[Congratulations, you have leveled up!]
[You have gained Karma points]
Hovering blue words appeared one after the other, blurring Maximilian's gaze. A soft chime sounded after each one, Maximilian was temporarily drowned in the symphony.
"KAZUYA! YOU HAVE NINETY SECONDS!" Suho's voice boomed from across the ruins, pulling Maximilian's focus. "YOU BETTER HURRY!"
"Kazuya's ability allows him to bind the soul of the dead. Ninety seconds seems to be the window for this stone giant." Murphy explained, sending Maximilian's confusion.
"Stay, I'll take him." Maximilian offered in understanding. He bent over and offered Kazuya a piggy ride, the boy blushed but complied.
Maximilian ran to the corpse, when they arrived, he climbed up to the head where Suho was seated. Kazuya climbed off Maximilian's back and knelt down at the giant's midbrow.
"With my presence here, it should be pretty easy to bind its soul. My services aren't for free though." Suho teased. Kazuya nodded before placing his hands on the giants head. Maximilian went to sit beside Suho.
"You did well for your first battle." Suho complimented him as he sat down. Maximilian shrugged, feigning nonchalance, but the smile on his lips told Suho all he needed to know.
"It was scary, but it was also exhilarating. Having so much control over my body... It's…"
"Indescribable." Suho completed.
Maximilian nodded in agreement.
"Don't get drunk on that power. That feeling is as false as it is true." Suho cautioned. "Fear is your true ally. It will save your life more than you can count."
Maximilian took a glance beside him, "You didn't seem afraid when you plunged into the giant's skull."
"How would you know?" Suho smirked.
The steam is gone… Maximilian noticed. "These notifications…" he pointed in the air before him,
"Ah," Suho raised his brows, "Forgot about that." He paused before speaking, "You've seen the status window, the rest should be pretty easy to understand. Just like you have a level bar, monsters do too. Killing monsters of certain levels earns you experience points and karma points."
Maximilian listened with rapt attention, taking every word in.
"Experience points increase your level and lets you gain access to other system features. Karma points on the other hand are the main deal. For now, it's the most valuable and only currency. It lets you but things from the Metaverse; weapons, techniques, and so much more."
"Other features?" He asked, curious, but Suho shrugged him off.
"You'll know when you get to level 4. For now, focus on the present." He turned to face Kazuya, and as if on cue, the temperature in the surroundings began to rapidly drop.
"It's coming." Suho warned.
Kazuya's body jolted, his head tilted towards the sky and his eyes snapped open, revealing two orbs of murky darkness with white dots floating in their center.
His mouth opened with a gasp and a familiar orb floated out, hovering just above his head, then a familiar pressure descended upon the three.
Rahhhh!!!
The bellow of a furious giant reverberated through the ruins as an almost transparent phantom of the stone giant began to tear itself out of the corpse.
Its eyes locked on Kazuya and a familiar gleam flashed within its glazed eyes. It bellowed once again in fury, and charged forward at the defenseless boy.
Just then, another presence bloomed, dominating the stone giant's. Suho's gaze narrowed on the apparition, and sensing the familiar pressure, the monster shivered.
Its corpse visibly trembling as the monster spirit tried to scurry away, but a skinny, pale arm reached out and grabbed it.
The orb that had been silently hovering above Kazuya's head finally moved, it flashed towards the giant apparition, vanishing into its midbrow.
The monster roared and struggled weakly, trauma from a similar experience thawed at its will, and the presence of its killer made things worse. It barely resisted as a powerful suction force originating from where the orb vanished pulled it into a spiral.
A few moments later, the giant's spirit was gone, leaving behind only the orb. Now grey, it remained in the air, hovering, showing no sign that it just swallowed the giant's spirit whole.
Kazuya reached out and the orb came flying back, sinking into his chest. Everything promptly returned to normal; the temperature, the atmosphere and the young boy's eyes. He remained absent-minded for a bit before smiling at his teammates.
"I did it. The stone giant is mine now." The boy beamed. Suho smiled and patted him on the head,
"You did good. Now let's get off this carcass before it turns into mush."
"Uh?" Maximilian asked. Suho laughed, grabbed Kazuya and jumped down. Right after he did, brown miasma began oozing from the body of the dead giant, and a pungent smell spread around as the flesh began to rapidly shrink as well.
Maximilian hurriedly jumped off before he lost balance. He ran after Suho, the three of them returning to the hill.
"You are awake!" Maximilian beamed at Rhashan. The handsome boy smiled tiredly and reached out his hand for a pull.
"I heard you saved our lives." Rhashan teased.
"It's nothing." Maximilian blushed.
"Hey." Rhashan pulled him back when he attempted to walk away, "Thanks." He said with a serious expression.
"You saved Murphy. Let's just call it karma." Maximilian shrugged.
"Speaking of which, I saw that you were added to the party. You should have received karma points from the kill." Willow asked, "Do you know how to use them?"
"Suho gave me a quick explanation. It doesn't matter anyway, I still have to wait until I gain access to the metaverse before I can even use it."
"True."
"Alright, let's return to camp." Suho ordered, "Midori, you'll be on watch duty alongside Max. The others will try to recover their strength." Suho picked up Maximilian's spear and handed it to him.
"Midori is a support type, so you'll be dealing with any small fry monster we come across. Take it as a training session. Now that we've confirmed that your innate ability is physical, you'll be put to use." Maximilian nodded, receiving the spear. He toyed with it, using his minimal skills from his time as a maze bearer to spin it around.
"You need to become strong if you want to find your brother. This will be your first step towards that goal."
~
The rest of the journey back to the camp was uneventful. There was not a single monster in sight and with Midori's ability, the group managed to avoid any stragglers.
Maximilian remained tense throughout the journey, his eyes darting about for any sign of monsters. By the time they finally arrived at the base, although he was still refreshed physically, he was mentally drained.
A young man walked towards them as they neared the camp gate, stopping in front Suho. He had blonde hair with broad shoulders and a build that made Suho look slender. His brown eyes were filled with vitality and he carried himself with intoxicating confidence.
The group immediately felt relieved in his presence, totally assured that no monster could get to them here.
"Suho." The man reached out for a handshake which Suho promptly took. "Looks like you had to get your hands dirty." he added with a smirk, his eyes dancing across the group. He paused on Maximilian, his brows raised.
Maximilian felt naked under his eyes, a shiver crawled down his spine.
"Yeah well, I thought they could handle a stone giant. They couldn't."
"Haha. You sicko. They don't even have techniques yet and you are pitting them against a monster firmly within the hierarchies of copper rank?" The burly man laughed.
"If I don't do it now while they are under my watch, this world would." Suho shrugged.
The atmosphere immediately turned somber, a silent agreement running through everyone's mind.
"What's going on?" Suho broke the silence but the somberness didn't disperse. The burly man narrowed his eyes then sighed,
"He's back. The Baron. And he bring with him ominous tidings."