The young man awoke with a lurch, followed by a round of hoarse coughing. His mind felt muddled and detached and it took him a moment to register he was sitting on a smooth surface in complete darkness. He turned his head to check if he could see anything around him and winced at the aching stiffness in his neck. All that greeted him as he cast his eyes around was more of the same impenetrable blackness, the darkness pressed in on him from all sides like it was trying to smother him.
The next thing he noticed was the all-encompassing cold, it permeated his surroundings and seemed to have seeped deep into his bones. He tried to recall how he ended up in such a place but all he got for his troubles was a lance of extreme pain behind his eyes causing him to collapse back onto the hard surface, the pain from slamming his head into, what he assumed was a stone floor, was nothing compared to the agony coursing through his brain.
What felt like hours but may have only been moments passed before his salvation appeared in his vision in the form of a softly glowing silver screen. He saw small white letters on the strange screen that seemed to be fixed in place in his vision, staying in the exact same spot no matter how much he moved his head. Confused but noticing the pain had dulled slightly he read the words before him.
System Alert
Abnormal Aether signature detected. Analyzing…
Results: Unintegrated Soul with extreme spiritual damage… Divine intervention from ????? prevented further degradation and total annihilation of Soul… Interventions insufficient for long-term viability… Attempting System-integration and spiritual restoration.
The words had raised far more questions than they had answered but before the man could reread the message, the screen blinked out of existence and his mind slipped into unconsciousness.
He awoke an unknown amount of time later and scrambled up off the grey tiled floor. His mind was much clearer now but it still took him a while to notice that he could see the floor. He swung about but couldn’t see anything further than roughly 6 feet. Even though his sight was still limited his spirit soared at the fact he wasn’t stuck in darkness anymore. He looked down at his body and found it covered in dust with what looked like clothes, but they were so filthy and torn they were little better than rags; the only thing that seemed to have resisted the grime were the leather boots, but they had still seen better days.
Ignoring his inadequate attire, the man walked around on legs that protested every minor movement, but he managed to find a wall. He pressed his fingers to the wall and followed the wall around, he found he was in a rectangular room about 50 by 30 feet, the floors and walls were all the same grey tiles.
He'd tried to see the ceiling, but the complete lack of objects in the room made him give up, it must have been at least two dozen feet high, but any specifics were beyond him. It was after he’d completed his audit of the room that he finally noticed a small blinking symbol in the top left corner of his view. Much like the screen bearing the System Alert had done, the symbol remained at the fixed point in his vision. He focused on the symbol and was startled when the symbol expanded into a silver screen.
System Alert
Integration completed successfully. Soul damage sustained outside System influence has resulted in significant memory fragmentation.
Status Screen has been finalized. Would you like to view your Status Screen?
Yes No
He grimaced at the part about his memories but was curious about the Status Screen so focused in on the Yes prompt and the screen shifted.
Status
Name: Levi
Race: Revenant Human
Level: 0
Tier: 0
Health
66/70
Mana
18/60
Stamina
41/70
Attributes Free Points: 4
Strength: 6
Agility: 4
Constitution: 7
Endurance: 7
Intelligence: 4
Wisdom: 6
Perception: 5
Willpower: 6
Innate Skill
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Soul Echo (Rank V)
Race Traits
Human Versatility (Rank II), Greater Undead Ice Affinity (Rank IV)
Skills
You have not acquired any Skills.
Proficiencies
You have not met the requirements for any Proficiencies.
Titles
????????
Levi reeled from all the information to unpack from the small silver screen before him. First of all, his name was Levi. That the System had remembered his name before he had was concerning but no more concerning than the System even existing. He could only recall a few shreds and flashes of memories, but he was mostly confident in one thing, this System hadn’t been a part of his life before now and neither had magic for that matter.
Pushing aside his tumultuous feelings at the thought of a strange entity with unknown powers influencing his life, he moved on to the next piece of information, his Race. Levi knew he’d been human in his old life before he wound up wherever he was and so to see the word Revenant, with Human quite literally crossed out beside it, was concerning at best and existential dread-inducing at worst. He desperately tried to remember what a Revenant was but came up blank until he focused his thoughts on the word itself on the screen, causing a smaller screen to pop up to the side of the primary one.
Race: Revenant Human
Revenants are amongst the rarest forms of Undead Monsters due to the very specific circumstances required for their creation. Revenants are the closest of any Undead to still being a living creature. They are Souls possessing a living body much like ghostly Undead are able to do but unlike ghosts, they are inextricably bound to their body. The death of the body will result in the death of the Soul. This means they possess a Health pool and the basic needs of a living body such as eating, drinking and sleeping. Certain Undead Traits are modified to ensure compatibility with living bodies.
