As I awoke I noticed that one of the maids was sitting next to me. He was holding my body upward so that I wouldn’t choke on my own blood.

I felt an unbearable amount of pain for a short time but luckily for me ‘depending on how you look at it’ my body quickly started to go numb and tired prompting me to fall into a deep sleep as quickly as I woke up.

Thinking back on it, I did feel that something was extremely wrong with my body when that one malicious light attacked me but the moment I noticed I didn’t have an actual body the thought quickly drifted away from my mind.

I never imagined that what was going on in that dream was actually affecting my real body nor did anything I was taught about gaining a class prepare me for that outcome.

As I blacked out completely I saw a maid bringing in water as well as Tresha running into the room with vials of what looked like medication with a panicked look on her face.

***

The feeling of being crushed took over my entire being.

Slowly at first as if a small weight was being applied which slowly ramped up until it was unbearable.

I slowly opened my eyes.

The motion felt as though I was trying to open two metal doors that were strapped to my face.

My vision was bleary and my body was like it was cast iron, stiff and immovable.

I had an intense migraine and my memories of what happened before I fell asleep were fuzzy.

After a couple of seconds of lying there with soft groans escaping my mouth as I felt as though I was breathing fire, I finally started to see my surrounding.

I labored to move my hand up so I could get out of bed but what I saw shocked me.

My skin was pale gray with red and brown streaks fillings its surface where my veins should have been forming a beautiful abstract art piece.

The fact that this masterpiece was in reality my own body made a morbid chill run down my spine.

As I looked more at my hand I saw that the hair that used to sparsely populate my skin was now growing wildly in little patches slowly spreading down my arm like an infection.

Looking a bit upwards my fingernails had grown long, thick, and sharp resembling the claws of a dog.

The best way I could have described it in a single sentence was that my hand looked like a was some kind of bizarre mix between a clown and a werewolf.

A comparison that I would have again, found funny If it wasn’t for the fact that it was my own body that became that monstrosity.

Despite myself, a soft chuckle still escaped my lips.

Worrying about things that I couldn’t control was never a strong point of mine and I always had a tendency to laugh when I was stressed.

“Are you… ok,” a woman whispered in a voice that exuded exhaustion.

A little startled I turned my head to the side not expecting anyone to be in the room and what I saw shocked me more than the changes to my body.

“I am fine… how about you,” I said slowly looking at the emaciated lady in my field of vision.

Tresha, the maid who was in charge of taking care of me looked like a shell of her former proud and healthy self.

Her skin was plain and lifeless her eyes had to think of dark bags and looked glassy. Her body… Her body looked “hungry” simultaneously a very strange yet apt description of what I was seeing.

“I’m doing great, thank you, you gave us quite a scare there you know” She murmured with a slight tremble in her speech.

Despite her clearly terrible condition she still put effort into putting a forced smile on her face.

“I’m sorry I don’t really know what happened myself” I replied heavy heart. I felt my words getting stuck in my throat as my mind froze

I didn't really know what to say in situations like this.

I hated to see other people suffer because of me but what exactly was I supposed to do about it?

This really wasn't my fault and there was nothing that I could have done to prevent it from happening.

That fact didn't stop me from feeling terrible about the entire situation and how it seemed to have affected Tresha.

Not being able to come up with words to comfort her made me feel worse.

As I just sat there thinking Tresha finally broke the silence.

“You need to eat something don't you? you’ve been out of it for more than three weeks. Stay here while I get you something to eat.” another whisper bearly excepted her throat but this time it hide an emotion I didn't recognize.

I generally had a hard time recognizing the emotions of others. Rina and I were similar in that regard except I sincerely tried too while she didn’t seem to care.

Before I had a chance to respond Tresha basically ran out of the door slamming it behind her.

From the outside, I could hear crying. A deep and primal wailing that seemed to have been suppressed for a long time. I said nothing laying on my bed absorbing a strange emotion that consumed me.

I was “sad” that she was suffering but in the same breath, I felt relieved, proud, and appreciated because she felt so much concern for my well being which made me sick to my stomach.

Her tears were a sign that she cared about me and someone caring for me was an experience I rarely got to feel.

After what felt like an eternity, but was probably less than two minutes, I herald a loud slap and the rustling of clothes before the distinct sound of footsteps.

Tresha had finally gone to do what she set herself to do which was getting me something to eat.

I wasn’t hungry and didn't have an appetite whatsoever but I knew that it wasn't good to spend so much time on an empty stomach so I patiently waited while mentally preparing myself to scarf down a light meal.

