Chapter 6 — The Full HD Isekai Experience (VB)

Noah held up the key, displaying it to Aurelia.

"Where did you find that?" she asked, looking at the key in confusion.

"When I tried to put Viktral's storage device in my inventory, it gave me an option to transfer out the items from the storage device and I selected yes," Noah replied. Opening a dimensional pocket, he fumbled around before pulling out a glass vial filled with crimson red liquid.

Using identify, he pulled up the item name.

[Potion of Healing (Uncommon)]

"There was this in the bracelet, and a dagger, actually, two daggers, some books, a robe, a ring and a lot of mana stones of different grades," Noah said, counting on his fingers as he listed each item.

Aurelia stood up from Viktral’s corpse, making her way towards Noah. She extended her hand, and Noah handed her the key. Looking at the key for a while, she looked back at the potion in Noah’s hand.

“And you can just take things out of storage devices?” she asked.

Noah shrugged. “Apparently.” Opening his inventory, he scrolled through items on display. “He really did have a lot of items though.” Reaching into the inventory, Noah pulled out the abyssal cultist robe out, before inspecting it.

The cloth was black, with little markings besides an eye marked on the back. “Creepy,” Noah said, before looking back down at his shirt, which still had a giant hole torn through it, and was now covered with dirt and blood coating it. “Eh, better than what I have I guess.”

Taking off his shirt, Noah placed it into his inventory, before putting on the robes. Glancing down, Noah moved around, inspecting his new attire. The robe was slightly too small, making it look more like a long skirt.

“How do I look?” Noah asked Aurelia, who stood frowning, deep in thought.

Turning to Noah at his words, she frowned. “Like a cultist I’d want to murder on sight,” she replied.

“Come on, it can’t be that bad,” Noah said, looking back down at himself.

“What would you think if someone dressed in the robes of a reviled cult that had tried to sacrifice you?” Aurelia asked.

“Fair,” Noah replied, his enthusiasm slightly curbed at having new clothes at last. Opening his inventory, he looked at the rest of the items. The ring grabbed his eye, and he picked it out from his inventory.

Grabbing the ring, Noah noticed an eye set into the ring, that looked right back at him, twitching and moving ever so slightly at any movement. “That has to be cursed,” Noah said, showing it to Aurelia.

A look of disgust came over her face as she watched the eyeball moving around. “Abyssal Eye ring. Common in these cults. It provides greater mana capacity and channeling. But no, it isn’t cursed. Definitely disgusting though,” Aurealia replied.

Noah looked down at the eyeball ring, and continued to look back at him with its single dark eyeball. “I hate how it keeps looking at me,” Noah said with a shudder, before looking up at Aurelia. “Do you think I should use it?” he asked.

“If you want to. As long as you don’t mind having a disgusting eyeball on your finger,” she replied. “When you’re done playing with your new toys, let me know and we’ll head down to the cellar.”

“Alright,” Noah said, looking down at the ring. “Guess having creepy powers is just my thing now,” Noah said, before sliding the ring on.

[Ring of Abyssal Eye (Rare)] equipped.

3 x item slots remain.

Noah raised an eyebrow, opening his menu. On the corner, he saw four item slots, with the abyssal eye displayed in one of them. He looked at the eye ring sitting snugly on his finger, before selecting it in the item menu.

[Ring of Abyssal Eye (Rare)]

Type: Passive, Abyssal.

The Abyssal eye captures all.

Provides a 25% boost to mana regeneration. Provides a boost to Void affinity. Increases total mana capacity.

Noah’s eyes went to the two bars on his overlay, and he saw the bottom one, increased by one fourths, and slowly being filled up.

Closing the menu, he picked up the other item from his inventory. Two daggers with curved edges that bound together and blood red blades came into Noah’s hand. Grabbing the item, he checked the item description.

[Twin Bleed Daggers (Uncommon)

Type: Melee, Bleed.

Twin daggers forged in blood.

Inflicts bleed damage. Inflicts the [Bleeding] status effect.

“Neato,” Noah said, keeping the daggers in his hand, before he dropped them back into his inventory through a dimensional pocket. “I love the convenience of dimensional pocket ability.”

