บท 92: New panel

It was all a blur.

At the moment Aster let go of the arrow, his hearing ceased to exist.

The speed at which the phantom flame arrow traveled created a shockwave that immediately destroyed his eardrums.

His hearing had failed him, but his sight did not.

A blur released from his fingertips seemed to make space seem like an illusion as the sheer force it generated triggered tremors.

The barrier itself couldn't hold its integrity under the pressure and was blown off. Unfortunately, this had given the assassin a chance at escape.

His extreme reaction speed stemming from his high dexterity, combined with his unnatural quick thinking has saved his life.

Every cell in his body screamed off danger which compelled him to move even faster than he had ever moved before.

He instantly darted to the side.

The arrow reached his position not even a millisecond later and blitzed past.

To Aster, the whole thing was a blur.

The dust had risen after the launch of the thing that could only be described as the true arrow of death, causing his vision to be blocked.

At the very last moment, Aster thought he saw the assassin dodge but he couldn't be sure right now.

His arms had been blown off from the force alone, and his insides were a mess.

His regeneration had slowed down greatly as shown by the timer haunting the corner of his sight.

[Compulsory Quest: Acquire the system fragment within 5 minutes]

[Quest danger rating: S+]

[Quest difficulty rating S]

[Quest rewards: System upgrade]

[Failure penalty: Death. Destruction of the system]

[Time remaining: 5 seconds]

[Time remaining: 4 seconds]

His shoulder was growing painfully slow, his senses dulled, his bones broken, and his hp regeneration barely kept up with the damage that had been done.

He couldn't find the assassin during the remaining few seconds.

Fortunately, he didn't need to. The assassin came to him on his own.

He felt a dull sensation behind his back, the sensation of his flesh being cut.

Aster could guess who it was. His 5 senses slowly healed and the absolute sense zone became operational again.

He felt amazed by the sheer determination this person put into killing him but time was tight and he didn't want to die.

He sharply turned around and stomped the head of the assassin.

[You have killed a Rank 4 Lv 1 Human]

[+10 exp gained]

[You have obtained rank 4 soul fragment×1]

[You have obtained Essence of shadow×1]

[You have obtained Essence of water×1]

[You have obtained Soul Tablet(Shadow manipulation[EX])]

[You have obtained Soul Tablet(Stealth[Master])]

[Emergency mode has been disabled]

[Class: Warrior proficiency has been increased by 300]

[Class: Warrior has advanced to (Intermediate)]

[Class bonus: +20 strength, +20 endurance]

[The skill [Battlecry] has evolved to [Battlecry[EX]]

[Quest complete]

[Reward: System fragment]

[Optimizing…]

At that moment, Aster felt something rise from the headless corpse of the assassin.

He instantly used [True sight]

An ethereal fragments could be seen rising from his corpse. Although it was hard to identify what those were the fragments of solely based on their shape, it wasn't hard to guess with the glowy veins of the color yellow and purple within it.

It flew to his chest and Aster felt something as if something was put into a slot that he never knew existed.

He peered into his soul and sure enough, the sphere of the system had grown. The fragment possessed by the assassin had fused with his.

If what he had before was around 35% of a full sphere, then it was around 59% now.

Power overflowed within him.

[0%]

[17%]

[31%]

[57%]

[82%]

[99%]

[100%]

[Optimization complete]

[New tab has been created]

[New function was created]

<<<System upgrade panel>>>

[System fragments: 79]

[+1 slot for active titles]

[Cost: 20]

[+2 Attribute points per level up]

[Cost: 30]

[+2 skill points per level up]

[Cost: 30]

[+1 attribute points to all attributes every level up]

[Cost: 50]

[Function: Evolution]

[Cost: Unspecified]

[Reason: The act of metamorphosing into a different race is an unknown process. It is unknown if the system is capable of evolving the host with its current ability. It is recommended to rewire all of the newly acquired system fragments along with the main body to solely operate for the goal of successful evolution if the host wishes to attempt evolution.]

'...'