Why Should I Stop Being a Villain

As the System was performing the calibration, Asher felt the birth of this new sword art. It was like reading a blurred text and he could barely understand what it could do, but he felt the power behind it. In his mind, a flood of unknown information was flowing in.

Asher, who was in a trance-like state, couldn't even see the notifications of the system anymore.

[ Starting Influx... ]

[ Protecting Host's mental capacity..... ]

[ Temporary Increase of Intelligence ......]

[ Intelligence +500 ]

[ ?!? Resonating ]

[ Warning! .... ]

[ Sealing Host's Mana, Activating the Blessing.......]

Meanwhile, Asher felt what this new sword art was all about. Although he saw the beginning of this art, he couldn't see the end. He felt as if he was walking on an endless bridge, and all around him were different scriptures of this art.

Every step he took, more scriptures appeared on his sides. He felt as if he could walk his entire life, seeing all of this, but as he was walking, he felt a sudden pull. He wanted to resist it, but he couldn't go against it.

[ Formation Complete....... ]

[ Sealing the blessing ........ ]

[ Reversing Stats.............. ]

[ Unsealing the Mana ... ]

"Argh," Asher groaned as he opened his eyes.

[ Node-Art Rank SSS formed, Type-Evolvable ]

Seeing the notification, he remembered why he was like this. His mind was puzzled, but he quickly regained his composure and stood up.

[ Congralution to the Host for obtaining a new sword art. ]

[ Warning..... ?!? ??! ]

[ ?!? Sealing the System......... 1% ]

[ Blessing Activated ......... ]

"What is happening?" Asher was startled by the multiple notifications.

"System?" Asher called out, but he didn't receive a response from his system.

"Status," he said, but again, nothing happened.

Although his mind was still a bit hazy from the previous trance-like state, this sudden event caught him off guard. He had no idea what was happening, but before he could think about it, a notification appeared in front of him.

[ System operation resuming....... ]

[ Warning! <Shop> sealed........ ]

"System, what happened just now?" Asher asked the system. His mind was almost clear now.

[ During the formation of this sword art, the System activated the blessing to help the host. This incident was due to that. And as a rebound some of the features including Shop have been sealed. ]

"Can you explain more?" Asher's voice was cold. He didn't like whatever was going on, and more and more things were getting out of his control, which irritated him quite a bit.

[ Not enough Authority... Host is advised to increase his level. ]

"Dammit," Asher was annoyed with the same reply.

'I need this damn authority,' Asher's thoughts strayed away when he remembered his new sword art.

'Let's focus on this for now,' he thought.

"Can you explain what this sword art is all about?" Asher knew what he had learned, but he remembered being pulled while learning more about this new sword style.

[ The host has gained a Rank SSS sword art, but right now it is not at its full potential. ]

[ The System stopped you when you reached the limit of comprehending this sword style. Although you have learned it, your mastery of this new sword art is not present. ]

"What do you mean by 'not present'?" Asher was confused, as he remembered comprehending the early scriptures of the sword art quite well.

[ Try to perform the sword art as you remember it. ]

Listening to the system, Asher closed his eyes to recall what he had learned about this new sword art. However, a frown appeared on his face as all his knowledge seemed blurry to him. This was a strange feeling for him, as he knew it but couldn't recall it at the same time.

"Why is this happening?" Asher questioned, opening his eyes.

[ The knowledge is still incomplete, and your mental capacity is unable to hold all of this knowledge. ]

[ The system has added a new mastery for this sword art, as it has no rank right now. It's an evolvable sword art, and only the host could reveal the limits of this sword art. ]

"Then why did you rank it as SSS-Rank?" Asher questioned the system.

[ That was the current potential of this art when compared with the existing sword arts of the host. Currently, you will have difficulty increasing its mastery. ]

[ The mastery for this sword begins from Fundamental, Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Master, and Grandmaster, etc. ]

[ Currently, the host is not even at the Novice level. Only by comprehending this sword style can you increase its mastery. ]

[ The system has named it evolvable because even the system cannot see the limits of this sword style. This is something unique that was created by the Rune of Eirdin and your knowledge, combined with some of the hidden features of the system. ]

[ So, the system cannot help the host in any way regarding this sword art. ]

"Okay, no big deal. Show me about this ability," Asher said. He was fine with learning the art himself, as he knew the base of it and only needed to build upon it.

