《Isekai Shuffle!》 Road Crossing Sail was wandering about as usual. Sail was a young adult who would often place headphones in his ears and spend the hours until they ran out of charge meandering about his city. Walking around this beautiful nightly setting was his solitary freedom and was perhaps able to be called the main hobby of his. A modern luxury he figured was truly under used and under appreciated in the modern world. A late night walk was truly soothing for ones soul. This kind of walk, which he would often say was truly much more valuable than it may first seem, was the only place Sail felt truly comfortable. He nodded with such a thought as he once again gave thanks for the state of his lovely neighbourhood. It was the kind that really relished in casting streetlights in the perfect spots and had the kind of footpaths and nature trails that begged to be trodden on endlessly. Perhaps there was a secret group of faries keeping the place clean out of his sight? Sail wasn''t the type to be out watching anything early in the morning to be able to catch any public service and so temporarily he reached this thought. This was due to Sail being quite the certified,proud and self proclaimed night-lover and night-loner. He would be the type of individual to wander of alone at 1am to sit on a swing at his local park a lot more often than a 20 year old would be recommended to do. He was the type to only feel like he even existed when wrapped in a cold night air and would often wake up past midday whenever possible. Sail once again wandered down the street light lidden empty path through the small local greenery patch he usually took. His house had little much to offer. Sails house was the kind of place where the smell of damp mold and the fresh click of a beer can were frequent. His father did not talk much and when such a scenario ever did ensue it was naturally a demand of a task for some practical reason. His father had certainly seen more of his phone then his son''s face perhaps 27 fold. Thus escaping into the night was not only quite liberating in smell and sight but in escaping his father. His mother had died giving birth to him and he had not one memory of her. Only a loose likeness from the stories his father had told him and the small portrait on the mantle. Suffice to say his mother was also a foreigner to him. No matter when Sail would return or leave on such walks, no one cared. "Once again the lights are truly something" "I gotta give my respects to the designer of the lamp post. I should look up who first made such a thing" Sail looked up at the murky yellow light and the moth fluttering about above him. He looked akin to a top class act performer with the stage team doing a great job of lining him up for a great act tonight. He got his phone out and leisurely continued forth along the trail he oh so loved while looking up the creator of the lamp post. "Its not a simple thing one man took credit for I suppose, Jan van der Heyden maybe?" He looked up briefly from his phone light at the various city and car lights before him, as he came of the foot walk it truly was an especially mesmerizing view tonight. The subtle touch on the edges of the houses on the left, the vast motorway of cars below the bridge stretching ahead and of course to the right, a giant coming pair of lights brighter than all. "Wait what?" A giant lorry smashed through Sail turning him into bloody paste across the road floor. Sail was the type to wear all black and wander around listening to music at full blast. [Forging magic pathway...] [Your magic pathway is life!] [Bubbling Spell forged: Breath of soul. Your mana can be imbued into a soothing wind that nourishes the mana of your allies, bringing about a regenerative fervor that lasts for an hour] [Boiling Spell forged: Life''s core. You can turn your mana into pure energy to imbue as power. This power can be applied to anything] [Wizarding Spell forged: Mana savant. You can never run out of mana. You have more mana than most individuals.] [The cauldron of the beginning deems a blessing upon you!] [The archmage of the parted clouds deems a blessing upon you!] This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. [The Grand Toad of the square lake deems a blessing upon you!] [The Spiral Eels of the falling wheel deem a blessing upon you!] "Ahhh.." A man led in a staunch silver set of armor lay quite haphazardly across the floor. He was surrounded by fellow knights and various civilians that crowded around him. "Sir Lisan! Are you ok!?" "Whats happening" "is he dead?" "A guard toppled... magic?" "During the Haste parade?" "Are we under attack" "A spindle curse??" The man became quite a scene as he lay limp for several minutes and a crowd formed. Suddenly, it was then that the knight got his bearings, sprang to life and patted himself with an immediate frantic look in the eyes beneath his helmet. "That was.. A truck" "a full 12-wheeler, that scared the hell out of me" A metal glove clunkily placed upon his chest. His heart rapidly grew faster as if catching up with his thoughts. "Im .. wait.. I died.. I was re.." "Lisan, what happened" A man with a long flowing gold mane approached through the crowd jumped of a horse with a flourish, took