The young boy woke up from his deep slumber.
The pool's water was drained after centuries of keeping him alive. The glowing crystals were broken and shattered on the ground, hence the light source faded. It was pitch black, Akamatsu immediately stood up and walked.
"Mother, Father, Aki and Rika" It was all he could think of. It only felt like a minute for him. Maybe it was just a nightmare that woke him up, he kept walking to find the way out. Akamatsu was only half awake, he used his two hands to sense his surroundings. He kept walking until a ray light caught his attention. He thought it was the exit, therefore he ran hastily towards the light source. Once he arrived, the Akamatsu found himself disappointed when found himself just in another portion of the deep cave.
This time purple crystals hang on top of the cave like chandeliers. There was still a sign of life, as vines and plants were present inside this grotto. He decided to wander around, he still hasn't given up on returning back to his beloved family. The mana changes his physical form, the young quickly notice when he passes a crystal that reflects his body. "W-what happened?" He looked surprised. His hair had reached the ground floor, he raised his lengthy bangs to see clearly and now everything made sense to him. He knew what had simply happened.
His body grew until it reached adulthood, the power of the puddle kept preserving his body that way. He didn't look like the wimpy skinny boy back then; his muscles were buffed and his body felt light. He finally had the power to fight, however it felt vain for him. Akamatsu sobered and grieved again for his dead loved ones. Now he knows that it definitely was not a dream
"ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!" He screamed in pain, his booming voice echoed throughout the cave, the plants shivered and the ground vibrated. "From this day, I vow to slay every fucking goblin that I'll see!" Akamatsu may have been in a coma for a long long time but his grudges towards the creatures who slaughtered his parents remained. He made an oath for revenge, "Every single goblin that I see will face my wrath." He wept and bit his lips with great anger breaking in his heart. He stood up once again to continue his goal to find the exit.
"Jump back!" He heard a sound from his head.
The young man sensed the danger incoming and immediately followed without hesitation. His instincts saved him; the ground shattered, caused by a giant reaper scythe. He noticed a 10ft tool figure floating in midair, it quickly pulled the weapon, attempting to strike Akamatsu once again. However, the movements seemed slow in his eyes, thus he quickly evaded its attacks.
They were known as the Reaper Hollows who roamed the place where he stood in. A blind monster who was attracted by his thunderous voice.
"Check your status." He heard the voice once again.
"Status check!" Akamatsu whispered in thoughts.
It was a key component to activate a simple scanning magic. It was taught to him by his father, and only those who have reached the required mana can unlock this skill. Upon activating, Akamatsu was shocked seeing his own status.
Akamatsu Hahito
Class: ????
Physical strength: 3000
Magic power: 5,000
Mana power: 10,000
Speed: 500
Physical resistance: 3000
Magic resistance: 5000
Special abilities:
Prime: Anyone who peeks into your own status will see nothing but the number 1 in each status.
"What in the world is this? Impossible!" He couldn't believe in what he just saw. His personal status looked completely different from before, it was too good to be true. "What just happened?"
Unlock divine key?
Yes, or Yes
A readable text appeared in front of him. There were choices but all leading to the same answer. YES! Akamatsu agreed. Upon unlocking it, he saw the skill tree in front of him leading all to infinite abilities of magic.
Divine key:
Allows the user to unlock any type of ability from the skill tree, given that he reaches the specific requirements needed.
"What is this?" He wondered.
" I am your divine ability, given to you by an individual who shall not be named. I am Knowledge, your personal guide, I coexist within your thoughts to guide you on your journey. If you need anything please just ask me." The female voice introduced itself.
Akamatsu quickly understood its existence since it was explained to him before. They were part of magic user consciences, which can think on its own and are known to be wiser than the user. Akamatsu kept evading the attacks of the reaper, it was slower despite having a ghost-like form.
"So, what should I do next?" Akamatsu asked.
"For starters, I suggest you pick an element to use for combat. Divine key allows you to unlock any element, and even discover new ones. But for now, stick to one and use it to defeat the enemy!" Knowledge explained.
Akamatsu decided on which element he should pick from the skill to reveal to him the basic elements, air, earth, water, electricity, ice, light, dark and fire. The tragic memory brought his thoughts back to what happened to his bloodline He saw the smoke from his village, the burnings house, he remembered his fiery wrath towards the goblins who murdered his family. Thus, Akamatsu didn't have a second thought to pick the fire element.
"It's the magic that I will use to destroy all the monsters I see!"
Unlocking Fire element.
"User can now use Fire generation, Fire manipulation and Fire magic."
"Neat!" Akamatsu scoffed as he faced the reaper hollow. He felt the abundant amount of mana flowing around his body, he remembered the feeling of burning flames, thus fire ignited from his hand. His two hands were engulfed by flames, yet he didn't feel any pain from it. The reaper growled before it struck a downward slash towards Akamatsu, but he knew what to do. Akamatsu blasted the fire from his hand and burst the flames that blasted the reaper hollow.
"You shall face my wrath!!" He molded the flames into a ball-like form by compressing mana inside of it. Akamatsu threw it towards the hostile monster to which the creature thought it could block it. But upon collision, the fireball quickly exploded and destroyed its weapon.
The monster recognized his strength and decided to escape, but Akamatsu gave no chance. He created a dome of fire and trapped the hollow inside it. The monster realized that there's no way-out and. The hopeless creature blasted a dark energy beam towards him; however, Akamatsu simply deflected it with his bare hand. He pointed his palm towards the reaper and fierce burning flames blasted the monster until there was nothing left.
