Chapter 3: Sacred Crest
At first it was one of the absurd theories he came up with years ago.
But with the current situation, with many of the absurd already happening in front of his eyes, the absurd has already entered the realm of possibilities.
And all of the things so far are screaming for one most-likely truth.
That it was all a glimpse of the events which happened at a different time.
The dreams he had, it seemed to be about what his future's events were supposed to be in an alternate reality.
But…
How? Why?
What's the reason for being able to have these premonitions?
Is it telling him to retrace his future self's path but with a more skillful approach?
But that is impossible.
It didn't contain detailed paths on what to do or how to accomplish goals. If in-game terms, then you could say that it didn't contain any walkthroughs he could follow.
In contrast a great deal of it is composed of deaths, and if it weren't that or the life or death battles, he had, then it would be about him spending his time doing something which should not be spoken.
He could only tell that what he dreamt of was probably composed of some of the things that had the most impressionable impact on the future him, though he still had his doubts.
For if it did was about it, then how come what happened to the thuglike man before wasn't in the dream.
Because if he were to judge, then it seems to be pretty much of an impressionable event. Or at least much more than the scenes of him sleeping with women. He wished whoever had given him the ability to have such dreams would replace such scenes with more meaningful ones. It was one of the reasons why he hated the first part.
Despite the sequence being jumbled up, his dreams about his supposed to be future-self could be divided into three parts.
The first part would be about the immature him. The events of what would've happened if he would've remained the same as he was 5 years ago and continue right now albeit without receiving the dreams event...
Next would be the 2nd part, it was a part full of deaths, with him growing somewhat mature.
Then lastly is the third part, it was about him being alone.
If based on the number of memorable events he had, then the second part would be the winner.
But if he were to think about the longest real-life time involved about the parts, then the 3rd part would've been the longest.
For it contained glimpses of him being an old man.
But still, ever since he had received the dreams about the supposed-to-be future, it had already begun to change a lot of the situation.
He thought hard and dove deep into his memory and discovered that his Unique ability and sacred crest were different from the dream.
The crest, or the sword with the broken sun sacred crest that was on his right-hand right now, is different from the crown of the sun sacred crest that was on his dream.
First of all, from what he received from the information given by concentrating his mind on the mark, the crest has only one purpose.
And that is as a way for the people to form groups together for survival.
Like the guilds on various online games. But with each individual having unique perks if they would decide to lead.
The crest would offer various abilities and benefits unique to a group.
And right now, all of them had a level 1 sacred crest.
Where everyone could level up the crest by consuming souls.
with each level unlocking new perks or abilities to a group.
Ray checked the mark on his right hand.
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[Level 1 Sacred Crest]
Type: Blood Bound
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Contractor: Ray
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Member slots: 0/1
[+] Perks
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Sacred crest level up condition:
1,000 small souls.
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[Perks]
Status share (Unique Passive): The contractor gain 1% of each active member's Status. Members gain 10% of the Contractor's Status.
Call (System Active): Enable Long Distance communication for all.
Level 1 Group Storage (System Passive)A shared storage for the group, conditions can be edited by the contractor.
Current limit: 1 cubic meter.
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On the first and second part of his dreams, he had seen himself leading many people, all of them sharing his mark.
But with the current situation, such an event is already unlikely to happen.
Cause right now, his crest only allowed him to recruit only 1 person. And if he wanted to increase the limit, then he would probably have needed to level up his crest.
The question was how to earn souls?
Ray shook his and moved his thought on his crest.
Ray studied the perks of his sacred crest and could tell that right now he probably wouldn't gain much recruiting anyone of the people around.
On the other hand, if someone could join him then that 10% additional stat coming from him would've probably been a considerable boost considering that he had the highest stat of all the people around here.
'Then that's it for now, besides the group storage, there's nothing usable right now.'
Ray then look at the marks of the other people around him.
[Unable to inspect sacred marks]
Ray tried using 'Inspect' on other people's crest but found out that he couldn't inspect it.
A pity, knowing other's crest would've been a good thing.
But thinking about it more carefully, It was probably a good thing since his crest too wouldn't be inspected by other people.
Ray then look at the angel, it was about time to learn what the task was all about.
From her words, she did tell that they would be returned after finishing the given task, but he had his doubts about it.
Considering what his dreams told him, what will follow will be a struggle that would span a lifetime.
Right now, the angel looked bored and sleepy as she floated around.
And as if feeling Ray's vision, it was like she was startled awake as she then stood up straight and blinked her eyes fast as she looks in Ray's direction. 'It seems she can feel if someone's sight is directed at her'
Then as if remembering what she was supposed to do, the angel had the look of realization as she then called everyone's attention.
"Okay~~ Everyone~ Attention!"
Everyone then immediately shifted their eyes on her, disregarding their excitement.
No matter what, her earlier display of absurd magic is still fresh on their mind.
"I would now explain your task, but don't worry because it will be simple"
Then as if responding to her words, a total of ten portal-like violet circles appeared around them.
"You just have to kill all the zombies summoned"
Hearing that they would have to kill something and hearing the word zombies, everyone stood shocked wondering if what they heard was right. Kill zombies? Did they hear it right? was it a joke?
But as they were about to clarify what the angel meant, she was already fading away saying the words, "Bye~ Bye~" with a teasing smile.
Before they knew it, she was already gone.
Replacing her was the ten portals surrounding the group.
"What did she say?!" "Kill zombies?!" "You mean those man-eating zombies from the movie evil resident? "No Way!" "She's joking right?"
The people around are already starting to panic.
Ray remained calm and check the situation around, below him he could see a short sword who appeared from who knows when and where.
He picks it up and inspected it.
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[Iron short sword]
Quality: F
Description: A mass-produced type of short sword made of iron.
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that was it, there was nothing else written.
As he readies himself, he looks at the portals and could see several silhouettes coming out.
Groaning as they came.
Bodies with decayed flesh... some even with missing limbs. Maggots could be seen crawling out of their ugly skin with some even nesting on their wounds.
Zombies!
Ray could feel it...
An emotion he thought he had long lost.
He smiled for the first time in years as he felt it.
He was... excited.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone