First blessing
Starting out
"Huh, what a fearsome thing to hold."
Those words left my mouth soon as the item held in these hands registered in my brains. Refined yet ruthless the longsword in my grasp was undoubtedly a reaper of life. Being the type to actively avoid armaments I never have touched any weapons meant for fighting within the last decade, but all records must come to an end. Not really all that averse to them anyway, just never saw the point of risking holding one without any notable objective to be found.
"Argh!"
My eyes alleviated from the weapon and moved their gaze towards the noise. What greeted me was a beast in black with a skull that covered its face. Its anatomy was like a gorilla though its skull resembled a wolf. Clearly not a species I ever had the pleasure to have learned. Based on its appearance alone I could already determine the beast as dangerous. I suppose fighting for my life was a valid enough reason to wield a weapon.
This was not an average Tuesday for me, yet my visage kept still as my brain computed a way out. Any question could be computed for an answer, and no matter how complex or philosophical the query is there is undoubtedly a way to calculate it. If you cannot find the answer then the problem lies within your miscalculation. When that happens what you need to do is recalculate it properly till you find the correct answer. Therefore my thoughts analyzed as much as I could handle. Our surrounding, estimated physical capability of both parties, the weapon I held in my hand, my mind took in every factor I could comprehend and put them together. Soon enough I was left with two scenarios in my mind.
I held the longsword with one hand while my other one unbuckled my sheath from the belt it was locked onto. It has come to my attention the clothes I am currently wearing were foreign to me, but those thoughts can be catered for later after the beast is slayed. For now it is time to bet my life on a hastily made plan that could go wrong in a thousand different ways.
I grinned at the thought before throwing my now-free sheath onto the beast's face before rushing at the thing. My first plan was throwing the sheath to earn enough distraction for me to finish the thing with a good beheading, but said plan was dragged through the mud when the beast slapped said scabbard away with its left front paws. I suppose it would have been too easy for the beast to go down without offering any resistance. So much for a quick clean kill.
Time for plan B.
I was since prepared for the contingency and continued my rush towards it, and the moment I was within sweeping distance of the thing my body slid down onto the ground, barely escaping an attack from the beast. Thankfully enough the surface material was wet and slippery though not enough to have caused muddy grounds, so there must have been a grizzle just recently and it worked to my advantage. My body continued to slide past its left front limb that was still raised from his swipe before I stopped my slide around its back with a hand tightly gripping onto the ground. I felt a pain that might have signaled a split nail or two yet I did not have the leisure to care as my body rushed to turn around while swinging at the beast.
Chunk!
My roundhouse slash cleanly cut through the beast's buttocks with next to no resistance. Bronze head, iron legs and tofu waist. I remember beast such as wolves being weak around their rear and my bet paid off. Sometimes learning certain trivia does help you out in life. The scream it produced caused me to flinch yet soon enough the longsword danced on and slashed it from its behind another two times before I decided to stab through the thing. Said stab cleanly went through, and from how deep it is I expect the the tip to have reached its innards. The beast screamed loudly one last time before it fell down limply. Dead
Before disappearing into black ashes.
I narrowed my eyes at the odd occurrence. Though I have since drowned myself within the world of fiction, even I know how to differentiate between fantasy and reality. No known manner of living beings eradicate their own carcasses after death. Poisonous body so nobody would even bother attacking them maybe, but removing their own body just to make sure carnivores won't eat their corpse? That was a strange form of spite against their predators. There was still the lingering question of how such a feat was even possible. What kind of elements must the beast have been made of if killing the thing would result in it obliterating itself?
Nevertheless this victory meant I would be safe, at least for the moment. As seconds passed by my breathing picked up, and my body moved anew before recovering my sheath and once again fixing it back into place. The act itself was unfamiliar but not unintuitive, and soon enough I was done with the task at hand. All that done my hands stretched around. Considering the stinging pain felt around my shoulder I might have pulled a muscle or two in the middle of the battle. It has been a fine long while since I overexerted myself like this.
"Danger."
My ears picked up the voice from somewhere nearby, yet the sound was so quiet I failed to locate it. The meaning was clear though and I unsheathed my sword that had just entered its scabbard. My body slowly navigated around the trees into a plain without covers around, which should be a bad place for ambush. The tactical advantage that comes with it shouldn't need to be mentioned.
Standing at the strategic spot of my choosing my hands tightens their grip onto the sword which was starting to become familiar to me. My eyes ceaselessly observed the surrounding, searching for any sign of movement. This continued for another minute, in which my guard has thoroughly lowered before they snapped as an explosion occurred within the near vicinity. My gaze turned towards the area of the source and was greeted with nothing to note. I was neither foolish nor desperate enough to assume such an explosion nearby was a coincidence.
"...Come out." I grunted.
Few tense seconds later a blonde woman came from said direction with her hands behind her back.
"They came for me instead. Hiding presence training lacking."
The voice was recognizable to me as I heard a warning from it just minutes ago. The girl was seemingly determined on not meeting my gaze directly for unknown reasoning. For some reason I also imagined hearing some form of embarrassment through her voice, the tints of pinks I see creeping on her cheeks more than proofing its authenticity. It seems the beast she warned me about actually came for her instead. That would more than explain the embarrassed behavior she was currently exhibiting. I suppose such was the demerit of trying to paint yourself as mysterious. It makes it that much more shameful when your failure shows and your persona breaks.
"Don't mind it."
Nevertheless there was no reason to prolong her suffering when I could end it harmlessly. Done analyzing her expression my attention went to her physical form. It didn't take long for me to realize she was a beauty in term of looks. Her body was slim while still holding some curves at all the right place, and her face was symmetrical and unblemished. Her blonde hair and blue eyes stood out in contrast to her milky white skin, giving them even more charm than they already had.
