"Fooo," I blew wisps of smoke from my mouth,"This chikik's really not bad. I can see why people like it so much."
You're really not angry anymore?
A doubtful voice sounded, a tinge of disappointment lacing it I managed to catch.
"Heh," I took another puff from my pipe as soft smooth jazz played through my earphones,"I'm not one to dwell on things for too long. Far too many disappointments in life to cry over. 'Sides, it's just one tiny hiccup. A day or two of overreacting's more than enough to cure it. I've got more things to worry about anyway."
Like what? All I've seen you today is kill and smoke.
"I've got to do a little bit of grinding. I've come to the realisation that the number of souls I've collected so far is far from sufficient. So, I'm going to start some trouble. Though I'm not too sure if my actions' gonna kick up Quarvantcoatl. How much do I have right now?"
3,576 souls totalled. Why?
"That little? I would've thought 5,000 at least," I groaned,"This feels like playing Final Fantasy and power-grinding all over again. I'm bored." Putting away the pipe, I tossed a mana stone into the air and caught it with my mouth, crunching down. The gluttony imprint glowed for a moment as I swallowed the now soft and sweet liquified stone.
Would you like to hear about your little rival?
"Shoot."
He's been making good progress actually. He probably has enough power to match you at that time you beat that tiger and bear.
"Long way to go but not bad. Is my progress fast or is his slow? Ah, break's up." I broke into a light jog and dashed through the forest and began clearing out the animals. Birds, squirrels, deer, elk, bears—Anything really.
I'll be honest, even with my aid, I expected both of you to be at rank 1 at most. He actually reached my expectations merely, a freak like you takes to this world like a duck to water. Oh, there's a magister up ahead.
My eyes narrowed on a male. Twenty something, rank 1. He hadn't even seemed to notice my presence as I slammed into him, killing him in an instant as I collected his corpse and continued on my way, never breaking to stop,"More humans around?" I furrowed my brows as I saw seven of them scattered around the forest, seemingly searching for something,"Oh well, might as well kill 'em."
Swiftly following my routine of kill and store, I cleared out six of the seven when I heard the last one shout,"Guys! I found the fruit! Guys? Wh—"
I wrested the fruit from his hand and with a quick crush of his windpipe, ended the young man's life. Looking at the fruit in my hand, I frowned,"The hell's this thing?" It resembled a peach in some aspects whilst its colour was of a sky blue shade.
Ah, a fruit of affinity. Rare fruits borne from the conglomeration of mana underground. They raise affinity and sell for about 10,000 mana stones each and are valued for their powers to raise affinity even after rank 2.
"What a steal," I chuckled, crunching down on the peach after washing it as I continued my 'farming' of souls,"Mm, sweet."
Having spent nearly six hours straight grinding, I stopped once more, my jog slowing down to a casual walking pace as a single bead of sweat trickled down my face,"What a workout!"
You're barely sweating.
"I'm a little tired. I suppose I could go for another twelve hours before stopping for the day." I muttered to myself.
But then it'll be the next day already!
"How many am I at?"
10,100. I've rounded it up by 12 for you.
"Nice. Alright I guess I can stop for today since I've hit my goal. Let's do 5,000 into defence, 2,000 for strength and speed leaving 1,100 for moi. Then I'll get the affinity imprints for the basic elements which total to 1000 and fuse that into one~" A ring composing of ten colours appeared,"Where does this go?"
Anywhere.
"Got it," Pressing it to just below the white ring, I looked up to find myself looking at a giant city just below the cliff's edge I was perched on,"We're here."
Damascus City, under the control of the the Nabilat sect, a righteous one. As per the guide, it was home to nearly 20,000 people, nearly a tenth of the population being rank 1 magisters. While one magister might only bring 20 souls' worth...
I licked my lips in anticipation, a cruel smile gracing my lips.
But if there were 2,000 of them, that would mean...
Oi...You can't be planning to...
I let out a light laugh,"Oh, no. My main goal isn't to destroy the city."
Then—
"I just wanna start a little mayhem is all." I snapped my hand, a ball of rainbow-coloured flames floated. It was nearly twice the diameter of a bowling ball.
From one ball, seven more formed, circling my back as a cloaked hood formed over my body, barely masking the sadistic grin hidden just beneath the shadows.
