while grey was exploring the digital dream world unbeknownst to him someone was watching his every move studying him.
'This outworlder like the rest doesn't seem to have a sense of self-preservation like all the others before him likely due to their ability to leave this world upon death... however this is the very first one I have seen who treats the locals of this world with respect and not as useful extras?' Quinn thought to himself while studying grey from afar.
"that's it my directive is to understand this one's motives by any means necessary so I must engage with the outworlder."
Quinn digitally scanned greys body and transformed into a black-haired rabbit demi human with eyes glowing a bright red before he approached grey almost casually.
"Hey there buddy you seem new do you need a hand?"
grey tensed slightly but when he saw the fully erect black rabbit ears on the man approaching him, he visibly calmed down. "Yeah, I I'm new here I just woke up in town and saw a friend of mine using these metal eggs, so I wanted to try it out too."
"Wait do you have any idea of where you are? what has been going on around you?"
grey looked at the man confused "well kind of, I know I'm in some place called new Ars kingdom it's a pretty cool place with all kinds of weird things like this game world."
Quinns entire body froze up at his words "wha- what do you mean game world?" his face slowly became more serious as he stared at grey like he was scum.
"Well, I was somewhat unconscious, but I heard some things here and there like this is a game world made by the New ARS kingdom so people can relax and fight here."
"This can't be! Mother Eros said this is a different world that I'm in charge of defending!" Quinn's face twisted into an expression of pure hatred.
"I know your kind! You all come into my world but because it isn't your own and your immortal you treat my people as mere obstacles to be slain. But know this many before you have tried to slay me calling me a final boss and none of them have succeeded because my function is to protect and learn but all you people want is destruction and chaos!"
suddenly grey found himself in an empty grassland "What's going on? I did mean to offend I'm also from another realm, so I know what it's like learning about other worlds, but we don't have to fight?"
grey slowly backed while charging poison energy in his hands in case he had to defend himself.
quinin snapped his hands causing grey to lose connection to his runes "OH no you don't, i protect this world and I have the authority to cut your powers connection to your body."
"And your kind is nothing without your powers! Once I'm done taking you apart for trying to toy with my world, I will absorb all your memories to learn what your teammates are up to."
glowing orbs formed near Quinn and immediately started rapid firing beams of energy all over place while grey was running around just barley dodging them.
while grey was dodging, he tried his absolute hardest to activate his poison and thunder runes but nothing happened. 'crap' was the only thought grey could make as a moment's frustration caused a beam to hit his shoulder knocking him into the ground letting all the countless beams hit his body repeatedly.
in that moment out of sheer instinct greys entire body was covered in green scales as his eyes started glowing red.
Quinn stopped firing the lasers after seconds of endless beams creating a creator where grey once laid but once the smoke cleared, he saw something that should not have happened "Impossible! How did you survive that? And how are you using your powers here I should have complete control over your powers."
grey slowly approached the man his eyes glowing a raging red as red currents of energy pulsed under his veins like an active volcano waiting to erupt at any moment.
Quinn started firing more beams of energy, but grey was traveling at high speeds leaving a red trail of energy in his wake.
Quinn's mind moved as fast as grey moved but now the moment the beams hit grey an explosive red aura would redirect back where it came from hitting Quinn in the gut.
Quinn fell to his knees as the beam that hit him burned him and left a trace amount of red energy on him burning him like a virus.
"What the hell is this power?" when Quinn looked up grey was above him ready to punch him with no remorse left in his eyes.
Quinn laid there getting pummeled into the ground by grey repeatedly when he noticed something after every hit grey fist landed on him the surrounding environment would twist and glitch before changing into something random. worse yet Quinn could feel the red energy enter his very core slowly with every hit like a poison going for his heart.
outside the game world greys actual body was sweating from stress as a feint red energy was released from his body and into the pod itself.
after almost a minute of beating Quinn until he passed out making greys anger calm slighty as he noticed something wrong around him, the world itself was glitching with empty holes, blurry spots ad visible pixels all over the place.
the ground below them kept shifting between forms every second until it just vanished for a moment causing grey and Quinn to fall under the world.
when grey looked down it seemed like a constant fall and when he looked up, he saw a few land masses constantly glitching.
whilst grey was failing to log out Quinn was just now recovering but when he looked around it was only now he saw his whole world in its truest form.
"No! no! no! NO! This isn't real this is an illusion I'm a real person i- i can't be fake mother told me so? Right?" grey watched Quinns mental breakdown while they fell when he noticed his eyes slowly being overtaken by a dark blue with ones and zeros running through them almost infinitely.
cracks were slowly forming on his body and spreading until Quinn just erupted into a blue explosion with slight red line along it.
when the two woke up they were in a ruined building that seemed to barley survive a war with a computer in the corner that somehow survived grey looked outside but there was nothing outside except a frozen world in the middle of a war with what looked like a black ooze that infected corpses and machines.
Quinn slowly approached the computer muttering to himself "Why am I so drawn to this like I'm found something I've been missing my whole life.
grey followed in silence obviously drained of energy while Quinn opened the computer revealing three tabs on it labeled Project Abyssal knight, Project Q.U.I.N.N and Project Aura.
grey couldn't read so he asked Quinn what he saw but Quinn just clicked the tab with his name causing a video to load before the two of them.
on the screen a tired muscular dwarf with a bright orange beard and hair tied into a ponytail appeared "Ahem the king wanted some way to make sure no threats to the kingdom stayed for long, so he asked me Josh spinel bones the chief forger and technician to make something so I made Q.U.I.N.N or as my wife calls it Quinn the quantum unifying intelligence nano network."
