[Congratulations! You are the first individual to enter the Arcane Realm from Earth (B-46) after 3,000 Years, 8 Months, and 22 Days.]
[Transition completed.]
[Current Location: Planet Midka]
[Access the "Status" interface to review unique parameters.]
[ERROR! Non-Native Soul Detected.]
[Mana access restricted.]
[Only registered entities of the Arcane Realm may manipulate mana.]
[Foreign-origin soul confirmed.]
[Midka-based physical vessel confirmed.]
[Initiating body and soul integrity check.]
[Re-evaluation in progress.]
[Future compatibility planning initiated.]
[25%... 50%... 99%... 100%]
[Re-evaluation completed.]
[Hybrid existence acknowledged.]
[System core reconfigured to accommodate a non-native soul within a mana-compatible body.]
[Future progression paths recalculated.]
[MODIFIED SYSTEM INITIALIZATION IN PROGRESS...]
°•○●
The system's mark pulsed in his fractured vision like a colorful phantom. It was too bright and hard to see.
Orion gasped with cold air burning his lungs.
"I can finally move." His voice was hoarse, foreign to his new ears.
He died and woke up again without knowing how. And whatever dragged him back clearly expected him to survive.
But screams echoed from every direction and this wasn't a good sign for a second life.
Voices whispered inside his head without warning.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZATION COMPLETED]
New Name: Orion
Gender: Mal-Co (Male)
Type: Humanoid
GeneticHeritage: Homo Sapiens (B-46)
DNA Details: Locked
Age: 19 (Soul Age: 30)
Level: 0
Essence and Abilities: LOCKED
Stats: LOCKED
[Due to the death-state of your new vessel, the Passive Ability "Cheat Your Death" has been forcibly activated
-Temporary Authorization Period: 30 Days Remaining]
Condition: Stabilized (Death by Fall + Heart Failure Prevented)
"I'd prefer a girl voice in my interface, but whatever." His new voice wasn't similar to the old one.
Orion blinked and looked around.
Stone walls with no ceiling spun around him, open to a starlit sky. It looked like a stone maze beneath a strangely beautiful night.
Chaos, blood and violence were unfolding in every direction.
A dozen young people were fighting inside a burning zone. Their movements were frantic.
Someone cried.
Another bled out and collapsed.
And someone, a blonde girl with eyes like blue gems was staring at him as if he had just crawled out of hell.
Orion grinned. Not because he enjoyed what he saw. It was the collision of everything surging through his chest at once.
He realized that forcing his emotions to calm down was only making him lose control of this new body. The grin stretched wider, manic and lingered there for a few seconds.
He tried to stand, but his legs refused to cooperate. Controlling the limbs was insanely challenging.
"Okay. This is new," he muttered, wiping blood from his lips.
His ribs were broken. Or they had been. Now they weren't.
"Is this healing or regeneration?"
He looked down at his hands. They were humanic, pale and still shaking.
Just as he was about to speak, the devil whispered into his ear, this time with a young female voice.
[Welcome to Midka]
[Your new life has begun]
[Good luck]
Orion didn't feel confused. And he didn't scream.
Not when he fell, woke up in this strange body, or even when he noticed a child's corpse nearby.
Because somewhere deep inside his fractured psyche, one idea burned brighter than his fear.
He escaped from death and this was a second life.
"If this is my second life, I'm at least having fun."
..
He walked for a while before a sharp clarity cut through his thoughts, forcing him to stop.
"Where the hell am I?"
The battlefield pulsed like a living thing. Burning walls loomed nearby, screams echoing through the stone corridors, shattered weapons crunching beneath his feet.
Everything felt too vivid, too sharp and too painful.
This had to be a dungeon and he had to get away from this chaos.
The blonde girl he had seen earlier lingered in his mind. Her perfect face. Her impossible proportions. She looked like someone royal, crafted beyond anything his past life could have.
The monsters, the architecture, even the eerie lighting all shared the same wrongness.
He tested his new body. He could smell blood, feel heat pressing against his skin and taste bile creeping up his throat.
Orion didn't remember how he had died. He only remembered going to sleep. Instead, he woke up in a stone dungeon.
[Health Condition: Stabilized (Death by Fall + Heart Failure Prevented)]
- "Cheat Your Death" Triggered
He stood there frozen, as if his brain were lagging behind his eyes. The strange creatures around him still weren't attacking. He didn't know the reason yet.
There was only one question in his head.
"What the hell is going on here?"
[Cheat Your Death]
A girl's words echoed inside his head with soft, ASMR-like. It was uncomfortably close and intimate. Actually it's not the end of the world. A cute female voice. Nevermind.
The phrase echoed in his mind like a broken record. "Immortality. Under what conditions?"
But at least the system messages explained one thing clearly.
He transmigrated into a dead body.
Orion's hands trembled as he stared at them. Cuts on his palms with dirt under his nails. Cold wind brushed his skin. His heart raced, threatening to burst from his chest.
Then came the pain.
His body folded as a brutal cramp twisted his stomach. A disgusting, unholy sound burst from his ass before embarrassment could even register.
He vomited and farted at the same time. It came out like a violent geyser, splattering the cracked stone floor.
"Okay. That felt disturbing but somehow refreshing." He dry-heaved.
Then again. "Jesus…" he groaned.
"What kind of transmigration starts with vomiting?"
He wasn't thinking this to joke or calm himself down. These new sensations were painful and mostly agonizing.
After a few more miserable gasps, he wiped his mouth with the back of his bloody hand.
Then his hearing returned in violent bursts. Ringing and buzzing all over his head as if his ears were rebooting. A final high-pitched whine stabbed into his skull, then stopped. The buzzing faded.
Hearing clearly felt refreshing after lying down in silence for a long time.
There were various screams, coming from everywhere. They were echoing through the whole stone maze, making his heart and stomach sink.
He walked a few more steps and things started to change again. His vision was healing. The fog in his eyes thinned.
He could see properly now.
Before, the stone maze had looked chaotic. Now it felt unmistakably real with dark fantasy vibes.
"A really cool place... if you ignore the bloody war."
The ache in his body eased slightly. The numbness in his limbs loosened. He was finally feeling his limbs better.
He realized how he had stood up earlier. If he had felt this pain back then, he never would have managed to get up.
Then something shattered that fragile clarity and happiness. The fog at the edges of his vision cleared completely.
He saw them.
Monsters.
He was in the middle of countless monsters. Various kinds of goblins, mutated dogs, snake-like beasts slithering through the shadows and more.
All of them were staring at him.
"Shit."
They didn't hesitate. Claws and teeth tore into his body. Orion didn't even have time to scream.
If anyone had been close enough, they would have confirmed it instantly.
He was dead.
Undeniably killed by monsters.