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Chapter 23: Ghostblade Asura

"Uhuh yup! I never doubted it!" Smoothing my expression, I pull away and take her hand. "Let's go try it out!" I'm genuinely delighted that she received something so amazing. It's almost too good to be true. For a second, all the pressure of knowing the truth, that we're all probably going to die, it fades away. I shouldn't believe in it so much. In my past life someone probably got this System Skill too and it didn't save them as far as I know. But I want to believe in something.

I want to believe in her.

"Alright! Time for the dead to taste my Ghostblade!" Yin and I run off to find some zombies.

#

*Shing!*

*Shing!*

*Shing!*

Yin's slashes cut into the Daemonic Hellspawn with a vengeance.

Is it me or is her swordsmanship already starting to look better?

Three lines open up in the toad-like creature's stomach. I'm not sure if it's a beast brought over by the System, like the Daemonic Minotaur, or if it's simply the result of the virus corrupting some sort of tadpole in the sewers of Tiendas City.

"Activate it! Let's see what you can do!" I say, watching eagerly as the man-sized red toad-beast, which Yin told me was Lvl. 14, angrily shoots out its tongue at her. Dodging backwards, Yin snaps her fingers. A crimson glow appears in her eyes and a wisp of dark smoke leaks out from the back of her neck as there's a strange noise.

*Shing!*

An invisible blade slash appears from nowhere, like an Asura's blade ripping through the void! Each of the three cuts on the Hellspawn's belly split open deeply! Guts start falling out as it croaks one last time.

"Ribbit!"

Then Yin leaps over and plunges her sword into its soft head.

"Ri-"

The creature flops over, dead. Yin withdraws her blade and turns to me with a huge grin on her face.

"I learned Basic Swordsmanship already. Is that like your Basic Combat Skill?" She asks while flourishing the blade to get the slime off. The impressive strength of a Lvl. 15 Hunter is enough to instantly flick the toad's guts off.

"Pretty much, though it only applies to swords. The skill must have given you enough bonus experience to trigger the System to give you the passive. Do you feel...different?" I explain. Yin slants her head as she moves about strangely, testing her fingers.

"Yea...YEA! I think I know how to...!" She whirls suddenly, disappearing and then reappearing next to me with her sword on my neck. A perfect swordsman's lunge. "Oh my god! I actually did that!"

*Tch*

I gingerly put up two fingers to pinch the blade and remove it from under my chin.

"Nice. This will make things a lot easier. Don't get overconfident though. The Passive System Skills only do so much. Also, how much mana did you use? That little blue bar under your level?"

"Currently I'm at 70%. That sound, right?" Yin asks. I put a finger to my lips while thinking.

"Hmm...well, mana is just a representation of your body's spiritual willpower. Once it runs out, you'll be in danger of passing out or even dying if you continue to use System Skills. That being said, the bar isn't absolute. I've seen people use skills even when the System no longer is capable of measuring the amount of mana you have left. If you have a strong enough willpower it's possible." Musing to myself, I don't notice Yin's eyes gaze suspiciously at me when I mention I've seen other people using System Skills before. "Anyways, my guess is that your limit for activating Ghostblade Asura right now is about ten hits. Make sure you don't try to apply more marks than that or else you could kill yourself by mana exhaustion."