"You don't have to pretend to be okay, you know?" Yin says to me with a sniff as we hustle down the side alley. Behind us, the noises of the crowd get further away. "I saw him, Jian really laid into you, with full plate armor on! Where did he even get stuff like that?"
"Trust me...I've had worse." I smile ruefully. The beautiful girl at my side doesn't believe me. It's true, I haven't got smashed quite like that in a while, but compared to being torn apart, or boiled alive this is nothing. "Alright, I think we've gotten far enough away. Hopefully those newcomers don't give Tatsuya and Andie too much trouble for letting us go."
"Aish...so many problems for this thing!" Yin's hand comes up and she reads off a description. "System Skill-"
"Shhh!" I hastily reach forwards and cover her mouth. "Not so loud! System Skills are usually locked to a specific Hunter, but people will still get angry if they know you have something they don't!"
"O-Okay, okay!" Yin squeaks as she yanks my hand off her lips. "Sheesh, you're so careful, Hei! Though to be honest...you're right sometimes." She smiles coyly, acknowledging that her viewpoint has changed. Nodding at her, I lean in close.
"So what is it? This System Skill of yours?" I rub my hands together nervously. Why am I sweating? I've seen hundreds of System Skills from way higher level places than this. But even still...this is insanely early to get one. If it's useful, we hit the jackpot!
"System Skill: Ghostblade Asura!" She tells me the name and my breathing grows heavy. My mouth goes dry and I try to swallow. It comes out as a gulp. That sounds strong! Yin looks at me strangely, as if questioning whether I should really be so excited. "Concentrate to mark an enemy with each strike on the same target and then activate this ability to summon the power of an Asura to slay your foes! Additionally, gain bonus experience towards your skill with all sword class weapons!" She squints, before moving her eyes away from the invisible screen in the air. "Is this good?"
"Holy..." I'm at a loss for words. Grabbing her shoulders, I shake her roughly, losing my cool, "Is this good? Are you kidding me! What god fell in love and blessed your luck to be like this! Go on, tell me so I can try praying to them too! The power of an Asura? And a built-in passive which helps you learn sword mastery? Insane..." My breath runs out and I heavily gulp in air as Yin's head bobs back and forth in my hands, "Thou who art in heaven, this lowly mortal has sinned and worshipped a false god all this time! Please allow this one to humbly convert and bless me with the same goddamn luck!"
"H-Hei! Stop, you're going to shake the experience out of me!" Yin breaks out of my grip with a glare. Smoothing a strand of hair back, she works on retying her ponytail which has come loose in the epic battle. "So, it's good? It was worth it?"
"Uh...how do I put this?" I mutter to myself. "Let's just say, that in a little bit, when System Skills become more common, this is the kind of ability you wouldn't expect to appear for a long time. We'll have to test it, but an Asura is a terrifying monster. Far stronger than anything we've encountered so far. If you truly can summon even a tiny portion of its power, then this System Skill will become a godlike talisman against evil! Like seriously, I thought you'd get the ability to summon a little water-ball or something, not a demonic ability!"
"Ohoho so in other words...this is when I finally become more powerful than you!" Yin's face grows happy and while she says something that sounds kind of stupid, I'm so goddamn ecstatic as well that I don't even say anything. Just hug her tightly. She gives a soft gasp and then sinks into me. Even after a strenuous battle, as a Hunter, she has a pleasant smell. Or maybe that's just Yin. "Hahaha, I told you I was going to be protecting you soon!"
