405 Sage [#1]
"...huh." He didn't expect to wake up like this. Looking around himself, he saw a rather clean bathroom. His body was wet and he was in a bathtub, he could smell the scent of something burned too- His skin felt tingly and he was kinda energetic too: "Ah... weird." He got up from the bathtub and looked down just to see a toaster in the bathtub with him: "...did I just take a bath with a toaster?" I mean, the thing was not plugged in or turned on or whatever, so he might've just taken a bath with a toaster: "I'm not dead." That's weird, did he get super drunk again? He went for the door of the bathroom when he caught a glimpse of the mirror on the wall- His eyes widened when he saw a face he did not recognize.
Gone was the mature face he knew, and replacing it was a younger face he hasn't seen in years- He, somehow, got his 18 year old body back. "What." He touched his face, looking for whatever he could grasp, and felt his smooth skin that hadn't seen hardship yet: "The fuck." His name is Sage, or rather, Victor Sage but everyone he had a friendly relationship with called him Sage.
"What is happening-" His words died as a small screen appeared before him, and alongside it, memories of what had happened-
[Name] Victor Sage
Level: 1
Affiliation: Bronze League - United States 7th Area
Strength: 2
Agility: 2
Vitality: 2
Mana: 9
Class: N/A
Gift: Reader (F)
- Able to read everything
Title: None]
-apparently this version of him committed suicide because of this little thing called "Gift". You see, in 2010 the world received a new "game", the Battle Net. In this game, people would compete in various stages of gameplay and even against themselves! At the age of 18 one would unlock their "Gift", which was one of the things that defined theur destiny, the higher the ranking of their Gift the greater their future. And him? He got a useless Gift, making his future bleak- He already didn't have faith in the future, so when he saw that his gift was also useless, this younger version of him decided to commit suicide. He had no family, they all died when the dungeons started to appear and the goverment didn't know how to deap with them quickly enough, and the last living family member he had died after spending years in the hospital- And you know how America's Healthcare is... Well, besides being extremely expensive, it also is subpar in quality.
Or at least it was until the appearance of Players. With their classes (Warrior, Archer, Mage, and Support) they could do incresible things. This version of him also hoped to become a player too, work and get money jot only to pay the medical debt (about 5.5 million dollars now) and then live his life... But he fell to despair and commited suicide by taking a bath with a toaster. "...poor kid." It was a version of himself, he himself was an orphan and never met his parents, but he could still feel bad for this kid's parents and family.
"Let's see..." He looked and focused on his stats for a moment and-
[Stats: Numerical quantification of your strengths.
Strength: Physical strength, can be upgraded upon reaching 10 before finishing the tutorial.
Agility: Physical speed/reaction speed, can be upgraded upon reaching 10 before finishing the tutorial.
Vitality: Physical stamina/body's ability to resist outside forces that affect the body, can be upgraded upon reaching 10 before finishing the tutorial.
Mana: Magical capacity and potential, can be upgraded into many other unique stats upon reaching 10 before finishing the tutorial.
Class: Select between four classes. Unique classes can be unlocked upon unlocking unique stats.
Gift: Reader (F): You can read anything, but the information you get is limited. Can be upgraded.
Upgrade conditions: Read more than 100 things.]
"...huh." His gift can be really useful. He read everything twice to make sure he had a good idea of what he just read- It seems his Gift can show him the secrets of this world, but to reach further, he has to upgrade it. 'How many things have I read and how does it count the amount of read things?' He thought to himself for a moment before looking over again at his stats, this time focusing on his gift and his gift alone-
[Gift: Reader (F)
- Able to read everything.
Upgrade conditions:
Read 100 things (90/100)]
"...so I've already read 90 things." So it must count everything, right? Books, novels, and other things? But why is the amount so small? Is it only counting this body's reading count? Because if so, this version of him read nothing most of his life! "Let's try..." He got out of the bathroom and into his apartment, as he looked around and focused, he was able to read everything his eyes landed on:
[Table: A wooden object used as decoration for a living room. Not very good in quality. ]
[Vase: A small vase made of porcelain. Drop it and it'll break.]
[Window: A hole in the wall covered in glass to allow you to see the outside from the inside. Careful not to jump through it.]
[Sofa: A sofa. You sit on it. What else do you expect it to do?]
[Candle: A candle. It illuminates everything around it when lit.]
[Spoon: Used to eat. Can also be bent by a Psychic.]
[Fork: Stab food with it. Can be bent by a Psychic.]
