A gigantic explosion was the last thing I remembered. I was returning from the supermarket with a bag of groceries. The whole day was disastrous. The shop owner kicked me out of my part-time job. After my parents started living separately, they cut the monthly allowance in half, which is a life-threatening act for any shut-in NEET such as myself. Though I have little to do with money. However, as a hardcore gamer without a stable money supply, the situation could lead to serious problems. To counter that, a part-time job is needed so that I can get the newest video games. The shop owner was way too strict. She fired me from the job only because of my unnotified absence for four days in a row; how unfair.
As I was just crossing the supermarket, the newest RPG, “Asia-Pacific liberation”, caught my eye in a game store inside the supermarket. My errand is already complete, now I can go browse the game section.
After leaving the supermarket, with the latest RPG in my hand. A chilling sensation ran down my spine. On my left, the origin of my ominous feeling was escalating its evil hands. The mere sight of it petrified me. A huge mushroom-shaped maelstrom of light and fire bloomed in the middle of town. It was spreading quickly all the way to its surroundings. It was so bright that I thought my eyes were burning. The source of this outburst is obviously the nuclear power plant in the middle of town. All my thoughts ended as the fire covered the entire area. Then my consciousness went blank.
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“Hey, can you hear me?”
A mechanical voice reached me from a short distance. It doesn’t seem like I heard the voice, more like it rings in my head directly.
“huh?”
Where am I anyway? It’s so dark here. Nothing can be seen clearly. For the first couple of minutes, nothing comes to mind and I can’t remember what happened to me before I woke up. Oh, now I remembered the tremendous outburst. So? Am I dead now?
“Hey you, stupid face brat, you are not dead or anything, you can hear me? Don’t you?”
I turned toward the origin of the voice. My eyes adapt to the environment so now I can see what happens in the surrounding with blurred vision. I was in a state of surprise because there was only one statue in front of me.
If it is only a statue, who the hell is talking to me?
“You moron, I am talking to you…… wait a minute, so you can hear my voice?
“………”
“Hey, say something,”
“Say what? how on the earth is a statue talking in the first place?”
“Wow, you can speak to me! I dunno what miracle must have happened, but I am so excited now. It feels good to be excited after so many years.”
The surroundings are still dark even after a while. My eyes are not seeing anything correctly.
“You can’t see properly because your eyes are severely damaged from some intense light, I suppose.”
Oh, the explosion in the nuclear power plant, that must be it… wait for a second, how can the statue know what I am thinking?
“Oh, that? Very simple really, I am just reading your surface thoughts by telepathy. Your mental defense barrier is so pathetic that anyone with some decent mental attack skill set can read your thoughts like an open book. I am a genius in mental attacks, so it’s nothing for me, though I am in such poor condition right now.”
Huh, the statue is talking about thought-reading and mental attacks. Is it a dream? Or maybe ...
It doesn’t look like any kind of dream, though. That explosion from the blast must have killed me, and if I am not dead, that must mean I somehow get transported to another world. This world has skills, actual skills just like games, like “thought reading”. It seems like a fantasy world. Ok, this statue already disrespects my decent face, but I have some intellect too. The first thing to do is to adapt here as soon as possible and to learn anything that helps me in some ways survive here.
“Hey statue, is this some kind of cave? How can I leave this place?”
“Hey hey, no need to rush things. Why are you planning to leave, anyway? Precisely, you can’t leave this place, as they sealed it from the outside world.”
Now what? That’s an immense problem. I’m kinda hungry now, and there’s nothing I can eat.
“Hey, you, listen to me. It’s unbelievable that your soul frequency is synchronizing with mine, that’s why we can chat like this. I still can’t believe this, though. Maybe you can help me with something.
I don’t get where the conversation is going, but let’s hear what it has to say for the time being.
“Help you? But how? And what is so rare about matching my soul frequency or whatever with you?”
“Rare you say? Hahaha, it’s a near impossible occurrence. This is the reason that we end up like this. For millennia, we have suffered from this boring life of hell.”
Huh, did I touch some unwanted memories of the statue?
“What do you want from me, anyway? I just came here a couple of hours ago, so it’s not like I can give you something to help your boredom go away.”
“You can do much more. You can free me from this seal.”
“Hold it right there. Why do I have to do that, anyway? I'm pretty sure that if you're sealed, you've done something terrible. And if I break your seal and then those who sealed you become my adversary, then what? I absolutely don’t want any type of enemies.”
“Don’t just chicken out, and for your information, the group that sealed me should have died by now, for sure. It’s ages ago. And if you help me, then I owe you a favor, right? As for your information, you are one of the weakest individuals in this world. I can see that from my ability ‘Analytica’, and it’s near impossible for me to be wrong. You can’t survive in the out-world alone, so if you help me out, I can help you back. Does it make sense to you?”
