The System’s Harvester

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

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- Alrek Ocorro ~

*Click-Click-Click-Click* Anxiously clicking my pen while I looked out the window of my office, scanning over the massive crater where several buildings once stood tall, I watched huge vehicles come from the air and ground, surrounding it in a heartbeat before people in glowing suits of armor flooded the place.

It was the United States military.

Or at least a part of it. -Just how am I going to resolve this...- Although it was a situation I would have done anything to not be involved in, the main subject of the situation was someone whom I could not ignore. -If I can get Miss Lestir on the side of the ISO, I might be able to gain some ground to the west...-

Being a level 600, she was comfortably in the top fifty users worldwide with level alone. -Seeing how she stood in front of 'those three', she's probably far stronger than a normal level 600 as well...-

She was essentially a polished diamond that simply hadn't been claimed. -And if I can resolve this for her, I can gain her favor...-

But while I didn't want to say it, that was a big 'if'.

*Knock-Knock* Hearing a knock on the door, I instantly stopped clicking my pen, and let out a deep breath, purging all nervousness from my mind. "Hooh..." -Alright...- Turning around and gently setting down the pen, I spoke firmly, "Come in."

*Fwip-Woosh* The door immediately swung open, revealing one of the ISO's employees holding the door for two other gentlemen.

Two gentlemen I recognized.

"Sergeant Major Samuel Moreno, Doctor Evan Faraday," I spoke formally, but stood my ground without a bow. "It's a pleasure to see you two. Please have a seat." Motioning toward the couches, I picked up a small stack of paper and looked the Sergeant in the eyes. "We have much to discuss."

But while the doctor quickly, and calmly sat down, the sergeant held his head high and kept his skeptical looked aimed at me. "You better have a damn good explanation for this... You should already be aware of the blade's edge you're walking by protecting a destroyer."

Walking up to the table, I handed Doctor Faraday several papers. "Sergeant, if she wished, she could have completely destroyed this city. I can't be certain 'The Eclipsed' would have been able to stop her, and I am certain you wouldn't have been able to either." 'The Eclipsed' was the name of the squad she had run into a group of three guild masters known for their insane strength against creatures that relied too much on their eyesight. -And yet she made Taka,- The tiger demihuman, -look like a house cat...-

Although the results of a teamfight could never be decided so early, Miss Lestir's demeanor in that situation was enough to give me chills.

But of course, those who weren't there wouldn't understand. "I sure hope you understand the weight of your words, Director." Speaking with a bit of bitterness, the Sergeant finally walked up and sat on the opposite side of the table as the doctor.

"Don't worry, I am more than aware." Standing at the end of the table, I slid him a stack of paper. "Her name is Evren Lestir, a level 619 with no set class, no items, and no skills."

The doctor's gaze instantly thinned with skepticism. "No class, items, or skills? That's not possible for her level." He was the lead researcher of the Magic Tower here in Arlington.

But while an unrivaled genius in his field, this was something he had never seen. "Please check the official documentation of her screening if you don't believe me." Pausing to let them both find the page and read it, I watched the doctor's eyes go wide. "She returned to Earth the moment the System began glitching, and I have more than one reason to believe her system was somehow wiped in the event."

Covering his mouth with his hand, thoughts raced behind his eyes.

But the Sergeant's eyes were on another page. "She.. claimed she killed the monster that appeared near Richmond..." He seemed like he couldn't believe his own words.

-So he did recognize that...- Although Evren had told be about the monster, it was something I hadn't heard of and had no details on, -So I was nervous to include it.. but it may help...- Based on their reactions, it actually seemed to help her case. -Things are going well...- "In any case, it's best we quickly resolve the misunderstanding. Don't you two agree?"

Expecting my proposition to land, I smiled.

But neither the Sergeant nor the Doctor seemed to agree. "Unfortunately, I don't think it will be that simple..." As his gaze relaxed, he finally set his papers down and looked me in the eyes.

-Uh oh...- He was about to say something Miss Lestir hadn't let me in on.

Something that would only make things more difficult. "Just an hour ago, we received a report." Lifting his hand, he motioned to the employee by the door, and had them open it to reveal a young human woman, half-dressed in military attire. "This is a pilot we had on the scene in Richmond. She had a close encounter with this so-called 'Evren Lestir', and-"

*VWOOM-CRACKLE* Cutting him off, the well-lit hallway behind the young woman instantly went dark as if it was absorbed before, out of nowhere, it all vanished to reveal the glow of city lights, and the clear, unrestricted view of the sky. -H..huh?-

It was a sight that made my brain short-circuit.

