"May your soul rest in peace,"
Eldrich whispered as he emerged from what was left of the house. He immediately placed a hand on Damian's shoulder as a form of condolence for the loss of his father.
Damian didn't even flinch. He was in utter shock at what he had just seen: a human instantaneously turning into a demon, another human claiming to be an exorcist, and to top it all off, a giant sword materializing from thin air and causing destruction on a scale that, in his previous world, would have required a hundred bombs.
'He's a one-man army,' Damian thought, his gaze following Eldrich as he walked toward Cassie.
[Damian.]
[Damian it's me, Omni.]
Damian quickly placed his hand on his right ear and responded, 'of course I fucking know it's you.'
'Where the hell have you been?' Damian asked. 'This place is a literal shithole. For starters, I'm in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nothing but forests, the technology here is practically Stone Age, and demons—fuck, I just want to say I will have nothing to do with those bastards.'
[Please, take it easy, Damian. One complaint at a time.]
With a sigh, Damian continued, 'Just tell me one thing, Omni, do I really have to fight those things?'
[Sorry, Damian, but you do, and there's no other option.]
'I thought as much,' Damian thought. 'You mentioned something before about me having abilities that will make me unrivaled here.'
[Yes, I did. To begin, you have me, Omni, the greatest of all treasures. And with your multiple high-ranked treasures, you are indeed strong.]
'Strong?'
'Stronger than that exorcist right there?' Damian asked, as his gaze met the exorcist behind him.
[Definitely. From his mana reading and his cultivation, this cultivator you're referring to is indeed strong when compared to this world's average, but he's nothing compared to you.]
'Really? His nothing compared to me?'
[Yes, and why repeat the words I say?]
'I was just trying to process what you—no, fuck it, I'm the one asking the questions here, you fucking—'
[No need to get all worked up Damian, I won't ask any question for the mean time.]
'That's nice to hear, I really need all the attention right now.'
[Since we are on the same page, would you like to see your updated profile?]
'My profile? Last I checked it had a lot of question marks... Wait, did you just ask me a question?'
[(Loading updated profile...)]
'Uh... Why even bother at this point'
[Host Profile Updated.]
'...'
---
[Status:]
Name: Damian Throne.
Age: 16
Cultivation Realm: Elemental Affinity Realm (Late stage)
Cultivation Rank: Rank 7
Affinity: Fire
Health: 450/450
Mana: ∞/∞
---
[Cultivation Stats:]
Mana Control: 75
Mana Capacity: ∞
Essence Purity: 0
Soul Strength: 0
---
[Combat Stats:]
Strength: 45
Agility: 60
Endurance: 55
Intelligence: 70
Aura: ∞
---
[Skills:]
-Fireball (Common) - A basic mana skill that creates a small projectile of fire.
-Flame Burst (Common) - Expels a short-range burst of fire from the user's hands.
-Minor Healing (Common) - A basic self-healing skill that mends small cuts and bruises.
-Dagger Mastery (Uncommon) - Increases proficiency with daggers.
-Thousand Heavenly Piercings (Epic) - An epic mana skill that summons an endless rain of swords from the heavens.
---
[Trait:]
Infinite Mana Vessel (Divine)
---
[Inventory:]
*Tenth Gate Dagger (Legendary)
* Leather Armor
[Ding! You have absorbed enough mana for a breakthrough.]
[Ding! You have ascended to the Elemental Affinity Realm.]
[Ding! You have absorbed sufficient mana to determine your affinity.]
'This is really game-like.'
[Don't you like it? I tried my best to replicate similar interfaces from your world.]
'I won't lie, you did a good job; it's easy to read and follow.'
'I see I have a health stat, I'm guessing if it runs out that I will die.'
[That's definitely correct, but trust me, no one in the mortal realm can come close to killing you.]
'You say that, but I don't think I'm up to the task. And I don't even feel strong, at least not compared to the exorcist.'
[That's because you already started out strong. It's impossible for you to tell the difference between a weak body and a strong one in this world since you began with a strong body. And as for the cultivator, as I said earlier, he's nothing compared to you.]
'Okay, I get it... Wait, Omni, I noticed you keep referring to him as a cultivator rather than an exorcist. Why is that?'
[That's a nice observation, Damian. The thing is, all exorcists are cultivators, but not all cultivators are exorcists.]
'That makes sense, at least for now.'
'So I'm a cultivator?
[Not in the literal sense. The thing is that you don't need to cultivate mana, or to put plainly, you don't need to absorb mana like others.]
'Absorb mana?'
[Yes, but to put it more precisely, mana gathering is the foundation of cultivation, the cultivator gathers and absorbs mana, the essence of life and then storing it and refining it.]
'Okay, I'm beginning to grasp everything.... But, what about the sudden demon transformation that happened?'
[Sorry, Damian, I've been instructed to withhold the intrinsic details about the situation surrounding the demon combustion. To put it mildly, humans in the mortal realm have been turning into demons for many centuries, which gave rise to cultivators becoming exorcists. But recently, the demon combustion has become more frequent, literally having a serious effect on the population of the mortal realm.]
[That's where you come in, with my help, we can end the terror of demon combustion.]
'You have to be fucking joking,' Damian reacted. 'You're withholding information that can help me do whatever you're asking me to do.'
[Your getting it all wrong Damian, I will reveal everything in a later date when you have reached a suitable cultivation level to enter the netherworld.]
'Talking about cultivation, can anyone just cultivate mana?"
[That's an important question. The answer is No, barely a few can precieve mana, most are what this world calls 'dormants' and is this same people that are victims of demon combustion.]
'Damn, so I'm one of the lucky few.'
[That's precisely correct, count yourself lucky.]
'Give me the numbers,' Damian requested. 'What's the ratio for people who can cultivate to those who can't?'
[To put it simply, one in ten thousand people can cultivate in the green aruze kingdom.]
'Thats...'
Then, Damian was suddenly interrupted when Eldrich called out to him.
"Damian," Eldrich called out. "There's something we need to discuss."