Reincarnated Hero System

‘I see, so that’s how it works, huh?’

Those were the words that slipped from Evan’s lips as he floated upside down in the air, experimenting with his newly acquired skill—Detection Field.

The same skill he had copied from the not-so-unknown woman with whom he’d unexpectedly shared a fire and a meal the previous day.

Now, did Evan know she wasn’t actually a Spirit?

Of course, he did.

Evan had appraised the woman the moment she entered his field of vision, and his Full Appraisal easily saw through all the layers of subterfuge and deception she had worn.

To him, her status appeared something like this:

|Race- Spirit [Infernal Archdevil]

Gender- Female

Age- 29 [68]

Level- 810 (*???)

Existence Level- Sovereign (Inferior) [*??? (*??)]|

So while knowing she was an Infernal Archdevil, he chose to play along and pretend he hadn’t noticed anything.

There weren’t many reasons for him to do this, but the few that did exist could be narrowed down to just two points.

One—he wasn’t in peak condition.

Two—even if he was, fighting her wouldn’t have ended without significant damage on both sides.

Just like the woman had privately admitted that facing Evan head-on in her current Soul Clone form would have resulted in significant soul damage, Evan knew the same applied to him.

His Danger Sense, which hadn’t made a sound during the earlier ambush by that group of seven, had been giving off constant warnings the entire time she was nearby.

So the moment he was out of her detection range, he activated Lethe, his strongest concealment skill.

Unbeknownst to both Evan and the Archdevil, this effectively severed the devil bird’s ability to track him. The creature was now aimlessly circling the skies, confused, unable to find the target it had been sent to follow.

It didn’t even realize when it passed directly above Evan, who was busy experimenting with his Detection Field skill.

Evan had noticed the bird, but dismissed it as just another random monster and didn’t give it a second thought.

‘If I can infuse the skill’s effect into my passive perception, then it would be worthwhile…’

To begin with, Evan could already do what the Detection Field skill could do.

His normal perception ability relied on him spreading his energy outward in a radius, and any interaction with it was reflected back to him like a radar ping.

This was a basic perception technique that almost anyone who could manipulate energy could perform.

But the Detection Field skill took this several steps further. It buffed his perception ability range, strength and efficiency.

With it, he used less energy, could scan much wider areas, and received far more detailed information.

If his original ability was like a 2D radar, this one was closer to 2.5D, and with spatial law energy infused, it would become fully 3D.

With this skill, his scans had become harder to evade, so targets that could’ve slipped past his base perception with concealment skills and techniques had far less chance now.

It was exactly the kind of skill he needed in a place like this, on some unknown planet in the Infernal Dimension, where he’d encountered an Archdevil with a terrifying title like ‘Commander’ within just an hour of waking up.

As for the other skills he’d seen in her status, Evan hadn’t bothered copying them. Most were of the Fire attribute, which he already had exceptional mastery over—enough to replicate their effects using just raw magic power—or to Time, an attribute he had next to no affinity for.

Evan had already learned the hard way with his Gravitational Maelstrom skill that using skills of an attribute one had little affinity for was incredibly inefficient and wasteful.

If it weren’t for the ‘50% Mimicked Skill/Magic Effectiveness/Damage Bonus’ granted by Mystic Eyes Stage 3, which barely compensated for the drawback, he might have seriously considered discarding the skill entirely.

“Oh well,” Evan muttered, his wings slowly flapping to keep him afloat. “Didn’t see much else that caught my fancy. She seems like the type who relies more on technique than actual skills.

Her Unique Skills were… in game terms, the kinds with ‘Burst Modes’.”

But Evan already had a Burst Mode-type skill—his Blessing of Destruction—which he could stack with Limit Break, though it came at the cost of severe physical and spiritual strain.

Simply put, he didn’t need any more ‘Burst Modes’.

Besides that, his thoughts drifted back to the 50% Mimicked Skill Damage Bonus he gained at Stage 3 and a realization hit him.

