Name: Robert Scartooth Race: Elf Orc Class: Fighter Strength: 19 Level: 1 (000/300 EXP) Dexterity: 14 Subclass: N/A Constitution: 17 Available EXP: 350 Wisdom: 13 Class: Tank Intelligence: 12 Lv: 1 (000/300 EXP) Charisma: 15 Subclass: N/A

Scratching at his decidedly chiseled jawline, Robert looked at the small blue screen in front of his face, 'What the hell is this?' he wondered mentally in confusion. He looked through a few of the other tabs before landing back on the first one, 'There are a few things wrong with some of this information--' he stopped himself when he realised his light green tinted skin, '--Or maybe I need to update my memory. Don't remember having green skin before today,' he thought before sighing and mumbling to himself, "Don't remember being able to use a spear either. Nor being able to kill a pack of wolves," he looked to the bloodied spear he'd thrown to the floor a few moments ago.

A few feet away from the small pool of vomit he'd been forced to throw up a few seconds after the muscle memory of this body had stopped occupying his thoughts after he'd killed the pack of wolves. Said wolves were scattered around with deep blood gashes or perforated holes bored into them. Seven wolves in total. A quick bit of math told Robert each wolf was worth exactly 50 experience.

Yet he couldn't really find it in himself to care all too much for that right now. He was far too focused on the situation he was in.

About ten minutes ago, he was a normal albeit lazy man. He worked and paid his due but never went out of his way for anything that could be considered an ambitious move - he didn't aim for promotions at work. He didn't put aside money for the future. He was content with mediocrity and living in the moment.

'Then I filled in that bloody advert thinking it was a D&D create your own character,' he scowled, closing his eyes as he brought up a hand to cover his expression, as if to hide it from the surroundings. Or perhaps it was the opposite way round instead. Thinking back, he hadn't made the smartest of decisions. Who willingly clicks on those types of ads? 'Idiots,' he added mentally with a sardonic feeling rising up in his gut which quickly turned to nausea as flashes of what he'd done to those wolves entered his mind.

Dropping his hand a little further, Robert covered his mouth with a closed fist, as if he was covering a burp. Which, in a sense, he was. Except this type of burp would bring with it a more liquidy content than just excess gas.

Blinking the tears from his eyes, Robert began to feel the invasive chill of the surroundings finally settling in through the chain and leather armor he was currently wearing. Even despite the armor bulking up his frame a little, he was easily able to see that his body was rippling with muscles - the athletic kind you'd see a sprinter sporting. From that Strength stat he'd seen earlier, Robert would guess the big and athletic frame of this character no doubt held some very potent power. Pushing the thought from his mind, Robert walking over to his spear and bent over to pick it up before looking at it with an uneasy expression.

Once again, flashes of how it felt to skewer and slash the wolves filled his head but he forced them down much quicker this time.

Shuffling the spear to his right hand, he turned passed the pool of stomach contents and stepped forth to retrieve his other piece of equipment - a tower shield. Or at least, that's what he thought it was. It just seemed a little small for this body. 'Or maybe this body is just a little big for the shield,' Robert reasoned as he fit the shield on his right arm, realising it was big enough to cover his torso and all the way down to his thighs. It could cover his head if he bent down behind it.

More from muscle memory than an actual desire for it to be clean, Robert's right arm flicked out the spear it was holding in a display of finesse Robert didn't think he was capable of, spun it around in a short but blindingly fast twirl. Blood flicked off the heavy spear, it's sharp and thick spearhead becoming free of blood while it's metal pole seemed to have a surface that repelled liquid - which seemed very good for grip, Robert would assume.

By the time he stopped the twirl, the spear looked as if it hadn't been through seven wolves recently.

Looking at his arm as if it weren't his - truthfully, it hadn't been his until ten minutes ago - and Robert felt the urge to look at his other tabs with a little more concentration. Which is exactly what he did.