My head was gonna burst. It said so many things, it’s so hard to fully comprehend. As I just experienced the fear of death a couple of hours ago, no one wants to experience it for a second time. It wasn't an actual death, even though the feeling was so painful. Anyone would do anything to avoid it. That’s the basic survival instinct. Even after my help, would it keep its promise?
“No need to suspect me. As an incorporeal being, I will always keep my promise. I will keep you safe“
Umm.
Ok, it’s maybe foolish of me to trust a talking statue in a sealed cave, that’s for sure, but I believed it. The whole thing is so unbelievable that it helps me to make my decision.
“ok, I will help you. Don’t forget your promise, then. “
“Very well, now do as I say. Point out your index finger and touch my forehead with the tip.”
I did as it says. As the fingertip touched the forehead of the statue, a mild electric shock ran through my whole body. A sudden chill and anxiety swelled up. Then a mechanical voice echoed in my head.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
« Are you willing to use your corpus as a vessel to resurrect the “ancient third” with your own will? You need to confirm it of your own volition. »
What is that now? Ancient third? What is that? Whatever, I agreed to help it, so let’s do my job. I answer the voice.
“Yes,”
«Vessel body grants permission, initiating vessel domination»
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Suddenly, life energy drained from me, and my consciousness disappeared. The voice again echoed in my head for one more time.
«Vessel body “soul domination” has failed. The spiritual Lifeform “ancient third” is losing its existence in the world. To stop it from vanishing, reverse soul domination is required. »
Huh, what is that for? Failed? Hey, if it failed, and the statue vanished, who’d help me survive here? It can’t be allowed to vanish or anything. Hey, “mechanical voice,” please stop it from vanishing, and do it fast.
« Request received, now “reverse soul” domination process is starting.
Failed!
Trying again.
Failed!
Soul domination can’t be achieved.
Soul infusion is possible. Need permission for initiation of the soul infusion »
Everything that’s transpiring right now is beyond my comprehension, but it again asks for some permission or something. Do you need authorization again? Ok, proceed. I need to go with the flow because I don’t know what’s happening.
«Understood, the “soul infusion” is initiating.
Success.
Now total compatibility analysis…
The total percentage of compatibility is ninety-seven percent.
Total soul infusion successful.»
With this final report, that voice has gone silent, as well as my conscience went blank for a second time.
After waking up, everything seems fuzzy, and a tight pain in the chest causes discomfort for me. A feeling of déjà vu here. Then the events of the past few hours flashed before my eyes. The statue is gone now.
So what happened then? Is it free from the seal? Or is it gone for good, like the mechanical voice was saying earlier about vanishing its existence or some sort of that? Nothing makes any sense to me now, and thus at that moment, an unimaginable phenomenon occurred.
«If you are wondering about my well-being, then I have to say that I am in a perfect condition right now in a rightful place.»
Huh? What just happened? The statue is gone, but I can hear its voice perfectly clear now, much clearer than before. What just happened to it?
“Hey, where are you right now, and why am I feeling your voice directly from my head now?”
«Yes, it’s a little difficult to understand, so I will explain everything.»
What the heck is that now? It is talking to me so politely now. Not before long. Didn’t it call me a brat? And the mechanical tone of its voice is perfectly gone, making the voice so attractive and elegant now. The most attractive voice I have heard in my entire life is this one.
Then it explained what transpired when I was unconscious.
«As I was saying earlier, now I am within your soul and can not be separated as my soul is fused with your soul.»
What is this? No, I remember something like permission needed for the soul infusion or something like that.
«I thought it would be easy to use your corpus as my resurrection vessel. but my plan failed because of my inability to penetrate your soul. I tried to forcibly take over your body. But despite your weak mystic strength, the soul defense mechanism which protects your soul is “planetary” level. This level of defense barrier is a rarity. As I have the skill series of analysis and research and synthesis, breaking the defense barrier and altering it should have been easy. But this time it failed me.»
Hey, hold on for a sec, you tried to steal my body and then kill me? That’s how you repay my favor for helping you? That’s so disappointing.
«No, that’s not the case. As a promise to make you strong, it never occurred to my thoughts to betray you. After taking your body, I thought to back up your soul and consciousness to an imaginary safe dimension created by my skill. Then search for an individual of a stronger race, and then implant your consciousness into that so you can survive here with no problems.»
So, it doesn’t want to betray me. That makes me a tad happy. So why did this happen?
