* TheFatRat – Rise Up *

AN: Thought of Solo Leveling? Yea me too!

***

[Gathering mana…]

“Eh..?” Muttered Raven with a confused expression over her face.

[Activation of the Ex System: in progress.]

‘Excuse me, the f*ck?’ she refrained from yelling out loud because she didn’t want to swear near the girls. ‘Although Maya does swear more often than she drinks water…’

[Ex System launched]

At that, Raven’s vision blurred for a second before she saw her nano self getting slightly bigger, in her mind.

[Synchronizing with Main Body…] mini Raven said in a robotic tone, yet the voice was hers.

[Gathering information…

[Tracking left memory records of unit Kayla.

[Accessing Main Body’s memories.]

‘Hey, don’t you f*cking dare spy on me!’

[Main body refuses current course of action…?]

Although the voice was rather emotionless, Raven knew mini-her meant it to be a question, and with it being asked by her own childish voice and appearance, it made her feel uneasy.

Especially that she was taken aback by how mini-her is now asking for permission.

‘Err, never mind, I accept. Proceed with whatever you were doing.’ she said to the little girl in her mind.

[Main Body granted permission.

[Proceeding with building status page:]

At that, a screen like thing flashed in Raven’s mind as she could see, or rather picture-memorise every word.

[Race: Soul Weaver.

[Protection – Blessing: Infinity’s Will.

[Titles: Soul Weaver Princess.

[Rank: C-

[Magic Skills: Mana Manipulation.

[Inherent Skills: Contingency Call. Quick Study.

[Special Skills: Ruler’s Touch. Shadow Manipulation. Scanner Rings. Deadly Vision. Contractor.

[Ultimate Skills:

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

‘Say, say,’ Raven was as clueless as she looked, ‘nani the f*ck…?’

Noticing her weird series of expressions, the girls got slightly worried.

“Hey, are you all good over there?” Maya asked the confused tiny girl in concern.

Glancing at her worried expression, Raven had no idea what to say, so she just nodded, “uhm.”

[Failed to identify request]

‘Ah, umm, huh?’

[Failed to identify request]

The mini Raven was still expressionless and her robotic tone hadn’t changed one bit.

*sigh* ‘please tell me what’s going on? Am I in a video game now, or a movie where the characters get a system to help them?’

[Negative]

Looking at the static mini her, she was sure she’s done talking.

*facepalm* ‘Care to elaborate? F*cking please and thank you.’

[Status page was integrated based on the data collected from both Main Body and unit Kayla’s memories.

[Main Body is in no video game.]

‘Eh? So what are you?’

[The Ex System.

[As per unit Kayla’s will, an integration of unit Kayla’s Lord Machina Ex Daemon was created in order to ensure survival of Main Body. Ex System ranks up with Main Body.]

‘I’m assuming unit Kayla is the robo-girl Camilla was talking about? She was the one who actually controlled my body when I blacked out, and created the nano stuff?’

[Affirmative]

‘Hm,’ Raven started thinking to herself, ‘If my hunch is right here, then it’s exactly like years ago when me and Maya escaped Lady Luck’s place. But back then I didn’t black out… Was it because I saw the girls in a bad condition that I couldn’t bear staying awake?’ she thought, picturing how Maria was almost dead when she found her laying of the floor with Maya in a pool of their own blood, after the sickle monsters had appeared in the soccer field.

A sudden, yet barely noticeable, killing intent flared around her for a second before dying off.

‘Or maybe because this unit Kayla girl is stronger than the previous voice?’ she thought trying to distract herself from the anger boiling inside of her.

While Raven was holding her chin in her right hand, drown in her own thoughts, the girls were as confused as worried.

‘I wonder what these skills do though, I can guess that this system thingy based it off of my memories and that of unit Kayla to make me more familiar with the display, but still why do I have some that I’ve never known existed?’

[Does Main Body require skill run through?]

‘HOLY F-‘ Raven was startled as she didn’t think the system could read her mind without her allowing it.

Seeing her widened eyes, Maya had enough of the mute clown act and tapped Raven on the shoulder.

“Wah!” Even though Maya had no intentions of startling Raven, the poor little girl flinched like a broken engine. Between the system peeking at her own thoughts and her surprise by everything that’s been happening, her mind was so fragile.

“I’m so sorry, are you okay?” Maya apologized as she had no idea Raven was so lost in thought.

“Oh My God no!”, Raven yelled before covering her mouth instantly, “I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to yell! I swear!”

“It’s alright,” Maya said while shaking her head, “but please tell me what’s happening, why do you look so lost?”

*sigh* Raven had no idea what was going on and she needed time to collect her self together. “Don’t worry about it,” she said trying to comfort Maya. “I’m just trying to think about everything that’s happened so far, nothing too serious.”

“Promise?” asked Maya with a raised brow. She knew Raven wasn’t alright but she didn’t want to push it more than that. ‘She’s just awoken from a deep comma after all, heck, her fever isn’t fully heed yet.’

“Promise!” replied Raven with a smile that made Maya’s heart melt.

‘Yes, please give me a run through of the skills listed above. But before that, do you have a name or do I just call you Kayla? Because I’m not calling you the Ex System, or robo-girl, and especially not mini me!’ she said to the child looking exactly like her, in her mind.

[Affirmative. The name ‘Ex System’ has been replaced to ‘Kayla’.]

