Chapter 69: Darkness - Markets and Multiverses

Author’s Note: Confession time! I’m bad at math. I accidentally gave Sallia and Felix an extra item each, meaning they’re both at 6/5 Items according to Chapter 67. This… should not be possible.

I have updated that chapter. They no longer have their backpacks. If the group is traveling as a set of 3, one person having a dimensional backpack is still probably enough to carry everyone’s supplies for shorter journeys. I figure that’s the justification they would come to for who carries what. So now Miria is the only one with a dimensional backpack. Math is hard, okay?

Just like the first time we had entered a pool of reincarnation, the three of us quickly lost track of our surroundings. As our Market-given bodies collapsed, our souls drifted through an ocean of darkness for an unknown amount of time, connected by golden bands of light that kept us from drifting apart. Then, something started pulling us forward, and I found myself jerked around as we started to head towards a new location.

A few moments later, I felt myself sink into something that resembled a warm, fuzzy cocoon. The golden threads connecting me to Sallia and Felix disappeared, and my mana-brain started collapsing into nothingness. After my brain collapsed, I fell asleep.

The next thing I was aware of was a woman screaming in pain, and I felt something pushing me. Moments later, light flooded my vision, and out of instinct, I started crying.

A few moments later, a woman wearing a strange white and pink dress picked me up, before smiling and saying something in a language I didn’t recognize. I heard my mother laugh weakly, before the woman in the white and pink dress gently cleaned up my body. Then, the woman in the white and pink dress gently turned me around and handed me back to my mother. My mother looked exhausted, but she smiled at me and held me gently in her arms.

I tried to muster up the energy to look at my status screen, or look around a little more, but I had forgotten how hard it was to concentrate as an infant. My brain just couldn’t handle being aware of the world yet. Moments after I managed to give my mother a smile, I blacked out as my brain shut itself off.

Just like my first life, the next few years were a series of disjointed images, headaches, and random scenes, as my body instinctively worked on autopilot through the first few years of my life. I occasionally saw my mother and father, smiling at me as they walked around. Sometimes, I saw images of confusing streets, which let me know that I was occasionally being carried around town, even if I wasn’t really conscious enough to observe it. I didn’t get a very good look at either of my parents, simply because the times I was fully conscious were few and far between.

During some of the times I was aware, I often saw the same set of children, sitting near me or playing with me. I quickly realized that I wasn’t an only child.

By the time I turned five, I was finally able to retake full control of my body, and I had a little more time to process what I was looking at.

Currently, I was staring at my mother’s face and giggling, while my father was talking to one of my brothers a ways away.

“Can you say ‘Mama,’ Miria?” asked my mother, smiling at me as she rocked me back and forth.

“Mama!” I said, giving my mother a hug. My mother smiled at me.

“Orin! Your daughter said her first words! I’m so glad that she’s so bright! Talking before she even turns six!”

Six? I wondered. A child talking before turning six was considered unusual? In my last life, talking at around the age of three or four had been pretty normal. Why was it suddenly unusual to talk before turning six?

I wondered if I was some sort of human-adjacent species, instead of actually being human. A human child would definitely be speaking way before they turned six. My mother and father looked pretty normal, but that didn’t mean that they were exactly the same, biologically, as a human…

Now that my mother was distracted, I took a moment to pull up my Status Screen, wondering if it could shed some light on my species.

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Current Vessel: Infant’s Body - born from the parents of your current body, this vessel has no leaks and is truly ‘alive.’ You may check the Stats of this physical vessel in your status screen.

Note - due to the characteristics of a Transmigrator, it is impossible for a physical vessel to ever have Stats BELOW 70 or ABOVE 130 without input from your soul. For more information, please go to Luxcorp for a very cheap consultation on the mechanics of Transmigration and Reincarnation.

Second Note - This Body has an extremely mixed bloodline. It appears that several of your ancestors either enjoyed taking baths in radiation, or that in your somewhat-recent ancestry your ancestors were the subject of some sort of genetic experimentation.

Dominant species bloodlines:

Lunenthyri: 30% (Normally 8%, but presence of this bloodline is increased due to the influence of your ‘Identity’ Ability

Undenthyri: 50% (Normally 80%, but decreased due to the ‘Identity’ Ability

Arlenthyri: 20% (Normally 12%, but increased due to the ‘Identity’ Ability

Ortha: 0% (Nearly 1%, but rounded down).

Immature Organic Brain: A vastly underdeveloped humanoid brain that has yet to finish maturing. Several parts of your brain are also wired to make Manifestation and Alteration type spellcasting possible. However, due to the influence of your ancestors, some types of magic may be easier than others.

Until this brain finishes developing, it will be difficult to think clearly, leading to periods of time where you are ruled by survival instincts. Attempting to perform advanced thinking with an underdeveloped brain may result in severe headaches or loss of consciousness. This will not result in long term harm, but will be extremely unpleasant. To reduce this problem, it is recommended you purchase more Intelligence Stats to speed up the development of future brains.

