Scanning for empty vessels in Thaer..

Found 352.468 candidates for Reincarnation.

Checking Soul Aeronautical charts...

147.911 Soul transfers in progress...

Generating Heatmap...

Predicting conflicts and possible collisions...

Predetermining lost races...

Rolling...34543

Empty vessel picked, initiating launch...

Transferring Soul Essence...................................

Soul transfer completed.

Checking soul integrity...

Soul integrity at 97%.

Reincarnation Successful.

"Riiiise!" a voice shouted commandingly "Riiise my puppet and do my bidding!"

The sound of grinding stone rang through, as Ted stretched his new body. He had regained his vision and his eyes was met with a small man dressed in a loose robe covered methodically in glyphs. They were inside a dusty room, with an enchanting vaulted ceiling. Candles lit up every nook and cranny, books littered the detail-rich tiled floor and bookcases were clambered to every wall, with bookshelves trickled about, hung in arbitrary places, as if they had been placed on a whim.

The man carried a leathery belt full of both well-crafted leather pouches, with thought put into every seam, small vials containing colourful liquids and simple soft-cloth pouches with a cord to close and carry it with. The soft pouches were bulky, filled with materials. Every piece of this man's attire held purpose.

Ted felt slightly intimidated and was it not for the man's questionable choice of headdressing, he might have accepted his fate as a puppet. The man was balding, Ted was able to see this, despite the man wearing a hat. The hat was sharply cylindrical in structure and was transparent similar to a Gat, a traditional Korean hat from the Joseon period.

The man was undoubtedly a powerful magic user, he was holding a small sceptre with glyphs engraved into a metallic head, which gracefully held onto a desert tan, rough, crystallic stone. A dim light was fading from the stone, as if it had recently been brimming with energy.

"Stand up already you mindless pile of rocks!" shouted the magician impatiently "I, Petramus, am your creator and you will follow my command or return to dust!"

Ted pulled his arms up to look at his hands, as he was trying to grasp the state of affairs. Heavy.. his arms slagged behind and arrived in position later than Ted had imagined in his mind. The hands that entered his vision unsettled him, they were rough and colours ranged from desaturated tans to deep orangey reds spread out in a wavy pattern, like the growth rings of a tree.

"W-wrargghh grghhh" Ted tried to speak, but all that came out of his mouth was noise of rocks crushing and crumbling as he moved his jaw. Ted shook his head trying to make sense of it all.

Petramus looked displeased with Ted's blaring greeting and sheathed his sceptre. He bowed down to pickup a book, that had been laying open at his feet and began shuffling through pages.

A blue screen caught Ted's attention, it had been hovering to his left and may have been there the entire time. He turned away from Petramus and took a good look at the screen.

Level 1 Respecialist

HP: ▨▨▨▨▨▨▨▨▨▨

MP: ▨▨▨▨▨▨▨▨▨▨

Status Effects: [Peacebringer's Tranquil Mind], [Petramus' Puppetry]

Title: Peacebringer

(2 new notifications)

[Traits] [Skills] [Passive Cloud] [Inventory] [Quests]

A new status effect was influencing Ted, [Petramus' Puppetry]. I survived only to become someone's puppet Ted thought to himself. Despite him already having been turned into a Peacebringer against his own will. Ted paid no mind to the actuality, that his double isekai maneuver had ironically made him a two fold instrument of others.

"Ahh! here it is." exclaimed Petramus, he had settled on a page in the book and was reading it intensely.

The sound of crackling rocks filled the room. Rocks were squeezed together as Ted slowly lifted his arm to point at [Petramus' Puppetry].

Another panel appeared.

[Petramus' Puppetry]

Puppet: Limestone Golem

Puppeteer: Petramus

Mana reserves: 34%>> (Charging)

Mana source: Petramus [Mana Link]

The use of a smithsonite crystal infused with magic has brought a Golem, made of various sedimentary rocks, to life, by wrenching Soul Essence into place through a Soul Transfer ritual.

