As Samuel's eyes closed, the man would find himself standing on top of a sea that stretched as far as the eye could see. Some distance to his left, he would spot various circles engraved with symbols that he could understand- each of them different than the others. One had words related to "Fire", like heat, cauterize, and weld, while another spoke of electricity, with words like magnetism, shock, power, and so on. The man quickly realized that these were the various magics that he had accumulated, and next to them was a desk with a keyboard.
Looking up, the man spotted clouds, turbulent and crackling with crimson thunder. He could see various faces within them, most notably those of his family members, which appeared along the clouds and those of the gods appearing in flashes of lightning. Most notably, he couldn't see the two men that gave him the prayer bead, but decided not to question it for his own sake.
To his left was a book, and upon opening it, he would spot the names of his pets, along with the giant sky eagle. From what he gathered, the book contained his tamed creatures. Perhaps it wasn't just tamed monsters, but he had no way to tell if it was limited to just monsters.
And to end it off, behind him was a door labelled "exit" so that was self-explanatory.
*Done checking the place out?* A voice all-too-familiar to him sounded out from below him.
Looking down, he squinted his eyes and spotted someone walking below the water. "...Death Knight, where exactly am I?"
*This, my dear host is your... mind realm, soul sea, and whatever other fancy name you could think of for where your soul resides. This is where you can see the strength of your soul, represented by the sea, and your mental state, represented by the weather. Cultivators use it to purify their soul, and reach enlightenment, while mages use it to think of new magic and consolidate their knowledge. You're not really supposed to be here at this point, but whether it's you finally getting a good night's sleep for the first time in a week or the influence of the godly realm, I guess you're strong enough.*
"That sounds interesting. How do I make my own spells?"
*Go to the magic circles. There should be a tool familiar to you that allows you to make those spells.*
Samuel would leave the knight sitting and step over to the desk to take a seat. Once seated, the man would be presented with an interface he was incredibly familiar with. "Code? You're fucking with me. I have to CODE to make SPELLS?!"
*I don't know what this code is, but it looks like that's what you're stuck with. There's ways to change that, but the system picks the one you're the best with.*
The man took a deep breath and let out a tired groan. Of course he knew how to code, he just wasn't very fond of it. All of his enthusiasm vanished into thin air as he stepped away from the desk, leaving the spells and interface floating there.
"Anything else I can do to pass the time?"
*There's methods to gather magic from the air to raise your mana circuit's level and mana's purity, but I don't have any that suit you nor am I allowed to give you any. You can try to freestyle it or just go back to sleep through the exit.*
Samuel considered returning to sleep for a moment, before grumbling and taking a seat on the water with his legs crossed. He closed his eyes as he tried to think of a way to accumulate magic like he had been told by the knight. At first, he thought back to how he used magic normally, which was through condensing the magic in his circuits and releasing it, but upon trying to do the opposite, he would find that the magic would enter his system for no more than five seconds before getting ejected through the entry point, which made him realize that he needed a way to not only accumulate the magic, but keep it from being released again.
Upon further thought, he put the idea away. It wasn't that he needed to contain the magic, but instead his accumulation method that needed to change. He sighed and tapped his finger against his leg for a moment, before eventually deciding to give it a second try. This time, he encased himself in a cocoon made of magic and sat within, before starting the absorption process all over again. For some reason, this felt... familiar- like he had done this before, but while he tried to remember, the man felt his consciousness wane as the surrounding magic flowed into his circuit. He felt a slight itch from the process, but the magic's embrace felt like a warm blanket lulling him to sleep.
*Man I HHHHATE talented people.* The knight grumbled to himself as he saw Samuel figure it out. He knew it wasn't really talent, being more akin to logical thinking, as his host figured out that unlike a mana heart or core, a magic circuit needed the magic to enter through the entire affected area.
Samuel would wake up around 10 minutes before the agreed time, and notice his magic circuit shining blue, signifying that the absorption was still working. Even though he shone like a lightbulb, the light from the circuit didn't hurt his eyes, and the feeling of his body growing stronger from it felt good, so why would he stop now?
He got out of bed and looked around the house for Augusta, only for Argon to point its head at the door, which told him that she left his temporary home. He pat the turtle on its head before putting his shoes on and making his way to the now packed entrance, smashing the bloodline seeker once he was close enough.
*The bloodline seeker shows you everyone from the last five generations of your family. The thicker the red string, the closer their relation to you. A parent or sibling would look like a blood red, 5cm thick string, while a grandparent or uncle would have the size of the string be around half of that, while possessing a more faded color, and so on and so forth. The strings are only visible to you.* The death knight, being the ever incredible trove of knowledge that he was, quickly explained.
Samuel only gave a nod as he made his way over to the consumable store. He couldn't see any strings yet, so instead of dwelling on it, the man went to buy some cigarettes to calm down.
"What kind of rude bastard dares to shine a light in my-" The elf yelled for a moment before turning around to face Samuel. "YOU." She loudly grumbled as she stared at the masked man who was busy looking around for his favorite brand. Just the thought of being underestimated by this worm made her so mad that she almost jumped over the counter to strangle him.
A couple of minutes later, the man quickly paid and left the elf's store with a pack of cigarettes in hand, and many others in his inventory. The man didn't care about what the elf thought, and he felt that any interaction he had with her would only make her angrier, so he chose not to.
After a moment of thinking, Samuel lifted his mask up, lit his cigarette and threw it into the void that his face had become. He needed his fix, but more than that, he needed to verify that the realm actually protected the people from his curse, and from the looks of it, the people were revolted by it, but none of them looked to be in pain from looking at him.
Smoke occasionally rose from the void while he made his way through the halls, glimmering like the moon in the night sky. He would occasionally see the faintest trace of red- family so far removed that they couldn't possibly know who he was. He sighed as he walked, wondering if he really needed to keep holding out hope, but just as he did, he saw two unmistakable red strings flash for a split before disappearing.
With no warning nor prior notice, the man took to the skies and followed the location that it led to, where he would spot a young boy, no older than 15, and a woman in her 20s seated in what looked like a mechanical spider. He was about to call out to the two, when he noticed three men tailing them from afar. He blinked for a moment as he formulated a simple plan.
He quickly cast a blinding spell with light magic before swooping down and lifting the spider from below.
"What's happening?! Vince?" The woman questioned her fellow passenger.
"I- I don't know-" The boy responded in a panic, trying to move his machine to no avail.
"Easy. It's Sam. I'm just carrying both of you to safety."
"I thought you couldn't harm or steal here?" She questioned as she was carried.
"I think it counts hurting someone or drawing blood as harming, and theft as taking the item without its owner. Let's just- sit down at my temporary residence. Promise me you won't be too scared of what I've turned into when we get there, though."
"Sure. Let's just uh... get there first." Vince answered while trying to get a look at Samuel who was carrying the machine from below.