Skills: Descriptions: Beginner Spear Mastery - Lv9 (Passive) You have barely begun upon the journey of mastering the spear yet you show promise and are not completely a novice in it's use. Power, reflexes, precision and stamina efficiency when using a spear to attack are heightened by a small degree. Beginner Shield Mastery - Lv7 (Passive) You have barely begun upon the hourney of mastering the use of the shield yet you show promise and are not completely a novice in it's use. Power, reflexes, precision and stamina efficiency when using a shield to defend are heightened by a small degree. Keen Senses - LvMax (Passive) Your Elven heritage has gifted you keener senses than most which can help you in many passive ways, both in and out of combat. Menacing Presence - LvMax (Passive) Your Orcish heritage has gifted you with a more imposing presence than most which can help you in many passive ways, both in and out of combat. Powerful Build - LvMax (Passive) Your Orcish heritage has gifted you with a stronger physique than most, which makes you twice as strong as something your size should be. Defensive Reactions - Lv1 (Semi-Passive) Your protective nature as a Tank gives you the opportunity to deflect, defend or help those within range of you where others may not be able to act. You must want to help the person in danger - if you do not want to, the skill will not activate. The effectiveness of this skill scales from skill level and the Dexterity stat. Second Wind - Lv1 (Active) Your tenacity as a Fighter has gifted you the ability to exceed your limits and heal yourself slightly during battle and restore a small amount of your stamina. The effectiveness of this skill scales from skill level and the Constitution stat.

Reading through the descriptions, Robert began to wonder if he should laugh or laugh boisterously. While not a straight up OP skillset, it was very well-made, 'But I guess that's quite narcissistic to think considering I made the character,' Robert chuckled to himself as his mind began to recall more and more of what he'd done in that advert that seemed more like an isekai portal if anything, 'Maybe some lazy albeit clever God got bored of listening to mortals prattle on about what they wanted and just automated the process,' Robert half-joked. Only half-joked, because he was quickly realizing that's probably what happened.

If not that, then what? Sure, you could argue that it could be a Devil or a Celestial being that had made the ad and sent Robert here...but that would really just be semantics. A higher being had sent him here, through the use of the internet, 'Which is astoundingly clever. God knows I'd probably end up stealing that method if I had to deal with reincarnating and transmigrating humans as my job,' Robert shivered at the mental image before realising something that brought him out of his thoughts.

Available EXP: 350

He could level up in one of his classes. Which brought on the question of which class to level up first. Though the answer came quite quickly to Robert.

Level Up!

Tank Lv1 --> Tank Lv2

Vitality and resilience surge within you!

As your level up to Level 2, your vitality is enhanced. The very base energy of your body. This has revealed to you three paths that lie before you:

The first path is one of endurance and strength. To stand as a Tank is to meet your enemies in the field of battle and to stop them by being the bigger, stronger combatant!

The second path is one of protection. To stand as a Tank is to protect your bonded people no matter the cost and to do so with a smile on your face and courage in your chest!

The third and final path is one of magic. To stand as a Tank is to deal with threats beyond the physical - anyone can block a physical strike, but can they block a fireball with their mind?!

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Which path do you take?

Once again, the decision was easy for Robert. He'd made these decisions before, after all. Clicking on the first path, he felt a flood of energy and strength enter his body and run rampant among his muscles, bones and organs. He'd always wondered what leveling up and gaining a skill felt like - now he knew. It felt pleasant...yet at the same time unpleasant.

'Like being in a hot spring for a little long,' he summarised as his body was suddenly unaffected by the surrounding cold winds, 'It feels nice but I imagine experiencing this for too long would become quite uncomfortable.'

The feeling thankfully came to an end before that, however, and Robert was left standing as his body was practically vibrating from the newfound strength and energy he found inside it, '--No, it isn't just strength. It feels...deeper than that. Like it said, resilience surges within me and I no doubt have more health than before. Though there isn't a stat for it in my status...which is odd, honestly. Guess quantifying health in numbers is much harder than some pieces of media make it out to be.'

Shrugging, Robert turned his tentative gaze away from his gloved hands and back to a new screen that regaled his new skill.

Skill: Description Vital Enhancement - Lv1 (Passive) Your vital energy has been strengthened and funneled into your muscles and bones directly. Every point in Strength and Constitution has been made 50% more effective than it otherwise would've been. Remarkable Athlete - LvMax (Branch Skill To Vital Enhancement) After having your vital energy strengthened, you are now 10% faster in terms of movement speed. Adrenaline State - LvMax (Branch Skill To Vital Enhancement) Due to having deeper and denser stores of stamina after having your vital energy strengthened, you are able to burn it in bursts for greater effects. Upon activation, this skill allows you to enter a greater physical state for a minute, allowing you to attack quicker, harder and more times. Once the minute is over, you will enter a short period of exhaustion.

