Chapter 3: Wait what?

‘….Wait what?’

...

After the debacle of the unknown cat noises, Souma dismissed the cat noises as a one-time occurrence and slowly drifted to sleep next to his snoring Shishou. Souma did not know that from this moment on, he will be in a comatose state for a month’s time. From this day forward something strange began to happen to Souma’s body.

Souma’s conscience drifted gently as his body was floating in a void, immune to all noise and feeling, all he did was look at the vast darkness that expanded infinitely.

‘Am I still awake...’

‘Why does it feel like I haven’t slept….in a long time..’

Souma spoke within his mind as the void blocked out any form of noise.

Several hours passed within the void...Souma’s mind began to crack.

Well for obvious reasons, he was a 4 year old boy with an intelligent brain that understood knowledge that was far beyond his age but he could not understand his current predicament…

Whether he was trapped in a endless void or not, under normal circumstance he would have been dreaming by now. Pondering his current predicament, his superior brain recollected every single detail occurring within those memories.

With no answers and calling out seemed fruitless, Souma's consciousness was beginning to dissipate under the pressure of being trapped. Yet, he continued endless which yielded no results.

‘DAD! SHISHOU! WHERE ARE YOU!! I’M SCARED’

He even tried to yell out Hirumi’s name but it was all for naught.

His mind began to slowly dissuade under the pressure and began to fade away..

Souma Kurogane did not know that within this period his mind drifted away, his body began to age faster.In this comatose state his spirit slipped into another dream. Unknowingly his mind was being reconstructed by an invisible force that somehow accelerated Souma’s mind to a proper age of 15. His body creaked and groaned as his mind were reconstructed from scratch.

The physical changes to Souma’s body gave him an appearance of a 15 year old fashion model. If a mere peasant were to see him they would prostrate on the ground in shock of his perfectly sculptured body. His eyes were unique. His black eyes changed to a unique shade of sapphire blue. Unknowingly to Souma, they would shine with a radiance reflecting his current emotions. His facial features were chiseled with a fierce aura labeling him as a willful person. At one glance of his facial features, one could tell that Souma was the type of person who acted on his strong convictions. His body grew from 3’4” to 5’6” in that seemingly endless period which his mind drifted into nothingness. His muscles expanded and stretched becoming greatly toned as if he have been training since birth. Unlike bodybuilders whose arms and legs are the size of tanks; Souma’s muscles were flexible like coiled wire and sturdy as an iron bar. It was enough to make thirty-year old karate practitioners jealous. His most noticeable feature would be his hair. It grew at an exceedingly fast rate just past his shoulders. Amazingly it was not the usual jet black color, it was now growing as luscious white hair; that would sparkle with an aura like his unique sapphire eyes. On his forehead the long white hair with black tips was gently parted to one side. Souma did not wake while his body underwent physical changes. Waking as if being in a dream within in a dream his conscience began to drift back into his body.

A blinding flash lit up the darkened void surrounding Souma’s body as soon as he gained conscience. Half asleep and half awake his mind grew curious of sensation of free falling. He opened his eyes and....

“NO! NO! WAIT WHAT?! WHY AM I FAAAAAALLLLLINGGGGGGGG!!”

Souma screamed at the top of his lungs as he fell upon the strange world and blacked out the moment his body came in contact with the ground.

*Scuffle* *Nudge*

‘uggghh’

Souma began to hear noises as he awoke from the impact.

An egg was laid beside him except it wasn’t a normal egg. The egg was huge! At least half his size!

The egg beside him began to scuffle next to Souma and eager waddled and nudged the confused boy.

“Wait….what...where am I…?”

Souma looked at his surroundings after examining the waddling egg next to him.

The ground showed a slight disfiguration that resulted from the impact of Souma’s descent by falling out of the sky. The sky was a beautiful shade of blue and as if the world was balanced between the sun(s), Souma could tell that it was noon.

“Wait what!? TWO SUNS!?”

Souma let out a shrill of confusion and wondered where the hell he was.

Souma further expanded his ‘examination’ at the new world. On the far right, Souma could spot several hills that had several trees that led towards it. The trees were no joke. It rivaled the Tokyo Tower!? These trees were humongous beyond compare and luckily the place he landed in was near the entrance of a forest that extended South of his position.

Souma, intrigued by his dilemma, began to stand up but he failed. Souma looked over his shoulder to see what was delaying him just to see a average traveling pack. The pack looked nearly empty and Souma wondered what the hell was so heavy that he could not get up from his position.

Souma shuffled around and took off the straps from the traveling pack and began to open to view the contents.

