A sliver of hope that had continued to live on with Sun during the months of his isolation burst into a raging flame, lighting up the entire dark world as Sun heard those words. A slight smile appeared on his pale, malnourished face as his eyes glowed with faith that he would leave this shitty situation.
'Transmigration? I've heard of such a concept in many fantasy works. A process in which a soul transfers into the dead body of another person in an entirely different world.'
He used his leftover strength to stand up and look around as everything around him suddenly started to become less visible. Before he knew it, he had lost consciousness.
***
Muffled sounds could be heard in the distance.
"Wake up Suniol! Stay alive brother!" A young girl who looked to be around the age of 13 yelled in distress, rapidly pushing her hands against the chest of a lying body as sweat poured down her forehead.
"Please. Don't leave me as well..." She said in a quiet, broken voice, as she slowed down her chest presses. The ever-so-quiet heartbeat had finally stopped as she broke down in a flurry of tears upon the body of her dead brother.
...
As if Sun had just submerged from water, his eyes flew open as he panted slightly. Upon opening his eyes, he instantly felt painful stings all over his sore body, causing him to breathe even harder.
Looking in front of him, he noticed a clump of hair on his wet chest, which suddenly arose to show the surprised, crying face of a young girl.
'What the hell is going on? Have I already transmigrated?' He thought to himself, slightly overwhelmed.
"Brother... your... alive?" The girl said as a smile slowly formed on her sniveling face.
There was a small moment of silence as Sun saw the young girl's eyes regain a tint of life.
SLICE!
Out of nowhere, the girl's head was instantly decapitated. Dark red blood sprayed all over Sun's face as the young girl's head flew a couple of feet before dropping to the floor, and her body lifelessly slumped on his chest.
Sun immediately started to hyperventilate, shocked and traumatized from what just happened as he started to feel a metallic, salty taste on his tongue.
He looked up and behind himself, only to see something that shocked him even more. A rusty, small dagger was heading straight for the middle of his head.
He didn't know whether it was his fight-or-flight human instincts or his time spent in the dangerous, crime-ridden streets in his past life, but he managed to roll over to the left at the last second, dodging the thrown knife by only a breadth of a hair.
He quickly sprung to his feet to see what had thrown the dagger at him when he noticed his surroundings, which he only got a quick moment to survey.
He looked to be in some sort of giant, dark cavern that was dimly light only with a few crystals here and there.
A couple of meters in front of him stood a small, skinny creature that had ugly green skin and an even uglier head with a pointy nose and large pointy ears. It looked to be around 3 feet in height. The only clothes it was wearing was an old brown rag that covered up its private parts and it held a small rusty dagger in his hand, similar to the one that had recently just been thrown toward Sun.
Sun had no more time the inspect the creature, however, as it quickly ran toward him with clear malice in its small black eyes.
Kra-la!
Sun didn't know what to do. The creature was already only a couple of feet away from him, and it was clearly faster than a normal human. Even if dodging were to be possible, Sun knew there was no way he could pull it off. His time to think was abruptly ended as the goblin lunged at him with the knife.
Without thinking, Sun suddenly unleashed a kick toward the creature in an effort to protect himself.
The dagger which was originally aimed at Sun's stomach was cut short on its path, as it pierced deep into Sun's leg.
"Ackkk!" Sun exclaimed in pain, pulling his leg away from the creature. With no weapon in hand, it simply backed away a couple of feet.
Sun immediately pulled the knife out of his leg that was now gushing blood everywhere.
Even though he was shocked, traumatized, and in excruciating pain, he understood that he was now the one with the weapon. Even though it was faint, he could sense a hint of fear coming from the creature.
As he looked at it a little more, he realized that the beast, without its little knife, proposed no threat. Its skinny arms seemed to resemble not a hint of muscle. It was like a toddler.
'I... I can take on a toddler. Surely.' Sun thought to himself, slowly moving closer to the silent creature which was moving backward ever so slightly as well.
Eventually, the creature hit a wall behind it, causing it to be trapped against a wall. Sun didn't attack at that moment, however.
As it found itself bumping against a wall, the creature subconsciously took a split second to look slightly behind it. It was at this moment that Sun leaped towards the small creature, stabbing the small dagger right into its head as it struggled to move.
It wasn't as easy as Sun first expected, as the creature refused to die and fought for its life. It scratched at Sun's arms and let out deafening cries as it struggled.
"Die! Just die!" Sun yelled as he twisted the weapon inside of the head of the creature back and forth. Dark green liquid, along with parts of brain matter, sprayed all over his legs as he continued to thrust the weapon into the creature. After twenty grueling seconds, it finally stopped fighting and died.
Sun fell onto his knees, finally having a second to breathe. After resting for only a couple of seconds, a screen with some letters appeared in front of him. As he read the message on the screen, his eyes expanded with a glow.
[Available stat points: 2
Open the status menu to apply stat points.]
'I've... leveled up? Like a game?' He said to himself as he thought of opening the status menu. Just by thinking of it, the screen in front of him instantly changed to show a menu containing different stats.
'Woah.'
[ Status:
Level: 2
Name: Suniol Gloom
Race: Human
Age: 16
XP: 3/7
Health: 5/5
Strength: 3
Stamina: 7/7
Mana --
Unused Stat Points: 2
Skills -- ]
'My name is Suniol... Gloom? That will have to change.' Was his initial reaction to the status screen.
'I guess, for now, I should focus on strengthing my body. So I'll put the first stat points into strength, assuming that I will continue to level up in the future.'
Again, just by thinking of it, the stat points were applied to strength. Sun instantly felt slightly stronger, and a little less tired as well.