"Not enough. Flame imprint." The 10-coloured imprint turned to a flaming vermillion as the eight spheres of fire turned to sixty four, each one beginning to revolve faster and faster behind my back. With a raise of my hand into the air, the spheres formed a line of sixty-four strong, rotating in place before—
I let my hand fall,"Go." Sixty-four spheres shot forward as I leapt down the cliff, two owl-like wings spreading out as I took to the skies.
BOOOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOOM!
Sixty-four spheres of fire landed, sending the city into panic as fire spread like rapidly, blood splattering on the streets,"Sanguine imprint!" The white ring turned red as hundreds of spears formed from solidified blood reinforced with mana before being shot back down with explosive speed.
"WHO DARES ATTACK MY CITY?!" An enraged voice sounded as I found myself staring down a rank 5 magister. His spells shot forward,"Derelict Dragon!" A phantom of a dragon formed before me.
"HAHAHAHA!" I let out a maniacal laugh, as my hands rapidly formed numerous tiny fireballs with the potency of a rank 1 spell,"Meteoric crystal! Hail!" I let loose a barrage of fireballs on the city as I continuously absorbed mana stones to aid with the rapid consumption of mana.
The dragon roared in open defiance, seemingly unaffected by the fireballs, the magister screaming,"A MERE RANK 4 USING RANK 1 SPELLS DARE ATTACK MY CITY? HOW COULD YOU—"
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Each fireball was striking with even more force as shot through buildings,"Luciferous! Gluttony!" A pair of swords formed from light appeared in my arms as I crashed through the streets, taking any lives without remorse, the gluttony imprint absorbing any spells from the rank 1-3 magisters and using it to fuel my hail of flames.
Like a beautiful dance, I came face to face with a team of magisters. The first one held a magic object, a shield. I spun to collect momentum as I crashed down with terrifying strength and speed, clearing the distance of hundreds of metres in mere moments, appearing before him with a devilish smile, sending the swords slicing through the shield like hot knife through butter, slicing him into three as I threw the swords towards two on my left, whilst pouncing on the ones on the right with my bare arms and legs, tearing them apart with ruthless efficiency before taking to the skies once more, swords appearing in my hands as I clashed head on with the dragon.
It clamped down on my leg but with my defence, barely left a superficial wound as I elbowed down on its head, sending it crashing down on the city as I rapidly closed the gap between the magister and I,"OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!" I laughed as I decapitated him just as the dragon was about to recover. The dragon dissipated as I kept his corpse before bashing through more buildings, finding any person in my sight to kill. It was merely a spell after all.
"Phantasm!" I called out as I readied a spell, mana coating my throat,"Citizens of Damascus! Fear not! I am here to save you! Those who wish to be saved, crowd around the square and I will protect you!" It was suggestive magic, letting me affect people who were weaker and in a state of lowered willpower to follow my orders. I saw a few magisters and hundreds of mortals walking there while others rushed to escape.
I laughed, heading for the strongest rank 3s and 4s who were attempted to escape to quickly end their existence, choosing to let go of the other magisters who were escaping since they were running in different directions.
The square, was now filled with hundreds, nearly a thousand people packed like sardines in a tin can, timid as sheep, afraid and terrified, perfect for my slaughter.
"Peace and quiet!" The hail of fire had stopped as I rushed in, massacring them without mercy,"All or nothing!" My mass turned to 10,000 kilograms as each strike brought about tremors and craters, the purple walls of the sphere dyed crimson as the two swords formed from my Luciferous imprint dissipated into small motes of light.
In just below 20 minutes, I had managed to clear everyone.
As the purple sphere disappeared, I surveyed the city. The carnage was a little more than I expected. I probably managed to kill a satisfactory amount.
Buildings were in a state of desecration which would no doubt take thousands each to fix, innumerable corpses strewn about the cracked and charred streets, small craters formed by the impact of later fireballs. The walls were largely broken. And yet, in this city, not a single voice sounded.
Every step I took, human flesh and blood squelched underneath my feet. I smelled the coppery stench paired with burning flesh, it was a familiar scent.
Ahh, good times. I think it was when I used a spit roast to kill that one guy? Or was it the family one where the older brother had to burn his own sister alive? Wait no—I think it was that time when I stuffed that girl into an oven? Ehhh, that wasn't it. Was it the one where I burned down that gas station? No, it should be...