BlueShear
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Chapter 42
🕑 Added 2025-01-13 18:02:22 +0000 UTCCHAPTER FOURTY TWO
DAYS LEFT BEFORE RARE CLASS CUT OFF DATE: (6/15)
The next of the kids to unlock their ability cubes were Donald, and, surprisingly enough, Skye. Surprising because, unlike Jimmy and Donald, the ability she coalesced through the nature of her actions wasn’t Power Blow, but instead, an ability called Power Strike.
•—|-Power Strike-|—•
•[Common]•
At the cost of physical stamina, release a strike that cuts, bludgeons, or cleaves with greater effectiveness.
An ability she’d gained, not through a repetitive series of punches, but instead, through a repetitive series of slashes. Putting the stone dagger she’d acquired all by herself to good use. Toiling away in secret, she left a series of carved up trees in her wake—a trail of vicious brutality which led a circuit around the entire tutorial.
To say that she’d been ecstatic in the wake of her accomplishment would’ve been the understatement of the century. In fact, just before the big reveal to all her friends, she’d grinned so wide in her approach, that all of the boys instinctively took a wary step back.
After them came Sanya and Alice—power blows for the both of them—leaving Chance as the only odd one out. Not for a lack of trying, of course. Yet, no matter how hard he tried to emulate the others, he just couldn’t seem to get whatever magic had granted all his friends with super powers to stick. It was so frustrating, watching his friends punch holes into rocks, and chop up logs into pieces—all with big stinky smiles on their faces—when he couldn’t do anything of the sort.
It all came boiling to a head when the others began discussing possible plans to go on a solo monster hunt in secret, and Sanya, the big mean bully, suggested using him as bait. He was the only one that was “useless” after all. The idea scared Chance far more than he’d liked to admit. And so, before the others could go through with her evil plan and throw him to the ninja wolves, Chance ran.
Wracked with sobs and near inconsolable he disappeared into the tangled underbrush before the others even knew what was happening.
+++
Richard stared at the system prompts a moment longer, before dismissing them with a huff.
What even was that just now?
The moment he did however, he was immediately presented with the probable answer to his many, many questions. All along the serpentine elites gelatinous hide, there were sculptures. Dozens upon dozens of them. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of sculptures had been raised like elaborate pimples.
Taking a closer look, he was even able to make out a choice few that he recognized. There was the scene with the knights and the dragon. And there! The detailed depiction of the human body. All of the little figures he’d watched his subconscious mind conjure up inside his soul space. Except they were all out here now, and there were a great deal more of them than he remembered besides.
Could this be… his doing? Did he do this… in his sleep? Surely not, but then, who else could it have been? Shaking his head in incomprehension, Richard fell back on the one thing he could always rely on when everything else felt impossible, confused, and overwhelming. He began to funnel mana into his soul seal.
v SOUL SEAL – PERCENTAGE OF COMPLETION: (46%)
It wouldn’t be long now before he made that final push to completion.
“Only four more percent to go,” he muttered, before promptly falling into himself, and cultivating mana.
+++
Like every time that came before, the creature inspected the stubborn system barrier barring its way for entry points. Faults, crevices, even an insignificant crack or two. Any avenue of ingress it could possibly think of, that might give it access to whatever went on inside.
And, like every time that came before, the creature came away sorely disappointed. It’s paws flexed, revealing razor sharp claws. Tail flicking with discontent, the creature turned to leave. Just as it was about to call it quits however—maybe pop over and see how the girls were fairing, the Royal one had been particularly delectable as of late—it caught the telltale flicker of movement from somewhere inside the barrier.
The creature leaned in closer, as if making ready to pounce. Its yellow eyes flashed. Round pupils thinning to narrow slits.
There it was again! The brief twitch of a far off bush, followed by the slight sway of a hanging vine just a bit closer. It could hear it now, voices- no? Just one voice. High pitched and hysterical. Oh! And that scent!
A rumbling purr reverberated from deep inside its chest.
Oh, the scent wafting off of this one was positively divine. Seeing that the thrash of vines and leaves was slowly headed in its direction, the creature re-sheathed it’s claws and swiftly straightened—altering its body language to match a more whimsical and inviting profile. At which point it held that pose, standing as still as a statue. Not even breathing as it waited for its visitor to arrive. Thankfully, it wasn’t forced to wait very long.
