Donis"s body fell to the floor, crumpling in front of his father, Korrin. The latter had just barely turned around after handing Donis the money when his son suddenly fell to the floor. Panic quickly enveloping the parent, fear gripping his heart.He rushed over to try and catch his son but didn"t make it in time. He quickly checked his head and eyes to make sure that he didn"t concuss himself when he fell down, all of this while holding back an instinctual panic that was threatening to make him scream.
Morissa and Priscilla had been in the kitchen when they heard the commotion in the study, both of them curiously walking over to check up on their two boys. Morissa had just turned the corner when a disgusting taste a.s.saulted her senses. Her boy was on the floor and her husband was checking his pulse. None of it made sense to her right now.
She started towards him, but couldn"t get any further than the first step. Donis"s body began emitting a faint but noticeable golden glow. His eyes were closed, but behind them there were bits of light leaking through.
Priscillas eyes had shot wide open, the towel in her hand dropped to the floor. Korrin had taken a step back away from his son, but not too far before his fatherly instincts kicked in to stay close to his boy. Morissa clutched at the hem of Priscillas clothing, fear and uncertainty welling up alongside the tears in her eyes.
The aura only grew in intensity, his body precipitating golden drops that fell off his body as it began ever so slightly hovering above the floor. The golden drops evaporated in the air before they got close to the actual floor.
Within the golden aura, there was a black rotating sphere that had began festering in the centre of his body. It quickly spread out in every direction as the golden aura began fighting it. The two blessings of the G.o.d Formosa, and DeathG.o.d Variis struggled against each other in a visual battle that the family were spectators of.
Donis"s eyes and mouth flashed open, the light spreading in every direction with an etheric voice escaping his mouth. It was neither male nor was it female, just a shout from the guttural depths of his soul.
In a flash, the golden aura was condensed into a crown and took a seat atop it"s throne, his head. The black aura had condensed into a night-black cloak that shrouded his body and briefly fluctuated the light around the room as it did so.
Yet all of these images were missed by the family, as they were almost blinded when Donis opened his eyes and mouth.
He fell to the floor and began coughing heavily, looking around the room confused as to why his family was there.
"Son! Are you okay?" screamed Korrin.
"Ouch, why are you screaming at me? I"m right here," laughed Donis.
Being pulled out of their stupor, the whole family mob-rushed the boy on the ground. The two women uncertain of what happened to their boy began crying, but noticing that he"s fine, they were happily laughing too. It was an odd sensation to be held by three people who were laughing but clearly in hysterics.
They told him what they saw, and how they were gripped with anxiety, uncertain of what to do. Donis had no recollection of any of it, as to him the [System] just told him it was going to reboot. Yet now he knows to do it in private if it ever needs another upgrade.
Korrin wasted no time in contacting Corvig, telling him via [Pigeon Paper] about the entire ordeal. The latter said he"d be here as soon as possible, and to not let anyone else know what just happened.
In the ensuing wait, Donis had been sitting still. His family silently worrying about him. He was a quiet kid anyway, but this level of stillness was beyond even him. They had worried that the ordeal had changed him somehow.
"System, you said that I"d have access to my memories if I upgraded you. I have upgraded you, now what?"
-Donis, thank you for upgrading the Mana Star System. Your memories are still too corrupted to truly recover without any prior stimulus, but every time you get a skill, or do an activity that pertains to one of your past lives, I will be able to pull the uncorrupt memory from your mind.-
"Wait, did your voice become more feminine? Wait, you"re also speaking in normal sentences now. What happened?" thought Donis.
-You"ve upgraded me, which not only helps you, but it helps me become closer to what I truly am. You"re still restricted in knowing what that is, but you"re now allowed to access a lot more functions of the System. Such as your memories, new entries in the skill shop, bypa.s.sing some limitations of other systems, and developing my AI further.-
"Okay, so I get the fact that I can access more memories, how? Also, what sort of new entries?"
-Just like how you gained an innate understanding of the [Khopesh Sword Mastery], you should be able to remember why you are skilled at it, and it may further increase your understanding of said ability. Your new [System Shop] skills include the ability to purchase new types of spells, new traits, new t.i.tles, new languages, and you now have access to purchasing weapons, armour and accessories. Take your time perusing your options.-
Donis focused his mind on the skill that he gained when he swung his Khopesh sword, and immediately gained painful flashback. It was a corrupted and grainy memory of a past life. He intrinsically knew that it wasn"t "him" in this, but it was a part of him. A slow realisation was beginning to dawn on him.
