“Anything can become a Nest. For some Voidlings, a simple box will be enough. Yes, a Nest like that would never become a problem but remember that it is a possibility.
Next, we have small caves, tunnels, or abandoned buildings. Those are be the kind of Nests that you will encounter most often. This is also where the formation of a Nesting Gate is possible—but we will talk about those later.
And finally, there is what we call the “Death Nest.” This one can encompass the entire village, city, or in the worst possible scenario, a whole planet. Here, you need to only remember one thing. Run and never come back.”
–14th Lecture in Tariem’s Military Camp
Just when he stepped out of his hiding spot and into the hallway, he quickly withdrew the limb when a realization struck him. Right, I forgot to check the new menu. Got a bit too excited there for a moment.
With a sigh, Leo took a few steps back and leaned against the wall next to the room’s exit. A quick thought had his status window right in front of his face.
Seventy-eight Ether. He nodded. Let’s see what I can do with it. You have kept me guessing long enough.
Welcome to the Ether menu. With your newly improved connection to the System, you might now enjoy the full benefits of Ether. Please be reminded that some functions might be limited depending on your Job. At the same time, prices might fluctuate in the face of different events happening in the universe.
Spend your Ether:
- Shop
- Market
- Honing
- Additional Sustenance
The System might have offered only four options, yet he perfectly understood their potential even without choosing any of them. Well, mostly, he could never be too sure about the System’s stuff.
All right, shop. What do you have for me?
With a single command, a wide window appeared in his mind’s eye. However, even with its size, only about half of it was filled out, displaying a number of items that the Shop apparently offered.
Not bad.
Thanks to the short list of items, Leo quickly checked them all. Starting with a simple pack of clothes, tools, and some melee weapons to items that modern and ancient Hunters might have used in their lives. To be honest, it wasn’t much, but it was still more than enough to be useful to any survivor.
Still, those prices.
A grimace spread across his face at the numbers next to the items. While affording those things wouldn’t be much of a problem in the long run, spending twenty Ether for a common hunting knife just wasn’t optimal. Or smart.
At least now I know the value of those flares. Ten Ether for a single piece. Now he for sure wanted to find out what they did. The name alone indicated a one-time-use item, so for it to cost that much… Well, it better be useful, or his disappointment would be immeasurable.
Shaking his head, Leo moved on to the next option, which quickly proved even more useless than the last one.
What am I missing? He mused, scanning the empty window from top to bottom and promptly ignoring the ‘Sell’ option. Wait, here it is.
There, in the bottom left corner, a few lines of text sat innocently.
‘Market’s range is limited to the current safe zone or two hundred meters in each direction when one isn’t available. This limitation might change with some Jobs centered around trading.’
Leo narrowed his eyes. Well, that’s just fucking fantastic. I still don’t have a single clue on how to find a safe zone in this shitty world. Whatever, next.
With a single wave of his hand, the screen drifted away, leaving only the Ether menu in sight. Honing. This time, after making a choice, the System gave him only a simple prompt.
Please choose an item to hone. Remember that without a job directly related to upgrading (Smith, Enchanter, Artificer, etc.), your ability to hone objects might be severely limited. Warning: Install-type items cannot be upgraded using this function.
Huh. Brow furrowed; Leo unsheathed the Bowie knife.
Bowie Knife (Common) | Upgrades remaining: 3
Honing Available:
- General
- Durability
- Essence Conductivity
Okay, now this has some potential. While the amount of Ether necessary for even one upgrade was relatively high, he didn’t doubt that sometime in the future, this function would see a lot of use. Also, it definitely made him wonder about his job choice.
He shrugged and the window faded away. His Hunter job had already proved valuable several times in the past, so for now, there was no real reason to change it. Besides, even if honing could help, he didn’t want to waste Ether before he evolved. For now, he might have enough, but danger lurked at each corner, and Limit Break at full power wasn’t cheap.
“And for the final one,” he muttered as he clicked the last option in the menu. Unlike the previous ones, Additional Sustenance offered two more choices: Artificial Food and Boosters.
The first seemed pretty straightforward. Any survivor could pay a bit of Ether for the System to take care of their necessities. Hunger and thirst? Not a problem anymore if one had the necessary change.
As for boosters?
Yeah, I’m not gonna touch those for a long, long time. A temporary percentage boost to a chosen attribute was one thing. However, paying more Ether than he currently had for the weakest one was madness.
I will stick to Limit Break for now. Thank you very much.
Leo took a deep breath and stepped away from the wall as a well-known blanket of Essence settled over his skin. Shadows slithered over his palms without hesitation, forming the already familiar blade in one while covering the other.
With a firm nod, he entered the dark corridor. The distant raging of monsters bounced off the walls in an endless symphony, while the soft breathing of Vetilim pulled his gaze in random directions. Nonetheless, his feet never stopped moving, never wavering. One step after another, the darkness slowly parted, letting bits of sunlight into the building.
Finally. One day I will be back, but for now…
He sighed, stepping into the dimly lit reception room from last night. With no Shadow Tails in sight, he pushed past the mess on the floor and jumped over the fallen door.
