Another chapter comes!

This one's mostly a set-up chapter for the next one. Oh, and also a quick explanation of the previous chapter. And a more in-depth exploration on how I'll write IDs in the future, I guess. That's it really. Uh, yeah.

Not really a spoiler, just a quick note:

-I don't know if this is canon, and I don't care. One of the first things we see Asia doing is eating some fast-food with our boi, and now I can't help but see Asia as a fast-food addict.

Anyway, enough from me. Enjoy!

"So, uh, that guy force fed you a crystal he made from the souls of his victims, and the boosts you get is…random?"

"Yes." Asia nodded slowly. "There is no guarantee an Executioner would gain any strength from the procedure. It is not uncommon for a subject to gain nothing. Sir Gal-, Galilei would often kill those he deemed useless, harvest their souls, and remake them into another crystal for another Executioner to swallow."

"...that's fucked up." He said. Asia tilted her head, confused. "Your confusion makes this even more fucked up."

"Language." His mom reminded him.

He stared at her. "I just heard something that reminds me that humanity is a ball of shit. I think cursing is the least of our worries."

"Language." His mom repeated, though this time with a slight smile.

Issei placatingly raised his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright. No more swearing in front of Asia." He gave a dramatic sigh. "I guess I've already been replaced, huh? I should've known bringing you home was a bad idea."

"Um, sorry?"

His smile fell. "That was a joke."

Asia blinked slowly. "A…joke?" She seemed to mull over it for a few seconds before her eyes lit up. "Ah! Jokes are…said to be funny, right?"

He went quiet for a moment. His lips curved to a sad smile. "Yeah, that's the point."

He took a breath, still doing his best to segment everything Asia had told him and his mom.

Asia Argento was her name. A priestess working for the Vatican, before she was excommunicated. She was then taken in by Galilei, who pretended to be a kindly priest before drugging her and brainwashing her. But unlike the rest of the Executioners, she managed to maintain some portion of her original psyche and recognized a path out the moment Issei told her she was his.

She'd never be free of his conditioning. She would be compelled to follow her master no matter what. But Issei had given her the chance to escape, to shift her allegiance and break free.

(He still wasn't sure what compelled him to say those exact words. Had the bodiless voice made him do that somehow?)

She didn't come out whole. Of course not. The brainwashing had damaged her, shattered her beyond repair. Her memories were segmented and out of order, and that wasn't even tackling the whole 'following her master' schtick.

He'd find a way to help her. He promised, both to himself and that bodiless voice that had begged him to spare her.

Because as angry as it'd made him, as furious as he was to have his actions be guided by someone else, he couldn't find it in himself to hate. Once the adrenaline went away, he could recall the desperation he heard, the sheer regret and despair he felt. That voice knew Asia, cared for her, loved her, and it'd begged him to save her because it no longer could.

…crap, he'd made himself even sadder now.

"Hey," Asia looked at him, and he forced a wink. "Ever tried eating fries with a milkshake?"

She blinked. "...what is a milkshake?"

"Oh dear." His mom lamented. "Here we go again."

"Oh, come on mom, it works!"

"You are dipping fried potatoes in milk." She said evenly, having gone over this exact conversation with him hundreds of times before. "It just doesn't work."

He grinned. "Definitely does."

Asia looked at them in wonder. "Potatoes…in milk?" She repeated slowly, and he could see the budding of interest in her eyes. "Crunchy potatoes…and sweetness?" Her eyes fully lit up, and despite her empty expression, she looked like she'd bounce from her seat at any moment. "Can…I really try?"

"Oh…" His mom sighed, before she looked at Asia with a warm smile. "I suppose there's no reason why we can't." His mom turned to him, and he flashed her a thumbs up. His mom laughed gently. "Well, let's go. It'd be best if we came back before night fell."

Asia's eyes turned dull. "You're going outside as well, ma'am?" She asked softly. "But…would it not be dangerous?"