Nodding to himself, Robert was finally beginning to come to terms with certain things:

1) He wasn't on Earth anymore.

2) He may never return to Earth again. No seeing his family or friends on the weekend. He was alone in a new world.

3) He was in the middle of nowhere on a foreign world, in a forest that was no doubt filled with wild beasts that would love to kill and eat him.

But on a more positive note:

4) He was in a much improved body and he hadn't even needed to go to the gym for it.

5) He was in a new world filled with adventure and chances for exploration, and he had superpowers.

6) He may never return to Earth again.

Jokes aside, this situation was incredibly jarring for Robert. He tried diverting his worry and anxiety away with weak attempts at humor - he'd even tried to distract himself with the process and feeling of leveling up. Yet it was finally dawning on him exactly what was happening to him and what type of situation he was currently in. He held himself standing with his spear when his knees threatened to give in after his realisation and focused his mind in another diraction when he felt the wind around him pick up, blasting him with a cold and bloody scent.

'First, get to a nearby settlement. Then I can break down. Just need to avoid doing so in a dangerous wintery forest,' he thought as he looked around the forest. Each of the trees were thin and without leaves, showing the season to be deep into winter - if that wasn't obvious by the light snow currently falling to the ground all around him, planketing the forest floor in white.

Luckily for the inexperienced Robert, memories of this version of Robert came to the rescue and told him he wouldn't need to be too fearful of ambushes while traversing the forest. The trees were widely spread out with a decent amount of space between each of them - the end result being it gave the newly made Elf Orc the ability to see the forest all around him without having his eyesight blocked by a sea of trees. Which lowered the possibility of being ambushed quite low, 'Not to mention I should be able to see anything running at me from quite a distance away,' he added, trying and succeeding to make himself feel better about the whole situation.

With somewhat renewed resolve, Robert stepped forward, still using his spear to help him along as he followed the memories of this body. His destination wasn't too far away, if he was following them correctly.

. . .

Stepping into the tavern was a welcome reprieve for Robert. Despite his latest level giving him an enhancement to his vitality or whatever and helping with the cold, it hadn't made him completely immune to the sharp bite of the cold either. So, after trekking through a snowy forest for the past half and hour, he was beginning to feel the cold once more though admittedly his new body handled it much better than his old body would have.

It wasn't just the heat of the tavern that was welcome, however. It was the noise and merriment inside of it that was most lovely to Robert.

He entered to see a crowd of people, dressed in assortment of clothes - some poor looking common clothes and others in expensive plate armor. Yet all of them shared a thing or two in common. Which was made them look so alien to Robert, actually.

Because the thing they shared in common was their race. And no, Robert wasn't regarding their skin color or nationality.

He was talking about their species. He could see short and wide men with great beards which were either dark blond, black or red. All of them had braided parts in their hair and while they weren't exactly ugly, they wouldn't be winning any awards for attractiveness if their flat noses, pronounced brows and beady eyes were anything to go by. Each and everyone of them, regardless of their gender, were muscular with thick arms that ended in surprisingly dexterous fingers - they weren't as exceptionally thick as you'd think they would be, considering their arms.

'They're Dwarves,' Robert recognized both from his own memories and the new ones that showed parts of this world and it's common sense.

Robert's gaze moved to the most eye-catching of the lot - a tall and lithe red-skinned man with bull horns that curled up from the top of his forehead and stretched backward over the top of his hair. His silky-looking black hair basically meshed with the black horns, making them hard to see unless you were really looking for them or were looking at the right angle. Robert's hair was also black yet it did not hold the same midnight-esque element the red-skinned man's black hair did. It was like it absorbed the ambient light around him.

As he opened his mouth, laughing at a nearby joke told by what looked like a Human, Robert saw the Tiefling's canine's were slightly pointed like fangs - though Robert would rather choose to not be so presumptuous when calling someone a human after seeing so many human-like races. 'Or maybe humans just look very Tiefling-like? Or Elf-like, for that matter,' Robert almost said 'we' when he thought about humans which would've been a mistake.

'I'm not longer a human.'

