Noctis stood in silence inside the shack.
Although his eyes were pointed towards the wall in front, his focus was on the text glowing behind his eyes—
[Traveling system activated.]
Traveling system? What's that? He questioned. Is it an inscription?
Even though he couldn't figure out what this "system" was, he could only wonder if it was some type of scribe.
For a few minutes, he stared at the interface as he tried to come up with ideas as to what it might be, but alas, even with the knowledge he gained from absorbing the other books containing inscriptions, none had information.
[Please interact to scan the host.]
Another message popped up—indicating that there were steps to this.
"Scanning? What is it gonna do with that information?"
He hesitated a bit.
"Still… leaving it might cause me problems later on…"
Since he couldn't do anything about it—and leaving it there would be a nuisance if it popped up in the middle of a fight where concentration took precedence.
Inside his mindscape, he mentally tapped the screen.
[Scanning initiated. Please wait.]
A bar appeared beneath the message and began filling.
Noctis watched in silence.
"…I have no idea what's going on," he muttered.
The bar moved slowly.
The longer he watched it, the more he felt a creeping unease twerking up his spine.
It was like waiting for something he didn't understand and couldn't stop.
"Why do I feel nervous over something like this…?"
Then the screen changed.
A new line of text appeared.
[Incomplete macrocosm detected. Corrections underway. User might experience discomfort.]
Noctis frowned.
"… Macrocosm? Corrections?"
The unfamiliar term caught his attention.
But before he could think further—
THUMP!!
His vision blurred as he was forcefully dragged out of his own mental space by an unbearable pain that shot from his heart.
"Aaagghh!!" He cried out as he fell to his knees.
The force of his unrestrained cry blasted everything around him outward, cracking the walls.
"It hurts! It hurts! IT HURRRRTTS!!"
The pain spread throughout his whole body—his mind and soul was not spared in the process.
He's never felt such pain before in his life.
He tried to gather focus, to understand what was happening, but his thoughts wouldn't stay still long enough to grasp anything.
"Grrrrh!!" He bit down on his arm to muffle his voice and in hopes of alleviating the pain.
Even though he couldn't check what was happening, he could still feel that something was changing.
And even though he could feel it.
Yet he couldn't tell what it was, because it felt like everything was changing at once.
His vision began to darken.
The world tilted.
And before he could even process it—
his consciousness slipped away to escape the torment.
Meanwhile, unnoticed by the unconscious young man, his body began changing—inside and out.
After a while, messages continued to appear.
[Macrocosm corrected.]
[Scan complete.]
[Traveling System bound with host successful. See menu for further details.]
Messages kept showing blaring but he didn't see them.
He was already gone.
***
After what felt like forever, his body began stirring.
A faint sound escaped his lips.
Slowly, his eyes opened.
His head felt heavy, like he had slept for days.
"…What…?" he muttered groggily.
He pushed himself up and was about to hold his face, then froze.
What!?
His arms, nearly unfamiliar to him now, were glowing.
Thin, golden markings ran across his skin in strange, elegant patterns.
As if someone used golden henna to draw on his figure.
His breast. His fingers. His forearm and his waist—he was sure more was further down as well.
They had gold markings.
"…What the hell…?"
Before he could move, the familiar blue light appeared again, as if telling he had other things to focus on.
[Macrocosm corrected.]
[Scan complete.]
[Traveling system initialized.]
[See menu.]
Noctis stared at the messages, his heartbeat slowly rising.
"… I need answers," he muttered.
Whatever had happened while he was unconscious—
it definitely wasn't normal.
Because if he had barely felt a connection to the world before, now it could be that he doesn't belong here at all.
And judging from the marks on his body, it wasn't something he could ignore anymore.
Without further thought, his consciousness shifted.
This time, it wasn't toward the system or his mindscape.
It went somewhere he had absolute control over—
his own body.
For martial artists, this wasn't strange.