His mom's smile turned vicious. "Oh, don't worry, I can handle them just fine." Her hands flashed white, and her machete appeared in her hands. "And if they get a little too close, well, I think my friend is a little thirsty."

"...you're scary." He said as dully as he could. His mom smiled back brightly.

Asia still looked a little unconvinced. Issei smiled and patted her. "We'll be fine. My mom's strong, and if things get a little too dicey, I'm here. So don't worry."

"...Un."

So off they went, out to a town that was still embroiled in a secret cold war, intent on buying some fries and milkshakes from the nearby fast food chain.

His prediction had been spot on. Asia loved dipping her fries in ice cream. His mom grieved at him convincing another 'heathen' to join his side. He innocently smiled back.

Issei hadn't really understood what becoming a Reflector meant when he first wore that ring on his fingers. Now he did, and…he wasn't sure what to think about it.

[Ardent Reflection - Locked]

Lvl 0/250 | Locked

The manifestation of one's ether. One's emotions given form and power. For emotions are the expression of the soul, and in this lifeless universe, the soul is the strongest power of all.

This was one of the two Skills he'd gotten from it. He'd given the Skill a quick glance when he first received it. It looked innocent enough and glossed it over. But then he went back over it today, reading through it word by word, and…he made a startling realization.

Power from Emotions? An expression of the Soul? That sounded like the jargon most magical girls used to explain their power. Was a Reflector simply a fancy name for a magical girl?

And then his mind ground to a stop.

Because holy crap did he just become a magical girl? Well, not yet—he hadn't unlocked the Skill just yet—but he could, and that was both insane and hilarious.

He doubted he'd be able to unlock it in a while. The little description it had gave him the impression that it needed some sort of trigger to unlock. Some major spike of emotion that could finally break through the barrier and allow him to transfer. And unless another drastic event happened so quickly after his recent attack on Galilei, he would remain a normal human for a while longer.

He hoped he didn't just jinx himself.

…

He was alone in his room at the moment. It'd turned night now. Asia was sleeping in the room next to his. Mom had gone to the Ghost ID to grind. Which left him, too energized to sleep yet with too little to do. His recent attack on Galilei had left a mark on his forces, even if only temporarily. He wouldn't be able to grow as much as he did for a while. Or, at least that's how it normally should be.

He did have an option. It's just-

[Warning! Entering the Goblin ID will disable the [ID Localization] Skill for the user until the given Side Quest is completed. Enter?]

Entering the Goblin ID wasn't a viable option with everything happening around him. There was no telling how long he'd be stuck in that alternate reality, and the threat of having his town be destroyed without him looking had kept him from going with it. But now he had a moment of peace to himself.

He had no main weapon to use—his Ghostflame Torch had been destroyed in his fight with Asia, but that was fine. He no longer needed a weapon to fight. His newly-evolved Flare Rifle and his Tempest Kick gave him his needed edge in combat.

So he proceeded with the prompt, and the world around him twisted. The walls broke away, and the bed he was sitting on disappeared as he began to fall through a void of rushing blues and purples. He kept his eyes trained below, ready to employ his Air Walk if the ground suddenly appeared.

He was left falling through the void for a…worryingly long time. He had half a mind to try hopping back up, but he wasn't sure if that would cause something to break. So he decided to wait it out, spending the time reading through the novel he hadn't been able to open for the past week.

Then he heard a soft swish, and he looked down to see greenery approaching. Hawk Eyes cleared his sight, and he blinked when he saw the canopy of leaves he was quickly falling towards. He used Air Walk to slow his descent, and he gently passed through the canopy of leaves and landed on the soil below without a single injury.

And just like that, he had gone from his room to a forest. Another day in this insane life of his.

[Side Quest {Neolithic Seer} has started!]

{Neolithic}

Difficulty: Easy

You have jumped back in time to the beginnings of life. There lives a powerful Goblin Seer who has the power to look into the future. Slay him before he can gain knowledge and overthrow the History of Human Order.

