Chapter 19: Should I Save Him
Samuel felt so confused and lost. The energy in the air was messing with his senses. Mythos was everywhere and it radiated with a golden glow. The mythos in the air was different from what he was used to. Inside their normal universe, mythos is mostly within people and other living things. The mythos he was used to is silver in color.
While the mythos in this world is golden. It feels much heavier than what he was used to. Due to the Mythos in the air, even the areas outside his 30-meter radius of pure clarity could be vaguely sensed. "Samuel, are you ok? You don't look so good" Sai said through one of the drones. Four of them had returned to Samuel's clothing while 2 remained in the air. Her voice could now be heard clearly with no cracks.
"Yeah, I'm good. Apart from some pain here and there I'm good. Just got to adjust myself to this world, the energy in the air is messing with my senses" Samuel said as he shook his head trying to adjust his senses. After a few seconds, he finally got a hang of the new feeling this world brought him.
Not only was the Mythos here different there was also a strange black energy he could sense. Samuel didn't know what it was so he ignored it for now.
His Karna reacted in excitement as it began absorbing the golden mythos in the air. 'What's going on now' Samuel thought to himself as all the silver-coloured mythos in his Karna turned golden. As soon as that happened he heard a sound similar to electricity from inside his body.
Samuel felt heat rise from his chest. His Karna, which was only partially fused with his heart. Slowly began to completely fuse with it. "So this was what I needed to use that ability," Samuel said with a smile. The heat he felt was comfortable and pleasant. Accompanying that heat was a rush of information from his karna.
Most Karna's have 2 abilities and some even have more. Samuel had always felt that his karna had a second ability that he couldn't access. It needed a specific requirement to be activated and he finally met it. This golden mythos was the fuel needed to activate his second ability.
"Samuel I'll go scout the area. We don't know what danger might be out there" Sai said as the 2 drones went off. Scanning everything in the area. Samuel simply nodded at her words, but he was mostly focused on what was happening to his Karna. After a few seconds, his heart was completely crystallized. It even spread to the rest of his veins and arteries. Multiple strange runes covered his heart. The runes were fascinating but he couldn't understand them.
After understanding what his second ability was. Samuel felt incredibly excited. It was much better than he thought it would be. "Samuel I found something." One of the drones came back and Sai spoke. "What is it? A monster?" Samuel asked. Sai replied "No it's not. It's a Vashin, the one that tried so hard to kill you. He's heavily injured so it's a perfect opportunity to gain experience."
Samuel's eyes showed with realization. "let's go then" he said and followed Sai's drone. After crossing a few streets they arrived in an alley. Right at its end, covered in blood with burns all over his body. Samuel saw him, the Vashin that he had exposed. The Vashin raised his head and glared at Samuel.
Samuel glared right back at him. The Vashin tried standing up only for his body to fail and he crashed into the ground. Just like that, he was unconscious. Samuel looked at the Vashin's collapsed form. He approached his body and tightened his grip around the gun. This gun was taken from the body of a dead staff member of Celestial Academy.
Standing over the defenceless Vashin Samuel knew what he had to do. When in Nexus every life form could increase their legend. The fastest way to do this was to kill. He raised his hand and pointed his gun at the Vashin's head. A look of habitation appeared in Samuel's eyes.
He just stood there with his gun ready to fire. But even after 10 seconds he didn't pull the trigger. "Samuel, why are you waiting for? This is your chance. Killing him now will save you from future troubles and will help in increasing your strength." Said voice came from the drone.
"I know that but" Samuel said as he dropped his hand. "I've never killed anyone before. Even though his from another race. He is still a person and right now he is defenseless. It would have been different if he was currently trying to kill me. But if I killed him right now while his unconscious. It just feels...wrong"
Samuel added with conflict clear in his eyes "You know what you are saying is makes no logical sense" Sai said with some frustration. Samuel scratched his head and said "I know letting him live isn't smart. But I just can't do it."
"Have you inspected him, to see how strong this guy is?" Sai asked. Samuel realized he had forgotten such a basic thing. When one enters Nexus they gain an ability called Inspection. The ability allows you to see your status and some information about others. It's an ability given to everyone in Nexus.
It was common knowledge in the federation. Samuel started by first using it on himself. To activate it he only needs to think about wanting to see his status. It worked effortlessly and a panel filled with information appeared in his mind.
