[Character Activation]
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"Ughhh... I feel terrible."
Hastora woke with a start, groggy and rubbing his eyes. Something felt wrong.
As he stood, his perspective shifted. He was taller.
Had he grown?
He examined his arms; slightly more muscular.
"Eh? Where am I?"
He stared, bewildered, at his surroundings.
"Wasn't I in the hospital? But…what is this?"
Towering cliffs and mountains stretched before him.
Where was this? Was there more to this world?
"Is this the afterlife?"
He touched the ground, continuing to survey his strange new environment.
"Huh?"
He was slightly startled by a strange sensation emanating from the earth beneath his feet. It felt firm, powerful.
Driven by curiosity, he opened his shirt and examined his body.
"My body…how is this possible?"
It was incredibly athletic.
He was 180 cm tall.
And his weight wasn't excessive.
Perhaps…65 kilograms?
Suddenly, a voice echoed in his head.
Ding!
[Congratulations, you have transmigrated]
[Transmigration Reward: All stats increased by 1]
Hastora's eyes widened as a screen appeared before him.
He tried to touch it, but his hand passed right through, untouched.
"W-What is this? A holographic display?"
"Eh? Wait, transmigration?"
He needed to confirm this.
Watching the screen like a game interface, Hastora spoke, his voice trembling.
"Status—S"
A screen appeared before his eyes.
[Name: Hastora Vallois]
[Race: Nonconformity]
[Age: 16]
[STR: 14 > 15]
[AGI: 12 > 13]
[INT: ?]
[VIT: 15 > 16]
[EP: 100]
[Level: Enlightenment]
[Magic: Control Over Darkness. Flamma Infernus. Gravity Vortex]
[Swordsmanship: Dark Swordsmanship]
[Quest: None]
"Hastora? My name's the same. But…Vallois?"
The surname was completely unfamiliar.
Who had named him? Someone?
He looked around again, squinting.
This world…it wasn't unfamiliar.
No mistake!
Hastora took a deep breath. With a heavy heart, he had to accept the reality: he had transmigrated into his own novel, "Echoes of an Unwritten Fate."
"How is that even possible?"
Echoes of an Unwritten Fate?
It didn't have a main character.
So why this novel? He would have preferred any other novel with a main character.
This novel depicted a world under constant attack from monsters, demons, and other extradimensional creatures.
A world where deception, both giving and receiving, was the daily norm.
The weak and foolish were exploited; the strong and clever did the exploiting.
Intelligence and strength were essential for survival here.
Hastora clenched his fists, furious at his current predicament.
"Damn it! I'd rather be dead than transmigrated into this world!"
His jaw tightened, and he smashed a rock with his fist to vent his frustration.
This world was just like his previous one.
Happiness and peace were incredibly hard to come by.
In the novel, the survival rate was only about 40%.
He knew this because he had created a character who adventured alone, without any teammates.
That character only survived for five days, dying after being eaten by an S-rank monster.
Hastora had intentionally created that storyline to vent his own frustrations.
This world would slowly torment him.
The weak and foolish would die; the strong and intelligent would live.
"This won't do…I can't keep hiding."
Hastora took a deep breath, trying to compose himself.
"First, I need to increase my strength."
Despair vanished, replaced by a powerful resolve.
"Status"
[Name: Hastora Vallois]
[Race: Nonconformity]
[Age: 16]
[STR: 14 > 15]
[AGI: 12 > 13]
[INT: ?]
[VIT: 15 > 16]
[EP: 100]
[Level: Enlightenment]
[Magic: Control Over Darkness. Flamma Infernus. Gravity Vortex]
[Swordsmanship: Dark Swordsmanship]
[Quest: None]
Hastora stared at the screen before him.
"Not bad."
His stats were quite good for the current situation.
He also had some powerful magic, especially Flamma Infernus.
This magic allowed the user to manipulate dark red flames, the temperature of which was influenced by the user's strength.
The stronger the user and the more mana used, the hotter and more powerful the flames.
Flamma Infernus could even dry up a lake with a surface area of 370,000 km² and a maximum depth of about 1,265 meters with a single attack, if the user's power was sufficient.
Hastora looked at the vast mountain range before him.
"This isn't too difficult."
As he was about to leave, he noticed something odd about the screen.
He wanted to check his status again to be sure.
"Status"
[Name: Hastora Vallois]
[Race: Nonconformity]
[Age: 16]
[STR: 14 > 15]
[AGI: 12 > 13]
[INT: ?]
[VIT: 15 > 16]
[EP: 100]
[Level: Enlightenment]
[Magic: Control Over Darkness. Flamma Infernus. Gravity Vortex]
[Swordsmanship: Dark Swordsmanship]
[Quest: None]
The strangeness was undeniable after seeing the screen again.
"Nonconformity?"
He didn't remember creating the Nonconformity race in the novel.
Something was definitely off.
But…what?
"Could it be…that the story has deviated from the original?"
If this was true, it was a huge problem.
Initially, he planned to use the knowledge he gained while writing the novel to survive in this world.
But everything went completely wrong when he realized the original story had diverged.
What was this Nonconformity?
Were they an anomaly?
If that was true, this was no longer a small problem.
"I'll figure this out later. First, I need to get out of here."
Hastora walked slowly before finally breaking into a run, leaping from one cliff to another.
He could easily jump because his running speed was quite fast for a 16-year-old boy.
However, one problem made things difficult: a strong, persistent wind.
The cloudy sky indicated that heavy rain was imminent.
Running in a high place like a cliff was life-threatening because the strong wind pushed him as he ran across the cliffs.
But he didn't give up.
He fought against the strong gusts of wind, jumping to the next cliff until he finally reached the last one.
"This is the last one, then I can leave this place."
He extended his hand forward, dark energy enveloping his arm before a shadow rope appeared and secured itself to a rock on another cliff.
"Don't fail me, rock. I hope you don't shift and fall into the abyss."
He took a deep breath, then ran at full speed and jumped from one cliff to the next before finally landing safely.
"Success, now I just need to get down from here."
He descended the cliff using the shadow rope, which he had tied to a large tree below.
After descending, he sat leaning against the large tree to rest for a while, exhausted from jumping across so many cliffs.
His breath came in ragged gasps; he didn't have enough energy to continue his journey.
"What should I do now?"
He needed to go to a place where he could increase his strength.
Although he had Flamma Infernus, it wouldn't be very useful if his magical energy was weak.
Flamma Infernus would only be an ordinary fire if his power remained this low.
He had to become stronger to unleash the full potential of that magic.
Suddenly, a place came to mind as he was thinking.
"Right…Fogthrone…that's the place."
To be continued in the next chapter…