----------------- Fate Devourer System -------------------

[Name] : Asher Von Raven Greville

[Level] - 10 (EXP 0/10,000)

[Bloodline] : Devil's Absorption Rank SSS

[Blessing] : Goddess of Time(Sealed)

[Body Constitution] - Mana Core Rank E

[Shop] [Quests] [Synthesis]

[-Attributes-]

Strength: 55

Agility: 30

Endurance: 55

Intelligence: 105

Mana: 66

Stamina: 47

Charm: 60

Fate: 6730

[AP]: 45 [SP]: 18

[-Skills-]: Time Dilution (Rank S) Lvl 1, Absorption (Rank S) Lvl 1, Mana Flow (Rank C), Mana Circulation (Rank A), Rune of Eirdin (Rank E), Node-Art Rank SSS

[ New Sword Art added to skill ]

[-Skills-]: Node-Art Rank SSS

Type : Rank SSS Sword Art, Evolvable

Mastery : None

Penalty : Holder of this art will not remember any other sword art.

"What?" Asher was shocked reading the penalty of this new sword art. He tried to recall his previous sword style or the one he was practicing until now, but other than the basic form and footwork, everything was a blank state.

"System, what is this penalty?" A menacing aura started to appear around him.

[ This penalty was not something the System could foresee. Although, the Host can relax as this sword art is certainly more powerful than your previous one. ]

Listening to the System, Asher knew he could not reverse his actions anymore. This art was the tradeoff of knowledge he carried with his new rune. He checked about his rune, but apart from his knowledge about the sword art, everything was fine.

His memories were intact, and he could even recall all the fights he had, but despite remembering everything about his enemies, his own actions were not recallable.

He took his sword in his hands and tried to perform the basic movements, and he could do them perfectly. Even his footwork was flawless, but when he tried to imitate the fights he had, he was unable to do so. It was like he was learning it again, by recalling his memories, but the moment he recalled them, he would forget it again.

"Let's try this," Asher gave up and accepted that he needed to hone this new sword style as fast as possible, or some of his plans could get thwarted quite easily. Although, he was still sure he could beat everyone of his age just by using the basics, but his list of enemies was not limited to people of his age.

Asher recalled the knowledge he gained and closed his eyes as he started to swing his sword.

"A node." He recalled that the first scripture was about finding the nodes which were like small light bulbes present around the target.

"Connect," The second scripture he saw was about connecting those nodes.

"Execute," The third scripture he saw depicted a wave-like motion with the sword moving along the connected lines.

He opened his eyes, and imagined a Rockeater in front of him, and started to duel him. As he swung his sword, a runic pattern appeared in his crimson red eyes. He could imagine different nodes on the Rockeater and around it. He moved his sword along those nodes, but he stopped after doing it once.

"No wasted movement..." Asher was a bit surprised to see that his swing just now did not contain any wasted movement. Although it was difficult for him to maintain this new footwork as he moved the way he needed.

<Fundamental Mastery Achieved>

Asher saw the notification, and just like he thought, replicating and understanding the scriptures he saw was the way forward.

"This was easy, but the next scriptures are not clear," Asher tried hard remembering them, but every time he tried to do so, it was like he was standing in a dense fog with no way forward.

"Fundamentals..." Asher muttered as he knew he needed to master them perfectly before he could move forward. It was almost like this sword art had a will which did not allow Asher to move forward before he achieved a certain threshold.

Asher started swinging his sword around, fighting imaginary enemies. His handling appeared elegant, but it was also more ruthless and accurate than his previous sword art. Although Asher did not remember his previous art, he could still feel the difference between them.

He stopped when the mastery stopped increasing. He knew that he needed more time to properly increase it and that he needed to achieve the next level before entering the World Academy.