[AURORA WRIGHT. Town of Friendship, Southern Vales, Avalon Sanctuary. Red Day, 13th Week of Winter, Year 5008 of the Avalon Calendar.]
"Ow my head…." Aurora groaned.
She instinctively touched her forehead and felt bandages wrapped around her skull. Thankfully the pain was quite dull and was also quickly subsiding.
"Oh, it was a dream," Aurora sighed half happy and half disappointed. "I must be in a hospital…."
Her words caught in her throat as she realised that instead of a hospital room, she was in a bedroom that could have come out of fantasy novel. The room was three meters tall and each wall measured four meters in length. The wallpaper was pearl white in colour with small golden leaves masterly painted upon it, giving one the impression that the leaves were actually being blown by a gentle breeze.
The canopied bed she lay upon was made of sandalwood and large enough to comfortably fit three people. The linen sheets were soft and warm. With a satin bed cover on top.
Bless you old woman, Aurora silently thanked her benefactor. The body she now inhabited was probably a person of wealth and status. Wealth and status meant security and lots of free time. She might even be a princess.
Aurora wiggled to the side of the bed and carefully stood up. Thankfully her head had ceased to throb.
She moved towards a large mirror directly opposite to the bed. It reached the full height of the three meter tall room and was two meters in width.
"I look like me from two years ago when I had really long hair," Aurora smiled looking at the reflection and glad that she was in a familiar form. "But what's with these clothes? This robe is way too baggy. Is this world full of incompetent tailors or did the original person who inhabited this body have a strange fashion sense?"
After a minute of admiring herself in the mirror, Aurora moved towards the room's only window which was every bit as large as the mirror. She quickly slipped open the red satin curtains and realised that it was night time/ Looking downwards, she estimated that the room was three floors above the streets below.
"What a beautiful city," Aurora beamed.
The city-scape beyond the window could have come from a fantasy novel. The ten meter wide streets were covered by cream coloured concrete. Every three meters, a thin, two meter tall column rose from the middle of the street. These columns glowed with a calm pearl-white light that was enough to illuminate the street, even in the darkness of night.
Along both sides of the street were rows of manors, which stood between two to four storeys' in height. Constructed of brick and cement, the buildings reminded Aurora of European Renaissance mansions. Incorporating features that could be found in ancient Greek and Roman architecture, particularly columns, domes and triangular roofs. With large windows that were framed by decorative brickwork, columns and arches.
Most of the windows which she could see, had their curtains drawn close. However, she could distinctly tell that there were sources of light emanating from a few of them.
She quickly gazed around her own room and spotted four glowing silver orbs about the size of a fist. There was one at each corner of the room. Plus, a fifth orb directly in the centre of the pearl white roof. The arrangement of these spheres of light, covered the room in a pleasant, subtle glow while also limiting the casting of sharp shadows. Furthermore, it seemed they were also regulating the room temperature to a comfortable twenty-five degrees.
I'll need to figure how those globes work so I can turn them off when I want to sleep, Aurora thought to herself.
Then she began to ponder how she would interact with others. This new body probably had relatives and friends whom she needed to converse with. Plus, she had to come up with an excuse for why she had suddenly become clueless about the world.
"Ping!" announced Aurora. "Amnesia trope!"
Aurora decided to tell anyone she encountered that she had amnesia. That would serve to cover a lot of problems and hopefully end inquiries about her past. Still, she would like at least some basic knowledge, such as her new body's name. With that in mind, she closed the curtains and began to search the room for clues.
Aside from the mirror, the rest of the room was quite bare. There was a large sandalwood wardrobe, a sandalwood chest of draws, an oak desk with chair, plus a steel mannequin besides which stood an empty vertical sword stand. Everything appeared practical, without a hint of decorative flair.
From this, Aurora deduced that the previous person was probably some warrior princess type. She hoped that this world wasn't into bikini armour or other ridiculous female attire. More importantly she hoped she wouldn't need to go to war or anything remotely similar. She doubted she could kill another person.
