'Where am I?' he thought as he opened his eyes in confusion and pain. His forehead was burning, causing him massive pain, like a migraine coming from inside his head, spreading to the outer layers of his skin.
While he adjusted to the pain, his eyes began to adjust to his surroundings. Even though it was hard to make anything out, wherever he was, it was dark.
All around him was darkness, and it was cold and wet. He could hear the dripping of water on the stone somewhere in the background. Wherever it was, it didn't feel like a house or anything.
His eyes adjusted to the brightness as well as they could, and he realized he was in a dark cave. Before he could think of anything, he heard a small pop sound, and something appeared in front of his field of vision.
[ Welcome Gamer. ]
The moment this notification appeared, the pain he had been feeling on his forehead vanished. And he finally realized what had been going on as the memories of the events in the Abyss returned to him.
[ Your essences have completely fused with your being. The system is now ready for use. Have fun. ]
[ The gamer has acquired five new Skills. ]
[ Gamer's Mind (Passive) Lv. Max: Allows the user to calmly and logically think things through. Allows a peaceful state of mind. Immunity to Mental Status Effects. ]
[ Gamer's Body (Passive) Lv. Max: Grants a body that allows the user to live in the real world like a Game. ]
[ Interdimensional Trader (Active/Passive) Lv. 1: A skill received through the essence of the Interdimensional Trader, allowing the user to turn a building in his possession into an Interdimensional Store, connecting it to the Multiverse. Sub-Skills: Create Store (Active): Creates a dimensional store in an owned building (0/1). Appraise (Active): The ability to appraise objects for their value and relevant trading information. ]
[ Contract (Active) Lv. Max: A skill received through the essence of the Interdimensional Trader, allowing the user to form contracts that allow the exchange of anything in the possession of the two parties, including conceptual things. Neither party can be forced into a contract through mind control or similar abilities. Blackmail is still a valid method. ]
[ Merchant's Tongue (Passive) Lv. Max: Allows the user to instantly learn any language he requires to communicate with potential customers. ]
Okay. That was quite a lot at once. It seems like his second essence had really manifested in the form of skills, giving him three additional ones.
The existence of 'Gamer's Mind' and 'Gamer's Body' was a relief. As soon as his system had started, his pain had vanished. And not mentioning the stress he would normally feel in such a situation, his skills were working splendidly.
Now that the pain was no longer at the forefront of his mind, there were a few questions that needed answers. Who was he? Where was he? How did he get here, into this dark cave? Did he have a name?
While he wasn't a fully grown adult, from what he could feel and what he could see, he knew that he had to be at least a teenager. Having reached such an age usually meant that he had an identity. No matter what, he didn't remember anything.
[ Quest added. ]
[ ~ Where the hell am I? ~
Objective: Find information about yourself and your surroundings.
Reward:
- You get to know where you are.
- Memories of your old body
- 500 Exp
- ?
Failure: Get old and lonely in a dark cave because you are too dumb and lazy.
Accept: Yes or No ]
'Oh, good. My gamer system is sassy,' he thought as he read through the screen with the quest notification that had appeared in front of him and accepted the quest: 'Since this system is inspired by 'The Gamer' ones, it should be quite similar.' "Status."
[ Name: Harry J. Potter
Class: The Gamer Gender: Male
Level: 1 Next Level: 0.0%
Title: The Boy Who Lived
Age: 15 Species: Human (Magical)
HP: 110 MP: 55
Strength: 8
Vitality: 9
Intelligence: 9
Wisdom: 7
Dexterity: 10
Charisma: 7
Luck: 7
Points: 0 ]
'Okay, I am fucking Harry James Potter...' Then, as Harry identified the boy, he realized, as he felt his hair atop his head in confirmation, that it was really unruly and wild. 'So, that was easy. I know now who I am. First quest done, right?'
But nothing happened; it would have been too easy if it could have just been solved with a short look into his status screen: 'Seems like I will have to take a look around... but it's so dark. Wait! Where is my wand?'