Well, poisoned apples still looks good on the outside so I would rather not judge without gaining the relevant information beforehand. To be honest-
Those thoughts were cut short as I saw the familiar form of a black beast rushing in from behind the stranger I met mere moments ago. Without thinking my body rushed past the woman, thankful for the fact that my sword was yet to be sheathed back into place as it would have been inconvenient to draw it once more while rushing towards the beast. In an instant I arrived right before the wolf-like being. There was no time for thoughts as I swung the sword in my grip with both hands, pouring all my strength into the slash.
My body tried to pour its entire weight onto the sword before said weapon hit the mask of the beast. It is rather late to say this now but I held no knowledge whatsoever in the art of swordsmanship. Previously said experience did not matter as I only needed to thoroughly slash the wolf from behind it. This time around I attacked the upcoming beast upfront through its skull after I rushed in without braking first to catch myself and attacked it while my body was still in a running form. Not to mention I swung it with both hand as if I were wielding a baseball bat, which might have worked were it not for the fact that I do not know how to swing a baseball bat either.
Maybe it was my bad swinging angle, or maybe it was my horrendous form. Yet no matter what caused it the result was clear: my sword was deflected by its skull, and worse yet myself who wasn't prepared for the result was wide open to attacks and was at the mercy of the beast.
And I doubted they had mercy.
As the beast closed in on me my eyelids covered themselves and the entire world went dark. This was it. I was going to be killed by this beast. The sweet embrace of death was to greet me with a cold smile befitting of the legends. These last four years have been fun even if my wild goose chase attained no result. Regrets... Of course I had my regrets considering I spent years without achieving my goal. Yet there was nothing to be done, and soon enough this body will be a cold rotting corpse.
I felt something large chomping down on my neck, the sensation of pushing appeared on both the right side and left side of my neck, though obviously where they pushed towards were polar opposites. The jaws will instantly snap my neck and that would be the end of my life. A wry smile came to me when I realized the thing was probably playing with me as it continued to hold my neck by its jaw without crushing it in. I hoped for an instant death but then again Fate seems to always have a way to screw with me.
A split second later the forepart of my body indiscriminately felt a push as if some sort of explosion just occurred point-blank ahead of me. It was strange as I did not feel hurt in any way from the explosion yet now my body felt more… breezy, maybe that is the word I am searching for. My eyelids slowly opened up before realizing I was lying on the ground, with the view of the sky hindered by the blonde haired woman looking on me with eyes seeming close to tearing up. Now I wonder why she would cry for a man she just met not even minutes ago.
"...I'm fine you know?"
I still didn't understand what exactly happened while my eyes were closed, yet I know that comforting this woman was my current priority. It feels strange for someone like me to say this but I feel a sense of intimacy with the woman. In recent times I learned how to differentiate those I would get along with and those I wouldn't with my gut feeling, and she seems like a person I would get along extremely well with. If she was a bit uglier I would consider her girlfriend material, but with her beauty she was way out of my league.
Jeez, that was more than enough confirmation of being fine. If I could still joke around like such then chances are my body was fine, or at least healthy enough I won't die pitifully within the next few minutes unless I happen to come across another deadly experience like this one so quickly. If that were the case then I would like to have an appointment with either miss Fate or lady Luck during my afterlife, or better yet with both, preferably at the same time because bitch-slapping both at once would double my satisfaction. Nevertheless it seems my blonde companion was ignorant of the fact as attested by her following words.
"Clothes off. Now."
At this position I could not even stand up considering she was leaning over my chest, and therefore was left at her mercy as she made a short work of the armor worn over my torso. Now that I had a look at them they were on noticeably bad condition, though far as I remembered they were almost pristine just before the last bout in where I deemed myself doomed. Exactly what had happened in the short moments in which I closed my eyes?
For once I am starting to regret that decision of mine, considering how out of the loop it has left me. Nevertheless the woman was seemingly ignorant of my dilemma and merely scanned over my bare torso, which was remarkably more toned than what I remembered my body had. Another thing to put into the list of stuff I need to worry about. At the rate this list is lengthening it would roll down to my feet by the end of the day. Not exactly the greatest news but I learned to make do with what I got quickly enough. Had to if I wanted to stay in the game.
"Safe. But how?"
The woman looked at me with emotions I interpreted as confusion mixed with relief. Soon enough she shook her head before standing up, one hand reaching out as if telling me to grab onto it. By the next second she pulled me back up and I was left still shirtless because apparently while the pieces of armor I wore were roughed up, my clothing itself were in tatters and in no condition fit to be worn. Instead she used said ragged shirt as a makeshift sack to carry my damaged armor.
"...What just happened?"
"Used my semblance to blow the Grimm."
Semblance, a word my current self has next to no clue about. On the other hand Grimm seems to be referring to those very unscientific black beasts that somehow turns into ashes when dead. Another thing to note is the fact she apparently saved me by using her 'semblance' which somehow relates into the Grimm blowing itself up. Maybe this 'semblance' subject was an explosive weapon of some sorts.
"Thank you."
"Don't mind it."
Her response was instantaneous and mechanical, with a tone I found familiar. From what I could see it seems that she and myself were cut from the same cloth, part of the same community within this race. Abnormality who finds the act of socializing to be displeasing unlike others of our race who have been declared to be social being. We are beings who gains battery life when alone and consume them tremendously when with others, like phones these days with low capacity and high battery consume rate. She was a byproduct borne of the current society and its flawed system.
Simply put, she has a social detachment.
