19 Record (1/2)

The early morning light gleamed, lighting up the world around Micheal. A few clouds drifted overhead, making for a rather picturesque view.

'Wow, those guys were up pretty early. It's barely past 8.' He silently observed. Some people chose to hunt in the early hours of dawn, when most the major groups would still be resting or getting ready.

He glanced to the left and the right, scanning his surroundings. He could only really make out the four neighboring skyscrapers, but didn't see anyone on them.

'No wait…' His eyes narrowed.

He could make out the shambling figures of two Morenkai moving slowly together across a sturdy wooden bridge, off to his left on the other skyscraper. Apart from that, not a soul.

'In the central region, most people stick to the insides of skyscrapers when they aren't actively looking to hunt.' He nodded. It was more common to see random people in the outer regions as people came up for sunlight or to break the monotony of existence here.

If you weren't obsessed with getting stronger like Micheal was, could be pretty dull at times.

'Then again, the constant danger of risking your life to hunt, or the horror of seeing people you know die, did spice things up a bit.' He shook the memories aside. He felt an old man, complaining about how life had been harder back in his day.

Micheal turned to the left, stalking forward. He moved as quietly as possible, concentrating on moving his aching body in smooth motions. The most important part of any battle was often how you entered it. A single strike could decide everything.

In movies or books, Micheal had read about epic duels that lasted for hours.

In the first of the 7 Layers, most battles finished in an instant. Only fights between long-range experts lasted longer than a few exchanges, and that was mainly because snipers or the like could hide behind the nearly indestructible walls.

Micheal reached the edge of his skyscraper. He tapped on his Spatial Ring, instantly withdrawing his Steelborn Sword. The blade gleamed with the light of the sun, something he immediately shifted as he pointed it down.

'I forgot about how damn bright it is here.' He grumbled, hiding the blade in his shadow.

The two Morenkai, in the meanwhile, had managed to cross the sturdy wooden bridge and were ambling around on the neighboring skyscraper. This particular building was a faded green one, with two sheds that opened up into stairways.

After walking around the top of the building for a few moments, the Morenkai began to walk towards a bridge that led to a different skyscraper.

Micheal frowned slightly.

'Life Orbs!'

Immediately, three glowing orbs appeared, floating around his head. He mentally directed two of them to the ground and stepped on them, finding his balance.

The maximum speed seemed to increase, slowly, if he moved in a straight line for a long period, but he wasn't sure. He hadn't had the chance to test them extensively yet.

WHOOSH

In just a few a few seconds, he flew over to the neighboring skyscraper. He didn't fly above the bridge, but instead flew just to the side of it. Flying up high would make him a target to other humans, something he didn't particularly want to deal with.

'Morenkai I can handle, but there are too many weird Abilities or strong Artifacts that exist, even with the Points Wall.' The Points Wall was around 100,000 Points in the First Layer. No matter what you did, you could never exceed that number.

You could spend Points on anything below it, and hit the wall again and again. But it was impossible to go over it.

Micheal had hit the Points Wall before. There was an actual feeling associated with it. A warm feeling would cover your soul, one that was extremely comfortable. When you tried to take in more Points, however, the feeling would tremble and the Points would be rejected. It was like trying to eat something when you were already full.

'Of course, I never managed to hit the Points Wall while here on the First Layer.' He thought, ruefully. He had barely managed to make it to the Second Layer in his first go around.

By this point, Micheal had reached the other skyscraper. He hovered about a quarter of a meter above the ground of it, just barely floating.

'If I walk, I'll inevitably make noise. But if I use the Life Orbs to fly there…' His eyes flashed as he came to a conclusion.

He shot across the roof of the skyscraper like a wraith, not making any footsteps. In fact, the only noise was the sound of air flowing around him as he shot forward and the shambles of the Morenkai as they moved across the bridge.

In this case, the bridge the Morenkai were on was a wide, metal platform, about 4 meters across, with no handrail.

thud

thud

thud

The clomping of the Morenkai was rather loud as they moved forward, their long arms waving back and forth. They were hunched slightly as they moved, their heads twitching to the right and left.

WHOOOSH

Micheal didn't hesitate or give them a chance to detect him. He flew directly onto the bridge, hovering a quarter of a meter over it till he was right behind the two moving Morenkai. The creatures didn't even have time to look behind them as Micheal jumped off his Life Orbs, his Steelborn sword flashing forward.