The same thing happened to Aureus a month or so before he joined the school, the system had given him a starter package. It was later found out the reason the system did this was because it decided that Aureus had been worth an investment.
I walked into one of the bathrooms that had been in the hallway shutting and locking the door.
"What do you mean starter package?"
[The Host is eligible to change their energy nature and quality]
Energy nature is basically the affinity that is possessed by the person's energy while energy quality is the form of which the energy takes like mana, divine power, spirit power, etc. The people of this world are only aware of divine power and mana since it's all that humans have learned to use.
"Hm?"
Two different holographic menus appeared in front of me on the right with different elements and affinities while the one on the left had different energy qualities. The left one was much shorter than the one on the right.
"Oh…I think I get it."
I thought for a moment.
'Energy quality…since I'm a swordsman I don't need anything as versatile as mana or something as limited as divine power. Divine power was strongest against things like demons and ghouls. And mana was made up of particles that were typically spread apart naturally allowing it to be versatile. But in turn usually mana lacked thickness, in fact the thicker mana was the worse the person was off as a mage.'
Considering that I told the system.
"Look for an energy quality that was thick and look for a nature that would aid my physical body."
[Understood, the items that would best suit the hosts criteria would be…]
[Energy Quality–
Qi: A thick energy that was stored in the abdomen and physical
body like muscles and organs.
Energy Nature–
Lightning: Allows the user to manipulate and channel lightning to speed up their natural speed.
Blood: Energy that nourishes the user's body, allows the user to control their own blood and the blood of their enemies.
Wind: Enhances the natural accuracy possessed by the user.]
"Wait…Qi.."
I remember hearing about Qi in those fantasy novels and whatnot
that some of the nurses liked reading on breaktime. It typically focused on Eastern Asia…kind of like the place that Min's attire reminded me of.
I had to try something before making a decision I closed my eyes and thought in my mind.
'Min can you hear me?'
I heard a familiar voice, 'Yes I can..'
'Thank god..'
'What do you need Rohan?'
'Are you familiar with Qi?'
'Why…yes I am.'
I made sure to pinch my brows in order to sell the fact I was
thinking…which I was technically.
'So to explain in a short manner the Ziat is allowing me to change my mana into Qi and the affinity of my energy.'
'Take the chance..in all honesty there were quite a few martial artists that possessed this library before you, in fact more martial artists than mages.'
'What…actually no, that's besides the point.'
'What are the choices for affinities?'
'Lightning, Blood and Wind.'
'You're trying to become a swordsman right?'
'Yeah.'
'I recommend choosing blood. Plus your adoptive father uses blood mana right?'
'Oh yeah…I completely forgot about that.'
'Thank the heavens I'm aware of the Ruena qualities more than you are then.'
'Alright thank you Min…I should probably stop talking in my head before the Ziat gets suspicious so bye.'
'Goodbye young dragon.'
Min's voice faded away as I opened my eyes.
"I choose Blood and Qi."
[Understood.]
Understood…everytime that word was uttered it was followed with immense pain and suffering on my end. This time was no different as I had to grab on to the sink focusing my strength onto my grip in order to not fall forward.
I could feel my muscles were being pumped with energy and my blood was getting thicker, probably due to the blood affinity. I vomited blood into the sink. I've lost so much blood in the few hours I've been in this world…how annoying. I turned on the water so the blood would go down the drain and grabbed a tissue to wipe my mouth.
Even without the system telling me I could tell what the changes were. The Qi strengthened my muscles and organs making them stronger overall and the blood affinity had enhanced their abilities. So blood pumped through my body better and my muscles were also more flexible.
I looked in the mirror to see that my previously silver eyes had become a shade of ruby, resembling my father's eyes. And with my hair I had enough qualities for nobody to doubt our family relation.
"System open my status window"
------------------------------------------Stats---------------------------------------------
Name: Rohan Ruena
Race(s): Dragon,Spirit,Axolotl
Classes: Swordsman,Librarian
HP: 1620/1620
QI: 1000/1000 (Qi Formation)
Points: 0
Stats:
Strength: 13
Durability: 13
Endurance: 13
Agility: 13
Senses: 40
Qi: 10
Trait: Weaving
Abilities: Draconic Eyes(Ex), Draconic Heart(Ex), Draconic Circuit(Ex), Draconic Tongue(Ex), Draconic Scales(Ex), Draconic…, Spirit Adaptation(Ex), Spirit intangibility(B+), Spirit Sight(SS), Elemental Form, (S), Spirit…, Regeneration (Ex), Camouflage (B), Breathing (A), Water-breathing (A), Swimming (A), Sensory Boost (S)...Shelf of Memory (S), Merge (S), Crowned Grace (EX-), Swordsmanship (C),Sword Circulation (S)
Skills: Horizontal Swing (D), Vertical Swing (D), Diagonal Swing (D), Block (E), Parry (E), Basic Footwork (E), Reading (F), Translation (F), Sword Breath (D), Memorise (B)...