Instantly, he raised his hands, shielding his face from the bright light of the morning sun. It definitely had been a while since it shone so brightly… or I’m just unused to it after all this time in the darkness.
He blinked and lowered his hand, only to freeze at the sight that greeted him. He blinked again, rubbing his eyes just to make sure they weren’t playing jokes on him. And no, nothing changed.
“What in the ever-loving fuck happened here?” he muttered even as True Stealth stopped the sound.
This was no longer the same Earth he had lived on before his unvoluntary trip into the Void. No matter where his gaze landed, it was filled with shades of crimson, violet, and black. Vetilim and what he now identified as Corcera spread everywhere.
This living matter consumed almost every part of the fallen buildings that once stood tall and proud. Barely anything was spared as the Void claimed Earth’s surface. Hell, even the flora had evolved during his absence.
Small plants that once barely poked through the gaps in sidewalks now spread over most of the ground. They painted the world in the colors of the Void while growing high enough to reach his knees.
Then there were the trees and bushes, overgrown, some even taller than any remaining building. All grew toward the sky, soaking every bit of sunlight even as Vetilim and Corcera hung off their branches like vines. Some parts of the living matter even spread to the sides, growing like a spiderweb that connected every single tree and half-collapsed building.
It was like a jungle had consumed Wolford—no, the world—in a matter of a few days.
How? Leo gaped, still frozen in his spot. I was only gone for a few days at worst. What happened? System?!
He backed off until his back hit the warehouse’s wall, yet no answer came. Nothing that would explain the sudden change to the entire world.
Answer me, for fuck’s sake! he screamed to the heavens as his body slid into the tall, crimson grass.
His mind raced a hundred miles per hour, trying to find an explanation for the weird world surrounding him. He searched and searched until a thought struck him like a sledgehammer.
The Cataclysm.
As the word circled through his mind, he took a few calming breaths, forcing the pulsing crystal in his chest to slow down just a bit. But how and why? Yeah, the System gave me a few warnings about a possible Cataclysm, but is it capable of such change?
Yet, the longer he thought about it, the answer became obvious.
Yes, it is.
Outbreak, they might call it, but it was the First Cataclysm that had begun it all. The entire population and a part of Earth’s surface changed in some way by this single event. If the first event did all that, why couldn’t the second one finish the job?
Does it mean that more survivors have been changed? Are there any humans even left? Leo gritted his teeth as he slowly stood up and trudged toward the remains of this courtyard’s fence.
All of a sudden, a familiar, musical voice rang in his ears, breaking through the wall of depressing thoughts. Only now, it was louder than ever.
“Those who survived the first should live through the second.”
You! Leo stiffened just as his hand touched the Vetilim fence. Are you sure? How can you know? Yet no one answered his questions; only the soft breeze and screeching of distant monsters remained.
He growled and punched the living matter, quickly leaning away as a tiny tendril of dark mass tried to grab his limb. With a muttered curse, he slashed at the unless attack, cutting the bit of Vetilim away from the rest of the fence.
What?
As Identify refused to work at the Void’s living matter, Leo poked the fence several times, getting no reaction.
Weird. Anything about this, Nikra? No? He scowled. You’d better be right about the Cataclysm at least.
No, no, no. He repeated, taking another deep breath. You must be right. They survived, and even if the world changed, they are fine. They are fine…
Fists clenched; he pushed those thoughts away for the moment. They didn’t really matter; even in the face of the entire world changing, his plans didn’t change.
All right, let’s get going. Steeling his nerves, he took a peek at the road—or rather, what was left of it—and frowned at the various Voidlings in his sight.
I don’t see any new variants, but those fuckers definitely leveled up. As his eyes narrowed, Identify went into overdrive, jumping from one target to another. Yet with each Voidling scanned, it became obvious that they all gained at least two levels when he was gone.
So Level 5 on average, with 6 and 7 probably being more common than I would like… Still, shouldn’t be much of a problem if I don’t make too many mistakes.
With a nod, Leo dashed out of his cover and sprinted toward the nearest Cursed Human. A single jump cleared the distance between the two, and he slid a Kiss-enhanced knife into the monster’s skull.
Before the dead body fell to the ground, he was already flying toward the next beast. Just like its predecessor, this one didn’t even have time to screech before it died, its head almost torn off by his claws.
All of this happened in a matter of seconds, and Leo couldn’t hide the slight grin that spread over his face.
Now for the next part.
Just when the two beats collapsed on the street with a thud, he slid behind a car consumed by the Void and some overgrowth. Another moment passed, and the screeches from Voidlings walking along the street filled the air.
Hook, line, and sinker.
Essence surged through his body, sliding over his limbs and weapons as Kiss of Death answered the call. His muscles strained, waiting for the command, for the order to strike. And then, when a group of clueless Cursed Humans passed the car, they got their wish.
The world might have changed again, but your fate? Leo chuckled internally as he surged toward the nearest Voidling. Your fate will never change.
…
…
“Kill and grow. We will meet soon.”