The slums of section 41 could be described in many ways, but perhaps the most obvious was 'busy'. There were bright neon signs, advertising everything from cigarette vendors to strip clubs to pawn shops. There were food carts and makeshift tents sprawled across the pavements. There was even a grand casino, offering entertainment for those visiting from the affluent areas above. And there, nestled amongst all that vice, sat an old rundown church.
Lenny quickly swept the last remnants of garbage onto a shovel, before transferring it into a black bin bag. The cold winds battered his body from all sides and blew litter and food remnants down the street. He paused, looking up at the gaping maw of the church, a mouth made of cold stone. A sudden breeze sucked air into the building, sending a cold shiver down his spine.
He picked up the bulging sack of refuse and headed towards the communal dumpster around the back. It appeared it had been recently emptied, so he wouldn't have to get his hands dirty crushing down rotten waste. He lifted the lid and was greeted by an unusual sight: a bug the size of large rat chewing on wet garbage with green foam dripping from its mandibles. The bug, reacting to the light, turned to face Lenny.
"Critical danger detected… system activating. Scanning process will now begin."
Lenny stepped back, wondering where the strange feminine voice had come from. The relay of information had been almost instantaneous.
"Scavenger class Carrier Beetle detected. Do not let it bite you. Its venomous saliva can be fatal."
"Yeah, and I was dying to stick my hand in its mouth," Lenny thought.
The beast jumped, leaping forwards with soiled tissue paper dangling from one of its many legs. Lenny could see its luminous dark blue exoskeleton refracting pink and purple hues of light. It was quite beautiful, somewhat hypnotising, yet instinctively he took another step back and lifted his broom in defence.
"The hard exoskeleton can be hard to crack…"
"Who's saying that?" Lenny screamed, as the beetle chomped down on the broomstick.
"But the underbelly is a weak spot that can easily be pierced by a sharp blade."
As the broomstick cracked, the insect fell, and Lenny quickly kicked it mid-air. It landed on its side and Lenny lunged, attempting to plunge the spike of the broken broomstick deep into the creature's stomach. But the beetle righted itself at the last moment, jumping away, and narrowly avoiding the wooden stake. The momentum threw him off balance, and suddenly Lenny was the one sprawled in an awkward position, blood dripping from a wound on his palm. He'd dropped the makeshift weapon that was laid by his side.
The beetle twitched its mandibles and took two small steps, ready to pounce at the slightest movement, so Lenny did the only thing he could: he reached for the broom as fast as he could. The spirit beast leapt, and Lenny lifted the sharp point, closing his eyes, and hoping for the best.
The next thing he knew, there was a squishing sound, and green blood streamed down his arms and face. But it was not dead. All the legs of the beast wriggled in place, writhing, as it tried to free itself. Lenny held firm and proceeded to lift it into the air like some ghastly kebab. The bleeding was profuse, and would eventually finish it off, but he proceeded to smash its body repeatedly into the building, striking the concrete, as he tried to break the rough exoskeleton. Instead, the broomstick sheared, snapping into smaller pieces as the creature fell to the ground, unmoving.
Lenny stood there, catching his breath, expecting the monster to attack again… but to his surprise, it didn't.
"Scavenger class beast slain. Reward: 50 EXP. You have levelled up. First time killing a scavenger tier beast. Reward: instant level up. Player's current level: 3. Harvest its core for further rewards."
Lenny was still processing everything that had happened. He was unsure who had been communicating with him throughout the fight, and what exactly 'rewards' would entail, but he proceeded to approach the creature with some unease. Lenny poked it a couple times with his stick, then finally plucked up the courage to inspect a little closer. As he pulled open the beetle's pierced black abdomen, he spotted what he had been looking for: the spirit core.
It was a sort of dull looking piece of crystal, no bigger than a large piece of grit. The great clans might not have bothered to collect such a thing, but certainly, slum dwellers like him would get a hold of one from time to time. They sold on the market for a couple hundred credits. The government was always eager to buy such things. Sure, only the hunters could use the cores to their full potential, but even the residual essence had some effect and could be used to significantly boost the efficacy of weapons and armour.
As he turned the small piece of crystal over in his hand, the familiar voice returned with a neutral tone:
"Outstanding conditions have been met. Your ability will now be unlocked."
Suddenly, Lenny felt a force inside his body shift, although it was strange, like it had always been there. He had just uncovered, or perhaps recovered, the muscle memory required in order to manipulate it.
"Ability unlocked: Transmogrification."
"Trans-what-ification?" he thought.
"Transmogrification. The ability to transform materials and energy into different forms. This will allow the player to use spirit energy to create weapons, armour, or cybernetic enhancements."
"I've never heard of that," he thought.
"That is because it is unknown among the humans," the system replied.
"A completely unknown ability?" Lenny's mind was racing at the idea he could join the ranks of the spirited. "Wait, you can hear me think?"
"The system and the player are symbiotic. Think of the two of us as a single unit."
"Okay… That's a little creepy." He pondered the implications of this for a few moments before asking: "So, what exactly can I do with the spirit core?"
"Analysing… analysis complete. Upgrades available: error. You must raise your spirit stat to 10 to unlock the enhancements tab."
"My spirit stat?"
"You can raise it by absorbing spirit cores. However, doing so will destroy it. Would the player like to review its current stats?"
"Yes… But stop calling me the player."
