My father has always wanted me to follow in his footsteps and become a doctor, so as a child growing up, a lot of my education at home was focused on the human anatomy.

Because of this, I realize unfortunately, that the creatures I have been fighting have an annoyingly different anatomy to humans. I am incredibly lucky that the trachea is in the same spot on them as it is on a human and not hidden by a thick layer of muscle, or bone.

I don’t have a good cutting tool, so I refuse to open them up. But I can tell simply by their odd bone and muscular structure.

For example, Their spine had this odd scale like structure, where from each vertebrae a plate of bone would come out overlapping the next plate, normally this would be improbable because of your lack of ability to bend down or twist in certain ways. And yet, their existence was proven right in front of me.

I will need to be more careful in the future about how I kill creatures like these Whites.

I had, without realizing it, nicknamed the creatures Whites, because of their skin.

I guess it is time to look at the notifications that I had chosen to ignore earlier.

■ - ■

Congratulations! You have reached level 2! You gain a two percent increase to Brilliance and Physicality along with an increase of 20 in Health, Mana and the special attribute Psi.

 

You have fought with your all and unwittingly used magic to do it. You have gained the skill [Enhance Body] Beginner Lvl 2

 

You have struck where your foes are weakest. The passive skill [General Anatomy] has been gained at Intermediate lvl 5

 

You have proven your mastery of martial arts. The passive skill [Martial Arts] has been given to you at Advanced lvl 5

 

Due to your continued use of it, you have gained the skill [Redirect Force], it is currently at beginner lvl 9

 

Due to your continued prayer to the creatures you have killed, you have gained the approval of the goddess Isis. Expect a test from her soon.

■ - ■

 

Well, that is an ominous message if I have ever seen one. I wonder what kind of test I should be expecting.

Anyways, it seems that I have leveled up. Let’s check out what has changed.

[Status]

 

■ - ■

∙ General Info: Elena S. Trudeau  Age:16 Lvl: 2 
∙ Class: N/A  Mana: 100  Health: 220 Psi:120
∙ Sponsor: N/A

∙ Titles: Beta Tester, Crazy In A Good Way(Is that even possible?), Watched By The Gods

∙ Special conditions: Most Definitely Not-Normal

∙ Physical Condition: Healthy
∙ Physicality: Athletic 86%
∙ Brilliance: Graduate 97%

∙ Equipment: Gloves(unique)

∙ Skills: Enhanced Body B-Lv.2 ∙ General Anatomy I-Lv.5 ∙ Martial Arts M-Lv.5 ∙ Redirect ForceB-Lv.9

■ - ■

 

I wonder what will happen when Graduate hits 100%? Maybe I will evolve!

Elena! I choose you!

Elena! Use Punch!

Pokemon references never get old.

Some light comes in through the entrance to the cave, startling me.

Without my noticing, the storm had died down, allowing the sun to shine through.

I stand up straight and cautiously walk to the entrance of the cave.

I end up being snow-blinded for a second before my eyes adjust to the world outside of the cave.

I rub my arms feeling the chill air brush against my skin and take in the sight in front of me. Outside of my cave is a flat land covered in snow, which rules out the idea of me being on a mountain top somewhere.

I don’t see any Whites in the distance, which is good for me and hopefully means that they are nocturnal creatures.

I scan the outside, looking for any place that would allow me to get out of here. My search bears fruit in the form of another cave with a circle of torches in it.

1: Cadet: I don’t think we should go over there.

2: I think we should.

1: Why should we?

2: The better question is, Why shouldn’t we?

1: Because someone obviously wants us to go there. It is probably a trap.

2: And…? This is bad how?

1: Good point.

Silly brain, always talking me into things.

I start walking towards the cave.

Strangely enough, I encounter no trouble along the way. As soon as I reach the cave, I put one foot inside… and black out.

Uuuuuugh. I seem to be blacking out a lot lately. Could it be a convenient plot device that the author is using to bring me from one place to another?

Nah.

Something seems different this time…

I open my eyes to find myself back in the bedroom where all of this started.

 

■ - ■

Congratulations on making it through the tutorial! We look forward to seeing you in action again soon! Thanks to the fact that you only died once, you have been given a special prize! Made sure to check it out in your inventory!

■ - ■

“I guess that that wasn’t a hallucination…” I say softly to myself.

“Elle! There you are!” My mother bursts into my room. My mom is a beautiful woman with blue eyes and blond hair that flows down to her upper back, unfortunately those blue eyes are looking at me with an expression that says ‘you are in some big trouble young lady!’ “We have been looking for you all day! We promised the Smiths that we would go to church with them today. Where were you?!”

“What are you talking about mom? We aren’t supposed to go to church until tomorrow-“ I stop suddenly.

“Is something wrong Elle?” My mom asks worriedly

I turn my head slowly, “Have you ever felt like there are hundreds of people all over the world watching everything that goes on in your life…?” I look straight into an imaginary camera.

“You are probably the main character in a book somewhere honey. Don’t distract from the problem Elle, you disappeared on us.”

