Transmigrated as a Ghost



After having made his escape from Thegia, who was far too interested in his and Mrazivý's relationship, Marcus took his post as the first on watch.

Even with the defensive spells that he, Evette, and Miguel had cast, this unexplored island was far too dangerous not to have lookouts at night.

Marcus was not the only one keeping watch, of course. Each of the four parties had one member staying up and keeping a vigilante eye out.

In most places this would be considered overkill, but from the intel gathered by the first scouting party during their short stay on the island, they knew that this island was teeming with dangerous creatures that wanted them dead.

Luckily, Marcus' shift on watch ended without incident and Kollo came to relieve him from his duty so he could get some sleep.

However, when Marcus entered his and Mrazivý's tent, he did not go to bed but instead began to experiment now that he was away from prying eyes.

'Time to see what I can and cannot do here.'

Holding his right hand out, Marcus created a Dark Portal and attempted to connect it to one he had left outside of the island.

'No dice huh.'

Unfortunately, he would not be able to use his unique skill to warp away or back again. If he could it would have opened up several possibilities he could exploit.

Next, he tried creating two portals within his sight line and found that this worked just as usual.

'So, I can still use them to fight. Now the only question is if I can connect two portals on the island even if I don't have a visual.'

Sadly, Marcus could not test this application of his unique skill yet as it would be impossible for him to leave the camp right now.

Perhaps he might be able to sneak away unnoticed in his ghost form, but he doubted it with Evette around. He would just have to wait to test out the limits of his Dark Portal unique skill when they set up camp in a different location.

Once Marcus was satisfied with his testing of his Dark Portal unqieu skill, heheld up his hand and made it intangible.

For obvious reasons he had not displayed any of his ghostly abilities in front of the entire expedition squad and now was his first chance to see how they worked.

He attempted to phase his hand through the ground but was met with resistance he could not force through.

'I guess this place really is like the special dungeon with all its restrictions to keep people from cheesing it with unusual abilities.'

After his failed attempt to pass through the ground Marcus jammed his hand into some of the furniture in the tent and found that he could go through them like normal. It seemed that he could go through objects from outside the island without issue.

Then he entered his full ghost form and attempted to float but was blocked from moving up and down. Just as he expected.

The only movements he could make while floating was sliding across the ground in an unsettling manner.

'That just about does it for what I can experiment with inside the tent.' 

Leaning back, he relaxed and began thinking about what he would do next.

Normally he would just go to sleep in order to pass the time, but he had no intention of doing so here.

Without any need to sleep he planned on staying up every night in order to be on the alert for threats. 

He only slept as a leisure activity for the most part or when he was under a great deal of mental strain to rest his mind.

Currently he would be fine for an indefinite amount of time even if he did not get a wink of sleep.

'Guess I'll read. I brought plenty of books to keep me occupied during the night.'

Yet the moment Marcus let his guard down just a bit and reached to take a book out of his item box, a loud howl echoed throughout the camp.

Immediately Marcus jumped up and focused his senses to detect if anything was attacking.

'It's not within three hundred meters at least. My life sense skill is not picking anything up nor has my spell been touched. Perhaps it was just some beast howling at something unrelated to us?' Marcus thought letting his tension lessen.

Mrazivý had not stirred from her sleep so the howl must not have felt threatening to her, and Marcus himself did not detect any danger.

Still, something felt unsettling to him about the howl. It was not like anything he had ever heard before from any beast or monster he had encountered.

From the tone he could tell it was not an excited cry of a beast alerting its pack to prey. Nor did it sound like a creature that was injured and crying out in pain.

There was something eerie about how ambiguous it was, as if it was not meant to relay anything at all.

Marcus could not get it out of his mind though, and every time he remembered the howl he shivered. On some level he felt it was dangerous for some reason even if his danger sense skill had failed to perceive it as such.

'Maybe I am just being paranoid but let me check my status.'

Opening up his status window, Marcus checked his notifications and went wide eyed when he saw what the latest item was.

The proof he was looking for that the howl had been anything but harmless was right in front of him and learning what manner of creature had just begun its attack on them was enough to unnerve Marcus.

Despite having slept through the howl, Mrazivý picked up on the change in Marcus' demeanor that was now clearly radiating alarm.

"Mraz check your status now!" Marcus said with such urgency that she was taken aback.

Nevertheless, Mrazivý did as he asked immediately without asking for clarification. She knew that he was not one to feign acting so dire just to mess around.

In an instant her eyes turned golden and her pupils became slits as she used her Dragon Eyes to peer into her own status.

There she found exactly what Marcus was looking for, and her face twisted into a look of confusion and unease at what she saw.