[Water: A highly dangerous acid with a high PH level, known to melt someone's skin and even kill people.]
[Sunlight: Light that comes from the sun. You can try to do photosynthesis?]
[Human: NO.4212 Species. Considered one of the lowest lifeforms.]
"Wait, what was that last one-"
[Conditions met. Your gift is being upgraded.]
[Gift: Reader (E)
- Able to read everything.
- Upon touching something, you can read very available information about it.
Conditions:
- Read more than 100 items
- Unlock a Unique Stat.]
"...huh."
-Scene Cut-
Sage: *reading smut* The plot really thickens.
-Scene Cut-
The Battle Net was something... interesting. Sage found himself amidst the many players, he was not aware that once you unlocked your status window and received your gift, you would participate in the Battle Net! He looked at the people killing each other and had a rather thoughtful expression on his face. His eyes seemed to almost glow as his gift [Reader] easily made everyone's movements easy to read and trace. "Huh." It was an interesting experience to have, especially when you don't know what the fuck is going on. He hadn't received any official training nor had he been taught how to fight, but he could easily see where the warriors would attack, where the archers would shoot their arrows, where the mages would shoot their spells, and when the supports would heal or grant buffs to others.
Most importantly, he watched the Mages and the Supports. Why? Because they were the ones that showed him something. Every once in a while, when he focused, he could see this line of energy being drawn from their body and weaved into some sort of shape that then turned quickly into a spell or skill.
He knew that he had one of those energies, seeing as he had mana, but the golden lines being drawn from the support were what caught his attention- But he didn't have that energy within him because when he looked at his own body, he only saw the light blue energy.
He watched easily as an arrow came flying towards him, he could see the arrow move to him and he thought of dodging- But just because he can see, doesn't mean his body can react!
At least his death was instantaneous! An arrow to the brain.
[You've failed the tutorial.]
[Returning...]
When he woke back on his bed, Sage looked down at his own body and pulled the thread of energy out. It floated there before his hand for a moment before he tried to shape it. 'Let's see... circle?' With a lot of difficulty, he willed the energy to bend, and when it became a circle- It fazed out. "Fuck!" He felt a headache instantly, which made him wince.
But he tried again, this time trying to remember what the mages did- They chanted their spells, right? "Let's see..." He pulled the energy out in the string form and whispered "fire" to it, he saw it wibble and wobble a little as his hand grew warmer for a few seconds: "Language is association." This time he thought of flames, of fire and brimstone, of heat and charcoal.
The mana in his hands grew and brightly shined before a flame flickered on his fingertips. "Huh." It was weird to see fire in his hands, but it felt so fucking cool!
[Achievement - Magic Apprentice - unlocked]
[Magic Apprentice: Learn Magic without the system's help]
[+10,000 Achievement Points]
[Achievement Points detected]
[Outsider Soul detected]
[Your existence is important enough]
[Opening Achievement Shop]
"...huh?" Sage blinked as he stared at the windows in front of his face: "This is... interesting."
[Achievement Shop LV.1]
-Achievement Shop Uprank – 20,000P
-Status Window Expansion LV.1 – 10,000P
-Class Slot Addition LV.1 – 10,000P
[Achievement Shop Lvl 1]
"..." He only has 10,000 points, what can he do with this!? He doesn't even have a class yet!? "...I'll just do it later." He continued to pull out his mana and tried to bend and control it better, it was hard at first and required a lot of focus from him, but he just found ways to better control it! Instead of just trying to forcefully bend the energy to his wish, he instead imagined and focused, willing and guiding the energy to what he wanted it to be! And, under his control, it did bend.
[+1 Mana]
[Your mana has achieved 10 before the conclusion of the tutorial]
[Your Mana has changed to fit your soul.]
[Achievement - Unique Stat - Unlocked]
[+10,000 Achievement Points]
[Achievement - Unique Soul - Unlocked]
[+100,000 Achievement Points]
"Status Window." Immediately, Sage opened his status window, and he was surprised.
[Name] Victor Sage
Level: 1
Affiliation: Bronze League - United States 7th Area
Strength: 2
Agility: 2
Vitality: 2
Ether: 10
Class: N/A
Gift: Reader (E)
- Able to read everything
- Upon touching something, you can read very available information about it.
Title: None]
"..." Okay, time to do it again!
[Ether: The building blocks of reality. This energy is very rare and pure, it can only be found in special places. This energy has the property to easily imitate and change into other attributes under the user's control, being one of the most powerful - Antithesis to the Nether Energy]
"-damn."
Damn indeed.
