All I could remember before going dark was that me and my friends were at a party. One of them, Axel, was getting accepted as a wyer, and we wanted to give him a small party to celebrate.
Normal day. Just another normal day. I gave my st exam of the year which was basically an essay on cssic literature, then I went for my Kenjutsu csses, ter I went to have a coffee with Liana, another of my friends. Then I continued reading my books, pyed a few videogames, and prepared for the night. We were going to celebrate.
That was, until we decided to move to another location, and we were presented with two bright lights coming at us.
Then, everything went dark.
No answer. I was feeling dizzy, and everything was completely dark.
I felt my eyes open, but everything was dark. I tried to move, but I could not move myself.
[Current Status: Forsaken]
A screen appeared in front of me.
[Analyzing current situation…]
[Situation Analized]
[Current role: denied status as heroine. Given complete free will.]
[Current problem: No biological body provided. Currently inside of a sword]
[Initiating E-System… Done!]
[Name: Alice - Css: None - Race: Human Soul - Body: Copper Sword][Level 01/10 EXP: 00/50][HP: 10/10 MP: 10/10][STR: 2][DEX: 3][INT: 2][WIS: 1][CHA: 1][LCK: -2]
I could not believe my eyes. I was seeing a System. I had heard of them. Not exactly heard, but more like, read of them, in novels and manhwas. They worked like RPG Systems that made the user stronger.
But those stats… I was not sure how the bance worked, but I feel I was at the lower end of the spectrum. Besides, negative luck? What kind of stupid situation was this?
[Currently, you are a simple human soul inside of a Copper Sword. At this very moment, you are inside of a dungeon. You were meant to be given a new body after death, but for some reason you were left as a soul and wandered towards the closest body you could inhabit in order to continue existing within this realm. Human instincts and stubbornness to live sure are scary]
[Please, eborate. What does getting isekaid mean?]
No surprise the System did not know what it meant.
[Affirmative. After your death you were transported to this world in order to fulfill an ancient agreement. However, something went wrong, and you were stripped of your objective and left with nobody. This is not information I have]
[You can see, but you don’t have eyes or limbs like a human would]
[Check your skills]
Before I could finish the question, when I was thinking about opening that menu it appeared.
[Soul Senses: Racial Skill - Sustained - See the world around you through the magic energy that surrounds it.]
[Inhabit: Racial Skill - Sustained - Take hold of any inanimate object as long as you need. It prevents your soul from going into the Ether. Its movements will work simir to a Levitation spell if the object has no humanoid form]
[Metal Frame: Body Skill - Passive - Your body is made of metal.]
[Metal Consumption: Body Skill - Passive - Consume metals, mineral or processed, to repair yourself and gain some skills]
[Soul Absorption: Racial Skill - Passive - Automatically consume ethereal essence from defeated foes, increasing XP rewarded based on difficulty of the fight. Also obtain information and chance to steal skills]
I began with a bunch of skills, and I had no idea what some of these do. I mean, using metal to repair an item made of metal made sense, but what was ethereal essence? The word Ether seemed to repeat a bit. But at that point, only one of those skills called my attention.
The System did not have any need to answer. In some way, I knew how to use it.
<[Soul Sense]!>
And then I managed to see.
The skill expanded around me and slowly revealed what was around me. I could see and hear.
I was in a cavern. I could ‘see’ what was surrounding me, but it felt different, like I was much more aware of my surroundings. I didn’t have to turn to see what was behind me, although I could only see a few meters of distance.
[It’s reach is limited by your power. Now, you should be able to seeing yourself]
And yeah, I did see myself. I could see my body. I really was a sword. And yes, I could see color. I had a reddish brown colored bde, and a simple handle. And holding me was a skeleton of a deceased person.
I was creeped out, for a few moments I felt like I was about to have a panic attack, but maybe having nobody made me stay more calm than what I was used to. I still felt the dread of the image, being held by a skeletal hand covered in an old armor and cobwebs.
Why did this happen to me?
[I don’t have the answer. I just have the directive of helping you.]
No answers any time soon, then. Never mind, I just looked into moving. Which was easier than I thought. I lifted my metallic body. The arm of the person followed me until the arm gave up and fell apart.
[You are a spirit]
Again, I could only see a certain distance, so any exit was not obvious.
[Exploration is required. We don’t have knowledge of our situation. However, I can say there are high amounts of Ethereal energy to abnormal levels].
[Ether: Substance or element found surrounding every living being in the world. It allows for the use of magic and the creation of life. Souls are made of Ether]
[It was first discovered….]
I had two paths I could take. Left or right. No signs of where I was going to take me out of that cave.
I guessed that maybe, if I focused, [Soul Sense] would help me. So I tried that, focused my mind so I could observe my surroundings better.
Once I did, something did change. Not the distance I could see, but I noticed something. Something was flowing, blue in color, like water over the air. It moved from one path to the other. When I stopped focusing, it went away.
[Affirmative. Ether moves from the source outwards to less concentrated areas]
Okay, the System was useful. I have to think of a name for it soon.
“Don’t…”
A voice came from the other direction. Distant, but powerful. Feminine. It was pleading.
“Please… come here…” the voice continued, “find me… deeper in the caverns… let us help each other… traveler from another world…”
It came from the source of the Ether.
[High concentration of Ether detected further inside the cavern. Consider your options before taking a path]
That voice… knowing my reads, either that was going to be a trap or a powerful ally or help. It knew I came from another world, and it seemed to be closer to whatever was making the Ether be high on this cavern.
But before I could move further… something entered my vision.
It was fast, and was rushing towards me. It squeaked, and then unched over me!
It jumped and lunged against me, hitting me in the hilt. The hit made me fly, and the creature bounced off me and dropped to the ground. I fell from the air, and hit a rock.
[HP: 7/10]
I felt the hit, although I could say it hurt, it would not be precise. It was like a shake, a sudden movement that felt wrong in every sense.
But… in games where living weapons are enemies, when you defeat them, the item never was destroyed, it just dropped once you got rid of what was possessing it.
I looked at the creature, which was again on its two feet.
It looked like a rat, but bigger and nastier, with dense dry fur, with a weird crystalline growth on its back and another on its eye. It was frothing at the mouth.
[Unknown animal. Consume Ether to commence Analysis. However, it exhibits Ether contamination, most likely from the excess in the area]
[Do you know what over hydration is?]
<... that makes sense>
“Squeeeeak!” screamed and ran towards me once more.
It ran again towards me. And I figured it was time to put into real practice what I trained Kenjutsu for!
I was basically a longsword, not a katana, but it should work… I hoped. I had two edges, better than one, right? (not necessarily).
I sliced sideways and dodged to the side, hitting it when it jumped towards me, avoiding damage and causing harm! I spilled blood.
“Squueeeeeak!” it squealed again after it fell. It could not stand, but could still unch another attack in the form of the crystal growth shooting at me!
The shards, of multiple colors, flew and hit me, going through the metal bde!
[HP: 02/10]
[Warning! Critical HP! Risk of dissolving into the Ether high!]
I was wondering what was going to happen if I lost all of my HP! That stupid thing should have said so before!
[You never asked]
The monster, who was still not able to move and bleeding on the floor, was beginning to squirm. The crystals began to grow again.
I swung upwards and got its head, cutting it out of its body!
[You gained 20 XP!]
[Etherial Essence from Mutated Muckrat! 40 XP gained!]
[You leveled up! Level 02/10! Your stats increased! You have been completely healed!]
[HP: 12/12 (+2) MP: 12/12 (+2)][STR: 4] (+2)[DEX: 5] (+2)[INT: 3] (+1)[WIS: 2] (+1)[CHA: 1][LCK: -2]
Of course, my Charisma and Luck did not increase. What is this? Well, I had to admit I was not the most charming and socially capable person, and I kept stubbing my toe in the most stupid ways while on Earth, but the System could have thrown me a bone there!
Besides, I just killed a thing! It’s blood on my body, and I had never killed something! I tried to push it off by swinging, but it was not coming out!
[Miss Alice, please, calm down.]
|I know! Just let me process this! I am a sword and that thing tried to kill me and almost did!|
I took a long breath, figuratively and forced myself to rex. Panicking was not going to help me, the System was right, I had to calm down and try to make my next move.