of his helmet and crouched beside the fallen soldier. He had a certain guile and quite the strong magical look on his face, a deep concern as if it were a dear friend or ally. The beautiful man in his sudden display attracted even more attention and a crowd. ".. so noisy .." Sail Got his hands, now covered in thick metallic gloves, beneath him and thought profusely. ''This is an alternate world.. mana savant.. spells.. So im a given mage in a fantasy world?, this sort of scenario?'' Sail got up quickly. "Yes, im fine, im fine, .. sir." Sail stood in the centre of a large crowd and wandered his eyes around. Tackled by a throbbing headache and a frantic demeanor that seemed to be a trait of the recently deceased, he reached the conclusion that this was the perfect time to demonstrate his will and play cool. Others would not adapt fast but he quickly came to the conclusion that he was the type who would. ''Ive always been ready for this, always''. As any good loner and sad soul was, the desire to be whisked away and freely reincarnated out of your situation is something he often spammed his daydreams with. Amidst his still disheveled recovering mind was a surprising lack of care in his immediate death and instead a true bundle of emotion. Their existed a vast array of eyes cast on him and a loud avalanche like noise all around him. Looking up was a light that shone ever bright and a outline of a figure of bark which blocked out the other half of his view. The base of a visceral giant tree to big to be fully seen from his vantage. "Yggdrasil huh.." the guard muttered ''Man the sun is truly quite persistant. He can persit even into other worlds to make sure he burns me... Perhaps i can explain astronomy to this world or they can explain it to me. I suppose its not the sun but a star.." ''But much more important than that... an isekai with my own power. A jolt of feeling rose within him like a flow state mixed with a delicious meal. I certainly heard an angelic voice whisper such things right? right? ''Blessings from who again? A toad and a wizard? I definitely heard something.'' "Lisan your sure this wasn''t an attack?" You collapsed quite suddenly, I don''t figure a man of your stature would fall to heatstroke on a cold day like today" The gold haired youth looked about and began telling the crowd things were fine after receiving some more nods from the knight before him. Things began to cool down. ''Mana savant, so mana then. A magical reality with an inner force is used to cast spells. I can never run out, I have been granted a new lease on life with an overpowered ability. One which..'' "Lisan you should take a break. You look quite ill and we''ll perform a check-up on you and do another perimiter check for threats" ''Lifes core? I can use mana as power.. As a sort of fill in for conventional aura or ki? A method of amplifying my physical stats then through mana. How can i feel it, my mana? Do i need a staff or something like a chant for my spells?..'' "Lisan are you listening?" "Uhh.. Yes sir.. yeah" The knight gently walked and swayed forth, seemingly quite preoccupied in his own thoughts his way of walking was not much fitting for a knight of Losandra. The helmet fell slightly before his face as he walked forward obscuring his vision along with a hand working to provide a touch of shade. ''My name is Lisan? I really need to take some time to think, i cant hear a damn thing. Do i just play the role of this guy? I took over a previous existence? Did i kill Lisan? Is this a dream or a purgatory state near death? Am i in a true alternate reality or some game? Perhaps this is like the theory that ones consciousness will only..'' "Lisan!!" The Deep Sky knight mage of Losandra, Lisan of the setting sun wondered forth and pushed through the crowd with his helmet knocking around a touch loose. As he pushed through the crowd he looked briefly through the visor of the helmet and walked straight into an empty place suddenly before him. To his left was a massive arching regal and lovely passage, a decent way in front of him was another crowd of people all staring at him and to his right lay a giant Cart with a giant pair of golden lights coming ever closer. A giant dragon carriage imbued with haste magic for the seance day Haste parade smashed through Sail turning him into bloody paste across the road floor. "Watch out!!" Sail was also the type to get ahead of himself and get distracted easily. [Welcome! Awakener to the 100 floors of Ascension!] [Title: True sovereign] [Class: Swordmaster] [Skills: Audio perception[C], Dash[C], Long fall[C] the sound of silence[B], Wretched vision[B], Ever Noir[SS]] [We wish you great luck!] Orbs and Obsidian [Welcome! Awakener to the 100 floors of Ascension!] [Title: True sovereign] [Class: Swordmaster] [Skills: Audio perception[C], Dash[C], Long fall[C] the sound of silence[B], Wretched vision[B], Ever Noir[SS]] [We wish you great luck!] "Ahhhh" A young man in a large black fabric shirt that was torn as if trying to display as many threads as it possibly laid haphazardly on the ground. After a view minutes the boy woke up and began hyperventilating. The familiar feeling of placing ones hands down behind themself to push up from lying down washed over