《Nihility》 Chapter 0.5: Prologue "Anything?" Avor¨¢, the pontiff of the Church of Space, asked one of the cardinals that just entered her office. ¡°Not a single answer from the Myriad Palace. Pontiff, if we wait much longer our defense lines will collapse, we need to perform the ritual of summoning as soon as-¡± He got interrupted as his body suddenly felt the force of gravity increasing by several times, only managing to avoid being crushed to death due to his high stats and own spatial skills. ¡°Cardinal Ferdinand, I must remind you that the summoning ritual isn¡¯t forbidden without its reasons, it must not be considered so lightly by anyone, even less from someone in the position of a cardinal like you¡± Avor¨¢ scolded Ferdinand like a disobedient child. ¡°I ordered all of the cardinals to read the secret documents about the summoning ritual, so I know you know why it was forbidden in the first place. If we attempt to start the ritual without the proper catalyst, we will end up with a bunch of creatures deformed by the void. So tell me, cardinal, do you want to fight void creatures AND the half-demons?¡± ¡°..forgive me for my foolishness, pontiff¡± Ferdinand said with his head low, the pressure Avor¨¢ was emitting vanishing like it was never there. ¡°If you excuse me, I¡¯ll check the stability of the magical matrix of the ritual¡± Ferdinand left the room after Avor¨¢ gave him her permission to leave. She sat on her chair behind her desk and gave out a long sigh. ¡°It seems that you are having trouble keeping your subordinates in line¡± A female voice came from behind the pontiff, startling her as she teleported from her chain next to the door already standing up and looking at the source of the voice. Behind her chair, next to the closed window, was a androgynous human in a formal suit. Their hair was golden and reached the middle of their back and their eyes were shining in a rainbow color that was constantly changing. The suit itself was an immaculate black, without a single speck of dust or fold, almost as if the suit was made to be exactly the size of the wearer. Avor¨¢ was in position to be able to teleport to a safe place in case of anything this person might try, even though they already teleported to an area she considered safe as her room had piles upon piles of safeguards against spatial magic like teleportation or portals. ¡°I assume you already know but following your customs of presenting oneself when first meeting someone I am Lilith, first Angel of The Dragon King¡± Lilith presented themselves and Avor¨¢¡¯s eyes went wide as she realized who was in front of her. The angel in front of her was none other than the highest position someone in the Myriad Palace could have without being the Dragon King himself, after all Lilith was created by the divine powers of the Dragon King and no one would be stupid enough to take her presence lightly. ¡°O-of course, Mrs Lilith. I was just surprised at your sudden appearance at my office¡± Avor¨¢ smiled as she prepared a chair for Lilith to sit, to which they accepted. ¡°Would you like something to drink? Perhaps some tea?¡± She said as she took a cup and a teapot from her storage space and place directly in front of Lilith, but they refused. ¡°Perhaps on another occasion. At the moment I¡¯m here to discuss the request your church made to the Myriad Palace with the signature of the king of this country¡± They said, to which Avor¨¢ immediately stored the cup and teapot back inside her storage space and smiled at Lilith before speaking back. ¡°Yes, we are honored to have someone of your stature here to discuss this matter. But first I must ask. If I remember correctly, we just made the request for a spatial matrix that could sustain enough energy to collapse a small pocket dimension, I¡¯m sure such an item wouldn¡¯t require the attention of someone so important like yourself¡± Avor¨¢ asked. Even though she was desperate for the catalyst to finish the summoning ritual, she couldn¡¯t shake the itch in her brain about why Lilith of all people would come personally to discuss something so below her. ¡°If it were any other time you would be correct. A simple spatial matrix like the one you describe is easy enough for us to create that it wouldn¡¯t even be a bother¡± They said as a crystal formed in their hand. ¡°As you can see, it didn¡¯t even take me a second to create such an item, but yet, I¡¯m here¡± They said as the crystal in their hand broke apart and disappeared back inside Lilith¡¯s body. ¡°If I could be so bold as to ask why you, a person who must be so occupied by much more important tasks, would choose to come to this lowly kingdom to discuss our request¡± Avor¨¢ said with a smile as her back was starting to sweat with anxiousness. ¡°I will be honest, If this were a normal circumstance I would not have come here and another one would have been designated to approve or reject your request¡± Lilith said. ¡°Then why-¡± Avor¨¢ started but got interrupted by Lilith. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°My master knows about your preparations for the summoning ritual¡± She said, which immediately made Avor¨¢ freeze in place for a few seconds. ¡°As the pontiff of your church, you must know the reasons as to why it was forbidden in the first place. But not only did you chose to ignore the restrictions and try to use it, you even tried to hide this information from the Myriad Palace¡± ¡°We are so-...¡± Avor¨¢ got interrupted again. ¡°But by a reason only known to my master and the Gods, he chose to not only let you continue the summoning ritual, but lent you something so precious that I cannot even fathom why he would lend this to someone as you¡± Lilith said. Avor¨¢ was confused as to what they were talking about, after all, what kind of spatial matrix would be so important for The Dragon King to be personally involved, but all the doubts she had were washed away when Lilith took what they brought from their pocket dimension. In Lilith¡¯s hand rested an egg that was the size of their own torso. It was a coloration like Avor¨¢ never saw before, it looked like a nebula trapped inside an egg shaped glass, it even moved around in the shell. It was clearly a dragon egg given the size and the pattern on its shell, though to whom it belongs to, there was only one answer that would involve Lilith and The Dragon King both. ¡°Is this the Dragon King¡¯s egg?¡± Avor¨¢ asked, her voice trembling as if she would anger Lilith asking such a question. ¡°Yes, this is my master¡¯s only egg. That¡¯s why I can¡¯t understand the reasoning for lending you his child. But understand your position here. This egg will be lent to you for your usage as the spatial matrix in the summoning ritual, and only that. If something happens with his egg, your nation and your church will cease to exist in the face of this planet. Is that understood?¡± Lilith said with such seriousness that left no doubt that they would follow their threat to eradicate the kingdom and every member of her church. With a nod from Avor¨¢, Lilith said ¡°Good¡± before standing up and walking around the desk to give the egg to Avor¨¢, who received it and almost fell to the ground when Lilith took their hands off the egg, it weighted next to 200 kilos, Avor¨¢ suspected, to be able to almost knock her to the ground like this. After Lilith had vanished like she was never there, with the only thing that confirmed she was in fact there was the egg resting in Avor¨¢¡¯s arms. Without a moment''s hesitation, she called four cardinals who rushed in and helped her to bring the egg to the grand hall where the summoning ritual would be happening. After placing the egg in the middle of the ritual, suspended in the air by magic. The four cardinals and the one hundred bishops hurried to finish the adjustments to the ritual to allow for something so powerful as the Dragon King¡¯s egg to be used as the catalyst for the ritual. Big columns of complex magic circuit rose to the air as the bishop drew them and placed inside them jewels so precious that simply using them as they were being used right now would throw the kingdom in an economic crisis, but it was what was necessary for them to survive the plague that were the half-demons. Next were five available cardinals of the eight in total that the church had. Ferdinand and the other cardinals used a skill called [Collaboration] to synchronize their magic, casting a high level spatial magic called [Dimensional Collapse]. A single cardinal using [Dimensional Collapse] would be enough to compress a space of 10 cubed meters down to a single centimeter, crushing everything inside with the same force as a mountain, but as the five cardinals each compressed the same area synchronizing their magic, the area encompassing the ritual, space itself started to collapse into itself and only held together by the ritual. As the entire ritual area was compressed down to the size of a dust particle, the space it once stood was now empty, but before the universe could refill the nothingness with more space, Avor¨¢ threw ten white diamonds that danced around the edge of the small void created by combining five uses of [Dimensional Collapse] before connecting all of them with her magic. The diamonds stood still with a single line of magicules connecting all of them as it surrounded the void, with a twist of her hand, the diamonds turned the tip of its facet to the void while her other hand touched it. ¡°[Black Hole]¡± She chanted and the edge of the void became bright as millions of intricate magical circuit drew themselves in the nothingness before they all fell into the center, the compressed ritual, it engraved itself on the barrier the ritual created and compressed it way further than its Schwarzschild radius, collapsing it into a true black hole. ¡°[Black Nova]¡± She chanted at the same time as she channeled the magic through the diamond link, making them shoot a pale white light into the newly formed black hole. Immediately the world shook as the black hole decompressed all at once, and the only reason Avor¨¢, the cardinals and the bishops weren¡¯t throw into the walls of the grand hall was because they each were wearing dimensional anchor amulets head to toe, but even then some of the weaker bishops were thrown a few meters behind as space bent all around them. Those who managed to keep in the same place were now inside another room filled with people who were wearing strange clothes, but they all had terrified expressions on their faces. Avor¨¢ dismissed the results of the ritual for the moment, her eyes focusing in the center of the room. Where it looked like something should be in there judging by the strange room she found herself in, it was replaced by the floor of the grand hall the centerpiece of the ritual was placed, and in there, suspended in midair by the magic that still hold it there, was the egg that was entrusted to her. With a sigh of relief, Avor¨¢ took a step forward to retrieve the egg and return it to its owner. As she placed her hands on the egg, relief turned to horror as the egg cracked and shattered into dozens of pieces, revealing nothing but a single white scale inside. Chapter 1: Last School Day I woke up to the sound of my dad calling me from the door to my room. I got up sluggishly and sleepy as usual before looking in his direction as I walked closer. "Hey, sleepyhead, I have something to give you. But why don''t you go take a shower first? I''ll be waiting at the dinner table" he said as he patted me on my head and left before I could say anything to him as my sleepy brain wasn''t fast enough to think of something to say, so I just decided to take a shower like he said. I entered the bathroom, undressed and turned the water strong enough for it to be cold to make me awake properly. After a few seconds of cold water to shock me awake, I slowly closed the faucet to decrease the water pressure for it to warm up as the electric shower''s heat began to win over the cold water. I let the warm water wash over me and warm me up after the initial cold water as I looked over at the mirror above the sink, seeing my own reflection on it. I didn''t exactly know when it first began, but as long as I could remember I couldn''t really see myself in the mirror. Of course, I could recognize my body in the mirror, for the last few years that is, but I always felt the image I saw wasn''t really me, even though for all that matters it was me. My parents took me to a million different doctors and psychologists, but they all reached the same conclusion, that is, they had no idea what could possibly be wrong with me. At first I thought the reflection I saw in the mirror was an entirely different person, but then I learned to recognize it was an image of myself, but the feeling of not really seeing myself still lingered. "Marcos? Is everything okay?" I heard my mother calling me as she knocked on the door, shaking me back to reality. "Yeah, I''m fine. Just needed to use the bathroom" I said, not really thinking of what I just said and where I was. "I mean, yes. Where else would you take a shower if not for the bathroom?" She laughed, only then it dawned on me that I said I needed to use the bathroom, while in the bathroom. "That''s-That''s not what I meant!" I said, embarrassed as to how silly my response to her initial question was. "Don''t worry, little tiger. Just don''t sleep in there. We''re not made out of money to pay for the water bills" She said and walked away from the door. I finished showering, changed to my high-school uniform and went to the dinner room, where my dad and mom were already there, eating a small breakfast that consisted of a toast with cream cheese and a cup of coffee for my mom and a plate full of eggs, sausages, cheese, three pieces of bread rolls and a jar of orange juice for my dad. I always asked how he managed to have a lean body while eating so much food like that and he always answered with "I use a lot of energy maintaining this form" and refused to elaborate further than that, so I eventually just gave up asking. I sat down at the table, where waiting for me were a cup of orange juice and a plate with a slice of chocolate cake and another of carrot cake with that hard chocolate icing that I always loved. Right next to the two pieces of cake was another plate, this one filled with slices of ham, cheese and strips of bacon next to a pair of bread slices. There was yet another plate at the table, this one full of meat. I looked at the three plates silently and then I looked over at my mom who turned her head to my dad''s direction. "When I caught him in the kitchen he had already made this much" She said. "I at least prevented him from making more of the beef. Though I arrived late as he was already preparing to make more" I looked at my dad and said "do you plan to fat me up or something?" His response was just a shrug as he smiled with a sausage sticking out of his mouth. Thankfully he tore it in half and swallowed the one in his mouth before speaking. "I couldn''t let today pass. It''s your birthday after all!" He said as I blinked in confusion. "And that''s the only reason I allowed him to make this much food for breakfast instead of making him throw it in the fridge" my mom said before getting up and Majin her way to me before hugging me tightly. "My little tiger has grown so much. I can''t even believe today you''ll be making 19 years" "Mom!" I said as I struggled to breath as her hug was strong enough to asphyxiate a lion. "I told you already to stop calling me little tiger!" I spoke embarrassed at her nickname for me. "You say this now, but I still have the marks your little teeth have done on my breasts. And I do remember how anything you put your little hands on would immediately go to your mouth as you tried to bite them" She said before finally letting me go. "I know we settled on making a small birthday party at a pizzeria with the family and your friends on the weekend, but I prepared something for you" My dad said as he placed a small box in front of me. I opened the box without thinking much but when I saw the box''s contents I couldn''t help but raise my eyebrow as I looked over at my dad and said "did you maybe mistake the box you were supposed to give me with a gift for mom?" I said as I picked the box''s content. Inside the box, now in my hand, was a light blue crystal bracelet that had a dark blue, green and golden stripes intermingled inside of it. "Hmm, no. That''s for you" He said. "Dad¡­" I said, looking at him dead in the eye. "I''m not into jewelry¡­" "Don''t worry" He laughed. "Think of this as a family heirloom, it''s older than this country" He continued. "It''s from your home country? You never talked about it" I said, and my mom agreed. "It''s true, honey, you never really said anything about where you were from" My mom said. Stolen story; please report. "Maybe another time, today is Marcos'' day" He said, looking at me with shining eyes. "I-... okay, then. If it''s a family heirloom" I spoke and began to put the bracelet back into the box, but my dad interrupted me. "But first, you need to wear it" He said, causing me to look at him with a dumbfounded expression. "It''s a family tradition. The one receiving the bracelet must wear it for at least one day, as you need to understand the importance of it" I kept looking at him, but he kept his smiling expression without wavering a single moment, making me let out a long sigh. "You do realize people will make fun of me if they see me using something like this, right?" I asked, but my dad just kept smiling. "...fine. I will wear it for today" I said as I picked it up again and put my hand through it. It somehow was the perfect size for my hand to slide easily in and to not fall out. "There, are you happy?" "Very much, thank you. It''s just for today, don''t worry" My dad said. "Now, finish your breakfast. You don''t need to hurry, I''ll take you to your school today" After eating my breakfast and gathering my things, I left with my dad for my high-school. The trip there went without anything worth mentioning, but it was a slow trip, taking up to about an hour, due to the traffic of S?o Paulo, but we got there in time before my classes started. As I was leaving the car, my dad stopped me for a moment. "I just wanted for you to remember that, your mother and I love you. No matter what happens we will be waiting for you" He said. "...Why? Did something happen? Will something happen?" I asked, confused with the strange thing my dad spoke, but he just smiled before speaking again. "I just wanted to make sure you remember this simple fact. Good luck out there. Me and your mom will be waiting for you to get back" He said and left. I stood there for a moment, looking at the car as it drove further away until it turned in a crossroad and vanished behind a building. "...What¡­What just happened?" I said to myself as I walked to my class. As I entered my class, only half the people were there, as expected as the bell for the beginning of classes hadn''t gone off yet. I sat down in my chair in the middle of the classroom as I waited for the class to start. "Hey Marcos. Happy birthday" Leonardo, one of my best friends, said as sat by his side. "Thanks. Where''s Alex?" I asked him. Alex, my other best friend, was missing from her chair. "She went to the bathroom, I think she''ll be back in a bit. By the way, what''s that on your arm?" He asked, pointing his finger at the bracelet. "My dad gave me. Apparently it''s a family heirloom and it is tradition for the one receiving it to wear it for a day" I answered as I showed him the bracelet. "It''s pretty. If I had one I would gift it to my girlfriend" Leo said as he looked at my bracelet, examining it as he imagined the face his girlfriend would make if he gave it to her¡­ or I thought he imagined, tho it''s pretty obvious what''s passing through his head right now. "Oh, Marcos, I heard it was your birthday today" I heard Vinicius'' voice coming from behind, causing me to internally sigh as I turned to look at him. "Yeah, it is" I said. "I wanted to congratulate you for being a year closer to death today, and¡­ oh, what''s this? Finally deciding to give up your masculinity and turn into a girl? Will you place breast implants too? Will you cut your dick out?" He began trying to bully me after he saw the bracelet. "...Vinicius, the United States in 1990 called, they want you back" I said after his failed attempt to bully me. No, really, I think he watched too much American television and adopted the personality of those generic bullies from the 90s. Vinicius was about to begin a discussion, but the bell signaling the beginning of classes rang, making him leave to his chair with an angry face and sat down quite violently. Alex then appeared suddenly as she bolted into the classroom and sat down moments before our teacher arrived. "Hey Marcos, happy birthday" She said as she gave me a hug. "What''s with the bracelet?" She asked and I told her the same thing I told Leo, but our talk was cut short by the teacher beginning his class. During the long and boring class I began to notice white lines forming on the ground. They looked like geometrical shapes and weird drawings. "Hey, do you guys see that?" I quietly asked Leo and Alex if they could see it, but they both looked around and shook their heads. "I don''t see anything. Why?" Alex asked after looking around to where I was pointing. ¡°I swear I¡¯m seeing a bunch of glowing white shapes and-¡± I was speaking when Ricardo, our teacher, noticed us talking and dropped five heavy books on top of the table, creating a loud sound that startled everyone who wasn¡¯t paying attention, including me. ¡°Marcos, I see you already know the subject I¡¯m currently explaining, as you ignored my explanation to talk with your friends. Would you mind coming to the front of the class and teaching your classmates?¡± He spoke in an angered stern voice. ¡°Sorry, Ricardo¡± I spoke as I looked downwards where I kept seeing the white lines forming all around me. He returned to teaching us about our independence war and I just kept quiet during the rest of it, just looking at the ever increasing shapes. It kept increasing until the class ended and the teacher left the room, when it stopped increasing in quantity and just stood there. I noticed it was all around the classroom, except in one spot right in the middle where I was sitting. ¡°So, what we¡¯ll do abo-¡± Alex began but stumbled backwards as she brought her hand to her face. ¡°Ouch, I hit something¡± ¡°Are you al-¡± Leo tried to walk towards her but also stumbled backwards after trying to pass where there was a circle around me. My heart sank when I thought about what it could possibly mean. As I got up to test if my theory was true, that there was an invisible barrier keeping me inside the circle without lines in the floor, the classroom door slammed shut hard, surprising everyone in class. The nearest student to the door went to it and tried to open it, but struggled to do it. ¡°Guys¡­ I think it¡¯s stuck¡± He said as he tried to pull the door open, but it wouldn¡¯t budge. People started to panic and crammed together to open the door, but it was sealed shut. A tremor shook everyone and everything inside the room, causing some of the students to fall to the ground and some of the stuff in the shelves to fall, increasing yet more the anxiety levels of everyone except me. The moment the tremor started, I was assaulted by immense pain in my whole body. The pain was so intense that I threw up and fell on my knees on the ground almost immediately after it started. My vision became blurred and my ears were ringing in a deafening manner. I could barely resist just dropping down as everything I could feel burned with pain, even places I didn¡¯t know could hurt hurted like it was being torn apart by a meat grinder. My mouth was open in a silent scream as I didn¡¯t even have the strength to actually scream. Through my blurred vision, I saw columns rising in the corners of the room and beginning to shine. My mind barely registered the columns, but I noticed people looking at them and at the floor, meaning it became visible for everyone and they were panicking and tried to open the sealed door and even break the windows, but nothing worked. It was like the room became separated from the outside world, and I became separated from the room as I saw Alex trying to reach me but being blocked by an invisible barrier, she even tried throwing chairs at it but it didn¡¯t work. I heard a cracking noise and all the air around me rushed to somewhere I couldn¡¯t see, leaving me in a literal vacuum chamber. I began asphyxiating almost immediately and I knew it wouldn¡¯t last long enough, but even that was cut short when I saw space around me breaking apart and vanishing into a dark nothingness. The last thing I saw was the whole room being engulfed by a bright light, then everything faded to black Chapter 2: White Dragon Everything was a haze, I couldn''t see, I couldn''t hear, I couldn''t feel, all I could do was exist but even that was difficult. It felt like if I didn''t resist, even for a moment, I would vanish into nothingness, forever lost. A part of me wanted to give up, to let the nothingness around me to consume me, and it was exactly what happened. I felt that small part of me that gave up breaking apart like a sand castle when the tide is high, leaving nothing behind but fragments of what once was a thought. It only served to solidify my will to not give up. It kept going for an untold amount of time. And just as I felt that I would never leave this void, a warmth spread through me. I didn''t know what it was, but I could tell it was not there to harm me in any way. I began losing focus as this warmth filled my body though I still managed to understand a sudden presence appearing around me. It was so big it felt like it encompassed everything, yet it didn''t feel suffocating, at least, not more than the black nothingness I was floating through was already.
[ Restarting reincarnation cycle previously interrupted ]
It wasn''t a voice, nor a floating box of text in front of me, but I somehow still could understand what the presence was saying, and not because it was speaking to me, no, I was conscious enough to know that, it was merely speaking out loud and I just so happened to hear it.
[ Soul energy cannot be extracted. Repurposing energy. ]
[ Soul harmonization in progress¡­ Excess soul energy has been condensed into Unique skills [Genetic Dysphoria] and [Knowledge Library] ]
My mind began to drift away again, it was hard to focus on anything. As I slowly lost consciousness, I felt the warmth that spread throughout my body starting to shrink inside me, as it slowly condensed into something inside me, I felt that the majority of its energy was leaking from me and into the nothingness until just a fraction of it was left inside of me.
[ External energy has been forcefully condensed into Unique skill [Spell Planner] ]
And just like that, my mind faded to black.
I don¡¯t know how much time had passed, but my consciousness slowly came back. I still couldn¡¯t see, but this time it was different, it wasn¡¯t the nothingness I felt before, where all I could do was to exist, no, the situation I was in was lightyears away from the nothingness I was. Even if everything was still dark, I could feel my own body, hear the birds chirping in the distance and smell the sweet fragrance of the flowers¡­ I opened my eyes slowly for them to adjust to the light that was so strong it was assaulting my retina, but they eventually adjusted. The first thing I saw was a butterfly right next to my face. It had light blue wings that almost looked like it changed colors as they slowly moved. I could become mesmerized by it if I let it, but I soon noticed where it was resting upon. Beneath the butterfly there was what looked like white scales so small I could mistake for skin if I was looking from some distance away, but the thing that caught my attention the most was how it was somehow connected to my face as it was so close to me I should be feeling it touching my nose and mouth, yet I couldn¡¯t. I tried to move my head, the sudden movement causing the butterfly to take flight and fly away, but the thing right in front of me followed my head movements with perfection. As I stood there on the ground, trying to understand what was happening, as my mind was still somewhat a blur, I began feeling something between my legs, or better, I began feeling something alongside my legs, almost I was having the sensation of a body part that shouldn¡¯t be there¡­- I stood up quickly, using my hands to propel me backwards and tried to use my legs to stand up, but I suddenly feel a strange weight in my back and fell backwards, hitting my head in the soft grass. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. As I stood there on my back for a few moments, the world upside down around me I noticed that a feeling that I felt my whole life wasn¡¯t there anymore. The feeling that there was something wrong with my body wasn¡¯t there anymore, and everything felt just¡­ Natural. I moved my head to look at the sky. It was blue and I could see the clouds high above me slowly moving from left to right and the sun was shining right in the middle of the sky, meaning it was noon in wherever I was. I took a deep breath, the fresh air calming me down. I pulled my hands up and took a look at them. I was waiting to see a pair of normal human hands, but when I saw a pair of scaly hands with small claws at the point of each one of the four fingers I now had I was surprised. ¡°Okay¡­ this is new,¡± I said as I opened and closed my hands. It was weird only having four fingers after years of having five, but I couldn¡¯t say it bothered me that much. I lifted my head and looked at the rest of my body, that still was laying on the ground. If it wasn¡¯t obvious for my arms being covered in white scales and having only four fingers, I somehow wasn¡¯t human anymore. My whole body was covered in scales and my legs now looked like the hind legs of a dog. That¡¯s why I fell, I thought as I looked at my legs. I looked at the ground behind and between my legs and I saw something long and white. ¡°A tail?!¡± I exclaimed. ¡°I have a tail?¡± I moved my newly discovered tail across the ground, feeling the grass touch it as I dragged it in an arc, finally understanding where the sensation was coming from. There was one more sensation that I was feeling that was new to me, it was on both of my sides and I had a feeling of what it was, but to make sure I turned my head and took a look. Sure enough, I was right, spread on the ground on my sides were a pair of membranous wings. It took me a moment to let it sink it, but I wasn¡¯t human anymore, I somehow turned into a dragon after whatever happened at my class- I rolled on the ground and got up, but instead of trying to stand on my legs like normal, I had to stand using all of my four limbs. I was sure it would feel weird, standing up on all fours, but it was a surprisingly natural thing to do. I looked around, trying to see where I was, but everything I could see around me were trees and bushes, and considering there wasn¡¯t a nest or egg pieces around me, I wasn¡¯t born here but just popped into existence like a transporter would do in those sci-fi novels. ¡°I wonder what happened to them¡± I thought outloud, not expecting to receive any kind of answer as I was just trying to accept that I wasn¡¯t in my class anymore, and considering the forest I was in, I wasn¡¯t even in the city anymore. For all I knew I could be somewhere totally different, like the middle of Asia, or worse, another planet altogether. [Information not currently available] A voice echoed in my mind and I jumped in the air as it scared the hell out of me. I looked around, trying to find the source of the voice, but the only thing I saw were more bushes and more trees. ¡°Hello?¡± I asked, but no one answered. ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± I asked again, but again, no one answered. ¡°Who spoke just now?¡± [Answer: You] The voice answered again. I turned around, but there was no one there. ¡°Then who are you that I¡¯m hearing?¡± I asked. [Answer: Unique skill [Knowledge Library] ] It answered me. ¡°Unique what?¡± I asked dumbfounded like I just heard the most ridiculous thing ever, even though I was a literal dragon [Answer: Unique Skill] It answered me with an emotionless voice. ¡°The heck is a skill?¡± I asked. I had my suspicions, but I wanted to make sure. I could be a dragon now, but I needed to be sure the things that appear in games or novels were real. I knew that it was kind of hypocritical of me to ask to confirm what skills were considering I literally wasn¡¯t human anymore. [Answer: A Skill is the culmination of all the effort, knowledge and energy into an etheric core etched within the soul] ¡­I didn¡¯t know what I was expecting, but it wasn¡¯t something like that. At least it confirmed to me that I had been ¡°isekaied¡±, as Leo puts it, to another world. Suddenly I heard a rustling sound coming from one of the bushes near me. As I turned my head in its direction, I saw a massive black snake appearing from the bush, and it clearly saw me as it lifted its head and opened its jaw and hissed, revealing multiple rows of massive teeth that easily were the width of my arm. I froze in shock at the scene and didn¡¯t know what to do, then the snake lunged at me Chapter 3: Game Like World The snake lunged at me with an incredible speed. I snapped out of it and tried to jump to the side, but I did it too late and the snake¡¯s teeth cut open a small but long wound on my back leg. I immediately could sense pain spreading from the wound and a burning sensation inside my flesh itself, meaning the snake¡¯s teeth were probably secreting venom and I was poisoned by it. I ignored it for the moment, as if I got distracted by the fact that there was poison on the wound, I would be killed by the snake that was now turning back to me and preparing another attack. This time I was mostly ready and the moment the snake began its jump, I moved to the side and raised my arm, exposing my claws right in the snake¡¯s path. As the snake was in the middle of the air, it couldn¡¯t dodge easily, but it tried anyway, turning its head around as it moved its body in a strange way to avoid my claws but it wasn¡¯t enough. The moment I felt something touching my hand, I pushed my hand forwards, finding it somewhat difficult as the snake¡¯s skin resisted being torn. In the end, I didn¡¯t inflict much damage to the snake as I would have liked. It had a medium gouge in the middle of its body and it was not bleeding much. It hissed at me and liquid began dripping from its mouth, melting the grass it fell into and burning the dirt with how acidic it was. My eyes opened wide as I saw it was going to spray acid over me, but before I could do anything a pair of claws grabbed the snake and took off flying away, I managed to take a quick look at it and saw a massive eagle-like creature except it had two arms underneath its wings that looked like a praying mantis scythe. I just looked at it, somewhat dumbfounded, until a sharp pain on my leg brought me back to my senses and I immediately decided to hide underneath one of the trees that had a bigger bush in its shade. I looked at my leg and saw the blood leaking from the wound. It had a yellowish coloration mixed in the red, it was probably the poison the snake had infected me with. ¡°Man¡­How fucked am I?¡± I asked internally, knowing that being bit by a snake could be very serious if left untreated. The bright side is that I wasn¡¯t bitten, but scratched¡­ Except it still managed to leave some of its poison inside the wound and it was now hurting like a million hot needles were being inserted into my leg. I only managed to not scream because I knew that if I began making loud sounds it''d attract the attention of the creatures in the forest, including that eagle-like thing that grabbed the snake. [Answer: The poison¡¯s composition of a Forastid Snake is mainly based on hydrochloric acid that can be lethal if injected directly into the bloodstream of a living creature] My heart sank when I heard it was lethal, but then I noticed something in the words used to describe the venom. It had said it was lethal if injected into the bloodstream, but I don¡¯t think my wound counts as being injected. ¡°Is this wound lethal?¡± I asked mentally. [Answer: A scratch wound from a Forastid Snake can cause serious pain and cause the area around it to dissolve as the acid burns through the flesh of the victim and can lead to infection if left untreated] That made me sigh in relief. Even though it said it could lead to infection if I don¡¯t treat it, at least it said this wound wasn¡¯t lethal. But I have to agree, it¡¯s hurting like hell. I can¡¯t even put my own weight on my leg without flinching. I needed to wash this wound before it became infected, but I couldn¡¯t see anything besides more trees and bushes with small spherical purple berries. An idea came to mind and I grabbed some of the berries on the bush that was closest to me, walking without putting much weight on my leg, which was easier to do with four limbs on the ground than only two as I could compensate using my hands instead of just limping around. With a few berries on hand, I placed one on the ground and observed where it rolled down to. The terrain looked flat, but that¡¯s just with my vision, as the spherical berry began rolling in a particular direction after being put in the ground. I began walking in the direction the berry rolled as I knew that the tendency of water to always flow down to the lowest point in the ground, and that¡¯s where I was walking towards. As I walked, I kept my senses on high alert. The last thing I wanted was to meet another snake to finish what the first had started. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. After walking for a few minutes I had finally found a small stream of water , with each second feeling like an eternity as the pain on my leg kept growing, fortunately it stopped growing after a while, or else I would have dropped to the ground, unable to continue walking. As it was now I could continue walking, but the pain was making me have tears streaming down my face while I walked. After reaching the water, I used the tip of my tail to measure how deep it was. Considering that my tail was a bit longer than I was tall I could measure how deep it was using myself as a measurement unit. I couldn¡¯t exactly tell how large I was because I didn¡¯t know if the things around me seemed the size they were, and I needed to consider that a meter for me a day ago was one thing and a meter for me now could be two totally different things as I my perception of size was out the window at the moment. My tail touched the bottom of the water while half of it was submerged, meaning that I could stand on the river without having to swim on it. I entered the water and when the water touched my wound, it sent a spike of pain through my body that seemed like someone had hammered a steel bar through my leg, making me groan in pain. The water seemingly made the acid stronger for a moment, before the sheer quantity of water in the small river diluted the acid that was still eating through my leg. After the worse passed, I turned to look at my leg and saw a small stream of blood that was bleeding from the wound and being carried away by the water. I knew I couldn¡¯t be here much longer as the smell of blood would attract more creatures to my position, but I couldn¡¯t let the wound out in the open like that or else I risked it becoming infected. I looked around, trying to find something that would help me to at least cover the wound, but nothing I saw would help as the only things I saw were rocks, leaves, berries, some fruit on the trees and flowers spread around the area. ¡°I think I¡¯ll need to improvise,¡± I said whispering. I knew that if I had clothes, I could torn some of it into a makeshift bandage and wrap it around my leg, but I didn¡¯t have any, I was completely naked¡­ A fact that I noticed just now, but I couldn¡¯t afford to become embarrassed at the moment, even though I still felt it. I needed to at least get things somewhat under control before I thought about whether walking around naked as a dragon could be considered being naked. I got out of the water stream and looked around once more, this time I focused on the leaves of the trees, trying to find something that would help. Eventually I managed to find one that looked good enough. It was from a low tree that was half the size of the other trees around it, but had long leaves that arched upwards, almost defying gravity. I approached it and grabbed one branch that was low enough for me to touch it, tearing it from the tree using my claws to pull it off. I looked at the leaf that I managed to get out of it, scanning to see if there wasn¡¯t anything like tiny needles that some plants on Earth had. I was sure I wasn¡¯t on Earth anymore after seeing that bird. I concentrated so hard on the leaf that a small information window popped up in my mind. [Crying Suntree leaf] appeared in my mind as I looked at the leaf in my hands. ¡°what? I didn¡¯t ask a question. Why did this appear?¡± I asked. I somehow knew that it was different from the [Knowledge Library] skill that I learned before, but it felt somehow connected and similar. [Answer: The skill [Appraisal] can provide information about specific objects, creatures or observable phenomena based on the level of the skill and the knowledge the user has] ¡°Ok. This looks more like a world from a video game than real life, but who am I to discuss how things work in a different world?¡± I thought as I shook my head to the absurdity of thinking of a world exactly like those RPGs one can play on a computer. But, if it worked even remotely like them, the [Appraisal] skill could help me identify a lot of things that will be useful if I want to survive or escape this forest. I pulled the leaf out of the stem and placed it around the wound on my leg. The leaf was so big I had to wrap it twice around the wound before tying it up carefully as my claws could easily rip the leaf in half if I wasn¡¯t careful enough. After I had it firmly tied around my leg, a thought crossed my mind. ¡°Do I have a status screen?¡± I thought. The RPG game world idea still on my mind. Chapter 4: Status and Skills ¡°Do I have a status screen?¡± I thought. The RPG game world idea still on my mind. As soon as I thought about it, an information window popped up in my mind. Differently from what I was expecting, that is, a holographic blue box floating in front of me, something that I came to expect with this type of thing thanks to Leo and his anime rants, the information was dumped right into my brain like a memory. I¡¯m not going to lie, it feels like I was accessing an external HD and pulling information from it. The information dumped inside my head was organized.
