Dark swamp tower

A lonely and tall tower stood in the middle of the Black swamp. Strange vine hung on its surface, twisting like tentacle in the darkness that seemed to emanate for the tower itself.

The tower did not look decrepit at all, instead starting imposing and with an aura of gloominess that surrounded it in the middle of a strange silent.

The organisms living there seemed to have evolved in order not to stand out for a slim chance of survival.

In the middle of the dark night, the tower looked like giant hand that had raise up from its burial ground. It was made of a strange material that looked bother like flesh, like stone and metal.

A ten meter square room in one of the lowest floor of the tower. A young man with a pale, who appeared sickly opened his eyes, a confused look on his face.

As foreign memories settled in his mind, he slowly seemed to réalise his situation.

" So I have transmigrated" he muttered with a look of realisation but appeared nothing but calm.

After all, he had never prepared for this kind of experience. On Earth, his original world, his life was quite ordinary.

ccording to the memories, that he had inherited from his predecessor, the situation in this world was quite chaotic.

Supernatural beings, calamity, and cruelty. It was a little like the dark age on earth, but instead of being ruled by kings and emperors the world was ruled by arcanists, with the royalty merely being their puppets.

An arcanist, was a person with special talent Whose aim was to decipher, control and master the rules of this world.

Thinking about it, the young man, Looked at the numerous book that were haphazardly placed in the middle of the disorderly room, that almost looked like a crime scene.

A book with yellowish page was opened on his desk, that was covered with fresh bloodstains.

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On the bloodstained page of the room, some word were written in a strange language.

It was not a language from Earth, but thank to the memories that he had inherited, The young man barely managed to make out their meanings.

" Arcanists are both masters and slaves of knowledge" 

As he looked, at these words The young man was reminded of the fact that this book was not stranger to the death of its predecessor, that had indirectly caused his predecessor death.

His predecessor name, was Shaka. He was an apprentice arcanist that had arrived in the Dark swamp tower almost five years ago. There were almost hundred such acolytes within the dark swamp tower that was controlled by  tower master GUEISS, a rank 1 arcanist.

The status of these acolytes were quite low within the tower. While there were some law that regulated their roles, within the tower, they were essentially at the mercy of the whim of the tower master.

One of the principle of the dark swamp tower was that, if an acolyte was unable to reach the threshold of an intermediate level acolyte within five years after joining the tower, they will have to compensate, 200 mana crystal to the organization.

Mana crystal was a currency used in this world, mostly by arcanist. For a low level acolyte, it was a sum that was literally impossible to obtain...

Thankfully, the tower master was quite manianimous as a person. For those unable to pay these fees, it was possible to compensate by participing as a test subject to some experiment of the tower master.

Most of the acolytes that had participes to these experiences had died over the time, with rares one surviving in states that seemed to be worst than death.

This is why many acolyte became restless at the approach of the deadline. Shaka was not an exception, and the book that now laid on the table was a forbidden arcane.

Forbidden arcane, were arcane method that could promote the grow of one arcane power. But everything came with cost, and practicing forbidden arcane was not an exception as it was frog with danger.

There were some forbidden arcane in the tower library, and at the approach of the deadline, the original owner of this body had given his all To obtain one of them. The result was self explanatory, the practice of this arcane caused his arcane and someone else transmigrated in his body.

" According to this arcane, a mysterious realm exist called sea of consciousness. Some being are naturally gifted with mastery over a personal area in that realm. This speciality grant them divine ability in the realm world and increase their Affinity over some arcane..."

Having identified the reason that pushed his predecessor so far, The young man could not help but sigh.

Having inherited this body from his predecessor, his current situation seemed just as dream if not more.

He did not even dare to imagine, what  kind of experiment the tower master will force him in if he where to ever discover the fact that he was a soul from another world.

Just the thought made him shudder.

" I will have to use your name from now on" the young man who had now assumed the name of Shaka mentally apologized to his predecessor.

And just at that moment, a familiar interface not unlike the one seen in  games seemed to pop up in front of him...

" Do you want to enter the game?"

Yes/No

These simple words, seemed to cause many questions to surface in his mind .

Could it be that the forbidden arcane despite killing his predecessor had worked, granting him with a divine ability?

And that divine ability, displayed a game like interface, perhaps because of his experience in his original world.

There were no countdown in the message, but Shaka did not know whether it was going to disappear or not.

This represented his only opportunity to escape being an experiment subject.

Shaka's gaze darted around the cluttered room, his fingers drumming a restless rhythm on the desk. He clenched his jaw, the faint scent of bloodstains on the book stirring a primal unease. With a deep breath, he squared his shoulders, eyes locking onto the game-like interface hovering before him. His voice barely above a whisper.

" I will not become a test subject!" His voice barely above a whisper, he muttered.

The next moment, he felt the world spinning around him, and his mind seemed to be sucked inside a vortex.