??? POV
"Keep those arms moving you lazy bastards!"
I swung the pickaxe with all my might against the ore lodged in the wall as a small crack was made that kept chipping away every time I hit the wall slowly making my way to the dusty ore. Each time I swung I also hear the sounds of other pickaxes in the tunnel chipping away at different spots of the tunnel and turning my head I see the gaunt and exhausted forms of the other slaves nearly keeling over after hours of the same motion.
"Hey who said you could take a break!" exclaimed one of the slavers at a slave who had collapsed from being overworked.
The slaver kicked the poor guy who was probably no more than sixteen and began to continously hit him until the guy was beaten to a bloody pulp and once he was done spit in disgust on the teen. The rest of the slaves shook in fear and some sobs could be heard from the younger slaves and a few from the older ones but none made a move to help the boy out of fear that they could be next.
" Hey." the slaver told a few of his underlings standing watch over the other slaves.
"This one can't get up anymore, throw it out and bring in another one"
The boy was completely covered in blood and bruises and showed no signs of life, at least from what I could see, and the underlings grabbed the limp body and began to carry him off through another section of the cave and not half an hour later a new slave showed up and simply picked up the boy's pickaxe and continued where he left off.
This was the nature of the world that I was dropped in and forced to survive in. A few months had passed since I woke up in this body and got some what used to my new life if you could call it that. In the few months i've been here I gathered as much information as I could from the very limited sources of information that was available to me being the other slaves.
The first thing I learned was the somewhat obvious fact that we were slaves arriving from various places across the world that I had come to know as Paracosm and that I was something known as a demihuman. Demi Humans were those who looked human or were humanlike but shared features with those from the animal kingdom, and even from other kingdoms such as insects or even plant life.
From what I could see at the various demihumans in this cave some had minor features such as a tail or animal ears to being completely covered in fur, having snouts and mostly resembling a large bipedal animal.
It was very jarring seeing things that looked as though they came straight out of a fantasy novel but this was my reality now.
Speaking of fantasy, the second thing I learned was that in this world was that magic was real and existed alongside modern technology as on my first few days I saw some of the slavers summon magic whips of fire to punish the slaves and later even saw some use a device that showed a hologram to communicate with a woman who liked like a high ranking official.
In the months following that I saw various forms of magic ranging from, fire, wind, water, ice, electricity, and what appeared to be light and shadow . As for technology I saw various different technology that looked as though it was directly out of the future with high tech communication devices, armed robots, giant mechs used to transport heavy minerals and vehicles that seemed to hover off the floor.
Seeing all of this was indeed shocking but to me paled in comparison to the third thing I learned. While checking my surroundings to make sure I had a chance to look I silently thought of one word to summon the source of my shock.
'System'
At that one thought a small translucent screen appeared in front of me that appeared about an hour after waking up showing me two bars and different numbers each with their own title. I didn't have much experience with it but the small screen reminded of a video game I used to play with the two bars that signified my HP and Mana with HP standing for my overall health and mana is what I assumed was the source of peoples magic or what they used to cast it. As for the numbers each one had a different value and each had their own title being strength (4), agility(5), intelligence(15), wisdom(10), and stamina(20).
It was strange seeing my strengths and weaknesses being displayed as a game in front of me but I quickly tried to get my bearings and accepted that this was a part of my new life. I wondered if this was part of what the angel gave to me and I wasn't quite sure as to what made her so upset at first... until I got to the next screen.
As I thought it the screen quickly switched and showed me my skills. It was a mix of strange and off putting skills that were confusing at first but I quickly understood. Wolf heart- Gain proficiency in stamina and can stay awake for multiple days without rest. Enhanced Senses- all senses have been enhanced according to your biological traits.
Both rather straight forward and seemingly good abilities that don't have many drawbacks... or so it seemed. Wolf heart helps with continous physical labor and staying awake but does nothing for mental fatigue and made it difficult to sleep resulting in me having the feeling of lethargy but a relatively fine body. As for Enhanced Senses I had to accustom myself to the overpowering new senses that were hitting my body all at once. It was only a few moments after a woke up but I soon began to see better than I ever could have in the dark, and nearly ripped out my new ears from the loud sounds accompanying work being done from high pitched drills to hammers and pickaxes hitting the walls of the cave and the heart wrenching screams I heard from the slaves. But even that paled in comparison to my new sense of smell that picked up dozens of different scents that made me nauseous and nearly passed out. It took me weeks to get used to my new body and even then I still struggle from time to time with these new skills.
As I continued to look at the screen in front of me I was quickly brought back to reality after I heard the footsteps of one of the slavers quickly approaching and began to strike the wall once again.