Chapter 2

Lewis pondered the information given by White as he left, what he now knew as the 'Nurses office'. He was told to report to his third period class, but seeing as he didn't know where that was, he simply began wandering the halls.

"A Soul Companion, or Blessings I guess, now that I think about it, wasn't there a System Store I could buy from?" Lewis muttered to himself as he thought.

[Store: (Please Select Category)

Plant Soul Blessings - 15 available in your price range.

Insect Soul Blessings - 12 available in your price range.

Animal Soul Blessings - 6 available in your price range.

Mythological Soul Blessings - 2 available in your price range.]

"Lets expand plants first since we're here somehow. Then swiftly move on until I've seen all that's available." Lewis selected the plant category as a start.

[Plant Soul Blessings available;

Jungle Vine (Basic)- 10CP

Poison Ivy (Basic)- 10CP

Rose (Basic)- 15CP

Palm Tree (Basic)- 20CP

Water Lily (Basic)- 20CP

Whitecap Fungi (Basic)- 20CP

Seaweed (Basic)- 20CP

Pine Tree (Basic)- 25CP

Hawthorn (Basic)- 25CP

Lemon Tree (Basic)- 25CP

Venus Flytrap (Basic)- 50CP

Pitcher Plant (Basic)- 50CP

Cobra Lily (Basic)- 50CP

Big Floating Bladderwort (Basic)- 50CP

Saguaro Cactus (Basic)- 500CP]

[Insect Soul Blessings Available;

Pill Bug (Basic)- 5CP

Fruit Fly (Basic)- 5CP

Black Ant (Basic)- 10CP

Wolf Spider (Basic)- 10CP

House Spider (Basic)- 10CP

House Centipede (Basic)- 25CP

Red Ant (Basic)- 25CP

Orb Weaver Spider (Basic)- 50CP

Honey Bee (Basic)- 50CP

Wasp (Basic)- 70CP

Hornet (Basic)- 200CP

Huntsman Spider (Basic)- 500CP]

[Animal Soul Blessings Available;

Garter Snake (Basic)- 50CP

Gray Wolf (Basic)- 100CP

Lynx (Basic)- 125CP

Black Bear (Basic)- 200CP

Brown Bear (Basic)- 275CP

Red Tail Hawk (Basic)- 500CP]

[Mythological Soul Blessings Available;

Sea Serpent (Basic)- 100CP

Manticore (Basic)- 100CP]

"How many am I allowed to purchase right now?' Lewis asked the system.

[A the current level, the user can purchase up to 10 Companions.]

"Oh, I'll take that deal. Though the lack of details concerning them makes it difficult to choose, I'll just rely on past knowledge." Lewis began to carefully select his ten companions.

[Purchased:

Jungle Vine (Basic Tier)- Adds +5 to CON. You can use two thick vines to ensnare a target up to 10 meters away. -10 CP (Can be Upgraded for 10CP)

Poison Ivy (Basic Tier)- Adds +5 to CON. Summons 5x5 ft wall that deals slight poison towards the opponent when touched. -10 CP (Can be Upgraded for 10CP)

Rose (Basic Tier)- Adds +10 to CON. Summons 5x5 ft wall of thorns and roses. Deals slight damage to opponent when touched. -15 CP (Can be Upgraded for 15CP)

Black Ant (Basic Tier)- x10 to STR stat. -10 CP (Can be Upgraded for 10CP)

House Centipede (Basic Tier)- x16 to DEX stat. -25 CP (Can be Upgraded for 25CP)

Garter Snake (Basic Tier)- Adds +10 to DEX +5 to CON. You'reharderr to catch and hit. -50 CP (Can be Upgraded for 50CP)

Gray Wolf (Basic Tier)- Adds +12 to DEX +9 to INT +5 to STR. Sly as a wolf with all the endurance. -100 CP (Can be Upgraded for 100CP)

Brown Bear (Basic Tier)- Adds +20 to CON +10 to STR +10 to DEX +6 to INT. When in doubt, bear out. -275 CP (Can be upgraded for 275CP)

Sea Serpent (Basic Tier)- All Stats x10 in water. -100 CP (Can be Upgraded for 100CP)

Manticore (Basic Tier)- x10 INT x5 CHA x2 CON. -100 CP (Can be Upgraded for 100CP)

325 CP Remaining. PSB: 3/? ISB: 2/? ASB: 3/? MSB: 2/?]

"Hmm, so you get the details from buying them. Still, I seem to have retained my basic knowledge for each creature. Their effects are roughly correct considering the capabilities exerted from the real versions. Translating it into human abilities, certainly it would cause some inhumane abilities, but what is a Basic Tier? Deducing from the word 'Basic' I would assume it means foundation, something that doesn't change but is rather built upon." Lewis began rambling to himself after buying his ten blessings.

