Magic
The status sheet solidified the thought that everything he saw reminded Alexander of a video game. He took some time to process this until he stopped and considered one very important fact. "I can feel everything. There's no way this could be a video game," he said to himself, his voice tinged with disbelief.
He took a moment to feel the grass with his hand, the blades soft and cool to the touch. He inhaled deeply, smelling the forest's rich, earthy aroma, mingled with the sweet scent of wildflowers. The breeze he felt earlier returned, gentle and caressing, like a soft whisper against his skin. Alexander then proceeded to pinch his arm; hard. "Ouchhhh shit," he yelped, "holy crap that felt so real. This can't be a game, can it? Am I stuck in some anime? 'That time I got swallowed by a fusion reactor and got transported to Scotland'... Has a pretty nice ring to it," he said, chuckling to himself. "At least I have my clothes."
He looked down at his attire, relieved to find himself in his usual work clothes, though they were now slightly worn and dirtied from his unexpected journey.
As Alexander took a second look at his status screen, he noticed how high his intelligence was compared to the other stats. "I guess being an engineer and a physicist does have some perks," he thought to himself, a small smile playing on his lips. As he finished that thought, he glanced back to something he skipped over. "Mana? Why do I have mana? What is Mana?" He said incredulously, his eyes widening.
Arcane Interface Prompt
Mana: the magical energy that flows through all living things and can be harnessed to cast spells and perform magical feats. It is a finite resource that can be replenished through rest, meditation, and the consumption of certain foods and potions. The amount of mana a person can hold and utilize is dependent on their level of magical aptitude and training.
"OK what the hell? Spells?! Magical Feats?!" Alexander shouted, his voice echoing through the forest. He was all for wielding magic, but that was more for dreams than actually having MANA. "Magic is not real. I know it's not. Now how do I explain why I have a hologram, Mana, and magical abilities...?" he pondered as he moved his vision to his abilities. He focused on the words he saw in the previous prompt.
Arcane Interface
Ability
Rare
Through the interaction of your summoned body and the magic of this world, you gain the ability to view information about yourself. This will display your bodily status as well as your accrued skills, given abilities, and what is needed to better understand the world around you.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Alexander's mind swam. "Woahhh ok, that's a lot to unpack. Summoned body, magic, and this world," he pondered, his thoughts racing. "Is this what the prompt meant by 'Welcome to Avendor'? Could I actually be in a new world..."
Before he let that particularly disorienting thought make him lose his momentum, he focused on "Quests."
Quests
Ability
Rare
Through the interaction of your summoned body and the magic of this world, you gain the ability to receive quests. These quests will be given when you are required to perform a task, and you will be rewarded...or punished accordingly.
"Sure ok, I guess I have quests now too. Why not right?" he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Then he moved his attention to the most intriguing ability, Elemental Harmony.
Elemental Harmony
Ability
Legendary
You possess an unparalleled connection to the elements of Avendor. This unique ability to harmonize with all six elemental sources grants you 100% affinity to all elemental magic. With Elemental Harmony, you can manipulate the elements with ease, and weave them together to create powerful and intricate spells. This ability also grants you a deeper understanding of the natural world, allowing you to sense the subtle movements of the elements around you.
He stood still for a moment, again his mind reeling from the new and impossible information. After, he said out loud, "So say I were to believe what was happening right now. I'm in another world, magic exists, and so on and so on. This ability seems like it could be powerful. And what's 'Linguistic Synchrony'?" He asked.
Linguistic Synchrony
Ability
Legendary
Through the interaction of your summoned body and the magic of this world, you gain the ability to understand and speak all languages. This unique ability to comprehend and communicate in any language grants you the power to connect with people of different cultures. This ability can be activated by simply focusing on the language you want to comprehend or speak and channeling a small amount of mana. It also allows you to instantly read and understand any written language, even those that have been lost to time. The strength of the ability depends on the level of magical aptitude and training of the user.
Mixed with the fact that they were classified as legendary, which only the most badass spells and abilities matched in games, these abilities could be something great. Now he just had to understand what was actually going on.
"Alright enough messing around," Alexander said as he looked at his surroundings. He was panning the forest, but when he took a long look at a single tree in the distance, he froze. "That's...that's not a normal tree," he said, his voice trembling. The tree had a somewhat familiar shape, but that was where the familiarity ended. It had a dark brown trunk with tendrils slightly glowing blue going up it. The leaves were a very dark green with twisted and nonsensical shapes, almost as if they were alive and writhing.
He approached the tree cautiously, his heart pounding in his chest. As he reached out to touch it, the tendrils seemed to respond, glowing brighter and reaching towards his hand. He quickly pulled back, fear and wonder battling within him.
"Damn I might actually be in a different world..." Alexander whispered, his voice barely above a breath. The realization settled over him like a heavy cloak, both thrilling and terrifying.