Chapter 9: Collector and Dominator

Neo looked at the figure, stunned, not knowing what happened. He chose [Order], but somehow he also chose [Chaos].

He looked at the figure for an answer, who let out a chuckle and said, "Don't worry, the other voice was also you as well. Your soul is a little special and the one who spoke just now was your soul part who woke up during your adventure in the dungeon, I had to drag you in this dungeon to wake it up."

Neo nodded in a daze, as he didn't get one word of the figure. His soul was special it was a part of him? Why didn't he know that? Just what the hell was going on? Neo felt his head hurting after hearing all of this.

"Don't think too much, or you might have a mental breakdown. Time to meet your other half." The figure snapped its finger and Neo saw a new skill appearing before him.

[Name: Soul Tandem

Description: The user of this skill can connect their two souls within a single body, allowing them to communicate with each other and work in tandem.

When activated, the user's consciousness splits into two separate entities, each taking control of one soul within the body. This allows the two entities to communicate and coordinate with each other with ease, without interfering with the other's thoughts or actions. Souls can independently control different parts of the body, allowing for more fluid movement and greater flexibility in combat.]

Neo looked at the description, then at the figure who said. "Go on, activate it."

'Getting something from a stranger is definitely not fishy at all.'

He commented inwardly and activated the skill. He felt a sudden surge of pain like his brain was splitting into two and the "other soul, the special soul" started occupying a half of his brain as it started assimilating itself with his frequency. The pain felt like his body was being torn apart from the inside out, but he gritted his teeth to endure it.

The pain was coming from his soul or souls. He didn't know, but it was pretty unbearable. Then it suddenly vanished, like it had never been there to begin with.

Neo felt a strange sensation wash over him. He felt as though he was two people at once, looking at the world with two different perspectives.

"What am I looking at?"

A voice sounded, like Neo's, to which he answered, "I don't kn--" but as he spoke, he realized that the one speaking was not the figure. He looked shocked, and his eyes widened as he realized what had just happened.

Neo felt like he was going insane. He had never experienced something like this before. He had heard stories of people with split personalities. Now he was experiencing it firsthand and this wasn't even his personality but a soul, it was terrifying. He didn't know how to control the other soul, or if he even could.

"Idiot, is this the first thing that came to my mind? Really an idiot!" the other voice said, as if it knew what Neo was thinking about.

'It could read my thoughts.'

"Wow, a genius. Just what sort of soul my other half is. You and I are one, you dimwit. And I'm not an 'it'. Call me Neo."

"But that's me."

"And me too."

The figure sitting on the throne was watching how Neo was talking to himself, like two different people were having a conversation. It laughed lightly and spoke in a soft voice that was only heard by itself.

"Desire really is strange."

But then it couldn't watch anymore as it saw Neo arguing with itself and said. "How about the other soul being called Blaze? It is your fiery side after all."

Blaze went silent before saying, "Let's go with that for now."

Neo also nodded, as he was getting a headache from conversing with Blaze. He had a fiery temper and loses it whenever he heard Neo say something which according to him is plain idiotic.

"Blaze, why did you choose Chaos?" The figure spoke curiously about his options, but Blaze wasn't having it and said, "Do I need to answer it?"

Neo was sweating bullets when he heard that and thought about how to deactivate the skill, but Blaze shut him down by saying. "I won't go away even if the skill is deactivated. That skill can make souls connect and communicate, not exterminate them. Seriously, how much of an idiot can one be to not even know that?"

"Sure, you don't need to." The figure nodded and interrupted Blaze's spree of insults and then added.

"Okay, the tower is repairing. Now Blaze and Neo, You are given classes needed for the Tower. You will be given the class [Divine/Demonic Dominator] depending on the way you wield them. You'll be able to access Divine and Nether Energy."

The figure then paused and then continued.

