Bab 13: Dyed in Red

It only took 3 strokes from Zero's branch to completely crush Wylder's throat.

Blood dripped from the business end of his stick as he halted his assault. Zero looked down and saw that his opponent simply stared upwards toward the sky, but didn't blink and no longer even flinched.

He had officially killed his first person. Not in just this life, but in any.

+300 exp

Zero ignored the exp notification and continued to stare at his fallen enemy.

Kai also received +300exp for defeating Jacob. He reached out and placed a hand on Zero's shoulder. "You okay?"

Zero lowered the branch and dropped it off to the side. "I just killed someone." Was all he said as he couldn't seem to look away from the mutilated corpse.

"Well, this is a life or death game." Kai stated. "You did what you had to."

"I understand that. But...shouldn't I feel something?" Zero replied. As Zero stared at his handy work, he expected to feel some form of great remorse for doing an act that all of his short life was touted as unforgivable. However, that wasn't the case for him. "I just beat someone to death with a tree branch! Shouldn't I care more? Shouldn't I feel some type of sadness?"

Kai's eyes slightly widened as he took in Zero's words. Wait, he's upset because he DOESN'T regret killing him? Kai thought.

"Sorry. I shouldn't-" Zero began.

"You're just like me." Kai said as he cut him off.

Zero raised an eyebrow and looked over to his companion. "Like you?"

Kai's face softened as memories passed through his mind - some more unwanted than the others. "When I took down my first opponent I was so focused on surviving that I never thought about what it would feel like to take a life. Once I did...it was like I was just doing a chore or something. I didn't feel any worse or better. I think it's because we both came to this new world as hollow from our previous life. We were already dyed in red."

"Kai..." Zero mumbled. He was already well aware of his own upbringing and all the trauma that came with that - but for someone else to be able to relate to that could only mean they experienced similar hardship.

What happened to you? He thought as he couldn't bring himself to ask such a personal question.

Kai shook his head. "But, no need to dwell on all that." His solemn face made an up shift into one of approval. "We made it through our first fight together! I didn't even know you had made another paralyzing treat before we hit the road."

"Good thing I did." Zero responded. He didn't want to reveal that he wasn't just thinking about other players they may run into when he made it in secret.

Before he could say anything else, Wylder's and Jacob's bodies both began to glow a bright yellow. Then they evaporated into small bits of energy that sparse out into the world. But where each body once stood was now a red orb.

"Those look just like the ones we chose our system from!" Zero said.

"Exactly." Kai nodded. "That's because they are systems."

"Right. Rule 9: A random system from the player gets left behind after they die." Zero recanted.

"And that one is all yours, Zero." Kai said as he pointed to the red sphere in front of him.

Zero stepped forward and reached his hand through the sphere. Just like in the shrine, it shattered and reformed as a holo-screen with information about the system: Darkness Manipulation System.

The all too familiar now A.I voice kicked in. "The Darkness Manipulation System is a low level support system that gives the user two starting paths and one bonus path. The starting path will allow the user to manipulate shadows to hide things away or to even blind enemies. This is not to be confused with the Shadow Manipulation system that is based on weaponizing shadows. Upgrades will focus on how much something can be cloaked, affecting enemies, and the amount of darkness can be manipulated at one time."

A secondary box then appeared beside it that gave Zero the following option: 'Accept System?' or 'Decline System?'

Not sure why anyone would decline a system this early, Zero thought as he pressed 'Accept System'. The holoscreen burst into sparks of energy that were sucked right inside his body like the first time. The system knowledge as well as additional power coursed throughout him.

His HUD automatically popped up and he saw that he could now switch between the two systems on the skill tree section. That wasn't it however. There was a red '1' next to his Culinary System - when he switched over to that option he saw the following message: 1 Skill point available!

"Oh, I guess I leveled up my Culinary System after the fight."

"Nice!" Kai said. "What level was this new system?"

Zero switched back to it. "Looks like it's already level 2."

"Interesting. Guess his friend was taking a bulk of the experience points from picking on the weak." Kai scoffed. "No matter. But that means you have 2 available skill points for your new system!"

Zero raised an eyebrow. "Wait, how?"

Kai sighed. "Guess a system management lesson is in order. Here, I'll show you how to make yourself into a badass before we move on."

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