After searching his pockets, he couldn't feel the wand in them, and instead he tried to search the cold stone ground in the darkness of the cave bit by bit for the magical foci. Until he finally touched a long, smooth piece of wood with a rougher handle on one end.
Remembering the movement from the movies, he swirled his wand and called out, "Lumos!"
[ New Skill Acquired. ]
[ Wand-Lighting Charm (Active) Lv.1: A charm-type spell that illuminates the tip of the caster's wand, allowing the caster to see in the dark. Cost varies based on variation and strength. ]
[ New Skill Acquired. ]
[ Charm Mastery (Novice) (Passive) Lv. 1: The mastery of charmwork of wizarding magic. Affects casting duration, cost, and mastery of spells falling into the Charm School. Charm spells are 0.1% more powerful. The cost of charm spells is 0.01% cheaper. Your control over charms is slightly increased. ]
While he had acquired new skills, the tip of his wand had also lit up, illuminating the surroundings and making the cave better visible. It was a vast and dark space, reminding him of a big room that was empty.
Turning around to get a sight of everything, he finally spotted it. Behind him protruded a massive stone dais with an ancient archway standing in the center of it. It gave off an ominous feeling as if there was more to it, but the center of the archway was empty; it looked like he could go through normally. And he felt there should be something.
He was sure; he had woken up right in front of the dais on the floor and moved away while searching for his wand. Once again, he approached it, not letting the archway out of his sight.
Through continuous observation, a skill to find target information, 'Observe', had been created.
'Observe.' Harry tested out whether he could operate the Gamer System through mental commands.
[ Veil of Death: An ancient stone portal connecting the Lands of the Living with the Realm of Death. It was created by Death herself for a mysterious reason. ]
[ This one is currently inactive. ]
'Lands... as in multiple.' Harry realized as he read through the description, and he finally realized what must have happened.
Based on the timeline, this must be right after the events in the Department of Mysteries. Bellatrix had hit Sirius Black with a curse, sending him through the Veil of Death.
Harry's current age fits the timeline. He must have rushed after Sirius into the Veil instead of being stopped this time. And somehow he passed through the Lands of Death and got out into another world.
Since he remembers the timeline of the Harry Potter story, this has to be a different world from Harry Potter. The question is, where is Sirius? Did he also pass through the veil?
[ Quest Completed ]
[ ~ Where the hell am I? ~
Objective: Find information about yourself and your surroundings (completed)
Reward:
- You get to know where you are.
- Memories of your old body
- 500 Exp Harry Potter's possessions have mysteriously followed him into this world.]
[ Level Up! ]
[ All of Harry Potter's memories have been restored. ]
[ Quest Added. ]
[ ~ Are you Sirius? ~
Objective: Find traces of Sirius Black and get out of the cave.
Reward:
- Whereabouts of Sirius Black
- 100 Exp
- ?
Failure: You will always wonder in your dark and empty cave, 'What happened to Sirius?']
And then it hit him, like a truck filled with a ton of bricks. The memories of this body, every instant of his life up until now. From his shitty childhood to his time in Hogwarts, until the Department of Mysteries. He indeed rushed after Sirius into the Veil of Death.
It pretty much is in line with what he knew of the Harry Potter story. Just in much more vivid detail, like what he actually learned in classes, his homework, and so on. Every detail that got skipped while telling a story was included.
'Shouldn't I get new skills for everything I have learned in the past? And why did I start from Level 0?' he complained in the hope that he would be able to get something out of it.
While passing through the Land of Death, the player's body has suffered massive damage caused by the removal of a Horcrux. Through the Essences, the player's body has been restored but has been reset to Level 1. The same goes for your skills; while the player possesses theoretical knowledge of them, he will need to acquire them in a way that the system can track them.
'Oh, okay.' Harry nodded, grateful that he wasn't dead and that he didn't have to worry about being a Horcrux anymore. 'So the prophecy is fulfilled? It wasn't Voldemort who killed me.'
