After the choice manifested, I felt lighter and more agile. Sure, I could have chosen the tentacle path, but I wanted to retain some of my humanity, and I had another path that flooded my mind right after the first change was implemented.

This time, I was fighting in the halls of an ancient looking castle, my body much stronger and more resilient against my opponent, His strikes tearing into my flesh and drawing blood until I simply began tearing at him, none of his strikes lethal as my heart was skewered, the only attacks I needed to dodge were those on my brain. It was the feeling of overwhelming power, though the drawback was obvious once it came to eating my opponent. His flesh was less helpful at restoring my body, I needed to kill three people to regenerate, and the exchange still looked tempting.

The other path was one where every wound inflicted upon me was easily countered by a bite of flesh or a sip of blood, ending with me at the end of his sword and pressing myself in to bite his throat and shoulder, the wound around the sword closing the moment I pulled it out.

I wanted to remain as human looking as possible, and while it offered less strength than the first, the simple option of restoring myself was everything I wanted. I had lived through too many deaths to want that pain again, and I would not die ever again, even if it meant forsaking some strength in exchange. Then, I remembered that I had just sucked in enough souls to expand my own once more, thus showing me the great screen of rune selection.

Tier 1 Spatium runes:

Open

Close

Tier 2 Necros runes:

Exhaust

Corpse

Tier 1 Lumen runes:

Dim

Opacity

Tier 1 Neutral runes:

Dispel

Once more I would learn two runes, and while I would have to wait for the next refinement to create a tier two spell, I wanted to achieve every rune available to me. Light had been surprisingly helpful, and spatium just felt right, but a single rune held me from achieving a second access to tier two runes.

Thus, I decided to go for dispel and opacity, the idea for spells I could make with this too fun to pass up on.

Hope passed through me that I could finally wake up, but instead my mental library presented itself, and something about the structure struck me as odd.

I optimized many parts, collecting memories where I could and reading through those I had locked away.

Noahs life was boring, and I was quite happy that I wasn’t him anymore. He would have tried to e a hero and probably died on the quest to make a grand adventure. At least I was now certain my Idea to use the system as a way of writing down my own story was something he had cooked up at some point.

The memories of the lich hivemind were written in many different languages, and after a bit of sorting it made for two books. A collection of short poems about each of their follies and a book about some of the most horrific rituals. Both these books were helped greatly by the specters from yesterday, some of them witnessing these rituals themselves as I took each of their memories and made it into stories that concluded their lives, sometimes fudging things or completing the memory of a ritual from different perspectives, though most still missed key parts I couldn’t deduce from recombining. It opened my eyes to forms of power I couldn’t imagine, though I knew it would be hard to catch a soul and resist the urge to devour it.

Lastly, I read the memories of Rag’algeh’s suction cup, remembering worlds and beings so distant from our reality that it made one realize their own fragility, especially as some of them were known to eat realities.

After sorting these, I went to other forms of knowledge and sorted there, suddenly finding a bit more room in the section where my skills sat, a faceless creature offering me many books I knew held level one skills.

Any knowledge I yearned for would be held within. Knowing about the rituals that were still incomplete in my mind, I decided to fill those two slots with knowledge on how to properly learn, and information on rituals.

After all of that was done, I finally managed to open my eyes, my body covered in mud as I had slept outside, any effort to stand up aching as parts of my body burned I didn’t even know could do so.

When I approached home, my parents were sobbing and cursing together, only stopping once I poked at them.

Sure, I had grown teeth overnight, my mouth burning as I held up the charm I held, pretending that it saved me as I decided to not attempt speaking to them.

Over night, I had matured quite a bit, if the clean plates at home were any indication, and I was sure I probably looked like some monstrosity underneath the dirt.

When my father felt for my pulse and my mother tested me by singing a song I always hated, both of them were relieved.

Everyone knew that there were memory stealing monsters, but every ghost would either have failed to absorb all my memories or killed this body, which did not spare me from the hour long washing section that followed, as well as the subsequent celebration of me gaining a Necros affinity, which everyone except the priest and my mentor participated in, as one knew I had it before, and the other decided to register me as a potential necromancer.

I used to be a performer, and although that life should have simply mixed in with the others, it seemed to infect every single memory I could make up, the Idea of putting on a show so intrinsic to my identity that I couldn’t avoid casting my most showy spells.

