Chapter 55: An Unrecorded Essence Veil!
Chapter 55
The world of Arcad was a strange and fascinating place, governed by its own set of rules and mechanics. Although it could be fun at times, it was also extremely dangerous, filled with threats in the form of beast attacks, dungeon appearances, gate raids, portal breaks, and dungeon breaks.
These occurrences made the world unstable and unpredictable, forcing its inhabitants to remain constantly vigilant.
People lived in fear, praying and wishing for some kind of change. And as if the heavens had heard their pleas, certain individuals were granted powers—awakened with extraordinary strength to fight against the world’s dangers.
These awakened ones were later called Reavers. Over time, some of the original Reavers branched off to form their own strongholds, naming them clans.
Across the entire world of Arcad, there were four major clans comprised of strong Reavers who handled beast cases like these. Although each clan had its own methods and style, they all followed a mysterious rule set by someone they had never seen, assumed to be their creator—the one who had shaped the world itself.
The rule was simple yet unforgiving: only Reavers who were awakened during the trials could gain the full benefit of an Essence Veil. Even if a Reaver ranked up to SSS rank without being awakened, they would remain essenceless.
To obtain power, one had to be bestowed an essence or awakened during the trials. Otherwise, they would need to grow stronger on their own, through sheer skill and determination.
This was why no Reaver below C rank possessed any Veil. And even among those who reached C rank or higher, some still failed to awaken, lacking the key essence that granted them true strength.
And now, an outsider had arrived. Someone who had not been born in the world of Arcad and was seemingly pulled in by a mix of his sharp tongue, a glitch, and an NPC.
Against all logic, this outsider had awakened his Essence Veil despite being only a D ranker. He would never have believed it if his system screen had not been flashing in front of him, confirming the impossible.
{Host has done the impossible.}
{Something unnatural has occurred.}
{Host has awakened his Essence Veil}
"How the fuck is this possible?!" Zen yelled loudly, his voice echoing in the small room as he stood frozen, utterly dumbfounded.
His scream startled Aria, who shot up from the bed instantly. She turned to see Zen standing rigid, eyes wide and staring at his system screen as if the world itself had shifted.
"Zen... is there a problem?" Aria asked, cautiously scooting closer. Zen didn’t hear her. Or perhaps he heard nothing at all, completely consumed by the blinking messages in front of him.
’Th...this... how is this even possible?’ Zen thought, unable to look away.
{Recalculating stats and strength of essence...}
{Error, Error, Error! Essence not recorded.}
{Unable to pull up stats or rank of essence. Essence is not identified.}
{Host will have to discover his veil himself.}
"Wait! What?! No record of it? How is this possible? Another trash? Damn it! This system is useless and fucking annoying! I gain something good and it refuses to tell me what it does. Crap!" Zen roared angrily, startling Aria further.
’What’s wrong with him? I’ve called his name five times already, but he hasn’t responded. And now he’s shouting into the air? Did he hit his head on something? Has he lost his mind?’ Aria thought, inching back slowly as she observed Zen’s erratic behavior.
’Tch! Stupid system! As if making my life hell wasn’t enough, now I have to discover what my Veil is myself? What the hell is your duty?!’
{My duty is to show you your stats and make fun of you when you are about to die. So shut up and go figure out your Veil. It is showing errors because even the game lord doesn’t know what it is. It is unrecorded or uncreated in the game. Fool!}
’Even the game lord doesn’t know? How is that possible? How did I even get it?’ Zen muttered, rubbing his temples as his memory replayed the moments of the C rank raid.
He remembered grabbing the lantern and dashing forward to save Jace. The explosion flung him violently, shattering the lantern. Swirling shadows seeped into him, the last thing he saw before losing consciousness.
Those shadows had entered his body unnoticed, and he had no idea of the true power now coursing through him.
’Wait! Do I have a shadow essence? What good is it even? To walk around in a shadow? What? Am I Batman or something?’ Zen angrily thought as a small, exasperated sigh escaped his lips.
"All that hassle for absolutely nothing except for a rank change and a boost in stats," he murmured beneath his breath, shaking his head as a new notification suddenly flashed in front of him.
{Additional reward!}
{New Skill added to system}
"Huh? A new skill? I hope it’s something good," Zen mumbled, his voice quiet as if in a silent prayer, and he quickly navigated to the skill tab. His fingers hovered for a moment before clicking on the new skill, anticipation coursing through him.
{Skill Name: Phantom Edge}
{Type: Active}
{Description: A unique sword technique granted by the system. User will momentarily supercharge his weapon with glitch-like energy from the system itself.
Producing a translucent phantom blade overlay that strikes twice with each swing — once physically, once as a system-generated afterimage that deals damage.}
{Duration: 10 seconds per activation.
**Every attack during Phantom Edge hits twice: physical strike + system afterimage.
**The afterimage bypasses 20% of enemy defense.
Cooldown: 2 minutes.}
"Sounds interesting, if I must say. And since it doesn’t have any level tag behind it, I guess it’s as strong as it can get for now," Zen muttered with a small, excited smile forming across his face.
Tring.
{Skill leveled up}
"Huh? Skill leveled up?" Zen muttered, raising an eyebrow in surprise.
{Inspect skill has now leveled up to level 2 and can now bring up more detailed information}
"Is the system feeling generous today, or what? Maybe I should really try putting my life in more danger now," Zen said, letting out a soft, amused chuckle as he imagined testing the new skill in combat.
{Yeah, do that and then definitely die. Just to be clear, you’ve been surviving due to some shitty luck on your side. Sooner or later, it will run out.}
"Why do you hate me so much? Did I steal your virtual girlfriend or what?" Zen said with another chuckle, shaking his head in disbelief at the system’s sarcastic tone.
Then...
"Zen!" Aria’s voice echoed sharply in his ears, snapping him fully back to reality. His mind spun from the whirlwind of new powers and notifications as he turned toward her, eyes wide, heart racing, realizing he had been lost in thought for far too long.