Chapter 10

Weeks and months passed.

Sam lay on the floor and didn't move. He could no longer see, hear, or even feel.

He was more concerned about preserving his soul. However, he did not believe in the existence of the soul in the traditional sense. Some formless substance? Perhaps, but he had his own understanding of the issue.

He believed that the soul and the mind are essentially the same thing. His memories, feelings, consciousness and thinking abilities are the soul. Roughly speaking, a person's brain is his soul.

But his brain had long been under the influence of the water element and was gradually transforming just like the rest of his body, it simply could not be otherwise. However, he still did not die or lose his mind. This fact alone already spoke volumes.

Even his thoughts gradually froze, but he continued to frantically pray to the spirit of water.

It was difficult for him to navigate in time, but he was sure of one thing - the spirit of water practically stopped responding to his calls.

Nevertheless, even in such an absurd situation, with difficulty maintaining consciousness, Sam felt pretty confident.

He had finally crossed the point of no return. Although all his senses had disappeared, he still felt something, namely the element of water in his own body. He managed to steal enough.

It was as if his very body was now gradually attracting the water element. This element became part of his essence, part of his soul. Now they were inseparable and would forever remain together no matter what happened. This feeling was something different from any interactions he had with magic before.

His body lying on the floor was a silent ice cocoon. All of his internal organs including his brain were completely absorbed by the water element.

But Sam never lost consciousness. The element of water is now Sam. In turn, Sam is now the element of water. He became a water elemental.

All his memories remained untouched. If the soul is compared with information, then this information has completely merged with the stolen element of water and now become one.

Perhaps if he had used a different method or, moreover, a different element, it would not have ended well. Perhaps he was just lucky. Nevertheless, he succeeded.

At first he was confused and scared. What's the point of existing if you can't see or feel anything?

Having calmed down, he began experiments with his own body. Although he did not have traditional senses, he could use magic to replace his senses to varying degrees.

While sitting in the cocoon, he began to transform his body according to the memories of his sensing abilities as a human.

The cocoon began to transform gradually taking on a human form according to his memories of himself. Soon a blue human silhouette appeared in the middle of his small room.

Although the silhouette had the semblance of eyes, it was obvious that eyes could no longer give him real human vision. Perhaps true magic could do something like this, but the water element alone could not perfectly reproduce all of his human feelings.

However, Sam still perfectly remembered what the world around him looked like before his transformation. He remembered what color the floor was in his hut, the clothes he wore, and so on.

All he had to do was find a way to sense his surroundings. He could then use his memory and imagination to simulate an interface similar to human vision.

We must understand that what the human eye sees is not the truth in the literal sense of the word. All human feelings can be compared to the Windows operating system. Its just a comfortable shell. A person can see various folders on the desktop and launch games or browse his folders. But it is obvious that the essence of things is deliberately hidden from the user to make it more simple and understandable because it is extremely inconvenient to perceive otherwise.

Sam turned part of the element of his own body into an imperceptible magical vapor, which in turn spread around him in all directions for ten meters. This steam penetrated the ground and walls of the hut, partially settling on everything around.

He could sense particles of his element wherever they were, and as soon as the vapor spread around, his vision returned in a way.

His body was lying on the floor. He stood up hesitantly, walked to the door and went outside.

The perception of the world around him gradually changed according to his memories. The snow turned white. The sky turned blue. Everything around him gradually returned to its original colors.

It was not exactly same as it was before, but it was information he received from surroundings was returned to him in a new suitable form so he could recognize it in the way was it was suitable for him.

In a similar way, he began to simulate other parts of his interface, trying to regain his former feelings and sensations. At least as far as it was possible.

Even if the essence of these sensations changed and was not as bright and expressive as in a real human body, this was quite enough. Over time, he will gradually adapt and improve his sensing abilities.

It is quite possible that he will even be able to simulate the taste of food to some extent. Why not? The main thing is to have a memory of these feelings and simulate them using magic. Of course he wouldn't be able to return everything to the way it was before, but he didn't care.

Gradually, with the help of imagination, memory and various magical tricks, Sam regained his hearing, touch, smell and taste one after another.

Sam

Physique - 24.675

Agility 12.245

Endurance ---

Durability 24.675

Unknown element - 1.12

Status - dead.