With a loud thud, Tlou hit the ground. His body was aching and he was trying to breathe, the pain that assaulted him caused his eyes to well up. He was down there for a while then slowly opened his eyes. The ground was wooden, similar to the previous room, except there were no walls besides the one with a door. The spheres of light meant to be in the ceiling were scattered around the floor, the flames inside barely still alive. He painfully crawled towards one and used it as a torch. The fog was everywhere, he could only see things that were close to him. He looked up and could barely see the room he fell from. 'So much fog, I wonder if it's like this all year, this old man must have lost his mind to have no floor in front of his door'. The pain was still there though not as bad. The floor had a layer of fog over it along with lights scattered around. Tlou was unsure of how exactly the orbs worked but they seemed to last long. 'This room has either only been destroyed sometime before I woke up or these orbs are capable of being lit for months without needing replacing or recharging'. Amongst these orbs, there was one particular one. The others gave off orange-ish light but this one had a tint of purple. the room had nothing other than these lights and some rubble. 'If the weather just so happens to be this way all year round I might need these lights to go out'. With that thought he stood up using the branch to support himself and started picking up the orbs. They were cold yet warm. Not in a contradicting sense. The flames inside were warm but they were not only small but also had to contend against the cold. After collecting them all he sat against the wall but not against the door. He was afraid the door would open and he would fall through. This time to death.
He put the orbs in his robe close to this body for their warmth while holding the purple one in his hands. The orbs were about the size of a fist. This one was not only smaller but it also had no warmth. 'Do they all turn this way after a long time? Maybe this is a sign of them losing power'. 'I want to throw one over to gauge how high I am but that's too risky, I don't know what's down there. There could be beasts or odd creatures that can kill me easily. I also don't know how the previous owner died, maybe he was poisoned by the people of this building. Throwing something will alert them'. Plus he felt a sense of attraction to this orb which he was baffled by. After some thinking, he decided to try opening it. The glass seemed as thick as bulbs back on Earth which made Tlou relieved. He put it next to him and pressed his stick against it. It didn't take long for it to crack open, it would've taken less time if Tlou was not trying to be silent. When it cracked open the flame inside darted out and started wizzing around, as if it had life. Tlou was startled, he tried catching it and snuffing it out. He was afraid it would attract something. But suddenly it stood still and then quickly flew right into Tlou's head. He felt his head buzz and his ears ring, an assaulting headache. A blue light layered with changing symbols phased in and out of existence, Tlou started hearing indistinct sounds. They sounded much closer than anyone could ever be to him, as if they were thoughts. He started at the blue screen and realised that he was starting to understand the words. Even the sounds became tangible.
System reboot...us*r..establi***** con..**, ero..aban...all conne***.. .
The symbols were originally complex and many. But then they got simpler and simpler
User: (assimilation 12% )
Fragments (1/24)
Skills: Vessel acquisition (passive)
Vessels (1)
***295
**565*
***65
##886
Tlou stared at the glowing panel for a long time. 'Is that it? ' Tlou thought to himself. 'It seems I need more fragments for more information. Vessel acquisition? Does it mean possession? or are they the same thing?', Tlou stared at the skill then at the Vessels list. He wanted to find out more but wasn't sure how, but after focussing on the vessel list it suddenly expended
Vessels( 1)
Heydar (Active)
He focused on the only vessel there
ID: Heydar Pour Roya, male, ###,###
Skills: Skills demolished, data lost
Strength: 5.2
Agility: 3.3
Dexterity:1.0
Health:5/10 (vital condition*)
MP: 14.3
Defense: 2.3
Affinity: Poison, Venom, Lifeforce
'Is this good or bad? It would be nice if I knew the stats of an average person. And what do you mean 5/10? Am I actually dying? Was it the fall? This guy has such odd affinities. No wonder he's so sickly'. Tlou had read a few light novels here and there in his youth, so he wasn't too lost and could even guess a few things. 'Is it safe to assume this world is capable of spells? I can look for someone to heal me if not find a method myself. I should make sure not to entertain this guy's affinities too much, I'll only hurt myself and die a wasteful death. He probably also has a lot of dangerous things in his house, I should be weary of that'. He was so lost in thought he forgot about his current predicament, the appearance of the system excited him to no end. His problem of not knowing his identity and state of health was partially solved. Even if the system couldn't do anything other than tell him things about himself that was already a huge boon. On Earth people often gave up on their fitness due to not seeing any progress, with his stats displayable he would not face this problem. People would also never know about underlying diseases until it was too late, the system solved this issue very easily. 'This is just one fragment, perhaps after getting the second one I will be able to see a bit more. This is the second good thing that has happened to me already. Tlou tried and after some time he was able to close the panel. He started beyond the fog looking upwards. 'I think it's nighttime, I wonder if this world also has a beautiful Moon'. He stood up and walked towards the door, the pain from falling had already subsided and the system gave him some vigor. He opened the door and was wiser than last time. Making sure to look ahead first.
The door led to a long corridor. Lined with doors on each side. At the end of the corridor was a staircase It extended both upwards and downwards. Tlou walked slowly and carefully, he stopped using the cane in order not to make a noise. He currently had no interest in the rooms, only walking forward, eventually reaching the staircase and looking down. It spiraled downwards about 6 floors. He looked up and saw it ascend by about 4 floors. All in all, Tlou believed there were 11 floors. 'Should I go up or down? There's nothing for me up there but the floor has an exit, I could run away If someone notices that I am not Heydar'. He held on to the railing and slowly started making his way down.