In a dark room a boy of around fifteen years old was shifting around on his bed while muttering strange words, Cloud woke up from his slumber with a sour mood. He was half naked, only wearing a pair of pants leaving his chest bare. He rubbed his chest feeling a sharp pain he did not recognize. He lazily crawled out of Bed and walked to the only window in the small room and opened the thick sheets of crude fabric covering it. Rays of sunshine quickly rushed into the room illuminating it completely and chasing away the last traces of sleep from his face. But it failed to hide the slight frown on his face.
'As much as I would like to assume what I saw last night while I slept was a weird dream, people aren't supposed to have dreams in the dream realm so I guess those are actually memories.'
"It seems like I've been reincarnated." Cloud said with a soft whisper.
In his dream, he saw a young man only a few years older than him. He was a second year college student. He wasn't exactly a genius but his grades were still above average. He didn't exactly have any friends since he entered college but he still had people he spoke to from time to time. He spent his free time either studying, watching anime or reading novels. There were a lot of things about the young man he couldn't recall. Like his name, his family and some other things. But something that kept popping up in his memory was a particularly webnovel called Shadow slave. The only other thing he knew for certain was that the young man in his memories was him.
"Did I get to write that test I studied so hard for? What about that new season of…"
A dark memory interrupted his train of thought helping him remember his surroundings.
"None of that is important right now. The real question is How the Spell did I get reincarnated into a random Webnovel I read?"
His thoughts were in a disarray so he tried to concentrate on the things he remembered.
His current name wasCloud. He was fifteen years old. He was from a middle class family who weren't too rich, but his Mom worked for the government so they could afford a house in the city. He had a little sister in middle school and a little brother who just started to walk by the time he left home.
"I wonder how they're doing?"
A couple months ago, he was infected by the nightmare spell. He passed the first trial and got an awakened aspect ability which allowed him to shoot compressed air at enemies. He trained at the sleeper academy for a few weeks before having to face the First Nightmare. Only for him to realize he had been dumped in an unknown area in the dream realm. Luckily he had been dumped somewhere in the forgotten shore near the dark city. After wandering around in circles for days, he finally reached it and had also been fortunate enough to meet some hunters who guided him to the castle. After living in the outer settlement for almost two months, he had managed to get some soul shards from the carcasses of some dead nightmare creatures he found on his way. He had four and used them all to gain lodging in the castle. That was three weeks ago. He only had a week left before he was inevitably kicked out.
He was quickly interrupted by a voice that rang in his ears. The voice did not come from anyone around him but seemed to just appear into his mind. Simultaneously, some runes in an unknown language which somehow also made it's meaning known to his mind formed in the air around him.
[Your Soul has grown stronger.]
[Your Aspect is evolving.]
Cloud felt the pain in his chest disappear then felt a soothing sensation spread from his chest to his entire body. When it ended, he once again checked the runes.
Name:Cloud
True Name: Spirit of the Tempest
Rank: Dreamer
Spirit Core: Dormant.
Spirit Fragments:—
Memories: —
Echoes: —
Attributes: [Child of Elements] [Child of Spirits] [Mark of Divinity]
Aspect: [Avatar]
Aspect Rank: Divine
Aspect Abilities: Air Bending, Spirit Control
Aspect Ability Description: You control Air. Your Spirit is loosely attached to your body.
Cloud was surprised and a little bit confused by this strange development. His Aspect has just improved by five whole ranks. It had also changed to Avatar and if it was what he thought it meant, then it might be a bigger improvement than he could imagine.
"It seems I only have air bending though. Do I just train to unlock another bending or do I have to ascend by passing the first nightmare? I understand the child of elements attribute, but what does the Child of Spirits and Spirit control mean? I don't think there are any spirits in this universe."
He chose to ignore it for now and read through the other runes. When his eyes glanced at the number of Spirit Fragments, Memories and Echoes, he felt a slight discomfort. Even though he had been infected with the Spell several months ago, he had never once killed any nightmare creatures.
Even during the training at the academy he had only participated halfheartedly. He gave himself the excuse that since he wasn't a legacy it was okay for him to be average or weak. But now, that all had to change. He knew the truth of this world, he knew that even the strong wouldn't survive. There were the Nightmare creatures, The legacy clans, the He didn't have the plot armor of the main character or the training of a legacy clan. He was lucky enough to receive this upgrade and he wasn't going to waste it.
"If being strong isn't enough, I'll just have to make up for it by becoming beyond strength."
The spell spoke into his ear as a new set of runes appeared before him.
[All power has a price.]
[You have received a Flaw.]
[Your Flaw is: …]
Cloud read the runes and was left speechless.