I arrived in a strange place and could only powerlessly sit on a very comfortable chair as a man or woman or some humanoid being used my hand to press on three different buttons on a roulette like machine, each labelled as: world, no. of powers and powers, respectively.
The being read the pieces of paper that materialized before the first two buttons, hmmed and made me press the Power button once more.
Two orbs materialized before the Power button which the being shoved into my chest and before I knew it, I was falling without even getting the chance to scream but I did hear the being say," That's the last one of this millenia to complete the quota. Time to take the missus for a long vacation," funnily enough, that was the only sound I had heard since arriving in that space.
....
I woke up on a hard mattress, my head throbbing and my eyes tearing up.
After rubbing my eyes repeatedly I take a look at my surroundings a dilapidated house that looked more like a hut than a house.
Blinking and rubbing my eyes some more I can only think about which of my bastard friends must have been playing a prank on me.
Suddenly my headache worsens and I remember what had happened to me. I remembered Truck-sama blinking his headlights at me as soon as I left my house for college. I also remembered that mysterious being shoving two orbs into my chest. And finally I relived the life of the boy whose body I'm now inhibiting though it would be better to call the body a soulless puppet that had operated for six years before my transmigration.
In my previous life, my name was Rihan Bhardwaj (morning breeze). And in this life I'm known as Rihan Li or to be more in line with the culture Li Rihan (dawn of beauty).
I quickly sort through the important bits of my new body's memories. I'm an orphan living in a farming village called Holy Water Village named after someone who could control water to heal people and was born here.
The village chief is old Tom who has taken care of me ever since my father died at the hands of a soul beast that escaped its captors on the way to Nuoding City. And my mother had died even earlier than him, a few months after my birth due to having a frail constitution which worsened after childbirth.
Most importantly I recognise the world I'm in currently. Its is none other than the fantasy sewer world, a world in which even top level powerhouses can get affected by a severe mental illness called the Love Brained Syndrome. That's right! I've travelled through time and space only to arrive in the world of Duoluo Dalu.
From my new memories I can conclude that I've arrived during the era before Tang San became the Sea God as the Spirit Hall still exists and Qian Xunji died just last year which had caused quite a stir throughout the whole continent and driven the Clear Sky Clan into hiding.
Stopping myself from thinking about others, I focus on my own situation. Strangely I don't feel much about my death or even the fact that I have transmigrated especially since I didn't have any family back on Earth. Right now I just feel exited about getting superpowers and thinking about the two orbs that the mysterious being put inside my chest just made me more exited.
I try to access my cheats saying many things like System, Status, Menu, Dad, Granddad and etc. I even tried meditating to see if that worked but nothing happened.
As panic began to creep in, I calmed myself by taking a few deep breaths and saying to myself," It's okay Rihan! It's gonna be okay! Maybe activating the cheats requires soul power or something. It's best to wait for my Martial Soul Awakening."
Thinking about my Martial Soul Awakening, it should happen today or within the week as I am six years old and remember a middle aged man from the Spirit Hall visiting our village once every year, about a month before the New Year's Celebrations to perform the Awakening on the village's children.
As if my thoughts were a divine summons, oldman Tom's hoarse voice sounded from outside my flimsy hut's door saying,"Xiao Li! Come out quickly! The Honored Soul Master has arrived today to perform Martial Soul Awakening for you and the other kids. Come out now! Hurryup!"
Hearing the familiar kind old man's voice I quickly went to the door and opened it, only to be grabbed by the old man who quickly ushered me to go to the village centre while he himself went to get some other kids.
Quickly reaching the village centre from my memories, I find four other kids my current physical age and a robust middle aged man waiting before the only stone building in the entire village, which I knew to be the Spirit Hall's Martial Soul Awakening building for our village.
Soon oldman Tom returns with two more kids after which the still unnamed man enters the Spirit Hall building with me and the other kids following him.
The man turned to us and said, "My name is Su Yanlui, a Rank 28 Attack Soul Master. I'll help you all awaken your Martial Souls. We will begin from the child on the left and end with the child on the right. No matter what happens don't be afraid. Flame Wolf possess!"
Though I was prepared for it, I couldn't stop my hands from shaking. It felt like I was standing in front of a wild wolf in a dark forest. At least I did better than the kids who had screamed loudly in fear and run back to the entrance of the building, though it's not something to be proud of.
It took a few minutes before the Awakening could officially begin. Since I'm always right...I meant standing on the right, I was the last, the six kids before me did not have any Innate Spirit Power and thus could not cultivate.
I stepped within the hexagram formation that Mr. Su had made using white, spherical gemstones. Mr. Su then put his left hand on my shoulder and instructed me to 'push the feeling' towards my right hand and order the Martial Soul to show itself.
