Chapter 14 - Re: Entwined Destinies

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

[System]

|<Future Sight>|

…

(Third POV:)

[May 29th, 21:09:09, 2248] - (9 days from the present)

The sun was down, and a young man with black hair and lightly tanned skin slept peacefully in his bed.

Suddenly, the young man began turning in his sleep. The turning evolved into convulsions.

"AHHHHH!!!" A scream tore its way out of the young man's throat.

His hair began turning gray from the roots, and his eyes opened wide and began to bleed as they changed colors. His original eye color is now nowhere to be seen, with only a silvery color in its place.

*THUD*

The youth fell from the bed as he further convulsed and contorted. His skin was turning a darker shade of brown, and his ears also began bleeding.

After another 30 seconds of shaking, he fell unconscious due to the stress and pain.

After another five minutes of unconsciousness, the youth woke up. His fingers quickly tried to rub away the remnants of the blood his eyes and ears had shed.

"What is today?!" Dust said as he quickly tried to get up, only to be hit with a massive amount of vertigo.

Falling to the ground, he crawled to the desktop he had on a desk on the other side of the room.

He began typing quickly on the computer with his hands shaking as if the world depended on his speed.

"May 29th? Before the Demons and Dungeons update? I may have time." Dust said quietly to himself.

Quickly, he began going through all the information he knew before and typing on the computer.

'Azaogdesz's death? Check.'

'Male to female population ratio? There is a majority difference, and the main factor for that is that the majority of women in their 40s and older contribute to the higher female population. If we only counted men and women in the age range of 18 to 30, then the difference wouldn't be as high. That's as I remember it...'

'Top players? Strongest mage, Velena. Strongest assassin, Venture. The strongest swordsman, Arthur. The strongest magic swordsman is Adest. Strongest unique class user, Jest. Everything looks right...'

A sigh nearly escaped Dust's lips as he came to the realization that everything he had experienced wasn't a false reality.

The deaths of his comrades, friends, and even enemies had been reversed. All of it stacked on his shoulders, and for the first time ever, Dust felt as if he should truly give up.

'All I want to do is sleep. Won't they be able to handle it?' Dust thought as he slowly laid himself back on the ground.

His eyelids, as heavy as they were, were firmly shut as he finally felt it was time to put all his suffering to rest.

"Fuck that!"

A scream rang out; it was so loud that Dust's eyes snapped right open as wide as they could.

A rage was quickly filling in Dust. Getting off his back and now lying on his stomach, Dust's face showed the anger building.

His will was burning at an all-time high; it was as if he had gained an indomitable will and an indomitable human spirit.

'I'll change everything; this is no time to be sitting around! If I can't defeat him with strength, then I'll do it with my intellect; if I can't defeat him with intellect, then I'll do it with sheer willpower; and if I can't defeat him with will, then I'll make it so he's not an enemy.' Dust's thoughts worked at a mile a minute.

Dust knew just how impossible it was for himself to defeat Boros. He had tried over and over, lost countless comrades, and yet he was left alive due to the pride the demon had.

"That overpowered freak might be able to overpower me, but if I play mind games and get on his side, then I can steer him like my name is fuckin' Ratatouille!" Dust screamed out as he got ready to go back into Entwined Destinies.

"I'll settle this score; sacrifice my humanity if I have to! I'll become the greatest evil if it means the survival of everyone else and the survival of humanity."

Dust was so lost in his speech that he forgot that he had to rebuy his virtual reality gear. This only reminded him of his parents.

A frown made its way to Dust's face as he realized he hadn't gone far enough back to speak with them.

"Mom, Dad, just watch me. I'll win." As Dust spoke, his frown turned into a self-admonished smile.

…

(First POV:)

[June 7th, 05:10:13, 2248]

It had been a few minutes since the conversation with that player, who called himself "Dust."

When he first explained himself, I couldn't help but feel he was dumping trauma on me. It was a weird feeling to have someone go from a normal conversation to explaining their entire backstory with hidden trauma and meaning.

But as I was an expert in avoiding unnecessary paths and routes, I completely dodged asking the questions on my mind.

In exchange for healing Dimoultion, he asked for a piece of the armor that my subordinate was made from. I allowed this transaction, and in exchange for Dimoultion temporarily losing a hand, my subordinate would be fully healed.

