"Genius moves." Tetsu scolded himself. "Let's die and keep our will intact. Who needs life when you've got free will?"
Tetsu clenched his fist and raised his leg to kick the grass in frustration. The laceration inside his palm did little to hold him back, but for a split second he swore the Blade-grass invited him to strike. For the first time, Tetsu truly took in his surroundings.
Blade grass, check.
Dropping birds! Tetsu spots a flock of weird birds being diced in half before they dropped head first into a sharp grave.
"Ouch." He flinched.
Of course! Birds are shot dead every day. Someone found a new way to dice them up in the air? Tetsu laughs to himself hysterically, then turns to his right.
Amongst every other direction, a tree being devoured by the ground somehow made more sense. "Someone left their wood chipper inside the ground. That happens!" Tetsu shrugs.
After inspecting the burnt ground around him, Tetsu decides to lie back on the floor. He rolls to a side and finds the Blade-grass swaying, calling him closer.
"Nope." Tetsu rolls back.
The grass surrounding Tetsu stretches inward, trying to reach him.
"Nope." Tetsu sits up right. "Shoo... I need space to overthink this shit." He tries to scare away the grass as if it were a wild dog. The grass just stared at him with more intent. "Well, it never worked on a dog, either." He shrugs and shifts to a meditating pose. "Everyone should have one Indian mom," He tells himself.
Moments into meditation, he senses the Blade-grass tense up. Tetsu had a hard time choosing where to start or which was more awesome. The crazy new ability to sense a grassling's feelings or said grass being the top predator around.
The landscape covered with individual grass blades, each sharper than any blade ever forged on earth. They tore up their siblings and used them as live ammunition. Shuriken with eyes if you will. All the dead meat, usually birds as they couldn't root off to carry meat, would get instantly dissolved in the soil beneath them, while they transfer nutrients through interconnected roots?
This was the theory Tetsu came up with, at least. Oh! and some vegies for a balanced diet. Tetsu spots another tree being shredded.
Next, he wandered onto the most pressing matter. How did he survive for so long? Assuming he was trapped in this stage for more than an hour and didn't just appear here. For the normal question of how he got here, he came up with a rather simple conclusion. "Magic, duh!"
"What's with the black spot? A starting point?" Tetsu encouraged the notion. Since the day, a simple screen flipped his life around. Tetsu felt like he finally lost his marbles. He was sad that Kile hadn't joined him, but for the rest, it wasn't that bad. I mean sure others might assume you are crazy, but until you yourself acknowledge the fact, for you, the world is crazy. Not to mention a drug free crazy illusionary life.
"Or am I on drugs?" Tetsu suspected Kile immediately. "Is he doing some crazy experiment on me again? I swear to God, he keeps me around as a convenient test subject." He complains to the grass. "I don't even get paid. Or do I?" He wondered.
The grasslings back away with concern.
"Screw you." Tetsu ignores the grass and begins talking to himself. One of the many quirks of being an overthinker.
"Holly crap." Tetsu tried and failed to step back into the bonds room. "Great! I have way too many doubts. My choices thus far suck, and I'm stuck at a spot, both literally and figuratively. Being an overthinker really sucks at such times." He pouts.
Rather than doubting, based on genuine pain and blood gushing from his palm, Tetsu decides to acknowledge everything that has transpired to be real. A trick Kile taught him when he kept getting stuck in a loop.
"Stick to one side and believe the crap out of that reality. No matter what others or!" Kile stressed over this part. "What your other personalities say, stick to that reality."
"Okay." Tetsu told himself he was crazy, and he had no other choice but to play the role. If you're in it, play to win it. Bonds are out of the question. Either it's for good or bad, doesn't matter now. Grass is the first obstacle, so let's concentrate on blade-grass. Tetsu sets his number one priority.
"Why is this the safe zone?" Tetsu imagined black.
Burnt? Came to mind. But the grass hadn't turned crispy, the common after effects of fire. How he got to this point was a ridiculous question, so he threw it away.
"Fire." Tetsu concentrated. He wasn't going to start any fires butt-naked. Yet another problem he threw away.
"If I only had the courage." Tetsu imagined trying to kill himself to prove a theory. Or maybe fight through the pain as he tries and walks through these fields. "That would be amazing." Tetsu imagined a bloody foot and a brave face as the imaginary hero Tetsu finds his next challenge. Yet again, the lacerations on his palm had to drag him back to reality.
Due to this train of thought, Tetsu imagines a warrior, which jogs a hazy memory. Back-to-back, he and an unknown warrior faced an endless army of soldiers. "Was that a dream?" Tetsu considered doubting his reality.
Base on the rule, Tetsu declares the memory to be true, even though he barely remembers anything else.
"Wait." Tetsu jerks and looks away into the distance, trying to recall another incident. By mistake, he startled a grassling plotting something.
Thanks to his days with Kile, playing spot the difference. He spotted the grass farther from him had double layers, like it gave piggyback to another grassling. With his weird sense of feeling on the grass, he understood that the grass was preparing for an attack.
Sacrificial shuriken attack, he named the preposterous move.
By adding a mixture of multiple personalities, all of them being an overthinker, and a hyper imaginative brain, Tetsu deduced the below grassling forcefully ripped out its brethren and use him or her or they or it, like a weapon. One of the deadliest weapons during the Samurai era.
"That's how those damn weird birds got diced up." Tetsu concluded his original hypothesis.
Tetsu had two seconds to celebrate his spot-on detective skills, before he ducked and stayed ducked until he could figure out his next move.
