The last thing Leo Hawthorne remembered was the screech of tires and the shattering of glass. One moment, he was crossing the street, headphones blasting a song; the next, a blinding flash of headlights, a sickening crunch, and then… nothing. Not a peaceful nothing, but a chaotic, violent ripping away of everything he knew. There was no grand battle, no valiant sacrifice. Just the mundane, brutal finality of a car accident.
He'd been nineteen, a life barely started, snuffed out in an instant of inattention. He remembered the frustration of it all – the unfinished projects, the friends he'd never see again, the girl he'd been too nervous to ask out. All of it, gone. The unfairness of it all gnawed at him, a dull ache in his non-existent chest. He'd had plans, dreams. He was supposed to go to college, maybe study abroad. He was going to learn to play guitar, finally. He was going to… live. The finality of it all was a cold blanket, smothering any lingering hope.
Then, he awoke.
Not to a hospital room, or anything he recognized. He awoke to a symphony of alien sounds and sensations. The air thrummed with a vibrant, unsettling energy. He felt… weightless, yet present. Cold, yet somehow burning. And… transparent.
He "opened" his eyes, though there were no eyelids, no physical eyes at all. He simply became aware of seeing. He was in a jungle, but not one he recognized from any nature documentary or geography class. The trees were enormous, their thick canopies creating a ceiling of green leaves that blocked out most of the light. Plants, flowers and shrubs all around. The air hummed with sounds, the chirping of birds, the rustling of leaves and the buzzing of insects.
Disorientation slammed into him. He tried to move, to push himself up, but there was no body to obey. His limbs, his torso, his head – all were… absent. Or rather, they existed as a faint, shimmering outline, a ghostly echo of his former self. He was a ghost, a disembodied consciousness adrift in a world that was not his own. And, he quickly realized, seemingly invisible. A cold dread washed over him. This wasn't just death; this was something else. The implications of his state sent a shiver down his spine, a shiver that had no physical origin.
The memories of his death – the screech, the impact, the agonizing finality – flooded back, sharp and vivid. He remembered the hot, sticky feeling… the twisted metal… It was all there, a stark contrast to the alien beauty and unsettling stillness of his new surroundings. He replayed the moment of impact over and over in his mind, searching for some meaning, some reason. There was none. It was random, senseless. A cruel twist of fate.
Panic, raw and visceral, seized him. He tried to scream, to call out, but his incorporeal vocal cords produced nothing audible. He was alone, utterly and completely, in this bizarre, terrifying place. The silence was deafening, broken only by the strange sounds of the jungle, which only served to amplify his isolation. He was adrift, a castaway on an alien shore, with no boat, no raft, no hope of rescue. The feeling of being lost, truly lost, was overwhelming.
But as the panic subsided slightly, a strange window appeared in his vision. It was not a window to the outside world, but a display of… information. It pulsed with a soft, inner light, the letters shifting and rearranging themselves as if alive. It was as if the world, or whatever this was, was communicating directly with his mind.
[Status]
[Name: Leo Hawthorne]
[Age: 19]
[Species: Ghost]
[Level: 1]
[HP: 150]
[Mana: 100/100]
[STR: N/A]
[AGI: 6]
[VIT: N/A]
[INT: 10]
[SPR: 15]
[Stat Points: 0]
[Skill Points: 1]
[Unique Skills: Status Window, ???]
[Skills: Item Box (Level 1)]
[Species Skills: Invisible, Ethereal Form, Levitation, Spectral Sight, Chill Zone, Possession, Undying]
He stared at the display, utterly bewildered.
"What… what is this?" he thought.
It seemed to respond to his thoughts, the words shifting slightly as he focused on different sections. He started examining this "system," and his status window.
The first thing he noticed was his species "Ghost", he was hoping that he was mistaken but that confirmed everything he first saw upon opening his eyes and looking at his 'Body'.
He then looked at his level. Level 1, nothing he didn't expect.
