An intense pain struck her from behind. The feeling of her bones breaking all over her body caused her to lose consciousness. She had no time to curse her fate, nor to accept it.

The cold took over her being, intensifying a strong feeling of emptiness that not even tears could alleviate. The only thing she could do was wait for death. However, to her surprise, she woke up. A sudden spasm caused her body to move uncontrollably.

She opened her eyes and inhaled deeply. The air was so stale and heavy that she felt nauseous.

She moved her head in search of the source of the smell, but there was little she could do without standing up; it took her a while to regain control of her body.

Her surroundings were dark, but she could see thanks to tiny, faintly glowing, light blue crystals dispersed all over the place. The crystals grew along the stone walls, gradually decreasing in size until they reached a fissure at the top.

She rose up, but the absence of natural light combined with a peculiar purple haze that enveloped the area, made it challenging to discern anything beyond the shapes of objects. At least she wouldn't trip over everything she came across.

“What the hell am I doing here?” She didn't remember anything. She had the feeling she had died, although she didn't know why. Her memories were a haze of uncertainty mixed with fragments of utter darkness.

A flashback came to shed some light, but it didn't come alone. She got so dizzy that she had to put her hands on the rock to keep from falling flat on her face.

Her vision blurred as she lost control over her body. The pain from the deep wound in her abdomen warned her not to move, but she couldn't help the sway of being carried in his arms. An athletic boy with black hair and tanned skin. His deep blue gaze no longer made her feel safe.

Her breathing grew heavy as the fear of death took over her. "This is nothing! You are strong! Nothing can stop you!" The words echoed in her mind, with her father's usually gentle and confident voice.

She conjured Healing Hands on herself, burning half of her mana. A balsamic warmth blossomed from her chest and spread through her like roots of healing energy that quickly descended until they reached the wound.

[Healing Hands — Level 3. Base skill of Paladin and Cleric classes.

Healing has no secrets for you. Minor wounds disappear with a simple touch.]

She was finally able to move, but it was short-lived. Another stab left her breathless. The celebrations and laughter intensified shortly before the boy who carried her spoke hatefully.

“Fucking bitch! What's so special about you?! Why did the relic react?! ... ... Dammit! It doesn't matter now! This ends here!”

He dropped her to the ground and kicked her, pushing her into a fissure.

Her instincts kicked in, doing their best to hold on. Her legs dangled in an abyss that threatened to swallow her.

The deep feeling of betrayal hunted for answers. "He's not like that! He would never hurt me! It doesn't make any sense... Just for a relic alone he..."

He sighed. "So you want to do it the hard way...”

A metal boot kicked her in the face, pushing her hard. She had to hold on tooth and nail as the pain overwhelmed her. She barely managed to grab the edge with her left hand.

Tears streamed down her eyes. She barely recognized the boy to whom she had entrusted her life to. "Gabriel! Please, stop! I'm begging you! Why are you doing this?"

He vigorously stepped on her left hand, crushing her fingers. She didn't let go of the rock despite the pain, burning her last remnants of mana. The wounds partially closed, but that wouldn't get her out of there.

Someone ran up to Gabriel. "Get it over with, dammit! We can't cover you much longer! You'll get us caught!" It was a woman's voice.

"Hold on! Nothing can..."

After another stomp, her fingers couldn't take it anymore. The flashback ended there, as abruptly as it began.

She sat up and tried to clear her thoughts. She needed to find something that made more sense. There had to be a more logical explanation. Could it be that the brutal fall was causing her hallucinations? That certainly made sense, but... No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember anything but that madness.

“Gabriel. Who's that damn bastard? Why did he stab me and throw me in such a cruel way?”

She gritted her teeth as she muttered with hatred. "Whoever you are, I swear I will make you pay!"

She needed to focus, the situation warranted it. She looked up at the large fissure with disbelief. “How did I manage to survive? It’s so high I can’t see the end.”

Jean took notice of a dim light to her right, and carefully stepped down from the rock on which she had fallen. She continued to descend from rock to rock, hoping to find a way out, but instead encountered a cave-in blocking her path.

"Well, at least it's clear which way I can't go!”

She didn't feel stressed at all. How was that possible? In a normal situation, she would be shocked. But instead, it felt like she was strolling through the park on a beautiful sunny day.

The blame was on that phrase that always echoed in her mind. A thought engraved in fire, indistinguishable from any other thought now. The phrase that her father repeated. "Nothing can stop you!"

She continued her exploration and descended to the last rock, encountering a puddle on the ground. She jumped over, but realized too late that the puddle was too large, covering almost the entire floor.

The water splashed up to her knees, causing her to shiver from head to toe. But that wasn't going to stop her. Nothing would until she found him.