“Haaa, a metallic plate and a ring? Why is it so heavy?”

Souma looked puzzled as ever and began to pick up the metal plate.

‘Hmm it isn’t heavy so what could be stopping me...wait...what? Is it the ring??’

Souma thought to himself.

After picking up the metal plate and examining it, Souma laid the plate on the ground and leaned towards the ring at the farthest edge of the traveling pack to try and pick up the ‘supposedly’ heavy ass ring.

Souma did not know that he had come upon an Artifact that has been lost within this world. The artifact is known as Gaia’s Void ring.

Souma tried lifting the ring but proved to be of no avail and then as he attempted as a joke to put the ring on his right ring finger, a light broke out from the ring and began to embed its properties within the befuddled 15 year old.

“AHHH!! IT HURTS. WHAT IS THIS!?”

Souma screamed in agony as the ring began to forcefully embed itself upon its new owner. The ring produced runic scriptures around the base of the finger that glowed as the process was nearing its end.

‘Damn it all! Where the hell am I and why am I being punished by a simple ring of the sort!?’

…

A minute passed and the procedure of unending doom was finally nearing its end.

Souma sighed in grief as to what the hell he came upon. After the procedure, the ring absorbed the traveling pack and left the metal plate on the floor. Souma picked up the metallic plate and held it safely within his right hand.

‘First, falling out of the sky…

Second, a mysterious egg shuffled near me…

Thirdly, a Damn ring tried to kill me!?’

Souma’s tsukkomi easily rivaled his father as he began to stumble about on his newfound grief.

However after the ring being forcefully embedded into his finger, Souma looked at his legs and hands…

“OH...OH...WAIT WHAT!? THESE AREN’T MY HANDS!?”

Souma rumbled on the floor and began to stand up…

‘WAIT, WHY AM I TALL NOW!?’

Souma’s grief endlessly continued but the egg rolled towards him.

*Scuffle* *Nudge*

The egg as if he was looking at the despondent 15 year old began to nudge at Souma nearly causing him to fall down again at the disfigured soil.

“Haaa, this egg seems cute...does it want me to follow it?”

Souma looked towards the egg after giving his thoughts and the egg began to roll towards a river that Souma did not find but he wondered how the hell did this egg knew where exactly a flowing river was at.

Approaching the river, wildlife seemed to ignore the ‘two’. Souma approached the river and began to sigh in more grief. Souma was done with surprises as his accentuated mind allowed him to perceive an Ethereal mind at all times. He began to examine his new features. His hair changed….his eyes were at a bluish shade then changed to yellow then a multitude of colors came through as he had mixed emotions at his new features. This shocked him even under the state of a calm mind…

‘Wait what? My eyes have changed!? SO AWESOME!! I can probably get white eyes and turn into an ascended saiyan! YES I CAN BECOME GOK-’

Before Souma finished relishing in his awesome features, the egg began to nudge at him again but more frantic and imposing.

“Wait, what is it ‘little’ Tamago-chan?”

Souma looked at the frantic egg but he did not notice the feral beast that towered behind him. Souma felt a predator's glare and instinctively backed up and grabbed the egg with a thrust regrettably, he did not come out unscathed. The beast’s claws dug deep into Souma’s back thrusting Souma and the little tamago forward.

Souma protected the egg as he came crashing on the ground and immediately faced the feral beast that produced a gash at his back side.

‘Wait!? What the hell is happening!?’ Souma’s expression went dark as he stared at the beast. Unbeknownst to Souma, his eyes reflected his emotions and now his eyes were bloodshot red from confusion and anger.

Souma had little care for himself, however he was a benevolent soul that could not watch ‘little’ tamago-chan become injured. Looking around desperately, Souma attempted to locate some sort of weaponry to defend himself and the ‘little’ tamago. Souma eventually located a wooden branch similar to a Bokken, a wooden training sword and launched himself along with tamago-chan to retrieve the branch.

Souma readied himself in a steadfast kendo stance that he constantly practiced as a 4 year old kid. The feral beast launched itself towards the steady Souma that waited for an opportunity to strike.

Souma closed his eyes and imagined the feral beast moving within a closed space. His new accelerated mind perceived his surroundings as an internal time field that allowed him to slow down time within several intervals. He didn't know what happened but through Ethereal Mind, Souma clearly saw the feral beast approach him in slow motion. He could accurately determine the next move his enemy would make within milliseconds. Souma thought this was absolutely cool, alas he did not have time to enjoy his new ability as he was being attacked by this beast.

Souma, with his Ethereal mind, ignored the world’s interference and focused on killing his enemy. He blocked out the pain from the wounds he received from the beast and began to accelerate himself. Within his closed space, the beast moved incredibly slow while he appeared to accelerate faster than the naked eye could perceive.