Well, it was not my problem to judge nor has I gained any interest in doing so, and far as my knowledge goes there was no benefits whatsoever involving myself into her private matters. Much as I am interested in her, personal matters are personal matters with no two ways to put it. Involving oneself in them without explicit permission is usually not the best idea, though to be fair I am sure there are times when doing so could help or even save people. Yet I was someone rather down to earth and thinking you could help someone you barely knew on their personal matter was nothing but arrogance. Even my current self thinking I understood her was undoubtedly my arrogance rearing its ugly head.
"Let's go back."
"Back? Back where exactly?"
"No more running away."
I scrunch my eyebrows together as my brain registered and analyzed her words thoroughly. Far as my knowledge goes this world was not the one I have gotten accustomed to. There were multitudes of reason as to how I reached such a conclusion, which could be summarized into three simple point. First off there were the Grimm as she called it, beings which clearly does not exist in my world. Secondly I'm rather convinced that I am not moving within my own body but is actually possessing a different body entirely. And thirdly, well…
Far as I knew the moon was still whole, not fractured.
It took me a few seconds before I snapped my gaze away from the satellite and back to the blonde woman. She was staring at me with her eyebrows scrunched together as if she was looking at a riddle that needed solving. Different from my half lidded eyes symbolizing laziness whenever I looked at puzzles, her gaze was one determined to clear said puzzle. Those gaze seems like trouble no matter how many times my brain calculated them. I merely gave her a shrug before following with an eloquent query.
"What?"
"...Nothing."
"When somebody says that there usually is something."
I pointed out the fact with slackened glee. Huh, it seems my laziness is acting up again. Strange, I usually kept them in check but maybe this sudden teleportation into another world was hitting me harder than I realized. The suspension bridge could also explain my feelings of intimacy towards her. Usually I would not have bothered with others' business but as I might have mentioned before this woman makes me feel like meeting a kin of mine. Mannerism, act, looks and vibe, there was merely something about her that seems to click with me. Or it might be the suspension bridge effect doing its work.
Suspension bridge effect is scary~~~
"You changed. Prick."
Far as I knew this was my first meeting with the stunning blonde, and from what she displayed so far she seems to be the type that would stick to memory. Once again the theory I am possessing the body of someone else is getting more and more likely. If so there was the question of what exactly happened to the original owner of this body. Hopefully this won't turn into a multiple personality disorder case because I have this mostly unfounded dislike of psychologist and their mind games, which I probably have to face if such cases were to occur. That would most likely be my destination too should I confess about being from another world and is merely possessing this body. Or worse yet they were going to stick me with the loonies. Another reason to keep this secret a secret still I suppose.
"Well far as I know near-death experience usually does contribute to changes in personal views and such. But if you intend to be close-minded about it then be my guest."
"Said the boy who was so stubborn he escaped and almost went to his death trying to be a huntsman. My sides are killing me."
Those information contained within her words slowly registered into my brain. I have no memory of the original host whatsoever and therefore cannot confirm nor deny her accusation, and could only move this conversation into another direction. Besides my words has clearly referenced my close scrape with death so to attack her directly after her statement would have rendered me a hypocrite. Defending my previous point will only accentuate her own arguments so I was truly out of option. Even as her enemy I have to admit the beauty of her move.
Now I can only redirect the entire conversation itself but she has undoubtedly planned countermeasures to stop me from doing so. Therefore my only option of a comeback was to not play fairly. I was never a stickler for rules anyway so there was no need for any hesitation. There was her feelings to consider but I needed find a channel for payback and there shall be no mercy in vengeance.
"Said boy would have been delighted to be supported by his kin. Then again he didn't have much that actually counted did he?"
My tone was scratching and the words themselves bit deep. Once again I confirmed those words to be overboard for playing catches with words but her previous statements offended me more than it should have. Her words have somehow punched through each and every check on my Annoyance Level Checklist like a Major baseball slugger constantly hitting slow practice balls into home-runs without fail. Simply put her words irked me.
I was not blind. She has blonde hair paired with blue eyes and I could confirm my current body also has hairs of the same shade. And her unenthused reaction to stripping and afterwards seeing my upper body bare suggest close relationship. Therefore she was either a relative, probably a sister, or a girlfriend of some sorts for I could not imagine any other form of relationship with that kind of intimacy between a male and a female.
And yet even though they had such a relationship she has mocked me— or rather the original host of this body —for following his dream to his death. The foolish kind of people that chase after their dream even to their death, for me those kinds of people were the ones that deserve my utmost respect. They were passionate people who lived and died for their goals. Therefore hearing such a person getting mocked has caused me to become certifiably pissed.
Looking at the acquaintance of the previous host she has her mouth opened, words seemingly ready to blaze out before they harmlessly closed without a word. Her eyes were filled with all kinds of emotion, exasperation being a steady one among many others that came and goes like the winds. It seems she didn't regret the cruel words she just carelessly uttered towards the original host. I might have miscalculated and the two had a relationship where she could casually mock the host without repercussion. Nevertheless I have no intention of letting mockery towards a such respectable person come to pass without repercussion.
We wordlessly continued our travels. I was silent because of my displeasure towards her and she does the same seemingly out of some form of confusion, if my assumption was correct. I won't doubt my own judgement this once since I actually trained myself in the art of reading people. Once I encountered a female senior by complete coincidence. She warned me about the dangers of blindly trusting others especially in our line of business, and taught me the basics of reading expression. We had to separate soon after yet I followed her advice and decidedly trained myself in the art, even if it was mostly self-taught.
Storytelling aside. our steps were taken quietly, though hers were far more silent than mine no matter how much I tried to be mindful of my own. I suppose she was truly trained in the art of stealth, her previous mistake merely caused by a bout of carelessness. On our way to who-knows-where we encountered a more than a few branches hindering our path. The woman leading the path dealt with them by smacking them away and I followed her lead. Yet the moment my hands touched those branches they exploded.
