Hero Regresses with Villain System-Chapter 22: New Warrior of Darkness
’Fuck me...’ Adam thought as he tried to make any sense of his surroundings. This already herculean task was made even harder by the stupid Football, who always had something dumb to say.
’No thanks! I’ve learned my lesson about fucking humans!’ Set whispered in Adam’s mind.
If there wasn’t a beast currently prowling in the dark and looking to kill them, Adam would have absolutely throttled the little football by now.
’I literally forced myself to communicate within your puny mind, human! That’s worth at least some Quantum Cores!’
’Quantum Cores?’ Adam thought, finding it harder to keep his concentration focused on the dark surroundings. This fucking mecha really was something else.
’Yes, Quantum Cores! They taste delicious, ya see! Scrumptious, Divine, uh... what other words can I use!’
Ignoring the football’s blabbering mouth, Adam pulled up his neural interface to see what it was talking about. Almost instantly, he was met with a stat screen made just for this mecha.
As if the idiot was something special.
[Mecha 1]
–[General]–
- Name: Set
- Batch: First Dawn
- Rank: Extinction
- Type: Catalyst
As the remaining parts of the status screen loaded, Adam cast a quick glance at the glowing red eyes of Set. In the total darkness, that was the only light he could see.
’Look! I told you I’m special, puny human! An extinction-ranked mecha? Bet ya don’t see that every day.’
Ignoring the proud football, Adam looked at the screen again, mostly curious about the batch thing. What exactly was this ’First Dawn’?
The football’s eyes beamed even brighter as it noticed Adam’s unspoken question.
’Oh, the First Dawn? Uh, nothing much really. Just the strongest batch of Mechas, led by yours truly.’
Somehow, even in complete darkness, Adam could see the football flexing its toddler muscles, apparently thinking he was the strongest mecha ever.
’Any more details?’ Adam asked dismissively.
He wasn’t really concerned about the football’s claim of power because he already knew the mecha was weak. At least, for now.
What he really wanted was some damn answers. About the Temple, the Endless White, even about this stupid Kaiju the football called Draken.
While he was looking at Set’s stats, Adam simultaneously kept much of his Qi focused on sensing his surroundings. For some reason, Draken still wasn’t near them. Even with the football’s annoying red eyes lighting up the entire damn universe.
Therefore, turning to the now weirdly silent Set, Adam repeated, ’So? What’s so special about the First Dawn?’
A short silence followed before Set’s abundant laughter reverberated through Adam’s mind.
’What’s so special? Why, everything!’
’You don’t know, do you?’ Adam asked even though he already knew the answer.
’O-of course I do! I-it’s just too grand for your puny brain to comprehend!’
As Set talked, he changed his body into different weapons in an attempt to look authoritative. Adam merely shrugged, relieved that the system had finished loading the rest of his information.
–[Main Body]–
- Level: 1
– Quantum Cores until level up: 100
– (Note: every 100 kills can take the place of a quantum core. A [Fletchling] Kaiju is worth 2 kills, and each subsequent rank is worth 5 times more than the previous. A person with the Qi level of an Exalted hero—100,000 or above—is worth 50 kills)
- Quantum Energy: 3,521 + 1,095 [4,616]
–(Note: Set’s stats gain a boost equal to 10 percent of yours)
– Imaging: 750 + 258 [1,008]
– Efficiency: 1,050 + 238 [1,288]
– Kinetics: 1,478 + 253 [1,731]
– Shielding: 550 + 238 [788]
– Mech: 1,715 + 243 [1,958]
–[Connection]–
- Breakthrough: 1/9
–Progress: 0%
- Modifications: 0/5
– Empty
- Gadgets: 1/3
– Titanic Ascension
— (Once this mecha’s core is unlocked, it can be reverted to its original size during combat.)
With that, the system screen dimmed, signaling that it was done. At the end of the day, all his first mecha could really do was promise that it could one day become big.
Letting out a heavy sigh, Adam asked the football, ’How do I unlock your core?’
Instead of simply giving an answer, the football flew around him with maniacal laughter. Of course.
’Oh, I do like it when subjects are funny!! Thank you!’
Adam’s bionic arm shot through the air and gripped the football’s throat. At the same time, he shot it a death stare that made even Set quiver.
’There’s a goddamned [Beast] Kaiju roaming through here and you’re being carefree? Just tell me where to get your fucking core, you stupid Football.’
Even as he was choking its AI life out, the dumb football simply smiled. Then it turned itself into a small ball, freeing itself from Adam’s grasp so that it could fly right next to his face.
’Boo!! Hehe! Anyway, you already unlocked the core, you idiot. What do you think those beacons were?’
Glancing back into the darkness, he wondered if that was correct. Although the mecha didn’t have any reason to lie, the naming didn’t really make sense. A beacon was completely different than some kind of core.
’Well, 3 of them anyway. I have no idea why there were 5 beacons. Maybe my disciples loved me!!!’
’Hmm...’ Adam thought, knowing that wasn’t the case. You’d have to be a special kind of masochist to like this fucking football.
But, in any case, it seemed that Set already had the [Titanic Ascension] gadget, meaning that he could become a real mecha. Considering the Kaiju that shared this room, that was good.
If they ever had a chance to notice the Kaiju.
While he had been going over Set’s status screen, Adam made sure to keep his senses focused on locating the Kaiju. Yet all the same, it remained an imperceptible threat lurking in the darkness.
His back tingled from the memory of the [Fletchling] Kaiju he killed; he knew he wouldn’t survive a direct attack.
But he couldn’t find the Kaiju.
Sitting in the darkness, it felt like he was alone with Set and death—
Swish!!!
Every hair on Adam’s body stood straight as a giant force rushed toward him. The [Beast] Kaiju was finally making its unstoppable advance.
Although he couldn’t see it, he felt it coming closer.
And closer.
Until it was right next to him.
’Set, grow big!’