Sail. He examined his hands and his groggy mind was flipped back to full frantic settings. "......." "I died again" The memory of the flash of gold of the dragon from a magical world that had killed him (or the statue of one that is) gave him a deep jolt. The boy scrambled on the floor alone and then leant again the wall available and leaned into a curtain that was placed beside him. Unlike the ever bright sun in his eyes from before, the current place he was thrown into was an abysmally dark and long corridor. The type that would certainly be quite well walked by vampires and malevolent viscounts. The kind of corridor which tilted just slightly and then span out forward at such an angle creating a vortex which looked like it would spit out beheaded dolls any second. "I really died again. The same way. But im still alive. I reincarnated once more.." "My... my mana" Sand trailed his hand across his chest and felt a pang of loss. Although ever briefly, he had felt a tinge in his heart and a flood beneath his skin just moments ago. The kind of warm satisfying feeling known as having an MP bar. Although ever brief in his legend, the wizarding mana savant had perished. It may also have been fair for him to be called the suicide savant. "The floors of ascension. With such skills.., this is a tower climbing contemporary fantasy scenario perhaps? Then where is the ai voice, the tutorial floor and the white void exactly? Is it really just 100 floors of this creaking mansion?" "God damn it, i really got ran over.." "No wonder there was such noise and a crowd. Something of a festival..." "Why was it so ungodly fast, do magical worlds not have speed limits?" "Doesn''t matter, doesn''t matter." Sand looked down to his left at the darkness and quickly began thinking ever more. He was quite good at abusing brains that were still in in the process of acclimating. For a man that had died twice in 10 minutes it was fair to say he was a touch flustered in all respects. He was not thinking straight even before you factor in the kind of base instincts that were currently screaming in him just looking at the nature of the rocking chandelier above, the slightly scuffed carpet and the fallen candelabra in his vicinity. "ok, ok. Its done and im here now. Alas my mana is gone.. Damn, Whatever! But skills. Skills.! Open my skill tree. Open my skills?" After waving his hand about and then getting distracted at the sharp long nature of his fingers for a second, Sail shook his head enough and got a form of mental notification about the nature of his skills he had just heard about. It was a form of foreign mental invasion quite new to the sensory toolbox but he quickly got to reading. [Title: True sovereign, you words inspire and your actions bring forth change in the minds of others. You have an affinity for gaining followers. Your tale is one woven with the heartfelt...] A large creaking sound then pierced through the corridor akin to a percing shriek and a bright collection of small white orbs began manifesting themselves from the edge of the darkness. The orbs conjured one after the next and gradually begin floating in a circle that began moving forward. "Ok, ok ,skip ,skip , next! uhhh," Within his mind, Sail began desperately trying to manage his vision on what information he had. Mental scrolling through your skill system was a first for him and apparently a surprisingly unintuitive skill. It was at this moment that Sail once again flashed through some thoughts that he had yet to collect. ''If i die here, am i set to always just return in another world?... UH...uh... Is this perhaps a sick joke where i will always die in some manor of being ran over???... Perhaps this truly is purgatory or hell disguising itself as an isekai to torment me...'' This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. As such ideas flashed, the wheel of light began getting ever closer. As it moved it unfolded out like a spinning ouroboros detaching into a snake made of orbs. In a frantic manor He scrolled past his skill sheet in his mind and landed even lower that he meant with a sudden mental flick. He was truly techno-illiterate at operating his mental mouse wheel. [Current Floor] [26th floor. The shifting sucker punch!. Dive into the endless shifting dark maze or corridors! Fight forth through the ghosts and ghouls and exorcise the founding spirit at its centre to clear! This shifting manor was once home to the long and prosperos Ringright family! Upon one given stormy night the youngest daughter found herself riddled with bruises upon waking. The jackbox toy with long springed arms and boxing gloves belonging to the young mistress was thereby seen as deeply cursed by her mother. In a fit of rage the mother casted it aside into the stormy night smashing it apart into the mud. But nonetheless the bruises remained and persisted. No matter what was done to rid the house of its demons and curses nothing stopped the bruising. This abusive mother killed herself and her family after she...] "OK enough! enough! Scroll up!" [Skills: Audio perception[C], Dash[C], Long fall[C] the sound of silence[B], Wretched vision[B], Ever Noir[SS]] "Ever Noir! Ever Noir!" The bundle of orbs fell from floating as though they had suddenly