Ethan swam in the darkness, uncomprehending, not hearing or seeing a thing. The dark was so thick it enveloped him in its soft embrace, almost like water - still and calm. Then, before he could form his first conscious thought, he was pushed out of it and started to fall.

The next thing he knew was the unmistakable feeling of moist grass under his face, chest, and stomach. Ethan groaned and turned his face to the side, feeling wet mud in his eyes and mouth. He spat out pieces of grass and rubbed his forehead with a dirty hand, eventually clearing his vision to look at the surroundings.

Something blurry flashed before his eyes, grey and box-like, as Ethan waved his left hand before his face. When his sight cleared, he was greeted by a thick underbrush five meters away from him. He turned his head slowly to take stock and noticed that he was in the middle of a dense forest full of pine, maple, and birch trees. Above him, the birds chirped happily, and the sun shinned, indicating that it was the middle of the day. The air was warm, something akin to Icelandic summer.

What the…? he thought, shaking his head, trying to wake up. When that did not change anything, he turned his gaze downward and noticed that he had landed in something akin to a shallow muddy pit. He felt a light breeze in places it had no place to be, and horror dawned on him. All his clothes, the jeans, sweater, and the coat he loved were gone.

What kind of sick joke is this? he thought, standing up and crouching again immediately after, not used to standing butt naked in the middle of the wilderness. Ethan knew very well that there were almost no forests in Iceland, let alone near Reykjavik. Nor was it supposed to be this warm when the last thing he remembered was the cold autumn wind blowing in his face.

After the initial adrenaline rush, Ethan noticed his head had difficulty comprehending information. It pounded with each of his heartbeats, blood rushing to his brain in endless beats. He touched his head and discovered that it was missing hair, no trace of thing. What? Not even a stubble? How did they manage to shave that?

Understanding loomed over him. Alone and naked, he was in the middle of a forest with no recollection of how he got there as some sick prick had shaved him bald and dumped him in the middle of nowhere. But why? What do they get out of it? Is this some hidden camera prank or something?

He gathered his wits, stepped out of the mud, and crept through the underbrush, keeping his movements as quiet as possible as he peeked through the foliage. What he saw shocked him. A huge tree, almost ten meters in diameter, met his gaze. He blinked and turned back to examine the mud pit. He saw that it was not a pit at all but resembled something akin to a paw print.

What the hell? Am I what? In America? What kind of sequoia-like trees are those? Is that a paw? Ethan observed his surroundings, casting another unsure glance at where he woke up and understood that to survive, he needed to get moving - pants be damned. There are too many shadows where predators can hide, he thought as he crept forward.

Brushing past another bush, he noticed something cold pressing on his finger that was not there before. A ring? he thought, stopping to observe the black, onyx-like material on his right index finger. A grey box popped before his finger, next to the ring, as he touched it.

[Mark of the Legion] (item, ???, ???)

???

Do you wish to absorb?

Yes/No

A mark? he thought, looking at the box dumbfounded. He moved his hand up and down, noting it followed the motion. Absorb? he questioned the prompt for a millisecond. Immediately intense pain he had never felt before hit his already pulsating head, moving down to his solar plexus.

The pain was so great that it felt like it would rip him apart. However, it left as soon as it came, leaving Ethan heaving on the ground, trying to catch his breath as a new box floated in his vision while his eyes were still closed.

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[Mark of the Legion] has been absorbed!

Bloodline: [Reborn] has been granted!

Ethan rolled over on his back, still catching his breath, heart racing, his mind dizzy from the pain. Finally, after a full minute, he calmed down and opened his eyes, still seeing the damn box from before. Bloodline? Ethan thought as he groaned and rolled over to his stomach to push himself up.

Pressing his hands against the ground, he noticed that the ring from before was gone. Instead, his finger now had a circular burnt band where it used to be. It is getting weird now. Did I die? he thought, carefully touching his shoulders, stomach, and thighs, noticing they were the same way he remembered them. He was still undoubtedly flesh and blood, as his tattoos were in the same place, covering his arms and part of his shoulders.

What is this thing? Ethan peered at the box of text before him as it responded to his conscious thought and vanished before being replaced by a bigger one.

Bloodline [Reborn] (Mythic)

A bloodline bestowed by the Legion's mark. You are blessed with abilities to adapt to new worlds. The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.

“Are you kidding me? 'The journey of a thousand miles…' What is this, Google suggestions for inspirational quotes?” Ethan exclaimed, getting agitated as his heartbeat rose again, him not giving a damn anymore about any predators that might be hiding and could hear him.

As to mock him, the screen before him vanished once again and was replaced by a new one providing him with more insights.

You have been granted the following [Reborn] bloodline abilities:

* Clarity

* Storage

* Map

* Quests

* Transmigrator

He groaned. As an avid gamer, this was a part he was familiar with, having played one too many RPG games before. “An ability list. Thanks,” he said dryly to no one in particular, recognizing that if this was not one sick joke and his childhood dream of being stuck in a VR game did not come true, he was in trouble.

Too many questions plagued his mind, the most important being - where he was precisely or where he could find his boots. Ethan thought about his location, and a grey map replaced the previous screen with a blinking green dot.

“Well, that is not helpful at all,” he murmured, trying to zoom out the map with his fingers to see if more details were available, the experience seeming outlandish.

The map, however, obeyed his thoughts and, instead of reacting to the movement of his fingers, started slowly panning out to reveal precisely nothing. No lines of rivers, landmasses, or mountains marked it for him to make sense of where he was. “There goes my quick way out of here,” he cursed, willing the thing away as the window with the map vanished.

Finding the experience of interacting with imaginary boxes bizarre, Ethan decided to stop for the moment and secure his immediate well-being. Then, as he remembered that there must be wild animals out and about, he got up and carefully started moving through the underbrush with no particular destination in mind.

Survival first, he thought, moving slowly through the forest, trying to avoid branches and not to make too many sounds. Shelter and water should be my immediate concern. Some food would be excellent, but I will need tools and preparation to hunt something. Well, some clothes would also be appreciated, he mused, feeling a light breeze brush past his delicate parts.

Ethan had to recognize that trekking through the forest naked had some weird appeal, something primal. Or maybe it was the remnant adrenaline in his system, enforced by the wilderness around him. After all, he was no survivalist, and something was clearly wrong with the forest.

The trek started to go on far longer than Ethan would have liked. He passed wide varieties of trees that he recognized immediately and many more that he had never seen before. Some looked exotic, with bright blue leaves, while others had yellowish stripes on their barks. But, as interested in the flora as he was, he was more worried about animals that he had yet to meet.

He knew there had to be some, given that he could hear the birds above him. Some sang wistfully as if the spring had come, while others were screeching. He was sure the screeching ones were not birds but trees. At least, that was what he hoped for. But, thinking back, he remembered the sizeable paw-like pit he had woken up in and thought, It could not be…?

A loud growling interrupted Ethan’s thoughts as he froze mid-step, almost falling over, trying to avoid stepping on a branch under his foot. A loud crunch and a tearing noise followed. The tearing sounded like something leathery, and squishy was ripped apart. Then something wet fell to the ground.

That can’t be good, Ethan thought and panned his gaze to the left where the sound had come from.