Essence Reborn

Chapter 6

Suddenly, the text shifted just as he expected, and in the blink of an eye he found himself back in the cave.

[CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY BEEN AWAKENED.]

[YOU ARE THE TRUE CORE OF THE ASHRA'S.]

Seeing the words float before him, he couldn't help but wonder what exactly the system meant. He tried to confirm many things, but the texts kept on shifting, one upon the other.

[ Window Open: System Status ]

Name: Kenji Ian

Core trait: Ashra's core (Tier 1 Apprentice)

Age: Twenty one

Class: # None

Title: # None

Level: 1

Experience points (Exp) : 0/100

Health: 100

Agility: 5

Strength: 5

Vertality: 3

Perception: 10

To him, it felt like a visual game played among rich folks, the kind they even competed and placed bets on. However, Kenji noticeably focused on one particular stat point for longer: 'Perception.' For some reason, the number was twice as high as the others. He wasn't quite sure if this correlated with the sense of danger he had felt earlier, before the disaster that wiped out all his party members—if the system was right.

To confirm his suspicion, he thought that this was the right time to voice all the abrupt questions he had in mind about the system and its origin.

Just before he could open his mouth to pour out his questions, the screen shifted again with a notified chime.

«You have received a Newbie Gift Card»

It was an image of a neon-green kit box that appeared on the screen as the text shifted afterwards...

«Do you wish to open the gift storage?»

[Yes] / [No]

Meanwhile, Kenji was already boiling with anger seeing the words shift so suddenly without giving him a chance to ask about the system itself. It was as if the system could never read his damn mind, or perhaps it was intentionally being mean.

Kenji dismissed the whole interface in annoyance. His eyes dropped back to his body where he sprawled against the broken wall of the chamber. He hadn't thought of this the entire time; all that came to his mind was this new visual, game-like system he was wondering about.

And to his surprise, all his body was back to normal. His severed arms and legs were unbelievably back to normal. He stared at the change in stunned motion, feeling his blood rush so fast he clutched his hand tightly towards his chest. He realized, earlier the unknown monster had left a big, deep hole in his chest with its vicious claws.

But everything was back in place. His whole mind swirled more than his eyes could catch up for the moment.

Unbeknownst to him, these changes weren't just about the physical damages made to him a moment ago. A part of his dark hair slightly became white from the left side strands, falling to his brow level—a change he couldn't see. And a single black earring dangled from each side of his ear. It was thin, sharp, and shaped like a falling blade, embedded at the center with an ornate, half-moon-shaped crystal fang.

This was the system's tribute to his awakened state, bringing a new life form that linked to the very Core of Ashra as the ultimate. Though this new physique was very low compared to the masters he could become by leveling up with the system.

However, unlike his physical appearance, the complete disappearance of all damage and scars happened so abruptly that he couldn't see it with his own eyes—which left him with even more questions.

Kenji paused for a long moment. After all, he knew he wouldn't get answers unless he played along with the system's sudden interface.

There was one way...

He reached for the screen and touched the bold word hovering before him:

Clicked [Yes]

'So what next,' he thought in a curious stare.

[Access granted.... 100%]

Upon opening the gift storage, Kenji saw that six magical sets were visible, but only the very first one shone with a bright, dimming green. The remaining five boxes were blurred and featured rare designs with templates that stated the required levels to unlock them.

Looking further, Kenji realized a bold text displayed beneath:

«Tier 2 Seeker #locked. 0/20... Lvl»

Unlike everything he had seen so far, this was genuinely different. It was a program that grants its user the ability to access this new gift storage box, which comes with its own prices and rewards upon reaching each demanded level.

The rest of the boxes were totally locked without a sneak peek to see what level was demanded to grant their rewards.

To him, it all felt strange, especially since he hadn't yet received an answer about the system. 'Hmm, a mystery system that came out of nowhere,' he thought, dismissing the whole interface as he decided to head back away from the cave to share the strange mystery he encountered. And hope he could get some answers.

Pushing himself up with a low groan, and staring right back at his arms and legs, he saw they were perfect. He kicked through the air and threw a slight punch as far as his strength would allow. "All good," he said to himself.

As he walked a few steps, about to head out of the dungeon cave, a sudden notification from his system buzzed through his head as the panel hovered at his eye level once more.

«First Quest granted: Complete Task»

«Kill a low-class wolf and survive for 45 minutes»

Kenji couldn't believe his eyes. First, it felt like a joke—he was an F-rank with no single abilities, magic, or signs. Secondly, if it came to the worst, he had walked past the narrowed cave, arriving at the vast area his crew members had mined a moment ago before coming up with a silly decision. This was a clear exit he could take towards running down the entrance, as the place was all clear of any monsters of a kind.

So he scoffed, hesitating to believe what the system had said, maybe thinking it looked at him as a brainless dude with no clue how to understand positive and negative scenarios.

Taking a few more steps away from the dungeon, suddenly a rumbling sound reverberated throughout the cave, vibrating from the ground he stood beneath. Stones from the floor casually vibrated in motion as they gave a burning sensation through Kenji; his chest tightened at the sight.

The rumbling cave slowly reshaped itself, covering all narrowed and vast entrances away from the tunnel like a steel cage. The last rune-stone settled into its final place with a deafening THUD!