03 – Silverscale – Surviving is not as easy as it seems

He looked around at the place where he found himself once again, and noticed that something was very odd. It was not only the same forest as before, but also he reappeared at the same exact location where he ‘spawned’ the first time. Not only that, but the place looked utterly the same down to the most insignificant details. He remembered the twig he placed in his inventory and looked for it on the floor, acting upon an idea that had dawned on him while he looked at the place all around him. And indeed, he found it on the ground, undisturbed, exactly where it was the first time around.

Speaking of which, seeing the twig on the ground reminded him of the one that should be resting inside his inventory right now. He had stored it the last time he was here, and had not taken it out ever since. He checked, out of curiosity, and saw that there was nothing inside his inventory. He had lost all items he had picked up in his previous trip through this forest, and now his personal space was completely empty.

“Tsk.” He clicked his tongue in annoyance, because it seemed that items would not survive his death. Or maybe his storage had been reset to how it was when he accessed this area, as the system called it, for the first time. Which was empty, because he had no storage at the time. Either way, it was a potentially big problem.

Going by what happened to him in the last life, he had a suspect that if time had been reset as well as himself, then something was going to happen very soon. There was a beast in this forest that was looking for him, the very same one that killed him in his last life. It was only one possibility, of course, as it was not a given that the beast was looking specifically for him. Last time, however, it had found him and killed him and if it came to that, he had to be prepared this time.

He remembered something that he saw in the white room. The messages said something about a new magical affinity for elemental magic, of the fire type. Beyond the amazing fact that it was magic that they were talking about, every single man’s dream and certainly David’s, there was also the more pragmatic approach to be taken. It would, without a doubt, prove useful to learn to use it to defend himself from the dangers that lived in this forest.

It was every man’s dream, having magic. Even more so, his own dream. He had lived the life of a ghost, of an NPC in the real world, and he was sick of it. Even if every person that lived in this universe had magic, at least he now had something more than what people had in his old world. That would be enough, he hoped. And magic presented him with the infinite possibilities that were available only because of its nature, which was not rigid and regulated like science was.

If he dreamt of something, then magic was the way to achieve it. Science could be as well, but he never got into in enough to be of any help here, because he was aware that science and technology were just trinkets for the rich kids to play with. They were not the fantastical tools of science fiction, not yet at least. Magic could be, though.

He started walking in a random direction, careful not to go where he went before but also not to go towards where he heard the roar the first time around. If his ideas and speculations were correct, then the beast was still around roaming the forest, and he wanted to avoid it at all costs. To be precise, it was not the beast that was still around, but it was him that was here again.

It was no use overthinking it now. The forest around him was gorgeous, and captured his sight and attention like a magnet. Now that he was walking with a purpose, he figured that he could take a look around and take in the magnificent scenery that this world offered him. The trees were tall and thick, and their trunks almost shined a pale red or deep crimson, while their leaves were of a dark blue like the oceanic depths.

There were bushes and smaller trees, softer and with much gentler colors. At times, the undergrowth was so thick that it was almost impenetrable and forced David to go around it. It was not an issue for him, because it allowed him to see amazing new sights while he walked. He was not too worried about the beast anymore, as its memory felt so far in the past and so far away in space that it almost didn’t matter anymore.

Why be scared, when he was surrounded by such beauty? He had never seen real color before, so now he wanted to take it all in.

The grass on the ground was soft, and each blade swayed in the imperceptible breeze and danced around in harmony with the world itself. The various small plants and grasses were blue like the leaves of the trees, but of a lighter shade almost that almost bordered on green. The soil underneath them was of a dark brown, and the moist earthy smell that came from it was all encompassing.

As he walked, David tried to access his new ability. He had to get accustomed to it as soon as possible, as he didn’t want to get into a fight unprepared. His death had not been painful, and he reappeared in the exact same conditions that he was the first time around, so he was not hungry or thirsty yet, but this didn’t mean that he was safe.