"The other class is [Collector] and you'll be able to collect the powers of defeated enemies and use them for their own purposes. But that is only the basic of the basics. You will know what kind of power your classes hold and how they are interlinked."

"One more thing. The tower has a restriction on each floor and to access it, you'll need to complete what it requires. Just remember this."

"You are the Collector who collects the desires."

The figure then snapped its finger and mist revolved around Neo, and he couldn't even get the time to utter a word before he got teleported away.

The figure sitting on the throne sighed as it said, "Seriously, how much one has to get hurt for a soul to become such a mess to hide its pain and even forget about it? What happened this time?"

But there was no one to answer it as there was only silence and the mist that moved around the figure as though trying to answer its question.

"I did my job and gave what was needed. Now, whether a sinner or a saint, I will let fate decide that if not, then the world will definitely remember a sinner who burned the universes before and would do so again."

"I kind of feel bad, a gift would suffice."

After saying that, the mist became so dense that one could even see one foot ahead of him and the silence reigned supreme as though the place was the void itself.

"Did I forget to tell him how his personality will be impacted by that?"

....

"Damn it, at least warn before you send someone out." Blaze raged as he kicked the goblin King's corpse.

"Wasn't this bastard laughing too much? Tell him to do that now."

"So it was you who affected me?" Neo asked as he remembered his rage and recklessness.

"Bingo genius. My pleasure."

"It was reckless."

{Ask that corpse If I was.}

Neo stopped conversing with Blaze, who was now communicating with him telepathically.

{And don't move the lips, people will think that I'm mental.} Blaze said.

Neo sat down, as he was still waiting for the system to give him his reward. While waiting for that, he opened his status panel to see the changes.

『 Status (1 of 2)

Name: Neo Orpheus

Class: None

Level 13 (123,000/409,600)

Title: None

Health: 1,020/1,020

Mana: 580/580

Strength: 76 + 33 Agility: 59 + 19

Stamina: 68 Intelligence: 51 + 7

Vitality: 82+ 20 Perception: 7

Luck: 33 + 20

Unallocated points: 0

Spells: Isolated Space Creation.

Skills: Inspect (Max), Whirlwind, Aether Manipulation, Fear Aura, Soul Tandem

Equipment Abilities: Dash, Shadow Clone, Rune Fury, Dash of the Wind.』

Neo looked at the status and found his class column was still empty.

"What is happening?" Neo said as he found this strange and asked Blaze about it.

{ (1 of 2) thing.}

Neo saw it and tapped on it. The normal blue color status panel changed to red as a new status panel opened before him.

『 Status (2 of 2)

Name: Neo/Blaze

Class: [Collector]/ [Divine/Demonic Dominator]

Level 13 (123,000/396,400)

Title: None

Divine Energy: 400/400

Nether Energy: 400/400

Skills:

Divine/Demonic Dominator: Authority of Armaments, Authority of Flame.

Collector: Desire Manifestation, Price Extraction, Power Absorption, Wish Granting 』

He went silent when he saw this new status panel. The first thing was the Divine and Nether energy, which he kind of knew because the figure on the throne told him about it. But he didn't have the slightest idea about the abilities.

Neo tapped on them to find out what they were.

[Divine/Demonic Dominator.

➠ Authority of the Armaments.

Description: Allows the user to control the essence of weapons. They can summon weapons of varying shapes and sizes, from thin blades to massive great swords, to complicated ones and use them to launch devastating attacks on their enemies. But each formation of weapon costs a significant amount of Divine/Nether energy depending on the type of weapon summoned.

➠ Authority of Flame.

Description: grants the user the ability to manipulate flames. With this skill, the user can create, control and extinguish flames at will, imbue weapons with flame properties.]

Neo looked at the panel and the two skills that were displayed on it in a daze and said, "This class is a little freak of nature."

{Yea} Blaze replied, amazed, as these two skills were really impressive.

Neo then moved out of this panel into the [Collector] skill panel.

