*Ding*
*Ding*
*Ding*
Chuck could hear overlapping notification sounds inside his head as his eyelids slowly rose up. It was almost like he had set an annoying alarm to wake him up from his peaceful slumber.
Chuck woke up in his room, feeling a little bit drowsy and tired, as he was still feeling the total exhaustion from the previous day.
He couldn't help but smile at the stupidity he displayed the other day at the infirmary.
The activated skill that Chuck unlocked made him so overwhelmed that to the point where he couldn't develop the slightest level of perception in his surroundings. Noticing the burnt sheet, Chuck nervously wrapped it up and decided to sneak out of the infirmary.
Of course his plan was filled with setbacks, as he was caught directly by the healer assigned to look after him.
Giving her a series of excuses while trying his best to hide the sheets, she finally allowed Chuck to leave. After finding a suitable place to throw the burnt sheets,Chuck wasted no time as he quickly went to his dorm room.
Within a few seconds he dozed off like he had no care about anything in the world.
"Yeah it was kind of a long day yesterday wasn't it?," Chuck thought aloud as he stared out his window.
"Is it actually dark outside? I guess that makes sense. I slept way too early yesterday."
Grabbing his wrist watch beside him, he checked the time so that he could decide on whether or not he would go back to sleep.
4:49 am.
After verifying that there was still a boat load of time he had, all he wanted to do was close his eyes and doze off. Except he couldn't.
He couldn't help but think about this strange system. None of it made any sense to him. The origin, the purpose of the system, the creator of the system, and even the full capabilities…
He didn't have any answers for any of it, and it really baffled him. Chuck also noticed something that he tried to disregard, but couldn't shake off.
The moment he activated the infernal shroud back at the infirmary, he regained his ability to walk properly without any aid. After the little face off with Kaiden, he lost his crutches again, but unlike before, the need for it totally vanished.
Whatever was wrong with his legs had been healed. Chuck was of course fascinated by it, but he also felt uneasy about the whole thing.
"I need to do two things. Make research, and do some testing. I need to know the full capabilities of this system."
Chuck began to focus on the system interface, and quite swiftly, the transparent screen was seen in his line of view.
/Name>> Chuck Nectar /
/Race>> human /
/Class>> mage /
/Stage>> neophyte /
/HP>>10/10 /
/level>> error. User is too weak to be given a required level /
/Exp>> 80/100 /
/Skill>>
Infernal shroud: LV 1 /
/Harelm energy pool>>> 100/100 /
/Mana pool>>100/100 /
"Still too weak to be given a frikin' level? Even after I got a cool skill? Fuck this!" He shouted in annoyance.
But looking on the bright side, Chuck already got a skill from the system for merely fighting against someone. Meaning that when he got to level one, the rewards will be extremely high.
"Ohh I'm gonna have a migraine if I keep thinking too much," He sighed.
"And how the hell do I even understand the words written on the system? Even the alphabets are so weird. I wonder if I can use an AI translator on it."
Skimming through his stats, Chuck's eyes landed on something he had not seen before.
/Harelm energy pool>>> 100/100 /
"What does this even mean? Is it the golden energy? I mean it has to be. It's the only plausible explanation"
Chuck could only think of the "HARELM" energy to be the golden energy that resided inside him. It was because he only got the information after he unlocked his first skill.
"My best guess is that this Harelm energy is just like mana. The more power I use from the system, the more the energy gets depleted."
"So how the hell does it get filled up? When someone's mana gets depleted, their body automatically absorbs the energy from the atmosphere around them. And I don't think that this Harelm thingy is in our surrounding atmosphere."
"It's gotta be an alien like energy."
Chuck was slowly becoming a scientist, as his theories were all over the place.
Putting a pause to his brainstorm, Chuck thought that it would be better if he tried using the skill for an elongated period of time. It would help him know the rate of how much Harlem energy burns.
Not wanting to set his dorm room ablaze by the scorching fire that the Infernal shroud emits, he freshened up and headed out to the nearest open field he could find.
Navigating his way under the night sky, he found himself in a grass field.
It was open, free, and more importantly, private. This was the kind of space needed for Chuck to freely use his powers without anyone seeing him, or sneaking up on him… at least that's what he thought.
"Alright let's do this," Chuck readied himself.
"activate infernal shroud."
/Infernal shroud has been activated /
A familiar warm sensation warm overwhelmed Chuck, as his figure was engulfed in a golden flame. Chuck could feel the intense heat coming from the flames, but contrary to the flames, he didn't feel any hint of pain or burn.
Same couldn't be said for the grasses around him, as they immediately burned to crisp. The dim field lit up, and Chuck could feel the energy run through his veins.
"Nothing beats this feeling. Now all I gotta do I know how long it takes for the energy to deplete."
Chuck concentrated, closed his eyes and opened them after a few seconds. He now had the veiw of the god eyes.
Watching the energy flow inside him, Chuck could see waves of golden energy seep though his body occasionally. He lifted his right hand slowly, trying to control the energy flow to his palm.
Within a few moments. Chuck could feel the heat on his hand intensify. He had successfully managed to control the Harelm energy. Something that he could never do with his mana.
About two minutes later, Chuck dismissed the god eyes and saw a system message.
/Harelm energy>>> 97/100 /
"Well the pace is not too slow. I think I can work with this. I have to make sure no one knows about this power or mine. It'll be the perfect element of surprise."
Except Chuck was very wrong.
—
A silver haired girl dragged her feet across the ground like she was about to collapse. Tears streamed down her cheeks, as her eyes were filled with nothing but pain.
She just walked, and walked, not having a definite direction.
She continued walking in a random direction, until she saw something that caught her attention.
Far in the distance, she saw a beam of light reflecting on a grass field. Intrigued, She started heading in the direction of the light.
As she advanced closer to the source, she noticed that her surroundings got brighter and brighter.
Stopping her tracks, Kaiden saw a golden flame emitting a bright light. And inside this flame, was a male figure.
"What the hell is that? And why is the flame so golden in color?"
Kaiden his behind a tree and peeked through, trying to identify who was the person there. It was a familiar face that she could quite place her finger on.
After staring at this person for a while, it finally dawned on her.
"Isn't that guy that I burned in the combat class? Chuck Nectar?"