It's so dark.
What's going on? I'm confused. I'm not scared though because the darkness doesn't feel unknown. It feels like I just woke up from the longest nap of my life, but I don't remember falling asleep.
No, that's not it. I remember dying. I slit my throat with that shard of plexiglass. Am I in the hospital? Did I lose eyesight because of some type of damage I did to myself? Maybe they took my eyes away as punishment. No, that's not it. I don't think the company would have bothered saving me. I can't pay for medical bills, and it's not like they would have saved me without checking that first anyway.
Besides, I don't feel any pain or any of the numbness that would have come from anesthesia. Actually, I think I feel better than I ever have before in my life. Still, I can't see.
Hello? Is there anybody there?
I didn't hear my voice. Hmm. Now that I think about it, I can't hear much of anything. Did I even talk at all? I didn't feel my mouth moving just now, but I can feel the rest of my body well. Almost as if every fiber of my body is like skin and has a sense of touch, even on the inside. This is weird.
Hello? Can I get some help here?
[-Affirmative. What assistance would you require?-]
Whoa, what the fuck? Who are you? And why are you the only thing I can hear? Are you in my head? Am I talking-
[-I am the Paragon System, set in place to aid you in accomplishing your goal. I am not in your head, but rather I am a part of you. You are unable to sense as you usually do due to a difference in your physical form. Would you like assistance in sensing your surroundings?-]
Okay, this is somewhat unsettling. A difference in physical form? Am I deformed or something? I hope not, that would be a terrible way to start this new life. At least I assume it is the start of a new life. I can't exactly make sense of what is going on.
[-Would you like assistance in sensing your surroundings?-]
And then there is this thing. I don't know if I am hallucinating or something but I am pretty confident that I shouldn't be hearing something in my head talking about-
[-Would you like assistance in sensing your surroundings?-]
Yes, yes, I would. Is it just me or did the voice sound a little bit annoyed that last time?
[- . . . -]
[-You are currently trying to sense your surroundings using primitive methods derived from experience from your current life as a human. Instead of trying to look with eyes that you do not possess, try to extend your "sense of touch" outwards past your body-]
That is a lot to take in. Am I not human anymore? And I don't have eyes? Huh. You know, I'm not as upset by this notion as I thought I would be. Hey 'system' or whatever, why didn't you tell me this before?
[-You did not ask-]
...
Whatever. I started to concentrate on doing what the system recommended. It was a little weird at first, as it was hard to wrap my head around the idea that I could feel things that I wasn't touching and the fact that I could 'see' behind me, but it was incredibly intuitive. Once I got the first bit down, I was able to quickly expand my senses.
I'm sitting on a ... throne? That's pretty cool. It looks like it's made of white marble, but it feels more metallic than stone textured. It also had a sort of golden glow to it that surrounded it in the air, and the glow felt heavy and somewhat regal. I had only expanded my vision by about a few meters, but I noticed that there was some rubble around me. There didn't seem to be any debris close to the throne, almost like there was a forcefield around it. Not even a grain of dust had fallen close to the throne.
Wait a minute System, why can I 'feel' colors? And the air around the throne, why can I feel the glow?
[-You continue to quantify your sense by comparing it to your past vision. Your spatial sensitivity is superior in every way, be it in minute detail or large-scale detection-]
[-The 'air' you sense is aetherial matter. These are not physical and are the medium through which the laws of the universe are manipulated and broken. To put it into simpler terms, you are detecting magic-]
Huh. Can everyone see it or is it just because of my special sense or whatever?
[-While some types of aetherial matter like aura or conjurations are visible to the eyes, most are unable to be seen, like mana or chi. You can sense them all regardless-]
Damn, that's pretty cool. You know what system, you're pretty helpful after all. Is there anything that you don't know? And do you just provide information or is there anything else you can do?
[-I can only provide basic information and information about your capabilities. I also can compile this information into an interface that allows you to track your growth. Lastly, I can assist you in synthesizing and enhancing your abilities by converting aetheric matter to a quantifiable substance called XP-]
Like a video game?
[-Indeed-]
Damn, that's pretty cool. I always wanted to play a video game. Can I see the interface?
[Usurper System]
[Name: ???]
[Race: Paragon*]
[Strength: 10]
[Agility: 10]
[Perception: 15]
[Resistance: 0]
[Level 0 | XP: 0]
[Skills: ...]
Do I not have a name? Now that I think about it, I can't remember what my name was in my past life. Or my gender. Not that it matters now, I'm clearly not human anymore, and I don't have anything to identify what I am now, but It's not really much of a priority. The rest of the interface was rather interesting though.
