After deciding I wasn’t losing my mind, I sat on the floor between the mangled body of the bear-monster and the puddle of my vomit. A familiar character sheet floated in front of my eyes, it had my own name on it. Whatever was happening, I wasn’t sure I was ready to accept it.
Name: Robert Clarke, Human.
Class: Scholar Lv.1
Titles: Lonely Boy.
Passive: Lv.5 Swordsmanship, Mana Manipulation.
Skills: Identify.
That was me, Robert Clarke, a human from Earth trapped in a dimension where random message windows popped from thin air. A part of me, the one who daydreamed about dragons and adventure, wanted to embrace it. But my other half, the rational one, the skeptical one, refused to accept what was happening.
Wasn’t it René Descartes who said senses were deceiving?
“Come on, Rob. You are a man of science, there has to be a rational explanation,” I said out loud. Even if it was just my voice, it was better than the creeping silence.
My initial assumption of being trapped inside a simulation lost strength as I checked the surroundings. The room looked like a perfect copy of the cabin on the other side of the trapdoor. There were notable differences though. First, there was the lack of a fridge or any other electric appliances. Second, all the weird looking handwritten pages on the table were also gone.
If I was in a coma and trapped in a simulation, why simulate this place in particular and not a hospital for example? Waking up in a hospital, if worrying in its own way, would be much more soothing than all of this.
There were other alternatives. Maybe my brain was floating inside a fish tank on an alien spaceship and I was plugged into a weird alien experiment, or this was really a world of magic, skills, and levels. The trapdoor was still at the corner of the room and I wondered if I could still come back home after all this ‘initialization’ thing.
But did I really want to?
The answer was a clear and resounding no. I didn’t want to go back, but I wasn’t sure it was safe to stay.
“Isn’t this what you wanted? A new beginning? You don’t have too much going on back home. No family, no parents, no girlfriend,” saying it out loud hurt a bit.
I slapped my face with both hands, knowing I already made a decision. Then, I entered the main room, sat on the king size bed far from the corpse and the puddle of vomit, and closed my eyes. The first step of the scientific method was asking a question.
“What the hell is going on?”
Perfect. I had my question, now I needed to make some observations. I glanced at my character sheet and tapped on my class. As expected, a small explanatory screen popped up.
Scholar: Magical non-elemental support class. [Identify] Uncommon class specialized in understanding the surrounding world and assisting crafting classes. Can manipulate mana but cannot cast elemental spells.
The last sentence was an arrow through my kneecap.
“No indiscriminate fireball casting for me,” I sighed with disappointment. If the System could actually ‘see’ the contents of my soul, then it should know that slinging fireballs was a must.
I focused on the prompt in front of me.
If the information on the screen was accurate, then I was probably useless in combat. What was worse, I wasn’t even a support class, I was the support for the support if that made any sense.
I took the L and moved on, it was probably better than nothing.
My eyes wandered over my character sheet. At least I had [Swordsmanship]. That might be helpful if a fight ensued. It made sense considering I practiced HEMA for quite a while during my college years. I decided to investigate my skills next.
Swordsmanship: Years of training have conditioned your body and mind to use swords as an extension of yourself. [Identify] The subject’s skill will not diminish under the skill level regardless of the passing of time.
That was useful. And it didn't make sense.
The last time I grabbed a sword was at least half a decade ago. If anything, my skills were as rusted as the hull of the Titanic. I closed my eyes and tried to ‘feel’ the skill just like I did during the initialization of the System but I got nothing. Any further experimentation would have to wait until I had an actual sword in my hands.
Scholar, [Swordsmanship], [Mana Manipulation], [Identify], everything was mostly self explanatory. [Mana Manipulation] allowed me to feel and control mana and [Identify] allowed me to know details of the surrounding world. Closing my eyes, I focused on the mana around my heart and instinctively, I pushed it out. A cold blue flame flashed in my hand before disappearing. It was more spectacular than useful but it was something. I wondered if I could eventually weaponize it.
The layout of my character sheet was clear and simple. However, there was one last thing that bothered me.
