Hugo woke up almost as tired as he was when he went to sleep. The only thing that kept him from falling back to sleep was that he was thirsty. Without a bag of supplies, he hadn’t been able to drink anything. As he walked to the central cavern, he was thankful for the fact that everyone got fed for free. He was going to have to figure out how to make money as a domainless soon. He already had some ideas, but times would be tough for the next few days.

Breakfast had been forgettable the previous time he was here. This time he appreciated everything in the bowl they had given him. The eggs were fluffy, the mushrooms flavorful, and the pumpkin leaves were crunchy. Before he finished his bowl, he already went back to the well and got a second cup of water. He was very thirsty.

As he sat back down to finish his bowl, a few people sat down next to him. On his right was Lina, the riese seemingly nervous about something. On his left was Hugo Rebane. They both looked like they wanted to talk to him. Since he couldn’t deal with his doppelganger right now, he turned to Lina. He raised his eyebrow when she looked his way.

“Is... what you said true? Did the gods send you here to deliver that prophecy?” Lina said intently.

“I didn’t talk to the gods, if that is what you are asking. I am not exactly sure what is going on to be honest. I do know how things are going to turn out though. You can trust me on that one,” Hugo said and took another bite of breakfast.

Lina followed suit, and then stopped herself to say, “It’s just that... why did you even mention Bijan?”

Hugo shrugged, “Because you have been seeing him. I bet you two think you are in love with each other. You aren’t. Trust me. He is a nice guy, and he likes you. But when he has to choose between you and his family, he will choose his family.”

Lina didn’t seem to like that answer. She didn’t ask any more questions though, eating her meal in silence. Hugo finished breakfast and got up to get another drink. Before he walked away, the other Hugo stopped him.

“About yesterday...” he began, “That was kind of weird. You seemed really out of it. But you knew some stuff about me that no one else knew. Who are you exactly, how did you know that?”

Hugo didn’t answer. He dropped off his bowl to be washed and got another drink. As he finished it, he realized he would need to talk to the other Hugo eventually. He might as well tell the whole truth now. Get it over with. He walked over to him. Mentally he started thinking of the guy as Rebane instead of Hugo.

“When I first appeared in that ritual circle, I thought I was you,” Hugo said.

“What? Why?” Rebane said. He looked around as if to get some support with the crazy man.

“Let’s back up a bit first,” Hugo said, “Alexandru’s ritual was strange, wasn’t it? He froze time and had you all fight to the death in a soulscape. Didn’t you think it was weird that you were the only one to survive, and yet none of that seemed to matter? Everyone survived and got soulmarked.”

“Yeah, that was weird. But everything about that ritual was weird, including you appearing in the middle of the ritual. What kind of magic was that? Do you have a domain, or is it hedge magic or something stranger?” Rebane asked.

Hugo waved off the question and said, “I remember what happened to you in the ritual and before that because I have all of your memories. I also have memories of a year into the future. It isn’t set in stone though. I don’t know what will happen this year, I just know what can happen.”

“You have my memories? All of them?” Rebane said.

“Your happiest memory is buying smoked riga sprats with your dad, and your saddest memory is the day your dad died,” Hugo said, “Well actually, your saddest memory is about a week after that, when you finally admitted to yourself that he was really gone for good.”

Rebane scowled, “So, what? You stole my memories? What are you?”

“I didn’t steal your memories, I lived them. My soul, if I have one, is your soul with a few more years of experience. As to what I am? I am not really sure,” Hugo said.

They sat in silence while Rebane finished breakfast and returned his bowl. He came back and said, “If you can see the future, do you have any advice for me?”

Hugo yawned and said, “I can’t see the future, but yea, I have some advice. Go to Blue Lion Academy. I know you were thinking harvester, but you will do well in mage school. You can just get a loan from them. Forget about Sofia, there are plenty of other girls you can date. Or, no. You need to pay her back for the pass up the mountain. Her family is in a tough spot and she is compromising her morals so her family can stay afloat.” Hugo stood up and said, “Let’s see, what else... Your new roommate is Oskar. Nice guy, but way too concerned about being popular. There is a chance that he will sell drugs just to be popular; turn him into the dean if he does.” Hugo snapped his fingers, “I need some money, I literally only have the clothes on my back. I know you are focused on money right now, but if you give me everything you got, I will pay you back, more than you could ever dream.”

Rebane put his hand on his money pouch. After a bit, he said, “I will think about it.”

Hugo nodded. He felt a connection to his other self, but if Rebane wasn’t going to help him survive for the next few days, maybe he needed to learn some lessons the hard way.

The group was running down the mountain a few minutes later. Hugo woke up all the way as the mountain guides killed monster after monster a few feet away from where he was running. Less than an hour into the run, he started getting tired again. He cursed his low stats. He had just gotten so used to having that extra strength and dexterity. He was thirsty again to boot.

Grumbling to himself, he kept an eye out on the gravel path in front of himself. He was startled when a blue box suddenly appeared in front of his face.

Congratulations

You have been ranked up to rank one. You have been granted two free points.

Hugo stared the box in confusion. That’s not how the Acomarian system worked. He was supposed to be able to choose to rank up later. There was also a new line in his screen, free points. That had never been there before. This was all so confusing. He dropped a point into strength and the other into dexterity. He didn’t have to think about it much. He needed the ability to keep running.

