Infinity: Rising of the Soul Weavers

* "Velocity Nine - Memory" or "Circles - Division"*

AN: it's the same song but with two different names. No clue as to why.

***

'Man, life sure is like a rollercoaster, sometimes you're on the top and others you're at the bottom.' Maria thought as she sat in the fresh green grass waiting for Raven. 'First I was the top genius in the city, then got a disease that made my life a living hell.

'I legit forgot how many times I've stood over a bridge waiting for the right moment to jump.' she chuckled at the memories.

'At some point, I think I even considered paying an assassin to get my head... *sigh*

'I can't express how happy I am to have been so clingy to that sh*tty life though. Even Lady Luck, with all the bad things she's done and... God I hate her now...

'Nonetheless, it took me meeting both Maya and Raven to realize how much luck I had in me, to think that I was the one who was thinking of killing herself...

'They've literally changed my mind upside down, or rather downside up,' she closed her eyes in thankful silence for the two girls.

'However, I'm not naive. If I'm to consider this to be the peak of my life, I have to prepare for the problems that will try to crush us down.' she grimaced at the idea.

'Being hopeful and being naive are two different things, after all.

'I don't know what I've done to deserve having the best two daughters in the world, but I'll be damned if I'm not ready to fight for them with my life and everything I have.

'Raven, Maya, you just watch me fight against fate itself if it's what's causing you trouble.' Maria thought as she clenched her fists in determination.

"Mo-Maria, is everything alright?" Raven asked as she saw the tense expression of her mom.

"Oh you're already here? Hehe, don't worry about it," Maria said as she hugged Raven tightly, surprising her. "You could call me mom by the way, it makes me happy you know."

"u-uhm," she hesitated a little before nodding her head. "Mom, thank you. I really appreciate everything you do for me and Maya." she said with a bright red face.

"I love you... I promise I'll always keep you safe no matter-"

"Shhh, you see lil Raven, the mommy of the little chicks is the one protecting them, not the other way around." she said as the hug got tighter and warmer.

"And I love you too honey." she finished with a little peck to the cheek.

"Doesn't that make you a chicken?" Raven said as she tried to hide the embarrassment in her voice. It was the first time she's acted like a little helpless daughter in front of her all knowing mother.

She liked the feeling of being loved, taken care of, and appreciated for what she was. As a boy and as a girl, both Maya and Maria had given her their unconditional love and support.

"For you and Maya, I'll be anything and everything, always remember that."

After some time that they spent in an unforgettable embrace, they started making their way back to the group.

***

After a quick break, the group had decided to go to the girl's village to check if there were any survivors hiding in there.

Plus, that way they could make sure she's telling the truth. Of course it was Camilla's idea.

'Kayla, pleae tell me what happened? Where were you?' Raven asked in her mind.

[At some point I was updating, and after a while it was you who couldn't hear me.]

It wasn't the first time that Kayla went silent when updating, so Raven assumed it's natural. 'But what do you mean I couldn't hear you? How come?'

[It could be a consequence of mana loss, as your senses become dull and you start hallucinating. The fever might've also contributed, or been an outcome.]

'I see I see, *sigh* I'm glad you're alright, congrats for the update. You sound more human.'

[Thank you! Would you like to view your status page? You did level up quite a few skills after all, and even gained some new ones too.]

'Oh, that's strange, you didn't send any notifications though, true?'

[Correct, you were in the middle of battle and I didn't want to distract you.]

'Aw, infant Kayla has finally grown up to be a fine wise lady.'

[But my age is still-]

'Shush don't ruin it please, I'm in the mood,'

[Ok, loading Status Page... I'll mark the changes so that you can recognise what's new.

'Go for it Kayla!' Raven Thought with a smile.

[Race: Soul Weaver.

[Class: Royal

[Blessings: Infinity's Will. Avavia's Affection.

[Titles: Soul Weaver Princess. Heavenly Collector. Exorcist.

[Rank: C++ --> B

[Energy Capacity: 320,000 EP --> 640,000 EP

[Magic Skills:

Advanced Mana Manipulation (tier 2) - Level 2 --> Advanced Mana Manipulation (tier 2) - Level 4 (Max Level)

[Inherent Skills:

Contingency Call (tier ???) - Level ???

Quick Study (tier ???) - Level ???

[Special Skills:

Ruler's Domain (tier 2) - Level 2 --> Ruler's Domain (tier 2) - Level 4 (Max Level)

Invigoration - Level 2 --> Exhilaration (tier 2) - Level 1

Holy Touch - Level 2 --> Holy Touch - Level 3 (Max Level)

Vampiric Touch - Level 2 --> Vampiric Touch - Level 3 (Max Level)

Shadow Manipulation - Level 3 (Max) --> Darkness Manipulation (tier 2 - Full Pass) --> Dark Zone (tier 3) - Level 3

Scanner Rings - Level 2

Deadly Vision - Level 2 --> Deadly Vision - Level 3 (Max Level)

Contractor - Level 2

Soul Illusion - Level 2

Stealth (Passive+) - Level 3 (Max)

Soul Predation (tier 3) - Level 2 --> Soul Predation (tier 3) - Level 4

Knowledge of the Ancients (Passive) - Level 2 -> Lost Knowledge of the Ancients (tier 2 - Passive) - Level 3

[System Unique Skills:

Absorption - Level 2 --> Absorption - Level 3 (Max Level)

Integration - Level 2

Appraisal (Passive) - Level 2

Thought Acceleration (Passive) - Level 2 --> Thought Acceleration II (tier 2 - Passive) - Level 3

Parallel Processing (Passive) - Level 2 --> Parallel Processing II (tier 2 - Passive) - Level 2

[Ultimate Skills:

Ex Machina: Nanotech Creation (Spacial Transfer Bracelet series, Wingman series guns, Guardian Drone series, Scout Drone series.)