“That’s closer to the truth than you realize.” I mutter to myself. I look back at my mom and ask her, “This might sound odd mom, but what day is today?”

“Are you joking with me Elle?” After seeing how serious I am, mom sighs. “Oh honey, today is Sunday. Did something happen?”

“I don’t really want to talk about it right now. Could I have some alone time? I need to think.” I look for my phone and grab it off of my dresser.

“Sure, honey. Just know that I am here if you want to talk, ok?” Mom has a quick look of worry cross her face before she turns around to leave the room.

It looks like I have only been gone for one day. I am glad that the game isn’t some odd thing where time flows differently, that would have been annoying to deal with.

I look at my hands realizing that I still have the gloves on. It would probably be best to keep them on, they are kinda useful.

My phone lights up as I turn it on and jump onto my bed. My friends sent me a couple messages asking me where I was, but nothing too important seems to have happened.

I turn the screen on my phone off, as I sink into the bed and close my eyes.

“Elena? Can you hear me?”

“God? Is that you?” I open my eyes and say after I hear that voice.

“You mistake me for one of them? That’s very rude of you Elena”

“Sheyla. What are you contacting me about?”

“No need to speak out loud. I will guide your thoughts to me. Just think with intent about what you want to say.”

I do as she asks. Unfortunately my mind can be somewhat… Disorderly.

 

■ - ■

Your teacher has shown you the ways of the mind. You have gained the skill [Telepathy] at beginner level 1.

■ - ■

 

“On second thought,” Shayla thought,” It would probably be best if you spoke out loud, some of those thoughts you just sent me took away my innocence.”

“Innocence? Since when did you have that?”

“Be quiet, my crazy disciple.”

“Very well, my scattered Instructor.”

“Sigh. Anyway, I decided that I wanted you to live till our next encounter-“

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“So, I found out some information that you might want to know. The next System Event will be happening in exactly a week. So be prepared. I must leave now. Good luck.”

“Hopefully I won’t need it.”

I get no response from Shayla. Anyways, it looks like I might have gained something very valuable from that conversation. When Shayla guided my thoughts to her she inadvertently showed me how to put my… thoughts I guess, outside of the sphere that they are usually kept in.

Let’s see what else I can do now.

I feel a slightly unhinged smile come to my face before I quickly hide it.

I get into a lotus position on top of my bed and try to find the space that I glimpsed when Sheyla guided my thoughts to her.

The mantra that I used in the cave earlier enters my mind, so I decide to repeat it.

My mind and breath are one.

I empty my thoughts to the void

My mind and breath are one.

I empty my thoughts to the void

...

It takes a couple of tries, but I enter that same state a lot quicker than I did last time.

This time, there is something different. Another energy is inside of me. It has a clearer -color?- than the mana that seems to permeate everywhere else.

I assume that this energy is the Psychic energy or Psi that showed up on my status screen earlier. I watch it as it travels down a path that stops and congeals at points similar to the chakra points that I saw in some of the books I used to read. These points would turn the psi energy into different colors.

I study all of these Chakras on my body for an unknown amount of time.

Eventually, I do what Shayla showed me to do and look for my mother’s mind using thought. A little bit of energy extends from my blue throat Chakra and moves away from me eventually hitting another human being. My mom.

Mom: I hope that she is ok… Maybe I worry about her too much. I also worry about Jacob. I wonder when he will get home tonight. When he does, I will make sure to grab him give him a kiss and then-

I cut off the connection to her. I have no desire to read her thoughts on that subject.

What do I remember about the Chakras? I remember mom teaching me about them… If I remember correctly, the blue chakra at the lower part of my throat is the communication Chakra, the purple one on my forehead, also known as the third eye, is the one of enlightenment and the top of the head, the white Crown, is the Chakra where you receive power…? I hope I am remembering that right. I can’t remember any of the others at the moment unfortunately.

How about I try using the purple chakra, the third eye of enlightenment.

I try to copy what I did with the throat chakra and pull out some of the energy surrounding the Chakra in my third eye.

Surprisingly enough, it isn’t to hard to-

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!

I promptly pass out.

...

I wake up in my bed, with an incredible migraine pulsing through my head.

“Damn it. IT HURTS.”

I open my eyes to find a couple of blue windows in front of me.

■ - ■

You have gained an understanding of the art of meditation. [Meditation] is at beginner level 8.

 

Through experimentation you have gained the ability Divine Sight. [Divine Sight] is at beginner level 2

■ - ■

 

There is the bastard that did it. Right there! When I pulled that bit of Psi out of my third eye, it allowed me to see things from a view outside of my body.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t all it did. When I looked at something using [Divine Sight] I not only saw that thing as it is now, but also everything it ever has been and all the things that it could possibly be in the future.

So when I looked at a molecule, I saw the history of every single place that the atoms in that molecule had been and everything the atoms in that molecule could possibly do in the future.

So in that moment, I literally saw the history of the universe and all the possibilities that the universe could have.

When I think about it, I am glad that I passed out when I did.