Chapter 116: A New Interface

Mia raised her head and stared at Lee, as Ruella and An walked to him.

"I will go and check the surroundings. Make sure to lock the door."

Lee added a few details regarding the powerhouses of the city, and the degenerated system of ruling. He added his personal suggestion that he would like them all to stay in the city for a few days and that from tomorrow onwards, An and Mia can spar with him, and he might be able to help Ruella in her training too.

'View'

Lee used View skill on his female companions and three panels popped up side by side.

=====

Name: An Fenfang

Race: Human

Age: 28

Cultivation: 7th stage Core Formation realm

State: Healthy, Cultivation stagnant.

-----

Health: 66

Strength: 63

Agility: 60

Defense: 49

Endurance: 49

Sense: 52

Intelligence: 59

=====

=====

Name: Kawahara Mia

Race: Human

Age: 17

Cultivation: 4th stage Body Strengthening realm

State: Healthy

-----

Health: 53

Strength: 52

Agility: 48

Defense: 31

Endurance: 36

Sense: 39

Intelligence: 41

=====

=====

Name: Ruella

Race: Druid

Age: 70

Mastery: Rookie level

State: Healthy

-----

Health: 72

Strength: 43

Agility: 28

Defense: 23

Endurance: 44

Sense: 47

Intelligence: 48

=====

[Hmmmm...….To be honest, they are far behind you, and that means the necessity of training.]

'You said that the Essence cost for upgrading others is 2000 per one point, right?'

[But, that will be a loss to you. There is a possibility that their new found enhancement may lead to an unpredictable explosion in power. So, my advice is, to help them succeed in cultivation and mastery while giving one or two points as their hardwork's bonus. That way, you will not deplete your Essence reserve and will be able to pull off an effective training session.]

Raising his head, Lee asked D's opinion on using 'Information Transfer' for letting the trio know of their current state and stability. Upon receiving the Sovereign's permission, Lee expended 80 Essence to transfer the information.

The trio were astonished as a set of information came popping up in their head. Lee saw their visible expressions and gave an explanation, without exposing the system. Ruella was amazed to hear about the existence of such an amazing information transferring skill.

"As you know now, those are your current statistics. They might be enough to contend with an average adult of mainstream races, but are far too low for the basic criteria of our objective.]

Mia and Ruella stared at each other and their eyes expressed their reflections on the revelation. To make things clear, and to give a firm target to achieve, Lee transferred his stats into the trio's head. 76 Essence vanished into the thin air.

=====

Name: Lee

Age: 20

Cultivation: peak stage Core Formation realm

Mastery: Rookie level

State: Healthy

-----

Health: 320

Strength: 320

Vitality: 320

Agility: 320

Defense: 320

Endurance: 320

Sense: 320

Intelligence: 320

=====

*gasp*

Mia gasped at the information. Not only her, Ruella and An found his stats confusingly surprising. The presence of both Cultivation and Mastery made them frown, but the uniform and abnormal figures that represented his stats made them visibly perplexed. As they made a comparative study between theirs and his, the fact became evident.

"Even my figures are not enough for the mission. So, I will begin to train from tomorrow. And for the time being, I will leave you three to decide."

Lee turned around and walked towards the window, opened it and leaped out. Activating Flight mid-air, Lee drifted away towards the Long Sect. As he expected, the trio had already made their unwavering decision. Now all they have to do is to convey the decision to him, when he returns.

-----

[Your Flight skill is lacking 30 minutes for upgrading to E grade. Just saying.]

'Okay, show me where the sects are situated.'

[Oh….and by the way, I completely absorbed the Tubian that we caught previously. From its parasitic behaviour, I acquired some exciting data, and successfully created a new system interface, which was designed from some of your memories. I hope you may like it!]

Lee floated down and landed on a building silently, as D spoke. As he was eagerly waiting for something to pop up, his eyes experienced a sudden and intense pain. After a second and opening his eyes back, a few lines faintly appeared in front of his eyes. Lee was taken back as he witnessed these weird, but straight lines appearing out of thin air. He glanced around, but the lines were not going anywhere. Even rubbing his eyes did nothing to it.

[Be at ease. What I created was a visual interface for the Map. Now you can peek at the Map inside your head, while the new interface integrated to your eyes will give a much richer and deeper information regarding the surroundings. It is directly integrated to the Map, and will give a three dimensional comprehension. Let me demonstrate.]

The two overlapping circles of the visual field became otherworldly with the lines and symbols of information. As Lee stared into the dark sky, a limited range miniature version of the Map appeared on the top left corner, inside a hexagon. It was in complete black and white texture, and only provided basic information. A yellowish orange coloured clock setup that only showed the hour of time, appeared at the top right corner. Right below that, the Essence amount in green colour, and beneath it, the Qi and Mana reserve in grey colour, found its position. There was also information regarding his companions and familiar beasts in tiny black font at the bottom, inside a thin pale blue bar, which he temporarily ignored. Lee remembered not to savour the beauty of the interface and to concentrate on the task at hand.

What he found fascinating, was the real time visual assistance fashioned from the digested parasitic Tubian. Five red arrows pointing in three directions caught his sight and he lowered his eyes from the sky. When he turned towards where one of the arrows pointed, he saw a large red arrow-like beacon at a distance, pointing at the ground below it. Simultaneously cross matching with the Map, he found that the beacon actually indicated the position of one of the five sects. His keen eyesight noticed the tall and proud manor of the Iron Shadow clan.

[Since this interface was an unprecedented gift from the Tubian, I still have not completely ventured the extent of its function. You know, I used to be a sentient being just like you. So after becoming a system, my homeworks had increased drastically. I might be busy and unavailable at times, because I would be immersed in the study and research regarding the expansion of the system. For the time being, I will watch how you advance, as I do my own work.]

'Got it, D. And thanks a lot. This has been the best addition you have ever made after becoming the system!'

Lee glanced around and saw the other four beacons at a distance. The nearest one was the Long sect. Simultaneously glancing at the Map inside his mind, Lee found the group of 28 people sent to capture the beast, advancing towards the inn. Lee jumped onto the next building as their estimated path would pass by that building.

The street through which they are supposed to pass was next to the building. The presence of nocturnal stalls and residents restricted the possibility of violence. The rarity of burning torches and overwhelming envelope of darkness made most people stay out of the alleyways and inside their homes. Lee found his arsenal of skills temporarily useless. Glancing at a specific affinity, his heart jumped up in joy.

A smirk appeared on his face as he turned around and crouched on the ground. Extending his arms and converging them, a pitch black Mana sphere materialised between his palms. Lee brought that dark sphere to his chest and it began to spread on his body. Within a dozen of seconds, his tall and handsome physique became one with the night!

Nobody would suspect that a man was standing on that building's terrace. A faint light of the doughnut moon seeped through the dense clouds and gave a hint of such an existence. Any normal person to see Lee would freak out and scream 'GHOST!'.

[They are near.]

Lee nodded and walked towards the edge of a side of the building and descended to the creepy alleyway beside it. The darkness covered Lee like a curtain, and Mana reserve was slowly reducing by each passing moment. Lee became restless as he saw the Mana reserve decreasing at a much higher rate.

[The Dark element, which you are using now, is a powerful one, and thus is demanding when it comes to Mana usage. As you are covering yourself in large quantities of affinity, no wonder the usage is so high. But you will have its benefit in the form of progress points!]

Lee walked towards the edge of the street and waited for them to pass by. His plan was to creep through the shadows and snatch each one into his EsGen, stealthily and silently. But his plan was temporarily disappointed as he saw the group approaching with an unexpected variable.