[ Quest added. ]
[ ~ Fate's Bitch: Fate doesn't like to be told that she is wrong, fulfill her prophecy, or suffer her displeasure.
Objective:
- Destroy the Horcruxes (2/7)
- Kill Voldemort
Reward: ?
Failure: Fate is dissatisfied with you. ]
'Wow, there is so much information in there that I don't have any desire to touch it. I will just take it as is and look for a way to kill Voldemort,' Harry thought as he saw the quest and, most likely, who had given it to him, 'Better to check my system before I move on.'
The skill screen had no surprises for him and gave him a list of skills that he already knew from his previous notifications. He got a map, but it wasn't very big yet and only contained the area he could see in this cave.
On his status screen, he could see that he had reached Level 2, and now he had 5 stat points that he could freely assign. Making the smart choice, he saved them for now. After all, the gamer could grind stats by training or studying, so why couldn't he do the same? Higher-level stats will probably be harder to grind.
But on his status screen, he had another idea and decided to use Observe on the different entries, gaining more explanation about their functionality. For example, a human (magical) had a level cap of 200. With the highest level for his stats being 1000 per stat. But even more interesting were the other entries.
[ The Gamer Class is a multifunction class that gains 5 freely assignable stat points per level. It can't be changed. Once a gamer, always a gamer. There are no class limitations on the skills that can be learned. The only skills that are restricted are those with certain requirements, like biological and racial features, other skills, or items. ]
[ The Boy Who Lived is a title received by Harry Potter for the survival of the Killing Curse, making him famous in the Wizarding World.
+10% HP +1% Charisma ]
But he also learned what his stats affect and how his HP and MP are calculated. Or that he gains 3 additional stat points for every year of life.
[ Health Points: If they fall to zero, you die. HP: 10 + (10 * VIT) ]
[ Mana Points: The universal power source of every gamer. Used to cast spells and in skill usage. MP: 10 + (5 * INT) ]
[ Strength: Increases physical strength and HP regeneration. ]
[ Vitality: Increases HP and resistances to health conditions. ]
[ Intelligence: Increases MP, learning speed, and memory. ]
[ Wisdom: Increases MP regeneration, improves problem-solving, and increases wisdom. ]
[ Dexterity: Increases speed and reaction time. ]
[ Charisma: Affects social and romantic interaction. ]
[ Luck: Increases luck and drop chances. ]
His inventory was pretty much a skill in itself. He had a spatial storage ability that could store anything he could hold in his hand. Every object fills one slot, which he doesn't seem to have a limit on.
There were already things inside; his whole trunk with his clothes, robes, parchment, ink, some potion ingredients, books, and everything else he had collected was inside.
The two most outstanding objects were his Firebolt, which should still have been chained in Umbridge's office, and his Invisibility Cloak. And as soon as he saw the cloak, he heard another notification.
[ Quest added. ]
[ ~ Hallowed be thy name:
Are you not interested in what happens once you unite the Deathly Hallows? You never truly saw if there was any truth to the Master of Death.
Objective: Collect the three Deathly Hallows.
- Elder Wand (0/1)
- Resurrection Stone (0/1)
- Invisibility Cloak (1/1)
Rewards: ?
Failure: Decreased affection with death. ]
For his own sanity, and thanks to the help of his Gamer's Mind, he stayed focused on exploring his system and ignored the whole affection for death part.
The remaining function was quite useful too: a codex containing all the information he had collected, from actual complete books that were currently in his inventory to the information in his memory. Pretty much a big media library, based on his memories. And lastly, a notebook, which, of course, had the ability to take notes. But it was more like a complete office suite, including the ability to take screenshots, records, and audio recordings of his five senses. Which could be extremely useful. Like a Pensieve that he had always had with him.
And lastly, there is a quest log that tracks the quests he has currently active.
Having spent enough time in this cave, he realized that he had no food besides a few sweets in his trunk that he wanted to save. Harry decided to leave the cave and explore the surroundings.
Heading directly for the only exit this big stone room had: a small rift large enough for a human on one end of the wall.
"Grrroaaan."
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