"Ugh!"
Sion woke up covered in dust from head to toe.
"What in the name of the great devils just happened?"
He sat up, disoriented, from the trench in the ground where he had been lying for an unknown time.
The last thing he remembered was the scene of the sky cracking open and giving way to a huge stone pillar covered in strange rune-like engravings. The next thing he knew, the pillar hit the ground, causing a huge explosion that shattered not only the pillar but the landscape as well. It was the shock wave from this explosion that caused him to pass out almost immediately.
Looking around, he noticed that although the terrain still showed signs of the explosion, it was surprisingly not barren, with smaller trees already growing at the edge of the crater and bushes and grass extending further down the slope. He could hear chirping coming from the same direction, indicating that not only the flora but also the fauna had already recovered from the impact.
This meant that a considerable amount of time had passed since the explosion.
"How long have I been unconscious?" he asked himself.
"And how am I even alive after such a long time without eating or drinking?! hell, I don't even feel the need to go to the toilet!"
[The (time frozen) state has ended. Starting up the system
Starting - 11%
Starting - 26%
Starting - 74%
... 99%
failure, discovered inheritance,
Starting inheritance subsystem
complete
Restarting Unus system
restart successful
Welcome to the unus system interface, Sion. Please grow strong enough to defend our worlds.]
Without warning, a black translucent screen with a silver frame appeared in front of Sion.
"JESUS!!! what the hell is THAT?!" Sion cried out.
[This is the user interface for the Unus system that has kept you alive for the past 6 years and will help you grow strong enough to change your destiny.]
"What?"
[Displaying user information]
"Wait, wait, I still don't understand!"
-----------------------------------
-----User Status Window--------
Name: Sion
Species: Demonic Human
Class: None
Level: 1
HP: 22/22
MP: 8/10
Vit: 6
Str: 4
Ag: 7
Int: 5
Dex: 4
Def: 0
Inheritance: 1 Unus tertiary runestone fragment
Skills: Sneak (proficiency), Throw (proficiency), Sprint (proficiency), Tenacity (passive), Shadow Magic (cluster)
---------------------------
"Wait, isn't that just a character panel from a game?"
Curiously, he read the information displayed.
"I can guess what most of this is, but what does Inheritance mean? And Unus Tertiary Runestone Fragment? As in Unus System or whatever this tablet is called?
Whatever it is, it won't kill me if I just ignore it... right?"
After satisfying his curiosity and convincing himself that the tablet in front of him was indeed not dangerous, he noticed a much more pressing problem. An expression of panic flashed across his face.
According to the system, 6 years had passed without him. The idea that he had been unconscious for such a long time was still utterly surreal to him.
Considering all of the changes that might have happened over this duration, returning to society could be risky, but staying in the wilderness would be even more dangerous.
"Therefore," he thought, "I should slowly make my way back to the city".
After a short walk, he reached the end of the densely vegetated savannah left behind by the massive explosion.
Before him stretched a forest that seemed to be pushed into a canyon by two adjacent cliffs. As he entered the forest, the gears in his mind began to accelerate and entered a state of caution, focusing all of his senses on his surroundings. He remembered this forest from before he was frozen in time, and he knew every possible danger that lurked within. Now, however, changes had occurred that could not be explained by common knowledge, such as the speed at which the plants around the crater had grown back. Normally, trees would have taken roughly 30 years to grow to that size. But the cause of the explosion he had witnessed, as well as the Unus system that had presented itself to him, were clear proof that the world he knew had become something completely different.
Therefore, he wanted to keep his eyes open for any new dangers that might have arisen during his absence.
And he was right to do so, since just a few dozen meters from the edge of the forest, a humanoid creature made of tangled, ashen-white roots leapt at him.
Maintaining his awareness, he narrowly avoided the branch as it whipped past his right cheek, leaving a shallow cut.
"WHAT THE F*CK!!" Sion cried out in surprise.
Of all the possible dangers he could imagine, from rabid rabbits to house-sized bears, he certainly did not expect a walking tree to attack him.
A red glow shone from the crevices between the monster's roots, as if to signify its hostility.
Quickly, Sion dashed to the monster's side and rolled over to avoid another attck. Landing next to a conveniently placed stream surrounded by a pile of stones and pebbles, he picked a small rock that fit comfortably into his hand, and aimed for the root monster.
"It won't do any damage, but it will buy me some time to escape," he thought to himself.
