Fuck!
That hurts!
What the hell?
I woke with a very bad headache. I feel like my brain is trying to break out of my skull.
I tried opening my eyes but I couldn't. It's as if a truck is running inside my head, honking those loud annoying horns.
I lay there on the ground motionless, trying to remember the last thing that happened before this headache but lose consciousness.
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I woke up after some time.
I try to get up but I couldn't put any strength into my arms and forcefully kiss the floor. So I lay there, once again trying to remember what was the last thing I did before that awful headache.
I remember.
I was home playing games when I was stuck with a terrible headache and passed out on the bed due to pain and woke up to having another awful one.
Strange.
My last thought before passing out was a strange sense of confidence that I was about to die and now here I'm in this place collapsed on the ground.
I try to look around but couldn't see much of anything as it is very dark but this place doesn't look like any hospital I know.
I was trying to get up to take a better look around but then it happened.
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Error
Error
No interface detected
Trying to integrate
Integration complete
Error
Unknown species detected
Scanning
Scan complete
Host species similar to Human
Abnormality detected
No mana channels present in host
No mana present in host
Injecting high-density mana particles to purify the host
----------------------------------------
I feel like someone or something is trying to inject something unbearably hot into my body as I lose consciousness, again.
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I woke up for the third time today without knowing when and how I passed out. I don't want to make this a habit.
I remember hallucinating about some screens one second and the next I felt unimaginable pain throughout my whole body as I lose my consciousness.
I grimace remembering the pain. Even I couldn't bear that much pain, even after experiencing so much of it when I was in the military.
As I'm trying to figure out what the hell is going on, I hear a sudden chime in my ear. I look around to figure out where the sound is coming from but I can't find anything or anyone.
"Who's there?" I shout but I don't get any reply.
It's a bit brighter now compared to the last time I was awake. I look around and see a large empty room, dirt and dried leaves everywhere. It looks like I'm in some kind of huge auditorium.
Where the hell am I?
Did someone kidnap me?
If they did, what would they need from a dying man like me?
Speaking of dying, why don't I have the constant pain I got used to these last three years?
Feeling doubtful, I check my body and I'm once again stunned speechless.
When I look at my body, what I see isn't a thirty-eight year man suffering from terminal cancer, but a young man in his early twenties.
What the hell is going on here?
Now that I take a closer look, it isn't any young man but myself from when I was around twenty years old. I'm wearing track pants, a t-shirt and a jacket made of jersey along with sports shoes. It looks like I'm about to go on a run.
Did I die and this is the afterlife?
If this is the afterlife shouldn't there be someone to judge me or something similar to that?
But there's no one here.
Hmm.
There isn't anything holding me down here. So, I slowly get up using all my four limbs and move around the huge auditorium to get an idea of where I am.
The auditorium is huge, I mean really huge, a basketball court could easily fit in here. The height of the dome would easily reach thirty feet, if not more. Although the whole place is coated with at least a few layers of dirt, it's mostly empty.
When I first woke up, I was at the exact center of this place. As I look around, I see a statue at the front right corner of the building from the center, nothing else.
I move towards the statue and clean it a bit to take a look. Its face and body structure look similar to a human. Its height is the same as mine, six feet. There is something written at the base of the statue but I can't read the language.
While I'm looking around the auditorium for any clues regarding my situation, I keep hearing a chime over and over in my ear but I can't find anything when I look for the source of that noise.
It seems like someone is trying to scare me. After I get out of wherever here is, I'm going to beat the crap out of them for being a nuisance.
This place doesn't seem to have been used for a long time. The settled layers of dust on the ground was disturbed due to my movements and some of it fell into my eyes.
As I try to clear my eyes of the dust, I see a blinking icon in the corner of my eye.
What the hell is this?
I try to wipe the icon away from my eye. As soon as I think about the icon, it enlarges itself in front of me.
----------------------------------------
Purification complete
Generating mana channels in host
Generation complete
Infusing mana into host
Infusion complete
Scanning
Scan complete
No abnormalities detected
New species integrated into the system
As a result, one epic perk of choosing will be given as a gift
Please choose one of the following
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The notifications scroll by, one by one and then there is a black transparent screen in front of me, similar to the screens I saw in the games I was playing before, asking me to select something from a long list.
I leave that aside for now.
I sit down beside the statue and take my time to think. So, those chimes weren't someone trying to prank me but the sound of these notifications. It seems like I have some kind of system and that means I wasn't hallucinating the first time.
I try to check for the messages from before and I can see them by scrolling the notifications on the screen.
