Vanessa awoke some unknown time later. In her small cave she had no reference of time, all she knew was that it was day time. She checked her status effects screen to gauge the time that had passed, only to find that it was a useless endeavour and her desync status effect had already timed out.
She only knew it had been at least 24 hours since she reincarnated. Nor did she care how much time had passed.
“New life. New me” she thought to herself.
Vanessa decided that she would live this new life the way she wanted.
[Notice: You are required to pass on your otherworldly knowledge.]
[Extension: Refusing would result in your immediate termination.]
‘Figures, there’s always a catch. Is there a deadline or a start date?’
[Answer: Negative. The only parameters to your directive are to share the knowledge you deem necessary to the progression of the world's technology.]
[Extension: If your knowledge is insufficient for the recreation of a specific technology, ‘System’ has permission to access your former world’s ‘Internet’ for ‘Blueprints’, patents and ‘Chemical Formulas’ and ‘Chemical Reactions’.]
[Extension: The reason you lack memories is that the System will use that space to store the information uploaded from the ‘Internet’.]
‘So have my memories been deleted?’
[Answer: Negative. They have been moved to the System's deep storage for long-term storage, you have the option to have the memories returned once your directive has been completed.]
‘OK. Good to know I can get them back. What are my chances of interacting with people without dying?’
[Answer: Your odds of survival are significantly higher.]
[Extension: Permission has been granted, by the administration, to guide you to the closest town of significant size.]
'That's good, I guess. How far is it?'
[Answer: Eight days travel if you set off now, nine days travel if you set off tomorrow morning.]
'Why does the time go up despite the fact I set off earlier in the day?'
[Answer: A super storm is passing through this region tomorrow.]
'How super?'
There was silence for a moment.
[Answer: The Goddess of Nature says: "700 mm of rain will fall according to your measurements."]
'How much is that in this world's measurements?'
Another bout of silence, though it was shorter this time.
[Answer: The Goddess of Nature says: 'A fuck tonne']
'Well, that was a fucking useless question.'
[Answer: The Goddess of Nature has been informed of your dislike of her answer.]
‘That’s not going to come back and bite me, is it? I mean, I’d rather not piss-off a god on my second day.’
[Answer: Negative. The Uplift program protects you from administrator influence.]
[Extension: Administrators that interact with you without System permission will be penalized severely]
'OK thanks? Anyway, that's all for now. I need to move my nest to a higher point on this mountain.'
[Answer: Acknowledged. Closing connection.]
Vanessa got to work using mana blade to carve herself a new nest at a higher altitude. It took her hours with her tiny mana pool. She levelled up mana blade, it was now better at cutting and more mana efficient.
Before she knew it, she was finished and the sun had set and even with her improved eyes she couldn't see more than five metres away, though at her size that was quite a distance.
‘What now? Grind until you evolve, or go and find civilization? After the rainstorm, of course.’ She mused to herself.
‘Maybe both, both are good. But I would prefer the shelter for when I evolve. I’m not certain how the evolution would happen.’ She sighed internally. ‘I’ll stay here and grind my first evolution and then travel to find some civilized races.’
She curls up, ready to hunker down through the storm, as if on cue, the soft patter of rain could be heard and felt as the very edge of the storm rolls over her location. Vanessa enjoyed the sound of rain, and now the feeling of the soft vibrations running through her legs made her relax even more. Sleep found her within minutes of the rain starting.
Waking up, she quickly shook the throes of her drowsiness off, though the once peaceful hum of the rain had turned into the angry buzz of a monsoon. Approaching the ledge of her new home in the mountain face almost had her washed away down the side of the mountain by a torrent of water. Standing at the entrance of her cave, she watched the lightning striking the trees of the vast forest at the base of the mountain.
Waiting for the storm to pass, Vanessa started to experiment with her mage craft.
‘System, could you please give me a rundown of the basics of magic?’
[Answer: Affirmative. Mana is the fuel of magic, it is tracked as ‘MP’ in your status. Magic can be used in almost anyway imaginable, you just need the affinity and a strong mental picture]
‘And that’s it? Anything? I could start flinging rocks around with my mind, like telekinesis?’
[Answer: Affirmative.]
