The System’s Harvester

Mid Evening - Early Summer : Arlington, Virginia | East Coast United States

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“Anyone else?” My irritated voice echoed over the crowd as I wiped some molten rock off my cheek. -How much bad karma did I rack up over the years for my luck to be this terrible...-

All I had to do was lay low until I got a hold of my aura, but there I was, surrounded by almost three dozen system users while waist-deep in a pool of liquid rock.

-Tch... How the fuck am I going to get out of this...- Having killed a system user and had System Enforcers after me, I was going to be called a monster or a System Exploiter the moment I tried to leave. -Especially if they recognized the enforcers...- But at the same time, the longer I thought about it, the more my expression darkened. -Maybe I just shouldn't care...-

*Vwoop* Deciding to play the dice, I straightened my posture before pulling one of the Warden's massive teeth out of my inventory and slamming it into the ground. *Splash-CrUnCh* -This should do...- Finding it sturdy enough, I quickly hopped up on it and sat down, hanging my legs out over the lava before leaning back and nonchalantly pulling out a bagel to snack on. -If they attack me, I'll kill them, but if they remain still, someone in power will eventually show up...-

Looking out over the crowd, most of them seemed dumbfounded, be it from the tooth, or my demeanor. *Crunch* But as I bit into the bagel baking in the heat and looked out over the crowd to check everyone's local system panels, I suddenly felt a few more distant presences racing toward me.

Ones well above the level of the crowd.

"Hoh?" Looking over my shoulder, I immediately spotted a group of three, all kitted with gear. -A level 590, 580, and 578...- Aside from the apostle, they were the strongest users I had seen on Earth by quite a margin. -Looking at their classes, they must be a squad as well...-

The first to arrive was a demihuman woman with the ears of a tiger, a 'Evening Assassin' class specializing in speed and light magic, followed by a huge man, well over two meters tall, donning incredibly heavy black and orange armor with a set of flaming horns coming from his helmet. -A 'Hells Barbarian'...- It was a rare class that mixed the effects of the barbarian and berserker classes. -He's the strongest of the bunch...-

When they arrived, they immediately darted around the crater, shouting orders and clearing everyone out of the area while being careful to never take their eyes off me.

But of everyone, the last to arrive had me the most curious.

Donning futuristic-looking beige armor lit with an orange glow, and using a heavy cloth to hide his face and arms, he looked like a fighter of some sort, but as he reached out, instead of a sword appearing in his hand, it was a huge staff with a glowing blue orb at the end of it. -A mage, huh...- Before I knew it, a smile crossed my face.

His name was 'Daniel Crow', an 'Eclipse Mage': someone entirely specialized in light magic similar to the girl.

However, he was also the man who was meant to teach me about mana in Lori's place. -But it may be a bit late for that now.-

*Crackleeee-WOOSH* Quickly sliding to a stop on the gravel at the edge of the crater, trailing a gust of wind, he pointed his staff at me before innumerable runes, reminiscent of intricate circuitry, lit up in front of him. *Crackle-FWOOOSH* A huge burst of wind instantly ripped through the air as a dense, frigid fog was blown over the lava, immediately solidifying it.

-Awe...- It even froze my bagel. *Fwip-Puff* As I went to toss it to the side, it simply disintegrated, crumbling to dust before it could reach the ground. -Magic really is a fascinating thing... I wonder how he did that...- Slowly standing up, I purposefully showed countless openings before focusing on the mage, only to find the orange glow of eyes under his hood locked on me.

He was tense and cautious, thinking about what to do. -Is he the leader of the group?-

Finding my eyes on him, he tightened the grip on his staff. "Who are you?" His slightly robotic voice was firm but anxious.

"Someone you should reconsider making an enemy." I responded with nonchalance.

"Is that so?" Hearing a cheery woman's voice, I glanced over to see the thin demihuman girl squatting at the rim of the crater holding two daggers, and staring at me like a predator would stare at prey. "I don't think you have much room to speak though."

