When I woke up, I found myself surrounded by trees in all directions..... Although I was inside a forest, what drew my attention was the place I was in.
I was inside a barrier with an area of 5x5 meters in total, with a glass-like barrier on the edges of the area.
Looking outside the barrier, I found myself standing on a tree that had grown over this glass box I was in, making it seem like I was inside a glass cup, trapped within, unable to escape.
Although this drew my attention, what truly caught my attention was the outside of this glass cup. Beyond the barrier I was in, showed me a world where time does not exist, where everything is not moving or shown to have the ability to move at all.
A leaf was right before my gaze yet it showed no sign of falling, no air, no sound, no movement, and everything that was outside was stuck in a single frame.
Looking down I found myself gazing at three books and one template. Picking it up and going to the opposite corner of the cup, I sat down and looked at what they were.
~ Would you like to learn the skill [Basic language]
A soft yet metallic voice appeared within my mind, I looked around in my direction, hoping the outside world was moving again. But it wasn't.
I took a breath and looked back at the book before me, and again the voice appeared in my head. If you have watched at least two anime, you'll already know what's happening by now. So I called out for it, with all my hope with my word.
"Status"
As I said those words, I readied myself for it, yet nothing happened, no blue panel or window, not even a ding! Sound, it was complete silence with no other sign of change at all.
Disappointed, I leaned on my back and grabbed the template I found, then the voice came back.
~ Type [Item] Name [Identity template]. A proof that you exist in this world allowing you to live a normal life. [Warning] Keep this template with you all the time; if the natives in this world realize that you are not from here, trouble will emerge.
"....."
"Looks like I can only hear the system, not see it," but how am I hearing it? Were there any changes to my body so I can do this?
I asked myself, confused about this ability I have. A couple of seconds later, I remembered.
Before I got to this place, I was kissed by that pink-haired girl, and when she kissed me, I took in some of her saliva since she put her tongue inside of me.
Then maybe, taking a bit of her fluid gave me the ability to hear the system voice, even if I could not summon it before me.
As I rested my head on my shoulder. I spotted a change in my pupil, although the left pupil was the same black color, the right one was different.
I don't think my family has any form of unique bloodline or family history for this change, but why do I now have emerald-like pupil?
As I stretched my eyelid to see the change in my pupil, I spotted another change on the back of my hand.
A tattoo that looked like a leaf was on it, glimmering in a pink energy. Tapping the tattoo, the pocket knife I gave to her popped out from it.
Making me stumble back. Lying on the floor. I wondered what I had gotten myself involved in.
Am I now a hero?... No, if I'm the hero, I should be able to call the system before it.
Then... A main character? No, if I were. I would have been summoned before a God, but I only met one on the way here.
Demon lord? Nah, that's impossible..., no way I'm taking that choice. If I were given the choice between a slave and a demon lord, I'd pick the slave.
Sitting up I looked at the pocket knife that popped out from my hand. Grabbing it I heard the system voice once again.
~Type [Divine item] - [Soul bound] - A Divine item that holds the last trace and power of a dead universe. The one who's bound to it gains [30-Divine power] in total and gains the five abilities of the Goddess of this dead universe. Note- all five abilities are currently locked.
Hearing the system's voice, I wonder what those abilities were. Looking around I found myself surrounded by nothing but complete stillness.
I wondered what will happen to me now, all this time I had only been going with the flow, and not once was I told what to do after I died. Yet here am I in another world, with no one to talk to or interact with.
With nothing else to do or see, I looked at the book before me, and the system asked if I wanted to learn the skill, I answered with a firm voice:
"NO."
From here on out, I will learn this world language on my own without taking the skill of it. I opened the book and the first thing I realized was that I could not understand anything in it.
So I looked for the vowels within the words and determined what they were, if it was A, E, I, O, U. By looking at these five I can try to guess what was written down in the sentence.
•••
"It's been three months since then, I'm still learning the language, but there's a change I can now determine which characters are."
Within this time I realized something too. I do not get hungry or tired at all.
•••
"Hello! It's been nine months since I've been in this new world, and I can now say I'm not illiterate in this world's language.
Still need to spend time so get rid of those mispronunciations in some words.
•••••
1 year and 4 months in.
"How long how I been in here?...
