It didn’t take more than a few hours for me to accept that I was reborn… the main reason for that was something that I could see on the left upper corner of my field of vision.
Name: Aizen Apollonius
Level: 01 (00/100)
Current Treasure: Mind of Steel (Lv 01 - 0/100)
Health: 10/10
Mana: 110/110
Stamina: 10/10
Strength: 01
Dexterity: 01
Magic: 01
Vitality: 01
Willpower: 11
Endurance: 01
Luck: 01
Free Points: 00
Active Skills:
[Empty]
[Empty]
[Empty]
[Empty]
[Empty]
Passive Skills:
[Empty]
[Empty]
[Empty]
[Empty]
[Empty]
‘Aizen Apollonius… quite the mouthful name. In any case, I can feel my surroundings well, even more than I did in that room, so if that wasn’t an illusion, then this couldn’t be an illusion either.’
While I was thinking about that, I could see the worried looks of the old lady that helped me at my birth. It seemed that my behavior bothered her quite a bit… kids were supposed to be quite noisy, after all. Still, could I fake the behavior of a newborn baby? Probably not, so it was better not to try. I just stared blankly at her.
“Vetra sennak? Trel osa! Kalda miru valek!”
“Hm. Raldis kevor... sennak ilta.”
“Ilta? Vetra ulkin! No kirsu varnek, dalta vorel!”
“Ilta. Velkor shen.”
“Shen? Shen? Kalda sul!”
“Ha. Shen orai, vetra.”
“Hmm... orai, raldis.”
‘Hm, I would dare say that this isn’t any modern or old English that I have ever heard of. They accent couldn’t be that thick either.’
While I was thinking about that, the old lady put me in a small water container to wash my body. At this point in time, I was used to not having any agency over my body, so that didn’t bother me as much. Still, of all the things that I had experienced in that room, feeling my body being handled like that sure felt off.
While I was being treated like a doll, I had the chance to check my surroundings. It was a pretty run-down house… I felt bad saying that about the home of my parents, but I was being objective about it. There were two rooms here, a bedroom, and the living room that was also the kitchen. There was no door at the entrance or separating both rooms.
‘Given their language, I guess this isn’t Earth… there was no point in anyone making me endure that shit only to be reborn on Earth once again. Everything must be connected, but I have no clues as to why all this and all that happened yet. Since I can only use those screens as a reference, it looks like I won’t find answers anytime soon.’
Since I didn’t have anything better to do and I needed answers, I decided to check my status screen further. I thought that by focusing on some parts, I would eventually dig out more clues… Why did I think of that? Because that was what I did during most challenges until I got sick of not finding anything. It makes me wonder why I bothered doing something that didn’t work before.
Mind of Steel: A treasure created by those who reached the limits of their mental strength and survived while keeping their sanity after understanding themselves down to their deepest levels.
Mind of Steel Lv 01 - Magic, Willpower, and Endurance + 02
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Lv 01 - (Turn an action into a skill.)
This was a bit confusing… There were no further explanations on the screens that showed up. Only when I focused my eyes on the option to select an action to turn into a skill, a new window showed up.
List of Compatible Actions:
Languages Understanding
Iron Will
Focus Mastery
Maybe this was something common for people in this world… given that the system screen only appears when I was reborn, it made sense. There was something similar in that room, but it was different. It felt more like a screen in the air, while this was a proper alert for me only.
I didn’t know what those actions could do. Aside from their obvious words, I couldn’t check them any further. Still, it was pretty obvious what I had to do now. I needed to understand the language of this world first and foremost. However, there was a chance that I might return to that room, so the other two options would come much more in handy when dealing with all that nonsense.
‘The challenges were becoming more annoying and painful, but I guess it is fine. I don’t need help to endure all that anymore. I also have the feeling that picking any of those two would be a mistake, given that I was reborn here soon after receiving a so-called true challenge.’
The challenges ended when my mind had become strong enough not to let them destroy it. Maybe that was just my assumption given what happened. It could be as well that it just ended after one thousand of them. However, I might return to that room as soon as I stray from the path of not completing this true challenge.
All this was something that I had to confirm sooner or later. Regardless, that had to wait. With a body like this, my mind was starting to get tired, so I made my choice and soon I noticed the changes.
Mind of Steel Lv 01 - Magic, Willpower, and Endurance + 02
Lv 01 - (Languages Understanding.)
