Searing heat filled every crevice of his being as he was shocked awake. He couldn't even think as pain was all that his existence entailed.
As he began to wrestle his way through the pain, he began to feel thoughts form fleetingly at the edges of his consciousness. He began clawing his way closer and closer towards the slowly forming concepts.
As he got slowly ever closer, the all consuming pain began slowly fading to the deep recesses of darkness that surrounded him. As he drew closer to lucidity he began wondering just how much time was passing, then he wondered what time was.
When the pain finally receded to a tolerable level he began forming more coherent thoughts and he wondered just why this was happening to him. As he was beginning to ask a series of questions he was interrupted.
[Conscious formed.]
[CONGRATULATIONS! You have successfully formed a coherent consciousness from a scattered group of the Great Fathers magic.]
He seriously wondered who the great father was but if he had created him then maybe he was some sort of god? He should probably thank him anyway.
[As the first being to successfully be born of the Great father for 75,000 years you have been assigned the titles ; (God's Chosen), (Magic Being)]
As he began consuming this information yet more notifications appeared in his head.
[As the first of your kind to be formed in the world you have been given the titles; (Unique existence), (Self-aware Skeleton)]
[As a new existence you will be given the option of a tutorial in {the system}.]
[Accept the tutorial; Y/N]
[Self-aware skeleton]? It was at this moment that he realised he had not opened his eyes since this ordeal had started. He tried to slowly open his eyes and realised that this was entirely pointless as it made no difference because the world was pitch black around him.
As he began panicking he realised that there was something he could see. The [Y/N] had not disappeared, it was in fact, blinking gently in the corner of his vision. He raised his finger and as it entered where he should've been able to see it he couldn't. This slightly reassured him as he probably wasn't blind, it was just dark. Obviously.
He pushed his finger into where he thought the [Y] was and his vision suddenly exploded with text in small boxes.
[congratulations on your first interaction with the system. You have been awarded: 1XP]
[Quest: Finish the tutorial. Reward: (Hidden), (hidden), (hidden).]
[Step 1; Activate the menu. hint: System features are activated through the intent of the user.]
As he thought about the fact that he had no idea how to open a menu, the feature in question popped into his vision.
Name: N/A LVL: 1/5 XP: 1/10 HP: 15/15 MP: N/A SP: 25/25 Titles: (Gods Chosen), (Magic Being), (Unique Existence), (Self-Aware Skeleton) Skills:
Menu - (Allows the user to access the menu)
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
lesser-nightvision - (you can see in dim light better than most)
slash - Cost; 5SP (you can slash with claw like appendages)
chatter - Cost; 10SP (you release a chatter which causes {Fear} in all nearby, weak-willed, creatures)
??? - (???)
[Congratulations! Step 1 complete, you now have access to the (Menu) function of {The System}]
[Step 2; Get your bearings. Hint: Your legs are strong enough to support you!]
As he tentatively reached his hands out towards the floor he willed his legs to lift his impossibly light form from the ground.
When his fingers grazed its surface, the floor was slightly warm to the touch. He could feel that it was extremely rough as he ran his fingers across it.
After he stood he slowly turned on the spot and as he had almost rotated around a full 180 degrees he noticed a tiny orange light almost imperceptible in the darkness.
In a moment of strange decisiveness he began walking towards the strange light. After a few moments of awkwardly stumbling in its direction he could feel his surroundings slowly beginning to heat up. In a few more minutes he began feeling slightly uncomfortable from the rising temperature and the slowly increasing brightness.
It took him another short while to realise that the air in the tunnel was being pushed away from the light. It was at this moment that he realised that the tunnel was very subtly sloping downwards and that the ever increasing light was beginning to cause millions of lights to sparkle on the floor.
As soon as he noticed the sparkling ground he bent down and ran his hand across them. The snow white digits that entered his vision made his metaphorical heart sink. He realised he had been subconsciously avoiding looking at his body ever since the light had become vaguely good enough to see.
He let out an inaudible sigh and plopped himself down into the ground. He began a silent inspection of himself. He peered into his empty chest cavity and down to his bony legs. As he began surveying his hands he noticed that, he was somehow aware that, his fingers were unnaturally long and insanely sharp.
He decided to put aside his strange melancholy and test out some of the abilities he noticed in his (menu) when he had checked it earlier. As soon as he did he felt his mood shift implausibly for the better. Just as he began pondering his mental state, he realised he had not yet done any of the testing he had just committed to.
He willed his (lesser-nightvision) to activate and the low-light in his surroundings became substantially easier to see in. The only disadvantage was that the light that he had been moving towards was now almost blinding.
He looked at his hands and activated (slash) and drew his fingers across the floor. Immediately he felt something flow from his very core into his fingers and as he drew his hand back in shock he left deep gashes in the stone.
He found that he felt both safer and more concerned with this development. As he began surveying himself he discovered that he felt slightly tired for the first time in his short existence.
He opened his (menu) and saw that his SP had dropped to 20 as he had expected. He supposed that this meant the less SP he had the more tired he would be.
He decided that he would test (Chatter) after he had discovered a way to refill his SP. He looked at the final entry in his skills and realised that he must have missed it the first time. What did it mean? Had he simply not discovered it yet or was something wrong? He decided that he wouldn't worry until it became a problem.
As he focused in on the (Titles) section of the menu the system gave him a message.
[Titles are the way {The System} acknowledges the achievements of its users. You can read your (Titles) by focusing on them.]
As he read this brief, but welcome, message he done just that and focused on his (Titles).
[Gods Chosen - Yours is an existence purposely willed into existence by a greater entity through the grace of the Great Father.
Effect; This allows you a greater degree of control over your (menu) and the benefits associated with this.]
[Magic Being - You are a creature fully formed of magic. This allows you an intuitive control of mana of the same element(s) as those contained in your soul. Effect; You have an intuitive control of the type(s) of mana associated with your soul (Dark, Divine) and allows control of basic spells of this type without an expenditure of MP.]
[Unique Existence - You are a creature which is entirely unseen anywhere else in the history of the world. Effect; Unknown]
[Self-Aware Skeleton - You are the first undead to have complete agency in the history of the world. This has allowed you to be rather more entertaining in the long run.
Effect; You have been given full access to the menu and the ability to gain (skills) and (titles) in unconventional ways.]
He sat in silence as he internalised the absolutely absurd titles he had gained just by being born. He also tried to swallow the fact that the gods had created him intentionally. He did wonder what gods were for a moment before realising that if the system spoke about them they must be pretty powerful.
He wondered why the word "full" had been scored out in the explanation of [Self-Aware Skeleton] but he was more concerned that even the system didn't know how [Unique Existence] would effect him going forward. All in all though, he was rather more pleased as he stood once more and began walking towards the light before turning off his (lesser-nightvision) so as to save himself from going blind.
He was sure he had missed something rather important but he couldn't fathom what. He supposed he really needn't worry until these things become a problem.