Name: [Marcos Leandro] Age: 0 Species: White Dragon Lv. 1
Status: Normal HP - 450/500 MP - 500/500 SP - 98/100
Strength - 100N Defense - 100N Magic - 200 Magical Defense - 400 Dexterity - 100 Stealth - 100 Precision - 100
Titles -
Skills - [Racial] Elemental Breath Lv. 1 [Racial] Dragon Scales Lv. 1 [Racial] Passive Growth [100% Remaining] [Unique] Knowledge Library Lv.1 [Unique] Genetic Dysphoria Lv.1 [Unique] Spell Planner [Normal] Appraisal Lv.1 [Normal] Magicule Detection Lv.1 [Normal] Magicule Manipulation
The first thing that I noticed was my name. Right now I had an instead of my name. If I am remembering what Leo told me, it means that I didn¡¯t have a name. But at the same time, right next to it was my¡­ name¡­? Whenever I tried to think of my old name, that being Marcos Leandro Nahala, I felt a sense of disconnection from it, like when someone called you by shouting ¡°Hey!¡± instead of actually saying your name. Besides, for some reason my full name was not displayed on it, just my first and middle name. Maybe it was to save space? I couldn¡¯t be certain. One thing I was almost sure of, something very deep inside me changed and this change made me disassociate with my old name. I still was the same person, at least I thought so, but I wasn¡¯t ¡°Marcos Leandro¡± anymore. That¡¯s what I managed to understand from the little information I had and the feeling of disconnection that I felt. Next were Age and Species. Age being 0¡­ Well, that confirms the theory of reincarnation, if it wasn¡¯t already pretty obvious. And to make it more obvious, I was now a white dragon¡­ I looked at myself and had to agree, everything was pretty damn white. I literally had no unique features, just plain white scales in a dragonoid shape. If you asked for an AI to draw a white dragon it would spit out something more unique than me. Shaking my head I went to the next section of information. The next two sections were something that I could recognize from being a game-like thing, that being health points, mana points, stamina points and stats that affect my overall character. Though I didn¡¯t know what the N stands for and why it is in the only first two stats and not in the others, and I didn¡¯t know what 1 point in each stats meant, so I was clueless if 100 was high or not. Probably not, considering the snake was stronger than me. There was also ¡°Status: Normal¡± which I guessed was for status effects like ¡°poisoned¡± or something like that, but as I wasn¡¯t poisoned and didn¡¯t want to get poisoned it would remain uncertain. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Titles¡­ There was nothing there, moving on. Skills, that was something that I expected was there after seeing MP and SP earlier on my status. The first thing that I noticed was that there were categorizations before the actual skills, those being [Racial], [Unique] and 8[Normal]. [Racial] is obviously tied to me being a dragon, but [Unique] and [Normal] were a little more obscure as to what they were tied to. If I followed RPGs rarity charts, [Normal] were your ¡°everybody has one¡± type of skill and [Unique] is literally that, meaning that I had 3 of those types of skills and no one else would be able to get them. How did I manage to reincarnate with them already? I have no idea. Between the 9 skills that I had, only 6 I could extrapolate what they did and one of them I had already used, that being [Knowledge Library]. The other 5, [Elemental Breath], [Dragon Scales], [Appraisal], [Magicule Detection] and [Magicule Manipulation], I could infer what they did. [Elemental Breath] was the most easy of them, as the first thing someone things of dragons is the fire breath, [Dragon Scales] was probably something related to defense, [Appraisal] is in second place of how easy is to know what it does, that being to scan things, [Magicule Detection] and [Magicule Manipulation] were somewhat easy to understand, the first one allows me to detect this ¡°magicule¡± and the second one allows me to manipulate it, though I didn¡¯t actually know what ¡°magicule¡± was, but I guess asking doesn¡¯t hurt. [Answer: Magicule is one of the fundamental particle of almost all magic phenomena and the main energy source for the craft of spells] Understood. It''s just mana with a different name. I thought to myself after listening to the explanation. The other three, tough, were harder to properly understand. [Passive Growth], [Genetic Dysphoria] and [Spell Planner], if I went by their names only, [Passive Growth] would make me bigger, [Spell Planner] would help me make spells, but [Genetic Dysphoria] I had no idea what it could possibly do. Maybe [Knowledge Library] could help me with this as well? [Information not available] Guess no, then. As I was lost over my status and skills, something had approached through the stream. A splashing sound brought me back to reality as I looked over and saw what looked like a medium sized fish with an open mouth filled with rows of circular teeth that were spinning like a meat grinder. It swam around the area that I was cleaning my wound like it was searching for something, probably the creature that bled in the water, or in other words, me. It''s just a fish. Sure, it has a meat grinder for a mouth, but it still needs to be in the water to live, and although I''m close to the water, I''m not in it, meaning that I''m safe to test my skills. I thought to myself and then began trying to use [Appraisal]. Thankfully I just needed to think about using it and I felt it working. [Species: Rotor Fang Level 9] The information appeared right on my mind, as if I always knew what I was looking at. It didn''t tell me much, but it was a start. The skill was level 1 after all. The fish stirred and turned in my direction the moment the information appeared inside my head as if it noticed me looking at him. He popped his head out of the water and looked at me for a moment. I observed him as well, but it didn''t last long as I saw water flowing to the tip of his mouth and shooting at me like a bullet. I dived to the side, avoiding the hit, and was glad I did so, because I heard it hit the tree behind me and the loud sound of wood breaking apart. When I looked at it, there was a small hole where the water hit the tree. If that had hit me, it would cause some serious damage to wherever it hit. I looked at the fish again, and saw it was preparing another bullet of water. I quickly scanned the surrounding areas with my eyes and jumped behind a tree that was the closest to me. It was just in time, as well, as that bullet hit the corner of the tree, splitting a piece of the bark as it passed through it. "Okay, so that''s magic. If it wasn¡¯t confirmed by now, it''s 100% confirmed now" I said behind the tree that received another shot of that water bullet and shook with how much pressure was contained with such a small sphere of water. "No better time to learn how this skill work" I concentrated on [Spell Planner], if I had to fight magic, I needed to do magic myself. The moment I thought about using it, a mental interface appeared in my mind. In the middle of my vision, there was what looked like a complex circle with geometrical inside it, yet it looked empty, with big holes on it and lines that looked like it should connect with something there. On the left side there were some tabs which read "Shape", "Element" and "Charge". On the right side there was a simple slider button that went from "Simple" to "Advanced", with the slider on the "Simple" and a small lock under it. There was a prompt for me to choose the element, shape and how much magicules I would spend on it, meaning the "Charge" tab was about how much I would charge the spell once finished. I was a bit lost on the interface when another bullet hit the tree, bringing me back to my senses. Okay, if this works as I imagine it does, I need to make something that will help me. Maybe a dirt wall? I thought to myself and went to the "Element" tab. There were the four elements, fire, dirt, water and air that everyone knew from anime and stuff, but it had a scroll bar on the side and a search bar, meaning there were so many I needed them. I''m not going to lie, I felt a little overwhelmed when I quickly scrolled down and saw a giant number of elements quickly passing by. Shaking my head, as the tree suffered another hit, I went to the top of the list and selected the earth element. As I selected it, one of the holes in the geometrical pattern filled with more patterns I didn''t understand. Moving to the "Shape" tab revealed a single search bar. I mentally clicked on it and entered "wall" on the search bar. A simple barrier-like white box appeared beneath the search bar with the name "Wall" beneath it. I mentally selected it as well and watched as another hole was filled with the patterns. Next, I moved to the "Charge" tab, and honestly? It was pretty straightforward. It had two blue vertical bars with "Magical Power" on top of them. The right bar had "Total" and the left one had "Spell" under it, probably symbolizing the total mana I had and the total mana the spell was going to spend. Right now, the spell was at 2%, according to the counter right besides a slider on the left bar itself. Beneath everything there was a "Confirm" button. I mentally clicked it and the last hole was filled in. Above the pattern the name [Earth Wall] appeared and beneath it a "Cast" button also appeared. Clicking to cast made the interface vanish while the pattern appeared above one of my hands. I felt something being pulled from me as the pattern shone and a block of earth rose from the ground in front of me. I grinned as I felt the tree shudder once more after another bullet if water hit it "It''s my turn" I said as I pulled back the interface to prepare another spell. Chapter 5 Water Slime "It''s my turn, now" I said as I pulled back the spell interface of [Spell Planner] and quickly made another [Earth Wall] spell. I kept the same configuration as I casted it next to the tree and crawled my way there. It was lucky too, as the next bullet pierced the wood right where I was standing. I immediately backed away and casted a few more [Earth Wall] between me and the fish. It was the right call as I heard the next bullet hitting the dirt from the wall I had made and piercing a couple of them. I needed to deal with it or just run away, as it is always an option. I chose to fight and pulled the interface from [Spell Planner] again. This time I searched for lightning in the elemental tab and a bullet shape. In the charge tab I still had 87% of MP left, so I cranked the slider to the max before casting it without thinking. The spell formed on top of my finger and somehow I instinctively knew I needed to make the gun gesture with my hand to fire the spell, so I knew what I needed to do. Up until now the water bullets have been consistent on the firing time, meaning there was a casting time for the fish before it could shoot another one. I timed it and ran towards the [Earth Wall] I had made, jumping on top of it just as the water bullet pierced it. Once my legs were on top of the wall, I jumped again, flapping my wings as I did so to gain even more height. I saw the fish, he was preparing another bullet as the water around him flowed around his body before condensing in a small ball in the middle of his mouth. It didn''t look like he saw me yet. I pulled my hand up and aimed at him before I made the gesture of shooting. The moment I finished the gesture, the spell flashed white and crackled with electricity before it shot off. I felt something inside me being drained and I felt dizzy as a massive headache suddenly appeared pounding on my head. I blacked out for a moment and when I regained my senses, I was upside-down on a tree branch and my body was hurting all around. The presence of sticks and leaves around and falling to the ground revealed I had crashed on this tree and this branch managed to break my fall. I tried to stand up, but my feet slipped and I fell straight to the ground, hitting my back on one of the roots. I was paralyzed from the pain as my body slid to the side and finally hit the ground. After some time I was able to finally move. My back and head hurt like hell as I stood up, but fortunately there wasn''t anything broken, at least I thought so. I looked over at myself and only saw some minor scratches that tore off some scales and were bleeding slightly, but nothing to worry about. I looked over at the water where the fish was but saw nothing there. The fish probably ran away as I hit him with that electric bullet. I was glad it did, because I wouldn''t be able to continue the fight with the headache I was feeling. Opening my status screen revealed I had lost 200 HP and all but 5 MP. If my guess was right, the headache wasn''t because I lost HP but because I lost almost all of my MP. If I consider that magic and mana are something closely related with the mind, using everything at once like I did will only cause harm. I shook my head. If that was true, I just needed to be conservative with how much mana I poured into each spell. But first I needed to make sure of one thing. I sat on the ground and watched my MP status for a while. This world was like an RPG, but there are two types of RPG, one that mana regenerates automatically after a while, and one that mana does not regenerate and you need things like mana potions and items to increase your mana capacity and give you the regen ability. Thankfully it looks like it''s the former one, as my MP increased 5 points in a minute, meaning that if I was at 0 MP I would need 20 minutes to go back to max. Knowing that I relaxed a little, but not much as I was still in an unknown area with unknown dangers that could kill me easily enough. I needed to find somewhere to take shelter. Though, finding or creating shelter was going to be quite easy, as I had access to magic that can literally shape the terrain around me. I waited until my MP was back to full before casting more of the [Earth Wall] spell, creating what could only be described as a Minecraft noob house, meaning I had created a dirt hut. The walls were easy enough, just a casting of [Earth Wall] and it''s done. The problem was the roof. This wasn''t Minecraft and the dirt didn''t magically stay in the air without any support, and the dirt on the spell wasn''t magically conjured as well, it was taking the dirt from the surrounding areas to complete, a fact I discovered when I tried to create the roof only for it to use the dirt on the walls before falling to the ground. I tried a few times before I gave up on doing it this way and tried another. The interface didn''t have a "hut" shape, so I ended up just creating another [Earth Wall], but this time as big as I needed and excavated the interior by hand. It took more than I expected with magic and it left me tired and thirsty. Fortunately there was water right outside of the small hut I had made and a quick sip was enough for me. Okay, I had water and shelter done. Next I needed to find food and fire. Fire was easily enough to do with my skill, meaning I only needed to find food. I turned my head towards the small stream of water. If it worked once¡­ I thought and entered the water, letting it wash away the blood that was already drying on my back. I let it wash away for some time until there was no more blood bleeding from the scratches and then promptly left it and hid in the hut I''ve made. Fast forward a few minutes later and I saw the water moving strangely. It looked like a lump of water was moving contrary to the flow of water. It kept moving until it began moving outside of the water. I saw the fish I hit earlier inside of it, except it wasn''t swimming or controlling the blob of water, no, it was partially digested and leaking a red liquid that dissolved in the water and vanished a few centimeters away from the body. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it It was a slime, I was sure. My thoughts were confirmed moments later as the lump of water left the river and kept moving to me like an amoeba in a Petri dish. I walked out of the hut and began walking to the side of the slime, but it somehow saw it, even though it had no eyes, and adjusted its movement to follow me. It clearly could sense me somehow and I wasn''t going to let it get closer to me. I began moving backwards at the same speed which the slime advanced, keeping the distance between us equal. As I backed slowly, I used the opportunity to use [Appraisal] on it. [Water Slime Level 20] The moment I casted [Appraisal] the slime began shedding water like an overflowing manhole before shooting some of it at me. I instinctively turned my head to the side and put my wings in front of me like a shield as something hit them with a wet splash. Moments later my wings began burning like I had placed them over an open fire. As I separated them I saw the white membrane that covered them was bright red and blood was dripping from it. It was a chemical burn, and considering it was a liquid that a slime could throw, it was acid. My thoughts were confirmed as I watched the slime again and saw the now much smaller blob of liquid rolling to me, dissolving every piece of grass that it rolled on, leaving only a clear path of dirt. I pulled the [Spell Planner] screen and made another of the electric bullets I had made earlier and shot them at the slime. The slime stopped after being hit by the electricity that crackled through his body and discharged to the ground. I shot five more times, each one eating a small chunk of my MP, which already was pretty low. A headache started to form after I shot it three more times, probably hinting my limits and that I would pass out like I had a few moments earlier. I stopped shooting, my wings were still hurting like they were on fire, but it would be much worse if I didn''t stop the slime from trying to eat me. I looked at the paralyzed slime as it shrunk with the electricity running through its body. Soon, it started to glow yellow with electricity that arced from its body and hit the ground nearby, and then it started to roll like a bowling ball, straight at me. My eyes opened wide when it came rolling at me with more than triple the speed it was moving a few seconds before. I instinctively jumped to my side at the last second, unfortunately it wasn¡¯t enough to completely avoid it and my leg and the tip of my tail both touched the slime, and I was hit by an electric arch that made every muscle of my body to tense up, accompanied by the burning sensation of the acid. I managed to look at him with my stiff body and casted [Appraisal] once more. [Electrified Water Slime Level 5] That¡¯s what I thought, the slime had changed its species due to my spell, though I wasn¡¯t so certain as to why it lost 15 levels with it, even though it doesn¡¯t seem like any weaker whatsoever. The slime kept rolling fast as a bowling ball on those slippery wood floors, had the same mobility as one, seeing as it was beginning to turn in a wide arch. I needed to do something about it else I would end up as his lunch. Thankfully the way the slime was turning gave me a few seconds to think. If electricity didn¡¯t work on it, what else should I try? Fire? Water? No, they wouldn¡¯t work, it won¡¯t keep still enough for me to boil it and water will only make things worse with the electric arcs it¡¯s expelling¡­ What should I do, what should I do? Unfortunately I didn¡¯t arrive at an answer in time, the slime was almost on top of me, coming at me like a car, startling me out of my thoughts. ¡°RAMP!¡± I shouted as I hit the ground in front of me. A part of the ground lifted up like a mechanical piston at the same time that my head felt like it was hit by a hydraulic press. The next moment, I saw the slime flying off the dirt ramp I had somehow erected like a hot wheels toy car. It flew various meters away from me, but not before one of the electric arcs it was producing hit me square in the head, making everything go white. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ ¡°ARGH!¡± I screamed in pain as a powerful shock jolted me awake, followed by the burning sensation that my lower body was being dipped in lava. Through stiff muscles because of the electricity running through my body I saw the slime covering everything up to my belly, and I saw how the scales on my body were being corroded by the acid and electricity, with blood seeping out of them. I needed to do something, else I was a goner. I tried to cast a fireball, but the moment I tried to bring up the [Spell Planer] interface, a headache hit me like a wrecking ball. No, I couldn¡¯t be out of MP at this moment, I needed to do something. I tried again, and another hit to my head. I tried again and again, each time it felt like my head was being hit with a jackhammer. As despair creeped its way inside me, I tried again and again to no avail. I even began screaming at it as I tried and tried again but nothing changed. Is that it? No, it won¡¯t end like this. I can¡¯t let it end like this. I kept screaming at it while I tried to punch it, throw dirt that I grabbed from the ground at it, but it didn¡¯t stop. Everytime I was trying to cast a spell, any kind of spell, but nothing worked. I even felt blood dripping from my nose and ears. Suddenly I felt something deep inside me pulse. It felt like three circles of energy intertwined. It pulsed once more, releasing a wave of energy that filled my body so much I felt I was going to explode, I tried to control that energy but it wouldn¡¯t budge no matter what I tried. It filled my body like a balloon, but before I burst like one, it found a way out. As everything was happening, I kept screaming at the slime, and it looked like the energy was going to use my mouth as an escape valve. I felt as if it all rushed to my throat and condensed there. Soon, it all left my body through my mouth, a wave of white light blinding and a sonic explosion deafening me. When my vision came back, all I saw was a piece of the forest was simply gone, together with the slime that was eating me before passing out right there Chapter L1: Not a Normal School Day Everything was fine, I was in class with my two best friends, Marcos and Alex, when suddenly he asked us if we could see something on the ground, but neither me or Alex saw anything out of the ordinary. Our teacher, Ricardo, dropped a bunch of heavy books on his desk because we were talking, but other than that the class kept going as normal. After the bell rang and he left the class, Alex was asking what we would do later in the day, as it was Marcos birthday, but stopped after she had hit something. I tried to walk to her, but smashed my face into something as well. Right about this time, somebody had tried to walk out of the room, but found the door locked, and then it started. Marcos began screaming in pain, causing everyone in class to look at him as he threw up on the floor and screamed, then white lines appeared all around the classroom, causing everybody to begin panicking. They tried to open the door and smash through the windows, but to no avail, it seemed that space itself was trapping us inside the room. I mean, what other explanation could you give to a glass window being able to resist a student picking up a desk and smashing it in the window, repeatedly? As I was frozen watching it all unfold. Alex tried to get to Marcos, who kept screaming in an agonizing way, but was being blocked by some kind of force field. She even tried to smash through it with a couple chairs, but like the other student trying to smash the windows, had no success. Then, I heard a cracking noise, and the sound of Marcos¡¯ scream vanished. I watched in horror as he was still there, mouth opened and locked in a silent scream as his tears began boiling in his eyes. Dark cracks covered him, his desk, the floor and even the very air around him before starting to break apart like the very fabric of reality was a shard of glass. Suddenly the whole classroom exploded in a blinding light, blinding me and muffling my and everybody else¡¯s screams. I felt my body being enveloped in something as I struggled to maintain my footing, but not failing as somehow even when my body was all twisted in strange angles, it still felt as if I was standing straight. The thing that enveloped my body began finding its way inside me through every pore of my skin. For a few moments I even felt that my body had been disintegrated before a screen suddenly appeared in front of me [RPG HUD has been initialized] [Friendlist has been initialized and friends automatically added] [Game Inventory has been initialized] There was suddenly a game-like HUD in my vision, complete with a mini-map, health, mana and stamina bars, a clock, an inventory button and a friends button. The mini-map was full of static when I looked at it, but then another screen appeared in front of me. [You have been cursed. [Summon Soul Bind] curse has taken effect] The blinding light faded away, revealing a few people with dark robes clad in amulets from head to toe. Everyone was scared, including me. Frozen in place, seeing those mysterious people appearing after the whole class was covered in a blinding light was enough to root me in place, only snapping out of it after one of those people sighed in relief and walked to the middle of the room. Seeing the person walking near me in the direction of where Marcos was made me rapidly look at his direction, but to my dismay he was nowhere to be seen. The place where he once stood in pain replaced by a strange floor and a giant egg shaped glass that looked like it had a nebula trapped inside it floating in the air, it wouldn¡¯t take me much to actually believe it really was a nebula inside the egg if wasn¡¯t for the fact that once the person placed their hands on it, it cracked and broke apart like dust. "No, no, no, no. This can''t be happening" The person said, horror mixed in her voice. "Pontiff?" Another person, clad with the same robes the first one had, walked through my classmates and reached the first one in less than a second. "Ferdinand, please take them and get them situated. At least we will give them a chance to live. Forget the half-demons, Lilith herself will make sure the entire kingdom will cease to exist" The pontiff said to Ferdinand with horror and sorrow in her voice, as if she had just given up. Her face was still looking directly at the dusty remains of the once egg that occupied the center of the room. Ferdinand looked at the dust on the ground for a moment before looking back pontiff. "I don''t understand. Was the Void pressure too much for it to handle?" He asked, but pontiff just shook her head. "Some form of resonance. Broke space apart like glass and drained what survived from any kind of energy until it couldn''t even hold shape, turning to dust as you saw" She explained before turning around and looking at us. She removed the hood that covered her head, revealing a pair of long ears, long flowing blue hair and amber eyes. Her skin had a chocolate color and was smooth as a baby. If it wasn¡¯t for the situation that I was in, I would certainly fall for her. "Welcome, otherworlders. I''m Avor¨¢, the pontiff of the Church of Theo, the God of Space" The person that now I know wasn''t named pontiff said, "I know you must have lots of questions, but I ask that you follow Ferdinand''s orders for the time being" "I am Ferdinand, cardinal of the church. Follow me, quietly" Ferdinand said, removing his hood as well. He had golden short hair, deep blue eyes and short ears. If I was to determine his species, I would say he was human, but we were probably in another world and who''s to say humans are a thing here? He could be a subspecies of elf for all I know. He began looking around our classroom and after finding the door, he began walking towards it. My body began to move on its own at the same time, it caught me by total surprise and I was shocked when I realized I couldn''t control my own body, not even talk, though I could move my head and eyes slightly to look around, I had almost no control of my limbs. After we started walking and the shock of losing control of my body faded away I began to think about the events up until now. The flash of light and everything was probably a ritual to summon people from another world, a fact that was later confirmed by that woman, Avor¨¢, by calling us otherworlders. And she is an elf! Dude, we''re in an isekai! Like, a real one! Not something I would read on the internet, this is a real-life isekai! True, it didn''t happen by being run over by truck-kan, but whatever. I thought to myself as I looked around seeing the strange architecture of the place. Everywhere I looked the walls and pillars I saw looked twisted, like space itself was twisted, which I didn''t know if it was actually the case or just a clever trick of architecture. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Next, in a classic isekai trope, I called upon my status screen with my mind, and if I had control of my body I would roll on the floor laughing after it appeared in front of my eyes as a holographic floating screen.
