What lay before was quite the peculiar sight. Now, I’m no expert, on anything really, but what stood before is something that I can with confidence say that I’ve never seen before. Not a single time in my… 20… no, 30… no. Doesn’t matter, something I haven’t seen in all my years on Earth’s surface. Or even in Earths underground for that matter.

Either way, I, in my infinite wisdom, decide to approach the unidentified, possibly magical and dangerous object. Or should it be classified as a formation?

It was a really deep hole. And I can already see you rolling your eyes and saying that this isn’t that special, but hear me out. It’s really deep. Maybe even infinite. Huh, imagine that, an infinite hole. Who’d come up with that.

And, if that isn’t enough for you, it’s not just any deep hole. Surrounding it, there are a bunch of big ass rocks carved full of some strange symbols and lines. Stones bigger than the ones at Stonehenge. Then again, these ones aren’t in that impressive of an arrangement, so who knows if it’s more impressive.

Slowly skulking nearer, remember, I’m still focusing on my silent step skill, I approach the hole. And wow, it truly is deep. Almost #deep. And, *sniff**sniff*, what’s that smell? It smells almost like iron, but there’s something strange about it. C’mon general knowledge, help me out here!

Aha! It’s blood! Yes, I do seem to recall something about blood having a distinctive iron like smell because it contains trace amounts of it. That’s nice.

Examining one of the carved stones closer, I notice that the carved parts are actually a bit darker than the rest of the rock. And tacking a closer whiff… yeah, the bloody smell is definitely coming off of that. I wonder what happened here?

I mean, it’s pretty obvious that this was some kind of ritual site and if the morals of this world are anything like that of my old one then not a very good one. Well, not good in the sense of good and evil, not in the sense of badly made. I currently lack the information to judge that.

Ok then. Now that I have the basic investigation down, I think I should address the weird feeling I have had ever since stepping into this clearing. There just seems something familiar about this place. Like that feeling when you walk into a room and forget why you’re there.

And I really don’t want to address it. So, I won’t, at least until I get some conclusive evident to support my budding theory.

Anyway, as I am out of the forest for a while, I think I should perhaps reorient myself and make sure I’m still heading in the right direction. Wouldn’t want to walk in circles until the scroonusi come around the planet again.

Hmm, and actually, I think I’m also going to test one of my earlier theories. But for that, I need to know the current level of my skills.

Level Up!

Silent step – level 8 -> 15

Fortified mind – level 7 -> 10

General knowledge – level 6 -> 8

I knew I was correct! Silent step levelled more than before even though it’s been less time. Very nice! The other stuff it not so important right now, but I will note that my mind is level 10 now. After all, that’s what I’m going to test now.

So, now ready, I sit down on one of the hopefully not cursed ritual stones and gaze into the distance, right onto the nearest scroonus. And the, I try to think as little as possible.

Which I’m apparently very good at, because soon it feels as if maybe even a whole hour passed. And yes, I know that subjective time isn’t a good measuring metric, but it’s not like I have an alternative. Now then, let’s see how my experiment went.

Level Up!

Fortified mind – level 10 -> 12

Yes! Once again, the great me was correct! This skill also levels by ‘protecting’ me against the mind-bending powers of eldritch beasts even though I’m immune to their passive effects. Now that’s a huge win for me.

Now, the second test is going to involve trying to actually comprehend these creatures from beyond reality. In the classic stories this usually causes a person to go insane even faster, so hopefully it’ll level my skill even faster. Though I’m not sure what comprehending something actually means, so I’m mostly just going to describe it is as much detail as possible. Which should also help level the skill since as far as I know it also grows by just thinking.

So then, what is a scroonus?

Their main body mass resembles a cloud. A cloud made from flesh and meat, that is. It’s a weird and bloody combination of all the unsightly parts of anatomy, with meat, muscles, flesh, organs and intestines and a bunch of different stuff randomly mixed in. With the added seasoning of necrosis, of course. And blight, decay or whatever you want to call it causing it to constantly leak puss. I think that’s what it’s called.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

This main body is then also covered with many, and I do mean truly many, eyes. Thousands, maybe even tens of thousands, eyes of every colour, shape and type. There are reptilian ones, feline ones, goat ones, human ones, fish ones and many more that I can’t immediately identify.

That all, by itself, would be enough to induce nightmares in a normal person for days, weeks and months on end. But it continues.

The front of this nightmare, or at least I hope it’s the front, is almost entirely taken up by a gigantic mouth. That’s not that bad, right? Wrong! What’s truly terrifying about it are the teeth. They are not only disproportionally big, but there are also way too many rows of them. And while I feel like I’m repeating myself too much, I do have to say that by itself that wouldn’t be that bad! These creatures just seem to have a weird obsession of combining traits that never should have met.

