{Illustrator}

Rank 1

Allows the user to conjure their drawings into reality by tracing an outline of the wanted object.

Amount of effects applicable: 1

0% to Rank 2

“……The hell?”

To Alex’s surprise, the wall of blue text from before melted together to form this new wall of text, describing what this {Illustrator} skill is.

Wait, just wait a sec! What the heck is a skill?!

What’s with those stat numbers?!

Why is my defence so low?!

Wait, why is that even a worry?! I’m stuck with this wall of text damnit!

“Ah. It’s gone.”

And, just after he wished for it to go away, it went away. Convenient!

To fulfil his curiosity, he wished for the same wall of text to reappear, and there it was, shining in front of his eyes like some menu popping up in his internal mind. Then, he wished for the wall of text to disappear, and it disappeared!

He repeated this action for about 5 minutes before forcing himself to accept that something like this exists.

But, if this is reality, and what he felt before was reality, then where was he? Looking around, all he could see was the glittering oceans.

Actually, that’s a lie.

Around in the waters, he would occasionally spot a small spot of sand standing in the middle of this ocean, or as humans call it, an island. Looking around from his location, there would be around 500 or 600 islands around him, and in the far distant, he could spot a particularly large island.

Squinting his eyes a bit, he managed to see something standing on that large island far away. As his sight got clearer, he realised that those things he saw were actually wooden houses!

Civilisation?! Hell yeah!

His heart jumped for joy as he realised that he wasn’t alone! He wasn’t trapped on an island alone, just like those survival movies he decided to watch when he’s bored!

“Alright! Time to…Agh.”

As he was about to declare his idea to himself, a pain surged in his back from standing up too fast. His face froze from the searing pain. Seems like going swimming won’t be an option then.

He let out a sigh in annoyance and sat down, crossing his legs on the sandy bed. If this was reality, then trying to survive would have to be his main priority.

If that’s the case, and going swimming there was impossible, then he would be out of options, but that was if this was his reality. However, this wasn’t the reality he once knew. Whatever or wherever he is, the norms have changed.

Bringing up his status, or whatever it is, he took a closer read this time. From a single glance, the strength, resistance, and agility numbers were quite obviously power, defence, and speed respectively. Then, was intelligence magic?

Magic?

Now that he questioned it, HP and MP stood for ‘Health Points’ and ‘Mana Points’.

Using a simple thought process, does that mean Magic exists in this reality?

“…That’ll be cool.”

Moving past that, it seems like he only has one skill available, and no titles.

If he levels up, will he unlock more skills? Is that how it works?

He scratched his hair as he discarded the thought. Knowing that the norms in this reality are completely different from the ones he had back on Earth, simply jumping to conclusions won’t bear any results.

If thinking about it won’t answer anything, he needed a new approach!

Then, how about field experimentations?

“Hmm…That should work.”

Once again, he brought up his status and opened his {Illustrator} description.

{Illustrator}

Rank 1

Allows the user to conjure their drawings into reality by tracing an outline of the wanted object.

Amount of effects applicable: 1

0% to Rank 2

“Hmm…”

But, what exactly does ‘Conjuring an object by tracing their outline’ mean? His mind just couldn’t wrap around that jumble of words. Not only that, ‘Effects applicable’ is one? What?

Rubbing his chin for a while, he sat there thinking about what and how this skill really works. Sure, it sounds incredibly powerful, but if he can’t use this, doesn’t that just render it useless?

Oh, hell no!

For a start, he tried drawing a square in the air! And then…Nothing.

Nothing happened.

Nothing!

How does this work?!

But then, he took into account that this was a world different from his. And if this reality has magic somewhere rooted in it, does that mean this skill needs magic to use?

…And how is he supposed to do that exactly?

His mind continued running in circles as more and more if his ideas turned out to be incorrect. And after about an hour of just sitting on the sandy beach, his mind started going insane and he started clutching his head in pain.

In the end, he just wished that it would just damn happen already!

*…Wiiiiiii*

“…Huh?”

To answer his wish, a soft hum started to sound, and opening his eyes, he realised that there was a warm sensation in his right hand’s index finger. Looking at it, his eyes nearly popped out of its sockets.

His finger, was shining a bright white light!

What the hell?!

In shock, he tried shaking his hand around to shake the warmth away, but where his finger passed through, a tracing was left behind as a mark!

As the lines of white light merged into one object, the tracing exploded into light! He forced his eyes shut, and then, a soft thud was heard. *Thud* Slowly opening his eyes, he realised that there was something sunk in the sand.

Picking it up, it looked similar, if not the same as the object he created by flailing his hand around. But this time, it isn’t made of air, but of rough and unclean stone!

“……”

Staring silently into his finger, he tried repeating what he did earlier, which was just literally pleading for the magic to appear. And to answer it, his finger began glowing!

Now that he knew what it does, he slowly traced the air until it formed a small cube. As the lines met up with each other, the tracing exploded into light, and another small thud was heard.

Right in front of him, he could see a small wooden cube sitting there on top of the sand!

“Odd…I can’t create the material I want?"

His suspicion grew as he realised that the two objects he conjured were made of two different materials. One was made of stone, while the other was made of wood.

If he can’t control the object’s material at will, that would be one hell of a handicap for a skill like this. Sure, it may be powerful, but isn’t this a bit too much?

“Hmm?”

{Illustrator}

Rank 1

Allows the user to conjure their drawings into reality by tracing an outline of the wanted object.

Amount of effects applicable: 1

0% to Rank 2

“…Effects?”

Effects? What effects?

Am I missing something?

Alongside being able to conjure any objects he drew, he would be able to ‘Apply an effect’? But then again, what does that mean? Doesn’t an effect go along the lines of ‘Explodes’ or something?

He scratched his head as he continued to brainstorm over what ‘Applying an effect’ means. Not long after, the scratching got more violent, and his head started hurting, so he stopped himself.

His HP was low enough! He didn’t need to lower it even further!

But then, just as he stopped scratching his head, a sudden thought came barging in!

“……”

He thought about something silently for a moment, before activating his skill and tracing a small cube once more, but this time, before he let go, he wrote the word ‘Iron’ on it. *Wiisshh* With a flash, a small iron cube fell into the sand!

It was a success!

“I see…”

After seeing that writing the word ‘Metal’ allowed him to control the material of the object, he came to the conclusion that the word ‘Effects’ also stemmed to ‘Adjectives’, which also meant the material of the object.

It was probably not 100% correct, but it was a better conclusion that simply saying nothing, right?

*Buushh*

But just as he was about to inspect the metal cube he conjured, something came out from the ocean and walked onto the sand, stopping on the coast line of the small island he was sitting on.

His body tensed up immediately as he slowly turned around to see what it was. Slowly, he turned his body around, and then finally, he saw what it was!

It was a crab.

Just a crab with an orange shell.

“Oh. You scared me there.”

Alex said in relief to the crab, who only pinched its claws and looked at him in suspicion as it got closer to inspect him.

But, he quickly noticed, that beneath that orange shell, he could see its eyes gleaming red with bloodlust. This thing was out for his blood!

“Woah!”

*Wish!*

Alex used his hands and pushed himself back, barely avoiding the swing of the crab’s claw. He somehow succeeded in doing a back roll, and landed on his two feet. His hands never stopped shivering as their gazes locked.

“…Al-“

*Wish!*

“Ah?!”

Before he could finish his sentence, the crab’s claw was swung and hit him straight in the gut! His face warped in pain as he quickly backed away from the crab. He quickly opened his status, and to his misfortune, his HP had dropped to 3.

“Sh*t…This sucks.”

He cursed to himself as he watched the crab slowly crawl to him, its claws ready to swing.

Was he going to go down like this?

No! Of course not!

As he did his best to keep his calm, he conjured a sharp stone with his magic and hit the crab down. The crab only flinched slightly, but Alex kept on smashing down the rock onto its hard shell!

“Just die already!”

He continued to smash the rock down, the shell of the crab becoming dented, and some cracks became visible on its hard exoskeleton.

“Pii!”

*Wish!*

In a rage, the crab swung its claw, enraged by the damage this lowly human managed to do to it. Alex somehow managed to scrape by, but his HP dropped dangerously from 3, to only 1!

This was very bad!

But, on the door of death is when the potential of every human shows itself!

His mind worked on thing he needed to do, and his finger moved accordingly to conjure another object. He drew large arcs in the air, leaving behind traces of his magic in the air.

*Wiii!*

“Pii…?”

As his magic went to work, the crab suddenly hesitated to attack. That was because, out from the light, came out a gigantic machete about 1 meter long! He began questioning himself as to why he didn’t just do this earlier.

“Ha…Ha…”

Putting that aside, taking up the machete with his hand, he used his 5 strength points and swung down the machete, not towards the shell, but to the arm holding its claw!

*Puuusshh!*

The machete sliced through cleanly! The crab backed away in fear, watching its claw twist and dance gracefully in the air before dropping onto the sand, detached. The crab shivered in fear as it saw Alex standing, the large machete in hand.

*Puuuusshh!*

The machete was swung down once more! “Pii?!” The crab cried out in pain and fear as it saw its other claw dance in the air. Now, it knew, that this man standing before it was no ordinary man.

He was Alex! A high school boy from another world, damnit!

“Die…You little sh*t.”

The words that came out of his mouth were made out of his raw emotions. If he was still on Earth, he would have never dared to say those words, but now, near death’s door, no morality will hold back his pure emotions.

With his machete pointed down, he impaled the 1 meter long machete into the sand, taking along with it the crab the decided to make him prey.

Now, the crab is the prey!

Staring up into the sky, Alex took a deep breath and watched the sky silently. He seemed to be deep in thought, as if it had just dawned on him that he had just defeated the crab that had nearly killed him.

He was in such a deep thought, that he didn’t notice that a white orb had flew out of the crab and into his chest. A soft warmth surged in his chest, before dying out completely, leaving no traces on the outside.

In a trance, he brought up his status unconsciously.

Status: Damian Alexander Lv 2

Health: 1/35

Mana: 21/45

Strength: 7

Intelligence: 18

Resistance: 8

Agility: 13

Skills:

{Illustrator} Rank 1 (03%)

Titles:

“……”

Alex read his status menu in a daze. His eyes were completely blank, his energy levels dropping dangerously. His legs began to wobble slightly.

And then, as the last drop of his energy left his body, he lost all support and fell onto the sandy beach, his back resting once more on the sand.

He let out a deep sigh and stared silently into the moving waters.

…………

And so, the hands of time continued to move on without him.

The sun moved along the skies, and soon enough, it was beginning to set. The clouds above dispersed as the skies turned into a gradient of red and orange. The seas adapting that same colour on its surface.

The oceans were still as calm as before. There were hardly any waves, and the seas were mostly calm, with only the night breeze moving the waters along.

On that one island, Alex was calmly watching the moving waves as he softly hummed a song he really liked back on Earth.

His eyes watching the crashing waves, he turned his eyes up into the skies. “…Evening already…?” Alex said in a daze as he rubbed his eyes groggily.

With the recovered energy, he pushed himself up and sat on the sand. Looking forward, his eyes fell upon the long machete he impaled the crab with.

Seeing the crab impaled dead by the sword, he let out a long sigh.

He had survived, for now.

“…hah…”

*Gruuuuu*

“Oooff…”

It seems like healing his lost HP and energy took away most of his food supply.

Sighing once more, he pulled out the machete and took the body of the dead crab.

At the least, he does have some food, right?