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----------------------------------------
Error
Error
No interface detected
Trying to integrate
Integration complete
----------------------------------------
Ok, here is the proof of system integration. I don't know the how or why but I move on to the next line for now.
----------------------------------------
Error
Unknown species detected
----------------------------------------
Unknown species?
What the hell?
I'm human. Is the damn system saying humans are an unknown species?
----------------------------------------
Scanning
Scan complete
Host species similar to Human
----------------------------------------
Similar to human?
Does that mean I'm in some way different from humans?
It wasn't humans that are unknown but myself personally?
To make sure I'm still human, I give myself a once over. I look similar to how I was before I died, just a lot younger.
What's the difference?
How does the system decide I'm not human?
----------------------------------------
Abnormality detected
No mana channels present in host
No mana present in host
----------------------------------------
Mana channels?
Mana?
As in mana that is required to use magic according to those fantasy novels and games, that mana?
Why would I have that?
----------------------------------------
Injecting high-density mana particles to purify the host body
----------------------------------------
High-density mana particles?
Purifying my body?
There is no such thing as mana on Earth.
Ahh, I may have an idea of what's happening here.
I can only think of two options for this strange situation. Either system came to me i.e. to Earth, like those apocalypse series novels or I went to the system like those portal fantasy novels.
I can find out which option it is later, but first I need to check the rest of the notifications.
I go through the rest of the notifications and according to them, I've been purified which does not explain anything and it seems there are now mana channels in my body and also mana for that matter. Also, it seems I'm considered a new species to the system for which I've been given a gift which I'll use later when I'm able to get a clear idea of what is going on.
That is all for the notifications.
If this system is anything like the ones that I've played, there should be a status screen or something of that sort which should give me an overview of myself.
I try to think about my Status and just like that, a black screen filled with a lot of stuff appears before me.
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Name : Arthur
Race : Human
Class : N / A
Level : 0
Health : 100 / 100
Stamina : 100 / 100
Mana : 100 / 100
Attributes
Strength : 10
Agility : 10
Constitution : 10
Vitality : 10
Endurance : 10
Perception : 10
Spirit : 10
Wisdom : 10
Willpower : 10
Attribute Points : 0
Skills
N / A
Skill Slots : 10
Perks
Otherworlder
Summoned Being
----------------------------------------
Seems like some kind of RPG-style system.
Let me go through it one by one.
First name, it seems the system already knows my name.
How did that happen?
Can it read my mind?
There isn't anyone around to ask these questions. I guess I'm gonna have to make a list and ask them all later when I come across anyone.
Okay next, race, which shows human, then what was that nonsense from before?
I'm confused.
Am I human or not?
I don't have a class, that's reasonable.
But how do I gain a class?
There is a level tag under class.
Does that mean I can level my class?
How does that even work?
My level is zero, which makes sense as I haven't done anything until now. Which implies I can level up and improve myself in that aspects.
Is it just me or everyone else can level up too?
Health, Stamina, and Mana displayed here should be a gauge of my body.
Mana, so magic does exist in this world?
How do I use it?
Forgetting everything else, I fully concentrate on my fingers hoping that something magical may happen but nothing happens. Now I feel like an idiot.
Whew.
Calm Down.
Deep Breath.
Am I a five-year old kid to get this excited over magic?
Yeah, magic is well, magical but I need to reign in my emotions. As I already have proof that magic exists, I can slowly try to unravel it.
Next, Attributes, I have nine of them.
Is this the same for everyone?
Or are they unique to me?
Do I get to unlock any new ones?
Or are these fixed?
How do I know which one signifies what?
When I try to get the details of these attributes I hear the chime once again.
Now that I know what to look for, I check the notification.
----------------------------------------
Skill Unlocked : Appraisal
----------------------------------------
Huh, I've unlocked a skill already.
Appraisal, from what I remember, should be an information gathering type skill.
Aren't these types of skills kind of rare?
Why would I get such a good skill this soon?
Lucky me.
During my last years on Earth, I spent most of it indulging myself in every type of fantasy I can find. I've read a lot of novels, watched a lot of animes, and played a lot of games. Among them, the genre I loved the most was the Fantasy Litrpg, that have both magic and RPG elements.
So, I have some form of an idea of what it entails to have a Status Screen. And I kind of expected to get a skill sooner rather than later, but not this soon and not this particular skill.
I tried appraising my attributes but it didn't work. I checked my Status but there isn't any skill registered under the skill section.
Does this have anything to do with the skill slots section under skills?
Let me try using one skill slot to get the Appraisal skill.
