Waking up from my dream or whatever it was, I found myself in a dark, cramped space surrounded by a warm liquid. I despaired a bit, thinking I would drown, but the liquid and the darkness soon receded, as the cocoon I was in broke apart.

I pushed my face into the open air and took a lungful of damp, stale air, tainted with a strong stench of decay. I started to cough immediately, but the cocoon tilted to the side, and I fell out of my bed and onto the cracked floor.

I breathed hard, yet I tried to clear my mouth of the disgusting smell. I tried to push myself up to sit or at least get my bearings, but my hands slipped on the slimy floor. Slowly, but surely, I managed to sit down, my back to the wall as I finally took in the sights around me.

I knew this room was mine, but how I ended up here when my last memory was of staring at a shattered sky, still eludes me. The room was dark but the faint late afternoon light, slipping from the windows, was enough to allow me to see the decrepit state of my room was in.

Standing up, I saw the cocoon was on my double bed, and despite occupying it wholly, I knew I wasn’t that fat. Looking around, I saw the wood from my bed and desk had already rotten, leaving the rest of my meager possessions on the floor. Which wasn’t also looking good. The once-white tiles now support a layer of rust, with most of them also having some cracks.

“How long was I inside that cocoon!?” I spoke as desolation filled me. All my things were inside my computer. And my phone. Looking around, I found my phone in the same state as everything else in the room. Reaching a hand to grab it, I started panicking upon seeing my arm and hand.

My once hairy white arms are now utterly black. So black I could fade in the darkness. And it wasn’t just my arms, but my whole body. If I was feeling bad for my things, now I'm entering a full-on panic attack.

Running to my bathroom, which is just a short corridor away from my bedroom, I slip on the slimy floor when I try to make a curve when enter I try to make a sharp turn. I stand up, slowly, and walk inside my bathroom, only to find my mirror almost completely gone. Several parts are missing from the corners and its metallic film now has black dots all over it.

Yet it was enough to allow me to see, albeit with some difficulty, my now alien-like face. A bald, oval head with piercing red stared back.

“At least it's better than my previous human body. But not much.”

I said and finally noticed something. The only source of light in this bathroom was from the window on my right side, and with that, I noticed my body was vastly different from before. I was slimmer and thinner. My wide shoulders and hips are now at least a quarter smaller than I was… last time I was awake.

“Neat. Now I don’t need to go to the gym anymore.”

As I was inspecting my new body, I realized I was missing something very important. So important that I had to scream.

“Where the fuck is my dick!?”

It was gone, not replaced. I didn’t have a pussy in its place, just nothing. I touched myself where my crotch should be, not with any second intentions but with panic creeping more into my mind. Just a smooth and black slimy skin, all the way to my back. I didn’t even feel my asshole. Like all those dolls children play with.

“What the hell!? Give me my dick back!” I yelled, to no one in particular when a sudden thought entered my mind. My subconsciousness must have done this! But why? Whatever they had done to that white sun and hollowed planets, affected me this much. As I tried to remember its words, it finally clicked for me.

The power they mentioned, the one I wanted, desired even. Did they really grant me my wish!? I looked at my right hand, hesitant to try and fail, but remembered their words.

“Are you going to let this chance to slip by, like you did that one time with her!?”

“No, I won’t!” I said to myself and focused inward, trying to call forth my power, my Thaumaturgy as they said. And nothing happened. Even so, I knew my power, the one I always wanted, the one to grant me all my wishes and more.

“Realize!”

I screamed, like a stupid chuuni teenager, as I pushed my open right hand into the wall of my bathroom, and my dark slimy arm slipped past it like it wasn’t there. Pulling my arm back, it came with more than just the knowledge I had a superpower, no… my Thaumaturgy. I knew now how the wall I made a hole into was created, what it was made of, and most importantly, its age.

“Holy fuck!? Almost five hundred years since you were made!?” I was shocked, again, to say the least. I was here when this house was built. It had been eleven years since this house was built when I was last awake, yet now it has almost half a millennium.

“I guess I overslept too much.” I laugh at my own joke and focus more on my power on my hand. As I did, another function of Realize was activated.

STATUS WINDOW

NAME:

Tressida

SPECIES:

???

GENDER:

Genderless

RANK:

1

AGE:

29 (509)

CONDITION:

NORMAL

HP:

100,00%

HPRS:

0,001%

MP:

100,00%

MPRS:

0,01%

SP:

100,00%

SPRS:

0,1%

KI:

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

100,00%

KIRS:

0,01%

BODY:

1,00

SOUL:

1,00

SPIRIT:

1,00

THAUMATURGY:

1

TRAITS:

1

ACTIVE SKILLS:

0

MODIFIERS:

0

PASSIVE SKILLS:

1

ABILITIES:

10

“It seems Analyze works as intended.” I say and focus on opening the rest of my status information. The rest of the other status pages opened like I always envisioned. But the one describing my Thaumaturgy was the one I focused on the most.

REALIZE - POWERS AND SUB-CAPABILITIES

ANALYZE: Scan and dissect information about any object, creature, or phenomenon, revealing its structure, properties, and hidden secrets.

LEARNING: Improves all forms of learning. Intuitively comprehend and learn any analyzed knowledge, abilities, skills, traits, and Thaumaturgies.

DEVOUR: Dismantle and consume any object or being down to its smallest components, fully absorbing its essence, including souls or magical properties.

ASSIMILATION: Assimilate and incorporate the abilities, memories, and physical attributes of consumed items or beings into your own, perfectly and without rejection.

