EmEs_etherious
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Chapter 80- Purify
🕑 Added 2023-07-18 23:00:01 +0000 UTCAuthors Note: I am very sorry for not posting on the weekend as was my plan. I've started working on another piece of writing that's been taking up some of my time. It's not a piece of fiction, so I doubt I'll ever end up sharing it here. and I don't think you'd be interested.
It's something I plan to eventually publish and so I'm putting a lot more planning into it than I initially did for Etherious. That's not to say that I'll slow down with my story, though. I was only delayed this once because I had to type up everything I wrote on a paper book.
Also, the main reason the chapters were delayed was because I re-downloaded a game I used to play in my childhood onto my phone. Terraria ended up taking up so much of my time. That being said, I do have some great news for you.
I'll be getting holiday from school after two weeks for summer, so I'll have a lot more time for writing. That's when I'll catch up with all my delayed chapters hopefully, if anyone's been counting. I think it's around twelve or something, which I'll try to release over the course of a month. Or I might do two weeks of a chapter a day. I'll see.
Anyways, onto the chapter.
Arthur was a little surprised he wasn't crying. If he was being honest, he didn't feel much of anything really, just... empty. He'd lost something he'd desperately hoped for, and yet he'd seen it coming from a mile away. I guess I'm just resigned right now. If mistakes were so easy to fix, there'd be no meaning to life. There are consequences to every action, and they aren't always reversible.
Throughout all this, General Bradley had been silent, but now, seeing the melancholy begin to fade from Arthur's face, he decided to finally say something.
"Miss Murker warned us against showing you that particular item. And before you get angry, no, she didn't want to lead you on a wild goose chase to get your sister back."
Arthur was too emotionally exhausted to care much about the fact that Ayesha may be trying to manipulate him or the fact that the American government was aware of his sister's demise and perhaps his own role in it. With Ayesha's underling possessing the ability to read the memories of objects, he wouldn't put it past her to have already discovered the gun that he'd sold so long ago. It seemed so inconsequential right now.
"That's not to say she wouldn't have told you about it, by the way." Bryan quickly added. "She just thought it was needlessly cruel to give you hope with a name like Ring Of Revival. She would have told you about everything after this little meeting of ours. In fact, it took everything in our power to talk to you first."
Arthur nodded his head but didn't say anything. He couldn't fault Ayesha's logic. If he was a weaker person, he would've been devastated after reading that Item description of Soul Destruction. So seven's the magic number, I guess, or does it change depending on how strong someone is? It did say the ring was for people under level 200. Arthur dismissed the question. It wasn't important right now.
The old general wasn't a big fan of the gloom and doom surrounding the young healer right now. It wasn't the first time he'd seen something like this in someone. God knows his soldiers had enough PTSD to distribute it to half of Manhatten.
"Look, kid," he said gruffly. "We all make mistakes. Hell, mine have killed more people than I can even begin to guess. Bad calls that resulted in deaths that could easily have been avoided. And that's something I'm going to have to live with."
"Every time I go to sleep, that shit keeps me awake. Well, at least it did until I realised a lack of sleep would only result in more mistakes. Look, what I'm trying to say, kid, is that sometimes in life, you've gotta learn to let go, learn to heal so you don't end up getting your blood all over people who don't deserve that sought of mess."
"I would say I can't imagine your pain and regret, Arthur, but I'm sure you've heard that all before. It doesn't mean squat, so I won't offer you my condolences. But we need you to get your shit together. The world's in for some dark times, and we need all the help we can get."
General Bradley paused for a moment to let his words sink in.
"So what do you say? Are you up for the job? Otherwise, I'll walk through those doors and give this skill shard to someone better suited for the task."
All of a sudden, a burst of Aura washed over Arthur. It was gone as soon as it appeared, but the strength of it was nothing to scoff at. What was confusing though, was the strange mix of emotions it transmitted, anger, frustration, pity and uncertainty. Alone, he could make sense of each of them but blended together, it hardly made any sense. General Bradley raised an eyebrow.
"That must be Miss Murker out there. She's probably getting impatient waiting so we'll have to wrap this up soon. So what do you say, son? Can we count on you?"
Arthur sighed and rubbed his temples.
“So, how do I absorb this thing, then?” He asked, indicating to the white crystal. General Bradley broke out into a wide smile when he heard Arthur’s words.
“I thought you’d never ask, kid,” he said, chuckling. “First things first you’ve got to pick it up,” Bradley instructed indicating with his hands that Arthur should do so. Arthur followed his instruction and was surprised that the crystal was warm to the touch, almost like it had been close to a heat source recently.
It also seemed to release waves of energy around it in pulses intermittently, which Arthur had only realised when the item was in his hands. General Bradley continued his instructions.
“I’m not really sure how this next part works exactly, but you’re supposed to run some of your healing affinity ether into the skill shard now,” he said, uncertainty clear in his voice. The indecision within Bradley’s voice would've been worrying if Arthur had the energy to generate an emotional response right now. He was just too drained right now to care.
The skill shard came from a reputable source and Arthur wanted to get this entire experience over as soon as possible. Calling on his energy reserves, Arthur directed his ether into his most familiar skill, regeneration, and used it to pour some of his healing affinity energy into the white crystal. For a moment nothing seemed to happen and Arthur worried that he was doing something wrong. He needn’t have concerned himself however as within a few moments, he heard an audible crack resound throughout the room. Arthur only had a brief second to look down at the crystal before the world went white.
