As the last words of the strange voice echoed through the minds of every single conscious person on the planet, most of them fell into despair.
Unbeknownst to Sylas, about a third of the population suffered symptoms similar to his mother's. Some even died outright. In addition, they found out that the world will be invaded by aliens in only 10 years. This is such a short period of time that the chances that humans will be prepared enough to fight off the invaders with a several thousand year head start are extremely slim.
"What are you going to do next, Sylas?" His father asked him suddenly, after they had stood in silence for about 5 minutes. "I know you probably awakened a mana core, I know how talented you are. But if you don't want to save the world, no one can force you to."
"You probably suspect that your mother's condition is somehow related to the change, but she would never want you to risk your life for her. But at the same time, we will both support you in your decision."
Sylas' eyes began to water. Who would have thought that the advent of mana would increase the humidity of the air to such an extent? After thinking for a few seconds, Sylas finally made up his mind.
"Of course I will grow stronger. You already knew I would, right?" After all, Sylas had never failed to accept a challenge when it was presented to him. He always wanted to solve any problem that got in his way. And he was confident.
"I knew you'd do it, but you should know that even if you don't succeed, we'll be fine. The only thing that matters is that you tried your best to do what you wanted to do."
"Don't worry," Sylas replied, his eyes and will were firm, "I will either return as the strongest or not at all."
His father seemed to want to say something at these words, but seeing the look on his sons' faces, he decided otherwise.
At that moment, Sylas looked at his status screen, and also at the ability that had given him full confidence in the words he had just spoken. His special ability.
[Transmigrator's Luck (None)]
[As a transmigrator, you attract both fortune and misfortune. This ability allows you to control the former, but remember that good luck is often followed by bad luck].
[Effect: Increases your luck to the highest possible level for one minute, making any Heavenly Son or Daughter look like the unluckiest people alive. This luck exceeds the limit set by the will of the universe.
Tradeoff: After 14 days, suffer one-tenth of the luck you gained as misfortune for a total of 2 hours.]
This ability seemed extremely powerful, and Sylas couldn't imagine that many other people had such a powerful special ability. In fact, he doubted if other people had any special abilities at all. Otherwise, it would probably be listed under normal abilities if everyone had one.
But overall, this ability was extremely powerful. If he could increase his luck at a very important moment, he would definitely be able to gain a lot of benefits from it.
Of course, he would have to deal with the trade-off later, but that was natural, otherwise he would be far too overpowered.
‚I just hope that the two hours of misfortune won't bring me to the brink of death every time. That would be great.' If only he knew how wrong he was.
‚But why does it say Transmigrator? As far as I'm concerned, I'm still on the same planet I've always been on. This is still Earth, my parents are the same, and even the technology is the same. I guess it's a glitch in the system or something.'
He finally focused back on reality and looked at his parents, especially his unconscious mother, one last time.
"Okay Dad, I'm leaving now. I don't know if I can come back before the ten years are up, but I'll try my best. Just keep Mom alive until then."
With these words, Sylas finally clicked the teleportation option on the screen and left the room, now filled with only two people.
* * * * *
After Sylas felt his location shift, he suddenly reappeared in a completely dark area. Although he could not see anything around him, not even the floor, he was somehow standing on something hard.
"Welcome to my dimension."
A small blob of white light suddenly appeared in front of him. Its edges were constantly moving, and it almost seemed like a living being. Sylas immediately took a defensive stance and backed away from the thing in front of him. Even though he knew that there was probably nothing he could do if it decided to hurt him.
"I guess introductions would be in order. My name is Blobby, and I'm what you earthlings would call an AI, created by the will of the universe. I'm responsible for guiding newly awakened planets and their inhabitants to grow stronger."
"Why did you bring me here?" Sylas asked in turn. Though still on guard, he relaxed slightly as he heard no sign of hostility in the Blob's voice.
"I'm here to guide you, as I said. Let's just get started, since I'm not going to answer any of your questions anyway."
Sylas was taken aback by the directness, something he wasn't really used to, but he decided to listen anyway. He didn't really know what to ask and it wasn't like he had a choice anyway.
"Soon you will be transported to a mid-level world. It is about a thousand times the size of the New Earth, which is ten times the size of the Old Earth. There you will either have the ability to grow stronger and learn from its inhabitants, or be killed by them. I don't know which one it will be yet, since you will be randomly spawned there."
Once again, Sylas simply decided to listen attentively, trying to filter out any information that seemed important.
"Once you arrive on the planet, you cannot return to Earth until you have spent at least a week there, and then only when you are in complete safety. Otherwise, you might use this as a loophole to escape danger. Whenever you return for the second time, you will appear where you last left off.
This news made Sylas happy, as it meant he would be able to visit his father regularly and even check on his mother.
"Before you can leave, I will also give you a 'Human Affinity Card'. Every being from a newly awakened planet will receive one, as you didn't have the chance to awaken naturally due to the lack of mana at your birth. Which affinity you receive and its level is random, but it is within the limits of human talent, hence the name. Once you use it, I will finally teleport you to the new world."
At that moment, a blank white card with nothing written on it suddenly spread out in front of Sylas. He grabbed it immediately, feeling that it was unimaginably valuable, even though it looked just like any other plastic card, well, it was much higher quality to be fair, and surprisingly had a higher density than gold.
Sylas knew exactly what to do. It was time to activate his special power. Transmigrator's Luck. This would ensure that he would get the best possible affinity and might even give him a good starting point, since the blob said that the teleport would be random. Otherwise he might end up inside a Vulcan and die.
But just as he was about to activate the ability, he suddenly remembered something. "May I ask you something?" Sylas was very bold, and the blob just looked at him with a hint of amusement in its form. He didn't know how he knew that, since the blob had no facial features or eyes to reveal its mood.
"Haha, go ahead, even though I said I wouldn't answer any questions, it can't hurt to ask. The desire for knowledge is a good trait in this new world you are about to enter."
Sylas kept the second part of the blob's words in mind and finally asked his question. "Why did my mother fall unconscious as soon as Mana appeared on Earth?"
"Won't tell."
Sylas just looked at the blob with a blank expression before ignoring him. He knew that he probably wouldn't get any answers if he kept asking, so he simply activated his ability by focusing his mind on it.
Once that happened, he knew he had to act quickly. He only had 60 seconds, and he didn't want to waste a single one of them, as each one would bring him 2 full minutes of misfortune.
To use the card, all he had to do was focus his mind on using it before he suddenly felt something change deep inside of him. Sylas felt as if his entire body was being reconstructed and his being was being completely changed, down to its most intimate parts.
The moment this happened, he suddenly felt his surroundings change again, but not before he felt another emotion from the blob. This time it was at least a hundred times more intense than the amusement he had felt earlier.
Only this time it was surprise. And maybe even a little fear.