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Physical

Strength:  (20+84)

Grade 5

Agility:  (20+97)

Grade 5

Fortitude:  (20+110)

Grade 6

Mental

Intelligence:  (20+108)

Grade 6

Willpower:  (20+128)

Grade 7

Perception:  (20+70)

Grade 4

Essence

Absorption:  (20+120)

Grade 7

Manifestation: (20+105)

Grade 6

Binding: (20+70)

Grade 4

Alteration: (20+123)

Grade 7

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Lives Remaining: 4

2/10 Keyword Slots used

Glut: 23/50

Abilities:

Keyword Abilities:

Endless Hunger of the Ocean (Ocean, Madness) (2 Keywords) (20 Glut Penalty) (Basic Grade)

Held Abilities:

1.

2.

3.

Weapon Abilities:

Basic one-Handed Swordsmanship (No Keywords) (2 Glut Penalty) (Basic Grade)

Birth related Abilities:

Body Control (0 Glut Penalty)

Identity (1 Glut Penalty)

Achievement: 218.89

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Items: 5/5

1. Simple Friendship Bracelet with Location Tracking

2. Sturdy Boots

3. Lake-Gazer's Dress

4. Two-Purpose Training Sword

5. Storage Pack

Total Maintenance cost (per life): 35.2

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I scanned my Screen for a moment, before I shrugged.

Apparently, I was a mixture of multiple species. I had no clue what Lunenthyri, Undenthyri, Arlenthyri, or the Ortha were,  but apparently I had a lot of biological influence from the first three species, and a very minor amount of my ancestry traced back to the Ortha as well. In other words, I was some sort of mixed species.

My Stats were a bit more interesting. My physical Stats were nothing amazing, but they were passable. I had gotten a little unlucky this time, but Perception looked like it was going to be a much bigger problem than my physical Stats. I would likely end up with an unbalanced ratio of physical Stats and perception the moment I formed my first rune, so for now my physical stat rolls were surprisingly unimportant because Perception would weaken any physical Stats I had anyway.

My Perception was honestly quite disappointing. I had literally gotten the worst possible result there. I hoped there were some special resources I could access that would help me improve it a little bit, since even boosting to grade 5 would be a big help.

However, my Essence Stats were pretty good, which alleviated my disappointment at my poor Perception. Except for Binding Essence, which was terrible as well. Hopefully Binding Essence wasn’t the ‘main’ magic system of this world, or I would have very awkward Stats. Though I could use my Absorption Essence stat quite well now, at least, thanks to {Endless Hunger of the Ocean}.

Having high Intelligence and low Perception was also surprisingly interesting. I noticed that I had a strong tendency to get lost in my thoughts; not because I was easily distractible, but because I didn’t have as good of a ‘feel’ for what my body was doing or what my surroundings were like due to my low Perception, and at the exact same time, my mind was incredibly clear and capable of doing computations and calculations it normally wasn’t able to handle. Which made me get lost in my thoughts quite easily. It was an odd experience.

I took a moment to read through the other System notifications. And then, as I was scanning through my notifications, I felt my heart freeze.

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Congratulations on Successfully Transmigrating!

Analyzing this world… Analysis complete!

Essences Present in this dimension: Manifestation, Alteration

Estimated tier: 4 (according to the Market’s standardized power evaluation scale)

Special notes: It appears that this world was previously Tier 5, but due to a botched attempt at dimensional travel and corrosion from an outside dimension, this world’s mana has been seriously weakened, lowering the amount of mana available and seriously weakening modern-day magic users. The other dimension still appears to be connected to this one, and is of unknown world tier.

Keep in mind that ancient ruins and nations were likely much stronger than the present day, and the weapons and defenses present within them may reflect that. Be cautious of external invaders, if applicable.

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Tier 4? Previously Tier 5? Botched dimensional travel? Corrosion from an outside dimension?

What happened in this world’s history?

I definitely felt that a Tier 4 world was bad news right now. And whatever dimension we were apparently connected to might be even more threatening than a Tier 4 world. Even though a Tier 4 world was already more than we could probably handle.

After reading the message log between Sel’thub and Edwin, I was incredibly cautious of higher tier worlds. Even a Tier 2 World had been filled with terrifying monstrosities that could demolish the three of us. Just how much worse was a Tier 4 world going to be? And what did it even look like when a world was connected to another dimension?

I had always known that when the three of us died and were reborn with the help of the Market, we were basically moving from one dimension to another. But this was the first time I had thought about crossing dimensions without dying first. I would need to sort out what that meant in the future, but first, I needed to figure out what was up with this dimension and its history. It seemed like we might have bitten off more than we could chew this time.

After a few moments of trying not to hyperventilate, I calmed down. If this world was dangerous, Sallia, Felix and I would figure out how to deal with it once we got back together. At least for now, I didn’t appear to be in any danger. My parents didn’t look terrified of their surroundings, and my mother was still actively pestering my father while my brothers made faces at each other. Even if this world was highly dangerous, right now I was safe.

