Chapter 2
I woke up screaming but there was no sound as I grabbed my chest. My shirt was sticky with blood. My blood. I remembered being shot. I know I died. What the fuck is going on. I drew in shaky breaths as I ripped the shirt, taking it off with the jacket, and tried to look for the hole that was supposed to be in my chest. It wasn’t there. There was blood covering my chest, but there was no hole. It was like I had been healed by magic. I looked around the room trying to find out where I was and recognized that I was sitting in the chamber that Sullivan had brought me to. No, wait where are all the bones? I slowly stood up, my body still shaking from the shock of being alive. I looked at the floor, searching for the runes that had been carved into the floor. They were still there, at the edges near the walls, but the bones were gone. Alright, I’m alive, and I’m in a room similar to where Sullivan brought me to, but it’s not the same room. I looked around for anything else. The discarded jacket and shirt were on the floor, and that was it. There was nothing else here.
Well, I’m not going to find any answers here, I guess. I made my way toward the jacket I had discarded, pulling out the torn shirt. I threw the jacket on and made my way to the chamber entrance. It was beginning to feel hot within the chamber and I needed some fresh air to clear my head. Everything felt sore. Probably because you died, idiot. I kept walking down the tunnel feeling the soft breeze as I got closer to the exit.
Stepping out I found myself on an outcropping of a mountain staring down at a sea of trees. Wherever I was, I wasn’t anywhere near the desert I had entered Sullivan’s chamber from. I sat down trying to think and figure out what I was going to do next. I needed to find food soon too, I was starving. Guess the ravenous hunger of the living dead was true. I chuckled at that thought, and then I stopped. My laugh didn’t sound right.
“Huh, what is going on, what the fuck!” I was thoroughly freaked out again. My voice sounds gravelly. That wasn’t my voice. I had a higher pitch than this. Did getting shot cause my voice to get lower? That didn’t seem like it was possible. I ran a hand over my face and stopped. I didn’t have a nose. WHAT. THE. FUCK. I looked at my hand and realized that my skin wasn’t the same tanned color it had been. It was charcoal gray, and the texture was different. Instead of smooth skin covering muscle, it looked like the skin was pulled taut over the muscle like it would burst any second. I noted the claw-like tips that my fingers ended at now, fingers that were much longer than before, as I looked at my chest wiping the blood that covered my torso away. I kept wiping trying to get all of it until I realized I wasn’t wiping at blood anymore. There were blood-red lines, like tattoos, that were covering my torso now.
I leaned against the mountain I had found myself on. I give up. Nothing makes sense anymore. I must have died when Sullivan shot me and now I’m just having some kind of vivid last-minute hallucination before I kick the bucket.
Guess I should make the most of it. I looked toward the trees, thinking I could use one of the branches as a walking stick. Looking at the ground around me I tried to find rocks I might be able to fashion into a knife. Not finding any I just leaned against the stone once more. As I closed my eyes to think something moved in the corner of my vision, I jolted forward-looking around trying to find what I’d seen.
There didn’t seem to be anything there. I tried to lean back again and as I closed my eyes I saw something. I focused on it this time. It was a small flashing symbol just out of normal sight flashing softly. I focused on it.
My vision was filled with multiple translucent screens all at once. They were layered on top of each other I could barely make out the trees in front of me. What the hell is this, a damn video game?
WELCOME:
Welcome to Rocar. You have recently traveled through a previously inactive Realm Gate and reached the Realm of Rocar. This Realm is different from where you came from. As such you should understand that magic is real, and overusing it can have dire consequences. Be wary of your power! Additionally, you were of a race not accustomed to the aether. As such your revival process has changed your race. You are now a Demon of the Kashgarn race.
NOTICE:
You are a Spirit Walker. You have died recently and been revived through a Realm Gate. As you had no mana of your own, items within your possession had their mana consumed in their revival process. Items consumed:
Jagged Blood Gem
Void Crystal
Spatial Amethyst
These were divine artifacts and have been combined with you upon revival. As such you have unlocked the Branches of magic associated with each item.
Blood Magic: Jagged Blood Gem
Void Magic: Void Crystal
Spatial Magic: Spatial Amethyst
You have additional choices to make due to the infusion of mana from the divine artifacts.
NOTICE:
Your race has changed from Human(Earth) to Demon(Kashgarn) as such you have gained abilities.
Magic Sense: Passive
Devour Mana: Active
Aether Sight: Active
NOTICE:
You have changed races from Human(Earth) to Demon(Kashgarn) as such you have gained the ability to cultivate aetherial energy into mana through your spirit channels. This process involves actively drawing in the energy around you and converting it within your core.