Two hours later he started dropping behind. He had started near the head of the column, but exhaustion was hitting him hard. People passed him as he gave it his all to keep up. He knew that he would be killed if he fell behind. Despite that motivation, he kept falling behind as the hours passed.

He was starting to panic when he fell to the middle of the column. He was slower and weaker than everyone else, even the mundanes. There wasn’t any good reason why either. His Acomarian screen showed tens and elevens, he should be able to easily keep up. Maybe the screen was wrong because the magic couldn’t accurately assess who he was now. Maybe he was starting to think of ridiculous scenarios because he was so tired.

Eventually, he tripped.

He felt it coming in slow motion, but he was powerless to stop it. He fell to his knees and rolled in the dirt, coming to rest near the feet of the mountain guides. They were killing monsters a few feet away from him. The guides didn’t stop to help him up, their responsibility was to keep up with their section and keep them safe from monsters.

Hugo got up on his hands and knees and took deep breaths. He stared at the ground as people ran by him. Occasionally mountain guides would curse him for being in the way. Hugo looked up to see a troll stomping right for him. Before he could start to worry for his life, a lance of blue mana speared through the monster’s head. It instantly dissolved into a cloud of blue mana. The troll's momentum meant that its remains washed over Hugo.

“Get up, kid. It’s not far now,” his savior said as he ran by him.

Hugo didn’t look up to see who had spoken. His attention was captured by something else. The troll had a mana stone. The stone had fallen to the dirt right in front of him, and no one but him had seen it. He reached forward.

Afterwards, he wasn’t quite sure why he had done it. Once he grabbed the mana stone, he immediately popped it into his mouth. He glanced around to see if anyone had seen him do that, and then stood back up. He felt like he could keep going again.

A slow jog turned into a run. Hugo felt energy flow through his body and mind. He felt stronger, faster, and smarter. He sprinted for a bit to get back to the middle of the column. Looking down at his hands, he marveled at this newfound energy. Where had this come from?

He knew it was because of the mana stone, of course. But why had it invigorated him like this? Did he run on them now? He swirled the stone around in his mouth. It tasted fantastic. Like carbonated candy, popping and sparkling in his mouth.

The energy from the stone made him feel like himself again. He realized that his mind had been cloudy before. He had been missing out on a perfect opportunity to rank up. With barely a thought, Hugo stretched out his hand and shot out a mana bolt. It hit a nearby antlion in the eye and made it flinch away. The mountain guide that killed him a moment later told Hugo to knock it off. Hugo didn’t mind. He had gained half a rank from that one move.

As he ran, he noticed that his mana pool was still two, but it had already refilled. This time of year it usually took twenty minutes for him to regain that much mana. Interesting. The stone was nourishing his body and refilling his soul core. It was getting smaller too.

One thing was clear, he wasn’t human anymore. He had held out hope before. He had hoped that the body he was inhabiting was a normal one. Perhaps created for him by the Acomarians through the ritual. That couldn’t be true though. Humans couldn’t regain their mana from mana stones. It had been tried numerous times before. Only mana potions could refill their soul cores.

He wasn’t human. He was something else. Golems used mana and health points. Machines could work off the energy of a mana stone. There was one other category that utilized mana stones.

Monsters.

Was he a monster now? He didn’t look like one, and he had no desire to hurt any of the people around him. Those were solid points against the theory. It wasn’t conclusive though. The fact remained, he was gaining energy from the mana stone in his mouth.

He shook his head and looked into the distance. He was almost to the trains now. A familiar monster was slinking towards the mass of people. A surrass. The enormous worm monster was being attacked already. That was good for Hugo. It meant that he would arrive just in time to benefit from the survival effect when the monster died.

The enormous blue cloud of mana washed over Hugo just as he jogged by. He smiled and luxuriated in the feeling of mana washing over his skin. It had never felt like that before.

Congratulations

You have been ranked up to rank two. You have been granted two free points.

Accompanying this blue screen was a wash of sensations. He instantly felt strong and his soul core seemed to be reconfiguring itself. Moments later, his Acomarian screen popped up by itself.

Hugo Ersatz [Formation Domain]

Strength 21

Dexterity 11

Resilience 10

Regeneration 10

Intelligence 10

Wisdom 10

Charisma 10

Perception 10

Rank 2

68/300 Points

Health 10/10

Mana 12/42

Skills: Mana Sight, Mana Bolt

Elements: Mithril, Titanium, Porcelain, Spider Silk

Free Points: 2

Hugo stumbled to the ground. His screen and the new sensations that came with it were too disorientating. He knew he couldn’t stay on the ground for long, so he threw both points into wisdom. Maybe it would help him figure out what was going on. The mana stone fully dissolved in his mouth.

He stood back up. Or rather, he tried to stand and jumped instead. He was strong. Very strong. Twenty one points of strength were already effective. Hugo swore out loud and followed the crowd as he tried to figure this out.

As soon as he hit rank two, he immediately got the formation domain back. He didn’t need to use the tamoko to soulburn the new domain, it was just back. Maybe because he didn’t have a soul anymore? To complicate things, he only had one domain now, not the five he had been expecting. To top it all off, he didn’t have a choice for elements he could fabricate, they were already chosen for him.

What was going on? What had happened to his system?