"Ouch, it hurts!"
For the 2nd time in his birthday, Rex woke up from unconsciousness. The only difference from the first was that he felt like his brain was heavy, like he just used all his mental energy to read 48 hours straight without resting.
The throbbing pain in his head was so much that he felt like falling back into unconsciousness but he forced himself to stay awake.
It took some time but Rex's eyes slowly got used to the darkness, this was when he discovered that he was outside the basement door.
It was already mid-night. He vaguely remembered that something happened before he fell unconscious but everything felt hazy to him.
Apparently, through some mysterious power, after he fell unconscious, he was moved here. Rex didn't feel right at the moment, his body felt foreign in a strange manner to him. It was like, he changed.
As he got used to the darkness, he discovered that even his perception of his surroundings changed. It was like, he suddenly became sharper.
"What's going on?"
As he rubbed his aching head with his palm to alleviate the pain while trying to make sense of his situation, this was when everything clicked like the puzzle pieces of a rubik cube falling in place perfectly.
"Holy Shit! The living sword! Berserker?!"
Once Rex called the name of the sword in an exclamative manner while searching around for it, he got a response from the spookiest place ever, the living sword responded from directly inside his head.
"Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!"
With 3 consecutive metallic ringing sounds, the living sword that Rex bonded with from inside the world of the hivemind emerged from his head.
"Holy Freaking Jesus!" Rex was spooked.
Before his very eyes, the living sword came out of his head before hovering before him like an obedient and excited pet companion.
As a sword enthusiast since 5 years of age, Rex was easily mesmerized by this well-crafted sword as he became engrossed in observing its edges.
This was a one-handed sword of extremely high quality. The hilt of the sword was golden, and it was shaped in a perfect T-shape, providing the best possible grip to whoever was supposed to wield it.
The silvery blade of the sword felt cold and extremely deadly. Its sharp edges reflected the sparkle in Rex's eyes as he observed this monster sword.
This sword felt and looked like a sword that came directly from legends.
As Rex observed the one-handed sword, the sword also seemed to observe him as they did this for over 2 minutes before a change happened. The golden hilt of the sword glowed as this glow reflected in Rex's body.
Rex resonated with the sword as he felt like that this sword belonged to him, and he belonged to the sword. An invisible and unique bond formed between them.
For the first time, Rex felt a sword being a real extension of his body.
Bam!
Rex grabbed the hilt of the sword forcefully, then another change took place.
A formless wind seemed to arrive from nowhere, blowing and throwing the curtain, nearby newspapers and other light things away as the resonance between Rex and the sword reached a new peak.
The next moment, his eyes started glowing a whitish golden color. This glow soon extended from his eyes to his body before quickly engulfing the sword.
Suddenly, Rex with the sword seemed like a swordsman legend that just reincarnated into this world after exploits in his previous world.
This white golden energy accumulation continued for 2 minutes, where Rex felt invisible throughout before it finally dissipated.
The glow resided, and calm returned to Rex's eyes.
He looked at the sword fondly. "Berserker!"
"Shing!"
No other words were needed, a bond was already formed between them.
"…The Berserker is your life-bound partner".
"…You'll both grow together, fight together, live together, and die together".
"…Treat him well, and he will reciprocate".
"…Goodluck, Upgraded Rex Vector!"
Rex turned his head and gazed at the basement's door where the voice of the hivemind just came from. He solemnly held the sword and lifted it up.
"I will accompany Berserker for life!"
"Shing!"
…
Plop!
Rex plopped down on his bed in his room after the mind-blowing encounter with his living sword. Berserker already went back inside his head. Just like the way he felt currently, the living sword felt tired after everything.
The tiredness in him meant that he was already feeling sleepy, but Rex could not sleep as he thought about everything that just happened.
The encounter with the hivemind indeed changed his perception of life. Rex had to admit that his father was right, his 18th birthday was the real game changer.
This was his best birthday since 13 years ago after his parents died.
