on.
The [Shadow Devil] was just an Active Skill form of [Shadow Human] that touched on both its gravity and storage abilities. Like the previous skills, he took a brief glance before continuing along.
He already knew what the two Class Skills did from the manhwa, but he still checked them over to see what his number of shadows were. When he did however, he learned some things that weren't from the original at all.
_______________________________
[Shadow Extraction] Lvl.1:(No Mana Cost)
A shadow soldier is created from a body without life by taking out its mana. The chance of failure increases the higher the target's Rank and the more time passed since its death. You are able to extract twice as many shadows as your Preservation limit however, those left over will fade with time.
•Highest Shadow Extractable: Knight
•Shadows Able To Be Extracted: 60/60
—————————
[Shadow Preservation] Lvl.1:(No Mana Cost)
You absorb created shadow soldiers and save them. Saved soldiers can be summoned and reabsorbed whenever and wherever the Monarch desires. Each level in Attunement allows for 5 additional shadows to be preserved.
•Saved Shadows: 0/30
_______________________________
His Shadow Army looked like it would be far weaker than what was shown in the manhwa for awhile. There had never been hard limits on the strength of Shadows Sung Jin-Woo was able to extract. It might've had something to do with Jason being weaker than a Hunter of that world, but it still sucked either way. It looked like he'd have to get stronger himself before he could hope to add any of the real heavy hitters of Dark Souls to his army.
It also felt like he'd received a higher capacity than Sung Jin-Woo had at the beginning, but he could see it falling off towards the end. He didn't feel too strongly about the situation either way though, if Jason's system brought him to the same conclusion then the number wouldn't matter in the end.
After finishing his overview of the class skills, he looked up the [Equip] page and found a hybrid version of Dark Souls 3's inventory and equipment menus. It was all very intuitive and worked similarly enough.
He tried equipping his boxers and they became engulfed with the darkness of his Devil Fruit before disappearing. He scratched his thigh and could feel his own skin, but the sensation was muted. It was like what he would feel through thin fabric.
'Huh,' he mused. 'It seems that like in Solo Leveling, whatever's equipped becomes transparent and intangible while still retaining its weight and defensive properties.'
He unequipped the boxers and they moved into the inventory squares off to the side. With a thought, they then disappeared from the screen and rested in his hand with a puff of black smoke.
"It looks like the only difference between how I store stuff with just my Devil Fruit and with the system, is that now there's a screen that shows everything I've got stashed away," he mumbled. "Neat."
As Jason looked over everything he carried on him, displayed on the screen in an orderly format, he was surprised at how much junk he'd forgotten about over the years. He'd have to find an out of the way dumpster and get rid of it all tomorrow, his inner gamer refused to allow an inventory full of so much random trash.
With only one menu left to check, Jason directed his thoughts towards opening the [Shop] and it popped up the same way the others had.
_______________________________
[Basic Shop]
•{Sprint} Rune Stone: 50,000s
•{Stealth} Rune Stone: 100,000s
•{Bloodlust} Rune Stone: 150,000s
•{Vital Strike} Rune Stone: 250,000s
•{Dagger Arts} Rune Stone: 500,000s
—————————
•World (1) Travel Token: 10,000s
•World (2) Travel Token: N/A
•World (3) Travel Token: N/A
_______________________________
No descriptions were provided no matter how much he directed his thoughts at the items, but Jason could discern enough from the list alone. These were some of the skills that Sung Jin-Woo had acquired throughout Solo Leveling. In the manhwa, Hunters could sometimes find Rune Stones after killing certain monsters which could then be used to learn one of said monster's abilities.
Not all of the skills listed in the store came from Rune Stones in the original however and Jason wondered if he could earn some of them through effort to save on souls. He didn't have any desire to use daggers in Dark Souls either, so he hoped he could acquire an equivalent skill for a different weapon as well.
The price of the tokens had shocked him at first, the fact that he'd have to buy his way in really killed his growing desire to hop into the world as soon as possible. Which now that he thought about it, might've been the purpose all along.
After reflecting on the matter, he realized how impulsive he could've been if the tokens had been free. For one, he didn't know how time would work here after he left, so he'd have to do his first jump on the weekend to insure he wouldn't miss anything. His parents would've freaked out if they couldn't find him in the morning.
With that thought in mind, shame washed over him and all the excitement he'd experienced over the past hour rapidly drained away. He flopped down atop his bed and stared blankly at the ceiling as his eyes drooped with newfound exhaustion. With his mind no longer focused on the system, the blue screen had vanished and left his vision completely dark, save for the scant moonlight floating in through the window.
Jason sighed and tilted his head sideways to squint at his alarm clock resting on the end table.
[00:52]
He groaned at the time before rolling away and wrapping a blanket over his head, instantly regretting all prior decisions to stay up so late. He had be awake in four hours and tomorrow was a school day. His parents were not going to be pleased at his state in the morning.