just discovered the existence of gravity. Once bounced, they briefly shimmered with an ethereal and translucent light and made a low groaning sound. Upon the orbs lay small black beady eyes. After bouncing to the floor like a shattered necklace of pearls, such ghostly marbles all bounced back into place back into the air and hovered before Sail. Together they bled and formed into a figure that could only be descried as a ghost, a ghoul or a wraith. [Skill: Ever Noir[SS] : You are able to become an obsidian figure highly resistant to all damage! Your body glistens with a sharp shining dark hue! Become true obsidian, ever strong and ever beautiful! This skill has no cooldown.] The balls that flew forth and spiraled out into the shape of a hand reached out and each opened individually. From within each orb dripped a goopy exoplasm and a sense of misery,fear and pain that washed over Sail. In a sudden reach, the jaws of the pearls dug forth and pinged of a sudden piece of black ore. The hand of the ghost pulled back as though it had touched something hot and then paused briefly. The ghost moved in close. It was at this point that Sail, now completely immobile as a obsidian statue, was most riddled with fear. He wasn''t exactly sure if this was some power of the ghost or if he was truly just a person able to become so scared but here he was. If he could sweat in this form it would surely look like a water fountain monument. The ghost prodded and attempted to bite once more, pushing Sail to the ground with a clunk. After 3 more minutes of attempted haunting the ghostly orbs suddenly whipped back into a circle and then gently floated along and away. ''ever noir.. oh thank you. thank you. I truly cant speak or move at all huh. My screams dont exist... Oh ok, its gone, its gone. An orb ghost then.. Oh ok, calm down, calm down. We can sit here and think. Just sit here like that fallen candelabra and think. Resistant to all damage. I suppose that means i may have a form of ghostly defence that saved me? Ok ok...'' Sails breaths to calm himself down similarly didn''t manifest. Such a thing as using Ever Noir was a sort of bizarre out of body experience. He no longer truly even saw through his actual eyes but instead through the area in front of his face where his eyes would be. But even this would have a tough competition fighting for top spot on the most interesting things he experienced today. ''ever noir, i really thought you''d let me dive into a shadow, create a weapon from shadow or rise my fallen enemies as servants or something but i must truly say thank you. Im sorry for thinking of you that way. You truly saved me. Alright, this is the 26th floor it said...'' Sail, while looking like a fallen figurine, sat and took time to read through all his skills and the rest of the information available. [Skill: Wretched vision[B]...] Piercing Bell [Skill: Wretched vision[B] : You are able to see within the bodies of your enemies and see how they function! Your eyes can grasp the ever intricate mechanics of your enemies and their functionality! Duration: 10 minutes. Cooldown 5 hours] Sails body sat horizontal as an obsidian block. Knocked across the floor, immobile. Amidst the ever long twisting ally, he fit in as quite the camouflaged piece within the light starved mansion. It was here he began reading and planning in earnest. [The sound of silence[B] : You are able to fight quietly! Your attacks and and weapons will be coated in an aura of silence! You can cut through the wind with no slice being heard from even the air! Duration 10 minutes. Cooldown 5 hours] [Audio perception[C] : You are able to hear for long distances and control your hearing with deep precision! You can hear the faintest drop of water upon the surface of the sea and pinpoint it! duration 30 minutes. Cooldown 5 hours] [Dash[C] : You are able to run at blistering speeds! Your legs become quite firm and your wind resistance is strong! You can outpace a rolling wench worm when you reach full speed! duration 30 seconds. Cooldown 5 minutes] ''Such powers.. and these cooldowns ... am i fated to simply fight once and then run out of fuel instantly? Im so vulnerable against an array of multiple foes... Not that any of these really give me much hope in actually facing anything anyway. Why does it feel like i have a gun with only one bullet that doesnt even damage anything? Looking down with phantom eyes, Sail then looked at his obsidian body. No cooldown or duration on you though huh.. Is this the true reason why your rated SS?'' Even the clothes he was wearing had been dynamically changed to stone while in the dynamic motion of flapping in the air. Such fabric was now seemingly sturdier and harder than diamond. Or at least very strong, Sail had no clue if he was tougher or weaker than diamond right now. ''I have no offence and im not offended, no no. Im a tank then, a tank. Some defensive-stealth type mix. I need to abuse my overpowered skill otherwise it seems nothing here will really get me out of utility and into survival'' Sail considered undoing ever noir and moving about exploring but after a short while looking into the darkenss he suddenly decided out of paranoia against it. Ghosts were by nature invisible, right? What