[Correct.]

"Then should I test one of these 'Blessings' out?" Lewis mused as he thought about which one he wanted to try. He decided something simple would be best to try out, so he thought about doing the house centipede as his trial run.

[DEX: 8->128]

"Whoa! Thats fucking wild!" Lewis exclaimed. He certainly felt the change happen as soon as the Blessing activated. It felt like electricity was coursing through his body constantly. While he was admiring the change, an alarm began ringing throughout the school, and the watch Lewis just realized he was wearing was vibrating and flashing rapidly. People began pouring into the hallways and then looked at Lewis. As Lewis stared back at the students, someone, who Lewis assumed to be a teacher, began to approach him. She had on a plain white button up shirt and black slacks. Her red hair was up in a bun and her red eyes looked both furious and surprised.

"Lewis Padova… you are late for class, again. Come along, there's been a dungeon break nearby. We must get to the bunker now." The way she spoke to Lewis as if he were a slow child infuriated him. But the sudden information about a dungeon break caught his curiosity and he decided it would be better to continue his wandering, outside the school. As the students and teachers were filing down the stairs, with Lewis following, the energy within Lewis began to itch. The moment they reached the bottom, and Lewis saw the door out, he made a mad dash towards it. What neither he, the teachers, or the doors themselves had accounted for, was the absolute speed at which Lewis took off at. He was outside, covered in glass within a split second. Lewis turned around and looked back at the building, the doors he had blown through were now paneless.

"This is a natural disaster announcement for a Class D Dungeon outbreak for Sector Six Alpha of the Woodburn District. Remain inside or get to the nearest bunker. Please wait until the nearest Defense Team arrives on scene and gives the all clear. This message will now repeat!... This is-'' An announcement rang out repetitively. Lewis could hear screaming in the distance and the sound of things being destroyed. Without hesitation, and out of curiosity, Lewis ran towards the direction of the commotion, though his speed was far too much for him to catch up to mentally. He could see where he was going, it was just simply trying to reign in the out of control energy rampaging through his body to control his directional abilities. After a few moments of struggle, he gave up on the Blessing and went on foot normally.

***

The scene Lewis arrived upon was a slaughter house. Weird humanoid creatures with pale blue skin and crude weaponry were destroying, looting, and killing everything in sight. They had longish ears and dull black eyes. Their noses were also long and their clothes were made from what definitely looked like skin from various beasts as well as humans. The weapons themselves also seemed to be made from bone and stone, with a few human made bladed weapons mixed in.

[Cave Imp

Age: 34

Rating: 26.3

STR: 26 CHA: 8

DEX: 56 MAG: 17

INT: 31 CON: 20]

"I don't like the looks of those stats. Though, if I'm correct in what I've learned so far, if my speed, power, and reflexes can get past their defenses, taking them out is plausible. But what should I use? Can I use more than one?" Lewis began questioning things. He wasn't trying to be a hero, he just wanted to test more things out. It being new and alien to him made him more curious than cautious.

[At a Basic Tier, the user can mix and match as many as needed. From the Rare Tier upward there can be no intermingling without proper compatibility between the blessings.]

"Are there side effects?" Lewis asked the system. No response came so Lewis decided it wasn't worth answering. With the information given, Lewis chose to reactivate the House Centipede Blessing along with the Black Ant, Jungle Vine and Brown Bear.

[STR: 10->120

DEX: 8->138

INT: 10->16

CON: 8->33]

"Blessings are a little over powered, but I see why they're needed. If I were to use the same system for the ratings, I'm roughly now a fifty four D-Rank. But, I lack their Intelligence stat and magic stat. Our Charisma stat is the same, which bothers the hell out of me, but with this, it might be possible to take care of them, or one." Lewis waited for an opportunity to take one by surprise. A single vine stretched out from Lewis's shadow and waited just in the range of his ability. The control on the vine was more simplistic than the energy from the House Centipede, but that energy was coursing through him once again, but at an almost doubled rate. Lewis's body was on fire from the itch to move. Just as he was about to burst from the buildup, a Cave Imp stepped on the vine and instantly was ensnared and brought to the hiding spot atop a now broken shop. The imp struggled and looked at Lewis with hate filled eyes.