As she continued to inspect the room, she noted a small but thick leather-bound book with some writing on its otherwise plain cover. She picked up the book from the chair it was on and read the title.
"Diary of Laurel," Aurora nodded her head. "I guess my name is Laurel. Not too bad I guess. At least I'm not a tragic Juliette. Plus, I keep a diary. Hopefully I can use this to figure some things out."
Aurora opened the book and decided to flick to the last journal entry.
********************
Red Day, 13th Week of Winter, Year 5008 of the Avalon Calendar.
Today begins the final week before the Summoning Day. I can't wait for White Day to come. My years' worth of study and training will finally be rewarded. This is so much better than coming first in my magical academy test or winning the kingdom's junior swordsmanship contest.
********************
"Seems like I'm talented," laughed Aurora. "Yay me!"
She continued to read.
********************
I wonder what Mystical Beast I will summon? It would be great if I summoned a royal griffin or golden dragon. Father said that one's Mystical Beast will align with one's inner self. I've been told that I'm honourable and kind and will one day become the perfect ruler of my kingdom. So, I should get something noble.
********************
Aurora paused. Becoming the ruler of a kingdom seemed like hard work. Not only that, unlike the magic study and sword fighting stuff, ruling sounded boring. She'd have to find some talented prime minister or some other person to do most of the grunt work. Satisfied with her solution, she once again returned to the diary.
********************
Regardless of what Mystical Beast I summon, I will work my hardest to win the next Beast Master Championships. So that my people no longer suffer.
The Kingdom of Laurel has come last in the two previous finals and had to cede full fishing rights of the Lake of Tranquillity to the Kingdom of Helm. This has put a lot of pressure on our farmers and river fishermen to make up for the shortfall in food. If we don't attain one of the top two placings in the upcoming contest, then I fear a famine is inevitable. We may even have to plead for the right to fish in the Southern Sea.
********************
Aurora frowned. She was unmotivated about anything aside form martial arts, reading books and studying mythology. So, she defiantly didn't want to be responsible for the fate of a kingdom. However, the pressure of a starving nation, weighed heavily on her consciousness. In her previous life, she had been able to help the less fortunate by simply donating money to charities. She doubted it would be that easy in this new world.
She decided to push those future troubles to the back of her mind and finish off the final few sentences in the diary entry.
********************
On a positive note, I rescued a stranger today from the clutches of some nefarious men. I used my superior swordsmanship to vanquish the half dozen thugs. Gaining only a few minor injuries in the process.
The girl I saved was quite pretty and even had the same heterochromatic eyes as me. I've asked Fleur to post a request to the Adventurers' Guild to find the young woman's relatives.
********************
Aurora finished reading the diary entry and began to ponder her next step.
"Alright," Aurora began to verbally formulate her plans. She found that doing so tended to reinforce her will to actually follow through. "Firstly, I need to check out if I'm hurt anywhere else. Seeing as my diary said I incurred injuries."
Aurora approached the large mirror and slipped out of her robe. She gazed at her naked form, admiring her taut stomach and firm butt.
"Well it looks like I don't have any other problems but this head wound," said Aurora in relief. "Plus, my body is slightly more toned than my old one. Shame I can't see if I've got any internal injuries."
"Did you wish to access Character Overview?" a strange voice seemed to speak directly to her mind.
"Who's there?" Aurora quickly looked around.
However, she was unable to spot anyone else in the room.
Suddenly she had a strange idea. The voice had asked her about viewing a Character Overview. In a lot of the novels she loved to read, people who transmigrated often had some kind of game-like stat sheet. Like those character sheets from the Dungeons and Dragons pen and paper role-playing game she had briefly played during her early high school years.
"Show me my Character Overview," Aurora commanded.
"Accessing Character Overview without use of a Scrying Stone is a one-time ability," the voice in her head stated. "Please confirm if you wish to access Character Overview."
"Yes," replied Aurora. "I wish to confirm that I want to access my Character Overview."