Just like he said I felt a peculiar energy in my lower abdomen which travelled to my chest and then it went down both my arms. Thinking that I might have more than one Martial Soul I became ecstatic. Hurriedly I clench my left hand into a fist, wishing the Martial Soul that wanted to emerge from it to stay inside and put my right hand forward, wanting for only one of my Martial Souls to emerge.
It happened just like I wanted. My left hand felt warm but nothing emerged from it while my right hand which felt similarly warm was adorned by a black,shadow-like ring with purplish white arcane runes covering all of its surface forming a cool looking design. Suddenly a blue screen that said 'Think or say STATUS' appeared before me for a brief moment before disappearing and I somehow held back my impulsive urge to do as the screen had said.
Mr. Su inspected the Ring for a moment before saying, "Martial Soul: Black Ring, Tool Type Soul. Here child touch this Soul Power Measuring Device to check your Innate Soul Power."
I touched the device with my Martial Soul still adorning my index finger. The device lit up with with a somewhat bright light and Mr. Su announced, "Congratulations child! You have awakened with Innate Soul Power Level 5. You can cultivate to become a Soul Master. Do you want to join the Spirit Hall? We will provide you with adequate resources for your growth."
"No. Sir Soul Master, I will like to decline your offer. I want to study on my own and then travel the world using my own power," I declined without hesitation since joining would increase my chances of encountering Bibi Dong who must have only recently become mad and may have already become Rakshasa God's inheritor.
"A pity. Here take this. This is your Martial Soul Certificate. As long as you reach the Soul Grandmaster level within five years and bring this certificate with you to the Nuoding City Spirit Hall branch, you will be allowed to join Spirit Hall when you change your mind." He said while handing me the Martial Soul Certificate.
Soon we were allowed to go after Mr. Su had informed old Tom about me and told him that this would be the last time he'll come to our village and that next year his son Su Yuntao will take over the Awakening ceremony.
As soon as Mr. Su left from our line of sight, old Tom excitedly grabbed both my shoulders and asked if I would like to study at Nmoding Junior Spirit Master Academy which will start it's new term in the first week after New Year. I agreed and he laughed happily and said," Alright! Alright! It's good that you agreed. Don't worry about anything, this old man will take care of transportation. You just be ready to leave after a month. HAHA HA Hahahe..."
With that he left me alone and went his own way muttering under his breath about showing off to some bastard named Old Jack.
Shaking my head, I quickly return to my hou— hut. Sitting on my bed, I opened my mouth and said 'STATUS' and a blue screen appeared infront of me.
{STATUS
Name: Li Rihan
Age: 6 years old.
Level: 5
Health: Healthy
Mana: 650
Physique: 08
Mind: 09
Soul : 06
Martial Souls: Shadow Monarch (Unawakened) (+), Artisan's Astral Compass (Unawakened) (+)
Skills: N/A
Note: To find out more about your status, click on the thing you are curious about. This screen can only function as a status panel so that the user can measure his progress, it does not have any other functions. If you gain a trait, title or anything that is not an item and which gives you strength and doesn't fit the existing parameters, a new parameter fitting that thing will be added to the Status Panel.
}
Feeling giddy, disappointed and curious at getting a cheat I click on the things I wanted more information on in my status.
{
Name: Your name.
Age: Your age.
Level: Will show your base power in relation to the the dimension (world, universe, etc.) you are currently residing in. Can increase through training or killing opponents 5 levels higher than you.
Health: Will show the current state of your physical, mental and spiritual well being.
Mana: Will show the total amount of energy you have. (This is a universally compatible energy that will turn into whichever type of energy you learn to control. Mana= Level x 100 + (Mind + Soul) x 10. For every 10 levels the user gains a multiplier of x10 is applied to the total Mana.)
Physique: Will show your physical strength, speed, dexterity, endurance and vitality. Can be increased through physical training, increasing your level or levels in physical skills like CQC, Swordmanship, etc.
Mind: Will show your mental strength, intelligence and wisdom. Can be increased by increasing your level or by increasing the level of mental skills like Telekinesis, Mind Palace and Spiritual Detection, etc .
Soul: Will show your soul strength, the strength of your soul to resist manipulation and corruption. Can be increased by increasing your level or by increasing the level of Soul related skills like Soul World, Reiatsu and Spiritual Detection, etc.
Martial Souls:
1. Shadow Monarch (Unawakened)
Type: Control/ Attack / Summon.
Description: A manifestation of dominion over shadows, darkness, and the ethereal boundary between life and death. The Shadow Monarch Martial Soul is an embodiment of sovereignty within the shadow realm, commanding armies of spectral entities and manipulating the battlefield with unparalleled stealth and power.