The beauty of the forest disappeared from within him, and all that was left was a sense of impending doom. The thing that nagged at his mind, that worried him and kept gnawing and scratching at the insides of his brain was that he was not sure how many times he could respawn. How many times it would take before whoever was bringing him back decided that he was not worth it anymore.

He didn’t want to risk it, he wanted to live, and thus he focused all of his attention onto the task at hand. From his outstretched hand, a small wisp of light came to be and coalesced into a small burning core. Tiny licks of flame danced around the burning core and sparks flew upwards in the air.

A smile crept on his face. He looked at the small flame that was hovering above his palm and saw that it was completely under his control, like a part of himself. He began to laugh, overwhelmed by a sense of joy and completely ignoring the cold sweat that was beginning to dot his forehead in large beads of salty water.

Grinning, he motioned with his hand and exerted his will, commanding for the ball of fire to fly towards a tree. The red ember started to move and accelerate, assuming an oval shape but maintaining its form until it smashed against the dark red trunk of a large and tall tree. It exploded outwards, sending a light wave of heat back towards David’s face and showering the ground in sparks and tiny flames before disappearing. In its wake, it left a darkened burn on the soft blue moss of the trunk, and a light carbonization of the crimson bark.

Still taken over by the sense of joy that the magic brough him, David tried to take a step forward to see what he did from up close. His body, however, refused to listen and soon after he noticed that his head had grown heavy and the whole world was swimming and he was now lying on the ground, flat on his face.

He felt tired. His eyes heavy. His breathing ragged. He wanted to sleep. The world would surely wait for him.

A terrible roar shook the whole forest, and it came from nearby.

But David did not hear it, for he was already asleep.

Reincarnating in 3, 2, 1…

3° Reincarnation.

>Body upgraded to: Human (mana compatible)

>Complete objective to unlock new area

Process complete. Namaste, and good luck!

He reappeared. One instant he was in the white room, and the next he was standing amidst the trees once again. This time, however, there was a slight discomfort running though his whole body like an echo of pain. The sensation was strange and alien, like a mix of a tingling and a headache but felt all across his body.

Fortunately, it went away after a few seconds, clearing his head and leaving him perfectly focused. He would think about what this meant later, because right now he was too scared to even contemplate some of the possibilities that opened up with this new sensation. There was terrible doubt in his mind that he wanted to avoid thinking about, because it would pollute his enjoyment of this new world and strip it from him entirely.

He was once again at the very first spot where he appeared both the first and the second time he respawned. Something had happened to him after he casted the magic spell, or whatever it was that he used, and he had fainted. The beast must have reached him and killed him, or he had died in some other manner that he could not know.

This time, he would be much more careful. His body had been upgraded to something that was compatible with mana, and that led him to think that perhaps it had been this ‘mana’ that had caused him to faint the last time. Now that this issue was fixed, he could use as much magic as he wanted without problems.

He redid the same process as before, just to be sure and to test his assumptions. He furrowed his brows and concentrated, his right hand outstretched and his left one closed in a fist. The small burning core appeared and then was flung towards another tree, and it hit its mark without issue. It felt almost natural, just like breathing. But at the same time, very difficult. The whitened knuckled of his left hand showed just how much effort went into this small action, even if all he had to do was to desire for fire to appear, to take shape and to fly towards something.

But it was a huge improvement over the last time, because it felt a bit easier and maybe even somewhat more powerful. There was also this strange sensation, like the feeling that the ball could even curve its path if he concentrated enough. That would be nice to test, but first he had to see if he was fine after using magic. He took a step, gingerly, then another and another. He stopped and looked around and saw that he was perfectly fine.

He laughed again. This new way of living was not so bad after all, especially compared to his old life. He was having fun. Minus the small inconvenience that was the beast of course, but he was sure that he would get over it this time. He only had to either slay it or avoid it with all his might.

The now familiar roar shook the whole forest, and reminded David of the danger he was in right now.

“Isn’t it a bit too early?” He said in wonder, because he felt like it was still too soon for the beast to appear. Maybe it was his magic that attracted it.

Judging by how firing the ball of fire left him, he knew that he could cast it again if he needed to. He felt a bit mentally tired, and his focus had wavered near the end of the process, but it was not too bad. There was something else that he felt like was depleting, mana perhaps, but that too was still in enough quantity to redo the magic casting again.

He took off towards the opposite side of the sound, following the same path that he took the first time but with renewed vigor. He ran across the forest floor, occasionally tumbling and tripping on stones or roots, but never stopping. He was still grinning, and paid no mind to the fact that he was getting scratched and bruised by all his tumbling and falling. He was living. Living! For the first time ever.

There was a thrill, a desire to survive. A fear of death and pain that was just not there when he was on Earth.

He reached the small clearing where he died the first time, and looked at the tree where he tried to escape. He grinned and went past it, never stopping for a moment. How stupid of him to think that climbing a tree would save him, but now he was past that kind of mistakes.

Like in a video game, he looked at his past self like he was looking at a noob playing for the first time a game he did not know. It was no longer. He knew the rules now.

The galloping sound of paws and the snapping of branches loomed closer with every passing second. He could hear the snarls of the infuriated beast chasing him, he could feel the ragged breath and the stinking smell coming from its mouth. He could almost feel its needles piercing his skin.

There was a vine that hung low from a branch that forced him to duck beneath it. The vine was of a deep blue and the branch was of a red so bright it was almost painful to look at. It was a shame that this wonderful place was so dangerous, because he really would have liked to take a better look around.

He tripped on a dark green root that was jutting out of the ground, and rolled to the side while cursing at himself for being distracted in a critical moment such as this. He was not taking the thing seriously, and that was all because his mind was already counting on the fact that he would respawn in the case he died, and become even stronger.

The thrill he was feeling, he had mistaken it for the desire to live. But he was wrong. It was the thrill of the danger, the pumping of adrenaline, the very same emotion that those who practice extreme sports feel all the time. The feeling of the risk and impending death, but with the knowledge that they will most probably be fine.

He craved for more abilities and perks, and thus he was sabotaging himself. He was greedy, and stupid, acting like a junkie in search for the next high in the form of death and rebirth. He was very well aware of that fact. And yet here he was, on the ground.

But that would only get worse with each respawn, would it not?

He turned around, and with his back still resting on the soft hummus of the forest floor he prepared to cast the strongest magic that he could. He would not go down without a fight, that was for sure, even if he could respawn afterwards.

Maybe he would get stronger upgrades after his death, if he did well in his life. Maybe the system rewarded his efforts. It made sense to him, but maybe it was just because he had been living a grey life for so long that the thrill of adventure had taken over him. Maybe, maybe.

He would still fight this, though. He outstretched both his hands, palms pointing at the yellow muzzle that was slowly creeping forwards. The beast was taking its time to kill him, and that was perfectly fine by him.

With his will, he called forth all of his latent magic power. Mana, concentration, will. Everything that he had, he commanded for it to form into the biggest ball of fire that he could make. For a moment, it worked.

Then it exploded.

4° Reincarnation.

>Complete objective to unlock new area

Process complete. You should use chants together with the magic. Namaste, and good luck!

He respawned, just like he had predicted.

But this time, something was wrong. The tingling that he felt the last time, this time it was not just that. It was much stronger, much more deeply set into his bones. Like an itch that was rooted into his very being and that he could not scratch. Like being bit by a million mosquitoes, just for a few seconds. Then it stopped, and he regained his ability to think straight.

“Every time it hurts more, am I right?” David said, looking up towards the sky. Maybe he should stop dying so much, because soon enough it would start to seriously hurt.

Then how would he, the junkie, get high again?

He would think about it.

Maybe in the next life.

“So, chants you said?”