Sitting up and stretching languidly I pause for a moment, relishing my current totally relaxed state. I don’t think I’ve slept that well in years, let alone woken up so alert and pain free. I finally open my eyes… and then close them and open them again…

THERE’S NO DIFFERENCE! Why is it so dark? Did the power go out again? I’m sure I paid the electric bill this month… I think.

Fumbling around for a second I fall off my… rock? What the heck? I’m fairly certain I went to sleep in a bed not a cave. At least I didn’t break anything.

Struggling to my feet, I find the wall and start looking for a way out. The floor is cold and smooth against my bare feet and the whole space smells like dust and campfire smoke. I slide my hands along the wall noticing strangely regular grooves in the otherwise smooth surface.

Hold on, aren't these seams? Am I in someone’s basement?!

Stumbling along the wall a bit more frantically my hands find what feels like a heavy wooden door. Shoving against it with all my strength the door mercifully begins slowly swinging outward. I can immediately tell I’m outside, a stiff wind pushing past me and the warm sensation of sun against my skin…

BUT I STILL CAN’T SEE! I’VE GONE BLIND!

Before I can totally freak out I’m startled out of my mounting panic by a feminine voice resounding in my head.

[System booting… collecting data… ERROR. collecting data… ERROR. collecting data… ERROR. Data unavailable, skipping process… beginning introduction…]

Wait, wait, huh? Hold on, there’s too much going on but that sounds like a rather important step!

[Welcome Maria, to the world of (data unavailable)! You have been reborn into this world as a young (data unavailable). Through time, effort and ability you can grow and overcome your limits! To begin your path to power– (data unavailable)]

Umm hold up there miss system shouldn’t an introduction have more information than that? Also are we just going to ignore the part where I was still alive wasn’t I? Doesn’t the whole ‘rebirth’ bit require that the person be dead to happen? Although since you mention it I do feel a bit strange. I feel like I’m probably quite a bit shorter than I was before and somehow even thinner, scary thin. Not sure how I’m moving as easily as I am.

Also my back feels… weird. Like there’s extra weight back there and… I don’t know, it feels like there’s muscles there that I could control, I'm just not sure how and extra nerves that are sending signals but my mind hasn’t adjusted to be able to understand the strange messages yet. Something like that.

Not to mention the fact that I STILL CAN'T SEE. Reaching up and feeling my face I don’t seem to have eyes to begin with, just smooth skin. Freaky! Really everything feels at least a bit off but I’ll work all that out later I guess, at least nothing hurts. In these situations isn’t there usually some kind of stats screen or–

Name: Maria

Race: (data unavailable)

Level: 1

Specialization: none

Health: 10/10

Mana: 0/5

Strength: 5

Agility: 14

Constitution: 5

Intelligence: 24

Will: 34

…O…k… so I just need to think ‘stats’ and a mental image pops up, helpful. Question though, why is my will so high? What even is will in this context?

[Will; one's mental resistance. This affects one’s ability to manipulate mana and resist mental attacks and effects as well as things such as pain tolerance.]

Ah, okay so the system can explain things a little more, that’s good. So, umm, why is my mana empty?

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

[Checking data… attempting data collection… data found. Racial feature: Night-kin, when in direct sunlight mana will be rapidly drained.]

Sunlight bad, cool. Back in the, probably, dark room I go.

[Additional data found regarding stats, would you like to view?]

Sure.

Skills:

Vibration detection, level 1

Grapple, level 1

Rend, level 1

Stealth, level 1

Body parts:

Arms

Legs

Ears

Nose

Fangs

Claws

Shadow tendrils

Skin

Bones

Bio points: 1

Other features: Night-kin, (data unavailable)

Oooook, hold on there, wait up a second, just a little question. SHADOW TENDRILS? THAT is what I’ve been feeling coming out of my back? Reaching around I can actually feel the cold rubbery flesh coming from two points toward the middle of my back. Tentatively I attempt to consciously move the tendrils and suddenly like cool water pouring into my mind it just… makes sense, as though I had always been part eldritch horror and merely needed a reminder.

These things seem to be my main way of perceiving the world at the moment, by extending them into the room they brush into the walls, floor and ceiling slowly building a mental image of the space.

From what I can tell I’m in a room about five meters square with an opening on the far side from the exit. The chunk of stone I had woken up on was actually part of the ceiling that had fallen into the room.

Mentally mapping the room took a good bit longer than I would have liked, taking a minute or more just to work out the dimensions of the room.

Back to the stats page a moment, it looks like I start with one bio point. I’m not sure what to do with it at the moment so I’ll just leave it be for the time being. Now should I head deeper in? If I’m waiting for the sun to go down I might as well explore right? Hold on a second, what’s with that clacking? And isn’t it getting closer?

Stepping closer to the opening I tentatively stretch out my tendrils to discern the origin of the noise. After a moment I feel something brush against the searching limbs. It feels like ragged cloth covering something hard and dry.

Just then there’s a change in the clacking as the thing shoves past the extended limbs and begins running. It’s coming at me! I hear a distinctly unpleasant scraping noise and, on instinct, I duck just in time to feel something whoosh through the air above my head.

[Vibra–]

NOT NOW! Scrambling backward and swinging my tendrils wildly, pain explodes through my side as something collides heavily with my ribs.

[Warning, Health has fallen to 20%]

NOOO! DON”T KILL ME I’M SO YOUNG! Swinging in a blind panic I can feel my tendrils battering the thing but I can’t tell if I’m causing any harm. Please, I don’t taste good I promise!

[You have defeated a level 4 pitiful undead, skeleton soldier, gained exp.]

[You’ve reached level 2! Skill selection available.]

Please, I’ll do anything! Just let me… go? It’s dead? PITIFUL undead?! That thing almost one-shot me and it was only a pitiful undead? Ignoring how insulting that is, just how weak am I right now? My side feels warm and damp but the pain faded some after I leveled up. Does leveling up have a status restore attached? Checking my health confirms it, where it should have been at two it’s back up to six, which still leaves me firmly in the very dead range if I run into any more of those things.

Checking over the pile of bones I collect the tattered armor it had been wearing as well as the sword it had used. Running a hand along the blade I find pot marks and rough patches all along its length.

Great, I was stabbed with a rusty sword. Am I going to have to worry about getting tetanus now? I also find a small stone that causes the system to pipe up as soon as I touch it.

[Tiny undead essence shard, would you like to absorb or deconstruct?]

Wouldn’t absorbing something related to undeath be bad? Like isn’t that usually the fastest way to get cursed or go insane? No thanks I choose life. Deconstruct.

As soon as I confirm my decision the small stone seems to turn into mist in my hand.

[Undead shard deconstructed, max mana increased.]

Nice, now that that’s taken care of, I’m out of here. The sun might drain my mana but I’m not sticking around to see if Mr. Skelly Bones had friends. Strapping on the armor and discarding the sword, I have no real use for it, I once more step out into the light.

*Ding*

What now?

[New quests available]

…huh?