Name: Leonardo Silva Monteiro Age: 17 Species: Transmigrated Human Lv. 1
Status: Normal [Cursed] HP - 5.000/5.000 MP - 5.000/5.000 SP - 1.000/1.000
Strength - 1.000N Defense - 1.000N Magic - 500 Magical Defense - 500 Dexterity - 500 Stealth - 500 Precision - 500
Titles - Otherworldly Human Universe Hopper
Skills - [Unique] RPG HUD [Unique] Friendlist [Unique] Game Inventory [Curse] Summon Soul Bind
So, apparently I wasn¡¯t a human anymore, but a ¡°transmigrated human¡±. Sincerely I don¡¯t think it makes a difference? I¡¯m still ¡°human¡± after all. I¡¯m level 1, That¡¯s usually what happens on isekais (most of the time). I have a status condition of being cursed, probably that thing I saw earlier. Then there¡¯s life, mana and stamina, again, pretty normal stuff for a game-like isekai. Then my attributes, a thousand for strength and defense, I guess that¡¯s neat? But without anything to base off of, I can¡¯t be sure, though I wonder what is the N on them, it¡¯s the only two attributes that have them. Continuing, next are my titles, I have two, and they are pretty self-explanatory huh? I am a human from another world and I jumped (more like kidnapped) universes. And finally my skills. The first of my skills is the one responsible for me being able to see the HUD around my field of vision, but I have two more game-like skills, a friendlist and an inventory. Accessing my inventory was as easy as pulling my status screen as I just had to think about it to bring it up. The inventory itself was really game-like, a screen with various slots to store things, though I can¡¯t exactly test them, and it is currently empty. Finally I had the [Friendlist] skill to check, I left it for last because it probably was one of those normal looking friendlist of games. Opening the friendlist yet another screen appeared before me, as I guessed. Though the content of it made my eyes wide a bit. [Maria da Silva Monteiro [ Mom ] - Out of range] [Ricardo Roberto Menezes Monteiro [ Dad ] - Out of range ] [Alessandra Rimenes Alves [ Alex ] - Message ] [M???a???r???c???o???s??? ???L???e???a???n???d???r???o??? ???N???a???h???a???l???a??? ???[??? ???M???a???r???c???o???s??? ???]??? ???-??? ???E???R???R???O???R??? ] There were a few more entries on the list, people I considered friends, but the ones I cared the most were right on top of it. My mom and dad, still on another universe, were out of range, I guess it was too much to ask for an extradimensional telephone, huh? Next was Alex, right behind me, normal, but then the next entry made my mind blank for a few seconds. The text was almost unreadable, but considering how the [Friendlist] was working, it was Marcos¡¯ entry, and it was completely bugged. I assumed that it meant he was dead. I mean, what other explanation would there be for only his name to be this bugged? If he was still in our universe, it would read ¡°Out of range¡± as most of the others, but no, only his specifically has this kind of error. Meaning I can only assume the worst¡­ I closed the screen with my mind as I couldn¡¯t bear to think that my friend was dead, just like that. As I looked around I noticed we left whatever place we were before and entered some kind of mega church, with a lot of statues of a strange creature being depicted. It was like a humanoid cat, and judging by the fact that elves existed, it probably was some kind of therian. As I observed the statues, I noticed a person leaning on one of the statues. When I observed it closely my eyes went wide. It was me! No, I was not joking, it was a complete copy of me, even the same clothes I was currently wearing! He was staring straight at me with a judging gaze that I couldn¡¯t understand, but before I could even process it, I blinked. Huh? Why was I staring at a blank space beneath a statue? I didn¡¯t know. It looked like we were about to leave this mega church, but I was not interested in the slightest in what was outside. I went back to my friendlist and before my eyes even registered Marcos¡¯s name on the list, I mentally clicked to message Alex, on which the friendlist itself closed and another screen opened. This screen was basically Whatsapp, for what I could see, no, seriously, it was basically a copyright infringement of Whatsapp. Anyway, I decided to leave the copyright infringement to Facebook¡¯s lawyers to take up with whoever made this skills and simply messaged Alex [Hey] I sent. . .. ¡­ This is taking a while¡­ [aywghaodwe] Was the thing I received. [Had a stroke there?] I sent [Dude, what the actual fuck is this? How did you place Whatsapp on my head like this?] Alex answered. [It¡¯s the [Friendlist] skill. Tho, I don¡¯t recommend trying it rn] I sent. [The what? wtf are you talking about?] [Think about your status screen, it¡¯ll show up. It¡¯s down there] ¡­ [There¡¯s nothing about friendlist at all, only some weird stuff] What? Alex didn¡¯t have the [Friendlist] skill? [Do you have the [RPG HUD] and [Game Inventory]?] [No¡­? And how are you doing it?] [Doing what?] [Putting stuff on this¡­idk box?] [You mean the little box that has the name of the thing?] [Yes] [No idea, I¡¯m just thinking about writing the name and it ends up like this] [Oh, I see. Anyway, I have this curse [Summon Soul Bind].. Oh hey, I did it] [I have it too, but the other stuff it looks like is different] If she doesn¡¯t have [RPG HUD] nor [Game Inventory] as well as [Friendlist] I¡¯m safe to assume only I have them, considering they are unique types¡­Now that I think about it, I¡¯m pretty dumb for not realizing it sooner. When I realize, we were walking on the streets of a medieval city. The people walking around were stopping and looking at us with confusion in their eyes¡­ Yeah, I somewhat understand you, if it weren''t for the many light novels that I read about isekai I would be pretty confused as well right now. Chapter 6: The Kobold Village 1 I woke up and immediately felt like my head was being split into two as my mind was assaulted with a sharp pain second to only the pain I felt when I died. It was so bad I didn¡¯t even feel my body until a couple minutes later when I began to get used to it a little. I was in what looked like an altar made out of wood and there were wooden structures around me that resembled houses. There were humanoid figures walking about and some of them were close enough for me to actually see them, as my vision was blurry and could only see the shapes and color of the things a few meters away from me. Around me, on the ground around the wooden altar, were human-sized lizard people with green scales. Or were they smaller? I didn¡¯t have a proper sense of scale at the time as I didn¡¯t even know how big or small my actual body was, for all I know I could be the size of a dog or a car. In any way, if I was the size of a small dog, then those lizards were human-sized, which would make more sense than if they were bigger than an entire car. ¡°Kanami!¡± One of the lizards said, his voice was rough and had a kind of accent that one would imagine when they think of snake people talking. As the others heard the one who spoke, they looked up to me and began talking as well. ¡°Kanami¡± ¡°Kanami ka¡± ¡°Mi kanami koala kama¡± They said in words I didn¡¯t understand. I looked at them as they looked back at me with wide sparkling eyes. One of them ran off as the rest continued to look at me, and the ones that were walking through began to approach and begin to speak with the ones that were already there and then staring at me like I was some kind of celebrity. A few minutes later, the splitting headache was starting to wear off and my mind was starting to clear. I began to feel embarrassed with so many eyes on me, but it continued for only a few more moments as another lizard approached, together with the one who ran earlier. This lizard was old, his scales had begun to lose their colors, his left arm was missing and his face was full of scars. He walked up to the altar using the bone of an unknown creature as a crutch. ¡°Kanami ma si. Kala oh tai ko nas¡± He said as he closed his eyes and looked down. The other lizards all closed their eyes and looked down as they pressed their hands together in some sort of prayer. They kept it like this for a while and before I could think of doing anything, The old one snapped his eyes open and shouted at a younger lizard something I couldn¡¯t understand and it ran off before coming back with another one carrying a giant bowl full of all sorts of food. It had a lot of meat, it was 70% meat to be honest, and a few fruits. They placed the bowl in front of me and blacked away while bowing to me. What the hell is happening? I asked myself and my skill. [Kobolds are a species of lizard-like monsters that are rumored to be of draconian descent. Although they are not intelligent enough to be classified as one of the Therian species, their camps are organized enough to be mistaken for an actual settlement. Kobolds have been recorded to worship those in posses of draconic bloodline, be they actual dragons, wyverns or dragonborn] So I¡¯m being worshiped here? That¡¯s it? I thought. Honestly it was a bit unsettling having all those people, or should I say beings, looking at me like I was some kind of god. A rumble from my stomach as the smell of meat entered my nostrils blew all the made me forget everything else. I looked at the bowl of food with saliva dripping from my mouth and, without a second thought, I plunged my head into the bowl and began eating away at the food. It was raw and honestly a bit underwhelming in the flavor, but I didn''t care, I was so hungry at the moment that I couldn''t care less about the flavor, just that it was edible. The kobolds began making sounds, but I ignored them to eat. It didn''t take long for me to empty the bowl, and only then I looked up, only to see more bowls with food being placed in front of me by rather energetic kobolds before falling back. I didn''t see where they went because I went straight to the next bowl and began eating it as well. After eating three bowls full of food I was finally full and stopped eating. The bowls weren''t small by any means, each one was a third of my size, and I ate three of them, meaning I probably ate my own weight in food, where it all went I had no idea. Before I could look around again, I was hit with a sudden dizziness and my eyes grew heavy. The world seemed to slow down as I fell on the wood altar and closed my eyes. I had fallen into a small slumber.
I didn¡¯t know for how long I slept, but when I woke up the sun was still rising in the sky instead of being already high, meaning that I had slept for at least a day. What happened? I asked mentally to my skill which answered. [Draconic biology dictates that when a draconic species, with the sole exceptions being dragonborns and kobolds, consumes its own mass or more of food it will enter a growth slumber, where their bodies will digest the food and add it to their own mass] This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. As my skill explained things to me I noticed the wood altar was smaller, meaning I really had grown up, not by much, but at least I doubled my size. I also noticed white scales loose on the altar, meaning that I had also changed skin like the reptiles of Earth do. I got up, limbs a bit wobbly as I had just woken up and was not used to their new length yet. It took me a few seconds of feeling and flexing all my limbs, even my wings, to get a proper hold of them, and, even though I never actually took flight I felt that I was close to be able to, it was a weird sensation to be honest, but it felt so natural I didn¡¯t think twice about it. I walked to the edge of the altar and jumped to the ground. There was no one nearby, meaning the kobolds were sleeping as it was what? five in the morning? [It is 04:35 in the Darnas Forest time-zone] Close enough. I thought. I caught that my skill named the forest I was in as Darnas, now at least I knew where I was¡­ Who am I kidding? knowing the name of a random forest in another world doesn¡¯t help me at all. With a sigh I pondered what to do now. I was inside this kobold village, somewhere I could take shelter and, judging by how I was worshiped by them yesterday, was going to be served food and water, that took care of basically everything I needed to survive so I could use the time to think about my current situation with more attention. First, what happened in my classroom? [Information not available] ¡­I should have imagined it wouldn¡¯t be so easy. I thought. Anyway, what happened in my classroom? Lines were drawn and then- I shuddered on the thought. It was a memory I very much didn¡¯t want going back to. I had died Yes, I died. It was the truth, even though a voice in my mind screamed at me that it was impossible, that I was alive right now, and it was true, I was alive, but I wasn¡¯t human anymore, was I? I looked at myself again. My white scales shimmered in the cold light of the morning, as if they were jewels. It was a strange thing to accept, and even more strange at how easily I accepted it, but my time as a human had ended in that classroom. Still, I wasn¡¯t going to throw 18 years of my life in the trash just because I wasn¡¯t the same species anymore. So what if I wasn''t a Homo Sapiens anymore? I was still me and that¡¯s what mattered. I could be a slime and it wouldn¡¯t be different. Now that what happened to me was out of the way, the next question I needed to know was: What happened to my friends and classmates? [Information not available] Already counting with my skill failing to tell me, I kept going. Before I died I saw lines being drawn into the entire classroom except where I was, and it was probably because of the lack of those exact lines that I died, meaning that everyone else should be safe, I hope. But even if they were alive, what had happened to them? No, that¡¯s not the right question. What were those lines? [Spatial Tier ritual magic, Theo¡¯s Bridge] ¡­What? I blurted inside my mind and as a strange noise out of my snout. Come again? [Spatial Tier ritual magic, Theo¡¯s Bridge] Apparently my skill did know what those lines were. So, naturally I had to ask now. What is Theo¡¯s Bridge? [Spatial Tier ritual magic, Theo¡¯s Bridge is a ritual magic with the purpose to reach out into the Void and summon creatures from outside the current universe while transforming them to conform to the rules of the new universe the summoned will find themselves] We¡¯ve been kidnapped, in other words. Yes, I was well aware of the isekai genre and how much it involves the summoning of people to other words, but that doesn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t kidnapping on a whole other level, and, should I add, murder as well if I could add my fate to it as well. My mind flashed back to my own family and the family of my friends. If they have been kidnapped (I¡¯m not changing my mind that they¡¯ve been kidnaped and I murdered), then our families would be at a loss. My mom would probably enter a blind rage marching up to the police station demanding that I be found. The scene made my chest hurt from worry and loss. I wasn¡¯t sure if I would ever meet them again. The ground getting wet was the only thing that made me notice that I was crying. I sat on the ground and wiped my tears with my front leg, but to no avail as they kept coming, now accompanied by a sob. I couldn¡¯t stop, I didn¡¯t want to stop. Those isekai novels were so wrong, or had the most unstable protagonists ever. Why would the person who got whisked away from their world, their lives and families never think about them and the weight that they might never return? Sadness turned to grief and then to anger. How dare anyone kidnap people on a whim, to strip them of their lives and throw them into a strange world with no one of their friends, their family, to help them, and to what? To become a hero like the isekai novels like to do? No, that couldn¡¯t stay like that. I wanted to march to the person who did it and strangle them until they returned us to our own world. Finally, anger turned to depression. How would I do it, if I couldn¡¯t even defeat a slime to save my life. I wouldn¡¯t stand a chance with someone that was so powerful they could punch a hole into two universes and kidnap people from there. I was sure that if I were to try, I would be killed in sight, I was a dragon after all, and if those isekai novels, and the whole game industry taught me something, is that dragons were usually the enemies the hero and their team had to defeat to save the world. I was only brought back to reality when I heard a shout of alarm of a kobold, which made me lift my head and see the old kobold running to me with a worried expression, saying something I didn¡¯t understand. After seeing the kobold running to me I had settled on my objective. I had to find my friends and classmates and try to find a way to return home¡­ No, I would find a way back home or make one myself. Chapter 07: The Kobold Village 2 I spent the next few days messing around with my skills, testing their limits and what I could do with them. [Spell Planner] was the easiest. I could basically do anything I wanted with magic, as long as I designed the spell with it. On my second day in the village I found it had a basic and advanced setting. Switching the skill to the advanced setting gave me a headache just looking at how many options there were, and that was ignoring the fact that I had to draw the spell myself, instead of it just plotting down a pre-made part that I combined with others as the basic did. That is to say that I switched it back to basic, at least until I had a proper handle on what I was doing. The other Skill I messed around with was [Appraisal]. I appraised everything I could, even going so far as giving myself a headache over it, and now it stood at level 3. It was low, yes, but considering I wasn¡¯t in an actual video-game, only in a world that had skills like games, I supposed the leveling speed was decent. Of course, I wouldn¡¯t actually know it, because I had no one to compare with, the kobolds weren¡¯t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. They had beginning speaking with me, but I couldn¡¯t understand a thing, so naturally I had asked [Knowledge Library], which now is at level 2, to translate, but the response I was given was [The Kobold species does not possess sentience, as such their language does not have a language skill associated with it, meaning it does not have a direct translation to any known language] Then I had tried again, asking what the kobold had said to me, and it did the trick [As the Kobold species does not have a language skill that encompasses their language due to the lack of sentience, the sentence the kobold has spoken can be best translated to "Dragon, sir, you let us use your pretty, big white scales to show we loyal to you?"] Yeah, they didn¡¯t know how to properly talk, but it didn¡¯t bother me. As the question the old kobold, which I now knew was the ¡°chief¡± of the village, had asked me? The answer was dangling on almost every kobold¡¯s neck, a white scale being held in place by a makeshift string. I will admit, it was a little uncomfortable with how much they were worshiping me, and now carrying my loose scales around their necks with pride. Returning to the matter of my skills, [Magicule Detection] and [Magicule Manipulation] were at levels 3 and 2 respectively. When the [Magicule Detection] leveled up to 2, it felt as if my eyes were opened to a new world around me. I could see the flow of magic in the air and water, and of course it can be a bit distracting and overwhelming but I learned to tone it down to just feel it around me, not see with my eyes. When it leveled to 3, I began feeling (I did not try to see it with my eyes) on solid objects, even on plants and animals tho in a minor way. The rest of my skills, [Elemental Breath], [Dragon Scales], [Passive Growth] and [Genetic Dysphoria] were still a mystery to me as they did exactly. Back to the present, I was currently roasting meat the kobolds brought me after their hunter groups came back to the village. I learned pretty quickly that I could use heat directly and cook the meat perfectly instead of igniting a piece of wood to make a campfire. If I didn¡¯t know it was literally heat energy coming out of my paws roasting the meat, I would say it was a microwave power. The first time the kobolds saw me roasting the meat they were curious as they didn¡¯t cook their food, something I realized after those bowls they offered me. Initially I thought they just offered me raw meat because I was a dragon and supposedly an apex predator, in other words, a creature that usually eat raw meat, but after observing them have their mutual feast I noticed that no meat or vegetable were properly prepared, they just cut the meat in edible chunks and mixed them with vegetables and ate them. After I presented them roasted meat and roasted vegetables they immediately switched to eating those, literally, they stopped eating after the first kobold I gave it too made a sound of joy, some even spited the food back onto their bowls and came to me to prepare their food as well (the old kobold shouted at those who spit the food back and tried to give it to me). I eventually grew tired of roasting food to the entire village and just showed them how to do it the usual way. I placed a pile of wood in a small hole I dug in the ground with magic and ignited it with a small flame, then roasted the meat using sticks as to not burn myself and was surprised that there was one kobold who could make a small flame to ignite the campfire and made one of their own, mimicking my movements as I rotated the skewers for it to cook evenly. Yeah, I taught some kobolds how to cook basic food, but I¡¯m no Master Cheff, just using my own knowledge. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Tomorrow would mark the first week since I arrived in this world. I couldn¡¯t stay in the kobold village forever¡­ I mean, I could live in the kobold for how long I wanted to, they seemed to care for me and take care of my basic needs, but I needed to find my friends, wherever they are, and find a way to go home, but for both of my objectives I needed to know more about the world I was currently living, and my skill didn¡¯t had all the answers, or at least I couldn¡¯t give me the answers because it was too low level, meaning I had to leave this place and I was going to do it tomorrow. I looked at the sky where the sun was about a quarter until it began setting. It was still early in the afternoon, but I went to sleep in one of the huts they gave me on the second day. I needed to leave in the dead of the night or else the kobolds wouldn¡¯t let me leave, I know because I had already tried, they stopped me with worried expressions and I returned by pure guilt pressure, I wouldn¡¯t let it stop me now. I woke up in the dead of the night as planned. The moons were high in the sky, yes, moons. The first time I noticed there was more than one made me stop and stare. The bigger one had an iridescent quality to it, almost as if its color shifted as it orbited the planet, and the other one seemed much more like the moon I was familiar with, except it had a massive crater on it, probably a massive asteroid hit it, or the bigger moon, I didn¡¯t really know and my skill didn¡¯t spit any valuable information to me. I slowly made my way out of the hut and looked around, trying to see if any of the kobolds were awake, but they seemed diurnal creatures and were all sleeping during the night, which, now that I thought about it, was a little unsettling as we were inside of a forest with dangerous creatures just there, and this village had no walls around it with the exception of some tower-like structure that was basically a mound of dirt in the shape of a tower with loose stones on top of it sitting precariously around it. I stealthily made my way to the nearest patch of forest, passing by one of those tower-like structures on the way. As I passed it by, my feet caught something and a snapping sound was made, I hurriedly looked at the source of the sound to see the tower of dirt crumble and the stones above fall to the ground, making a bunch of noise. It had hit me, those towers weren¡¯t there for decoration, they were there as an rudimentary alarm system, and I had accidentally tripped it. I ran. I didn¡¯t want to deal with the kobolds guilt tripping me again. I know it will make them sad, because I was kind of feeling bad for them because I abused their goodwill towards me. I ate their food, slept in one of their houses and just like that I was leaving. It hadn¡¯t completely abused them as I taught them how to make a campfire and how to roast their food before eating, but I still felt like I was in the wrong, even though I shouldn¡¯t feel like that. Because of the dense foliage of the part of the forest I chose to run into, I didn¡¯t see the ledge of a cliff before I suddenly ran over it. I was in the air for a few seconds before I managed to open my wings to turn my uncontrolled fall into a glide. I sighed in relief that I was a dragon and not a human, because if I was still human I would be dead right about now. The cliff I ran over was gigantic, probably around three hundred meters tall, but as I was now a dragon, with wings, I was now gliding through the air. The scenery was something breathtaking. mountains of green run along a deep valley with a wide river in the middle. If it wasn¡¯t for the clear river dividing the trees, it would be an almost infinite sea of green with some red and blue patches over it, probably some kind of magical tree, considering magic was a thing. The moons were just above my view, illuminating the entire valley with a pale light making me wonder how the view would be once the sun rose to the sky. My wings were starting to hurt after a while of gliding, I knew it was because they weren¡¯t fully prepared to sustain my body in the air and they were beginning to tire. I took the opportunity to observe my fully open wings, a thing I didn¡¯t have before. They were big, but not that big. My wingspan was probably the same length as I was long. My wings vibrated in the air as air passed through them, I was tempted to begin to flap my wings, but I knew deep inside that if I tried I would tire them even more, and I was still way high in the sky to do something as stupid as that. I adjusted my angle and followed the river as I glided downwards. The only problem that I realized as I approached the tree lines, was that I didn¡¯t know how to land yet. I couldn¡¯t go to the river for a water landing because the currents were too strong to do it safely and there wasn¡¯t an open space for me to try to land there, I had to land on the trees and descend from there. Wishing myself luck I began circling a spot above a tree to lose speed and once I felt it was slow enough I made a beeline to the tree and extended my claws to stop myself. Except, I was still too quick and hit the tree face first, and before I could recover I began falling again, hitting branch after branch, breaking them as I fell. I only stopped once I hit my belly on a big enough branch, it made the air rush out of me and I began gasping for a few moments as I recovered. I had made it Chapter 08: Lunaspectra Wolf As my body hung from the branch I realized something that I overlooked. I didn''t have a reliable source of food anymore. Water? Well, I could use a spell for that, but food? That''s a different story. I could eat fruits but I didn''t know how long that would last me, as far as I''m aware I needed meat, just like how cats are specifically carnivores. I would need to hunt on my own. At least I had [Spell Planner] to help me with it, because if I had to use my own claws and fangs to do it¡­ yeah, let''s not think about it. I stood laying on the branch for a few minutes as my wings were still sore from gliding. The feeling of soaring through the air, even though it was just gliding through the air, was exhilarating to say the least. I wanted to do it again, but I would get nowhere right now and probably not for a while. My wings felt like they were about to snap while in the air, meaning I was probably still too young to actually fly, just like birds can''t fly right out of the egg. Speaking of which, I never really noticed but for how long have I been alive? I mean in this body. I''ve been aware of myself for at least a week now, but what about before that? Was I in a nest somewhere? No, better yet, do dragons actually lay eggs? I know that fiction on Earth they do, but do they- A snap made me look around while I cursed at myself for zoning out while in a forest that held monsters that could easily kill me if I''m not paying attention. Then I saw a lone wolf walking right below me, sniffing the branches that fell on the ground when I broke them while falling. The wolf had black fur that seemed to shimmer in the moonlight that shone through the trees. White spots seemed to move through its body. I sighed in relief, he wouldn''t find anything and move along. I wouldn''t need to do anything. The wolf looked up. Well, I''ll be damned. He actually spotted me in the darkness, though I guess I''m easy enough to spot as I''m basically a white spot in the otherwise black forest. The wolf stared at me for a few moments before the white spots in his fur I had noticed earlier began moving faster and converging in his forehead. I was confused for a few seconds but my eyes widened when I understood. He was probably charging an attack, and in that case I needed to finish him off before I got finished. I used my back legs to pull myself from the tree and opened only one of my wings to change my trajectory mid air. I knew I made the right call when a silver beam shot out from the wolf''s forehead and passed right where I was a moment ago. The beam cut through the trees behind it like a hot knife cutting through butter. Before I even reached the ground I pulled up [Spell Planner] and made an electric bullet. The moment my feet touched the ground I shot one directly at the wolf¡¯s body. The bullet flew through the air, crackling with electric arcs as it traveled in a straight line. The moment it touched the wolf¡¯s body, I expected for it to paralyze him just enough for me to cast another spell, but instead the bullet passed through him like it passed through the air, the wolf¡¯s body dissipating as mist as the bullet made a hole through it. I barely had time to register his presence right on my side before a mouth full of teeth bit me on my shoulder. I roared in pain and tried to attack him with my claws on my other hand, but just like with my bullet, my claws passed through him as if he wasn''t there, at the same time the pressure I felt on my shoulder because of the bite vanished, leaving a deep wound. Without giving me time to recover, he appeared on my other side and clawed my other shoulder, leaving deep laceration on it as well before vanishing again. I had to act fast. I didn¡¯t know where the next attack was coming from and wouldn¡¯t be fast enough to react. I pulled [Spell Planner] again, and instead of forming a bullet with electricity, I just made a spell that charged with a high voltage. I was hoping I could make a ball of electricity that would hit him if he got too close. I immediately charged the spell and, to my surprise, instead of the electricity condensing in a sphere in my hand, it spread through my body. Electricity crackled around my body, arcing from my body and hitting the ground and the trees around me. A yelp from behind me told me I had hit my target, and that he was going to attack me from behind. I quickly turned around and jumped at the wolf, but he disappeared as mist before I could touch him again. But at least I had used [Appraisal] on him before he disappeared, at the same time I pulled information about his species on [Knowledge Library] [Lunaspectra Wolf Lv. 12] [Lunaspectra Wolves are a species of wolves that have evolved to absorb moonlight and use it to create powerful illusions during the night. According to tales, the most powerful Lunaspectra Wolves can conjure illusions so compelling that they have the potential to blur the line between reality and illusion] Level 12?! I mentally screamed. I was fucked, honestly. I don¡¯t know how I would win with 11 levels of disparity between us, and illusions? Yeah, That would explain the turning to mist stuff. No, really, how would I win against this wolf? I couldn¡¯t attack him directly and I couldn¡¯t react to his attacks. The saving grace right now was that the wolf was apprehensive to approach me while I kept my body covered in electricity. I looked around, trying to find him, but all I could see was the forest and the blue light coming from my scales being covered in electricity. I needed to find a way to deal with him and quickly. I had 500 MP total, but I had already used 100 MP with the skills I casted, and leaving the electricity armor was a constant drain. I could keep it for a few minutes at best. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. I kept looking around, trying to see anything out of the ordinary. I was even paying attention to the sounds around me, trying to find it by when it walked. That¡¯s when I noticed something odd with the light. In a spot directly on my right, in around 5 meters, there was a weirdly shimmering light coming from above, almost as if-! The wolf absorbed moonlight to power itself, that meant that that shimmer in the moonlight coming from the tree canopies was moonlight being absorbed by the wolf, he was right where the shimmer disappeared on the ground. I had found him. I began turning my body to face him, as well as keeping my head moving from side to side, trying to make him think I hadn¡¯t found him yet. The moment I was facing him I lunged at him. When I got close enough, electricity jumped from me towards him, hitting him square in the chest. The moment he was hit, the invisibility he had vanished as if he was put under a spotlight, his surprised face told me he didn¡¯t expect me to find him. The electric arc that hit him gave me enough time to reach his torso and sink my teeth on it. The wolf gave out a loud yelp in pain, but I wasn¡¯t done yet. With one of my front legs I jabbed him in the face, my claws hitting him in one eye and electricity running from my scales through my claw to his eye and directly to his brain. His body fell on the ground, spasming. I needed to act quickly. I didn¡¯t have time to think about the moral implications of what I was about to do, it was me or him. I quickly let go of his torso and jumped on his neck, biting as hard as I could and then pulling my face away, tearing flesh as I did. The wolf spasmed a few more times before gradually stopping
[Experience points have reached the threshold. Individual, nameless White Dragon, achieved Lv. 3]
[All basic attributes have been increased]
I panted after my second ever fight in this world, and I had won. I had won. Without the thing that made me pass out against the slime, I had honestly won a fight against a stronger foe. The rush of adrenaline in my system was exhilarating, but I knew it wouldn¡¯t last and I couldn¡¯t become addicted to it, else I would become a battle maniac. The taste of blood on my mouth reminded me I was still holding a piece of the wolf''s neck in my mouth, but before I could spit it out a hunger I¡¯ve never felt hit me. I unconsciously knew this hunger wasn¡¯t mine, but from my skill [Genetic Dysphoria]. I was about to know what it did. I let the feeling of hunger guide me and swallowed the meat. I felt it as it passed through my throat and reached my stomach, and then, an energy pulsed from my stomach to the rest of my body. [Lunaspectra Wolf¡¯s genetic code has been added to [Genetic Dysphoria] DNA list] I immediately pulled my status screen.
