Eli found himself in darkness. The cold from the floor seeping into his body, its surface hard and jagged. Rock perhaps? He stood up unsteadily and started to take in his situation. Wherever he was now, it was… different. He felt reality in a way he never had before, like his entire existence before was a dream and he had finally awoken. His consciousness, his senses, the very air he breathed felt intense. Whatever this was, it was real to a degree he never knew possible.

His mind shifted to his mother, and he felt his heart rate climb. Where was she? What is this? Question after question started to rush into his mind, as panic and fear started to claw at his chest.

Assimilation Sickness Found!

Correction in Progress…

He felt himself losing his grasp on his thoughts, until they simply disappeared.

Correction Complete!

Eli stood in shock for a moment. He could faintly remember he was thinking about his mom, and he remembered the fear, but he couldn’t remember what he thought about. The implications of something was messing with his mind wasn’t lost on him.

I’m in a prison, aren’t I? Even certain thoughts are forbidden.

He sighed in resignation. There’s nothing I can do about it now and something tells me I don’t have time to worry about these things anyways.

He looked around but was unable to make anything out. There was a slight pungent smell in the air and he could hear faint breathing around him. He was not alone, wherever he was.

A blinking light then appeared in the corner of his vision. He quickly looked towards it, but the light followed his eyes. Another message? He tried focusing on it, willing it to the center of his vision.

*ding*

Name Insignificant Race Insignificant Level 1 Class None Titles Progenitor Age 0% Lifespan 2 Years Health 10/10 Mana 10/10 Attributes Unspent Points 0 Strength 1 Dexterity 1 Vitality 1 Wisdom 1 Charisma 1 Will 1

Seeing the name and race fields made it obvious the system didn’t look upon him highly, but he swore once he saw his lifespan.

2 YEARS?

His mind raced with this new information. How can I fix this? He looked over his stats. The mana value catching his attention. There’s magic? The new possibilities gave him hope. If anything could increase my lifespan it’s god damn magic. Then a new idea hit him. This is basically a game interface. Maybe the short lifespan is tied to my race or level? He mulled over the possibilities as he started to calm down. There was simply too much he didn’t know, his short life span wasn’t a death sentence, yet.

I wonder what the stats specifically do?

He tried focusing on each, but nothing happened. His attention climbed back up to the Title section. He focused on the only one.

*ding*

Progenitor

Inherent

You were the original sapient race of a Fallen Realm.

+2 Intelligence

I guess that solves that mystery. He smirked finding the information amusing. Wait, Intelligence isn’t a stat. He suddenly realized, as he pushed the title screen away and check again. Intelligence was indeed missing from the list. Maybe there are hidden stats? He stared at his screen for a minute more before he willed it away. He internally sighed. I need way more information on how this all works.

Eli was never afraid of the Dark, but found his stance on the matter quickly changing. A feeling of danger started to surround him, as if any second something could jump out and attack him. Perhaps it was paranoia but he could feel himself being watched, causing his heart to pound like a drum in his chest. The sound was starting to drown out the ambient noises in his ears. Trying to force himself to calm down he started to slowly move around, feeling his surroundings as silently as possible. He tried to move away from the soft breathing as he did so. Whether they were friendly or not, he didn’t see many benefits in finding out. After what seemed like hours of crawling through the cave he could no longer hear anything.

*ding*

The sound made him jump.

You have gained Dark Sight Lv. 1

As a creature that lives in the Dark, you have been gifted with the ability to See.

Allows user to see 1 meter in front of them without a light source.

His world immediately changed before him. He could now make out his immediate surroundings, confirming his cave suspicions. But what shocked him the most was his now visible arms. They resembled the cave stone around him, with small claws at the tips of his fingers. He brought his hands to his face. Gone was the smoothness of his old skin, replaced by jagged rock. He ran his fingers through the top of his head and found he still had hair, but two small spikes now grew at the front of his skull. His clothes were tighter on his new frame, which made him briefly wonder how they even came with him.

Did I become some sort of demon?

Eli thought back to the rock that he had smashed into, Probably not a rock. He pointed out to himself. He guessed it was some sort of creature and the system had merged their two physiologies. Maybe that's what the optimization was about, keeping the best parts of each. This also had very worrying implications if he came across the friends of whatever he absorbed had. It seemed doubtful they were even the same thing at this point.

The return of his sense of sight did wonders for helping him keep his panic at bay, it gave him new things to focus on, even if they were simply rocks. His exploration of the caves became much easier as he no longer needed to see through touch, although the limited range still requiring him to crawl. He soon found himself running into a mushroom of sorts. It was a deep black, the type that he didn’t think should exist with his new ability. As he looked closer, he noticed little wisps of darkness slowly being sucked into the mushroom. Is it absorbing the darkness?

*ding*

You have gained Identify Lv. 1

Your ignorance is adorable but not very entertaining.

Grants the ability to access information stored by the System

Dark Mushroom

A common fungus made of Darkness.

Consume for further identification

There was zero chance he’d eat something he didn’t know the effect of. As he continued to inspect the mushroom, he noticed his range of vision was slightly farther than it was before. He wondered if it was an effect of the absorption of the surrounding darkness, or another ability entirely. Not wanting to touch it directly, he grabbed a rock and lightly poked the mushroom with it. The rock simply moved right through it as if it were air. He set the rock back down and inspected it again, it didn’t appear to affect it at all.

*ding*

Gained Dark Sight Lv. 2

Allows user to see 2 meters in front of them without a light source.

His world started to expand significantly. More mushrooms appearing in his range, extending his vision even further. He could see at least 3 meters around him. An interesting effect he still didn’t know how to exploit. If nothing else, it seemed it could be used to level up his Dark Sight which seemed to be the most vital ability he had for his future survival. As the minutes went by of him staring at the mushroom, he tried to think of ways that he might be able to utilize them. Why did Identify imply it could be consumed? He decided to experiment more, he cautiously used one of his claw like nails to poke it. He felt a tactile response and the mushroom shifted slightly. He inspected his nail for any change or damage.

Looks like I can touch it, but inanimate objects can’t?

His only guess was that it was related to magic. He obviously had mana in his body, where a rock didn’t seem to. Perhaps it allowed the physical interaction. Shadow doesn’t seem like a harmful element, it’s probably safe to touch. He carefully put his fingers around the mushroom and gently touched it. It felt soft and cool, but it didn’t seem to have any other effect. He opened his Stats Menu and it gave no indication of something bad. He brought the mushroom to his face and inspected it closely.

*ding*

Dark Mushroom

A common fungus made of Darkness. Its ability to absorb the Dark in its surroundings allows it to be used as a type of lantern.

Consume for further identification

Interesting.

Some time later another message appeared.

*ding*

Gained Dark Sight Lv. 3

Allows user to see 3 meters in front of them without a light source.

A smile spread on his face. He could finally navigate the cavern somewhat effectively. He continued to walk through the cavern, he quickly came to realize that the space he was moving around in was a dead end. It looked like he had to go back towards the group he originally came from. Hopefully he could sneak past them and find a way out of the cave. As he got closer, he could once again hear the soft breathing and his heart began to race. He tried to stick near the wall to circle around the group while being as silent as possible.

*grumble*

Eli jumped and spun around to the sound behind him. Four obsidian eyes looking directly at him.

*ding*

Insignificant – Lv. ?