Nihility [ Isekai • Dragon Evolution ]

The bugged screen floated in front of my eyes. My heart sank as I stared at it. I didn't know what it was, but something told me it was truly from Leo, but at the same time, I could feel the connection going somewhere way too far away, somewhere I couldn't reach yet. I didn't know how he managed to contact me, and [Knowledge Library] wasn't helpful in this case.

[Information not available]

The fact that I was inside a stone box and the people outside were probably in the middle of deciding on what to do with me wasn't important to me at the moment. I had confirmation, actual confirmation that at least Leo was alive in this world, this cemented my will to find them and reunite with my friends.

I observed the bugged screen. It looked like a very corrupted version of Whatsapp, and if I were to guess, this is a communication skill belonging to Leo, as he was the one who contacted me. I tried to use the screen, but when my thoughts connected with it, I could feel that this was a one way message. Wherever Leo was, it was either so far or had so much interference with his skill that it was basically broken when arrived to me. My understanding of magic was still shallow, but the way I experimented with [Spell Planner] while in that cage a few loops ago told me that the magic circles, actually, I think the term magic circuit somehow describes them better. Anyway, the magic circuits that made the magic itself were so damaged it barely functioned. It looked like it passed through a blender while being dragged around in a hurricane and hitting all the debris possible.

I could barely see the message, but couldn't answer them. It hurt, it honestly hurt. I wanted to go back to my friends, to my family. I even wanted to go back to my religion class I had in school, the one where I hated the teacher so much I slept in his classes, multiple times. But I couldn't go back, nothing would ever be the way they were.

I died, actually died. I knew this already, of course, but there was a part of me that still hadn't accepted it, holding on a hope that all of this would be over and I would be back in my house with Leo and Alex, with us three playing video games and laughing all day long, but this wouldn't be possible. This corrupted screen in front of me, even though it wasn't the proper intention, showed me that I had to let go of the illusion that I was still Marcos, an 18-year-old school boy and normal human.

I don't know why I was so stupid to not realise this before, but to be fair the whole experience of dying is still unpleasant at minimum, and completely unbearable at worst. And to the part of me that was still screaming no, I was still Marcos and that I couldn't just abandon myself like this, a simple query to [Knowledge Library] shut it up.

[Marcos Leandro Nahala died on 05/10/2020 of the local calendar. His body was atomically disassembled when a resonance reaction created a sphere around him, unraveling reality within and exposing everything inside of it to the Void]

I didn't understand most of that, and why part of my surname was mentioned weirdly, but one thing was clear. [Knowledge Library], a skill that, as far as I know, takes those kinds of information from the universe itself, was saying that Marcos died on day five of october. So, if Marcos died in that classroom, where does this leave me? Am I just a clone? Am I just a dragon that has the memories of another person? Are my actions things that Marcos would do? Why does Leo's spell still target me if I'm not Marcos?

What happened to Marcos? I asked my skill, and surprisingly it answered me.

[Marcos Leandro Nahala died on 05/10/2020. The soul of former Marcos Leandro Nahala passed through an incomplete reincarnation process and was reborn]

So I am still the same person, I'm just not Marcos… Honestly, this feels like what the Doctor passes through when he regenerates, the same but different, but then, there's another question in my mind at the moment.

Why don't I have a name? What is a name?

[The naming process includes engraving the name onto one's soul, declaring to the System itself who the named one is. This process is exclusive for the non EXCEED species]

[The naming process is usually carried by a stronger EXCEED species to a weaker non EXCEED species as the naming process will open a soul corridor between the two, transferring magicules into the named one, and usually evolving it in the process]

I'll be honest. I didn't understand exactly what it told me, but what I managed to grasp was that naming is a big thing for those non EXCEED of whatever, probably monsters and stuff and the EXCEEDs themselves are probably humans and stuff. In other words, like a tamer giving the monster they captured a name and it getting stronger in the process.

