Ability Upgraded

Roger's eyes lazily opened, blinking away the crust that was forming around them. 

The sky above him was blue, with clouds dotting the far horizon. A few creatures flew through the blue expanse, cawing away as the sun lit the entire world in a heavenly hue.

Roger stared at the sun for a few seconds before being forced to look away. His soul really did look like the star, but there was a noticeable difference between the two; the star seemed lackluster in comparison. It was a strange thought, but one he had all the same. 

The sun did not compare in beauty to his soul. He doubted it compared to anyone's soul, a theory he hoped he could one day answer, but felt it was unlikely.

A soul felt personal. Unique to everyone and should be treated as such. Not something to violate by inspecting and studying.

He felt the dirt beneath him. It was soft and comforting after floating in that endless darkness. Roger never thought he would see the day when he felt blessed just because there was firm ground beneath him, but here he was. 

His clothes were now irrevocably stained, but there was a simplistic beauty in that. Roger appreciated it for reasons he didn't quite understand yet. 

'Still wouldn't say no to a suit like the Administrator was wearing. He had an unspoken swagger in that thing.'

The more he gained his consciousness back, the more pain he felt throughout his body. It wasn't the agonizing kind he was getting used to, but the vague numbness of a sore body and tired mind. His muscles groaned in protest, and his head faintly thrummed with the remnants of a splitting headache. 

It was strangely enjoyable after all the extreme situations Roger had been finding himself in.

'If I go back to Earth, I'll definitely need a psychiatric evaluation. It can not be healthy to find any kind of pain enjoyable.'

Roger decided to rest where he had woken up for a bit, thinking it was better to let his body relax after everything he had gone through. If it was all real, that is.

'Wouldn't that just be my luck? I experience a haunting and traumatic event, only for it all to be in my head. Scrap the psychiatrist, I'll need a priest after all this.'

He suddenly chuckled.

'What good are priests anymore? Their gods are all shattered like a piece of glass. What are they supposed to pray to, those shards? The ones who inherit those shards? Imagine that, Earth has advanced so much that we decide to worship people like we used to.'

Even with everything he had experienced in the past few days, Roger still found himself enjoying the simple things in life. A funny thought, a half-baked critique of society, and a dirt bed to sleep in after having his soul ruthlessly attacked by some indescribable horror that seemingly came from his own dream.

A dream he wasn't supposed to be able to even access.

His eyes widened as he realized the implications. Roger held his breath as he called upon the System.

'It's not possible, right? Did I rise to Beta during all the farming, and didn't notice due to my exhaustion? Is that why I could experience my dream so realistically?'

With a ping, the familiar translucent screen appeared in front of his eyes.

[Username: Roger]

[Rank: Alpha]

[Species: Human]

[Element: Dark Mimickry]

[Element Tier: Omega]

[Abilities: Echo of Abilities]*

[Notifcations: 2]

His hopes were dashed immediately as he noticed he was still Alpha rank. 

He lowered his head back to the dirt, his disappointment causing his body to deflate.

'Well, there goes my dreams of being able to finally use magic in an interesting way. Heh, get it? Dreams… dreamscape…'

Roger suddenly coughed as he noticed how crazy he must seem to be trying to make himself laugh.

'Maybe a priest and a psychiatrist is the way to go…'

Turning back to the screen, he did a double take as he noticed the new tab: [Notifications: 2].

'What? Notifications? What is this, a holopad?'

Despite his comment, his excitement bloomed once more, adrenaline filling his veins as he eagerly selected the tab. The screen in front of him blinked out before returning, filling his vision with text.

[Notifcation: 1]

[Notifcation Text: You have unlocked a new trait for your ability [Echo of Abilities]. Your new ability description is as follows.]

[Ability Description: Mana is an energy that weaves through all living things. When something dies, it leaves a trace of mana in its soul. Mana, however, takes many forms and can exist in a flowing state. When abilities are used, mana is coalesced to take physical form. When something dies, and you make physical contact with the deceased, you may temporarily obtain one of the abilities the being had in life. You may also absorb the mana of abilities you come in contact with, converting the mana into your own to replenish yourself. You may only obtain abilities that are less than or equal to your rank. You may only absorb the mana of abilities less than or equal to your rank.]

[Ability Duration: 24 Hours]

[Ability Amount: 1]

Roger opened his mouth to speak and then closed it, repeating this action multiple times as he tried to process what he had just read.

He couldn't quite believe it at first, reading it over multiple times to try and internalize the information in front of his eyes.

Then, with his excitement boiling over, he screamed out in joy in the glade, startling many of the woodland creatures nearby. Lila wasn't currently around, but she would have certainly been startled if she was.

Roger felt like a little kid as his body wiggled energetically.

'Now that is what I'm talking about! All my struggles were not in vain! I have finally earned something to help me in battle! Now I can defend myself from attacks, and it even replenishes my mana on top of it all! Now if I kill someone with a ranged ability, I could spam it a ton of times then absorb my enemy's mana to fire off even more!'

Even if he didn't have any abilities of his own when fighting, it was still an invaluable power to negate his opponent's abilities, allowing him to defend himself.

For example, when the Spike-Tailed Tiger first started charging him by crossing the river, Roger could have dove in and touched the tiger, absorbing the mana of its water-walking ability. They would then both fall into the river, but Roger would bet he was a better swimmer. He was far lighter, allowing himself to float to the top and climb out of the raging currents, meanwhile, the heavy tiger would be stuck flowing further downstream.

Although it might not be very practical, situations like that were far more preferable than being useless until something died or he had a spare corpse on hand that just happened to have a strong combat ability.

'I wonder how this ability works on something like an artifact? Would it let me absorb the lightning Lila's sword, Vronti, can shoot? Or does that not count as an ability?'

The System, of course, did not answer, choosing to let Roger find out the specifics himself. 

Truthfully, Roger didn't even know if the System was a sentient being. It was just as likely that whoever made the System was just a sarcastic person who liked to make self-gratifying books, which the System then rewarded to people.

Roger much preferred his own theory: The System was an almighty asshole that loved to play with innocent ex-convicts for fun.

'Am I even an ex-convict, or just an escaped convict?'

The thought reminded him the government was still most likely hunting him, hoping to chain him up and use him as an imprisoned mage. 

'Well, they can try and take me now! What will they do when I just absorb their abilities and use them to strike back? All I need to do is take one of them down with me, then they are all toast!'

It wasn't a very accurate assessment of how things would go, of course, as it assumed that the government would only send Alpha-rank magi, a fact Roger doubted would happen.

Still, it was nice to hope. 

Putting a cork in his excitement, Roger took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. The action was mostly ineffective but did ground him ever so slightly.

'Stay calm Roger, you still have another notification to get through. With everything else I experienced, it could be something as awful as you can no longer walk, or my soul is so damaged I can't even channel mana anymore. Let's not get ahead of ourselves before we know everything that's happening.'

Steeling his resolve, he turned back to the screen and dismissed the first notification before reselecting the tab, which now read [Notifcations: 1]. A new screen quickly appeared.

[Notifcation: 2]

[You have awakened an Archonic Legacy.]