Souma dawned the Jodan stance and attacked at the Beast.

“Head! Chesto! Head! Head!”

Souma repeatedly spoke the places where he landed his attacks. Accelerated by his Ethereal mind, Souma’s hits were virtually untraceable, if not for his constant yelling of the places he smashed.

The beast was starving due the other other predators that lived in the forest. They were better than him and they hunted all of his prey. He became hungry and eventually starved. He needed food badly. Luckily, as he was left with little options, he spotted an unfortunate wanderer with a delicious egg. He did not even hesitate for a moment before attacking a 15-year-old boy but the boy seems to be quite troublesome. The beast did not expect the boy to be adept in swordmanship.

Souma released several blunt attacks at the beast causing his enemy to become stunned

The beast backed up and began to stagger about. Souma would never hesitate to kill something that aimed at his life. Souma pointed the branch at the feral beast, unknown to the beast, Souma was about to end his life.

“URYAA!!” Souma launched himself at the stunned opponent and stabbed his blunt branch at the left eye socket of the beast and began to pierce his skull. Of course the branch could not pierce it fully but Souma now was on top of the beast that laid down on the floor.

The beast wailed as Souma applied an immensive force at the hilt of the branch causing blood to gush out of the eye socket.

Souma did not want to prolong his torture so with one fell swoop, he jammed the branch upon the beast and relieved him of his pain.

‘Hah..hah...I won...’ Muttered Souma to himself as he gasped for air.

This was his first time in actual combat as he used to be a 4 year old boy.

Souma stood up and dragged the corpse towards the river.

“Shishou always said that the life we take, we must respect it and devour their remains or there will be a price to be paid as the heavenly spirits will haunt those that do not respect the fallen.”

Souma talked to himself and completely forgot about Tamago-chan. The ‘little’ egg was feeling left out as the person the egg grew next to completely forgot about her.

Souma finally remembered and looked for the little tamago-chan and found the egg behind a misplaced rock on the side of the river.

Souma grabbed the egg and headed towards the corpse.

‘Now I must find a sharp object to skin the beast and find some wood for a small fire.'

For the next 2 hours, Souma spent quite some time to look around for a sharp object and came upon a dagger about 1 kilometer from the battle site. Of course he didn’t just aimlessly run around looking for sharp objects. As he ran, he gathered dry wood, several weeds and plants to start a small fire.

Souma learned how to skin an animal from a one-time experience where his Shishou brought home a dead wolf from the mountains to celebrate his dad’s birthday. Even camping and starting a fire; he learned those quickly. From the books he read from his dad’s study, a lot of them were survival techniques in the wild that provided several insights on what he should do and should not do.

The sun was already past noon and nearing sunset. Souma had started his impromptu campfire and began to skin the dead animal.

After skinning the pelt off the beast, he laid the pelt beside him and began to gather sticks to be used as skewers for the meat.

Souma placed the meat on the stick and watched the fire evaporate the fatty substance from the meat which accentuated the air around the campfire. The aroma caused the egg to shuffle excitedly.

After tending to the skewered meat, Souma pondered on what to do with the pelt…

“Man, I wish I still had the travel pac-” Before Souma even finished, the void ring spat out the travel pack as if he requested for the item.

Souma freaked out. ‘Oh god, I hope this ring does not bring bad fortune...like Orochi or something...’

Souma pondered on how the hell the damn ring that caused him immense pain could do this sort of trickery. He began to test a few things out…

Souma stared at the travel pack and wished for it to be stuff away as if he had some sort of inventory and as he had hoped, the ring did exactly as he thought. The ring he had did not have any information but he was still happy about it's functionality.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

‘OMG THIS IS SO SWEET’

Souma nearly jumped up and down in glee and the egg looked at him as if he were dysfunctional.

Then Souma began to ponder some more…

After sucking up the pelt and travel pack, he wondered why he could not take in the metal plate…

Maybe it had some special properties that cannot be “voided” in.

Souma was at a loss but his new item was so cool that he ‘voided’ the bloodied branch and even attempted on voiding Tamago-chan which (she) it got mad at him. After teasing tamago-chan, he looked at the barbecued meat and began to lavish at the tender meat.

The barbecued meat was so good. Apparently, it tasted similar to the wolf his Shishou had killed before and it was delicious and full of protein. Little Tamago-chan waddled towards one skewered meat stick and nudged at Souma.

This heavily confused Souma to no avail….How the hell is he gonna feed an egg….

