The Scream
The morning light streamed through the window of Dusty's room.
Well, it would have if the heroes actually had windows. For safety concerns, they weren't allowed to have any openings for intruders.
Dusty sat up, stretched, and yawned, feeling refreshed after a good night's sleep.
He looked over at the clock on the desk. A nice new amenity that Alistair had requested yesterday for the heroes. Ten minutes until training. He swung his legs off the side of the bed. It was his first day of full-on training, and he would finally be able to practice fire manipulation.
He had spent a lot of time practicing Reality Manipulation, and now, it was time for a change.
As he stretched, his stomach rumbled. He thought to himself, "Hmm, I wonder what's for breakfast today?"
He went over to the wardrobe and the sturdy but comfortable outfit. As he was buttoning it up, a sound came down from the hall.
A scream.
Dusty froze. He suddenly wasn't so hungry anymore. Something was terribly wrong.
It was a girl; the terror in her voice was clear as day.
Doors burst open, one after another, every hero was jolted awake, and they spilled out into the hallway.
Dusty looked around. It took a moment for him to see where the body was. One of the female heroes had found the body while getting ready for training. She was crying, her face had terror written all over it.
The heroes moved closer to the body and huddled around it, standing a few feet back. Alistair slowly moved forward, his face in utter shock. He knelt down beside the body.
There was a small hole in his chest, his shirt was stained with a dark red color. Blood.
His eyes were wide open, staring blankly at the ceiling. Truly a gruesome scene.
Some of the heroes slowly started breaking down, the adrenaline fading.
Alistair, in that familiar low tone, said, "Someone go grab the king."
"He's dead."
The demon had struck, and the hunt was on.
In the following days of the attack, the King changed various policies that immediately took effect.
Guards, clad in armor, were stationed around every hallway and section of the palace. The dormitory hallways were now guarded, every few doors down, ensuring the heroes' safety.
Outside, the royal army protected against any external assault.
Finally, the training regimen was drastically longer. From dawn to dusk, the heroes were subjected to intense training. They only received one hour of free time and thirty minutes per meal.
Dusty found the schedule to be a nuisance to his plans. He needed answers, and fast. He had to understand how to grow stronger before he became the next victim.
The kingdom had lost a hero with only an arcane ability. While the loss wasn't devastating, the fact that a hero had fallen at all had sent a chill throughout the castle.
While the others mourned, Dusty investigated. Over the next two weeks, he went through various trials of his Reality Manipulation.
He had learned more about what he couldn't do than what he could.
But the most crucial discovery was this: he could imbue objects with special properties.
Enchantments.
After countless hours of experimentation, he finally succeeded. He imbued a small stone with levitation. It floated in the air, defying the very laws of gravity that held it down. It was his first real breakthrough. He wasn't just altering the object's physical properties; he was changing their magical ones. Dusty even managed to edit the enchantment to make the stone float like a balloon or sink.
The next tests involved a training dagger, which he imbued with unbreaking. He had to use his strength enhancement just to get it to shatter. Then, he tried to apply sharpness. The enchanted blade sliced through the desk as if it were paper.
He attempted to enchant a pair of reading glasses with appraisal. That experiment failed spectacularly, but it provided insight into the limits of his power.
Dusty wasn't the only one training; Alistair had motivated their classmates to get stronger.
His classmates, also determined not to get stabbed in the heart, honed their abilities and even practiced for additional time.
Despite the King's efforts, the investigation went cold. No new evidence had surfaced; it was a perfect kill. Even the royal investigators couldn't find any clues about it.
But Dusty had found something.
He'd used his Appraisal to discover various clues.
— — — — — — —
• Body: Impaled through the heart with a small training dagger. Traces of iIllusion magic detected.
• Floor: The floor was wet at the time of death.
• Walls: The walls previously had illusionary magic cast on them.
• Footsteps: Three pairs of footsteps were present in the dormitory at the time of death.
— — — — — — —
"If only these walls could talk," Dusty thought to himself. He was still processing the clues. The other details were... interesting, but the illusion magic was the key. The victim likely never even saw the dagger coming until the end.
Dusty knew that none of the heroes had illusion magic after watching them train.
This could mean only one thing: the killer was either an insider, an advanced magician, or someone with a second, hidden ability. A true demon.
The hunt for the killer was far from over, but Dusty was prepared. He had knowledge that nobody else had. He was ready.
[Three weeks after the murder]
Dusty was in his dorm room, practicing his Reality Manipulation.
This time, he decided to go for another breakthrough.
He wanted to imbue an object with the power to detect danger. A short but effective glimpse into the future. He had requested a ring with a mana gem inside it under the pretense that he would try to imbue it with the fire affinity.
Of course, he would attempt that, but he had more pressing matters. The ring had to be made of a mana-related material or else it wouldn't be able to contain the power and would break. This was one of the many issues he faced.
He spent two hours attempting to imbue it with the ability of precognition.
On his thirty-second attempt, the ring began to glow. It had a faint flash of red, green, and then it faded.
It had worked.
Dusty immediately used Appraisal on the item.
— — — — — — —
The Sentinel's Ring
• Material: A silver ring, crafted with a flawless mana gem at its core.
• Affinity: None (Unbound)
• Enchantments: Precognition- The ring's gem will shift in color, providing a warning of impending events:
•Crimson: Danger
• Emerald: Safety
• Neutral (Uncolored): Neither threat nor explicit safety detected.
• Overall: A low-tier artifact, notable for the rare and versatile precognition enchantment.
• Value: 25,000 Bronze
— — — — — — —
He felt a rush of excitement and pride as he examined The Sentinel's Ring. He'd actually succeeded in creating a rare enchantment, a feat that gave him a small sense of accomplishment. He'd poured a lot of his time and energy into the ring. It took lots of focus, and the result... was a tool that could save his life! He slipped it onto his finger, feeling the cool sensation of metal against his skin.
As he was savouring the moment, he felt a new sensation. An internal shift, a feeling that he felt from his core. His heart started to race. He glanced down at his hands, they were glowing in a slight crimson light.
He didn't know how he knew, but he did. His Reality Manipulation had evolved. It was a surge in power that left him breathless. The creation of the ring was certainly a breakthrough, but it was also a catalyst. The experience left him with an Arcane-level Reality Manipulation.
His thoughts raced, the possibilities of his new power darting through his head. Could he edit materials, conjure objects, and maybe even shape reality to his will? The implications of what he could do were incredible.
A final question lingered in his thoughts.
"When it becomes oblivion rank, will I become a god?"
He remembered the words that the angel had said before. Each ability was made personally for each hero. And what did Dusty desire more than anything? Freedom.
The potential was truly limitless, terrifying, but exhilarating for sure.
This power was not just a gift; it was a lesson.
He had learnt more about himself than he ever had in the Underworld. He discovered what he could truly do. He had to tread carefully, one small slip up and he'd die before he could ever reach his true heights.
Dusty realized that he had changed. He now valued his own life more than ever before.
He also realized, his journey was only just beginning.