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"Stupid weather, why did it get to -21 overnight when yesterday it was only -11?" A sixteen-year-old boy kicked the snow under his feet, his tone dissatisfied, his cheeks reddened, and his teeth chattering from the cold.
This was to be expected, because right after school he had to go to his part-time job for about half an hour in -21°C. There was little joy in going to a part-time job at that age, and even less so in such bad weather.
But gritting his teeth and thinking of his lonely mother, who worked herself to the bone, and his younger brother and sister, he straightened up and walked purposefully, even in such weather. How could he not? He couldn't bear to see his mother come home tired and exhausted after work and try to raise three children on her own. So, gritting his teeth, he ignored his mother's pleas and, at the age of thirteen, got a part-time job with an old man he knew and began helping out in his spare parts shop while continuing his studies.
Bam
The boy's vision blurred slightly and his body lost control, causing him to slip and fall. Adjusting his hat, he muttered a series of indistinct curses.
"What the hell, I'm not so old that I should be falling on flat ground," the boy complained and complained, but still got up, dusted himself off, shook his head, and took a step.
BAM!
An even stronger blow struck his consciousness.
His mind clouded faster than his body could even stagger. In the next moment, a picture appeared before his eyes that he couldn't even clearly imagine.
A fight? No, a war? The picture was terrifying: a torn battlefield, two men attacking one guy, and next to the guy was a group of people who were lost against the backdrop of a dragon, an obsidian-black dragon with bright golden eyes and huge horns. They were talking about something while striking each other.
The most striking was a man who looked little like a man. His skin was gray as ash, with long hair slightly lighter than his skin. He had two large dark horns growing on either side of his head, forming an S-shape. His face was stern but at the same time impassive, and his eyes were red, both the pupils and the whites. The man wore a set of black combat armor covering him from the neck down. Even with all the carnage that was going on, his armor was barely damaged, and neither was he.
Next was a guy about 180 centimeters tall. His body was badly wounded, and he had a terrible red scar on his neck. But that wasn't what made him stand out. It was the aura around him, an unearthly aura, coupled with white and chestnut hair, lavender eyes that seemed to glow, and beautiful golden runes that stretched across his body, shining even through his armor and clothes. His condition was most pitiful; he looked like a cracked vase, his body falling apart here and there, as if in an anime.
The most inconspicuous was a boy about the same age as the guy with the dragon, but outwardly very similar to a man with horns. His skin was gray, and short black hair framed his sharp features, but the most striking thing was his face. His red eyes burned and boiled like water, and his entire face expressed hatred and a thirst for blood.
He was constantly saying something very loudly, but for the boy, it was just background noise. Everything was background noise at that moment. The boy could barely think. It seemed to him that he was drowning and that this was his last moment in life.
Arthur Cadell Nico - even with his mind clouded, his voice sounded in the bubble he was now in. He immediately recognized this scene, because just a couple of days ago he had finished reading TBATE and vividly remembered this moment.
His incorporeal form was very close, but no one reacted to him, and he couldn't do anything either. A small window appeared before his eyes, and then a second one. Words slowly formed from letters into several sentences.
[System activated]
[Newbie gift set added]
[Communication system welcomes the master]
[Wealth multiplication system welcomes the master]
Four notifications quickly flashed before his eyes.
"Ah," the boy gasped and in that same second, he finally felt like he could think clearly.
"The system, Arthur and finally I'm in another world," the boy slowly gathered all the information he had, and in that same second, panic overwhelmed him "what about my mom, my brother, and my sister? What will they do without me? "
Bam!
As soon as these thoughts entered his head, he slapped himself hard across the cheeks, instantly interrupting his chaotic thoughts.
"Phew, panic won't help right now. First, I need to understand what's going on, and then I can think about what to do with my lost family." Slowly and convulsively inhaling, he began to divide his attention, directing part of it to Arthur, Nico, and Cadell, while focusing most of it on the system and quickly trying to read its functions, but there were no explanations anywhere.
Shaking his head, he opened [Communication System], and immediately a board appeared in front of him with more than ten names on it and, as he understood, a talent rating, since there was a top list, and of course Arthur was first, followed by Sylvie, and Nico was third. He tapped on Arthur, and a single inscription appeared in front of him: [Connect?] Quickly glancing at the name of the system, he decisively pressed the inscription.
The next second, the rating was removed and a screen appeared with the message [you have connected yourself to someone, nine connections remain after disconnection, there will be a month-long cooldown]. At the same moment, several notifications appeared in front of him
Pain adaptation +0.1
Pain adaptation +0.3
Pain adaptation +0.1
Pain adaptation +2.1
Quickly finding the icon, he turned off all notification sounds and reopened the board, from which Arthur had now disappeared. Now Nico was in second place, and it was him that the boy wanted to connect for his future plans, but he stopped and, sighing slowly, closed the board, leaving only the main menu. [Communication System], which featured Arthur. Below it was a slider with the letters [talent increase x1-x5 (physical contact is required to increase talent above three)].
"How nice, but for now it's better to just watch and not interfere," the boy muttered, shifting his gaze first to more than ten notifications and then to [Wealth Multiplication System], which was empty. After poking at it a couple of times in an attempt to understand something, he gave up because the system was silent and unresponsive.
Disappointed, he looked at the main page of the system, which was completely empty except for a couple of perks, like in a game.
Body
Soul
Intelligence
Energy
Echoes
"Everything was clear until Echoes. What is it anyway? Skills, talents, or innate characteristics? Hell knows, I'll figure it out later," the boy scratched his long dark hair, shifting his gaze to the last glowing box, just like in a game.
