WebNovels

Chapter 8 - Demon Of Myst

Ash was stunned and a bit jealous seeing Joker use his Alias ability so easily. He opened up the system to see the other things it had that he had ignored before.

The first thing that piqued his interest was the red bar, which was completely filled — the Sanity bar. The bar was split into four segments of the same length; he did not know what it did, but he knew it was important if it was on the first page.

He also had an inventory-type space with about twenty slots. The first one was filled by the Ebon Shroud, and the second was filled by the Skeleton Sword, while the others were left empty.

He scratched his head. 'This all is cool, but how do I use my ability? It's killing me at this point.'

He scanned the system two more times to see if it gave any hints on how to use it, but unfortunately, he couldn't find any.

His jealousy of the damned clown kept increasing the more he thought about it.

But after a while of walking, a notification popped up in front of him.

Rosania Town

He walked up to the large gate, where he saw a man in a carriage. The man played with a gold coin, then pointed it at Ash. "Do you want to trade?"

Ash just ignored the man and continued walking towards the gate, still dejected about the ability. He mostly didn't even realize there was a man talking to him.

The man flicked the gold coin as hard as he could, hitting Ash on the back of his head.

"Ack, who did that?"

He turned back while patting the injured area.

The man in the carriage spoke again in a formal manner. "Dear traveller, I welcome you to the Abyss. So please, hear me out before you begin your journey."

Ash turned his body and calmed himself down. 'He seems polite, I can't show my sadness to him.'

He then replied in a formal manner, "Sir, before you speak, please let us introduce ourselves... I'll start. I am Deceased Asharion."

The man then continued, "I am but a mere merchant, Deceased Asharion. After all, I am just a person who gives information to beginners and does trade for all the Deceased."

Ash stood quietly and just listened to him. 'A merchant, he seems kind, but he gives me a weird vibe that I can't get rid of.'

The merchant started giving some knowledge about the Abyss. He took over half an hour to give all this information to Ash, but to summarize—

The world of the Abyss is split into layers, each layer being deeper into the world and larger than the previous one. There is no specific number of layers, as the deepest a human has gone is the 6th layer; no one has reached the level to go to the 7th layer.

The first layer, and the one he was on right now, is called the Tutorial Layer or the Garden. The merchant didn't name the rest of them, saying that you had to meet them in the layer to know its name.

He then spoke about the world's currencies. The world has three types of currencies — silver coins, gold coins, and a unique item called soul fragments.

Here, the currency is basic:

50 silver = 1 gold

1 gold = 5 soul fragments

And finally, he spoke about trading. The merchant would randomly come to towns at random times, where he would sell items for any type of currency. These items ranged from common to mythical-ranked items.

And those items consisted of weapons, armor, and passive skills.

After speaking about both, he got ready to leave.

"Before you leave, can I ask some questions?" Ash spoke starkly and in a way that the merchant wouldn't say no.

"Sure, on the condition that I won't answer questions I don't want to."

Ash nodded in agreement to the merchant's condition, then continued speaking.

"How can I go to the next layer of the Abyss?"

"That's simple — complete your second soul trial."

'There's more than one of those stupid trials.'

"Well, how can I get my second trial?"

"You can attempt the trial after you defeat the layer boss. For example, the Tutorial's boss is a beast called THE LICHT."

Ash's body trembled a bit just from hearing the name of the beast, and he even got scared after remembering the torture he had to go through. But he smiled after a while.

'This time the beast will bleed.'

The merchant felt a bit weird after seeing Ash smile so oddly. "So sir, if that's all, I take my leave."

"No, wait... I have one more question: how can I use my Alias ability?"

The merchant looked at him, confused. "Didn't the Hollow Guide tell you about it?"

'Hollow Guide? What's that?'

Seeing Ash's reaction, the merchant continued, "The man that spoke to you before you came here, you know, your mirror image."

Ash's face instantly lit with realization. "Oooh, him or her or it."

'So that's what his name is.'

"Well, he didn't tell me anything about it."

The merchant looked at him in shock. "What, really? His job is to tell you."

'That dude didn't tell me such important information. No wonder that damned clown knew how to use his.'

The merchant sighed and told him how to use his ability.

To use your Alias ability, you have to lock your ability to a weapon or an item. Doing so will make it a soul weapon, which is directly linked to you.

Then, after having a soul weapon, you can use your ability — but only when your weapon is in your hand. If you're not touching your weapon, you can't use your ability, and you will be left vulnerable to anything — the Deceased, the beast, or even nature might kill you.

After hearing the big speech, Ash instantly replied with a sub-question, asking how to link a weapon.

The merchant cleared his throat and started telling Ash the steps to link a weapon, and Ash followed along as the merchant spoke.

"First, you take out an item and speak your Alias out loud three times."

Ash took out the Ebon Shroud and held it by its handle near his chest, the blade pointing up.

He then spoke in a calm manner, "Demon of Myst... Demon of Myst... Demon of Myst."

As soon as he spoke it for the third time, the system popped up in front of him.

The Ebon Shroud wants to be your soul weapon.

It wants your blood.

"The system must have talked to you, and if the weapon wants to be yours then—"

Slice.

He didn't need to hear more, so he just sliced his hand deep enough to make it bleed, then poured his blood onto the sword.

The sword glowed brightly and mixed with Ash's blood.

"Now slightly blow onto it."

Ash brought the sword close to his mouth and slowly blew onto it from one end to the other. As he blew, the glow of the sword stopped, and the design on the sword became more clear and stark.

Ebon Shroud has become your soul weapon.

"Now, before I leave, take this." The merchant threw him a small but heavy bag.

Ash caught it with ease and opened it up to see a pile of gold coins in the bag.

"There are a hundred gold coins in the bag for you to start."

The merchant then clicked his fingers and instantly left, leaving Ash alone.

Ash didn't immediately use his ability in the open, scared he might be killed by a beast, even though he still hadn't seen one.

...

In a small tavern, a man sat drinking a pint of beer. On his back was a big scythe, and he wore a blue coat with a white fur lining on its hood.

"Can't wait to meet the new walkers."

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