He stared. Because what? He'd…jumped back in time? But-, wasn't he just-, wait so this place was real and now he was-

He gently massaged his forehead. There were too many world-shattering revelations happening at once. He knew his System allowed him to jump worlds and all, but he didn't expect it to happen so quickly. And if this was the past or whatever, was the Goblin ID another thing entirely, or was this the Goblin ID? If the latter was true, then could he even return to this thing once he cleared the Quest?

Ah, whatever. He could think about this later.

He looked around. Everything looked normal enough. Massive trees, ferns several times larger than normal, a lot of moss—it looked exactly like the predictions of what prehistoric flora looked like. Now all that was missing were large animals and giant bugs.

"Guaga?!"

Issei blinked, and he turned to see a group of three Goblins. They weren't quite the ones he normally saw in games. They were still short and stubby, but their skins were gray, and their bodies were chiseled and tough. They looked a lot more like the Neanderthals, if short and with a severe lack of hair.

They screamed at him, raised their wooden clubs-

And then promptly caught fire when he fired a bolt of fire at one of them. It killed it immediately, jumped to another, and then jumped onto the last one like a hyperactive dog. They all died in seconds.

[Killed x3 Goblins. Gained 900 Exp]

He grimaced. 300 Exp for each Goblin was great, but with how much Exp he needed for a level up, that was but a drop in a massive ravine he needed to fill. Still, a drop was a drop.

He continued forward. It didn't take long before he encountered another group of Goblins. He took them out just as quickly.

Another group appeared, quicker than the last. He took them out with a single Flare Rifle.

Another group came just a minute after. He took them down.

Another came seconds after. He finally realized something.

His opponent was a Goblin Seer—a Goblin capable of looking into the future. It wouldn't be too far off to assume that it could predict his exact position. There was no reason to be careful. His enemy already knew he was here.

So he tugged his inner pyromaniac awake, and with gleeful mania he turned to the forests around him and set it alight. He sent out bolt after bolt, splashing flames all across the greenery. He could hear the sudden terrified screams of the Goblins, and he stood in place as he watched the world around him burn.

He knew the Goblin Seer probably already knew about this fire. Or maybe it didn't. He didn't care all that much. He just needed all the Goblins around him gone.

[Killed x357 Goblins. Gained 107,100 Exp]

He smiled slightly. That was a nice number to look at.

Suddenly, he heard a loud screech from the distance. Issei blinked, and he looked right to see a large horde of Goblins approaching him, all growling as they raised their clubs towards him. And standing behind them all was another Goblin. It was smaller than the others, but it was clothed in a robe of thick leather, and it carried a thick wooden staff in its hand.

It was shouting at him. It seemed angry that he'd taken out so many of its kind. Which…huh. He thought the thing would've known about him. Did its future sight have a cooldown or something? Maybe it knew where he'd landed but not what he'd do in the immediate moment?

He shrugged. It didn't matter, he supposed. The Goblin Seer had shown itself.

[You have encountered the Boss, Goblin Seer]

So he threw a dozen flares or so, and he watched as the horde began to burn like a pile of matchsticks, the flames jumping from one Goblin to another as their ashes fluttered to the winds. The Goblin Seer was panicking, swinging its staff around as it tried to calm the Goblins. It wasn't working. The Goblins kept trying to run. Most died the moment a flare hopped onto them.

He watched silently, doing his best not to think about the smell of burnt flesh permeating the air.

And then, eventually, the last Goblin fell and burnt to ash.

[Killed x312 Goblins, Goblin Seer. Gained 108,600 Exp]

[Boss slain! Rewards have been moved to the Inventory]

[Side Quest {Neolithic} has been completed! Return back to the Real World to receive Rewards]

He smiled. The System had told him that this Quest would be easy, and it wasn't wrong. He barely had to move during it all.

But, as his finger rose to proceed with the prompt, something odd struck him. He frowned as he read through the notification he'd gotten. Return back to the Real World, it said. Innocent enough, except something didn't sit right. His Rewards would usually be given the moment he finished a Quest, not after he returned to his home or whatever.