The Puppeteer, Petramus, can expend Mana to issue commands to control this Golem. Mana has been locked into the stone and can be seen as saturations layering the surfaces operating as veins.

The Golem has been set to Hibernate once Mana reserves reach below 20%.

Soul will be lost once mana is fully depleted, leaving an Empty Vessel, and a new Soul Transfer is necessary to revive the Golem.

I'm being charged like a battery and if I run low I will fall into hibernation and eventually die! Ted resented the fact that his survival depended on his [Mana Link] with Petramus. Because of his family's generosity, Ted had managed to stay unemployed and had never held a job.

Ted felt it was below him to begrudgingly work for an employer, who lived in a position of affluence, only to get a trickle of the growing wealth they were accumulating. Ted refused to answer to anybody and had successfully isolated himself from society in his lonesome apartment for many years. Now he was exposed.

Petramus dropped the book and unsheathed the sceptre once more. He mumbled unintelligible while pointing with his empty hand making finger swipes in the air,. Possibly interacting with an invisible panel, like Ted.

With a confident swing he pointed the sceptre towards Ted and a blast, like lightning, struck out. Ted felt nothing.

In confusion and as to figure out this unsettling event, Ted looked at his HP bar, but found it to be unchanged. A panel swiftly popped up in his sight.

Log

[Petramus' Puppetry] Golem Hibernation setting adjusted to activate once Mana reserves reach below 0%

[Mana Link] with Petramus has been broken.

Mana reserves no longer charging.

Mana depleting: <<35%

Even with no work experience, Ted knew what this was and his rocky veins turned pale. Petramus had effectively started a clock and given Ted a Deadline, with emphasis on Dead.

"Riiiise!- Do your work and I might plug you back in!" cackled Petramus "else, I can always replace you with a more industrious soul."

The whole building trembled as Ted reluctantly rose. His floating screens disappeared and his attention was now fully on Petramus.

"Yes! Yeeess!" Screamed Petramus ecstatic "Now. Follow me outside."

Ted took his first step abidingly. His stone foot made a hefty *thud* when it hit the tiled floor, the floor snapped and cracked under his heavy weight startling Petramus.

"Y-You fool! These tiles are highly valuable and a pain to replace!" Petramus was furious "Tread carefully- you better be worth it."

Every neuron was firing in Ted's rocky brain. Finding a way out of this predicament had rapidly becoming vital. Working for Pretamus was certainly going to be agony. Fulfilling his duty, with the sole reward of an extended battery life, while under constant threats of unspeakable suffering, resembled too much a blue collar worker.

[Reincarnation] came to mind, it was likely he still had the skill and he could, through death, retry and hope to be dealt a better hand. Ted recognized, however, this wasn't foolproof. Ted had to check and make sure that his skillpoint was still assigned, if not, he would perish.

Ted endured for now and exerted his best efforts, but never the less, a heap of broken tiles were trailing behind him. They walked to a folding door, with a rounded glass top. There were no knobs or handles on the else extensively decorated doorpanels. The doorframes were worn and decorated with systematicly placed glyphs around its edges.

Petramus pointed his sceptre at the doors and, with a slight sway, unleashed a gentle stream of smooth grey particles. the stream embraced the panels and reached the frames. The glyphs around the edges resonated in a soft glow and the panels pushed open. Petramus walked through.

The landscape outside was covered in greenery, an overflowing garden, filled with colourful flowers and exotic vegetables stood before an unceasing scenery of tall trees. Petramus turned around and waved Ted forward.

Ted was too tall and would have to crouch under the arch, putting Petramus on edge.

"Careful now, that arch supports the weight of everything above it. If you bring that down, I will seal your soul in a state of limbo along with putting you in a purgatory and you would wish you could die." warned Petramus, seemingly unaware he was threatening his golem's, Ted's, only hope of escape. Death.