Everything that the hivemind revealed to him, including the fact that he was an upgraded, and that he was the last mystic swordsman all felt like things that could only happen in his best dreams but they were all true.
Overnight, he already transformed from the miserly Rex who everyone knew to being the owner and wielder of a living sword and a mystic ability.
One of the things that shocked him the most about the reveal was the fact that the history of his family dated all the way back to the age of awakening.
Like every other kid who went to school, he knew of the age of awakening. The age of awakening was the age where humanity experienced the greatest of upheavals and where they changed to what they were today.
Suddenly, while humanity prospered and more technological breakthroughs were being made to make life easier, the first dimensional breach was triggered.
After the first dimensional breach, humanity entered what seemed like an apocalyptic era as mystic beasts started descending into our planet.
Powerful mystic beasts with mystic abilities appeared, beasts who were all out to kill and annihilate every human being from planet earth.
Earth resisted but the mystic beasts were too powerful. When everyone thought that the end of humanity was near, the first mystic warriors emerged.
Surprisingly, the dimensional breach came with disasters and opportunities. Humanity through the breach was exposed to the wonders of mystic energy.
Those who harnessed this power to awaken mystic abilities became the warriors and heroes of humanity.
Harnessing mystic energy granted a lot of benefits apart from mystic abilities, benefits like increased regeneration speed, increased strength, endurance, and a lot of others were all received by the mystic warriors.
These warriors with mystic abilities were known as the first heroes of humanity as they stood up to the challenge to protect the world.
Despite the emergence of mystic warriors, humanity was still the losing side. Left with no choice, humanity could only settle for a battle of attrition where they tried to study the wonderful mystic energy and try to harness more of its power.
This heralded the era of awakening. Lucky and talented humans as generations passed developed better ways to become a mystic warrior.
Now, the world was filled with mystic warriors but there were also limitations. As humanity grew stronger, greed overcame the warriors, and they started hording the mystic abilities to their family members alone.
These families with mystic abilities became known as the mystic families.
Only the rich had a certain chance of buying their way to awakening mystic energy and abilities. The only other place to awaken mystic energy was the government and military.
In his Obedin Mystic Academy, Rex had the opportunity to awaken mystic energy and a mystic ability, but his luck was limited, his talent seemed to only extend to swordsmanship but not mystic abilities.
Mystic abilities were divided into 3 tiers, the normal, epic, and legendary.
Normal mystic abilities were those that were distributable to the public by the government and military. Epic mystic abilities were only available to the higherups of the government and military.
As for legendary mystic abilities, these were those that could be transferred through bloodline and were exclusive to the mystic families alone.
Rex always saw himself as an outcast when it came to matters like this. Never did he expect that he was the last of a powerful mystic family whose history stretched all the way to the age of awakening.
And never did he expect to one day wield a legendary mystic ability.
"I guess I was indeed special, Afterall". He complemented himself again.
Of everything that Rex learned and saw today, what made him most excited apart from his upgrade mystic ability and his living sword was the golden glow that formed between him and his sword when he wielded it.
After years of thinking that he had no hopes anymore, he succeeded in awakening mystic energy.
Rex's excitement knew no end, this was indeed his best birthday in years.
He slept filling fulfilled.
…
Sleeping was not the end for Rex though as he had a dream where his current strength was displayed in a chronological manner.
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Name: Rex Vector
Age: 18
Race: Human
Blood Affinity: Vampire
Rank: Basic Mystic Warrior
Strength: 12
Speed: 11
Mind: 21
Vitality: 10
Agility: 9
Dexterity: 10
Health Points [HP]: 15/15
Mystic Energy Points [MEP]: 10/10
…
Mystic Energy: Domain
Mystic Ability: Upgrade
[Mystic Treasure: Berserker.]
[System Remark: You will remember your stats and basic status but will forget everything about the system. The system will only be truly accessed when you awaken a bloodline!]
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