Confusion. A thick, disorienting fog.
Wasn't I supposed to be dead?
Thiago tried to move. His body felt… wrong. Vastly different. Limbs heavy and arranged strangely. What the hell is going on?
Pitch blackness pressed in. A rocky, uneven floor dug into his side. The air was cool and carried the scent of damp earth and stone. A cave? Why was he in a cave after being stabbed?
A crushing lethargy, deeper than any sleep, pulled at his consciousness. He fought it for a second, then lost. His eyes closed against his will.
Something wet and rough dragged across his face.
Thiago blinked awake. A small, fuzzy face with oversized eyes loomed over him, a pink tongue swiping out again.
A tiger cub.
And why is it licking me?
A transparent blue screen, crisp and digital, materialized in the center of his vision, hovering just above the cub's head.
[Tiger Cub]
[No Cultivation]
Huh? An RPG game screen? Here? Disbelief froze him for a second. Then the pieces crashed together. No! Wait, it can't be, right? Did I get reincarnated? With a system!?
First things first. He needed to understand his new body and location. The system could wait.
Light now filtered into the cave from a distant opening. Thiago turned his head, the motion feeling unfamiliar.
What he saw would have made him scream if he'd still had a human throat.
Where his arms should have been were powerful, furry forelegs ending in broad paws tipped with sharp, obsidian-black claws. His body was a landscape of sleek, midnight-black fur, slashed through with fierce, stark white stripes. It looked… majestic. And utterly terrifying.
He was a tiger. A cub.
As he focused on himself, the now-familiar screen appeared again.
[Black Tiger Cub]
[No Cultivation]
No surprise there. But his eyes caught a detail he'd missed on the other cub's screen earlier: 'No Cultivation'.
Haha! The thought was a lightning strike of wild, audacious hope. This is a cultivation world! If I can cultivate… if I can get strong enough… I could find a way back. To Megan. To keep my promise. This system… it's my cheat. My path to power.
His triumphant thoughts were interrupted by a violent, hollow clench in his gut. Hunger. Deep, animal, and demanding.
The tiger cub nudged its head toward a small, dead creature nearby—a strange, hybrid thing that looked like a rabbit with tiny antlers. The scent of raw meat hit him. It was repulsive. It was irresistible.
I'm an animal now. The thought was grim, a line crossed in the sand. He steeled his resolve, leaned forward, and bit down.
The texture of fur and skin was alien, the give of flesh unsettling. But the taste… wasn't terrible. His new taste buds accepted it. Craved it. He ate, driven by the gnawing void in his stomach.
As he swallowed the last stringy morsel, the blue screen flashed once more.
[Skill
___
Black Hole: When using this skill, you can form a black hole and whatever is being sucked in it will become essence energy. The size of the created Black Hole depends on your strength.
You can choose to either absorb the essence to increase your strength or transform it into system points.
What!?
The same screen, but with staggering new content. Confirmation. He had a system. And it had given him a skill that sounded utterly broken.
Now, let's see if this works like the novels. He focused inwardly, picturing a status screen. Status.
The view shifted obediently.
Name: Thiago Khan
Breed: Black Tiger
Species: Animal
Cultivation: /
___
System Points: /
Affinities
Darkness
___
Skills
Hah! It worked! A feral, triumphant joy surged through him. An affinity. Darkness. Probably linked to the black hole. Only one? Who cares when the one I have is this overpowered.
He focused his attention on the 'Affinities' line. New text scrolled beside it.
[Affinities: All creatures that are born with an affinity can form a magic core in the 5th tier of the novice realm and therefore use their affinities.]
So he had to wait. He needed to reach the 5th Tier. Fine. A plan crystalized instantly. Hunt. Use the black hole on his prey. Grow stronger. Fast.
And what about these system points? he wondered.
[System points can be used to buy various things in the still locked system shop.]
Obvious, but good to have confirmation. He tried asking more questions, probing the silent presence in his mind. Do you have any other functions?
Nothing. The system was as mute as a stone. So be it. He would discover its limits through action.