NOTICE:
You have 6 attribute points to allocate within your status screen. Would you like to do so now?
Yes/No
I read through the different screens stupefied as I read each new notification message. I’m in a god damned video game. I have status and abilities and who knows what well else. I mentally selected yes, because it’s not like this could get any weirder, right?
Wrong, you knew it was wrong, what the hell is wrong with you?
Name Race Kashgarn(Demon+) Eldritch-Touched Titles Realm Gatekeeper, Realm Traveler Class N/A Profession N/A Cultivation N/A Mana Scale 0
Strength 10 Constitution 10 Endurance 10 Dexterity 10 Agility 10 Intelligence 10 Wisdom 10 Charisma 10 Free Stats 6
Abilities Effects Magic sense Magic sense allows you to feel the changes in mana within a certain area around you. The range will increase as you level.
Current range: 120 ft. Magic Devour Devour the mana within deceased creatures or inanimate objects as sustenance. Mana consumed in this way first heals. If there are no wounds healed it can be used for cultivation.
Current range: Touch Aether Sight Activate to see aetherial energies traveling around Rocar.
WARNING: This can overwhelm if too much aetherial energy is near.
Current range: Sight dependent.
Cultivation N/A Class N/A
Active Skills Passive skills N/A N/A
I was now staring at a character status screen like the ones I played with my Dad. Oh, fuck. Mom and Dad are going to have a heart attack when they hear. I collapsed against the stone at that thought. I hadn’t thought about anyone else until just now and it all came crashing in at once now. I had died. Even the notices had said I had died and come back, and now, I was who knows how far away from everyone I knew. The Gate!
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I stood and sprinted back through the tunnel. If the gate brought me here, then it should be able to bring me back. I slowed as I neared the chamber, I tried to focus on the gate, to bring up some kind of screen to activate it.
I felt like I had been staring at the floor for ages when I finally stopped. Nothing had come up. I sat against the wall once more trying to think of something I could do. Magic? Magic was real here, maybe it needed this aetherial energy those notifications had mentioned. I brought the status screen back up and focused on the aether sight ability. There was a soft prick in the back of my eyes and my vision began to fill with hues of different colors as I could see through the stone. I looked around fascinated at the soft pulsing lights that were flowing around me. I looked at the floor and the rune that was next to me. It was dark. But there was energy flowing around it, like a valve preventing water from reaching a destination. I wasn’t sure how to switch the valve to let the energy flow through the rune.
NOTICE:
You have found the Realm Gate of Rocar. You have noticed that the aetherial energy isn’t flowing into the Gate properly. This is due to The Sundering of the Realms from the old Pantheon of Gods becoming the Trapped Gods.
QUEST:
Rocar is dying. The Sundering has left Rocar without aetherial energy flowing into or out of its Realm Gate. As such it is likely the planet will be unable to clear the existing eldritch taint corrupting its ley lines without outside intervention. Rocar needs help fixing its ley line corruption. Reconnecting Rocar’s Realm Gate with the different Realms will help the ley lines purify the corruption.
Rewards:
Reactivation with all Realm Gates
Ability to travel back to Earth
Unique rewards are possible depending on the completion of the task
Will you accept this quest?
Yes/No
I stared in disbelief. God damn have you fucked me, Sullivan. I couldn’t go home, not anytime soon, and now I was being offered a world-altering quest like some kind of hero in a fictional story. Just what the hell is my life turning into… I swear if there’s a harem I’m going to off myself.
I mentally selected yes for the quest. Not like I’m going to get to this any time soon. Might as well hold onto it for now. I brought the status menu up again. I had six stat points to spend and seven stats that I could put them in. Not that I knew what half of these stats could do. I could guess at a few of them, but what they affected within this new world was anyone's guess. I focused on Strength first, hoping it was like most game menus where I would get a detailed prompt.
Strength
Determines your overall carry weight, and how hard your melee attacks do. You know, the usual spiel you get from your old D&D games.
Huh, it worked, but that’s odd. That prompt was kinda personal. I focused on the rest.