if he were killed wandering about before he could activate ever noir? Like if a sudden fast moving entity such as a vehicle appeared behind him killing him instantly. Even though he got quite the high fidelity view of the orb spirit he had briefly considered if the [Wretched Vision] was what allowed him to see such a thing as that ghost so well in the first place. Ghosts were fairly wretched after all. But now such dreams of passive skills were completely undone. ''They are all active abilities huh... Except my title maybe? Does this sovereignty work to help me command anything or just people? It just says [others] and [followers] in the description huh.. Wait! Thats right, people! There surely could be other people coming. Another great reason to stay perfectly still! Whoever this guy was that died might not have been alone. I sure wouldnt think to come here alone... His allies could be looking for him. Ill hold out till then. Right, right. Ill just hold out'' This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Sail laid down with his statue on its side and his head against the carpet and took his time. Anxious about any more coming threats he bounced between looking left and right more times than he probably ever did crossing roads on earth. He had fallen in a way that he had a good vantage but even still he thought he was a bit to in the open. After sitting around for a good 10 minutes Sail undid ever noir and his body reacted as though he had just arisen from a long dive. His vision whipped backwards a couple centimeters, his breathing was haggered and his body could actually move again. Sail got up from being on the floor once more and quickly scampered over to the curtain and stood loosely behind it like a classic level one hiding place. He then quickly activated ever noir again and froze in place as an obsidian statue just with a slightly better vantage. [Long fall[C] : You are able to take decent sized falls without taking damage! Your knees and spine are quite sturdy and your sense of balance is good! Duration 2 minutes. Cooldown 10 minutes] ''I suppose things like minutes and hours are all still commonplace... Well I don''t know exactly why im surprised. If things such as glass windows, candles and other such concepts can carry over why not minutes and hours. It really is more of an alt reality than a truly foreign world it seems. Though perhaps its just a natural translation to fit the given user? It is sat talking to me in my head after all. Hopefully there is natural language processing, I certainly heard the words of those people in the last world in plain english. I suppose it has to be either a translation system or just this whole thing is an illusion centred around me, right? If a Japanese or Brazilian were to be reincarnated in a fantasy world where it was Oops all English, im sure they would be quite baffled and disappointed'' ''Dash seems the most available to use and test early. 5 minutes is fine but im not thrilled about it. My other skills are all on such large cooldowns i cant really test anything... They need to be used reactively once threats arrive... It seems my best strategy then is to run, turn into obsidian constantly and save all my cooldowns for now. But i must not be so frugal as to die because i just wanted to save everything. How annoying, active skills. How fast is a rolling Wench worm anyway?'' It was then that a loud ring was heard upon Sails phantom ears. All his senses during the use of the skill ever noir were more floating around him then on him. It was a subtle but noticeably strange sensation. The bell sound dragged in a way that was as though it had been forcibly extended in some audio software. An unpleasent piercing sound or perhaps it would be more fair to call it a gong. The sound dragged and reverberated and then shortly after it came forth again. "OOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG" ''What is that? The shrine bell of some ghost?, Ah god damn it... damn it..'' Sail stood frozen, completely silent and stationary. His heart which would would have been beating ever faster was actually just a rock at the moment. "GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG" "Uhh anyone?? Gastin?? Or was it Gaston? You there? Uh??" Off to the left, upside down with his feet attached to the floor (which was currently the ceiling from Sails perspective) appeared a youthful man. He was running and screaming in equal pace. His black hair was rugged and shaggy and his teeth were chattering quite profusely with his legs wobbling not much better even as they ran. But still, he persisted in sprinting down the ever large spiral corridor. "AHhhh, its over, im finished, its truly over..." the youth mumbled to himself As he kept making various loops around the vortex he got closer and closer to where a certain statue behind a curtain managed to get a better glimpse of him. The boy was running with a bright modern torch in his left hand and a few little teru teru b¨­zu doll things in between the fingers on his right. Alongside the dolls, his right hand was also carrying an old rustic looking bell which had its clapper seemingly frozen in place not ringing at all as he ran. "ANYONE. IS ANYONE STILL HERE??? GASPIN???"