Summoned as [Error #46]

It was an understatement to say that I was lost. My only guide was the chirping of some birds and the growls of a distant creature that I really didn't want to meet.

White.

That was, still, all that I could see. I kept using my newly found power to navigate the maze of trees and roots, and for the most part it did work. If you counted the number of wounds on my knees, however, it might have given the opposite impression.

I could choose to extend more limbs, to cover a wider area of terrain, but the one time I tried I became dangerously close 0 energy. And, while I had not been completely sure, 0 energy sounded bad. Deadly, actually.

So, instead, I kept on walking clumsily through the forest. While I didn't have any need to eat, it seemed like I was still human enough to require sleeping. It was not that I needed it. I wasn't falling sleep around every corner or anything like that. No, at some point I just stopped charg-

Stop! You are not a battery!

They had done a number on me, haven’t they? It was really hard not to think of myself as a rechargeable solar battery or a freaking plant doing photosynthesis.

Either way, at some point it didn't matter how strong the sun hit me or how much light there was, my energy wouldn't go up.

That first happened a few days ago—or was it hours? I had no way of measuring time, and the forest was at times hiding all sunlight, so that was not reliable either. Somewhere between the lab and now, I had a panic attack when I chose to check my status:

Status: {
 Name: Darian
 Class: {
  Name: Error #46
  Level: 10
  Energy: 22/360
  Skills: { … }
 }
}

22! The mini panic attack that followed was not funny. Maybe funny to witness, but definitely not to sense the lack of breath no matter how fast or hard you inhaled and exhaled.

The number was worrying, but that was not the root of my dread. I was feeling my skin burn; sun in buckets hitting directly at my exposed arms and legs. And, even then, it stayed at twenty-tw-one!

I recalled all my energy and I stood still. I really am a tree now. A malfunctioning tree that cannot do photosynthesis. I was laser-focused on my status window. My eyes wouldn't move an inch from the number that, luckily, had decided to not go lower than 21.

Slowly, and afraid something had gone loose inside me, I moved into a sitting position.

Still 21, good.

I kept staring at that number, panicking and formulating all kinds of questions. Why does it not go up? Am I really that broken? I guess, at some point I asked the right one.

What's energy even?

The combination of focusing on a single element, my energy, and asking a question made the Status popup change slightly.

[Energy]
Element that combines the vital and magical energy of a being.

It expresses its ability to keep living and to cast magic.

Considered unique of bloodshapers. Lack of proper nutrition, food rich in vi�Lack of light can impede the generation of new blood� Lack of rest, similarly, inhibits new generation�

“Are you asking me?” For a brief moment I forgot about my very urgent problem, and felt the urge to question the system. If there was any. Or if there was anything or anyone to hear me at all.

Apparently, I could make it display more information just by focusing enough on the different aspects. However, the very system that created me and held me together seemed to be confused about my situation.

If anything, it pointed towards something important. I might simply be lacking some rest.

I lay down genuinely thinking that sleeping would be an impossible task. I was awake, round eyes and perfect reflexes, the whole “this is going to be yet another sleepless night” pack.

And that's all I remember.

I woke up to the blissful warmth of sunlight bathing my skin. It was… I felt exactly the same way as before. As if nothing had happened at all. As if …

Status: {
 Name: Darian
 Class: {
  Name: Error #46
  Level: 10
  Energy: 360/360
  Skills: { … }
 }
}

I let out a deep sigh of relief when I saw the shiny 360/360 there, in an imaginary window that told me how close I was to dying; 0% close!

I was in the process of evaluating my body. Feeling if anything had changed during my beauty sleep. I even wanted to hypothesize what sleeping ment to my untiring body. But it was curt short.

Planning to sneak up on me, are you?

My vision showed a black spot that was taking on a more defined shape as it came close. Similar to what I saw in the lab. Up until here, everything was normal. Or as normal as it could be.

However, what truly was weird here, is that I knew the enemy was not in front of me. Somehow, [passive] Enemy sight was able to clearly get across the real world situation. It showed the spot in front of me, yet it perfectly came across that it was behind.

My eyes were not really seeing anymore; it was purely magic. I had gained another sense. A magical one, for sure.

Even then, I was absolutely certain that not being able to see was not related to the skill. Rather, the morons at the lab had fucked up, multiple times, and somehow ended up leaving me blind. That sounded like the fine work of those morons.

The quadruped beast was slowly approaching. One foot at a time, it walked in a perfect line, mimicking the movements of cats back in my home. A big cat. One that reassembled some of the panthers and jaguars I had seen in documentaries. Just bigger. And scarier.