…
Name: Samuel Wild
Race: Human
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Bloodline: Human (mortal)
Legend: mortal, stage 1 (0%)
Power systems: Mythos
Mythos compatibility: 6%
Energy capacity: Mythos[500][100]
Titles: non
Skill mastery: Inspection (lvl 1), Hand to hand combat (lvl 2), Weapon mastery!
Passives: non
Karna: 1 Star
Karna abilities: Halo, legends forge
Karna equipment:
Skill crystals (0/1)
Summon crystals (0/1)
Transformation crystals (0/1)
…
Samuel's information was exactly as he expected. The only thing that had him curious was his new ability. Even though he instinctually understood his abilities he was curious to see how the inspection skill would describe it.
He then turned his attention back to the unconscious Vashin. He didn't know if the ability would work. Although he couldn't see the Vashin. He wasn't using his eyes for it. The inspection ability works by scanning anything in the user's field of vision. So he didn't know if it would work. 'Activate inspection ' Samuel thought to himself.
[Inspection Successful!
Race: Artificial Vashin
Legend: Mortal stage 5(70%)
Description: a highly intelligent and powerful race. This Vashin has a white horn indicating he's very young]
Samuel realized that this Vashin was much stronger than he thought. Killing a legend 4 stages above you would bring him close to reaching stage 2. But something in the Vashin's description confused him. 'What does it mean by "Artificial Vashin" I've never heard of this term' Samuel thought to himself. "What did the inspection results show " Sai asked "His a mortal ranked legend at stage 5" Samuel replied. "This is a great opportunity, Samuel. Killing him will only benefit you. While letting him live will only create future troubles for you" Sai said.
Samuel knew what she was saying was right. But he couldn't bring himself to do it. "I know I'm naive for saying this but I can't do it. I'll let him live. His injured so he won't be too much of a threat. Some injuries on his body look like they were from something else not just your drone's explosion. Whatever injured him put him in this state. So I'll take advantage to interrogate him once he wakes up"
A frustrated sigh came from Sai's drone and she said "Fine if you want to save let him live. So be it. I suggested you kill him not only for your growth but also because this guy is slowly dying. You can't see them but the walls of this place show marks that this Vashin fell from a significant height. The fall injured him and there's a piece of metal stuck in his back. You are going to need to stabilize his condition for him to wake up"
Samuels now realized that this Vashin was in a way worse condition than he initially thought. He got closer to his body and looked at the piece of metal in his back. It was deep and blood was leaking from the wound. If this guy died here it would be a wasted opportunity "Sai please search the area for any place that can have medical supplies.
We need this guy to live. I might be naïve but I'm not stupid. Saving him could get us a lot of information about the other Vashin he came with. Considering that he is here. There's a high chance the others are as well. If it's possible gaining his gratitude could come in handy" Samuel said "I'll search," Sai said as 2 drones left Samuels clothes. Making it 3 drones that were searching for any medical supplies. 1 stayed by Samuel's side and 2 stayed in his clothes. Samuel got to action and ripped some of the Vashin's clothing. He then uses it to reduce the bleeding. He had to remove some of the Vashin's armor to get the cloth.
After a minute the drones returned with good news. They found what appeared to be a pharmacy that had the supplies needed to save the Vashin. Samuel carried his body and followed the drones. After a few minutes of walking, he reached the pharmacy. It had most of its windows shattered and the place was a complete mess. Samuel entered the pharmacy and placed the Vashins body on a counter. The drones then lead him to the place where he would find bandages, antibiotics and some other stuff.
He soon returned to the Vashin and began tending to his wounds. He removed the piece of metal and stopped the bleeding.
Then cleaned the wound and bandaged him up. Even some of the serious burns were taken care of. After 15 minutes the Vashin was in the clear. Sai had to correct him on multiple occasions but everything went smoothly. Sai had been the one to teach all the members of Radiance how to do first aid.
Samuel never thought he would ever use those skills to heal a Vashin. "Now it's time to take some supplies for myself," Samuel said as he plundered anything useful from the pharmacy. Sai made the process more efficient and faster by making him take only what he would most likely need.
After 30 minutes Samuel had a bag filled with what he plundered. It wasn't much and the bag was only half full. He had also treated some injuries he had received. They weren't serious. Just some cuts and bumps here and there. "It's time we set up a plan for that Vashin. There's still a high chance of him trying to kill you so you need to be prepared" Sai said.
Samuel smiled and said. I know exactly what to do. If I'm wrong about saving him. Then he won't live to long" he began moving around the pharmacy. Planning on how to deal with and retrain this Vashin.