Ascension of the Nephilim-Chapter 16 - A Skill Called Taunt
"How do I use it?" Kyros asked.
"I'll channel it. You should be able to feel it. Once you sense the energy, let it explode out of you!"
[Time Haste skill acquired.]
Kyros quickly retreated back to the inside of the temple and began to devour the dying Shadow Ghouls tossed inside.
"You're not going to use it?"
"I have to surprise them again for me to accomplish my plan. So I'll kill some time back here and emerge to attack them again.
"Show me your stats now! Show me your stats!" Calaminus kept urging.
Kyros, however, didn't. He began to experiment and look at what other stats or details he could find.
Aside from his character profile, Kyros found a list of all the spells and skills he could use, and next to it were levels.
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Passive Skills:
Dark Consumer- Level 20 (Max)
Dark Wielder- Level 20 (Max)
Deviant Soul- Level 1
Time Surge- Level 1
Unlocked Time Perception- Level 2
Time Resistance- Level 6
Lightning Resistance- Level 4
Greater Soul Resistance-Level 2
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Active Skills:
Time Haste- Level 1
Pronto- Level 1
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After looking at the stats, Kyros began to explore other functions in the built-in screens that he could navigate in his head. There was also a strange tab that had the word 'party' on it. Going by what he can comprehend, Kyros figured that the party was for any allies he might be connected with.
It was then that Kyros finally went back to his Character Profile page and opened the details of Greater Soul Meditation.
[Greater Soul Meditation]
A passive and unique soul-empowering skill created by Kyros. Kyros's soul is in a constant state of strengthening and meditation aimed at improving his power. It can perform various operations in analyzing, deducing, and experimenting with any imputed power, energy, or object in Kyros's soul. All operations are performed through the Soul Console, an open-source Java-based developer workspace created by Kyros.
Calaminus and Kyros read the description.
"Wow. Your device is quite amazing. It was able to detail and analyze my Soul Console so quickly!" Kyros was amazed.
But Calaminus was shocked.
"You... You! Open your Soul Console thing!"
Kyros agreed and opened the Soul Console. Unlike the previous stats, this was something that Kyros created by himself. A black screen appeared on their vision.
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Soul Console 1.03b
Current Soul Tasks:
Origin Absorption- Level 1
ALERT! Spirit Shackle is limiting the rate of origin absorption. The soul cannot grow stronger.
Soul Unsealing- Level 1
Estimated time of decreasing Spirit Shackle's strength by a discernible margin: 350 years.
God Unsealing- Level 1
Estimated time of decreasing strength of all god seals: Unknown.
Devil Unsealing- Level 1
Estimated time of decreasing strength of all devil seals: Unknown.
Celestial De-Code- Level 0
Estimated time of decoding the Celestial Code: Unknown.
Fate Comprehension- Level 0
Task has failed.
---
Calaminus's mouth was wide open. He began to see and observe the careful actions of Kyros's soul by moving and observing every detail of the soul.
At that moment, Kyros felt something moving within his body.
"Hmm... Odd. I need to program my soul to alert me for these things." Kyros immediately went to his Soul Console and began to add functions, commands, triggers, and a bunch of strange 'if' statements.
"Let's test it. Hope this works." Kyros hoped for the best and enabled the software.
"The following hidden statuses have been detected." Arnold's voice was once again heard.
The stats of Kyros were displayed once more. But this time, at the very bottom, was a new category.
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Unknown:
Soul Parasite
Soul Link
4th Wall Breacher
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"Oh! I get it. Because you were outside, my soul was unable to sense all these things. But now that you merged again, our soul link got detected. It looks like your strangeness has affected me. I have this strange 4th Wall Breacher Status!" Kyros complained.
"What? How did it speak?!" Calaminus was stunned.
"I programmed it to." Kyros shrugged and devoured more of the dying
But disregarding Kyros's complaints, Calaminus was looking at the strange Soul Console and was sensing the strange activities that Kyros's soul was doing. While he was still linked with Kyros to some extent, it was only now that he could feel everything.
"You-You...! You managed to program your soul with Java?! No! This is beyond it! You! You applied and combined all those rants and created an artificial intelligence based on your soul!"
"Yeah. Wasn't that the reason why you ranted about those stuff in the first place? Why else would you talk about that?"
"I just wanted to brag! One of my incarnations is a nerd! I was running out of things to say, so I went for this one!"
"Wait... If that's the case, what use was it for? You were just bragging?!"
"It's not useful in this world! But- but- you! How did you create an artificial intelligence and even gave it the voice of Arnold?!"