Boom!
My body reeled back from the shock as the explosion splintered those branches. Admittedly the explosion was somewhat small and definitely nowhere nearly fatal enough to kill or even cripple a person permanently, but it qualified as an explosion nonetheless. I blinked as my mind processed the event that just occurred before deciding to test a theory by softly punching a tree.
Boom?
Sure enough another explosion occurred, though this one a scale smaller compared to what happened to the branch as it only created small cracks throughout the bark. Maybe how strongly I swung my fist was a determining factor of how strong the explosions would be. Ready to test my new hypothesis out my body moved into a stance. Never been taught about close combat and never had a scuffle either, my way of throwing a punch might be blasphemy to most but I officially do not care, yours truly.
I pulled back my first before springing it forward-
"...Ouch, that hurts."
"Your fault for doing something stupid."
I felt my muscles ripping away at my elbow as the woman gripped them presumably to stop me from, as she had kindly put it, doing something stupid. She let go of her deadly grip the moment my body ceased struggling against them and thank god she did for I felt like my bones were starting to crack under her grip. Those grips of her had probably costed me an injury.
Courtesy demands me to give her stink eyes while rubbing my aching elbow. Yet soon enough the pain fades and the area of injury felt revitalized. I raised my eyebrows at the feeling before trying to maneuver my elbows, and sure enough they were completely healed. That went against all of my admittedly small accumulated knowledge on injury and medicine. Not that I intend to complain when said breach of logic is doing me a favor, but the odd occurrence more than piqued my interest.
"You awakened your aura. When?"
A blink was my eloquent response. Aura, my guess on the word would be another lingo native to this world. Honestly it is already extremely lucky for me to have been transported into a world that speaks English rather than some random language that doesn't exist in my world. Thanks Fate for her small mercies I suppose. Or lady luck, if she was the one to have done this to me. Now that I'm not in constant danger of being mauled anymore and have time to think things through, am I even upset of suddenly being transported into another world filled with dangerous beasts?
I considered the question for one long second before arriving at my answer, which was a big fat no. Never had anything crazy important in my previous life, and this world seems interesting enough to travel around it a few times and still be enjoyable. That was merely my gut feeling talking though, and I needed more information before giving further affirmation on whether this world is interesting or not.
Back to the matter at hand, Aura was another word I sadly have next to no clue about. Lying carelessly could blow my cover and was an unneeded risk anyway. My brain went through possible scenarios and tired to compute the best one. After a quick mental debate my intelligence demands responding to her inquiry by giving a dumb look towards the woman. This was the option with least risk according to my calculation, and indeed it has the side effect of making me look very dumb, but I intend to tread with caution. She palmed her face in response so me thinks me somehow won this bout through utter foolishness.
"Ugh, right. Aura is the manifestation of our soul, something that protect us from harmful damage. As a plus it also helps with your looks over time. That would be a big boon for you, I suspect."
"Said the skank who has her aura unlocked for far longer than I have. Maybe we should look at pictures of your younger days."
The first part was a guess, and therefore I had to downplay it without even mentioning the word 'years' on the off chance it would trigger red flag in her mind. The second part on the other hand was a practiced ace, young pictures are always embarrassing no matter who you are. If not those then baby pictures or maybe your acne-filled days, or you wearing some ridiculous get-up because family.
She glared at me with thinned lips for a moment before she flashed a wicked smile towards me. Those expressions usually meant bad omens.
"Sure, we could also look through your growing pictures while we're at it."
"Sure."
My reply was instantaneous. The original owner pf the body might have wilted under her attacks but I was different. Those pictures aren't even mine and were merely traces of the original host. Looking through an album could let me gain some extra information about the original host and his family, which was nothing but beneficial for me. It seems that the blonde woman has lots to lose however, as she froze at my words with shell-shocked expression apparently not expecting the response. That drew a pleased smile onto my lips.
"Ehh, umm, I mean, maybe we shouldn't do that after all."
She gulped down as she spoke with a shaky tone, her body wriggling a tiny bit all the while. I didn't need those expression reading lesson on the forefront on of my mind to figure out she was being a nervous wreck right now. It seems the winner of this bout is clear for everyone to see. Nevertheless soon enough I got my dose of satisfaction and decided to spare her the shame because coexistence seems like an infinitely more agreeable option compared to dominance.
"On second thought, maybe we could spare ourselves the shame." I said with a shrug.
She snorted at that, before following up with a giggle of sorts. My response was a chuckle as we continued to navigate through the forest.
I did not know how long of a time length we spent, but we walked to our destination with constant banter all the while, my previous hostility against her somehow disappearing along the way, which was strange as I could be very petty sometime.
We both arrived to our destination. It was a large house with two floors you might as well as call a mansion, lest you consider how practical and simple the place presented itself. At first glance the whole thing felt cold as the residence gave a vibe of discipline, and by my current judgement the abode was null of homely impression too, but maybe that was my pessimistic outlook working against me. For such to be the case was unlikely though, as over the years I have seen dozens of homes and the people each contained. Or maybe the number passed a hundred already, never really bothered to count after the first dozen. Point is I know where to look when judging a person by the place they call home.
The woman fumbled a key out of a shoulder bag she wore all this time, before linking it with the lock on the front door of the house. Considering the front door was locked does that mean nobody is currently inside? It seems that my first impression was not exactly wrong if there could be a time where nobody was around within a house this large. Or maybe it was late enough to demand such security measures. The sky was already dark and the moon was visible, but there was no information on what time it is currently. For all I knew it could be seven in the night or one in the morning. If it were the later then I could understand the wariness of the people living within this house.