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"God…all that pain for four stat points."
I took note of all the changes in the window. From the change of mana to Qi and the added health points.
"I thought I'd lose some abilities too.."
[Those abilities are a part of the host as they are racial abilities.]
"Ohh."
That made sense I guess. Though I will say my clothes felt together since my muscles got a bit bigger.
"I'll just ask father to get somebody to remeasure me."
I left the bathroom continuing on my walk to the dining area.
'It's probably only been around 12 minutes since I've been called.'
I grabbed onto the door, opening it and seeing my parents at the table.
"Good Morning" I said with a smile.
My father and mother looked at me with their eyes widened.
"Son…your eyes." My father asked.
"Oh I think I awakened my attribute."
Most children in this world awaken their affinity by the age of 10, but it isn't impossible to find somebody who awakened late.
"Wait…did you awaken the blood attribute by chance?" My mother asked me after setting down her fork.
"I don't know but..my muscles feel strangely nourished and it's like I can feel the flow of blood throughout my body."
My mother's lips curved into a small smile as she looked at my father who had a much bigger smile on his. He pushed his chair back and walked to me. He embraced me, soon letting me go with a pat of my shoulder.
Quin Ruena of the mighty Ruena family, they had been a family of knights. They had always been notable in history but usually on the ostracised end. The Ruena family had stayed in the viscount rank due to the density of their mana that was a result of their blood attribute mana. So they couldn't use magic like the other noble families and typically relied on using their own blood to create weapons and such. So, to them their blood attribute was a curse. But not to my father, after the death of the previous family head, he took up the mantle and demonstrated a new way to use the cursed blood attribute. He used the blood of his enemies against them, and when he was dripping with blood he covered himself in it. He became a fearsome foe, a man akin to a demon. Earning him the moniker 'Demon Drenched in Blood'. It was a mouthful but it certainly fit him.
However, I guess to have somebody else, his own son in fact, inherit this attribute that he had fought tooth and nail to give worth to, was worth a lot. It felt like all he had come to teach himself throughout gruesome war after war wouldn't die with him.
I only knew this because he had a similar reasoning in the game whenever Aureus struck him down and searched his memories.
We both sat back down and the three of us ate our food.
"Rohan…I know this may be difficult to answer but are you human?" My mother asked me with a look of concern in her eyes.
"..No I'm not. I'm a mixture of Draconic and Spiritual races along with a third."
This world hadn't yet classified Axolotls so I just kept it unknown.
Hearing this news both the Duke and Duchess paused with utensils in hand as I ate.
'I knew this conversation would happen at one point.'
I finished eating, and set down my utensils on the plate looking up at my parents who had been patiently awaiting the story.
"So..I was born through experimentation with chimaeras. They had mixed different species together. I was originally a spirit baby that had taken on a physical manifestation in the form of a human. They had mixed me with the blood of a dragon and that of a third unknown species that had strong regeneration. I had been raised in that facility for 6 years, but was then rescued by 2 people, a man and a woman. They weren't significantly strong, but even still they got me out of their using their brains and they had raised me in the woods until a pack of wolves ate them. The only reason I was able to survive was because the wolves avoided me due to my draconic side."
My mother and father covered their mouths with their hands as they looked at me who had seemed seemingly emotionless to the fact.
'I'm sorry I have to lie to you..'
They took their time to process, and it was easy since there were no maids or knights in the dining room with us to gaze upon them.
Even though we only knew each other for a day, these two had become like parents to me and for them I was the closest they'd have to a child. So lying to them really did hurt, but I knew it was necessary. Otherwise the system would catch me.
I wiped my mouth and walked away from the table without turning back in order to let them process.
"Come to the training field in 3 hours."
I heard my father and left the dining hall with a relieved sigh. I walked to my room without halt, dropping face down into my bed as soon as I was close enough. I pushed myself off of the bed and took off my black vest and shoes.
"System, can you wake me in around 2 hours 50 minutes?"
[Yes, Host.]
'Min once I'm asleep take my consciousness into the library.'
I didn't bother waiting for confirmation before I laid back down on my bed and drifted off into sleep.
The next moment I opened my eyes to a room with familiar shelves.
"Welcome back."
"How much of this domain is under your control Min?"
"A decent amount, why?"
