The Likely Rise of an Extra

Kiel's body hit the ground, his limbs shaking as the pain finally started to fade.

His breathing was rough and unsteady, but his vision was starting to clear up a bit.

The voice echoed again in his mind.

[You really are dramatic, aren't you?]

"Shut up," Kiel groaned, clutching his head.

"What… What just happened? Who's talking?"

[Didn't I just introduce myself? Rude. I'm Hyphen, your System AI.]

Kiel sat up slowly, his head still throbbing.

He glanced down at the glowing mark on his hand, which pulsed with a faint violet light.

His mind struggled to piece together what had just happened.

"A sigil? Wait..." Kiel's eyes narrowed.

The voice had said something else—something that didn't make sense.

"Did you just say... system?"

[Correct! Your friendly neighborhood system AI at your service—though 'friendly' might be a bit of a stretch. Babysitter? Much more accurate.]

Kiel stared blankly at the glowing mark on his right hand before shifting his gaze to the hexagonal crystal artifact in his left.

Everything about this was wrong.

The artifacts were supposed to be gone; he hadn't found any trace of them in this room.

But now, not only did he have a system, but a new sigil too?

His confusion only deepened with every second.

"This doesn't make any sense,"

Kiel brushed his fingers against the hexagonal crystal.

"Was it left behind?"

He figured someone had broken into this place before he did—since the gate's mechanism was tampered with—and stolen the artifacts.

Originally in the story there were a few of them in this room and they were all on a pedestal.

Leon had grabbed one and left, leaving the others behind.

He later came back here and destroyed the place—but that wouldn't happen till his second year.

The situation bugged Kiel a little.

The story was changing, and he didn't know why.

He shifted the thought to the back of his mind for now.

The crystal was already cold now, the chaotic glow it had earlier was completely gone.

"So... is this thing one of those artifact cheat items… Like the one Leon has?"

Kiel asked, holding it up.

[Hey calling me a 'cheat item' is an insult. Those trinkets are nothing compared to me. I'm leagues above them.]

Kiel blinked at the sharp tone.

"Oh. Uh… sorry about that?"

[Hmph. At least you know to apologize. I suppose there's hope for you yet.]

Kiel sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

'This voice is already such a pain,' he thought.

"So you said your name is Hyphen right?"

[Wow, you can hear. Yes, I'm Hyphen.]

Kiel wanted to ask her—yes her, since the voice sounded like a female robot—a lot of questions but he decided to put them aside for now.

He was more excited by the fact that he had a system now.

And he couldn't wait to try it out.

"So how do I open the interface?"

He already knew that for Leon all he had to do was say "Asterix" since that was the name of his system AI.

But he still had to ask to make sure.

[Just say my name.]

'Figures'

Just like he had thought.

He took a deep breath before saying it.

"Hyphen"

==========================

[Name]: Kiel Selfort

[Level]: 3

[Exp]: 0 / 1000

[Class]: Needless

[Primary Sigil]:

╰ Hyphen:

╰Type: Null

╰ Affinity: Null

╰ Rank: Null

╰ Level: Null

[Secondary Sigil]:

╰ Selfort Mark:

╰Type: Aegesor

╰ Affinity: Ice.

╰ Rank: C

╰ Level: [■■□□□]

[Unique skill]:

╰ Ether Hacker

[Skills]

╰ Dual wielding

╰ Elemental Manipulation

╰Elements: Null

╰Ice Application

[Stats]

╰MP: F [■■□□□]

╰STR: E [■■■□□]

╰DEF: E [■□□□□]

╰INT: E [■■■■□]

╰AGL: F [■□□□□]

[System Inventory]

[System Quests: 0]

[Abyss Training]

==========================

"Woah…"

Kiel's eyes widened as he scanned the interface.

His heart was already racing with excitement.

"It really is a system."

[Of course it is, were you even paying attention?]

He ignored the sass.

He was already overwhelmed by the flood of information.

A lot of things caught his eye so he decided to examine everything from top to bottom.

.

.

.

"My class is Needless… what's that?"

==========================

[Needless]

╰You are an entity that exists outside the natural order and laws of this world, an irregular presence and a walking contradiction.]

==========================

Almost immediately a description menu pops up.

It startled Kiel a little but he instantly regained his composure.

"Oh I see... maybe it's because I'm not originally from this world?"

