Wrath of the Re-climber

A month later...

Ethan sat on a giant boar head, contemplating his status; he chewed on the board flesh, his Vampirism dragging out the resources from its blood; he wiped out the blood and stared at the dark sky.

"Eleven months to go, as planned, I took one month to recover my stolen status." His bracelet made some weird sounds. He opened his palms, and a holographic panel showed up detailing his progression toward submission; he was alone in this abandoned and desolate land.

*

Day one.

Ethan tried to figure out how he used to activate this subjugator bracelet; he soon found out that as he clenched his palm, the bracelet immediately shook, and as he opened it, a holographic image of his stats showed up; he frowned at the immense reduction of all his stats.

{Ethan Grimm}

[Stats]

[Strength: 20

Speed:20

Dexterity:20

Endurance:25] ruin stone used...

[Blessing: Vampirism]

The upgraded version was nice, especially with the artificial intelligence added, but Ethan wasn't pleased; that meant if he hadn't gathered enough core, either his soul or his younger version would have shattered.

"System upgrade," Said Ethan, Katnese heard him and did the same; she murmured system upgrade at her own bracelet, and like a chain reaction, people started doing the same.

[System upgrading ]

[Downloading tower's interface]

[TOWER'S NETWORK ACCESS GRANTED]

[Booting...]

[Users soul registering]

[Error, soul unable to register]

[Error ]

When other systems gradually terminated their process, Ethan's own was dragged behind due to the sole burden he had, "ignore it and terminate the operation," Said Ethan.

[Rejected ]

[Only the approval of an administrative code can permit the system to pass soul identification]

Katnese did not know what Ethan said, but she heard a strange dialect from his mouth.

[Administrator's code recorded]

[Access granted]

[Terminating installment]

[Installment completed]

[Welcome climber]

Ethan looked at his hand; the bracelet kept on changing in color and shape, the same as the thousands of people present; it took the shape of their soul.

Katnese looked at her bracelet, which turned emerald green; it was beautiful; that was her first thought, and she unconsciously clenched her palm.

Wum!

A green and emerald bow showed up in a flash of green like lightning, startling her, [Name: Moon veil]; the lighting struck the floor, leaving marks on the floor; some people took a step back at the sight but soon realized something as they all stared at their bracelet.

Damian immediately clenched his palm and realized it; his golden bracelet flashed, and a light of golden lightning spread out, burning around him as a weapon showed up.

"A golden electrified great sword" He murmured.

Sherrkk!

Dimitri brought out a thunder hammer, and Lauren brought out a lightning whip; Patricia was a sword; some people had similar weapons, but with different characters; no souls were equal and had a uniqueness to them.

Ethan flexes his hand, before opening his palms.

Nothing...

Nothing came out; he was confused; in his previous life, a dark, short sword materialized itself; it represented his soul, but this time, nothing was happening, and this drew everybody's attention.

"Haha, karma exists in this world, Said Dimitri, walking towards Ethan with his hammer; He grinned at Ethan.

Ethan glanced at his hammer and looked up, "the setting is slightly different; something or someone has toyed with the timeline" Thought Ethan.

Seeing the small boy ignoring him, he tried to grab his shoulder, "stop," Said Katnese; she pointed her bow towards Dimitri, and an emerald arrow materialized, ready to strike.

Ethan glanced at her, "she read the instructions very fast; I am not surprised; that's why she lasted the longest in this group," Thought Ethan.

"Wow! Calm down, I was just joking, no need to be this tense" Said Ethan, grinning at Ethan, "seems like you would always need a girl to look after you no matter the world," Said Dimitri before leaving, he was relieved that the boys strength was taken away from him and he dropped down to one digit level, little did he know that Ethan's strength was at the two digits and could still be at him up if he wanted.

Katnese put down her bow, seeing Dimitri backing away and going back to Damian, "How would you fight?" Asked Katnese worryingly.

"A word of advice from a friend, " Ethan turned towards her, "always think first of yourself before thinking of others; this would save your life," said Ethan, walking away.

"What? Where are you going?" She was confused, and she followed him; Ethan looked at his palm.

[Error: Analysing souls constitution]

"It seems I can't summon it yet, so the best way is to acquire a temporal one," Thought Ethan.

"In that case, the fifth floor should be your destination," Said his younger version. He shuffles within the memories as he reads on a door leading to a weapon dungeon.

[The Derek Forge]

With his destination marked, he started climbing the giant stairs but halted; he looked behind and saw a small girl following, "Where are you going?" He asked.

"Aren't we going together?" She asked back; Ethan shook his head, and his left eye twitched slightly; that was his younger version asking why.

"You wouldn't gain anything following me, you need to follow your own way and get stronger by yourself." Said Ethan, this was basically saying, don't follow me.

"We can become strong together." She tried to argue but stopped; those eyes, she understood that he would not allow it, "if I become strong, would I be allowed to walk by your side?" She asked.

Ethan was wondering where this girl's obsession with him came from. He isn't that attractive, just an ordinary and boring guy, but she seemed to be obsessed with him.

"Maybe I can use her well." He thought of something, "Yeah, get strong, and we would talk about that." He turned and left.

Coming back also had one particular effect, his emotions were diluted to the point, that he didn't feel much attention to those he cherished, and seeing his younger soul's angry reaction, he sure was attached to her

Katnese clenched her fist hard, "I would free you, wait, Ethan, I don't know who has taken over your body, but I will find a way and drive him out, for I need to be strong, wait for me" She turns and walked towards a man who wore a police uniform, captain Alex.

Standing in front of a giant door, the intricate patterns describing a man processing iron could be seen, it could not be mistaken, this was the forge, a door that got ignored by some because the fairies gifted the system, but in the long run, the system would not be strong enough to face the higher beings pushing people to come down to the forge.

Eventually, the outcome was an all-out battle to get a weapon, and you still had to fight to keep it.

Ethan walked towards the door, and it opened up, allowing entrance.

[Welcome to Derek Forge ]

*

The door closed behind him, and Ethan looked around; the place was different than what he imagined; the decor was similar to that of the interior of a medieval castle, the light torch on the walls.

He walked towards one and held the wood, he walked towards an armor who stood there, looking down at his sword, he tried taking it.

Swoosh!

Ethan swiftly bent, dodging the strike, his left leg moved forward as his right hand clenched hard.

Pow!

A dent-sized fist was created on the armor's left rib, sending it flying toward the dark; Ethan immediately looked at the dark while shaking his hand.

"That was hard and close, damn armor" That surprised him, he was certain that the armor was empty.

Crank!

Ethan stopped what he was doing; he grinned wickedly in the dark, "seems like getting a weapon wouldn't be an easy task," He murmured; in the dark, numerous shining eyes glared at him; those were empty armors with sharp blades.