❮ The Passive Skill [Consciousness] has been acquired. ❯
…Ring!
❮ The Player has reached level 35. ❯
…After I had obtained the last piece to the puzzle, for some unknown reason, I sank into oblivion. My skills got me here. They got me in this situation. It was thanks to some passive skill, Dwelling, most probably, that I in the first place was to assault that level-45 individual after I unnervingly spawned there. And as I had some other skills related to some sort of Copying Art, that allowed me to copy skills and abilities, then the Consciousness passive went in, too. Rather cool, isn't it? Consciousness was a basic skill every human, elf, dwarf, etc. had. The same skill your regular monsters normally don't have. I wasn't just any monster. Now, I had it too.
All of that was pretty, though I'll have you know at the time I wasn't aware of anything. Naturally then, I had no idea whatsoever about what was going on—or rather, what would be going on. Because that's correct, nothing had yet happened from my perspective. Soon, however, I'd wake up. And I'd be a person.
No more than five minutes went on before I emerged from the dark place I rested in.
Five minutes.
.
.
.
That was the very first day of my life. And as the tradition would want it, for the first time, I opened my eyes. And for the first time, I drew my first breath. Bright light was landing upon my pupils. Fresh air was filling up my lungs.
I groaned.
❮ Suppression of the Receptacle's database, 'Mortde Reinred, lv. 45, Human', 100% completed. Synthesizing of the first Receptacle's knowledge 100% completed. ❯
Suddenly, a voice spoke.
❮ The 'Awakening Process' is now completed. ❯
There had been two messages. The two of them came one after the other. The voice spoke, then messages popped out. It was right in front of my eyes. They seemed to be illustrating what that voice had just said.
Strange were those writings as they were seemingly written in the air. Without any apparent support of any sort, they were standing above my knees, passively floating.
Oh, uh, what does that mean, though? I thought.
It took no longer than ten seconds before they disappeared in the same fashion they appeared. So I was left with no material to ponder on.
"'Awakening, or something, is now… completed'?" I muttered. There was also this 'Suppression of Mortde Reinred level 45 Human' a hundred percent completed, I think.
Say that again?
It was faint, but somehow I could also remember some vague info about a consciousness… kinda thingy which had been obtained. Fine by me, but yeah, as I said, what's that even mean…? Should I be calling you Writings? What does it mean, Writings, sir? My bad. You're a ma'am, aren't you, Writings, ma'am? That's a feminine voice you have… But anyway, I digress. Where am I?
Though I had basically no clue regarding what was going on, my situation felt normal. I mean, I wasn't lost at all. Or rather, I didn't feel lost. Going by that fact, one could say, my situation was no real problem, I guess.
And as a matter of fact, I must be right. How should I regard my situation as 'problematic' when I just dunno where I am, I mused, considering my situation. Instinctively, I was thinking I was in trouble. But hey, why would I even be? In trouble, I mean. Everything's cool. I just have to figure out what's going on here, and that's the end of it, correct?
With such naive thoughts in mind, I started to scan my surroundings. So first off, the most basic piece of info I could get my hands on is where am I?
Sitting and leaning my back onto both the ground and a thick pillar. That was me. As far as my view stretched, I could see numerous things and objects. Tables, chairs, dishes. Some were in a mess while others were untouched.
Was I sitting in the middle of a restaurant? Likely so. Err, what's a restaurant again, though? My face grimaced and twisted as I tried to answer that question. It felt off, for some reason. Eerie, even.
I knew what a restaurant was, but it felt as if that knowledge wasn't mine to begin with. I didn't know it, at the time, but I couldn't be more right. Even though for some reason I was aware of the concepts of things in general, I had no way to know that this basic knowledge I had hadn't been mine from the start.
"I mean… I know what that is. I know what a restaurant is, I really do, but… well, whatever," I shook my head.
Lifting my head back up, I resumed my ongoing business and peered around. My eyes were wary, but soon, I would relax, thinking I was truly all right, after all.
This restaurant was huge. The tables and chairs were spread all across the wide entirety of the place. Topping them off were dishes and other eating-related stuff. There were thick pillars all around the place, too. Just like the one who was planted behind me, upon which my back was leaning for rest. Wooden, heavy pillars decorated with unreadable (for they were too tiny) scriptures carved into them, decorating.
My eyes followed the decorations with eagerness, up till they reached the ceiling of the place, which was propped up by the sturdy pillars.
The array of columns extended to the walls. On these walls were scattered other decorations of all sorts. Be it paintings, pictures, regular ornaments, or a medal, even; the place was beautifully embellished.
So I was in a restaurant. Why? How? What for? Well? And then I just changed my mind: No, I still didn't know where the hell I was. But what about me, though? I mentally ticked my "Where am I" question but then there was the other "What am I" question that still needed an answer.
Except for, maybe, the fact that I'm and have been resting here, I didn't know anything. Like, why did I just suddenly appear here? Because as far as I'm aware, I in fact just appeared, popped, showed up out of nowhere, didn't I?
Argh, too many questions, I thought. Let's just focus on the restaurant, shall we? Restaurant, restaurant, restaurant… Why am I here?
Oh, as all the observations I had made about the display of things in this place seemed to be over, still leaving me very clueless about my situation—I noticed it.
A shadow. No, two of them. They were secretly moving and shifting from behind a column far ahead to my right. People's shadows. Were the shadows hiding?
Now that I noticed you guys, I can clearly see your shadows reflecting on the ground, though, I thought. If you wanna hide, do it properly at least.
A sigh was let out of my mouth. What a poor sight to behold. People don't even know how to hide, nowadays. Youngsters, eh… What era am I in? Oh, wait, aren't I young, too? I was just born minutes ago, wasn't I? But I know how to hide, so maybe I'm not young? 'Born minutes ago'... Oh, and that makes me think! Where are mommy and daddy? I mean, I should have parents, shouldn't I?
Too many questions. Again. I cut the flow of questions short and leaned forward. Peeking at the two of them, I tilted my head to the side. After I shifted my head over to the side, I could see them. The source of the shadows. Seemingly talking—or rather, whispering to one another, they weren't too far away from me. And now that I was looking at them directly, I could distinguish the faint sound of their voices on top of one another.
So they were chatting.
I couldn't make out what they were saying, but I heard them. It looked like whatever was the topic of their secret meeting they kept as a secret, for some reason. I wasn't too sure, though. That part wasn't important. Probably. Maybe. There was no way these two people were hiding from me. No way.
I wasn't on edge. The only feeling I felt at the time was relief. Because guess what? The two of them were humans. When one of them was tall, had a sharp presence, and was painted in black clothes, the other was about two heads shorter, and was far less keen to my senses. Relief. This is what I felt.
Now, on one hand, there were the two newly discovered living creatures that might have known something about me and who could help. Anything they knew was good to me since I knew nothing. And on the other hand, there was me, the lone lost sheep. Well, more like the lone lost human, though. And no longer lost, for that matter.
Fellow humans. They'd help me for sure. No doubt about it.