Evil

Power Up

A/N: Minor adjustment of previous chapter. The bracelet was changed to an anklet.

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Congratulations on breaking through to the first rank Artemis. By doing so, you have unlocked the second level of your powers.

"Oh?" Now that sounded enticing. The first two were already rather strong. Now that I had magic and a new ability, I was rather excited by the prospect.

On your left wrist, there should be a different marking.

Indeed, looking down, I saw now below the dashes, there was a single moon.

Haste. Each moon represents the speed of one man.

I had thirteen lives leftover from the abyss arena. Most of the lives were magisters so they were probably worth more than just a single human.

"Collectively, how many mortal lives are these thirteen worth?"

A voice rang out.

Thirty-two.

Well that's convenient. I hadn't even expected it work. So it turns out there was this function.

"Then six into lives, ten into strength and  fifteen into speed leaving one."

On my right wrist, the red triangles that dotted my wrist had turned into a single blue triangle.

Looking down at my wrist, the red dashes had turned into a blue dash.

Below the blue dash, sixteen red moons stood.

From now onwards, ten lives for the strength of one man. Ten lives to be reaped for an extra life for you to use.

"Ah. So this is what the guy meant." As my power now steadily increased, the more people would have to die to make that happen.

"Let's try out this speed thing."

BAM!

"—Wait! No no no NO NO!" I screamed out as my entire body slammed straight into a wall,"Ugh." I clutched my stomach in agony.

Note to self: Don't use speed in enclosed areas.

After a few minutes of soreness, I had recovered enough to sit up,"Chrissakes," I grumbled, annoyed at the guy for not warning me about this. Thankfully I had managed to protect my face with my hands,"Ahh whatever."

However, not wanting to let this get me down, I continued 'upgrading' myself. It was kinda reminiscent of the RPGs I'd played back home. Some habits had stayed as well like me wanting to make the marks a round number or something divisible by 5. I didn't know why, it just looked nicer that way.

Then came the black jewel. I stared at it for a bit before realising numerous white marks on the gold lines. Someone had obvious been trying to cut it open to no avail,"Well, let's give it a go."

Pressing down with my index finger and thumb with all my might, the blue triangle glowing, the gem refused to even crack.

"I suppose this comes in handy." I took out the anklet. Upon close inspection, it seemed to be made out of some gemstones carved and interlinked to create a short chain enough to wrap around my ankle. Wearing it, I decided to test it out. Hopefully, it wouldn't have an outcome as terrible as my newfound ability.