I couldn’t sleep at all, thinking about my life, and night's events. I will not bore you with all sorts of philosophies and morality of my sudden awakening. In short, it felt awesome, as if the burden fell from my shoulders. I was mostly sane. The gestalt has finally closed. Everything was so eerie, I didn't even know how exactly to react to all this.

It felt like I was in a toy store. The fact that I was still thinking in such terms probably says a lot about me.

Alice was right. Who cares what people think or say? I'm free now. Like the wind. Or like a bird. I can live my life to the fullest, even if I have to hunt all sorts of nasty creatures for that. Or so it seems.

The city will be safer. That’s a win-win in my book.

Lost in thought, I explored the internal system. It was simple and rather primitive. The system had the feel of an old file manager. Would be stupid to ask for anything more, I guess. If they’d put alien Win 10 in my head, I would turn into a pumpkin, and lay in bed for days, downloading updates.

Here it was - a window with stats and their descriptions. I already had time to get acquainted with this, so I switched to the next tab. The help section.

No new information in there.

As the unknown jaeger promised, tutorial messages disappeared after the quest completion. I was left alone with a mysterious file manager.

The last tab was the store.

I had an online store in my head. Well, technically online. Somebody connected me to this weird network back then. Now, I could finally order something from it. The concept itself made me feel dizzy.

It was actually impossible to buy anything useful in the store yet. Apparently, I was too weak to keep a stable connection. That didn’t stop those damn murlocs to come over, but somehow delivery was impossible.

The store sold all kinds of weird items. That included bright red potions, seals, and totems at absolutely outrageous prices. How much alien money did I get for the first task? Twenty-five zan? Cheapest seal, the seal of the Beast, was worth three thousand five hundred. By the standards of the system, I remained a penniless hobo.

I went to the last section, the app store. The only place where I got lucky.

The system provided about a dozen slots for apps, which were plenty. Most of them cost one or two coins. Basic bonuses to health and spiritual energy regeneration came for free. That made me realize I could be badly hurt or even killed while hunting. Somehow, that obvious conclusion escaped me during the fight.

Most of the apps were locked behind the skills and stats requirements. Seal bonuses, synergy boosters, and other mysterious things. There was even an auto-aim. I wonder how it is supposed to work in real life.

I could fill all the available slots right now, but I decided to pick only essential things. Just to see how it goes.

[Mini-map 1] - detailed map of the city is stored in the player's mind. While the player is in his own dwelling, all the nearest available tasks will be marked on this map. Also, there is an option to set markers.

Do I need a map? Totally. I hardly know the city, except this block and downtown by the sea. Something tells me monsters can appear in other places too.

As soon as the app was installed, the image of the map actually appeared in memory. Unfortunately, this is not Google Maps. It was only showing streets, districts, and main attractions. I will have to mark every other point of interest myself. Hills and parks were displayed as empty spaces filled with green. I guess, if something happens in the woods, I’ll have to do it the old fashioned way, following the tracks and moose shit.

[Scanner 1] - this app allows the player to get more detailed information on the enemy. Includes the ability to identify mortals the Stranded is hunting.

The scanner sounds like a thing that a new player should absolutely use. I’ll need to recognize the enemy at the first glance.

[Humanitarian Aid 1] - Until the player reaches level 20, any money rewards will be increased by ten percent.

Money? I'll make money anyway. Spending three coins to get ten percent of twenty-five would be pretty dumb. Well, I am pretty dumb. I am the regional champion in stupid deeds, one might even say a master of the art, but this is too much. Two and a half virtual coins. I can see them, sort of. Here they are. Green and with a hole in the middle. Spend three to get two and a half? Nah. Not until there are bigger rewards.

Much to my disappointment, no new assignments were available. Yet, I could train and improve. During breaks between looking for a job and making friends, of course. I glanced at the clock. 4 AM. It will be dawn soon.

Wow, the first dawn of a new life! I should start posting motivational quotes on social media.

For example, let’s imagine that hypothetical “normal” person. They do not exist, everyone has their own quirks. Even those who are screaming that they are normal may turn out to be completely insane.

Ok, here’s the question.

What would this person do in my place?

