Stray Soul

After looking at the system message and seeing that I had only one mana left, I got a bit scared as my quest clearly said that to fail it, I needed to be at zero mana, or to die.

And I am pretty sure being at zero mana will mean death, or the closest a soul can get to a true death, so I needed to somehow get more mana, or find a corpse to hide in or figure out how to control mana… somehow…

As I was thinking about what I wanted to focus my efforts on, I willed my cockroach body to go faster, even though it was going as far as it could, maybe I could milk it a bit more? I mean, it’s not like I want to keep this body for a long time, after finding a new body, or learning mana control, I am ditching this body.

And as I watched my, hopefully, temporary body speed up a bit more, I willed the description of mana sense up, so I could take a look at it once more because, well, in every single piece of media I’ve read with magic in it, to manipulate mana, you first need to be able to sense it. So, hopefully, understanding a bit more about mana sense skill will help me get mana control faster.

*ding*

Description Mana Sense (Z): Allows the being in possession of it to sense mana.

Allows the being in sense of it to sense mana… but I am pretty sure I am not sensing any mana right now? Why is that tho… ohhh…

As I was thinking about why I wasn’t sensing any mana, I remembered how I sensed mana in the first place, it was by cutting a piece of mana from the… mana cloud surrounding me, and seeing how the system only gave me a more descriptive description on ethereal body after I realized something about mana, I think I can safely make out that the system will not give me anything for free unless I work for it, and as my way to sense mana is… crude in its simplest explanation, and needs me to cut mana from the mana cloud surrounding me, I am pretty sure I need to still cut some mana from the mana cloud surrounding me to use this skill, or do that until I find a better way to sense mana which will not be happening any time soon as I really doubt that cutting chunks of mana from my mana cloud, will help with my continuous survival.

But you can always just call it a hunch too.

Sooo… looking at mana sense was a waste of time, because I am sure as hell with my current proficiency or lack thereof in sensing mana, I won’t be able to figure out how to control mana…

So, what do I do? Just… walk? And hope I come across a corpse big enough that I can fit into?

…

I really don’t- and I mean it, I really don’t want to leave my life on the hands of lady luck but… honestly, I can’t think of a better way to live, so I guess I just… sit around and pray I find a corpse… well, not sit around but you get the point…

So, that’s what I did.

I just focused on my body and walked.

As I had left my body to just walk as fast as it could in a random direction that didn’t have anything to hinder its speed or stop it like bushes or roots, I was quite far away from where I originally came to this world, not that I had kept a count of how many steps, meters or trees had passed, as I was quite focused on figuring out mana sense but yeah, I was pretty sure I was a good cockroach or two away from my spawn point… maybe I shouldn’t call it my spawn point, because it’s a bit too gamey…but, it is my spawn point.

After I said that I let my mind wander off and started thinking about earth and other things from earth, like social media and such. But thinking about it, maybe not having twitt- sorry X is not such a bad thing, it might even be an actually good thing.

But after a few minutes of focusing on just walking and thinking about stupid stuff, while crossing under a bush, I heard a soft whimper—which was more like a squeal—and stopped immediately.

“What is that?” I asked, trying to see the source of the sound and quickly remembered I was a fucking cockroach, and cockroaches aren’t known for their supreme height, and eagle like vision.

After waiting for a few moments, I heard another squeal, and it sounded like it wasn’t any further or closer than the first sound.

And as I heard the squeal once more, I started to think about what it could be. I mean, it was obviously some kind of animal that was in pain, but what kind of animal is it? And more importantly, would it eat me?

I mean, I can’t exactly come out and say ‘hi’ to the thing as, if it is a carnivorous or omnivorous animal, I will probably die, both my body and soul, and seeing that it is in pain, it could definitely use some extra protein and I don’t think a big animal like a wolf would make a sound like a squeal when they are hurt, so it is definitely something small, but what is it?

Wait, why am I thinking about animals from earth? I may be a cockroach, and this place might look like a normal forest from earth so far, but it doesn’t mean it will have the same creatures from earth, hell it would actually be kinda disturbing to see an animal from earth, or something that looks like a human here, but I can’t exactly guess what it is either from standing here and doing nothing…

As I was thinking about what to do, I heard the animal whimpering more and more, and it sounded like it was exhausted, or dying even, not that I was sure tho, as even if it was dying, it is very possible for something small to kill me and unless I was absolutely forced to, I wasn’t about to go into the unknown and risk dying.

I mean what kind of an idiot would do something so stu-

*ding*

Stray Soul William’s amount of mana has dropped to dangerous levels, if you do not gain more mana, or find a way to conserve more, your life may be in danger.

Mana Points 0/10

…Fuck…

Now, I wasn’t stupid—well not that stupid at least, and I had long realized that there were unseen decibels in things like health, mana and stats, so I was 100% sure that, I didn’t actually have zero zero mana, if you get what I mean.

But that didn’t not mean that I wasn’t in the official danger zone now, as I wasn’t sure how much mana I was losing per second, nor did I know how much mana I actually had. I probably had a lot of particles of mana, but like how the system didn’t count them and just put a zero in their place, I might as well not count them too.

So now, I need to make a choice. I am pretty sure whatever the creature that is whimpering is dying or in a lot of pain, and if I am somewhat lucky, it will die before I do and I can get its corpse somehow, if it is big enough for me that is.

