The Astral soul system

Chapter 267: Aren’t you too young?

Zaine sighed, looking ahead at the ongoing class and back at his system screen.

School.

It almost made him want to relinquish control of the body to one of the other two. He brought down the specs of his new skill, examining it

[Sin bomb(1/7)]

[Detonate a mass of condensed dark energy that resonating it with primal the primal flaws of the heart]

[Cost: 100 Astra]

[The skill judges the soul of its target, and the damage is influenced by how inherently sinful its nature is]

Interesting. From the description, he guessed it was a skill that actually did more damage depending on how immoral its target was. You’d expect a skill like that from some sort of cleric or at least someone with a "Holy" ability. Judging sin and purging it accordingly.

That was why the corpse of the orc cheif looked like it had been burned from the inside, because it was.

"Resonance"

He mused

It wasn’t the first time the system had mentioned that when it came to souls. Theia had likened it to magnets that either attracted or repelled when the right kind were brought together. Now it had powered this strange new skill

He wondered how a greed sin bomb would look,or envy. Could he combine them all and target all so called flaws at once?

Of course there was the other that had showed up before sin bomb

[Sin siphon (1/7)]

[You’ve learned how to draw power from the darkness of hearts of others,and can use it to fuel yourself accordingly (an incomplete mastery of a basic principle)]

He ignored the jab at the end, mostly because it was true.

According to Theia, this was literally the most basic to unlock, and if they weren’t so emotionally braindead, they should naturally have found it out a few days after getting it.

Like in cultivation novels where they start at foundation stage?

This was BELOW that.

And they’d only unlocked one.

His gaze relaxed, passing through the slightly translucent system screen and coincidentally on broccoli head.

A while back Moirai had suddenly started panicking, saying something about her being in trouble. He’d gotten out of bed but by the time he opened the door it calmed down, apparently it was no biggie.

Despite feeling the urge set that stupid floating orb on fire, he was also a bit curious as to what actually happened with her.

Black also apparently had something to report but he didn’t really care for it as long as she was safe,at least right now. He was saving the little patience he had left for Syl.

She hadn’t shown herself since two days ago when the portal incident happened and he had no idea where she was or what she was doing

"Ahem! Excuse me, Zen. The rest of the class is busy doing something, it’s called learning, maybe you’d like to try it sometime"

He groaned, The human toaster was back and more annoying than ever. He despised the fact that he had to respond to that name. What was that moron thinking when he signed them all up with his name.

"Hello? Cadet! I’m speaking to you,you might want to respond"

Gemma pressed

"Fuck off or I’ll sell your generator for scraps"

Gemma gasped, placing her hand on her chest before her brows furrowed.

"Oh, you’re in one of your moods today. I’m sorry,I didn’t realize the whole class had to be informed that someone pissed in your cereal this morning"

"You-’

He slammed his fist on the table and was about to retort when Aurora spoke.

"That’s enough,Z-"

She paused, sighing and decided to just compromise by not saying anything at all

"One more word out of either of you, and you’ll regret it. Gemma,you can go, and you,try better to fit in"

She said with a tone that left no room for retort, from either of them. She’d shut the whole thing down with a few words.

He groaned but realizing that a retort would end badly for him, he didn’t push it and just reopened the system screen, occasionally looking at the class.

An hour later the students filed out of the morning class, heading for their next.

Jade quickly ran out the door and almost made it when she felt someone pull her back.

"Not so fast"

The dreaded words came from behind her as Maximilian pulled her with him. She didn’t even bother putting up a fight and let him drag her away

She’d been avoiding him as much as possible after the embarrassing situation on the roof,it seemed it was finally time to face the music.

"I’m sorry for getting you in trouble okay?"

"Shhh!"

He hushed, pulling her to somewhere more secluded before answering

"You didn’t get me in trouble, that’s- what were you even doing there?"

"..."

"Jade,I need answers. There were bodies when I showed up there, corpses that then they suddenly disappeared into thin air"

She actually didn’t have an explanation for that one, she’d been just as shocked as they were when that happened, though she hadn’t seen nothing. She’d seen the bodies turn into dust and fly somewhere into the sky.

And when she’d tried explaining what she saw she just sounded crazy

"Well...why are you hanging out with a gang"

"I’m not -"

He took a deep breath, lowering his tone as he tried to calm down.

"I’m not hanging out with a gang. Okay? It’s complicated"

"Are-are you sure you’re not mad at me?"

"I just... haven’t slept in a few days, okay?"

"Well I wasn’t doing anything wrong either. It’s also complicated "

Maximilian sighed and nodded. He didn’t really have much right to be scolding her, especially when he had no valid or at least legal reason to be there.