Name: [Marcos Leandro] Age: 0 Species: White Dragon Lv. 3
Status: Normal HP - 200/650 MP - 350/700 SP - 100/250
Strength - 200N Defense - 200N Magic - 300 Magical Defense - 600 Dexterity - 200 Stealth - 200 Precision - 200
Titles -
Skills - [Racial] Elemental Breath Lv. 1 [Racial] Dragon Scales Lv. 1 [Racial] Passive Growth [100% Remaining] [Unique] Knowledge Library Lv.2 [Unique] Genetic Dysphoria Lv.1 [Unique] Spell Planner [Normal] Appraisal Lv.3 [Normal] Magicule Detection Lv.3 [Normal] Magicule Manipulation Lv.2
I was now level 3 and my attributes really did increase. Though, I was a little worried about how much HP I lost in the fight. I didn¡¯t know how I survived, but I did and that¡¯s what really mattered. There was another page on my status screen.
[Genetic Dysphoria DNA list]
  • Lunaspectra Wolf
There is was. A DNA list of the wolf I had just killed. I didn¡¯t know what my skill could do before, but I now knew. It could store the DNA of the creatures I consumed and I could transform into them whenever I wanted. Though, why it didn¡¯t work on the meat the kobolds offered me was still a mystery. Maybe I had to be the one who killed the creature? There were too many questions I couldn¡¯t answer yet. I felt a shift on the magicules covering the wolf after I finished looking at my status. I looked over and saw an illusion over his body dissipating, revealing wounds upon wounds. It was no surprise that I had beaten it, it was so mangled that I was surprised it was even alive. It probably casted an illusion over itself to appear fully healed, probably to intimidate the creature that had done this to him. I looked at the wounds closer and noticed something. They were too clean to be another creature. Even my fangs and claws didn¡¯t leave clean cuts as the ones that covered the wolf¡¯s bodies. There was only one thing that could leave such clean wounds on flesh. ¡°A sword¡± I said under my breath. Chapter 09: Shapeshifting I observed the wolf''s body as the blood from his numerous wounds stopped flowing as there was no more pressure on his blood vessels. I carefully looked at the many lacerations caused by a sharp sword, but my focus was on his neck, precisely where I tore off a part of it. Guilt pressed on my heart as I looked at it. No, not guilt, but something close. I knew that weight would never leave my heart, and the scene where the wolf had finally stopped moving would be forever burned in my mind. I had killed him. The sensation of it was completely different from when you crush an ant or smack a bug with something. I don''t know how to put it into words, it felt more¡­ real. My mind knew he wouldn''t stop until he killed me, such was the mind of an animal, but I wasn¡¯t an animal. I was a dragon with the mind of a human. Choosing to kill was a conscious decision. I could have him alive and run away, probably, but I chose to end his life all the same. I was only jolted awake once the pain from my shoulders became almost unbearable and I collapsed on the ground. I groaned in pain as I felt my throbbing wounds leak my blood into the dirt. I couldn''t even stand as I needed my four legs to stand, I wasn''t biped anymore. I pulled [Spell Planner] once more and made a basic spell targeting me with the healing element. I discovered it on my fourth day in the kobold village, but didn''t have the chance to use it until now. Completing the spell I activated it immediately. Golden pale light rained down on me as the spell circle appeared above me. The moment the light touched my wounds the pain began to fade, though it wasn''t as fast as I''d like it to be, but it''s better than something. A thing I noticed just now, actually using the healing magic, is that my wounds didn''t actually healed, they stopped bleeding, sure, but they were still deep lacerations on my shoulders and any movement or weight I try to put on them, they begin hurting again. Checking my HP I noticed it went to 350, but didn''t go any higher. There is probably a specific way to use healing magic to actually heal me, but I didn''t know enough to do it. [Information not available] was the answer I got every time I tried to ask [Knowledge Library] in the healing magic department. With a sigh, I decided to test [Genetic Dysphoria], even though I had 100 MP currently after trying to heal myself, but I wanted to know what the skill actually did. I opened the DNA List I got when I killed the wolf and instinctively knew I could select it, so that''s what I did. I mentally selected the Lunaspectra Wolf¡¯ DNA. Immediately after I activated my skill, a searing heat pulsated from my heart to every part of my body. The heat was almost unbearable, but I couldn''t scream and not because I didn''t want to, but because I literally couldn''t. I lost all strength after the heat began and I collapsed on the floor. My head was on the ground with my eyes wide open. I saw the scales on one of my legs becoming oily and literally start to melt. Panic grew inside me as I felt my entire body becoming a viscous liquid, though it, fortunately, didn''t last. Just as my body began to melt away I saw it pulling back and growing fur all over and then the heat faded away and I felt my body solidifying. After I felt my body solid again the sensation I had for all of my life, that was absent since I was reincarnated, returned. The feeling that my body wasn''t exactly my own. I had gone to multiple therapists trying to figure it out, 1but nothing came out of it. Even the weird holistic therapist my mom made me see only said some weird theories about my soul not being able to fit on my body or something like that, tho, considering now I could see a wolf paw instead of human, or dragon in this case, hands made me unsure of either that guy was close to something. As I took a look at myself, I could confirm that I had indeed become a wolf, just like the one I had killed. My sense of vision became weird, the colors were muted but my night vision had greatly improved, it was as if it was day. Another thing that I noticed was that my shoulders weren¡¯t hurting that bad anymore, and one look at them revealed to me that skin had grown on the wound, though it was still obvious that it was still there, but it had at least stopped the pain and the bleeding. I got up and felt an energy surging through me from all over my fur down to my heart. Opening up my Status I noticed some things that weren¡¯t there before
Name: [Marcos Leandro] Age: 0 Species: Lunaspectra Wolf [Genetic Dysphoria: White Dragon] Lv. 3
Status: Normal HP - 350/650 MP - 150/700 SP - 90/300
Strength - 200N Defense - 200N Magic - 300 If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Magical Defense - 600 Dexterity - 200 Stealth - 200 Precision - 200
Titles -
Skills - [Racial] Moonlight Absorber [Genetic Dysphoria Temporary Skill] [Racial] Elemental Breath Lv. 1 [ Currently Not available] [Racial] Dragon Scales Lv. 1 [ Currently Not available] [Racial] Passive Growth [100% Remaining] [Unique] Knowledge Library Lv.2 [Unique] Genetic Dysphoria Lv.1 [Unique] Spell Planner [Normal] Appraisal Lv.3 [Normal] Magicule Detection Lv.3 [Normal] Magicule Manipulation Lv.2
I gained a new skill, although it said it was temporary, and my other racial skills aren¡¯t available¡­ Oh, wow. This skill isn¡¯t a simple shapeshifting skill you see on TV. I actually transform into the species I chose, and because my entire body changes, this effect won¡¯t be dispelled until I deactivate [Genetic Dysphoria] on my own. I even got the racial skill the wolf probably had, though I lost my own in the process, temporarily. I also noticed my MP was increasing steadily and way faster than it normally did, probably because of the skill [ [Moonlight Absorber] is the racial skill of Lunaspectra Wolves, enabling the species to draw magicules from moonlight. These magicules can be utilized to enhance their reserves and/or empower their illusions. It is said that when the moons align, the power of the Lunaspectra Wolf increases exponentially] [Knowledge Library] just confirmed to me. I was gaining more MP because of the moonlight being absorbed by this skill and transformed into MP. ¡°Makala ha Nita rah¡± I hear a voice coming from a dozen of meters in the direction the wolf came, and then I heard the footsteps. They were approaching my position. I looked at the wolf and saw the blade marks again. Whoever they were, they were looking for the wolf that was dead right beside me, meaning I couldn''t stay here else the next one full of blade cuts would be me. I turned away from the direction they were coming and started to run away, the wound on my shoulders not bothering as much. I didn''t know if I reverted to my dragon body the wound would return, so I didn''t to avoid risking it. And if returning took just as long as transforming in the first place, I would be incapacitated for a few minutes, a time I didn''t have if I wanted to avoid being spotted.
[Mavi¡¯s POV] ¡°Take the position, they said. It¡¯ll be so easy, you won¡¯t even need to leave the city, they said. I¡¯ll fill their mouths with goblin shit the next time I see them¡± Mavi, the current head attendant of the youngest son of the Darnas House, said to himself as he trod through the forest with the same name of the noble house. He was currently with a small squad of knights in a mission with the youngest son of duke Darnas. The child, who was eight years old, had recently learned of the unique species of wolves that inhabit the forest, the lunaspectra wolves, and decided he had to have one as a pet. Mavi had all but pleaded to the duke to make the child reconsider, as the wolves were dangerous to have near such young kids, but the duke encouraged it instead. ¡°He¡¯s in the last position in the succession order, a lunaspectra wolf can help him overcome the cliff between him and his brothers and sisters. I agree, the wolves are way too dangerous for a child to try alone, so I¡¯ll lend you one squadron of knights to accompany you to the forest¡± The duke had said, much to the dismay of Mavi. They were deep in the forest already, and if it weren¡¯t for the support class knight that is accompanying them, they would already run out of supplies and be lost without knowing the way home. The deeper they go in the forest, the stronger the monsters get, with the exceptions of a few transitory lines in between the territories of stronger monsters. They were currently in one of those transitory lines. ¡°Where are you?¡± Mavi exclaimed, exasperated, as he walked behind a knight that was tracking one of the wolves they had come looking for. They had found one earlier, and they were lucky as it was one of the low level ones, it was perfect to subdue and have the duke¡¯s son come over with one of the various taming scrolls they brought and tame the beast. Unfortunately for them, when the beast became too wounded, it ran away, shooting illusion after illusion to distract the knights and to throw them off its tracks. Passing through an overgrown shrub, they saw the wolf they were looking for, except it was dead with a missing chunk of its throat. Seeing this, Mavi lost it. He started to curse the wolf, the forest and even the duke himself, but he managed to regain his calm breathing in and out before looking at the knight who was looking at him. ¡°Not a word, okay? So, what do we have here? Another monster came to finish what we started?¡± He asked the knight. ¡°Right. Yes, the wolf was obviously attacked by some other monster, the bite marks on the throat indicate that it¡¯s not much bigger than a goblin¡± The knight said. ¡°So, a goblin¡± Mavi stated. ¡°No, while it¡¯s around the same size as a goblin, the marks reveal the teeth are straight, unlike a globlin¡¯s. And, there are a few burn marks on the fur and skin, consistent with lightning magic¡± The knight explained. ¡°Oh great, so we have a monster capable of lightning. We better be prepared. Anything else?¡± Mavi asked. ¡°Actually, yes. There are signs of battle all around here, but they aren¡¯t quite right¡± The knight said. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°From what I can see, the wolf attacked the mysterious monster with a lunar beam, judging by the hole in the trees¡± The knight pointed. ¡°The monster fell from the trees, hitting this spot. The wolf then attacked the monster, hurting him¡± He pointed to the blood marks on the floor. ¡°I can determine that it¡¯s a quadruped monster, but here it¡¯s where it starts to become weird. The back legs of the monster are what you¡¯d expect from a quadruped, that is, it walks on its tiptoes, but the front legs look like a hand, almost like a humanoid hand, but not quite. Do you know any monster that have this kind of anatomy?¡± ¡°Not that I¡¯m aware of¡± ¡°Continuing. The battle continued. The wolf tried to attack him from his back, but was repealed, probably the lighting, then kept his distance. Until the creature advanced on it and killed it. The creature took a few steps back and the n collapsed on the floor. Then a quadruped that walks on tiptoes on its four legs, a wolf, ran in that direction¡± ¡°Huh? Where does the second wolf come from?¡± Mavi asked. ¡°Exactly! It doesn¡¯t make any sense! Where is the creature that killed this wolf? And where does the second one come from?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go back to camp and sleep. Now that the wolf we attacked is dead, we can rest and look for this second wolf tomorrow¡± Mavi said and they both started going back to the camp they erected a few days prior Chapter 10: Smooth Stone I kept running and running. I don¡¯t know how long I¡¯ve spent running, but it was enough for me to be exhausted and I should be far away enough to be able to rest without anyone finding me. Or so I thought, but the moment I started to decelerate, something jumped at me from my side. Colliding with me and sending me tumbling through the forest floor. The world spun around me until my body stopped rolling through the ground and I jumped to my paws and looked around, trying to see the thing that attacked me. A few meters away from me was another wolf, this one was badly injured, even more so than the one I had killed. Though, the injuries weren¡¯t ones caused by blades or other sharp objects, but more akin to a fire burn, except it was weird, it looked like the injuries continued to burn, but there were no flames visible. The wolf shakily raised his head and looked at me. The thing that I noticed first was how bright his eyes were. They had an emerald green color, and looked like the color itself flowed through them, something about them gave me a sense of deja vu. Then, the wolf opened his mouth, almost as if trying to say something, but before anything could happen, he collapsed on the ground. I stood there stunned, and more so when his body started to turn into a green energy that dissipated after leaving his body. Some of that energy broke off and circled me before being absorbed into my body. What was that!? I asked [Knowledge Library] [Information not available] But was answered with nothing. Soon I was overcome with fatigue, probably from running around that much. Looking around and using [Appraisal] to discover any creature that might be hiding somewhere, I spotted a place where I could rest for the night after confirming there were no creatures besides a few small ones that had at most 1 level more than me. I used a place beneath a stone between two trees as a safe place, using [Spell Planner] to create a dirt wall and open a few ventilation openings so that I wouldn¡¯t suffocate inside it, and then, I slept for the rest of the night, while deciding to try to make head and tails of what happened when I wasn¡¯t so exhausted. The sun was high in the sky when I woke up, the light shining through the ventilation holes I had opened. I broke the dirt wall and left the safe place I had found for the night. I stretched and felt my sore muscles cry a little. I hadn¡¯t recovered totally yet, but it was way better than what it was yesterday. Walking a little, I returned to the place where the other wolf disintegrated, but was met with only the marks on the ground where the wolf once was and nothing more. I tried asking [Knowledge Library] about what happened and what was everything, but the only answer I received was. [Information not available] Trying to use [Appraisal] on the spot and the surrounding areas gave me no results, just dirt, grass and a bit of stone. I was frustrated, a wolf jumped at me, dissolved into mist and I couldn''t even find a clue about what happened? What was this, a poorly written novel? With a sigh I gave up trying to understand, if even my skills can''t help me, then it''s above my capacity to do anything about. I then began walking in the opposite direction I heard people yesterday. After a few minutes of walking, I almost tripped on a tree root that was sticking out of the ground just enough to be a tripping hazard if one is not careful, and to make matters worse, just after it there was an inclination going to a dark cave that gave me an ominous feeling and a sensation that something was calling me there. ¡°No thanks, I don''t want to die¡± I said to the cave and began walking perpendicular to it. I don¡¯t know if I had upset an evil god or what, but the moment I started to walk away, a small earthquake shook everything around, causing me to trip and fall face first to the ground. After it ended I got up, took a simple glance to the cave again and darted out of there while chanting ¡°nop, nop, nop, nuep¡±. That was such an obvious red flag that I would begin to question my own sanity if I ever thought about investigating it, tho, I might start doing exactly that, because a part of me still wanted to enter and investigate. After a while I reached the base of a waterfall that kept going on a river, it had more than 30 meters in height and a huge volume of water coursing through it. The water on the river looked odd, though, it had a small emerald green shimmer on it, almost imperceptible. I approached the water, and as I got closer, some of the green shimmer broke off and came flying in my direction, almost as if I was attracting it like a magnet. I stopped and stared at the water, seeing my own reflection on it. I knew I was transformed into a wolf, but now I could see how I had changed, and that is to say, I had nothing more that could indicate I was actually a dragon. Any angle I looked, I could only describe myself as a wolf, but I knew it wasn¡¯t actually the case. I had glowing silver fur that seemed to absorb some of the light of the sun, but it had a different feeling than when it was night and I was absorbing moonlight instead of sunlight. One thing I noticed was different from the wolf I killed and the wolf that jumped me before vanishing in smokes were my eyes. My eyes were a bright golden amber color and with the energy breaking off of the water and flowing to me, some sparks of green could be seen on them. Looking away from the water, I concentrated on the energy itself and activated [Appraisal] together with [Knowledge Library] [ Temporal energy ] [ Temporal energy exists in infinitesimal quantities within the world due to its presence within the timestream. Temporal effects, such as paradoxes, can result in a minute fraction of temporal energy from the timestream slipping into reality ] Temporal energy? Does that mean¡­ Before I could finish that thought, another earthquake hit, and the whole region shook like a vibrating platform. A loud snapping sound echoed from all around me. I didn¡¯t like that sound was the only thing I could think before the ground gave out and I fell. I was hitting stone as the ground broke in different parts and water came rushing in, covering me and depriving me of air. I don¡¯t know how long It kept going, but as my lungs began to burn and I grew desperate, I hit something hard and it made me let go of the air I was holding. Thankfully, the water receded and I was able to breathe again. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. I coughed some water that I had inhaled when I hit the ground of a cave, and looked around. I was underground in a large cave. I found a small collapsed tunnel with water flowing between the rocks. Looks like I can¡¯t go back through there, I thought as I continued to observe my surroundings. Even though I was underground, the whole cave was glowing with green energy that flowed through the stones like water, some of it was attracted to me and I was absorbing them like a black hole. There was one thing that didn¡¯t really fit with the mystic feel the cave was emitting, a giant stone a few meters in front of me. The stone had a different texture to the rest of the cave, it looked impossibly smooth, and some even if the cave had cracks all over it because of the earthquake, the giant rock had none. Why did I have to say that to this cave god? I now angered it and looked at me¡­ It was too late for me now, I was already inside it, better check it out. I activated [Appraisal] and [Knowledge Library] on the rock in front of me [ Boronita Ore ] [ The Boronita ore possesses the most intricate structure ever documented in history. It exhibits a high degree of instability and may spontaneously undergo quantum decay when outside controlled environments. Under no circumstances should any form of magic or skill interact with even a microgram of it, as the resultant decay has the potential to level an entire city ] The moment my mind registered the information my skills gave me, I saw the Boronita turn white for split second before my entire vision turned white as well
[ Mavi¡¯s POV ] ¡°So you¡¯re saying my wolf has been killed by another wolf?¡± Henry, the youngest son of the Darnas House addressed Mavi, his head attendant in the morning the next day. When Mavi returned to the camp, Henry was already sleeping and Mavi knew better than to wake up Henry after he was sleeping else his salary would suffer. Mavi hated being head attendant, but his family situation was bad enough that he had to work for one of duke Darnas children and after the other attendants told him that Henry was the easiest one to work with, he gladly accepted the offer to work as Henry¡¯s head attendant. ¡°He actually fell for it, what a loser¡± the other attendants spoke among themselves after Mavi had already left the Darnas estate. ¡°Yes, young master. After examining the body we found evidence of lightning magic and wounds that have been confirmed as being from a lunaspectra wolf¡± Mavi had said while bowing his head to Henry. ¡°Don''t lunaspectra wolves use moonlight magic? It was written in that book, wasn¡¯t it¡± Henry asked Mavi ¡°...Yes, young master¡± Mavi answered. ¡°Lunaspectra wolves are well cataloged to use the illusion type of moonlight magic¡± ¡°Then why did you tell me my wolf was killed by lightning? Do you think I¡¯m stupid?¡± Henry spoke. ¡°Not at all, young master. I am merely stating the facts that we encountered in the scene¡± Mavi answered. ¡°It still doesn¡¯t excuse the fact that you let my wolf run away and then be killed by this other monster. If it weren¡¯t because of your incompetence I would already have my pet and I would be out of this damn forest¡± Mavi¡¯s patient was drying up, but he knew he couldn¡¯t do anything to defy Henry, else he and his family might never see another day. Mavi was trying his hardest to wring a response from his brain, but a voice coming from behind Henry caught his attention. ¡°But what does two mean?¡± A female voice said. Everyone inside Henry¡¯s tent, Mavi and Henry¡¯s bodyguards, turned to the voice only to see a girl around 13 years old sitting on top of a table looking at a card in her hands. The woman had pale skin, so pale it was almost completely white, long ears that indicated she was an elf and was older than she appeared, cyan hair and her eyes were multicolored with cyan and a shade of gray. No one had felt her entering the tent, and even now no one could feel her presence at all, almost as if she was a ghost. ¡°Who are you?! What are you doing in my tent?! Guards, kill the intruder!¡± Henry shouted, but his guards hesitated to move towards the girl, a thing Henry did not like. ¡°Are you listening to me? I¡¯m ordering you to kill the intruder!¡± he shouted again. The guards, recovering from the shock, pulled their weapons and began their advance. The girl, in the meantime, got up and started talking. ¡°First, where am I?¡± She began sniffing the air. ¡°Forest, okay. But where?¡± Then she jumped from the table as a guard tried to slash her with his sword, only to suddenly find himself rolling on the ground a few ten meters away from the tent. The other guards stopped cold when they saw the girl just moving his finger and a man thrice her size being sent flying through the tent with a gush of wind. ¡°What are you idiots doing? I already told you to kill her¡± Henry, not reading the room, shouted once more. ¡°Hey, kid¡± The girl said, turning to him. ¡°You¡¯re so loud I can¡¯t hear my own thoughts. Could you please shut the fuck up? Thanks. Where was I? Oh right¡± She picked some of the dirt off the ground and then began tasting it. Meanwhile Henry was speechless. Not only this girl was trespassing on the tent of a noble, but told a noble to shut up. Henry, who was used to having his way all his life was never so disrespected before. His face was turning into a bright shade of red as the girl finished tasting the dirt. ¡°Oh, the Darnas Forest. But why the two?¡± she said as she looked again at the card in her hands. The card had a bluish green tint to it, as well as various magic circles that glowed a faded green with the number two on one side of it. She left the tent and looked around and then pouted and started stomping her food on the ground. ¡°Why does she always speak in enigmas? I hate them, and she knows! This is too hard, I hate it, hate it, hate it¡± She started throwing a tantrum. ¡°Guards, I want that intruder executed for the crime of insulting a noble and invading noble property! I want her dead right this instant! You better move your asses before I tell Father to fire all of you!¡± Henry started shouting, and his guards finally began moving again, but before they could do anything the girl turned straight at him. ¡°What did I say about not hearing my own thoughts? You need a time out¡± She moved her hand, and nothing happened. The guards had even moved between her and Henry, but nothing out of the ordinary happened, that is, until Henry tried to speak and no sound could be heard. ¡°That¡¯s better. You get to be on time out for being a bad boy. If you behave I might restore your voice¡± She said pouting before looking back at the card in her hands. ¡°Now, what does two mean?¡± The guards immediately moved to kill her, but before they could get close the girl¡¯s head snapped to a direction Mavi had reported the wolf being killed. ¡°That damn clairvoyant¡± the girl said as a sudden earthquake hit the camp. The guards fell to the floor, unable to stand upright with the ground shaking so violently. The girl kept standing and looking at the distance. Soon, a white light exploded from afar and encompassed the entire region, leaving nothing but a crater a kilometer deep and a thousand kilometers wide Chapter L2: Elemental Slice ¡°Too weak, again¡± Ferdinand, one of the cardinals of the Church of Space, a religious organization devoted to Theo, the God of Space, one of the seven Greater Gods that created this world, told me after defending my practice sword that I swung at him It¡¯s been a week since our whole class was isekaid to this world and, honestly, nothing much happened in this time. We were presented with the circumstances regarding our summoning. Apparently there is this vampire lord that is turning people into half-demons and they are endangering the whole kingdom. Why a vampire is turning people into half-demons instead of, you know, thralls or other vampires is beyond me. Anyway, suffice to say those thralls aren¡¯t that strong, but they are numerous, like a zombie apocalypse kind of numerous, and is overloading the army of this and surrounding kingdoms. The answer the Church of Space came up with was an ancient ritual made to breach ¡°the dimensional barriers and create a dimensional hardened spatial corridor between universes¡±... honestly I have no idea what that means, but it was what they told us, so it is what it is. Anyway, the summon ritual should pick a person in another universe that resonated with the ritual and ¡°extract and materialize them in this plane of existence while lessening the burden of the extraphysical change of laws between universes¡±... for the love of god, I¡¯m a highschooler with a liking to isekai novels, not a scientist, please explain to us with normal words¡­ Basically, anything brought up by the ritual is changed to obey the laws of physics this world has, in other words, it should allow us to use magic and skills. should being the key word, because while I certainly can use skills, I can¡¯t use magic, like, at all. The second day of our arrival we were brought to a chamber where they tested us for our magical aptitude, and while most of our classroom got amazing magical aptitude, by the clergy¡¯s words, I got almost none. I¡­ I don¡¯t even know what to say, you know? What¡¯s even the point in being isekaid if I can¡¯t use the thing isekai is known for? Where¡¯s my overpowered magic powers all protagonists have? Rant about magic aside, I discovered some things about my own skills. First, [RPG HUD] is more than simply a HUD, while true that I have a HUD in my vision it can do more than that. It¡¯s connected to my [Game Inventory] skill, meaning I can visualize my inventory as an element on my HUD, it can highlight things I¡¯m looking for, if I know what I¡¯m looking for, and can even loot stuff, basically it transports stuff directly into my inventory, but instead of just storing it, like my inventory does if I just use it, if I loot the thing, it changes how it¡¯s stored. For example, if I store an unprocessed piece of meat with the looting ability, it stores the meat in slices and the bones separately. Anyway, after being tested for magic, the ones who had a great aptitude for it were taken to learn magic, while the rest (read: me) were taken to choose a weapon to train in. I was taken to their armory and told to choose the weapon I was mostly comfortable in using, like I didn¡¯t live in a world where most of the items in that place would be in a museum. With a sigh I had began walking around looking for a weapon that caught my attention. There were bows, maces, spears, staves and swords. Among all of them, one was different from the others, it had an almost invisible sheen of light around it. Honestly, it was weird, it felt like the sword was waiting for me and when I picked it up it felt as if I knew it my whole life, like a friend I never knew I had. The clergy that was with me told me I was lucky, the sword I had chosen was a special kind of sword, forged with a mixture of metal and pulverized draconic scales, it had a semblance of consciousness and chose its wielder. I was the first wielder the sword ever chose, and with that, I was enlisted to sword classes with the cardinal Ferdinand, and that takes us back to the present. ¡°Focus, else you''ll get killed in seconds during a battle¡± Ferdinand said as he easily sidestepped my blow and swung his sword, striking me right across the chest. If I wasn''t wearing protective gear and the swords weren''t dull I would have been bisected. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°Gah!¡± I screamed as I was thrown across the floor, hitting my back on the walls. ¡°You need to compensate for your lack of magic with physical skill and actual Skills if you want to survive what''s to come. Here¡± he said as he put his hand on a pocket dimension type of magic and pulled a sword, the blade itself was made out of a mixture of powdered dragon scales and mythril, giving the blade a whitish metal appearance and a small shimmer throughout the blade. The guard was made out of two intertwined colorless crystals that become white whenever I grab the sword by draining my magicules slowly. The hilt was made out of moon-quartz, a magicule conductor, with gold lines etched on it. Of course, the blade Ferdinand gave me was the unnamed European style sword that chose me, and honestly I would prefer it if it was like a katana, but whatever. The reason it was unnamed was, according to the information they gave me was that it still hadn¡¯t chosen one for itself¡­ Okay? Weird, but okay ¡°The physical part of your training for today is over¡± Ferdinand said. ¡°Next, you¡¯ll need to familiarize yourself with the abilities your sword gives you¡± He gave me a single glance before continuing. ¡°As you clearly don¡¯t remember, I must inform you again. The sword will absorb your magicules and store it inside itself and then release then with the elemental affinity the dragon whose scales were used to forge it had¡± I tightened my hands around the sword handle and gave Ferdinand a nod. Feeling the pull on my magicules and the feeling I was receiving from the sword, like it was a whisper in the back of my head. ¡°Each sword forged using dragon scale powder is different from one another, so I can¡¯t say for certain what this sword will do, but try to follow it and attack this dummy¡± Ferdinand said, and, with a snap of his finger, a training dummy was teleported from somewhere to the training area we both were. I stadied my breath and calmed my heart as the most intense of the training was over. This part of the training, where I was given the sword I chose, was new, probably to familiarize myself with my actual sword instead of the training ones I was given through the week. Listening to the whispers of my sword, I focused on the dummy and an image of it being cut by a pressurized gust of wind came in my mind as I moved my arms in a slicing motion, feeling the sword pull even more magicules from me. At the same time, the sword glowed with the cyan color of the air element and as I finished the cutting motion, a wave of pressurized air shot out of the sword and rushed to the dummy, hiting it and make it explode into countless shards of wood. ¡°Not bad. So the sword element is wind. I¡¯ll get into contact with some wind blade mages to help with your training¡± Ferdinand said, but I ignored it as my brows furrowed after feeling something strange about the whole thing. It didn¡¯t felt like I used the sword entirely, but used it as a walking stick. It was a strange feeling, and I needed to test it. ¡°Cardinal, could you give me another dummy?¡± I asked Ferdinand, which looked at me before nodding and snapping his finger again, and another dummy appearing where the other one was. I took a deep breath as I listened to the whispers again, this time as the image of the wind cutting the dummy came to my mind, I forcefully shove it away to the back of my mind. I took my time listening to the sword, and each time the wind image came up I shoved it back again. And soon enough, various images flooded my mind, each with another kind of attack, and with it, a notification from the system came as well
[ Proficiency points have reached the threshold. Individual, Leonardo Silva Monteiro, has gained the [Normal] Skill Elemental Slice Lv.1]
Information rushed inside my mind and I knew how to choose an specific element I wanted and use it to create an elemental attack, and I also knew this was only possible with this specific sword, and that if I chose to use the skill with any other type of weapon, or swords, it would fail. Immediatly I tried the skill, choosing the fire element and as I swung the sword, the blade caught fire and shot it at the dummy as I finished the arc. ¡°Impressive, two elements in a single sword¡± Ferdinand said, before I shook my head at him and swung again, this time I wanted to be a bit flashier and chose the space element, but as I finished the swing, my head felt fuzzy and the next thing I knew I was on the ground with a terrible headache. ¡°...This deserves more attention¡± Was all I heard from ferdinand before everything blacked out. Chapter 11: The Third Time I slowly opened my eyes as a strong headache hit my head like a hammer and closed them again. It took a while for the pain to go away before I managed to open my eyes again. The first thing I noticed was that I was on the ground, and back with my true form. Looking around I saw various monitors with a bunch of stuff written on them, constantly changing, rows of computer server-like cabinets filled every centimeter of the walls and in front of one of the walls there was a massive monitor with a creature in front of it looking at the monitor that was full of strange text and graphics that I couldn¡¯t understand, and it seemed as if it hadn¡¯t noticed me yet.. Looking at the creature, it resembled a lion that had black fur from head to tail and a massive glowing green mane that seemed to flow with energy. The mere presence of it felt like I was looking directly into the universe¡­ It¡¯s a sensation I couldn¡¯t quite explain. ¡°You¡¯ll need more than that if you want to stop the collapse¡± The creature said, its voice reverberating through the air as if its very being exhaled pure power, but at the same time it felt tame, as if the creature itself was holding its own power back. ¡°And you¡±, the creature said, turning directly to me. So much for not being noticed. ¡°Hello again¡± It said, and made me pause. Again? What does that mean? I thought, as I clearly hadn''t met him before. ¡°And it will be right about¡­ now¡± It said, but before I could say anything back another headache crashed into my skull and made me scream in agony. At the same time, memories came crashing down into my mind. It lasted for a few minutes before I was left panting on the ground as a flush of memories came from nowhere. ¡°I¡­Remember. You¡¯re the God of Time¡± I said as I looked at the lion, who nodded. ¡°So it didn¡¯t work and I¡¯m here again. But I don¡¯t understand why I slept when I encountered myself¡­¡± ¡°You will understand that when a soul is supercharged with temporal energy and sent back through time it tends to implant thoughts on their past selves. What were you thinking when you encountered yourself?¡± I thought for a moment before answering. ¡°I was thinking about how tired I was, that the time jump made me so tired and that I would sleep for a few days after¡­I¡­Finished¡­ Oh¡± It clicked. I had already encountered that rock, or rather, boronita, and I had already exploded it before, and then I was sent to this place¡­whatever is this place, and met the lion in front of me, the God of Time. He had sent me back in time for a reason he didn¡¯t care to explain. After I returned my body was so charged with temporal energy that I felt like it would burst at any moment, and at the same time it was tiring just to exist there and that¡¯s when I found myself, literally, running through the woods, just as I remember doing before. I leapt and crashed into myself, and after that I couldn¡¯t fight the sleepiness that washed over me as our bodies made contact and I fell asleep¡­That is, what I felt happened with me, but I remember clearly as I watched as my body broke down into temporal energy before my memories seeming returning here, in this space and into another version of me and merging as one. Honestly it feels weird, because I remember both versions of what happened to me, the first time without the time travel and the second time with my time travel, and is at the same time, but not overlapping in my memories. ¡°That¡¯s what usually happens, yes¡± The lion said, and that made me stop. Was he reading my mind? ¡°Yes, it happens when you¡¯re the embodiment of a concept of the universe that you¡¯re living in¡± He said. ¡°Oh, and this explanation is what your mind will comprehend¡± I guess that makes sense? I shake my head. Now it¡¯s not the time to be thinking about that. I looked at the lion in front of me. ¡°I guess I¡¯ll be sent back in time, again?¡± I asked, for which the lion nodded its head. ¡°Is there a way to not explode the boronita?¡± ¡°There is a way to not cause the boronita to explode and take that entire forest with it. But you¡¯ll need to find it yourself¡± He answered. ¡°...I see. What happens if I don¡¯t?¡± I anxiously asked. ¡°You¡¯ll try again¡± He answered. ¡°And if I still don¡¯t?¡± ¡°You¡¯ll try again¡± ¡°...I think if I ask the question in a different manner you¡¯ll answer exactly the same, so here¡¯s another question. What happens with my memories? Right now I know this is my second attempt, going to the third. I remembered it because I¡¯m in this weird place, but what happens after I succeed? Will there be two of me? Will my memories flow to my past self like it just happened?¡± I asked ¡°That¡¯s an interesting question. You¡¯ll find out when you finish up¡± He answered. ¡°... That¡¯s not helpful¡± ¡°I know, and I¡¯m sorry, but you need to do this on your own. Think of me being here just as an observant, as the God of Time watching someone time traveling¡± Suddenly a magic circle appeared beneath me and began shining with light. The sight of the circle appearing and beginning to light up made my heart beat faster as memories before I died in that ritual back on Earth came to my mind. ¡°Our little time here is up, you¡¯ll get sent back in time for the first time, and again¡± The lion said and chuckled when I looked at him with confusion in my mind, but I hadn¡¯t had the chance to ask before I was enveloped in a white light and all the sensation of weight vanished as I felt my body begin to twist and change. Without me knowing, my [Genetic Dysphoria] skill was triggered and my body returned to that latex-like substance before changing into a wolf form. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. As I regained movement of my body, I was back in the forest in the Lunespectra Wolf form. It was night and I felt as the energy of the moon began entering my body and charging my energy levels, before they suddenly plummeted as I suddenly feel the same exhaustion I felt in my first time, but this time I knew that I couldn¡¯t think about resting as the same scenario of the last cycle would repeat. I needed a plan, and unfortunately I couldn¡¯t do it in that weird place where the God of Time was¡­ ¡°I¡­am¡­too¡­tired¡± I said as my mind started to clog as I tried to think about what to do¡­ A sudden idea came to me. If my current self will burn away like last time anyway, I need to make my past self do it for me¡­ But how to convey this to myself? I heard running footsteps in my direction. I was out of time, I needed to do it now. I began running towards where I last jumped at myself and, just as I expected, I saw myself running parallel to me. Like the last time I was in this position, I jumped at myself and past me barely had time to see present me as I crashed into past me and at that moment I thought about leaving this forest as fast as I could. I came to a stop after rolling through the ground for a few seconds. I was exhausted, but I managed to look myself in the eyes as we made eye contact. Surprisingly some of the exhaustion wore off, but not enough as I felt my body breaking down and my vision turning black. Your turn now I thought to my past self before my consciousness slipped away.
