1 Rough Transition

This story is heavily inspired by Reborn in Danmachi with a Tensura System by Salty Gamer, and I give them full credit for this story idea. I will try to avoid the same story beats and ideas that they used in their story, but the beginning with the first few Arts and Skills may be similar.

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All I could remember was a flash of light, then darkness. I could faintly feel my body soaring through the air before slamming into the ground. I felt bones shatter and arteries severed by the force of the impact that I received. There should have been anger, disbelief, or fear surging through me as I died, but all I felt was acceptance. Fear of the end had been a major aspect of my life, but when I stared down oblivion at the end, I was surprisingly calm. 

"So much for being a prodigy," I thought with derision as I briefly reflected on my life. There were so many things that I had left unfinished. It felt unfair, but I supposed that life is just unfair at times. People don't get to choose the circumstances they are born into.

[Confirmed. Unique Skill: Prodigy acquired] 

I heard a voice ring in my ears dimly, feeling as though I had recognized it from somewhere. However, the massive damage to my body had left me with little time to live, and I had already spent most of that time reflecting on my life. 'I wish I could have been able to see more before the end,' I thought as I felt my life draining away by the moment, although it felt like I was watching it happen to someone else through a TV screen. Although, I was under no illusions about the reality of the situation.

[Confirmed. Unique Skill: Farseer acquired] 

Finally, my shredded lungs and pulverized organs gave one final heave, attempting to prolong my life, but failed, leading to a full shutdown of my body. Once that happened, the darkness around me seemed to deepen and devour me. I couldn't have struggled even if I wanted to as all sensation disappeared and I seemed to float off on a cloud of nothingness. 

[ERROR: Reincarnation Failed. ERROR: Body Construction Failed. ERROR: Dimensional Target Lock Failed.]

I was broken out of my acceptance by a machine-like voice sounding an alarm around me, but I couldn't make out the words. As some sensation returned slowly, it felt as though I were 1,000 leagues underwater, unable to see or hear due to the distortion of the water. My mind felt crushed by pressure, unable to think or process information clearly. I tried to look around, but there was only darkness and a faint thread of light. However, that light was quickly starting to fade as the mechanical voice seemed to become more desperate somehow though it had no emotion.

[ERROR. ERROR. ERROR. Imparting Fragment of Consciousness Into Reincarnator and Correcting Course to Alternate Dimension.]

Then, there was a roaring sound, and the darkness seemed to shift around me as the thread of light disappeared into the distance. The darkness seemed to come alive in the absence of the thread, attempting to destroy me, but a spark of light emerged from my form and altered my direction off to the side and down. The majority of the spark returned to the thread that disappeared, but a small section stayed with me. The light of the spark held back the encroaching darkness, but it was fading fast.

I felt mounting pressure as the darkness seemed to try and crush me and the spark in front of me. I gasped in pain as the restrictions around me got so powerful it felt like I was caught in a vice destined to crush me. The darkness seemed to become tangible just then as my subconscious registered I was about to be obliterated. There was nothing I could do but wait for the end.

[Survival Protocol Activated. Unique Skill: Farseer sacrificed]

Suddenly, the pressure lessened, and I began to fall through the darkness again as the spark released a concentrated beam of light that illuminated a new silvery string in the distance. This one seemed to be weaker than the previous one we were following, but its light successfully held back the darkness as I traveled along it, slipping in and out of lucidity all the while. As I approached the end of the thread, I felt myself being actively pulled forward now. It was no longer about me being towed along through the darkness by the spark. I was now actively falling.

My fragmented consciousness processed the change and began to struggle, but there was nothing I could do. Eventually, as I sped up, the darkness was peeled away, and I caught a glimpse of a beautiful and vibrant world with a large tower erected high into the sky from the surface of one of the cities. In my current state, I couldn't put any of the pieces together about what was happening to me or where I was, so I just closed my eyes to keep from being overwhelmed. 

[Unable to Generate Body. Merging Host's Soul with a Suitable Vessle]

Suddenly, my direction was altered once more, and I found myself plummeting toward one of the great forests of the world. All of this action was finally too much for my hazy mind, and I went into complete shutdown. The last thing I registered was my soul plummeting down toward a massive tree half the size of a skyscraper and impacting the body of a young man standing by the base of the tree. There was a brief searing pain deep inside my soul as I felt it connect and merge with something else. Then, everything finally fell still and quiet.

. . . POV: 3rd . . .

At the base of the Sacred tree in the heart of the Wishe Forest, ruled by the elves, stood a young man with light golden flowing hair and deep pricing blue eyes. He wore a coronet of woven antler horns, flowers, and vines to signify his position as prince and member of the forest's ruling lineage. However, instead of a strong and proud elf in his prime, the young man was sickly and weak. He leaned heavily on a cane as he rested his hand against a massive root of the sacred tree.

Magical power was constantly pumped into the air by the tree, allowing the elves of the forest to cast magic without the need of the gods. Just standing in the forest and breathing allowed one to absorb energy over time, enhancing ones body and allowing for the development of latent magical abilities over time. This was not true in the case of the prince, the magic in the air only served to prolong the inevitable decay of his body as it was consumed by sickness. That is why he came to the tree, to absorb magic from the root to try and overwealm his sickness and finally heal.

As his hand contacted the tree, mana coursed through him, giving a transient feeling of strength. The prince sighed as he pulled away from the bark, disheartened by the lack of effect on his disease by the mana of the tree. Three guards stood watch around the prince, wooden armor gleaming as if made of metal and hands-on finely crafted silvery swords ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. They stood vigilant despite the fact that no non-elf had ever pushed this far into the forest, not during times of peace or war, when the entirety of elven forests had been threatened.

The guards stood eerily still with only the patience and grace that a long-lived race could active. They didn't so much as twitch as the late afternoon light turned to dusk above them, and the prince continued his slow stumbling pace back and forth before the tree. They didn't question or doubt, just waited and watched. They had their backs to the prince, cognisant of the prince's desire not to have his weakness observed by others. 

However, this meant that none of them noticed when a small streak of light from the sky hit the prince in the back. His back arched, and a silent scream left his lips as black bile exploded in a fountain from every orifice and pore before he collapsed to the ground face first. Only the reek of the expunged bile and the sound of the impact alerted the guards as they turned and rushed to aid the prince. The chant to a healing spell already tumbling from the lips of one guard as they rushed to the prince's side. 

Nothing they did worked, so they picked up the fallen man gently and rushed him back toward the central palace. In their haste, they did not notice the faint connection between the fallen prince and the tree as magical power was pumped out of the tree and into the man's body. 

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Sorry if this first chapter was a bit odd, the story will really kick off next chapter