As the teary eyed boy burst from the dense tree line, stumbling over the invisible line that marked the beginning of the system barrier, the frozen creature suddenly exploded into motion. Gracefully folding itself in a sweeping bow, it tipped an imaginary hat towards the lad, and spoke up in a cheery singsong.
“Is this a lost lamb I see? Where be your party, three plus three? All alone in the woods is he? No no no, this cannot be!” it finished its little exclamation by cupping it’s face with it’s paws—it’s expression the very definition of aghast!
Sniffling, the boy watched the creature’s antics, his sobs momentarily interrupted by a snort of laughter. The boy giggled, then recalled whatever had driven him out here to begin with, and slumped. Parking a seat on a nearby log. The creature quickly lowered itself so that they were sitting barely an inch apart.
“They’re not my party,” the boy pouted. “They’re not even my friends! They’re just a bunch of- of- a bunch’a great big meanies! Dookie-heads! I hate them!”
“No no no. Say it isn’t so. A friends a friend. A friend till the end! Sir Blinky, yes, sir Blinky should know!”
“Nuh uh!”
“Hmm… well, perhaps your right. Sometimes there’s good reasons to fight. Tell me more about your plight, and we’ll make that frown go nighty-night!”
For a moment, Chances frown only deepened. Until, that is, those massive paws reached around and tickled his sides mercilessly. Brought to tears by the fit of uncontrolled laughter that followed, he quickly begged off.
“Stop!” he giggled. “Stop I can’t breathe!”
Only after his pleading was just beginning to sound desperate, did the creature relent. Gasping for breath, the boy looked up at the smiling mascot, and, making up his mind, opened his mouth.
“Fine. But you can’t tell, okay? I could get in big trouble.”
“Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle through my eye!” he finished the rhyme by poking a playful finger into the boys retina.
Chance was forced to blink or be blinded. Yanking his head back, he brought a hand to his eye—rubbing it as if it pained him—a look of confusion and hurt flitting across his features. The creature smoothed over the moment of awkwardness by ruffling the boys hair and telling a few jokes. Eventually, the oddity was written off as what the creature said it was. Just a bit of horsing around between pals.
“Okay, well. What do you wanna know?”
The creature’s cat’s eyes gleamed. When it next spoke, it completely abandoned the rhyming schemes it’d maintained up to this point.
“Why don’t we start with the little one? The tiny fella with all that pep in his step. I’ve had my eye on him for quite some time.”
Another sharp poke, and Chance was rubbing at his other eye next, that same look of wary concern resurfacing, before it was brushed off by the creature as nothing at all, just as easily as the first time.
“Well, he’s a kinda weirdo, I guess. I don’t know. Donald thinks he’s a Superman, but I think- I think…”
+++
DAYS LEFT BEFORE RARE CLASS CUT OFF DATE: (6/15)
“Go ahead! I’ll be fine! Trust me!” Richard called from where he stood at the center of the artificial clearing.
Resembling a crop circle, only in the middle of the jungle, it was a perfectly round circle of smooshed dirt, vines, and leaves. A quick inquiry all it’d taken for the dancing wisps to leap to obey. Crushing the tangled undergrowth flat in less than a second.
Immediately, the look Penelope gave told him she was anything but confident.
“No really! It’s the only way I can think of to boost my attributes in a major way within the remaining timeframe! My body’s strong! I can take it! Come on, give me all you’ve got!” he exclaimed, thumping his chest with a hand, and opening his arms wide—flashing her a gummy smile.
Still looking rather skeptical, Penelope acquiesced to his insane plan with a shrug, well used to the eccentricities of her teacher by now. Instructing the bobbing wisps of light, just as he’d told her to do, the “ambient mana,” what she liked to call her “floaty friends,” shared none of her compunctions as they leapt to obey.
In the next moment, Richard’s body was jerked up, down, back, and sideways—looking like a marionette on a temperamental string. Assaulted by a flurry of invisible fists. The ambient mana pummeling him mercilessly, one might almost have said with relish. Punches landing with such precision, such rapidity, that his feet barely even touched the ground. Tossed this way and that, as helpless as an actual newborn. Of course, this was all going according to plan. Spittle and blood flew through the air in great arcs. It left him uniquely glad in that moment, that he didn’t actually have any teeth to lose just yet.
