Awakening With the Renegade System

Chapter five: Steel Skin

Javier continued down the mountain path, making his way through jagged rocks which protruded upwards like monstrous spikes. One misstep and he would be sent tumbling down, splattering himself over one of these rocks which were densely packed.

'I wonder how the previous settlers of this place managed to continue living her,' Javier thought within himself. 'For them to move to and fro mountain must be a very herculean task.

While descending the mountain he decided to check his player stats once more. Back then he didn't have the chance to check it because everything had been very confusing. Now that his mind had regained clarity this would be the best time to check it.

Taking a deep breath he imagined the stat interface displaying before him. Although he had done this before it still felt very strange to him—and he was also doubtful. It was only after the familiar red holographic screen appeared in front of him that he calmed down.

[RENEGADE SYSTEM ONLINE...]

[STATS]

>STRENGTH (STR): 3+

>AGILITY (AGI): 3+

>ENDURANCE (END): 3+

>VITALITY (VIT): 2+

>INTELLIGENCE (INT): +5

>PERCEPTION (PRC): +4

>LUCK (LCK): 2+

'Hmm...' he narrowed his eyes as he read through his stats which were displayed in front of him. 'Why the hell is my intelligence higher than everything...'

'At least my strength is supposed to be higher...' Javier complained with a sour expression. 'What I'm I supposed to do with five points of intelligence?'

Sighing he decided to check his host status and couldn't help but become more disappointed when he saw the data displayed in front of him.

[RENEGADE SYSTEM ONLINE...]

[HOST STATUS]

NAME: JAVIER OLIVER

CLASS: THIEF

RANK: Bronze

LEVEL: 1

MANA: 0/10

EXP: 1/10

KILLS: 1

DEFEATS: 0

RENEGADE ALIGNMENT: 12%

MEMORY SYNC: 2%

"I still don't know why I'm given the Thief class," Javier told himself. "I wasn't a thief in my...previous life."

Although he had accepted Javier's identity he still found it strange. This was because deep down he knew that he was Donald Winston. He just decided to accept his new identity because it would help his mental state.

He had read in several books where the protagonists refused to assimilate the identities of their new bodies. This lead to them having split personality disorder and different souls. It usually led to something terrifying in the future.

He didn't want to end up like these protagonists so he decided quickly to assimilate his identity. And once he finally got his memory as Javier Oliver, things would be easier.

"I guess this is why there is something called the Memory Sync," Javier said to himself. "I might not have any of Javier's memories now but that doesn't mean I won't have them in the future."

His eyes then settled on his rank and level, his eyebrows furrowing, "I guess this is my rank and level as a...uhm...what was it called again? Raider?"

'Bronze rank?' he thought within himself. 'Level one? They should be the lowest of the lowest, right?'

Seeing that no one was willing to answer his question he immediately dismissed the host status. He then said loudly, "Uhm...Renegade System, do you mind explaining some key concepts for me?"

There were several things on this host status which he wanted to know and they were driving him crazy. If not for his intelligence he wouldn't have been able to figure out some of the terms on the host status.

But the Renegade System remained silent, not replying to his question. This left him a little disappointed, causing him to squeeze his left hand into a fist.

After walking for two hours he finally neared the black fog which had obscured his vision back then when he wanted to see the corpse of the monster. It was this fog that was also obscuring his vision right now, preventing him from seeing anything in front of him.

'I just pray another creature doesn't appear right in front of me,' Javier swallowed nervously, a bead of sweat sliding off his forehead.

Although he was having an ominous feeling it didn't deter him from proceeding forward into the black impenetrable fog. Luckily for him he didn't stumble into any monstrous creature and kept on walking slowly, using his left hand to feel the rocks. He didn't want to bump into one and end up losing his footing, tumbling down the mountain into the jagged rocks densely packed together.

After walking for two hours he finally walked out of the black impenetrable fog, standing in a wide valley filled with several lush trees and grasses. The atmosphere here was warm compared to the stygian atmosphere of the mountain ruin which he had climbed down from. There were no clouds obscuring the radiant sun, causing it to smile with so much grandeur on the valley.

