บท 3: Lattice

"Where the hell am I?"

Before I could even ponder over my own question, a splitting headache invaded me. There was a nuanced understanding, veiled under the pounding inside my head. Flashes of images and events—life events of the past blurred in front of eyes.

Memories, I thought.

I had read. If I had made the pilgrimage and was now transmigrated in a new world, it means the body I am occupying right now is transferring the muscle and brain memories to the new brain inside it.

Makes you think, is a person's soul what actually store the memories? Since if soul just powered a human body, how come we remember everything?

Shaking my head to get rid of the debilitatingly complex thoughts, I looked down at myself. Curling and uncurling my fingers, I tried to feel the texture of my own hands.

They felt rough, at first. When I looked closely, I could see freshly healed cuts plaguing my palms like a rampant infestation.

"Geez…"

The exasperated sigh of self-pity left my mouth unconsciously as I pulled the sleeve of my furred jacket up since it had been itching for a while. The uninterrupted line of cuts that filled arm from my wrist all the way to the elbow joint was nothing short of absolutely disturbing.

Even flexing my hand made the arm sting.

The carriage shudder, seemingly moving over a small tone. Returning my attention to myself, I reached out for seat in front of me and ripped at the leather covering that already had a small hole in it.

The leather came out surprisingly easy. Well, it'd make seeing the dilapidated condition of this carriage. Ripping the small soft fabric underneath the upper leather, I placed it on my left wrist.

It was scold to touch. Wrapping it around my arm—slowly and painfully—I covered it back up with my jacket sleeve.

"Phew…"

I sunk back into the seat that had gotten warm by now, letting my mind wander away into a jumble of thoughts.

"I really wish this is a world with system…" I laughed to myself, trying to get my thoughts away from the torture my soul had gone through during the 'pilgrimage.' Just the thought of it was enough to make cold sweats run down my spine. "…that is the least you could do." I spoke, looking up at the carriage's ceiling as if I could see through it, through the sky and then at Hestia.

As if answering my call, suddenly three multi-coloured screens blipped into existence in front of me. If not for the headrest behind, I would've bashed my head back at Mach speed with how fast I jumped back in fright.

The three screens dimmed and then brightened, as if adjusting to the ambient lighting around us. Once it stabilised, I adjusted myself, composing.

One can't be too careless or carefree in a world like this. Lives after reincarnation are nothing to scoff at. While in anime you could get away with it and teenagers who were nothing short of failures could suddenly kill right after reincarnating, I don't think my vanilla ass is strong enough to kill someone.

That was the reason why I almost jumped when the 'interface' of the 'system' almost slapped itself in my face.

Shaking away the growing, distracting thoughts, I focused back on the first screen that was in the middle. It was a semi-translucent teal slab which seemed to be made out of thin granite—if it had a physical form that is.

Inscribed with light blue characters were inscriptions that I had never seen before, but in the classical anime sense, I could fully understand.

﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

♔THE LATTICE INTERFACE ♔

Name: Loki.

Thread Rank: Level 2®

Alignment: Balance ▲

Fate Influence: Stirring®

﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

Believe me when I say, I was just as confused. First, the name of the system—Lattice Interface. I have never seen something like this. Usually, there are systems but never the name. Secondly, I have never heard of stuff like 'thread rank' and 'alignment.' Is this finally some non-cliché world??

Well, whatever it is, one thing that is very cliché is me being Level 2. God forbid people can't be original these days. Nonetheless, when I looked closer, there was a symbol right above my thread rank and fate influence.

When I clicked on the one on my thread rank, a pop-up window opened.

After reading the essay—that was mostly just cryptic bullshit—I understood one thing. Quoting the system itself:

<Every organism is bound to the lattice via threads. To ascend is to understand—partially. You do not simply 'gain power'; you become power, a living extension of the Lattice itself.>

From what I can understand, people are bound via these so-called 'threads' to the 'lattice' which runs the system. The ascension part could relate to people raising their levels. Although I am still not sure how that is going to be possible. Killing? Somehow strengthening connection with the lattice?

I don't know. For now.

In the end was a rather ominous line that said.

<Beware those who seek to define Thread Ranks in absolutes. Such arrogance frays their connection, inviting ruin. The wise let the Lattice guide them, not the other way around.>

Yeah…let's not dawdle on that this for now.

Clicking on the symbol next to 'Fate Influence,' the same procedure happened. However, the fate influence was much different in its core essence.

So basically, fate Influence is the unseen force that determines how much the Lattice shapes a person's destiny. The more active it is, the more reality bends around them—whether through luck, danger, or opportunity.

There are three tiers of it: Dormant, Stirring & Active. Dormant and Active are pretty much irreversible and do not change until a person dies. Stirring on the other hand…

Ahh! Another cliché shit of fate interrupting! God damn it!

Well, I supposed nothing is bound to go as one might think. Crossing my arms, I let my back sink into uncomfortable backrest. Right next to 'Alignment,' the triangle was blinking.

I mean, I wouldn't have complained if I had gotten Shadow, to be honest. Could've become like Sung Drip Woo, or those Webnovel writers who give that complimentary void step/spectral step to their main characters. But anyways, since it seems to influence one's nature and decisions taken, I think I am fine with it being balanced.

Swiping my finger from left to right, I moved back and was back to the main screen. One other thing I noticed was that while I was using the middle teal coloured slab, the other two had dimmed enough to not be a nuisance.

Neat.

Anyways, looking underneath my name, there were the stats—as expected.

﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

♗Core Attributes♗

 Vigor (VIG): F

 Essence (ESS): D

 Might (MGT): F

 Finesse (FIN): C

 Clarity (CLR): S

 Fortune (FTN): A

﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

Alrighty…not sure how to feel about this. It's like there is no middle ground. Its either bad, or worse. Except the last two. Since I don't understand a fuck about what's happening, I decided to click the question mark boxes before each stat.

And lo and behold, the representation for each stat came into focus! Who could've fucking guessed!

Anyways, so basically, Vigor represents physical health, stamina, and overall endurance, essence governs energy for abilities, shields, and magical resistance. Might—as the name suggests—reflects physical strength and raw power.

Finesse indicates agility, precision, and reflexes, Clarity measures mental resilience, focus, and resistance to mental strain.

Is this in S tier because I am a reincarnated adult?

More than likely.

And last but not the least, fortune enhances luck, critical events, accidental critical hits in fights and rare encounters.

Hmmm. Pretty standard, although I would say there are a few more elements which seem a bit ambiguous if only viewed from the surface value definitions provided.

I was thinking over it when suddenly the carriage came to a sudden stop. Quickly moving my finger from up to down—which I did on a pure instinct—the three slabs/tabs disappeared.

The doors opened almost immediately as a gruff looking boy with orange hair and a pair of striking red eyes looked at me. There were slight freckles on his cheeks which were barely visible under the harsh sunlight.

Ehmm, I should prepare myself. After all, I am not used to people calling me lord or something like that. So, in order to not embarrass myself, I am bracing for the greeting ahead of time.

I was getting ready to be treated like a prince, or at least some kind of nobility when the memories of this body kicked in. And before I could wipe the look of embarrassment from my face, the orange haired boy scowled and motioned out with his thumb.

"Get yo fat ass out of my carriage, right now!"