The details came up on a fixed border of his vision. The little heads-up display, or HUD, had a tab description with the word 'Stats' at the top. Thinking about it seemed to select the tab, bringing up another window with more information. The window itself was translucent, allowing Lenny to read the details while still seeing what was behind it in his field of view, if a little obscured. However, the system read all the pertinent information.
"Name: Lenny Hope. Ability: Transmogrification. Strength: 10. Speed: 10. Stamina: 10. Perception: 5. Spirit: 5. Health 9 of 10. Two stat points are currently available, do you wish to allocate them?"
"Increase my spirit stat."
"Error, the spirit stat can only be increased by absorbing spirit cores. The following are available for upgrade: strength, speed, stamina."
"Why not perception? Or health?"
"These must be upgraded in other ways."
He shrugged. "Alright, allocate them to strength."
Lenny expected to feel a sudden increase in strength, but he felt nothing. Then, he began to feel a little strange. Suddenly, his muscles tensed all over, contracting with an intensity they had never done before. He fell over in pain, every muscle in his body clenching, as if he was having some kind of seizure. He worried his teeth might crack from the force exerted by his jaw, that his tendons would snap, or his muscles might burst. It was agony. Although it only lasted for a minute or so, it felt much longer.
When it was over, rather than feeling stronger, Lenny felt weak. "System," he said. "What are my current stats?"
"Name: Lenny Hope. Ability: Transmogrification. Strength: 6 of 12. Speed: 10. Stamina: 10. Perception: 5. Spirit: 5. Health 9 of 10. No stat points available."
"Wait, why is my strength lower than before?"
"Your maximum strength has increased but it will take some time for your body to adjust to its new capacity."
"Great, so what, you've given me a workout?"
"Not exactly. That was necessary to speed up the process, however."
"Well, a little warning next time would be nice."
"Would you like to absorb the spirit core?"
"No. Thanks. Not after that."
"Do you wish to use its energy to create weapons or armour?"
Lenny thought for a moment. He was frustrated with the system for what he had just been put through but still full of curiosity at the potential of his new ability. "What kind of weapons?"
"Reviewing… One potential weapon available: mandible dagger, a poison blade with low durability."
"That doesn't sound too promising," he thought. "Though having my own spirit weapon would be cool. What about armour?"
"A single vambrace or rough mask can be produced from the core and Carrier Beetle's exoskeleton. Continue to absorb cores to upgrade your spirit stat and unlock more powerful and intricate transmogrifications."
He had never heard of an ability that allowed the user to transform materials in such a way. Sure, transformation abilities were known, somewhat common even, but these would usually transform the user themselves for some period of time. Others were able to enhance objects, but only while in proximity to them. In fact, thinking about it, he had never heard of anyone being able to absorb a beast's spirit core either. Perhaps this was something everyone with abilities could do, or maybe it related directly to his strange power? Maybe other great clans had such abilities too but chose not to share such details with the public?
If he chose to make a spirit weapon, it would give him a means to defend himself. Besides, a weapon could be sold, traded. It had greater utility. "Produce the mandible dagger."
"Error. The system does not have an ability, you do. You must activate your power in order to produce the weapon."
"But I don't know how?"
It was normal for ability users to spend many unsuccessful months producing the first efforts of their nascent powers. And that was when they were young. Learning such things as a teenager would already be a significant handicap.
"You do," replied the system in a flat tone. "Simply coalesce your spirit and activate your ability."
"Simply?" he thought incredulous. Still, he had to give it a try.
At first, he brought up the system menu from before. He had spotted a skills tab right next to the stats one and in bringing it up, could see a single ability: transmogrification. He tried selecting it, but nothing happened. "That made sense," he thought. It really was nothing to do with the system after all. He paused for a moment, unsure what to do next.
Then, he didn't know why exactly, but he grasped the mandible in one hand whilst holding the spirit core in the other. He closed his eyes and concentrated. At first, nothing happened, as he had expected, but eventually he had a growing awareness of this strange energy inside him. He didn't know if he was going in the right direction, but other than this intuition, he didn't have much to go on. Then, suddenly, an image appeared in his mind, it was nebulous at first, but then it began to take a clearer shape, forming something that resembled a weapon, or at least the abstract form of a weapon. He felt something leaving his chest, travelling through his shoulder and into the palm holding the spirit core. It felt draining. Shortly after, the energy travelled back through him to the other palm holding the mandible. A soft glow penetrated his closed eyelids.
"Crafting has been successful. Remaining spirit: 1 of 5."
When his eyes opened, he was holding a dagger with a shimmering blue hilt that was smooth to the touch. It had a serrated black blade, roughly twice the length of the handle with a sharpened point at the end that turned upwards. He moved it through the air, getting used to its weight. The spirit core was gone, the beetle's body was mutilated, and instead he held a spirit weapon in his hand.
"Mandible dagger has been created. Tier: Scavenger. Effect: when activated, the weak poison on the blade will be infused with the poison aspect, significantly enhancing its effect. Warning: an open wound directly exposed to this blade will cause nausea and vomiting, even without activating the spirit core."
"System, how exactly do I activate it?"
"You'll know when the time comes."
*
In an underground bunker, filled with server stacks and a complex mesh of coolant tubes, a dusty terminal sprang to life. Words suddenly printed onto the console: Subject 2 has been activated…