He lifted his gaze up, looking for Aurelia, and found her dragging the cultists corpses onto the altar.

Noah frowned, walking up to the summoning altar. His eyes remained on the pile of corpses as Aurelia brought Viktral’s body at last, dropping it into the pile. Silently, he watched as Aurelia walked further back from the corpse pile, dipping her head, as she whispered something under her breath.

Flames rose around her hands, gushing towards the pile in a stream, as the bodies lit up in flames.

Noah walked up to stand next to Aurelia, watching the cultists corpses burning in flames. A swirling whirlpool of emotions filled his chest, as he watched the fire slowly consuming each of their bodies. He did not feel sympathy, or pity. They would’ve killed him if he’d let them be. He had to ensure his own survival. But his breath still shook slightly. He had taken lives today. Perhaps he will have to take even more lives tomorrow. How many times would he do it when his life was at stake? Noah did not know. But he knew that he would have to. That this would be far from the last time.

“Was this your first time killing somebody?” Aurelia asked in a quiet whisper. Noah glanced sideways to see her looking up at him with brown eyes shining golden against the light of the flame.

“How could you tell?” he asked, surprised.

“I’ve been long enough in this job to know,” she replied, glancing at the pile. “The guilt, and the heart dropping horror. I’ve seen it often enough.”

Noah looked at the woman standing next to him, with a curious expression. “Why do you still do this then?”

Aurelia turned away from Noah, gazing at the burning corpses, as the flames now burned bright enough to illuminate the entire cavern. “That’s a difficult question,” she said. “In part, it is because of the money. Being an adventurer pays better than almost any profession out there. We can travel freely across the continent and be allowed in almost any country. The strongest of adventurers are world renown names that shape entire empires. The wealth, the renown, the respect. All of it appeals to me,” Aurelia replied.

“I feel like there's more,” Noah said.

“Well. If I had to give just one answer, it'd be that I could not sit by doing nothing. I’ve seen what happens when people do not fight back. When no one steps up. And I don’t want to see it again,” Aurelia said, looking back at Noah. “If we had not killed them today. They would’ve taken the lives of many other innocent people. If we did not deliver justice, then others would have suffered.”

Noah glanced at Aurelia, watching her gaze fixated on the burning pile. He didn’t reply, the two of them standing in silence, as they watched the fire eat through the bodies, leaving nothing but ash behind.

Once the flames had eaten through everything, Aurelia turned, making her way down the altar. Noah followed behind her, making his way down with her. “Do you think I can become an adventurer?” he asked.

Aurelia glanced back up, before smiling. “You really don’t know anything do you?”

“I mean… I’ve told you I’m not from here,” Noah replied.

“You have. I’m sorry. It’s just so hard to get used to someone not knowing things like this. You can’t become an adventurer, because you already are. The moment you awakened, you became part of the Awakened Society. The organization that governs all awakened across the continent. It’s only a matter of technicality from there to being an adventurer.”

“And… I don’t get a choice there?” Noah asked, surprised.

“You do, but I really don’t recommend becoming a rogue. It’s going to cause you a lot of trouble. The awakened society also doesn’t place many responsibilities on you. All it means is that you are obligated to contribute in times of crises, like say a monster wave,” Aurelia said.

“I guess that makes sense,” Noah replied.

Aurelia turned to face Noah, a bit further from the altar stairs. “Now, before we head down, I’d like to know what abilities you have so far. You said you got an ability tome?”

“I did,” Noah said, before reaching out in his inventory and grabbed the two tomes he had obtained. The two tomes were old giant books bound in leather, both written in a language that Noah could not read. Noah wondered if his language comprehension was limited to spoken words. “Can you read these?” he asked.

“The tomes? Of course not. Tomes are written in runes forming the Astral Script. You’ll need someone who specializes with them to decipher them,” Aurelia said, grabbing one of the tomes in her hand.

“How do people use them then?” he asked, inspecting the other tome currently in his hand.

“Ritual magic. You use the tome as a conduit and let the script do its work. If you needed to be able to read these, then most awakened would not have a majority of their abilities,” Aurelia said, flipping through the tome in her hand, before she closed it with a clap.