As the root monster straightened its arched back to recover from its second attack, that had embedded its arm into the ground, the rock flew at an abnormal speed toward one of its lower limbs, which loosely resembled a leg. Or perhaps it was two legs? It looked more like a mass of tentacles than legs if anything.
The rock hit its mark, ripping a large chunk of wood from the leg-like tentacles.
Sion could not help but be surprised at the amount of damage a simple stone throw had dealt. More surprising, however, was the system message that appeared before him.
[The use of the {Throw} skill has fully engaged the skill subsystem. Granted the ability to learn skills].
Did this mean that the power of his throw had been increased by this skill?
"But how could that be? That would completely destroy common sense!" Sion was puzzled.
"Then what about the other skills... what were they called? Sprint, Sneak, and Shadow Magic, if I remember correctly." With his curiosity piqued and a burning desire to learn more about the possibilities of these common sense-breaking skills, a passion burned into his heart, and his fighting spirit was rekindled.
As he focused on the Root Monster again, he saw it crumble as it lost its balance from the wound he had inflicted.
Seizing the opportunity, he ran towards the monster as fast as he could.
[First Use of the Skill {Sprint}]
As the message appeared, his speed increased greatly and the strain on his calves decreased. He took a swing with a second stone he had picked up earlier and hit it straight against the back of the root monsters head, causing it to cave in from the force. The monster finally collapsed completely.
[P̸̬̊ë̸̘ǹ̴͙g̵̏ͅĭ̵̱n̷̥͂t̸̺̕ả̵̖i̷̹͝ ̸͚͆p̶̜̅e̴̳̐ņ̸͝j̴͔̆ā̵͚j̷̛͈ȧ̶̹h̵͕̽ ̷̭̾ḏ̸͒ĭ̶͎k̴͇̉a̵̓͜ļ̶͘ǎ̴̙ȟ̴̡k̸͇̂a̵͍̍ǹ̵̲,̴̪̒ ̴̖̂m̸͎̈́e̷̲͘m̸͈͒b̵͒ͅe̴͖̒r̶̭̀i̷̝̇k̸̥̾a̸̛͓ṅ̸͕ ̷̫͐k̶̬̑ë̵͇ñ̴̰ä̷͉́i̴̻͒k̵̗̈́a̵̝͐n̷̛͍ ̴̪̚ļ̵̅ē̵̠v̴̝̐ȩ̵̍ḷ̸̅ ]
Since Sion had already gotten used to the usual look and feel of the Unus Systems messages, he was not prepared for the new frighteningly distorted message. Only after calming himself and waiting for his heart rate to go back to normal levels did he take another look at the message.
Deciphering the words from the glitchy mess wasn't too difficult. What had him stumped, was that the message was in an entirely different language than what he knew.
Seeing as he had no way to find out the contents of the message, he could only dismiss the message as yet another unnatural phenomena that the system brought with it, and continue on with his journey. But before that, he still had a corpse to rummage.
Looking at the root monster, he expected to find nothing special, excluding the unnaturally elastic wood it was made out of. To his pleasent surprise, he discovered, that its arms were amazingly sturdy and light. With its spiky end, these properties turned it into a decent makeshift weapon.
After checking its entire body, the only place left was the inside of it's torso. He pulled with all of his might, veins bulged on his forhead and arms, sweat trickled down his face and his skin gained a reddish tint. Finally, he barely managed to split the wooden ribcage apart. What he found inside was a wooden quill with a round orange gemstone embedded into its hilt.
[Inheritance obtained: Ȉ̷̢̘̝̻̄̽̈́͜͝n̴̩̖͈̍̓̑̽͠v̵̼̳̂̉̄͝a̶̢̨̗̦̖̐́̒̽̍d̶͚̫̣͚̻̬͆e̴̼͖̫̫̪̥̊r̵̪͆i̷̯̤̻̊̆̀̀̉n̷̨̋̉͝ ̶̡̙͙̗̰͎͂S̸͚̬͌u̶͈͚͊͝l̸̯̤̃̚k̴̰͓̫͙͉̝͘ą̵̮̦̪̲̔̈̅k̸͈̻̖̦̠̥̔̿̿ÿ̵̠̪͖͖̪́n̵͓͔̰̘̞̹͗̓͋̍̕ä̵͚̤͓̒̿̈́̅͝͝ ]