[Chapter 5] A Sudden Convenience

"What are the usual reactions to this stone?

Mr. Johnson stares at the stone for a second before slowly looking at me and saying in a shocked voice, "The stone will usually send out small waves of black energy...this has never happened before since I have been on the job. And I have been on the job for a hundred and twenty seven years."

'Woah, he's been doing this job for more than my collective years of life. I guess that would be true though seeing that elves live for a long time.'

Mr Johnson is still in awe. "I am gonna have to ask the mayor to send a letter to the kingdom about this, even this is out of my expertise."

I grab the grey stone and ask, "What does this one do?"

"That stone will react in a certain way and will show us a symbol of an ability that can't be shown with the other stones, I have only heard of it working so I usually don't offer it to people to get their hopes up. But you can try it if you want."

I grab the stone and imagine my mana, blacker than the night, slowly invading the crystal through my arm....nothing happens. I put the stone down slightly sad, but then I realize, I can't let go. I feel something draining out of me as the stone starts to shimmer, all of a sudden, I hear wails from all around me, I look at Mr. Johnson as he is pale white from what I guess is shock. All of a sudden, a pure white symbol appears from the crystal, it looks like a white face with blood flowing from the eyes.

All of a sudden, I hear, "Oh my god!" And look over to see Mr. Johnson in the corner of the room, clearly afraid of this scene. I look at him and say with fear in my voice, "Do you know what ability this is?" As I point to the symbol.

Mr. Johnson slowly gets up and walks over cautiously, inspecting the symbol. 'I already know it's the soul energy I asked to be able to control, I just need to sound scared and act like I don't know or casually suggest it. So both abilities transferred to this world.' I think to myself, smiling inwardly.

Mr. Johnson looks at me and says in a stern tone, "Don't move." And leaves the room. Then I just stand there with my thoughts.

'Ok, so I need to find out where he learned to use magic so I can use it. I don't want to be in a world with abilities like this and no way to explain them. That would be disastrous. Ok, next, my knowledge on the world issue. I need to discover traditions, religions, the time period, how powerful it is to be normal, and other norms. Last, I need to learn the limits of my abilities and ways to bypass them, in order to survive, I need to be at the top of the food chain.'

As my thoughts come to an end, Mr. Johnson comes into the room with a book and puts it down beside us on the counter. He starts examining the symbol more closely and starts flipping through the book. I look over and ask, my voice full of curiosity, "What is that?"

"This is a book full of signs and symbols discovered so far from ancient civilization ruins and so far any symbol that has been shown from this stone can be found in books like this. I just happened to have one here in case of an occasion like this, even if it scared me half to death."

As he flips through the pages, he stops on one and looks at the symbol in the book and compares it to the one from the stone. His eyes bulge and his voice is so quiet it's hard to hear. "I found it..." He points to a paragraph under the page and I am shocked to realize, I can read it! 'I guess my translation knowledge does work.' I read the paragraph out loud, "This symbol means that the user can control souls from the dead and with enough training, the living. The last and only person to have this ability was an orc warlord over 10,000 years old. He massacred millions of innocents of all species before finally being brought down."

I hear a ping! I look in the top left corner.

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New ability unlocked!

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'Stats.'

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Name: Kurayami

[New] Soul Inheritor (Passive): Every time you recreate a creature, you have a chance to inherit 1 ability out of a list created at random and each ability will be adapted to suit your class.

[New] Soul Saturation (Passive): Having the highest affinity for soul mana, you can only use soul magic.

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'I guess this is just the system being stupid and describing these terribly.' I refocus on the conversation, recalling everything we have been talking about recently.

I shiver. "This orc warlord definitely deserved what was coming to him. I understand survival of the fittest but dang, this is insanity."

Mr. Johnson sighed in relief, he then said, "I didn't know how you would react and am relieved you see that you feel this man was ruthless as well. Do you ever plan on hurting anyone if you get a hold of your abilities by the way?" He asks, worry plaguing his face.

"No, well, only those who try to kill me and those who try to kill others unjustly." 'I never planned on being a killer in the first place, I want to help those in need but I'm not gonna be an idiot following righteousness blindly.

All worry is wiped from his face and mine is placed with a smile as he says words that solve two of my problems.

"I can help you with that but you are to young. If you want, I can raise you and teach you what you need to know in order to get into one of the Magic Academies that are in our kingdom."

Mr. Johnson was thinking, 'If I could teach him to use his soul ability and darkness magic, plus raise him on the right path, then he might be able to reach his dreams. After raising 20 kids, why not raise another?'

My mind is racing. 'This is so sudden, holy crap! Did living for about 150 years hurt his brain or something? I could use this though, I can solve my problems and come back to this place when I get older if I ever have issues. Plus, this solves my living situation. 4 birds, 1 stone.'

I immediately smile and nod excitedly. I just got a father figure on my first day of being in this world, got offered to solve two of my issues and can solve my third with the time I have. This day couldn't get any better!

As I put away the now cracked black stone and the grey stone, Mr. Johnson is currently writing to the mayor asking him to tell the kingdom about the incident of what happened and asking to order a new darkness stone.

"So what is your first name since we're gonna be living together from now on?" I ask curiously.

"It's Sylvic. Sylvic Johnson."

I walk over to the bed and sit on it while I wait for him to finish his letter.