Bab 5: Changes
Azura grunted in discomfort, feeling the front of his body pressed against something hard.
He fought the urge to sleep and opened his heavy eyelids slowly.
Upon opening his eyes, he was greeted by a familiar object—a Chinese lucky cat decoration, waving at him with its right paw. Azura frowned, he remembered buying this lucky cat when he was begging for some luck a month ago.
Pushing himself up with a blurry mind, he sat down tiredly.
Sunlight was phasing through the windows, providing a natural light inside the room.
"What time is it...? I need to go to work" He uttered, rubbing sleepy eyes, trying to wake up.
But when his soul was back, his body tensed instantly.
Everything that happened last night came rushing into his mind like a tidal wave, he recalled the train wreck of events that occurred to him, and he also distinctively remembered that he passed out while he was running.
Looking at his hand, he found a black book there, a confirmation that he was not dreaming.
Azura swept his eyes around the place and found that he was back home.
"How in the world did I get here?" He mused in confusion.
From the camping site to his home, it was at least several miles away, which is why he took the subway to get there yesterday. He couldn't believe he got back by himself, and it didn't seem like he was brought back by anyone either as the house was empty.
Sitting silently for a second, trying to remember what happened, Azura could only sigh.
He only remembers running and passing out—after that, there were flashes of memories of him inside the woods that he didn't remember doing, but that was about it. Other than that, he couldn't remember.
"I'll just ask Caelum, he must've seen me coming home," Azura nodded and got up.
Going to the sofa, he sat on it and put the black book on the table.
Despite not being able to remember how he got here, he recalls seeing a magical screen that follows him around everywhere. But at this moment, he doesn't see the screen anywhere. He tried to call the screen, thinking that there was a trigger mechanism, but nothing worked.
"Whatever, I'll see what this book is about,"
Azura decided to open the book, wanting to read more thoroughly.
No matter how many times he thought about it, the incident last night was a complete shock.
He couldn't believe that monsters were actually real.
Moreover, he still needs to find out more about the screen that miraculously healed him.
Leaning his body forward, Azura began to read the black book, the Resonance of Darkness.
From the early chapters of the book, he learned that the Resonance of Darkness was a book to learn a dark technique to absorb dark mana. Azura also read the term Hyrbid used several times in the book which refers to a person who had already awakened their avatar.
Avatar was another term for the inherent mutation of the gene.
Vampires, Werewolves, and Ghouls to name a few, were an Avatar that one might have.
Collecting enough mana is the first path to becoming a Hybrid, and only through stimulating the dormant gene with the use of mana and other required materials can one become a full-fledged Hybrid.
Naturally, the use of mana needs to be altered depending on the person's affinity.
One might have a dark affinity, while others might have a fire or even light affinity.
"It's like I'm actually reading a fantasy book" Azura mused in surprise.
Skimming past the few pages, Azura read through the entirety of the step-by-step manual to use the technique before he reached the end part of the book. He found that there was a detailed instruction to devour rotten human meat after the gene was stimulated enough with dark mana to become a Ghoul.
Looking at this, Azura's eyes squinted, "So that little girl is a Ghoul... what even is a Ghoul?"
Azura sighed inwardly, he decided to go to the library later to learn about these creatures.
On the last page, there was a table that piqued his interest.
Displayed in a horizontal row were various types of mana, starting from dark, light, fire, wind, water, and earth. Adjacent to them, in a vertical column, were the grades starting from F all the way to S which was the highest.
Inside the table were all kinds of Supernatural monsters with most Azura was not aware of.
He knew the popular ones, the Demons and Angels at the S-grade under the dark and light mana type section. But as he read through this, he couldn't help but suck in a cold breath, "So you're telling me that all of these monsters are real, and people can turn into them? Nah, that's not possible, right...?"
Azura started to second-guess his own reality.
On one hand, he dismissed the book as utter rubbish as there was no way these monsters could remain hidden in the modern world without being exposed. However, he considered the possibility that they might really exist.
How could he not when he experienced what he experienced last night?
At the very least, there were three fantasy monsters he came across in last night's incident.
It was surreal, but he saw them with his own two eyes.
Shifting his eyes down to the bottom of the last page, Azura found that there was a warning.
