Ophieus first glanced down at his hand trembling and for the first time chuckled. "But I don't care. I'm in control and you will obey me."
Indeed this body was becoming more intriguing but he refused to allow it to jeopardize his mission of returning to his legion.
It can misbehave a bit but needs to shut up and obey when he desires it.
He then looked at this line for a moment.
[Reward Pending...]
Since the chime that sounded from his chest and everything went white. He had been wondering when this would resolve.
Apparently now.
But he had expected something more immediately useful but revised this expectation when the display changed.
The screen flashed and changed.
A new menu showed up below Ophieus's stats, marked by a simple silver symbol that pulsed with light.
[Touch it.]
Ophieus studied the symbol which look like a keyhole or an eye. When his finger met the screen, it moved like water, and the entire display changed in an instant.
[Silver Record]
These words showed up at the top in flowing silver letters against a dark background, and as soon as they appeared, the forest temperature dropped suddenly.
The fog pulled inward closer to him.
Ophieus' eyes sharpened slightly.
"...That's new."
[Abomination] — showing the wild red image of the creature he just fought, a messy swirl of monster wolves and smoke-lit red eyes tearing through gray fog.
"…So that's what you call those creatures."
[Choose the Abomination]
Ophieus's eyes locked on [Abomination] and without waiting, he reached forward and tapped the icon.
The Silver Record shifted again.
A row of information bloomed, showing a glowing silver border, and the set showed an image first, and then the name beneath.
The images showed snarling, blood-red forms of the monster wolves, and then under it was the name Beast Festival.
Beneath each name was the word:
[Understanding]
The values shimmered faintly beneath:
[Beast Festival: 10%]
Below the understanding percentage, in smaller text that almost scrolled past before he caught it: [Soul-bearing variant: unconfirmed at current understanding level. Unlock at 50%.]
He looked at that line for a moment.
"What is a soul-bearing variant?"
[An Abomination that retains a living conscious soul. The soul exists in a dream state, unaware of what its body is doing. Confirmation if one has one or not, requires a higher understanding of the Abomination type.]
"And the ones I killed, were any of them soul-bearing?"
[Unknown. Your understanding level is insufficient to detect this.]
He looked at the forest where the bodies had been, and he had killed nine of them. Normally he wouldn't care since he had killed plenty of beasts and they had souls. But Soul-Bearing creatures seemed to be different, the problem he didn't know exactly why.
He placed a hand on his chest. 'Just thinking about it seemed to make me feel off… do I feel… A bit anxious and hesitant at what it means?'
Before Ophieus could speak, another screen blossomed at the top with words.
[Touch the Beast Festival.]
His finger pressed against the screen and gray flooded his vision.
The interface vanished beneath a wave of gray fog. He saw creatures shaped like wolves moving out of the fog, their furs made of smoke and darkness. The light-blue smoke around them twists and curls around their limb mixing with the gray fog.
Some had twisted skulls for faces, others with lions, others with bears, and other creatures faces.
Then the name under it was: [Beast Festival]
A line of text faded into view below the name:
["Once you hear the howls, roars, growl and bark… the hunt is on."]
Ophieus blinked as the world around him warped and bled. He stood beneath a mangled trees as the pale gray fog thickened around. He saw them, phantom figures rushing between the skeletal trees. Then he blinked before he saw a single shadow figure running quickly.
But then a Beast Festival materialized, its jaws clamping around a shadow's arm, shattering it into black mist. Two more beasts lunged from the side of the shadowy figure and pushing him down. Then all around Ophieus saw countless more crimson eyes appearing in the fog.
All of them peered down at Ophieus and then they moved. Instantly, countless jaws appeared all around him. But he couldn't move his body, only his eyes that shut instinctively.
Then Ophieus opened them so there was no Beast Festival or a figure being chased. He found himself standing in the gray fog forest with the Silver Screen in front.
[+5% Beast Festival Understanding]
[Beast Festival: 10% → 15%]
"So it records them…"
[Correct.]
"And the more I take… the more I understand."
[Yes. Understanding comes from the knowledge–]
A Beast Festival collapsed into ash.
The sentence resumed.
[You devour from the Abominations.]
'Could I create a weapon or armor from them with this?' The better he understood these abominations the more likely the possibility.
