The battlefield froze mid motion. The fire hog's flame hung in the air like molten glass, its roar silenced to a low vibrating hum. The moon light over the volcanic mountain fractured, spilling into shard of golden and crimson that swirl around Vivan like a storm of memories.
[System Notice]
Extreme courage detected.
Extreme resolve detected.
Analyzing…
Vivan shouted in confusion.
"Isaac, ISAAC! What's going on?"
But Isaac was nowhere near to be contacted.
The ground beneath him dissolved into a black void, leaving only a single circle of light where he stood.
The frozen battlefield hummed silently inside multiple screens surrounding the void like memory fragments.
From above, streams of luminescent code cascaded down like rain, each symbol pulsing as it passed through his body, igniting fragments of his past decisions in ghostly flashes.
Vivan was extremely confused and afraid of the situation. Absence of Isaac made him feel like a drowning ship in a silent tsunami.
His every heartbeat thundered in his ears, each pulse accompanied by a deeper, older voice than Isaac's. Calm yet judgmental.
[Living Morality Engine Online]
Initiating Behavioral Scan.
Weighing risk against intent…
Calculating moral threshold…
A golden scale materialized before him. On one side, the memory of him accepting the impossible quest and the moment he stood his ground against the Fire Hog while his HP was dropped to 30%.
On the other, his current player level glowed faintly, its weight shifting against his choices. Sparks danced across the balance.
Threshold exceeded.
Preparing…. Adjustment.
The void began to shatter like glass, the pieces falling upward into the sky. The battlefield that was frozen slowly started to move again. The hog's roar returned in a deafening wave and the world resumed.
[System Notice]
Mentality synchronization complete.
Permanent Mentality stat boost applied.
Courage +500
Resolve +500
Pain Resistance unlocked.
New Innate Skill: Battle Vision Lv.1 unlocked.
New Innate Skill: Resolve of the Death Lv. 1 unlocked.
New Learned Skill: Iron Mind unlocked.
Vivan's eyes widened as a rush of heat spread through his limbs. The pain in his shoulder dulled to a background ache being replaced by a thrumming energy that made his grip on the sword feel unshakable.
The fire hog charged again with burning flame in its tusk. A heavy "oink" almost ruptured Vivan's eardrums.
[System notice]
Fire hog activated Flame rush.
But he smiled with an unknown confidence.
"Let's see what these do?"
"Battle vision." – he pronounced in a calm voice.
Time started moving faster for him, his surrounding slowed. A faint crimson ring pulsed in his pupils, expanding outward until his entire vision sharpened.
Every movement of the Fire Hog seemed clearer, each shift of its hooves, the flex of its muscles before a strike.
A faint overlay appeared at the edge of his sight, marking predicted attack arcs in flickering red lines.. The slow moving hog came closer but Vivan did not dodge he stepped towards the hog then-
"Resolve of the death, Mana Strike" – he called the skills holding his sword with both hands.
[System chime]
-60% multiplier activated due to courage.
-60% multiplier activated due to resolve.
-Criteria met – HP below 65%
-Unique skill: Resolve of the death activated
-Stats are being multiplied by current HP for skill resolve of the death.
-20% boost in strength due to mana usage.
A black lightning crackled coating Vivan's sword and body. Then a clean first step towards right to the charging beast and a body twist allowing him to deliver a clean strike from above the hog's shoulder towards its neck.
**Swoop** a silent and precise strike.
Blood spilled like fountain from the hog's neck, the beast skidded forward due to its own momentum in a heavy moan of pain.
Vivan was still standing in holding the sword in the same form, sword pointing at ground.
Hog's Stat-
HP – 0/10000
MP – 2800/5000
GhostWalker Stat-
HP – 300/1000
MP – 160/200.
The defeated body of the hog vanished in the thin air after being turned into code particles.
Vivan was panting, blood spilling across his forehead and shoulder through the wounds. He sat down supporting his back by a rock.
"What a system!" – an awe struck gasp came out of his mouth for the Living Morality Mechanic.
And then the system notified.
Fire hog has been defeated.
Victory confirmed.
Special condition met - The lion has been slain by a mouse.
New Learned Skill: Second Wind unlocked.
Calculating drops and rewards…
+20 stat points added for all general stats due to the huge achievement.
4000 gold coins have been dropped for slaying the monster.
Calculating loot…
[Loot acquired]
Flamehide Vest — Increases Fire Resistance by 20%.
Greater Health Potion ×2 — Restores 50% HP instantly.
Greater Mana Potion ×2 — Restores 50% MP instantly
Charred Tusks — Crafting material.
Vivan opened his stats window first.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
General stats: Mental stats:
STR – 30 Courage –600
AGI – 30 Resolve – 600
INT – 35 Blood thirst – 0
LUK – 20 Empathy – 0
SPD – 30
HP – 300/1000
MP – 160/200
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Then he opened skill window.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Innate skills | Learned skills | Created skills
Simple Sword Strike- | Iron Mind-
A clean sword strike proportionate | Increases resistance to fear, |
to user's stats. | pain, and mental debuffs by 40% |
Rarity: Common | Rarity: Epic |
Mana strike- | Second Wind- |
Consumes 20 MP to give a 20% | Restores 100% HP and 100% |
boost to user. | MP upon activation. |
Rarity: Common | Rarity: Unique |
Battle Vision Lv.1- Mana Recovery-
Allows user to see the direction/ Successfully evade 5 consecutive path of an
incoming attack in slow attacks of enemy to recover 5% of your MP.
motion.
