Changes and tutorial (Edited)

Titles, Traits: [ ]

Talking: " "

Ishtar, spirits: { }

System: | |, 『』,--

Author notes: ()

Mind: ' '

Sounds: **

And then I woke up.

Writhing in phantom pains and gasping for air I jolted out of my bed and trashed onto the floor. "Haauh, hooo…" I wheezed, trying to catch my breath and calm down. 

My pajamas were drenched in sweat and looked burnt. I slowly rose and turned to my bed. 

"Bloody hell… I just bought that blanket, that shit wasn't cheap!" The area behind me looked like I had shoved a protosaber into the bed and burnt out a poorly drawn illustration. 

"That heat... It wasn't a dream." I sighed, grabbing the burnt blankets and shoving them down a laundry bag.

My eyes suddenly widened as I pushed the blankets deeper into the bag, realizing the implications of what I had just said.

"Hah, Holy shit..." I laughed out, "It wasn't a dream!"

Rushing around the trash in my room, I opened the door to my bathroom and looked in the mirror. I looked like I had stolen my clothing from a homeless man. My skin was slightly darker than the usual tan I had but overall wasn't very noticeable. The greatest change was my hair and eyes. My hair had changed from the dark brown I was used to. In its place was black hair with blonde and white highlights. "I was right." I grinned, "Everything's different now..."

 "Oh my god." I chuckled, raising my right hand to touch my new hair. "What the hell was I dragged into," I was happy but still complained, rightfully worried about the situation I found myself in. "R.O.B. didn't just reincarnate me into a similar body, right? Or did he toss some stuff my way for entertainment? Was it even R.O.B.?" I questioned, running my fingers through my hair. As I pulled my hand back, I noticed a ring on my finger. "What is this?" 

As I focused on it, a Greenish-blue screen popped up in front of me

『Observe Obtained』

『Item: Reforged Ring Of Lucii

 Description: An ancient ring passed down to the descendants of a beloved king, marked with the sigil of their founder. Current abilities and ranking Unknown. 』

" Oh great a mythological item suddenly appears on my person. This belonged to Gramps too... Probably something the system changed. Couldn't just let me be ordinary huh."

『Quest completed: Become Observant』

"Cheeky."

『Several skills related to the Magic blacksmith class received』

『The user's soul has undergone several alterations. Please check the changelog.』

"My wha-"

『Skill [Ruler mind] received』

"Hold on let me read!"

『Player Starter pack received』

"Hey! stop disappearing so fast!"

『You have three unread messages』

" Why you-"

"What Messages?" I questioned, 'Who the hell wanted to talk to me?' I hadn't done anything important or impressive in my life. No god slaying, no acts of heroism. I wasn't even some super saint being rewarded for obtaining absurd amounts of positive karma. Sure, I had my moments helping old people out... But that was for some community service in high school. 'Whatever, I'll just read it.' 

 I had read several novels and manga about people who had suddenly gained incredible growth-type systems, so I had some idea of how the system worked. It was common practice to stick out your hands to physically interact with the screen or traverse it with mental prompts.

I visualized clicking that notification, and as expected, it opened up.

| Dear Player no.150^17 Due to a deal between a particular deity and a group of unbounded spirits, you have been given an irreversible connection to [The Matrix]. You have gained access to the [Hub], [Shop], and [guild]. Due to a deal, you shall not have a new spirit created to act as your guide, but one of the members of the divine spirits shall guide you instead. The system will train her to become a suitable companion trustworthy enough to be tied to your soul. This process will begin immediately after the player reads this message.|

『You have Two Unread messages.』

The moment I read the last sentence, I felt a strange warmth covering my body. It was an overwhelming sense of security and loyalty. Second only to the warmth familial love brings to the spirit. I thought I'd never need to worry about being alone again. Suddenly, the connection deepened, and I could feel a great tug like somebody was trying to pull me closer to them. It was a wave of more negative emotions, but they wished no harm to me. Unsurprisingly, it was the opposite. Whoever was on the other side of this connection, I could feel how much this person wished to be near me. They would chase and defend me even beyond the ends of the earth. It'd be a lie if I said I wasn't a little worried about who this person who begged for me was. I couldn't help but think 'why'. Why would somebody want to be near me that badly, I wasn't even that talkative and kept to a small group of friends. Did I help somebody important to the universe? Did I get a free Yandere? That's dangerous. I won't find myself locked up in a basement anytime soon or cuffed to a bed anytime soon... Would I? Just as my thoughts started to spiral into madness, worrying about who my guide was [Ruler's mind] activated, and suddenly I was calm.

 -DING-

『User is awake, continuing body alterations.』

'Hmm? Why would I need to be awake for '

『Starting detoxification and DNA alteration process』

'Detoxification?.. Hold on a second, Isn't this that cultivation thing?'

『Starting in two earth minutes.』

'Is this thing incapable of responding to me?'

『Starting in one earth minute.』

 "No! Not again... Never again!" I yelled, dashing into my tub. "Not gonna let that spill on the floor, I already burnt my bed!" I immediately rushed to remove my clothing, no need to rationalize it as I needed to remove them and shower anyway. I was practically drowning in my sweat. I couldn't imagine how horrible I must have smelled. 'I should replace my bedsheets...' 