There was something off.

He thought about it. It was giving him the choice to return. It hadn't immediately brought him back to the real world the moment he finished his Quest. Was it just because this was an ID? But it'd explicitly told him that this wasn't an ID. This was another world, another time. This was, if he'd read right, an actual living world.

That was when it hit him.

This was an actual world. This was real. This place wouldn't end the moment he reached Kuoh's borders. He could explore it.

[You have deduced a hidden Truth. +2 Wisdom]

[A hidden facet of the {Neolithic} Quest has been discovered. Rewards have been withheld. Quest description updated]

He grinned. Bingo.

{Neolithic}

Difficulty: Hard

You have jumped back in time to the beginnings of life. The Goblin Seer has been felled. Yet there exists something beyond the distance—a calling from the ancient stars. Find it and let its story be told.

His eyes narrowed. Hard, was it? To jump all the way from Easy to Hard…

Hmm.

He closed his eyes. A calling from the ancient stars, it said. That was probably a clue. He let the world around him vanish, and he dove into the darkness of his mind's eye. He didn't know what exactly an Ancient Star would feel like, but it'd probably feel massive and powerful, like a bomb at the edge of exploding. He fixed that feeling into his mind and expanded his senses.

He felt nothing for the first few minutes. He felt nothing even as his mind began to strain, his consciousness filling with static as he stretched his senses beyond their normal capabilities.

Then, just as his mind's eye was on the verge of tearing in half, he felt it. A repeating blink, like a distress beacon sounding in the distance. It was far from where he was, very far. But he could make it if he ran long enough.

So he did just that. He turned to where he'd felt that call and ran. He ran and ran and ran, and then got bored halfway through and pulled out an encyclopedia and began reading. All while running, of course.

Eventually, he came across a beach, connected to an ocean that stretched beyond even the sights of his Hawk Eyes. Yet he could still feel that pulsing, now closer than ever and reaching deep…below…

Ah, so that's it, a wry grin split his lips. He had an idea on how things were going, and he disliked every last bit of it. But the show must go on, and so he took a step atop the rippling surface of the ocean and ran. The ocean beneath him was a floor, and he ran across it like he wasn't defying physics by existing.

He ran, keeping his senses trained on where the beacon was coming from, and stopped right above where it was coming from. He stared down at the abyssal depths below him, and he sighed as he pulled his shirt off. He took a deep breath, then two, and with mana coursing through his legs he dove into the waters below.

He swam into the ocean, heading downwards towards the quickly darkening waters. This wasn't something he would've been able to do—or anyone really—but he was by no means normal.

[Sanguine Regeneration]

Lvl 12/100 | 12%

Constant stimulation of body cells using mana has made them better at recuperating from damage. Increases HP Regeneration by 162%

Sanguine Regeneration kept his body alive. It made his muscles stronger, his lungs stronger, his body more efficient. He could hold his breath in these uncharted waters, and his body could withstand the growing pressure that threatened to crush him.

He dove lower and lower, until eventually there was no light except the dim luminescence of his own body. His eyes saw nothing, his ears heard nothing. His movements were guided by the singular pulsing beacon in his mind's eye.

Then, he saw it. A light at the deepest point of the ocean. That was the thing that had called him, the Ancient Star his System spoke off. All he needed to do was-

He quickly swam to the right just as something massive brushed past him. He grit his teeth as he broke his mind's eye away from the Ancient Star. Something had swam past him. Something big. He desperately looked around, trying to see just what it was that had come so close to him, and whether or not it was hostile.

He felt the water rumble, followed by a burning flash of predatory glee, and he got his answer.

There was a massive ocean beast just meters away from him. He didn't know if it was a fish or some sea mammal, but he could tell that it had a shark-like body. He couldn't quite tell whether it had teeth or not, or whether it had eyes, or anything really. All he knew was that it was massive, and Issei was next on its chopping block.