Grants Race Traits: Undead Ice Magic (Rank III), Sense the Living (Rank II)
Due to the Human body you are bound to, you also receive any non-conflicting Human Traits.
Grants Race Traits: Human Versatility (Rank II)
“Oh, what the f-,” Levi started before breaking into another round of ragged coughs, courtesy of his bone-dry throat. Righting himself and grimacing at the poor condition of his body he clapped his hands together, the sharp sound echoing in the empty space. Ok, being half dead can come later, if I don’t get out of this room sooner rather than later, I’ll be fully dead, he thought.
Returning to the smooth walls, Levi searched for anything that might be a way out of the frigid chamber. After a few hours of stumbling in the dark, Levi slumped against a wall and looked up while sighing. As he peered up into the blackness overhead, he noticed something sticking out a hairsbreadth from the wall at the very limit of his vision. He pulled himself up and pressed his cheek to the wall and noticed a similar protrusion a few feet to the left.
There’s no way I can reach that, he thought dismissively while staring at the fifteen-foot span he’d have to cover. But having nothing better to work with, Levi ran at the wall and leapt for the jutting piece of wall. To his surprise, his first two steps against the polished tiles of the wall were successful but as he went to propel himself upwards with another step he slipped and slammed back down onto the hard stone, splitting open his knee. Grunting in pain, he looked at his wound and was surprised to find it was barely bleeding and far smaller than he initially feared. As the injury wasn’t an issue, Levi tried scaling the wall several more times until he was panting and had to rest.
Something nagged at him as he recovered and thought about his body’s performance; then it dawned on him. He quickly reopened the Status Screen and looked at one of the sections he’d skipped earlier.
Status
Attributes Free Points: 4
Strength: 6
Agility: 3
Constitution: 7
Endurance: 7
Intelligence: 4
Wisdom: 6
Perception: 5
Willpower: 6
Are these why I’m stronger than I should be, he mused, eyeing the numbers beside each of the Attributes. Why the hell is my Agility so low, he silently complained, that’s probably why I keep slipping. It was then his gaze settled on the small text in the top right of the section.
Free Points: 4
With a mix of excitement and hope, he tentatively tried to will the Free Points into his Agility Attribute and was elated when he saw the number go up to 4. He paused briefly as he felt a slight tingle just below his sternum, but it quickly faded. Shrugging, Levi put the next point into Agility and noticed the same feeling again. As he was going to add the third point, his eyes briefly wandered over the other Attributes and locked onto Perception. Hoping that his hunch was right, and Perception was why he had suddenly been able to see in the gloom, he allocated the next point into Perception and swore that the shadows receded slightly and so promptly allocated the final point into Perception as well.
Looking back up to his goal, he was pleasantly surprised to see that similar protrusions were a few feet above the first set. Levi rushed the wall again and this time his fingers grazed his target and he felt that there was a depression behind the outcrop. Excitement welled up within him as he realized they could be used as handholds and if there was another set above the ones he could see then maybe, just maybe he might be able to climb out of this place.
Invigorated by thoughts of leaving the empty room, he charged forward, each step against the wall landed true and as he took the third step and leapt up towards the handhold once more his finger managed to find purchase and he whooped with joy, as his face slammed into the wall and his nose broke. But Levi refused to relinquish his prize and clung tightly to the narrow stone shelf and swung his left arm up to hold the other, ignoring the steady drip of blood from his significantly flatter nose.
Knowing that stopping here would do more harm than good, Levi hauled himself up to the next set of grooves and was very pleased to see that they continued higher and higher like the rungs of a ladder. After nearly 20 minutes of climbing, Levi came upon an alcove in the wall large enough for him to pull his entire body onto and rest. Not a moment too soon Levi realized as he checked his Status and saw his Stamina had entered single digits. After resting to try and catch his breath for a while, a slight panic set in when he saw that his Stamina had barely recovered.
Only when he heard a gentle drip from deeper in the alcove did Levi remember a key part of the Race description; the part about his body still possessing the needs of the living. Groaning with the effort, he pulled himself further into the space and found a small pool of liquid at the base of the back wall. Not even stopping to consider this might not have been water, Levi plunged his hand into the liquid and brought it to his lips. It was cold and had a muddy taste, but Levi could not have cared any less, he drank greedily until the water began to uncomfortably slosh in his food-deprived stomach. Leaning back against the wall, he drifted off to sleep.