The Stoneheart journey: From Flesh to Stone

waking up, the first thing I see is an abandoned room of sorts, trying to move I feel that something is attached to me, and looking at what it is, it's a dark wire connected to my arm.. huh stone? reaching out with my other hand I saw that it also made out of stone

trying to make sense of what's happening I inspect my body to see my whole body is made out of stone

'I didn't think reincarnation was real but it seems that I was wrong'

'and I'm a stone no less, at least give me a human body geez'

at this newfound revelation, I digest the information, after a few minutes I tried to detach the wires that are connected to my body

*clank* *clank* *clank*

the wire fell with a metallic clang and after removing all the wire from my body I moved around the room I'm in, the room looked old with moss and dust everywhere, paper scattered about, and identical wires that were attached to my body, almost no light illuminating the room

trying to find an exit I found an open door leading up to a corridor with doors align a couple of steps away, checking them almost all of them are empty but some had prison cells with skeletons chained to walls, I pray that they had a quick and painless death but I don't think that is the case, at the end of the corridor there was a double door

trying to open it, it seems to be locked, with no other choice I took a step back and ran to the door with all of my strength

*bang*

the door burst open as I stop my charge, looking around there was a giant pillar in the middle of the room with a metallic door with a slit in the middle assuming that is an elevator, go towards it

pressing the button hoping the electricity still works, but unfortunately, it did not wor-

*boom*

I heard a booming noise coming from the elevator and dust coming out from the slit

'yup definitely broken'

looking around the room once more I took a look around to see if there is a mirror to see what my full body looked like and fortunately, there was a hand mirror placed on a table in the middle of the room

looking at my reflection I saw a featureless stone the size of a normal adult's head and my body is the same featureless sculpture of a human, looking at my face I wonder how could I see without eyes but I digress

walking around I saw a door leading up to a stairway that goes up, with my destination set on climbing the stair I took the first step of my adventurous stair journey

after an hour or so of continuous stairs, I finally saw that it ended with a door and more lights illuminating the way, with relieve I finally ended the monotone steps of stairs, and passing through the door I saw a tunnel that one end leads through a dark tunnel and the other leads to a gate of some kind with a small room beside it

entering the small room I saw a skeleton sitting on a chair with the upper body flat on a table, the table had a stack of papers and a blue glowing orb the size of a tennis ball

touching the orb, the orb turned into liquid and stick to my body, to my surprise I'm unable to remove the liquid as the liquid is entering my body

<new skill learned: appraisal>

trying to understand what's going on

'huh, what? who is that? show yourself'

I said but it was silence that follow

trying to recall what the voice said

'did it say I learned appraisal?'

testing the water I looked at my hand and said

'appraisal'

at that moment I blue transparent screen appeared in front of me

~~~~~~

Name: none

Race: elemental golem

level:1

HP: 100/100

MP:250/250

STR: 10

VIT: 10

STA: ∞

DEX: 4

INT: 19

AGI: 7

skills:

appraisal, mineral assimilation

body trait:

poison immunity, blunt-force invulnerability (lvl.5), magic resistance (lvl.5) sharp-strike resistance (lvl.6)

(remark: an average golem with human intelligence)

~~~~~~

so there is magic in this world, after checking my stat I looked at the Skeleton and tried to appraise it but it did not work, after touching the skeleton and appraised again

~~~~~~

name: skeleton

(remark: what do you expect? it's a dead body)

~~~~~~

I felt like the appraisal is mocking me for expecting something else with a sigh I looked around to see if there are any clothes to wear and fortunately

behind the skeleton, there was a hanger with a silver cloak hanging off it

reaching out for the cloak and appraising it I saw the same blue screen

~~~~~~

name: aged great-wolf cloak

enchantment: temperature adjustment

(remark: a cloak made out of the skin and fur of a great-wolf thought it has worn down by the passage of time it is still a good cloak for a rainy or snowy environment)

~~~~~~

though the body of a golem doesn't need warmth to keep living, it is still a good cover for me, after putting on the cloak it reached the bottom of my feet only stopping after almost reaching the ground

with this I won't look like a wizard with his over-sized robe dragging behind him while I'm walking

after looking around to see if there is anything useful left to be disappointed with nothing I exit the room and go passed the opened gate I saw a forest surrounding the gate as if trying to hide from wondering eyes

trying to fill my lung with fresh air, I was once again reminded that I was a golem, with disappointment I wonder how I will live this life, and with resolute I moved on forward taking my first step on the soil beneath me

~~~~~~

author: this one is a 996-word chapter, I think I will stick with publishing chapters with around 1000 words per chapter

please vote if you like my work so far, I'm very excited to see what does this turned into