After basking in my own thoughts and emotions for a while I decided that it would be a good idea to move my body a bit before I ate as I had probably been lying down for far longer than what was healthy.

One foot at a time I got out of bed a barely managed to walk.

All the excitement from getting to my first class made more forget the that I had gone through my normal advancement.

I was much taller almost twice my previous size and my body proportions were different.

Moving around was something I would have to once again reacquaint myself with.

After barely being able to balance myself on my two wobbling legs I decided that the best course of action for me to take was to do a basic round-up of what I had received during my advancement starting with my stats.

Name: Norman Venificus

Level: 0

Species: humanoid (Basic)

Birth Season: Astral Summer of Earth

Stage of development: Infant

Attributes:

Strength: 29

Dexterity: 31

Constitution: 12

Intelligence: 51

Wisdom: 43

Willpower: 13

Charisma: 6

Awareness: 7

Poise: 4

Just looking at my stats there wasn’t a lot to see. It was definitely a good improvement but it was by no means four years of incredibly difficult training worth of stats.

I got more total stat points just from completing two of the advancements I did.

That being said as I learned recently from Kent the main boost to your stats when you went through an advancement wasn’t the increase in stats themselves but the increase in your basic physicality.

The way that stats worked was that they were actually a percentage buff to what you are normally.

This is why a muscular person who works out will always be much stronger than a thin person who doesn't even if they have the exact same physical stats meaning the thin person would need to invest far more into strength and constitution to match the fitness of the muscular person.

This meant that despite my abysmal increase in stats my overall increase in strength was actually quite large which made getting accustomed to my new body even harder than just getting used to the increase in height.

I punched out to the wall trying to test out how moving my muscles felt but all I ended up achieving was falling flat on my face.

To add to the embarrassment of the whole situation, getting up from the floor was a whole struggle in its own right, my arms, legs, and core just weren't moving in the ways I expected them to move, causing me to constantly stumble over myself.

Giving in to my own mediocrity I simply turned myself over laying on the floor to look at my traits.

Traits

Quick-witted (II)

Polluted soul (II)

Endure (III)

Mana starved (II)

Melee Master

Specialized

Undercooked

Undercooked

Many parts of your body are either misformed or underdeveloped.

Due to this all of your stats have undergone a 10% reduction in effectiveness.

You will often feel disoriented and have trouble moving due to your malformed body.

[Your body took heavy damage while trying to go through the process of Advancement awarding you this trait]

That all was interesting in a way that I didn’t like.

Sure both Endure and Quick-witted got stronger which I now consider my main traits but so did Mana Starved and Polluted Soul which I was hoping would disappear during this advancement.

Mana starved wasn't objectively a bad thing but considering the fact that my body is already close to going Feral along with the fact that my Polluted Soul trait also got worse put me in a very dangerous position.

I already had to be much more careful when casting magic than my peers due to my particular complication but I may have to stop using magic altogether for a long time until I could undergo some serious treatment so I don’t accidentally become a monster.

That was two sets of bad news back to back which I didn’t want to see. I didn’t bother looking at skills as I already knew that I wouldn't be getting anything new.

Gaining skills during an advancement was extremely rare and I didn't notice any when all the notifications were being whispered in my ear.

A little dejected and with great difficulty, I finally managed to pick myself off the ground.

I got up and looked in the mirror to see what other changes happened to my body and I almost fell back onto the floor immediately afterward.

What I was looking at wasn't my own reflection but the reflection of a man in his late twenties with ashen pale skin.

He wore a purple clock with elbowless sleeves embroidered with strings made of dark glittering obsidian.

He had a pair of black cloth pants and his messy hair was tied with a strange hair band filled with symbols.

His arms were both covered in bandages that were stained with blood.

All of his clothing was worn and dirty with clear signs of patchwork repairs hastily added in later to cover holes.

In all honesty, he looked no different than a homeless man.

If one focused their vision to look at the little spaces between the bandages which showed skin they would see red stylized tattoos of eyes looking back at them.

Each one gave a distinct sense that they were both created by different artists and were somehow alive.

I tried to look away quickly so as to not draw their attention only to accidentally stare directly into his otherworldly eyes.

They were like tiny portals into another world. Filled with purple-tined plants animals and stars if one looked deep enough one would see the only source of another color was a giant palace fit to house a god.

The man stared back at me with petty indifference etched on his face.