As the beating blithely continued, and Penelope looked on with a pensive expression, Richard was far too preoccupied with compounding his training even further. Even as Penelope helped train up his endurance and regeneration attributes—sustained trauma and the subsequent natural recovery pivotal for the acquisition of each—Richard was cycling more and more of his mana into the soul seal. He was close now, just a little bit more and he’d be ready for that final push.
v SOUL SEAL – PERCENTAGE OF COMPLETION: (49%)
Meanwhile, doing all this while the voices in his head were constantly trying to distract him did wonders for enhancing his control stat. And seeing as he was getting close to maxing out both strength and control, all he really had to do was take a couple of good long beatings like this one, and then heal up over the next couple of days, and he’d be golden. Fully maxed stats all across the board at G Grade. And with two full stars of prestige as well.
Already he was salivating at what class selection he’d be offered with deeds like this. He could not wait!
And of course, that was when a swift one two combo connected with his chin, immediately knocking him out cold.
It was fine though. He’d made Penelope promise the beating would last at least another fifteen minutes after he lost consciousness. Anything else would’ve been wasteful. He had to maximize his gains after all. There were only so many days left.
And he still had yet to find that blasted named elite!
+++
The creature watched the boy cross over the system enforced boundary, then proceed to shove his way through the undergrowth back in the direction he’d come. And while a part of the creature was loathe to let a potential meal go to waste, a larger part was far more concerned with the news it had received. It would appear it’s instincts hadn’t led it astray after all. It hadn’t been sure exactly. Although it had suspected something was off with that one since the very moment it laid eyes upon him.
Something about the taste. It was wrong. Strong, extremely potent, and yet… not nearly what it would call satisfying. Wary, one might even say paranoid, and yet not fearful in any meaningful way, the only way it could describe it. Not a combination often seen in one so young. Now it all made sense. Extraordinary mana control. Intricate rune-work. Fully formed sentences at one month old. It would seem an intruder had wormed his way inside the cohort of the newly integrated worlds.
It wouldn’t be the first time. Dying sect heads and grand master soul practitioners were always trying to prolong their lives or get one up on the competition. Meaning it was only one of several unlikely events for which he was contractually obligated to report.
Of course, the thought that the creature—a being who should’ve transcended such mundane notions as corporate hierarchy—would be forced to report to the ditzy, airhead secretary of some insufferable office drone in middle management rankled like no other inconvenience it could name. And yet, it was only through it’s cooperation with the major corporations that it was allowed to set foot on such fertile grounds whatsoever. A promise land it’d been told since early sentiency, runneth over with the succulent serenades of fear, pain, and despair.
Now, that hadn’t exactly been it’s experience thus far, and it thought it knew who to blame, though it had also been assured that events should pick up in half a month or so. It would wait. It was patient. Unfortunately, what couldn’t wait was this infernal report. And so, not bothering to give it more thought than it deserved, the creature made its report, and sent it up the chain. The corporation’s could take it from there.
Comments
Gopard
Nah he is a "system tagged intruder" and we know the system is owned and run (apparently) by something called the "conglomerate" so essentially a dystopian cyperpunk corpo ruled reality only on a multiversal scale... I'm pretty sure his "future knowledge" is actually pissing off lots of the "very powerful people" calling the shots of the systems... Only the actual Gods on the level of Opal are probably simply aware how he got there but why would they bother stopping the (to them) lower ranked grunts from executing their "system and tutorial safety protocols"? (This is intentionally not a spoiler btw everything I wrote are my guesses I had in that chappy already lol)
Random Guy
They shouldnt be able to do shit after all he isnt a real intruder. Though I doubt that these fcks are going to care. You know maybe he can kill that Cat now that would be a named Elite worthy of a deed.
Apoca
I'm a bit surprised that soul damage is not a lot more fatal. That Epic grade skill sounds like it would take its toll
Mariana L.
Oh no.
Gopard
Thanks for the chapter! Damn he's been caught! I wonder what happens next? Will they be ending the Tutorial prematurely? Or perhaps specifically to kill HIM send that named elite monster as a kind of "punishment measure"??? That would be hilarious lmao!