The grass halted after their initial attack. Maybe Tetsu was out of their radius or other grass might get hit in this current trajectory. Tetsu, with little time planned on solving this mystery later. For now, his gut told him his escape lied within the warrior.
Not wanting to waste time and pull on a memory which might be lost forever, Tetsu retraced his steps until now. From when he first met the screen... then later the notification. "Yes." Tetsu remembers the warning message flashing in memory.
Tetsu summons his screen and reopens the warning.
[Warning! You are entering the tutorial area with no affiliation to Mana, bonds, Affinities, class, or required stat's withstanding the tutorial's harsh environment.]
"Mana." He tries to recall and once again the warrior flashes into memory.
[Warming! Fatigue has crossed 70 points. Once the reading crosses 100 points, it will cause permanent damage to the shell & soul.]
"Fatigue," Tetsu tells himself to revisit this concept on a later date.
[Tutorial will end in 394210 minutes. Reach Warrior status for successful integration.]
[Current Status]
Tetsu skips this part, not wanting to hurt his confidence again. Even the tutorial deadline made no sense, but he kept an eye out to notice if the time in his world and this world matches.
"Mana..." Tetsu refocuses his attention on this singular concept. He looks at the black spot where he laid, the grass stuck in his hands, which weren't sharp any longer. He peered at the alfa predator around him, scared to approach.
Deep within a realm meant for energy, Tetsu could sense a dark force out of place. He tugs on the energy to find himself being pulled instead. He realizes both were one and the same. In a sense, he pulled on himself.
One had a physical form while the other carried much complex energy base form. "Energy is never destroyed!" Tetsu smiles with all his teeth. "Now that old geezer makes sense." He praises an old scientist.
A gush of mana bursts out of Tetsu, flattening the grasslings in its path.
[Ding! Mana unlocked. With near death experience and smidge of luck, you attained the ability to sense mana. As your shell adapts to these deep constructs of reality, you understand, adapt, and grow into a true being.]
[Ding! You have crossed the required threshold to enter the next level.]
[Warning! Your shell isn't capable of handling such tenues force. Do you require System Modifications to mold the shell to better suit…]
Tetsu's organs wanted crept out as his skeleton cracked under the pressure. Before the system asks or warns him about the next step, he gave a mental acknowledgement to start the process. Though during the bond selection he refused help, saving his free will, right now he placed his life over the rest, choosing help over the cost.
[System Modifications have been enabled to enter level 01: Initiate. Taking your first step towards god hood, every being who now reign supreme have began their journey here! And now it is your turn to climb up the ladder of evolution and claim a place amongst the supreme. Only with true power comes freedom.]
Name: Tetsü K Tenco.
Race: Human {---} Level: 01 | Initiate |
Tetsu closes this tab by reflex. Before he realized the change, another system message pop opened.
[Ding! Your shell is too weak to handle the changes. Upgrades initiated to match your current status.]
A completely new level of pain flooded Tetsu's body. He felt every nerve squeeze and his bones squeal. He wanted to puke his guts out, while his body simultaneously gasped for air. Once the pain overwhelmed his senses, his body collapsed into a new state of unconscious.
Tetsu finds himself at the edge, about to dive headfirst into the Blade-grass. Inches away from yet another slumber, he cursed himself for denying help initially and for accepting help as he fell to his demise.
"No wonder my luck sucks." Tetsu remembers his previous stats.
Overwhelmed by sudden rage, Tetsu reconnected with the warrior within. He who fought an endless war against a never ending army. Glimpse after glimpse, he fought the same fight, held the same rage, showed the same wrath, until he and the warrior were one and the same.
Tetsu wanted to tear the world apart again and again. Even when there was nothing left, he craved for more violence as his wrath lept to new bound. Deep within, his hate grew, took form, and grew wings. In his last moments, Tetsu stretched within, lending a hand to his darkness.
Hands met. Two beings merged. While one took to the skies, the other found solace in its place.
"Fair fight? Fight him." Tetsu's vision goes blank.
Inches away from never knowing his fate, Tetsu subconsciously activates his system to check on his stats. Being born as an overthinker and with access to one's progress, Tetsu, like any other, wanted to know how far he came in life…
His screen opened with him lying flat on his belly, face implanted on the Blade-grass, puffing smoke.
Name: Tetsü .K. Tenco.
Race: Human {---} Level: 01 | Initiate |
Class: N/A.
Affinity: N/A
Bond: N/A
--*--*----*--*--
[STATUS]
Health Pool: 06/84
Mana Pool: 40/140
Fatigue: -20
-*--*----*--*--
[INDIVIDUAL STAT'S]
Dex: 02 :: Flex: 02 :: Flash: 02
Stamina: 02 :: Rex: 02 :: Fort: 02
-*--*----*--*--
Senses: 7 :: Regen: 6 :: Tork: 4
-*--*----*--*--
Will power: 27 :: Perception: 16 :: Intellect: 18
Luck: 1
Free Points: 04
-*--*----*--*--
Titles--: Solitary Vanguard ;; Fanatic Rever.
-*--*----*--*--
Tetsu fainted for the umpteenth time. A single word shook his entire reality. A single power which can turn tides. Breach the line between fantasy and reality. The one thing we never had—has been presented to us on a silver platter.
A single word to make history. A single concept that will breach the line between fantasy and reality. The line we, as humans, could only dream of. That one final step we lacked to become immortal. To solve every crisis and to create even petty ones.
"Mana."
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