Aria

I quiet my breath as I kneel close to the ground, looking through my scope at the deer several dozen meters away. And after double checking everything one last time, I pull the trigger, making the sound of the gunshot echo throughout the forest near the capital. Then the deer falls over onto its side. Dead.

[User has killed one being of Level 4. Requirements to reach level 3 have been updated. New requirements are as follows: 25/250 beings have been granted Death.]

Okay, that’s good at least. When I tried to kill some ants on the roadside this morning, I only got tiny fractions of a ‘being’ counted to the total. Fractions so small that they don’t even show a difference. Just makes it repeat the same number again. No matter how many of them I kill, even in the thousands.

So I’m glad it counts animals as beings at least. It’s not just sapient humans.

I sigh at that as I rise to my feet again.

It’s a good thing that the instructor decided to give us all a couple hours off at the end of the day before sundown to train with our System related stuff. Like trying to level our Classes and test our skills.

I glance back at the bustling city behind me, finding the light snow falling down beautiful despite the smoke rising from chimneys around the city. Meanwhile the train can be seen arriving at the capital right now, roaring its presence in the process.

Generally the woods around the capital are protected from hunting, but officers are allowed to hunt here. Especially if they have a reason.

And we’ve been given a reason thanks to the System.

Although the instructor just thinks I’m training my skills.

Speaking of my skills, I glance at the deer again before narrowing my eyes slightly at the sight of a strange mist slowly floating from its body.

That’s not normal.

The mist is white and black in color, albeit almost entirely white with only a few specs of black. And it’s very slowly leaving its body and making its way into the air.

I walk up to the mist, only for it to suddenly halt its path and turn towards me when I get within a couple dozen meters of it. Then, to my surprise, it enters my body. But I don’t really feel any discomfort from it. Just a strange alien sensation that I instantly realize I can reject or accept.

Out of curiosity, I accept it. Following which the alien sensation begins to fade and I feel a strange… energy? I think that’s the only way to describe it. A strange energy filling my body. One that I somehow know how to move around and control.

I clench and unclench my fist, feeling a strange strength in me as I do so. Not to mention a faint red glow from the energy.

After a brief pause, I turn to a tree, place my rifle onto the ground, and deliver a punch straight to the center of it, finding my fist doing more damage than it normally would. Meanwhile the energy that had filled me burns ever so slightly for a second, only to gradually begin to return.

Hmm…

I feel like I can control the energy as well. So I begin moving the energy around, making the feeling of power shift along with it.

Interesting.

I move all of the energy to my right arm, into all of the muscles that I would normally use to punch. Then I deliver another punch, dealing a lot more damage this time while also pretty much scraping my fingers raw from the punch. Which proves that while this energy is making me stronger, it isn’t making me more durable.

Not that it matters since the damage is healed almost immediately.

Okay, so what happens if I reject the mist? The skill mentioned two different choices. Does this mean I fully absorbed the soul of that deer, assuming it was its soul?

If that’s the case, rest in peace deer.

I quickly open up the skill list again just to check the skill’s description once more.

Skills

Skill Name:

Skill Description:

Harvest

This skill allows the user to harvest the souls of the dying around them. They can then devour the soul energy within them, sending the souls off to the void. Or they can devour the soul whole, taking in the cores of their souls and erasing them from reality itself in the process.