Ego

"Not even a goodbye?" I muttered.

Today was the day I will be departing back to the academy, but it seemed nobody bothered to see me off.

"I guess the part it was mentioned that his family turned his back on him wasn't an exaggeration," I commented. "They didn't even bother to prepare a carriage, or a horse," I grumbled as I began walking.

After two hours of walking, I reached the entrance of the corrupted forest. The path was completely dry with cracks forming along it. The trees were in a state of withering and emitting black gas. One step into the forest and I immediately got a problem. Black wolves came out of the tree lines, growling at me as they approached.

"This is literally the entrance!" I exclaimed as I drew my sword.

Can Raveil fight? Yes.

Can I fight? No.

I turned back and ran. With Raveil's memories, I basically had knowledge of combat and a bit of experience. But that didn't mean I'd be able to actually use them. Thankfully, the wolves didn't chase after me and went back into the forest.

"How am I supposed to get the essence of death then?"

Looking around, I wondered if I could enter through the tree line instead of going through the path. I immediately abandoned the thought when I remembered that the wolves weren't the only things I needed to worry about. The trees had a high chance of being home to snakes, insects, and other dangerous animals.

"Is the corrupted forest even an important place? Why not just burn it down?" As the name suggested, every living being in the forest was corrupted with black magic. The type of magic used for curses, forbidden rituals, necromancy, and many more morally questionable magic.

Then a realization popped into my head.

"Can curse devourer be used here?"

[Curse devourer may be used on all living beings in the forest as they are inflicted with the curse of corruption.]

"Let's try it out then," I held out my hand to one of the trees nearby.

[Curse devourer is consuming the Curse of corruption]

I felt a growing heat in my chest. Like something was forcing its way out from inside me.

[You have ascended to Rank 1 level 1]

"Huh?" I stared at the panel in confusion.

In the novel, everyone started at Duelist rank 0. A state where a person's mana or aura is still sealed withing themselves. The only way to undo the seal is to be exposed to an Aether crystal, and the only Aether crystal in this kingdom is in the Royal palace and Royal academy of Paradis.

"How did I ascend?" I asked out loud.

[The devoured curse has been converted into Aether]

Aether is what people in the power the flows through this world. Humans convert Aether into mana or aura depending on if they are a mage or a warrior.

If the curse was converted into Aether, it must have had the same reaction as an Aether crystal.

"Well, looks like I'll be becoming a lot stronger pretty early," I began using curse devourer on all the trees at the edge of the forest first. I didn't want to risk heading until I was sure I could survive.

Within an hour, I managed to finish all the trees on this side of the forest. The trees were no longer withering and actually began to flourish.

"That's a good sign, right?"

[Obviously]

Getting close to the entrance of the forest, the pack of wolves came out again. "Are you guys like the security guards or something?" I activated Curse devouring.

The wolves froze in place as the curse was being drained from their bodies. Once the process was done, the black wolves ran away. I wasn't sure if that was a bad thing or a good thing, but I didn't want to risk it. I remained near the entrance of the forest and kept using Curse devourer on the trees. I made sure to keep my distance from the trees as well since I was pretty sure I heard some hissing at some point.

It took another hour and a half, but I got some results.

[You have ascended to Rank 1 level 2]

"Progress is progress," I commented. "So... where's the essence of death?"

[Head northwest]

"Anything to help me get there faster? I don't exactly feel safe here."

[...]

[Task: Purify 300 trees - 149/300

Reward: Skill: Aura rush]

I sighed. "At least I'm half-way there."

------

"How much time left?" Argonius asked.

"He has until tomorrow in the afternoon," Esther replied. "Not enough time to reach the academy."

Argonius placed down his glass with a heavy sigh.

"May I ask why you allowed him to leave?"

"It was his last request," Argonius replied. "Two years ago, his mother disappeared without a trace. A year after that we found out that he only had a year left to live," Argonius mentioned. "I could not bear to see his last breath."

"So... you send him to die somewhere out there."

"I say this as your friend," Esther placed a hand on his shoulder. "That is not a reason to distance yourself. I've been telling for the past year that avoiding him would just result in him despising you."

"I would live with that regret as punishment for not being able to do anything," Argonius declared.

------

[Task completed

Reward: Skill: Aura rush]

"That took longer than expected," I commented as the trees around me flourished. "Why did it take me five hours to do all this, but Clockwork of death is still not gone?"

[Devouring Clockwork of death (87%)]

"It just suddenly slowed down."

The system did not reply, so I decided to just focus on the reason I went to this forest. I focused on the skill I just received.

"Aura rush!" White aura covered my body, then I shot forward. I crashed through several trees and bushes, thankfully the aura protected me.

The skill was active for quite a while until it turned itself off. I was covered in twigs and leaves. My clothes were ruined, and some insect slime was on my face.

"Am I close?" I asked as I did my best to tidy myself up.

[Yes]

I kept heading in the same direction until I found a crater that was oozing black smoke. "I'm guessing I'm here."

[Clockwork of death is being converted into an ego]

I tossed all the materials into the crater.

[Choose the ego's form]

An ego's form. The reason an ego is so desired by so many. It can be a weapon, armor, magic, accessory, it all depended on what the owner wanted. The ego would take on any form and it will grow alongside you.

And I knew what I needed right now.

"A companion."