I mean I don't know how each value translates to real life, but If I assume that a human has ten then I guess I am about average? I hope that zero is the starting value for resistance though because starting out worse than a normal human sounds bad.
[-Correction: An average human has a starting value of 5 for Strength and Agility, and a starting value of 3 for Perception. Resistance does indeed start from zero for humans-]
I guess that means I am about twice as strong as a human then, though it sounds like I'm about 5 times as perceptive as one.
[-Average values shown are for an unenhanced human. An enhanced human may have greater statistics-]
I wonder how I stack up to them then. How high would the stats of an advanced human be?
[- . . . -]
Right. I guess that doesn't qualify as general information. Let me just go over the skills and then I can focus on learning how to move my body. Actually, wait a second. What is that asterisk next to my race?
[-An asterisk means there is more information available-]
Can you show me it then? What are you waiting for?
[-Unable to comply: Clearance level too low-]
Why would you even show it to me in the first place then? Whatever, just show me my skills.
[Skills:] - - -
[Awoken Flesh (max):]
[Your flesh is merged with your soul, and is a physical manifestation of your true self. You are able to manipulate your interior and exterior features to a degree, though holding a shape untrue to yourself causes strain. Your true form reflects your soul and emotions.]
[Regeneration (lvl 1)]
[Your body is but a manifestation of yourself, and it will regenerate constantly at high speeds. Attacks that do not affect your soul will leave no permanent damage.]
[Spiritual Manifestation (lvl 1)]
[You are able to physically interact with non-physical matter: You can touch spirit entities, you can manipulate spells and curses as if they were physically there, etc.]
[Spatial Sensitivity (lvl 1)]
[You can sense your surroundings in an area around you with a range of 10ft for every point in perception]
- - - - -
I'll have to experiment with this. I'm not sure how strong my regeneration is, so I'll have to figure that out. I also need to try out the Awoken Flesh thing, if for no other reason because growing a second pair of arms sounds sick. And I guess I haven't been using my Spatial Sensitivity to its full effect because right now I'm only sensing a few feet away from me when my max range is 150ft. One thing at a time though, and I think I'll start with expanding my vision range. I feel a little vulnerable without knowing anything about what is around me.
I slowly began to expand my vision range. I detected a whole lot of rubble, seemingly made of stone. As I got closer and closer to my max range, it seemed like there were more and more plants mixed in with the rubble. It also looked like I was at the epicenter of this collapse, and the ruins closer to me were extremely fresh, with the rubble still settling down occasionally, and a bit of dust still in the air.
I eventually reached the edge of my vision range, but I found that I could still extend it beyond that. Curious, I did so and I found that I wasn't expanding my range anymore at that point, but rather I was focusing it. The further I looked the less I could see around me, until eventually, I could only see about a 45-degree cone in front of me. Losing sight of what was behind me already felt strange and uncomfortable, but I wanted to look around at what was around me first.
I could also still move the cone around without having to move my head, but it seemed like my head was the focus point, and that looking behind me while focused reduced the effectiveness. While looking ahead though, my range roughly tripled, and I was able to see 450 feet ahead.
Scanning the area in front of me brought me to the conclusion that this ruin had been in the process of decaying for a long time. It was bordered by an immense forest, and the forest seemed to be extending over ruins of what must have once been a part of the area where I was sitting.
Alright, looks like I'm in the middle of nowhere. Time to learn how to move my body. I tried just standing up like I was used to, but that didn't do anything. I tried just lifting an arm, but it felt like I was trying to control a muscle I didn't have, like trying to move the skin on the back of my hand.
Ten minutes and many attempts later, I gave in.
System? I, uh, could use some help.
[-Query: Why wait so long to ask?-]
... I guess I wanted to do it on my own. It's kind of awkward that I don't know how to move my own body.
[-You continue to try to move as a human, moving individual muscles to achieve motion. Try thinking of your flesh as one large muscle-]
A little hard to comprehend, but I gave it a shot. It took me longer than I care to admit to figure it out, but I did eventually get what the system meant. It was a significant difference from what I was used to, but once I got that first bit down It was completely natural. Kind of like telling your finger to move and your whole body moves, it was a little weird. My body also responded instantly to my thoughts, so I had to get used to the timing difference.
Now in control of my body, after walking around for a bit I decided to inspect myself. I had just read and experienced firsthand how my body was different than it was before, but I hadn't yet really examined it in detail.