Chapter Two – 002

For the second time in a day, he woke on a seashore.

A firetruck blared into his ears, a cacophony of bells that rattled his sore head. He groaned and tried to roll over, overlaying his head together with his arms. The tangy scent of his waterlogged garments hit him exhausting, and he retched.

Smells nearly as unhealthy as that squid, he thought.

He lurched upright, all of the sudden remembering the ocean monster. He seemed round frantically, coronary heart pounding with adrenaline. It was early morning, the solar simply starting to shine on the grey sands and boring inexperienced sea. There was a heavy mist within the air, as if the solar hadn’t had an opportunity to burn it away but, and it clung to the low locations round him. He may see his left leg the place the creature had grabbed him, the pores and skin was blistered and torn. The identical was true of his left forearm, and my god, they damage so unhealthy!

He held himself nonetheless, driving out the ache till he may get a deal with on it. He targeted on particulars to manage, operating his arms by means of the coarse grey sand (why is it grey?) and seen that each of his wounds had small, round ridges the place the flesh was torn.

Suction cups. He shuddered.

A bell rang brightly in his ear three extra instances, spiking the ache in his head however distracting him from his arm and leg. Then he noticed it: a small icon formed like an exclamation level was flashing within the nook of his imaginative and prescient.

“What is that this?” He thought it seemed like…No, that would not make sense.

Wanting instantly at it was not possible, it stored transferring to the aspect. He stood up, his legs protesting as the burned pores and skin stretched tight. He tried spinning towards the blinking object, nevertheless it’d dance away instantly. After 5 minutes, he had had sufficient. “AGH! What the hell! Open!”

And it did.

His imaginative and prescient was all of the sudden inundated with small blue containers, semi-transparent and crammed with massive off-white script. He could not place why they appeared so acquainted till he learn one.

“No means.”

The Continent Welcomes You, Unbound!

Select Your Race!

That is insane, he managed, his thoughts reeling. It is like a sport. What’s an Unbound?

Dozens of names started to populate beneath the Race header, and he caught a number of. Human, Elf, Dwarf, one thing referred to as a Traxik. However then there was a stuttering glitch with the display screen and sparks of crimson gentle bled onto the blue. Three notifications appeared in speedy succession, all save the final tinged by that crimson hue and accompanied by a droning tone.

ERR0R((#)! Further Choices Granted!

ERROR#12! Race Already Chosen!

You Have Chosen: Nym

Nym: Will Unyielding, Soul of Hearth. A Misplaced Race.

+1 to WIL, INT, DEX And END Per Stage, +5 Bonus Stats Per Stage. -5% XP Achieve.

All Selections Have Penalties.

“What? I did not select anythi–“

Earlier than he may end the sentence, his jaw snapped shut as his physique was wracked with Ache. Capital ‘P’ ache that damage so unhealthy it felt like his blood was on hearth. Screams tried to worm their means out of him, however his throat had swollen and his lungs felt like they’d burst. That droning tone grew louder, extra insistent, extra textured; it rattled by means of him like a subwoofer had been put in beneath his pores and skin, shaking his bones till the whole lot simply got here free. He thrashed within the sand, in silent agony.

Then, right away, it stopped.

The ache disappeared, as if it had by no means been, and his notifications cleared and repopulated.

Race Efficiently Modified.

Put together For Your Reveal!

My what? What the hell is happening?

Congratulations! You Have Revealed Your Omen!

ERROR! Omens–ERR-0R!

Omens Are–#F(=)

Y*% H*@V3 ReV$al$#: (#$ F00–ERROR

Extra crimson gentle, extra noise, although every subsequent notification was met with increasingly blue and gold. A ache slowly gathered behind his eyes, intense any solely getting worse at every flashing field.

A burst of blue and gold sparks inundated his imaginative and prescient, fully obscuring the whole lot else and drowning out that irregular static with the sound of a ringing bell. A single stout-bordered blue field appeared. There was not a touch of crimson to it.

You Have Revealed: The Magician

+2 to WIL, +1 to INT, And PER Per Stage.

A wave of rainbow gentle exploded outward from him, like an increasing orb. It occurred so all of the sudden, he may solely watch because it whisked into the gap, a receding line that did not contact the free sand at his toes.

What? He seemed down at himself, confused and barely terrified. Omens? Magician? He did not even know what that meant!

After which he did, as if the information was shoved into his mind:

The Magician: The Will To Know.

That is…lower than helpful. He ran a shaking hand by means of his darkish hair, slicking it again with an rising quantity of sweat. All of this had him lined in a flop sweat, to not point out the constructing warmth within the air. He was overwhelmed. No matter was happening had extra guidelines to it than he may grasp. And that gentle present was…regarding, to say the least.

And the ache…it nonetheless tingled his fingertips, an echo of torment he could not shake. The ache greater than something had him certain that this, no matter it was, was all actual.

Nevertheless it could not be…may it?

As silly because it sounded, even within the privateness of his personal head, it felt like he was in an RPG or MMO sport. Fantasy races, blue menu screens, magic and monsters…all of it felt terribly acquainted. Save that he wasn’t accustomed to the Nym race in any fiction, and the time period “Omen” was additionally unfamiliar, although he guessed it was one thing like a category. If this was all a delusion, his creativeness was smarter than he had ever thought.

