Crow's father died five years ago, he left him two things to get stronger and be able to protect his family and friends, they were an SS-ranked sword and an ability potion.
In this world, there was a ranking system, it was assigned or something, it was more of something you were born with. everyone started at the weakest rank, D rank, and from there, they would climb up in power, until they reached the peak of power, the SS rank.
Only a few ever reached that rank, after all, for one to advance in power, wasn't an easy thing to do, it required time and perseverance, and so, most people would be always stuck at the lowest rank.
Crow's father, was one of the few that had reached SS rank. His father wasn't well known in the world, something that Crow found a bit weird, since he knew his father's nature, he was an arrogant person that loved bragging about how powerful he was, still, he was barely known in the world, something weird for someone who had reached the peak of power.
His father had died on a mission five years ago, for some reason, he had gone without his SS-ranked sword, and never returned, the only thing that did return, was his corpse.
Crow still didn't have a single idea what had happened to his father, not even his father's best friend had said a thing, not because he didn't want to, but because he himself was just as puzzled as Crow was.
And so, his father's death remained a mystery that clouded Crow's thinking these last years.
The potion left to him by his father contained an ability, this ability could only be obtained after drinking the potion he would create by combining whatever was written on the manuscript he was holding at the moment.
This wasn't any normal ability though, there existed abilities like that, abilities that give you powers, such as fire control, or water control. This was a different type of ability, there only existed another 28 abilities of this kind.
Each one gave different powers from the other, these abilities consisted of six levels, with each level, you would gain a new ability, and to reach a new level, you would need to make the next potion.
To create a potion, many ingredients were needed, but, they were all written on the manuscript his father had left for him. It was also necessary to drink the potion in a place that suited the ability, and for the one Crow was about to get, the Night Walker ability, it needed a dark place.
'Hah! it seems dad only left me with the first four levels, he says that only after I reach the fourth level of the Night Walker ability, will I get some clues to look for the fifth, and sixth level manuscripts, it seems they are so powerful, that dad felt the need to hide them, in case they fell in the wrong hands after his death!'.
Crow read through the letter his father left for him with the manuscript of the first level, then opened the manuscript, and read about the ingredients needed to create the potion.
"Ah! what is this? are these really the ingredients needed? ahh! and I need to drink it? it's good that dad said I could add sugar or salt to it, without ruining the potion, since I doubt I will be able to drink it without them, even with them, ah! still, I have to remember that this is all for mom's sake!", Crow said, as he put the manuscript down, and started looking around the room.
He quickly found what he was looking for, a large box filled with materials, they were the ingredients needed to create the potion of the first level, for the ability called Night Walker.
Crow then switched the light off, and used the torch of his phone, as he found a small cauldron laying around, it seemed like his father had prepared everything needed to create the potion of the first level for him.
Crow started putting the ingredients one by one, and mixing them slowly in the process, the ingredients varied from snake scales to crab hands, bird hair, human nails, and cat fur. This whole thing made it seem like he was summoning some kind of demon.
After a while, he had finished following the manuscripts orders, and so, he stopped mixing the ingredients, and waited for a few seconds, before he saw the potion shine with a strange yellow light.
This yellow light, was an indicator that no one had this ability at this time, if a red light had appeared instead, that would have meant that someone had already acquired this ability and that even if Crow drank the potion, he wouldn't be getting a thing from it.
After all, these 28 abilities, weren't like other abilities, these ones could only be held by one person at a time, this was also the reason, Crow couldn't get the ability when his father was still alive, since it was in his possession at the time.
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Before Crow drank it, he added a bit of sugar to it, then filled an entire glass with it, Crow hesitated for a bit, then added more sugar to it, finally, he gulped, and drank it at one time, in complete darkness, of course.
Immediately afterward, an insanely painful headache assulted him, and Crow, a C ranker, dropped to his knees from the pain he was feeling at the moment, he couldn't even form proper thoughts.
He felt like his mind would break in the next second, due to this insane pain he was feeling, still, he didn't let one scream escape his lips, he didn't want to worry his little sister more than she already was. He also couldn't risk his best friend barging into the room, and switching the lights on.
Since that would ruin the whole integration process he was going through at the moment, so he could only bite his lower lip, and wait it out. finally, after a few seconds had passed, the headache stopped.
His body was left shivering, and sweat could be seen covering him in his entirety. It wasn't till now, that he could finally think again, 'Dammit! dad warned me in the letter that I would feel pain, but that was...if I wasn't a C ranker, I would have probably gone insane before I completed the process!'.
'Hah! that was the most painful experience I have gone through, no doubt about that! that bastard father of mine probably found it funny to say the ability only hurt a little, if he was still alive, he would be laughing his ass off at the moment, hah, even in his death, he still finds ways to prank me, han?'.
To reach the next level of the ability, two conditions needed to be fulfilled beforehand, the first one, was to have the technique to create the potion of the next level, fortunately for Crow, his father was the user of the ability before him, and had already collected all the information needed.
And so, Crow only needed to fulfill the second condition, though, of course, he still had to look for the materials to make the potions, as his father had only left him a box of the materials to create the potion of the first level.
The second condition was, that you needed to get full control of the level you were currently on, and that needed to be completed before the time limit had passed. If you couldn't finish this process before two months passed, then in the first week after those two months, you would start feeling slight dizziness.
You would still have time to work on it, in that week, though it would be harder since you wouldn't be able to concentrate as much as before. In the second week, you would be hit with a burning fever, but still, even then, you could try to finish the controlling process.
It was only in the third week that all hope would get lost, since you would start hallucinating, making it close to impossible for you to concentrate on controlling this level of the ability.
And the fourth week was the worse, you would go insane from the pain, till you reach the end of that week, where death awaits you.
In other words, you had two months to complete this process, then two weeks where it would be harder to do so, but still possible, when the third week comes, you were pretty much guaranteed to die, who said powers come for free?
The Night Walker's abilities first level allowed a person to see in the dark, not just see, but see as clearly as if it was still the morning, and the sun was rising at its highest point at the moment, in terms of power, it didn't add much, aside from somebody strengthening, but it still would help a lot, when fighting at night, or in a dark space.
Not only that, but it would also make the person immune to sleeping from some kind of drug, or ability, the person would only sleep when the body needed sleep, not when an external thing tried to force it to.
Of course, the person could still fall asleep by getting knocked out, but that wouldn't change with this ability. Crow was currently in a dark space, as he had switched off the lights for the space to match what was needed to drink and prepare the potion, a dark space.
He didn't switch on the lights just yet, first, he opened his eyes, and looked around himself, he could barely make out a cauldron beside him, he could also make out the shape of a desk behind him.
'Hah! it works already! I couldn't see a thing a moment ago, and now, I can kind of see some stuff in the room, from the description of the ability, it seems like I will need to train it a lot before I can see this room as if it was lit already!'.
'Even though this won't help me with my power level for now, still, thanks dad! with this, I won't have to worry about fighting in dark places anymore! Indeed, I don't know much of anything about the Reader's Challenges, but I expect there to be some tests about being confined in dark spaces, and with this ability here, I will be able to breeze through them like they are nothing!'.