“Agh, aagh.” A miserable sound drifted off from the bushes beneath a great cliff.
A man with a young face on the cusp of adulthood was lying flat on a bush, seemingly forced into it, with several broken branches piercing into his abdomen, legs and face.
The man slowly grew more aware as the ever present pain from his injuries began to make itself known to his dim consciousness, like a sober moment before death, with no other purpose than to let you know that your time in this world is almost up.
Theos opened his eyes despite the pain to understand the situation. To his understanding he had just exhaled his last breath on his death bed, only to wake up with an arm and a leg both broken, along with multiple branches stabbing into his body. Seeing himself in this situation, he instantly understood; he had transmigrated.
He has seen a few of these cases along with several reincarnations, but he never expected it to happen to him. As he thought about it, he realized the reason behind this phenomenon. It must that damn obsession of mine, the man thought with a sigh, before suddenly becoming angry. Than what the fuck is the point of transmigrated to this soon-to-be-dead body!
As the man lamented in pointless rage he began to feel an ethereal force drifting along his body and in the surrounding area.
Is this? The man thought in shock as he felt something that he's been trying to feel for the last thousand years; something that he spent his whole life trying to understand yet was unable to come in contact with, like a fish that watches through the waters of a pond as a bird flies freely above it, dreaming for something it will never be able to accomplish. Such was the tragedy of Theos’s previous life.
This is definitely what my broken senses failed to grasp in my previous life; Primal Energy! Theos thought in excitement. I still have a working arm and leg. All I need to do is design the System Imprint. But which system should I choose?
Theos has learned of and studied thousands of System Imprints in his previous life, along with their various benefits and weaknesses. He knew that there was no such thing as a perfect System Imprint, as there was only the one most suited to the cultivator. Strictly speaking, this is where one should perform an Attribute Analysis, but Theos had neither the time nor the tools, for such an assessment. The only thing Theos could do now is cringe his teeth, pick out the most attractive one, and hope for the best. As for how far he'll be able to walk in his cultivation, that's for the grace of the heavens to decide.
Ignoring the pain from his wounded body, Theos pushed up with his right arm and balanced himself as forced his left knee forward, setting himself in a semi-upright position. Then he forcefully pushed his broken right leg forward also, before he was able to sit upright.
Theos took a deep breath before relying on only his left leg to push himself upwards as he balanced his body. When he stood he saw the cliff wall and looked up, only now understanding how this body was so badly injured. This idiot was trying to climb a mountain! This guy is obviously a mortal. What's the point of doing such dangerous things if not for cultivation resources? This idiot was just looking to be killed by trying to climb such a large cliff as a mortal. Theos thought in disdain before hopping to the flat cliff wall.
Theos closed his eyes to calm himself amidst the excitement and pain that he felt, before trying to pick out the most attractive System Imprint to him. If it's just based on attractiveness in terms of spirit and style, it has to be that; Corporeal Dream.
Concerning style, one could focus in many areas as Corporeal Dream, was in essence, about fulfilling one's desires. Depending on what one desires, one could become the strongest person in the world, or the most intelligent, or the richest. In terms of fighting prowess, it stresses the importance of deceiving and outwitting your opponent, but doesn’t force this style upon the host. As such, within the system, there are system skills offered for intelligence gathering, sensory amplification, and ultimately skills involving illusions. As a mortal who has lived for a thousand years, Theos was undoubtedly a crafty old fox, and he would have not survived that long otherwise, considering how weak he was, even with all the longevity elixirs his master gave him, which stretched his mortal lifespan to the absolute limit.
Concerning spirit, the only reason Theos transmigrated in the first place was for his obsessive dream, which completely fits the Corporeal Dream System.
With his impeccable memory, Theos stuck two fingers in the gash on his head and began to draw on the cliff wall with his blood, as he mumbled words in an ancient language, gathering the Primal Energy in the surroundings and infusing them into the blood on the cliff. Although Theos was anxious to finish the ceremony as he was losing blood at a fast rate, he still continued to calmly draw at a steady pace.
5 minutes later, other than immense pain, Theos began to feel drowsy from lack of blood, but he forced himself forward through sheer willpower. 10 minutes later, the diagrams on the wall were now much larger and much more complex, but Theos felt that he was about to collapse at any moment. After the diagram was finished, Theos could only hope that the diagram was drawn correctly and use the last of his strength to lift his blood drenched hand onto to the center of the diagram, pressing a bloody hand imprint onto the wall before finally activating the Primal Energy in the diagram.
The wind began to howl as the surrounding Primal Energy began to gather into the diagram, manipulating the drawings into changing form, as it began to transform and shift into a smaller and more solid shape, before finally gathering at Theos’s hand. The blood was redrawn back into Theos’s body through his hand, albeit in a different and magically transformed form.
Then, a voice resounded in Theos’s mind, causing him to grin, as if this was the happiest moment in his two lives.
Corporeal Dream System initializing...
Constructing system…
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Binding to host…
Integrating host’s memories with artificial intelligence…
Restoring host for character assessment…
At that moment the Primal Energy was once again stirred up and was being automatically absorbed by the system to heal Theos’s body at a visible rate. But this was at the expense of stretching this already injured body to its limits to absorb the Primal Energy, causing his body to inflate slightly and induce a much more immense pain than Theos’s original injuries.
This was the power of a System; it could do things which even the host is unable to accomplish himself. But ultimately, these seemingly miraculous powers are quite limited, as a System’s main purpose is the evolution of the host, not for the host to become a slave of the system. Also, to truly create an all-powerful System would be almost impossible, considering bodies at the beginning of cultivation would not be strong enough to contain that power. The only way would be to have the System grow with the host. Functions such as this body restoration would only be used in emergencies, and would all come at a cost. Also, this ability would not be able to be used frequently as that could damage permanently damage the body.