[Beginner's Gift Set]
Mentally poking the set, it flashed with all the colors of the world for three seconds and then faded, leaving only two items.
[Perfect understanding of the language of this world]
[Eleventh Rank Fighter Talent]
[Accept?]
Quickly accepting the rewards, knowledge of language and writing wove into his mind very gently, causing no pain; on the contrary, it was like a pat on the head. But the talent of an eleventh-rank fighter appeared in Echo and did not bring about any immediate changes; he was not upset or disappointed.
Even with only two gifts, he simply nodded his head, because he could have received nothing at all. And this gift was very timely.
Turning his gaze to the battlefield, he simultaneously looked at the notifications from the [Communication System] and also watched the battle.
"Wow, all their movements!!" the boy muttered in shock, realizing the effect of [Eleventh Rank Fighter Talent]. All of Arthur Nico and Cadell's movements were slowly absorbed into his brain like water into a sponge. The effect was minimal simply because the boy himself did not know a single move, but even so, he began to absorb their movements.
The minutes dragged on, and now there was a different picture of the world. Madame Astera cut off her own leg. Arthur was driven into a corner, blood flowing from his nose. Tessia held him by the shoulder. The boy's spirit seemed to be tied to Arthur even before the system awakened, always keeping him close so that he could watch the whole scene. And then they started talking about something. The next second, Tessia did something stupid again. She kissed Arthur and heroically went to surrender to the enemy.
"What kind of horror is this? Why are you doing this? Can't you see that Arthur will die anyway? You could try to run away instead of spitting on his already accomplished actions to save you and going back into the jaws of the enemy in an attempt to 'save him'?" The boy spoke incessantly, his voice very emotional. He finally remembered why he didn't like this character, or in his case, personality.
After a few moments, Arthur stood with the medallion in his hand, desperately trying to activate it, blood oozing from his mouth.
Intelligence +13
Aether +13
Pain adaptation +7.4
Arthur stretched out his arms, one pointing at Nyphia and Madame Astera, the other at Tessia. Suddenly, everyone found themselves in a separate space. It was a separate pocket dimension that Arthur had brought everyone to. Without wasting any time, he threw the medallion with the coordinates engraved on it, as I remembered, and kept his hand in line with it. He bent the fingers of his outstretched hand as if forming the ether around the medallion, and a teleportation portal appeared.
He shouted something, his face expressing an attempt to keep the portal stable.
Without wasting any time, Madame Astera picked up Nyphia and rushed to the portal on her prosthetic leg. Throwing Nyphia into the portal, she ran after Tessia, who was still a few steps away. Arthur abruptly changed the size of the pocket dimension, instantly bringing Tessia closer to Madame Astera and the portal. Before she could even open her mouth, Tessia passed through the portal. Madame Astera glanced at Arthur for a second before jumping into the portal herself.
Meanwhile, the boy's spirit was very close by, watching everything. Emotions raged deep within him as he watched Sylvie glow purple, growing larger until she appeared in her dragon form.
He watched as Arthur's eyes widened in horror.
The boy slowly opened his mouth and, without even hearing what they were saying, uttered a phrase that brought tears to his eyes.
"Try to keep yourself alive while I'm gone, okay?" Sylvie said, giving Arthur a toothy grin.
"Silv, no! Don't do this!" Arthur shouted. In desperation, he tried to push her toward the portal, but his hands passed right through her.
Sylvie's body became ethereal and she began to disappear as particles of lavender and gold separated from her diminishing form and attached themselves to Arthur's body.
At that moment, Arthur fell to his knees, his body began to twitch involuntarily, he opened his mouth and tried to scream, but there was no voice. At that moment, Sylvie pushed him through the portal with the last limb she had left.
A moment later, a message from [Communication System] appeared before his eyes
[Arthur Leywin received (four-sided physique) seventh rank]
[Do you want to receive x10 or receive (four-sided physique) of the eighth rank?]
"Ah, I see how it works, not only skills but also any changes," the boy said to himself, his voice even in his head was full of emotion, but after calming down and thinking for a moment, he said, "Then I choose x10."
[Received (four-sided physique) of the seventh rank x10]
At that moment, a different picture unfolded before his eyes. Now it was the Sanctuary where Arthur had forged the Aether core. His exhausted body twitched convulsively, undergoing strange changes.
He focused on the system and mentally summoned [(four-sided physique) seventh rank], after which something he could not properly describe with words appeared in his hands. It was a baby, neither a boy nor a girl, barely larger than his two fists, gently pulsing with power. It was enclosed in a crystal, and both the child and the crystal emitted a faint, unearthly glow.
"Is that how it is?" Holding this thing in his hands, he felt a connection with the body, as if he could immerse his soul into it at any moment.
So he did.
The next moment, his consciousness clouded over and his eyes closed of their own accord. A moment later, warmth spread through his body and he opened his eyes sharply.
The vision of the body he had just used adjusted to the light in a couple of moments, and what the boy saw struck him. Concentrating in an attempt to see the light, his new body saw Aether.
"Oh, how beautiful," it was the most beautiful thing the boy had ever seen in his life, after his mother, brother, and sister, of course.
Relaxing his eyes, the Aether slowly disappeared from his vision, and he turned his attention to where he was. Turning his head toward the moaning sound of pain, he saw Arthur writhing in agony.
It seemed like only a couple of moments had passed.
Ignoring the main character, he turned his attention to himself, his new body. Now he was lying pressed against the wall, buried under stones, with only his head free.
While he was thinking about whether to get out of this rubble, his gaze suddenly turned toward Arthur when he felt something. At that moment, black fire appeared from Arthur's hand and began to slowly thicken.