5 The fruit of liberation [End]
The invasive pain embraces every fiber of my being as I withstand the forefront of this involuntary odyssey of transformation. The floor of my home becomes an altar of torture as I die and am reborn, biting, without any dignity, into the nearest bath towel. I am sure it will taste horrible after this.
---
"Fantastic job, Dean," I mutter to myself, a hysterical laugh caught in my throat amidst the sharp pain. "Of all the things you could have written... a side effect that makes you wish you had remained a mere mortal."
The internal pains are invisible blades and with every 'cut', I offer a silent curse to my writer self. Who needs enemies when you have your own sadistic imagination, right?
"Pass out, please, I just want to pass out!" I scream more inwardly than outwardly, a plea to any deity who finds humor in the irony of a writer tortured by his own creativity.
And then... Mist. Darkness. Thanks, whichever deity answered my call.
Before the void takes over, a strange digital vision materializes in front of me, like a vibrant screen of menus in a universe where magic and technology are intertwined:
---
==== STATUS UPDATE ====
Name: Dean Corleone
Ranking: E
Attributes:
Strength: E-
Agility: E+
Vitality: E
Intelligence: E+
Mana Capacity: E+
Luck: E+
Charm: E-
Profession: Level 1 Mystic Swordsman
==== INNATE ABILITY ====
Ability: Dismantle
Ability Ranking: SSS+
Ability Description: Dismantle is an ability that allows the user to deliver an invisible slash within a radius of up to 20 meters. The level of penetration and the range of the ability can be increased depending on the user's mana.
---
"Wait... my strength is what? E-? This has to be a mistake." Irony is useless here, but I can't help it. "And I, who had the power to give a character an 'F'...end up with 'E-' in strength." I let out a weak laugh, interrupted by another spasm of pain that suggests my fate will be more dying than rebirthing.
And then, at least for a moment, the pain and irony fade together into darkness. When (and if) I wake up, what will become of Dean, the sarcastic swordsman with an absurdly highly ranked ability and attributes that would barely pass the average at a fifth-rate hero school? Only time will tell.
I hurl myself into the unknown, armed only with my sharp tongue and an ability that, frankly, has the potential to be quite amazing... if I survive to tell the tale. Anyway, if the blue screen of pain means anything, it's that the show has only just begun. And me? Well, apparently, I'm center stage.
---
[1 Hour Later]
The fog of pain finally dissipates, and the world reemerges in colors and shapes, all punctuated by the comforting breeze of normal air. I could almost thank the agony for subsiding, but I wouldn't be myself if I didn't hide the gratitude behind a wall of sarcasm.
---
I rise heavily, every muscle still mourning the past storm. There are so many paths to evolution, and I choose the one of pain resistance because, of course, I am Dean Corleone, the narrative masochist.
Here then, before my eyes, the digital hall of fame of my newly acquired agonizing resistance:
----
==== STATUS ====
Name: Dean Corleone
Ranking: E
Attributes:
Strength: E-
Agility: E+
Vitality: E
Intelligence: E+
Mana Capacity: E+
Luck: E+
Charme: E-
Profession: Level 1 Mystic Swordsman
==== INNATE ABILITY ====
Ability: Dismantle
Ability Ranking: SSS+
Ability Description: Dismantle is an ability that allows the user to issue an invisible slash within a radius of up to 20 meters. The level of penetration and the range of the ability can be increased depending on the user's mana.
----
Internal laughter strikes me as I consider that in some past story, I had the audacity to call this "balancing". Dismantle? Is this the power equivalent of a supporting character receiving the Deus Ex Machina Axe?
But still, even in a world where being an E means friend-zoning the line of despair, I have... hope. Yes, that's the word. A leveling skill with unlimited potential? A status screen that laughs in the face of death?
I find myself mired in a layer of melodrama that would, and will, make a novel worthy of sweeping awards. I, a scribbler of misfortunes, might have found my own magical plot.
The absence of mana cost for the use of Dismantle is surely one of those system bugs that only the finest (or most insane) authors would dare weave into their stories. After all, who besides me to grant myself a shortcut in this jungle of possibilities that is Terra Nova?
Less than a month before "Pentagon Academy" (any comments about cliché names?). The rendezvous with Sam and the whole gang — the bitter offspring of my endless imagination. Those who suffered and triumphed on the pages that my lackluster pen scribbled upon.
Why the anticipation, the blush of adrenaline, the nearly narcotic need to see how the pieces fit into play? Because beyond the sharp agony, the thick irony, and the sarcastic satisfaction, there's something deliciously visceral about witnessing your own narrative stripped
And where, even the author can be surprised by the turn of the next page.
---
Author's Note:
Next chapter: Pentagon Academy
