A quiet hum left my lips, as I rapped my knuckles against my left arm. The sensation was dull. I could barely even feel the impact. Just as the description had said, my skin had become as hard as rock.
Though it wasn't the only change. Looking down at the splashing waves beneath me, I caught my reflection within them. Crimson hair fell loosely down my shoulders, curling slightly at the ends, but that wasn't what I focused on.
Instead, it was my face. It looked a shade paler, a little whiter, like marble…no, that was a lie. It wasn't like marble. It was marble. I looked almost like a porcelain doll, or a ceramic vase.
"I wonder if these supposed ancients also looked like this." I murmured to myself, touching my face and feeling only a dull sensation.
Either way, I had gone through another otherworldly change that set me apart from the rest of humanity. Then again, having the System alone set me apart from any other human. As it had said, my body—and in turn my life—was akin to a video game.
"Thoughts for another time." I told myself, gazing up into the vast blue sky above me. It was a clear day, with not a cloud in sight. The sun blazed high above me, shining bright in the day.
At first, I had thought it was summer, until a small gust of wind passed me. Even with my skin now dull to most sensations, I could still feel the biting cold it held within. Which meant it was winter.
Something that added more credence to my thought of being reincarnated. Because last I remembered, summer was just beginning to stir when my abduction took place. And I know, I hadn't spent longer than a few days in captivity before I was thrown onto the ship.
"I need to find out where I am, and what exactly this world is." I wasn't stupid after all. I knew how these stories went, I had read them, almost obsessed about them in my youth.
There was no way I was still in my own world.
People did not wake up with a magical screen floating before their eyes after all. Nor did they wake up with an entirely new body that looked nothing like their own. Even if this was my life and not a story, the fact remained that I was brought here for a reason.
Now, I just had to figure out what that reason was.
The System flashed with a new screen.
[====]-[===]-[====]
|| [New Quest] ||
|| [Why Are You Here?] ||
|| [Quest Prompt]: [Awoken suddenly on the beach, you are dazed and unsure of your purpose in this brave new world. You know the stories of many, yet yours remains a mystery. As such, your Quest, is quite simple. Search and find the true reason you were reborn] ||
|| [Quest Rewards] ||
|| [One Mythic Title] ||
|| [One Mythic Attribute] ||
|| [+100,000]-[Experience] ||
|| [+50]-[Stat Points] ||
|| [+25]-[Perk Points] ||
|| [Accept?] ||
|| [Yes/No] ||
[====]-[===]-[====]
"Well…I'd be an idiot not to." I told myself, clicking on the 'Yes' icon. The screen flashed green with my acceptance, before vanishing all together.
"Now then, my items, how do I summon them?" Wordlessly, the screen appeared again. The word 'Inventory' was engraved in its upper left corner, and various tiles covered it, with the two in the top left corner being filled.
"That's going to be useful." I muttered, pressing the cloaks icon.
A glittering cold surrounded my body not a moment sooner. It coalesced around me before gleaming and vanishing entirely, becoming replaced by something physical.
I inspected the cloak as I walked back onto the beach, feeling the sand soften beneath my feet. The cloak was large, yet it fitted me perfectly, falling to just below my knees. It felt like silk when I touched it and was an angelic white colour.
It was wrapped securely around the base of my neck, and when I reached behind me, I felt a loose hood laying flat against my back. Pulling it up, I felt some relief wash over me as my eyes became protected from the sun.
Pulling up my stat screen, I saw that the effects of the cloak were immediate. Whilst my Health Points were still sat as 500 points, right next to it, a new box had appeared, with its own unique 500 points.
"Now how do I activate that flash of light it mentioned?" I wondered. It undoubtedly required mana, but…actually, I didn't even know how to use my mana.
Thinking back to the various novels I had read, I searched for the new and unique energy which lay within me. Many of them had described the sensation originating from the gut, yet I felt nothing.
"Any help, System?" I asked the air, sitting down against the same rock as before. When nothing appeared after an entire minute, I sighed. "I guess this is something I'll have to learn myself."
Crossing my legs and closing my eyes, I tried what every main character before me did.
Meditation.
It was usually the answer to this sort of problem, but the longer I sat there, the more I began to feel that maybe it wasn't the answer. Nothing distinct or unnatural was running through me, it almost felt as if I didn't have any mana within me.
Unless…
Taking a small breath in, I let it out in the next second and refocused on myself. In some cases, mana was described as not only a mystical energy but living life force. So, what if my approach had just been wrong this entire time.
What if I wasn't meant to look for something distinct or unnatural. What if, instead, I was meant to find something that was deeply engraved into my very being?
Time lost all meaning for me as I looked, and looked, and then looked some more. Everything felt too normal inside of me. My blood flowed, my heart, beat, my lungs expanded.
I tried to visualize it.
It was something I was always good at me. If I could imagine it, see it in my head and account for every variable, then I could replicate it.
'Make it simple.' I told myself. 'Red is for blood. Blue is for mana. Red for veins, blue for arteries, differentiate it, give it a physical form.'
A minute passed. Then two, five, ten…
"Found you…" I could feel a grin playing on my lips. Tugging at the mysterious energy, I didn't try to command it or give it any orders. So engraved it was in this—my—body, that it was slow to react at first.
It felt as if it was waking up from a long slumber. I had to coax it, encourage it to move, ask it to listen to me. Until finally…my eyes slowly peeled open, and there, sitting in the palm of my right hand, sat a small vapor of blue energy.
I had it.
A screen flashed next to my face, a single message engraved with gold waiting for me.
[====]-[===]-[====]
|| [New Aspect Unlocked] ||
|| [Aspect]: [Mana Manipulation] ||
|| [Level 1]: [Progression: 2%] ||
|| [Status]: [Active] ||
|| [Rarity]: [Legendary] ||
|| [Your imagination is your greatest obstacle] ||
|| [Description]: [The user is able to manipulate their mana for a variety of purposes] ||
|| [Cost]: [Various MP] ||
[====]-[===]-[====]
|| [Secret Quest Completed!] ||
|| [Quest]: [The Honoured One] ||
|| [Quest Prompt]: [In a world where only the Gods can manipulate mana, and mortals are left with the inferior Sacral Essence, become the first human to ever wield their divine might] ||
|| [Quest Rewards]: ||
|| [One Mythic Title]-[The Honoured One]
|| [+5000]-[Experience] ||
|| [+25]-[Stat Points] ||
|| [+10]-[Perk Points] ||
[====]-[===]-[====]
"Ah…" That was all I could get out, before both my body and mind began to burn with a fresh bout of pain. "Curses!"