Ascension of Chaos

Ashley

After we reach the man, he's already wiping down his lab coat and turning towards us.

"Thank you, kids," he says, almost making my eyebrow twitch slightly. But I don't say anything. "You probably just saved my life."

I doubt it. That hound only had a simple smelling skill. Unless the hound was planning on pushing him off a platform or something.

On the other hand, if it was the first hound I fought then it may've been saving his life. Since it had Dark Bite.

Assuming it had it unlocked, that is. Since it may not have unlocked the skill yet.

Didn't get a chance to see.

"No worries!" Sean says, sounding proud of himself despite all of those misses with that skill of his. "It's only right to help others!"

Why do I get the feeling he wants to be an enforcer when he grows up?

"Let's introduce ourselves," James says, having clearly calmed down from the action again. "I'm James Smith. A second year in high school."

"Sean Peterson's my name," Sean says with a smile on his face. "Also a second year."

"Julianna Anderson, sir," Julie says, sounding quite a bit different from when she introduced herself to me. "Second year in high school as well." Then she reaches for me and says, "And this cutie is Ashley…"

She blinks as she realizes she doesn't know my last name. And I don't expand further on it.

After an awkward second she turns to the man again and says, "Well, she was-"

"The one who entered the tutorial late, right?" the middle-aged man says with a glance towards me from Julie. Then he asks with a slightly worried look on his face, "How're you doing? The notification said you were in a coma before the System."

I don't say anything for a few seconds, and Julie eventually says, "She said she has amnesia."

The man's eyes widen a little at that and he quickly says, "I'm sorry. I'm sure we'll-"

He goes on to say some things about how everything will be fine and stuff. But I eventually get sick of this crap and fight through the discomfort to state, "I'm twenty years old."

Silence fills the platform.

Eventually Julie asks, "Um, you're sure?" I nod my head. "Completely sure?" I nod my head again. "Even though you have amnesia?" And one more time.

Silence returns.

"Sounds like she has selective amnesia," the man in the lab coat says, breaking the silence. And when everyone, me included, turns to look at him, he expounds on that, "She remembers some details but most of it is just blank." He focuses on me. "Do you remember anything about your life before this System thing started? Other than your age." When I shake my head, he continues, "Then do you remember anything at all outside of that?" I nod my head. And he focuses on Julie and the others again. "See?"

The kids grow awkward as they no doubt realize they were treating an adult like a kid.

But I don't pay them much mind now that the misunderstanding is cleared up. Especially when I do look rather young for the age I remember myself being.

Instead I open that status profile thing.

My eyes narrow ever so slightly at the sight of the red set of bars in the Chaos Energy section having grayed out a little. Four segments of the bar to be exact.

Assimilate… is the skill what's doing that? Considering that my mana is still full, I think it's safe to assume that Assimilate uses this 'Chaos Energy'. But I'm pretty sure I remember Chaos's clone mentioning that the section Chaos Energy is in is one for secondary energy.

And I think he mentioned something about secondary energy being better for a skill than mana if it is usable by the skill.

Either he said it, or it was that Dark Bite skill that clued me in on that.

Doesn't really matter though. What does matter is that it looks like Assimilate uses Chaos Energy. Or it can use it.

Not sure why it doesn't list the price when I look at the Skill Tree.

Conveniently enough, Julie seems to give me a free excuse for my 'pocket knife' and clothes. Saying it may just be something given to those who awaken from a coma or something. Then she goes on to talk about how she's glad I'm not left walking around naked under a hospital gown, which has the guys blushing at the thought.

I ignore them as I begin to walk towards the closest bridge, feeling like I've wasted enough time here.

They all scramble to catch up to me while the middle-aged man introduces himself.

"My name's Jack Russell, and I'm a professor at the University of Val and Magic," the man says while the four are walking. "And Ashley's right. We should keep moving across the platforms as we talk."