In lower than a breath, one other notification popped up.

Select Your Born Trait!

This time the window was populated by dozens, lots of, then hundreds of choices. A scroll bar on the aspect of the notification window slowly grew smaller and smaller, till he may barely see it. The error messages did not reappear, fortunately, and he discovered himself looking at extra choices than he knew what to do with. The rising checklist of choices ranged from helpful to downright weird.

Mighty Thews: +2 to STR and +2 bonus to any Feats of Energy carried out.

Gifted Voice: +2 to VIT and +2 bonus to all Negotiations with sentient creatures that share your language.

Fish Breath: Breathe underwater, in a position to eat total fish in a single swallow.

…

“So many….”

You Have Realized a Ability!

Acid Resistance (Widespread), Stage 1

Lower harm from acid by a small quantity. Quantity will increase barely with Ability Stage.

Felix grimaced, the style of the Dread’s ichor nonetheless faint in his mouth. No less than it was good for one thing. The second he closed the notification, one other three appeared in fast succession:

Acid Resistance is now Stage 2!

Acid Resistance is now Stage 3!

Acid Resistance is now Stage 4!

Huh. Felix’s eyes widened as he felt his accidents start to burn much less. Now as an alternative of a faint burning they simply felt like a typical open wound, moist and stinging within the air. Did this imply he may prepare Acid Resistance by leaping within the brackish water? He glanced on the waveless sea earlier than him, imagining the creatures squirming beneath.

He shuddered. Onerous move.

You’ve Gained a Title!

Survivor I (Unusual)!

Your Well being has dropped beneath 5%, however you lived to inform the story! +1 END, +1 VIT!

You Have Realized A Ability!

Analyze (Widespread), Stage 1

Intuit information of individuals, locations, and issues! Will garner extra data with additional use!

You Have Analyzed Your Enemy!

Title: The Dread

Kind: Blood Beast

Stage: ???

HP: ???

MP: ???

Lore: The Dread is all consuming, all highly effective, and unstoppable.

Analyze, huh? Felix was inordinately happy. If he was going the route of information gatherer then this could be a core talent.

That monster identify and lore although…Yikes.

You Have Escaped The Dread! You Fled Quite Than Die A Painful Loss of life! Clever Transfer!

XP Earned!

Felix let loose a shrill yawp as all of the sudden gentle enveloped his physique. He scrambled to his toes as a virtually inaudible but haunting melody crashed towards his ears, and the sunshine pale simply as rapidly because it appeared. A brand new notification appeared earlier than him, and this time the field was gilded and surrounded by a stylized border.

Stage up!

You Are Now Stage 2!

+3 to WIL! +2 to INT! +1 to DEX! +1 to END! +1 to PER!

You Have 5 Unused Stat Factors!

“Holy shit,” he stated, his eyes large. “It IS like a online game.”

This solely affirmed his more and more paranoid suspicion that he had died and gone to a very unusual afterlife. He had stats. And ranges! What even was this?

The notifications continued, unabated.

Your Title Gourmand Has Garnered You Perception!

You Have Realized A Ability!

Reminiscences of the Previous (Unusual), Stage 1

Seize Reminiscences from the Mana of your foes! Relive collected Reminiscences to achieve perception and study out of your enemies! Reminiscences final till relived, then fade. Share retained decided by Ability Stage.

SYNERGY DETECTED!

Eager Thoughts Has Synergy With Reminiscences of the Previous (U)!

Do You Want To Evolve Your Ability?

Y/N

“Uh, sure. Why would not I?”

Evolution In Course of…

Felix all of the sudden felt light-headed and sweaty, as if he hadn’t eaten in days and tried to run a marathon. His arms shook as he held them as much as his head. He noticed extra flashes of blue and gold within the corners of his imaginative and prescient, like fireworks simply out of sight. That ache reawakened, flaring alongside his pores and skin and burrowing up his backbone.

The sound of a bell chimed, barely audible, and the ache quickly spiked. Felix’s breath was sucked from his chest, like he’d been punched within the photo voltaic plexus. His physique felt like a deflating balloon, and all of his air was dashing out of him, gathering on the edges of his imaginative and prescient.

You Have Found A Ability!

Classes of the Previous (Uncommon), Stage 1

Seize Reminiscences from the Mana of your foes! All Reminiscences are retained completely for 30 days, after which retention is elevated by Ability Stage. Probability of studying Abilities from retained Reminiscences will increase with Ability Stage.

GASP! Felix sucked in a sudden breath, lastly in a position to breath, and he fell to his knees. His head felt full of cotton and likewise vaguely on hearth. The ache of the evolving Ability was vivid however transient, a boring burn that even now pale away. The notification hovered earlier than him as he coughed into the sandy loam, blinking insistently till he acknowledged it. He seemed up.

Ho-holy cow.

If he was studying this appropriately, he may study Abilities from the recollections of enemies he’d, what? Defeated? Encountered? That was wildly overpowered. His selection of Born Trait was already bearing fruit.

Reminiscence Gained From The Dread! Would You Like To Overview It Now?

Sure/Sure