Chapter 5

The boy felt his awareness slowly slip back into him; his entire body felt like it had been chucked into a meat grinder. He opened his bleary eyes and tried to sit up. His muscles creaked and groaned as he did, and he groaned along with them.

He slowly looked around the room he was in. It was a stone room with glowing white stones on the walls as a light source. The bed he was laying on was simple and uncomfortable. There weren’t any windows or any form of natural lighting.

He took stock of his body’s condition; taking note of all the bruises lining his limbs as he carefully worked his way to his feet. Fortunately nothing was broken. He didn’t know what happened but for The Overseer to drop him off in this condition…it didn’t make him very happy.

There was a strange kind of energy in the air; he took note of it as it pressed up against his skin, like it was trying to force its way into his body. The energy kept pressing, and pressing until it felt like the boy’s lungs were going to burst. His head throbbed and the pain from his damaged body got worse.

Just as the boy thought that this strange energy was about to kill him it felt like his entire body relaxed, no, like his spirit relaxed an instead of pressing on him the strange energy flowed through him.

A screen popped up in front of him as he stood shakily on his feet trying to keep his balance and his consciousness after all the agony.

Mana accepted…

System initializing…

Setting Class: WorldWanderer as primary…

Two unique skills unlocked…

Skill: World Knowledge X Gained!

Skill: System Knowledge X Gained!

Skill: World Knowledge X initializing…

Skill: System Knowledge X initializing…

Error!

Error!

Error!

After the text read ‘Error!’ for the first time, a flash of sheer agony jolted through the boy. Before, he was able to keep quiet as the strange energy ‘Mana’ crushed him and added to his agony but, this…he screamed a soul churning screech of pain. The kind usually reserved for those being subjected to the most horrendous of tortures.

He screamed and thrashed on the ground unable to control himself as wave after wave of pain hit his head. It felt like someone had dropped a sledgehammer onto his head. It felt like agony and torment incarnate had decided to pay him a visit as images rushed through his skull and, just as quickly as it began: it stopped.

The boy lay gasping on the ground trying to deal with the backlash of all the pain as another screen popped in front of him.

Disabling skill: World Knowledge X…

Disabling skill: System Knowledge X…

Recalculating…

Processing…

Skills: World Knowledge X and System Knowledge X adapting…

Skill: World Knowledge X becomes World Insight X…

Skill: System Knowledge X becomes System Insight X…

Acquired Skill: System and World Guide…

Please wait for System and World Guide to finish initializing…

Time for System and World Guide to finish initializing: 23:59:55…

Error resolved: open Status to confirm

The boy creaked and wobbled to his feet. The pain in his head was gone even if the pain in his body remained. He instinctively knew how to open the ‘Status’ mentioned on the screen in front of him.

Following his instincts he concentrated on his heartbeat and felt how the Mana flowed through it just like his blood; he pushed on the mana guiding it away from his body and imagining it representing ‘him.’

He felt a tick of annoyance as he gazed at his Status.

Name: Crimson Hokori

Titles: Suspicious Prisoner, Blessed Luck

Class: WorldWanderer 0/0

Sub-Class: [Empty]

Sub-Class: [Empty]

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Health Pool (HP): 33/100 r/s 1.0 [suspended]

Magic Pool (MP): 100/100 r/s 1.0

Stamina (STA): 100 r/s 1.0

Strength (STR): 10

Agility (AGI): 10

Constitution (CON): 10

Vitality (VIT): 10

Intelligence (INT): 10

Wisdom (WIS): 10

Perception (PER): 10

Willpower (WIL): 10

Charisma (CHA): 10

Luck (LUC): 90

What’s with that stupid name?!?!?

Crimson ground his teeth together trying to repress his rage. Not only does The Overseer drop him in a prison cell with the crap beaten out of him and subject him to a whole warehouse of pain but, he also gives him an incredibly stupid name!

He breathed out a sigh after coming to the conclusion that getting mad about it wouldn’t get him anywhere. It would be better to focus, and see what else he could learn from his Status. Plus if a stupid name was the only price he had to pay for a life without his crippled body it would be a cheap price.

His stats were straight average across the board which made Crimson feel a little confused; there should be a little variance. If the stats were brought over from his past life then his strength stat alone should be much lower.

Back when he was still a cripple there were children, who could beat him in an arm wrestling contest. Based off that alone his strength stat should be lower. This was without even considering his other stats. He felt almost offended seeing his intelligence stat at ’10.’

Crimson sat back down on the bed; treating his own body like it was made of glass. His health regen was currently suspended and his health was WAY below half, both of these things terrified him at a base level. Even though he knew that his health wasn’t going any lower it was still a kick in the face of his mortality.

He stared down his Status looking for anything else that might help him understand.

Skill: System Instinct has activated

Right after that popup appeared in front of Crimson he felt his instincts act up again and he focused on his Class. Another screen popped up next to his Status detailing the information on this ‘WorldWanderer’ Class.

WorldWanderer:

Description: A temporary class that can be overwritten. Any class that overwrites it will give +1 to all stats that don’t receive gains from any Class or Subclass. All basic stats (except luck) set to 10. This class can only be granted to those who have journeyed from another world.

Gives: N/A

Stages: ?

Well that explains a lot about my status. Crimson though to himself. Still, this is a fairly OP Class. It will keep all my stats up. I guess I’ll see if this class is able to make up for being tossed into a prison cell.

Crimson noticed several tabs along the left side of the screen. Starting from the top they were labeled: Skills, Equipment, Affinities, Inventory, Friends, Guild.

Fairly standard, He noted.

He didn’t bother looking at the tabs except the Skills tab. The rest would all be empty at this point. He opened it up and was about to take a look when another popup appeared.

Scanning…

Scanning…

Scanning…

Synchronizing…

Synchronizing to be completed in: 23:30:15

Whatever his skills tab was doing it would finish at about the same time as the World and System Guide skill would.

Crimson found the whole thing fascinating; most would possibly be concerned or confused when the ‘Synchronizing’ started, but all he: Crimson Hokori felt was a rush of excitement and anticipation. It was time to start his whole new life, the first step? Getting out of this cell.

The pounding of heavy boots and the clicking of heels began to resound down the hall as they neared his prison cell.