The very first thing I woke up to, was the face of someone wearing samurai armor.
Guh... m-wha the heck?
“Ah, it seems the core has fully awakened.”
I tried to turn my head to the voice, but realized I didn’t have limbs. At all.
The samurai in front of me turned to face the voice, though, and asked “are you certain it will be strong enough by the next tide? It seems small to me.”
“It will grow, general Chang, we simply need to feed it with materials first so that it will be bound to the Blood Plains. Once that has happened it will only be a matter of supplying it every so often.”
The samurai, who I now knew as general Chang, looked back at me and only then did it occur to me that my point of view was far lower than I was used to.
Something is off.
I tried to look around again.
I strained myself until something mentally ‘snapped’ and abruptly, my view was in third… gem?
How? What could have happened, I was only asleep for ten minutes, right?
Oh. Oh. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no, no, No, NO, NO.
My body is a gem.
I’m in a feudal society.
I’m surrounded by real, living samurai.
Okay, this is fine, totally. Just take a deep breath.
Gems don’t breathe.
Ah. Right. Let’s ignore that for now, focus on positives.
I can see the general’s talking partner now; a woman wearing the most audacious set of robes I’d ever seen was turning away and stuffing what looked like plants into an expensive purse-satchel thing, muttering about an emperor.
If I’m judging the situation right, I’m not in the modern era.
Whatever, I also can see others around me. It turns out that Sir Chang isn’t the only samurai, as around four more march up with a wooden platform, loaded to the brim with grey bricks, rope, wood, and what I can only assume is terracotta in the form of statuettes.
Some strange part of me wanted to take them, but my rational side wanted more information.
“General, have the rest of the materials brought to this site. Prepare the specimens too, while you’re at it.”
The general saluted the absurdly dressed lady and began barking orders to people outside my view.
I wish I could do something, though.
[Core System Activating. Please Stand by]
That doesn’t sound good was all I could think before a strange blue box appeared in my view, blocking my sight of the people around me.
[Lvl: 1 Wall Core (Unnamed)]
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
[Str: 1 Con: 1 Int: 1 Wis: 1 Agi: 1 Dex: 1]
[HP: 1*]
[Current Influence: 2.5m]
[Theme: Select One (Override: Kitsumari)]
[Servant Species: Select One (permanent)]
[Abilities: Multiple Available]
[Mana: 10/10]
[Credits: 5]
Something tells me I’m not on earth. What came next only solidified that thought.
It was at that moment the soldiers chose to arrive with the strange lady’s specimens.
They were monsters, plain and simple. I thought back to a few moments earlier and remembered the general mentioning a ‘tide’ of some kind. This must be them, then. Having the component creatures standing before me made me rethink my chances of survival drastically.
They look like they could tear a fortress in half!
I quickly looked back to the strange status box, and focused on the servant species tab. Maybe it’ll take my mind off the beasts, which currently were trying to rip their handlers in half through the massive black iron cages they were carted around in. Maybe it’ll offer something that can beat these fiends.
[Servant Species: Select One] [Undead (skeleton): Common] [Fox-kin: Unique] [Kobold: Common] [Golem (terracotta): Rare] [Puppet: Uncommon] [Undead (Ghost): Uncommon]
Next to each option, a greyscale figurine of the respective species was seen, all except the golem wearing ragged clothing and holding a variety of tools.
I dismissed the two undead immediately. Even if I don’t have a conventional nose, I could ‘smell’ the aura of the monsters in the cages, and I would rather not deal with death scent every day.
The next four were all interesting in their own ways. Starting with the lowest of the grades, the kobold looked roughly how I expected a lizard-dog man to look, with small claws and a short, thick tail, all covered head to toe with scales. The interesting part was they possessed a sort of mane, which, when I remembered the strange place that I’m in, made some sense.
Next was the puppet. I hated it. It was a disturbingly humanoid figure, skeletally thin, with a tar black skin that glistened in the artificial light of the icon. At least it’s face was covered by a circular white mask.
D-Did I just see it’s skin drip off? Not happening.
Of the two remaining options, the golem looked the most familiar, as it was identical to the famous terracotta warriors from back on earth. The biggest difference was the apparent joints that were sculpted or carved into it, and the fact it had no tool or rags on it like the others did.
The last one was rather interesting. These fox-kin, they were a bit taller than the kobolds, and had a strange symbol emblazoned on their back fur. They wore a straw hat with cut-out ear slots, and a painted mask that would look at home in a Trans-Asian history museum.
A resounding CRACK broke me out of my thoughts. I saw a soldier dressed in reinforced fabrics waving away smoke from the barrel of a musket, and one of the beasts now had a hole through it’s skull and was still breathing.
Right, this is fine.
Totally, undeniably, positively fine.
I don’t want to die.
Okay, okay. Let’s review what I know so far, before having a panic attack.
One. I’m in a strange, feudal era Asian continent of some sort.
Two. The general mentioned a ‘tide’ of some kind, which apparently consists of monsters, beasts, and horrors pushing the limits of comprehension.
Three. There is some sort of ‘system’ that looks more at home in a game, but its real.
Four. I’m a Wall Core, whatever that means, with a bunch of servant species I have yet to pick.
And five?
“Madam Tung-Mei, the Beast Tide has been spotted 200 kilometres from the main border. The routing teams have successfully directed them this way.”
Five. I’m doomed.