The Harvester

"Alexa, is there an advantage to deposit your Talys other than to not hit the balance roof?" Rakna asked as he walked out of the shop.

[There is. To be exact, there is a disadvantage in keeping all of your money on you as there exist skills capable of stealing it.]

Rakna froze for a second and made a beeline toward the bank. He opened the door and a chime just like the shop rung as he stepped inside. This new room was quite different though. It wasn't as spacious as the shop and there wasn't nearly as much furniture.

The only thing of note was a wide counter right in front of the entrance. Many documents could be seen spread on it and several screens were displaying things that looked like accounting books.

"AH! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!"

He heard a female voice coming from his left and soon enough, someone slammed open a door that was there and dashed inside. "I'm so sorry! I fell asleep!" She screamed apologetically.

The newcomer was a woman of average height with long pink wavy hair and big bubbly green eyes. And, Rakna had never unironically considered this term when describing someone before but he couldn't help but think that this girl's skin looked like porcelain.

She wore very thick-looking white clothing as if it was made of unprocessed wool and her figure was also quite pronounced. But, in the end, what caught his attention the most was the pair of coiling horns to the sides of her head and the fluffy big ears under them.

'A… sheep?' Rakna thought.

There was also something about her that felt extremely out of place. She carried a very long and broad sword between her arms. She was hugging it, in fact. It looked like a nodachi at first sight and Rakna wouldn't have cared much about it if it wasn't for the fact that the weapon was even taller than him and was at least three times wider than a normal nodachi.

He got jolted out of his thoughts when the girl bowed to him and concurrently got the sword out of his sight. "I'm a temporary worker for the Pavilion, I'm so sorry if you have waited," she told him with small tears in the corners of her eyes.

"It's fine… I've entered this room barely seconds ago."

"Still, it should have been my duty to welcome you the moment you entered!" She shouted back in the split of a second.

"It's fine…" Rakna didn't know what to say. This girl looked so stressed right now but she also seemed to be seeking reprimands. "Could you just help me deposit my money now?"

"Ah! Yes," she said with a beaming expression and as she was heading toward the open side of the counter, she tripped on the tip of her own sword and face planted on the ground.

"…" Rakna and Pronos watched silently as she stayed still for about three seconds before slowly standing up with even bigger tears in her eyes.

"I-I'm not hurt, okay?" She stuttered out bashfully while rubbing her reddened nose.

'…what is this adorable creature?' Rakna couldn't help but comment inwardly.

After that little episode, she finally was behind the counter as she should have. She sat down on a tall chair, with her sword still in her arms, and smiled brightly at Rakna. "Welcome to the Pavilion's bank! My name is Lanata Ovis Venera. You can call me Lana!" She said in an upbeat voice.

"I'm Rakna Xiorra. This little guy under here is Pronos."

"Nice to meet you," she said and then attempted to put on a more professional expression that only managed to make Rakna, out of all people, find her even cuter.

Pronos was also staring at her with glittering eyes though it was more because he thought her hair and clothes looked very comfortable to sleep on.

"So, how can I help you today?"

"Ah… yes. I want to deposit my money."

"Understood. Do you have an ID?"

Rakna nodded and pulled out his badge. When Lanata saw the emerald object, she gawked at it in pure awe. "Ah!" When she noticed her behavior, she promptly stood up. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stare- Ow!" she said and tried to bow again only to hit her forehead on the counter.

Rakna's expression twitched as he saw her rub her forehead with teary eyes. 'This is bad. This girl has too much power,' he thought in all seriousness.

"Um, y-you just need to scan your ID on this device and input the amount you want to deposit. If this is your first time, you will have to also set a personal lock," Lanata said while handing him an object that strongly resembled a credit card reader.

Rakna reached for it and swiped his badge over the screen. His ID was then displayed on it and a message appeared to tell him to choose a 12-digit code. He lifted an eyebrow and glanced at Lanata who looked back at him with a tilt of her head. Then, when she saw his frown get deeper, she yelped and turned around with another apology.

Rakna shook his head with a sigh and entered his code. Then, the message turned into a request to get his fingerprint. He blinked in surprise and pressed his thumb on the screen. It quickly made a scan of it and then asked him to inject mana into the device.

"This is quite an extensive security," he muttered unconsciously as he channeled a sliver of mana.

