"This should be a penalty zone, and yet I feel like Staryx is just giving me a boost."
Ed pondered as he looked at the familiar window.
[Confirm level up? Warning: might cause changes to body]
"Do I really have to go through this every time I level up?". Ed scratched the back of his head and frowned.
The last time this happened, it wasn't so pleasant. The pain seems to have left some sort of scar on Ed's heart.
He sighed and took a deep breath.
"Alright…"
Ed looked at the environment he was in.
Lavns were roaming everywhere and it seems like despite the incredible stat boost, he wasn't going to last for long since he has 5 HP left.
[Proceeding with level up…]
Ed stood there preparing for something, but nothing was happening. He braced for a couple of seconds...what felt like an hour to him, but still...nothing.
[Level up progress:1%]
All of a sudden, a maddening pain shot up through Ed's spine. It was as though his bones were displacing themselves and cutting into his flesh. Along with it came a soothing heat that acted like anesthesia.
[Level up progre...]
***
A guard entered the room for the hourly check up.
"What the hell?! What's wrong with him?" The guard exclaimed.
A red button appeared on the wall beside them and they slammed it.
Blaring sirens ensued and several creatures wearing lab coats barged in and started taking notes.
***
***
Ed slowly opened his eyes.
His body felt heavy.
"Damn it...that didn't feel as bad as last time, but it still felt horrible…" He mumbled and groaned.
His vision was blurry. The already fiery environment now looked like it was a 144p quality jpeg of lava.
Ed rubbed his eyes.
With perfect timing, the stats window popped up in front of him.
His eyes widened with excitement as he saw those beautiful two-digit numbers, having forgotten that his previous bonus in stats had gone.
After his excitement cooled down, he finally noticed the lack of Staryx's bonus stats, but what confused him and unsettled him even more was his race title.
"What in the hell is that?" His voice shaking.
He looked down at his hand. His skin adopted a more bronze-like tone, shining.
His nails have turned, much more subtle and yet obvious to Ed, pointier.
He wished he had a mirror right now.
Ed began to tremble. He couldn't handle the changes mentally. His body began to feel like it wasn't his. He felt as if he woke up in someone else's.
[Mental instability detected]
[Stabilizing…]
"It's happening again…" He said, slowly.
His voice progressively getting more solid through the sentence.
[Stabilized]
Ed scanned his surroundings. The brick red sky along with the Lavns were slowly melting into white.
Ed pinched himself...he wasn't losing consciousness, but it was being redirected back to his original body.
He now found himself back in shackles. Same place. Different body.
The lab-coated creatures began snickering and taking notes in a frenzied state when witnessing the act.