Javier was short of turning blind from looking up into the sky so he shut his eyes and looked down. He then opened his eyes and saw something lying in front of him. His heart leaped instantly and he almost jumped backwards.

But it was nothing that he should be afraid of. It was just the corpse of the Steel Sabertooth lying on the ground. Although it had fallen from such a great height it wasn't mangled like Javier had thought it would be. Instead there was just a single large crack on its right side, its visceral organs seeping out.

There was so much blood splattered all over the place, releasing a stench which made Javier to frown as he raised his left hand to cover his nose. He almost puked from such a nauseous smell.

'I never thought blood would have this stench to it,' he thought to himself and was about walking away when he heard the Renegade System's familiar voice.

[RENEGADE SYSTEM ONLINE...]

QUINTESSENCE CORE DETECTED

NAME: STEEL SABERTOOTH

CLASS: MONSTER

RANK: BRONZE

LEVEL: 1

BEGIN CORE ASSIMILATION?

[YES] [NO]

"Ugh...yes..." Javier said loudly even though he knew he didn't need to do so.

ANALYZING QUINTESSENCE SIGNATURE

>RACE: MUTATED SABERTOOTH

>QUINTESSENCE GRADE: MODERATE

[SELECT TRANSFORMATION PATH]

> [FUSE WITH BODY] Get permanent physical traits

> [CONVERT TO WEAPON IMPRINT] Imbue weapons with beast effects

> [GENERATE A NEW SKILL] Manifest a new skill from beast's Quintessence

'Generate skill,' Javier immediately selected this option. This was because this was the one he found understandable and better.

[GENERATE SKILL SELECTED]

XTRACTING DEFENSIVE TRAITS...

> HIDE DENSITY: 87%

>MUSCLE FORTIFICATION: 71%

> BONE LAYER REINFORCEMENT: 64%

SKILL GENERATED

[STEEL SKIN]

TYPE: PASSIVE (DEFENSIVE]

LEVEL: 1

EFFECT:

Reinforces skin with steel-like fibre

+15% Damage resistance

+10% Piercing resistance

Reduces stagger chance from blunt attacks

[SKILL INTEGRATION...COMPLETE]

>"Your skin is your greatest bulwark."

The moment the process was completed Javier's skin suddenly let out a bright silvery glow which lasted for some seconds. His skin which had been soft suddenly began hardening, transforming from flesh into steel.

When Javier raised his left hand and stared at it he saw that his skin had taken on a silvery tone. And when he rubbed his fingers together he could feel the steel-like texture. His skin had really become as hard as steel!

Not only had his skin become as hard as steel, his bone had become more dense as well. He could feel the bones within his fingers as he clenched them tightly, cracking sounds emanating from them. With such dense bones a blow from him would be at least capable of breaking the bone of a normal human.

'Provided humans in this place don't have the same bone constitution as the ones I know...' Donald thought within himself as he stared at his hand which still had the steel-like appearance.

But this only lasted for a few seconds before his skin reverted to normal. And Although it had reverted to normal Javier knew that whenever he was dealt physical damage, the skill would instantly activate by itself. It was a passive skill after all.

'This feels so great!' Javier thought within himself. 'Now I'm no longer afraid of running into more Steel Sabertooths!'

He then chuckled, staring at the corpse of the monster which he had doomed to its death. He then licked his lips with a dubious expression, "I wonder how many of your brothers are out there..."

"With my Steel Skin you no longer pose any threat to me!" these were his last words as he started walking, heading north of the valley. He still had a quest to complete and wanted to do so quickly.

At that moment the quest interface appeared in front of him:

[QUEST: INITIATION PROTOCOL]

OBJECTIVES:

>SURVIVE THE RUIN OF NIGHTMARE

>LOCATE THE NEAREST HUMAN SETTLEMENT

DURATION: 48 HOURS

PROGRESS:

>TIME: 40HRS 30MINS

>KILLS: 1

>HUMAN SIGNALS DETECTED: 0

REWARD:

+1 LEVEL

+5 STAT POINTS

MEMORY SYNC +5%

RANDOM PASSIVE SKILL (LV1)