"Can you change up the time dilation so that 12 hours in here is 3 out there?"
"I most likely can."
"Good then please."
He snapped his fingers as he sat on a levitating book.
"Now please get me the actual book."
Knowing what I meant, he tossed me a book with a black leather cover with words carved in gold that read, 'The Life of Rohan Petroff'
"So is that your original surname?"
"Mhm."
"Lucky for you, I wasn't able to open the book no matter how much strength I applied to it. I assume the god that summoned you is the protective type."
"No clue", I said as I sat at one of the tables. "Can I separate specific contents of the book into separate books?"
"Yes, you just have to think of the contents and the library will do the rest."
I thought about each of the runs from the first to the last and as I did 165 different books stacked on top of each other.
"Oh my…how many books." Min looked at me with a glint of surprise in his eyes.
I shrugged my shoulders.
"How old were you in your original world?" He asked me.
"16 years old."
"Are you deceiving me?"
"No, why?"
"Each of these books judging by the pages has around 20 years of content."
"Oh..don't worry about that."
He wasn't entirely wrong, another weird thing about the original game 'Purgatory', is that it was a scientific anomaly. While each complete run was 20 hours of gameplay in reality, inside the game it was 20 years of content. So it was a game that dilated time, but that's not what made it a scientific anomaly, it's the fact that even the player themselves felt like only 20 hours had passed. So even after spending 20 years in the game the player both felt like and remembered it as 20 hours. And for some reason no player could remember crystal clearly exactly what happened in the run because it was like every memory had blurred together. Though, when they entered the game next the memories had sorted themselves out. So without the headset I was 16, but while I had that headset on you could say I was 16 individually but as Aureus I had experienced 3300+ years. But, not really because even now my memories were jumbled up so I only had 16 years worth of memory. So even with the photographic memory that I thought would help me I couldn't remember the contents of the game.
That would be the case if the library couldn't sort out the contents into books.
By the way when I say 165 runs I mean 165 runs where I had gotten an actual ending. 164 of those were when I made it to the end of the universe and only 1 of those was I killed before then by the system. I didn't include the times I had died from the hands of a boss or a random person. If I had included those there's a possibility there would be 9,000 years of content.
I flipped through the book labelled the first run, and as I read through it, it didn't sound like me; it truly felt like I was reading Aureus's autobiography. I guess it was because while I was playing the game I referred to Aureus as myself since I had to act like Aureus due to it being a quick time/dialogue choice game. Hell even the steps I took were the steps Aureus the character wanted to take, in terms of gameplay 'Purgatory' could be considered a game with 5% of player dependability. In truth we were just watching Aureus be Aureus.
Reading through the first book I was reminded why it was considered a trash game.
I sighed as I finished the first book in around a minute and a half. Due to my enhanced senses and agility I could flip pages and read fairly quickly.
As I put down the book I wrote down notes in an empty notebook prepared by Min. I dedicated an entire page for the single run as I would for the next runs. The note taking took around 50 seconds.
'So, considering the time to read and write down notes, each run will take me 2 minutes 20 seconds. And for 165 that's around 6 hours 24 minutes leaving me another 6 hours to properly look through the notes.'
Finishing my thoughts I continued on to the next book, put it down and wrote, then repeated the process for the next, then the next, and then the next. I repeated the process again and again until I got to the book I had been waiting for.
'The 67th run' I thought to myself.
I picked the book up and flipped through it like I did the ones previous.
"Oh…I forgot about her."
My second favourite character, the daughter of the highest of peaks, Princess Estelle. I read her description with care not missing a single detail.
"A girl with fair white skin, long brown hair which waves of the ocean could be compared to, contrasting crimson red eyes, that carried with it a bath of blood."
She was also the only other notable swordsman in the academy. While there were others in the academy that used swords, she was the only swordsman that was within the top 10 rankings…no she was ranked first. In fact, she was so strong she was exempt from the entrance exam that even Aureus had to attend. In terms of runes, she'd be on her 3rd rune during the entrance exam season, while Aureus and the heroine would be on their 2nd runes.
Speaking of the heroine, her description was also noted in the 67th run.
"A beautiful woman with hair made of golden thread that shined with the light of the sun, and complimenting blue eyes that carried with them the beauty and glow of the sky during the day. Her skin was as clear as the full moon and her posture was as elegant as a swan…"
The description kept going on and on with seemingly no end. Once again, this was in Aureus's point of view and in his view from the very moment he laid eyes on her he had fallen deeply in love with her. Truly love at first sight, though that led to him losing to her desperately.
This girl's name was Anais Reindhart, and she was a mage specialising in shield magic.
