The Arkbridge Ruins

The blazing sun hung high over Arkbridge City, spreading a warmth that covered every surface with a golden glaze. However, no one could enjoy the pleasant warmth nor the beautiful colours.

The once majestic city that stood as a symbol of stability for human kind had long collapsed into ruins, cold corpses and dried blood of hopeful citizens were spread through the destroyed buildings.

Just one glance was enough for one to experience horrific nightmares for a lifetime, waking up in cold sweat every night, yet at the very core of this destruction, in one of the few structures that stood relatively stable, a groan broke the deathly silence that had stayed for the last 5 years.

"Ahhh. What…what's going on? Where am I?"

**********

A painful headache assaulted Osirus's mind, scrambling any coherent thought that tried to assemble in his unstable brain.

To make matters worse, a piercing voice tore through his mind, almost causing him to fall unconscious.

{Transmigration Complete}

{Repairing Users Body…Complete}

{User has gained consciousness}

{User has gained motor function}

{System Activation…Complete}

A myriad of messages crowded his mind, pushing him further into unconsciousness, luckily they seemed to be the only ones as his mind slowly cleared and his thoughts gathered.

His eyes finally opened slowly, bright golden light pierced into his turquoise eyes, forcing his pupils to shrink and eyes squint.

Slowly but surely his eyes accustomed to the sudden brightness, however shock, surprise and fear entered his heart.

"W-what the f**k. Wh-where am I?"

His familiar small room was replaced by a deteriorating building, his comfortable double bed was replaced by broken concrete and his posters were replaced with…Blood.

"W-w-wha-Aagh!"

Sick erupted from his stomach as he stared at the crimson substance dried to the wall, the fear he felt multiplied tenfold as his hands trembled and mind froze.

Vomit continued to flood from his mouth, tears dripped from his eyes as he eventually began to dry heave, his organs twisting each time.

{Extreme negative emotions discovered}

{Emergency Temporary Skill Creation}

{Analysing situation…Creating….Complete}

{Temporary Passive Skill - Analytic Mind Granted}

Immediately after the messages reverberated in his collapsing mind, the fear began to diminish, his body stopped heaving and his mind cleared, eventually only deep breaths sounded in the ruins.

'What is going on.'

This time Osirus was able to think much clearer as he looked around him, it looked like a building from the mediaeval period, its supports made of wood and walls of stone, cracks spread throughout its walls, portions had fallen off completely, allowing the sun to shine through.

Around him for items and furniture similar to those found in the mediaeval period, a small stone fireplace that had long stopped burning, a broken wooden table along with 3 collapsed chairs, and many other small items were scattered along the floor.

Slowly standing up, Osiris realised he was dressed in a simple beige cloth tunic, brown trousers and leather boots, with a rather noticeable claw mark torn through his shirt.

Crimson blood had dried into the rip, however, surprisingly he wasn't shocked as he looked down at the human blood covering his clothes, instead he began to think of what had happened, where he was and what to do.

'It seems I have transmigrated to another world from my surroundings and those mysterious messages. Furthermore, this place seemed to have faced some sort of natural disaster or attack, most likely an attack considering the tear of my shirt.'

'Luckily the blood is dry, meaning the attack probably happened quite a while ago, so he likely wasn't in danger of being attacked again.'

With his situation grasped, his focus switched to the other mystery, the messages.

Focusing his mind on the previous messages, they began to react again as if noticing his attention.

A black rectangle began to manifest in front of him, calming, Osiris attempted to touch it, however his hand glided through, without a single bit of resistance, pulling his hand back, golden letters began to form and congeal, slowly forming words:

{Welcome, User, to the Skill Creation System}

{Status}

{Skill Creation}

A very simple and direct menu appeared, reading the limited information and 2 different options, Osirius thought for a moment before lifting his hand, attempting to click the {Status} section, however before he could, it automatically selected the section.

'Hmm..I Guess it reacts to thought rather than physical touch. Interesting.'

Osirus's mind continued to function with frightening efficiency, without a hint of surprise at the situation unfolding before him.

