Chương 1: 1.1.01 - Is That A Status Window?

I woke up with a splitting headache. The first thing that came to my mind was trying to figure out where exactly I was. Before I decided to open my eyes, I tried to get a sense of my surroundings. I could tell my head was resting against a pillow that was unusually hard, straw maybe? Like that information did anything to help me decode my location. Next thing I noticed was the air, it had the smell of dust and old wood, a tang of unwashed laundry and faint mildew.

Definitely did not smell like the lab or any hospital that I had been to. Which begs the next question, why would I think of a lab? For a moment, a bout of panic came about as I had a hard time trying to remember my name. It was not total amnesia at least, as I could still remember basic knowledge and my survival instincts were still intact.

As I opened my eyes, I could see that I was in a room of some kind with wooden ceilings, no overhead lights, no visible signs of any AC vents that you would find in most buildings nowadays. There were only two possible outcomes. First possibility, I died and went to hell, as I definitely didn't do enough good deeds to qualify for heaven. Second, I had a one night stand with someone who lives in a 17th century shack. My kidneys must have been weak if I could not hold my liquor.

As I tried to sit up to get a better look at where I was, things suddenly felt off. I was sitting a lot lower than what my eye level would normally be at. I could not immediately recall my name but I definitely did not remember being so short. I looked at my hands and almost had a heart attack, as I was looking at the hand of a kindergartener.

"What the fuck? What in the seven hells is going on?" I said out loud. I snapped my eyes shut as my headache suddenly spiked, and flashes of memories started coming back to me. Right, I was doing the rewiring myself from the capacitor bank when there was a short circuit. So much for my grand ambition of miniaturizing a rail gun. The memory of the last argument between me and my assistant Peter came back to me among other things.

"Damian, for the love of god, just please go to the dinner. Smile at Hendrinks, pretend you give a shit about his golf game."

"I might do a lot more than just smile at Hendrinks if I went." I replied. Peter sighed.

"You know they are going to cut our budget, especially when we haven't made any progress with the heat dissipation issue in the smaller models for the last six months."

"The budget can lick my balls. We'll make do with what we have."

"I know you're a genius and all, but intelligence alone doesn't get you very far in this world. Like it or not, you'll need the backing of people with real power. And that means people with money and the right connections. It might be a painful lesson but I guess it'll do you good to learn it while you're still young" Peter said as he left my office. True enough, I got sent an email the month after our next progress update, being majority of our resources had been reprioritized.

I ended up having to do the maintenance work myself instead of leaving it to someone who was more technically qualified, and trained in proper safety procedures. Peter warned me against it, and told me it's time to move on. He promised that he would quit as well and come with me wherever I chose to go next. The next thing I know, I touched a wire I shouldn't have and thought "Oh fuck!" before I passed out from the short circuit. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

But that doesn't explain how I ended up in a body of a child. I doubt that the electricity had any rejuvenating effects. The only possible explanation was that I died and someone used my brain for some messed up body swap experiment. It dawned on me at that point that my old life was gone — giving myself a moment for grief. Before I could spend more time wallowing in sadness, my survival instincts kicked in and forced me to reassess my situation.

Nothing so far could explain where I was, you would think that whoever kidnapped me would put me in a more secure facility than one with wooden walls and ceilings. Immediately after, as I started to think about my next move, I had another headache spike. This time the flashes came about in more of a blur. It was less coherent and more vague. Images of a woman that seemed familiar, other scenes where her hand hovered over my head, glowing. A name came with that memory, Marta.

For some weird reason, it felt like it was my childhood memories that I was looking through, though the background all made it seem like I was living in an Amish village. Were these memories implanted in me or were these the memories of this body? Did the Amish people actually put my brain in the body of a child? Before I dwelled further on those memories, I tried to get out of bed and fell flat on my face.

"Fuck these short legs and shitty coordination." As I stood up and tried to assess the room I was in, I noticed that there was an opening with no door. Who kidnaps people and doesn't lock them up? Unless this whole facility had no way out. There was a lamp with a candle in the corner of the room, which was probably a fire hazard given the whole room was flammable. Whoever ran this place definitely would not be passing their next fire safety inspection.

I braced myself against the wall as I walked, lest I trip over these Baby Yoda legs again. It was then I heard someone call from outside the room.

"Ash, is that you? You shouldn't be getting out of bed yet." Two immediate thoughts came to my mind. First: Why did I resonate with the name Ash, almost as if that was my name? Second: What language did that woman just speak? And why could I understand what she just said even though it was not in English? I could hear footsteps coming from somewhere below me, which told me either there was a basement or I was not on the ground floor of the building I was currently in.

Something I took note of as I began to craft my grand escape plan, if I ever made it out of this room. As I tried to get a sense of where that woman was and how long I had before I was captured again – probably with very little effort considering I had only moved two meters away from the bed I woke up in – I sensed something flicker at the back of my eyes. I could suddenly see a shimmer of blue floating all around me.

As I looked down, I could see these lines flowing in my hands, almost as if I was looking at my nervous system. Wait?!? Was I looking at my own nervous system? That doesn't explain the blue shimmer all around. Around the corner, I could see the vague outline of someone moving up the stairs, probably whoever called out to the person named Ash. Though I had a sinking feeling in my gut that the so-called Ash was me. Before I could think of what to do next, something popped up in front of my eyes, one after the other.

[You have unlocked the Grand Weave] [You have learned a new spell 'Electro Perception'] [Electro Perception leveled up 0 -> 1] [You have increased your Mana Core Capacity by 100] [You have leveled up 0 -> 1] Floating blue windows with crisp white text. Exactly like every cheap Isekai light novel I had ever made fun of. A larger blue window unfolded after the series of notifications.

Status Core: Lightning Affinity (Perfect) Core Stage: Red Stage Level: 1 Mana Core Capacity (MCC) Progress to Next Level: 0/100 Core Mutations: (None) Spells: - Electro Perception (Tier 1) - Level 1 Soul Mutations: - Adaptive Soul"What the fuck? Is that a status window?" I said out loud, and this time it wasn't in English.