"What a curious creature… goodbye!" Lewis drew his fist back and slammed it through the Imps skull and into the building with a resounding detonation of echoes crashing throughout the desolated street. Lewis looked around while waving the dust and blood from in front of him.

[You Killed a Cave Imp. Cave Imp was 3.5 times stronger than the User. You have leveled up 4 times.]

Though Lewis was pleased with the information, he was now surrounded by Cave Imps, all staring at him hungrily and hatefully. Lewis summoned the second vine and had the two hover around him , making them look like living creatures, serpents. The first of the many launched itself at Lewis, but a good wack from the vines sent it away, and a fight for survival began. With Lewis's speed, he was easily able to maneuver around the imps in small distances. Any further than a car's length caused him to lose footing. When that happened, he would use his fists and vines to get rid of the imps that jumped at him. The more Lewis fought, the more strained and sluggish he became. His reflexes became slower and stab and slash wounds began to appear on his body.

[INT and MAG stats are too low to perform well with so many active Blessings. Suggesting using only Brown Bear and House Centipede to escape.]

"No way, but at least I now know the Intelligence and Magic stats were directly correlated to the Blessings. Thanks for telling me such important factors during such a convenient time." Lewis huffed sarcastically. He did start to think that this was a bad idea in the first place, but regretting now was too late. Running away wasn't an option because he wouldn't get far enough without falling and being overtaken. He was swiftly learning his limits as he tried to simply survive. One of the Cave Imps managed to tackle Lewis, causing them to both slip and fall into a pond. The imp stabbed its bone and stone blade into Lewis's abdomen four times and Lewis punched a hole in its chest. Now tired and injured heavily, Lewis sank to the bottom of the pond, staring up at the dim light above him, the water making it look like it was moving in a rippling manner.

'WATER!' Lewis thought just as his vision began to dim, instantly he activated the Sea Serpent and deactivated the rest.

[STR: 10->100

DEX: 8->80

INT: 10->100

CHA: 8->80

MAG: 9->90

CON: 8->80]

Though the pain didn't subside, Lewis's mind cleared up like crystal and he maneuvered himself upright and pushed up to the surface like a missile. He burst from the pond and landed on the banks. Lewis immediately stepped back into the pond and waited for the Imps to come at him. It felt odd fighting while standing in water, but in order to fight properly, he needed it. The only thing out of his calculations was the possibility of archers. It seems the only reason why he never noticed them, was because he was constantly moving before, now that he stood relatively in the same spot, three arrows pierced his chest around his heart. This was enough to cause all the strength in Lewis's body to leave him. He stumbled backwards into the pond and fell, his blessing deactivated itself and he floated out towards the middle. Arrows pierced the surface of the water all around Lewis as the archers attempted to finish Lewis off. Lewis's vision dimed and his breathing weakened, but before he passed out, he heard someone splash into the water and grab him, the figure he saw was distinctly human, after that his vision blackened as he slipped out of consciousness.

***

Joshua Kranz, a blessed working as part of the defense team covering near Sector 6A that day, was simply heading for what he figured was another average dungeon break. But when he and his team arrived, the damage and massacre that had occurred was far more than a simple 'D-Rank' mob's capabilities. Seeing a Cave Imp at a low D-Rank was shocking enough for the team. Cave Imps were typically low E-Rank mobs, so the team had their troubles with them. What seemed odd to Joshua was the amount of Cave Imps. Typically they traveled in groups of ten, but the numbers were closer to a hundred. It wasn't until the team had gotten further into the town when they found a street littered with corpses of Cave Imps. All of them seemed to have been blasted apart by some kind of cannon.

"Did anyone come through Sector Six Alpha?" Joshua radioed to HQ.

"Negative. You're the only team in the area." A reply came swiftly.