Soon another assortment of golden letters form, revealing much more information than before.

{Status}

{Name:Osirus}

{Age:16}

{Race:Human}

{SP:0}

{Body Cultivation:Lv.1(0/10SP)}

{Mana Cultivation:Lv.1(0/10SP)}

{Active Skills:}

{Passive Skills: Analytic Mind Lv.~(Temporary) }

His eyes skimmed over the information, quickly gathering it into his mind and digesting it, analysing each and every bit.

However, even then, more questions were formulated than answered so he could only hope the System would be able to answer them.

Luckily, as soon as he began to wonder what {SP} was, the golden letters began to mould into different words as an explanation was formed.

{SP - Soul Points or SP are gained from the killing of living beings, whether Beast, Human or Plant, so long as it has a Soul, SP is gathered through its killing. SP can be used to increase {Body Cultivation} or {Mana Cultivation}, or converted into Creation Points.}

Seeing as each section could be expanded into information he then did the same for the others.

{Body Cultivation - The path of strengthening the Body}

{Mana Cultivation - The path of Magic}

{Active Skills - Skills that require an action from the User to trigger its effect.}

{Passive Skills - Skills that, once created, have a permanent effect without an action from the User.}

A multitude of descriptions appeared before Osirus, explaining each section, with some being more detailed than others.

Realising something, he looked at the {Passive Skills} and the one skill he currently had {Analytic Mind - A Skill that grants the User a Mind capable of logical and reasonable deductions without the interference of emotions. Capable of being turned On or Off}

'Huh…So that's why I am able to think so clearly even in this kind of situation.'

However, another piece of information at the end of the description piqued his interest, 'Can it be turned off?'

Speaking at loud, Osirus stated, "Deactivate {Analytic Mind}".

Instantly, emotions flooded his mind and soul, fear, terror, confusing, all of them tour through him, leaving him trembling.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the scarlet liquid dried to the wall, his empty stomach began to twist again, the last bit of sanity struggling on as his trembling lips released a faint sentence.

"Re…activate…{Ana..lytic…Min..d}"

His rampaging emotions slowly dissipated into thin air, his hands stilled as calmness returned to his heart, 'It's best I dont deactivate it for now.'.

With his thoughts flowing, he continued to discover more about the System as he looked at the only other section, {Skill Creation}, which further split into {Skill Creation} and {Skill Recycling}.

Opening the {Skill Creation} section, the golden letters morphed once again, however, instead of becoming letters, they instead turned into a familiar interface.

The feeling of familiarity continued to increase as he looked at the rectangular canvas surrounded by a selection of buttons and options, eventually it reached a peak as memories began to flood into his mind.

Memories of his time tirelessly working as a CGI artist and the thousands of projects ranging from working with movie directors to game developers entered his mind.

'It seems my memories are restricted because of {Analytic Mind}, only giving me access to ones I need depending on the situation.'

As he looked at the interface again, the urge to begin designing and creating surged from his heart, however he controlled it as he began reading the little information on this section.

{Skill Creation - By consuming SP, the User can design and create Active or Passive Skills, the cost of the Skill depends on parameters set by the User, ranging from Mana Consumption to Versatility.}

{Skill Recycling - By recycling created Skills, the User receives 10% of the SP used to create it.}

Even with {Analytic Mind} working in full force, he felt slight excitement bubbling from deep within as he read the description and the possibilities before him.

Calming down, he gathered all the information before him, ' It seems I was transmigrated to a destroyed city in another world or realm whose inhabitants are able to strengthen their body and use Mana to create magic. Furthermore, I became the host of a system capable of creating Skills through the use of Soul Points.'

With all the information before him understood and digested, he finally began to truly explore his surroundings.

Standing up, after he had collapsed from deactivating {Analytic Mind}, he carefully stepped through the rubble scattered across the floor and headed towards the door frame whose door was nowhere in sight.

However, before he left, he bent down and picked up a simple kitchen knife that was among the broken furniture, before gripping on to it tightly and leaving the house.