Lonely Boy: A title for those who had led a lonely life and remained single past the usual marriage age. [Identify] Title bestowed upon those who contribute to population aging. A couple years more and you would’ve statistically avoided your first divorce. Stay strong, trooper.
“Are you kidding me?!” I asked the sky but the System remained silent.
Since my ex-girlfriend had dumped my sorry ass, my love life was as barren as the surface of the moon. The worst part was I knew what was wrong with me; five years later I hadn’t gotten over the breakup yet. And I didn’t expect things to improve, at that point in life I was practically an honorary virgin.
“I just hope I still get that sweet magical boost when I turn thirty,” I growled to myself in a vain attempt of raising my spirits.
Self pity wasn’t going to do anything for me so I stood and started planning my next move. The System had told me that to find civilization I had to travel south. How far or how dangerous the travel would be I didn’t know. I just hoped that out there, the bear-monster was the exception and not the rule.
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At least the cabin had a few things I could use to survive out in the cold of the forest. Inside the wardrobe there was Mr. Byrne’s old camping gear. I secured a thick blanket, a tinderbox, a knife, rope, a handaxe, a water bottle, a pot, a cup, and a compass. There was also a small stove but there was no fuel to be found so I decided to leave it. The main room’s wardrobe was also full of warmer clothes than my current outfit. I borrowed a few extra pairs of socks, a thick jacket and a woolen scarf.
Finally, I slung the shotgun over my shoulder and put the remaining ammo in my right pocket. I had seven shells left, which meant I could kill up to seven creatures assuming I aimed perfectly although two or three kills was a more realistic approximation. I didn’t want them near enough to have a clear headshot.
After making sure there was no running water from the sink, I left the cabin. I advanced only a few paces before I realized I could [Identify] the creature I had slain so I returned over my steps and entered the cabin once again.
Bear (corrupted). Lowly Magical Abomination, deceased. [Identify] Into the Farlands, magic takes multiple forms. Be cautious of them all. Weakness: Magic, Mana Drain, Shotgun.
“Lowly, uh?” I laughed nervously at the fact there were greater things out there.
At least I knew now where I was. The Farlands.
Only seven shells separated me from a violent death and yet the perspective of starting my travels was invigorating. I checked my compass. It seemed to work properly so I faced south and started walking.
The fact that there was a magical portal in the basement of an eccentric millionaire quickly slipped away from my mind. What I was doing was logically speaking the most stupid thing of my life. Sure, life on Earth didn’t offer too much but at least I was safe from rabid corrupted magical bears.
The foolish part of my brain put a metaphorical pillow over the face of my rational self and pressed hard. As I advanced through the forest I realized there were no car tracks, no paved road, and no Hackberry Creek. Not even the same species of plants and trees. My theory of being in a mirror-world soon fell down.
The yellow, red, and green leaves rustled gently in the cold breeze and formed an uneven multicolor tapestry on the forest floor. Despite my encounter with the magically corrupted beast, a peaceful stillness settled on the forest, broken only by the occasional chant of a singing bird. Luckily for me, the jacket I had scavenged kept me warm against the cold wind.
One thing was sure, winter was going to be cold.
I’d been out in the wild long enough for the sun to travel half its way through the sky. With the help of the compass I tried to maintain my way south; however, the tall hills and deep ravines of the mountainous region had forced me to adopt an undulating path. Luckily enough, I found a small creek at the bottom of one of the ravines where I filled my water bottle.
The creek went almost straight southwards so I decided to follow it as long as I could. Even a city boy like me knew civilization flourished near water sources. If it wasn’t a big city, at least I expected to find a shepherd’s shelter or a hermit’s hut. The lack of brambles in the river bed was also a welcomed perk.
The forest became thicker and thicker until the riverbed completely disappeared. At that point, I left behind the forest of deciduous trees and entered a new zone covered by perennial trees similar to bristlecone pines. There were still withered trees here and there but they were sparsely scattered.
I focused my attention on one of the pines as I tried to determine if it was the same as the ones we had back on Earth.
White Cork Pine, mature. [Identify] Inedible. Magic concentration: Low.