-So she's the type words won't work with...- *Tap-Crack* Chipping a piece of the Warden's tooth with my toe, I casually kicked it over at her. *Fwip-CRRRRACKKK* Instantly ripping through the sound barrier, it blew just past her head before she could react, erasing a chunk of her ear as if it never existed.

By the time her eyes could fill with fear, crimson blood had started flowing down the side of her head before dripping onto her shoulder. *drip*

-Hopefully that will send the message...- Looking at the huge man, opposite of the demihuman woman, I spoke firmly. "Now, why don't you lay your weapons down. There's no point in throwing your lives away here. I'm not your enemy yet." *tap* Casually hopping off the tooth, I tossed it in my inventory before making my way across the hardened lava rock, toward the mage.

But he stood his ground. "You aren't our enemy yet?" *Woom* Readying his staff, the air seemed to almost stiffen. "I hope you're willing to elaborate."

Hearing his hostility, I wanted to scoff, but instead, I simply closed the remaining distance between us before he could react, and pressed my finger into the tip of his staff. "I meant if you don't make me an enemy, I won't be one."

Looking into his eyes through the robotic mask covering his face, the confidence instantly drained from his body.

"But if you aren't an enemy, then who are you?" Hearing the incredibly deep voice behind me, I looked over to see the tank of a man walking over to us, comfortably resting his humongous greatsword on his shoulder. "What are you doing here?" He spoke with a mix of skepticism and curiosity.

-Looks like I might be able to get out of this...- "I'm just a returning mercenary." Turning back to Crow, I spoke more comfortably. "You should have heard about me from a clerk in the ISO. His name was Alrek."

He immediately tensed up before pressing a button on the side of his head, retracting his face shield. *Tap-Cl-Cl-Clink* He was an old elf, looking similar to a seventy-year-old human, with an expression riddled with caution. "Y..you're the mercenary that wanted to learn about mana and aura?!"

"S-She is!" Hearing a distant yell, we all turned to look at who it was, only to find Alrek running toward us, angrily waving his hands. "I screened her already! If you fight, the cost of the damages are on you!" He was sweating profusely.

"H-Huh?!" Getting caught off guard, Crow instantly turned to me with a confused look. "Then what caused all the damage?! There weren't any signs of a gate or monster appearing!"

Alrek responded with haste. "It was system enforcers!"

Twitching my hand as killing intent instantly appeared in my eyes, the demihuman woman appeared next to me, trying to drive her dagger into my neck only for me to catch her wrist. *Pat*

"STOP!" Alrek yelled in a panic seeing the assassin try to kill me. "Her System is bugged! I'm certain they weren't called on purpose!"

Having detected my killing intent, she tried to kill me, but after hearing the rest of Alrek's words, I let her go, expecting her to do the same.

However, the moment I did, she tried to drive her other dagger into my back. *Clink-Beep*

Hearing my system beep as her dagger bent on my armor and the tips of my fingers touched her stomach, I paused.

"Tch..." -You want me to listen to you after you called enforcers on me?- Looking up in the air, I immediately set my eyes on the cloudy figure of an administrator nearly fifty kilometers off the ground.

But it wasn't Michael, rather, it was someone named 'The Shadow's Eye', the exact same name displayed under the demihuman woman's 'sponsors'.

"If you want me to spare her, make an announcement." *fwip-pat* Quickly grabbing the assassin's neck, I didn't take my eyes off the administrator.

"Ack-!" Immediately trying to drive her daggers into my arm, she started flailing, kicking me in the face with the blades in her boots.

But they didn't even leave a scratch, and before Crow or the huge barbarian could even process what I said, another panel appeared.

It was a quest not intended for me, but was one that made everyone nearby go silent.

*Thump* Releasing the demihuman woman, she immediately slumped to the ground before gasping for air and gripping her neck with a primal fear in her eyes.

"Y..you..." Speaking with a shaky voice, Crow slowly turned back to me. "What are you..."

Finally lowering my irritated gaze, I looked him in the eyes. "I've already told you."

