Chapter 5: Jax During The Past Week And A Half
News traveled fast that the stone statue was actually an opportunity as well as a threat. People learned that it was called a Sacred Statue and that it could manifest people's greatest fear into an ability.
Depending on the people's perspective of fear about something, the Sacred Statue would test them and let them take the First Trial.
And that trial was to conquer one's greatest fear.
The entire world fell into great chaos, the first in entire history of mankind.
After a few days, some people managed to finally conquer their fear. Those who first conquered their fear and became a Master only caused greater havoc, bragging about their conquered abilities like they were kings of their own.
But while the earth was in total disheveled, a certain young man was dealing with his own problem in a separate space. In the woods that seemed peaceful, with a light shower sprinkling over the land, he was actually running away furiously as if his life was on the line.
People would think that it was crazy, but that was right, he was being chased after by three flying puffer fishes as if he was the only food available on the land.
He was, of course, Jax. And from the looks of it, he underwent many changes. Be it his facial expression, physical appearance, body frame, and the way he dealt with things, it all changed drastically.
As if he had gone through a series of metamorphosis and became a completely different person.
After some time, he finally found his destination. It was a cave located on the trunk of a massive tree. He ran swiftly in its direction and when he got closer enough, he leaped forward into the cave.
The three flying puffer fishes chasing after him didn't chase him inside any longer. As if a certain barrier was there to prevent any monster from entering. The puffer fishes had no choice but to return.
''Phew, thankfully, there are safe places in this god forsaken place.'' Jax heaved a sigh of relief as he wiped the sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand.
Right now, Jax was down on the ground. But after panting multiple times, he regained his lost energy as he stood up and stretched his arms and neck.
Looking at him, his clothes were totally torn and ragged, revealing his thick muscles and a few small scars. It also seemed like he became a little taller and his disposition was similar to that of a trained soldier. Adding the fact that his appearance became a lot more attractive and handsome, people who knew him would likely fail to recognize him.
That was if he dressed up a little better.
In any case, it had been a week and a half ever since he was transported to that damned place. And he definitely learned a lot of things in this new world.
If there was a place called hell in the afterlife, then it should be this place.
The thought of him being dead only made more and more sense.
However, he was certain that he was still alive. The pain was just too real to ignore. He could bleed, he could breathe, he could get hungry, and he too, could pee and poop.
If he was already dead, then how could he still experience the same thing as what the living could?
In the end, Jax sighed. He turned his gaze in front of him as he said, ''Scroll, Lord's Quest.''
An ancient scroll glowing dimly in the shade of black suddenly appeared. It rolled open before him and revealed the information he needed.
Summoning the scroll was also one of the things he learned from the past week.
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[Mission]
• Slay 100 or more fishes and collect their souls within the time limit of 30 days.
(Souls collected: 2/100)
(Remaining time: 19D)
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Seeing his progress, Jax forced out a smile and said, "Damn, so, it has already been 11 days, huh?"
Jax never imagined that the fishes he should slay were actually closer to be called monsters. It could kill him at any moment even if he tried to be careful.
As such, when he checked out his progress, Jax wasn't looking at how many fishes he had killed so far, but on how many days he still had left for him to accomplish the mission.
And looking at it now, people would definitely think that he was too slow as he might not even be able to complete the quest.
It couldn't be helped. After all, he spent his first week exploring the place in Soul Form. After learning his ability to separate his soul out of his body, he began to study its capabilities, its restrictions, its limits and more.
In any case, the place he was transported to was a strange island, called Fish Mystic Land. It was actually a huge island where he hadn't explored all the borders yet. It was a tropical rain forest where it rained during the entire night until late in the morning.
But the real problem didn't lie there.
Strange monsters of many kinds lived on that strange island. As ridiculous as it was, the monsters there were actually different types of fishes that, instead of swimming in the water, they could swim in the air with no problem at all.
Each type of fish also had its own terrifying ability. Some of the fishes even had a Unique Trait. Take, for example, those three puffer fishes that were chasing Jax earlier.
That kind of monster was called Cute Puffy. They were as big as a human's head, but once they ballooned, they could go as big as a wrecking ball.
And then explode.
Contrary to what its name suggested, it was actually a terrifying monster that Jax tried so hard to avoid.
Recalling the time when Jax almost died when he tried to touch one, he couldn't help but have a chill running down his spine.
''Damn it, just why on earth did the Book name it Cute Puffy...?'' Jax grunted. After a short moment, he said, ''Book. Monster Index.''