“This one seems to be for a perception based ability, which is always good to have. What’s the one in your hand for?” Aurelia asked.

“It says Tome of Abyssal Familiar,” Noah replied, looking down at the tome in his hand, with swirling violet patterns drawn on the cover. “Are you sure these abilities won’t make me into some evil necromancer or something?”

“Reasonably sure,” Aurelia replied. “And a tome for a familiar… That’s going to need a summoning circle. I also feel slightly hesitant on using a tome for an abyssal familiar, so I’d suggest putting that away.”

Noah put the tome back into his inventory at Aurelia’s words. She returned the first tome to Noah, and he grabbed the tome in his hand, before putting his hand on the giant book, as a prompt appeared in front of his eyes.

[Tome of Sight (Uncommon)]: Unlocks a sight based ability upon use.

Would you like to use this item?

Yes/No?

The book in his hand fluttered open, words glowing a bright blue and gold as they flashed with magic. Noah saw his paths floating in front of him to pick from. After a moment’s notice, he selected the void hunter path.

With a bright flashing light, the book in Noah’s hand dissipated into the air, as he felt a strong wave of mana flow into his body, and settle near his abdomen.

[Tome of Sight (Uncommon)] consumed.

Void Hunter has unlocked the ability [Hunter’s eyes].

Hunter’s Eyes (Basic)

[Passive, Constitution, Void]

You possess the eyes of hunters. See through the dark with ease, and observe mana and the world in far greater detail.

Noah felt a new sense open up in front of him as his vision expanded. Suddenly, he felt as if he’d just taken off extremely blurry glasses from his eyes for the first time in his life. Little details from even across the dark and dim cavern were suddenly visible to him.

“Whoa… it’s like I’m seeing in 4k. Having the full HD Isekai experience,” Noah exclaimed, looking at everything around him in fascination. As his sight went towards Aurelia, he noticed golden white and red wisps swirling around her. It took him a moment, before Noah realized what he was seeing was mana rising from her.

“I think I can see mana now,” Noah said, looking down at his own hands. His own mana was a mix of crimson, white, purple and black, forming a weird mix of colors that gave off a strange ominous sensation.

“Not quite,” Aurelia replied. “What you see is my aura. Every awakened has one, and it is technically the mana you release but if I ever say that then the mages get mad and go on a long rant on why exactly I’m wrong.”

“I see. My aura then,” Noah said, clenching his fists, as he saw the pale translucent wisps swirl around him. “This is sick.”

“Why would it be sick?” Aurelia asked, confused.

“Not literally. I meant, this is very awesome and I like it,” Noah replied, looking around the cavern. “So, what now? We go in?” he asked, feeling more than ready to put his new abilities to use.

“Not yet. I still haven’t heard what your abilities are,” Aurelia said.

“Right. Hold on, let me bring them up,” Noah replied, opening his abilities menu, before he began to open each ability one after the other.”

Obliterate (Basic)

[Active, Power, Void]

Annihilate matter by channeling the endless void at the cost of mana.

“The first is Obliterate. It says I can channel the void at the cost of mana,” Noah said to Aurelia, who raised an eyebrow at his words.

“That sounds powerful. Try it?”

At her words, Noah reached out with his new instincts, reaching to Obliterate. Dark wisps began to gather at his hand. Concentrating, he shaped the wisps into a sphere, like a hole had popped into reality, not letting any light through. Noah pointed it at the ground, letting it off. The dark void hole moved swiftly towards the ground, before striking the ground, where it cut a sharp and precise hole into the ground, before disappearing.

Noah walked to the hole, pressing it with his feet, and found the edge to be sharp enough to cut through his shoe.

Looking at his mana bar, he saw his Mana at around a quarter of its maximum capacity. “I only have half my mana left now,” he replied, looking at Aurelia.

“For an F rank ability, that’s going to be a deadly weapon. But why’re you using it so inefficiently?” Aurelia asked.

“Inefficiently?” Noah questioned.

