Stray Soul

As the realization that I was being eaten hit me, I tried to get up and run!

…Just to realize I was incapacitated because of some stupid things like the lack of mana which was showing itself to be a minor inconvenience. And even if I somehow got up and managed to make an escape, I am pretty sure the lack of muscle in my lower half would be another minor inconvenience that would eventually lead to another defeat… or would it actually? I mean, I am pretty sure an undead rabbit is not something a lynx sees every day, so I might actually be able to get away...

Not that I can even get up to try it tho…

Not being able to do… anything really, I just laid there, waiting to get enough mana to do something, not that I knew how long I’d have to lay there as a certain system was being a bitch like always. But after some time, I felt the pinching stop.

“Oh, finally its going to fuck off and leave me alone, and I’d just gotten this corpse too, and I am probably not going to get any bodies that are in such a good shape any time soon… actually, what will happen now that the lynx has eaten some of me? Will I be even able to move, or even live in this corpse? Or do I need to wander through the forest once again to find a new one?”

As I started musing to myself, I was fully expecting the lynx to just leave my corpse on the forest’s ground and leave it for birds or something but nooo! After a few seconds I started feeling another pinch, this time in my upper body, and felt that I was being dragged.

“Wait, what are you doing?!” I asked the lynx, though it couldn’t answer due to being a fucking cat, and I couldn’t talk due to me being half-eaten and having a rabbit like body, and even if I could, it was literally a cat, it couldn’t understand me.

And as the dragging continued, I started to think about what it was doing.

“Is it taking me to its home? But wouldn’t my corpse attract other carnivorous animals, and seeing that this world actually has mana and hopefully magic, won’t there be monsters that might want a quick meal that can come to its home and eat me and it? Wouldn’t it make more sense for it to just leave me after eating its fill in that case?”

As I continued to have various thoughts about my future fate, I felt the dragging stop, and the pinching feeing go away, and I started waiting for something to happen…

For nothing to actually happen.

“D-did it leave me in its home or something?” I asked myself, and tried to open my eyes, or at least see through them as I am not sure if they are open or closed, just for my attempt to not lead to anything due to a minor inconvenience I talked about before.

“Fucking mana… and I don’t even know how much I need before I can open my eyes again…” Saying that I willed my mana gauge or whatever it’s called up.

Mana Points: 0/15

Still 0… now, how do I increase mana regeneration… System, wisdom increases the mana regeneration right?

*ding*

Yes.

By how much does it increase it by though?

…

..

.

Of fucking course, you aren’t going to tell it to me… Anyways, I can’t just sit here and wait for my mana to regen, this is supposed to be a magical world! I need to go outside, explore its wonders and for some reason or the other get a harem full of women with no self-respect! Not stay in the fucking void and get terrorized by oversized cats!

But what to do, what to do…

As I started contemplating about what I needed to do to increase my mana regen, or at least see something, I remembered my first quest.

YES! Mana control! I need to get mana control, or the more likely version of it mana manipulation, and now that I could sense mana it should be easier but there is just a tiny miny problem… I don’t have the mana to experiment with… so there goes that I guess…

Wait a second, why don’t I have any quests right now? Shouldn’t have I at least gotten one to defeat or escape from the lynx at least? System!

*ding*

You did get a side quest to escape or defeat the lynx, but to not take your attention away from life threatening situations, the system closes all the messages while a being is fighting, or doing something they consider to be life changing or important and, as you couldn’t see the system message sent by the system, you couldn’t accept or reject the quest.

That… actually makes some sense… not that I am not mad, but it does make SOME sense... but in that case, why am I not getting a quest right now? I mean, a main quest is not necessary, but you could at least give me a side quest to get mana control or something.

*ding*

To get a main quest, the thing you want to do must be important for you, you just see getting the skill Mana Control as something you need to do and while its important, you feel like you could do without it.

And as for side quests, they are to broaden your horizons and make you do something you wouldn’t normally do or do things that system thinks you should do to improve yourself.

But please note that, the system given quest might not always be achievable even if they have a low ranking, that is because the system uses your knowledge to make your quests and doesn’t make sure they are always achievable.

Wait, so one day I might get a quest, that is just impossible to complete because the system thought that would, somehow, help me?

*ding*

Yes.

That’s… fucking stupid. Aren’t systems normally omnipotent or something like that? Shouldn’t you at least make sure the quests I get are completable and not just gaslighting me?

…

..

.

What did I fucking expect?... Guess I gotta learn mana control without actually having any mana to control, funnn… not.

As I took my thoughts away from the system and its stupid rules, I took another look at my mana points.

