In a dark room with the constant whirring sound of engines, a boy around 15 years of age was lying on the ground. His complexion was pale as if he was going to die but a careful observer would realize that the process was backwards.
People occasionally passed through the room but none seemed to care about the boy. To this world of immense kindness, Maxwell opened his eyes with a start and took a deep breath.
The air was pungent with a smell that reminded him of his childhood when he was working in a gas station. Or previous childhood one might say. He just stayed on the ground for a couple of minutes digesting everything. It was weird being here immediately after speaking to the system.
All he had known, his world, his empire was gone. But he made peace with that fact when he was planning The Project Resurrection. His people would live and he too might as well, it seemed. The whole concept of transmigration seemed ridiculous but he would use the hand he was dealt.
He threw himself up as his body protested the unfair usage of it. He took a glance at himself from the wall with a metallic sheen. He knew he was transmigrated so, that meant he should, or rather the owner of this body should have died before his soul rudely intruded it. It was rather ironic that he died in a room clean enough to see your reflection from the walls.
His looks were ordinary with black hair and eyes. He was clearly malnourished but his body seemed complete and without any big problems. He was relieved that system didn’t give him a body with a missing appendage or an extra one maybe. He tried to summon the status window from before.
Status:
Name:6789(Maxwell Aurelius)
Age:15(54)
Class: Pending
Nobility: None
Traits: ???, Merchant of Yliaster
Stats:
Strength:6
Agility:9
Dexterity: 10
Vitality:8
Soul:17
HP:80
MP:255
He wasn’t sure why his soul was so high but he figured it was something caused by etherium. His malnourishment was probably the cause for his very low strength. Despite his malnourished body, he felt more alert since waking up and he suspected that also was a boon coming from his high soul stat. As he was staring dumbly at his status he heard a sound.
“So you woke up after all eh? You looked broken bad just now.” A gruff voice echoed in the room. Maxwell turned to see a man in clothes fitting for a beggar. He had a dirty beard reaching his chest. “Seems that way” he answered.
“A smart-ass you are huh. Come.” He said as he turned around and started walking. Maxwell shrugged and started following the man. He could detect no bad intent from the beggar.
“What's your number?” Asked the man. After staring at him uncomprehendingly for a second Maxwell managed to say his “name” remembering it from his status screen.
“Hmm then you are on the right wing huh. No shock that you were almost dead then.” The beggar said with a small laugh.
“Why do you say so?”
“So you became dumb after that eh?” Man said with the same irritating tone and they walked in silence after that.
Eventually, they reached the right wing that the beggar was talking about. Maxwell could see that the surroundings were getting progressively more unkept as they went. They stopped in front of a sign that said “6500-7000” and it was apparent that someone designed or at least tried to design this place a long time ago as a dormitory.
There were many children with similar attires to Maxwell. Maxwell noted that one of them froze when he saw Maxwell but he seemed to be keeping his distance because of the beggar. He noted that a group of kids were also staring at him with no good feelings. Maybe these are the reason this kid is dead? Maxwell theorized.
“Nothing like home eh kid? I be off then.” The beggar turned back and started walking back the way he came. Maxwell looked at the man's back thoughtfully. There was something really wrong about that guy. The child from before, seeing that the beggar was gone, quickly came near Maxwell.
“Hey, 78 the fuck were you doing with the cleaner?” He asked hysterically. He seemed to fear the man for some reason.
“He found me passed out and brought me here. I feel a bit unwell still. Who were you again?” Maxwell asked. He knew he might be making an ass of himself but he might as well come as suspicious to a kid rather than an adult.
“Enough with the jokes man, have you done the job or not?” The kid asked whispering. He was panicking visibly. At this point it was obvious that Maxwell was fucked as much as using this identity is concerned. For a second he tried to use telepathy to get a better feeling of the situation as an old reflex.
He suddenly felt very strange as he felt a sudden mental surge coming from the kid. Memories fragmented and hard to decipher came and disappeared in a flash as he felt like he smashed something mentally. He watched dazedly as the kid’s eyes rolled back and he tumbled to the ground like a puppet with strings cut.
6790 – Warrior (Level 3) defeated. Experience pending until class selection.
Maxwell thought two things at the same time. Firstly and most importantly kid was defeated but not killed and that was good.
Secondly he now actually knew what the kid was talking about albeit it was fragmented because of the ridiculous telepathic exchange. He was meant to unscrew one of the ventilator covers for them to run away at night. This also explained why he was dead in the middle of a clean room as something must have happened while he was unscrewing the cover.
From the kid's name, it seemed that this kid was his roommate. That also explained why he was so familiar with Maxwell. His thoughts got interrupted by a system notification.
