William approached the others that had been dragged to GAEA with him and the first thing he noticed was that about two thirds of the people had gear equipped. His mother, father, and sister were all equipped. Beside them several feet away, the last third of the village were kneeling on the ground clutching their head in pain. More starter gear popped up in front of each of the ailing villagers. It didn’t take a genius to guess that the third reminder prompt hurt way more than the second one William had received.
To his annoyance, William saw Walter Duncan equipped with a sword and buckler like him. Walter was the eldest child of the Duncan family, the family that owned the largest farm in their old village that his father toiled away at for a pittance. William disagreed with the gross pay ethos that the Duncans used, but couldn’t help but feel little sympathy for his dad when his dad could always look for work elsewhere rather than draining cans of beer daily to deal with it all.
“Why did he have to pick the same fucking class?” William muttered under his breath.
Walter was the closest thing to a nemesis that William had, a bully that always belittled and embarrassed him in public settings. The worst part was that his family even if present wouldn’t interfere for fear of his father losing his job. That was what William hoped was the reason for it anyway. As William got closer he noticed that as Walter was flexing with his sword, swinging it around like a child with a stick. William noticed that Walter’s arms were not muscular any more. Being the eldest scion of the Duncan family, he was expected to have a well-built and calloused body.
Realization struck William as he figured out that what wiped the fat off of him, had also wiped the muscle from Walter. William was elated at this and being several inches taller than Walter, William now had some advantage over him. Before, William was taller, but fatter. Walter was still around 5’6” but was built sturdy. Now it was a clean slate.
His pettiness wasn't unjust as Walter had been the bane of his life. An entitled bully with a superiority complex because his family owned the biggest farm and employed a good portion of their small town. His father had worked for them for years and yet he was still just a farmhand. A dead end job tilling fields all day was what his father's legacy would be. Maybe his father can change that now and create something that would matter when he was gone.
This was to be William’s story and he would leave Walter in the dust. He just had to get some good levelling in after getting settled at some form of base camp or settlement if one was nearby.
William approached his family as they were all staring at the few unequipped villagers started equipping their new gear sets.
With a sarcastic tone, William said, “Welcome to the world of GAEA, where liposuction is apparently free and instant!” His family all turned around startled at the jump scare he had brought down on them.
His mother started at the sight before her. “William? You...lost weight.”
No “Oh thank god you’re safe William, we were so worried.” William just gave a faint smile in reply as his dad stepped up to him.
Stopping a couple inches away his father spoke, “Good, you can now start gaining a grafter’s body. Once we figure out what to do next.”
Fuck that. The only graft William was doing was grinding out trash mobs somewhere to rake in the levels.
“Finding shelter would be the best course of action I think.” William replied.
It always was as a level one player in MMOs so that logic would fit in GAEA too he presumed. His father pondered William’s words for a moment then nodded and walked off to speak to a couple of the other villagers. Hopefully to endorse William’s idea. “Still no words of worry, just expectations. As always.” He thought to himself.
William’s sister Jane was just staring at him with a look of confusion before locking eyes with William. “A sword and shield? William, do you even know how to use those things?”
William struggled but managed to keep a straight face. Of course not but that’s what trash mobs were for. William scanned his eyes over Jane and saw a white staff across a strap on her back. The obvious I’m a healer staff seemed obnoxiously big almost being taller than Jane.
That was surprising given that Jane was nearly the same height as William at 6ft. “Do you know how to cast healing spells sis?”
Jane looked slightly taken aback by that. “How the hell do you know about my healing spells?”
“'Heck', Jane. Don’t use blasphemous terms like 'hell,'” their mother interjected.
Returning to what Jane just said, William chuckled, raising his hand up and pointing down at himself. “Gamer right here. Healing is a thing in lots of video games and your staff is glaringly obvious in what it does.”
Jane rolled her eyes and let out a long sigh before replying, “Why is it always those video games? Why can’t you find a more practical hobby?”
Oh it was incredibly practical in this new setting, and William couldn’t wait to demonstrate that in the future. For now though, he would just dodge the question.
He looked at his mother and asked, “What class did you pick?”
His mother just pointed to the ground behind her where a backpack, bow, and quiver lay. An archer?! William would never have guessed that.
“Why an archer?”
