A Reward

Two shiny books appeared in front of the corpse of the boss, the letters on the book seemed to glow with heavenly radiance. Vin in all his cheapness hastily went to collect them, but, he knew he wouldn't be able to monopolize it having been one of the least useful there.

He tossed the books to Emma and began getting the gems from the body, only to be shocked to see 50 gems in the boss' body alone. That brought their total to 269 effectively increasing it by a fourth of what it was prior to this "fight."

The rest of the team had decided on what to do with the books at this moment, one of the being titled 'Abyss Flame Ray' presumably what the boss used and 'Abyssal Grasp' an unknown passive. The passive was granted to Vin and the Abyss Flame Ray was given to Alexander as he needed it the most to give him some ranged attacks. Anna, Emma, and Draco would split the gems.

Emma received 121 gems, the rest were split evenly between Anna and Draco. Draco's pupils had reverted back to their original gray state a while ago… well actually a short while ago because Emma killed the boss within a minute. If that's not a speed run then I don't know what a speed run is.

Lights blossomed behind the 16 meter weakli- cough- boss and formed an intricately designed door of blue light for the group to exit from. All Vin could imagine was the shocked expressions of the examiners and all the benefits they would gain being the first one out. That thought was interrupted by the pain of his eyes feeling strained and his vision blurring, though, it wasn't something new to him. Magical eye drops were pulled from a ring on his finger.

Two drops per eye and his vision returned to its peak. "It really is a wonder how the people in the energy-less land made arcaned eye drops." Vin mumbled aloud as he caught up to the team that stood near the exit waiting for Vin.

He walked past the group to enter the exit first and quickly tried to get his words out, "Oh why thank you, I'll go fir-"

*Yoink*

"Don't you know it's rude to grab a man's shirt?" Vin said trying to make himself seem as he was in the right. Glances of pity were made as Alexander literally lifted him from the ground and prevented him from moving. The rest of the group took that as the signal to exit, Alexander then placed Vin down behind him and exited causing Vin to be the final one to leave… "I should be a bit less arrogant… nah, that's for people who can't afford it."

A light shined from Vin's hand as he used the skill book and learned a general idea of what Abyssal Grasp did. It would boost the power of darkness based skills by a small amount.

The skill wasn't bad but it wasn't the best, still good to have. With that done he stepped into the door and exited the gate and door disappeared. Just in time too for a man with black chains made of pure darkness piercing through his muscular body, appeared, "It's gone." He uttered, as flames reverberated through his chains and out the tips of his fingers forming another doorway out…

- - -

Vin had finally stepped outside the gate, he arrived to the sight of the four of his now ex-team talking to the Fiery Lass and receiving an orb. The orb allowed anyone to go from Tier 1 to Tier 2 of 7. A Tier One Pure Gem. Multiple colors swirled in this translucent orb. The four began to meditate and focus on moving the unique energy of the Pure Gem to their body.

Vin hastily went to collect one of the orbs from the examiner not wanting to be left behind. Entering the lotus position to focus on the orb that was in his hands. His eyes closed and breathing slowed, each palpitation of his heart becoming a background noise. Around his mental space was a mass of white with random colors here and there, while the entire thing was (as far as he could tell) everywhere.

In his mind he knew how much of the orb was full absorbed but this was a better mental image to have so he used it. Around his body a void formed as the energy right around him was siphoned into his body. Chaos ensued as seven whirlpools of energy siphoned into seven different parts of his body. Head, hands, heart, stomach, and the feet, forming a neat balance within his body.

About when it reached the half way mark in his mental space a prompt of gold appeared like a holographic message. [You have awakened The System.] It appeared with no noise or sound, similar a message. Upon noticing this Vin had a thought as systems were a common trope on this one app he read from once.

'Open system, status, stats, attributes, skills.'

…

Nothing happened, so instead of getting mad he amped up the whirlpools focusing on his advancement. Even more vast amounts of energy were pull into his body, boosting him to Tier 2. He opened his eyes and was greeted to message.

[Basic Status Menu Unlocked! Edit Menu Unlocked! 1,000 Editing Points Unlocked!]

'..? Open menu?'

———

[Name: Vin Devorare Aphelion]

[Age: 16]

[Skills: ???]

[???: ?????????????? Sight] [+]

[???: 1]

———

[Points Menu] [+]

[Editing Menu] [+]

[Starting Menu] [+]

———

He let that sit in front of for a moment before sending a thought to get rid of it.

Vin asked the examiner if he was dismissed as the others had already left considering it took him 10 minutes compared to their 5. The young female then asked him a quick question, "Do you have any special ability like the rest of them?"

Vin decided not to lie and hold back that he is talented, instead he told a half lie, "Yes ma'am I gained the ability to have a better control over energy." That wasn't a lie just not the whole truth, he held back the strands of energy that became even clearer after the tier up.

She promptly responded with excitement and dismissed him as after that experience he probably wanted rest…

A few minutes after Vin left she seemed to speaking to a non-existent being who was even conversing back.

"How much longer till the Gateway opens?" She spoke and after a few moments she spoke again,

"..?! Only three months you say? I thought it would be at least a year."

"Such simple methods… will they yield such results?"

"Yes… Grand Master Leferos…"

…