Kiel placed a hand on his chin clearly thinking about what he just read.

[Not from this world? What are you talking about?]

"Huh? You don't know?"

[If I did I wouldn't be asking now would I?]

"Good point, I'll explain everything to you later…"

[Hmm.. fine whatever.]

Kiel was too excited about the system to dive into long explanations.

And he coukd have sworn Hyphen sounded angry just now.

"So my primary sigil is… Hyphen?"

==========================

[Primary Sigil]

╰Hyphen: Granted through synchronization with Hyphen. Part of the Punctuation Series. Specializes highly in Ether Hacking skills.

==========================

"Ether hacking? Is that like an OP skill or something?" Kiel exclaimed.

[I wouldn't call it OP, per se—it's more like the ability to alter the fundamental laws governing the things around you.]

"Wait like reality and stuff?"

[I guess? I mean since everything is governed by Ether in this world you can probably call it this worlds reality?]

Kiel didn't know why Hyphen sounded so unsure of herself but if it's true then–

"Holy crap isn't that way too OP?!"

[Hehe you're welcome. Feel free to praise me!]

"So annoying."

[Watch it.]

Shaking his head Kiel asked.

"My Element Affinity and type is Null?"

[Precisely. With your Null type and affinity, you don't actually have an element or type you're attuned to. It means you can manipulate a wide variety of elements and abilities but none in particular. And it'll be harder for you to access their full potential compared to someone with a specific affinity.]

"So I'm an anomaly then?"

[Yes precisely, glad you're catching on.]

"So just like Leon is right now."

He then realized something.

'The punctuation series… Like Leon's Asterix?' Kiel thought,

He wanted to ask Hyphen some questions about that but decided to leave it until he was done checking out the system.

==========================

[Secondary Sigil]

╰Selfort Mark— A common sigil among members of the Selfort Family.

==========================

"Figures".

Anyone could have easily guessed what the sigil meant, although Kiel wanted to know more about it than what Hyphen was showing him.

"Not that much of a description huh…"

He saw that the sigil had an affinity for Ice but he wasn't too excited about that because he couldn't use it.

Or could he?

"Hey Hyphen, I can't seem to use my secondary sigil, why is that?"

[What do you mean? It's yours, of course you should be able to use it.]

Kiel froze.

This body wasn't originally his.

Of course, it made sense that he couldn't use the sigil.

That was the only explanation he could think of.

He decided to go with that and move on for now.

"Unique skill… let's see."

A menu popped up.

==========================

[Unique skill]:

╰ Ether Hacker :

╰A set of skills that grants the user the ability to alter the laws of the world around them. Each skill focuses on a specific type of manipulation or application.

==========================

'No way this is… too OP.'

Ether manipulation wasn't a skill he knew anyone in the novel possessed.

And by the looks of it, it seemed to be pretty powerful too.

Finally, he had something that could get him started on anything since coming to this world.

"Since it's a set of skills then where are they?"

As if to answer him Hyphen pulled up another menu.

==========================

[Ether Hacker ]:

╰Ether Hack: Skill Replication

╰By manipulating the fabric of reality itself, the user can steal and replicate the abilities of others within their immediate environment.

==========================

"This… this is insane."

[For the last time, stop stating the obvious. Now, praise me properly.]

Kiel sighed, muttering a few compliments just to shut her up.

"So is that all the info I get?"

[If you want more information about a skill just squint really hard at it.]

Kiel was skeptical about the whole thing but did it anyway.

He wasn't one to turn down new information.

==========================

[Ether Hacker ]:

╰Ether Hack: Skill Replication

╰By manipulating the fabric of reality itself, the user can steal and replicate the abilities of others within their immediate environment.

[Skill Effects]

[Stage 1]: Instant Skill Copy [■□□□□]

[Effect]: User can replicate a skill or ability from anyone he can directly observe, copying it for a limited time.

The copied skill will be available for 5 minutes and will function at 50-70% of the original user's effectiveness.

Cooldown: 24 hours per copied skill.

Cost: 20 MP.

[Stage 2]: Null

==========================

"I see, I'm guessing those other stages are for when I level up?"

[Yes, by constantly using a unique skill, you can increase its level. Then I will reward you with an upgrade or a new stage.]

"Yup, classic system mechanic"

[What do you mean by that?]

"Nothing don't worry about it."