His mother looked back towards him and seemed slightly confused. “Didn’t I ever tell you that I did archery when I was a girl? I don’t really understand all this stuff and only god knows what's in store for us."
No she had never shared that titbit of info with William. William had little sympathy for single minded religious devotion and only pretended to have Christian inclinations when around the other more devout of his village. He wouldn’t cave completely, but decided to at least try a semblance of sympathy for her. She was still his mother after all.
“We will get through this. I’m sure.” It was shit, but that was as far as he was going to go, at least until they were on good terms, if they ever got to that stage anyway.
His mother just silently nodded and started gathering her things. William guessed she would just go where his father was.
William caught Jane staring daggers at him, probably for escaping their conversation. He just gave a faux look of innocence. Jane’s mouth did seem to curl upward on once side slightly before she shook her head and wandered off to talk with two of her friends. William had no one else he wanted to talk to so he decided to wander ahead slightly towards the hills beyond the spot where he had initially saw everyone. No one would care if he came and went, that was obvious to him now, maybe even had been obvious for several years prior. William decided to drag his sword blade through the grass and mud below so he had a mark leading him back to the others. He was confident that getting lost would be bad for his health after all.
About an hour of walking passed and he finally encountered what appeared to be a small village after passing over the crest of the small hill he was walking up. It had what appeared to be five small hut like buildings made of wood, circling a small well in the center of the settlement. Several small rock walls stuck out from behind each hut, looking like what appeared to be small gardens. Around ten meters away from the cluster of buildings were several small shacks and sheds next to multiple small two meter by two meter fields that William guessed were used for tool storage. The fields looked dried up and would need some work done to them before they could be turned into something functional.
William decided to check out the well to make sure there was water for them all to use if they were to settle here. He reached the well and was relieved to see that it had a significant amount of water in it. The well even had a little roof, pulley system, and a bucket. Pure convenience. Not quite as convenient as a water tap, but it would do. With that out of the way, William decided to investigate the huts. Loot could be anywhere after all. Maybe he would find some more gear or a storage supply of cool stuff. He entered the first hut and was graced with an empty space.
Nothing. No furniture, no cloth or furs, no food, no nothing. Sighing, he moved onto the second hut, then the third, then the fourth. All were barren.
“My expectations were low but holy fuck this is sad.” William said exasperated at the stingy loot system. Walking over to the fifth and final hut, he stuck his head in quickly through the door, and was taken aback. There was a crate.
“Loot!” He cheered and ran over to it.
The crate was nailed shut. He didn’t have the strength to remove one of the sides so he turned to good ol’ video game logic. Hit it with a big fucking sword. Drawing his sword he decided to try out his new skill; Swift Thrust. Instinctual knowledge rushed into his mind and he thrust straight as an arrow into the crate. The crate exploded into broken planks and splinters. William was overjoyed.
“Yay for platformer games.” he said, before his joy was washed over with a feeling of exhaustion.
He sat down and caught his breath.
William thought back to the description of swift thrust:
Swift Thrust – Fighter Skill: Channel your steady aim and focus into a powerful thrust that can potentially pierce some of the hardest armour, scales, or hides. [Cool-down – 40 seconds] [Cost – 50SP]
He then realized 50SP was the exact amount of his SP pool. He tried to visualize just his resource pools and they appeared in a lone prompt. “Convenient.”
{Ascension_Protocol}
{Current Resource Pools:}
HP 50/50
MP 50/50
SP 0/50
{End}
William waited for about ten minutes and was miffed when his SP was only at 10/50. One SP per minute apparently. A thought then occurred to William; maybe he could get an explanation of resource pools form the system. He willed the prompt to appear and when it appeared, he mentally fist pumped for fear of draining SP with a physical one. as he read the prompt, he mentally selected Y.
What appeared was more than he bargained for as it not only covered info on resource pools, but Experience points, and attributes as well.
{Ascension_Protocol}
{Experience Point gain, Attributes, and basic resource pools:}
{Experience gains:}
Individual’s Race level increases from – Combat, Job related work, Quests, Dungeons, and kills.
Class level increases from – Skills used in combat, damage dealt from skill to hostile targets, and the skill’s contribution on completing quest objectives.
Job level increases from – Skills used in Job related work and Job related quests.