My blonde associate exhaled for a second before opening the door and entering the house with an unpleasant like it pained her to be here. From behind her my sight was blessed with a beautiful scene as she bend herself over to take off her shoes, all the while giving me a clear view of her rather… plump…
I carved the scene upon my soul.
After she was done with her activity, I noticed her gazing at me. Her eyes gave away a slight amount of confusion, as if wondering why aren't I entering the house yet.
...No, that was not true. To be a bit more specific it was true and yet it was an utter lie. What she is gazing at was me, the current me. But what she imagine seeing was the original host. The original truth was essentially a useless lie. One that does not mean anything. It was the lie that I hate so much.
Therefore I decided it that I should crush that lie. Procrastinating would only make things harder later on. No matter how good of an idea you think it is, wasting time in vanity while hoping things would sort themselves out won't help you. The tighter you hang onto it the slipperier it gets.
So words came out of my mouth, explaining the situation to her. The fact that I was not the man she knew, that I had usurped his body, that I came from another world.
"Did the Grimm hit your head?"
She executed the line with an impassive voice. Personally I have a feeling the way she said that line actually gave me more mental damage than it would have if she were to have spoken them with a sarcastic or naive tone.
Before I realized it she grabbed my hands and led me to a room. It was a bedroom of some sort, one bare of most decoration. There was a bed, a curtain and a bookcase along with a desk paired with the chair.
"I have gifts for you. But first thing first."
She gestured for me to come closer. When I did so with puzzlement she palmed my face, her face closing in onto mine. She orders me to close my eyes to which I followed obediently Our faces were in close proximity and I could feel her breath on my skin. I peeked at the woman who had both her eyes closed. Once again I affirmed that this woman before me was truly a beauty beyond even my wildest dreams.
Therefore I did the unthinkable.
I kissed her.
"...What?"
"Sorry, that wasn't what you wanted?"
"No."
"Oh."
"You kissed your own sister."
"I liked it."
She threw her gaze away. From her eyes that were avoiding my presence I could perceive a sense of confusion along with shards of other emotions my lacking knowledge could not decode.
Nevertheless her words struck hard within my soul. Now it is fully established that she is my sister, not to say that I haven't predicted it considering how she led me into a house, but hearing a confirmation is still a nice comfortable information.
I was her brother, and yet this body of mine has kissed her mere moments ago. Yet at the same time I was merely a man posing as her brother. There were countless things wrong with the situation and yet-
"I liked it." I repeated.
That was all there is to it. In the end the I could not help but admit I liked the woman before me, even if it was merely a passing obsession from a youth that has been long depraved of social activities.
She looked at me with narrowed eyes, as if trying to analyze what is the man before her saying. If she needed more clarification the I would give her one. Or as many as she wanted.
"I did it. I liked it. I don't regret it. How about you?"
She took a deep breath before her eyes locked onto mine. She closed onto me, though apparently she learned from her previous mistake as her hand gripped onto my chin tightly, effectively terminating the option of colliding my face into hers. So that was her answer, is it?
Damn it.
"For it is in passing that we achieve meaning. Through this you become a knight of vanity that shall search for a fictitious goal. Infinite in distance and unbound of logic. I claim your soul, and by my shoulder support thee."
She ended her impressive chant… that did perfectly nothing?
"As expected, you already had your aura unlocked."
She stated so without explaining anything to me. Aura, one of the two lingos I have yet to figure out properly. From what she described it seems to be a protective barrier of some sorts, but…
"Never mind that, here is your next gift."
She muttered before she shown me a piece of paper. The form on the said paper seems familiar but I cannot get ahold of what exactly it reminded me of.
"What is this thing?"
"Fake transcript."
"Whose?"
She merely rolled her eyes at the line before poking me with her eyes. The transcript was mine, it seems. I wonder what exactly I would need it for but I could already see it being useful in certain situation.
Written on the paper seems to be all kinds of qualifications, though they really meant nothing to me. No matter how impressive these things are a person from another world like me wouldn't know a thing about them.
I grabbed the papers from her hands, and then everything went silent. It was not merely quiet but rather the entire surrounding has stopped still. And the transcript suddenly shone brightly, forcing me to close my eyes. What in the world was happening right now?
When I opened my eyelids back the transcript was still there, yet the words written within it changed.
SPECIAL
Strength 7
Perception 5
Endurance 7
Charisma 7
Intelligence 5
Agility 5
Luck 5
Unallocated 5
Confirm
I blinked as my eyes ran over through the paper. A stats based acronym. There were much to be questioned about how each of these stats even worked but I suppose it is my job to make a good estimation out of them. Or rather I better make good ones, or else I would be screwed six ways to Sunday.
One of the first thing I have noticed was the fact that Strength, Endurance and Charisma has two more points each compared to the other four. The answer to the mystery seems to be these words written below the ones that came before.
Semblance
- Wrath
- Sloth
- Lust
Semblance, the other lingo I wanted to figure out. It seems the thing worked as a power boost of sorts, an ability to be utilized if you will. Nevertheless written there were Wrath, Sloth and Lust, three of the seven deadly sins and seemingly connected to my three boosted status.
And I have a convincing theory on how this happened.
Wrath was connected to Strength. This particular sin is all about wrecking all within sight and running havoc all over so it is fitting for the sin to be connected to strength.
Sloth meant laziness, to keep still without a care in the world that kept spinning even without your participation. Endurance was to keep yourself strong without change, so maybe certain aspect of it were fit to be associated with the sin.