I made good on my promise; using my ability to spectate everything in my dungeon, I could command the "mindless" monsters I made to not attack Dust.

I wasn't planning to fight so soon, but due to my own deals and desires, I had pushed the finish line to three days. I have 72 hours to go from level 0 to level 50+.

It was possible—very possible. The main factor that hindered me was that I was level 0 with the stats of a level 13. The assassin that had attacked me was unlucky enough to be in between levels 20 and 30.

This allowed my armor to get a firm and unbreakable grasp on her, and due to her low level, the knife she had made quick work of her. The other person I killed was easily dealt with due to the work having been accomplished for me.

If I had run into a level 60 or higher and didn't make a good enough entrance, I would have been blasted. My regeneration would have kicked in, but due to my pride, I would have fought to my last breath.

And there was the main issue. 'Pride...' I thought to myself. My pride in wanting an opponent that could best me in combat was actually hindering me.

I was no longer the streamer Azaogdesz, the guy so strong that he needed to give numerous handicaps to make himself feel any amount of joy and fairness.

I will admit, being powerful—no, being the strongest—was fun. But nobody talks about the boredom, the overwhelming desire for someone on your level, or the sadness you feel when you think you have what you're searching for only to look at your dying enemy and whisper, "I thought you were stronger..."

I couldn't go out there to fight the numerous players because if I did, I would die before I could make anything happen. My pride wouldn't allow me to run upon seeing the first true fight I could have since I became the top player.

In other words, I need someone stronger than me to—"No." I cut myself off out loud as Dimoultion, who was standing not too far from the throne, turned to me.

'I am no longer a common warrior; I am above that! As a king, I cannot be the one doing the commoner's job; I must be doing something worth my time.' I thought as my singular eye looked at Dimoultion.

"Dimoultion," I said in a tone void of emotion, and the knight immediately turned to me and made a slight bow. "Go out there, to the second floor, and get me five of the strongest warriors you can. Cripple them, beat them half to death, make sure you have completely beaten them, and then bring them here so I can execute them."

I was now a king, a being with an army ready to do my beckoning. I need not worry about leveling when my underlings can bring me food.

Dimoultion immediately nodded and began walking away, toward the second floor. I had yet to finish the third floor and to fully flesh out my knowledge and racial skills.

The first question is, 'What is Boros's race?'

That question took me a minute to decipher, but with my knowledge and my past life's repeated obsession with Boros and his powers, I came up with an answer.

'Boros's race is akin to stars.' I smiled at that thought.

They started out with massive amounts of life force, and like stars, they push this life force out in a similar reaction that allows stars to burn.

This is where their released form comes from—the act of passively burning their massive amounts of life energy without any negative effects.

"So shouldn't they be able to push out massive amounts, at least more than required?" That question that anyone may have had was easily answered by my previous actions.

When I first used my released form, it was unlike the original Boros, as his energy made waves in the air and lightning from nothing that pushed off him so hard that the environment was blasted with pressure.

In this way, you can see the difference between us. However, I can do the same thing. It's about the amount of energy you are trying to burn.

Immediately, I stood up from the throne and allowed my armor to come undone as Illusion retreated back inside my body.

Walking away from the throne and the red carpet, I stopped holding back, my colors slowly changing as I did so.

But this time, I pushed further. I strained my body as I pulled on my energy supply.

'Times two...' The energy coming from my body was exactly like before, as the transformation continued.

'Times three!' The energy changed as there was a slight change in the wind with an increase in lightning and the strength of the lightning. It was no longer disappearing as soon as it left my body, and it seemed to last a bit longer.

'Times four! I finally get why you always charged and made a scene out of doing it; you were bringing out your power in multipliers and going through each level over the course of your charge!' A massive smile grew over my face at the thought as my now-golden or orange-colored eyes widened.

The wind pressure grew even more as the lightning became even more disruptive. The change in the environment would now able to be felt by people even a few meters away from me.

'Times five!' At that thought, I felt like I hit a crescendo, the energy in my body pulling itself out so fast that the ground I was standing on tried hard to hold itself together.

Running forward, a trail was left behind me as a purple aura of power was held around me. I was faster—way faster—by five times my strength and speed had increased, and as I raced around the room, I instantly cut my power.

