It was the next morning, the sun peeking its head out on the east, the morning breeze gently brushing against my robe and hood. I began to think about my next moves, the south is where the ocean lay, I should head there first and continue my way up to the mountains. I have yet to see this world in its glory and the best thing that can give me what I want will be the wilderness. The elves said the forest is filled with both opportunities and danger, sounds like life to me. I started to walk out of the newer elven city, my royal knight in tow. I slowly increased my speed from a light walk to a fast walk then to a jog. I didn’t want to sprint, that way if something comes up I will first, be able to see it, second be able to have enough stamina to deal with it.

Zero, I need you to conduct a map-making of the forest as I run through, the elves had a map but it was quite primitive. As I adventure I think it’s best to add my experiences to a map that I can use in the future. I mentally sent zero a message as I jogged.

[Understood master, I will take start the cartography of the local area as well as build upon my aerial view from before]

Organizing data… running analysis of past and current areas… building mini-map and full-map functions… organizing… finished…

A few lines of data appeared in the top right of my screen, saying “loading map..33...75...100%”. I blinked and a new map appeared in my vision, it was translucent as to not block my field of view, However, when I focused upon it, it began to turn solid and larger. Showing a triangle which is my position and the wildlife around me in exactly 100 meters. After the 100 meters, the map began to turn less detailed and more like a paper map found in the middle ages. The map consisted of the continent I was currently on at the time right down to my very location. The areas that I have been to are more detailed, enough to recognize the correct location of any landmarks, or unique areas. I unfocused on the map and it grew to a smaller size in the top right of my vision.

Thanks, Zero, it fits perfectly and I love the design. It’s almost like some of the old school video games I played a while back.

[No problem master, As I am part of your soul, I have access to many of your likes and don’t like. It definitely makes choosing what to implement easier than before]

I swear I was beginning to hear a little bit of emotion, not enough to recognize as not automation-like, but enough to know that soon, Zero will have emotions. This brought me back to what I should do for Zero. All of this, or transporting across universes was only thanks to him and his capabilities. As Anubis, I understood souls and soul splitting techniques, hell I did it to myself. I think if I can find a container perfect enough, I will give Zero or at least some of Zero if he wants, a new vessel. I wondered what an AI could do if it was placed into a dungeon core? That would be one scary-ass dungeon. However, what if the dungeon core was under my influence, I would become one… more scary-ass being. I chuckled to myself and my daydreaming.

…

It took the entire day of fast pace jogging to reach the shore of the continent, I saw some interesting looking beasts. Gazelles with a zebra-like appearance. I rhino that looked like a stegosaurus at the same time. Mini-pterodactyls and even god-damn walking piranhas with arms and wooden and stone spears. I wanted to kill one and see if it tastes like fish, however, the legs looked more like frog legs, I knew it would then be tasting like chicken. However, as an elemental food is not a necessity so I just continued my dash to the shore. If I came into it again… sucks to be it.

At the shore, the trees just began to have a shade of green, not enough to be considered non-purple and dark oak, but enough to know if the shore wasn’t here then the trees would become green again. There was not much sand, just hexagonal rock formations that reminded me of Old Northern Ireland. However, for the life of me, I couldn’t remember the name of the specific place. It was really bugging me because I went there once and It was breathtaking. Something… Causeway. I looked around at the sun setting upon the overlapping waves. It was breathtaking like before.

I told the royal knight Alpha to begin cutting down nearby trees for a fire, you may ask, you are an entity of shadows, why do you need a fire? I would reply… as bait. One thing that all animals will notice is the smell of a fire, the sight of an orange glow, and potential food. Why go hunt for food, when the food will be delivered to your doorstep? A nearby tree about 5 meters away from the hexagonal shore stood, the tree would be perfect for a seat. I walked up to the tree, transformed my right hand into a long scythe shaped blade of shadow and cut through it with ease. The tree didn’t even vibrate from the cut, as if the flat cut was never even made. I tapped on the tree above the line I cut and it fell over creating a loud *thump*. I saw the tree in the ground and begin to think, Its roots are too deep to just yank out without blowing up the stump. Hmmm. I crossed my arms and tapped my elbow in an old habit, strangely the habit was both in my god past and my human past. They say, “Old habits, die-hard”.

It took a few minutes of think and pulling up my status screen, I wanted to start incorporating my abilities or even making new abilities through the affinities and knowledge I have. If I can have many options for combat whether for defense, offense, or even utility, then I would have covered many of my weaknesses and short sidedness. I could sense the lifeforce flowing through the tree stump… Life… Nature… I began to think of how to use nature in itself. I once spent a great deal of time on lifeforces, connecting them with balance and nature, eventually leading me to death and the soul. I willed my mana into my brain and transformed it into a psychic will onto the tree stump. Willing it to move next to the fireplace, it abruptly shot from the ground and used its roots like tentacles. It moved across the ground right next to where the fire was being built by Alpha. Once it got to its position the roots shot straight into the ground like it has always been there since birth. I guess that works.

