Chapter 48 - Soul Master Class Phase One

"The angel is showing mercy? Pft, this might be considered the most hilarious joke I always hear from folks like you," he laughed as if I was joking around, "angels are our enemies, not allies, not guides."

"I know that," I had a feeling that he wasn't going to fight against me, "but at least I have a chance against them, not against you."

"Smart kid," he dared to call me a kid? "But I won't let you off before you tell me who you are and how you know about this place."

"I just stumbled upon it by accident," I shrugged, "I was in the park when the apocalypse started. If you don't believe me, then let's go to the museum up there and ask people about that."

*Foosh!*

Just while I was speaking I felt a strange gush of wind coming from him.

"I don't want to hear anyone's opinion," he said while one of his eyes shone in a strange purple red color, "I have a skill to detect lies, and you kid just spouted out one."

Sh*t! He had a lie detecting skill up his sleeve.

"You got one more chance to speak the truth or else…" the cold tip of his spear moved and touched my skin. I barely felt pain as I was sure he caused a wound there.

"Alright, I came from the future," as I had no more games to play with him, and the time was kicking fast towards the retaliation of the angels, I had to wrap things here with him fast.

"What do you take me for? An idiot or something?"

"Just use your damn skill and let's get done with this," I said with confidence as I was really telling the truth.

What was the big deal about him knowing about me coming from the future? At least I wasn't a monster like him or those reincarnator guys.

*Foosh!*

The previous ribbles of air appeared and his eyes shone again. I couldn't see his face but the spear he held trembled faintly while making me feel pain again.

"Ouch! Watch that man!"

"So you are from the future? What's it like out there?" he pushed the spear finally away and that let me touch my neck. Yeah, there were two wounds there.

"It's ugly," I said the truth casually but the ribbles of air that came again made me frown. "C'mon, it was just a mere question."

"I don't trust people easily," he blurted out.

"And I don't trust people at all. So let's go different paths."

In fact that wasn't what I wanted. Having this asset by my side was a mere gift from the heavens. How could I let him slip so easily from my hands?

"You are good, kid, I give you that. I never expected to see such a heaven defying innate ability. Why not follow me? I need someone like you on my side."

"No thanks," despite wanting him to be on my side, I would never let myself follow such a maniac.

"Reason?" he asked and at this moment his eye shone brightly as he used that lie detecting thing again.

"You are a maniac," I shrugged as if it was out of my hands to say such rude words.

"Do you want to die?"

"That's the point. You always threaten people by death. You are a mad man. Plus if things went south, you won't stick around to fix it. It's easier for you to run than stand and fight."

"What did you say?" He raised his spear again and this time I even gave him my back. I knew his nature, all talk.

"You are a coward," I said it loud clear, "the ones who create a mess then run away from it are cowards."

*Smash!*

Without warning he grabbed me by the neck and hit me fiercely against that poor statue again. I could hear the cracking noises coming from my back and that statue alike.

"What? Fearing to admit the truth? Then let me ask you, how many times did you run away and change worlds?"

"Saving my life isn't a crime or a thing I would be ashamed of!"

"Then let me ask you this in another way, have you ever thought about the worlds you left behind?" I could feel his firm grip over my neck. But unlike the first time he hit me, he didn't apply much pressure there.

I wasn't even feeling any discomfort at all except from the tingling pain of my back.

"Why not take this world for example," I even waved my hands in the air as if I was discussing in a civilized manner with a sane man, "if you got the class here and then you were faced with a mighty challenge like usual. You'll choose to run the moment you fail defending against what's coming."

"I won't fail! I'm well prepared!" His shout told me well about his current mood. Good, I was getting inside his head as we spoke.

"Yeah, a gear or two. Or perhaps even strengthening your body by raising your cultivation base," I said in mockery before adding in a serious tone, "no matter how hard you try, you won't succeed. You'll always fail!"

*Smash!*

He was enraged to the limit to grab me away and smash me again to the statue. This time he was acting serious and that suffocation returned back to me.

"A man running from challenges will never be able to overcome them. That's the simple logic behind life. You have the nature of running, sleeping deeply inside your bones and soul that at any simple challenge, you'll flee."

"Stop it! Stop spouting nonsense already!!"

Despite his enraged shouts, I never stopped. I finally could get to his subconscious, and I needed to do something important there.

Humans acted all the way by logic and sense, but they never knew that the subconscious controlled everything. No matter what, a man, a woman, a child, an elder, a wise man, or even a mad man… All had their beliefs tied tightly to their subconscious.

