So, the dev- … godly being that reincarnated me into this world is currently holding me in one hand while she stands over the body of the man she just killed. I don’t really know how to feel about being used as a tool for somebody’s murder, but that isn’t the biggest problem right now. My life is literally in the hands of this mysterious being whose intentions are unknown. Is she here to kill? Did something go wrong with my reincarnation, and she came by to clean up the mess it created? With a million questions running through my mind, a frown forms on her face as she directly addresses me for the first time in this new life.
“Well, are you going to say anything to me? You had plenty of complaints about your situation before I arrived.”
“Oh, um, can you understand what I’m saying?”
“Of course I can, I wouldn’t have bothered addressing you if we didn’t have a way to communicate with each other. Do you think I’m that stupid?” she asks with a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes.
“No, of course not. I just don’t know what to say. I don’t even know what you are. Are you here to do something to me? I can do better, I promise. I’m not wasting my second chance, I can still make something of myself, just ple-”
“Enough. Calm down and collect yourself. I’m not here to hurt or dispose of you. Your misgivings with your situation aren’t completely unwarranted, I can understand that. I can’t do much in my current state, but I came here to give you a slight nudge in the right direction. You’ve done well so far, familiarizing yourself with the basic workings of this world’s system, but you would have struggled to progress with your current knowledge.”
“Oh, so you’re here to help me. Help me to do what, though? There isn’t much I can do as a wisp apart from level up skills and increase my mana.”
“Were you not listening at all to my conversation with the human? I could feel your mana probing the area while we approached. Either way, I’m not here to help you, per se, but I can give you the knowledge to help yourself; power given is power unearned. I have already done what I’ve come to do, so I think I’ll be on my way now.”
“Wait, how have you helped me? You only talked about being part of fights to the death with other living beings. But how can I do that? I’m still just a wisp.”
“You truly believe that? Then just check your status screen after I leave. You probably won’t have another chance to speak to me, but you shouldn’t need any more help. I have high hopes for you and the future you may bring. Also, I am technically a goddess, but you can just address me as Chaos. So just make sure you never call me a devil again, lest your future become bleak."
“I’ll make sure to remember that goddess Chaos, but why is this the last time I’ll get to speak with you. What’s wrong with your current state?”
“Just Chaos is fine, I’m not that pretentious. As for your question, it concerns old history that you don’t need to concern yourself with yet. Just know that my power is severely limited, so don’t expect any miracles. My time on this plane is just about running out anyway, so I’ll leave it at that. Good luck, and may you find your desires amidst the chaos.”
And just like, her form begins to dissipate into motes of red and gold light until not a trace of her is left. The dungeon returns to its darkness, illuminated only by my dim glow and a waning torch. The only other thing left is the corpse Chaos left behind. Talking to her has just left me with more questions than answers, again, but I guess I shouldn't expect an inhuman being to approach a conversation like a normal person. Before I forget, I follow her advice she gave me right before she left. Checking over my stats, everything looks the same at first glance, until one aspect catches my eye. I am no longer a Wisp [Lvl. 1]. My level has increased to level four, and my stats have increased a few points.
Name: [Unnamed]
Race: Monster (Will O’ Wisp [Lvl. 4])
Blessing: Chaos-touched
Skills: Manipulate Mana [Lvl. 3], Glow [Lvl. 5]
HP: 20/20 [+1/s]
MP: 74/74 [+1/s]
Skill Points: 15
It looks like my stats have increased by fifteen points each, five per level, although my regen rates are still the same. My level bar is partially filled, and I now have fifteen skill points. The most concerning part is that my blessing has changed from the ‘Blessing of Chaos’ to ‘Chaos-touched’. I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing, but I don’t think it’s had any other effect on my stats. I guess this was what Chaos was referring to when she told me to check my status screen. I didn’t personally kill the dungeon delver, but I provided enough of a contribution to his death to earn experience from it. So, even if I don’t get my hands dirty or have a single attack skill or method, I can still level up while strengthening my skills. I can probably even use the skill points I earn from levelling to get attack skills. Everything is on the up and up, so why stop there? Let’s delve straight into the skills I can buy with my skill points and see where my fortunes lie!
…Nowhere, my fortunes lie nowhere. As soon as I opened the skill list, a long list of text presented itself before me, long enough to have a scroll bar on the side. After scrolling through a bit, I noticed that there was a filter icon that let me sort through all of the types of skills available to buy. A nice quality of life feature, one would think, but it just showed me the reality of my situation quicker than the unsorted list. The lowest skills on the list cost at least fifty points, which isn’t too bad. Save for a few levels, and you can choose a skill that could change your life for the better. The issue is that none of the skills listed appeared under the offensive-type skill filter. The largest filter categories are offensive, defensive, support, and miscellaneous type skills. Every skill available to a wisp is listed under everything else, with most of them being under support and miscellaneous. Support skills seem to be focused mainly on buffing, debuffing, and healing skills, while miscellaneous-type skills just seem to be the leftovers that don’t fit under the other filters. For example, there’s mana up, health up, identify, those types of skills that aren’t generally used in combat. I think I saw a cooking skill in there, too. But all this leads me to one conclusion: I won’t be able to kill anything in the near future. So, I’m just left with two options: use the dungeon itself as a weapon and achieve kills that way, or enlist some help, human or monster, to begin my journey to level up and see how far a wisp can go in this cruel world.