Rarity: Unique Rarity: Common
Resolve of the Death Lv. 1-
When HP falls below 65%, all
General stats are multiplied by the
current HP for 1 minute.
Rarity: Unique
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vivan read the skills with due diligence, looked at the inventory then finally looked in the interface at his HP and MP.
"Wow! What a reward! But still after all this my level did not raise a bit."
Isaac's voice came after a long time.
"Congratulations, Sir! For clearing the first fight. That was a truly remarkable feat you have achieved."
Vivan smiled like he met an old friend after long time.
"Thank you! What happened to you?"
"Sir, As Living Morality Engine was online I lost my link to you momentarily as LME is the mother AI."
"OO! That's new. You good now?"
"Thanks for asking sir! Yes, I'm alright."
"That's good to hear, Isaac. One thing, why my Exp is still 0 after all that? "
[System Notice]
+10 Empathy gain due to care for your temporary partner.
Isaac responded-
"Sir, you are in evaluation zone so all the Exp you accumulate here will be calculated in total and proportionate rewards will be gifted in the main game."
Vivan went in deep thought.
"That means depending on how a player clears evaluation, the level 1 stats will be different for all in the main game although starting points were same. That's unique."
Then he asked Isaac-
"Isaac, in my skill window different skills are colored differently. From the description I understand common skills are white and unique ones are gold. How many classes of skills are there?"
"Sir, there are Seven classes of skills. Common skills are colored white, Uncommon skills are green, Rare skills glow in blue, Epic ones are purple, Legendary skills are colored orange, Mythic ones are red and Unique skills are gold."
With the Rarity ranking skills cleared Vivan decided to push forward. Isaac suggested with a gentle reminder-
"Sir, your HP is really low to proceed further. You should use skill Second Wind to rejuvenate."
"Nah! Isaac. Keeping the HP as it is allows me to use Resolve of Death. If that Fire hog was the weakest in these terrains then with my current stats I have to heavily depend on Resolve of the death. "
"Duly noted sir."
With that Vivan marched forward deeper in the ruins following Isaac's navigation. First they crossed the Fiery Basin battling multiple fire hogs, each boosting his stats and dropping loots.
Every time he faced a fire hog Resolve of the dead allowed him to one shot the monster. Giving him huge boost in all general stats, specially the intelligent.
By the time Vivan reached the Ascent slopes towards the ruins leaving the basin behind his stats were looking like this-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
General stats: Mental stats:
STR – 630 Courage –600
AGI – 630 Resolve – 600
INT – 720 Blood thirst – 300
LUK – 620 Empathy – 100
SPD – 630
HP – 300/1000
MP – 80/200
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He called for Isaac.
"Isaac, I've defeated 30 fire hogs so far. So I can understand the 20 point stat gains for every win but what about the 20 hogs that I did not kill and let go? I only got 100 empathy for them. No stat upgrade? "
"Sir, That's the principal of Living morality engine. Your decisions shapes your loot and reward. As you have not kill those 20 hogs hence no stat gain was natural but due to that you got 5 Empathy for each."
"Such a waste of stats! And why only fire hogs I'm getting?"- He asked in an annoyed tone.
"In the evaluation zone you get to see monsters with the highest spawn rate. When you will venture this ruin in the main game you will get to see the verse diversity, Sir."
"Well! What now? We climb? Because there is no straight ways anymore."
"Yes sir, The next phase is the mid cliff. We have to climb. Once we reach the mid cliff, you will get to see the gate of the ruin."
And that's how the climb began. Vivan had not restored his HP to keep the Resolve of the death activate able at any time.
So every step he took was deliberate and careful. The climb was really harsh; the terrain did not have proper footings.
Around an altitude of 500 meters from the basin below his hand slipped, letting his body drop freely downward. But Vivan he was quick. Mid air he equipped his sword then activated the skill mana strike and plunged the sword on the mountains body to stop the fall.
"Phew! That was dangerous."- a gasp came out of his voice.
He regained his footing. Then with an upward pull using his arms he firmly gripped a tree branch that sprang outside of the mountain.
[System notice]
+ 10 intelligence due to quick thinking under pressure.
That's when it happened.
He felt a bite in his fingers that was gripping the branch, hot waves of flame rushed through his vein like a poison.
His grip loosened, consciousness fading slowly as he saw a tiny squirrel covered in fur made of flames suddenly popping out of nowhere on the branch.
As his body touched the ground, extreme pain exploded through his body and his consciousness faded to black with a memory of a cunning gaze of that little monster – sharp, mocking, almost human.
[System chime]
Critical condition found.
Heavy fall damage detected.
Player HP reduced to 0.
Initiating Respawn sequence.
...To be continued.