[Past Marcos, at the same time] I watched as the other wolf slowly burned away with green energy, stunned. I honestly didn¡¯t know what to make of it, as it was completely random. A random wolf just rushes me and then evaporates seconds later? What is this? I tried to ask [Knowledge Library] but¡­ [Information not available] Predictable¡­ Anyway, after the other wolf vanished, I noticed some of the green energy that burned him tore off and circled around me before being absorbed in my body. For a moment I thought I was going to die just like the wolf before, but nothing happened after it touched me, so it¡¯s safe. I think. Anyway I went ahead and asked [Knowledge Library] again. [ Temporal energy ] [ Temporal energy exists in infinitesimal quantities within the world due to its presence within the timestream. Temporal effects, such as paradoxes, can result in a minute fraction of temporal energy from the timestream slipping into reality ] Temporal energy? Does that mean the wolf was a time traveler? Time traveling wolves? I swear there must be some kind of novel about this somewhere and this universe just copied it¡­ Anyway, this forest is beginning to get too weird for my taste. I really need to get out of here. I knew I should have done this earlier, like, a week earlier, but I¡­forgot¡­ I should have set my priority list on that kobold village before I ran from it like a stupid lizard¡­ Maybe I am a stupid lizard, actually. Who knows what being reincarnated as an actual mythological dragon can do to a human mind. I shook my head. First things first, I need to leave this forest ASAP, and to do that¡­ I looked in the direction I came from, and then shook my head. No, I won¡¯t go to a place where I¡¯ll potentially get killed in the hope they¡¯ll get me out of this forest. I¡¯m a monster, for all they care. Then a thought occurred to me. What is the shortest path for me to leave this forest? I ask my skill. As an answer, instead of a voice echoing in my mind, I just get a sensation about what direction I need to go, which is, surprisingly, where I was going before was the fastest way to leave this first. Without wanting to wait more, I turned to where I was going and began to run again only to trip in an elevated root and tumble down a slope where a cavern was located. I hit my head a few times on some of the loose rocks around, making me dizzy and unable to control my body properly, and when I came back to my senses I was already deep inside the cave. Looking around the cave I spotted various green crystal glowing along the walls, ceiling and ground, with each of them looking like small suns in my vision and yet, the cave remained pitch black, with me only being able to somewhat see because my lunaspectra wolf eyes are great at picking up moon light, which is being reflected around in the stone for a few more meters in front of me before actually just turning pitch black. My mind was screaming to turn around and leave this place, but another check with [Knowledge Library] told me to keep going, so I sucked it up and, with a sigh, began to walk towards the darkness. As I¡¯m not stupid enough to just walk into the unknown without any light for me to actually see, and as far as I knew there weren''t any creatures that could kill me anywhere near this place, I used [Spell Planner] to create a simple sphere of light. Unfortunately I didn¡¯t found a way to anchor it to myself or a way to keep feeding it magicules, so it¡¯s just a floating sphere of light that has a small internal magicule battery, and I don¡¯t even know how long they will last, but at least they only cost a few dozen points of magicules to create. I kept walking following the feeling my skill gave me and after an hour of walking I ended up in an underground lake. The environment around the lake was full of shining gems of myriad colors, enough to light up the cave in an iridescent hue and the lake itself was spouting water in the middle and with it a steady stream of emerald green energy, honestly I could stay here looking at it for hours. I look at some of the gems and use my skill to learn more about them. They are what I expected them to be, meaning gems of various elements filled to the brim with magicules. As I looked around the gems, I noticed that the green energy that filled the cave was getting thicker and thicker and at the same time the time element gems were getting brighter and brighter, at the same time the other element gems were getting dimmer. The Emberflare Crystal in my paws, the actual name of the fire element gem I¡¯ve found, started to grow hot and small sparks started to form around the edges. ¡°Oh no¡± I said as my stomach dropped as to what I guessed was about to happen. I threw the gem in my paws into the lake and ran back to where I¡¯ve come with all my might, which gave me a few dozen meters before I felt the ground shake and my body assaulted with a shockwave that threw me into the stone wall, making me lose consciousness. I woke up soon after submerged in water, almost drowning. Thankfully the water drained soon after and I started coughing water out of my lungs. I stayed on the ground for a few minutes as I slowly regained my breath and then looked around finding myself in a cave filled to the brim with the same green energy that is everywhere in this damn cave, and if it weren¡¯t for the fact that I¡¯m already over it, I would find the cave I¡¯m currently in a mystical place, but alas, it¡¯s just another cave for me now. Looking at the cave it was a random cave I could find in the last hour, except this one had a rather impossibly smooth looking wall a few meters away from me, it looked so smooth that it created a distopic sight and created a sense that it didn¡¯t belong there. Curiosity took the best of me and I used both my skills on it at the same time [ Boronita Ore ] [ The Boronita ore possesses the most intricate structure ever documented in history. It exhibits a high degree of instability and may spontaneously undergo quantum decay when outside controlled environments. Under no circumstances should any form of magic or skill interact with even a microgram of it, as the resultant decay has the potential to level an entire city ] The moment my mind registered the information my skills gave me, I saw the Boronita turn white for a split second before my entire vision turned white as well. Chapter 12: Emerald Eyes I slowly opened my eyes as a strong headache hit my head like a hammer and closed them again. It took a while for the pain to go away before I managed to open my eyes again. The first thing I noticed was that I was on the ground, and back with my true form. Looking around I saw various monitors with a bunch of stuff written on them, constantly changing, rows of computer server-like cabinets filled every centimeter of the walls and in front of one of the walls there was a massive monitor with a creature in front of it looking at the monitor that was full of strange text and graphics that I couldn¡¯t understand, and it seemed as if it hadn¡¯t noticed me yet.. Looking at the creature, it resembled a lion that had black fur from head to tail and a massive glowing green mane that seemed to flow with energy. The mere presence of it felt like I was looking directly into the universe¡­ It¡¯s a sensation I couldn¡¯t quite explain. ¡°You¡¯ll need more than that if you want to stop the collapse¡± The creature said, its voice reverberating through the air as if its very being exhaled pure power, but at the same time it felt tame, as if the creature itself was holding its own power back. ¡°And you¡±, the creature said, turning directly to me. So much for not being noticed. ¡°Hello again¡± It said, and made me pause. Again? What does that mean? I thought, as I clearly hadn''t met him before. ¡°And it will be right about¡­ now¡± It said, but before I could say anything back another headache crashed into my skull and made me scream in agony. At the same time, memories came crashing down into my mind. It lasted for a few minutes before I was left panting on the ground as a flush of memories came from nowhere. ¡°It¡­didn¡¯t work¡­ again¡± I said through gritted teeth as the pain that threatens to rip my head apart slowly fades away. ¡°It did not¡± The God of Time nodded his head at my statement. ¡°You really can¡¯t help me?¡± I asked, but I already knew the answer he would give me. ¡°Just as you already know, I cannot offer you the answer you so desire. Just as I already have said in your previous attempt, think of me as a mere observer¡± He answered me. I sighed. Can¡¯t really force the God of Time to do anything, I¡¯m just a level 3 dragon and he is¡­well he is a God. I shake my head. It was not the time to be thinking about this, I needed to use the small amount of time I have in this weird place to think about a way to escape the forest, and how will I pass this instruction to my past self¡­ Do I really need to jump at myself? Can¡¯t I just¡­ you know, speak with me? I looked at the black lion watching over me, and he just shrugged without me saying anything, reminding me that he could read my mind and knew the question I was about to ask. Okay, planning time. I need to get out of the forest, but the three times I tried I got trapped inside the cave where the boronita is and ended up exploding myself. The first time wasn¡¯t so different from the third, I fell into that cave entrance and then those crystals exploded and collapsed the cave and threw me into the boronita cave. The second attempt I got further, but the cave explosion still threw me into the boronita cave. The first thing I noticed was the time discrepancy between the explosions. Why did the second attempt take so long to explode? I slept and even still it exploded around eight hours after I encountered myself, why? ¡°Time is not a singular, fixed current. Each object, each creature, each pulse of energy follows its own timestream, and together they form what mortals perceive as the flow of time. When one timestream shifts, it sends ripples through the others, distorting the ambient temporal energy around you. Your actions, no matter how small, alter these streams, increasing or decreasing the pressure of time itself¡± the God of Time said. huh? I didn¡¯t understand at first, as I was occupied thinking, but then what he had said settled and made me pause. If I understood correctly, each thing in existence has its own timeline and whenever something time travels it ripples through the central timeline, that¡¯s what I¡¯m going to call the collection of all the timelines, and causes changes, in other words, the butterfly effect is real and whatever I do, no matter how small will cause changes, and those changes will cascade out of control. That is interesting to know, but something else caught my attention in the sentence he said. The pressure of time itself is what he said. You might think it¡¯s his way of saying about the butterfly effect, but the cave was filled with temporal energy, and the way he phrased it can only mean one thing. ¡°When I get too close to the cave I increase the temporal energy inside of it, causing the entire thing to cascade¡± I said to myself. It¡¯s not just a theory, because [Knowledge Library] basically confirmed it as well. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. [ Temporal energy exists in infinitesimal quantities within the world due to its presence within the timestream. Temporal effects, such as paradoxes, can result in a minute fraction of temporal energy from the timestream slipping into reality ] ¡°Temporal effects can result in a minute fraction of temporal energy from the timestream slipping into reality¡± is the key. Me going to the cave increases the bleed of temporal energy into reality, causing the entire cave system to be filled to the brim of temporal energy that reacts with the elemental crystals already present. Suddenly bright lines formed below me, forming a complex magic circle. I already knew what circle it was. ¡°Your time here has ended. I wish you good luck in this next loop¡± The God of Time said to me as blinding light enveloped me and with it all the sensation of weight was gone. The next thing, as before, [Genetic Dysphoria] is triggered by something else, probably the God of Time himself but I couldn¡¯t be sure. Just as before, as the light enveloping me vanishes I feel a wave of exhaustion that almost makes me collapse on the ground, but I held on. I was back at the forest, in the same place I was placed the other times. I turned towards where I knew I would be coming and walked towards it, I didn¡¯t run because that would only exhaust me more and I needed all the energy I could muster. I even looked at my status screen and saw how my HP and MP were dropping quickly. And my sense of timing is right, it¡¯s just about at the same time I burn away and go back to that room with the God of Time. I stood in the direct path my past self was going to cross and waited. It was just a few seconds before I heard the footsteps and then saw me rushing from behind some bushes. He saw me and immediately stopped. ¡°Listen¡­.to me¡­.don¡¯t continue¡­¡­¡­this way¡­.turn¡­.around¡± Even speaking was tiring and the only thing I wanted to do was to rest my eyes for five minutes, but I knew that was a trap. I watched as confusion crept up in my past self¡¯s face. He did the dog thing of turning his head in confusion, which would be cute if I didn¡¯t know that it was myself and that it was not even my real body. He then made a weird guttural sound, akin to a growl and a hiss¡­Ohhh, I can¡¯t talk in this form¡­That is a bother I then looked at myself right in the eyes. I was about to try something else, but the moment our eyes met was like something clicked and the few seconds I still had turned to nothing as I felt every part of my being hurting as if I was thrown into a spinning grinder and the only thing I couldn¡¯t do was to take my eyes off from my past self¡¯s. Then, everything went black.
[Past Marcos, a few seconds before] I kept running and running. I don¡¯t know how long I¡¯ve spent running, but it was enough for me to be exhausted and I should be far away enough to be able to rest without anyone finding me. As I was about to decelerate to rest a little, I saw a wolf standing in front of me. I stopped a few meters away from it and observed it. The wolf was clearly a Lunaspectra Wolf, but had emerald green like flames that seemed to burn it, but it just stood there, menacingly. Then started to make sounds that looked like a combination of stomachache and a whizzing as if it was out of breath. I was confused as to what was happening, as out of nowhere this flaming wolf was just making weird noises at me and looking at me. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you want, but I don''t understand what you¡¯re trying to say to me¡± I spoke and, for a moment, I thought I saw it¡¯s eyebrows, do wolves have eyebrows? Honestly I don¡¯t know, the equivalent of eyebrows rising in surprise and I was not prepared for what was going to happen next. The wolf then looked me right in the eyes, and I looked back. it¡¯s eyes were a swirling green, almost as if the eyes were made of the same flames that were burning him and then a immense pressure came over me, locking me in place and pressing down on my head as if it was placed below a hydraulic press, but apparently it was not as bad as the wolf in front of me. The moment our eyes locked and the pressure came over me, the wolf let out a yelp and almost collapsed on the floor as the green flames shone brighter and brighter but never once breaking eye contact with me, and not even I could break eye contact as the pressure kept me in place. Flashes appeared in my mind. An exploding cavern, an impossibly smooth stone and a black lion. I didn¡¯t know what those images were, but I felt they were important somehow. Unfortunately I wouldn¡¯t be able to ask the wolf in front of me, because the next thing I knew, the wolf had been entirely consumed by the flames and vanished, not even leaving ashes behind. As the last vestiges of the wolf burned away, the pressure holding me in place vanished altogether and I fell to the ground, panting and just as sudden as the pressure disappeared, I fainted. I woke up an unknown amount of time later only to find myself inside a cage, with a weird pressure on me, it was nothing like the sheer pressure that locked me down before, but it was a strange feeling combined with a tingling all around my body that I almost couldn¡¯t contain myself to scratch it. Looking at the cage I found weird inscriptions that almost seemed to glow, and of course I tried to appraise it, but what I got was far from an answer I was hoping for
[C!r¡è?t *f r¡ê$!$t^n¡é&. C!r¡è?t f @nt!-$@g!¡é. C!r¡è?t f w¡ê@k&n!n¡è]
It felt like I had static inside my head as the skill activated. If I was to guess, there¡¯s probably something like anti-magic in this cage, considering that lunaspectra wolves have magic, and is interfering with my skill, It''s a fair assumption to make. Tho, I wonder if this tingling feeling is the same anti-magic affecting [Moonlight Absorber] or [Genetic Dysphoria]. Looking outside the cage I saw I was on the outskirts of a military encampment. I could see soldiers walking around the place, a some with the regular swords one would expect of seeing on medieval soldiers, those were the ones the closest to the forest, circling in a outer perimeter, there were other soldiers circling what I will say is the internal perimeter of defense, and about one in three soldiers in this patrol area was holding something akin to a staff or wand. The sun was starting to rise and I didn¡¯t know why, but I was feeling like I was running out of time. All around me I could feel a tension rising, like the world itself was holding its breath for something big that I would soon find myself in. Chapter 13: Conecting with Skills The cage I was in was made out of metal and had a weird lock that I couldn¡¯t make head or tails of it. I tried to break it and the cage itself but got no luck, it was just too sturdy for me to break it with my fangs or claws and the lock was to alien for me to attempt to lockpick it, even though I know absolutely nothing about lockpicking with the exception that a Master Lock can be opened with a Master Lock. I snickered at myself at my lame joke before looking back at the camp. It has been around thirty minutes since I woke up in this cage on the encampment and from what I¡¯ve been able to hear, I don¡¯t know anything that¡¯s happening and the main reason is that I didn¡¯t understand the language. I tried using [Knowledge Library] to see if it was able to do anything about it, but the only thing I got in response was: [Downloading] And that was it. It doesn¡¯t give me the percentage, the download speed or the time remaining. Just that it¡¯s downloading. And I know it is because I felt a pull on my magicules, and at the same time the field around me got stronger and now the tingling sensation, that was only on my skin, is now a few centimeters deep inside me, all around my body, and with all honestly it¡¯s a unpleasant sensation that is almost making me puke, if I had eaten something in at least a day now and my stomach made itself known to me by making grunting noises and hurting. I needed to get out of the cage and eat something soon rather than later. On top of all that, the tension I felt was still rising all around me, like when you¡¯re going up on a rollercoaster. I look at my skills again, trying to see if any could help me.
