/Akashic POV\
-Next Day-
I woke up early and did my morning routine, waiting for Sierra to call—which didn't take long at all.
{"Good morning, are you ready?…Sorry for rushing this, I'm just nervous. And thank you for the food by the way, it was delicious."}
"Yeah I'm ready, I'm downstairs waiting. And I'm glad you enjoyed it."
[+40 Satisfaction Points]
We continued talking for awhile, arranging a pickup location. Only a few minutes passed when I saw a black suv approaching, the tinted window wound down and she waved at me.
I got in the backseat where she was and the driver took off.
It was pretty spacious, I leaned back, carrying out idle conversation with Sierra.
She seemed much happier, but a little more restrained in my presence. I guessed it was because I currently held the power of life and death over her grandfather, that might've made things a little more complicated between us…
We continued talking for about twenty minutes until we arrived at a giant compound surrounded by guards, while we passed them I used [Observe]
This pool of subjects was much better than ordinary people. I've seen stats starting at 30 and going above 70 the closer we got to the main house. I even saw one in the 90s.
Most of them had similar physiques that fit into attack types, it allowed them some benefits while fighting.
"We're here, I'll show you around the place later, let's go to my grandfather." I looked at the huge home in front of me and admired the beauty.
I nodded and followed her, putting my hands in my jacket pocket.
There were more guards in the house and they reached stats of 100!
It really made me realize that I was still pretty weak. Of course, I had no real frame of reference as to what these stats actually meant.
"Is grandfather awake?" Sierra questioned the guard who stood at the door.
"Yes, Lord Vero is expecting you."
The guard eyed me for awhile before returning his attention to Sierra.
I used [Observe] on him too.
———
Stats
Name: Klein
Skills: Animalistic Rage
Physique: Mad Lion
Strength: 170
Agility: 114
Stamina: 130
———
[Animalistic Rage] - Physique Skill - Trade Sanity for power +40 Strength, Agility, Stamina. (5 Minute Timer)
'This guy is on a different level from the others. Hmm, I've seen people faster than him in the house. How would that work out in a fight?'
To answer your earlier question on reference, the awakened world uses rankings to correlate to strength. Would you like to see them?>
Answering yes, I was mentally shown a long list of strength rankings.
Mortal
1–20
Warrior
21–100
Champion
101–250
Guardian
251–450
Paragon
451–650
Ascendant
651–800
Marshal
801–900
Legend
901–999
Eventually, In my time of thinking we arrived in the room. I needed my full attention back on to the current situation, leaving my questions for later.
Of course, with my luck something had to go wrong.
The second I stepped inside, I immediately felt a sinking feeling, like I was trapped deep underwater. I couldn't move or breathe, only fear coursed through my body, it was as if the grim reaper was standing in front of me.
My body wanted to fall to the floor but I didn't allow it. I hated the feeling…was I about to die again. What even happened?
Shifting my eyes I saw Silas sitting up and staring at me.
[-30 Satisfaction Points]
He had long white hair and his body was quite thin.
The pressure was becoming a little too much to bear and I slowly felt my consciousness begin to slip away.
Until…
[God's Chosen Physique] - Immune to suppression, Ability to absorb other physiques, +50 to all stats, *Locked*, *Locked*.
A flood of notifications hit me and the pressure I felt vanished as I gasped for air.
'What…happened?'
Right…I forgot I'm entertainment. I'd be upset, but it saved my life and the rewards were good. And two of them were still locked.
I focused all of my attention on the situation at hand. Standing upright, I locked eyes with Silas.
"Grandfather, stop! What are you doing?!" Sierra looked at me worriedly then turned to face her grandfather.
"Is this the boy you're being forced to marry?! I don't care how weak I am, I'll destroy that trash Sky family right now!!"
I can tell he tried to exert more pressure but I felt nothing.
"Y-you know...? But no, it's not him!" Sierra sat him down and tried to soothe him.
"Yes, I learned of it recently from some spies. I know everything that's been happening to you and I'm so sorry, little one." He caressed her face.
There were tears in her eyes as she hugged him.
"Who's the young man?" He focused his attention back on me with curiosity and interest in his eyes.
I did withstand his pressure quite well, even before the new physique. But my performance after must've shocked him.
"He's my friend, Akashic. He has a healing skill and I brought him here to heal you!" She then turned towards me and started apologizing profusely.
"I'm so sorry! Are you okay? Please don't leave, whatever you wanted, I'll double it but just don't leave!" There were tears forming in her eyes as she checked me over for injuries. I smiled at her and placed my hand on her head.
It was kind of instinct, she reminded me of Naomi when she acted like this.
Though I was truly pissed off that I almost got killed for nothing, I couldn't just walk out. I needed this to work for my future. Might as well get some extra benefits out of this too.
The anger buried itself in my heart as I put on a smile.
"You don't have to keep begging, I'm not going anywhere."
There was a blush on her face as she hurriedly turned back towards Silas.
I could see his eyes go wide as he heard that I was a healer.
He struggled a little but stood up and gave a small bow.
"I apologize, young man. I get defensive about my granddaughter and meant no disrespect." I was quite impressed, he actually stood up and bowed. My displeasure lessened a bit.
[+22 Satisfaction Points]
"Grandfather!!" Sierra was shocked
"Apology accepted, I completely understand."
As Sierra helped him sit back down I used [Observe] on him.
