[ System Notification ]

You have died due to blood loss.

Strive to be higher on the food chain.

Again, I found myself below the greyish-blue ceiling of the altar’s room. I replayed my gruesome end over in my mind. This was unlike the first time I died peacefully in my sleep. I was torn apart, alive. I felt every time those damn land sharks’ teeth bit into my flesh. Then the feeling of those same teeth saw through my body parts as they shook their heads vigorously back and forth. I thank whatever gods who were in this universe that I bled out before they could get much further.

Then there was the box saying I had obtained energy from the white gem and the vast box of information after. I could only remember the first line saying something about beginning to imbue a system with energy. Please select the system you wish you start with. I briefly remember seeing Cardio on the list, but the rest alluded me. I tried to mentally command energy, text box, and other commands, but nothing brought the window back up.

Getting off the altar, I left and headed for the room with my belongings. I had a few of the gems tucked away in the laboratory room, and I would try again to gain this Energy. Sitting on the massive bed, I looked down at the five white gems before me. Picking the larger one up, I wiped it off with my new silken sack and popped it in my mouth. The sweet taste of Dewsycle candy from my youth came to mind before the text box interrupted the memory.

[ System Notification ]

Rank B Bone Core has given 6 Energy.

The larger box never showed itself, nor did the second line saying I could advance my systems. I immediately cleaned off the remaining four gems and popped them into my mouth, one right after another.

[ System Notification ]

Rank D Bone Core has given 2 Energy

Three Rank C Bone Cores has given 12 Energy.

I mentally thought of the word ‘Energy,’ and a small window popped into view this time.

[ Unused Energy: 22 ]

I sent the command again for ‘Energy,’ and the box closed. I tried ‘upgrade’ next, nothing. Finally, thinking of the word ‘Systems’ brought up the large box I was looking for.

[ System Notification ]The path of a Classless begins by imbuing your entire body with the world’s Energy. Please select a system on the next window to learn more about the chosen system.

The window vanished and was replaced by a ‘System’s Status’ window.

[ System’s Status ]

+ Nervous: Rank 0

+ Sensory: Rank 0

+ Cardiovascular: Rank 0

+ Respiratory: Rank 0

+ Muscular: Rank 0

+ Skeletal - Rank 0

+ Epidermis: Rank 0

+ Endocrine - Rank 0

+ Digestive - Rank 0

+ Toxin - Rank 0

I began to click the ‘+’ next to each system mentally. It was quickly apparent that I would be adding this Energy into every part of my body. Each system explained what parts of my body belonged to it. I recalled almost every detail from the academy’s basic anatomy classes. The Toxin system seemed to combine a few of the systems in the body, such as the spleen and liver. Each system had a ‘Rank 0’ behind it. Maybe base level? Quick math showed it would take 1000 Energy to level all ten systems.

Each system explained what body attributes it would enhance but not much else. Not knowing the advantages or disadvantages clearly, I selected Nervous again.

[ Nervous System ]

This system consists of your brain along with the connecting nervous systems.

Upgrading this system gives the user a boost to their Mana Capacity and Intelligence.

Rank: 0

System: 0/100

Upgrade: Yes / No

Selecting ‘Yes,’ a new smaller box came up.

[ Nervous System: 22/100 ]

A moment later, it closed itself. I felt, well, I felt absolutely nothing. Maybe I had to reach the full one-hundred first. Taking a deep breath, I got up from the bed and grabbed my sword and mace. It was time to start looking for fights. I was determined to find out where these advanced systems would bring me.

The first place I headed to was the closest guard station with the portal mirrors. My first plan was to clean out the skeletons that had fallen into each pit. I chose the first right door as soon as I entered the circular room, knowing there would be three inside. I dropped the sword near the door and hefted the mace in my right hand. I swung the door open and lashed out at the closest skeleton first. The mace glanced off its skull, hitting the shoulder blade, shattering it, and causing the monster's arm and dagger to fall to the floor.

I raised the mace again to strike, but I was too slow. The point of a sword came through the closest skeleton’s rib cage and pierced the side of my chest. I felt the blade scrape against a rib as it cut deeper into my skin. Caught off guard by the surprise attack, I swung the mace horizontally under its ribcage and into the spine of the armless skeleton. It went down in a heap, pulling the sword out of my chest and pulling the skeleton who kept hold of the sword atop of it.

I pushed myself back just as the ‘swoosh’ of air displaced by a hatchet cut through where my neck had previously been. I swiped the mace upwards and into the hatchet-wielding arm resulting in a satisfying ‘crack.’ With the mace already in the air, I moved forward while I yanked the weapon’s weight back down atop the skeleton’s head. Shards of bone and dust rained in every direction as the skull collapsed under the blow.

The ‘clanking’ from the floor drew my attention as the skeleton with its arm still under its fallen comrade glared at me with its glowing red eyes. I stepped to the side to get out of its reach and brought the mace down, ending its life. Or was it its undead life? I had no idea how that worked. As the third one died, all three began to turn into white dust and collected into a single rotating vortex. As the vortex disappeared, three white gems remained on the ground. I dusted them off before popping them into my mouth. I was starting to look forward to the sweet taste.