A perfect sphere, about a hundred meters wide was instantaneously removed, and a huge vacuum ripped the air out of the room. *WOOSH* Reaching up and covering my ears, I barely kept my eardrums from rupturing as the glass wall behind my desk exploded. *SHATTER-CRACKLEEE*

But even though Doctor Forna put up a barrier to protect us from the glass, and caught the young lady before she could be thrown out of the room, we were all completely disoriented, and gasping for air after the oxygen was ripped from our lungs.

"HAH, HAH, HAH..." My breaths were heavy, as if all gasps, but I still couldn't catch my breath... With everything that had tied my senses in a knot, a coherent thought couldn't even form.

My body was simply focused on survival.

However, even if I had the ability to think, nothing would have changed.

There wouldn't have been a single thought that could form through such a mix of fear and confusion.

I could only ask myself what happened as the crisp, thin air blew into the room. -W..What just.. happened...-

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Late Afternoon - Unknown Season : Leviathan | Class: ERROR
- Evren Lestir ~

*Creeeaaaak* The sound of stressed metal filled the air as the canopy swayed in the wind, slowly rocking the huge, circular chunk of the spire back and forth over the river as if the spire was a bit of bait on the end of a fishing line.

Looking down at the raging rapids and the several-hundred-meter-long fish casually lurking in it, I let out a long breath to try and ease my nerves. "Hooh..." But it could only help so much. -Just my fucking luck...-

Gently leaning against what used to be the floor while standing on the cracked glass, I stayed completely still, and opened my system to get more details on the quest. -I might be really fucked if this quest is bad...-

Thinking about things rationally, I actually felt alright, if a bit anxious. -Considering the system said I completed all the available missions when it let me return to Earth.. maybe that meant there just weren't any harder missions...- Implying that the ability to return to Earth in the first place was merely a fail-safe the system used to resolve an error that was seemingly never meant to happen. -But that makes me wonder if I can do it again...- As I navigated the system, I sank into thought. -If I clear the hardest missions the system has available again, can I return like I did before?-

But, I was getting a little ahead of myself... The god that came to Earth to 'retrieve' me, clearly didn't want to leave me alive. -If he did, he would have put me in a lower rank world.- That way I would have been trapped and forced to return to being a slave of the system.

However, wanting me dead also implied something else. -If he's smart, this will be the hardest mission the system has available...-

Considering it hadn't even been a day since I returned to Earth, I was actually pretty confident that the quest I was assigned wouldn't be as hard as what I was doing before my return. -But that means nothing without my upgrades...- Even a much easier mission than what I was used to would force me to stick my neck out. *tap-tap-tap*

It all came down to what the quest was...

And as I finally navigated to the 'Questing' panel and let out a nervous breath, it was presented to me. *Vwoop*

Seeing it was a single-target elimination quest, with a mission rank of -0, my eyes gleamed. Compared to the 'Rank: ERROR' planetary extermination quests I was used to, it was a literal walk in the park.

However, the moment I looked at what I was going to have to kill, I felt the enthusiasm drain from my face. -You have to be kidding...- It was nearly the worst possible matchup for me. -A fucking wyvern...-

Without my upgrades to buff thrown projectiles, the bow I used from time to time, or even my axe, I was in trouble.

However, it was still something far easier than what I was used to. "Hooh..." -It's not unmanageable...- Even though the world's rank was ridiculously high, and the matchup was awful, the quest itself was comparably easy. -It'll test me.. but it should be doable...-

Letting out several long, slow breaths to ease my nerves, the mix of emotions forming a cesspool of distractions in my mind drained, and my senses heightened, bringing the detailed image from my aura into the forefront of my mind.

I was in the middle of an absolutely gigantic rainforest, packed with trees that stood well over a kilometer tall, and populated with monsters and insects that matched their scale. -But around the river.. it's pretty empty...- Besides the fish in the water, there wasn't much nearby. -This must be some monster's territory, but he's not around... Lucky me.-

Having gotten my bearings, I swiftly popped my back off the wall, and tapped the tip of my metal boots into the thick glass under my feet, shattering it instantly before falling and grabbing a shard of glass still connected to the structure, and swinging myself toward shore. *SHATTER-WOOSH*

The air was dense, and thick with the stench of wildlife and humidity, but as I plummeted several hundred meters and caught myself on a huge leaf, the air became so thick with moisture that it felt like I was trying to breathe underwater. "Ugh..." The stench of fish from the river didn't help either. -How unpleasant...-

But I didn't have the time to dwell on it.