Did that mean she could only defend?
No, in fact it was the opposite, her shields could change shape, from the classic 2D circle that blocked attacks, to a complex 3D arrow that shot forward. Although, by the entrance exams she's still stuck on 2D shapes she still finds her own way to use it for combat.
As for why these two notable characters appeared in the same run, I do not know. But I do know one thing, they stand on opposite sides. While Anais was the heroine, Estelle was the villainous if you will. Though she wasn't a villainous that loved Aureus, she was rather a villainous that hated Aureus, she hated his talent, for magic was the thing she hated the most. Not to mention his lover who was a commoner. But the magic thing was the most notable because Estelle hated magic or more specifically magic spells. The only 'spells' she used were spells that enhanced her physical traits, like haste that increased speed, or endurance, that increased her pain tolerance. She hated spells that controlled the laws of nature, which was all Aureus did. Aureus controlled tsunamis, lightning storms, and even rid a country of their drought with his magic.
But she hated magic, we find out later it was cause of how she was raised, specifically by her mother. Her mother was part of a cult that hated magic called 'Honoured Origin'. They seeked to bring the world back to its 'original' state when humans couldn't play gods. So Estelle had been indoctrinated by her mother, who was then executed by her father along with the rest of the cult. So as a child Estelle had made it her goal to get rid of magic. She even asked her father to let her execute prisoners so she could get used to killing, and her father had foolishly accepted it, because to him killing had become something normal so he didn't see why a child shouldn't do it.
After that anytime an assassination attempt was made on her she instructed her guards to let her take care of it until it became an emergency. With that she even obtained genuine combat experience.
I shut the book after reading the part about her backstory. While that was quite informing I knew there were quite a lot of details left out. All I know is, if she's not stopped the cult comes back into play and then Aureus has to fight against a bunch of psychopaths that don't care if they live or die. She became Aureus's most difficult foe because not only was she strong, she had the entire kingdom at her disposal after her father died. So after defeating her and completing the rest of the 67th run Aureus had once again regressed.
I picked up the 68th book and looked through it. There, Aureus had tried to talk to Estelle and that didn't work and the player couldn't do anything because we had limited dialogue options as Aureus, and he once again struggled with her. And he couldn't just outright kill her as she was the princess. So from the 71st run on Aureus had decided to rather than take her, he'd support her older sister for the fight for the throne. And that had become the strategy for every single run onward.
I put down the one hundredth book stretching my arms out as I yawned.
I always regretted not being able to save her and do something different, maybe I'll be able to do something this time.
I went back and picked up the next book.
Now as for the reason why I'm not mentioning the heroine, it's because she typically died around when Aureus was 24, and the game typically went on until Aureus was 35. No matter what Aureus would do she'd always die, sometimes she died while they were still in the academy. Up until the very last run he had tried to save her.
And those are the two most notable characters for this run. Of course there are characters like Owen and the antagonists but for now these two are the immediate problem.
I picked up the notebook with notes for all 165 runs.
Looking at Min I handed it to him open.
"Read that please."
Min flipped through the notebook with widened eyes.
"What in the world…is this?"
I smiled while taking the book back and flipped through it myself.
The notebook wasn't written in a language or even numbers but rather, drawings of different ducks. I had assigned each duck with a slight difference be it an arm slightly misplaced or a bill drawn slightly curved.
Why did I do that?
Because my memory could assign each of those slight differences an entire word, so I'd be the only one in the world who could read this notebook. And even if the system was from the future this wasn't an existing language in any modern world so I'd even be able to comfortably read it around it if I so pleased.
"Title this book 'Duckology' and assign it to the library so if desired I can take it to the physical world."
"...Okay."
Min did as I said and the brown leather covered book was engraved with white text that read as I instructed 'Duckology'.
"Is there any way I can take out a book without coming into the library?"
"Not yet, but once you ascend to the second floor you should be able to."
"Speaking of, can I still ascend to higher floors without runes?"
"The main reason you need runes is because the higher the rune level the more mana you can control and condense. Each level requires a key made of energy and as you go up the key must be made of more energy while maintaining the same shape, so you'd need a higher rune level to be able to manage that. However, a dantian, the energy core for Qi can manage the same thing."
"Oh..that makes sense. By the way I have like 5 hours left right?"
"Mhm."
I jumped onto a table lying down.
"Hm?"
"Since five hours in here is only like an hour or so out there I can get some mental rest."
"That is true..a few of the previous hosts made use of that as well."
"Glad to know I think on the same wavelength as many great minds."
I used some leather books as pillows and shut my eyes. I heard Min say something slightly before I fully lost consciousness.