Following Sylvia's directions, Davin found the inn quickly.
It was a large three-story wooden building set on a foundation of dark stone. A carved sign hung above the door. Davin stared at it for a few seconds.
Nothing.
Lines.
Symbols.
Meaning for everyone except him.
The body he had inherited understood the spoken language, but it could not read.
Wonderful. Transmigration, magic, goblins, and now I'm illiterate. Excellent balance.
He looked away.
I'll have to learn how to read. Later.
He pushed the door open.
The common room was spacious, warm, and filled with several tables where customers ate amid a noise that was almost comfortable. A fireplace crackled against the wall. Low beams supported the ceiling. The smell of stew, beer, burning wood, and damp clothes rose to his nose.
A few people turned toward him.
Then turned away very quickly, their faces tightening.
The innkeeper, a broad man with a shaved head and rolled-up sleeves, narrowed his eyes before Davin even reached the counter.
"No."
Davin placed a silver coin on the wood.
The innkeeper looked at the coin.
Then at Davin.
Then back at the coin.
"Two nights," Davin said. "A hot meal. Clean clothes. And access to the baths."
The man remained silent.
"You sleep far from the other guests. You don't touch the sheets before washing. And if the smell stays, I burn the room and charge you for the wood."
"Reasonable."
The innkeeper grunted, took the coin, then handed him an iron key.
Davin had just discovered another universal law.
Money did not erase contempt.
But it made contempt negotiable.
His room was spartan: a narrow bed, a small table, a chair, and a pitcher of cold water set in one corner. The wooden walls were poorly insulated, and a blade of light slipped under the door.
To Davin, it was luxury.
He closed the door behind him, took out the pill, and placed it at the center of the table.
The small dark sphere looked ridiculous.
Too small to change anything.
Too precious to leave out of his sight.
My meal will arrive soon. Bath after. Pill now.
The idea of washing first had crossed his mind.
Then he imagined another guest, a servant, or the innkeeper himself searching the room while he was at the baths.
No.
He removed his filthy tunic, grimacing when the fabric pulled against the scratches on his chest, then sat cross-legged on the floor.
A.I., based on the information recorded today, assist me in detecting internal flows after ingestion of this substance.
[BEEP. System Message / Assistance mode activated.Unregistered foreign substance.Comparative analysis pending ingestion.]
Davin drew a long breath.
Then swallowed the pill.
It tasted bitter.
Damp earth.
Burned herbs.
Medicine forgotten at the bottom of a drawer.
He closed his eyes.
And waited.
Nothing.
He breathed in slowly, just as Sylvia had advised.
Still nothing.
He searched for heat, vibration, any difference in his blood.
Nothing.
Minutes passed.
His jaw tightened.
Did that girl give me a mud-flavored candy or what?
Someone knocked on the door.
Davin opened his eyes abruptly.
A stable boy entered with a tray, went pale when he saw Davin bare-chested, covered in scratches, mud, and dried blood, then set the meal on the table as fast as possible.
"The… the bath is downstairs, behind the main room."
He nearly ran out.
Davin watched the door close.
Very good. Even the staff is fleeing. My olfactory reputation transcends social class.
The meal consisted of a steaming bowl of soup, a piece of grilled meat, unknown vegetables, a loaf of bread, and a hoppy drink.
He ate with the hunger of a wolf.
Not like in the alley.
Not like an animal on the edge of death.
But with the silent intensity of someone who had no intention of ever experiencing that hunger again.
The warmth of the meal soothed his anger somewhat.
The pill still did nothing.
Either it works slowly, or I've just received my first lesson in local scams.
Once full, he took the clean clothes under his arm and went down to the communal baths.
The place was simple: a warm stone room, several basins separated by low partitions, steam clinging to the ceiling. The water probably came from the waterfalls or some rudimentary canal system. Davin had neither the energy nor the dignity required to investigate.
When hot water ran over his bruised body, he had to close his eyes.
True release.
Mud loosened from his skin.
Goblin blood vanished in dark streaks.
The grime accumulated since his awakening in this world slid into the murky water.
His scratches burned at first, then the pain became bearable.
For the first time since his death, Davin felt almost human.
Not safe.
Not clean in any moral sense.
But at least washed.
Which, after two days in this world, already felt like a social promotion.
As he dried himself, a diffuse warmth suddenly prickled through his muscles.
He stopped.
The sensation did not come from the water.
It came from within.
A slow, warm current spread through his arms, his legs, his chest. His wounds began to itch. His muscles contracted in discreet waves.
Ah. So the mud candy just needed time.
A.I., analyze my body. Display my statistics.
[BEEP. System Message / Analysis in progress…] > HOST STATUS:Name: DavinBiological age: 19 yearsStrength: 1.2 (Standard average: 1.0)Agility: 1.1Vitality: 1.2Mana: 1.5
[Alert / Recommendation: Effects of the alchemical capsule assimilated.Acute deficiencies partially compensated.Primary muscular reconfiguration detected.Detection and nomenclature confirmed: foreign energy flow corresponds to the local term "Mana."]
Davin remained still.
His reflection trembled in the steam.
I did it.
No.
Not exactly.
He forced himself to correct the thought.
The pill did something. I mostly swallowed and waited like a suspicious idiot.
But the result was there.
His body had changed.
Not transformed into a weapon.
Not yet.
But repaired just enough to cross a threshold. The deep hunger had receded. His muscles no longer trembled with every movement. His scratches still pulled at his skin, but his body responded better.
And most importantly…
Mana.
The word was no longer a rumor.
No longer an insult thrown by a receptionist.
No longer pressure surrounding a mage.
It was data inside his own body.
He understood the mechanism a little better.
