The System I Created

Chapter 18

Miko, Dane's AI assistant, tried to reconstruct her holographic appearance, but because the projector that was imbedded in the entire room lost nearly eighty percent of its main function due to the mana blast, Miko's holographic appearance was glitching and flickering uncontrollably. Despite the technical difficulties, Miko managed to convey the message to Dane that he had emerged victorious in the challenge. Dane's eyes slowly fluttered open as he processed the information, a smile spreading across his face as he realized his accomplishment.

"I really need to train my mana control; getting too tired, I tend to lose mental control to regulate sufficient mana."

"Considering all available data I have gathered, as soon as you acquire consent to use spells, your mana can be truly controlled, as the magic scrolls were created to be the main conduit for mana manifestation, Master Dane."

"Thank you, Miko, but as for now, I am too tired to stay awake."

The association staff could only scratch their heads as another situation occurred at their branch; within just a few days, another explosion happened. The first explosion had already caused significant damage, and now they were faced with yet another incident to investigate and address. It seemed that their branch was becoming a magnet for unexpected and dangerous events, leaving them all feeling overwhelmed and uncertain about what would happen next.

The first incident was settled by Sebastian Lazarus as he wanted to ensure the safety and security of everyone involved. However, with this new explosion, the staff knew they needed to come up with a more comprehensive plan to prevent further incidents and protect everybody inside their branch.

Video recordings of the explosion were sent to the association headquarters. Mr. Boone, the retiring association president, watched the video and was shocked to see who obliterated the second training bunker that was supposed to withstand a Slayer level. Mr. Charles was neat, Mr. Boone, as he continued to watch the video.

" It's the same person, sir."

"I knew he was different; this old man's gut feeling is still reliable. I saw many players come by, but this person has a peculiar aura, as if he was sure about the situation he was about to encounter."

"ego or male bravado, but he certainly has confidence in his abilities,"

Mr. Boone added, nodding in agreement with Mr. Charles.

"But it's far more than just those reasons; something far beyond what you mention."

"I just can't put my finger on it, but there's definitely something special about him," Mr. Charles replied, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Let's keep an eye on him and see how he handles the next challenge as soon as he enters the tower," Mr. Charles suggested, intrigued by the mysterious player's power and demeanor.

"Remember that all players can only increase their ability by gaining experience points and paying huge amounts of gold in those cathedrals."

"Magic scrolls are common in the tower. Every player could avail themselves of this skill, but at low levels, these spells are utterly ineffective against strong monsters and powerful antagonists.?

"I have been the association president for just a year, and even I could not last a fight with a Tower Empirical Knight.,"

"That is why I am retiring in a few weeks. You are far more suitable to seat here, Mr. Charles."

"Remember when I was still your commanding officer in the army? Remember the person who I served under when I was in active duty combat?"

"Yes, I remember that, sir, that person who was your team leader and best friend, the very reason why you wanted to become the first player association president under the official governance of the United Nations."

"you always wanted to honor him for his contribution to all the surviving members of your unit after his untimely passing."

"and now you are passing the torch to me,"

Charles replied, feeling a mix of pride and pressure.

"I will do my best to uphold the legacy you have built and continue to lead our association with honor and integrity."

"Thank you, Mr. Charles. These scars on my body are aching again. That monster whom I hunted and survived has left a lasting impact on my body."

"I wanted to continue, but I am too old. I never expected playing the virtual Arcane Crusade game in the past for pure entertainment would lead me to this reality."

"If I could just turn back time, and knew before hand this will happen ,"

"Sir, are you referring to your first hun inside the tower?"

"I never expected that my level would crumble under that monster power."

"and that funny part, we all don't even know what level it was,"

"That darn creature is the only monster standing in our way to enter the second floor."

"Clearing the quest is the only way to get up the tower."

"Just remember to watch this man closely. If this person enters the tower, as soon as he creates a storm, it's a clear sign that he's different from the rest."

"noted Mr. Boone, his level is zero, and he already surpasses a slayer level in terms of mana status."

"Dane Rinne Lazarus, what are you?"

Two days had passed; currently, at the player association hospital, Dane is recuperating in the most expensive VIP room money can afford. As the white Devil Guild covered all the expenses, Natasha Sokolov lost to their challenge, but because the battle wasn't broadcasted, nobody knew about it except a few high-ranking association personnel. They can't even properly give out a proper answer about what happened; they had a meeting because the situation that occurred wasn't that easy to explain to the public. The secrecy surrounding Dane's true power only added to the mystery and speculation among those in the player association.