"Hyup!" *WOOSH* Zipping up into the air again, I firmly planted my foot in the side of a massive tree before darting off it, bolting through the forest as if ricocheting between tree trunks. *Thunk-Thunk-Thunk-WOOOOOSH* But my eyes never left the quest panel still open in front of me. -4214, 4212, 4213, 4218...- I was watching how my distance from the target was changing in order to find out where it was.

It was a method I had used more than a few times. -There you are...- *FWOOOSH* Finally getting my line, I started zipping straight toward it, causing the distance number to start plummeting.

But I wasn't actually going to fight him, at least not yet. -I need to make a weapon first...- Pausing on one of the larger trees, I slammed my arm through the bark before ripping out a splintered chunk of dark chocolate-colored wood and throwing it into my inventory. -That should do...-

*Beep* "1725 Kilograms of Dark Acra Collected." The monotone voice of my system immediately pierced the deafening noise of wind as I darted through the forest.

But I was ready for it. "Open 'Smithing Table', and go to 'Design'." *Vwoop* As the panels updated, a holographic box appeared in front of me with a small sphere at its center. "Enable linked molding, and hand controls."

*Beep* "It is not recommended to use hand controls to mold as it can lead to imbalances, inconsistency, and errors-"

"Do it anyway." *Beep* Sticking my hand into the hologram the sphere instantly began morphing, becoming a staff before splitting into several other pieces, with one becoming the core of the staff, several becoming connecting pegs, and another becoming an axe head.

They were all different pieces of the axe that I would have the system create and assemble using materials I had collected.

But while I planned to have the shaft out of wood, and many other parts like the core and pegs out of mythril, I needed a special material for the axe head. -I need something durable enough to keep an edge even at high temperatures...- Because of the wind resistance when I swung, I needed a material that wouldn't melt, become brittle, or malleable.

And while I would have used black mythril if I had any, because it was lost to the system, I had to get creative.

*Splash* "HHHmmmm." Hearing a loud, deep grunt, so heavy it made the ground shake, I looked up to see myself closing in on another large river before bursting out of the tree line and spotting a huge island amid the rapids.

But, it wasn't really an island.

*Thunk* The moment I landed on it, a hollow thump rang out, and after making sure I wasn't going to slip off the thick wet moss covering it, the whole thing vibrated so violently it calmed the surface of the river. "HHHmmmm"

It was a massive turtle that seemed to be sleeping, with each deep hum sounding with a rhythm as if it were the sound of snoring.

But I wasn't there to wake it up or kill it. -I hope you don't mind me taking a little bit of your shell, buddy...- Quickly making my way to the water's edge where the edge of the thickest, top portion of the shell ended, I squatted down, scraped away some of the grass-like moss and tapped it. *Ting-Ting* With it hitting the knuckle of my glove, it sounded somewhat metallic, only muffled by the blanket of moss covering it.

But that meant it was the type of material I was looking for.

Something I came to name, -Organic metal...-

It was essentially formed in the scales or shells of creatures that had lived and evolved in mana-dense environments and been exposed to immense amounts of mana throughout its life, be it from the environment or the creature itself. These materials, while not technically metal, were strengthened by mana to the point that they could rival mythril in durability and strength, while even exceeding it in things like temperature resistance and chipping.

Depending on the creature it could even have other, more interesting effects. -As long as the weapon has a decent supply of mana, it can even heal any damage it receives.-

My main weapon, Draco, was also made out of organic material, it was what gave it the ability to grow stronger with time. -But I still can't even begin to fathom the creature it came from...- Even at my peak, before the system wiped my upgrades, that axe took some effort to wield. The more time that passed the heavier it became, to the point that it was becoming a bit much. It was as if there wasn't a limit to how much mana could strengthen it. -But I won't have to worry about that here...-

Quickly reaching down toward the rounded edge of the shell, near the water, I dug my fingers into the shell before ripping up a chunk about a meter thick. *CRACKLE* For me it was a huge chunk, more than I would realistically need, but...

"Hhhhmmmmm..." The turtle, being nearly two kilometers long, would never notice such a tiny chip in its shell.

*Vwoop* Tossing the six ton chunk of shell into my inventory, I wrapped up my design of the axe head and set the materials, selecting the sections of my materials to use in order to optimize the strength of everything with the grain, before finally assembling it.

*WOOM* As I selected 'Begin Assembly', a loud ripple sounded and several materials appeared out of my inventory before being engulfed in a single spherical, void-like gate.

To be honest, I had no idea how it worked, from cutting up pieces to assembling everything, and I never really questioned it.

However, as I reached out and caught the dark wooden handle of the axe as it fell out of the gate, looking up at the light blue mythril pegs, gold detailing, and ivory-like white head, I couldn't help but ask. -I wonder how it does that...-

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Trust the process :)

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