Chapter 1: ...? Rank Relic

Bang!

"Finally." Anthony slammed the door to his apartment behind him, sprinting to his room.

"The basic, F rank skill book, [Frost]…" He muttered, plopping himself onto his bed. He scoured through his backpack until he found the medium sized journal, and examined it.

"I've used almost every bit of my savings on this dumb book…. 70,000 credits!" He couldn't help but complain when thinking of how all his hard work was used just with one purchase.

More than a year of hitching rides in F rank rifts, just to purchase one of the bottom of the barrel spells….

"I'll make due. For the free life my mother always wished for, I'll live it for her!" Anthony smiled, his eyes slightly teary. "I'll be the good little kid they wanted me to be! I don't care how naïve my ambitions are, I will make them proud!" He wiped his eyes with his forearm and focused back on the book.

Steeling his soul, he pried the book open, and as he did so, it disintegrated into particles of light.

<Skill unlocked, [Frost], Rank F, Level 1>

<Congratulations on opening your mana pathways! You have met the requirements for system integration.>

<System activated!>

<You've been blessed! Congratulations on inheriting the ? Relic, [Derelict Core].>

-{Status}-

-[Anthony Mora]-

Title(s): -

Mana: 10/10

[Attributes]

-Vitality: 1

-Strength: 1

-Control: 2

-Mind: 1

[Skill(s)]

-Frost (F)

____

Seeing all the panels pop up in his vision, and feeling the ethereal energy flowing through his body…

Anthony mind almost went blank.

"Incredible!" Anthony's face exploded into a frenzied smile.

"[Frost]!" He said, opening his palm to the ceiling and watching the cold mist emit from his hand.

It floated up to the roof, a layer of ice forming over the surface of his ceiling and spreading a few feet before coming to a halt.

"God… M-My head?" Anthony's words slurred as he felt an intense pain deep in his mind.

"Mana depletion… how could I forget." He said, rubbing his temples trying to massage the pain out.

"I'll be like this for a few more minutes, might as well move forward."

He blinked away the panel showcasing his skills, and instead thought of their uses.

Then, another two displays blinked into existence.

<{Frost}>: An [Active] F rank skill granted to Anthony Mora through the use of a skill book. With the use of this skill, one is able to drop the temperature of atoms tremendously at the cost of mana. Reaching 100 [Efficiency] allows for lower mana consumption and easier control of the skill.

-Efficiency: 1.8/100

____

"…" Anthony's jaw had dropped, as he had no words to say.

He had just now glanced towards one of the floating panels situated behind all the others.

"I'm not crazy right?…" He swiped away the description of [Frost] and summoned the other screen.

<{Derelict Core}>: A unique treasure a the level of a ...? Rank Relic that was granted to Anthony Mora under unique circumstances. With this Relic, the user is granted unparalleled authority, being capable of bending reality to a certain extent once he has enough power. It is bound to the soul of Anthony Mora and is only capable of being used by him. With the current power of it's master, the <Derelict Core> is only capable of bringing forth a few weak skills. Upon elevation of the users rank, the <Derelict Core> will manifest a wider range of powers....

[Functions]

-<{Essence Overload}>(Unlocked), <{Essence Devouring}>(Unlocked), <{Skill Deconstruction}>(Locked), <{Skill Reconstruction}>(Locked)....

____

...!

Anthony's eyes almost wanted to pop out of his head! Since he was capable of it, he had been studying everything there was to know about the awakening of the world and the system that took reign of everything.

26 years ago, 4 years before Anthony was born, the world was thrown into utter chaos. Rifts opened and beasts capable of resisting all forms of weaponry were released upon the Earth.

Beasts whom at the strongest were able to sink continents if they wanted to! It was an utter apocalypse that resulted in 95% of the world being taken over by the beasts as they weren't privy to just the lands but even the seas and the skies!

Humans were backed into a corner when they finally were able to fight back.

It was 9 days after the eruption of the rifts, when the system introduced itself. It spread it's voice across the minds of every living human on the planet, and told them of its name.

'Machina', was it's name. After it's introductions, it granted every human a portion of its power, with a select few gaining more then others.

With the help of the system, the strongest humans were capable of slaying the weakest beasts and increasing their ranks through the origin cores that were dropped by the monsters.

Beasts were now capable of becoming loot for the system users! With this, the humans were able to close the rifts nearby the strongholds of humanity, securing the survival of what was left of the humans.

But the rift monsters retaliated! Even though it seemed they were incapable of creating more rifts after the originals were destroyed, dungeons started to appear in their place!

Massive cave systems that held legions of beasts. Humans were tasked with having to regular clear these dungeons, or a dungeon break would happen, releasing the monsters into the open world.

But this also allowed for a continuous farming of the beasts!

Humans rose to an even greater level, the select few at the top being able to combat even the strongest beasts.

These were the S Ranks!

And within this Rank was a singular blacksmith that held the power to forge treasures and relics that could grant power to others.

Relics like <{The Sword of Zahar}>, and the <{Empowering Cloak}>. Each of these S Rank artifacts were invaluable as with them, even a weak C Rank could match a entry A Ranker.

This was merely the power of S Rank Relics!

And right before Anthony's eyes, laid a Relic so powerful, that it couldn't even be listed under a known Rank!

It was a ...? Rank Relic!

"I must be entertainment for some god..." Anthony muttered under his breath, his heart wanting to crumble as he looked over the description of treasure once more.

How lucky he was!