You have fulfilled your daily mining quota
Gained 500 SP
Kryzen looked at the window before him in surprise, something which the guards had noticed. Before he could act, one of the guards spoke,
“Remember the rules. Wave away the spirit and go to your dwelling. The rules must be followed for your own safety.”
Just as the guard finished speaking, Kryzen’s arms moved on their own and swiped away the window before him. Kryzen couldn’t help but be surprised at his own actions but he pretended everything was fine and walked towards the gremlin dwellings up ahead.
Once there he found a good secluded spot far away from the guard post and the other resting gremlins. He sat down and looked at his hands.
‘What was that back there.’
The swiping away of the window was completely instinctual. His arms moved on their own and for the briefest moment he felt an overwhelming fear. That was not him though.
Kryzen wondered why that happened and could come up with only conclusion. Even though he took over the gremlin’s body there are still some residual instincts and muscle memory. The fear from before was not from him but something that was deeply ingrained in his body.
Remembering the guard’s words, memories flashed in his mind. As far back as the miners can remember, the guards have always ‘advised’ all the miners to swipe away what they call “spirit”.
In the words of undead guards, these windows that appear after everyone submits the ore to the guards is actually an “evil spirit” which will devour you if left alone for too long. The guards instructed the inhabitants to simply wave away the spirit in order to ward it off.
Not one of the mines denizens questioned the absurdness of this and honestly Kryzen wasn’t surprised at this. These monsters were honestly all just a little more than animals.
Having the memories of a gremlin, Kryzen knew well how dumb these creatures truly are and he was sure the same applied to the other monsters in the mines as well. It didn’t matter though he wasn’t the same as those creatures, he was transmigrated human.
Now all he had to do was figure out how to make that window appear again. It should be simple enough, maybe voice commands or hand gestures would make it appear again.
Kryzen waved his arms repeating the swiping movement he did before but nothing happened. He then tried making various calls. Window and spirit and many others words were shouted out but nothing happened.
It struck him that the window that appeared was similar to the menus in video games so he proceeded to say,
“Men….”
‘NO’
A voice boomed inside Kryzen’s heads terrifying him out of his makeshift seat of rocks. Fear shook him to his core and it felt as if he was drowning. He fell to the ground and started panting.
The suppressing feeling on him disappeared soon after and he took a look around. All the gremlins were just minding their own business with a few closer ones taking a curious look at his sudden antics.
‘Where did that voice come from?’
It wasn’t the gremlins that’s for sure but who else could it have been? Seeing nothing else happened after the shout in his mind he took a seat and sank deep into his thoughts.
‘Am I going insane? Does it start with voices in my head and then I’ll have full on psychotic breaks? Oh man, I should have known possessing a monster’s body wouldn’t have been so simple.’
While he was rambling to himself about how unlucky he was, Kryzen couldn’t help remembering his time in the void.
The memories of the void are a little vague to him. His memories of that place faint even though he transmigrated only recently. Upon thinking of the void, he calmed down.
He survived death. He survived floating in nothingness for who knows how long. Voices in his head were nothing compared to what he went through.
‘I should find out more about the voice. Where did the voice come from and why did it come in the first place?’
A hoarse voice interrupted his thoughts,
“No call spirits. It bad.”
Kryzen looked at the gremlin before him and a series of memories played in his head. Kryzen told him it was alright and that he just tripped and fell and sent him away.
Through the memories he found out that this wasn’t the first time that this happened in the mines. Many monsters get curious and think of the ‘spirits’ and end up wailing in terror. Most are shocked silly and pass out from the ‘spirits’ attacks.
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Eventually it was advised by the older generation of gremlins to new-born gremlins to never call for ‘spirits. It was made into a taboo. Kryzen assumed the same applied to all the races in the mines.
Kryzen was better off though probably because his mind was much stronger than the average monster.
Those memories he inherited might contain the boorish life of a gremlin but they still contained valuable bits and pieces of information.
If the memories were a movie then he viewed only a few clips so far, he should take some time to look at the entire video later.
Kryzen decided to do that afterwards though as he prepared himself mentally as he once again attempted to summon the window.
“Men...”
‘NO’
Once again, a wave of terror passed through him and he felt as if he were drowning but unlike before he was prepared and didn’t falter. Some stupid voice wasn’t going to stop.