[Collector:

➠ Desire Manifestation

Description: The Collector can manifest their desires into reality, allowing them to create objects or beings from their imagination. But creation is limited to soul energy. [Locked]

(the user hasn't unlocked the soul energy)

➠ Price Extraction

Description: The Collector can extract a price from anyone they have granted power to, taking anything from a physical item to a memory or a portion of their lifespan.

➠ Power Absorption

Description: The Collector can absorb the powers of others, adding them to their own collection of abilities.

➠ Wish Granting

Description: The Collector can grant the desire of others, but the wisher and the collector has to pay substantial cost.]

{Collector is good as well} Blaze said as he looked at the abilities. He was more like a… Collector? Well, that was an appropriate term.

After checking the skills, Neo turned toward the first page of the skills to look at the attributes once more before closing, but he spotted something new in there.

[Name: Inspect (max)

Description: At the maximum level, this skill grants the user the ability to inspect any object, or beings within their line of sight and gain detailed information about it. This includes identifying weaknesses, strengths, hidden features, properties, and potential uses.]

"When did it become max level?"

{No idea.}

Blaze said as he then added.

{Look alive, the calculation is done.}

『 Calculated! Generating a list of classes that the user can choose from.

1. Warrior

2. Mage

3. Archer

4. Paladin

5. Thief

6. Summoner

7. Berserker

8. Druid

9. Monk

10. Shaman

11. Assassin

12. Bard

13. Alchemist

14. Technomancer.

15. Knight

16. Ranger

17. Martial Artist

18. Swordsman 』

This time, the list was pretty long to select from, but he was not as excited as before when he looked at the name of classes before him. He saw many rare classes in them, and not one of them that was a unique class. But he already has two of them and couldn't bother getting one more.

But he didn't get the chance to reject them, as Blaze selected [Technomancer].

Neo was stunned as he forgot that now he was two, weird, and asked, "Why Technomancer?"

{It's got the machinery name in it, and that I need a class to cover for the abilities I am going to use. Otherwise, I'll be the target of everyone's greed.}

Neo thought for a while and found those words plausible. And nodded but then asked, "Why not Berserker?"

{I already lose my temper easily, and… I forgot that was there.}

Neo stood there silent for a while before heaving a sigh and looked at the class he chose.

[Technomancer:

Description: Technomancer is a hybrid class that blends technology and magic to create unique and powerful abilities. They are skilled in using technology and machinery to enhance their magical abilities and can manipulate the elements to their advantage. Technomancer can create magical constructs, hack into systems, and even create spells that can affect both the physical and digital realms. They are versatile and adaptable, able to combine their knowledge of magic and technology to overcome any obstacle. Whether it's creating powerful machines or manipulating the elements to their will, Technomancer is a force to be reckoned with.

Skills:

➠ Technomantic Shield (level 1)

Description: This skill allows the Technomancer to create a magical shield around themselves or their allies, protecting them from physical and magical attacks.

➠ Enchanted Gadgetry.

Description: Allows the Technomancer to create enhanced magical gadgets and devices, combining their knowledge of technology with their understanding of arcane principles. Needs deep knowledge of machinery and magic.

➠ Mana Infusion.

Description: Allows the Technomancer to infuse their technological creations with mana, allowing them to harness magical energy and use it to power their devices.

➠ Cybernetic Conjuring

Description: This skill allows the Technomancer to create magical constructs using their technological expertise, conjuring forth golems and other constructs made of metal and circuits.]

"That's not bad."

{Bad my a**, This class solved the solo hunting problem in seconds.}

"Oh, that too."

{…}

Neo checked the class one more time before looking at the notification that was glowing before his eyes.

"Now, what reward will I get?" Neo said as he checked the last notification.

『 Congratulation of clearing the dungeon: The Goblin King's Keep. You received the reward from the secret vault of the Goblin King.』

The notification ended as a round object floated toward Neo.

"Is this an… egg?"