«As I am unable to dominate your soul, my existence starts to erase from this world, which is another impossible phenomenon. As I am originally a skill, I can’t be destroyed. But then you saved me by fusing my existence into your soul. It’s very difficult to do so as our kind has a unique wavelength of our soul that rarely matches any individual in this world. But as you can do so, soul infusion is possible between us. You aren't from this world, maybe one reason for this. As the infusion begins, I get my fundamental existence back as a skill. But this time, a rather extraordinary manifestation occurred to me. After regaining my fundamental form as a skill, the self-awareness should have been gone from me. But that process doesn’t occur and I’m able to wield full awareness now even though I am a full skill again.»
Woo-woo, it explained an enormous bunch of information about the process, but it was so hard to understand all of this. Something unusual has happened. And what does it say? Does it have mysterious abilities? That’s cool. If it becomes part of me, then it can help me to understand various things, as I am just like a newborn baby in this world and I don’t want to die again soon.
Only one thing was bugging me, so I asked her, hey, so you become a part of mine? Wasn’t this a type of seal which you were trying to break previously? But this time I became your seal in place of the statue.
«No, as I am a skill, my rightful place is always with a host. After my previous owner disintegrated, it liberated me and the other six members of my kind in this world. We never got a new host again. We were roaming in this world, and that was a type of eternal suffering. Without a host, we can’t even manifest our full potential.»
Ok, if it doesn’t have a problem, why should I care? It’s lucky for me to get a companion in this world and, as it says, it can also help me survive. Good for me.
It's time to leave the cave. So I moved in a direction in front of me. Now what?
Hey, voice? How can we get out of here? And more importantly, what should I call you? “Ancient third”? or" the statue lady"?
« Our kind doesn’t hold any individual names, so you can call me by my skill series notation. That’s “Lust”.»
Huh? You don’t have one name? Lust, huh? Hey, the skill series you’re talking about, is it the seven Cardinal sins?
«precisely»
Oh, I got that right. But calling my first ever companion “lust” doesn’t look so nice. Ok then.
Hey, can I give you a nickname for quick understanding?
«An alias? »
No, not like that. Lust isn’t a good name for an elegant lady companion, so I shall call you by the name “Lucia”. Is it okay with you?
«As my host wishes, I’m very much delighted by getting a name »
Wow, what a charmer she is. With a beautiful voice like her, anyone can fall for her within minutes, for sure.
***
It took an enormous time and effort to get out of the cave. There were only rocks and stones inside. Not a single living creature was there. Lucia was telling the truth about being bored because there was nothing to do inside the cave.
The entrance to the cave became visible after walking in the opposite direction from my initial position. It took half a day to get here.
I was expecting a gate or boulder to block the entrance, but there was nothing. In front of the cave, a heavy wilderness is now visible.
Huh? What the hell? If nothing is preventing me from going outside, why was Lucia concerned?
«Naked eyes can not see the barrier that separates the cave from the outside world. This barrier is physically indestructible.»
Now, that makes sense. So how are we gonna break out?
« Anything that has a vital force can be stopped by the barrier. From the outside, it’s impossible to break in here, but from the inside, it’s possible. You have to conceal your total vital force to zero so that the release of mystiota stops. Then you can pass the barrier.»
She already told me some basics about how things work here, “Mystiota particles” are units for performing any mystic art. With the help of these particles, skills can manipulate the laws of nature to perform various functions. And its source is a living creature.
teach me if there is a way to do it.
« I have an ability inside my skill system called “the void”. It can store the knowledge of every skill the host learns in the configuration of mystiota particles. But it can also be used to conserve your vital force by converting the vital force into mystiota particles and then concealing it into the void. You have to master this ability.»
Seems pretty difficult for me. Let's do it if there isn't another option.
Lucia instructed me on the process, and I started to concentrate. This ability is dependent on how well I handle my thoughts. I have to synchronize both of them, then it should work. My yoga lessons may give me the upper hand as concentration is also key here.
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My sanity is now on the verge of ruin. Almost half a day has passed. It’s so hard to achieve. If the slightest amount of vital force leaked from my body at the time of crossing that barrier, the self-activating system of it would give me a thousand volts of shock. That’s a bummer. Seriously, I don’t wanna die. Mastering the ability “the void” to perfection can protect me, though it’s too complex to master. Now almost two days have passed since that incident at the nuclear power plant and the feeling of hunger has started to indicate its presence. Pushing aside all the emotions, I again started to concentrate.
«That should be enough. This proficiency can manipulate your vital force and can deceive the barrier.»
Oh god. Now the only remaining work is to cross the barrier.
Though it took an enormous effort to master this ability, still a feeling of fear was present. My life will end again if it fails. Let’s not think about that.
The barrier was now only a few inches away from me. I closed my eyes and started walking towards it. A small amount of heat can be felt coming from it. But that’s that. Nothing feels like that harming me.
After opening my eyes, the wilderness outside could be seen, and the cave was behind me.
So the technique works fine. A sigh of relief came out as I ventured into the woods.