Then he took a look at his stats. Just looking at the names of his stats he could guess what each of them did but he read their description nonetheless. He saw that his stats were:
[STR (Strength): The measurement of ones physical might]
His strength had a N/A instead of a number indicating he couldn't exert physical force which made sense considering he was a ghost
[AGI (Agility): One's ability to move fast and maneuver]
6 seemed pretty low for him but he didn't have anything to compare it to to know for sure
[VIT (Vitality): The hardness and durability of ones body and determines the HP one has (Does not apply to user who is a ghost)]
His vitality was also N/A, likely because he lacked a physical body.
[INT (Intelligence): The measure of one's ability to learn and process knowledge and determines Mana and increases the strength of magical abilities.]
[SPR (Spirit): Is the measurement of one's mental strength (soul), ability to resist mental effects and increases the ability of abilities (Also determines the HP of user as he is a ghost)]
He then looked at his Skills and started reading the description of his one and only skill:
[Item Box (Level 1): Grants the user access to a personal storage space. Items stored are weightless and time is stopped for them]
After his regular skills he then looked at his Species Skills and started reading the description of each of the skills:
[Invisible: Makes the user invisible, unable to be perceived by normal senses]
[Ethereal Form: Grants the user the ability to become intangible, allowing passage through solid matter.]
[Levitation: Grants the user the ability to float and move through the air.]
[Spectral Sight: Allows the user to see clearly in darkness and perceive non-corporeal entities.]
[Chill Zone: The user emits an aura of coldness lowering the temperature in an area of effect.]
[Possession: The user can take control of another being's body, effectiveness is determined by the difference in the SPR stat.]
[Undying: The user can't die through normal causes such as aging, thirst, hunger, suffocation, disease.]
He then turned his attention to the Stat and Skill Points entries. These numbers immediately caught his attention. He'd played enough RPGs in his life to know what "points" usually meant – a way to improve his character. The idea that he might be able to allocate these points, to grow stronger or gain new abilities, sparked a flicker of hope in the vast emptiness of his new existence. It was a tangible goal, a way to interact with this bizarre system.
His gaze lingered on these points. Since he had no Stat Points to use, his focus immediately shifted to the single Skill Point. How did he use it? He tried mentally commanding the system, "Use skill point!" Nothing happened. He tried to physically poke the floating window only for his hand to simply pass through it. It was frustrating, like being given a powerful tool without an instruction manual. He wondered if there was a specific command, a mental gesture, or perhaps a tutorial hidden somewhere within this mysterious interface.
He thought maybe there was some skill list to use somewhere. Just as he thought that a window with a big list of skills popped up. There were categories listed, Utility, Combat, Magic.
He opened the Utility one and a big list of skills was shown. Digging, Cooking, Forge, Appraisal. He then opened and looked at the combat skills. Beginner Swordmanship, Beginner Spearmanship. He then looked at the magic category. There were all kinds of magic. Fire Magic, Earth Magic, Light Magic, Dark Magic. And every one of these magic after you learned the magic there were sub skills, Fireball, Fiery Tornado, Meteorite, etc.
'There are so many skills, how am i supposed to pick just one.' He thought. He then started pondering for a while about what he should choose.
'I don't have a physical body right now so a combat skill is basically useless at the moment. As for magic, i don't know if i can use magic and i don't have any way to find out without making a gamble either but i'm not willing to spend my skill on an unlikelly gamble.' He thought
'I've had my eye on appraisal from the moment i first saw it, it's the most op skill in most isekai anime i've seen afterall.' He pondered. 'Here goes nothing, purchase appraisal'
[Status]
[Name: Leo Hawthorne]
[Age: 19]
[Species: Ghost]
[Level: 1]
[HP: 150]
[Mana: 100/100]
[STR: N/A]
[AGI: 6]
[VIT: N/A]
[INT: 10]
[SPR: 15]
[Stat Points: 0]
[Skill Points: 0]
[Unique Skills: Status Window, ???]
[Skills: Item Box (Lvl 1), Appraisal (Lvl 1)]
[Species Skills: Invisible, Ethereal Form, Levitation, Spectral Sight, Chill Zone, Possession, Undying]