[Racial] Moonlight Absorber [ Genetic Dysphoria Temporary Skill ] [Racial] Elemental Breath Lv. 1 [ Currently not Available ] [Racial] Dragon Scales Lv. 1 [ Currently not Available ] [Racial] Passive Growth [100% Remaining] [Unique] Knowledge Library Lv.2 [Unique] Genetic Dysphoria Lv.1 [Unique] Spell Planner [Normal] Appraisal Lv.3 [Normal] Magicule Detection Lv.3 [Normal] Magicule Manipulation Lv.2
So, [Moonlight Absorber] isn¡¯t doing much right now, mostly because the moon isn¡¯t visible anymore as the sun rises and shines through the canopy of trees, even though I feel like it should at least do something, but this anti-magic field in the cage is blocking it. [Elemental Breath] and [Dragon Scales] aren¡¯t available while I¡¯m transformed as a Lunaspectra Wolf and I don¡¯t trust [Genetic Dysphoria] won¡¯t be affected by the anti-magic while I¡¯m transforming, and considering how the transformation is, I don¡¯t want to get trapped unable to move my own body. [Knowledge Library] is doing its thing, [Appraisal] is useless at the moment. So, the only three skills I could use are [Spell Planner] and [Magicule Detection] and [Magicule Manipulation]. [Spell Planner] I already used it, multiple times in fact, but the other two I never actually used them consciously and I had them the moment I was reincarnated in this world so I don¡¯t even know how exactly they work, so I needed to test it before. I closed my eyes and started to think about my skills, the moment I thought of the they were there and I knew I could use them instinctually, not just [Magicule Detection] and [Magicule Manipulation] but all of them, even [Elemental Breath] and [Dragon Scales] were there, but it was like there was a chasm between me and them. They were still a part of me, but at the same time, disconnected from me at the moment by [Genetic Dysphoria]. [Moonlight Absorber] was there as well, but instead of being by itself like every other skill I could feel, it had a faint presence almost like it was a ghost image of the skill, and there was a connection to [Genetic Dysphoria] that made it possible to exist in this state. I knew I had already tested them during my time in the kobold village, but after my encounter with that wolf my skills felt weird, as if they were more connected to me in a way that was hard to describe. I knew they were acting differently from how they were yesterday, but I couldn¡¯t quite put how, so I needed to test them again. I focused on the two skills I wanted and they were there. I wasn¡¯t actually seeing my skills, it was more like a sensation. The first thing I did when I concentrated on both of them was to turn them off, which was as easy as flipping a mental switch. The moment the skills were off, it was like I was blinded from the world around me and the tingling sensation I had on my skin vanished like it was never there. First I was relieved as that bothersome sensation was finally over, but then I noticed the differences. The first thing I noticed was that there was an empty feeling where once I felt my magicules being used for various stuff, including [Knowledge Library], but now I felt nothing, even around me I noticed it. I hadn¡¯t noticed it before, but now it felt like the world around me lost half of its colors and felt somehow muted. The inscriptions in the cage, for example, were much harder to see as before it was almost like black ink in paper, now it felt like black ink in a black paper. I could still see it, but it was much more arduous without the skill. I wasn¡¯t sure if the lack of the tingling sensation was worth the muted world I was seeing and feeling now. It was as if everything was weightless, just an image on a screen. I couldn¡¯t bear how depressing how it all felt and activated [Magicule Detection] again, and immediately the world regained its colors and weight, even the tingling sensation was back. I thought if this sensation was like a drug, but on further thought it is more like if a human suddenly lost their vision or hearing. The world was still there, but with something essential missing, and it was depressing. Sure, if you were born that way then nothing would change, but you don¡¯t see blind people regaining their vision and crying for no reason at all. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. [Magicule Manipulation] was still off and it didn¡¯t have any effect, at least initially. I didn¡¯t really know how to test what it did, because up until this point I hadn¡¯t really used magicules without skills, and after a quick [Appraisal], which came as nonsense, I knew skills didn¡¯t use it but I wasn¡¯t sure what did use it. Toggling it on and off quickly, trying to feel the difference, resulted in nothing. With a sigh I turned to [Spell Planner]. Activating the skill brought the normal interface to my mind as usual, and to try it out I made a simple fireball and tried to cast it. I felt my skill pulling from my magicules deep inside me, going somewhere I couldn¡¯t sense and coming back as what I only could describe as a magic package. The package then came out of my paw and I watched it as it opened up and started to create the magic circuit I developed in the skill, only to see it being torn apart like it was inside a blender, dissipating the spell before it activated¡­ I stopped as two things clicked inside my mind. The first one was the nature of the tingling sensation I was feeling and the anti-magic this cage is probably generating. I saw as my spell was torn apart as if it was in a blender, being torn apart in various places moving through different directions. The tingling feeling was the blender, meaning that the anti-magic field was just making the magicules in the air around me move erratically and crash into everything, even other magicules, tearing spells apart and, as I can feel my own magicules stronger than the ones around me, feel it trying to disrupt my own magicules inside my body. I knew that the tingling was the anti-magic but didn¡¯t know what exactly it was doing, but now I knew. The second thing that clicked was how [Magicule Manipulation] worked. If anti-magic was just moving magicules erratically and disrupting the flow of spells and stuff, what¡¯s stopping me from doing the same? Honestly I felt a little dumb to only realize it now after being with the skill for over a week. Shaking my head I felt the skill again, let it guide my mind over my own magicules and felt as it allowed me to wrap my will over it and take control of the flow. It''s the first time I actually felt the flow of my magicules, how it flowed from different parts of my body, coming from the same distant place I feel my skills from, coming together in a spot close to my chest and then circulating around my body like blood flowing through my veins. The only part where the flow was interrupted was close to my skin, where it became erratically, like a glitching video-game character. I focused my mind on my paw, feeling the movements of my haywire magicules in it and trying to make it all to just stop. It¡¯s hard, it¡¯s like trying to stop flowing water with my bare hands. I continue to try to stop the movement of my magicules when I began to hear a commotion outside of the cage in the camp ¡°Kalah! Mikana ko lih rana ma ta! Ganora moshi t¨¢ j? garota ganhare je porwredna!¡± A young voice shouted in a language I didn¡¯t understand, but apparently the person shouting was important enough that the guards patrolling the perimeter rushed towards the source of the sound. I knew that this was it, it was my only chance to escape. I needed to get out of the cage somehow and I needed to do it now. I tried to throw myself at the bars, but they were too sturdy to break and the cage was too heavy for my weight to move it by much. I needed more firepower. I tried to cast a few more fireballs, but they broke apart before coming into existence. I heard screaming coming from the direction the guards came, my time was running out and I was out of ideas. I looked at my skill list again and sighed. I didn¡¯t want to deactivate the skill while inside the anti-magic but I saw no choice. Preparing myself for the worst, I deactivated [Genetic Dysphoria] and immediately fell to the ground as I lost control of all my muscles, except instead of everything turning into a goo like substance, I saw that the outermost layer of skin, the one being affected by the anti-magic, wasn¡¯t melting like when I first used the skill. My body began to change and I saw patches of furless skin appearing in some places as the skin itself stretched, because the skill wasn¡¯t supposed to be used inside an anti-magic field. Eventually I felt my wings growing and, what I can only describe as, being trapped inside my own skin, even my muzzle was a little deformed. I probably looked like a failed hybrid experiment from a mad scientist, but I got what I wanted. I felt the connection of my dragon skills, with the exception of dragon scales, for obvious reasons, being restored. I concentrated on a single skill that could give me enough firepower to break this cage, the one dragons were known for, [Elemental Breath]. I felt where my magicules were gathered in the base of my throat, as opposed to near my heart when I was transformed as a wolf, and sensed that I just needed to open the metaphorical floodgates for the skill to take effect, so that¡¯s what I did. I felt as my magicules rushed from the base of my throat to my mouth like a flood, and I aimed at the bars. Green flames burst out of my mouth like a tidal wave and wrapped around the metal bars. The energy I was releasing was enough for [Magicule Detection] to register it as a solid wall of green energy and I couldn¡¯t see what was happening inside it. Just to be sure I aimed a little higher up and the flames started touching the frame of the cage, where the inscriptions for the anti-magic field were. I felt the tingling sensation getting weaker and weaker, confirming that it was actually the anti-magic field, and [Genetic Dysphoria] took advantage of the weakened field and transformed me completely back to normal, melting only the skin and changing it to my white scales. As I ran out of breath and magicules, I almost collapsed on the ground, but I held and looked at the bars to see them rusted beyond recognition and the wooden frame the cage was made had a hole where I aimed my breath attack at. I didn¡¯t think twice and jumped out of the cage, just in time as the moment my feet touched the ground a few meters from the cage, a guard came flying from a wall and collided with it. For a moment I thought the guard came to catch me, but I noticed it was knocked out. Thanking my luck, I ran towards the forest when I suddenly crashed into a pair of legs that appeared in front of me in the blink of an eye. ¡°Took, Milahka thoji nah. Hoof thern lo ni, Ma gah la na? Kah ni go Amity. Dei, pora tah jogi ternio ga?¡± A feminine voice sounded in my ears and before I could take a proper look at the figure that appeared, something was shoved right in front of my eyes. It was a card, with a strange character written on it. The card itself looked like someone had googled ¡°nebula background¡± and printed it, but I knew it wasn¡¯t just a design choice as the images in the card moved slightly, like an animated background on a computer. ¡°Go? Giah la. Treno gahji matora bo. Gatu!¡± The voice said before vanishing again, leaving me confused as heck. Only a grunting sound from behind me made me remember where I was, and then I darted out of the encampment into the forest Chapter 14: I鈥檓 sure it will be fine [Amity¡¯s POV] Floating high in the sky above the Darnas Forest, Amity keeps mumbling to herself about the Card of Destiny she has in her hands, given to her by a card reader she is friends with. She keeps staring at the card and the number written on it. ¡°But why 4? This is the coordinates but what is the number four? Does it have any importance? I still don¡¯t understand¡­¡± She then slaps her hand in her face, doing a facepalm. ¡°I just remembered, I felt that temporal energy near that baby dragon. I should have asked him about it, but I forgot! Well, to be fair, I asked him about the 4 but he didn¡¯t know¡­No, did he know and just didn¡¯t answer? No, it¡¯s not possible, he looked confused when looking at the card so he couldn¡¯t know. Or was he pretending to not know? But then, how much sentience does he have? I¡¯m pretty sure there are no other dragons around here, first because it isn¡¯t nesting season and second I didn¡¯t receive any news about another dragon living here. I mean, a dragon could try to sneak in, but then that would be a problem for Athorisnamor to deal with. What was I saying again?¡± Amity frowned her eyebrows deep in thought before snapping her fingers. ¡°Oh, right! That baby dragon. I need to ask him about that temporal energy¡± She said before flying back to the encampment she had just left. As she approached the encampment, the various guards and personnel in it began to flee to the forest, most to the anger of Henry as he shouted that he would fire all of them if they didn¡¯t come back and defended him at the cost of their lives, to which the soldiers and personnel responded by ignoring him completely, leaving him agape. Amity landed where she had last seen the dragon, but even after looking around she couldn¡¯t see him anywhere near the camp. ¡°Maybe he left? I mean, I would leave if I were him. I mean, if he is at least cognitive enough to understand what this place is¡­why did I need him again? Oh I¡¯m stupid. I can just use time magic to see what happened here. But, didn¡¯t she say to not use time magic else I would regret it?... Nah, I¡¯m sure it will be fine¡± With a movement of her hand, a dome made of magical inscriptions appeared around Amity as she then changed various aspects of the dome before pouring her magicules into it, making it glow with green energy
[Marcos¡¯s POV] I ran from that encampment for a few minutes before I was too exhausted to continue. I had already used most of my magicules when I used my breath attack, and my stomach was growling for food like crazy, I couldn¡¯t keep my rhythm any longer if I didn¡¯t at least eat anything. I looked back at where the camp was, slightly regretting I didn¡¯t try to search the place for supplies that I needed but what was done was done and I needed to find food in the forest. That feeling I was having in the cage, the one that my time was running out, had now reached a crescendo and I couldn¡¯t help but start looking all around me. It was like the world itself was holding its breath, like death itself was right behind me with its scythe in my throat, ready to slice my head right off. But no matter where I looked, I couldn¡¯t see anything around me, just forest and small insects. That¡¯s when I felt something passing through me, like a wave in an ocean, and the feeling exploded in intensity and I fell to the ground, face locked in a silent scream, not of physical pain but it was as if I was inside a pressure chamber and it had reached the max pressure it could hold. Suddenly tremors shook the ground and a deafening explosion made me lose my hearing and then I saw a wall of white rapidly approaching, giving me no time to do anything but stay on the ground as it rushed over me. I slowly opened my eyes as a strong headache hit my head like a hammer and closed them again. It took a while for the pain to go away before I managed to open my eyes again. The first thing I noticed was that I was on a metallic floor in a strange room. Looking around I saw various monitors with a bunch of stuff written on them, constantly changing, rows of computer server-like cabinets filled every centimeter of the walls and in front of one of the walls there was a massive monitor with a creature in front of it looking at the monitor that was full of strange text and graphics that I couldn¡¯t understand, and it seemed as if it hadn¡¯t noticed me yet.. Looking at the creature, it resembled a lion that had black fur from head to tail and a massive glowing green mane that seemed to flow with energy. The mere presence of it felt like I was looking directly into the universe¡­ It¡¯s a sensation I couldn¡¯t quite explain. ¡°You¡¯ll need more than that if you want to stop the collapse¡± The creature said, its voice reverberating through the air as if its very being exhaled pure power, but at the same time it felt tame, as if the creature itself was holding its own power back. ¡°And you¡±, the creature said, turning directly to me. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. So much for not being noticed. ¡°Hello again¡± It said, and made me pause. Again? What does that mean? I thought, as I clearly hadn''t met him before¡­ no, I think I did? I clearly remember meeting him before, some form of d¨¦j¨¤ vu? ¡°And it will be right about¡­ now¡± It said, but before I could say anything back another headache crashed into my skull and made me scream in agony. At the same time, memories came crashing down into my mind. The worst came to pass after a few minutes, leaving me on the floor panting with more memories that could be possible without time loops. ¡°My head¡­Why this time it¡¯s worse?¡± Each word that came out of my mind felt like hot needles shooting into my brain. ¡°Souls are part timeless, and when two of the same soul exist in the same time period a resonance can occur. A body, being the receptacle of the soul, can cause a similar resonance if two of the same being are in the same time period, even if one of them does not have a soul. I wonder what would happen if three different versions of the same body with one of them being soulless happen to be in the same time period, it would be interesting for sure¡± The black lion said. ¡°What?¡± I asked, not understanding what he had said. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s nothing that you should worry about, young dragon¡± He answered me. ¡°Besides, won¡¯t you try to think of a plan this time?¡± He was right, but my head was hurting too much to think properly. ¡°If I fail the next time to stop the explosion, will I be back here again?¡± I ask. ¡°...I don¡¯t think I should be telling this, but I literally make the rules¡± The lion said after a small pause. ¡°You¡¯re going to keep coming back here as long as it is necessary¡± ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll just think about something¡± I said as I felt the weightlessness that came before I was sent back in time, and as always I found myself in the forest at night, back in the wolf body. ¡°This will probably result in nothing, and I honestly hope it will because I would feel bad if I ended up successfully stopping the explosion with what I¡¯m about to do¡± I said as I looked at my MP and pulled [Spell Planner] ¡°Fireball is overused, let¡¯s try a fire bullet¡± I said as I constructed a spell that would create a bullet made of fire and begin casting it aiming at the leaves in the trees. I was trying to start a forest fire, because even if I don¡¯t get close enough to that cave it still ends up exploding, probably because of the cave being overflowing with temporal energy, maybe if I disturb the energy flow in the area it would stall the explosion enough. I fired dozens of fire bullets at random directions, and even saw movement in the corner of my eye, but paid it no mind. The leaves in the trees I hit were starting to burn and I saw that it wouldn¡¯t spread enough. I then crafted another spell, this time with the wind attribute, it wasn¡¯t anything fancy, just something to make the oxygen move towards the fire. Unfortunately I wouldn¡¯t be able to see the result, because the moment I casted it, my MP hit 0 and I felt something pulling my entire existence somewhere and I lost consciousness.
[Past Marcos¡¯ POV] I kept running and running. I don¡¯t know how long I¡¯ve spent running, but it was enough for me to be exhausted and I should be far away enough to be able to rest without anyone finding me. Or so I thought. The moment I thought about starting to decelerate I saw a wolf, not different from the one I killed moments ago, burning up with green flames shooting fire towards the trees and they were starting to burn up as well, but with normal fire instead of green. I noped out of there in an instant and backtracked a few dozen meters before then moving tangentially away from my previous path. I got probably fifty meters away from there before suddenly feeling like my head was about to explode and I fell to the ground screaming in agony. Memories crashing down onto me like a tidal wave, leaving me panting on the ground for various minutes. ¡°W-wow¡­This is w-weird¡± I said after regaining enough strength to stop screaming. I had somehow merged my future and past versions outside of that strange room where the God of time is. My memories when this merge happens usually have a certain distance, and overlaps, but now the same memories are in two different places in my perspective and it¡¯s a little headache inducing to think about it, but this doesn¡¯t really matter, what does matter is the fact that I had merged with myself after I exhausted my MP instead of letting both my MP and HP end at the same time. Does this have to do with the resonance bit the God of Time said? [ Downloading ] Oh yeah, it was still downloading¡­wait, it shouldn¡¯t be downloading anything, I asked about the language in the previous loop. Does this mean that wherever my consciousness goes, my skills go with it? Tho, I guess it makes sense after all. Shaking my head to let go of those useless thoughts, I look around to find myself. Afterall I remember being in two different places at the same time before the merge, so I had to double check. Seeing only the forest and hearing the small insects and the not so distant creaking of burning wood I knew I needed to get out of this place. But before that, I had to use the night time to my advantage. My SP was too low for my taste and I can¡¯t risk it dropping to zero, I don¡¯t really know if I would die or go back to that room, probably the later but better safe than sorry. I needed to fix this and I needed to do it now. ¡°Wish I had something to track things, but I guess this will have to do¡± I said as I brought [Appraisal] on with a mental click and started appraising everything in my sight, trying to find some kind of animal I could eat. I still wasn¡¯t used to it, but I knew I had no other options. I couldn¡¯t risk going to the encampment and getting trapped again¡­ or could I? If this loop doesn¡¯t end properly and I get yet again to that room, then in the next room I know what I will do Chapter 15: Earthclaw Weasel [Oakling Tree] [Oakling Tree] [Redberry-Bush] [Thistlethorn Weed] [Amberroot Herb] [Oakling Tree] [Thistlethorn Weed] [Redberry-Bush] It¡¯s been five minutes and I haven¡¯t seen anything but plant life. Really, where are the animals? I did see some berry bushes, but without access to [Knowledge Library] I don¡¯t know if they are edible or not, so I chose not to risk it. I know it¡¯s night time and there is currently a forest fire happening a few hundred meters away from me, more or less, but I still haven¡¯t seen any wild life but some small insects. Are the wolves such an apex predator that they got scared away from the one I had killed? Waiting to prove me wrong, I saw a small furred creature poke its head from a hole in the ground. It looked around but didn¡¯t spot me, at least not yet, and then looked straight in the direction of the fire, probably hearing the flames roaring in the distance. I think this would be the start of a stampede and I needed to capitalize on it before things got out of control. I pulled [Spell Planner] and made an electric bullet, shooting it at the animal just as I appraised it. [Earthclaw Weasel Lv. 2] The moment I appraised it, it turned its head towards me, but my electric bullet¡¯s speed was above what the little creature could respond to and it hit it on its chest, even though I aimed it at the head, I still hit it, though. I immediately jumped at him, trying to bite off his face, but he recovered before I reached him and burrowed inside his hole, making me hit the dirt right beside the hole. I turned and was about to look into the hole when the earth beneath me suddenly shot up and hit me on my stomach, distracting me enough so that I didn¡¯t notice the dirt moving right behind my face and hitting me in my lower jaw. I stumbled to the left as another part of the ground shot up, missing me by a couple centimeters and giving me time to jump backwards and pull [Spell Planner] and allowing me to create a simple spell that would press the dirt downwards and I was hoping that it was enough to trap the weasel in the dirt. I waited a second and when I felt that the weasel would attack me again, I casted the spell right beneath me. I felt as my magicules wrapped themselves on the dirt around me and pressed them downwards like a hydraulic press, but then I felt part of my spell breaking and from there the weasel shot out of the dirt and clawed at my face. I tried to move out of the way, but wasn¡¯t fast enough and the claws hit the side of my face, scraping against the fur I had at the moment and drawing a little blood. I had forgotten to change back to my true form after merging with my past self and now was not the time. I jumped to the left again, turning my body towards the weasel, but he clawed his way into the dirt, I guess that¡¯s why it¡¯s named ¡°Earthclaw Weasel¡±. But it didn¡¯t matter at the moment, all that mattered was that I needed to recover my SP and that I needed to deal with it fast because the fire was approaching, and I could hear it. I needed to find a way to locate the weasel inside the dirt, but I couldn¡¯t think about any spell that would help me and I wasn¡¯t proficient enough to create one even if I could think, [Appraisal] was only returning dirt as result, because I couldn¡¯t target the weasel inside the dirt without targeting the dirt first. I was hit in my stomach again, but this time I knew what to expect and when the next pillar going for my chin came out, I used it as a launch pad, jumping into the air. While I was in the air, I made a few more electric bullets and shot them at the ground, but they were ineffective. Honestly, what was I expecting? Electricity vs dirt? Has Pok¨¦mon not taught me anything? Electric has disadvantage against ground types, but I knew this wasn¡¯t Pok¨¦mon and that a water bullet wasn¡¯t going to help me in this situation. I landed next to his hole again, and when the pillar coming for my stomach came, I was prepared and jumped to the right, making it miss by another couple of centimeters. As I was in the air, it came to me a way to both finish with this weasel and escape the fire that was now starting to get too close for comfort. As I landed, I used the same method as before, compressing the dirt below me and, just as before, the weasel shot out of the dirt, coming straight at me with its claws extended, ready to strike, but I was prepared. The moment he left the dirt, I had finished constructing my spell, it was easier than I thought and was surprised as to why I hadn¡¯t thought about it before. And, as it was about to hit me, I dived to the ground and casted, flipping everything upside down. I had created an inverted gravity field, making the weasel start to fall towards the sky, followed by myself. It took a large chunk of my MP and was a constant drain. I would run dry in a few seconds, but those seconds were the best moment to strike as the weasel was struggling midair as it fell upwards. I changed back to my true form and cancelled the gravity spell, and at the same time I spread my wings and casted a wind spell, making wind blow on them, making me raise in elevation and getting at the same altitude of the weasel. It was still struggling and I took the opportunity to bite on its neck¡­except I didn¡¯t, the moment I was closing my jaws and felt its neck on my mouth I froze for a second, and that second was enough for the weasel to swipe his claws on my chest, making me close my jaws on instinct as I flinched from the pain and killing it by accident. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. That was it, It was done, and I needed to make it through the end. I clamped my jaws shut as the weasel struggled for its life. Eventually the struggle got weaker and weaker and then finally stopped, making me breath in relief as it was over. The wind in my ear made me remember the situation I was currently in. I looked down and the ground was fast approaching. I extended my wings and casted another wind spell, slowing my fall and changing my trajectory from straight down to a more 15o descending. I was still going down, but it was more manageable than crashing directly into the ground. It took me about five minutes of gliding for me to reach a small clearing in the forest next to a river and by then my wings were sore and it hurt for me to move them. I was still with the weasel on my jaws. The hunger from [Genetic Dysphoria] kicked in and before I knew the part of the neck on my mouth was gone and a new entry was on the DNA list of my skill, being the Earthclaw Weasel. I still felt bad that I killed, even though I knew that this is mostly a kill or be killed world, but it¡¯s not easy to ignore your feelings and kill something, I was not a psychopath, at least I think I wasn¡¯t¡­ Where were my therapists when I needed them the most? With a sigh, I looked at the rest of the weasel body in front of me. If I wanted to eat it, I needed to prepare it. I wasn¡¯t going to eat it raw. I might be a dragon, a creature that eats cattle by the dozens in tales, but I wasn¡¯t going to abandon my eighteen years of humanity and thousands of years of culture to just eat it raw, no. I taught the kobolds how to cook with fire, so I would teach myself how to prepare food with the things I had access to, my claws and magic. Suddenly I heard a sound coming from my left and when I turned to look all I saw was white and pain in my neck. When I opened my eyes again, I was back in the room with the God of Time. There was a slight vibration all around me, I couldn¡¯t quite put it into words, but it was like the world was vibrating with my existence in the room. My thoughts were interrupted by the lion¡¯s voice. ¡°It dropped, this time. I know why, but this will increase the requirements by a few dozen more times¡± He said, before turning to me and speaking once more. ¡°So, you died. Try to not do that, okay? There¡¯s only so much energy to extract your soul from Yggdrasil without it being inside the unreality¡± ¡°I...What?¡± I asked, clearly confused. I understood the general idea, but the logic behind it was nonsense for me. ¡°Death already knows not to interfere, so all you need to do now is to not die¡± He said and the magic circle that shone below me each time I would be transported back in time shone again, but the God of Time wasn¡¯t done speaking yet. ¡°Consider this a small gift from me. I know you¡¯ll keep exhausting your magicules and forcing the rules of time to break your body through time to resynchronize with your past self, so before you erode your soul forever, I¡¯ll just synchronize you to your past self. And this time, do not get yourself killed by a monster¡± As he said it, the magic circle below me changed in various ways and then everything around me was white. The next thing I knew I was running from where I heard footsteps, probably looking for the Lunaspectra wolf I killed. I stopped. I looked around as my mind settled as to what happened. I was seamless, different from the headache inducing I was experiencing before
[ Individual, nameless White Dragon, has gained the Title [Temporal Resonance Synchronization] ]
I heard a voice in my head, saying I had gained a title, whatever was it, but looking around revealed no one around. There was a feeling that I had already heard it before, but couldn¡¯t exactly put it in my memories¡­Wait. I remember. Just when I killed the Lunaspectra wolf I heard this voice saying I had leveled up, but I wasn¡¯t in my right mind to pay any attention to it at the moment. What is it? Is it an announcer? This world wasn¡¯t gamefied enough, it seems. But what was this title thing? Is it on my status?
Name: [Marcos Leandro] Age: 0 Species: White Dragon Lv. 3
Status: Normal HP - 650/650 MP - 700/700 SP - 90/300
Strength - 200N Defense - 200N Magic - 300 Magical Defense - 600 Dexterity - 200 Stealth - 200 Precision - 200
Titles - [Temporal Resonance Synchronization]
Skills - [Racial] Elemental Breath Lv. 1 [Racial] Dragon Scales Lv. 1 [Racial] Passive Growth [100% Remaining] [Unique] Knowledge Library Lv.2 [Unique] Genetic Dysphoria Lv.1 [Unique] Spell Planner [Normal] Appraisal Lv.3 [Normal] Magicule Detection Lv.3 [Normal] Magicule Manipulation Lv.2
There it was, in my status. Even though I don¡¯t know what it does, but it¡¯s there, and is probably something that the God of Time made when he merged me with my past self. ¡°Enough of this thinking for now. I need to take care of something first¡± I said as my skin melted and I dropped to the ground, getting a little smaller and longer. As my body transformed into one of Earthclaw Weasel I turned around, looking at the direction I came from. ¡°I need food¡± I said as I began running back to where I heard footsteps Chapter L3: Smoke and Blood in the Air Another week has passed since I gained my [Elemental Slice] skill and passed out from magicule exhaustion. Yeah, apparently you can pass out from using too much magicules, something about exhausting my mental energies and entering some form of coma as it recovers¡­ Whatever it is, really, I¡¯ve been asleep for two days straight and after that, I¡¯ve been forced to train almost non-stop to help master sword techniques. Ferdinand became even more stricter in my training, and made me use my own sword, using my skill to train its use. Thanks to that it leveled up to level 3 and it became easier to use and more efficient in magicule use, meaning I can use the same effect with less magicules wasted. Ferdinand said it was normal for the low levels of skills to become more efficient and easier to use until around level 9, where it becomes more complex with each level up. I asked if there was a limit for skills levels and he answered that each skill had its own progression and that I would need to discover mine alone, as each skill, even [Normal] ones are different for each person and a skill that can increase the stabbing force for one can, instead, increase the cutting edge. That was a full day of lectures, I didn¡¯t even train that day. But thanks to that I can at least understand a little more of the world and the rules governing it. Honestly, it really seems like a game world, and checks every checkmark on the ¡°generic isekai¡± list, even though instead of a single protagonist, there is a full classroom of ¡°summoned heroes¡±. Marcos¡¯s face flashed across my mind and I stopped that train of thought. Yeah, not everyone has been summoned. I lost my friend in this mess, but it¡¯s not like I can complain to anyone here. Well, I could try to complain to the gods, but the ones who answer aren¡¯t the ones who would have something to do with it. The ones that could do anything about it are the Greater Gods, but they don¡¯t actually interfere with the mortal realm. I learned this in one of the religious lessons they¡¯ve made us partake in. Basically, there are gods, ascended mortals who achieved godhood and need faith to survive, meaning they are more active and can even gave a small portion of their powers to mortals, paladins, and then there are the Greater Gods, the ones who actually created the universe and are basically the christian God, all powerful in their respective field and all that. ¡°But if that¡¯s the case, why do you worship the god of space, if he doesn¡¯t answer back. Why not worship one of the many other gods?¡± Jaqueline asked once in the religious class, which instead of receiving a scolding from the priest who was teaching us for disrespecting his religion, received a laugh instead. Apparently, they do worship other gods, many other gods depending on the person. Apparently having only one faith is uncommon because there are, in fact, multiple gods and not one of them claims to be the one true god. And the reason they have the church of space is more a show of gratitude than proper worship, as the Greater Gods don''t need faith to survive, unlike the other gods, and also as a way to remember the times when they were more active in the mortal realm many, many years ago. They were the ones who initially taught the people on the planet magic and to not rely only on Skills. The ritual the church used to summon us wasn''t given to them by the Gods. Apparently it was developed by mortals using the fundamentals of the teachings of the God of Space. Basically, if I wanted to be angry at someone because this ritual killed one of my best friends, I needed to be angry at a dead guy that, apparently, isn''t even dead anymore because it''s been so long after their death that they''re probably already reincarnated, according to the Church of Death. I sighed and stored my sword back in my [Inventory], looking at the scene in front of me. We were currently in the outskirts of a forest and the paladins of various churches were inside the forest sending different monsters at us so that we could kill them and level up. Apparently, otherworlders (as they call us) had an easier time leveling up and obtaining skills, even leveling up we gain more status points than the average person¡­ honestly, can you spell ¡°protagonist¡± more clearly than that?. After a few more hours of basically power leveling, the paladins told us that it was enough for today, and that tomorrow we would be portalled to one of the front lines where the half demons were most active, as we were already at the strength level of the basic soldiers, even though some of the paladins looked at us with disgust as they said it. We returned to our dorms exhausted. I resisted going to my bed else I would fall asleep drenched in sweat, so I went to the bathroom and pressed the rune in the wall that released the water from the shower head, but I didn''t press the one that would heat it up, else I would probably fall asleep in the shower, again. I stored my armor in my [Inventory], a neat little trick I learned about my skill. I could store and put pieces of clothes and armor directly in my body, and then I entered the cold shower, letting it cool my body down as I opened my status screen and stared at it.