One such thought was what was really plaguing him currently. He wasn't sure how to deal with his newfound lack of humanity. It really got him thinking, 'Because I don't feel different,' he thought there'd be new instincts or something - and there were. But they were from the residual memories of this body's Robert. Not from his race. 'Sure, I feel physically different. But mentally, I still feel...human,' he didn't know how else to describe it but Robert felt like it was an apt description of his feelings.

He still felt human despite not technically being a human. 'Maybe I have a human soul,' he mused before shaking his head, pushing away from such complicated thoughts as he took steps toward the bar counter where a particularly good-looking older man stood, cleaning a glass.

As Robert approached, he quickly noted that the man's ears were pointed and were longer than a humans would've been - but they weren't the same length as some of the Elves in the tavern.

'A Half-Elf, then. Like me,' he added, feeling even more weird at admitting he was part Elf. Like he'd thought before, he certainly didn't feel part Elf.

"Hello," Robert started, speaking just loud enough for the bartender to hear over the crowd but not loud enough to make a commotion, "Do you have any free rooms?" he asked the man, pulling out a single gold coin from his coin bag that was held at his hip.

The Half-Elf looked up from his job of cleaning glasses, looking to Robert with a practiced smile that gave way to a surprised look, "A Half-Orc, huh? Don't get many of your sort round these parts, fella," he spoke with a subtle accent and Robert wondered if he grew up around Dwarves. From what he could hear and what his memories of this world said, he sounded like them. Oblivious to the thoughts Robert had on his accent, the older man continued with a nod, "We have a few single rooms left. Second or first floor? It'll only cost you a silver which includes a bath. Though you'll have to pay extra for food, the pricing will depend on what you order."

Nodding, Robert replied with a polite tone to his voice, "Then I'll stay for three nights on either floor and I'll have whatever two silvers can get me for food. I'd prefer a light dish with more vegetables than meat, please."

The bartender nodded and took the gold coin before putting it under the counter and into some sort of pouch that must've acted as a cash register, Robert assumed, before taking out a few silvers and handing them back to him. Robert counted them quickly before sliding the five silvers back into his coin pouch.

"Go sit wherever you can. I'll send your food out when it's done," the Half-Elf informed Robert before giving a laugh, "Don't worry about 'em not seeing you either. It'd be hard to miss you even if they wanted to. Can definitely see the Orc in ya when it comes to yer size," his accent came through stronger when he laughed, his control over the common Language slipping in place for more Dwarven pronunciation. Robert realized his ears truly were keen - he'd caught the accent even before the Half-Elf's control over it had begun slipping.

'Another example that I'm different,' Robert thought, his mind clouding with...something, 'If I were my past self, I wouldn't have cared about someone's accent, let alone have been listening to them deeply enough to hear a subtle accent purposefully hidden. I guess being in this Robert's body is rubbing off on me in some positive ways...he was a much better man than me, regardless.'

Turning away from the bar, Robert surveyed the tavern and saw a few people casting curious gazes at him.

The Half-Elf bartender hadn't been wrong. He'd thought about it briefly in the forest but now that he was in the tavern, it really jumped out at him:

Robert's new body was massive. Easily around two meters tall, maybe an inch taller, with broad shoulders and a strong chest that gave a sort of Atlas impession - like his new body was built to hold up incredible weights. Yet unlike certain powerlifters, his gut was flat and even without seeing it, Robert could easily feel the taut muscle there. He had a six-pack. Maybe even an eight-pack. It was an...odd, discovery, yet not a surprising one considering the rest of his new body's incredibly musculature.

What did this all mean? Well, he practically dwarfed most of the people in the Tavern. The only people taller than him had similarly green skin but in darker shades and tusks sticking out of their lower lips which Robert was without. His canine teeth were slightly longer and thicker than he was used to but they were by no means tusks. He was somewhat glad with that, actually.

'Orcs,' he came to an unsure conclusion before adding 'or Half-Orcs. I'm honestly unsure.'

What really caught his attention, however, was a small crowd gathered around a table. The table was filled with coins of all sorts, all being managed by a small fellow who was even shorter than the Dwarves around and much thinner, 'A Halfling maybe?' Robert wondered as he walked closer to see what they were doing. Though when he saw what they were doing and the betting, he smiled, revealing his unusual canine teeth.

They were arm-wrestling, and guess who had 19 Strength?