I quickly scanned the rest of my message log, making sure that I hadn’t received notifications of Sallia or Felix’s death, but both of them were clearly still alive.

With my pressing System notifications dealt with, I took a closer look at my new home.

The room we were in was well lit, but not by candles or any sort of lightning I recognized. Instead, some sort of glowing moss was stuffed into a variety of containers, most of which had holes strategically placed in them to let out light without letting the moss make a mess. This gave the entire room a soft blue glow. Even though I had never seen moss-lighting before, it was surprisingly beautiful.

However, the room we were sitting in had a dirt floor. The walls were made of stone and wood, and were held together with metal nails; I couldn’t tell whether they were iron or steel, but I was pretty sure it was one of the two. However, the dirt floor hinted at our family’s weak financial situation.

I also had three siblings that I could see. Two older brothers and a sister. My oldest brother looked like he was around twelve, but I hadn’t figured out if my current species had some sort of longer lifespan or something. All three of my siblings wore patched clothes, which convinced me that we were, indeed, rather poor.

However, at the very least, nobody looked like they were thin or malnourished. So I probably didn’t have to worry about hunger.

My mother and father were also a bit on the short side. They were probably a little under 145-ish centimeters tall. I wasn’t sure if that was a species trait, or if they were unusually short for this world, but they were definitely below what I would consider normal adult height. And, now that I took a closer look, I also realized that their eyes, in particular, didn’t look human. Instead, they looked kind of like the eyes of a lizard, which worked surprisingly well with the rest of their facial features.

My father also had six fingers on both hands, which threw me for a loop when I first noticed it. My mother had the regular four fingers and one thumb, and, with some relief, I realized that I also had four fingers and a thumb instead of six. To round it all off, both of my parents had dry-looking black hair, as did most of my siblings. My sister, however, had a much lighter-brown color of hair.

By contrast, I had retained most of my physical characteristics from my time as Miria on the islands due to my ‘Identity’ Ability. I had the same blonde hair I had grown used to, and my eyes were a solid blue color. My pupils did look a little bit more crescent shaped than I was used to, but for whatever reason, they somehow gave me notably improved night vision. Which was probably why I could clearly see the entire room even though the only lighting came from glowing moss.

Furthermore, I realized that I was a little taller than my older sister, despite being at least a few years younger. Which probably meant I would become abnormally tall for my family as I grew up. I could see how my Ability was intentionally looking at how I ‘wanted’ to look when I grew up, and using that to influence my appearance: I hadn’t completely shaken off the unique physical characteristics of my current species, but I definitely looked a lot like I had the last time I had died as well.

I hesitated for a moment, having finally gotten my initial analysis of my System notifications and my family out of the way. I turned towards my mother, who was still moving between my father and I while gushing over my first words. I wondered if it was possible to get a better look at the city outside. Seeing more of our environment could give me much more information about whatever the heck was going on in this world.

“Mama! Outside?” I asked, pointing to the door.

My mother giggled, as she walked over to me and lifted me up before gently patting my head. “We can go later tonight, sweetie. I’ve been meaning to head to the tailor and buy some threads recently. Your older brother is just wearing through his clothes too quickly, and I need to patch his pants again… And we can celebrate your first words, too! You even managed to say ‘outside’ as well! Can you say ‘papa’ to your father?” She asked, turning me towards my father.

With a mental shrug, I grinned at my father. “Papa!” I said, holding my pudgy arms out towards him for a hug. He smiled, picked me up from my mother’s arms, and gave me a quick kiss on the top of my head before handing me back to my mother.

My mother turned back towards my father as she gently held me. “Dearest, do you want to come with me and bring the other children along? We could make it a little family outing. I got paid a decent amount for the last dress I made. We could have dinner at that little restaurant you like to celebrate the day, and have some fun in town.”

My father leaned towards my mother and gave her a quick peck on the lips. “That sounds fun, dear.”

I grinned. This time I wouldn’t be stuck indoors for years while a horrifying mind-devouring ocean squatted just outside of the door and waited to destroy my brain. And with some luck, maybe I would figure out more about this world. If I wanted to figure out what sort of goal to pursue this time, and if I wanted to avoid getting killed instantly by whatever horrors lurked in this dimension, I needed a better idea where to start, after all.

Author’s Note:

After world 1, I was kind of expecting total chaos to happen once I rolled everyone’s Stats (I do that right as I start the first chapter of a new world). I have to say, Miria’s rolls are surprisingly… normal. I don’t know how to feel about that, honestly. After Sallia just rolled garbage last world, I was kind of expecting to toss half of my plotline out the window again. Miria’s rolls do change a few things I was planning, but the degree of change is way lower this time since she rolled pretty normally overall.

Though, admittedly, Sallia and Felix’s rolls are pretty funny, for entirely different reasons.