The dark brown scroll disappeared as a book appeared in its place. It was a dark brown book that was also glowing dimly in the shade of black and emitting a faint black aura similar to that of a steam.
Then the book flipped open before Jax, revealing the information that he needed.
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Name: Cute Puffy
Description: Can attract others with its cuteness. But when it ballooned, it will explode and be able to cause a bloody mess. It eats the chunk of flesh of those it kills in its explosion.
Danger Level: Green Threat Level
Ability: Explosion
Affinity: Conjuration type
Unique Trait: Explosion Resistant
Number of monsters slain: 1
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Its ability and Unique Trait actually complemented each other!
''Tch, I won't fall on the same trick twice.'' Jax clicked his tongue as he muttered, ''I will never touch those cute puffer fishes ever again!''
But the problem was... Cute Puffies were actually hovering all over the place. Other monsters tended to avoid them too, as if they already knew the consequences if they dared mess with them.
On top of that, Jax had already killed one of its kind — the one he touched and exploded to cause harm to his body. Out of anger, Jax used his ability to steal souls against it. Since Cute Puffy would be stunned and be weakened for several seconds once it exploded, Jax took the chance to steal its soul, and thus, successfully killed it.
Normally, Cute Puffies were timid and harmless creatures. But after Jax killed one of its kind, all the Cute Puffy seemed to be aggressive against him. Spotting him from afar was more than enough to agitate them and chase after him.
Jax never expected that those puffer fishes were actually the type to hold grudges and uphold revenge. Just how could he hunt properly with this?
It had to be known that a single explosion caused him severe injury already. If not for special places like the Cave of Resting, a place that could heal any injuries, then he would have suffered from his injuries badly and would even have died.
Thankfully, there was a Cave of Resting nearby and he learned about its existence and purpose through the Book beforehand. That saved him from certain death.
Still, if those puffer fishes tried to flock at him all at once, and then explode, then he would definitely die without fail.
''Thankfully, my ability to separate my soul from my body came in handy in a situation like this. I can freely spy the area and see where are the places that have lesser dangers.'' Jax smiled as he sat down crossed-legged.
Then with a different thing in mind, he said, ''Character Status.''
The book floating in front of him suddely flipped on its previous pages and revealed the kind of information that he asked.
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[Character Status]
Name: Jax Jabat
Status: Master
Title: None
Conquered Ability: Vengeful Soul
Affinity: Manipulation type
Rarity: Epic grade
Acquired Ability: Primal Element
Affinity: Unique type
Rarity: Forbidden grade
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[Vengeful Soul (conquered)]
Description: Able to manipulate your soul as well as the soul of the others. Gives twice the effect of every skill unlocked against enemies you seek vengeance from.
• Phase 1 (novice): (Soul Form) You are able to separate your soul from your body and enter Soul Form. In Soul Form, you're intangible and can't be seen through naked eyes. You can manipulate your soul to go from place to place.
• Phase 2 (novice): (Soul Steal) You can manipulate the soul of the living upon contact with your physical body and take it out of their body. The stronger the target, the longer it's needed to manipulate the soul out of the body. And the weaker the target, the less time it naturally needed to manipulate the soul out of the body.
• Phase 3: ??? (Slay 10 monsters to unlock.)
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[Primal Element (acquired)]
Description: ???
• Phase 1: ??? (Slay 1,000 monsters to unlock.)
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The condition needed for his acquired ability: Primal Element to unlock the phase 1 ability was out of a question so, Jax decided to ignore it again. Instead, he focused on the ability he conquered, Vengeful Soul, and read the condition needed to unlock the phase 3 of its ability.
''I have already killed 2 monsters.'' Jax muttered with a serious tone, ''Putting aside the monster I killed to achieve my first kill, I still have nine more monsters to kill for me to unlock the third phase of my ability.''
Learning that he still had a long way to go, Jax closed his eyes and focused. The first phase of his ability was already unlocked to begin with, while on the other hand, the second phase of his ability was only unlocked when he achieved his first kill.
That said, he had two skills under his disposal. Still, he needed to work extra harder if he wanted to get stronger and unlock more skills.
And he needed to be careful.
After all, monsters here were dangerous and couldn't be taken lightly. One wrong step and his life could be in danger.
To survive, he really needed a lot of effort to plan things out and get things through.
With that in mind, Jax decided to make a move. His soul then left his body and went out of the cave called Cave of Concealment. Jax started to explore the nearby area to see where he could hunt properly this time.
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