Quinn stared in absolute silence while grey gave him a sad look as the video continued to play "its main function is to explore things in the digital realm and if it finds any potential threats it reports them while leaving the rest of what it has leaned to be forgotten for the sake of privacy."
"The project went well and it saved us from many threats, but someone created a virus we called the melek virus that destroyed our artificial intelligence. I was able to repair most of it but the quantum core disappeared but I believe it won't be a threat because at its core it's a curious protector that can do so much more."
the video cut out for a bit but didn't end as a new figure appeared before the screen a purple android with a figure that would end most men "here is my digital record for the queen. So lets start from the beginning I was a virus called melek given sentience and a body thanks to our queen i later found the codes for a quantum core in my computer of origin and used it to create a digital world that flesh creatures could enter so I could better study their minds and emotions."
the video finally ended leaving Quinn looking like a husk of a man trying to process everything he heard while grey copied what he did earlier with the mouse to click another tab labeled AURA.
A dark elven woman was on screen now blushing slightly "AH? umm My name is Primrose Lilian evergr- Ahem i mean bones y-yeas Lilian bones now Hehe. Oh, and I'm the lead alchemist and healer and with my alchemy skills i studied many species especially the cute fluffy ones."
grey noticed how se looked a lot like a female version of flos wright. "Ahem anyways~ oh right my records on aura, well the king Ars bones my brother-in-law wanted a power to rival the gods without relying on their blessings and soul power so after extensive research we found two species that use an ability we call aura humans and beasts."
"It has been shown when they are in extreme stress or danger, they release their very lifeforce which is somehow different from soul energy as most of the time they can use both at once or use aura when they have no soul energy. and unlike soul energy aura doesn't form a core in its users and sometimes gives them abelites similar to runes like an elemental attribute and physical enhancements but for some reason only humans and beast can use aura and the ones that use it for prolonged time die of old age despite being young hence the theory it drains life-force."
grey thought about the crow boss he fought when he first met the six claws and had to defend cocoa, the bird suddenly developed another ability and power boost at the end be he just thought that was the berserk state beasts sometimes reach when in danger.
that's when something clicked in his head the berserk state must be what activates this aura and that when he finally remembered the few times he went berserk and a strange red energy was being channeled through his body.
memories of when tony gave him news of his home about to be attacked and out of pure instinct his body went berserk and he ran for a whole day and night taking blood and rune cores form anything nearby to power his body until he made it home.
"so, our berserk state lets us use this aura at the cost of our life span and only beasts and humans can use it for some reason?
the video kept playing while grey was lost in his thoughts
"Thankfully we found a human named luna stone who was talented at using aura and upon closer inspection her aura seemed to be draining nearby energy to keep her own lifespan going and she was the first recorded subject to control an element using her aura to reshape nearby water. and after a few tests she wasn't able to form a core but she came close a few times so the leading theory is we need some way to stabilize the lifeforce usage to keep them from aging rapidly."
the video just ended with a theory but nothing grey could actually use ''So humans and beasts can use it but neither can control it full leading to an early death. But wait I somehow used my bers- I mean aura in this digital dream world while I wasn't able to use my rune i was able to use my chimera form meaning it might be connected to the body instead?''
while grey was thinking and Quinn was excepting his reality a screen appeared saying playing next video in 10. 9. 8. 7.
the video played on its own gaining both of their attention this time with the elven lady holding the dwarf's hands in a saddened manner as they both let out a deep sigh before the male dwarf spoke up first ''that dammed elder brother of mine had the twisted idea to use the remains of the Titians that attacked our world a few decades ago to creates artificial soldiers calling it Project abyssal knights."
meanwhile melek eros was in a bar surrounded by men of all races around her in a drunken stupor when pax gold appeared after coming out of her invisibility in slamming her foot on the table destroying it causing everyone to fully wake up and stare at her when melek eros spoke up in a drunken mess
"Ayyyyye pride my sista why so angry came join us and loosen"
pax just stared at her angrily "sober up now or I will kill all your playthings here lust!"
a light quickly enveloped melek eros as her form now looked to be in peak shape "What was so important that you had to interrupt my fun?"
your program the quantum world is malfunctioning and automatically kicked everyone out after glitching we are concerned there might be a breach in the system and need you to inspect your creation."
melek eros stood up in fury "That's impossible the only one who could hack my world is the turtle we have imprisoned don't mess with me pride this isn't funny."
"We already checked that the fallen summon is still imprisoned and has nothing to do with it but says he will help us if he were to gain his freedom again and was allowed to rebuild his daughters." pride said in a serious manner.
''Bah I don't need his help ill check this out myself." opened a phone on the broken table and hopped into it entering the digital world leaving pax gold alone surrounded by a bunch of drunken men so turned invisible and left them alone.
"so after combining the titans flesh with a machine to create the android known as the abyssal knight entity, so far everything surprisingly seems fine." grey and Quinn they finished watching the video explain project abyssal knight combining the titan's flesh with machines to create powerful protecters when another video played but this time a short skeleton was in front of the camera.