Arthur reflexively closed his eyes when the bright light suffused the room, but his eyelids offered very little protection from the shining glare. The brilliant luminosity still reached him, not diminished in the slightest and Arthur was starting to worry that something had gone terribly wrong, the fear that he'd fucked this all up getting through his detachment. Had he just condemned everyone in the facility to death by setting off the crystalised ether? Thankfully, his fears were unfounded.
Suddenly, the light disappeared. Just as fast as it had arrived, it departed as if it had never existed in the first place. Arthur briefly wondered if he had imagined the entire thing as Bradley and Bryan were still sitting down, completely content on their chairs as if the magical phenomenon hadn’t disturbed them at all. Unfortunately, the experience had been all too real for Arthur and his smarting eyes could attest to that.
It took him a few seconds to get used to the normal brightness in the room, and in that time, Arthur realised something that gave him quite a shock. The purify skill shard was gone, not dropped or lost as he’d held his hand closed over it tightly ever since he’d first grasped it. No, the crystalised ether had simply ceased to exist. Before Arthur could start panicking, he saw a system message in his vision that explained away the skill shard's disappearance. It seemed he'd successfully absorbed it.
You have assimilated the skill shard: purify (Rank E). This is a general skill and will take up one of your miscellaneous skill slots. As a Human, five are available to you after being assigned Identity during System integration.
You currently have three not in use. Would you like to learn the skill?
YES/NO.
Warning- Choosing to not gain the skill will not reform the skill shard and it shall be wasted.
Arthur read the message and then re-read it again. It seemed that the crystallised ether was only a single-use item, which he wasn’t really too surprised about. If such a dense working of ether could reconstitute itself after being absorbed by an individual, then it'd be a tool far greater than anything the American government could get their hands on. Would it have to be Elite? Maybe even epic?
Arthur dismissed his meandering thoughts and focused back on the task at hand. Taking a deep breath, he mentally clicked yes. The effect was instantaneous, and he felt an incredible amount of energy suffuse into every aspect of his being, before touching on something he instinctively recognised as his soul. There, it seemed to find some sort of resistance and Arthur knew that his soul affinity and thus its stronger than average nature was hindering the process.
Trying to do something, Arthur imagined opening himself up to the world, and thankfully, his actions, as ill-practised as they were, seemed to have some sort of effect on the process. The ether diffused past the membrane of his spirit and he knew that the process was over. Three seconds later, the system confirmed it for him.
Congratulations! You have learnt the skill Purify (Rare) Level 1- Use ether to create an aura of purifying energy around you. Can purge residual Ether, bacteria, poison, filth etc. Aura range increases with skill level.
Cost: Dependent on the toxicity of the environment
The ability was everything Arthur had expected it to be, though it was a little ambiguous on what exactly it could do. For starters, how big exactly was this aura currently, and more importantly, what did the system classify as filth. or was it in fact dependent on his own perception of the stuff? Will I one day be able to use the aura to just purify a monster out of existence, Arthur wondered in amazement. He quickly got off his high horse when he remembered that the skill was only at Rare rank. he would no doubt have to get the ability to undergo some sort of evolution before he could consider using the skill in such a way.
Arthur looked up to see both General Bradley and Bryan looking expectantly at him and he cleared his throat awkwardly at the attention. “So, did it work? Stop holding out on us kid,” General Bradley grumbled loudly, curiosity clear in his voice.
Arthur nodded his head.
“I think so, at least the system says I’ve got the skill, “ Arthur replied, directing some ether into it. Arthur used a slightly different method than the usual way he manipulated the energy. Instead of drawing out a specific amount of ether and directing it into the skill like he usually did, he decided to skip out his first step and directly channel his ether into the skill from his reserves.
It felt quite different from usual, and he felt a lot more connected to the magic he was casting. Looking around him, Arthur saw that there was a silvery-white sheen to the air three meters around him. Arthur had no doubt that this was the radius of his new skill and though it was quite small, he wasn’t disappointed. After all, he was only supplying half an ether to the skill per second and the effects were already quite visible. The floor near his bed was noticeably cleaner than the rest of the room, startlingly white compared to the greyish colour of the other tiles, probably the original shade of the ground that no amount of normal cleaning would ever be able to restore.
Thankfully magic seemed to have no such limitations and Arthur marvelled at how cosy his life would have been if he had this skill before the arrival of the system. He would have no doubt been the world's best cleaner. General Bradley and Bryan were similarly impressed with the results and the military leader made that clear with the next words.
“Well. I’ll be damned. It looks like Earth will be safe for a little longer thanks to you,” he spoke, with a wide grin on his face. Arthur blanched a little at the old man’s sinister words although he believed they were spoken in jest.
Still, he couldn’t be too sure about the strange man, and though he had been told that his help would be necessary for combating the Silver Rose, he didn’t exactly know how his new purify skill fit into the equation. For all he knew, he could be getting rid of some crazy alien pathogen that would destroy the world and judging by how lady luck seemed to have a special relationship with him, Arthur was certain that reality would be far worse than he had imagined.
“So, you’ve told me about how pivotal this skill will be in the coming few days, but I still have no idea what I’ll be using it for,” Arthur voiced.
"What exactly do you want me to purify?"
