Freed From Shackles

"I am in need of some inspiration. So I wish to hear your input."

"What is it that you wish to hear?"

"As you know I noticed something connecting with my Berserk Skill. I have even activated it a few times to see, but I haven't found the connection."

"What is it you are looking at?"

"The strengthening, the looks, the activation."

"Hmm. . .", The Slime King pondered for a moment.

Akiol changed himself into his human shape and sat cross legged. Whilst waiting for the King Slime to think, he continued to observe himself.

The Slime King spoke after some time, "Have you considered the origins of the skill? What powers you?"

Akiol considered it. As he thought of the past month he realized that not once did he consider where the Aura came from.

Now that it was obvious to him he felt a little foolish. Why hadn't he considered it?

This was because he subconsciously thought of it as a game skill. Instead of an actual skill gained through effort instead of a stone.

Akiol then replied to the Slime King, "I hadn't thought of it like that. I shall experiment. Thank you."

"Glad to be of help young one."

Akiol returned to his 'room' and waited for [Aura Boost] to finish its cooldown.

~ ~ ~

The Slime King shrunk into a normal sized slime and sighed. It was feeling tired recently, and it wasn't sure why.

The Slime King shuffled a little before hopping into a crevice to rest. It would see if this helped.

If Akiol were to see them like this now. He would notice that the Slime King's core was missing a chunk.

~ ~ ~

Akiol triggered [Aura Boost] the moment he did he examined the process from start to finish. The aura's origins was something he was almost able to gain sight of. Yet now his skill was running and the chance wasn't there.

And so for the next few days the same thing occurred:

Akiol triggers [Aura Boost] and studies the beginning transformation of it.

The half a second window of opportunity closes and he deactivates the skill.

He waits for the skill cooldown to end.

Repeat.

Akiol did not get frustrated once. Instead he patiently waited for every opportunity. Whilst he did he submerged himself with the memory of the experience.

More time passed, yet Akiol's schedule did not change.

Stars yawned, "How long are you going to do this?"

Akiol opened his eyes, he saw Stars in his human shape in front of him. Yet his surroundings were vastly different than before. It was like he was floating in space. Stars seemed to expand endlessly around him.

Akiol answered the question, "Until I figure this out."

"You know of all people you didn't ask me."

". . . Isn't this something that's related to me?"

"I am not sure, but the aura isn't."

"What do you mean?"

"Aura was a once widely spread technique to increase one's power. In fact this overtook the usage of mana for quite sometime."

"How do you know all this?"

"You aren't my first wielder. . . the first is long gone however."

Stars looked sad as he stared into the distance. Akiol knew it was best not to ask about the matter, at least not now. So he changed the focus of the subject, "How does one use Aura?"

"The process is lost in history after Mana overtook its popularity. I don't remember the exact way someone utilizes Aura, but I remember where it originates."

Akiol's eyes gleamed, this was the piece of the puzzle he was missing!

Stars pointed at himself, "It comes from your body."

Akiol closed his eyes, "Really?"

Stars held up a hand, "Hold on, let me finish. It comes from your body, your spiritual one to be exact. Like your soul but not quite. I can't seem to remember the exact explanation."

Akiol had a flash of inspiration and murmured, "Soul. . ."

A World's Legacy takes the body's soul and sticks it into a mysterious object. That object makes up the entire world of this game. Yet what is the connection between the soul and their in-game avatar?

What is their avatar? What brings this together? What is the connection?

Akiol submerged his mind into the place full of spots. His skills were far clearer now, for he had fine tuned the technique during the month he spent fruitlessly using [Aura Boost].

'There's something that connects us to this place. . .', Akiol thought.

Something that ties it all together. . .

Akiol floated upwards, slowly his small spots for his skills turned so small they were unable to be seen.

Something caught his eye as he floated towards it. It was a small strand floating. Occasionally a random color would pass through one end to another.

Akiol reached out and grabbed it.

Whommmm~~

[The String of Existence]

You have encountered a strange strand of something. Power flows through it and into you, what is it?

Objective: Find all the Strands of Existence (1/?)

Difficulty: ???

Time limit: ???

Reward: ???

Failure: ???

. . .

Meanwhile several powerful and influential figures all simultaneously looked upwards.

"A strand was found? After all this time?"

"Interesting! The new generation has not disappointed!"

"To come into contact with this. . . incredible."

~ ~ ~

In the development room a dev's head was full of question marks upon seeing a certain quest triggered in the server log.

They then asked, "Anyone know what a Strand of Existence is?"

The answers came varyingly, but they all meant the same thing. No one knew what it was.

"I'll forward it to the higher ups, it's strange that a quest we don't know about exists. . ."

~ ~ ~

Meanwhile Akiol was still being spammed with notifications.

<Warning!!! User is stepping into territory that may alarm many powerful figures. Tread with caution.>

<Due to this connection the weapon (Breaker of Stars) is destro-

. . .

Stars quieted down as he saw Akiol focus. He was well aware that breaking someone out of inspiration was a terrible action. So he sat and waited.

Whommmm~~

The area around Stars began to shake. Stars was immediately alarmed, "This is my personal space, I hold control over everything here! What is causing this-?"

A pain started coursing through him. Stars fell to the ground clutching his hair. The pain was unlike anything he had felt before. It was like his whole existence was tearing itself apart!

"Why? Why? Why why why why why? It hurts! It hurts so much! Stop! Please!"

Stars felt something crack. He rolled several times whilst calling for the pain to stop.

. . .

The notifications kept coming.

<???>

<%&@*#%>

Akiol opened his eyes, as he did he felt born anew. The once thin film that blocked his senses seemed to vanish. He felt his every action was free from some shackles that limited it before. It would be unexplainable to those who haven't felt it.

Akiol looked down to see Stars crying in his lap. He immediately patted his head and asked, "Are you okay?"

Stars looked up with a face filled with tears, "I thought I was gonna die!"

Akiol comforted Stars. It was partially his fault anyway. After an hour of this Stars felt better and asked, "What happened?"

"I seem to have came into contact with the String of Existence."

"String of Existence? What is that?"

Akiol shrugged, "I have no idea."

Akiol recalled the string of notifications. It seemed like all his stuff was destroyed, except for Stars.

The one thing he did notice was that some of his slime based skills weren't destroyed.

Why?

章 181: Freed From Shackles

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章 181: Freed From Shackles

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