"The future is limitless…"
A saying from Hyzleth that his Saintness and even High Commander repeated. He'd never believed it.
Until now.
Ophieus glancing at Dark Animas and then pausing. He saw another silver screen floating above the weapon.
[Dark Animas]
[Straight Sword - Medium Range]
[Pitch-black straight sword of the Legions from the Kingdom of Hyzlet]
"You even have a scan function? You really are increasing in value… But what is this description? Can the screen even tell me about where Animas came from?" Ophieus muttered before then glance down at his clothing.
[Everglan Clothing]
[Normal clothing sold in the town of Everglan]
The sword origin and Hyzlet piqued his interest. But it was the normal clothing he was wearing that made him the most intrigued. Why would the original owner be wearing these clothing in this place?
Ophieus then glanced back at Dark Animas, and his eyes widened as he saw an option appeared below the description.
[Put away the sword?]
Ophieus tilted his head before nodding his head and then he saw Dark Animas shining before it dispersed. He closed his hand and opened it back up, surprised to really see the black sword was really gone.
"Oh?"
He waved his hand, leading to a silvery light to shine. Before then a black sword appeared in his hand with streaks and a trail of glittering lights.
"This is very useful." His eyes shined before he glanced around to see two of the Beast Festival had fully dissolved apart.
But the other seven were still breaking apart, leading him to narrow his eyes.
And then he saw it.
Something deeper inside the Beast Festival remains that he would have missed if he didn't look closely.
Multi-colored threads.
They swirled left and right, sticking out of the Abomination remains, and there was one thread in each of the Abominations yet for some reason he could tell each thread was different, each thread could lead to the creation of something unique.
Something that showed the Beast Festival's ways of being a hunter, their violence, and hunger.
"...They could become weapons." He said it quietly.
Ophieus raised his hand slowly, not toward the screen and toward the breaking apart remains. The threads reacted right away as something invisible wrapped around them and make them tremble.
But then they resisted, leading him to simply gripped harder.
[Warning!]
[Authority Detected.]
And there he felt it, something inside of the threads breaking first.
It felt like they were submitting to something they recognized.
The threads began bending towards him like prey recognizing something above it in the food chain.
Ophieus eyes narrowed. "Authority?"
The Silver Key didn't respond, which meant it's something he couldn't know. He knew authority generally meant a higher position but he didn't believe it meant his position as master.
"...Interesting. For creatures who aren't worthy, you sure are smart."
There was a pause before Ophieus smiled.
"But I can't say, I hate that."
Then—
He closed his hand tight and all eight threads straightened out as the world went silent.
For a single second, everything stopped and then something answered back to him. It wasn't the system or fog but something deeper. His chest began to shine before golden-black light began to shimmer around him.
[Error!]
[Unrecognized authority and power detected]
"Oh? Are you saying this is me?"
[Yes, master...]
"You sound nervous."
[I'm adapting.]
"Good." Ophieus laughed before saying. "If you can't keep up, then you would be useless."
Then he pulled the thread leading the creature's remains to rush into him. His body shook before then the beast's remains seemed to pour out of his body and began swirling above his hand.
Forming a messy swirl of blue, gray and red.
The screen flashed violently.
Then settled.
As if nothing had happened.
[Master, right now you have the lifeforce of the Beast Festival. You simply need to imagine a weapon.]
The screen shifted as it displayed three sets of sentences.
[Form unstable.]
[User intent will shape outcome.]
[The result cannot be predicted.]
"Is a weapon the only thing I can do?"
[With your current strength and system limitation. Yes.]
"And what are the dangers? Or is it something you can't figure out?"
[The danger is you will need to beat the soul of the creature's lifeforce–]
"So what submitted wasn't it?"
[That was its Will, not you must suppress its soul. Win and you will create your weapon, fail and not only will there not be a weapon but you'll experience the creature's last memories.]
"Which was its death."
[Do you wish to proceed?]
Ophieus stared at it, not at the warning but at the choice given to him.
Most would have backed off, not trying until they were stronger or better prepared, but for Ophieus, there was never a question of if he would lose.
The only question was. "...How long can you last before you break and create the weapon?"
Ophieus then began to shape the light in his hands.
And then something screamed, not outside but inside him.
"…You think you have a choice?"
The scream rose as it struggled and resisted more inside of him.
Ophieus simply answered back with a smile.