"Erm... My Int stat?" Kyros guessed.
"Mother Fragments! You!"
"Whatever... Anyway... I know that the two Imprisoning Seals are used to limit my power. The Celestial Code allowed me to wield almost all Elements except Time, Dark, Entropy, and Brimstone. It took me quite an effort to harness Light. But I know now that my difficulty in learning Light was because of the Seals. But since they've weakened because of my stronger soul, I should be able to harness bits of those Elements." Kyros analyzed internally.
"Then, to gain power, I need to get the power of the Celestial Code earlier. But how can I do it?" Kyros continued to plan.
Calaminus could only look at Kyros, who was now planning his future. He then turned towards the soul and peered into Kyros's Soul Console to see all of its activities.
"He's Soul is constantly battling! It's like it has a mind of its own! Monster... monster...!" Calaminus could feel the upheaval that was happening.
"Putting aside the dark shadow creatures, this place looks like a training ground for me. It helps grow in Light and Dark... If I were to consider my fate in acquiring the Celestial Code, then I should be able to wield all elements easily."
"Perhaps a working of fate? It's giving you everything to make you grow stronger."
"Then, for now, I need to level up. Get ready to activate that Time Haste. Making time move faster in an area around me sounds useless since it would affect my enemies, but a well-timed use, it could help me here." Kyros stood up and prepared to run. He had devoured the Shadow Ghouls inside.
Kyros peered over to check his points.
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Temple Level: 3 (112/1000 points to Level 4)
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"I killed two and attacked a few back then. If the points increase upon killing those creatures, then I get four points apiece. That sounds about right. I have a hundred points earlier, and I did more or less killed twenty of those things back then..."
"So what are you going to do now?" fr𝚎e𝙬𝚎𝚋𝚗૦ν𝚎𝒍.c૦m
"I recalled that you said the problem with these creatures was that they were numerous and would rush like a tidal wave of darkness. So I'll use it against them!"
Kyro immediately moved and rushed out of the temple again.
Upon exit, he moved towards the area, grabbed two of the dark creatures by the head, and pulled it to bite them.
Pronto and Kyros's fast perception allowed him to kill the two before it could move.
The Shadow Ghouls retreated as it glared angrily at Kyros, who now stood in the small space before him.
Several dark spears were thrown at him, and all were casually evaded.
Kyros even managed to catch one of the dark spears and skewer the two creatures' headless bodies.
Kyros crumpled the paper-thin spears, and it was becoming a round stick.
[Dark Manipulator acquired.]
"Woah. It became this?" Kyros was surprised. His casual actions of trying to reshape the paper-thin weapons allowed him to reshape the paper spear into a stick.
One of the Shadow Ghouls rushed forward to attack, but Kyros stabbed it first. He used his ability of Dark Wielder and imputed that power in the stick.
The spear pierced through the Shadow Ghoul. Although it didn't seem to have done any damage, Kyros immediately swiped sideways, making the creature move to the right and hit the floor.
The nearby Shadow Ghouls were startled. Had they just given Kyros a weapon? The other ghouls stopped throwing their spears as they saw Kyros.
"These guys are too weak." Kyros shook his head.
"Normally, these guys could kill level 50 mortals. It just so happened you have abilities that are suited for them." Calaminus explained.
"I'm curious, though. Will Dark Manipulator work on skills?" Kyros mused and struck the Shadow Ghoul with the stick once more and flicked it towards himself.
The Shadow Ghoul tried to claw Kyros, but Kyros slapped the hands and to the side and bit the Shadow Ghoul.
The Shadow Ghoul screamed as part of its head was bit off.
SLAM!
Kyros smashed the Shadow Ghoul to the ground and stepped on its arm.
"Weak! You all are weak!" Kyros laughed as he taunted and pulled the Shadow Ghoul on his feet upwards to gnaw at its head.
[Taunt skill acquired.]
Kyros smiled as he knew that it worked.
The Shadow Ghouls were all enraged and rushed towards Kyros.
Kyros stepped forward and readied his stick, and as the horde of enraged and shouting ghouls approached that their fangs and claws were about to hit Kyros, Kyros activated it and retreated.
"Time Haste!"
The time in the area around them began to accelerate. While their speed increased, the perception of the area around them didn't, and so the ghouls couldn't stop themselves from lunging themselves towards the entrance of the temple.
Kyros had retreated in, and because time was moving faster and the Shadow Ghouls couldn't react in time, a horde of Ghouls entered the room, and the howls of pain resounded all over the temple.