The alchemical capsule had not simply added mana. It had tempered it, filtered it, made it assimilable. A brutal influx would likely have destroyed a body as weak as his.
Just as the jade apple had done on Earth.
Or close enough.
Except the apple didn't exactly try to be gentle.
He left the baths, dried his hair as best he could, then put on his new clothes: a long black shirt made of thick cloth, simple off-white trousers, and dark shoes with rigid soles. Nothing luxurious. Nothing noble. But clean, functional, and most importantly, free of the scent of social death.
He returned to his room and locked the door.
A.I., body projection. I want to see my current appearance.
[BEEP. Internal visual projection activated.]
A translucent silhouette appeared in his field of vision.
Davin finally looked at himself.
A regular face, nothing exceptional. A straight nose. Thick black eyebrows. Deep black eyes, more tired than expressive. A fine jaw, almost adolescent. Black, mid-length hair, still damp.
The kind of face people barely noticed.
Which was not necessarily a flaw.
The body told a different story.
Thin.
Not dying anymore.
But far from impressive. His shoulders remained narrow, his arms too slim, his rib cage barely outlined beneath the shirt. His legs had gained a little tension, not mass. The result looked less like a starving corpse and more like a thief who had finally eaten.
Magnificent. I've evolved from "dying beggar" to "suspicious but mobile person."
It was already better.
He would need to train.
A lot.
Eat more.
Understand cultivation.
Avoid dying, in that order if possible.
Davin closed the projection and sat cross-legged again.
He placed a hand over his chest.
A.I., assist me in sensing mana. Use the data from Sylvia, Kys, and the capsule.
[BEEP. System Message / Assistance mode activated.Available references: limited external observations, physiological reaction to the capsule, partial local nomenclature.Alert: reduced simulation accuracy.]
Perfect.
Even limited, the A.I. could compare.
Davin inhaled.
Slowly.
He exhaled.
Again.
He followed his breath until the sounds of the inn grew distant. His pain did not disappear, but it moved into the background. His thoughts slowed. His attention turned inward.
At first, he felt nothing.
Then a dull warmth appeared.
Not in his skin.
Deeper.
A faint current, almost timid, winding through his body with a foreign logic. It was not in his veins, not really. Not in his nerves either. It followed a structure he did not yet understand, an invisible network superimposed over flesh.
Davin did not move.
Slowly. Don't force it.
The warmth intensified.
His breathing remained steady, guided by the A.I.'s silent corrections. A tiny pressure then gathered on the right side of his chest.
A point.
No.
A miniature sphere.
A gate.
Davin felt his heart accelerate.
That's it.
The mana gate.
He wanted to plunge all his attention into it, force it, open it, tear it apart if necessary.
He did no such thing.
Forcing an unknown structure inside an unknown magical system struck him as the best way to die in an original manner.
And he had already innovated enough in that field.
He observed.
The gate was not large.
It resembled a miniature sphere suspended in the darkness of his chest, a compact core of mana still incomplete. At first glance, it seemed tiny. But the more Davin focused on it, the more it gave the impression of containing a space far larger than its size allowed.
Then he saw its color.
Davin nearly stopped breathing.
According to Sylvia, a mana gate at awakening was supposed to be gray.
Ordinary.
Stable.
Universal.
His radiated a brilliant jade green.
Not pale green.
Not natural green.
Jade.
Exactly the same shade as the apple.
A cold, almost mineral beauty pulsed inside his chest like a living ember.
Seconds stretched.
The apple.
There was no other explanation.
But the most astonishing part was yet to come.
The gate was not empty.
It was already nearly half-filled with mana, as if the process had begun long before the pill. As if the jade apple, by killing him, had engraved something into this body.
A head start.
A mark.
An anomaly.
Davin felt an emotion rise inside him.
Not joy.
Not only that.
Fascination.
Greed.
And a very clear thread of fear.
This isn't normal.
This world had hierarchies.
Guilds.
Mages.
People like Kys, capable of sensing mana and looking at others like administrative insects.
If someone discovered that his mana gate was jade green…
Davin had no idea what it meant.
And that was precisely the problem.
Unknown advantage.
Unknown value.
Unknown danger.
His smile came slowly.
Very thin.
So I hide it.
The apple had not merely killed him.
It had altered his nature.
Curse or blessing, the difference would likely depend on his ability to survive long enough to exploit it.
He carefully directed mana toward the gate, without forcing the flow.
The warmth increased.
The miniature sphere filled.
A shiver ran through his entire body.
Then something gave way.
Not a rupture.
A threshold.
As if a lock had just recognized a key.
The air in the room changed.
Not for the world.
For him.
He felt the dust on the floor. The residual heat in the walls. The moisture in the wood. The breath of a drunk guest sleeping two rooms away. The faint vibration of footsteps on the ground floor.
Everything was sharper.
Too sharp.
Davin opened his eyes.
**[BEEP. System Message / Analysis in progress…] > HOST STATUS:Name: DavinVessel: UnknownBiological age: 19 yearsStrength: 1.2 (Standard average: 1.0)Agility: 1.1Vitality: 1.2Mana: 2.5
[Alert: Half-gate threshold reached.Corporeal adaptation in progress.Estimated local classification: Rank 0 — Initial Adept.]**
He stared at the words.
Rank 0.
Initial Adept.
The first rung.
It was not a summit. Barely even a threshold.
But for the first time since his awakening, Davin was no longer just prey.
He placed a hand over his chest, where the jade gate still pulsed in the inner darkness.
His lips curved into a barely visible smile.
There was no joy in it.
No triumph.
Only the thin expression of a man who had just glimpsed a flaw in a system built to crush him.
Different. And probably dangerous, if anyone noticed.
He drew a slow breath.
Very well.
This time, he finally had something to wager.