Chapter 8: An Advent
"Why? Why did you do that!? He was our friend!"
"He tried to kill you! And I didn't have any other choice."
"Bullshit! It wasn't him, he could never! Rather it was done by those who cower behind you! And if he could bring a whole nation down all by himself, why can't you? I don't see why you can't!"
Regret was all that filled inside me. 'Maybe I shouldn't have been that harsh with her,' was all that revolved in my mind.
Until a certain eventful day.
A clean slash through the chest, her emotionless eyes bored down on me, crushing my whole being.
*****
A tunnel, devoid of any light whatsoever. Darkness pulsated behind me while a small dot of light hovered at the very end of the path. My legs moved forward, arms reaching towards the light as my whole vision turned white.
My eyes soon adjusted to the sudden brightness. My breathing was ragged, air rushing in and out due to the sudden change in my surroundings.
'Where am I? What happened? Did that actually happen?' Questions revolved around my head while more and more were formed with each passing moment.
Right after my eyes regained their focus, I noticed there were many people flocking around me. Soon I regained my hearing too as I heard them talk.
"Finally! It is a success my Lord!" One of the people exclaimed in joy.
"We did it! After so many failures we were finally able to do it!" Another one said, crying tears of joy.
"Now, let's calm down. We don't want to scare the child off now," a cold, yet warm voice was heard. My eyes followed the voice to see a man with smooth skin and a sharp jaw. He had vibrantly scarlet eyes and massive horns sprouting from the sides of his black hair like an elk's antlers, except shiny and black, each coming to a spear-sharp point.
"Pardon me for interrupting your first moments in this world, but the need for your presence isn't now. I would need you to rest for a while more…" I wasn't able to hear anything more due to my panicking heart.
My body shrank unconsciously in fear, but he still was able to catch me as a veil of darkness took over me.
𝘊𝘢𝘦𝘳𝘢 𝘋𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘳
Light blinked repeatedly.
At one time there was light, and then there wasn't the very next moment.
How many times has it been that I have experienced this?
Ten? Twenty? I lost count ever since it hit thirty.
Fabric of time and space parted, reality bent as I felt myself in my body once again. My body felt sore. Oddly this time I was in a body of myself in my late childhood.
Looking at my body I think I am eight years of age now. This was a first, everytime I used to open my eyes in the body of me being an infant.
'Ah I get it now.'
The soul that inhibited this body had passed away somehow.
But my surroundings felt way more odd than I thought.
"Hmm? She is still alive? I thought she was a goner seeing how bad her situation was after that experiment," I heard a rough voice speaking, relief evident in his tone.
"Thank the Vritra, if she died then we would have to follow her to the afterlife as well," someone replied to the first voice.
My eyes soon adjusted to the lighting, sound of scissors and knives clacking reverberated in the room.
It seems like this version of me had awakened her Vritra Blood in a rather public place and as such, died while being experimented on.
My eyes focused in and out, my mind wandered to my first life, the one which had no regression nor much complications.
Ascending and learning under my tutor, this was my daily routine until I met him…
My life took a turn, whether for the worse or the good, I didn't know.
His past and present, both lives were revealed to me, rebelling against the very deities who ruled over the world, that was how ambitious he was.
Yet, he was nothing but an ant in front of them. That disastrous day still remains fresh in my mind, as if it had occurred just yesterday.
Agrona, the Legacy were on one side and Kezess with his Asuran battalion were on the other. And in the midst of the two were us lesser, crushed like puny ants.
His cold limped body laid on my lap, his lips protruded to a smile while his eyes remained close.
Tears continued to fall down my eyes as I lacked the arm to wipe them off. I was surrounded in a sea of flames, burning indefinitely, not budging even to the intense shockwaves of the two monstrous beings fighting.
Suddenly in front of me stood a woman, her black hair flowed seamlessly as her red eyes darker than mine bored into me.