[Notice – Each Race level grants 2 attribute points to Wisdom and 5 free attribute points. Each Physical Class level grants the choice of 2 points Dexterity or 2 points Strength and 5 free points. Each Magical Class level grants the choice of 2 points Intelligence or 2 points Wisdom and 5 free points. Each Job level gives 3 points to whichever primary attribute is used to perform such jobs.]
{Warning – Attribute allocation is irreversible. Be aware that the attributes forcibly allocated in previous notice are respective to your specific classes, jobs, and race. Other individuals will have any other possible variation.}
{Attributes:}
- Strength – Determines capacity to physically lift, move, or force things around the world, and Stamina Usage of such activities.
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- Dexterity – Determines movement speed, flexibility, agility, and reflexes of the individual, and Stamina Usage of such activities.
- Intelligence – Determines The level of Mana the individual can wield, resilience to hostile magic, efficacy of study, and Mana Usage of such activities.
- Wisdom – Determines capability of natural navigation, orientation, mental strength, and perception of surroundings of the individual.
- Vitality – Determines resilience to damage and poisons of the individual. Higher values equate to higher total health pool and reduction to effect of poisons.
- Charisma – Determines level of confidence of the individual and resistance to curses.
{Basic Resource Pools:}
HP: Total pool of Health Points available to the individual. Reduction to 0 equals death.
MP: Total pool of Mana Points available to the individual. Reduction to 0 prevents Mana associated Skills and reduces resilience to hostile magic.
SP: Total pool of Stamina Points available to the individual. Reduction to 0 prevents fast movement, reduces capability to carry objects, and incrementally increases exhaustion that will drain HP slowly until SP is recovered.
Replenishing Resource Pools:
HP: Potions, healing skills from others, or Sleep/Resting.
MP: Potions, Specific skills, Items, or Meditation.
SP: Potions, Specific skills, Items, or Sleep/Resting.
Bespoke Resource Pools:
Some advanced Classes and Jobs provide individual with new Resource Pools. These are unique, rare, and varied. Will always come with a method to replenish the particular resource.
{End}
He would need to wait forty more minutes to fully recharge SP. William decided that he might as well just look at what was inside the crate while he rested. He was...confused. Packets of what appeared to be seeds lay amongst the debris along with several loose roots. None of them were labelled so it was a complete guess as to what they were and if they were even safe to eat.
“Maybe one of the farmers will know. If they are anything like what is on Earth anyway.” He mused to himself.
No real loot, no shiny stuff, and nothing else of interest was in sight. William lay back and decided he would take a quick nap.
The nap was not quick. William shot up feeling fully energized again and then stepped out of the hut. The sky was starting to shift to swirls of orange and violet. It was already evening. He started to panic, worried about not getting back in time and leaving his family and the others stranded. He was about to set off in a rush but was relieved when he saw his family and everyone else approaching. He was confused at first how they found the settlement but then guessed that they probably followed the marks he had left on his way.
His relief was cut short as an angry Walter approached, followed by his annoyed parents. William's sister was peeking out curiously from the side of the crowd. “Fantastic. Just what I wanted to be dealing with right now.” William thought to himself. The Duncans stopped a couple of feet away and glared at him.
Walter was the first to speak, “What the fuck do you think you are doing?!”
William was less intimidated of Walter now that he towered over him and was unsurprised at Walter’s tone. He was mainly confused though.
He just shrugged and replied, “Um...standing here?” and pointed down to his feet.
Walter went red in the face and yelled, “YOU FUCKING KNOW WHAT I MEAN! WHY DID YOU RUN OFF? COWARDICE?!”
William was irritated at the volume more than the words and took a step back for his ears’ sake. “I went to look for a settlement that we could use and behold. I found one.”
He gestured his arms all around himself.
Walter lightened up slightly but still wasn’t happy with that. “Thanks for coming back and you know, getting us all. Oh wait, you didn’t. I’m guessing you wanted dibs on the best place for yourself here?”
Not many things got under William’s skin, but among the things that did, three were at a level of annoyance beyond all others; Overzealous religious drivel, Snobs, and accusations made against him.
William went slightly pink in the face, his anger creeping up ever so slightly, as he saw in his peripheral vision that everyone else was within earshot of the conversation now. His budding anger was the linchpin to the barrier holding his social anxiety at bay now.