As I think about using a skill slot for the sake of Appraisal, the notifications chime again.
----------------------------------------
Assign Appraisal to a Skill Slot - Y/N
----------------------------------------
I mentally clicked on Y and that did it.
The number of skill slots changed from ten to nine and Appraisal appeared under the skill section.
----------------------------------------
Appraisal
Grade : Rare
Mastery : Beginner
Level : 1
Ability to find the details of anything. Details gained and the level range increase along with its level.
----------------------------------------
As soon as I accepted the skill into my skill slot, I understood the basic information of what the skill does and how it can be used. It's like it was always known about it but I've never noticed it until now.
Weird.
Does this happen every time I unlock a skill?
From what I can understand from the information crammed into me, I'll only gain basic information even in the level range the skill works for. Right now it works between levels one to fifteen range and after gaining each skill level, the level range at which skill works increases by another fifteen levels.
I know what the level under the skill is for but what are grade and mastery?
What do they do?
After adding Appraisal to my skill list, I used it on each of the attributes and this is what I got from their description.
Strength represents my physical power, carrying weight, etc.
Agility represents my reflexes, reaction speed, etc.
Constitution represents my toughness, density, etc.
Vitality is my body's life force and it represents my Health and its regeneration.
Endurance is my body's internal energy and it represents my Stamina and its regeneration.
Perception is how well I can sense or perceive my surroundings.
Spirit is my body's mental energy and it represents my Mana and its regeneration.
Wisdom is the mental version of Strength and Agility combined.
Willpower is the mental version of Constitution.
Five physical attributes, three mental attributes, and lastly perception which is both a physical and mental attribute. That's a lot to take in.
Under my skills, my newly unlocked skill Appraisal is added and the number of skill slots is down to nine from ten.
Does that mean I only get to have ten skills?
Doesn't that mean if I recklessly keep adding all the skills I unlock from now, the slots will be filled with some random skills which I've easily unlocked?
It would be disastrous if that happens. I need to be more careful about which skills I add to my list.
As for perks, I already have two of them.
How did I get them?
What do they have to say?
I appraise them both to get more details.
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Otherworlder
Grade : Legendary
A being from another world traveled to the world of Gaea
Effects :
Helps hide the identity of being an Otherworlder to an extent. Only very powerful beings can see through this obfuscation.
Reduces the effort required to gain new skills by 100% and their corresponding levels by 25%.
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Summoned Being
Grade : Phantasmal
A being who was summoned to the world of Gaea.
Effects :
Helps purify the body one-time with system help at zero risk, to adapt to the new surroundings.
Provides an option to select any single elemental affinity at Perfect rank within the corresponding grade of the perk.
Unlocks Appraisal.
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It's clear now.
I'm not on Earth.
It seems I'm in another world called Gaea and I was summoned here.
That explains this big auditorium, must be some kind of summoning temple or something of that sort.
Then, where is the welcoming party?
"Hello, anybody there?" I shout, to once again confirm that there is no one here.
Does this mean I wasn't summoned here voluntarily by someone?
If I wasn't summoned by some King or Emperor or some powerful mage, then how did I get here?
Too many questions but there's no one around to answer them. I need to find some kind of information source if I don't want to stumble around in the dark.
It appears for now these two perks are going to be my only advantage.
The first one seems to hide that I'm not from this world from other beings.
Good, I don't want to become a guinea pig for some sick and powerful psycho who finds out about my origin. I've seen that happen enough times in my world to know that it is a distinct possibility.
It also helps me get skills and their corresponding levels a little easier compared to others, which will be very useful.
The effect of the second one must be the reason for the pain and the subsequent loss of my consciousness. It also allows me to select any single elemental affinity at a Perfect rank, at or below Phantasmal grade.
Perfect rank?
What's that?
I don't know much about elemental affinities, their grades, or the different ranks of affinities. I'll leave it alone until I can gain some information about it, just like the perk selection.
Also, this perk was the reason I was able to unlock Appraisal and here I thought I was lucky. I guess it's the system's way of showing some pity on me.
Now that I've gone through my Status, what should I do next?
Name : Arthur
Race : Human
Class : N / A
Level : 0
Health : 100 / 100
Stamina : 100 / 100
Mana : 100 / 100
Attributes
Strength : 10
Agility : 10
Constitution : 10
Vitality : 10
Endurance : 10
Perception : 10
Spirit : 10
Wisdom : 10
Willpower : 10
Attribute Points : 0
Skills
Appraisal - Beginner - Level 1
Skill Slots: 9
Perks
Otherworlder
Summoned Being