Did it matter at all, though? No. Enemy sight was making a point of showing it, and it didn't require a genius to add two and two together. It was an enemy.

And what do I do with enemies? For a lack of a better answer, I just let loose one of my trusty new appendices. It sprung from the still open wound on my chest and beelined towards the beast.

I'm not sure it knew what happened. Judging by the lack of movement, it didn't even realize it was about to die. One moment it was there in my sense—a black spot—and the next I could see no trace of it.

My worries were piling up. I was in a strange world, game or not. I didn't get tired, but somehow I actually did. And, for the last one, I had a hole in my chest, and although it didn't hurt, it wasn't closing either.

I could somewhat understand the second point. Some magic fuckery, again from the smart people at the lab, had made me unable to feel tiredness. My body, however, still got tired. So, I could pull endless all-nighters, but at some point my body would surrender—sounds familiar.

The whole ‘I-have-a-hole-in-my-chest‘ situation was a bit different. I could feel pain. I knew that much from the lab, but more recent examples included running into trees, falling to the ground, and bumping into rocks the size of my head. All of them hurt.

Yet that persistent hole felt like any another part of me. One more hole to the collection of orifices in my body. The lab? My own powers? Divine intervention? I couldn't be furthest from knowing what was going on.

Well, I actually could. Being away in an unknown world was far, far worse. The theory of being stuck in a game was quickly fading. The were no actual options to stop, no tutorial, and not even people to guide me on some grand quest. It felt just like a normal magic world.

That meant that escaping the lab had been crucial for my survival. The experiment was set to fail, and I might have already been in the process of being discarded when I fought back. Staying alive was my next priority.

I had to find any trace of society. Only then could I find out where I was and how I was supposed to survive here. Most likely through leveling my class, but still. Luckily, food was not an issue, and sleep I was assuming neither.

My overconfidence came from a simple fact. I had awoken from my sleep right when some beast was thinking of me as its next prey. Coincidence? I thought not. I believed, or wanted to believe, that my skill enemy sight had been the reason. Somehow, not actually seeing and sensing the world through some magic perception made it more realistic.

And those were my only two immediate needs. Society? That was only a matter of walking for enough time, hopefully.

And so I did. For what felt like days I walked towards what I believed was a straight line. If not straight, at the very least I tried not to undo my steps. My efforts were being rewarded, as the days passed I could feel the thick forest thinning.

It was in the small details. Sunlight hitting me more often, and usually in greater quantities. Birds chirping melodically instead of with purpose. The ground clearing of so many roots and leaves. And, in due time, the sound of distant carriages and loud voices.

I was getting somewhere, and I was faced with an important decision. Did other people in these lands have powers? I assumed so, but what if not? Even if they did, what would they think of someone using them on the wild? Were my powers something I should keep secret? And what about the fact that I was, according to the system, an error? Or all those people that I had killed.

The answer was obvious, wasn't it? Hide it all and act like the lost soul in the wilderness that I was. The only obvious problems were the insignificant detail that I had a whole in my chest and I didn't know how bad it looked, and the reason that I didn't know; I was blind. And, as I had already proved, a blind person walking around a forest is as stupid as it sounds.

By my own definition, I decided to be stupid. I recalled all my radiance, or pureness as the passive seemed to call it, and waited for the sun to recharge me to 360/360.

There we g-

It took me approximately 2 seconds to faceplant into the ground. I had examined the ground around me just a minute ago, and trusted me to remember it. I failed. Mental note: you are as incapable of remembering things as before.

I jumped back to my feet and resumed my attempt to meet civilization. I trusted my ears to get me closer to it, and unsteady step by unsteady step I crawled my way to them.

Bit by bit, I started hearing words. Words spoken in a perfect English, if at times with some accent, that I understood. Chances were they were not speaking English, and I was redeemed when a few minutes later, after hearing a full sentence, a new popup showed up.

[You have learned the general skill <[passive] Lingua franca>]

I concentrated on the skill and it immediately provides some explanation.

[passive] Lingua franca

Local languages will be automatically translated to your mother language.

Likewise, the system will translate your language for those you intend to communicate with.

That last bit seemed interesting, worth exploring when I didn't have to focus on not falling. It seemed I could easily choose to leave someone out of the conversation. Assuming, safely so I believed, that they didn't speak English.

“Boy, are you lost?”

Now, I no longer heard disconnected words, but complete phrases with meaning behind. What language were they speaking?

“Kid are you even listening to me?”

Ha! I'm not the only one wandering alone on this woo-

A hand, firm and cold, landed on top of my shoulder. Pressing with mighty power—though that might be an exaggeration product of the scare—it forced me to focus for the next question.

“Boy, are you listening?”