"Yes," Lanata said and turned around after confirming it was okay. "At the end of the day, the bank is something that is derived from the System mechanics but was created by the Pavilion. It is thus susceptible to hacking. One can never be too prudent."

"Hm, does that mean the System has a sort of infrastructure that can be programmed?" He asked as he entered the amount of Talys he wanted to deposit before his System made a confirmation.

"Yes! The Pavilion has the best programmers in the entire System and amongst them is even the holder of the Nirvana Skill; Cypher Dominion," she told and received the scanner back. She took a look at the number of the operation and typed it on one of the tactile monitors in front of her.

"All right! Everything went well. 50 000 Talys have been successfully been transferred," she said with a smile before her mind caught up with a few things. "Eh? 50k? Emerald? New account? New Host? Yesterday?" She mumbled to herself as if she was trying to find the solution to a puzzle.

"Well, it was a pleasure meeting you, Lana. It was a nice contrast to my shopkeeper," Rakna uttered and she looked up startled.

"Ah, huh, yes. The pleasure was mine, Sir!"

"Call me Rakna. A natural exchange if I call you Lana," he said with a wave of his hand and turned around toward the exit. "See you again."

"Yes! Please come again, Rakna," she said with a happy smile and Rakna opened and closed the door with a slight curve on the edge of his lips. When he was out, he looked at the time and headed to one of the training rooms next.

When he passed the doorstep, he was faced with a spacious white room lit by a roof entirely made of tiles of light. When he placed a foot inside, the door closed automatically and a synthetic voice echoed throughout the place.

|| Welcome, Host. I am at your service for as long as you remain here. Please demand, and I shall present you with the training environment you require. ||

Rakna hummed. "Elaborate."

|| Acknowledged. I am the Training Room's Interactive Interface. I am connected to the spatial warehouses of the Pavilion and can offer you any equipment you'd need for your training. It is possible for me to give you something as simple as a target or even fill this entire room with water if you so desire. ||

"Interesting. For now, I do not need anything. Stay on standby."

|| Acknowledged. ||

Rakna walked to the center of the room and unwrapped Sonata from around his neck. He put it on the ground next to him with Pronos still unwinding in it.

"All right, first of all…" Rakna muttered and closed his eyes. His skeleton started bending and his fur grew until he had to store his clothes. When he opened his eyes, he was in his wolf form. He looked back at his tails and grunted when he saw how many of them there were.

He had tried to control the number of tails he grew in this form by trying to feel the establishment of the nerve connection during his transformation and cutting them off with mana and soul power.

However, ultimately, the number of tails he ended up with was eight.

"Well, at least I know it's possible," Rakna mumbled then sat down. He mentally commanded his spatial ring and pulled out the Gigantism pill. He grabbed it with his paw and threw it in his mouth before swallowing it.

During the first seconds, he felt nothing but soon enough, his body went through the same thing as Pronos. His whole body radiated a blinding light which, interestingly enough, didn't affect him too badly. At the same time, a System window opened in front of his eyes.

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❮ ◈ ❯

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You have ingested a Gigantism Pill.

Race of the Host: Nine-Tailed Wolf… Error! Royal Luquila Genes Detected. Error! Overwritten Human Genes Detected… Final Correction: Nine-Tailed Werewolf.

Calculating…

…

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Compatibility Quotient: 123%

Gigantism has been learned!

Gigantism has mutated into the Nirvana Skill; Ascension of the Titan.

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Ascension of the Titan: A skill said to have been gifted to the System by Kronos himself after having been saved from imprisonment in Tartarus.

This power allows the user to turn for a definite amount of time into a Titan with unparalleled strength and momentum.

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Effects: Your physical size and attributes increase by 400%. You will have increased regeneration and boundless mana for the duration of the skill.

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Cost: All Stamina. All Mana. All Psychic Power. Three Days of Crippled State.

Duration: (Level*5) Seconds

Cooldown: 336 Hours

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Note: Caution is advised when using this skill. When activating it, your mana, stamina, and mental power will be condensed and released all at once to grant you near unlimited energy for a limited period of time. Because of this, even the most resilient of beings will undoubtedly collapse out of exhaustion.

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❮ ◈ ❯

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"…little guy, Alexa," Rakna spoke as he read the text. "I'm starting to think that it's not only my luck; this System just loves me. What do you think?"

[…]

'…'