Stolen novel; please report.
Conditions met…
The Trait “Etherium Soul” has awakened.
Skill “Telepathy” unlocked.
Etherium Soul(Unique Trait):
A soul tainted and forever changed by the extraordinary substance Etherium. May your brethren endure through you.
Increases Telepathy Efficiency
Mind and Spirituality are fused prematurely into the attribute Soul
Your soul is hidden.
???
Well, the last phrase of the description was weird but this trait at least explained what his soul attribute was. Telepathy was a welcome old friend. He was quite surprised that he could use the skill on people not augmented by Etherium though. Question marks were another source of worry but right now the unconscious kid in front of him beat this by a large margin when it came to being a problem.
He quickly carried the boy to their room under the searching gazes of the other children. They seem to not care about the boy who Maxwell from now on decided to call Bob for his sanity.
He placed the boy over one of the beds. He could only guess which was Bob’s bed but he seemed to not mind it very much as he was. He sat on the other bed, took a breath to calm himself and summoned his status to see if he could select a class. Considering the hostile gazes of the other children it would do some good to have some way of fighting back in this world quickly. He was not sure what to make of the situation but he would think about that later. This life presented infinite possibilities he lost once already. He would first make sure that he won't lose them this time too.
Status:
Name:6789(Markus Aurelius)
Age:15(54)
Class:Pending
Nobility:None
Traits: Etherium soul, Merchant of Yliaster
Stats:
Strength:6
Agility:9
Dexterity: 10
Vitality:8
Soul:17
HP:80
MP:255
He discovered that he could use his hands to manipulate the system interface but that seemed really inefficient. He didn't have his hands back in the white space but he could still use the interface so he tried something different. He tried to focus on the class with his mind and that did the job.
Class selection(Initiate):
Welcome to the system, Merchant.
Please choose one of the following classes:
Citizen
Warrior
Gunslinger
…
…
…
The size of the list went on almost endlessly and Maxwell was lost for a second. But he realized that albeit being almost endless, the list only contained basic classes. No insane legendary class or something could be seen. He also saw something that made all the options quite pointless after scrolling through for a while.
Mage:
Manipulators of mana who can control the elements and much more according to their affinities. Bend mana and consequently the world to your whims.
The summary felt a bit exaggerated he could admit. But it didn’t change the fact that this was the class of magic. One would better know that magic was not something new for Maxwell. They fought against the beasts with all they’ve got over the years in Zephyr and magic was something they faced frequently and most of the time in very unfortunate situations.
They always dreamed of wielding it as they theorized that it was the key to harming the beasts but they were never successful. Now it was on his fingertips. He mentally selected the class without any more consideration.
Mage class selected.
Mage: You are now able to manipulate and sense mana and craft spells through the usage of magic theory. Let your enemies know the might of your arcane powers.
+%15 Mana Manipulation efficiency.
+%20 Mana Sense sensitivity.
+2 to mind and spirituality every level.
+1 to all remaining stats every level.
+2 free stat points every level.
Acquired skill “Mana Manipulation”
Acquired skill “Mana Sense”
Fused soul detected…
Mana Sense evolved to Soul Sense
Acquired Skill “Magic Theory”
Acquired Skill “Mana Bolt”
Maxwell felt information flowing into his head about the new skills. They were simple enough considering this was a started class but his soul once again tripped something up. He didn’t know what was the difference between soul sense and mana sense but he guessed he would learn soon enough.
His class seemed basic enough but he was confused about how mind and spirituality would work with his stats. Would he even be able to spend the free points on Soul? Testing would be needed when he leveled up. Now though he was quite excited to test the new skills.
He tried to use Soul Sense and it was a weird experience. Everything around him felt oddly cold. He could feel a bit of a warmth coming from the direction of Bob. Apart from the coldness he could also sense spots of “something” around him. It was hard to describe them with shapes but he felt like he could control them if he wanted to.
He took a deep breath and remembered the mediation techniques he learned in his past life. His life has never been without stress, and he had a lot of practice just meditating. He focused and felt his breathing and body. Slowly he widened his awareness towards the spots he was feeling.
Skill “Meditation” acquired.
Skill Meditation Leveled Up (Lvl-1→3)
The notification broke his concentration for a second. He figured it was leveling this fast because of his experience from his past life. He quickly focused back on the spots and started his experiment.
He tried to gather them in his palm and watched them as they lazily moved. When two of them touched each other they merged to make a bigger whole. More continued to gather as a couple of minutes passed. He could feel a strain but he was now holding a little ball on his palm.
He was entranced by the phenomenon. It was honestly beautiful. Then it exploded at his face.