"Tough luck. Here I thought he would be able to do something more," Her mysterious voice spoke, but her lips didn't even seem to move, "But, it seems like you are quite a tenacious one. You wish that you can go back and change things back right?"
My mind was unable to catch up with what she meant, yet I nodded in response. "Regret is eating at you, thoughts like if I did it differently are haunting you continuously."
For some reason I felt weird, yet I nodded. Her lips lifted up as she smiled. "Then, I shall wish you luck."
And right then, my whole vision was bathed by immense light as I found myself in my infant body. Thus, ever since then, I have been stuck in this nonstop loop of regression.
Despite knowing what to do, every turn always ended with me failing with death. There was always one variable to every regression which flipped the whole board all the time. And he always seems to be in the middle of it all.
Am I regretting making that decision? I didn't know.
Soon enough the door of the room opened, my body was picked up by someone, someone I knew pretty well.
Agrona Vritra.
Words fell short to express how I felt when seeing him. Anger, regret, disgust, nausea, every bad feeling together wouldn't be enough to express my emotions
His crimson orbs seemed to glow brightly. After a while of staring at me, his eyebrows rose, "Your disciple seems to have rather changed quite a bit since I last saw her. Well, it has been two years so it isn't a wonder."
He then handed me to the one standing behind him. It was my teacher, Scythe Seris Vritra.
Tears threatened to break out of my eyes when I saw her. Her arms wrapped around me with caution as if I would break if she wasn't careful. A sense of security filled up inside of me.
"Thank you for letting me take her," Seris couldn't continue further as Agrona raised his arm, "Don't mind it, as long as she can become a worthy Vritra warrior."
Once again bowing to Agrona, Seris left the place. Her hurried steps echoed in the hallway. Soon when she made sure there wasn't anyone around, she started with a broken voice
"I am sorry, I am sorry that you had to go through something like that. I was too careless, it is all my fault," she apologized countlessly with a broken voice. Her tears fell on my shoulder, seeing her like this made my heart ache.
She might think I hated her or something, but could I really ever?
Even when times were tough, she was standing beside me. Her warmth was always there, like a mother she always took care of me.
Even now, I was wrapped by her motherly warm embrace.
My arms extended to her shoulders as I tried to embrace her, take some of her burden on me if I could. To assure that no matter what, she will always be someone dear to me.
𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘺
Tears cascaded down my eyes, my body embraced by the cold winds as the warm memories added more spice to my wounds.
Choked cries of desperation left my mouth, only after crying myself to exhaustion after a few hours was able to calm me down.
Like a zombie, I walked forward aimlessly. The last words of Helio haunted me, making me unable to kill myself.
Each step of mine seemed heavier than the one before, my chest aching by each passing moment.
After walking for an hour, I was finally able to see some lodgings.
A huge building crafted of only wood, round artifacts hung as they lit up the place.
A thought revolved around my mind, now that I was out of there, what am I supposed to do now?
The first thought that came up was to go and find Sylvia's daughter. But I didn't understand how I was supposed to find her.
Right then, numerous people equipped with weapons left the place while waving a card in their hands. I recognized the place now, it was the Adventurer's Guild.
Right then a thought popped up in my mind, I could find her easily while traveling around and my expenses wouldn't be an issue either if I became an adventurer.
Taking a deep breath I steeled my mind, my legs moved forward as I entered the Guild from the front door.
The place was spacious enough to fit forty to fifty people. Honestly, the inside felt more like a bar than a place for Adventurers to gather. The smell of the lingering alcohol made me wince a little.
The reaction of the people inside wasn't that great either. Not only did many grimace at the fact that a kid was present there, some even had the audacity to call me a little girl.
"You want something kid?" In the reception stood another bulky man.
Sighing softly, I replied, "I am here to apply for becoming an Adventurer." While I surveyed the whole place.