She selects a small rock for testing. She gives a few attempts of trying to lift it with her mind to little success. Getting no more than a wiggle from the stone. Promising for a first attempt, though.
‘Do I need to imagine a hand grabbing the stone or the magic wrapping around it to lift it?’
[Answer: Recommendation. Imagine many magic hands wrapping around the object you wish to lift.]
‘Alright, I’ll give that a go.’ she focuses her attention back on to the rock, getting a bit more of a reaction. The rock shakes and slides over the floor of the cave for a few moments before lifting off the ground for a brief moment. It drops back to the ground as she runs out of energy.
[Notice: Milestone achieved. ‘Never seen that spell before’]
[20 configuration points have been awarded]
[Notice: New spell created. ‘Telekinesis’ has been awarded.]
‘That’s great. So I can use magic without knowing any spells?’
[Answer: Affirmative. Spells are predefined magic programs designed for you to have you achieve a better grasp of magic.]
[Question: Would you like to disable the Spell System in favour of mana efficiency?]
[Extension: You would need to learn how to use ‘Mana Blade’ and ‘Telepathy manually.’]
‘Yes, disable the spell system, seems like a lot more fun to build the spells myself. I’m assuming I would still need to buy the affinities.’
[Answer: Affirmative.]
‘Thank you, that's all for now.’
[Answer: Acknowledged. Closing connection.]
Vanessa spent the next few moments trying to manifest the mana blade, with varying levels of success. She managed to manifest the mana and make it cut, but she struggled to form it into the neat blade shape that the spell had.
She attempted to use telepathy, but with nothing to respond, she had no idea if she had even done it right.
Vanessa was exhausted. So she lay near the entrance of her nest, listening to the rain. She heard something in the distance. It was quiet, and she only just heard it over the rain.
◆◇◈◉◑◆◇!
She stands and gingerly starts making her way down the side of the mountain. Headed towards the noise, she stops every few feet to listen.
◆◇◈◉◑◆◇!
Eventually, she got close enough to make out the source of the noise. Vanessa was perched just above head height on a branch.
A woman dressed in a dirty off-white, almost completely shredded dress.
◆◇◈◉◑◆◇!
Vanessa reaches out with her mind and magic and miraculously makes a connection with the woman's mind.
‘No! No! No! No! No! Get away from me!’ The woman screamed in her mind.
‘Turn left now!’ Vanessa shouted through the connection.
The woman seemed confused for just a moment before she followed the advice.
A couple of moments later, a man ran past, unfortunately also taking the same left turn to follow the woman.
Vanessa dropped from her branch, landing on the man’s shoulder. Making a quick assumption of the man’s disposition towards the fleeing woman. She used a malformed mana blade that was no more than an extremely oblong oval and stabbed it through the man’s neck. She had to extend the blade midway to make it all the way through.
The Man gagged and choked on his blood, he collapsed onto the floor, writhing and clutching his neck.
[Notice: Milestone achieved. ‘First Blood’]
[100 configuration points awarded.]
[Notice: Milestone achieved. ‘Size Doesn’t Matter’]
[100 configuration points awarded.]
[You have levelled up enough to reach the next growth stage: Juvenile]
[You have levelled up enough to reach the next growth stage: Adult]
[Recommendation: Find a safe place large enough to support your new size]
[Extension: you will be notified if the chosen place is too small]
‘You can stop running now.’ Vanessa spoke through the mental connection. Though it was unnecessary as the woman had stopped the moment the man had collapsed.
‘Who is this?! Where are you?’ she thought back.
‘I am Vanessa. I’m the tarantula on the dead guy.’ She said, waving one of her pedipalps.
‘Stop Lying. That tarantula is obviously your familiar! Show yourself!’
‘…’
Vanessa sighed in her mind, but the woman seemed to hear it.
‘Oh goddess, you’re telling the truth!’ The woman said shocked. ‘Andreya,’
‘What?’
‘My name is Andreya.’ The woman said as she lowered herself to get a better look at Vanessa.
1If you find any errors (wrong tenses, spelling etc.) please write the word either side of the word, so it's easier to find and fix
yay more
There's some present tense stuff that needs fixing. (Will->would, takes->took, etc)
I figured there would be, for some reason my editing tool thing doesn't seem to understand tenses.