"Consider always going for your legacy avatar, or else you risk becoming a Berserker"
Reading this, a frown appeared on his face.
A Berserker? What's that?
Ring!
Just as he thought of that, the alarm rang, showing that it was already twelve o'clock.
Upon seeing this, Azura immediately sprung up, "I got class!"
Going for a smell of his armpits, he was immediately assaulted by a nasty scent of scent from all the running he did last night. Immediately, Azura went to the bathroom to shower. He only had an hour before the class started.
Inside the bathroom, he quickly took off his clothes.
However, his movements were halted as his eyes were fixed on his reflection.
"When did I get this...?"
Azura shifted his gaze to the mirror, where he noticed a gray mark etched at the center of his chest. It resembled a fluid, interlocking shape with a moon nestled at the core. It looked like a tattoo, but it was definitely not a normal tattoo.
Touching it with his hand, Azura could feel the texture, and his heart tightened with unease.
From his view, this definitely looks like trouble.
Right in the next second, he was startled back when he saw the screen appearing again.
———
Status Window
Name: Azura Vasdazs
Avatar: -
Adapted Gene (0/2): -
Gene Pool (1/2): Ghoul (B-grade)
Hybrid Grade: F
Sanity: 95%
Stats:
• Strength: 2
• Agility: 2.6
• Vitality:1
• Perception: 1.1
• Intelligence: 0
Talents:
• Superhuman Body (1/5)
• Mystic Sense (1/5)
Skills:
• Polymorph (1/10)
———
Even though he could feel that the magical screen was attached to him, he was still shocked to see it randomly appearing in his vision. It felt like he had a chip inside his brain, and there wasn't anything he could do to get rid of it.
It really is like a game, just what is this?
Assessing the status window, he found that Human was not present in the avatar, adapted gene—whatever that is, and gene pool. He was undoubtedly born human, thus seeing this made his eyes widen.
But then, a thought came to mind that made him shudder.
Don't tell me, am I not a human anymore? Did meeting those monsters turn me inhuman too?!
There was no other explanation other than that.
Somehow, meeting those monsters might've initiated a mutation and turned him into them.
Azura only understands the stats section, talent, and skills—other than that, he has no clue.
Observing the status window, fear rose inside of him.
It could be seen through his pale expression that this was too much for him to grasp quickly.
A moment later, Azura was sitting in his class with his head pressed against the table.
Seated at the back of the classroom during his first class, his mind wrestled with the sudden appearance of the mark on his chest, and also the status window. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't get these thoughts away from his head.
Knowing that he was not a human is a scary thing to know, and he didn't like it.
He felt singled out among the rest.
Raising his head, he takes a look at his own hands.
I feel completely normal, I don't feel like something changed about me.
Just as he was inspecting his hands, trying to see if there was something wrong with him— the professor at the front noticed him looking at his own hands, and sighed, "Mr. Azura, why don't you explain to me the concept of depreciation?"
"E- Eh?" Azura's eyes widened when he suddenly got called out by the professor.
Seeing his confused look, the professor continued, "Since you seem like you understand my subject already, seeing that you find your hands more interesting than me, why don't you go and show the class your profound understanding of the material for today?"
Azura felt awkward as the other students turned to look at him.
Clearing his throat, he was about to answer but got cut off once again by the professor.
"As I thought, you don't know the answer, you don't know anything," the professor intervened with a shake of his head. "Don't be like him, class, or you'll become nothing in the future. Let us move on, open page-"
Upon hearing the professor mocking him, Azura could only smile wryly.
But I know the answer, though...
Rolling his eyes, Azura averted his gaze elsewhere and imitated the professor out of anger.
"Don't be like him class, or you'll become nothing-" He mocked whisperingly.
However, at that moment, his eyes flared open.
[You have obtained 10 Adaptation Points]
"Huh...? Adaptation Points, what's that?" Azura leaned back in surprise.
Even though he was fearful of what was happening to him, he couldn't deny the fact that his curiosity was now piqued. He knew that something was going on with his body, and it would be better for him to learn about it more rather than leave it as it was.
Despite his full mind and fear, it's always better to be safe than sorry.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone