John opened his eyes and was immediately blinded for his insolence. The sun was bright enough that it hurt to look at it. He quickly closed his eyes but instead of being plunged into darkness, he was still suffering from the intense light. ‘Holy shit the sun is intense’ he thought to himself as he moved his arms to block the sun.
In the splotches of color, a blinking square grabbed his attention. John blinked rapidly, and when that didn’t clear it, he rubbed his closed eyes trying to clear his vision. But the square persisted. It was small, almost unnoticeable at first, but now that he'd seen it, he couldn't unsee it.
"What the...?" John thought to himself, focusing on the strange symbol. To his astonishment, as soon as he concentrated on it, a translucent square suddenly materialized in his field of vision. Which was especially unnerving since his eyes were still closed from the bright light. John jerked back instinctively, his heart racing. The square hung there, seemingly suspended in mid-air, filled with various icons and options he couldn't quite make out.
Dozens of thoughts raced through his mind. ‘Is this... am I hallucinating?’ John whispered, reaching out to touch the toolbox only to have his hand pass right through it. The shock of this bizarre occurrence momentarily made him forget about the blinding sun. He was reminded a moment later when the sun streamed painful light directly into his eyes. John sucked in a breath and put his arm up again. With his eyes closed, he looked at the icon.
Debuff:
Blinded (Situational)
Level: 1
Effect:
* Reduces vision to near blindness, causing all your sight based attacks to fail.
* Decurases accuracy of all attacks by 50%
* Lowers movement speed by 20%
Duration: 2 seconds after you stop looking at the light.
Note: Fun fact, staring at bright objects is generally frowned upon. Second fun fact: The Sun is a bright object. Hope you have a good sense of direction.
Super helpful. Holding his arm between his face and the sun, the bright colors of light slowly got replaced by darkness. And like the debuff advertised, over the course of two seconds, his vision slowly returned to normal. “Man, whoever wrote that note was a real smartass,” he muttered.His voice sounded odd to his ears.
Keeping his arm between the sun and his face, he looked up. The deep blue sky was filled with swirling clouds carrying the sweet scent of sugar on the breeze. The rustling of leaves from a nearby tree and the gentle song of birds filled the air. Insects buzzed in the distance and further still, a barking dog warned its owners about something. It took a moment for John's eyes to adjust to the light.
Realizing he was lying on the ground, he groaned slightly as sensation in his body flooded his brain. Sore muscles ached almost everywhere they could ache. He rubbed his eyes and noticed as he did, his vision once again was whited out as he got the debuff a second time.
“Well that’s annoying,” he thought as he sat up. He looked down and once again, two seconds later, the debuff went away. Opening his eyes, he saw something peculiar. He was wearing simple yet practical pants. The pants were dyed a deep crimson and covered his legs down to his ankles. On top of it, a leather apron sat, having several pockets and various tools in it. On his feet were boots that were made of decent-looking leather and on his wrists were dark leather bracers. Engraved into the bracers were channels in the shapes of intricate-looking runes. His hands and arms were Carolina blue, very feminine and were tipped with sharp nails that looked more like claws.
His stomach dropped out of him as realization hit. A deep sense of unease settled over him as he discovered his new form. He looked down at the rest of his body, and was able to immediately confirm he was indeed a female. He poked his chest, felt his curves, and even checked to see if he had his old equipment. Anything that would have marked him as a guy was gone, replaced with smooth feminine curves. He gulped and thought to himself, ‘Oh god, this….this is bad.’ The memory of those words floating in front of him came back to mind and unlike a few moments ago, he heard the words in his mind. Words that reverberated through him with the same finality as if Mr. Chatty had spoken them into existence.
Choosing Random. Yes/No?
Even though he only heard the words in his mind, each word seemed to hammer into him with a finality that he wasn't ready for. A finality he refused to accept. The realization that he had died and been reborn as a woman overwhelmed him nearly instantly. His entire body felt foreign and unfamiliar like he was a stranger in his own body.
He took a few moments to grapple with his newfound reality. It was one thing to see words on a screen but to suddenly wake up and live it? He couldn't help but mourn the loss of his old self. Every aspect of his existence had been altered and he was left reeling in despair trying to come to terms with the drastic transformation. Despite the world around him being serene and seeming to be in wonderful spirits, he was terrified of it. A deep sense of unease settled over him.
He felt bile rise up in his throat as a sickening feeling filled him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something move. He felt his heart beat faster and was worried some creature was under him and was about to eat him. He slowly reached down hoping that maybe he could grab the creature or he could run if it was something scary before it would react. He saw the blue head of a snake twitching under him and he immediately jumped up and screamed like a little girl.
He quickly looked down and spun in a circle looking for the snake so he could run from it or something, but it had disappeared. He smoothed out his pants and turned to look behind him but the snake was gone. He breathed a sigh of relief before once again seeing movement and felt something touch his leg. He turned slowly and saw the snake was on his pants. He once again screamed and went to grab and throw the snake. Only to see it wasn’t a snake but a tail. It flicked back and forth almost with a mind of its own.
His heart was beating a mile a minute. After taking a moment to catch his breath, he frantically checked everything else he could see on himself. His tail was blue and ended with a spade or heart-shaped tip. His skin appeared to be blue everywhere. He had claws instead of fingernails and his teeth felt sharp. He couldn't tell what he looked like without a mirror but he had some curves to him.
He looked around and confirmed there was nobody else within sight. When he saw nobody else, he undid his blouse and took off his pants. He went to remove his underwear as well but noticed he wasn’t wearing any. He fully disrobed removing his apron and bracers too. ‘Might as well see what I look like,’ he thought.
He was fairly muscular with a decent set of abs. He could see he had some body hair but it was small, thin and nearly invisible. Barely noticeable. His skin was smooth and soft to the touch. Looking down, his tail was about a meter or so long. He took off his boots and noticed that he had cloven hooves instead of feet. Looking in the boots, he could see they were designed to hold his feet but didn’t really provide anything other than aesthetics. His legs bent multiple times like a goat or cat leg.
He breathed a sigh of relief as he looked at his legs, which were also covered in skin. He remembered his wife shaving her legs in the summer and was worried he’d have to shave his legs daily or that it’d look weird if he did. He saw his hair which was white, wavy, and came down to a few inches above his navel.
“Damn, is this really me now?” he half murmured to himself. His voice sounded soft and feminine. He shook his head in surprise and shock. “Wait, I‘m British?”
He slumped, feeling the loss of his old self like a physical pain. He didn’t even know where to begin as he couldn’t remember much about his old life. Just snippets. But he still felt its loss. He was no longer the person he used to be. And the only thing he could do was sit there in despair as he tried to come to terms with his new form.
The cool breeze gently caressed him causing his hair to be pushed into his eyes and goosebumps to cover his back and arms. He shivered slightly and reached up to tuck his hair behind his ears. That’s when he was greeted by four other surprises. First off, both of his ears were long. He used both his hands and determined they were approximately 7 or so inches long and they came to a point. Second, he felt the presence of horns on his head. The sensation was strange. His horns felt like he was touching his nails. He couldn’t register the sensation of touching his horns themselves but could feel a painful pressure if he squeezed them too hard. Luckily, they were solid enough to not compress much. He ran his fingers along the smooth, ribbed surface of the horns. They were sharp at the tip and just ever so shorter than his ears.
He sat there as the full weight of his reality crashed down like a tsunami. In that moment, it felt like his very soul had perished. So many life-altering things happening to him so quickly, it overwhelmed him. He had encountered God - or at least a being he believed to be divine, he met a program that was woman or vice versa, and was reborn as a woman who wasn’t even human anymore. He clutched his new face and wept uncontrollably.
Tears streamed down his face for what seemed to him to be an eternity, each one a cathartic release of the turmoil within. “I don’t even feel like me anymore,” he sobbed. “It’s like I’m watching a movie.”
He breathed in and out deeply, curled his legs up to his chest, and put his arms around them. He sat in a ball for quite a few minutes feeling small and alone and sick. He received another debuff.
Debuff:
Crippling Loneliness (Emotional)
Level: 5
Effect:
* Reduces overall health by 5%
* Decreases Attack power by 15%
* Lowers Mana Regeneration rate by 30%
* Causes periodic waves of sorrow, reducing focus and increasing spellcasting time by 25%
* Reduces movement speed.
Duration: 10 Minutes
Note: The weight of the world feels heavier when you’re carrying it alone. But remember, even in the deepest sorrow, there is strength. You’ll get through this.
His tail swished back and forth behind him and now that he knew it was there, he could feel it moving slightly. He tried to take hold of his emotions, but every ten to fifteen seconds, another wave of sorrow would hit and the depression kept him still. Every few seconds, the realization that he was alone and that nobody would care for him, nobody would know he was alive and not dead. Nobody would care if he died on this hill. And occasionally even the memory of seeing the universe and how small he was in it pressed in on him.
His breaths came heavier and quicker and soon he was heaving in the air trying to calm himself down. And for the most part, it didn’t work. Eventually, over the course of ten minutes, however, the feeling of remorse, hopelessness, and just the insignificance of himself all started to happen less and less.
"Athena?" he called out and hoped that anyone out there could help and fix him. Nothing happened. "God?" Still nothing. He sighed and stood up. “Guess I’ll have to put on my big boy pants and solve this shit myself." As soon as he stood, he started to feel a little lightheaded and another debuff appeared.
Debuff:
Lightheaded (Dizziness)
Level: 1
Effect:
* Reduces balance and coordination
* Decreases movement speed by 15%
* Lowers accuracy of attacks by 10%
Duration: 2 minutes
Note: Feeling like a newborn deer on ice? Those first steps are a disaster waiting to happen. Now we get to see if you ended up with the Klutzy flaw.
“I don't know who keeps adding the flavor text at the bottom of the info panel, but they seem like a real dick,” he mumbled to himself. He paid attention to the debuff this time and noticed it would actually count down. He watched it as it hit 10 seconds, and when it did, it started to blink once a second eventually disappearing. Walking became infinitely easier once the lightheaded debuff ended.
He bent over and picked up his clothes, putting them back on. It was difficult at first, with his tail really causing issues. The damn thing wouldn’t listen to him, and as much as he tried to move it, it just refused. Eventually, he had to hold it to his leg and quickly pull his pants up. Once that was done, he moved onto his shirt. His armbands went on next and finally the apron.
Looking around, he paid attention to other portions of his vision and started to see different things come up and disappear.
In the top right of his vision, he saw a green bar that was labeled health, a red bar labeled mana, and a yellow bar labeled stamina. Remembering life as a gamer, it was easy for him to know what they were used for. He assumed if his health hit zero, he’d die; if his mana hit zero, he’d be unable to cast spells; and if his stamina hit zero, he'd pass out from being tired. Focusing on the bars, he saw he had 60 health, 90 mana, and 20 stamina.
His mind focused just about where the debuff icons had been and suddenly a whole thing opened up in front of him. Now that he wasn’t freaking out from it, he noticed it looked very similar to a computer screen, but maybe one made by a projector or hologram. It floated in front of him and when he turned his head, it moved with him, including up where he was almost blinded again. He focused on it, and the screen took over most of his view. But not only that, it had sliders, buttons to select drop-downs, buttons to filter information, lines, and lots of other little things he could select and do to it. The whole thing looked very customizable. And for every button, every line, and every slider, there was a litany of tooltips ready to be helpful. He read over the main screen.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Name: John Pancino. You may enter a new name, or keep your old one. Tier: Initiate Level: 1 Class: Blood Mage Subclass: None (Must be an Adept to select) Race: Tiefling (Cerulean Demon) Stats Physical Mental Strength: 6 = Base 5 + Racial 1 Intelligence: 10 = Base 5 + Racial 2 + Class 3 Dexterity: 7 = Base 5 + Racial 2 Charisma: 8 = Base 5 + Racial 2 + Class 1 Endurance: 6 = Base 5 + Class 1 Beauty: 9 = Base 5 + Racial 2 + Class 2 Stamina: 2 = Base 2 Magic Resistance: 10 / +2 vs blood magic and spells related to blood = Base 5 + Racial 3 + Class 2 + 2 vs blood magic and spells related to blood Speed: 7 = Base 5 + Racial 2 Abilities Blood Control (Hemorrhage, Coagulate) Hemokinesis Mana Bleed Gory Armaments Piercing Blood Extras Perks: Polyglot, Quick Study, Glutton, System Interface Drawbacks: Price of Blood, Elemental Instability, Misfit Traits: Gift For Magic Flaws: Warded against Nature, Umbral Unmasking Boons: None Banes: Demonic Taint
John spent a few minutes looking over the screen in front of him and was able to hide where he got the bonuses from. This made the reading of his sheet far easier. He could always unhide certain pieces of information if he really needed it. He also found that he could close out the tooltips for each stat once he read them the first time.
The box next to his name had a little exclamation point that kept slowly pulsing, letting him know that he had to input his information there. He skipped over the name, despite the insistence of his sheet, and decided to come back to that last. He was a blood mage, and that was far more interesting to him.
Blood Mage Category: Arcane Magic Class Description: As a blood mage, you wield the potent and perilous power of blood magic. Blood Mages are practitioners of a rare and often misunderstood art. This class allows you to manipulate the life force within your own veins and those of others to cast devastating spells, summon powerful familiars, or heal/harm with unparalleled precision. Warning: Wielding such power is not for the light-hearted and will require you to live more on the edge than others of your kind.
“Well, that doesn’t sound ominous at all,” he said, as he moved on to other parts of his sheet.
He focused on Tiefling and was given the following information:
Tieflings Category: Half breed Description: Tieflings are a unique and striking race known for their infernal heritage, which sets them apart both physically and culturally. Their appearance is a blend of humanoid traits with demonic or devilish features, creating an otherworldly and often intimidating visage. Standard Features: Common physical traits to all tieflings include horns, tails, sharp teeth, and eyes that are solid uniform colors. Skin tones and stat bonuses vary based on the type of demon that is in your lineage. Most humans do not survive the taint of demonic power, and as such Tieflings are rare amongst mortals. Cultural and Social Aspects: Heritage: Tieflings are the progeny of a parent who has made a deal with a devil or demon and will share features with those that do. Over time, Tiefling features will slowly morph back to that of the original race as the progenitor’s pact with the demon fades. Perception: Due to their demonic appearance, tieflings often face prejudice and fear from races as it is nearly impossible to tell if the person is the one who made the deal with the demon themselves or just the offspring of such a person. This only applies to first meeting the Tiefling and perceptions can change over time. Strengths: Tieflings are naturally agile, intelligent, charismatic, and attractive to humanoid races. Class Selections: Tieflings have a greater likelihood of developing magical abilities.
## Abilities
Abilities Blood Control (Bleed, Coagulate) Hemokinesis Mana Bleed Gory Armaments Piercing Blood
Blood magic seemed to fall into one of two categories. Enhancement and Combat magic.
Enhancement Magic Blood Control Blood that you can sense is blood that you can control Description: Blood Control allows for the manipulation of blood within a person's body. This includes the ability to manipulate the flow, pressure and state of blood in oneself and others. This ability is broken down into two parts Hemorrhage: The ability to quicken the bleeding of others Coagulate: The ability to slow bleeding in others. Mana Cost: Low Hemokinesis Description: Hemokinesis grants the user the ability to manipulate and control blood, be it their own or the blood of others. Can be used as a minor heal Mana Cost: Low Mana Bleed Description: Allows the user to manipulate the raw energies of mana within themselves and others. Can be used to draw out or redirect the ambient magical energy within living beings as well as ley lines. Warning: Redirecting sources of magic of a higher tier can have detrimental effects. Mana Cost: Moderate Combat Magic Gory Armaments Description: Forge weapons and armor made of blood. Deadliness of the weapons and effectiveness of armor will increase with access to more blood. If no blood is available a small wound will open up near the location the weapon will form, and once formed will seal back up. Objects created by this ability that are abandoned will revert back to blood after 30 seconds. Objects that are re-equipped will stop this timer. Objects abandoned more than once will not refresh the timer unless the mana cost is paid a second time. Mana Cost: Low Blood Cost: Varies Ongoing Mana Cost: Minor Piercing Blood Description: Manipulate the blood of yourself or others into razor sharp projectiles. Deadliness of the weapon will increase with access to more blood. If no blood is available a small wound will open up near the location the projectile will form, and once formed will seal back up.
John took a moment to consider what he read and pondered what it meant. He thought to himself for a few moments after looking at everything. ‘So…Blood Control allows me to cause enemies to bleed, Hemokinesis looks like it’s mainly used on blood that’s outside the body, Mana Bleed is like blood control but for magic, Gory Armaments would let me form blood into weapons and armor, and Piercing Blood would let me use the blood as a ranged weapon? Guess that last ability is a cut above the rest.’ He snorted at his own internal joke. ‘Of course, it would be nice if I knew anything about fighting.’
He tried casting Gory Armaments and noticed a few things happening at once. As the spell said, his mana ticked down. Specifically, it went down 5 points, and as he kept it activated, his mana drained further albeit much slower. Second, he took 3 points of damage as a cut opened on his wrist and blood trickled out. Third, his blood formed into the shape of a dagger. The whole process took less than a second, and with some time and a little control, he was easily able to mold it into the shape of a sword, a club, and even a shield. Larger objects required more blood, and if he turned a large object into a smaller one, the blood formed would somehow pour into it.
The ability itself seemed simple and intuitive to use, and he just had to think about the form of the object he wanted the blood to form into. Other than that, the ability seemed to work on its own. He wanted a dagger, he had a dagger. He did see a few limitations though. While he could make his blood form into the shape of a bat or a crowbar, he couldn't form it into something much smaller than a dagger or knife. And the weapons formed out of blood didn't look like any dagger or knife he had ever seen. They looked more like a deep red liquid metal version of it.
He also noted that after the blood cost had been paid, the wound sealed itself, and he no longer bled. You couldn't even tell he was cut where the wound had been. He let go of the weapon, and as advertised, it stayed around for 30 seconds before splashing down into a puddle. It also seemed like every 30 seconds it would cost another point or two of mana. He waited, looking at his mana for a few minutes, and slowly but surely it was recharging.
He then turned his attention on the rest of the sheet.
Perks Polyglot As a polyglot, you can understand and speak any language. You will naturally change your language based on the last language spoken to you, or you can focus on a specific person and speak in a language they will understand. Quick Study You are able to quickly understand magical concepts, and will be able to understand written words. Glutton You can consume and process local foods as if they were edible to you. System Interface Used in understanding the system, and allows access to sheets, storage, logs, identification and maps.
He thought to himself as he looked at the abilities. ‘Man, these all sound great. I can speak and understand any language? And I can read all languages too? God I'll be able to read so many books’ He heard a sound of humming and whistling, but when he focused on it, it stopped. His thoughts wandered back to school and the language classes he had to take. ‘Man, if I was back home I'd be rich! Glutton also seems like it'd be a useful skill to have.’
Traits Gift For Magic You have an innate gift for magic. Magical concepts, rituals, spells, and items are easier for you to comprehend and reproduce. Flaws Warded against Nature Animals inherently distrust you. When you are within 10 meters of an animal or insect, it will attempt to flee. If unable to, it will attack you. Your own familiars and companions are immune to this, but companions and familiars of others are not. Owners of animals, companions and familiars may order animals to approach you. The smarter the animal or insect in question is, the greater the chance they will not flee. Hostile animals or insects that cannot flee will attack you first. Umbral Unmasking You cast no shadow, an eerie absence that marks you as different. Without a shadow to ground you, your presence feels unnatural and conspicuous. Under normal lighted conditions, this is not hard to observe—but uncommon to notice.
He immediately looked down. Sure enough, he saw no shadow. Holding his hand up between the sun and his eyes didn’t make the world any less bright, just less intense. He closed his eyes and moved his arm, and sure enough, he was blinded again. He looked away and tested it again, holding his hand and arm in front of the sun. The sun was only blocked from view when his clothes were between him and the sun. The back of his hand didn't look any darker if he looked at it. If anything, his hand looked like a bright light when you held a paper against it—just as bright, but the source of the light was obscured. "Huh...weird." Testing it further, he turned around and studied the ground, confirming that while his clothes cast a shadow, his head, hand, and legs did not. He shook his head in disbelief at the oddity of it all.
“Wait a second. If I don’t cast a shadow, how am I visible?” he muttered. “If light is passing through me, I should be invisible, right? But I can see myself clearly, and others would be able to as well. So what’s going on here?” He frowned, pondering the contradiction. “Maybe it’s some kind of magic that allows me to be visible without casting a shadow. But how does that even work? Light needs to reflect off me for me to be seen, right? But if I'm visible then light is reflecting off of me. So then I should cast a shadow. Unless... is there some magical force bending the light around me?”
He rubbed his temples in frustration. “This doesn’t make any sense. If I were back on Earth, scientists would lose their minds trying to figure this out. They’d expect me to either be invisible or have a shadow, not this weird in-between state. It's like the rules of physics don’t apply here.”
He sighed, trying to wrap his head around the concept. “Maybe it’s just one of those things I’ll have to accept without fully understanding. Magic clearly operates differently from the science I know. At least no one will ever have to worry about being in my shadow.”
Finally, he thought about warded against nature. He shrugged, muttering to himself. "So animals don't like me. Big deal. Who cares if animals avoid me?" he thought. "I won't have to deal with feral animals, biting insects, or any other bothersome creatures. Sounds like a win to me." John smiled, completely unconcerned with the supposed downside of the trait.
He looked out from his hill and could see a forest to his left and off in the distance something that looked like a farmstead.