Mana Points: 1/15

Oh, how exciting, I have one mana now!... It’s not, it really is not… but I guess I have to start somewhere…

As I started feeling my mana cloud that was… adequately sized, I tried to think of a way to manipulate it, not that I couldn’t manipulate it already as I was somehow able to manipulate it somewhat but that wouldn’t count as mana control for some unholy reason, probably because the system is a bitch, but we can ignore that… actually we really shouldn’t because what the fuck system, what the actual fuck.

Anyways, I took my thoughts away from the shitty system and started probing, pulling and pushing the mana cloud around to maybe come to realization that would lead to some kind of enlightenment, not that that was going to happen, but hey, a man can hope!

As I started probing the mana cloud around me, I started noticing somethings with it. Firstly, it wasn’t like a ring around me, no it was an actual fucking cloud, and it wasn’t even consistent! In some places more mana would gather and, in the others, less, and some places even had crevasses like dents, how does a cloud made from literal mana have dents? Fuck me if I know!

And the worst thing was, I didn’t know where I was. Let me rephrase that. I didn’t know where my soul was. As far as the system lets me know, I understand from my skill ethereal body, the only reason I have a mana cloud is because ı don’t have a body that I can use to store my mana in, even though I have the rabbit corpse right now that I can store mana in… anyways, like what I was saying, because I have no body, wow that sounded fucking sad but anyways, I have no body so my mana is stored around me to protect my soul, but where is it, where is my soul?

I can kinda select the place in the middle of my cloud, but is that really where my soul is? Can I even sense it? I mean, if ambient mana can destroy or scatter it, and my mana cloud can protect it, I should be able to somewhat sense it, shouldn’t I?

But I can’t!... Or I can’t sense it now because of my lack of proficiency in mana sense… I think- I think I am going to just say that my soul is where my mana cloud is, and not think about it ‘till later when I can actually sense where my soul is, and move on, because I can’t be bothered with spending a year thinking about souls and what they are!

As I decided to stop thinking about my soul, I willed up my mana point counter.

Mana Points: 3/15

WAIT I HAVE 3 MANA BUT I CAN’T FUCKING SEE?! WHY SYTEM, WHY?!

*ding*

Your skill Bind (Z) started working again after you gained an appropriate amount of mana.

Then why can’t I fucking see!

…

..

.

Of course, you just escape from conversations, you fucking loser…

As I started bitching against the system once again, I tried to see if I had actually had control over my body, and to my surprise, I could control my legs!

Mostly, as one of them wasn’t really that easy to control due to… obvious reasons… I mean that’s still a good thing but why couldn’t I see? Wait a second… d-did that MOTHER FUCKER eat my eyes?!

After I thought that I started opening and closing my eyelids, and turning my head around, just to see a small glimmer of light behind me…

“Huh?”

As I fully turned around, I saw a wall of dirt blocking the rays of sun from reaching, where ever I was, though the dirt wasn’t blocking everything, it was still blocking so much that I didn’t even realize I had gained control over my body and while I am not sure why, I am sure the lynx buried me in the burrow we were near, I don’t think there is anyway for me to get out that isn’t the front exit but… why? To eat me later? But wouldn’t it make more sense for it to just, ya know, carry me to its home… wait I literally just made an argument about why that would’ve been a stupid idea like only a few hours ago, what am I saying?

As I shook my head to get rid of my stupid thoughts, I walked towards the dirt wall that was… not really blocking my way to freedom as I am pretty sure I could just dig through it and escape from here, but the question is, do I want to?

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I don’t have something like being captured kink but what can I even do outside that I can’t do here? For example, I might want to stay here to practice mana control, but the lynx will probably come back here, if not, other animals might smell me and decide to give me a housewarming party.

But on the other hand, if I get out of here, even though I don’t really have a working body right now, I might be able to find another corpse that is in a much better shape and I will also have the added benefit of not being stuck in a fucking dirt burrow by a… seemingly thin wall of dirt. But if I get out, and if the lynx is nearby it might want to disagree with its dinner leaving, and even if the lynx is not nearby or doesn’t see me or even if it sees me and doesn’t want to bother with me, like I said, there is probably a lot of other animals and maybe even magical monsters that may want to take a bite out of me while I am passing.

I mean, if I was a wolf or something and a lunch came in front of me, I’d definitely take it, no questions asked!... Though there are some parasites that get their host eaten so they can infect the thing that eats their host, so that might not be the most intelligent idea in a magical world filled with potentially all sorts of crazy fucking super bugs…

But that’s not the point, the point is… do I stay here and risk the lynx coming back and eating me, or do I go outside and risk the lynx seeing its dinner leaving and deciding to stop it?

What to do… what to do…