Appearance: When awakened, the Shadow Monarch manifests as a dark, semi-translucent crown adorned with shadowy tendrils that flow like liquid night, studded with purple stars. It transforms into an unassuming ring during its dormant state, veiling its immense potential. Upon activation, the surroundings darken slightly, and shadowy silhouettes flicker at the edges of perception.
Attributes: Extreme Space, Ultimate Darkness, Ultimate Shadow, Ultimate Death, Ultimate Life, Divine Soul.
[A/N: Trash (White)< Low (Yellow)< Interdemiate (Purple)< Advanced (Black)< High (Red)< Top (Orange)< Extreme (Silver)< Ultimate (Gold)< Divine (Rainbow). Order of the quality of Martial Souls and other things from lowest to highest for this fic.]
Current Form: Ring : Grants the Passive ability to see the owner's own Status.
Note: Obtain a Spirit Ring to awaken this Martial Soul and gain access to the rest of its skills.
...
2. Artisan's Astral Compass (Unawakened)
Type: Auxiliary
Description: A Martial Soul in the form of a celestial compass that points towards rare resources and knowledge passively and actively. It gives the user unparalleled exploration and resource gathering abilities.
Appearance: The Artisan's Astral Compass Is a radiant circular artifact forged from starlight silver and golden aurichalcum, adorned with celestial engravings and gemstones representing elemental energies. At its core, a transparent dome encases a glowing, starburst-shaped needle with a single point being longer than the others, surrounded by rotating rings inscribed with arcane runes.The longer needle points towards useful resources that the user may want or need and change it's colour to match the rarity of the treasure. Ethereal mist swirls around it, forming shifting symbols and faint trails of stardust when activated. The compass projects holographic maps of constellations and pathways to take you to your destination, its pulsating light resonating with nearby energies, embodying an unparalleled fusion of artistry and celestial power.
Attributes: Divine Soul, Divine Space, Divine Time, Divine Dreams, Divine Luck.
Innate Skills:
Golden Rule: Whichever world you are in will acknowledge you as it's only Child of Luck/Destiny. Even Divine Beings can not decrease your Luck or manipulate it in any way that may cause you any harm. You will stumble upon useful resources without any active effort on your part.
Treasure Locator: Sense and pinpoint treasures, spiritual herbs and materials across vast distances. This is a passive ability, to use it actively to locate what you want increase your level to 10.
Heavenly Cognition Domain: Creates a domain that increases the perception, comprehension and learning ability of the user and whoever he desires. The effects of this domain increases by twice for every level the user has.
Dream Learning: Sends the user's consciousness into the dreams of various people/beings in the Omniverse to learn their knowledge and/or skills. The teachers whose dreams the user invades will readily agree to teach the user their skills and are unable to maliciously harm the user. User cannot change their teacher until he has learned the skill/knowledge he wants or unless the teacher tries to harm the user. This is a passive ability, to use it actively to locate the teacher you want, increase your level to 70. Can only be used during sleep. This ability will become passively usable once you reach level 10. The teacher can conjure all learning materials for the user with a thought.
Universal Learner: You have the ability to master the knowledge, skills, and power systems of any world you reside in. If you have a teacher who possesses expertise in knowledge, skills, or power systems from a world beyond your own, you can still learn to harness them from that teacher without ever visiting their world of origin.
Dimensional Mapping: Manipulate space to open pathways to different dimensions that you want or those that are useful to you. This skill can only be used after the user reaches level 90.
Temporal Manipulation: Manipulate the temporal forces to travel through time or stop, increase or decrease the time passing by according to the user's desires. Reach level 95 to unlock this skill.
Appraisal: Can use it to gain access to the information network of the dimension you are in and learn about the things you want. The amount of information increases with every level you gain. At level 99, the user will gain access to the Ouniversal Soul of Knowledge: Akashic Records.
Note: To fully awaken the abilities of this Martial Soul, the user only needs to increase his level as mentioned in the above skills, adding a Soul Ring to this Martial Soul isn't necessary. Any Soul Rings added to this Martial Soul will change their Soul Skills to be a better fit for it.
...
Skills: Will show the name and description of the skill the user has as well as his proficiency in the skills use.
}
Reading till this point, I closed the status screen, buried my head in the mattress, and started giggling— he he he haa HAHAHA.... MWA HAHA HAHA...
I don't know how long I did the mad scientist laugh for but at some point my throat became a little sore and I was forced to stop.
After drinking a glass of water I sat back down on my bed and started thinking about my future cultivation path and training schedule, my thoughts interrupted by a few more giggles I couldn't stop.
...tbc...
Word Count: 2,893. (Only the story, the author's note at the and is not included.)
Author's Note: Want to get comfortable writing. Will try to finish this fic. This is not a translation but an original fanfiction based on the series Duoluo Dalu or Soul Land by Tang Jia San Shao.