Chapter 69: The Above Yet Below

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[SYSTEM STATUS]

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HOST:Khae’el

RACE: ???

LEVEL: 1

EXP: 0 / 100

HP: 100 / 100

STAMINA: 100 / 100

ENERGY: 50 / 50

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ATTRIBUTES

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STRENGTH 10

AGILITY 10

VITALITY 10

ENDURANCE 10

PERCEPTION 10

INTELLIGENCE 10

WILLPOWER 10

UNALLOCATED POINTS: 0

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SKILLS

[None]

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TITLES

[None]

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ACHIEVEMENTS

[None]

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The soothing sound of waves reached his ears.

For several seconds, he didn’t move. The rhythmic crash of water against sand filled his ears, followed by the faint hiss of foam retreating back into the ocean. Warmth pressed against his back, and something warm brushed against his fingertips.

Sand.

K’s eyes opened.

A pale blue sky stretched above him, almost painfully bright after the darkness he remembered. He blinked several times, his vision struggling to adjust before he slowly lifted his head.

"Where..."

His voice came out rough.

He pushed himself upright only to sink right back into the ground.

A sea gull cawed in the distance.

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Previous objective completed...

New environment detected...

Realm: The Above Yet Below

Lifeforms:???

Warning:

The Unascended detected nearby.

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"Huh?"

Did his system return?

K pushed himself up once more, a groan ripping out of him as he left the crunchy feel of the ground.

He looked around.

The white walls of the place he was held prisoner in was gone replaced by the shore of a tropical island and warm beach breeze.

How was this possible?

He was pretty sure he was fighting a U’Kan moments ago.

What happened after that?

His head throbbed with each new question that formed.

Something thumped against the sand from a distance.

He turned toward the water.

The ocean was unlike anything he had seen on Meredith or Nythera. The surface was almost perfectly clear, revealing glowing shapes moving far beneath the waves. Strange lights drifted through the depths like stars trapped beneath the water.

K stared.

"Where the hell am I?"

He turned around.

Behind him, the beach continued toward a wall of enormous trees. Their trunks were pale and twisted, their branches stretching over one another until they formed a thick canopy. Strange flowers grew between the roots, opening and closing.

K’s hand instinctively moved toward his weapon.

Nothing.

His expression hardened.

He looked down at himself to find himself stark naked.

"What the hell?"

The thumping grew louder.

He needed to find a weapon.

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[INVENTORY]

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[01] U’Kan Ring ×17

Description:

Rings belonging to the deceased Vashki, U’Kan Luituka.

Their original owner has been terminated.

Residual spiritual energy detected.

WARNING:

Foreign biological composition detected.

Potential applications:

[CRAFT]

[ABSORB]

[ANALYZE]

Storage: 17/50

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A blue interface like the one he had seen earlier before he woke up, floated in his vision.

The rings were the ones he had taken from Luituka weeks if not months ago.

What was he supposed to do with them?

The interface shrunk and expanded at once.

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[CRAFTING AVAILABLE]

Available Materials:

U’Kan Ring ×17

Available Recipes:

[MACHETE]

Requirements:

U’Kan Ring ×5

[SHORT SWORD]

Requirements:

U’Kan Ring ×8

[LOCKED]

Additional recipes require

Crafting Level 2.

Reach level 2 to unlock more crafting recipes.

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"Fresh..."

His head snapped towards the sound.

A huge entity rushed at him, several voices echoed from it.

"What is that?"

"Fresh meat?"

"Hungry..."

"I’m so hungry..."

"It looks so different!"

"It surely will be edible."

"Hurry..."

"Let me have the first bite!"

At first glance, it looked like a single creature.

It wasn’t.

The thing was a grotesque mass of several Vashki bodies fused together, their porcelain forms twisted and layered over one another until they formed a roughly spherical shape. Limbs protruded from every side of the mass, some bent at unnatural angles, others folded tightly against the bodies buried within it.

There was no clear head or obvious torso.

No front or back.

Only bodies.

Dozens of porcelain arms and legs were tangled together, their silver plating pressed against one another so tightly that it was difficult to tell where one Vashki ended and another began. Some faces were completely buried beneath other bodies, while others remained partially exposed between gaps in the mass, their smooth, faceless heads tilted toward the outside world.

Their rings were everywhere.

Crashing into each other. Like they were melted into each other.

Some glowed faintly.

Others flickered erratically.

A few were cracked, their light leaking through fractures in the metal like dying embers.

The entire thing was approximately the size of a transport vehicle when fully compressed, although its actual size was difficult to determine because its bodies constantly shifted against one another.

Then it moved.

Not by walking.

The entire mass tumbled.

Several hands struck the ground at once.

Then feet.

Then more hands.

The creature rolled forward in a sudden, awkward rotation, its many limbs scrambling against the earth to push the spherical body onward.

THUD.

Hands slapped against the ground.

THUD.

Feet followed.

The mass rolled again.

Every movement caused its bodies to shift and collide against one another, producing the unsettling sound of porcelain grinding against porcelain and groaning.

It was almost like watching a gigantic ball made of people attempting to crawl.

When it stopped, several arms immediately planted themselves into the ground.

Then several more.

The creature lifted itself slightly.

For a moment, K could see the individual Vashkis trapped inside it.

One had both arms stretched outward.

Another was curled backward with its legs folded against its chest. A third had its fingers embedded into the porcelain torso of another Vashki, as though the bodies had fused together while desperately trying to escape one another.

"It’s watching us!"

"Are you scared?"

"What are you?"

"I want to play too!"

"Let me see it!"

The voices crashed into one another.

"What the hell is that?"

K tumbled back.

He was supposed to fight that?

He didn’t even have his armor or his guns, how was he suppose to do that?

The interface from before flickered into his vision.

The crafting option.

A matchete and a short sword.

He wasn’t good with bladed weapons if his opponent had similar anatomy he could still manage but this thing in front of him?

The interface shrunk and expanded again showing something else.

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MACHETE

Damage: +18

Durability: 85

Weight: Low

Trait:

[Ring Edge]

Releases a burst of energ my from its blade edge

Cooldown: 60s

SHORT SWORD

Damage: +27

Durability: 120

Weight: Moderate

Trait:

[Ring Resonance]

Releases a 14m radius burst of shockwave capable of temporarily stunning enemy entities.

Cooldown: 120s

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The creature lunged.

[Short Sword selected]