Awakening With the Renegade System

Chapter seven: A Spark of Memory

SKILL UPGRADE DETECTED

[STEEL SKIN, LV1]

[AVAILABLE QUINTESSENCE CORES]

STEEL SABERTOOTH ×3

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SACRIFICE THESE CORES TO UPGRADE THIS SKILL?

[YES] [NO]

The holographic interface popped up again, reminding Javier in case he had forgotten. And now that he had fully recovered his stamina he was ready to go.

'Yes,' he immediately accepted to upgrade the Steel Skin skill. Although it had enhanced his skin, making it as tough as still it was still lagging.

For example the Steel Sabertooth had been able to damage his skin with the ferocious assault of its steel claws. This meant that his skin could still be damaged albeit the skill could reduce damage done to him.

[UPGRADING STEEL SKIN]

×3 STEEL SABERTOOTH QUINTESSENCE CORES HAVE BEEN INFUSED INTO STEEL SKIN

>SKILL NAME: STEEL SKIN

>SKILL LEVEL: 1

>SKILL DESCRIPTION:

Reinforces skin with steel-like fibre

+15% Damage resistance

+10% Piercing resistance

Reduces stagger chance from blunt attacks

STATUS: EVOLVING

At that moment Javier had the chance to see what he didn't see earlier. Back then he had been so obsessed with understanding the Renegade System that he had failed to notice the socalled Quintessence cores.

These Quintessence Cores were white in colour, brimming with colours of energies which were strange to Javier. Perhaps they were not energies at all but entirely different concepts. What if they were the souls, minds and spirits of these creatures?

'As if these monsters would have all those,' Javier remarked inwardly and watched as the Quintessence cores flowed out of the corpses of the Steel Sabertooth into his body.

EVOLUTION COMPLETE

YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY EVOLVED THE SKILL, STEEL SABERTOOTH!

>STEEL SKIN, LV3 (PASSIVE)

Reinforces skin with steel-like fibre

+30% Damage resistance

+20% Piercing resistance

Enables Evolution Compatibility (Can evolve with rare cores)

>"Your skin is made of iron, your bones forged in steel!"

Suddenly Javier felt himself brimming with so much strength. His bones felt stronger and denser, his skin becoming thicker than it had been before. His muscles became well sculptured, becoming defined and toned.

Within a short period of time he underwent a prodigious transformation, shifting from a lanky and malnourished individual to a slim young one with toned body. It was perhaps the shortest physical transformation in history!

'I feel so...different,' Javier thought within himself as he felt strength surging through his veins. He became very confident in himself this time, feeling that he would be able to stab through the steel hide of a Steel Sabertooth.

'That's if we're still talking about a level one...' he immediately mocked himself, stopping his mad boasting instantly.

He was still basking in his glorious transformation when he heard a voice behind him, "Javier?"

This sudden voice caused him to shudder, making his muscles tighten. There were two reasons he shuddered in fear and it was very much understandable.

The first one was because he was supposed to be in this forest alone! Who the hell had crept up close to him to suddenly call him by his name? Didn't they know that this valley was very dangerous and brimming with Steel Sabertooths?

Secondly, he had just reincarnated as Javier Oliver and didn't have any memory of the young man. And now that someone who knew him had appeared, his greatest fear manifested just like that.

'I've not integrated into this body well...' he thought within himself. 'I don't want everything getting screwed up...'

"Javier?" the voice called again, this time slowly. And Javier could have sworn that there was a malevolent tone to that voice.

Slowly Javier turned around and faced the individual who had snuck up behind him. And it was at this moment he got the chance to see who had been calling his name all this while.

It was a tall slender man dressed in a black leather jacket and pair of black trousers. His clothes seemed very worn out, patches of blood visible across them. A longsword was strapped to his right side, showing that he was actually left-handed.

The man's eyes were narrowed as he stared at Javier, light reflecting off his blue pupils. His mouth was lined by a fine beard, making him look dignified and composed. But then the man's aura was very far from being dignified! It was terrifying and bestial, like that of a killer!

'Wait, how am I able to instantly pick up his traits?' Javier asked himself. 'Oh, that damn intelligence of mine...'

Suddenly a holographic interface appeared in front of him, causing him to betray his neutral expression.