Lust and Charisma, this one was unmistakable for one clearly fed from the other. True enough you would need Charisma to satisfy you Lust properly. There was not much to be said here.
Simply put these sins increased the related status by two points each.
Considering there were four other status it probably meant I could unlock the four other sin from the seven deadly sins. Thinking it through properly how exactly were these three unlocked while the others were not? My first guess would be to theorize these sins were based on my actions throughout my short time within this new world.
Let's see if things fit with that hypothesis. First was Wrath. The only time I could identify myself as angry was when the woman mocked the original host of my current body. And in this anger I somehow managed to make my punches explode.
Second was Sloth. This was a bit far-fetched but my guess was when I experienced almost dying against the Grimm I failed to kill, my willingness to give up and lose my life counted as Sloth in some form. It seems that awakening sloth gave me some form of temporary invincibility.
The thing could have awakened my aura but I doubt it. My pseudo-sister managed to hurt me with her grip even though I had aura unlocked so the fact that I was not hurt through the Grimm's chomp and the following explosion does not make sense, especially considering how bad the explosion must have been since my armor pieces were worn out to scraps.
As for Lust, well… I am still a bit on the fritz considering she did not even deign to reply my words with her owns. As for what effect it have while active, I still have to observe it later.
I messed around with the status. It seems that a stat has a minimum of one point allocated into them, and a maximum of ten points. Strangely enough my Strength, Endurance, and Charisma cannot go any lower than three unlike the rest that could go down to one point. It seems that I cannot relocate the boost given by my semblance. Soon enough I decided how to fill out my Status screen.
Strength 10
Perception 6
Endurance 6
Charisma 6
Intelligence 6
Agility 8
Luck 4
Unallocated 0
Confirm
Done. I was tempted to do a min-maxing build but both my brain and heart felt nothing but fear for the consequences of lowering a status into one. Therefore I went ahead and made a more balanced build instead.
Explaining it simply, I intends to become a close range fighter with these status. Therefore I put maximum priority into Strength and Agility that were vital for close range combat. Strength was maxed while Agility would also be maxed after I unlocked the sin connected to it. Some points into Perception as it loosely relates into close quarters. Intelligence I had no problem leaving at six after I unlocked the connected sin, which I bet was Pride. Same thing applies to Luck. Endurance… the thing would be important for close range if it was not for the fact that I had aura. I would not believe that Aura was a limitless source of defense but at least it seems to work well enough as my elbow could attest to it. Anyway I left Endurance at six just in case.
Charisma, well… As I have said before, one needs Charisma to satisfy his Lust, and I was also tired of living without any proper social contact-Oh enough with that bullshit I just want to make love with my sister.
I pressed the Confirm line on the paper, and then time continued on like it wasn't stopped in the first place. I took a glance at my sister who was in the process of tilting her head in a cutesy manner.
"Huh, strange. Did you just do something? You looks a bit different than you were just a second ago." She commented.
I contemplated whether to tell her the truth or not, before deciding to give her a vague answer.
"Yeah, I think I just used my semblance."
It seems clear enough to me now that Semblance is a form of ability of sorts, probably with everyone having a special semblance unique to themselves. And, you know, probably a dozen others though chances are you will never meet them in your lifetime.
"I doubt it. Here. Secondary documents."
The woman popped out another paper, though this time there was a stack of them instead of just one simple page.
"What documents are these for?"
"Fake identity. Yours."
My eyes blandly gazed at her the papers as I heard her words. It took a few seconds for me to truly register what she meant before my head snapped towards her and gave her the stink eyes.
"Just the fake transcript will get you noticed. Have to make a fake identity as well."
Interesting. Though I really can't imagine myself dealing with anything that throughout her words does make sense from certain perspective. A fake Identity sounds like a hassle but half of said hassle was making the identity itself. The other half was properly acting it out but that actually sounds like something I would enjoy on a personal level.
"You need them to go for Beacon."
Beacon. The word itself does not ring any bells with me but my guess would be a prestigious university of some sorts. Considering that I heard her saying something about the previous host dreaming to become something called a 'huntsman' before it was probably a place that put focus on killing Grimm.
"...I'm not sure if I want to go there."
She looked at me with a strange gaze. My act must have been unusual for the original host, but at this point I am trying to convince her that I am not the host and therefore officially do not care.
Soon enough I grabbed the papers out of her hands before a familiar sensation came over me. Checking around I confirmed that once again time has stopped moving. This was actually a rather cathartic feeling as far as I am concerned. For once the world actually stops spinning and wait for you to catch your thoughts. The satisfaction that comes from it was therapeutic, to say the least.
I once again looked at the paper that has stopped shining.
SKILLS: 0/3 Selected
[Melee Weapons] (Str) 24
[Dust Manipulation] (Per) 16
[Lockpick] (Per) 16
[Survival] (End) 16
[Unarmed] (End) 16
[Barter] (Cha) 20
[Speech] (Cha) 20
[Medicine] (Int) 12
[Aura Manipulation] (Int) 12
[Science] (Int) 12
[Guns] (Agi) 20
[Sneak] (Agi) 20
Interesting. It seems these Skills are connected to a corresponding status, and are given points amounting the connected status. One fact to note was the lack of Skills connected to the Luck status.
It seems each status point equals two skill points in the connected skill. I have 10 Strength so I should have 20 Melee Weapons. 6 Perception therefore 12 Dust Manipulation and Lockpick, while the other four respectively being 12, 16, 8 and 16 though it seems I also gain an automatic +4 to all Skills. Maybe it was my Luck but that would be overpowered compared to the other status. Maybe a default +2 to all skills while my 4 Luck gave another +2 to all skills. That sounds about right.
