Detesting The System: Sundering Fate

After finally arriving at the first floor of the dungeon, it took us a good five minutes to find a monster. Whilst a bit excited to see my first monster in this world, very quickly that very same excitement turned into disappointment as I watched Bell run up to a goblin and instantly kill it. The little green monster couldn't even put up a fight as Bell stabbed it to death with his knife.

Watching as the goblin vaporized into a puff of ash, with its annihilation came the tinkling sound of a crystal hitting the dungeon floor. From a distance, I could see a shiny monster core dimly reflecting some of the light coming from the various crystals lined within the dungeon walls. Bell picked up the monster core and put it into his backpack as he went about explaining what I just witnessed; at least that's what I thought he did.

Soon after he began talking, I received another notification of Passive Language Acquisition advancing to Level H, but I ignored it until Bell finished speaking. Then, as we kept walking for minutes on end without finding so much as a trace of another monster, I wished for a detection skill hoping to stop wasting all this time.

[Skill Conjured: Life Seizing Eyes (Locked)

1st Degree Prerequisite: Level ??? (Too High To Properly Calculate Given Current Strenght)

2nd Degree Prerequisite: Life Sensing Eyes (Locked)

3rd Degree Prerequisite: Life Manipulation (Locked)

4th Degree Prerequisite: Light Manipulation (Unlocking)

Light Manipulation Unlocked!

New Skill

Name: Light Manipulation

Level: Null

Description: The ability to manipulate Light magic. Evolving out of base magic, Light is an elemental energy. A precursor to Life energy and magic, Light, though versatile, has a special attribute of healing. The greater your ability to manipulate Light, the greater the effects of your light skills, spells, and abilities.

Effect: Allows the user to convert base Magic into Light Magic at a conversion factor of 1:15.

Life Manipulation can be unlocked at Magic Manipulation Level: A, and Light Manipulation Level: E]

'Can't I get a detection skill I can use immediately?' I questioned no one in particular. However, Destiny appeared to have heard me as she said, "Master, you have to be more specific… All the skills you conjure have to come from either your own imagination or personal experience."

"So your system's weakness is that it's limited to my imagination?" I asked, completely understanding. Honestly, if the system were any more forgiving I'd basically never have to think for myself…

"Technically yes… That "weakness" effectively vanishes the more experience you acquire on your journey to ascension. After having your horizons widened, your imagination should be like your strength; limitless!"

As she finished her thought, Bell and I came across another monster; this time a kobold. Bell said something to me whilst gesturing, so I assumed he was asking me to try my hand at combat. Nodding, I said, "Get back..." as I unwrapped the chain section of my Chain Sickle from my arm. This being the first time I ever entered combat, I didn't want any accident to happen because of my inexperience; especially since I was carrying a weapon as dangerous as a Chain Sickle.

It took but a moment to recall the methods granted to me from Basic Chain Sickle Mastery, so as the kobold entered the effective range of my chains, I spun my sickle a couple times before releasing it towards its direction. Clink! I missed… This being the first time I ever threw my sickle, my face turned a deep shade of red in embarrassment from how off my shot was.

But the kobold didn't wait for me to regain my bearings. It charged me even as I stood there suffering a deep humiliation. However, though I felt it was a shame for Bell to see me flailing my weapon around like a chuunibyou, I didn't forget where I was or how dangerous this could turn out to be. Doing my best to ignore the negativity that was bred from that god-awful throw, I recalled the sickle back into my left hand as my right hand began winding the 10 kg weight at the end of the Chain Sickle. Once the kobold got close enough, I smashed its head in with the weight and it instantly died; though not before its face was brutalized with teeth and blood flying tangential to the direction the weight struck.

'That was it?' I couldn't believe it was that easy… All I did was hit it once and it was annihilated! In total disbelief from how anticlimactic my first kill turned out to be, I walked over to the spot where the kobold died and picked up a magic core about the same size as the one Bell earned from killing a goblin. With no backpack of my own, nor the d.e.s.i.r.e to ever need to possess one, I walked back over to Bell and extended the magic core whilst saying, "Bell, take this… I possess no pockets..."

Hesitantly, he took the core and added to his backpack, looking at me as if he were unsure if it was ok. Laughing at his oblivious naivety, I patted him on the shoulder and said, "Let's go… money earned… spent on food…'

We continued our journey through the dungeon killing many more monsters. On the lengthy period of time that always came between each confrontation with monsters, I spent my time absorbing magic like it was nobody's business. Before beginning to train my Light Manipulation, I decided it would probably be for the best to increase Magic Manipulation one final time. That way I would not only already meet the prerequisite for learning Life Magic, but my speed in training Light Manipulation would undoubtedly be higher as well.

On the first floor, there was rarely an instance where we came across two monsters at the same time and because of the large period of time where we were uninterruptedly making progress, it didn't take long to reach the stairs leading to the second floor. Unfortunately, my Chain Sickle Mastery didn't level up even after fighting a couple monsters on the first floor. It definitely improved, but with enemies that seemed to die from being breathed on, it made sense that I didn't make a qualitative improvement.

Now making our way down the set of stairs to the second level, less than an hour had passed and the two of us were a couple dozen monster cores richer.