Mentally forming his retort he locked his eyes on Walter’s, “No, if you haven’t noticed, these huts are all the same, and except for one, all empty. I was busy processing all the new information we got from coming here.”
Lie number one.
He continued, “Besides, you followed the marks here didn’t you? I made those with my sword. Are you not capable of independent thinking? Or did you need someone to hold your hand to get here?”
That was lie number two...partially. He did leave marks, though those were for himself, but he decided to make use of them in a better way.
Walter balled his hands into fists, and William expected a punch to follow. He wasn’t worried though, he had a shield now. The punch however, never came.
Walter’s father, Allan Duncan rested his hand on Walter’s shoulder, “Calm, my son, violence won’t solve this.”
That was something William was in two minds about himself right now. William assessed Allan. A balding man with a short beard extending down to the same level as his adams apple. He was only a couple of inches taller than Walter. Both had matching frames now thanks to Isekai shenanigans, but where Allan was a man with a chiseled jawline and stern expression, Walter had a rounded jawline that he evidently got from his mother, and an ever so slightly rodent shape to his eyes and nose.
William spoke up, “You're right, violence isn’t the answer here. Just critical thinking.”
William knew his comments were incendiary to the situation but a line had to be drawn here and now to stop a repeat of his past years.
Allan to William’s surprise didn’t react to the comment visibly. Allan’s gaze did seem to intensify ever so slightly however.
Allan stepped in front of Walter and said, “Go and see what’s in the huts son.”
Walter looked past his father and stared at William for a couple seconds before nodding to Allan and walking off, motioning to two guys from the crowd that hung around him; Steve and John. From their expressions, they were tired. He had a feeling from seeing the three back on earth that Walter dragged them everywhere, and they didn't want the conflict of saying no. It was actually one of the few town rumours he knew about from his seclusion. Allan turned back around to face William as everyone else looked on with a mixture of shock, worry, and anticipation. William’s mother and sister looked worried, but his father looked horrified.
Allan took a glance from William to his Father and then locking his gaze back to William said, “Yes, critical thinking is important. For example, staff retention. Depending on what you say next, your father may not have a job going forward.”
William looked at his father’s face and did sympathize slightly, but Allan’s point was horseshit, so fuck it. “Ah yes, the farm that is an entire world away. Heaven forbid that dad doesn’t have a job on another planet to go back to. Oh wait, it doesn’t matter. We can all have up to three jobs now so your now long distant farm is not one of those any more.”
William’s temper was still at a reasonable level but if Allan pushed the wrong buttons, it would most likely erupt. William did manage a slightly prideful smile as he saw that the crowd in its entirety now were as horrified at the exchange as William’s father. Fuck the horror, fuck the sniveling and groveling, and fuck the Duncans.
William felt satisfaction at the wake up call he doled out. It was better that everyone was reminded that Earth was a place from their past and GAEA was to be their future. To make things even better, Allan looked lost for words which was always a nice thing to see.
Leanne Duncan, Walter’s mother, however, found some rather venomous words for William. “A little bastard like you should watch his mouth. It’s clear you aren’t very cooperative and as antisocial as ever. We may not have our farm, but we're still the Duncans and you should remember that.”
William roared with laughter, genuine unbridled laughter, a couple of tears even formed in the corner of his eyes. The annoying creature had a voice. It was as rodent-like as her facial expressions.
“Yes, the mighty Duncans who hail from a place long forgotten, who own nothing but the gear on their backs, and an array of empty threats and warnings. I quake at the thought.”
Leanne went as red as an apple and growled out, “You are a blight on this world and to our town.”
William’s elation faded instantly and his hue reddened slightly further now visibly showing frustration on his face. “Leanne, you are just the glorified birth-giver of a formerly slightly prominent rural family in the middle of nowhere. What’s your contribution to the town other than spreading your legs for grumpy ol’ Allan over there?”
The crowd gasped in shock at that, but William managed to catch a glance of Jane covering her mouth and turning slightly, trying to hide her chuckling. Allan wasn’t so inanimate however as he roared and ran straight at William.