"Well the scene I'm looking at tells an entirely different story. It looks like a high D-Rank tore through this place. Can you confirm again whether or not someone came through Sector Six Alpha?" Joshua asked once more. Terror gripping his heart, if whatever blew through these wasn't a registered Adventurer, Blessed, or Mercenary, then the only thing Joshua could think of was…

"Negative Juliet Niner, prepare for contact with Commander Class Hostile. Updating the warning level now." Joshua's heart sank hearing those words. He readied his battle ax and motioned for his team to split up and remain vigilant. Joshua skirted around the buildings, being cautious at every corner. He came across a few Archer Cave Imps and other such stragglers, the further he went down, the denser they became. After breaking through around ten of them he found himself at an empty pond, dozens of Imps surrounded the banks on the other end. He was about to radio his team in to surround the imps, when something burst from the pond and landed in front of the imps. It was a boy, no older than fifteen and dressed in the uniform of the local middle school.

"What the fuck is a child doing here?" Joshua exclaimed as he got ready to charge in to rescue the boy. But stopped when the boy began fighting like an absolute monster. Joshua was in awe of the discipline behind every motion the boy made. It was as if he was watching a professional fighter of many decades showing his practice. The boy dodged and sent cannon-like blows through the Imps like they weren't there to begin with. The confusing part was that the boy wouldn't leave the water. That was the only mistake the boy made, staying in a single area presented the lurking Archer Imps to take aim and release their arrows with devastating accuracy. Three seemed to pierce the boy's chest and he stumbled back and fell into the pond weakly.

"Juliet Niner reporting survivor. Sector Six Alpha at the edge of a pond. Requesting immediate support, contacts all along west facing banks. I'm going in for the survivor." Joshua radioed, his team was now alerted and moving in and he was wading into the pond towards the boy.

"Affirmative Juliet Niner, get the survivor. Support is moving on your position. Omega Eight is twenty seconds to contact." A reply radioed in. Another team was dispatched due to the report made about the possible hostile Commander Class. Joshua reached the boy, his eyes were dulling and his complexion was pale, but otherwise his condition was salvageable. There were multiple wounds covering his body, and Joshua was reporting each one.

"Confirmed Juliet Niner, Omega Eight is arrived on scene with emergency medical. After removing the area of hostiles, regroup and bring the survivor in to receive immediate medical attention." HQ radioed its last order and went silent. Joshua dragged the boy up onto the grass surrounding the pond. Three people dressed in orange with the Omega Eight symbol on the uniform took over, and Joshua left them to take care of the remaining Imps

***

It took less than an hour to mop up the remaining Imps with Joshua's team. When they were done they regrouped with Omega Eight and the boy, who was now in an oxygen mask with his bare torso exposed. The cloth had been carefully cut around the arrow shafts, and blood still pumped out around the rightmost arrow with every weak beat of the boy's heart.

"We need to get this boy into surgery immediately. Looks like skipping school today came and bit him in the ass in the worst way. HQ this is Omega Eight, reporting patients as critical. Requesting immediate HVAC from the vicinity. Area is cleared, I repeat, area is cleared. Commander Class Hostile unconfirmed." The leader of Omega Eight for the week radioed in.

"HVAC is cleared and on its way. Contact in minus five minutes." HQ replied shortly.

"Damn, I'm beat today. Still, this kid held out for a while before we got here. Josh, what did you see? Anything worth mentioning?" Kiara, the week's Omega Eight Leader, asked Joshua

They were officially a part of rival Guilds. Hers was centuries old, almost an original, by the name 'Hera's Garden'. Joshua was a part of an equally large guild, but only a couple decades younger, named 'Hephaestus's Forge'.

"Nothing at all Kiara. Just a boy running from the Imps and getting shot in the chest. If that's interesting to you, I'll recount it for you." Joshua lied calmly.

"Nah, too bland for my tastes. I was hoping he might have been the reason for the Unconfirmed Commander Class. That, would have been interesting, and perfect for my taste." Kiara guessed perfectly.

"Sorry, it was just another dungeon outbreak. Only now we have to babysit a kid and write a lengthy report. What a wonderful last day we're having." Joshua replied sarcastically with a sigh.

"You really are a boring person, no wonder you're in the Forge." Kiara scoffed.

"Better than being psychologically unhinged in the Garden." Joshua replied. Silence ensued after the little bout. A helicopter landed nearby shortly, and the teams got aboard with the boy, in total eleven people.