Then the man goes on to talk to them a little bit, only for a System Notification to quickly interrupt them. One I was actually expecting to happen soon this time around.

And the ten minutes are up.

The others briefly start discussing the whole pause on the broadcast, but I ignore them as we continue getting more Skill Points from traversing the bridges and entering new platforms.

That should've been paused for ten minutes, which means we've been in this phase for somewhere around eleven or twelve minutes ish. Since I didn't activate it right away.

So there should be another forty-eight or so minutes left of this phase.

The four continue chatting with the professor quickly acclimating himself to the group in no time. Meanwhile I make sure to study him just like I studied the other two. Without making it obvious what I'm doing, of course.

He almost always has his hands in the pockets in his lab coat, and his eyes often repeatedly flicker all around us. They're constantly dilating and returning to normal as well every single time any sort of sound echoes in the seemingly endless array of platforms.

Guess he's more afraid than he's trying to let on.

Playing it up for the kids or something?

Probably.

He doesn't seem very dangerous, and he was running away from a hound that was no more than a slightly larger dog with a powerful sense of smell. So I don't think he's all that much of a threat if he were to do something.

The only thing I find slightly odd is how he keeps glancing at me as if he recognizes me. And he's not the only one as the kids seem to look at me with some faint hints of familiarity as well. As if they recognize me but don't remember where from.

Now if this was before they knew I was the person who arrived after waking from a coma, then it would make sense. But they already know I'm the one who woke up from the coma and entered their tutorial, restarting it.

So what's with these looks? Was I some sort of celebrity before?

My thoughts briefly return to those strange events I vaguely remembered not too long ago.

Guess that would fit.

After a few seconds I decide to put it out of my mind. Since I don't want to remember in the first place.

Although it could also just be that they really did see Chaos's appearance.

I come to a halt when a strange notification appears in my vision.

The heck?

That's kind of creepy.

I stare at it for a second, ignoring how the others' conversation ended as they no doubt notice me. But then I shake my head and continue walking, deciding to ignore it.

Only a few seconds later I notice a number in the corner of my interface. One that's very slowly growing.

That better not be a follower count. I don't want random people watching me.

I see the others sharing a glance before they shrug and continue following me while talking amongst themselves. With them only seeming a little uncomfortable and nothing more.

Eventually we run into another hound. A hound of which Sean actually manages to hit with his fire bolts for once, killing it.

Of course, I try to activate Assimilate before it dies. Just to see if me being in the same group as him affects whether it counts as me killing it or not. But I don't get anything from it. And it does take away two more bars from my Chaos Energy gauge.

A pity.

Next test will be to see if me assisting in a kill even if I'm not the one who's responsible for the final kill in the end will give me the Skill Tree.

All important things to figure out.

On another note, I glance at Sean as I think about his Skill Tree.

It would certainly be useful to have, but I would rather not kill innocent people. Just feels wrong.

So that option's a no.

Guess that question of whether I can assist in a kill or not to get the Skill Tree will tell me whether I'll ever get that fire bolt skill of his. Because I don't plan on killing him.

But if I can merely scratch him or flick him or something within ten minutes before he's about to die anyways, that I wouldn't mind doing. Could even do that before we enter every battle. Just activate Assimilate, flick him in the arm, and we start the battle. Then if he dies, see if I'll get his Skill Tree.

Not like it'll hurt him or anything. Even if it probably would annoy him.

Of course, I'll probably try to help him too if he's about to die. But just in case.

Having a skill like his would be really helpful.

Almost wish some idiot would come by at some point trying to kill us so I can take his Skill Tree.

Also, as I walk, I can't help but wonder what my life was like before all this that led to me feeling the way I do. But at the same time, my whole 'not wanting to remember' thing kind of counters that.

So no thanks.

Eventually the others grow silent, seemingly having run out of things to talk about. And we just continue walking on from one platform to another. Avoiding the bad bridges along the way as I continue trying to figure out my wings with no luck.

This is rather peaceful at least.