[ System Notification ]

Rank D Bone Core has given 2 Energy

Two Rank C Bone Cores has given 8 Energy.

Nervous System: 32/100

The three gems provided me with ten more energy. Each gem seemed to have a specific amount of Energy. The rank D’s gave two, while the C’s gave four each. I don’t think the value was based on how strong they were. The three seemed to be exact copies but with different weapons. Maybe the value indicates their age? Also, why were they named Bone Cores? Was it because they were skeletons?

I removed my blood-soaked shirt to find the wound had already started to close, but the pain grew in intensity as my adrenaline worked its way out of my system. I sat down for a quick meal of juice and jerky, then waited for the pain to subside.

Feeling back to normal again, I got up and began to mechanically work my way through each door, killing the trapped skeletons within. By the time I reached the end of the doors, one thing was clear. It would take an incredible amount of skeletons to achieve the one-thousand total energy I needed.

[ Nervous System: 88/100 ]

I made my way back to the laboratory bedroom and threw myself on top of the bed. Though I was caked in blood and sweat, I didn’t care. I would try and make my way off the island again in a day or two.

I made my way down to the beach for a quick scrub the following day. While lying in the sun on the dock, I heard the howling chitter again from the other day. This time the sound was much louder. Jumping to my feet, I cursed at my stupidity. I left all of my weapons back in the room. I jumped on the closest ship and ducked behind the railing. I watched the beach for a while, but I couldn’t see anything moving in the field of grass above the beach.

Not seeing anything after a while, I ran back to the tower and my room. I planned on cleaning out the rest of the skeletons before my next attempt at getting off the island. I began in a straight line and walked the sixteen hallways before going up two and repeating. The third skeleton gave me the energy required to max out the Nervous System.

[ System Notification ]

Rank C Bone Core has given 4 Energy.

Nervous System: 100/100

As soon as it read the hundred of a hundred, my entire body began to tingle, starting at my toes and growing in intensity as it reached my chest. When the feeling came to the base of my skull, a white-hot sensation assaulted every part of my body, and then suddenly, the pain was gone. Blinking away the spots in my eyes, I looked around the hallway. I couldn’t say for sure, but it seemed like I could think a bit clearer now.

Winding my way through the halls, it didn’t take long before finding the next skeleton. I slowly crept up behind it, and after a single blow to its head, it was over. I was surprised to find a small white book with a blue gem next to the normal white gem. Hoping it was another skill book, I opened it and began to leaf through it. Nothing came off the pages this time.

Towards the end of the book, I found two pages had been ripped out and were missing. Thinking about the scapes of paper, back in my room, I tossed the gem into my mouth and selected the next system down the list.

[ Sensory System: 4/100 ]

It took me a moment to find the two pieces of paper I tucked inside the covers in one of the books. Opening the book to the torn pages, I slowly placed the fragments close and was startled when they pulled from my fingers and seemingly melted into the torn section of the spine. A moment later, I yanked my fingers back as the book snapped shut.

I opened the cover with a bit of excitement and was glad to see the phantom images and text lifting off the pages as they flipped themselves. Bearing through the headache, I waited for the book to finish and snapped itself closed.

[ System Notification ]

Obtained the trait Ocean’s Pilgrim.

Obtained the trait New Origin.

The first thing my brain processed was the book imprinted two different things.

The first trait, Ocean’s Pilgrim gave me the knowledge of sailing and the ocean. In general, my knowledge of vast bodies of water had expanded greatly. I now knew the storm that ended my life was called a Mana Storm. As I suspected, they were highly deadly for anything but the largest of vessels on the water. I also knew the cute pink dolphins that could glide through the air were now called Sailapods. The murderous land sharks were named Gobas.

The second trait, New Origin gave me more essential bits of knowledge. For starters, I now knew the name of this world was Urzatis. The two sister worlds in the sky were Galendra and Mae. I was disappointed that the name of this system’s star and the small dark purple moon in between the three sister planets was not given. The island where I was reborn was called Yarra’s Howl, though nothing was given about its previous inhabitants or why the island was abandoned long ago.

Much more information was imparted to me about the world, but it would take me a while to parse through it. I would remember things I knew I hadn’t before in waves. I sat on the bed and began to meditate, trying to untangle what memories were new to me.

As the odd memories began to make sense to me, I understood this island was my home, my beginning. The resting place of a brain? My brain? I wasn’t sure if I remembered that correctly. The memories had a touch of foreign concepts I did not quite grasp. I just knew that this whole island was now mine, and I had to protect it as I would protect one’s life.

I now understood that I needed to grow stronger and use “The System” to complete this goal almost instinctively. As a Classless, the system would only give me the world’s Energy I needed from the cores of my enemies. I lay back on the bed and went over everything new inside my head. Tomorrow I would take one of the larger sailboats and leave the island. The new knowledge inside my head told me I could make the necessary changes to the rigging solo.