"Fine, just tell me why you went there in the first place "

She paused for a second, looking at her feet and twiddling her thumbs

"You weren’t alone, right?"

She nodded

"I was there with a girl. She was one of Z’s friends "

"His friends? As in..."

She nodded

Maximilian sighed, facepalming.

"I-i wanted to talk to him so I went to your room and she was already inside somehow and I followed her there and -"

"Stop"

"..."

"Just, what happened when you got there "

She gave him a quick summarized version. Raven attacked what she thought was a person, she got hit then realized they were monsters, and then she helped get rid of them.

"So there were only the three of you?"

Jade was halfway through a nod when she realized she’d never mentioned Beatrix.

"Yes,how did yo-"

"Did you cover your face?"

"Why is that -"

"Just answer"

"Um...I kept my hood on, and it was dark

Maximilian sighed. That would have to do.

"What’s wrong?

"Someone else was there,watching you"

He said, looking suspicious.

"From the opposite side of the street on top of another building. I sent people there to go after them but it was like they just outright vanished."

"Like the bodies"

"You’re sure you didn’t see anything else"

She thought for a second and shook her head. Other than that weird hallucination andin the midst of all the other general weirdness, nothing really stood out to her

"Alright, fine. I already have people removing any traces you left behind that can lead back to you, like blood stains,strands of hair, indentations in metal beams"

He said the last part, eying her judgingly.

"That’s...huh... oddly specific "

She said awkwardly

"But, wait. What were you doing there?"

"Following Kane’s trail"

"Huh? Cane? Like that sweet stuff?"

"I doubt it"

He said, walking away.

"Huh? You’re just leaving?"

Maximilian shrugged. He couldn’t very well tell her what she could and couldn’t do. When it came to this Raven person she’d just have to trust her gut when it came to what to do with her

"You’re more than capable of taking care of yourself . I feel like this whole incident is proof of that "

As he walked away she looked down at her watch that still showed her power level.

"Yeah..."

Outside the school

Sable groaned looking up at the sun.

Turns out the fairy tales were only a little bit off. The sun didn’t burn them instantly,it just made her feel like she was walking with cement blocks for shoes.

She was just about ready to give up when she suddenly heard something.

She immediately turned around, noticing a trashcan under a tree across from her.

She looked at it suspiciously and was about to keep walking again when she saw it shake, making the same noise again.

She tried to listen in but she couldn’t hear what was inside, probably because she couldn’t concentrate. Thanks a lot,sun.

Carefully she creeped closer

"Probably just a cute cat,or a raccoon or something"

She reached for the lid and quickly took it off, looking inside to find nothing there.

"Huh, that’s weird"

She leaned in closer for a better look when a head suddenly popped out.

Startled, she flinched backwards, throwing the lid at it.

The lid bounced off the head, flying off somewhere else.

For a few seconds there was nothing but silence until she realized what she just did

"Oh my goodness I’m so sorry,I didn’t mean to do that,I swear!"

She said, looking at the blank expressionless face that was still in the trashcan. The boy had a blank face,covered with grime. His eyes were wide open with dark bags, giving him both an exhausted and manic look, his hair was messy, dirty and a little bit spiky, shooting everywhere. She couldn’t tell how little or tall he was since he was still in the trashcan, but she felt like he was probably short

His face was entirely expressionless, he hadn’t even budged when the lid hit him in the face. His eyes slowly looked up at her.

"So?"

She paused for a second, not sure what he meant by that. After a few seconds, she replied uncertainly.

"I...I don’t have any money. I know that sounds weird because of who i am but it’s true"

She showed her account balance with her watch and it was really empty.

That didn’t seem to satisfy him though since he just kept staring.

"You’ve got a lot of nerve just walking around in the open like this"

She took a metaphorical step back, looking at his dark red pupils that looked awfully small in his wide open eyes.

"Who are you?"

He didn’t answer, and instead said something else

"You don’t hear that?"

She was confused but tried to listen , even looking around to see if there was something she should be listening for but there was nothing.

"You’re weak. You’re starving yourself"

She didn’t pay much mind to that, anyone could tell she wasn’t a hundred percent, and technically it was true

"Trying to wane your bloodlust, clever. Aren’t you too young for that?"

Her eyes widened and she turned around to face him again but he was gone, and not just the boy but the trashcan too.

"Did he just say..."

She looked to the side and saw where the lid she’d thrown landed and saw it had hit a tree with enough force to force into it and get stuck.

She must have thrown it with more force than she realized in her panic.

"But that would mean..."

She looked at where the trashcan ince was, right under the shade of the tree