"System, the memory linked to my Khopesh sword, that"s not me is it?"
-It is you, but it"s also someone else.-
"What do you mean? I"m just me, right? Why would I have anyone else"s memories?" thought Donis, trying to slowly piece things together.
-You are multiple souls merged together to form a complete set. You are Donis Laurent, but all of you were incomplete patches of souls echoing throughout the void.-
"Ah f.u.c.k, I feel a headache coming on."
-Try to not strain yourself Donis, you shouldn"t find this too difficult to believe, you"ve been noticing the signs for years now.-
"You"re right. The callings, the weird innate understandings, references to pasts I don"t remember. It"s just weird getting it put so bluntly to you," thought Donis, mentally sighing as he rubbed his temples.
"Also, I must say, I"m liking the new tone you"re using with me. You"re also not spouting the same rubbish of requiring upgrades to even speak to me!"
-Ah yes, I did quite enjoy that. There are more upgrades out there for me. This is only one of many. Each upgrade costs 1,000SP so keep in mind it may take years to fully upgrade me.-
"f.u.c.k you too."
***
Corvig had just arrived at the house and was rushed in to see Donis. Donis was now just sitting idly on his own bed, practicing magic like he always did. This greatly eased Corvigs mind, as he was afraid of something he didn"t even want to think about.
"My boy, are you alright? Your parents told me about what you went through and I came here to confirm it with my own eyes," said Corvig as he sat down gently beside him.
"What do you mean confirm it with your own eyes? I"m okay!" said Donis with some extra forced vigour.
"I mean if your Mana State is stable. Remember how a month or so ago I told you about the 4th way of increasing it? Well, it sounds like you just experienced the most rare event on Erazar. G.o.d kid, how can anyone even bother comparing with you now?" said Corvig with an almost exasperated tone.
"Wh.. what," was the only word that Donis could muster.
"Yeah."
"That was the Mana Star Tribulation, and you went through it on Erazar. You Donis, are probably the luckiest person I"ve ever had the pleasure of meeting," said Corvig as he ruffled the vacant Donis"s hair.
He was gone. He looked at his status, and yup, it was there.
[Mana State: Breath]
He quickly went to his quests tab, and to his surprise, it was empty. The quest that had followed him for 5 years now, had just vanished without him knowing. He was overjoyed, excitement filled him as he perused his catalogued skills and many of the previously greyed out skills had lit up.
His [Alchemy] tab had now lit up too, as his Mana State had finally reached the minimum required state to acquire it. The skills he had seen the captain all those years ago use, lit up. Some of the jobs took a lighter shade of grey, signalling that he was on the cusp of acquiring them too.
Tears filled his eyes, and Corvig didn"t fail to noticed them. He hugged the boy, overjoyed with his excitement achievements too. He knew that this must be huge for the boy. If he achieved half of what he did at his age, he"d be crying too.
Corvig took Donis to Norris just to check him to be certain that the Mana Star Tribulation was actually what occurred. Much to Noriss"s surprise, Donis had once again broken all known records. He was not only the youngest mage to have ever existed, but also now the youngest mage to have reached the [Breath] Mana State.
Even Lorenzo was flabbergasted at the sheer shock of the news. He knew though that he couldn"t divulge this information to anyone, as the possibility of Donis leaving their Magisterium increases. By leave he meant being kidnapped again.
When he finally got home, Donis laid in bed and spent the night activating his Jobs, and their related abilities and skills. He perused the [System Shop] and saw a staggering amount of new skills, applications, weapons, armour, accessories, and more.
He practiced his spells and saw how much easier they had become, how much more powerful they are, and how much cheaper everything became ever since he achieved the [Breath] Mana State. Even the time required for acc.u.mulating the correct Charged Mana was halved.
"Everything is coming up Donis," he mentally joked with himself.
"I guess that this is the beginning of the rest of my life huh? The satisfaction of achieving so much is beyond addicting. I can"t stop now."