Or I can stay here and guarantee my death...

Now I am not a lucky guy, but this is a bet I am willing to take. Wait, let me rephrase that. This is a bet I am going to take, not because I want to do it, I just don’t want to die.

Saying that, I heard the whimpers of whatever the creature that was in pain continue, they were still there, but it seemed like whatever I was hearing was having a really bad time, and that’s when I steadied my confidence and started walking towards the sound.

Going out of the bush, and between the blades of grass was the scariest experience I ever experienced in my life, both of my lives actually. And after a few moments of walking that felt like an eternity to me, I started seeing the blades of grass growing shorter and shorter, while a clearing was revealing itself to me, and in that small clearing, near the roots of a tree was a small puddle of blood that seeped into the forest’s ground, and in the middle of that puddle was a rabbit with pure white fur that had splashes of blood on it, dirtying its purity, and as I looked at the rabbit in awe, I saw its eye move towards me, it’s slow breathing and blood all over and around it a clear sign that it was dying and like any normal creature would do in that situation, it didn’t react to me, not that it would even if it saw me on a normal day.

And after a few moments the rabbit took its gaze away from me, and I could see it’s gaze becoming more and more unfocused as it just stared at a hole beneath the roots of the tree, probably its burrow or something.

And after a good 10-20 seconds, the rabbit gave its last breath and stopped breathing all together, but I could still see some blood leaving its wounds, what caused those I did not know, nor did I wanted to find out what it was as whatever it was could probably kill me.

After a few more moments of looking at the rabbit’s corpse, I started approaching it, even though I didn’t know what attacked it, I preferably wouldn’t want to be here when it came back for its kill.

But there was a slight problem, I didn’t know how to leave my cockroach body behind. I mean, not that I tried before, but hey, not like I had many opportunities.

“Hmm… maybe I just… reach out?”

So that’s what I did. I used my control over my soul I had, and started touching the rabbits corpse, but when some parts of my soul touched it, I felt them passing right through the rabbit, not like there wasn’t any resistance, which I imagine came from the mana within the rabbit, or at least the remaining mana, but compared to my earlier attempt at phasing through a trees root, it felt like a knife through butter.

After I felt my soul touching the rabbit’s corpse, I started receding myself from the cockroach, and my vision and other senses started phasing out, to be slowly replaced by the vision and sharp pain coming from the rabbit’s body.

And as soon as I started feeling the rabbit’s body, I heard a distinctive ding sound resonating throughout my mind.

*ding*

Quest Life or Death (H) has been completed successfully.

Quest Rewards:

-6 exp.

-Skill: Bind (Z)

Congratulations! Due to completing a quest, you have levelled up 3 times and become level 4!

Congratulations! Due to completing a quest, you have received the skill Bind (Z)!

As I saw the message saying the quest was completed, I felt a wave of calmness pass through me, not because of the system, but because I felt so good knowing that I wasn’t about to die anytime soon.

But as I continued reading the message, I was baffled to see that I had levelled up three times! I mean, I know I had 0/1 exp, but shouldn’t the level two require like two exp if level one required one? Or is it a case of both level two and three requiring two exp to level me up?

Not having an answer to that question, I quickly willed my system window up to see what my exp was at.

Name: William Race: Stray Soul (Rabbit)

Level: 4 Exp: 0/4 Rank: Z

Health Points: 0/10 Mana Points: 2/15

Strength: 0 (0)

Vitality: 0 (1)

Agility: 0 (3)

Intelligence: 1 (0)

Wisdom: 0 (0)

Charisma: 0 (1)

Free Stat Points: 6

Skills: Ethereal Body (S), Mana Sense (Z), Bind (Z)

Titles: Reincarnator (S), Otherworlder (A)

Quests: N/A

Seeing that my exp counter and level were the same, I got confused because, usually, the amount of exp needed to level up grows exponentially, not like... whatever this is. Then I asked the system why it was like that.

*ding*

The system decides how much exp is required for each level.

…Wh—you know what? I don’t care, never asked.

As I said that I decided to start ignoring the weird things about the system and focused on my new skill, bind, and asked the system for an explanation on it.

*ding*

Description Bind (Z): Allows the being in possession of it to bind their soul to things that don’t possess a soul.

…What did I expect from the system? And why did I have any expectations to begin with?!

And couldn’t I do that before?! I literally only just entered this rabbit’s corpse! IF YOU WANT TO SCAM ME, AT LEAST TRY TO HIDE IT YOU FUCK-

As I was complaining to the system about its shitty nature, something pounced on me, and I could feel its fangs digging into my neck, and like any good prey animal would do, I started resisting, but unlike normal prey’s of whatever was attacking me, the lack of blood in my veins or the fact that I couldn’t breath didn’t matter and I started causing a lot of trouble for it and started jumping around while giving as much power as I could into my legs and, even with the additional weight of whatever was on me, I was able to disturb it enough for it to loose its grab on my neck for a second, and exploiting this weakness, I shook it off and after taking refuge behind a root, which wouldn’t actually protect me in any way, shape or form, but it gave some level of comfort nonetheless, then, I took a look at what attacked me, and in front of me was a brown-black feline with long ears pointing upwards and a bit of blood on its mouth, and a mixture of blood and small particles of dirt on its fur.

A lynx.