“Aaaaurgh!” After clenching his teeth and suppressing the pain Theos felt, he still couldn’t help but let out a final roar after his body finished restoring and resumed its original shape.
Analyzing attributes and skills…
Setting dream…
System construction and assessment complete. Welcome, host, to the Corporeal Dream System.
“Haagh.” After a sigh of relief that everything worked out fine, Theos spoke some words to the System. “Show me my stats.”
After the command some information was transmitted to his mind.
Name: Theos Kargh
Physical attributes: 13
Mental attributes: 50
Primal energy: 0/31
Skills: Theoretical Magic (98), Theoretical Primal Battle Skills (96), Theoretical Elixir Crafting (98), Theoretical Diagram Design (98), Theoretical Acupuncture (50), Theoretical Artifact Crafting (98), Theoretical Scroll Crafting (98), Theoretical Poison and Medicine Crafting (60), Practical Diagram Design (5), Medical Diagnostics (85), Surgery (90), Mortal Fighting Techniques (100), Fight Tactics (97), Calligraphy (90), Musical Skill (85), Painting (90), Cooking (90).
Current dream: To ascend the limitations of life, become immortal, and stand at the peak of existence.
The mental attributes with a rating of 50 didn't surprise Theos, as he had been tempering his mental attributes for too long, learning all the tricks he could to be able to fully control his mind, to the peak of a mortal’s limits. He was also satisfied with the physical attributes rating. At least this body wasn’t unhealthy, and a little bit stronger than your average human.
As for the skill ratings, other than the Practical Diagram Design which he just earned, everything else was the accumulation of his previous long life. The theoretical acupuncture rating should have been much higher, but these skill ratings are based on one's perception of the limit, and this dropped the rating for this skill, as Theos was immediately able to notice that the meridian system for this body was much more different than his original body, albeit still believing in his ability to figure out this new system. The medical diagnostics skill was also a little lower as he had no knowledge of this world's diseases or ailments, but Theos still believed in his skill to diagnose an illness thus the rating was still rather high.
Theos then glanced at the current dream setting with melancholy tinged with with a new hope. This dream was a result of him becoming a servant of his master. All those years watching him stand at the peak of the world as an immortal gave birth to this obsession in Theos. All he hoped for at the time was to also begin his journey to the peak, but alas, he was born with crippled senses and could not interact with Primal Energy. Fortunately that did not hinder his desire for knowledge, which is now able to pave the way for his current life, and with his master’s generosity and resources, along with his connections, Theos was able to study freely for his long life.
Now it’s time to get some more information of this world, Theos thought as he sat down to meditate. Using his superior mental attributes and the mental tricks learned in his previous life, Theos began to delve deeply into the memories stored within his brain, scanning through the previous body owner’s life.
The previous body owner’s name was Theodore Kahn. His father is the founder of an internet-based retailer which has slowly grown to be the largest of such companies in the world, undoubtedly earning him a lot of money. As a rich second generation, Theodore naturally had a stubborn and prideful side to him. He did not like hearing people saying how lucky he was to be the son of his father, thus spurning the desire to make something out of himself.
When Theodore was 14, the internet was becoming widely more popular, along with the growth of his father’s company. It was at that time Theodore had walked into his father’s office and demanded a loan, because he was going to start his own company. Theodore’s father at first thought this was just another of his child’s whims, but grew serious after seeing the seriousness of his child’s face. As such, Theodore’s father agreed to his child’s request, especially since he was not stingy with family and can afford to lose this amount of money. But he secretly made the decision to make sure that his son was not taken advantage of.
When he asked his son what his company would do, his son told him that there were two things he had been spending his time on. The first being, a social networking site, and the second being a system for a digital currency which he could be used on the site. After his son spent enough time creating apps for his site, such as games, including those involving gambling, his digital currency would slowly grow more popular. Also, if he was able to get internet-based retailers to accept his currency, it wouldn’t be too long before much of the country to be using this currency.
When Theodore’s father heard this his mouth twitched. You kid, are always trying to be so independent, yet in the end aren’t you still relying on me, your old man? His father thought, resigning himself to eventually using this currency for his company. But this only gave Theodore’s more reason to see that his son succeeds, and thus, helped his son set up his company.
After three years, Theodore had graduated early from his high school, and saw no point in going to college, as his company was already huge. As such, he resolved himself to go out and experience the world, travelling from place to place to try out different activities and cuisines.
And this is how he ended up cliff climbing in the remote place, eventually falling to his death.
Theos was surprised as he scanned through these memories. According to these memories, the world is completely comprised of mortals! Who knew if there were any cultivators in this world, as Theodore had no knowledge of such things.
But Primal Energy obviously exists in this world. There’s no way people wouldn’t notice it! Unless these people couldn’t sense it, like myself in my previous life… Then why can I suddenly sense it now? Theos thought, pondering the reason. Could it be that? Theos thought, thinking of the history of Primal Energy users in his previous life.
In Theos’s previous life, it was said sensory perception of mortals towards Primal Energy first began to take place when beasts began to evolve into monsters. The monsters wreaked havoc in the world, threatening the lives of many mortals which activated their senses in a moment of life and death. Which subsequently, began the age of cultivators. Since then, in Theos’s previous world, cultivation grew much more advanced with the passing of time, bringing about the Cultivation Systems that slowly became the standard.
Theos, himself, has tried out this method of activating his senses, but alas, he has never succeeded.