prologue

My name is…. It doesn't matter; names are for the living, and I'm finally dead. Hahahaha, finally. I was so sick of being hooked to machines and poked by crazy scientists who think my body somehow holds the secret to life without a disease. I mean, sure, I was born sick and still didn't die somehow, and then I contracted more viruses along the way and still didn't die, but I wasn't healthy either. I was f*king bedridden my whole life, but who can reason with crazy? Not me, that's for sure. By the time I died, I probably had every disease known to man in my body, and those f*kers still couldn't figure out what was keeping me from dying. I hope they all die the most horrific way possible.

Anyway, where am I? I looked around and began to notice that I can move, and somehow I can see 360 degrees. It's weird, you know? Being able to move after a lifetime. Anyhow, let's start moving, hahaha. This is amazing. Being able to see, move, and feel something other than pain. It's exciting? Maybe that's what I'm feeling now; I mean, besides this liberating sensation, I think this is what freedom feels like.

After moving, laughing, crying, maybe a little cursing, and madness, I started to calm down. You try releasing 16 or maybe 17 years of pent-up emotions and let's see what's going to happen. Now that I'm calm enough, I began to actually think about where I am, and let me tell you, I can't comprehend what this place is. It's dark, but not at the same time. Oh yes, time. There's no time here. Are you asking how I know? Well, I don't; I can just tell. Here, no time, space, or physical law exists, or maybe the ones I'm familiar with don't. I can hear your disbelief from here, but think about it. Every being that has existed inside these laws for long enough can just tell they are there no matter what, but here, I couldn't. So I just continued moving somewhere. I mean, there's no point in sitting still, plus I can move ^~^.

I felt something coming my way. How? I don't know—instinct maybe. So I moved towards it. Perhaps I would find out what this void is.

Pain!!!

Pain like I have never felt before assaulted me. Looking at the source of my pain, I let my instinct guide me and found myself tearing apart and devouring what looked like another soul. There's something else within this soul that is trying to take root in me now. Alarmed, I did the only thing I could, which was to tear out the part of my soul that had this thing in it and throw it away.

You know, maybe this was a blessing instead; the soul that I devoured was human. I can tell by the memories I have reviewed so far. There's nothing about his personal life in these memories; it may be with the part that I threw away along with that thing. Eh, who cares? So how do I know he is human? Well, in his memories, there are some that match the knowledge I have about history and stuff, though most of his memories are about stories called manga. These are interesting.

After looking over and over again, inspecting my soul, I concluded that nothing is wrong aside from some personal memories that are missing. I think they are with the part of me that I threw away. Anyway, it doesn't matter at the moment because it's time to look at what these two balls of swirling energy are doing in my soul. My instinct tells me it's something good, so as I started studying them, I figured out what they are. These are two skills the other soul somehow had, and if I had to guess based on the memories he left behind, he met what the stories call a ROB and was stupid enough to believe that he could make wishes. So that would also mean the thing that I threw away was the so-called system, huh? Good, I probably dodged a disaster there. I guess there's a lesson here: 'always trust your instincts.'

These skills are interesting. After examining them for a bit, I discovered what they are. These things are preprogrammed masses of energy that engrave what they can do into a person's soul so that he can use them as if they were his own. So instead of letting them do their thing, I tried to devour them the same way I did before with the soul, and it worked. Now I have two new skills that can never be taken from my soul in any way unless something tears apart my soul. Hahahaha!

I repeat: these skills are interesting. The first skill makes me a natural-born sage, which means I will always be able to purify the planet's natural energy. What's the use of that? I don't know yet, but it's interesting. The second skill, the one that I can use now, is called 'archmage's qualification.' Now this one is great. Why? Because it gave me the ability to build a magical core that can accommodate any kind of energy. Plus, it gives me an intuitive aptitude towards anything I want to study. And guess what I want to study? This place!!!! I finally have a way that may be the ticket out of this void!!! Yay me!!

The first thing I did with my newfound ability to understand anything is study my soul, and well, I found out that my soul has a weak ability to adapt to outside stimulation; that's also the reason I still have consciousness while here in the void. Furthermore, I was able to start organizing my memories, old and new, while separating any feelings attached to them. So now I won't be swayed by feelings when making decisions in the future. I found that my emotional center, as I called it, is heavily damaged, but it can be fixed in the future, maybe.

After a while, I started studying this void, and after numerous tries, I failed to understand anything beyond the fact that I'm like a baby trying to comprehend how the universe works. What that means is I don't yet have the capacity to understand—like a level 0 being that doesn't have the qualifications needed for level 1000 knowledge, if that makes sense. Although the good thing I found is that this place does have energy, which means I can start creating my magical core.

I have done it. I created my magical core. After a tedious process of trying and failing, I have finally done it, and now I feel sleepy. So before sleeping, I enveloped my soul with a layer of void energy, and then I slept.

---

While the soul slept, not caring about anything, it drifted, somehow guided by the energy around it, until it stopped in front of what could be described as the personification of the void. This being, as if disturbed by the newly arrived soul, began to look at it. For a while, nothing happened—until it did. The void shook slightly and then stopped abruptly. The soul also shook slightly, and the energy around it fluctuated a little. For a time, this occurred again and again. From an outside perspective, it appeared as if the being was having a conversation with both the sleeping soul and the void simultaneously. Then, the being took a part of the void, as if creating a veil, and placed it over the soul. The veil dissolved into a small, dust-like energy and entered the soul, disregarding the shield around it. The being then picked up the soul and left, as if they had never been there.

——-pat reon/ hunter20