"I just woke up, I'd be damned if I started leaking repulsing black ooze in my bedroom or living room." I removed clothing from my body, pulled the curtains, and turned on the water. I didn't know if it'd shoot out my body like a busted pipe or slowly leak out. I felt the water tapping on my head for around a minute, then nothing. 

I couldn't see, hear, or feel anything for a moment. I thought I had fainted briefly and wished for my senses to return. 

They came back slowly. First sight when I saw black and red fluids flowing from the top of my head and over my eyes. 

Then, I tasted the atrocious juices touching my tongue after some rushed out of my mouth, I could suddenly tell my body smelled like it'd been rotting for months. It sure as hell tasted like it, yuck. 

I heard the sound of flesh tearing and rebuilding itself, and I moved backward.

*Rip*

I felt myself moving but didn't know I was falling until I splashed into the water I was standing up in. 

*Pop*

Holding my breath I grunted because despite the water being initially warm, it became frigid one moment and scalding hot the next. My body slowly heated up and cooled down at an irregular pace. Everything went numb for a second. I figured my nerves were probably being replaced. 

*Crack*

I could feel my bones breaking and reforming, cells turning into black sweat and sludge leaking from my pores, my teeth turning to ash, and new ones rising, growing quickly before cracking into dust, allowing an even stronger group to take their place. It wasn't anything close to what I experienced in my dream, but it was still agonizing in its way. I couldn't scream, no matter how much air I put out, no sound escaped my lips. My vocal cords still needed to be rebuilt. The process continued for several hours. 

『The passive [Ruler's mind] has activated』

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

A few hours later...

I never want to feel that again. I'm both lucky and unlucky to be living alone... My neighbors probably are confused right now... hopefully, they don't call the cops.

As I picked myself up, more notifications began to go off 

『The passive [pain resistance] has been obtained』

 That's both good and bad. Hopefully, I don't end up breaking a leg and just not knowing. 

『Congratulations, you've gained a body capable of evolving alongside your spirit. You are now a Hylian/High Human』

 'Oh? That's cool. Are my ears pointy now?' 

I washed up quickly, thoroughly scrubbing my body to remove all traces of sludge. As I cleaned behind my ears, I felt they were shaped slightly differently, and struggled to contain a grin. 'This hurt like hell, it better have been worth it!' 

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

I wasn't shocked. The system had already told me what was going on. But as I looked in the mirror.

 I couldn't believe this was my face. My skin was so soft and blemish-free. 

'Thankfully, I don't look like a femboy or K-pop star.' I could pass as a pretty face. Maybe a tomboy if I tried hard enough, though I had no reason to try it to look any more feminine. 'Not my style... I'll only do it if my life depended on it.' 

I left my hair down and decided to grow it out until I found a way to hide my ears. 'maybe I could learn magic, an illusion spell would be nice.' 

A black-haired Hylian casually walking the streets of Brooklyn like he belonged there would probably get a lot of stares. 

'I'm not going to deal with that.'

I got out of the tub, grabbed a toothbrush, and cleaned my mouth since some oozes came from my nose and mouth. "I'll need a new toothbrush."

『Reminder has been set: get new bathroom supplies

*One pack of toothbrushes

*Two packages of toilet paper

*One Towel 』

'That's pretty useful.' I thought, gargling some mouthwash, 'How many other things can this system do?' I questioned, looking in the mirror. I started admiring my new clear skin and strange multicolored eyes. 'Gilver iris with blank pupils? Is this Aniridia? No.. my pupils are just blank... How do I even see properly? I should be legally blind..' What an odd pair of eyes...

  -Ding-

『Requirements for tutorial quest unlocked』

『Achivement revealed: New body, New me!: change your race』

'That was rather slow...'

『+10 stat points』

'Nice!.. Now if I only knew how useful those points were...' For all I knew each point could be a 0.1 increase in attribute and that didn't even cover how useless it would be to see his stat points if know nothing about how they're scaled. 'Hey system, I don't know if you can hear me or not but I gotta know how everything works around here..'

『Quest received: learning the ropes』

| Hey there, player. It's been a few hours. I was worried you forgot we existed. Usually, our users ask how the system works immediately....|

the message was edited twice within the last few minutes. Somebody was actively watching me.

|... Did something happen to you? Your body seems more potent now, almost as healthy as the [gamer's body] passive, but that's impossible. It would be best if you still opened the starter pack. You'd improve even further! Oh well, I'll ask the guide to read your changelog later. She'll be here soon to assist you shortly. She told me to apologize for taking such a long time, even with the difference in time between the Hub and this planet. Anyway, here are a few functions you need to check out. You've played games before, right?|

When I finished reading, a screen different from the standard greenish blue appeared. A black textbox with golden words. I assumed this would stay the same for the following quest screens.

『Check out The [Status], [Inventory], [Shop], and [Crafting] icons in the corner of your vision

 *summon [Status] 0/1 times

 *Open your [Inventory] 0/1 times

 *View the [Shop] 0/1 times

 *Learn about [Crafting] 

 Rewards: Analysis magics 』