Every serious practitioner eventually learned how to "look inward," to scour their bodies with their awareness.
Most could only go so far, following the flow of chi through muscles, organs, and veins. For them, the limit was the circulatory system.
But Noctis was different.
The moment his mind descended deeper, past flesh and blood, he felt something shift.
He went beyond what ordinary chi users could reach.
Down to the cellular level.
At first, everything looked familiar—countless cells, moving and functioning in quiet order, just as he had seen many times before.
Then he noticed it.
A faint shimmer.
Every cell carried a subtle, sparkling glow, like tiny stars embedded within them.
He frowned.
"…This wasn't here before."
Another change…
He immediately pulled his consciousness back, his focus snapping toward the system, now in front of his physical eyes.
If anyone—or anything—had answers, it would be that thing.
With his mind, he reached out.
The blue interface opened before him.
A menu unfolded.
[Name: Noctis Ashen
Age: 20
Race: Human (Macrocosm)
Martial Rank: Stage 1 – Cellular Awakening
Current World: Velantera
World Library: Velantera, Jigokuraku (open)]
"Huh?" Noctis muttered, blinking.
He stared at it for a moment. "…Is this supposed to be my information?"
It was… surprisingly minimal. Just his name, age, race, rank, and a couple of other details.
Was that really all it got from making me suffer?
I feel a little insulated.
He scanned from the top. Name, age… fine. Then he stopped at Race.
"Human, huh? I guess it's not wrong but…Macrocosm? The hell is a macrocosm?" he whispered, frowning.
A faint notification appeared beside the line:
[Macrocosm: An existence that spans and interacts with the structure of the cosmos. Complete incomprehensible to ordinary beings.]
Noctis raised an eyebrow. "…Yeah… okay."
A bunch of nonsense slapped together.
He didn't fully understand it, but he still filed it away in the back of his mind for later.
Then his eyes fell to Martial Rank: Stage 1 – Cellular Awakening.
"Sounds about right."
That name… Cellular Awakening… it was exactly that name the old man placed as the first stage of his crazy-ass martial arts.
Currently incomplete now that he's dead. But he had still managed to speculate five more stages.
Speculate, since his "masterpiece," Noctis, hasn't moved from the first stage yet.
He let out a small, quiet laugh. "Well, I guess this is my life now. An incomplete martial arts. I guess it's quantity over quality from here."
Since there is no clear path forward to increase his rank now, he could only continue researching for ways to stage two.
For now though, the only way for him was for him to increase his skill and chi amount.
But it's not all unfortunate though, considering even at stage 1, I'm still far stronger than many top tier martial artists out there—according to dad. Not sure if he's true though.
The interface floated in front of him, waiting.
Noctis let his thoughts settle and turned his attention back to the interface.
He scanned the next line.
Current World: Velantera
"Huh? Velantera… current world?" he muttered.
That part made sense—it was the world he lived in. But then his eyes moved down to the next line.
World Library: Velantera, Jigokuraku (open)
He froze. "…Huh?"
Jigokuraku. He had never heard that name before. Not in any story, not in anything his master had ever mentioned.
His mind raced. If it was in the world library… that meant it wasn't in Velantera. It had to be another world.
Another world.
The words echoed in his head.
Another world.
Something beyond the only reality he had ever known.
Noctis leaned back slightly, blinking, trying to wrap his head around it. "…Another world…? Is this some kind of joke?"
He had thought that from the system's introduction, he would be traveling around the world but it looks like he was too simple minded.
"…Guess I can actually… look at it," he muttered, excitement creeping into his voice.
"…Well, if the system's not lying, then it might just exist… I hope so. He-he-hee."
His hands hovered over the floating interface, specifically, the (open).
[Would you like to be transported to the world, Jigokuraku?]
[Yes] or [No]
Without further delay, he slammed the [Yes].
And for the first time since the system had appeared, Noctis was overflowing with excitement.
Chapter 2 end.