He looked at the egg and he could not figure out how to feed it….

So, instead of over thinking, Souma just handed the stick to Tamago-chan then immediately disappeared.

“WAIT WHAT!? WHERE’D IT GO. TAMAGO-CHAN ARE YOU OROCHI!? ARE YOU GOING TO EAT ME!??”

Souma yelled towards the egg and apparently the egg did a disapproval scuffle and Souma could have sworn the egg sure scowled at him.

Souma was indeed shocked. How the hell did an egg absorb his food…

Oh, Souma could only wonder.

Night began to fall. The wind vibrated along the trees that created echoes in harmony. Souma brought himself near the river and sat in a meditating pose in order for him to recollect his memories.

Souma seemed to always rely on his memories since he was in a new world. He could not tell if this was a dream or not but it surely felt real. The pain was excruciating as if he were scraped by a 3-pronged weapon.

Souma drifted into his mind where he began to meditate in order to recollect his memories of what had happened today.

‘Ohhh, Ethereal mind is a really good ability...I wish I had the instincts of that beast that I killed….he nearly killed me with his beastial instincts and speed...’

Souma peered into the memories about the feral beast, his first encounter, being slashed on the back and learning about calm mind. Souma studied the beast from the first attack to his last breath. His instincts and speed were no joke, if he did not have calm mind he would’ve become beast chow. After examining the actions the beast took, a bell-like noise would be heard.

Souma snapped out of meditation and the bell-like noise seemed to have come from a interface window…

“WAIT WHAT!?”

Souma yelled sparingly to himself.

'What the hell?'.This world has an interface? Is this a game? I think I even recognize that bell noise...It’s from a Virtual Reality game that was released by a one horned creature that released a game that was called some Noble path or road something like that. Other than the exhausted look that appeared on Souma’s face he had no qualms against the interface. It seemed to be a good thing as he wasn’t getting anywhere with him being trapped in this world. On the right that indicated the bell noise, there appeared to be several, I mean more than 130 notification windows….

Souma was too tired from fighting and yelling at his own damnation so he dismissed all windows and looked for the recent one.

Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:??????????%???

The recent one entitled a skill.

‘OHH!! new skills! Yes!.’

Souma exhausted expression brightened at the term ‘skill’ but all that appeared were question marks.

Souma did not want to waste anytime as the darkness crept closer. Souma went towards the campfire where Tamago-chan laid. Souma prompted himself on a branch after climbing a decent sized tree. Souma with a knack of sleeping wherever he liked, found a suitable spot in the tree and after placing Tamago-chan on a secured leaf platform on the tree, Souma drifted to sleep…

Unknown to Souma, his ability to slow down time within his mind is just another bonus. The real treasure was the effect that placed on his body.

*T-tring!

*T-tring!

*T-tring!

…

Souma woke up to the constant bells ringing.

‘WAIT!? WHAT IS GOING ONNNNN’

Souma jumped up and did not know what happened next…

His entire body was launched 30 meters into the air. Souma dismissed the interface as he began to fall.

“NOOOOO NOT AGAIN!!!!!!!”

Souma unfortunately landed face front once again and passed out.

Near the passed out body of a 15 year old, upon the campsite there sat a primal feline closely related to a tiger but extinct. This tiger-like species had 2 sharp tusks gaping at the edges of its mouth and immediately was startled by the screaming and the loud thud near the campsite. The feline approached the body and closely examined the person to see if it was alive or not. Sensing the immediate presence of something other than Tamago-chan, Souma sprung up from the ground as if he were a dead person being reanimated back to life. He quickly posed a Muay thai stance that he saw on Television from a famous fighting show that had fighters pinned in a pentagon arena.

The feline stared at the once dead body and cautiously approached him.

Souma did not know why this huge cat towering up to his shoulders was approaching him so he began to slow down time using Ethereal Mind. The feline was posed in a cautious position but it did not begin to attack. Souma would never kill an animal or any being that did not harbor any ill intent towards him so Souma could only wonder why the feline stayed near the campfire…

Souma looked at the campfire and saw that the sticks which held the barbecued meat were slobbered in saliva.

‘Ahhh, she is hungry.’

Souma knelt down and the feline sprouted in a defensive stance. The feline not knowing what might happen back a few feet but what happened next caused the feline to go out of control.

‘Barbecued meat, appear!’ Souma simply thought and the void ring obeyed his every command. The leftover from last night’s feast was now Souma’s hands but he would not give this freely.

Waving the meat on a stick around, he began to wave towards the defensive cat and the cat cautiously approached.

Before the feline got the food, Souma swiped it away.