Name: Leonardo Silva Monteiro Age: 17 Species: Transmigrated Human Lv. 10
Status: Normal [Cursed] This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. HP - 27.500/27.500 MP - 27.500/27.500 SP - 5.500/5.500
Strength - 5.500N Defense - 5.500N Magic - 5.000 Magical Defense - 5.000 Dexterity - 5.000 Stealth - 5.000 Precision - 5.000
Titles - Otherworldly Human Universe Hopper
Skills - [Unique] RPG HUD [Unique] Friendlist [Unique] Game Inventory [Normal] Elemental Slice Lv. 5 [Extra] Swordsmanship Lv. 1 [Curse] Summon Soul Bind
In this short week I had already leveled up 9 times, and it was exhausting. My body was hurting from so many level ups in one go, as I learned it takes a small amount of time for the body to adapt to the leveled up status, and rushing levels could be detrimental to one¡¯s health. But, apparently our bodies being refined through the summoning ritual made us resistant to this type of complication. I sighed and opened [Friendlist], staring at a single entry in the list, even if it made my head hurt whenever I did it. [M???a???r???c???o???s??? ???L???e???a???n???d???r???o??? ???N???a???h???a???l???a??? ???[??? ???M???a???r???c???o???s??? ???]??? ???-??? ???E???R???R???O???R??? ] I felt tears swell in my eyes. I knew it wasn¡¯t my fault he died, but again, you can¡¯t blame someone if they cry because one of their best friends died and he managed to live a isekai fan¡¯s dream of going to another world. Eventually I couldn¡¯t hold it anymore and with a shout I punched the wall, and because of my superhuman strength, my fist passed through the stones, smashing everything in its path. I held my hand in the hole I just made for a few moments before pulling it back and closing the shower. I looked at the hole I just made, and then the other four ones I had made the previous days. I just sighed and dried myself before going to bed and sleeping for the night. The next morning, only the dull pain in my mind reminded me that I should make the most of this opportunity, for Marcos. I got up, washed myself, brushed my teeth with my declining toothpaste tube that got transported with us and went to get some breakfast with the others. I sat with Alex, but she doesn¡¯t seem to be taking the new world. Her eyes are sulked and her hair is a mess, it seems she didn''t rest for a moment after getting here. I really wish I could do more to help her, but whenever I try to talk with her, she just brushes me off. After the breakfast we all go to one of the patios in the church, where a group of priests are located in a circular pattern. They said for us to move inside the circle, which we complied with, and before long they started chanting and drawing magical circles in the air and ground. The memory of Marcos saying he saw lines appearing in the classroom flashes through my mind, but I quench it down so as to not cause distractions. ¡°We will be sending you to one of the front line camps. We lost contact with them a few minutes ago. They probably are in need of reinforcements and your job, once there, is to assess the situation and help them in whatever they might need¡± One of the paladins said as the ground shone with light and a dizzying feeling came over me. The dizziness was over just as it started, meaning the teleportation was finished. My eyes took a second longer to adjust to where we were, but as soon I could see properly again I had to draw my sword from my [Inventory] and defend myself from a claw that was coming straight to my neck. I managed to block the attack and slash at the opponent that I only now could see. The one attacking me was a woman, her skin was a sickened red, her eyes were a bright red with vertical pupils, she had no hair and her teeth were pointed and was making a guttural growl. I was momentarily stunned by the appearance of the half-demon in front of me. Even though we were told about their appearances, to see it in front of you was something else entirely. The half-demon used my momentary distraction and managed to get a swipe with her shar claws that came out of her fingers, slashing me on my arm. I retaliated by slashing my sword with the ice element that froze her head solid, ending the fight. I looked at the wound and it was thankfully shallow. Straightening my posture I looked around me to see that everyone else was already engaging in combat with one half-demon or another and that the encampment that we were sent to was already ablaze, with only a few soldiers here and there trying to fight back and escape with their lives, the place was now a graveyard filled with half-demon and the mutilated corpses of the soldiers that once lived here. There were a few buildings still burning from the chaos while the rest were just a pile of ashes with smoke rising up like a flag of death. It took me a moment to register the smell of blood that drenched the place, and a look at the ground gave me the answer to where that smell was coming from. A few meters away from us, from the teleportation circle, there was an ocean of bodies on the ground, mostly half-demons but there were the soldiers and mages from the encampment mixed in the piles of bodies. I supressed the urge to vomit from all the mutilated bodies splashed on the ground with my will and thrusted my blade with the fire element in another half-demon that was approaching me with his jaw wide open, trying to bite my neck off. The flame on my sword engulfed the half-demon. I pushed back my sword and cut his head clean off. I then locked my eyes to the next half-demon I saw, my rage swelling up inside me. How could someone do such evil acts and stay without justice? No. I wouldn¡¯t let this go like this. I made a promise to find the vampire lord who unleashed this horde of half-demons and end his life. He would need to repent his actions in the realm of the dead, as I wouldn¡¯t allow his continued existence in the mortal realm any longer. I slashed my sword in the air and ran towards my target. The compressed air I shot using the wind element threw the half-demon out of balance and I finished him with a thrust of my sword directly into his face. stepping on the corpse, I pulled my sword free, already looking for another target and running straight at it with fury in my eyes. Chapter 16: Stealing food This new form I was using was more agile than the wolf form, at least in close distances. While the wolf form was good for running long distances, if I wanted to twist and change directions this form was better. Although there was still discomfort while using them, as if I was wearing a too tight swimsuit, but I digress. While I was returning, I saw two people in the distance. One was a soldier with a bow on his back while the other one looked like a butler. Why would a butler be looking for a wolf with a soldier? I asked myself as I observed them. The soldier was analysing the corpse and the surrounding areas, while the butler looked like would hit his head on a tree from anger. They started talking, but I couldn¡¯t understand a single word they were saying, until I suddenly could. What? What the hell? How can I¡­ [Download of common Humania language has been completed]
[ Proficiency points have reached the threshold. Individual, nameless white dragon, has gained the [Extra] skill [Humania Language] at Lv. 10 ]
My mind blanks for a second as I process both the information I just received of the language and the voice of both the announcer and [Knowledge Library]. After a few seconds where I just stared at nothing, I resumed looking at the soldier and butler. So, that¡¯s why it took so long for [Knowledge Library] to download from wherever. I just got the entire language crammed inside my head and now, judging by the level of the skill, I could even give lessons on the language I thought. ¡°Huh? Where does the second wolf come from?¡± The butler asked. Huh, so they were discussing the fight? But how do they know there¡¯s a second wolf, aka me? ¡°Exactly! It doesn¡¯t make any sense! Where is the creature that killed this wolf? And where does the second one come from?¡± The soldiers said. Oh, so they don¡¯t know that it was a dragon that killed the wolf? That¡¯s good, the last thing I want is to have a bunch of people looking for ¡°the small white dragon¡± and trying to tame me. The best part is that they didn¡¯t consider the option I can shapeshift, and honestly why would they? Oh, yeah, magic and all that. ¡°Let¡¯s go back to camp and sleep. Now that the wolf we attacked is dead, we can rest and look for this second wolf tomorrow¡± The butler said, looking dejected. Both of them then got up and started moving. I was going to ignore them and continue, but then I remembered that the last time I was at their camp I was dragged there while knocked out, and then I escaped to another area of the forest, so I actually didn¡¯t know where their camp was, so I had to follow them. I sighed. I could be easily discovered if I wasn¡¯t careful when following them, but I wouldn¡¯t let this get in the way. So I started following them from a dozen meters out, moving next to the ground while trying to be sneaky, avoiding broken branches that were on the ground and not moving inside bushes to avoid shaking it and making noise. Then they stopped in the middle of the forest and looked around. Weird I thought, but then I started getting uneasy, as if something was going to happen. I took a few steps back, and I was glad I did, because the moment I backed away, an arrow hit where my head was a moment ago, startling the hell out of me. I ran behind a tree and pulled [Spell Planne], making a few earth spells and casting them, making the ground beneath me open up and then close again, leaving me inside with a pocket of air. My heart was beating wildly inside my chest, even when I fought against the Lunaspectra Wolf did my heart beat so wildly. If I were to guess, it¡¯s a survival instinct engraved on the weasel DNA, and as I was technically an Earthclaw Weasel at the moment, this survival instinct was engraved on my DNA, and that¡¯s why my heart seemed like it was going to explode and my breathing was ragged. It took me a few minutes to recover from whatever state I was in, even opening a hole in the dirt so I could breathe better. ¡°If I were to rank the species, this would be low on the list, really¡± I said to myself after climbing out of the hole I had made. Looking around, I had lost both of them while I was in the hole having what could only be described as a physical panic attack, because it was only my body that was in a panic state, my mind was as clear as a sunny day. I sighed. It seemed like I would have to track them, instead of following. What a great thing that I tracked things like this when I was a child¡­except not. How the hell would I track them? With a shrug and a sigh, I walked where I had last seen them and started looking at the ground, trying to see if I could find their footsteps as this is the only thing I knew about tracking something. And to my surprise there were clear marks of shoes in the dirt, I was not expecting it, even more that I didn¡¯t have footprints on the dirt, maybe I was too light? I don¡¯t know. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Anyway, the footsteps were clear enough that I had to concentrate a little to be able to follow them, but at the same time were light enough that I could just as easily lose track of them, so I had to follow them very carefully. Even more because I knew that the archer guy could spot me even underneath some bushes and a dozen meters away from him. I was honestly hoping that I wouldn¡¯t find him just waiting for me with an arrow in his bow aiming at me, and thankfully that wasn¡¯t the case. After of, I think it was, about two hours I found something weird. I was pretty sure it was the camp, but I was not certain. It looked like a bunch of white rocks with some distance between them, there was¡­ something, moving around it slowly, I honestly couldn¡¯t make head or tails of what I was seeing. From the pattern I knew they were the soldiers patrolling the area from the time I was in the cage inside the camp. Oh well, let¡¯s keep moving and avoiding the patrolling guards. I thought and started to crawl towards the camp while I avoided the patrolling guards. Eventually, when I thought I had made it I noticed I was back inside the forest and looking behind me was the camp again ¡°What the¡­?¡± I said with confusion. I tried to turn back and go again, but I ended up again looking at the forest with the camp behind me¡­ ¡°Anti-monster field, of course. If they have anti-magic cages, of course they would have anti-monster fields to protect from monsters inside a forest. Does that mean I am actually a monster? Or does it mean that I, with the weasel body, am a monster? Thoughts for later, now I need to find a way to enter the camp¡± I said to myself. Looking at the rock formation and the¡­ things moving around I wondered why I hadn¡¯t noticed it earlier. The reason why the camp looked like a bunch of rocks and the soldiers were eldritch abominations was that the anti-monster field was probably messing with my perception of the place, like a perception filter. That¡¯s it! I thought. If the anti-monster field was acting like a perception filter and I already knew where it was, I just needed to not rely on my senses. As I was thinking about going underneath the earth and just digging straight and then popping back onto the surface, I thought about something better. What¡¯s the distance and the direction of the camp? I used [Knowledge Library] and it answered. [The temporary military camp of the Darnas household is currently 54 meters southwest] A grin formed on my lips. If I couldn¡¯t trust my senses, then I would just cheat and use my skills and follow them. I started walking. [The temporary military camp of the Darnas household is currently 52 meters southwest] I kept walking. [The temporary military camp of the Darnas household is currently 50 meters southwest] And walking. [The temporary military camp of the Darnas household is currently 51 meters east-southwest] I stopped, turned slightly to the right, stepped forwards and asked again. [The temporary military camp of the Darnas household is currently 49 meters southwest] I grinned again and started walking again. Sometimes I had to correct my heading and sometimes I had to hide beneath the dirt. I made a hole and then hid myself in it, when a soldier got too close. Eventually I made it past the field effect and I could see the camp properly. I used my small body and the fact that the soldiers wouldn¡¯t think that a creature had made inside their camp with the anti-monster field active to hide myself in plain sight by walking next to the tents and staying still if there¡¯s a person near me. One thing that I hadn¡¯t noticed before was that there weren''t only humans here, I saw various cat and dog persons walking around. Unfortunately the human helmet covered the ears, so I couldn¡¯t see if there was any elf as well. I snickered as I thought about something I find funny, a person is both a human and an elf existing in a superposition state until somebody looks at their ears beneath their helmets, collapsing the probability wave and locking the person in one of those two states, basically the cat of Schr?dinger, dead and alive until somebody looks inside the box. Shaking my head at my own lame joke that I still find funny, I continue moving, looking inside each tent, looking for the one where they keep their supplies. As the camp is not that big, it doesn¡¯t take too long and I find myself inside a storage tent. There were stacks and stacks of stacked boxes, with runes written on them. Those runes were way simpler and easier to read than the one inside the cages, though I still couldn¡¯t understand them. I could see them. Of course I appraised them and parsed the results through [Knowledge Library] [Ice Rune] [Ice Runes are runes that can decrease the temperature of items inside the containers the rune themselves are carved, requiring a significant amount of magicules to decrease the temperature but can keep a constant temperature, even those that are below 0, with a fraction of the amount of magicules used to reduce the temperature] Oh, so they are basically fantasy fridges. Looks like I found the jackpot. I opened up a few to look inside and found frozen meat, vegetables and fruits inside the fridge-boxes. I picked some of the fruits and a bunch of the meat and went to a corner of the tent. I then used [Spell Planner] to create a small hole in the dirt where I jumped down, closing the entrance but making a few air holes so that I could breath. Then I expanded the hole sideways, creating a small room. Next I used [Spell Planner] again to make several spells. I knew this would probably strain me, but honestly I wouldn¡¯t eat raw meat if I had the chance. Creating a sphere of rotating air, I placed the meat inside and then created fire next to the rotating air. The air heated up inside the sphere and started to defrost the meat and would eventually fry it. Yes, I had created the magical equivalent of an air fryer, fight me. While I waited for the meat to cook, I ate the fruits I had picked up. Chapter 17: Caught Again Gary was walking back to his tent after finishing his shift, he was the camp¡¯s only chef and Henry¡¯s, the duke¡¯s youngest son, personal chef. He did not hate his job, but he didn¡¯t like it either. From all the meals he prepared, about half he had to remake with some insignificant changes that depended on Henry¡¯s mood for the day, or even the mood during his meal time, as one time he had to remake the same dish about five times, and the last time was the same as the first time he had prepared it. The job itself, of being a chef, would be easy for him if it were not for Henry in particular and that is mostly thanks to his [Unique] skill he acquired one day, which surprised him by a lot as he didn¡¯t think he did anything worthy of having received a [Unique]skill by the System, but he wasn¡¯t one to disregard that he received one, so that was that and now he could enjoy his [Unique] skill, and he had to thank it as well, as the only reason Henry couldn¡¯t just fire him was because of it. People with [Unique] skills were rare enough the duke wouldn¡¯t fire him if he weren¡¯t actively trying to kill his son. His [Unique] skill, the one he use for his everyday job, is called [Chef¡¯s Nose] and it makes so that every information about the food that is being prepared can be interpreted by smell alone, so he knows a what point the food is as it is prepared, if its lacking in any kind of spice or salt and even detect poisons, as the foul smell of it is easily recognized by Gary. Even if the poison itself is odorless, the skill can detect it and Gary will recognize it. The skill can do more, it is a [Unique] skill afterall, but Gary does not have the imagination to use it outside of the more obvious effects the skill gives him. This is just one more skill that was born for a person that will not grow it and will return to the System after that person¡¯s passing. Such is the natural order since the dawn of civilization. Thanks to the skill, however, was Gary able to notice the faint smell of one of their meat pieces being cooked in a way he couldn¡¯t decipher how. It was not frying, not boiling and certainly not baking. But the cooking method was not the main issue Gary had with this, even though he wanted to know what was being done with the meat, no. The main issue Gary had was that the meat was being prepared at all. As the camp¡¯s only chef, it was his responsibility to guarantee that there would be enough food for the thirty soldiers that accompanied them in this forest, and that means that he needs to keep a tight control on stocks and access to the storage tent where the food is being preserved by ice magic. In other words, someone was breaking the rules and stealing food, and Gary would not accept it, mostly because if their food stocks weren¡¯t aligned with the stipulated consumption and without a good reason to, he would be charged for the missing stock. So, with an angry face, Gary marched to the kitchen tent but saw no one there. Gary then walked to the supplies tent, which was next to the kitchen tent, but again, saw no one. He could still smell the meat being cooked so he knew it wasn¡¯t his imagination. To be sure, Gary started to look through the cryochests and, sure enough, found missing supplies. Gary¡¯s face closed and he committed himself to find those stolen supplies before anyone else noticed, and to that he would use his skill to his absolut limit.
[ Marcos¡¯ POV ] The airfryer plan didn¡¯t go 100% according to plan. Yeah, I had to make it so that the noise and smell of the cooking meat didn¡¯t attract people, and that worked. The problem is that it was a rotating air sphere, and do you know what happens when you move air at high speeds near dirt? Basically, everything in the tunnel got covered in dirt, the food, me. The only reason the small hole I made didn¡¯t collapse on top of me was because I had casted another earth spell to reinforce the walls, but it didn¡¯t help with the loose dirt that got blown away. So, yeah, the meat and fruits I had stolen were covered in dirt, and I had to eat it that way¡­ Yeah, it wasn¡¯t fun in any way and tasted awful, but I ate it anyway, even if I hated myself for it. Then suddenly a wooden pole crashes the roof of the hole I made, scaring the hell out of me as the spell I had used to reinforce the walls and roof collapsed and the dirt on top of me came crashing down, nearly burrowing me alive. ¡°An earthclaw weasel?¡± A surprised voice came from above me. Looking up I saw a person in white clothes with what looked like grease marks on it. Was it the cook? Whoever he was, he had just blown my cover. I jumped out of the hole and darted towards the exit. I knew that he would alert the guards and that I would be easily caught if I didn¡¯t do something about it. Unfortunately, for them, the only thing that came to my mind was the same idea as before, burn the whole place down. I created and shot several fire bullets, aiming at the tents. I had to decrease the speed and increase the heat, but the fabric started burning with each hit of my bullets. I dove out of the storage tent and started firing at random directions. I could hear the shouts that were coming from various places where the fire had started to form. I turned a few corners around the tends, not shooting any more bullets, risking them finding me through them, and jumped inside the first box I could find. I needed to get out of the camp, but if I just ran they would see me, so I needed to come up with a plan, a proper plan and not just wing it as I''ve been doing until now that somehow ended up working. By now the entire camp was umawake trying to contain the flames, so I didn''t have much time. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. The first thing I thought was using illusion magic, like the wolf they were hunting, but when I tried to use [Spell Planner] to do it, it gave me an error saying that the illusion element was too complex to the basic interface, but I still didn''t know how to use the advanced one, so that was a no go. My other thought was to turn back into my true form and use wind magic to fly away, but that was the same as putting a target on my back to that archer to hit me with that deadly arrow of his. I could just dig my way out¡­yeah, that could work. I looked outside the box carefully and when I saw there was no one near me, I jumped out and constructed a spell to dig the dirt and jumped on it, then I picked a direction and started digging out the tunnel using a spell to dislocated the dirt in front of me and compact it around the tunnel, so that it didn''t collapse on top of me. I kept digging trying to leave the camp, but as I was creating another segment of the tunnel, the earth around me suddenly shot up, almost crushing me on the top part of the dirt, the only reason it didn¡¯t crush me was because the roof wasn¡¯t strong enough and gave way as the ground kept pushing me up. I almost suffocated as I was entirely covered by the dirt, but light assaulted my eyes and the moment I was able I pulled a lungful of air and started coughing a little as the sudden change of pressure. ¡°See? I told you there was something beneath my tent!¡± A child¡¯s voice echoed in my ears, but I still couldn¡¯t look at them to understand what exactly was happening, I was too occupied trying to calm my breath. ¡°The sigils weren¡¯t confused by the fire as you said, Mavi. I think you need to learn more about the sigils of my father¡¯s mage¡± ¡°...Yes, sir¡± A second voice came from next to the first. This one I recognize as being the butler from before, so his name is Mavi. I managed to look at them, it was a small child with extravagant clothes, the butler form before and another soldier, this one a dog person, with a wooden staff with a brown crystal on top of that, so that is the mage that brought me here. Looking around, I was inside of a pretty luxurious tent, the cloth of the tent itself was filled with runes, some of them I recognized as being the cold runes I saw on the fantasy freezers, but the majority I didn¡¯t know what they were. If I were to guess, given the luxurious nature of the tent and the extravagant clothes the child was wearing, I would guess they were like a HVAC system, and a quick check with [Knowledge Library] confirmed it. [The Magicweaven Tent is capable of producing a comfortable environment inside of itself by the various ambient controller runes woven on the threat of the fabric itself, making it a very sought after commodity by nobles and merchants] Yep, it was as I thought. Anyway, the inside of the tent itself was filled with ornate chairs, a big table for at least six people, a bigger bed than what was mine and a lot of random decorations around that screamed ¡°entitled noble¡± in my face. The fact that he had a butler at his side looking like he wanted to die and slap the kid didn¡¯t help my mental image of the kid. Anyway, I was already in front of them, so I might as well appraise them. [Human, Lv. 3] [Human, Lv. 20] [Human, Lv. 40] That was the [Appraisal] result from the kid, the butler and the knight, respectively. The knight looked at me confused when I appraised him, then looked at the child and started speaking. ¡°Lord Henry. I believe this earthclaw weasel has the [Appraisal] skill¡± The moment he said it, I froze. Huh? People can feel me appraising them? I thought as I looked at them. ¡°This animal? With an [Appraisal] skill? What nonsense are you sputtering about?¡± The child, Henry, said. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, my lord. But I am certain I felt the [Appraisal] reaction from the earthclaw weasel¡± the knight said. Oh boy, this is bad. I don¡¯t know how rare [Appraisal] is, it shouldn¡¯t be that rare, right? It¡¯s not like a [Unique] skill or a legendary one, it¡¯s just a [Normal] skill. And it is at least known enough for the reaction to be known, else the knight wouldn¡¯t know what I just did. ¡°...If you trick me, you will not be allowed back in the army. You will be fired. Is that understood?¡± The child spoke, and the knight only answered with an ¡°Yes, My lord!¡±. ¡°Very well, Then lock him up. We will bring him back with my wolf. I¡¯m sure with both I will surpass my siblings on the succession to the house¡± Oh hell no. I will not be anyone¡¯s pet! I thought and started to cast an electrical bullet. But before I could shoot them, the knight must have noticed it, because the next thing I knew I was surrounded on all sides with stone walls. My spell hit the stone and dissipated, only a little scorch mark showing where I hit the wall. They started talking again, but the sound was muffled and I couldn¡¯t understand what they were saying. I would not just lay around while they tried to domesticate me, I was not a pet, I was a former human and currently a dragon, I would not be reduced to a dog. I opened [Spell Planner] and created the same spell I was using with dirt, but this time I selected the stone element, to work with the stone surrounding me. But I was stupid. The knight was 37 levels above me, how would I break his spell easily like that? The moment I casted the spell, it was like the immovable object met the very stoppable force, and the spell fell apart. I tried again and again, but it didn¡¯t work. I tried changing tactics, opening it up with a water jet, like those water cutters that can eat through steel by sheer force of water pressure, but it just made the ground wet. As I was thinking about what to do, I felt the same feeling like the world around me was holding its breath, the same feeling I got when that explosion happened before. But it didn¡¯t make any sense, it was too early for that, it was still night time, and the speed that it came and increased made me feel the same sensation of free-fall, that sensation you can feel inside your stomach. Just as quick as it came, it vanished. Leaving me staring at a bugged window in front of me that made my stomach drop even more and my heart sink.
[Le??o?a??o: M?r?cos?] [Le??o?a??o: ??e yo? ?h?re?]
Chapter 18: A Message To The Past
[Le??o?a??o: M?r?cos?] [Le??o?a??o: ??e yo? ?h?re?]
the bugged screen floated in front of my eyes. My heart sank as I stared at it. I didn¡¯t know what it was, but something told me it was truly from Leo, but at the same time, I could feel the connection going somewhere way too far away, somewhere I couldn¡¯t reach yet. I didn¡¯t know how he managed to contact me, and [Knowledge Library] wasn¡¯t helpful in this case. [Information not available] The fact that I was inside a stone box and the people outside were probably in the middle of deciding on what to do with me wasn¡¯t important to me at the moment. I had confirmation, actual confirmation that at least Leo was alive in this world, this cemented my will to find them and reunite with my friends. I observed the bugged screen. It looked like a very corrupted version of Whatsapp, and if I were to guess, this is a communication skill belonging to Leo, as he was the one who contacted me. I tried to use the screen, but when my thoughts connected with it, I could feel that this was a one way message. Wherever Leo was, it was either so far or had so much interference with his skill that it was basically broken when arrived to me. My understanding of magic was still shallow, but the way I experimented with [Spell Planner] while in that cage a few loops ago told me that the magic circles, actually, I think the term magic circuit somehow describes them better. Anyway, the magic circuits that made the magic itself were so damaged it barely functioned. It looked like it passed through a blender while being dragged around in a hurricane and hitting all the debris possible. I could barely see the message, but couldn¡¯t answer them. It hurt, it honestly hurt. I wanted to go back to my friends, to my family. I even wanted to go back to my religion class I had in school, the one where I hated the teacher so much I slept in his classes, multiple times. But I couldn¡¯t go back, nothing would ever be the way they were. I died, actually died. I knew this already, of course, but there was a part of me that still hadn¡¯t accepted it, holding on a hope that all of this would be over and I would be back in my house with Leo and Alex, with us three playing video games and laughing all day long, but this wouldn¡¯t be possible. This corrupted screen in front of me, even though it wasn¡¯t the proper intention, showed me that I had to let go of the illusion that I was still Marcos, a 18 years old school boy and normal human. I don¡¯t know why I was so stupid to not realise this before, but to be fair the whole experience of dying is still unpleasant at minimal, and completely unbearable at worst. And to the part of me that was still screaming no, I was still Marcos and that I couldn¡¯t just abandon myself like this, a simple query to [Knowledge Library] shut it up. [Marcos Leandro Nahala died on 05/10/2020 of the local calendar. His body was atomically disassembled when a resonance reaction created a sphere around him, unraveling reality within and exposing everything inside of it to the Void] I didn¡¯t understand most of that, and why part of my surname was mentioned weirdly, but one thing was clear. [Knowledge Library], a skill that, as far as I know, takes those kinds of information from the universe itself, was saying that Marcos died on day five of october. So, if Marcos died in that classroom, where does this leave me? Am I just a clone? Am I just a dragon that has the memories of another person? Are my actions things that Marcos would do? Why does Leo''s spell still target me if I¡¯m not Marcos? What happened to Marcos? I asked my skill, and surprisingly it answered me. [Marcos Leandro Nahala died on 05/10/2020. The soul of former Marcos Leandro Nahala passed through a incomplete reincarnation process and was reborn] So I am still the same person, I¡¯m just not Marcos¡­ Honestly, this feels like what the Doctor passes through when he regenerates, the same but different, but then, there¡¯s another question in my mind at the moment. Why don''t I have a name? What is a name? [The naming process includes engraving the name onto one¡¯s soul, declaring to the System itself who the named one is. This process is exclusive for the non EXCEED species] [The naming process is usually carried by a stronger EXCEED species to a weaker non EXCEED species as the naming process will open a soul corridor between the two, transferring magicules into the named one, and usually evolving it in the process] I¡¯ll be honest. I didn¡¯t understand exactly what it told me, but what I managed to grasp was that naming is a big thing for those non EXCEED of whatever, probably monsters and stuff and the EXCEEDs themselves are probably humans and stuff. In other words, like a tamer giving the monster they captured a name and it getting stronger in the process. As I was deeply in thought, the stone box around me crumbled and another knight rushed and caught me so fast I didn''t even have time to blink, and in the next moment I was inside another cage that blocked my magic. It happened so fast I didn¡¯t even have a reaction time to do anything. ¡°I want this weasel to be watched all the time. You said it started the fire and it shouldn¡¯t have the ability to do so, as well as the [Appraisal] skill. Who knows what else it has hidden¡± the young noble said to the knights, which bowed in response and then started to move me to another tent, where they put me and one of the guards kept watch, looking bored as he stared at me and at the surroundings, which amounted to not much more beyond a few more cages, swords, armor and arrows. Well, I couldn¡¯t do magic, the anti-magic field would just break my spell apart, and couldn¡¯t transform back to my real body with the knight watching me, leaving me with not many choices as to what to do, so I turned my attention back at the bugged screen in front of me, the one Leo sent me. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. I knew I couldn¡¯t answer, the spell¡¯s circuits were basically destroyed, it was a miracle it was still on my vision all this time, even with the anti-magic field, though it was actively breaking down, just slowly, but even so, I somehow felt it would be wrong to answer. This message was sent to Marcos, to my past self, but there was no Marcos anymore, just me. Marcos was in my past, I needed to find who I was now. I was not human anymore, this one was obvious, but it wasn¡¯t because of that that I would abandon everything I learned, everything that made me Marcos, but now I was more and I needed to discover who I was. As [Knowledge Library] said, I needed to declare who I am to the System¡­whatever it was, I still was unsure about it. So, it was time I let go of Marcos.
[nameless White Dragon¡¯s POV] The moment I accepted I was no longer Marcos Leo¡¯s spell broke apart, as it was tied to the part of me that still thought I was Marcos, and as that part had finally let go of it, the spell didn¡¯t have anything else to attach to and, as it was already mostly broken, finally broke apart and vanished like dust in the wind. Don¡¯t get me wrong, it was not like now I would become a completely different person. It was hard to explain, but the best thing I could think of is that ¡°Marcos¡± wasn¡¯t enough to describe me anymore. Marcos was born human, raised human and died human. That was my past, I was Marcos, but now I¡¯m something more. In game terms, I would be a ¡°new game +¡±.