[Mission »Choose your destiny!« updated to: »Punish Gabriel!«]

That startled her. She looked around, but saw no one. The haze near the ground was thicker, making visibility even more challenging. However, the small blue crystals that glowed in the same shade as the water were also more concentrated. That made it easier for her to find two narrow passages in the winding cavern.

Jean ventured into the right passage first. In addition to being larger and easier to cross by moving sideways, it was also better lit. The voice must come from behind the narrowing. But, contrary to her expectations, there was no one. The disturbances in the water as she explored were the only thing that broke the calm of that place.

“Have I gone crazy?”

“[You are not crazy! If you don't remember us, that has an easy solution.]”

Another vision made her dizzy again, taking her back through her memories. Like the previous one, she felt it was her present.

She was in the hypermarket where she worked during her college vacation, specifically in the warehouse. The situation was unusual. Everything was shaking and the light coming through the skylights on the roof became abnormally bright. She hit the deck and stayed there for a while, praying that it would end soon.

The vibrations increased, knocking the boxes off the shelves to the floor. At the same time, a loud buzzing sound settled in her ears. The blinding light intensified too.

Her heart almost stopped; that couldn't be an earthquake.

A transparent membrane descended from the sky and passed through her completely. An intense heat followed, but it didn’t burn her. It felt as if the sun had exploded in a slow-motion supernova, except for the deathly heat.

A whirlpool of despair washed over her; she was not alone. Despite the vibrations and the deafening buzz, screams filled her ears like a cacophony. The entire hypermarket and parking lot must have been suffering the same fate.

Jean thought about her mother and little sister. She couldn't forgive herself for leaving the house without saying goodbye. She would die there, never seeing them again.

She also thought of her father. She missed him so much. Maybe he was watching her from heaven right now. Maybe it was time to see him again.

Finally, darkness and silence enveloped everything.

The vision didn't end there, it kept her in complete darkness for days in a strange state between sleep and wakefulness. Unable to move or think properly because of a persistent sadness that afflicted her. She had no idea if she was dead or alive.

On the verge of despair due to the frustrating wait, a hopeful feeling flashed through her mind like a lightning in the dark. It forced its way through her like roots piercing the ground. Neither painful nor pleasant. A phenomenon that created a strange flow of information that became a constant wave of whispers in her mind. A feeling that made her understand that she would never be alone again.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

[New skill. Magic Core.]

[Magic Core. Base skill for any Aspirant.

Provides support for your attributes and the assimilation of new knowledge, skills and spells.]

[Welcome Aspirant 314.127AJ!]

[New Mission: »Choose your destiny!« Reincarnation or Insertion?]

The flashback ended abruptly, leaving as many questions as answers. The only thing truly clear was that the whispers were the Magic Core. They would always be with her to assist her and turn her into an aspirant hero. She now resembled the protagonist of a role-playing game?

Even though that was the craziest thing she had ever experienced, her attention was focused on something else.

"Okay... What did I choose then? Reincarnation or Insertion?”

“[You chose »Insertion«. You don't remember that either?]”

Jean shook her head silently. She felt overwhelmed, still getting used to the constant bustle of the whispers and the incessant flow of information that accompanied every new word.

She didn't remember how long it had been since she had been transported to that world, but right now she felt completely lost. From a part-time employee to an aspirant hero of god knows what madness. However, the most disconcerting thing was that she felt tremendously comfortable with the idea. Was that because the strange whispers made everything normal and logical?

“[It's normal. You suffered a serious head injury that took days to heal, but don't worry! You will eventually recover your memories.]”

“I've been lying here for days?! Why didn't I bleed to death?”

“[Your Last Breath skill won't let you die so easily. We tried to save your memories too, but it proved impossible to preserve them all. We have done our best.]”

[Last Breath — Level 2. Unique base skill granted by the Cursed class.

Allow whispers to activate your skills in order to keep you alive.]

“Then it's true that I have skills now.” Jean wanted to smile, but the cold didn’t let her do anything more than make a crooked face.

“[You have even forgotten that…!]”

"Wait! What is this Cursed class?"

All of a sudden, there was a faint splash nearby. She got a bad feeling, so she remained silent, regretting not having kept her mouth shut.

The distant splashing sounded closer and closer. At first she remained calm, but when she heard faint moans, she couldn't help but feel safer climbing onto a nearby rock.

A figure crawled out from behind a bend in the winding cavern.

Jean trembled in fear of the unknown figure. “What the heck is that?!”

Jean froze as the figure slowly advanced. Thankfully, she quickly pulled herself together. Her father's words clicked in her head, forcing her to tense her body.

The figure rose with great difficulty. It was thin and swayed sideways, barely keeping its balance while moving its head in all directions, as if it saw even less than her.

After looking at it carefully, she realized it looked like an adventurer in cheap leather armor, carrying a longsword and a wooden shield.