EVOLVE: Apply enhancements to anything you've consumed, upgrading and refining it to be more powerful or suitable for your needs. Enhancements can be physical, magical, skill-based, etc.

APICE: Achieve continuous growth through incremental improvement. Every action boosts your skills, attributes, and powers by ensuring constant evolution.

REPLICATE: Recreate consumed and evolved objects, skills, traits, etc, in their enhanced form. Able also to replicate analyzed targets.

CUSTOMIZE/MODIFY: Redefine, reshape, and alter the properties or the form of items you've analyzed, consumed, or evolved. Able to affect external items.

ARCHIVE: Store detailed information about consumed objects, abilities, and experiences in an internal database, keeping a comprehensive record for future use.

DISPLAY: Access and visualize archived information in real-time through a visual interface or HUD, providing crucial insights and tactical advantages in various situations.

It was there, just like I envisioned my own power. Despite looking overpowered, I knew of its limitations. Analyze is based on a line of sight, meaning that even a plain cape can block it. Consume is touch-based. Evolve can only make it a single step above its original. Replicate needs mana to create matter. And Archive is a glorified library. But that is how Realize works right now. I don’t know what kind of event happened that allowed me to have this kind of power. But I can say for sure, that I will enjoy using it, and maybe, make it stronger someday.

With the checkup on my Thaumaturgy done, I go to the Traits section under Powers, where I may find some information on species and all mutations or characteristics I might possess. I also take the chance to see all my other information.

THAUMATURGY:

REALIZE

ACTIVE SKILLS:

N/A

PASSIVE SKILLS:

Sense Energy

TRAITS:

??? Bloodline

MODIFIERS:

N/A

ABILITIES:

Arithmetic’s

Bicycle Riding

Breathing

Concentration

Driving Vehicles - II

Fighting

Language - III

Literacy - III

Running

Swimming

Technology Proficiency

Tool Proficiency

Walking

Well, this doesn`t help at all. Even focusing on the "??? Bloodline", I got no answer. It seems even "Realize: Analyze" isn't so powerful. Not yet anyway. Then I checked the other categories. Thaumaturgy I already know is a kind of special power. Active and passive skills are like abilities, but with magic. Traits are the mutations within my body, while abilities are the knowledge of how to do something and the expertise to do it well.

With the checkup not providing any answers, I closed the status windows. With the glowing white letters disappearing from my view, I started using Realize on everything that managed to survive so far. Despite almost half a millennium passing, some things managed to stay intact. Mostly. Everything in the bathroom is long lost.

I went back to my room and Consumed my things from there. My Pc and PS5 didn’t survive, but maybe I could repair them with my Thaumaturgy. Touching my Pc, it starts being fully enveloped in darkness, and when it's fully covered, it vanishes. Same with everything else.

Using the sub-powers of Realize, I consume both, only to realize something. They were too deteriorated to be of any use. The hardware wasn’t looking good, and the software wasn’t anywhere to be found due to the hardware being too damaged.

Damn! Even my Thaumaturgy can’t do anything to technology. Although, if I find another way to repair them… I thought, but my own power told me otherwise. If I replicate anything that was damaged as they are, then no other power would be able to repair said object, since the object was “made” that way.

“Ahh, fuck.” I say and lament over losing my thing before moving on.

I continue consuming my things and trying to see if I find something useful. I remember I had a small dull scimitar I got as a present once, kept somewhere around here. And a knife I bought simply because I thought it looked cool. It didn’t take me long to find them both, as they were together, and promptly consumed both.

Using Realize on both and merging the two, I created a sharp 40 cm long blade weighing one kilo. Giving it a few swings, I consume it again just so I don’t have to carry it around. And maybe use it as a trump card.

I continue Consuming other items, but nothing worthwhile. Even my cell phones, the older and newer models were a bust. The books and manga I had were all brittle, but I managed to recover most of them. When nothing was left, I went to the other rooms of my house.

Barely half an hour later, I exit what’s left of my home and see the night sky. The moonlight shone strongly as I took in the area around my house. Everything had been replaced by an overgrown forest. The neighboring houses were nowhere to be seen, nor were my family cars. It was only then that I remembered about my family. Yet strangely enough I didn’t feel sadness at all. Even if they may be dead, I didn’t… miss them.

I didn’t have the best relationship with my parents, but it was okay. I think. Ignoring these thoughts, for now, I start surveying the area around my house. The river behind my home is now twice as large as it was. I had been so accustomed to its ambient sounds that I didn’t register their sudden increase.

Going close to it, I realized the discrepancy in time and looked up. When I woke up, the light coming through the windows gave me the impression of being late afternoon. But it's close to midnight now!? How? I look at the moon and watch it, only to feel something wrong about it. As I watched it, the moon moved, slowly but faster than it should.

Using Realize: Analyze, I discovered a lot of things wrong. The mountains that should’ve existed around my home were gone. It should’ve been obvious that the moon wasn’t alone in the sky, but the second one was partially hidden behind some trees, making it hard to see it clearly. And there were no stars. At all.

Before I could search for more discrepancies in the world around me, a hideous croak echoed from the river, followed by a heavy thud that reverberated through the ground. I instinctively looked for the source of the sounds, only to have my curiosity crushed by its horrendous appearance.

A grotesque fusion of frog and spider, half my size. Its slimy, mottled skin glistened under the moonlight, while several twisted and spindly legs jutted from its bloated body, each ending in jagged, clawed tips. Dozens of spider-like eyes gazed at me with their predatory hunger locking onto me, unblinking and menacingly. Its gaping mouth slowly opened, revealing rows of jagged, shark-like teeth, as it suddenly shot its tongue like a chameleon toward my face.