[ Self-knowledge has reached a threshold. Individual, nameless White Dragon, has gained the [Otherworldly Soul] title]
[ The Title [Otherworldly Soul] triggered a skill evolution. [Passive Growth]¡¯s reservoir has been used. [Spell Planner] has evolved to [Unique] skill [Magical Programing Language]
I heard the announcer¡¯s voice in my head, tho now that I think about it, the announcer I hear everytime I level up and stuff, is probably the System [Knowledge Library] was telling. I pulled my status screen to see what changed
Name: Age: 0 Species: White Dragon Lv. 3
Status: Normal HP - 650/650 MP - 700/700 SP - 300/300
Strength - 200N Defense - 200N Magic - 300 Magical Defense - 600 Dexterity - 200 Stealth - 200 Precision - 200
Titles - [Temporal Resonance Synchronization] [Otherworldly Soul]
Skills - [Racial] Elemental Breath Lv. 1 [Racial] Dragon Scales Lv. 1 [Racial] Passive Growth [95% Remaining] [Unique] Knowledge Library Lv.2 [Unique] Genetic Dysphoria Lv.1 [Unique] Magical Programing Language [Normal] Appraisal Lv.3 [Normal] Magicule Detection Lv.3 [Normal] Magicule Manipulation Lv.2 [Extra] Humania Language Lv. 10
[Spell Planner] was nowhere to be seen, and I had gained another title, as the System had said. And another thing I had noticed was that my [Passive Growth] was now at 95% instead of the 100% it was before. This was another thing I would need to look into, after escaping the loops. I also saw my old name was not displayed in my status screen anymore, cementing what I had accepted even more I took a calming breath. I needed to see my new skill, escape this cage without being caught somehow and then find a way to stop the loops. It was, honestly, a big ask for me. I didn¡¯t exactly know what was happening around me, and I say this thinking about the bigger picture. It is just so frustrating to not know what was happening and how I would find my friends if I didn¡¯t even know where they were in the first place. Leo sent a message, sure, but I didn¡¯t know how to track it, and even if I did, the magic was so corrupted I was sure I wouldn¡¯t be able to track it down. Better to move by steps, the first one being to discover how my skill changed and what I could do with the new one, so I activated [Magical Programming Language]. The first thing I noticed about the skill was that there wasn¡¯t a magic circle for me to complete with options in the basic version, nor was there an advanced version. In my mind there was a blank screen, reminding me of a code editor, and there was already a code in it. They didn¡¯t match any language I knew of, though, I only knew the basics of coding as I tried to make a few basic apps in my spare time. The code read:
waterjet = { connect UserMind; wait MagiculeCharge; WaterSource = if (Environment.Humidity < required) { create Water(required - Environment.Humidity); } else { absorb Water(required); }; compress WaterSource(pressure = 275790400 Pa); fire CompressedWaterSource(UserMind.Target); };
It was the last spell I had used, the water jet I used to try to cut through the stone box, written in a programming language I could easily understand. And, in my opinion, this would be easier to use than what it was before. I knew I needed to escape, but I was still on a time loop, and I knew there would be a distraction in a few hours, so all I needed to do was wait and then use the same tactic I had before to escape, changing back to my true self and using [Elemental Breath], and in the meantime I would explore using my new skill, and maybe [Magicule Manipulation] as well. I needed to train that for the next loops, if I would to be caged again, if I wouldn¡¯t want to, but who knows what could happen in future loops Chapter 19: New Skill and Manipulation of Magicules For the past few hours I had been experimenting with my new skill and there¡¯s a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing is that I can create more complex spells then I could with [Spell Planner], the bad news is that I couldn¡¯t know what worked and what didn¡¯t. [Magical Programming Language] worked almost exactly like a code editor, the difference was that if I wrote a non-working code, it wouldn¡¯t give me a warning, no, it would just do it, and I didn¡¯t know what would a wrong magical spell do, but I was sure it would be nothing good I was sure. The reason why I didn¡¯t know what happened with wrong code was simple. The anti-magic field broke down every spell I made before it had a chance to actually do something. I also discovered I could save my spells and load them whenever, and also cast my saved spells without having to open the editor, I had to just think of the spell I wanted to cast and activate the skill and it would automatically cast it for me, wasn¡¯t that nice? Anyway, there wasn¡¯t much I could do with my new skill while on an anti-magic field, so I had to somehow overpower it. I had done it before, when I used my [Elemental Breath] on it, but that almost took everything I had, so I didn¡¯t want to take the risk of being recaptured again on this loop. ¡°How was the little trouble weasel?¡± A voice coming from behind me returned me to reality as I looked around and saw a new knight coming to change shifts with the one who was watching me at the moment. In total, 5 knights had changed shifts until at this moment. ¡°Eh. it was just looking at nothing for the most part. Poor little guy, must be terrified of where it is and is locked in fear¡± the other knight told the new one. Good, it seems like my practice with my new skill was being mistaken for fear, meaning I would be able to keep going. ¡°Poor thing. Oh well, orders are orders¡± The knight took the chair the other one was sitting on, and before the other left, he continued. ¡°Oh, yeah. According to the chef, it was the one who started the fire¡± The other guard stopped and turned slowly. ¡°The weasel?¡± he asked. ¡°Yep¡± ¡°How? Did it drop some fire stones next to the tent¡¯s cloth?¡± ¡°Nuep. According to the chef it was inside a hole, somehow cooking stolen meat, that it stole no less, and when it was found started running and shooting little fireballs that started the fire¡± The knight said with a straight face. ¡°You serious?¡± The other one asked, side-eying me as it did so. The new knight burst out laughing, and the other one seemed relieved. ¡°Oh, completely serious. This was actually what the chef told us and the brat, but you can imagine his reaction after being told an Earthclaw Weasel started spitting fireballs and started a fire. He got himself a guard to ¡°prevent another incident¡±¡± Both of them laughed out loud. So it seemed the blame on the fire I had started fell on the chef, the guy who found me. Poor guy, he didn¡¯t do anything wrong. It¡¯s not like I will disprove them, though. The less eyes on me there are, the better. After they both laughed a little more and promised to catch up during lunch, one left and the other one came next to me, putting his face next to the cage. I could put my paws and try to gouge his eye out, but I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯m not physically capable of hurting him, considering he is a knight protecting a noble in a dangerous forest. I¡¯m sure he is at least 20 levels or more above me. ¡°Hey there, little guy. Tell me, was it really you who started the fire?¡± He asked me, but I just stared at him for a few seconds before he laughed again and went to sit on the chair, and immediately lifted the two front feet of the chair and started swinging back and forth on the two back feet of the chair, looking bored already and occasionally laughing a little while muttering stuff like ¡°a fire weasel¡± and ¡°the chef was on something¡±. Ignoring him, I closed my eyes and concentrated on myself, specifically on my own magicules I could sense thanks to [Magicule Detection]. I could sense how it was moving around my own body and getting disrupted near my skin. One thing I noticed was how different it was moving while I was on this weasel form compared to my true self and my wolf form, leading me to believe that [Genetic Dysphoria] wasn¡¯t just changing my body, but my magic as well. My true form, that of a dragon, I had a small ¡°lump¡± of magicules in the base of my throat, it was through there that came my [Elemental Breath], but while I was on the weasel or wolf form, that lump was moved to next to my heart. If I were to think about it using game knowledge, I would say this ¡°lump¡± I¡¯m saying was my monster core, something the players would harvest on their grind to the next level. From what I could sense, my magicules were coursing through my body mainly like blood on arteries, coming from that lump and then returning there after having circled my entire body, just like blood works, though I am pretty sure the amount arriving there is slightly more than what leaves and I don¡¯t know enough about magic to understand how it would be possible. Stolen story; please report. Now that I had a mental image of how my magicules flowed in my body, it was time I began practicing [Magicule Manipulation] for real. The first thing I did was wrapping my mind over my own body, with the help of the skill, and then simply pressing it down, as if I was holding my blood back, stopping it from moving. The reaction was almost immediate, I felt all my magicules stopping dead in their tracks, with the sole exception of those being disrupted by the anti-magic field. Honestly, the sensation was weird, like that gut feeling you have when going on those rides that drop you for a dozen meters or so. It was like my insides were floating, but not at the same time. I released my hold on my magicules and they slowly started flowing again, picking up speed until it was back as it was before. I tried holding a small portion of my magicules near the anti-magic field, but it tore through my control like a hot knife through butter, of course it wouldn¡¯t be so easy. I kept trying to hold onto a small portion, trying to tighten my mental grip on it, but every time it escaped my hold like water escaping through my fingers. Frustrated, I tried to move a small amount of magicules from deeper, where it wasn¡¯t disrupted yet, my thoughts were that if I couldn¡¯t take control of an out of control magicule, then I could at least keep control if they were already under my control. Unfortunately it didn¡¯t work. As soon as I brought the magicules I was holding near my skin, the disruptive field broke my control apart and the small amount I was holding shot through my muscles like a misfired firework, it hurt, which surprised me. Apparently, even if my body was full of magicules, I could still be damaged by them if they got out of control. There are probably pathways for the magicules to flow, like blood vessels, and the disruption field tossed the marble sized magicule ball I controlled like a shotgun. Ok, so that didn¡¯t work as well. If I wanted to escape, I had to overcome this cage and-... My thoughts were interrupted by something touching my head and then starting to scratch it. I looked over and saw the knight¡¯s face next to the cage, again, but this time his hand was through the bars and he was actively scratching my head. Do I look like a pet to you, huh?... Wait, don¡¯t answer that. Anyway, could you stop? ¡°Jeff wasn¡¯t kidding, you really do keep staring at nothing for hours, huh?¡± He said. ¡°Are you someone¡¯s pet? Is there a tamer near here?¡± He asked me, but I just stared at him without moving. I used the opportunity to use [Magicule Detection] to study what I could of his finger. Whenever I used the skill to look anywhere that wasn¡¯t my body, all I could see was a blur of magicules being blended in the field, but if I was right, then as his finger was touching me I would be able to sense his magicules without my senses being blocked by the ambient magicules. I was right. I could see the bright light of magicules that was pulsing through his finger. That made me sure he was at least several levels above me, and with way more magicules than myself, but what I could also see was that the anti-magic field wasn¡¯t disrupting it near as much as it was mine. I thought it was because of the level difference, and it probably is, in great part, but I also noticed how it circled through his finger, and whatever magicule hit it, was dragged along for a few millimeters. There was a small field around his finger with less magicule chaos and more like something resembling an accretion disk. I paused. I remembered how when I stopped my magicules from flowing, it didn¡¯t start up at the same speed it was before I stopped them, it had to pick up speed, but what if it wasn¡¯t a coincidence it sped up, instead of returning to a normal flow. If a magicule flow can affect the magicules around it, that would how the anti-magic field can break any spells I try to cast so easily, it disrupts the flow of other magicules, making them as chaotic as themselves, so if I manage to make my own flow stronger than the disruptive effect, I could take control of my magicules and possibly cast magic. It was a theory, but I needed to test it anyway. Eventually the knight got bored of petting me with his finger and moved back to the chair after my lack of reaction to him, which was good as I didn¡¯t want him sensing my training. Taking another deep breath, I started. I wrapped my mind over my magicules again, but instead of stopping it like I had done before, I started to let my mind cycle with it, slowly getting used to the way my mind flowing through myself, and then I started to speed up, just a little. I was not holding my magicules but they started to speed up along with my mind. I was slowly increasing the speed in which I moved my mind, or better call it mental energy? I¡¯ll go with mental energy. The faster I moved it, the faster my magicules were accelerated. Honestly, I was glad I wasn¡¯t in my true form at the moment, because I would not be able to speed up, or keep my mental energy flowing like this if I had to move it through my wings. I could barely do it with my limbs, so I kept this circling of magicules in my torso and head as it was easier for me to do so. Where once it was one cycle every minute, now it was around sixty cycles per minute, it was synchronized with my heartbeat, and it wasn¡¯t a random chance that it was at that speed. I was consciously trying to follow my own heartbeats as a metronome, and it helped. I also noticed that my magicules near my skin in my torso were less affected by the anti-magic field. But my limbs were the same, as I hadn¡¯t cycled my magicules there as it was too hard for me to do at the moment, but even so the natural cycle was a little faster as it was being dragged by the speed I was cycling through my torso. I would need to keep this speed for a while, to help me maintain it easier and then start making the same things on my limbs.
[ Proficiency points have reached a threshold. [Normal] skill [Magicule Manipulation] achieved Lv. 3 ]
And apparently I was on the right track doing so. Chapter 20: Elf Girl My control over my own magicules slipped and I fell on the floor of the cage with my head spinning. Even full of magicules as I was, my MP was near 0 for some reason that I didn¡¯t know of. [Magical Power is a function calculated from the available magicules and mental energy one possess] I blacked out for a few seconds. I had almost no magical power and that usage of [Knowledge Library] dropped it to 0 for a few seconds, causing me to pass out and then I got woken up by a finger on my face from the knight. He is starting to piss me off, really. I tried to bite his finger, tried being the keyword as my teeth didn¡¯t even leave a mark on his finger, which he pulled away quickly. ¡°Someone¡¯s angry, huh?¡± He said, with his face near the cage again. ¡°What are you doing, little fella? You seem weaker than you were. Are you sick?¡± I didn¡¯t answer any of the questions he asked me. Though, what was he expecting? From his point of view I¡¯m nothing more than a small animal. Was he expecting me to actually answer those questions? Do animals usually talk in this world? I almost used my skill to answer that last question, but a heartache reminded me I didn¡¯t have enough MP to use the skill, so instead I just ignored him. It¡¯s way easier to do than dealing with my massive headache I was having at the moment. The room outside of the cage seemed to spin around me as I watched, so I just stayed laid on the ground, waiting for everything to settle down so I could escape. If I had made my calculations correctly, which are close to none as I was out cold the last time I was here, The should be a distraction happening soon. I could see the sky like last time, as my cage was inside of a tent, differently from last time, where I was put outside, near the forest, so I had no actual way to tell the time except of how bright it was through the fabric of the tent, which was hard to do, by the way. I looked at the knight, he was still staring at me. I want to punch that face of his so much, he keeps staring at me like I¡¯m some sort of zoo animal and I hate it. Just you wait until I leave this cage and return a few loops later when I can kick your ass. I¡¯m marking your face. I don¡¯t even know if you¡¯re human or elf, fucking schrodinger¡¯s elves I tell you. My training on [Magicule Manipulation]? all the speed I had increased on my flow of magicules I had already lost, it decreased slowly without me actively moving it, though I managed to see how the parts near my skin got disrupted as they lost speed. It really feels like magicules are like photons with their particle-wave duality, as my magicules get disrupted either by being hit by another magicule or a small portion of it is suddenly thrown back, as if hit by an invisible wave. I stayed down for a while, the headache in the beginning stopped me from having an accurate estimate, but at least one hour passed while I recovered. It wasn¡¯t enough to completely recover my MP, but I had around 20% back. It wasn¡¯t much, but it was something I could use. Other than just waiting, I started to scratch the wood, trying to mess with the inscriptions but the wood is way harder than I thought possible, that or there¡¯s reinforcement runes here as well, which wouldn¡¯t surprise me. Oh well, scratching it wasn¡¯t entirely pointless, it would just take too long, and I didn¡¯t even know what runes I should scratch to depower the entire thing. As I scratched it, small splinters of wood came off, so if I kept this going I would have a 5 centimeter gap in around ten hours¡­ I would not be here in ten hours, so I stopped. Just as I stopped, I heard the young noble shouting in the distance. ¡°Guards! There''s an intruder! Stop being incompetent and come deal with her!¡± His voice echoes through the camp. The knight sitting on the chair while balancing a sword on his finger jumped to his feet as he placed his sword back in its scabbard. Good, as soon as he leaves I would transform back and escape this cage ¡°Let¡¯s go, little guy. I need to keep an eye on you, still¡± The knight said, breaking my plan apart while picking the cage up by some handle on top of it, so I couldn¡¯t try to bite his fingers off, which is quite intelligent, as they probably put dangerous animals in these cages. As the knight ran towards the noble, I had to hold myself on the bars of the cage to avoid hitting everywhere inside the cage, the knight was not gentle while carrying it, and I was sure I could break a few bones if I didn¡¯t hold on the bars. As we approached the noble¡¯s tent, which was in the middle of the camp, I saw a small girl leaving through the opening. She was wearing a blue dress with golden stars, purple lines covered the entire dress, making a complex pattern that I would guess were inscriptions for some kind of magical effect, just like the cage and the wooden freezers. She had long black hair and long pointed ears, marking her as an elf. Her eyes were a combination of cyan and purple. If she was human, she would look like a 13 year old, but as she was an elf I doubted that was her actual age. Before anything, she started stomping her foot on the ground while pouting. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°Why does she always speak in enigmas? I hate them, and she knows! This is too hard, I hate it, hate it, hate it¡± She started throwing a tantrum right in front of the tent, and I was speechless. The voice was the same as the woman that put that card on my face the last time I was here, I hadn¡¯t been able to see what she looked like, but now whatever mental image I had of the person was completely shattered by her actions. ¡°Guards, I want that intruder executed for the crime of insulting a noble and invading noble property! I want her dead right this instant! You better move your asses before I tell Father to fire all of you!¡± The young noble started shouting, and his knights began moving again with the sole exception of the one holding my cage. For some reason he was standing still while looking at the elf. Before the knights could do anything against her, the girl turned straight at the noble. ¡°What did I say about not hearing my own thoughts? You need a time out¡± She moved her hand, and nothing happened. The knights had even moved between her and the noble, but nothing out of the ordinary happened, that is, until he tried to speak and no sound could be heard, he was moving his mouth with increasing desperation but even so, no sound could be heard from him. ¡°That¡¯s better. You get to be on time out for being a bad boy. If you behave I might restore your voice¡± The elf said, pouting, before looking back at the card in her hands. ¡°Now, what does six mean?¡± The knights immediately moved to try to kill her, but she stood still, even when swords came crashing down on her, she just stood there watching the card, the swords hitting something and bouncing back, making the knights lose balance. ¡°I¡¯m trying to think here, you know?¡± She said and a knight was sent flying with a gush of wind, sending him crashing through a few tents. Other knights were using bows and arrows and some were even using a fireball spell, but nothing they did affected the girl, and each time she sent the attacking knight flying. The screams they were doing made me remember when I was in the cage near the edge of the camp. So this is what had happened, meaning that I had around twenty minutes before the boronita exploded and sent me back to the God of Time¡¯s room. I looked at the knight holding my cage. He was staring at the elf with wide eyes, his legs trembling for some reason. I tried to cast a few waterjets, a spell I knew was correct because it was the first one I saw programmed in my skill, but the anti-magic field broke it. This was so frustrating. I went to the edge of the cage and tried to get the knight''s attention by putting my front paws out of the cage and trying to scratch him, but he was frozen in fear it seemed and my paws were too short in this form for me to reach him¡­ Wait, the tingling sensation of the anti-magic field had vanished from my paw I had put between the bars of the cage. Did this mean¡­ I tried to cast the waterjet spell again, and to my surprise it worked. I felt as the skill activated through my paw and a small stream of water shot out of it, right into the knight''s torso. He flinched and dropped the cage on the ground, making me hit the top, one of the bars and the bottom of the cage as I was sent tumbling in it. Before I could complain the knight ran away in fear, leaving me right in the middle of the camp full of high leveled knights, an entitled noble and an overpowered elf. ¡­Whatever. Now I had a way to cast spells inside the cage¡­ I mean, technically I was casting it outside of the cage, as it was coming out of my paw, that was outside of it, but those are just small details no one cares about. I moved to the edge of the cage again, and put my paw outside of it, then I turned it towards the wood and then I edited the waterjet spell, increasing the pressure by two orders of magnitude and then casted it. The pull on my magicules was enormous. I felt as half my magicules just rushed out of me and into the spell, which started spraying a thin jet of water that began to cut through the wood like it was butter, even some of the bars were being cut as well. Unfortunately my spell wouldn¡¯t last long, as I felt it starting to weaken. I aimed and cut through one of the corners, making a hole wide enough that I could pass through with my weasel form. Cutting the spell, it dissolved into the environment without giving me any of the mana I hadn¡¯t used back, which was a shame as I would probably need it. I passed through the hole and looked at where the elf girl was, but saw no one there except the young noble desperately trying to scream, which seemed an awful situation to be in. Then I started running towards the forest, except the moment I tried to run, a hand grabbed me by my torso and lifted me up. I was face to face with the elf girl, and being so close to her and her hand holding me I could feel the pressure of her own magicules. I thought that knight was strong? Ha, what a dumb person I was. The sheer pressure I could feel from [Magicule Detection] from the elf girl in front of me was like standing next to a mountain. It was so big I had completely lost my sense of scale, and now could understand why the knight watching me froze up and ran away when he had the chance. Suddenly I felt like I had been electrocuted by static electricity, all over my body. And somehow I could feel this sensation coming from a particular direction, from the girl holding me. ¡°You aren¡¯t a normal Earthclaw Weasel, are you?¡± She asked, with a innocent voice that made my stomach drop Chapter L4: Broken Hope through the air, letting out a wave of compressed wind that cut through the bodies of three more half-demons. I was fighting for about an hour now, and my body was starting to scream in protest. My arms were stiff, I could barely feel my legs and my lungs were burning as I heavily breathed a mixture of air and the remaining smoke of the military camp. The half-demons just kept coming and coming, like a never stopping wave. There were moments where I thought we were in the World War Z movie and fighting zombies instead of in a fantasy world, but at long last the wave was diminishing. I didn¡¯t pay attention if there were any survivors among the camp personnel, and honestly I couldn¡¯t be bothered at the moment. There were so many bodies on the floor that I had to start balancing on them as there wasn¡¯t space to actually touch the ground. If the dictionary had pictures to showcase words, the scene in front of me would be next to the word ¡°carnage¡±. I surveyed my surroundings, trying my hardest to ignore my heart beating wildly on my chest. Apparently I ignored too much, as the next thing I knew a hand had grabbed my leg and pulled me to the ground, or actually, the bodies of half-demons. There was one alive, and he was hiding among the dead in an ambush, and I had fallen into his trap. I was exhausted, my muscles weren¡¯t responding to me. All I could do was watch as it left its hiding hole and went to tear my neck with his elongated fingers, but before it reached me, it was suddenly shoved backwards and a hole appeared on his torso, and then another and another. Oh great, he¡¯s here. Was all that passed through my mind as I watched the half-demon get shot over and over, turning more like a Swiss cheese than a person. The person behind it was, of course, Vinicius and his skills that allows him to create anything he imagines, and apparently he has created a machine gun. ¡°Leo!¡± He called me with his condescending tone. ¡°What are you doing sleeping in a time like this? Is the only person in the entire class that can¡¯t use magic and has to rely on a magical sword that pathetic?¡± I started to get up, my muscles screamed at me to stop and rest, but I couldn¡¯t let him just mock me whenever he felt like it. It was already enough that he called me a counterfeit mage whenever I had sword training in the outdoor area of the place we were staying. ¡°Shut up, Vinicius. I¡¯m certain that I killed more half-demons in the last five minutes than you did in the last hour¡± I half-screamed half-gasped for air as I looked at him, slashing my sword in a diagonal cut to my right, making a flaming arc that shot outwards and hit another half-demon that was fighting against one of my classmates who were in a precarious situation. Vinicius just laughed at my face and then started speaking. ¡°If you think that match flame you called a fire attack is actual magic, let me show you how wrong you are¡± He then looked for the most concentration of half-demons and started chanting. ¡°From the chaos of matter and energy¡¯s eternal dance I call forth the fusion of heat, air and destruction¡± A magical circle appeared behind him and another in front of him. Magical energy shot out of him, circling the bigger circle behind him and then condescending in the one on his hand. I couldn¡¯t actually feel his magicules as I didn¡¯t have the [Magicule Detection] skill, but I could see how the very air around his hand was starting to distort with the energy he was putting in it. I watched it, unable to do anything else as I was running on sheer willpower at the moment, to avoid collapsing altogether. ¡°Molecules ignited, oxygen consumed. Expand and combust, a fiery doom¡± He kept chanting. ¡°Let entropy rise, a sphere of anger and wrath¡± I must admit, I was a little jealous. I couldn¡¯t actually cast anything, as I hadn¡¯t the skills to do so. [Magicule Manipulation] and [Magicule Detection] were the two skills any mage needs to do what Vinicius was doing now, casting a spell on the fly. Other skills, like what I did with [Elemental Slice] and my other skills were different as they drew your magicules without you needing to actually power them, but it gives you way more freedom than any spell could. I looked at where Vinicius and my heart dropped. ¡°What are you doing?! J¨¦ssica, Bruno and Rodolfo are there!¡± I shouted at him, but he just smiled and kept chanting. He was crazy, he was actually aiming an explosive spell where our classmates were fighting. I tried to run, to hit him, but my legs weren¡¯t responding to me. I was literally at my limit. I needed to do something, or else he was going to kill them. I tried to shout in their direction for them to run, but they couldn¡¯t hear my voice from that far. Looking at Vinicius, he was almost finishing the spell, but what could I do? I was too far from Vinicius to mess with the spell and I couldn¡¯t use my skills on him else I risked to hurt him too much. I looked at the trio of my classmates, fighting a large group of half-demons and an idea struck me. I concentrated on my [Elemental Slice] skill, trying to find a specific element, and I did. My arms groaned in protest as I raised my sword in a horizontal line and swiped with all the strength I could muster, at the same time I screamed at the top of my lungs. ¡°VINICIUS IS CASTING AN EXPLOSIVE SPELL. RUN¡± My voice resonated with my sword and was amplified with the sound element. My slash carried my voice over the battlefield, reaching my target in less than a second. I was relieved when they looked over towards us and saw the half formed fireball on Vinicius hand. Then, they started to run outside of his aim. I heard Vinicius tsk, and it made me look at him in anger. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°Way to ruin the fun, arcane failure¡± He said to me as he finished casting the spell and a fiery sphere with about five meters in diameters formed in front of his hand, and in the next moment it was shot towards the place J¨¦ssica, Bruno and Rodolfo were. It exploded with such violence that I felt the pressure waves from where I was, about 30 meters away from the target. I watched in relief as the three of them escaped the explosion with minor damages. ¡°I¡¯ll take my leave now. I¡¯m sure Rafael has something fun for me¡± He said and started to walk away. I wanted to run behind him and scold him for what he¡¯s done, but I couldn¡¯t, my legs refused to move. I looked around one more time, and after confirming the fact that there weren''t any more half-demons near me, I allowed my legs to give up and I fell backwards into the pile of bodies that was the battlefield. There were at least two bodies stacked on top of each other wherever you stepped, there were just too many. I pulled my [Friendlist] skill and opened Alex¡¯s chat. [Hey. You okay?] I sent. [Yeah¡­ There were too many] She answered after a few seconds. [Don¡¯t tell me. I¡¯m exhausted. I literally cannot move anymore] [Me too. I wanted to just fall face first on my bed and sleep until the next year] [Yeah. Me too] [I just met with Jes. She told me Vinicius almost killed her?] She sent it to me after a few minutes. I usually leave the channel open so we can talk freely. Whenever I send a message to someone, they can only respond back if I keep the channel open. It¡¯s a little annoying, to be honest. [Yeah. He casted a massive fireball and threw it in their direction. I tried to stop him, but I just didn¡¯t had the energy to do it] [She told me you warned them, and that she is thankful for that as she doesn¡¯t know what would have happened with it weren¡¯t for you] [I just did what I had to do. I couldn¡¯t let he just do whatever] [I¡¯ll help the survivors now. Gotta go, meet at the same place for dinner?] [Okay, until dinner, then] I finally answered and closed the chat. I looked over my added friends, my classmates who were brought into this place with me, and the ones I added after I figured out how to do so. I also figured out my message skill had a max range. When the rest of the class was sent to another continent to train with a mage there for a few days, I found out I couldn¡¯t message them as they were out of range, meaning that the range of my skill was probably a few thousands kilometers. And knowing that, I was confused as to why some people that were in the capital and that I shouldn¡¯t be able to contact were available for me to send a message. To test it, I sent a message to the owner of a restaurant I liked to eat on the weekends. [Hello?] I sent [Leonardo, Hi! What can I do for you? Do you need a reservation?] Was the response after a few seconds. Huh, so I could message them? But why? How? [No, I was just testing my skill. Sorry to bother you] I said and then closed the message. Could it be that the distance had increased? I didn¡¯t know, and wouldn¡¯t know for a while. I tried to get up, but my arms were still protesting against moving. My closed hand around my sword wasn¡¯t helping either. I stored the sword back in my inventory, as I wouldn¡¯t be needing it anymore and moved to get up, but I stopped in the middle. The people I could message a few seconds ago were out of range once more. I didn¡¯t move, and I was sure they didn¡¯t either, so that means the range of my skill changed. Was it the sword? I pulled it from my inventory, and sure enough, I saw the out of range message change to the option I used to open the chat. I dropped the sword on the ground, and the moment I let go of it, it went back to out of range. Touching my finger on it didn¡¯t change anything, but when I held it, it changed back. Somehow the sword was increasing the distance I could message people. I looked at one entry in particular. I didn¡¯t know if it was going to work, he was probably already dead, but I wanted to know if, by any chance or miracle, he was alive. [M???a???r???c???o???s??? ???L???e???a???n???d???r???o??? ???N???a???h???a???l???a??? ???[??? ???M???a???r???c???o???s??? ???]??? ???-??? ???M???e???s???s???a???g???e??? ] My heart skipped a beat. The text was still basically corrupted, but I could see that there weren''t any more errors, and that I could message him, pretty much confirming he was still alive somehow, but where could he be? Why was he the only one full of errors? It didn¡¯t matter. As I opened the chat, my breath quickened with anxiety. I didn¡¯t know what to say. Where are you? How are you? I didn¡¯t even know he would get the message and know it was from me. Eventually I settled for a simple message to send. [Marcos?] [Are you there?] I sent the two messages and almost held my breath as I waited for a response that I didn¡¯t even know would come back or not. . .. ¡­ No response came back, and eventually I felt the link break apart like it couldn¡¯t find the person I was trying to talk to and the chat closed without my input. I immediately looked for it again to try to open it up, but I couldn¡¯t find it anymore, the only thing in the list was another glitched entry. [???????????????????????????????????????????????? ???????????? N???a???h???a???l???a??? - [U???n???k???n???o???w???n???] - U???n???a???v???a???l???a???b???l???e???] I didn¡¯t know what to make of it, but apparently my hopes were in vain, and Marcos is really gone. I was probably reaching him in the realm of the dead, and my skill wasn¡¯t made to reach there and was glitching. It was probably it. I sighed. They said hope is the last thing to die, and it did. I was holding on to the hope my friend was alive, but I had to face reality. He was dead, and probably on his way to reincarnation by now. He wouldn¡¯t remember me, or anything. I wish I could have said any kind of a goodbye, though¡­ With that, I closed my eyes and went to sleep on the piles of bodies below me. It was a gruesome image, but I wasn¡¯t able to get out of here to go to my actual bed.