Hajime woke up in the morning with a sudden jolt. He had a bad dream. Sweating perfusely, he looked around his room, and saw it was still dark. The calm atmosphere seemed to unsettle him. He looked out the window and saw that there was no sky, no moon, no stars. Looking back inside the room, he noticed something unsettling. A hovering cloaked figure with a sickle stood before him.
Without warning, it charged at Hajime. Before it could touch him, he came to consciousness. This time, he was in reality. He looked on his bed and saw Elisa, clung to him. He couldn't sit up due to her right grip. Planting a kiss on her forehead, he wondered what that dream was about.
Not being able to sleep, he used Shadow Cloak to vanish from Elisa's grip. He wore a simple shirt with his black trousers and decided to assess his rank since his fight with the hunting shadows.
Leaping off the balcony he glansed at the still rising sun over the horizon and it gave him a sense of warmth. Lily, who was resting in the spirit domain of the Floriene Pendant felt that Hajime was awake. She came out in her spirit form and asked wh6 he wasn't resting. Hajime, refusing to talk about it at the moment, simply said he had to train.
In the garden, seated on a stone slab, Hajime opened up his dimension pouch and took out the rewards from the previous nights ordeal.
First was the,
The Dark Knight's Weapon - Lv. 1 - S rank weapon
Specifics:
The administrator can deal damage with infused spells. At its current level, maximum spell infusion limit is two.
Secondly,
Dark type familiar embryo- acquisition level S.
Sub quest: administrator should infuse his mana into the familiar embryo for five hours a day for eight days. Once begun, there must not be interruptions in the schedule.
Specifics: a spirit seed that takes the form of the administrator's mana type. Infinite probabilities of embryo forms. The rank of the familiar embryo is determined by the mana purity and density. Specifics:
The administrator can deal damage with infused spells. At its current level, maximum spell infusion limit is two.
And lastly,
Class S artifact obtained.
The Reapers mask. Successful suppresses aura emanation and mama to conceal the wearer's presence. Amplifies dark affinity for two hours with no after penalties.
Hajime thought of starting to hatch the embryo. However, he realized the need to constantly infuse mana wouldn't help with his plans at the moment. He placed the embryo back. Picking up the dark night's weapon, he looks at the fine sharpened blade and admires the craftsmanship of the dagger.
As for the Reaper's Mask, he wore it and took it off. Deciding to use the tome os souls he couldn't use last night, he took it out of his pouch.
Gripping the rolled up scroll tightly, he imbued his dark aura into it.
The scroll freed itself from his grip and unraveled. Within it's pages, a skill was written in the olden tongue. Hajime looked on as inscriptions from the scroll pealed off and moved around his body, finally resting around his head. The symbols were suddenly absorbed into Hajime's head.
A system notification appeared.
New skill acquired.
The administrator has unlocked the S- rank skill, The Will of a Monarch.
Specifics: allows complete control over a large scale battlefield. Amplifies dark type familiars power by ten percent for thirty minutes
System notification: The Will of a Monarch has been fused to the S- rank skill Conquerer of Shadows. A new rank of skill has been born.
SS- rank skill, " The Lord of Darkness", Has been created.
Specifics: provides power boost to all dark affinity users within it's domain but doubles it for familiars.
Hajime was over joyed and decided to start hunting for a familiar when he has the time. The sun soon came out in all it's glory. Illuminating the world of arcane.
At the Floriene Manner, Nejima sat in anticipation of Arachnid's arrival. His father soon entered and was also eager. His father, Hajime's uncle and his late mother's younger brother,
Sullivan Floriene, was a man of despicable mannerism. He was greedy person and would stop at nothing to get what he desired. Acting on jealously for his sister and the need to impress the family to gain the position of family head, he mobilized the hunting shadows to kill his own sister and her husband. Sitting at his desk and Nejima seated on the guest couch, a sudden knock at the window caught their eyes. It was an assassin, but not Arachnid. The assassin delivered the unfortunate news that the assassination failed. It was this same assassin Hajime had spared.
He also delivered a bone chilling message.
" My Lord.
My superiors wish to withdraw from your current affairs with a masked vigilante known as The Reaper. He had threatened to destroy the hunting shadows if we intervened on your behalf. As such, we are simply withdrawing".
With those words said, the assassin lept out of the window and vanished. Nejima's face was pale. He knew that this reaper person couldn't be Hajime. It was impossible to him. Hajime was a weakling three days ago. In fact, so weak that he managed to kill him. His father slammed his fists on his desk. With rage in his eyes, he wanted the head of the town guard captain, Bianca Frost. However, another message was delivered.
An assassin had attacked the guard post and Bianca's body was not among the dead knights.
With this, they speculated and came to a lofty conclusion, The Reaper had helped Hajime to kidnap Bianca Frost and exact his revenge on her and then killed Arachnid to allow him to vanish.
Soon, posters of Hajime were all around the Ambrosia domain. And every underground mercenary association was hunting for the Reaper. Those who knew how strong Arachnid was that he was defeated chose to simply withdraw from the hunt.
At the vampire garden, Hajime knew that by now, he was an outlaw and his ulter ego wouldn't save him. He turned to the horizon and said, " well then, the City of Blossoms, what do you have in store for me".
Soon after, silk called him to follow her since she had prepared the alchemy laboratory. Inside, Hajime found all manner of mythical items and ingredients for positions and artifact craft. He still needed some guidance with crafting the artifact and as such, required the aid of an experienced Craftsman. As to where to find one willing to help him, he had to visit the City of Blossoms.