The System screen suddenly popping out of nowhere surprised me. I should’ve expected it, if I was capable of identifying the Magical Abomination it was only logical I was able to identify other things too. Suddenly I felt like a blind man that had suddenly regained the ability to see.
Stone. [Identify] Or it’s a rock? Magic concentration: Low.
Soil. [Identify] Rich in nutrients. Tastes like dirt. Magic concentration: Low.
Water. [Identify] It’s wet. Magic concentration: Low.
“Is it though?” I scratched my chin deep in thought.
I had avoided drinking from my water bottle since I didn’t know if the creek was clean. The water was perfectly odorless and tasteless but I didn’t trust it. The presence of Magical Abominations was dangerous enough to add magical brain-eating amoebas to the equation. I poured water from the water bottle into my hand and focused my eyes on it. Maybe I could identify if it was contaminated?
Water (waterskin). [Identify] As I said, it’s wet. Magic concentration: Low.
“So, no bacteria check, got it,” I sighed.
I could not ignore either that the flavor text had some sort of ‘flavor’ to it. The logical conclusion was the System had some sort of personality or whoever designed –or created it– poured a bit of its sass to it. That would also explain the contents of my title. Lonely Boy.
Suddenly I stopped in my tracks as the realization hit me.
Was that a musical reference?
That was no place or time to start reflecting on the capacity of the System to reference pop culture from my world. I made a mental sticky note to study the System’s secrets after securing my safety.
After hours of walking, I sat on a rock to rest my legs for a moment. The System had determined that the Cork Pine was inedible and yet it couldn’t tell if the water was potable or not. But, at the same time, it was logical that a person couldn’t eat raw bark. I had to try identifying something more manageable for my jaw.
I focused my eyes on a patch of weeds at the base of a near Cork Pine
Dire Cress. [Identify] Alchemy ingredient. Brewing ingredient. Magic concentration: High.
My rpg-hoarder sense tingled. Loot meant money, and money meant useful goods and services.
Abandoning the comfort of my rock, I pounced over the loot. I spent the next half an hour on all fours collecting all the specimens with high magic concentration while ignoring those with medium and low concentration. There was no way low was better than high. Not wanting to put all my eggs in one basket, I left the [Dire Cress] behind and searched for other alchemic ingredients. As far as I knew, this [Dire Cress] could be as common as thistle so it was better to collect a diverse loot.
Picking weeds in my mother’s garden wasn’t as fun as this and I ended up foraging for another hour. An uncharted piece of forest like that was packed with high magical concentration resources so I picked them to my heart's content. The activity didn’t trigger any system notification but at least I had my backpack filled with a variety of herbs, weeds and seeds. I hoped I could sell some of them if I reached civilization.
Smiling, I continued southward.
As I wandered through the forest I found a white tree with yellow fruits hanging from its branches and scattered around on the ground.
Hermit’s Gold Fruit. [Identify] Alchemy ingredient. Brewing ingredient. Cooking ingredient. Edible. Magic concentration: Low.
Edible.
“You are the MVP, Identify!” I smiled as I came near the withered tree. I hadn’t had anything to eat since the breakfast of the day before. Although the adrenaline of being in a magical world had appeased my stomach for a while now, the thirst and fatigue were starting to get the best of me. I grabbed a bunch of fruits. They were the size of a plum but with shiny golden skin. They looked ripe enough for consumption.
The tangy and sweet juices filled my mouth as soon as I sank my teeth into the soft skin. Weirdly enough, the taste had a slight metallic quality to it. And it was great. I devoured four more until my thirst and hunger were somewhat quenched.
You have obtained Vigor Lv.1. Temporary.
As soon as the message popped up I felt a pleasant wave of relief filling my body. It was hard to tell if it was caused by the sudden ingestion of sugars or the magic concentration within the fruits. One way or the other, I appreciated the effect.
With a full stomach, my stay in the Farlands didn’t seem so dangerous anymore. My thoughts might have jinxed it because when I was climbing the tree, trying to reach the highest fruits, a sudden high pitched screech echoed through the valley.
Maybe I should’ve called in sick after all.