[Ultimate+ Skills: (A level that's higher than ultimate.)

Sorcerer of Dark Magic (Demonic Tentacles, Chains of Dark, Dark Hell, Flammable Void, Dark Lightning, Dark Mist, Soul Torment, Darkness Recharge, Master of the Night.)]

'Oh, My God!' Raven was flabbergasted at the level up she's gotten. Almost all of her skills had leveled up by 2.

Even though she was amazed, she wasn't surprised. Unlike other cases where she would have fully lost her consciousness while changing forms, this time she was awake.

Unlike the draconic slayer form, her body has physically changed. And unlike when the 'real' Kayla took over, she was in charge. Albeit, she felt as if she had a different personality when she had the elf's body.

'I guess it's not so hard to believe, especially when I've managed to use the skills Demonic Tentacles and Dark Hell together even after having my original form back.' she remembered when she took down all of the monsters that had attacked them less than an hour ago.

[Raven, your original form haven't been fully recovered yet, you still have the elf's pointy ears and deep red eyes.]

'Eh?' she questioned as she touched her ears to confirm Kayla's claim. 'Why though?'

[The last will of your elf self was to let your body use Darkness Recharge to recover some of the lost energy, as you desperately need it. Once that's done you'll be fully back to normal.]

*sigh* 'true, I remember that I've used up everything from Invigoration, or rather Exhilaration'

[Yes, Exhilaration Level 1 has 4 daily charges just like invigoration, but this time each is 20% of your overall mana. And you've already used all of it during the fight.]

'Yikes, well anyhow... Do you mind explaining the ranking and EP systems to me? Also, skill ranks and levels.'

[Sure thing.

[Let's start with the skill ranking and tiers, so;

[A Tier 1 would have 3 levels in it.

[A Tier 2 would end at the cap of level 4.

[ Tier 3 has a maximum of 5 levels.

[Tier 4 has a maximum of 6 levels.

[And so on, However, a major change occurs when a skill reaches tier 5. At that point, a tier 5 Special Skill can be turned into an Ultimate Skill.

[Or you could choose to wait for more tiers to get more chances of a skill that's better than an ultimate skill. Note that not in all cases can you choose as sometimes a skill can only go higher or lower than some ranks.

[For example tier 6 has a chance of upgrading itself into an ultimate+ (Special -> Ultimate+)

[Tier 7 has a chance of becoming an Ultra skill ( Special -> Ultra)

[Tier 8 (Special -> Ultra+)

[Tier 9 (Special -> Ultra++)

[And lastly, tier 10 has a chance, albeit really small, of turning into a Zenith skill. (Special -> Zenith)]

'Whoua! Is there someone alive with a Zenith skill?'

[Unfortunately I have no idea, I have no memories of any particular powerful beings that have managed to reach or awaken such skills.

[The strongest opponent Kayla had ever faced had an Ultra+ skill that was so powerful to even describe.

[A good point to remember is that there's a huge difference in strength between people of the same skill ranks as like in your ultimate and ultimate+ skill, the specific sub-skills can be developed separately as you might choose to focus on one aspect of he power granted to you.]

'Ok my head hurts, move in to EP and ranks,'

[Ok, this is actually way simpler. Each person is born with something called Mana or Energy Capacity.

[People are given a rank according to how much mana their body can store. That's basically the ranking system.

[That's why an S ranker healer can beat a B ranker fighter easily as they have the mana capacity to keep healing themselves while doing minimal damage to the low ranker.

[They can basically outlast them. In some cases, if the lower ranker finishes everything with a one hit, the results might be different.

[Here's the estimate Energy Points per rank:

[Ranks E-/ E++ (10 EP - 5,000 EP)

[Ranks D-/ D++ (5,000 EP - 80,000 EP)

[Ranks C-/ C++ (80,000 EP - 400,000 EP)

[Ranks B-/ B++ (400,000 EP - 780,000 EP)

[Ranks A-/ A++ (780,000 EP - 4,190,000 EP)

[Ranks Beyond A++/A* (4,190,000 EP - 5,000,000 EP) This is usually an unintelligent beast that's an S ranker.

[Rank S (5,000,000 EP - 10,000,000 EP)

[Rank SS (10,000,000 EP - 20,000,000 EP)

[Rank SSS (20,000,000 EP - 35,000,000 EP)

[Please note that the ranks Beyond A++ are highly debatable as one might have such an enormous Mana Capacity yet have no fighting power, so the numbers are not to be blindly trusted.]

'Holyyy...' Raven had her mouth open in a silent scream, 'are you telling me that Camilla has at least 6 times energy?'

[More or less...]

*sigh*

"Well ain't that sweet," she muttered after a sigh as she looked up at the skies in disappointment.

"What's the matter-" Maya was about to ask her when Camilla's quiet yet concerned voice rang.

"Oh no...." said Camilla as she instantly ran to the silver girl covering her eyes.