‘I’m pretty close to Stage 5, aren’t I?’

And he was right. Mystic Eyes Stage 5 was unlocked at Level 800, exactly 300 Levels after reaching Stage 4.

Evan pulled up the description for his Mystic Eyes Stage 4 and let out a laugh after spotting two abilities he hadn’t used even once.

|Stage 4

The user gains Intuitive Mimicry.

Reduced Strain when Using Mimicked Skills.

Create a Tangible Mimic of the User with 50% overall power. (Factor Mimic) (Can Aid in Combat)

Ability to Mimic Runes and Enchantments at 50% Efficiency.

Temporarily Mimic Targeted Weapons with 50% overall power. (Only weapon form and durability—not special effects)|

The first allowed him to use mimicked skills to their fullest potential, guided by pure intuition.

It also helped him devise skill combinations with ease, and was one of the reasons he’d managed to create his Frost Thunder Guardian using the Harbinger of Ice, Tempest Avatar, and Stout Guardian skills.

The second ability simply lets him activate more Mimicked Skills simultaneously.

‘I think I can do up to 6 now without feeling any strain…’

The third was his Factor Mimic, an ability he hadn’t used since the battle on Plomux in Aramis. He hadn’t found himself in a situation that truly demanded it since then.

‘Then again, I wasn’t forced to use it back then either. I was just testing it out, and comparing it to Einherjar.’

Then came the two neglected abilities.

‘Mimicking Runes…’

He hadn’t encountered any Rune Users to begin with. As for enchantments, he found it more efficient to channel that energy into Mesarthim’s ORANGE.

The next ability—mimicking weapons—could’ve been useful if he didn’t already possess Elemental Weapon Projection, Harbinger of Ice, and Mesarthim.

With Harbinger of Ice, he could forge weapons from ice. At Level 900, he’d unlock Mesarthim’s INDIGO: Flame Construct Creation, for more efficient fire weapons. And Elemental Weapon Projection was self-explanatory.

‘I guess that one could come in handy if I wanted to frame someone or something. In a case where having a weapon with a unique look would make people mistake me for someone else.’

With that thought, Evan’s mind quickly started crafting a plan involving a certain member of the Clergy from the Beta Continent’s Holy Empire.

‘Wait, I’ll deal with that guy when I get back. For now, I need to focus on the present.

I’ve got 37 more levels to reach 800 and unlock Stage 5, and if I remember right, Stage 5 has…’

Placing a hand on his chin, Evan scrolled through the RHS Archive to check the abilities of Stage 5.

‘So my 50% Damage Bonus doubles to 100%, and the Mimicked Skill Energy Cost drops from minus 50% to minus 75%…

Oof…Harbinger of Ice’s gonna be popping off…’

Next on the list was something he thought was downright absurd.

‘It has conditions, but if those are met, it could really wear an enemy down.’

Closing the RHS Interface, Evan turned his attention back to the more pressing matter at hand, regrouping with the others.

“Arthur has his Cosmic Teleporter. He can leave this place whenever he wants, so I’ll save him for last.

Besides, he’s already linked up with Hibiki and they’re both heading toward…Beatrix?”

He checked the other magic power markers he’d placed before continuing.

“Artemisia is headed that way too, but she’s closer to me. So I’ll meet up with her first, and we’ll head there together. After that, we’ll regroup with Arthur and Hibiki.

As for Crim…”

Evan looked toward the distant west and shook his head.

“She’s pretty far out. Looks like she’ll be the last one we find.”

With that, Evan angled his body, stretching his wings wide. Then, with a burst of speed, he shot forward, piercing through the air like a spear, heading straight for Artemisia.

◇　◇　◇

As Evan tore through the sky at supersonic speed, the distant roar of crashing waves reached his ears. He slowed down, coming to a stop mid-air so he could properly trace where the delayed sound was coming from.

