Memory fragment

Rey took out the black coloured memory fragment from his inventory and looked at it with amusement. The fragment was about the size of a ping-pong ball and had a dark aura surrounding it.

"I feel uncomfortable just by holding it. Will this thing really help me get stronger?"

[Of course it will. For your information, these memory fragments are extremely important to unlock the full potential of an inherited class like yours.]

"What do you mean? How can this help me strengthen my class? My class is not like a growth type like Ed's." Rey was lost as he had never heard anything remotely close to what Sophie was saying.

[*sigh* I'll explain! But before that tell me, do you think that the Shadow Warrior only had three skills?]

Rey seriously thought about Sophie's question before replying, "If not then why would I get only three skills?"

Rey responded with confidence, satisfied with the answer that he had given.

[Right, what more did I expect?] Sophie was blaming herself for expecting too much.

"No need to praise me, I don't want another fan."

[What is up with these two friends? Why do they think that they are the center of the universe? I guess it's as they say, 'Shit minds think alike'.] Sophie thought to herself as she was seriously wondering about Rey and Ed's obsession with themselves.

[Shut up! As you wrongly guessed, the Shadow Warrior obviously had more than three skills. And for you to unlock the other skills, these memory fragments are essential.] Sophie was irritated by Rey's blabbering and started explaining things to make him shut up.

"But why do we need the fragments? Can't they just give us all the skills at once? Won't that be more efficient and less cumbersome?"

[Your question is valid but at the same time stupid and not feasible. Giving all the skills at once is akin to putting all the ingredients of a dish together. The result will be a spoilt dish.

So to prevent such a situation from happening, these fragments are created. Taking your example, you are barely able to use the skills you got efficiently before running out of essence. Now imagine that you also got a couple more skills while staying at the level you are currently at.

Not only would it be a waste of the skill's potential but you could also get hurt because your body is not strong enough to handle the skills.

That is the reason why the other skills are stored as memory fragments and have a minimum requirement to use them.]

While Sophie was explaining, Rey checked the fragment's information and as Sophie said, it had a requirement is being Lv 50.

"I see. So there should be other fragments like this too. How can I get them?"

[That I don't know but I can tell you that these fragments are found near places where the original user had a deep connection like his home or somewhere he personally left them.]

"Hmm... so if I need to get more is these, I'll have to travel to the Shadow Warrior's home?"

[Something along the line.]

"One more thing, what will happen if I consume this fragment. I don't think the future people will be able to get them."

[You don't need to worry about that. Once an inheritance has been inherited by someone, it cannot be acquired by other people unless the person reaches the level of the previous user and decides to leave his own inheritance.

And in case you are unable to get all the fragments, they will simply be left as skills without any supporting class.]

"This thing is more complicated than I thought." Rey was thinking about what he'll do next.

[So, what are you gonna do now? Search for more fragments?]

"I would like to do that but if I recall correctly then, the Shadow Warrior is not from the Empire right?"

[Yep, he is from the Agar Kingdom]

"Tsk.. that is troublesome. Agar Kingdom is like on the opposite side of the continent. I'll have to give up on this."

[Why are you giving up on this opportunity?]

"What opportunity? I only see an opportunity to waste time and money." Rey was confused as he couldn't understand what Sophie was talking about.

[I am talking about the chance to train. As of now, you are extremely underleveled for the entrance exam and for that you'll have to go and hunt at some point of time. But because Rosewood is not a big town, there are not many places for you to level up.

So why not go to the Agar Kingdom? You can get the memory fragment and on the way you can hunt and level up.]

What Sophie proposed was a pretty good solution to overcoming Rey's current shortcomings regarding his strength. But the problem with the plan was that going to the Agar Kingdom would take a lot of time and Rey wasn't sure if could make it back in time for the exam or not.

"You are right, but there is only one problem."

[Don't worry about the duration of the tr....]

"No not that." Rey cut her off, indicating that her reasoning was wrong. "The problem is that, while I am away there is a big chance that my little sister will be born and I wouldn't be able to see her."

[.....]

"See even you are speechless. That's how big a problem this is. Is there something I cou..." Rey kept on mumbling to himself which pissed Sophie as he was worrying over unimportant things.

[Will you stop fawning over your imaginary sister and focus on the important stuff. I swear is you talk about her one more time, I'll make you go through unimaginable pain.]

Sophie was getting tired hearing Rey talk about his sister every chance that he got and she decided to solve the matter the hard way.

"Fine, I'll do as you say but don't be this mean..... to my sister."

Rey wanted to tease Sophie a little and as such underestimated her resolve regarding the matter. He was playing with fire and unfortunately for him, the fire was all set on burning him.

[I warned you!]

Sophie was seriously angry at Rey and shortly a familiar timer appeared in front of him.

10.. 9.. 8...

"Wait... No.. no.. please stop this. I was joking.. just joking... Ahhh!!!!"

The timer hit zero as Rey was begging and pain seated through his body, rendering him immobile. He fell in his knees and then dropped to the floor, writhing in pain. Besides pain Rey was also hit with a feeling of nostalgia as this situation was all too familiar to him.

"Pl...e..s...s..to..p!!"

[No can do] Sophie nonchalantly ignored Rey's pain filled pleas.

"So...or..ryy.."

Rey barely managed to speak as the pain he was experiencing was incomparable to what he had previously endured. Unlike the first time, Sophie didn't hold back and let her sadistic tendency take over.

Rey tried a couple more times to speak but it only ended as undecipherable moans. Tears were welling up in his eyes as he struggled against the pain.

Alas, Rey's struggle was short lived as he fell unconscious soon after!

[Oops! Did I go too far?]

After Rey fainted, Sophie realised that she may have gone a tad bit too far but she didn't feel as guilty as she had thought she would. Unbeknownst to her something inside her also grew.

Rey was out cold for a couple of hours and when he woke up, he felt sore all over and decided to go back to sleep and pass the rest of the day.

The next day Rey went to see Ed as soon as possible to discuss about his possible trip. He told him about everything that happened yesterday obviously excluding the fainting part.

"How do you know from where the Shadow Warrior was? I barely knew about that class before you got it."

"Hehe! Consider it a perk for being me." Rey shamelessly stole all of Sophie's credit for himself.

"As if I'll believe that." luckily Ed knew better than to believe the nonsense that came out of Rey's mouth.

"What do you say about plan?"

"Hmm..." Ed thought about Rey's plan for quite some time before speaking again.

"I think there is one inherent flaw... no make it two."

"What?" Rey was inexperienced regarding such trips, so he listened attentively to what Ed was saying.

"You'll be travelling alone. I don't think that you have anyone who can accompany you on your journey. Even I am taking a big party with me including a few experts. So you going alone is akin to inviting misfortune."

"Why can't I just go alone? It'll be much easier and faster that way."

"You can but remember what they taught us at the Institute. It is better to have a companion when you are travelling especially when your level is low. They can help us in many ways but the speed needs to be sacrificed."

"*sigh* Now I have one more headache. I'll just talk to my parents and see what they say." Rey got up from his chair and left Ed's house.

"Mom, I want to talk with you and dad urgently." Rey went straight to his mother, not wasting any time.

"Honey, but your father is still at the clinic. You'll have to wait till he returns. Why don't you tell me instead?"

"No. I'll tell when both of you are here."

Not having anything to do for the time being, Rey decided to wander around the time to kill some time