I’m sure that you’re curious by now, se here goes nothing. Each row of those teeth is a different kind of teeth. One line is human, the next one is canine. Another one resembles horses, the next one that of fish. It’s a nightmare!

And then there’s the last thing which by now doesn’t seem so terrifying. From all over its body, but mostly from the underside, sprout tentacles. Thick or thin, it doesn’t matter, they all span kilometres and reach down all the way to the surface.

Which reminds me. Just in case the comparison with a cloud wasn’t enough, they are floating really high up in the sky.

Ok, that’s enough nightmare fuel for now, let me just check my skill. Hopefully this was worth it.

Level Up!

Fortified mind – level 12 -> 18

General knowledge – level 8 -> 9

Hells yeah! This is super effective! But if I use this technique too much I’ll quickly run out of things to ‘comprehend’ about these horrors.

Eh, whatever. I’m sure it’s going to be fine. Maybe once I’m stronger, whatever that means, I’ll be able to study them from closer. And maybe even dissect them.

Right-o, this brings me to another great idea I had while pondering the horrors.

The ritual stones, because that’s what they undoubtedly are, were used for some kind of magic. And usually, magic has some kind of language, or can be affected by language. So reasonably then I can assume that these engravings are in some language that I should be able to decipher.

Yes, I’m not actually going to be able to figure out its meaning, but perhaps if I can figure out some patterns my abandoned language skill will finally level. And then perhaps it’ll give me some insight into what it says.

As such, through a never-before-seen feat of willpower in me, I go right into work without delaying a single bit. Perhaps that’s one of the effects of having a higher-level fortified mind? Sure would be useful.

And after at least an hour of carefully scrambling over all the stones and leaving no stone unturned, figuratively (they are too heavy for me), I can say that my hypothesis was incorrect. Yes, even the great I can sometimes prove to be faulty.

Level Up!

Languages – level 0 -> 1

Yes, the skill did manage to level after I identified some patterns in the inscriptions, but that in itself didn’t help with further decoding at all.

No matter, I can always come back later. Or for as long as the scroonusi don’t destroy this area.

That done, I decide to move on. Applying a fresh dose of slimy-don’t-think-about-it slime to my feet I set out in extra stealthy mode once again.

It is maybe a hundred meters into the forest that my mind begins to wonder again. It seems that not even level 18 in mind can prevent that. But I digress.

If I remember correctly, then out of the three stats in this System, I only had a rating for two of them. The third one had something weird about being in a state of change or something like that. Being in flux, that what it said! Damn, this mind enhancing stuff sure does come in handy.

Anyway, what could that actually mean? To have one’s soul be in flux? Could it be affecting me somehow? Perhaps that is what’s preventing me from learning magic. Or that could be the natural state for something as esoteric as a soul.

Eh, before I speculate further, I suppose it would be better to just check to make sure whether it’s still the same.

Name: N/A

Age: 0

Level: 0

Body: peak mortal

Mind: enhanced

Soul: {in flux}

Traits:

Void brushed

Cognito-hazard resistance

Skills:

Silent step – level 15

Fortified mind – level 18

Languages – level 1

General knowledge – level 9

…

Ok, right off the bat, I need to come up with a name. It has to be something special, something that tells my story. Something symbolizing what I’ve been through and how great I am, or will be one day.

Hmm, let me get back to that one in a moment.

The soul stat… hasn’t changed at all. I suppose that’s fair. It has been only a couple hours at most since then which I imagine isn’t enough time for a soul to do much. It’d probably need some hocus-focus ritual to achieve anything in that time frame.

And there are the mysterious three dots in my skill list. I wonder what that’s all about. Hmm… No, not going to deal with that until I have a proper sense of self. So, name.

What’s in a name?

A name is, I suppose, an umbrella term under which you hold your identity. Then again, I used to have a friend for whom names were just things to call people. I think he described it as a person being just a formless clous of thought in his mind? Strange, but not the strangest thing I’ve heard.

But what is a name for me? Or what should it be for me? If I go from poplar fantasy lore and folklore, then names have power and I should choose something unguessable, like Rumpelstiltskin. Then again, that’d be kind of inconvenient and difficult to get used to.

And I also wouldn’t want my name to something too generic, because if names truly do hold power, then that’d mean that I wouldn’t have very much of it, at least magically speaking. And damnit, I want magic!

Ooh, maybe I should name myself after a great magician! Ah, but what if they really do exist and won’t take kindly to sharing a name with me. Damn, who would have thought that naming something could be this difficult.

Oh, I just had the greatest of ideas. What if my name wasn’t done yet? I’ll just decide on a single syllable for now and then later, when I do something great of my power advances, I add another one. Yes, that’s be super cool.

Very well, I’ve decided. From this day forth, until I become more, I shall be known as Ra.