‘Dam it, I should be careful with what I say since she’s readily doing anything without question…’ Raven thought, ‘Yo Kayla, please give me a run through of everything, not just skills. Let’s start with the race, why does it say soul weaver, and the f*ck is it? since I know I’m human!’

[Negative. Main Body is of the soul weaver race, not human.]

‘Please call me Raven, for now, and Draven when I get back my original body, because I definitely will.’ she told Kayla as she pondered about her words. ‘ I didn’t expect to have a voice in my mind, again, but what came as a surprise is how useless she is… is she broken?’

‘Anyway, Kayla, go on.’

[Raven is protected by Infinity’s Will.]

‘What? Who? Why?’

[Error. Invalid question.]

‘useless! Anyway, go on and continue please.’ Taking the insult head on, Kayla’s expression remained the same.

[Raven has been given the title of Soul Weaver Princess.]

‘not gonna even ask… skip rank and jump into skills already.’

[Magic Skills: a category of skills that involve-]

‘Skip!, useless!’ Looking at the mini Raven, or rather Kayla, in her mind, she got angry that her face was used on something so useless.

[Raven wishes for Kayla to change avatar?]

Biting the corner of her lower lip, Raven felt slightly bad for the robo-girl. ‘Not now, sorry, please continue…’

‘Why does it matter if she has my face? Only I can see her anyway, plus she might prove to be useful in the future as I rank up. Last I remember I was a D ranker, I’m assuming the trial and the nano thingy made me a C ranker, even if I’m still on the low side of the scale. And it was all a gift of the real Kayla, I shouldn’t be harsh on her avatar, I guess…’

‘Kayla,’ Raven said in her mind, ‘please, read my memories and work as efficiently as you can.’

[… Scanning…

[Using data collected from Raven to minimise and cut down lengthy explanations…

[Inherent Skills, Contingency Call, Quick Study… unable to access.]

At that, Ravens face twitched in a second of instant rage, before returning back to normal.

[Special Skills: a type of skill that is special to Raven.

‘OMG…’

[Ruler’s Touch: give or take life force by Raven’s will. Direct contact is required for the special skill to function.

‘Okay… it could be worse…’

[Shadow Manipulation: animate own or others’ shadows as means of defence or offence. Range limited by amount of mana used.

‘What? I can animate others’ shadows too. Hm, doesn’t feel that great though, it probably has lots of limitations… I’ll experiment later…’

[Scanner Rings: azure rings surround ireses and enable long range or close 360 degrees mana scan and picture-memorise objects, events, or scenes.]

‘Ah also, puts so much tension on the poor eyes!’

[Deadly Vision: ireses turn dark purple as vision turns black and white. Enemies highlighted in red as weak points are highlighted for death blows.]

‘oh, the assassin eyes? I almost never use these since they require so much energy, plus, it’s not that I can fully control them yet…’

[Contractor: the ability to form different contracts, such as a master-servant or a soul contract, with different beings.]

‘Hm… so mostly stuff that I already know, except the Contractor… I’m assuming it’s the weak version of what I’ve done with Maria when we first met. Maybe I can terminate the contract if she doesn’t want it?’

*sigh* ‘Skip the rest please! I think I know what I need to, thanks.’

Looking back at the girls, Raven smiles awkwardly and scratches her cheek in embarrassment. “Hi there…” she says to the staring girls.

“Hi!”

“Yo!”

“Sup!”

“How u doin’?”

Camilla, Maria, Maya, and Rain all say at the same time, each with their own unique expression.

*sigh* “Do you honestly have nothing better to do that watch a half naked-… ”

At that Raven looks down to check herself. “Here!” says Rain as she tosses her a small pocket mirror.

Taking a look in the mirror, what Raven sees makes her open her mouth in surprise.

Staring back at her was a childish girl face that highly resembled her previous features. Although she had the same white skin, now it was far softer and more charming. Her hair was long enough that she had to keep in mind not to set on it next time. The silky locks looked like they were painted, or rather highlighted, with shades of crimson-purple as they shone with grace.

Her bright golden ireses, unlike her childish face, looked mature and serious.

“I have the body of that princess…?” she said in a whisper as her eyes widened in surprise. She was referring to the young princess in the trial.

The others didn’t hear exactly what she said, and Camilla thought she heard her say “I’m a princess?”

“Ohou~ must be really tough for you to be stuck in that body since you were a boy, huh?” Camilla said with a smug expression on her face that would’ve made Raven wanna break it, if not for the fact that she’s an S ranker.

Rain didn’t think of it badly as she thought Camilla was feeling bad for the little girl, or rather the boy stuck in that body.

“Agreed, must be really tough being alone surrounded by 4 maidens in a cave, hahaha” She said, in an innocent expression. To make matters worse, she was actually genuine about it.

“Very true! Must be quite hard to resist…” Camilla said enthusiastically, “especially that most of us, *cough* aren’t exactly so discreet with what to show…”

Of course, she meant the two girls who turned bright red. Maya and Maria started covering their bodies with their hands, then clothes after realising hands won’t cover anything.

Meanwhile, Raven’s blood pressure was an all time high, ‘they’re my family! What am I, no, what is she thinking?’

‘Camilla… I’ll show you why you’re not supposed to mess with me, pretty soon…’ she thought as her eyes bore into those of Camilla.

The latter felt a faint cold shiver run down her spine.