Nevertheless after checking them apparently choosing a Skill gives me a whole 15 point boost into said skill. A shame I could only choose three out of the twelve Skills.
I have since decided to go through with the path of close quarter combat so I chose Melee Weapons, Speech and Aura Manipulation.
I considered getting Unarmed instead of Speech but I decided to prioritize a support ability rather than a secondary fighting option. All said and done I pressed the Confirm line.
I blinked. Nothing has changed. Looking around my only company within the room was still frozen without any sign of moving. I pressed the Confirm line again for good measures yet nothing happened. Next was to check whether changing my tag skills was still possible and the answer was no. Apparently the Confirm line still worked properly. Yet considering the fact time is still frozen this probably means there were still other avenues left to be ventured. In my infinite wisdom I opened the page behind the first one.
CHOOSE UP TO 2 TRAITS (OR NONE)
Below those words were a list of options each with their own detailed information. So it seems Traits were something that gives you an advantage and disadvantage. For example there was Trigger Discipline which increase your gun accuracy by 20% while decreasing fire rate by the same amount.
Nevertheless there were two options that caught my attention and were seemingly a cut above the rest.
Skilled
You're skilled, but not experienced. You gain +5 points to every skill, but you suffer -10% from experience gained from now on.
Faunus
You are a being possessing animal traits. You have sensitive senses and gain +2 Perception, but you gain instant infamy with certain factions.
The first one was a total of +60 points spread across my Skills. That meant around 30% permanent boost to my current Skills and the drawback means that I need to work harder on gaining experience, which I assume are mostly gained through killing Grimm. This drawback will only motivate me to kill more Grimm and help the process of eradicating their race.
On the other hand Faunus was overpowered considering it let me gain 2 Perception. Sure the cost was a valid concern, but from the description it seems to be talking about racism and racist people hating me sounds very appealing as it hopefully means I am justified to pummel them.
Therefore I chose those to apply those Traits, before once again pressing the Confirm line, inspecting my surrounding all the while. My breathing exhaled when I saw my only company moving properly again. Strangely enough I felt a spasm of itches erupting from my back. Nevertheless the feeling went ignore as my gaze went towards my sister.
"I'm done looking over them. Also I probably need more time to think about Beacon."
"Is that so? Then you should really think it through. Oh right, this is a new scroll. Your last one broke a few days back, right?"
A scroll, a roll of paper containing words, usually a message of sorts. I don't see any reason to keep such a thing, but maybe it was another lingo in this world. Or maybe it was actually a normal scroll parchment and keeping them around is merely a culture around here, in which case the person who came up with the idea can kindly burn in a fire and die.
In the end what she gave me was a tablet of some sorts, fiddling with the thing for a second I noticed said scroll was collapsible to a smaller form which will make carrying them convenient. This thing was actually more advanced than the average latest tech gadget sold around in my original world.
One thing I noticed was an app called Pip-Boy. The icon of an animated man giving a thumbs up stood out compared to the rest. Being the curious being that I am my finger pressed on the application.
What greeted me was information on my current LVL, HP, AP and XP which I assume meant my Level, Health Points and Aura Points along with Experience. Below those were an animation of a human body with a maxed bar on each limb, torso and head. According to my guess they should be telling me the condition of each part of my body.
Looking lower down yet there were five options out of which I was designated on the Status tab, while the four other tabs were respectively called SPECIAL, Skills, Perks and General.
Looking at SPECIAL tab it apparently shows the acronym status I just designated minutes ago. Skills was filled with my twelve skills and their current numbers. General was strange in that it alternate between two different tabs. One was something called Reputation which was understandably empty right now, and the other was General which was basically a compendium.
For example it keeps track of the amount of Grimm I have killed, locations I have discovered and quest I have completed amongst other stuff. Most of those statistic were understandably filled with the number zero after them. Good to know that quest existed though, those will be fun to do.
The Perk tab was the one to note however, as it was filled with my two Traits and also my Semblance.
-Wrath
-Sloth
-Lust (Active)
-Skilled
-Faunus
I suppose this confirm my theory that each sin has an active ability that could be called upon, though I am still wondering what exactly the Lust sin does. It says it is active but I don't see any apparent change.
Anyway all those tabs fell under the STATS menu, and there were two others called ITEMS and DATA
ITEMS has Weapons, Apparel, Aid, Misc and Ammo, all of which are self-explanatory.
DATA has Local Map, World Map, Quest, Misc and Radio. The Misc and Radio section were empty so I have no idea what they were supposed to hold. Maybe those keep tracks of important event and or information for me? That was my best guess for now.
I suppose that concludes the basics of the pip-boy app. With a bit of tweaking the Scroll collapsed within my palm before I put it inside my right pocket.
"Thank you."
"Don't mind it."
We came to an silence as there was nothing else to talk about. To be honest I did not mind them as the silence let me appreciate the atmosphere properly. These moments were when people stop from constantly voicing their thoughts and starts to listen to others.
Minutes passed by as we keep the silence. My thoughts were busy analyzing all the information I gained thus far and was starting on formulating plans before the movement of my sole company within the room took my attention. The blonde was looking at me with hazy eyes. I took note that her face was also quite flushed. Her breathing was rapid and shallow.
She looked at me in the eyes before gulping loudly.
"Hey, the kiss from before… Want to follow up on it?"
The room was in silence as I ignored my urge to leap at the woman and instead observe her current movement with raised eyebrows. Her body was writhing around as if aroused, unnaturally so. We did kiss before but this reaction was beyond overboard.
Unless…
I resisted the urge to palm my face. Of course, this must have been the work of my active Lust semblance. Semblances seems to work in mysterious ways so there are chance this one magically arouses people, though my bet was on my semblance being a glorified excuse of a Sex Pheromones generator.
