Chapter 1 - A New Life

My heart had stopped. I felt it happen, yet I wasn't dead. I couldn't move, and I felt like I was floating in water. I had lost control of my body yet I wasn't afraid. Quite contrarily, I was excited at the idea of a new life. And then my heart started pumping again, and I had control of my body once more. My body felt like it was on fire, with every part of my body tingling with electricity. I felt good, despite my age and attempted to get up. In disbelief, it worked and I was walking again.

'Heellloooo' a girlish voice sounded stretching the word out lengthily. I whipped my head around the room but couldn't find any trace of the voice's body. 'Nooo, I aam inn siidee miiindd.' The girl stated.

I realized that there was no direction coming from the voice I was hearing. 'Who is this' I thought to myself.

'I donn't know... Buut I know you.' I stepped back in shock at the mind reading abilities of the girl.

'Where are you, How do you know me' I asked in shock at the situation.

'I already toold you and alll I know is thaat I have been watchhing you most oof your lifee.' The voice said as it became clearer and its words more structured. The words lingered for a few moments until I recalled the cloud that had followed me since I was a teen. It was real...

My attention was drawn away to the mirror as I watched myself visibly getting younger by the second. I had gone from looking like an old man in his 90's to a middle aged man in his 50's and still getting younger. 'What should I call you then?' I thought, still in awe at my appearance.

'I don't have a name. I can't remember.' she responded.

I thought for a few seconds before stating, 'Well how about the name, grace.' still curious about the specifics of this situation. I felt a strong burst of excitement that diminished in a second.

'I love that name!' grace replied suppressing her happiness.

Curiosity took a hold of me as 20 seconds later, I asked Grace what she could see and feel. 'I don't know how to describe it but I see everything as if I'm still hovering around you.' The voice started to get quieter. 'It seems I can move a small distance away, however it is discomforting.' The voice returned to its original volume, 'I also don't feel anything physically, however all these emotions are... interesting.'

Looking back at the mirror, my body grew taller, as my age resembled me in my 30s. I took a step backwards whilst bowing, making a formal greeting. 'You might already know this, however my name is Jack Coyder, and I am pleased to make your formal acquaintance Grace.' It felt out of place to speak like this, but something told me Grace and I would be together for a while. I had known Grace as a cloud through most of my life so I felt somewhat indebted to speak formally to her. Even with that fact though, I was still too calm for such a situation. I had died, and came back to life, and was now sharing a telepathic link with this girl, voice, whatever it was. And then I realized that I wasn't calm. This feeling wasn't calmness, but a mix between interest and wonder.

Mentally, something clicked and I knew that my body was finished changing. Looking in awe at myself, I recognized my body from when I was around 18 yet much more muscular and I felt stronger than ever.

Grace added, 'You look much in much better shape than I remember you being at 18.' A blue patched gown loosely traced my body, from when I was stuck to the machine that my life depended on. My grey hair was now a light shade of brown and my light blue eyes shone a dark red instead. Everything about me had changed within the span of an hour.

'Wait, do you think we have powers' grace nervously asked. 'I vaguely remember some sort of abilities.' I paused in silence for a while before replying, 'How will we even know if we have powers, is it even physically possible to do that kind of stuff.' before grimacing in embarrassment at my retort given the current situation. Maybe it's like those novels where the character has a system that allows them to see their powers, I thought to myself. I concentrated on key words such as system, profile, stats, window but nothing happened. I took a deep breath in and tried to erase the presence of everything else around me as I tried focusing as hard as I could on the image of a system window until...

Glowing a vibrant gold, a translucent window appeared in front of me :

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Title - ?

Race - Devil (Human and Demon Symbiote)

Age - 18 (92)

Stats :

- Strength - 1.256

- Speed - 0.948

- Agility : (Acceleration) - 0.291

- Endurance - 0.659

- Intelligence - 1.065 : (0.715 - Base) + (0.125 - Mental Strength) # 0.840 is equivalent to 168iq

- Determination - 1.712 : (1.587 - Base) + (0.125 - Mental Strength)

Skills :

- Mental Strength - Rank : S - Grade : 1 - 43%

Increases a users intelligence and determination beyond their natural limits by 0.125, and also increases the growth rate of all stats by 1.1x

- Obtained through : A difficult life

- Polymorph - Rank : A - Grade : 1 - 0%

Allows the user to morph into something / change how they look by imagining what they wish to look like. Changes are purely aesthetic. Duration : 300 seconds - Cooldown : 6 hours

- Obtained through : Drastic changes in body

- Eternal Youth - Rank : SS - Grade : 1 - 0%

The user's default appearance will always be from when they were 18 and the user cannot die from old age. The user is also immune to any form of disease and exempt from things such as heart attacks or cancer. Does not grant immortality

- Obtained through : Symbiosis

- Mind's Eye - Rank : Ex - Grade : 1 - 0%

Allows the user to see people's stats converted into numerical counters or people's abilities converted into descriptive sentences, and also increases growth rate of all stats by 2.0x. Duration : Infinite - Cooldown : None

- Obtained through : Incredible determination and focus of a god or god-like being

- Analytic's Eye - Rank : SSS - grade : 1 - 0%

Allows the user to analyze anything inorganic and obtain skills which are below or equal to Rank : E

- Obtained through : Intelligence Stat above Intelligence - 1.000

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Grace mentally gasped in shock at the ability which I had awakened, yet I was more focused on two lines. 'Race - Devil' and the phrase 'focus of a god or god-like being'. It clearly meant I wasn't human anymore however the phrase devil conveyed the image of absolute evil to me, and god or god-like being told me I was very powerful. I'm not a god so a devil must be a god-like being I inferred. I was confused behind the context of these words however I was still excited in the moment and alongside grace, figured out I only had one skill I could truly test out at the moment. Polymorph.

'Grace, how do you think I activate this ability.' I asked, and after some thinking she replied, 'Why don't you try thinking about a transformation and mentally declare polymorph.'

I briefly berated myself over my stupidity for not assuming that detail from the window and tried the ability out. I thought about my older self, and focused on the word 'Polymorph'. My skin turned to a slime-like liquid and formed the shape of an older, and shorter man. Within 5 seconds I was back to looking like I used to, and despite the changes only being aesthetic, I felt considerably weaker.

Footsteps scattered in the corridor and a person slung the door open. Nurse Jenny, a grumpy nurse in the hospital who cared for her patients but never showed it, stepped into my room. "Mr. Coyder, why are you out of your bed. And why aren't your life support machines connected to you."

I started to apologize, "I'm sorry nurs..." however I stopped quickly, realizing my voice had changed considerably during my transformation and Polymorph hadn't changed it back.

"My, my. What is wrong with your voice. Do you have a sore throat, Mr. Coyder." Jenny asked. I nodded slightly. "Ok you wait here real quick. I'm going to go grab some throat medicine."

It had seemed that in her worry over my voice, she thankfully forgot about the blood drips being removed and the heart monitor being disconnected. Nothing short of a miracle. Sadly, this would be the last time I would see nurse Jenny for a long time. If she returns and Polymorph has run out I'll be in trouble so I guess we'll have to leave.

I peeked out of the window and decided on if I should jump the distance. It was roughly 10 meters to the floor but something about me told me that I could land without many injuries, and I trusted my instincts. I opened the window and pushed off with force from the window ledge. 'It would seem you didn't know how strong we are.' Grace muttered as we pushed of around 5 meters from the wall and took a second to land.

I Guess it's time for us to live a new life.