Five times the increase in strength and speed was too much for my current mana reserves. Boros and the others of his species were born with the energy equivalent of around a planet inside, and as they pulled out their energy, nothing bad would happen due to their massive baseline reserves.

They have a baseline of energy usage that they shouldn't pass if they want to continue living their long lives, and what the meteoric burst did was remove that limiter. Drawing on their full life force to push them beyond flesh.

It was equivalent to removing the limit the body placed on the muscles of humans. If humans used 100% of their true strength all the time, then their bodies would be destroyed from the backlash of going all out all day.

It was for that reason that only during adrenaline bursts would the brain release a portion of this limiter.

But I was different—an anomaly, if you will—someone not born with the life force of a planet, but in exchange, even if I were to use a meteoric burst, all I would have to do is wait for my mana to regenerate.

Due to being a partial player and my race, I believe that as long as my mana doesn't hit zero, I could live forever!

'But if my mana hits zero, would I die? I have the marble, but would it automatically crack and break? I believe the only reason it did break was due to Boros taking two attacks that went way over his defensive capabilities with no energy left, but I'm not going to test this hypothesis.' I thought, with small amounts of hesitation, that I would not be trying to test what would happen if my mana reached zero any time soon.

Now satisfied, I quelled my raging heart only to realize I had gained a new ability.

[Skill gained: Unleashed Power Mastery!]

[Unleashed Power Mastery]

[Rarity: Unique+]

[Description]: As the user uses their Unleashed Power and masters their racial ability, they will notice changes in energy consumption and transformation speed.

(Current Multiplier Consumption:

2x Multiplier: 2 MPS

3x Multiplier: 4 MPS

4x Multiplier: 8 MPS

5x Multiplier: 16 MPS

6x Multiplier: 32 MPS

7x Multiplier: 64 MPS

8x Multiplier: 128 MPS

9x Multiplier: 256 MPS

10x Multiplier: 512 MPS)]

That skill saved me from having to do the mental calculation on my energy consumption through multipliers, but it only went to 10 times. I have a feeling it will update if I go past 10, but other than that, I used my power to reform my holding floor back to what it was before the fight Dust had with Dimoultion.

With that done, all I had to do was wait till Dimoultion came back with the five high-level players I needed for my first few levels.

'Could I get a class?' I messed around with the idea. Getting a secondary class for a boost in abilities would be good, but there was one problem...

There was no class selection alter in my dungeon. I would have to go to a village or a kingdom that has one built and make contact with it for me to be able to choose a secondary class.

I know if you get a class from the system giving it to you, you could bypass the alter, but that was for classes that weren't available to the public, like "The Slayer."

Taking a seat on the throne and allowing Illusion to cover me once more in my armor, I focused back on my transformation.

Even if I had 10,000 mana and used only the 5-time multiplier, I would only have 10 minutes with it or around 625 seconds. And that number drops by half if I go up to times 6.

I knew once I hit level 20, I would get my first ability point, which would allow me to freely upgrade a skill or ability, but they only came once every 20 levels and were non-refundable once used.

If anything, I'll probably save all my ability points for meteoric burst to buff it into the stratosphere or use it on another top-tier ability.

While my starting point is so abysmally low compared to Boros, my potential growth is massive. If I could get to level 40, I could see if they have those "racial buffs" for demons as well.

At certain levels, certain races will get quests or things they need to do in order to "grade up." In doing so, they get a bigger racial multiplier in their talents and become more like that race.

"Wait, what year is it?" My eyes widened at the question: How long had I been dead? What was the new meta? What new update has dropped to potentially bring in a new race I had never heard of? My knowledge was already a little spotty, but with this, I knew nothing beyond my previous time playing.

I needed to see the outside world or ask about it, but Dust was gone; I couldn't ask him.

Suddenly, I remembered that Dimoultion was out to get me some bundles of free information and calmed a bit.

They would answer my questions, die, and then I would leave the dungeon to see the outside world.

I was stupid in thinking that I had died just yesterday; it could have been years since my death. Good thing I caught onto that before it became an actual problem. Some reincarnated beings treat their knowledge as truth and never try to expand on what they don't know, and that bites them in the ass.

With the confirmation of what has transpired from the sacrifice, I'll be able to truly understand what I need to do next.

…

(A/N: I've decided that I may or may not hide some information at the end of these author notes for you to decipher. That being said… Devil May Cry…)