Suddenly it made sense why the System had classified this as Hard. His Flare Rifle, his main method of attack, was rendered essentially useless in this environment. He could try to overpower and waters and fire it still, but that'd generate enough steam to cause a deep-sea explosion, and the shockwaves that'd create would rattle his insides. That wouldn't do.

Still, he wasn't without options. His Tempest Kick still worked in these waters, and he still had several dozen weapons to throw at the thing.

The beast roared. The waters rumbled, and hidden in the darkness, Issei grinned.

[You have encountered the Boss, The Thing From the Seas]

The beast rushed forward, but he easily leapt out of the way. The beast stuttered, clearly confused, and Issei made use of the chance to sneak to its right and slam a Tempest Kick straight into its body. He felt a moment of resistance, similar to the shock his legs would feel when he kicked a wall of metal, before he felt the warmth of blood coat his leg.

The beast was right to be confused. There was no way he should've been able to move that quickly. And it was right, except it didn't know he had Air Walk, and well-

[Air Walk*]

Lvl 25/100 | 66%

Allows the user to run on air. Costs 12.6 MP/second

*Also allows great movement in liquids

It was something he figured out a minute into his swimming fiasco. He wanted to see if any of his Skills could be used to reach the Ancient Star faster, and he was right! Except it consumed far too much MP for him to use all throughout his dive.

But he didn't have the time to consider that any longer. It was either draining his MP dry or getting himself eaten, and he'd rather face the lethargy than die.

He zipped all around the beast, sending kick after kick to gouge deeper and deeper into the beast's skin. It was massive however, and even though his Tempest Kicks landed on the same injury over and over, he'd only managed to dig several inches into the beast's body.

And then, lightning struck his mind.

What was he doing? Why was he trying to get up close before striking the beast with a Tempest Kick? Did he not have a Skill that boosts physical attacks that came from afar?

It sounded insane, but there was no reason he couldn't try.

So he leapt away from the beast, charging through the waters with the beast trailing behind him. Then the winds roared around his leg, twisting the waters around him like a typhoon. A small bubble of air was formed, and now freed, he landed on the inner surface. Mana rushed into the soles of his feet, and with a grin, he shot towards the beast. He kept his Air Walk active all throughout, picking up more and more speed as he sped towards the beast.

Then, just as he was about to pass the wound he'd been digging on it for the past few minutes, he twisted and slammed a Tempest Kick into it.

BANG! It was the single loudest thing he'd ever heard, and the shockwave rattled through his bones as he felt the beast scream. He glanced at his HP and cringed when he saw the 40 points he'd lost from that stunt.

But it had worked. Spartan Lob and Tempest Kick worked in tandem, and the damage it dealt was impeccable. Sure, the recoil had hurt him, but-

Well, he just needed to kill it before he killed himself.

He leapt up, rushing away from the beast as winds whirled around his leg. He fed the storm his mana, and it blasted the waters around him to form a temporary cavity. He landed on the concave surface, and with the wound fixed in his mind's eye he leapt downwards. He rushed down, and again, he struck the wound with another superpowered Tempest Kick.

And he did it, again, and again, and again.

The beast was fully confused now, stuck in place as it tried to make sense of what was happening. Issei felt a little bad about it, but the pain in his legs was making it a little hard to think.

But eventually, after seven superpowered Tempest Kicks, he felt the beast stop moving entirely, its body tilting as it began floating through the waters.

[Killed The Thing From the Seas. Gained 2,500,000 Exp]

[Boss slain! Rewards have been moved to the Inventory]

…nice.

Issei was happy, he really was, but most of that joy was drowned out from the pain of having legs that were on the verge of snapping in half.

Still, with the beast now dead, he focused back on the Ancient Star below and continued swimming, careful not to aggravate his destroyed legs any further. He swam downwards, towards the growing bands of light surrounding him, keeping his eyes shut as the world around him was painted white.

And then Issei felt himself disappear.