“Men…”
‘NO’
“u…”
Kryzen managed to withstand the voice and finish the word. A familiar window opened before him.
Name: Kryzen
Race: Gremlin
Age: 3 years 7 months
Realm: Mortal
“A status?”, Kryzen voiced in surprise.
The status was very simple, it contained his name, race and age. His ‘Realm’ was also given but he didn’t know what exactly it represented. Looking below the information he saw an arrow mark. Clicking it the previous window expanded.
Attributes
Strength: 5
Dexterity: 7
Physique: 10
Perception: 5
Intelligence: 25
Charm: 3
Energy: 3
“So, these are my stats huh.”
Most of the stats were self-explanatory but just to be safe he inspected the menu and tried find the stat descriptions. Clicking the stats gave him a brief description about the stat.
Strength: The physical might of the body
Dexterity: The speed, flexibility and reflexes of the body.
Physique: The vitality, constitution and endurance of the body.
Perception: Senses and awareness
Intelligence: Mental capacity and comprehension abilities
Charm: The likeability and attractiveness of an individual.
Energy: The amount of energy the body contains.
The attributes weren’t too hard to understand but Kryzen was curious about his realm. Clicking on it a new window opened up.
Realms:
Mortal
Ascended Mortal
Transcendent
Further realms are locked (Current realm is too low)
While there wasn’t any in-depth description about each realm, Kryzen guessed that ‘realms’ were similar to levels in video games. If he became stronger then maybe he could reach a higher realm.
Kryzen then remembered what lead him to knowing the existence of the windows in the first place, the window that told him he earned points. There weren’t any other marks on the window so Kryzen said out loud,
“Points.”
A new window appeared before him and Kryzen smiled to himself.
‘I’m getting the hang of using this thing.’
Points: 661000
Kryzen was pleasantly surprised seeing how much points he had even though he didn’t know how to use them. Looks his predecessor’s efforts in mining everyday wasn’t a waste after all.
Clicking on the points he discovered that the points were used to increase his stats and also for some “special” purposes. The windows wouldn’t elaborate any further unfortunately.
Seeing all these floating windows and the miraculous stats and points Kryzen couldn’t but wonder,
“What are you?”
The System is an extradimensional force dedicated to the development of all sentient lives in the Universe. Through the system all life will flourish and surpass their limitations.
Boundless growth to all who strive for it.
‘System, so that’s what these windows are called. The way it responds to me it must be alive to a certain extent. Is the System the God of this universe?’
That was something to ponder upon, but right now the most important thing for Kryzen was to figure how to put these points to use. If he could become stronger then maybe he could break out of this prison and explore this new world.
‘Wait maybe the System could tell me about that voice in my head.’
Deciding to try it out, Kryzen asked the system,
“What is the voice that tries to prevent me from summoning you?”
Self-inspection (Mortal)
Cost: 1000
Yes/No
Looking at the window Kryzen was reminded of an age old saying, ‘There is no such thing as a free lunch’. Everything had a price including all the System had to offer.
‘Growth to those who strive for it means we have to pay up huh’, thought Kryzen as he clicked yes. The points were deducted as a new window opened up before him.
Results:
Negative status detected.
Low level compulsion Curse:
A weak curse cast over a large number of targets by a mage. This curse in particular prevents targets from summoning the system in any manner. This curse is ineffective on individuals with intelligence above 30. Entities with Intelligence of 20 and above can resist the spell but cannot dispel it.
Reading through Kryzen was surprised to discover he was cursed. The curse must be what prevented the denizens of the mines from using the system. Whenever anyone tried to summon the System this curse would activate.
All these poor creatures thought it was the attack of spirits but it was actually the result of a curse. With the curse none if them could use the system and thus they could never get stronger. There was never a risk of any of them breaking out or rebelling.
Kryzen always wondered why none of the creatures here didn’t have slave collars or cuffs of any kind, it was because the curse was enough to control all of them. As long as they couldn’t access the System these monsters were nothing more than slightly intelligent beasts.
With a little training and the offer of food they could be used as free labour. An easy way to operate a mine of large scale. The owner of these mines must be the mage who cursed them or maybe he was a subordinate of the owner.
He hoped the curse caster was the owner because he didn’t want to imagine how powerful a person could be if he could have a mind controlling curse caster as his servant.
Now all that was left was to use the system, become stronger and find a way out of this accursed place.
‘How should I put these points to use?’