Stray Soul

As light started entering my eyes, I noticed a few things.

Firstly, I somehow felt overwhelmed and underwhelmed by my new sight at the same time. I was overwhelmed because, I could see in all directions! And my eyes seemed to be made of hundreds, if not thousands of little panels that seemed to get less and less focused the closer they were to the edges of my vision.

And I was underwhelmed because… well, I just felt like it. It felt as if I was just not fitting in this body, whatever it was, and because of that I felt weirdly constrained and also not… It’s not really easy to explain how I really felt.

Secondly, everything was gigantic! The plants, the trees, everything, and anything I could see was just mind bogglingly gigantic to such a degree that I felt intimidated by just looking at grasses around me!

And thirdly, I didn’t know where I was… Wait, let me re-phrase that. I didn’t know where my body was.

I could feel my body, the one somehow made from aches, attached to this ‘new body’ of mine, which I was not sure how to feel about because, what the fuck.

It somehow felt like I had 2 bodies, but that also felt wrong. It was more of a case of me somehow… entering this things body, which I assume to be a bug from the eyes made out of panels, and being able to somewhat control it and use its senses, but I hadn’t meant to do anything like that, hell, my only concern was to just ride the waves like a ship and go somewhere… Yeah, maybe I should’ve thought out that plan a bit more but we can’t all be thinking things thoroughly all the time now, can we?

Anyways, like what I said, I just wanted to ride the waves like a ship but somehow entered this bugs body, and I didn’t even fully enter it as I can still feel those waves passing through my body, and it seems like I somehow… anchored myself to this bug, because my body isn’t moving with the waves and is just there, connected to this bug.

Oh, and btw, the aches are still deteriorating and becoming pains and so on and so forth… FUN!

...Not.

But it seems like some parts of my body has entered this bug’s body, and they are turning back to ach- wait no, they are not turning back to aches, they are just… stabilizing? I can feel the parts of me in the bug, but they don’t feel like aches, they just feel… normal… whatever normal is in my situation.

Hmm, wait a second…

Looking at the parts of me that were stabilizing and the parts of me that were deteriorating, I had a genius idea! Couldn’t I just slowly circulate my body so some part of me was always in the bug and stabilizing?

Well, one way to find out.

So, I quickly started doing that and it worked! The parts of me I moved into the bug started stabilizing but I noticed something curious too, the parts of me that were stabilized started aching the moment they left the bugs body, as if they just weren’t supposed to be out of a body…

…

..

.

FUCK, I am a soul, aren’t I?

And let me guess, those pulling feeling weren’t some demons trying to eat me but like the feeling they gave off, they were just trying to guide me to a new body.

Fuck. Me.

Of course they were trying to really guide me, fucking reincarnation bullshit!

Wait, if I am reincarnated, where is the goddess that is supposed to be guiding my heroic journey?! I call BS!

Goddammit! I get reincarnated by a twist of fate and it’s not even a good reincarnation!

Where is my summoning circle? The princess and the king begging for my help? The goddess asking me to defeat the demon lord? And most importantly, where is my overpowered system!

*ding*

Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me…

But, no, there were no jokes as only a moment after I heard a ding sound, and a system panel straight out of a shitty fantasy setting with that distinct blue outline appeared in front of me.

Name: William Race: Stray Soul (Cockroach)

Level: 1 Exp: 0/1 Rank: Z

Health Points: 1/1 Mana Points: 4/10

Strength: 0 (0)

Vitality: 0 (0)

Agility: 0 (0)

Intelligence: 1 (0)

Wisdom: 0 (0)

Charisma: 0 (-1)

Free Stat Points: 0

Skills: Ethereal Body (S)

Titles: Reincarnator (S), Otherworlder (A)

Quests: None

… Once again, you’ve got to be kidding me… and of course somehow I entered the body of a cockroach through sheer luck, or lack thereof…

Okay, no point in being grumpy about… whatever this is. So, let’s start asking questions to the system. Wait, this system answers questions, right?... Hopefully...

System, what are those things in parentheses?

*ding*

And shortly after the ding sound, I saw a new window pop out in front of me and a feminine voice started reading the things shown on the window.

For your race, it’s the name of the species of the creature whose body you’ve entered.

For your stat points, it’s the number of stat points you’ve gained from any items you’ve equipped or from magical spells that effect your stats, or in your case, the stat points you’ve gained from the creature whose body you’ve entered.

For your skills and tittles, it symbolizes their ranks.

For your quests, it symbolizes the level of difficulty that has been decided by the system.

Okay, so the system does respond to my questions, which is only fair looking back at the things I’ve been through... but how much does it reveal? Is the explanation it gave me everything to be said about the parentheses, or just a rough explanation?

Hmm… wait, can’t I just asks it?

System, have you told me everything about the parentheses, or just a rough explanation?

*ding*

System has decided you are an intelligent being, and thus given you all the explanations needed to understand the usage of parentheses in the system. But you can always ask for a more comprehensive explanation.

Ah, okay.

System, can you give me a more comprehensive explanation on the usage of parentheses?

*ding*

System uses parentheses to show the number of extra things that effect a being, for example, as Stray Souls don’t have any strength stat, and you’ve entered the body of a cockroach, you’ve gained the strength of the cockroach, and it is shown in a parenthesis next to your strength stat.

…That… that wasn’t that much more comprehensive?

Wait…

System, can you give me an explanation on… race?

*ding*

Race is your race.

… Umm, can you give me a more comprehensive explanation on race?

*ding*

System shows beings what their race is in their race sections. As your race is a Stray Soul and the being whose body you’ve entered is a cockroach, both the races are shown in the system window.

… Are you fucking kidding me? I UNDERSTOOD THAT THE MOMENT I LOOKED AT IT!

God, this system is fucking useless… wait, system, do I get to keep all the stats I’ve gained from this cockroach if I enter another being’s body?

*ding*

No.

… Is there an anti-system cult or something like that in this world? If there is one, can I join it? Better yet, can I kill whoever made this shitty system? Because, I can already feel the headaches that this shitty system is going to cause me...

…System, what is my race?

*ding*

Your race is Stray Soul.

…I swear, at this point you are just fucking with me…

Hooo… Okay, calm down, the system might be a bitch, but you don’t need it, you are fine as you are…

System, can you give me a comprehensive explanation on the race Stray Soul?

*ding*

The race Stray Soul is given to any being that’s somehow left their body be it willingly or not, but because of some reason they are unable to leave the material plane be it be due to any past grudges they still hold on to or a magic applied on to them before their death.

Stray Souls usually deteriorate after a few hours of coming to existence if they don’t turn into undead, are purified or lose their grudges.

Hmm… System do you know why I became a Stray Soul? Because I am pretty sure I wasn’t in this world before, and I don’t remember dying.

*ding*

The only way for a being to become a Stray Soul is for them to die or be expelled from their body due to a spell or something similar.

System cannot give you a reason for why you’ve come to this world as it does not exist in the planet you’ve come from, that’s why you’ve been given the titles Reincarnator and Otherworlder.

So... even you don’t know why I am here, huh?

I took my attention away from the system window in front of me and it disappeared shortly after, and as I looked around, I could hear the sound of wind rustling the grass and branches of trees, birds chirping and bugs being... bugs, so annoying.

I don’t know why but I don’t feel as scared as I should be, I mean, I am in another world for god’s sake. But it all just feels normal… maybe it’s because I haven’t seen anything weird? Or is it because I can’t quite comprehend what’s going on?

Wait, I am a cockroach… I shouldn’t stay out in the open now, should I?

As said that, I started looking around and spied a tree not that far away from me, well, it was far away, but only because I was a literal bug.

But as I start walking towards it, I realized something, one of my legs didn’t work, and as I looked behind me, I saw something...

“Oh shit, I don’t have a back.”

Forget being able to walk, I shouldn’t even be able to live right now, but then, how am I alive?... wait…

System, am I an undead?

*ding*

Technically, yes. But no, you are not an undead. To become an undead, you need to enter back to your own body, or hold such a strong grudge that your soul doesn’t deteriorate after a few hours and becomes a ghost.

As you don’t have a body in this world, you cannot become an undead, and as you do not hold any grudges, you cannot become a ghost but, you may become undead if you start developing grudges.

The closest thing to you would a mana being, and if you are able to gather enough mana, you will be able to become a mana being yourself, a being with a soul and a body, one that is just not made of matter.

Hmm… system, what is a mana being?

*ding*

A mana being is a being made of mana.

… I swear, I am actually going to find whoever made this system or allowed its existence and kill them…

I mean, what is a mana being as in, what are the types of mana beings, at least the ones I can become.

*ding*

Mana beings are generally referred to as spirits, though that’s not all there is to them. Many creatures such as sprites, elementals, ghosts, and even some types of golems can be classified as mana beings, even though golems are not entirely made of mana in most cases.

As to what type of mana being you can become, you can become anything other than ghosts, because you do not have any grudges.

Hmm… then system, how would one become a mana being?

*ding*

To become a mana being, you only need to surround your soul with mana and make sure that mana doesn’t get carried away by the natural flow of mana. You can achieve this through many means but improving your control over mana would be the wisest.

Then, how do you I improve my control over mana?

*ding*

You need to get the skill Mana Manipulation, Control or skills similar to those to improve your control over mana.

And what’s the difference between Mana Manipulation and Mana Control, and how do I get them?

*ding*

Mana Manipulation is a lesser form of Mana control, in which you only have partial control over mana, but if you have the skill mana control, you will have ultimate control over mana that will develop as your skill develops.

And to get either of those skills, you need the skill Mana Sense or a skill similar to it.

And how do ı get Mana Sense?

*ding*

By sensing the mana around you.

… Why did I even ask?... Honestly, sometimes my genius is… it’s almost frightening…