My gaze went to the woman before me. I am still brimming with lust towards her as my active Lust semblance could attest to. Yet hazy as they are even I still have my morals and I intend to keep following them.
"Go and take a rest, it might clear your head."
It took all my will to ignore my libido and turn away. My legs reluctantly led me through the door so the both of us could clear our head before we did anything regretful. Yet before I was out of the room heat spreads throughout my back before hands creeped around my body and kept my torso company.
"Is this neglect play? You dirty boy."
I could feel her hot breathing on my shoulder before a pleasant sensation came over my necks as they were ravished with nibbles and bites. Her milky skin only a thin piece of fabric away from mine, and her heartbeat frantic like my own. Hands caressed my torso before my body spasmed as they brushed against my lower half.
That was when I snapped. My clenched first went straight to her head.
It took me a second before I realized what I did. That was probably the hardest I ever hit anything. Usually I have inhibition against hitting people but even when I'm mad I don't hit inanimate object without pulling any stops like what just occurred. Along with it was the fact that I had just set my Strength status to max moments ago.
My gaze went to the woman to be greeted with the sight of her lying on the ground. She must have been knocked out by my punch then. Or maybe it was the overdose of pheromones that did her in, who knows. Nevertheless I carried her body onto her bed, before deciding to read books to kill some time while waiting for the woman to wake up.
There was the option of exploring the house alone but things could end badly in cases of encounters with other occupants of the house, because I don't believe a home this large only housed two people. Though I have no intentions of keeping this charade there are time and place for everything and blurting out that I am essentially possessing this body to all acquaintance of the original host sounds like a suicidal act.
Walking up before the bookcase my finger traced the books neatly lined up. There were quite the amounts of books here, though none of which I recognized by name. Their naming does seem to follow a certain pattern though. I have once heard you could know a person through what they read, and if there were truth in the saying then she and I might be more alike than expected.
Stories have always been a form of solace for me, especially the fictional ones. My feeling started to wash away as if the act of browsing through books were some form of meditation. Sadly my quiet trance was hacked away by the vibration of my scroll. I took out the offending artifact before opening the thing.
Convincing Lies
+3 Speech
Consume
Inspecting the message written across the screen I searched through the bookcase again. Convincing Lies was found within the next few seconds. Chance are this was the book my hand touched right when my scroll vibrated. Hands reached for the book before checking what the scroll displayed. Sure enough now the word Consume wasn't crossed out anymore. So I needed physical contact to consume books, whatever that meant.
Chances are the thing was as it said at the tin can. The book might simply boost my Speech skill by three points, permanently. That was nothing to sneeze at, especially considering the fact these books were probably everywhere. I might have found a way to cheese the Skills system.
Normally I would have consumed the book already by now, but I somehow have a sneaking suspicion about how the whole 'consuming' business goes. If I were to truly consume the book, then chances are this book will disappear into nothingness. The problem lies in the fact this book was someone else's property, to be more exact the property of my sister who is currently passed out because I punched her in the face.
Yeah I really don't think I currently need more fuel for guilt. My mind was already reeling from the horrible act as it is so preferably there should be no more action of that nature for now. Or forever if I have it my way, but I prefer hoping for something more down to earth. My glance turned towards the unconscious woman who has a serene expression on her face. I wonder if this is a part of my feeling I designated as love.
Apathy has been my dearest company for a long time, and existential crisis even more so. I do not think my life has any meaning, and though I don't know about the life of other it never mattered either to me. Most people I've met in my life doesn't really mean anything significant to me, and my relationship with those that does were rocky at best. I could go off on a tangent and remember all those important character within my life, but that sound like a horrible idea considering how they were full of nothing but unpleasant memories.
The point I am trying to make was the fact I am nowhere nearly a sensible person as I seem to act.
For example there was my act when I first met the Grimm. I could have taken the easy path and have ran away, but the idea of fighting an unknown beast sounded interesting to me. If I were to succeed it would be an experience worth remembering, and if failure was the result then the sweet embrace of death was ready to welcome me. Either of which would have been a satisfying outcome for me.
I was that pathetic of a person, and those quirks of mine were incorrigible to a fault. Sometimes I do not care for my own life. For me to care about the belonging of a person I have met not an hour ago was an abnormality.
There was also what happened just minutes ago. The usual me would have accepted her open invitation and ravaged her like a wild beast, with my morality being the depraved thing it has always been. Yet in reality I fought against my lust and knocked her out instead. Why?
This woman was making things weird for me, but it wasn't an unpleasant condition. It has been a long time since I decided everything was worthless, even my own life, yet this woman made me feel the sensation of living while having meaning around me. The last time I judged something to be meaningful was around four years ago. Actions, relationship and even knowledge. I had since judged them superficial. It excites me to once again find something which I could possibly hold dearly.
To be honest I can't even imagine the woman being meaningful. Judgement created after interacting with another for merely five minutes could not possibly hold any meaning. What I truly found meaningful was probably my affection for her. I judged these emotions to be of worth and should be pursued, unlike so many others that I had. A selfish perspective, but then again I was a man who intends to bear all of the seven deadly sins.
The book in my hand closed before it was put back into its place, my attention turning towards the Sleeping Beauty whose awakening I dearly awaited. I dragged a chair near the desk towards the bedside before making myself comfortable on it, eyes resting on the lovely blonde.
My hand reached out to swipe her bangs, before I thought better of it. Said hand retracted and my gaze lingered on her unconscious form.
Remade the whole thing. This content was originally half of my 4k long chapter. Now it magically turned itself into an 8k long chapter and I have to cut the other half into another chapter of its own. The wonders of writing indeed.