Empty Land

Rowan's heart skipped a beat after hearing the announcement. He was staring at the void as he waited for something— anything.

A few seconds have passed. Then the seconds turned to minutes, and the minutes turned to hours. There was nothing. The woman's voice was silent. He was trapped on an island that was floating in the endless pits of darkness. Where could he go?

Just when Rowan lost all hope, a voice rang inside his head.

'Data corrupted. System restarting.'

Just after the woman finished, Rowan felt himself sinking. The ground was melting and the void itself was collapsing. The system was restarting and he was inside it.

"No. No. No!"

Rowan ran toward the temple who seemed untouched by the collapsing space. It was his goal to reach the brick floor of the temple and seek refuge, maybe then he would be safe.

As the ground continued to sink into itself, Rowan stretched his arm as far as he could. He jumped right before the last pile of sand vanished and he was able to reach the temple.

"What in the hell." Rowan could only pant in exhaustion. His tired flimsy arms and his naked body was covered in sweat and dirt. It was then that Rowan noticed how his body stopped glowing.

He watched his skin as it now lost the pale yellow glow state that it was on before. The dirt of the ground also touched him and even the impact of the jump and reach for the temple managed to bruise his fragile body.

'System restarted. Data refreshed.'

The crystal at the center of the temple glowed and almost instantly, Rowan felt a seering pain in his head. His knees crashed to the brick floor as his arms held his head tightly— gripping his hair to cope with the unending pain.

Information was being sent into his mind, the data from the previous owner. He was able to see how the owner lived and died, how he gained his system and how he was able to become a hero who then was betrayed by his closest allies.

With one final input being placed into his mind, Rowan collapsed to the ground.

'Data corrupted. Erasing memories.'

–

Whoosh.

A gentle breeze of the wind awoke Rowan from his slumber. His eyes slowly opened, shutting and then opening once more as he let himself adjust to the light. It was bright and hot. The only thing that relieved Rowan from the heat was the constant fanning of the wind on his skin.

He sat up and watched his surroundings. He was on a plain fields with forests surrounding it. The temple was gone as well as the endless pit of darkness. He was under the sunlight, basking on its glory.

"Was it all a dream?" Rowan asked himself, trying to figure out everything that had happened to him. While he was on the middle of his thoughts, a familiar voice spoke inside his mind.

'Congratulations! You have successfully Awakened.'

He froze after hearing the words of the woman. He was both in joy and disbelief after learning that he was an Awakened. But was it all a dream or was it the reality?

'Due to the error in the system, your memories have been saved in an archive that is unaccessible to you. Your level and skills have been reset.'

Rowan understood the glitch. The crystal that he saw at the temple must be from another Awakened. The people who took him must have taken that crystal from the Awakened and harnessed its power. That was the reason why the system did not see Rowan as the owner of the crystal and the error occured.

Rowan could never know what the error might bring him. Right now, he could be in danger or he could be in a very good spot. Depending on the error's impact on the system, Rowan could live a very different life from the one he had.

Some of the Awakened have powerful skills in combat or magic. Some could fight beasts ten times larger than them and some could cast magic that could alter the weather itself. If the error served Rowan his luck, then he might be just one of the two.

'Your class has been changed and your skills have been reset. You are now a <Undefined>.'

Rowan's excitement vanished after hearing the system speak. Undefined means that he has no class whatsoever, it wasn't any different from how he was before except for a fancy system that talks to him in his mind.

"This is utterly unfair!" Rowan slammed ground in anger. "How was this glitch eve happen? It's not fair how people could become great Awakened while I stay undefined. Maybe it's because of the error that this happened, but whatever. System, you must do something."

'Awakened Rowan's quest now loading. Complete quests to gain EXP and Talent Essence. Enhance Talents with the essence to achiece greater feats.'

Rowan's face was stoic as he listened to the system. He had an Undefined class which means that he does not belong to any category among the Awakened individuals. It was like having no job in a world filled with workers.

"What nonsense." Rowan sighed. "I'll just wait for a quest then. Maybe it would give me something to do."

'Quest load failed.'

"What?!" Rowan growled. "How dare you, system?"

After the final message, Rowan waited for any more announcements, but he was left with nothing. He was an Undefined Awakened and had no quest to go through.

He was angry, but then he realized that he gained some memories from the previous owner. It held the basic instructions in being an Adventurer such as command controls and even information.

"System on," Rowan commanded, prompting the system screen to pop into his field of vision.

<Awakened Rowan>

<Class: Undefined>

<Level: 0>

<Skills>

[Empty Land]

---

Rowan was curious what his only skill was. The skill did not have any description, just a vague name.

"An empty land," Rowan muttered. He looked down and realized that he was now clothed and he was also wet. "The green liquid."

Rowan gulped after realizing that he had been transported to a different place.