It didn’t take long, to find it, as the moment he turned, he saw it.

“Is that…an ocean?”

Ordinarily, that wouldn’t have even been a question.

But Evan had to ask, because last time he checked, ocean water usually looked blue from a distance, not blood red.

However, what he could see from his position was a seemingly infinite ocean of red.

‘Seriously, this whole place just screams ‘Infernal Dimension’.’

Such thoughts crossed his mind as he dashed toward the strange ocean, flying past the beach while activating his Farsight skill to scan the distant horizon.

But no matter how far he looked, there was nothing but red water.

“So, are we on some kind of isolated island?” he muttered.

Then, considering how far he’d already flown to get here, and how much farther Artemisia still was, he posed another question to himself.

“That’s a bit too big to be just an island, isn’t it?”

With a sigh, Evan shook his head and looked down, his eyes falling on the beach below.

There, he spotted dozens of cultivators gathered along the beach, their varied robes marking their different affiliations. A quick glance told him there were over fifty of them, many bearing injuries severe enough to leave them on stretchers, while others had limbs tightly wrapped in bandages.

From their loud voices and gestures, there seemed to be an argument happening among them, but Evan didn’t pay much attention to it. He hadn’t even regrouped with his own companions, so he sure as hell wasn’t gonna care about arguments between unknown people.

Turning back in Artemisia’s direction, he kicked off a Void Step, dashing through the air at supersonic speed, while using Blink intermittently to teleport.

Before long, he reached a jagged mountain range, which he landed atop to take a small rest. He deactivated all his skills, save his newly acquired Detection Field, and then pulled out some potions to recover his energy consumption.

Lethe was the first to go off, as its energy consumption was higher than even his flight ability or his Blink sill.

That was unsurprising, given that this same skill was capable of concealing him from Transcendent-level powerhouses like Alvey and McEnda III, both of whom had only noticed him after activating their Pseudo-Authorities.

As Evan sipped on his potions, he turned his gaze westward and activated Farsight. In the far distance, he spotted another mountain range like the one he stood on, but this one had multiple active volcanoes scattered throughout.

But merely looking in that direction made Danger Sense react with a low warning, making Evan both infinitely curious and infinitely wary of whatever was in that direction.

‘If I can sense energy that intense from this far out, how much worse would it be up close?’

Well, Evan wasn’t about to head in that direction alone. Still, he might eventually have to, as his Track Down skill was picking up the marker he’d placed on Crim in that same direction.

‘Let’s regroup with the others first. Then we’ll head there together.’

Just as that thought crossed his mind, a screech rang out, and he turned to see a massive wyvern, its jaws wide open, ready to unleash a blast of fire at him.

But the moment the flames left its mouth, they crystallized into ice. The freezing swept inward, sealing the fire and icing over the wyvern’s head, before violently exploding and blowing the creature’s skull apart.

Inside the elemental shield he’d conjured to keep the blood and brain matter from splattering onto him, Evan’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Why did a Level 500 beast give this much EXP? That’s at least 1.5 times the usual amount.”

Evan had a rough idea of the average EXP gains from monsters at various levels, so the discrepancy stood out instantly.

**KIIEEEERKKK!!!

Another screech rang out, making Evan look up and see the rest of the wyvern flock approaching, and at the sight of them, his eyes narrowed.

‘Time to test a theory.’

What followed was a bloodbath.

A bloodbath that allowed Evan to confirm his suspicions. The wyverns were indeed yielding significantly more EXP than usual.

At the realization, Evan’s lips curled into a grin.

‘If I can find monsters at my level or higher that give substantial EXP, and that EXP gets multiplied, plus my levelling efficiency bonuses…

Level 800, here I come.’

Five minutes later, the entire mountain range was drenched in blood, and every wyvern that had once lived there had been erased from the surface of the planet.

Evan was already thousands of meters away, flying in Artemisia’s direction, leaving behind a trail of monster corpses in his wake.