The current Zephyr had never done it before, so he cautiously approached the instrument and placed his left hand over it.
Then, closing his eyes, he thought of dragging the mana from his core to the instrument.
Responding to his calling, the mana flowed out effortlessly.
As someone with absolute mana control, he didn't even have to try for the mana to respond. It was easier than flicking a finger.
When the mana seeped into the runes of the instrument, it began to exude a pure white glow.
Zephyr could see pulses of mana moving through the instrument and into the metal pipes attached to it.
A few seconds later, he felt his mana core rapidly empty.
At the same time, some pulses of mana returned to the instrument from the pipes, making it change colour and glow pale green.
'No weather anomaly detected. It's safe. No need to report or anything.'
Blinking his weary eyes, Oliver rested his head over the table. Now, he could sleep without a worry.
Immediately, his consciousness sank into darkness, and he slept peacefully for hours.
—
Later that day, Zephyr woke up with a stiff neck and a refreshed mind. His eyes still contained the panda-like bags around them. But his mind was refreshed and ready.
'Sleep is necessary at times.' He commented and stood up.
The coarse wooden table had imprinted its pattern on his face because of the prolonged sleep.
Zephyr stood up and rubbed his face to circulate the blood.
'Now that I think about it, wasn't there supposed to be a system or a cheat ability for all transmigraters? Where is mine?'
With his energy replenished, Zephyr found time to think about the general plot of the transmigration novels. There was supposed to be a cheat item or ability given to all transmigrators. So, he should have received one, he thought amusingly.
'Well, who cares…I have never been lucky in life. It doesn't matter if I have a cheat ability or not, I am going to live my life either way.' He said to himself, rubbing his cheeks harder.
He was unbothered by the idea that nothing good would happen to him. After all, he was used to it.
It was normal for him to be unfortunate.
Shaking off the sleep, Zephyr walked over to the window on the side of his office.
It was a wide circular hole drilled into the side of the cylindrical tower. Through it, Zephyr gazed into the crystal blue ocean and the beach nearby.
The large waves undulating up and down the beaches, white-feathered birds similar to the seagulls he knew flying in the skies, people of all ages walking alongside the beach —everything he saw was slightly different from normal, yet at the same time, normal.
At least, what was supposed to be normal for a person from another world.
'This is indeed a different world.' Zephyr silently muttered.
'And even I am different.'
He turned to look at his scrawny hands, which looked malnourished and pale.
'The chimera was a horrifying monster that looked disgusting. I hope I will not turn into one. I don't want to be ugly.' Zephyr thought.
There was no mirror or any polished surfaces to view his reflection. Thus, the current Zephyr had no way to know how he looked.
'Thinking back, none of the villagers I met along the way turned away in disgust. That must mean I don't look ugly, right?'
'Yes, that must be it.'
Turning away, Zephyr giggled and walked back to the table where the magical tools were placed.
The tool was a black metal slab inscribed with runes, attached to metal pipes running down the wall.
'How does this even work?'
Zephyr walked closer and observed it.
Despite having used it a while ago, he had no idea about the fundamental principles behind its operation.
The runes etched on the surface of the metal slab were unintelligible primarily. Most runes were also covered in what he could only think of as copy protection methods. So, even if he could see them, he couldn't know for sure if the runes he was seeing were their correct form.
So, trying to understand the principles behind it was a hopeless endeavour.
'This must be the work of a master. There is no point in trying to decipher it.'
'With an anti-copy mechanism, the runes could be obfuscated. What you see might not actually be what it is.'
'I should go back and shorten the mana gathering spell instead of wasting time here…'
Just as his thoughts reached this point, he felt a piercing pain travel from his stomach.
*Gurgle*
The stomach made a growling noise as if something else was alive in it.
"Damn…Am I turning into a chimera?"
Zephyr panicked, but quickly realised it was just hunger.
The pain he felt was nothing more than a signal from his body to show him how hungry he was.
'Hm…Thanks for reminding me this is not a game, stomach.'
Zephyr patted his stomach and walked out of the room.
'Now that I think about it, what do I eat?'
He squinted his eyes and tried to remember the daily routine of 'Zephyr'.
'Zephyr, the original was an introverted bookworm who used to spend most of his time reading magical research texts. He rarely speaks with the people of the village, except for when he has to buy groceries.'
'That's right! He had already bought everything he needed. It should be at home.'
Zephyr quietly remembered everything. To satiate himself, he would have to go home and eat the bread that was purchased a few days ago.
'Bread if it's bread. I friggin don't have any money left to buy anything else.'
Thinking that, Zephyr walked down the spiralling stairs of the lighthouse, rubbing his fingers along the walls. The black stone walls of the lighthouse once again amazed him with their hardness and smoothness.
Soon, he reached the bottom of the tower, breathing heavily.
Two other people were standing below the tower, speaking about something. They were wearing coarse, washed-out clothes and talking in hushed voices about something.
Zephyr couldn't hear them clearly. And he was also not interested in hearing them.
So, he turned his eyes away and decided to walk by. That's what the original Zephyr was supposed to do, so there would be nothing suspicious about that, he thought.
However, just as he started walking, one of the people called out to him.
"Sir, Zephyr, wait."
"Hm?" Zephyr turned around suspiciously.
The villagers never speak to him unless he speaks to them. Therefore, Zephyr was a little shocked to hear the person call out to him.
'So why?'