…

I spent a few hours of bending nature around me, it was quite easy to will plants to move, even making plants grow quite quickly. Such as a red tulip near the edge of the forest, it had saplings nearby and I willed them to grow. A few minutes later and they started to grow to maturity and blossom. As a god of death and souls while also a mercenary, I have had little time to enjoy clear starry skies, rolling waves off in the distance, and blooming wildlife nearby. It was peaceful, it was perfect. Until at least loud thumping noises sounded off nearby.

The thumping was quite far off but it was closing in fast, I could hear something taking long strides with quite a bit of weight to it running through the edge of the forest. It was heading straight for me, I guess the bait worked. Let's see who the lucky contestant is…

I sat up from the tree stump and turned to the sounds and readied myself, I thought, I need a sword, scythes are nice and all, but they are so clunky and not balanced at all. Who though a blade attached to a rod would be a great weapon? I need something with balance but with as much weight as the scythe. I began to think, how would I make a weapon that is balanced and has an amazing strength? Oh!

I threw out my shadow domain real fast as the sounds were closing in quickly. Once the shadow domain covered 10’s of meters in every direction, I pulled in quickly, compacting and folding the shadow over itself multiple times. The blade was basic at first only the size of a small dagger that was extremely thick, then elongated and thinned. The blade continued until it was about 2.2 meters. It then shrunk back a little bit creating two small spikes out to the side about half a meter creating a T-shape. It continued to elongate and I held a small pole that intercepted where the two thorns stuck out from the blade. I grabbed the dark oak shavings of a tree that my knight created when creating firewood and wrapped it around the pole. The dark oak then intertwined based on my will and creating a smooth-handle. The handle was polished due to the density of my will of nature and space compacting it. The blade then sprouted two more thorns that were slightly curved upwards and a pommel below my hand that was in the shape of a black flame.

The blade solidified and created a silver-blue hue that seemed almost like the moon at night. Both bright during the night and dark in the light of day. It was a Zweihander, a german two-handed sword, something that was the perfect weight and balance in my hands of a 3m giant. It complemented my silver and black armored robe theme perfectly. I was almost going to use a halberd but decided that those wouldn’t be as badass as a german two-handed sword. I looked to my new sword and thought of a name for this beauty of dark silver, Twilight.

Just as I was admiring my new sword a being that was even taller than me broke through the treeline in front of me. It was a cyclops, a giant humanoid with blueish and gray skin with one massive eye above its mouth. The muscles were bulging as if wanting to escape its skin, the only clothing protecting its naked body was twine that was pulled through buddles of leaves. The being was about 10 meters tall, and it was angry. It had dark pupils and a grey eye, I could almost see a glow within them. I figured that it was a nocturnal giant, and my fire had made its eye irritated and it wanted to squash me like a bug.

It was clumsy when crashing through the trees, its balance awful, but who needs balance when a sprint could just smash everything in your way, even big boulders would stand no chance at a charge. Luckily I’m its target and not some shadow elf.

It was running straight at me, I waved to let Alpha now that it was my kill. Alpha took a few steps back and nodded in recognition. I started to walk, the giant still sprinting was only 30 meters away, the ground would be covered in only a few seconds. Instead of speeding up like the heroes would do in fantasy stories, I just walked calmly as if on a beach and watching the waves. I wasn’t a hero, no I am the executioner, heroes bring people hope, I bring people redemption.

The giant cyclops went to wing his massive fist right onto me in a fit of rage, I deftly went under the arm and spun in a 360-degree angle. I walked a few more feet as the cyclops’s fist hit the ground. Just a couple seconds of silence a *THUD* hit the ground. The cyclops’ head was on the ground rolling away. The body was in a pummeling stance without a head, its fist still planted within the ground in which there was a small crater. I thought while looking to the stars, Oh right Giants Causeway. That was the name of the beach made of hexagonal stones. I laughed as I threw a black-hole at the body sucking it in, leaving no evidence besides the small dent on the ground and the head that had rolled a few meters away. The head was going to be my trophy for my first kill on the hunt.

System

New skill acquired: Summon Twilight

System(Created Item)

Twilight - Zweighander of Shadows

Description: A blade made of pure darkness under the light of the stars and the reflection of the moon. Death and Life bend to its will, space is no obstacle. To say it is sharp would be an insult, to say it is well-balanced is worse. It is both perfectly balanced and perfectly deadly.

System

Level Up(x5)

Kills - Night Cyclops(x1)

Oh sweet, I leveled up quite a bit. I need to decide on how I want to specialize again. Do I min-max like the video-games in the past or go well rounded?