If I needed to turn him onto my side, I needed to solve his biggest subconscious problem; choosing to run instead of standing firmly and face the challenges.

But changing a subconscious was never an easy or fast feat to accomplish.

"So when you fail and decide to run away," I continued like he didn't interrupt me with his shouts moments ago, "then this world will be doomed. That class is very domineering. If it fell into the hands of anyone but humans then we are all doomed."

"It won't! I have a plan this time! I won't fail!"

"Empty talk," I smirked hardly with my throat getting suffocated more by his firm grip, "how many times have you already tried and failed? Let me bet, you even blurted such words to yourself endless times before, and eventually each time you failed."

This time I could feel his body trembling and his hand holding me got loose. I fell on the ground while touching my neck. It wasn't as bad as the past. Hopefully this will be the last.

"Let me show you the difference between being a coward and being a man is," I stood up and started to walk again. "You are welcome to tag along."

"I won't help you," he said in his usual aggressiveness but eventually he followed by my side. "Even the mighty sword and the sacred shield I got by risking my life before won't show up to save you."

"Who said I want these pathetic toys of yours?" A sword? A shield? What did he take that star weapon for? A childish play?

"You…"

"Just keep silent for a moment. Thanks to you I couldn't check even the class I got yet."

And he was noisy.

[Soul master class: Rank: Hidden. Grade: Heaven. Level: 1]

[Fist stage is opened for you to use: The grade of soul absorption]

[Each time you kill a living being, you'll be able to absorb his soul. The absorbed soul won't reincarnate or be revived by any means]

[Storing one hundred souls will allow you to raise all your stats by one point. Storing one thousand souls will let you upgrade the level by one. Upgrading the class level by ten levels will open the next stage of the class for you]

'This is it? Only this?' I looked up at the description here with daze. No matter how I saw it, this was totally bullsh*t!

A class that would ask me to kill tens of thousands of enemies to just level up? What the hell was this shitty class?!

I couldn't believe my eyes until I closed and reopened the class many times. According to what I knew, classes would grant people a way to increase their stats and power immensely. But now… this class looked like trash. Absolute trash!

I needed to kill one hundred enemies just to get five stat points? Was this a joke? I'd rather prefer to use coins to upgrade my stats without this useless class.

I took a rapid gaze up at the jumper walking furiously next to me. Was this the class he was seeking after? No way! There must be a mistake here.

"Ahem, may I ask what was the class you had before from the statue?" I needed to get answers.

"Won't tell!"

Screw you! C'mon be serious here! Why act all childish with me like that?

"C'mon, I'm curious to know."

"Why? Did you trip off and you got some useless class from inside?" he saw straight through me before suddenly breaking out in laughter.

"That's ridiculous! I can't believe you took all this trouble for a shitty class!"

"The class from the inside isn't fixed then?" I tried another approach to get my answers.

"Of course. There is an assessment. The higher you get, the better class you'll obtain," he pointed at himself while puffing out his chest like boasting about some heroic deeds or something.

"I even got an Immortal ranked class once. This dude here is so strong and lucky. Yeah, I'm blessed with luck. Not like a country boy like you, hahaha."

Lucky? Lucky my as*!!!

I looked again at the grade of my class. It said it was heaven grade. That was supposed to be a better thing, right? Better than his Immortal rank at least.

But the facts don't align with the description in front of my eyes. Just before I could ask anymore, a long row of messages appeared in front of my eyes.

[The fist quest finished and you managed to clear it]

[You have one slot opened for getting a blessing]

[Many gods are eyeing you with curious eyes. You have acquired a good attention from many gods]

[The next hour will be the time for gods to apply to bless you. The list of gods will be updated each five minutes]

[You need to make a decision in six hours from now]

[If you want the privileges given to have a blessing from a god, you can check out the blessing icon inside your profile]

[The next quest will start after six hours]

[The beginner's pack effect ended. You can't use their features anymore]

Yeah, screw me more if you could, please.

I looked with no interest towards the list that appeared next. I knew the rules of this game. Gods? Hahaha, this was a mere joke.

As for someone who came ninety-nine years later, I could say this was one of the cruelest traps ever played for humans.

Who would be offered the blessing of a mighty god and would refuse? A blessing meant many things, like tipping coins, supporting one with unique skills, and even giving some guidance.

Who would say no to such support? Such a disadvantage veiled under the cloak of being a blessing, what a joke!

I knew what was in the manual but I checked it up anyway. The points discussed there covered most of the facts about having a blessing.

Except for two!

And these two points, compared to the long list of twenty points explained thoroughly here, would make the difference between earth and heaven.