"Loading started," said the monotone, almost mechanical voice. "Loading complete."
Suddenly a square, silver screen appeared in front of Aurora. It was about a meter in height and was covered in writing. Aurora quickly focused on the written information.
********************
Basic Overview.
- Name: Aurora Wright.
- Titles: First Heir of the Wright Family.
- Race: Human (Nephilim).
- Gender: Female
- Age: 16.
- Age appearance: Mid-teens.
- Height: 161cm
- Weight: 55kgs.
- Primary Class: Beast Master.
- Level: 1.
- Experience Points: 100/100.
- Permanent Status Effects: None.
- Temporary Status Effects.
: Beast Master Levelling Locked.
: Mild concussion.
Innate Abilities: Human (female, average size, teenager).
- Core Attribute Maximums of 600: Fortitude and Might.
- Core Attribute Maximums of 1000: Grace, Intellect, Speed and Will Power.
- Targeting Senses: Vision and Touch (contact).
- Communicative Senses: Hearing.
- Lesser Senses: Smell and Taste.
Innate Ability: Nephilim.
- Nephilim Aura Disguise.
- Nephilim Fertility.
- Nephilim Lifespan.
Innate Abilities: Aurora's Personal Abilities.
- Alpha Stage Quest System.
- Protagonist's Uncanny Luck.
Primary Attributes.
- Fortitude: 250.
- Grace: 250.
- Intellect: 400.
- Might: 150.
- Speed: 300.
- Willpower: 400.
Transcendent Attributes.
- Attunement: 1.
- Power: 5.
- Resistance: 5.
- Talent: 1.
Skills of Note.
- Combat (Melee general): Competent.
- Combat Finesse Melee Skill (Form-Intention Fist ): Adept.
- Language (Avalon): Adept.
- Language (Common Human): Competent.
- Language (Huaxia): Competent.
- Swimming: Competent.
Beast Master Powers.
- Create Mystical Beast Contract.
Equipment of Note.
- None.
Combat overview.
- Combat Finesse Melee Technique: Rapid strike (1).
- Strongest attack: Unarmed strike (1.5).
- Strongest defence: Unarmed block (1.5).
********************
Aurora frowned. Some of the information sounded impressive. Especially the part about being a Nephilim. If this world was anything like her old one, then a Nephilim was probably some kind of semi-divine or half angelic being.
However, she had no baseline measurements of what these stats actually meant. So, she couldn't gauge whether her attributes were impressive or poor. Furthermore, her diary said she was a top-notch swordsman plus had knowledge of magic. Yet none of these showed up.
"Strange voice," said Aurora. "Explain what this stuff all means."
Unfortunately, the monotone voice didn't answer and without any warning, the silver screen also vanished.
"Well that sucks!" Aurora fumed. "I hope I can find someone who can explain this stuff to me. I better write down what I can remember."
Aurora picked up the diary and wrote down what she could recall. Thankfully, she had an excellent memory and lots of practice with recording spread-sheet like information.
Afterwards, she made her way to the window once more. Gazing out, she noted that white flakes of snow were now gently falling from the sky. Although the room's temperature was kept constant by the five orbs, she none-the-less felt like taking a warm bath.
Aurora put her gown back on and then tried to decide which of the room's two doors led to a bathroom.
"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe," she began. "Catch a tiger by the toe. If he hollers, let him go. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe."
She settled on the door that was on the same wall as the large mirror. As opposed to the door opposite to the window.
She swung the door open and was surprised to encounter a youthful male. He stood around a hundred and eighty centimetres tall, with broad shoulders and well-toned musculature. More importantly, he was wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist.
"Woah!" Aurora gasped. "A Wild Towel Clad Boy appeared!"
The brown-haired boy seemed unfazed by Aurora's entrance.
"I'm glad to see you woke up," he smiled. "I was worried about you."
Aurora was still processing the scene before her and could only stutter nonsense. "Towel Clad Boy used Charm. Its Super Effective."