Name:

Luce Bravelight

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Race:

Human (newborn) (Mutant)

Class:

Empty

Soul:

First refinement, Tier 5

Body:

Unrefined, Tier 1

Mind:

First refinement, Tier 2

Mutation

Description

ủ̷͜ṉ̸͑b̸̹̃o̶̜̅ȕ̸͓n̷̦̽d̷̦̆ 2

Ỵ̶̗̱͒̒o̶̤̤̯̔̅u̶̳͓̝͒̆͠ ̶̥͇̌͒a̴̘̳̖̽͒ŗ̸̮̺͊͂e̵̯̼͆̚ ̸̨̨̹̏̒̉ȇ̴͔͊͛a̶̮͚̽s̶̹͇̔̊̓i̴͚̱͚̚ḛ̶͚̊̒̾r̴̠̳͔̾̇̕ ̶̭̉̅ṯ̴͇̓͗̍o̷̢͑͘ͅ ̵̪͚̍̓a̶̡͂̽ḟ̶̥̫͂͝f̶̢̦̜͋̑ẻ̸͇͑͘c̵̝̱̘͊̉t̷̨̝̱͠ ̴̰͚̭͆̉̅w̶͚͗̿̃i̸͙͑̚ț̷͙͆̏͑ḧ̵̼́̇ ̶̪̲͂͌̄s̴̫̭̅̈́̚p̶̼̹͒̈́̈́ḁ̵͙̺̅̑̒c̸̛͓̏̄ȇ̶͕̚ ̵̹̟̹̋̏m̶̡͙̼̓͝a̶͓̗͑̿̍ǧ̵̱̉̄ǐ̷̘̳͑̒c̷̢͒̓͠,̶̮̐ ̶͈͍͒̇͝e̸̳̩̚x̵͓̝̼͑͝p̷̛̙͍̺̐̓o̸͚͔͐̀s̶̮̤̥͆̒́u̴͕̾r̷̡̜͎̓̉e̴͇̼̓ͅ ̸̳̝͆͂t̷̫̔̊̕o̵̤̮̒ ̶̬͈̏̔ḋ̴̲͉̓͘í̴̢̨̠̈̎m̵̢̈́ę̵̕͝n̷̦̅̔͠s̵͚͒͐î̶̥̞̬͠o̵̦̍n̸̤̔͘͝a̴̤̲͒͒l̸̩͐̕̚ ̵̤̣̣̌e̴̗̳̞̒̀f̵̧̀f̵͖̖͌̑̋e̶̮͛c̴̨͖̙̐̆t̷̲͎̀͒s̵̨̒ ̸̮͉̉̏̀w̸̛͇̼ͅi̴̙̟̖̽̑̋l̵̙̭̠͊l̵̹͋̚ ̷̗̦̀͝u̷̲̱̱̽̎n̸͇͕͌̈́̂͜l̵̢͕͎̀͑o̴̧͙̐̕c̴̖̼̤̎͐́k̸͖͌ͅ ̶̬͇̊͑f̸̧̈́̅ū̸̼͎́͘͜r̶̢̈́̔͘ť̶̛̲̼̀h̴̟̮̕ȇ̵͈̚ŗ̵̠̃̔̈ ̷̦̦̓͛̓e̴͍̽̒̕f̵̛̞͇̈f̴͚͕̐̔̓ȩ̷̺̌̏c̶̗̲͂̿͘t̴̺̝̂̃̀s̸͖̉͋.̴̡̤̻̌̃̇

Undying 3

You physical growth and decay will happen at a slower rate exposure to Necros will upgrade this effect.

Anima chimera 3

Your soul is used to absorbing others, when you kill something, a part of it will be naturally drawn to you.

Tier 0 runes

Rune

Description

Move

Spatium

Decay

Necros

Infect

Necros

Corrupt

Necros

Projectile

Null

Gather

Null

Bright

Lumen

Dispel

Null

Opacity

Lumen

Tier 1 runes

Rune

Description

Consume

Necros

I had manually changed the description to make it somewhat useful, and gave the whole Interface a little overhaul.

Trait:

Description

Persistent 2

Your body can last longer without sleeping, eating and breathing, also slows down the aging process.

Skill:

Description

Spellcraft 2

This skill guides you in the art of Spellcraft, granting you knowledge to create better spells.

Meditation 2

This skill guides you in the art of meditation, helping the user relief the pressure spells put on your soul supports the refinement of the soul.

Leaning 1

Learn to learn! Fills your head with knowledge on how to better learn new things so they stay in your memory longer.

Rituals 1

Grants access to knowledge on how rituals work and what sygils mean.

The celebrations were as boring as ever, though meditating or sleeping were off the table. I needed to test out my new abilities as fast as possible, and thus, just before dinner, I entered what I later came to call ‘the zone’ and went to my room, nobody noticing my departure even at the sudden wind that came when I entered or left, the draft opening the door to my room, as I found myself incapable of manipulating objects that weren’t on my person, which allowed me to pass into my room without creating a sound, and a small wound I inflicted on myself once I left the zone healing before I could even continue opening it.

The power I felt was insane, and I was pretty sure it was only triumphed by the priest and the hag, and both of them were too curious to stop me, and not here to observe this newest change of mine.

One month was left until I had lived for a year, and unless I somehow found out how the hag had evaded detection for so long, I had to prepare for a somewhat certain death.