Vitality Determines your overall hardiness of health, as well as your unarmored defense to physical damage, you don’t have a health pool, but you might just be able to survive having a few limbs chopped off so long as your head isn’t one of them. Also determines how quickly you heal Endurance Determines your resistance to most things other than physical damage as well as your stamina. This also determines how well your body can handle your strength. You might be able to lift two hundred pounds with high strength, but can you do it without ripping your arms out of their sockets? Dexterity Determines your ranged weapon damage and your nimbleness of fingers. You want to stand back and throw daggers, or shoot a bow? Or maybe you want to walk through the streets lifting the riches out from under people’s noses? This better be your highest stat then. Agility Determines the quickness of your body, how fast you can run, and how quickly you can adjust yourself. Also determines the quickness of your perception. Might just help you dodge or catch an arrow out of thin air. Intelligence Determines how quickly you acquire and understand knowledge, as well as your ability to recall it later. Can also help with learning skills and magic. You want to be a bookworm or a librarian? Or maybe just a scholar that can show off what he knows in some college? Then pump this stat and become the best nerd in town. Wisdom Determines the magic potential you have and your control of magic. It will help you cast spells faster, with more power, and at a lower cost to your spirit, so you know, you don’t kill yourself casting something. It also helps with casting multiple spells, or casting while being attacked, which might even let you concentrate on walking and talking at the same time. Planning on focusing on casting spells, or maybe some kind of fighter that can cast spells? Then it’ll probably be a good idea to throw some points in here. If you even plan on casting a simple light spell you better have points in here if you don’t want it backfiring and frying your fingers though. Charisma Determines social concepts and interactions toward you. Can help you pull people toward your cause and help you be an effective leader. You might even be able to convince everyone that you’re not being an asshole even though you’re a race with resting bitch face. Good luck with that one, buddy, of course now you have one of the best poker faces.
I frowned as I continued reading. Who the hell rights these prompts. And why the fuck can they see my face when I can’t even tell what I look like, dammit. I had a better understanding of what each stat did but not what direction I wanted to go in, I also still don’t understand what this whole cultivation thing that that earlier message mentioned. Deciding to save the points for later I mentally shut the status menu down and went back outside. I looked around the outcropping and found a way down the mountain. Taking the first steps down the mountain my way slowly trying to keep an eye on my surroundings as I went. I was never good at keeping track of things, my dad would always try to teach me about tracking the deer that used to graze on our land when I was younger. I’d always get distracted with digging in the ground like I was at a dig site uncovering some epic find or another. He used to get frustrated with me, at least until I dug up a bone from some kind of carcass. He thought it was probably a bird that had been killed sometime before we moved into the house. It wasn’t human and it looked like it matched one of their wings. Never did find the other parts of it, no matter how much I dug, though. I smiled softly at the memory. I attempted to see through the canopy above, the soft light trickling through clearly marked it as day still, but I wasn’t sure how much light I had. Or which way I was going. Note to self: Get a map asap. I continued softly through the forest, moving around the trees as best I could, they were clumped fairly close together, and I was clambering over their roots. I continued walking through the forest sticking to the direction I’d originally started in from the mountain, hoping I would strike out on a road soon.
I had been walking for who knows how long when there was a loud snap. And the next thing I knew I was on the ground. Someone was screaming. It took me a few moments to recognize my voice. I looked down at my leg, the source of that loud snapping sound, finding it missing. Instead, I found a very large, very mean-looking creature with my leg in its mouth. What the hell is this thing? I stared at it in horror. It had four eyes, two per side of its head. It looked like a giant lizard-like animal. Its two front legs were as thick as my torso. This thing could have killed me just by stepping on me. The hell kind of world did I come to, fucking Mega-Australia?!
Its six legs ended in giant paw-like appendages that had five claws each, four in the front and one in the back. The claws looked to be as long as my forearm and thicker by far. Those would tear me apart very easily. I need to get out of here now.
It seemed to have lost interest with me for a moment as it looked up at the thick canopy above and sniffed the air and roared thunderously. I expected birds to fly out of the canopy and then I realized I didn’t hear any. Probably should have paid attention to that, they might have given me a heads up before I got fucked up. It looked down at me once more, its face was covered in scales going towards its back. I also noticed it had a tail, which I could see swaying slowly behind it. The tail was one long thickly muscled appendage behind it with spikes like looked to be made from bone.
NOTICE:
You have gained the skill Inspection.
The screen appeared out of nowhere startling me as I missed the creature bunch up its hind legs and leap toward me. I was still next to the tree, unable to move, as one of my arms had been crushed from hitting the tree as well. Well fuck. I’ve been here less than a day… No, wait, even less than twelve hours, I think, and I’m already dead again.
One of the creature’s front legs landed with an audible crunch as it crushed my remaining leg. Everything went dark, and silent for a few minutes as I blacked out. I came to was it dug its claws into my stomach, it felt like it had clenched the paw out of reflex more than to hurt me. I was screaming again. I felt detached, probably from the shock. I lazily looked up at the creature once more, waiting for the inevitable to come now.
Lazera
Level 20
That was all that I remembered seeing before my vision left me. My head crashed into the ground thudding dully.