I stopped counting when I reached a year I think?
But I can say I'm fluent in this world language. It took some time to do it since I couldn't tell whether I was saying the words right.
Since I haven't heard what the language sounds like but the system voice told me this:
~ Congratulations! You have successfully learn the world language [Larcan].
~ You have earned the title [Language master]
That's what the system voice said to me a while ago. Right now I'm looking out in the woods where the plains are.
After I learn the language, I spotted a change within the barrier; there's now a door-like cut on it.
I think learning the language was the requirement for me to get out of this place—But I'm hesitant to get out of this place.
In here, nothing bad can happen to me; I can sleep all I want. I don't get hungry or tired, and most of all, no one can harm me.
But I need to get out of here now, right?
~ Sighed. Come on, Cain, you need to explore this new world, right? I murmur to myself, pushing the door-like cut within the barrier.
•••••
3 years and 2 months in.
"Sorry."
In the end, I couldn't open the door and leave this place. But- I have my reasons. The world outside has dangerous creatures. If I mess up once, it can be the end of my life.
I've been training myself with some light exercises, like push-ups and jumping jacks. I also used my pocket knife and did some slash training. I even learn some skills... Though they were erased later on.
"But I learned it."
Cain kept on with his training. At first, it was just the light exercise.
Later on, he started moving to doing Jab and kick.
After he learn those two, he went for the Jump and Guard skill.
•••••
5 years and 9 months in.
~ You have successfully relearned all the following skills for the thousandth time.
~ Skills: Slash. Jab. Kick. Guard. Jump.
~ An update will be put on the skills
10
9
8
7
...
Ding!
~ All following skills have been updated with new effects.
~ When using the following skills: Jab. Kick. Guard.
~ The attacker or target of these skills will be put into a confused state for 5-10 seconds.
"..."
An update. That's good, so my time in this place was not in vain. Then let's get the next update for them!
•••••
8 years and 6 months in.
Cain looks at his own body and realizes there have been no changes to it. It was the same body he had when he first came into this world.
He pondered and theorized what the cause of this. After three days of brainstorming, he realized for the first time all this year's.
Time was not stopped on both sides. The outside world was stopped, while the inside barrier he was in was going backward.
All this years he has spent in this barrier were meaningless, he wasn't getting stronger in physical terms but only in mental terms.
This was also the reason why the skill kept being erased.
He looked outside the barrier and spotted the same leaf on the first day he was in this world, still hovering in the air without a single change in its place.
Cain laughed like a maniac seeing this. All these years he has been telling himself that it hasn't been more than three years since he started, knowing he had spent more than half a decade already, trapped in his mind and words of lies.
Yet even in this very moment, Cain did not leave this place, only continued to meditate and begin his training to relearn all the skills that had been erased again by the system.
•••••
10 years and 1 day in.
It has been a decade since Cain started.
Within this time he had achieved something great. He needed no training anymore to relearn all the skills he had possessed before; now he only needed to recreate one action, and he could learn it again.
Cain stood up from his position and gazed into the leaf outside the barrier.
With a single Jab, he heard it.
The voice he considered his friend and companion in this frozen world.
~ Congratulations! You have successfully relearned the skill: Jab. For the ten thousands time.
~ The skill: Jab. Have been erased.
"Hmmm." Look like I learned the skill, the very second the reset happened.
Cain fixed his posture and decided to relearn all the skills he had.
This time all at the same time.
With a single breath, Cain launched a jab and kick, followed by a jump to a guard position, bringing him to his knees.
He looked up, summoned his knife, and made an upward slash.
~ Congratulations! You have relearned the skills: Jab. Kick. Jump. Guard. And Slash.
•••••
17 years and 7 months in.
After all this year's Cain finally overcome his own fear and decided to leave this place for good. Unlike before were he didn't do it, he was sure this time around.
Within this time, Cain did not realize that the three books and the template disappeared inside the barrier. While the loss of this happen, Cain obtained something for a change.
That was the Divine power (Abilities) he had inherited from the pocket knife of his. He had learn all five abilities of his and train them this last seven years already.
Cain looked back at the room he put himself all this year's and smiled.
With a single push of the door in the barrier.
Cain watch himself leave this place for good.
For over seventeen years in this place, Cain freed himself by the shackles of his mind.