[RENEGADE SYSTEM ONLINE...]

[RAIDER STATUS]

NAME: BLAKE JOHNSON

CLASS: HUNTER

RANK: BRONZE

LEVEL: 1

[SKILLS]

>YOU CAN'T VIEW THIS ATTRIBUTE AT LV1

>UNLOCK AT LV11

'Oh...' Javier raised an eyebrow after seeing the interface. 'So I can also see the status of other Raiders like me...not just monsters..."

"What are you doing here all by yourself?" the man called Blake suddenly asked. "You're supposed to be on the mountain ruin with the others."

Javier controlled his turbulent emotions and replied coldly, "I just came down the mountain ruin. It is overrun by some monsters."

When Blake heard this a complicated expression appeared on his face. But he quickly erased it and pretended everything was normal. He did this while sizing up Javier who seemed to be a little different.

'Am I imagining things?' Blake asked himself. 'He's supposed to be dead with the others! They are all dead!'

"Why are you staring at me like that, Blake?" Javier asked, an unsettling feeling rising within his heart.

Blake moved his left hand gently and placed it on the hilt of his longsword before saying, "I'm very curious about one thing, Javier. How did you survive that mountain ruin?"

"What do you mean?" Javier asked with a chuckle. He didn't even know why he chuckled at this period of time but he did it any way. And his lips were curling into a mischievous grin!

"Wipe that grin off your face, you thief!" Blake immediately barked as he drew out his sword and pointed it at Javier's throat. "The others are all dead but you're alive!"

'What is he talking about?' Javier became confused and wanted to ask Blake what he was talking about. But he remembered that he was already inhabiting the body of the original Javier whom the Raider knew.

If he asked a question like that then he would turn out to be very suspicious to Blake. And this wasn't what he wanted at this period of time. What he wanted was clarity, not another bloody and dramatic episode. Heck, he hadn't even settled down since his reincarnation!

"You were supposed to die with all the traps in this valley," Blake continued talking. "You were supposed to die like a chicken alongside the others...but here you are."

With each word the man's expression grew more ferocious, his eyes becoming bloodshot. And by the time he was done talking he ended up looking very feral like an animal.

"You're not supposed to survive the mountain ruin with all the Steel Sabertooths scattered around," Blake said as he narrowed his eyes. "How did you survive that Ruin of Nightmare? You were supposed to die!"

[RENEGADE SYSTEM ONLINE...]

>MEMORY TRIGGER DETECTED

>ANALYSING...

>KEYWORD MATCH: BLAKE JOHNSON

>MATCHING TO NEURAL ARCHIVE

>MEMORY FRAGMENT RETRIEVED

Suddenly there was a flash of memory within Javier's mind. He saw a lanky figure with mischievous eyes and dubious expression running very quickly. Around him were several men getting killed in several terrifying ways.

Some of them stepped on landmines which exploded into an outburst of crimson flames, reducing them into mangled flesh. Some fell into pits of spikes while others were caught in the crossfire of arrows.

And among all of them only this lanky man survived, escaping all the dangers to the mountain. He left the corpses of his friends which were sprawled all over the valley, climbing to the top of the mountain. It wasn't easy for him but he succeeded anyway.

Finally everything became hazy and Javier snapped out of it to see another holographic screen.

>MEMORY SYNC: +2%

>CURRENT SYNC: 4%

>"Your truths will haunt you, even when you try to forget them!"

At that moment Javier felt something spark within his mind, bringing with it a terrible pain. This made him to grab his head, grimacing as he tried to endure this pain.

Blake, who had been observing him, suddenly narrowed his eyes as he said, "Something must have happened to you. You definitely had a fortuitous encounter against all odds."

He then sized up Javier who was still groaning in pain, "You're not supposed to be alive, Javier. And this is why I've come to finish what I've been tasked with!"

With those words he swung his left arm at Javier's head, his longsword cutting through the air with a whooshing sound. The sunlight was reflected on the the surface of the cold blade which had this stygian aura to it, the air parting with its slash!

And now Javier who was still battling with memory fragments was left defenseless under Blake's sudden assault. It appeared to the Hunter as if there was nothing Javier could do to salvage the situation!