Aaron's POV.
I slowly opened my eyes and sat up in shock before quickly checking my body. Other than the fact that I was currently naked and covered in soot, it seemed fine. I know for a fact that fire engulfing me was not a dream or a figment of my imagination because the pain was too real. Plus, there is a body sized scotch mark right under me.
Looking at my hands, I pondered over what to do next. In my unconscious state after fire consumed me I was submerged in a rush of images, which I now know are memories. Memories of the boy whose body I now inhabited. It would seem that I had finally gotten the answer to the question that had been bugging me since I woke up. I had reincarnated.
I don't know how that was possible, neither did I care. All I knew was that I had been given another chance. A chance to exhibit my greatness… and in another world to boot.
I had been able to dominate and establish my presence in my country in my past life. And that was just with human level capabilities. Now if I had mana into the mix… even I became excited at the possibilities.
Before I could start imagining my new life of grandeur in this new world, a notification appeared in front of me.
[Body reconstruction complete. Time taken- 72 hours, 10 mins, 52 seconds.]
I stared at the notification in front of me in confusion. I remembered this thing appearing in front of me just before I was consumed by fire. Fearing a second round of that torture, I mentally prepared myself yet nothing happened.
I stared in confusion as another notification appeared.
[You are the youngest person to gain one of the artifacts of the Monkey King. You have received bonus rewards.]
The word artifact triggered a memory of the boy Aaron that I had absorbed. Apparently, artifacts are tools with miraculous abilities. Aaron, was a person who was sick physically. His body was so weak that it would never be able to hold mana and exerting himself physically brought him much pain. He had hoped to find one of these legendary artifacts, preferably one with a healing ability, to cure this ailment of his.
"Hahaha…" my laughter echoed in the cavern.
"It seems even heaven is favoring me. Not long after I reincarnated, I found a cure to the disease that was plaguing my new body." I stood up in a better mood than I had been since I woke up in this body.
I looked around for the artifact that was on the pedestal but found nothing. Then I remembered, just before I lost consciousness that the artifact disappeared into white light that entered my body. At that time I was in so much pain that I thought I was hallucinating.
With a smile on my face, I quickly checked the extra rewards I had supposedly gotten. Though I questioned why this artifact had a game like setting from my past life. I don't expressly remember an artifact having such a setting. Then again, the only information I had on this world was gained through the memories of a 13-year-old boy. I had no idea what was or was not possible here.
[Bonus rewards- Achievement points- +10,000. One free chance to pick any of the low-level skills in the shop.]
Looking at the information in front of me, I frowned.' What the hell are achievement points and what skills is this thing referring to?'
As if to answer my questions, another notification appeared explaining that achievement points are gained through leveling up or completing quests. It would seem that if enough points are gathered, it would be possible to upgrade my stats. Also, achievement points can also be used to buy skills in the shop. There was a brief explanation on how to assess something called a status window and the so called shop.
Feeling a little apprehensive, I first called my status window.
[Name: Aaron Stone.
Race: Human.
Title: None
Job: None
Strength: F
Stamina: F
Agility: F
Intelligence: D
Dexterity: F
Achievement Points: 15,000
Skills: None.]
Looking at my stat points I felt compete and utter disgust. Why in God's good name were my physical abilities so horrible. I didn't have the exact computation of my stats from my past life to compare to these one but I knew that they were way better then this. If I use my intelligence as a reference point then probably all my stats from my past life were either D or higher.
I sighed knowing that I had more work to do and opened up the store.
There were a lot of skills to buy here. There was a skill that could let me transform into anything, there was even a skill that could amplify my physical abilities for a short time, there was also a skill that allowed me to increase my size and a skill that supposedly improved my sight.
Looking at all the skills here I reckoned that some would be really useful right about now, like the skill that improved my physical abilities for a short amount of time, owing to my low stats, or the skill that could increase my size, so that I could smash my way out of this underground cavern.
However, calculating the achievement points I currently had. I knew that I could only buy 2 skills- [the eyes of fire and gold], which was the skill that apparently improves eyesight and {amplification] which improved my strength for a short period of time.
After buying these skills I checked for a more detailed description of what they could do.
[Eyes of fire and gold (F)
Active
Proficiency: 0%
Description: Eyes born out of purging hell fire have the ability to see through any and all illusions. They also allow the user to see perfectly in dark areas and see the energies of this world. This skill also has some attack functions. Increase proficiency to upgrade the skill and unlock more abilities.
Additional skills: Purgatory.
Description: The eyes of fire and gold have the ability to shoot out the very flames from which it was forged. At the lowest grade, this skill only shoots out normal fire, however, the higher the grade of the skill, the higher the grade of fire the skill releases.]
Blinking my eyes in astonishment at what I was seeing I pumped my fist in celebration. I had hit the jackpot. I just bought this skill to help my see better as I tried to navigate my way back through the labyrinth, I came through to find an exit and yet I'd ended up with an attack skill in addition.
Praying to the gods for more luck I checked my other skill.
[Amplification. (F)
Passive.
Proficiency: 0%.
Description: This skill has the ability to increase the user's strength by double to amount for a short period of time. The sudden amplification of strength causes the muscles in the arm to burst which results in the arm being unusable for a time. Hence, users should be careful.]
Although luck was not on my side with this particular skill, I was satisfied with what I had for now. Afterall, it's not good to be too greedy once the journey has just began. My time would come for sure. Of that, I was certain. The next agenda on the list is to test out the energy called mana.
From the memories of the boy Aaron, it was supposed so amazing that I man could use it to punch through a mountain if the right requirement were met. But like I said, I wouldn't completely trust the memories of a child cooped up in the mountains