Lv 01 - (Languages Understanding.)
Name: Aizen Apollonius
Level: 01 (00/100)
Current Treasure: Mind of Steel (Lv 01 0/100)
Health: 10/10
Mana: 130/130
Stamina: 10/30
Strength: 01
Dexterity: 01
Magic: 01 + 02
Vitality: 01
Willpower: 11 + 02
Endurance: 01 + 02
Luck: 01
Free Points: 00
Active Skills:
[Empty]
[Empty]
[Empty]
[Empty]
[Empty]
Passive Skills:
[Languages Understanding Lv 01]
[Empty]
[Empty]
[Empty]
[Empty]
All of a sudden, I felt my body getting warmer and full of energy, but soon I felt even more tired than before. The skill that was turned into an action was equipped automatically for some reason. Still, I could worry about that later, for now. I only wanted to sleep and confirm if I would return to that room.
For the first time in a very long while, I was able to sleep properly without seeing anything weird or experiencing the agony of dying. When I woke up, I felt that something was off… given the description of the treasure, I assumed that I had survived those challenges while keeping my sanity, but I wondered about that given that I felt that something was missing thanks to that.
Regardless, I wanted to understand my situation a bit more, but I couldn’t do much right now. For one, I couldn’t move my body as well as I wanted. For another, I was sleeping in my new mother’s arms. It looked like the old lady had left during the night.
‘I would assume that she wouldn’t talk alone, so I can’t see the skill in action. It has a level as well, so I can at least assume that it can be improved. So, I can also assume that it won’t be very effective from the beginning.’
That couldn’t be helped. It would be weird if that were the case, even though the situation itself was already plenty weird.
— —
The skill Languages Understanding reached level two.
The Treasure Mind of Steel’s proficiency has increased.
One week has passed since I was born in this world. Since then, I haven’t returned to that room… even though the place fell apart, I didn’t want to believe that the place was gone for good. In any case, since I didn’t have anything else to do, I tried to understand and memorize the words that I had heard, but it was a tough process since my mother was most of the time alone. That old lady would occasionally come and they would talk, but that was it.
‘I haven’t seen my new father either, but I guess it doesn’t matter.’
It would already be difficult to act like a proper child after my recent experiences. It would be even harder to act like a proper son at my age. For all intentions and purposes, I could be older than my new parents. My mother didn’t seem older than twenty, after all.
I confirmed that Mind of Steel gained proficiency, so it seemed that the skills that I obtained thanks to this treasure would make the treasure improve. Speaking of which, when I focused too much on it with my eyes closed, I was able to see it in my mind.
I didn’t know if it was a production of my imagination, but it was always there when I focused on it. The Mind of Steel was a sleek diadem forged from polished steel and shimmering black obsidian, floating and spinning in my mind. At its center was a multifaceted diamond-like gemstone glowing faintly with a silver-blue light. Subtle engravings of ancient symbols run along the band, emanating a calm, steady aura. The artifact feels light, yet its shifting hues of silver, black, and blue. Surrounded by a faint shimmering barrier, it projects an image of unshakable resolve and impenetrable intellect.
‘I feel less tired thanks to the effects of the Artifact and given how it affects my parameters, it should be the real deal. However, what is this exactly?’
I had to ask the surrounding people about that kind of thing… at the very least, they should have access to the system. Still, I found it hard to believe that everyone would have such artifacts. Otherwise, my new mother and that old lady would look a bit more like me… like someone who had endured hell before coming to this world.
My new mother looked at me worried sometimes, given that I was acting abnormally, but aside from that, she looked fine. She clearly wasn’t someone who had some insane memories of one thousand deaths.
‘It is a bit concerning, but I guess I should worry about some other things like my future plans. Information is key, after all. While I don’t care what happens anymore, I don’t want to be tossed around by the circumstances.’
Despite thinking along those lines, I still felt like I had close to none or little agency over my current life as it was. For now, I had to confirm if I truly could return to that room… the most obvious thing to confirm was to ignore the true challenge of taking over the world. To reach that goal, I just had to do nothing and just sleep as much as possible, like a proper baby.
It only took three days for that to happen… I found myself in that room again with my old body. This also confirmed that I was being held hostage. Unless I wanted to keep suffering like this, I had to work every day to take over that world somehow.
Challenge One thousand first Initiated.