William saw Allan coming and was eager to try something he had always fantasized about: a shield bash. Like the Spartans in that movie, he wanted to try such a thing with his own shield, even if it was only a small buckler. As Allan raised his left arm to launch a punch, William quickly threw his weight forward with his off hand locked at a ninety degree angle, buckler sticking perfectly straight before the force of his weight. Allan’s oncoming weight, and the cold metal collided in an explosive impact of kinetic force. William was knocked back onto his rear, but Allan’s face came off much worse. The nose was bent completely off center, the lips were split in several places, purple was already plastering Allan’s cheeks and forehead, and with a stagger. Allan fell backward hitting the ground hard. Leanne screamed and rushed over to Allan’s side. William was worried he had killed the older man, but after a moment, Leanne’s face went from severely concerned to moderately concerned. He was just unconscious. Time immediately crawled to a snails pace as two prompts appeared:
{Ascension_Protocol}
{Class: Fighter – Level 2 Reached}
Attribute points allocated, plus 5 unused points.
{Race: Human – Level 2 Reached}
Attribute points allocated, plus 5 unused points.
{Allocation:}
Would you like to Allocate Unused points (10) to attributes?
{Y/N}
{End}
William instantly picked Y and allocated 3 to Strength, 5 to Dexterity, and 2 to Intelligence. It seemed like the best allocation for a quick stat dump. He also allocated the 2 stat points from fighter to Strength.
The second prompt grabbed his attention more however:
{Ascension_Protocol}
Through combat, you have gained experience with the shield, using it in ways more offensively than defensively. [Skill learned – Shield Bash]
{Shield Bash – Through a combination of Strength and Dexterity you utilize your shield as an extension of yourself. Activating this skill will allow you to unleash a blow dealing significant kinetic force to your foe, potentially knocking them prone, whilst doing moderate damage. [Cool-down – 30 Seconds][Cost – 20SP]}
{End}
He had gained a skill and two levels from just knocking Allan out with his shield. William assumed that incapacitation also counted as beating an enemy for EXP. After closing the two prompts down, a third prompt appeared:
{Ascension_Protocol}
Would you like to view all changes to your status?
{Y/N}
{End}
William looked around and saw that time was still merely crawling around him. “Sure, I have time.” He said to himself before selecting Y.
{Ascension_Protocol}
{Level & Skill Changes:}
- Fighter Level 1 > Level 2
[New Skill: Shield Bash]
-Human Level 1 > Level 2
{Attribute Changes:}
Strength – 5 > 10
Dexterity – 5 > 10
Intelligence – 5 > 7
Wisdom – 5 > 7
{Resource Pool Changes:}
SP 50 > 100
MP 50 > 70
SP cost reduction to skills from changes to Dexterity Attribute. Reductions as follows:
- Swift Thrust: 50SP > 25SP
- Indomitable Parry: 25SP > 15SP
- Shield Bash: 20SP > 10SP
{End}
William was bursting with joy at the changes. He also now knew that Strength and Intelligence increased SP and MP pools by ten for every point allocated respectively, and that dexterity reduced stamina consumption down. He briefly brought up his Resource pool window in his mind and saw that he currently had:50/100SP. It appeared that stat gain also gave a person the resource along with the increase to capacity. A mechanic usually not done in games for balance, but to Williams joy, this wasn’t a game and he was excited to see how he could break the system in his favour going forward. Time resumed and he got back up to his feet as Walter emerged from the nearby hut with his cronies. He was most likely summoned by his mother’s scream. Walter saw the situation, and spotted the blood on William’s shield. His father’s blood. Rage consumed Walter, and drawing his sword, he charged at William.
“I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!” Walter bellowed on a warpath.
William quickly drew his own sword and turned to face Walter expecting three versus one but was relieved to see Steve and John not moving an inch from the hut entrance from shock and possibly fear. A quick use of Identify on Walter displayed:
{Ascension_Protocol}
Walter Duncan – Human Level 1 – Fighter Level 1
{End}
William immediately noticed that identify didn’t show the secondary class. Something to consider later on.
William's heart raced and adrenaline took over, someone was trying to kill him. He expected it in a fantasy world like this, but not so soon and from someone who knew him. He took a deep breath and locked those thoughts away. For now he had a fight to win and William was confident that being Level two, he was likely to win, however he wouldn't get complacent. This would be his first true battle in this brave new world.