"EVERYONE STOP!" *Crrrackle* Sliding over the debris, Alrek quickly jumped between us. "Miss Lestir, please forgive me! Hah.. hah..." He was breathing quite heavily and spoke with haste. "I was teleported away by the system enforcers, and tried to run here as fast as I could when I realized what happened."

-'Realized what happened'?...- Thinking to go along with whatever he was thinking, I spoke with a hint of relief. "You're alright, just help me clean up this mess before it gets too out of hand..."

"Y-Yes, of course!" Hastily turning to face Crow, he spoke in a hurry, trying to explain that my system had been wiped when I returned to Earth, and that the system enforcers were likely alerted because of the bug, which I helped explain by adding detail to.

He essentially did everything he could to make it clear that I was actually a human, even using the fact that I was still present, and hadn't been expelled by the administrators as evidence that it was because of an error. -I wonder why he didn't mention that quest just now though...-

"The System broke earlier today, and it lines up with the time Miss Lestir returned to Earth, so please stand down for now." Holding his hands up, he tried to motion Crow back. "I have already contacted the regional manager for the ISO, and he will be here tomorrow. For the time being, I will be in charge, and to start, I will have you three handle the situation here with the civilians and nearby users, while I handle the situation with Miss Lestir, got it?"

Barely following his words, Crow and Jack, the huge barbarian, both nodded while the demihuman girl remained slumped and dazed.

"Now, Miss Lestir, I need you to come with me quickly." Waving me along, he quickly sped up to a jog. "The military will be here soon, but I cannot risk there being another misunderstanding, so I need you to come to my office. We will sort things out there." He spoke with diction.

-How perfect...- I felt a weight lift off my shoulders as I followed him back to the ISO's spire. -If I can divert my aura from the sensors now.. maybe I can shake the researchers off my tail...-

Falling to focus while we ran, I tried to recreate the stiffened 'bowl' of aura around me, visualizing it as if it was connected to my body instead of a point in space so that it would follow me.

And to my surprise, it worked.

But as we ran through the spire's empty reception area and made it to an elevator, I could feel a headache beginning to set in. -Shit...-

With every passing instant, it grew in strength, causing a mental fog to descend in my mind that made maintaining the 'bowl' of aura more and more difficult.

*Beep-Humm* "Hoooh..." Letting out a long breath as we started riding up in the elevator, I experimented with changing the size and shape of the 'bowl', trying to use a cone, a cylinder, and a pyramid to ease the strain on my mind but to no avail.

Increasing the size of it didn't help either.. it actually just made it worse.

However... *Vwoom* When I tried making it smaller, the strain on my mind suddenly eased, even if it was at the cost of more aura escaping. -Woah...-

As it turned out, the closer the aura was to me, the easier it was to control, but the 'stiffer' the bowl had to be in order to keep my aura from escaping. -But if I just make the bowl thicker.. then maybe...-

*Wo-Wo-Wo-Wooom* Hearing the surrounding mana endlessly ripple as my aura blew through it, I felt the strain on my mind slowly ease, and the headache begin to dissipate.

"Hooh..." With another heavy breath, it felt like the air around me suddenly became more breathable. -I don't know how much aura is still escaping, but...- If the image in my head was anything to go by, it was lessened considerably. -I can only 'see' about a kilometer off my body now...- And assuming what I could 'see' was within the bounds of my aura, it seemed good enough for the time being. -It'll just.. take some time to get used to...-

Slowly reopening my eyes, struggling not to break focus, I looked up to see the floor numbers on the elevator racing upward, passing 80, 90, and 100 in a breeze.

But after a moment, Alrek spoke up. "Do you hear that?" He was looking around with a confused expression. "It sounds like a mana wave, but.. it's happening constantly..."

It seemed to make him worried. Perhaps he thought that there was a fight going on nearby. -But...- "It's just my aura... I can't really control it that well yet..." -But it seems like this may be enough for now...- "Hooh..."

As I let out one last breath to alleviate the lingering strain on my mind, I glanced over toward Alrek, only to find him staring at me with a dumbfounded expression.

The moment he spoke, he spoke through a wall of confusion. "Uh.. what.. did you just say?"

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