"Huh? Kids nowadays still dream of going on adventures?" came a grumbling voice. Turning behind I saw a rather bulky man stumbling on his own steps.
A strong stench of alcohol was coming from him. My face contorted to a frown as the receptionist soon took out a paper and spoke, "Okay brat, so what's your name?"
"Grey," I replied. "Age?" He asked again. "Seven," I replied, raising my age by a bit. The receptionist frowned and continued, "And how are you, a seven year old girl going to fight against mana beasts without mana?"
"First of all, I am a boy. Secondly, I have awakened," I corrected him. I could literally feel everyone's gaze on me, the drunk man stepped forward and flailed my arm like a paper and spoke, "You? You are a boy? With such weak arms? Pft, get some muscles on ya' brat."
Pissed off a little, I replied, "Oh yeah? As if you have muscles yourself old man. Or are those fats what you call 'muscles'?"
With my remark, everyone in the place burst out laughing, including the man in question himself.
"Haha, quite a good one kid, so which stage are you in? I can't sense your core," He said. "Light Red," I replied, thankfully I had already scanned everyone's core stages when I first entered the place.
"Wooh, that's impressive. So Brandon, you ain't gonna explain the rules to the kid?" He said to the receptionist. "You didn't even give me the chance to, you idiot," The receptionist grumbled as he soon started to explain.
There were six accessible ranks for people, F, E, D, C, B and A. By completing missions assigned by the Guild we can earn points and increase your rank.
Many can also be ranked based on their prowess if they are sponsored by an A ranked Adventurer. But since I didn't have any sponsor, I had to start from F rank.
To rise from F to E rank, 10 points are needed. From E to D, 100 extra points are needed, from D to C, 500 extra points are needed. From C to B, 1000 extra points are needed. While it isn't quite easy, from B to A, 10000 extra points are required along with a test to see if they are indeed that powerful. And the points gained by completing a ranked task gives you the same points as you would need to rise to it, such as completing a D rank task will give you 100 points.
The explanation was long, but it was easy to understand. So, if I do any ranked task, then my rank would be raised to the rank below that rank.
"For a brat like you, I think a D-" I interrupted the receptionist by taking a C ranked task that was hanging. It was a task of killing fanged wolves that were wandering around the forest border.
Everyone in the place was staring at me as if I had lost it. Apparently, to verify that I had finished my work, I had to bring back the fangs of those wolves here. Taking the paper, I left the place to hunt the wolves.
"H-Hey, brat make sure you don't die there," the receptionist yelled while I was stopped in my tracks as I was lifted up from my place by the old man. "It is late in the night now, the beasts lurk around the most now. Leave when it is morning."
"But I don't have a place to stay," I said. "So? I have an empty room in my place," the old man replied.
And like that, I was forced to stay the night in a spare room. Oddly enough the room was organized enough for someone who is a drunkard.
But the unusual appearance of the room gave rise to unpleasant memories. Memories of my childhood and of my past life being in the orphanage.
To stop the increasing rise of the memories, I diverted my attention to my core. But the sudden realization took me by a storm.
Ever since coming out of the cavern I didn't get any time to check my core, but apparently I had now reached Dark Yellow somehow. Maybe that flame did some wonders.
Like that, the night passed by sleeplessly yet again as I continued the solidification of my core.
At the very dawn of the morning, I left the guild in order to complete the task.
"No one asked you to come along," I grunted while the old man, Baelnor, just jovially ruffled my hair.
After a long while of walking, we reached our destination. On our way here, Baelnor explained how adventurers usually earn their money. Only B or higher ranked tasks gave money to the Adventurers who cleared it from the Guild.
But there wasn't any award money for clearing the low ranked ones, the Adventurers could earn money by selling their scavenges from the task. Like how I can earn money by selling the fangs and skin of the wolves.
Not even a moment passed by as the wolves neared us, they were a team of ten.
"Alright, brat can you do it?" Baelnor asked. "No need to worry about that," I replied.