No idea. Most likely, they would have gone into denial. Because our enlightened society doesn’t encourage believing in sudden and unexplainable superpowers.

Running with it would not be a normal, adequate answer, would it?

But that doesn't make any sense, does it? I passed the point of no return all those years ago, so I could actually only accept what’s going on and run forward.

…

About a month has passed since my first quest. I got used to managing the system and even pushing it to the very back of my mind. Before awakening, it was floating closer to the surface. Like a vile swarm of intrusive thoughts. For the first time in a while, I was able to look in the mirror and pass for a sane man in my own eyes.

I didn't get any more assignments, and I didn't even know whether to be happy about it or not. On the one hand, I was already eager to fight. I wanted to try new opportunities, earn zan, and visit the game store. But, the lack of signals meant that the city was safe in that regard. Anomalous monsters did not threaten anyone. And that, whatever one may say, is a good thing.

Over time, the effects of leveling became more noticeable. My reaction speed improved a little. Even thoughts were a tiny bit faster. And this is just one point invested in speed! What heights can be achieved if you actually work on your build? My interest in drawing diagrams on paper has reawakened. Except, I couldn’t work on it, since I knew zilch about actual possibilities.

There was another side effect of the awakening. I discovered it when I crashed my knee into the parking counter next to a supermarket. When you’re gawking, not even super reflexes can save you. It was a pretty hard hit.

A pale bump swelled on my skin. But there was no pain. Instead, the damaged part was numb and felt rather unpleasant. It was some kind of cold, pulling sensation. As if the knee has decided to live its own life, and run away from an abusive owner. After a couple of minutes, it got better.

A weird feeling of constraint completely replaced physical pain in all its manifestations. The injuries healed at the same rate as usual (unless I was home). Without feeling any discomfort, I could ignore them most of the time. I had a working theory about that since the help section was anything, but helpful. Whoever gave me access to the system, had a clear goal. They intended to create a fighter, capable of taking on all kinds of things that bump in the night. Sort of a skinny asian witcher. It is logical that a low pain threshold would prevent me from completing tasks.

Although, if those creatures hadn't turned out to be cowards, I would have kicked it right there and then.

Alice caught me testing this curious effect, and now she probably thinks that I am also a masochist. So, it is better not to repeat this at home, and indeed, not to repeat such experiments anywhere.

Although I found a job, I still lived with my step-sister. Alice was not particularly eager to kick me out, and I was in no hurry to leave. We managed to fight off our parents together. For a person who was not interested in my well-being, mommy invaded on a bi-weekly basis.

I mean, she had a new family, even a new child. Why not leave behind the old ones, let them live for themselves? But no. I was a freeloader. Thus, represented too great a threat to the psychological well-being of the clan.

Eh, what can you do? Bite me.

First of all, renting a tolerable, albeit small, apartment in a normal place would eat up almost all my salary. And I didn't want to rent a room. I would have to live with some rando, wasting time and mental strength. At least my sister was sympathetic to my quirks. She had enough of her own screws loose.

We saw each other only on the evening table. I guess, because of this, our spiritual connection got stuck at the first level. I wanted to achieve stable progress there, but work began to take most of the day.

Info about my diagnosis always managed to somehow leak into the world. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but people cared for some reason. So, in places where the HR department actually did its job, I had zero chance to be hired. They always somehow found out all the interesting details of my biography. Then promised to call. Take a guess whether they ever did.

I got a job in a small hardware store, somewhat close to the city center. It was a pretty good deal. They paid well, and I had to work two for two, paired with the owner’s son.

At the workplace, I got hold of a sledgehammer with a resilient fiberglass handle. I kind of liked waving a hammer around but wanted to put the old one back where it belonged. I don’t think anybody actually missed it, but at least my conscience was clear. New hammer was registered in the system. Then, a whole new section unlocked for it: the artifact tab.

The new tab looked like a store, but instead of apps and seals, it sold artifact enhancements. In my case, for melee weapons. There were several options to choose from. Increased durability, reduced weight (just for me. A normal value was used on hit), a slight increase in level.

Below them the various upgrades that I would never have enough money for. Among them are elemental enchantments. Then some unique skills whose descriptions contradicted the laws of thermodynamics. I chose durability, as the most convenient option.