Another Lazarus was fastly growing to a monster with unlimited possibilities; if only he wanted to be related to that particular family, the association hospital was funded by many wealthy groups with guild teams under their control. Seeing how the white devil managed the unconscious man was the talk of the player community.

Meanwhile, a hospital nurse enters the VIP room where Dane was staying; as soon as she saw the patient, she quickly ran out and called for the head doctor. Natasha was already walking toward the same location to check on his condition when she saw many doctors run toward his room with frantic facial expressions.

Something was wrong. While Dane was sleeping, Miko addressed the pending notification from the six criminal players that he eliminated. As per the condition, he can now use the same skills they were using, but because Dane was lacking experience points to obtain the same level as the previous user, Miko had to do something as the system notified him that he only had 42 hours remaining until the skill absorption expires.

She calculated that the lowest level rank of those skills can be obtained, but obtaining them in such a weak condition can take a lot of skill slots. Dane has only 5 slots, as he didn't put any importance in upgrading his skill slots. And she knew the moment he wakes up, he will obtain the two magic scrolls from Natasha after winning the dungeon raid challenge.

Miko wanted to obtain the six skills, but the only way was to merge all six and create a single combined skill to save space.

A notification prompted as Miko waited for the system to comply with her question until the combined skills were able to get a similar skill that in the tower's historical archives, it was the formless armor that both had attack and defense capabilities. Miko only has a few more minutes to get the task finalized. Dane only has 362 experience points left. Availing the similar skill will cost his master 300 points, but in her calculation, it was a reasonable and worthwhile investment considering the imminent battle ahead. With a quick decision, Miko proceeded with purchasing the combined skill, confident that it would greatly increase his master's chances of victory.

The formless armor was created based on these six skills that Dane obtained from those six criminal players: burst teleportation, summoning of personalized golems, needle projectiles, tentacle arm manifestation, and turning into dark smoke. And lastly, poison creation. Combining all these six skills into the formless armor was a risky move, but seeing it was already processing means it can be done, as the 300 experience points were already used.

At the same time, the association doctors and even Natasha were seeing the actual reaction of Miko's action, a swirling, thick, dark smoke was seen coming out of Dane's body, with the entire hospital bed fabric being dissolved, and the smoke was dense and had matter as it extended outward like an extension of its main body, and it was moving on its own, protecting its host.

Natasha saw this firsthand and thought it was like a jellyfish but made from smoke; she gained a conclusion after seeing that the formless, moving smoke tendrils can shoot projectiles hard enough to puncture the ceiling; it was constantly shifting and changed shape, seemingly alive and intelligent. It was shapeless, but at the same time it was not. It was like watching a fire dancing. The smoke creature seemed to be both chaotic and controlled, as if it had a purpose behind its movements. Natasha couldn't help but feel a sense of unease as she watched it glide effortlessly through the air, seemingly aware of her presence.

The smoke-like tentacles were hard to track as their motion was erratic and changed movements instantly. Natasha and all of the medical staff were always raising their arms to defend from possible attack, but it was moving in a random and unpredictable manner. Despite the unease, Natasha couldn't tear her eyes away from the mesmerizing display of the smoke creature's fluid movements.

Not noticing it had already achieved its purpose, as it grabbed the two low-level magic scrolls from her backpack, while the doctors were baffled by this unexpected phenomenon, unsure of how to proceed with treating Dane's condition. After a few seconds, the smoke creature abruptly expanded, covering all the patient body, and instantly imploded inward like a black hole that had just manifested inside the room and swallowed everything and vanished into thin air, leaving behind a mysterious and traumatizing feeling that left everyone in the room gasping in shock. The room fell silent as everyone tried to process what they had just witnessed, unsure of what it all meant.

The patient was gone. And spontaneously reappeared in his rented-out apartment room, which was ten blocks west, away from the association branch. The medical staff were left bewildered, unable to explain the sudden disappearance of the patient. Natasha was also in shock seeing this happen and was unable to respond. She has entered the tower fourteen times now, and each time she and her team went on an expedition and saw many supernatural things while doing the quest. This is her first time encountering such a phenomenon outside the tower.

"notification. Acquired two magic scrolls."

"Proceed with activation of tier 2 flame bullet and tier 1 lightning burst."

"Instructions to gain activation of skill,"

"open scroll"

"and just ripped the parchment paper in half.."

Miko's problem now was that, being an autonomous artificial intellect linked to Dane's brain, she lacked real material hands. As she considered her next course of action, Miko saw that in order to activate the skills, she would have to figure out a means to physically connect with the scrolls. Since she was accustomed to managing the digital world rather than the real one, this posed a special challenge for her.