Siphoning mana from my core, I directed the flow of the earth mana and visualized it. The way that the spell formed. And I released it.
Three spikes rose from the ground and impaled the neck of three wolves in the back. Seeing it, the other wolves retreated back a bit cautiously.
"Hmm, so you are a conjurer?" Baelnor asked. I nodded as he took out a club from his ring. Seeing my surprised reaction he chuckled and continued, "Here's one another way you could use earth mana."
Soon the yellow mana particles gathered on the tip of the club as a hammer made of dirt was created. He stepped forward and swung his club straight at the wolf, killing it.
An image of him being a really good and powerful mage was established in my mind, which just as soon was destroyed by his sulking.
"Argh, I shouldn't have showed off this much." I stared at him deadpan as he stood while putting his force on the club.
Well, at least his spell was helpful.
A wolf dashed forward with an intent to kill. I raised my left arm, my mind focused on the yellow particles.
At my call they gathered and a stone conjured which hurled straight towards the wolf, making it back off.
That stone cannon didn't have enough strength to kill the wolf. With that in mind, I focused more on the sharpness of the stone, the density of it. An additional wind spell was added to make it revolve faster and travel faster.
And the result was way more shocking than I imagined it to be.
The stone whistled through the air, blasting the wolf's head off. Not only was the attack powerful, it was super fast as well. But the main problem was the drain in mana. I could feel half of my core empty now. I had to be more considerate of my own mana reserves now it seems.
Five more wolves were left. They slowly started to close up on me. This time, I tried a different spell.
Wind mana coalesced in my hand. They vibrated in a high frequency, soon a really high sound rang in my ears. I willed my intent and made them vibrate in a much greater frequency.
The sound soon disappeared, as if it never existed. But the wolves shrank away in fear.
They knew, they could hear it. The sound grinding and vibrating against the wind. It was a Hypersonic Sound I created by a really high frequency sound.
Right when I was near about to hit my limit, I released the spell. It went out like a boom, and right in a second, the wolves convulsed and blood sprayed out of their body as they collapsed. Baelnor stared at me as if I was some monster.
"That was…something," he mumbled in awe.
Now came the most important part for Adventuring, the skinning of the monsters and cutting their body parts out after the completion of the task.
Baelnor helped me in those tasks and even gave advice on how to do it properly. Oddly, the old man didn't ask for any money or share after helping me.
Finally after all that we left for the guild. After reaching the guild, many looked at me with surprise in their eyes as hushed mummers spread around the room. "Hey, that brat actually did it?" Something like this.
Or something like, "That idiot Bael couldn't possibly help at all, it must be the kid."
'Wow, this old bat beside me wasn't even worth a single thought.'
Raising the bag that held the scavenged, I verified that I cleared the task. After making sure that I did it, the receptionist then took out a card. "This is your identity of being an Adventurer, you are now D-rank Adventurer Grey."
The card was cold to the touch, it was gleaming in a blue color. It had six dots in the left down corner while a hole was made in the fourth one. "The dots mean your ranks, there are higher than A ranks, but those come with a different card and other things," the receptionist explained.
"Alright, we finally have a new adventurer here today, it is a time to celebrate!" Baelnor yelled as everyone responded in tandem. Wines poured on glasses, many continued to chug on their mugs and enjoy their time. The whole place was filled with the festival of joy.
Choirs of joyous cheers echoed in the room blanketing the whole place warmly. But, just as soon as the mood was settled, it was ruined as someone barged into the Guild. "I am here to become an Adventurer."
He had pale skin and platinum blonde hair which was combed over to his left. His eyes bored down on everyone as if he was superior to them all. "And why is there a little girl sitting amongst those old men," he grumbled with a visible frown on his face.
With that remark, I felt a vein pop in my head. Irritation clearly rose inside me as I felt myself snap.
'Alright, that's it, Imma throw some hands.'
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone