Stray Soul

For a few moments I stood still, angry at the system for being so bad, but soon realized that I really shouldn’t be standing out in the open and scurried to the roots of the nearest tree to hide from… well, I am a bug so anything really.

But as I scurried over to the roots, I could sense my… soul? Fuck it, soul it is.

As I scurried over to the roots of the tree, I could sense a lot of particles passing through my soul, which wasn’t the most pleasant of experiences, but what’s more troublesome was that I couldn’t get beneath the roots.

Why? Was there a swarm of angry bugs? Maybe a really small dungeon I could somehow sense the presence of? Or an angry animal staring at me?

Nah, none of that.

My soul just got stuck on the roots for some unholy reason. Aren’t I supposed to be an ethereal being?... Well, half ethereal as I have a body now but c’mon, I am a soul, I should be able to warp through a bit of fucking wood!

...Shitty world, shitty rules and, most importantly, a shitty system.

As I stood there, wallowing in my defeat, I remembered something, I didn’t look at my skill Ethereal Body, or at least its description, neither did I look at my titles or what that quests section was… should I look at what stats are too?... Eh, nah, they are gonna be the same as any other fantasy setting anyways… hopefully.

After finishing thinking to myself, I quickly willed the system window to open.

Name: William Race: Stray Soul (Cockroach)

Level: 1 Exp: 0/1 Rank: Z

Health Points: 1/1 Mana Points: 3/10

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

Ignoring the fact that my mana has dropped by a point even though I wasn’t doing anything, I quickly asked the system about my skill and titles and what quests are.

*ding*

Skill Ethereal Body (S) is a racial skill given to soul like beings.

Description Ethereal Body (S): You are the very essence of life, a soul. Thanks to you being an ethereal being, no physical matter can interact or harm you, but you are extremely weak against any and all magical phenomena.

Titles are given to beings for important achievements they’ve made throughout their life.

Description Reincarnator (S): Congratulations! Against all odds, your soul has somehow managed to retain its sense of self and your memories through the inter dimensional void.

Description Otherworlder (A): Congratulations! You’ve somehow managed to come to this world through unknown means.

Please note that not everyone will have the same title description even though they might have the same title, this is because not everyone gets a title through the same way and system slightly changes the description of titles to better suit every being.

Quests are the way how system encourages beings to grow and improve themselves. There are 2 types of quests, Main and Side.

Main quests are given by the system to beings and Main quests always fallows a being’s desires and goals, it’s just there to give them a prize when they reach it.

Side quests are given by the system and can be rejected or accepted, these quests are given to broaden the horizon of beings and push them to improve themselves but are not necessary for improvement.

After a minute or two of reading through the window I can say 3 things;

1, my skill doesn’t really do anything.

2, titles are just fancy place holders without any purpose.

3, SYSTEM, WHY DON’T I HAVE A QUEST!

*ding*

System hasn’t had the time to fully integrate your soul into itself, after a few minutes the system will be able to give you quests according to your desires and goals.

What do you mean you haven’t had the time to integrate me? I am literally using you!

…

..

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Great, now you don’t respond, how adult like!

After a few more moments of waiting for a window to appear, I closed my status screen, and started looking around and started thinking about my situation.

While thinking about things I realized something, I could feel waves of something passing through my soul…

…FUCK, HOW AM I THIS STUPID! THAT’S JUST MANA PASSING THROUGH ME!

God how have I lived for this lon- oh wait, I am dead… Explains a lot.

But if I can feel mana passing through my soul, how do I not have mana sense? System!

*ding*

To get Mana Sense, you need to be able to sense mana both in you and outside you.

Ohh… How do I do that?

I started looking around with my cockroach eyes, and after being sure nothing was about to jump me, I started focusing on my soul, more specifically, on the mana passing through me.

Like before, it felt like waves of particles of some sort passing through me and when one wave ended, another one would start. It was almost continuous, but not quite.

As I watched the mana move through me, I become baffled as to how I was supposed to sense some of it outside me. I mean, was it even possible? If not for the pain they caused when passing through me, I would’ve just thought they were wind or something…

Hmm… wait, could it actually be wind? In many of the fantasy settings I know about, there isn’t just mana, there are many types of mana, and air or something similar to it is usually a type of mana too! And people usually accept everything to be made of mana or caused by mana in some way, so who’s to say it isn’t the case here? I mean, I won’t know until I test it and am also a literal soul that has somehow put itself into a body of a cockroach, and one that also talks to a magical system! So, there is a non-zero chance that, that’s actually the case! I am a genius!

I quickly bringed my attention from my soul to my body and started trying to feel the wind, but there was one problem, I am on the ground, and it’s not like I can get up above or to somewhere wind is prevalent to test out my little theory without dying but… I can just commandeer another corpse, right?

Wait… can I actually anchor myself to another corpse? I mean, my mana seems to be dwindling, albeit slowly, it’s still dwindling, and I don’t know if I need to spend mana on anchoring myself to a corpse, and can I even commandeer any corpse I find? Or does it have to be a bug corpse?

…Wait can’t, I just ask the system about that?

System, can I commandeer any corpse I find?

*ding*

There are limitations to your ability to take control of dead creatures but yes, you can technically take control of any corpse you find.

…So, what are the limitations?

…

..

.

Great, leave me on read… I should really stop asking the system questions, not like it answers them anyways…

Stopping thinking about the system, I carefully left my safe area near the roots and quickly realize that I was a soul, and can’t be affected by anything physical, so I stopped my sad attempt at being careful and got out into the forest proper.

Like before, I could hear the wind rustling the leaves and various other sounds of the forest, but due to me being a literal bug on the ground level, I couldn’t see much of anything.

“Hmm… what to do…” I mutter to myself, trying to think of a solution to my current problem of needing to get somewhere with wind so I could test my little air mana theory.

“Do I just… find the corpse of a creature that can actually move and is not pathetic like a bug?”

While, that plan sounds good to me there was two big problems with it.

First, I don’t know how to find animal corpses.

Second, and also the most important one, is, I don’t know my limitations to controlling bodies of the deceased. The system said there were limitations, but it didn’t say what they were, and they might be as simple as me being unable to take control of anything other than bugs or being something weirder like our mana waves aligning or something stupid like that.

I don’t know anything about souls or bodies so it might literally be the second one… let’s hope not…

And it’s not like I’ve seen any animals or something like that either… so do I just, wander around looking for an opening in the forest, and hope that I come across the corpse of an animal?

… Sounds like a plan to me… wait a second, I just remembered something…

System, how much mana do I have?

After I said that a blue panel with only a single value on it appeared in front of me, and I was a bit concerned by what was on it.

Mana Points: 2/10

It got reduced again… but what’s causing it? Is it because of my connection to this bug… or is it the natural decay of my soul?

I quickly remembered what the system said about Stray Souls like me…

“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.”

I don’t think I have a lot of time left seeing that I only have 2 out of 10 mana, but how do I absorb mana quicker or absorb mana at all?

… I think understanding how to sense mana and control it is going to be a lot more important than I initially thought, and other than being important, potentially lifesaving…

As I was lost in my own thoughts, I heard the dinging sound that I had come to associate with the system messages.

*ding*

Your soul has been successfully integrated into the system.

A Main quest has been created by the system according to your desires to help you in your journey.

Main Quest: Life or Death (G)

Quest Description: Due to fate, or an absolute lack of luck, you find yourself on the brink of death due to things beyond your control. But will you accept your fate and succumb to death, or fight against it and live to see another day?

Quest Completion Conditions:

-Learn skills Mana Sense, Mana Control and/or take over the corpse of a deceased being that can contain and protect you.

Quest Failure Conditions:

-Mana Points reach 0.

-Death.

Quest Rewards:

-6 exp.

-Skill: Bind (Z)

As I read through the system message, I was a confused, scared and also a bit happy.

Confused because, wtf system, are you really gonna tell me I am going to die after I just figured it out? Maybe give me a fucking heads-up next time.

Scared because, well… I was just scared of death. By some sheer luck, I was able to live once again and I was hoping to live for a loooong time, and I was scared of what was going to happen after my soul… deteriorated.

But I was also happy because, well, this shits exciting!

Now don’t get me wrong, I am no masochist but, you gotta understand me! I was in a fantasy world, and I was getting quests and after doing this quest I was going to get a free skill to booth too?! HELL YEAH BOI!

Well… the fact that I could die was a bit… bad. But if I am careful, and fast, I could probably complete the quest, right? I mean, there is no way the system would give me an un-completable quest, right?

As I was thinking of the quest, I realized something I should’ve asked the system about, the ranks.

System, what are the ranks?

*ding*

There are 12 ranks and they are;

Z, H, G, F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS and SSS

That seems… a bit excessive now, doesn’t it? I mean, how are the ranks even decided? And why have so many ranks anyways? System?

…

..

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Of course you aren’t going to answer now are you, you dipshit…