"Unlocking Pyro science. User has absolute knowledge about fire magic."
"Again, neat." Akamatsu felt the power surging within him. Despite the victory, he felt incomplete. He misses the cheering voice of his parents. After he slayed the reaper, he took a few pieces of a crystal shard that had dropped from it's corpse and continued venturing to the unknown. Akamatsu followed the ominous energy that he felt.
What Akamatsu didn't know is that the cave was a part of an established dungeon that sprouted a hundred years ago. Built by the ancient builders to seal vicious monsters, also to hide their well-kept treasures. Adventurers explore these dungeons in pursuit to conquer this magnificent creation. They collect glowing crystals and usable parts of slain monsters, and desire to one day reach the bottom end of the dungeon. Which would give them immense glory.
Switching point of view
They were a group adventure known as the Twilight's Eclipse guild. Led by the group leader named Archen, he was the healer and tactician of the group. The party consisted of five people including him. They all fell into the trap, thus lost inside the deepest dungeon.
"Wouldn't it be easier if we just used the teleporter?" A young woman in leather armor asked.
"Those tools are pretty convenient but we're in the middle of S Tier level, it's too risky to use it." A blonde middle-aged man explained.
"Great! We're the first one to explore this place, and probably the first one to die! Gosh I probably shouldn't have joined you guys." The impatient red-haired dude complained. Archen simply let the little one's words pass his ears.
"We didn't have this type of technology back then, but we still managed to get through." He knew the risk of using a teleporter, thus opted for the longer method which was simply to find the way out. But without a map or guide, he had second thoughts on using the machine that they had.
"Okay boomer!" The red hair scoffs. "We've been wandering for hours now, as if a dragon would spawn right i- "Just as he was gonna finish his sentence, an enormous dark and eerie dragon appeared behind him.
"You just jinx us dummy!" The young girl glared.
"Slowly back away, try not to cause an aggro." Said Archen who looked calm despite facing a powerful monster in front of him.
"Status reveal" He checked the status of the fearsome dragon.
Black Rival Dragon
Class: S
Physical strength: 2033
Magic power: 2,123
Mana power: 2,031
Speed: 301
Physical resistance: 1080
Magic resistance: 2010
It is a creature that breathes dark energy beams; the stats reveal that they will be easily overpowered. His party all looked at him, waiting for his instructions. His legs trembled as they heard its ferocious roar. The obvious choice was to run away, but how could he? Archen wondered how they'll even manage to escape alive. He saw the stiff giant rocks in the east.
"There!" He pointed. "We'll run and scatter on those pile of rocks, don't hide underneath. Just run straight forward until you see and exit." Archen instructed. The crew listened and backed away and ran away from the mighty dragon.
"Goddesses lend me thy strength, Healing ricochet!" He casted a green bright light, it was a healing magic fired in long distance, but Archen used it as a distraction, the shining light and the mana within was enough to catch the dragon's attention.
"That was hella smart leader!" The red hair complimented it. The group decided to split up under the captain's orders. The leader's magic didn't last that long, the furious dragon chased them. Archen fired off the same magic, but this time his luck ran out. The dragon was keen to know not to fall for the same trick twice. Instead, it quickly shot off dark energy beams towards the scattered group. The ground trembled and rocks shattered but no one was hurt. The five regrouped as they saw a way out. They all rushed to escape but one of the energy beams flew and destroyed the exit. Piles of rocks blocked it and thus they were trapped by the Black Rival Dragon.
"We have no choice but to fight!" said the red hair.
Archen disagreed, "It's too risky, we'll all die if we face the dragon."
"Then what do you propose?"
"You find another exit, I'll lure the dragon by myself," said Archen. He had uncertain eyes but knew his responsibility. He was young in nature so he thought that he had to protect his team even if it would cost him his own life.
"You're risking your life for us! Don't be stupid!" The shivering girl exclaimed.
"Well, it will be worth it, if you all survive. Go and live sprouts." Archen smiled and ran in the direction east. The brave leader exposed his mana around him to glow significantly brighter. He blasted a bullet like mana towards the dragon. "I should have lean offensive spells, who knew mana manipulation could be so draining."
The attacks didn't do any harm, but Archen successfully caught its attention. "What the are you waiting for? Run now!"
His flinched allies soon got back to their senses and obeyed him. They ran to where the dragon appeared, they distanced themselves away from their leader and the dragon. The young girl didn't like the idea, but she had no choice. "It's either you run or die. Think rationally!" The red head's words made her silent.
Archen faced the monstrous dragon, it's intimidating looks sent shivering fear to his spine. But he stood in valor, he showed no fear. "I fear not, no regrets." He stared at its devouring eyes and accepted his faith. The black dragon's mouth opened, mana formed into a dark concentrated energy and Archen waited for it to end his life. There's no point escaping nor blocking it. The drained man simply thanked his goddess who protected him through the end.
But just as the dragon was about to attack, the ceiling burst from an explosion, and Akamatsu arrived. He appeared on the top of the dragon; fist closed while burning into flames. His eyes were set to kill.
"Goodnight," he said his last words before he sent the dragon into crisp. It fell and shattered the ground, and there came the hero who saved them. He raised his arms in triumph over the burnt body of the slain dragon.