“Any ability, spell or otherwise takes more mana to form into a shape and launch. You not only launched a high mana consming spell, but you also made it into a sphere. Try using the ability, but only channeling it over your fists, and punch something instead,” Aurelia suggested.

Noah followed through, engaging obliterate. The void wisps gathered, and this time Noah let them gather around his fists. Walking up to the wall of the cavern, while channeling, he struck with his fist.

A shudder went through the area, as Noah struck the wall with a cracking noise. He removed his fist, and saw an inch deep indent in the precise shape of his fist nearly carved into the wall.

“A lot more mana efficient, and you can use it with other skills in tandem as you build up your mana capacity. Don't expect that kind of damage on an awakened though. Their own auras will resist the effect, so you won’t just be able to punch through people,” Aurelia said.

Noah nodded, looking at his fists in wonder.

“Alright, what else?” Aurelia asked.

Noah pulled over the description of his next two abilities.

Blink (Basic)

[Active, Agility, Astral]

Channel the Astral of the beyond, and step into the gaps between the realms to teleport. Distance of teleportation will be proportional to the amount of mana spent.

Blood Drain (Basic)

[Active, Constitution, Blood]

Draw blood and life from the wounds of your target to heal any injuries at the cost of mana.

“Blink and Blood Drain. One lets me teleport, the other lets me absorb blood to heal,” Noah said.

“A movement and a healing ability. Both extremely useful abilities. Teleportation will also give you an edge over most awakened. Teleportation abilities are quite rare and sought after,” Aurelia said.

Noah acknowledged her words with a humm, opening the description for the next ability.

Dimensional Pocket (Basic)

[Active/Passive, Mystic, Astral]

Create a dimensional pocket in the interdimensional Astral space. Expands inventory storage limit to 16 item slots.

“Dimensional pocket. Lets me grab items from my inventory freely, and expand my inventory storage it seems,” Noah said, demonstrating the skill by grabbing the daggers he’d gotten from his inventory.

“Convenient. I can even see some combat usage for the ability,” Aurelia said, and Noah grinned.

“Very,” he said, putting the daggers back. Lastly, he went to the strangest ability he had, opening the description.

Consume (Basic)

[Active, Mystic, Soul]

Consume pieces of the astral script of reality to grow in strength.

“Consume… it says I can consume pieces of the astral script of reality to grow in strength,” Noah said.

“That… sounds slightly ominous,” Aurelia said. “Can you use it?”

Noah tried to reach for the instincts that each ability had to guide him, but found nothing coming to him. He closed his eyes, focusing on his skill and how to use the ability. After a few moments, he let out a sigh.

“Nope, no clue. Can’t say how to use it,” Noah replied.

“Alright. We can figure it out after we’re out of here. You said you had mana stones right? Eat an F grade one before we head in. Do not eat a higher grade mana stone,” Aurelia warned.

“What’ll happen if I do?” Noah asked, as he picked out an F grade mana stone from his inventory.

“You’ll get mana poisoning if it’s one grade higher after a rapid surge in strength. If it’s two, you’ll be paralysed as the mana makes its way through you really painfully. Any higher and if you’re lucky you’ll just explode from the inside and die on the spot. If not, you’ll slowly die as the mana breaks you from the inside out piece by piece,” Aurelia replied.

Noah gulped, closing the inventory as he popped the F grade mana stone in his mouth. The stone had no taste, and began to melt as soon as he put it on his tongue, soon fading away into nothing.

You’ve consumed [Mana stone - F]

Mana regenerated to 100%

You cannot eat another mana stone for 15 minutes.

A surge of energy filled Noah as he saw his mana bar fill to the top. Feeling ready, he walked up to Aurelia, as she walked around the cavern, wrapping new bandages around her fists.

“The cellar is a bit further in. Be careful, there might still be some people or things alive,” she said.

“Things?” Noah asked, a bit concerned.

“What? Feeling nervous?” Aurelia said, binding bandages on her left hand.

Noah grinned back. “Excited, if anything. Let’s sweep this place clean.”

Smiling in return, Aurelia tightened the bandages around both her fists. Clenching her hands a few times, she grinned back. “You got it.”