As I was deeply in thought, the stone box around me crumbled and another knight rushed and caught me so fast I didn't even have time to blink, and in the next moment I was inside another cage that blocked my magic. It happened so fast I didn't even have a reaction time to do anything.

"I want this weasel to be watched all the time. You said it started the fire and it shouldn't have the ability to do so, as well as the [Appraisal] skill. Who knows what else it has hidden" the young noble said to the knights, which bowed in response and then started to move me to another tent, where they put me and one of the guards kept watch, looking bored as he stared at me and at the surroundings, which amounted to not much more beyond a few more cages, swords, armor and arrows.

Well, I couldn't do magic, the anti-magic field would just break my spell apart, and couldn't transform back to my real body with the knight watching me, leaving me with not many choices as to what to do, so I turned my attention back at the bugged screen in front of me, the one Leo sent me.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

I knew I couldn't answer, the spell's circuits were basically destroyed, it was a miracle it was still on my vision all this time, even with the anti-magic field, though it was actively breaking down, just slowly, but even so, I somehow felt it would be wrong to answer. This message was sent to Marcos, to my past self, but there was no Marcos anymore, just me. Marcos was in my past, I needed to find who I was now.

I was not human anymore, this one was obvious, but it wasn't because of that that I would abandon everything I learned, everything that made me Marcos, but now I was more and I needed to discover who I was. As [Knowledge Library] said, I needed to declare who I am to the System…whatever it was, I still was unsure about it. So, it was time I let go of Marcos.

[nameless White Dragon's POV]

The moment I accepted I was no longer Marcos, Leo's spell broke apart as it was tied to the part of me that still thought I was Marcos, and as that part had finally let go of it, the spell didn't have anything else to attach to and, as it was already mostly broken, finally broke apart and vanished like dust in the wind.

Don't get me wrong, it was not like now I would become a completely different person. It was hard to explain, but the best thing I could think of is that "Marcos" wasn't enough to describe me anymore. Marcos was born human, raised human and died human. That was my past, I was Marcos, but now I'm something more. In game terms, I would be a "new game +".

I heard the announcer's voice in my head, tho now that I think about it, the announcer I hear everytime I level up and stuff, is probably the System [Knowledge Library] was telling. I pulled my status screen to see what changed

[Spell Planner] was nowhere to be seen, and I had gained another title, as the System had said. And another thing I had noticed was that my [Passive Growth] was now at 95% instead of the 100% it was before. This was another thing I would need to look into, after escaping the loops. I also saw my old name was not displayed in my status screen anymore, cementing what I had accepted even more.

I took a calming breath. I needed to see my new skill, escape this cage without being caught somehow and then find a way to stop the loops. It was, honestly, a big ask for me. I didn't exactly know what was happening around me, and I say this thinking about the bigger picture. It is just so frustrating to not know what was happening and how I would find my friends if I didn't even know where they were in the first place. Leo sent a message, sure, but I didn't know how to track it, and even if I did, the magic was so corrupted I was sure I wouldn't be able to track it down.

Better to move by steps, the first one being to discover how my skill changed and what I could do with the new one, so I activated [Magical Programming Language]. The first thing I noticed about the skill was that there wasn't a magic circle for me to complete with options in the basic version, nor was there an advanced version. In my mind there was a black screen, reminding me of a code editor, and there was already a code in it.

They didn't match any language I knew of, though, I only knew the basics of coding as I tried to make a few basic apps in my spare time. The code read:

It was the last spell I had used, the water jet I used to try to cut through the stone box, written in a programming language I could easily understand. And, in my opinion, this would be easier to use than what it was before.

I knew I needed to escape, but I was still on a time loop, and I knew there would be a distraction in a few hours, so all I needed to do was wait and then use the same tactic I had before to escape, changing back to my true self and using [Elemental Breath], and in the meantime I would explore using my new skill, and maybe [Magicule Manipulation] as well. I needed to train that for the next loops, if I were to be caged again, I didn't want to, it was an awful sensation, but who knows what could happen in future loops.