He had brown hair and a worrying pained expression. Maybe he was hurt... "Hey! Are you okay?"

He began to moan. It was as if he was having difficulty speaking or moving. The sounds were quite disturbing; he must have been in considerable pain.

An emergent brought by the whispers arrived promptly.

»Undead Human«

Level: 18

Name: Rikkom

Marks: [Thief], [Weaver], [Sacrificed]

Details: You are unaware of the evil that plagues this Aspirant.

"What?! He's an undead and an aspirant?! How the hell is that possible?"

Doubts assailed her. He was a Marked. Though he had stolen, he may have done so out of necessity. Perhaps he had had a hard life. However, Weaver could not be ignored.

[Marked]: Negative title easily visible with Identify combined with Eye of Virtue.

Some titles of this type are:

◦ Thief: It can be removed by returning what was stolen and compensating for the grievance.

◦ Killer of … (Humans, goblins, orcs …). Permanent.

◦ Traitor: After breaking a pact or deliberately attacking an ally. Permanent.

◦ Weaver: After convincing others to do evil things for you. Permanent.

[Eye of Virtue — Level 1. Base skill of Paladin and Cleric classes.

Evil cannot hide from you. You can perfectly see 3 random marks of another Aspirant.]

On the other hand, even though she knew he was marked, he was an aspirant. Undead or not, he was a person at one point...

Her aspirant number crossed her mind. In the flashback, the whole hypermarket had suffered her same fate. Could it be a customer? An acquaintance? Not with that name. She couldn’t be sure, the number was too high and he might have changed his name when he joined this world. The light probably involved a lot more people. Maybe the entire city...

Jean flinched when she noticed him sniffing the air. If she wanted to get out of there, she would have to evade him without him noticing. But how? Unless she learned to levitate, she couldn't avoid stepping in the water that covered the area.

Rikkom placed his hand on the hilt of the sword, continuing sniffing, but also listening for any sounds. Despite being so close to each other...

"Wait! He can't see me!"

Her first impulse was to search for a weapon sheathed in her belt, but she found only a notebook in a leather case. She then focused on a harness on top of her robe, on her back. A hybrid between a backpack and a weapon holder.

Jean smiled expectantly at the thought of having a greatsword. Perhaps she was a paladin. It struck her as odd that she hadn't felt its weight until now, but when she reached her back, she understood why. There was nothing there. It must have fallen.

Her fervent desire to know her class immediately brought a panel with her status.

[Status.

Name: Jean | Level: 3

Class: Cursed Cleric

Stats:

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 10

Vitality: 14

Endurance: 10

Intelligence: 12

Willpower: 19

Perception: 10

Cores Skills: [Magic Core], [Identify - Lvl 1]

Cleric Skills: [Purify Soul - Lvl 1], [Eye of Virtue - Lvl 1], [Healing Hands - Lvl 3]

Cursed Skills: [Last Breath - Lvl 2], [Pupil of Evil - Lvl 1]]

Disappointment was absolute. "No way! I-I'm a cleric?! ... So my role is to heal others... I thought..." She had nothing against clerics, but...

“What the hell is a Cursed Cleric ?"

"[You chose to be a cleric when you enrolled in the Adventurer's Guild. However, it was corrupted when you touched the relic]."

"What relic? ... Ah! The one that bastard mentioned!"

Jean closed her eyes, replaying the events in her head. "What kind of relic was it? Agh! I can't remember it!” She sighed. “Is the curse going to kill me? Or maybe it will transform me into some kind of monster?"

“[It's impossible to know without analyzing it. Find Gabriel. Maybe he knows something.]”

Jean clenched her fists tightly. "Are you kidding me?! You expect me to ask that bastard?" All she could think about was how to make him suffer.

A sudden derisive laughter brought her back to her senses. It had been nothing more than an echo, but it was the trigger for Rikkom’s eyes to glow purple. She had been careless; Rikkom had already unsheathed his sword and dashed in her direction.

Jean's pulse quickened dramatically. "Shit!"

She had barely been able to avoid the attack by jumping back, but that had caused her to slip, falling off the rock. Why was he reacting now?

The loud splash of the fall and her retreating footsteps drove him crazy. After a macabre convulsion, he lunged straight for her, leaving all traces of weakness behind.

“Jean, Jeeean! HELP ME!”

A shiver ran through her from head to toe. Not only because of the cold. He knew her. Could he be one of those who betrayed her?

Rikkom sped forward as his sword left a trail behind him that split the water. “HELP ME, JEEEAN!!”

A sudden shove slammed her against the wall, a few paces from the narrowing. Fear shocked her to the core, triggering a backward kick. The opportunity to escape had come, and it was in her hands to take it.

"I won't die! Not without killing Gabriel!"

A sharp pain made her realize her situation. The tip of the sword protruded from her stomach.