“Ah ah, no you must let me pet you”

The feline did not understand the human boy but his gesture that he did next was something the feline had never done but she knew what to do.

Souma began to gesture towards the big feline to pet it and hesitantly the feline approached the hand…

The feline was scared of what might happen. Even if the feline was at shoulder lengths of this man, she was still a youngster compared to her family who easily toppled 4-5 meters high. The feline closed her eyes and expected her to die but instead her head was being caressed gently and the meat was offered to her.

The feline quickly devoured the meat and began to lick the hands of the man that gave her food.

‘Ahhh, I want this as my pet!’ Exclaimed Souma but he did not know how to tame such a feline of regality.

The feline looked at the man with joy as she never expected a stranger to be so kind. She tackled the man and began to lick his face.

“Ah whoa whoa! down down. I-ichan’t brweeatheeee” Souma tried to get away but the force of the feline was too much for him. He could not turn away this big fur of cuteness.

The feline then vowed to protect this man, her saviour and of course newly found master.

Souma heard a familiar sound and a window appeared on his interface.

*T-Tring

Status WindowNameUnassignedPet ClassAncientPet RaceRegal SabretoothGenderFemaleLoyalty100%Level???SkillsRegal Claw StrikeATK 150%-300%

Damage increase by 1.5x on VitalsPrimal InstinctsATK 200%-???

Damage increase by 3.5x on Vitals

Can only be activated when health is at 5%???AGI 150%-???

???

??????Nekomimi

Certain conditions must be met

'Wow, that is a lot of question marks but still....

IT'S STILL MY FIRST PET!!!’

Souma jumped again and his body lunged 20 feet in the air.

“Goddamit I have to stop thisssssss!!!!!!” Souma was falling then the feline jumped towards her master caught him on her back.

Souma began to hug his pet.

“Ooh! I love you...ummm name..What seems good...you are a regal sabretooth...what seems good….”

Souma pondered on and a name appeared.

“Your fur is red you should be named Akaineko. But I am going to call you Akane”

Souma smiled at the purring feline that seemed to have accepted the name, “Akane”.

Of course the name he chose had to be in relation to his great grandmother, Akane who downed the similar red hair.

Souma was still bewildered...How the hell was he able to launch himself 30 meters into the air….Then quickly Souma pulled up the skill he got yesterday.

The skill updated. It still had question marks but the name was clearly visible.

Skills???Unknown

Unknown

UnknownBeastial InstinctsSTR ???%-???%

AGI ???%-???%

Perception skill automatically active.

Damage increase by 5x on Vitals

Although Souma was still confused, the name clearly helped him. Apparently he learned the the instincts from the beast he had killed and gained its abilities of increased strength and agility. Perception skill was something he did not know but apparently was good especially the 5x accumulative point damage on Vital strikes! He did not know what the question marks meant but he was still happy that he was able to get the thing he wanted.

Souma completely forgot about Tamago-chan. She kept waddling on the leaf platform within the tree’s perimeter. Tamago for obvious reasons did not want to fall but could slowly pick out the figure that stood next to a giant cat. Tamago kept rustling in the leaf bed and suddenly the platform gave way.

Souma with his passive skill, Beastial instincts noticed the falling Tamago. He quickly lunged at the falling egg and slammed head front into the tree while encasing the egg with his arms.

‘Phew, the egg is fine..’ sighed Souma in relief but the egg still harbored angry feelings towards the careless boy. The egg would not scuffle anymore and seemed to ignore Souma.

Souma, with his beastial instincts could somehow make emotions that the egg would imitate and he knew he was responsible for the sour mood Tamago-chan was in.

Souma picked up the semi-huge egg and began to caress it. “I am sorry Tamago-chan...I forgot...I am too careless…” Souma whispered to the egg and the egg began to scuffle slowly and he knew that Tamago forgave him.

Souma turned to Akane and gestured the big feline to lead to civilization or at least where she lives at. Souma asked Akane if he could ride her and the cat began to purrrr as in a seductive way.

‘I think I’m going to ignore that’

Souma holstered the Akane’s hind leg and leaped onto her back. He put Tamago in front of him as he would cushion Tamago throughout the ride. Akane sped through the forest heading south of where he landed in this world. The scenery began to change, grass turned brighter into a lush green and the moment they got out of the forest they were hit with a blast of wind that felt awesome. They have entered the Plains of Calm Winds.

“Ahh, this air reminds me of the Mountain shishou lived on…”

Souma basked in the memory of his teacher as his father and him often visited Kentaro at his house on the Mountain.

Souma spotted a village ahead of the direction they were headed in. Little did he know, Souma was in for a surprise.

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