———
Stats
Name: Silas Vero
Skills: Killing Intent, Intensify, Death Vision
Physique: Death God's Kin
Strength: 4 (444)
Agility: 2 (421)
Stamina: 1 (400)
•Poisoned•
———
[Killing Intent] - Gained from countless slaughters, place pressure on an enemy. (More kills = stronger intent.)
[Intensify] - Physique Skill - Multiply stats by sacrificing life energy or using enemy life energy.
[Death Vision] - Physique Skill - Preemptively see fatal blows aimed at you.
Holy shit… everything I'm seeing is insane, no wonder I almost died from just his intent!
Every single skill is cool, quite terrifying.
'So he'd be at the late stage of guardian? How does advancing work?'
The more I asked the more questions I had. Everything interested me more and more, but I currently focused on the poison.
Sensing my intent the system answered my question before I could even ask it.
Well, that sounds horrifying. Next question. 'Can I cure it?'
After some time passed and shock wore off, Silas began speaking.
"I appreciate your effort but I do not think you'll be able to heal me as I do not suffer from a sickness but rather—"
"You were poisoned. By a soul eating bug."
....
They shot quizzical looks at me.
"I wouldn't have promised Sierra I'd help if I didn't know what I was dealing with. After hearing her story it seems likely it happened during your attack on the Sky family." I had to embellish the performance.
"Mind if I give it a look?" I held my hand out, questioning him.
He nodded, giving me the go ahead so I placed my hand on his shoulder and closed my eyes.
I had no idea what to do next, I just let instinct take over.
I felt my hand connect with him, I could see all of his ailments.
I didn't know where the bugs were so I went around looking. Eventually I saw a split in his soul, like where a pocket would be.
I maneuvered Inside of there and saw a giant worm and thousands of tiny ones squirming around like maggots.
The sight was disgusting so I just blasted heal, adding my physique power in there as well and almost every small worm instantly burned up and died.
Except two.
A tiny baby one was left in there. The damage it would cause over time is minimal, but eventually it would grow enough to lay eggs and he'd be back at square one.
This was intentional on my part, but it wasn't because he almost killed me. It was simply insurance.
I have no clue how things will play out, so I think having this card will help at some point in the future.
Hey, if there's no need for it, I'll find a time to heal it discreetly.
Anyway, I found the other one that was left, which was the biggest worm and used cure, making it smaller as I forced it out slowly.
Soon…
*Retch* Silas began vomiting black as a large worm fell out of his mouth.
"Ew, is that it?" Sierra looked disgusted but at the same time intrigued.
Silas gasped for air as I looked at him, a testament to his strong vitality was seeing his rosy cheeks as life returned to his body.
It'd take awhile before he was completely back, though.
"Grandfather!!" Sierra hugged him and he hugged her back.
The worm tried to escape but Silas already had his aura locked onto it.
He looked at it and completely obliterated it.
After doing so he wobbled a little.
"Relax, buddy. You aren't 100% back yet, your soul needs time to heal. In the meantime you should eat, your appetite should be coming back so you need to get some meat on your bones. In no time your strength will return."
He stood up and walked over to me, patting my shoulder while laughing loudly.
"Hahaha! Thank you! Anything you want, just ask! I may be old but I still have connections throughout the Kingdom! Hahaha!" I smiled.
He had black vomit on his shirt still so I inched back a little.
"Come on now, don't be modest and say 'I don't want anything' Let me reward you!"
Ha, as if I'd say that.
"I want the forced marriage contract between Alexia and your grandson Daniel removed."
.....
It went silent.
"What?" No way, was that too much to ask for?
...still silence.
"Eh…is that all? You saved my life and have been very kind to my granddaughter, that's all you want?"
I mean, it's the one thing I've been tunnel visioned on since I came back so I haven't thought about anything else much after this.
I don't want to seem weird so I'll ask for the gold standard.
"Umm, money too I guess?"
"…You know what, I'll prepare a few gifts and send them to you in a few days time, anything you don't like you can tell me." He patted my shoulder and went to sit down.
"Thank you so much, this really means a lot to me… Also I meant it when I said I'd double it, what else would you like?" Damnit I don't know, I was already stumped when Silas asked.
So I just said first thing that came to mind.
"Well, since we're breaking marriage contracts can you break Sierras too?"
I already knew that was the first thing he'd do, but I said it anyway for extra points.
He looked at me again, closely, I guess he was looking for hidden intentions.
Unfortunately for him there aren't any.
I think.
"I like you. Akashic, was it? I'll do everything you've asked of me today, and I still owe you. You need me you call me, okay? Like I said, I still have some weight in this world."
He wrote down his number and handed it to me.
I thanked him and prepared to leave.
But before I did.
"Thank you, Akashic."
Sierra hugged me tightly.
"I'll have my driver take you home, I'll be here with grandfather for a little while. Let's hang out sometime soon, in a happier atmosphere." She smiled again, but this was the best one so far.
Pure happiness. I can't imagine the feeling she has right now, it makes me happy.
[+200 Satisfaction Points.]
I walked out of the building, hands back in my pockets and made my way to the car.
The driver nodded towards me and I nodded back, he opened the door and I got in, thanking him.
Now that I had some time to rest I realize that, I did it! I stopped the marriage and prevented my death!
[+500 Satisfaction Points]
It didn't feel as satisfying as I thought it would. I guess that's because it hasn't set in yet. I doubt I'm completely out of the woods, but I can at least breathe now.
When I get home I'll check my stats and then prepare for Naomi's birthday.
Alexia will get the news soon, I hope she'll be happy.
I leaned against the seat and closed my eyes, life is good.