As soon as Lanek focused on the message, a blue screen began unveiling itself before him. Information began to appear, much of it reminding far too much of the games he spent his time playing.
Name Lanek Solvinsson Species Human (Transmigrated) HP 25/25 MP 5/5
ATTRIBUTES
STR 3 CON 5 DEX 6 PER 7 RES 6 SPI 1 FREE POINTS 0
Skills
System Translation Thanks to the system’s assistance, you are able to comprehend and communicate in the common tongues of this world.
Okay, that’s a lot of information… If I’m playing by game logic, it should be pretty easy to figure out what each attribute does. Spirit is the only tricky one, maybe it’s magic-related? Magic clearly exists here.
He focused on each attribute, willing the System to give him more information, but nothing appeared. I guess this isn’t one of those chatty Systems I used to read about. Well, at least that Transmigrated bit pretty much confirms that I’m in another world. Or insane. Can’t rule that out yet.
A shriek sounded out nearby, jerking Lanek away from his status and attempts to distract himself from the horrors of the night. He decided that being on the first floor was probably a bad idea in case something did try to get in, Lanek crept as quietly as he could on shaking legs. He made his way upstairs and settled into a room as far from the stairs as he could get.
The shriek rang out once again, only it received a response this time in the form of an eerie howl. Then another howl echoed in the night, only this one came from another direction. Then another howl. And another. All from different directions.
The shriek of what he assumed was a Gaunt lashed out once more, almost defiantly, before it was choked off. Lanek shrank in on himself, cowering further into the corner of the room, fighting the urge to crawl under the bed. Something was hunting the gaunt, and Lanek had no desire to attract their attention.
He felt the adrenaline beginning to fade and his body weakening. Glancing at the small bed, he crawled into the bed and under the musty-smelling blanket. If he was going to die tonight, he was damned well going to be warm and comfortable when his time came. With that last hysteria-tinged thought, sleep took him.
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Much to Lanek’s relief and surprise, he awoke in one piece. Much to his dismay, he awoke in a dusty bed in a stone room rather than his bedroom back home. While he had often daydreamed of what he would do if he were ever in the position of a protagonist of an isekai story, reality had a way of slapping the romance out of the situation.
He dragged himself out of bed as two thoughts vied for his attention. First, it was quiet, he couldn’t hear any howls or shrieks. Second, he really needed to pee. Crossing the room, Lanek slightly opened the shutters, not enough to see outside but enough to see streams of sunlight filtering around the edges. Do those things only come out at night? No, that doesn’t make sense, that gaunt came after me long before the sun set.
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Lanek walked out of the room and began exploring the rest of the second floor, all the while hoping for a bathroom of some kind so he wouldn’t have to resort to relieving himself in a random room or out in the streets. Luckily, he was able to find a bathroom fairly quickly.
Each bathroom consisted of a washbasin and a stone toilet that resembled nothing more than a stone bench with a hole in the center. Just inside the door, he found a small socket that looked to be a perfect fit for the orb he was using to light his way. Once inserted into the socket, the orb lit up with a warm glow that was echoed by lights in the ceiling. Is the orb a switch or a power source for the lights? I don’t remember seeing these sockets in the other buildings I passed yesterday, so maybe it’s a guild thing.
When he peered into the toilet, he was surprised to see that it was filled with a small amount of water, much like a modern toilet. He spotted symbols etched into the wall next to the toilet and smiled broadly when simply touching one of them actually flushed the toilet. His mood improved even more when he touched the other symbol and a stream of water jetted out from a small tube he hadn’t noticed before.
Holy shit, it’s a magical bidet! Relief washed over him as he realized he wouldn’t need to hunt down toilet paper or leaves when the time came. After relieving himself, he found that the washbasin also had running water, both of the hot and cold variety. No way to dry his hands, unfortunately, but he wasn’t going to complain as this would help keep things sanitary and also keep him hydrated. The water tastes fine, hopefully it’s safe. I would hate to survive a monster attack and die from bad water.
The guild’s second floor had bedrooms similar to the one he had spent the night in all along the outer wall of the building, which made sense considering each of the bedrooms had a window. The interior rooms consisted of what he suspected were meeting rooms, small studies with books and scrolls, and the bathrooms. Each room had a socket for the orb, much as the bathroom had.
“Okay,” he said to himself, “We’ve got shelter, water, and reasonable security if I don’t make enough noise to attract attention. Just need food now.” Lanek sighed, he wasn’t too confident in finding food that was still fit to eat considering how long the place had been abandoned. “Maybe there will be a nice food cellar or pantry with magically preserved food! Yeah… I was lucky enough to find this place, but I doubt my luck is THAT good.”
As it turned out, his luck was, in fact, not that good. The kitchen behind the bar was completely bare of any food. Likewise, when he found the stairs leading down to a cellar beneath the kitchen, the only thing to be found was dust. It was quite cold as well, so he assumed that food had been stored here at one point. Makes sense, if the people in this city were evacuating or if this place was looted during whatever happened to this city, food would be really high on everyone’s list of essentials.
Lanek took a deep breath as he made his way back upstairs. This was going to be rough, he highly doubted that any buildings in the city had preserved food or food that had survived the years that this city had lain empty.
I doubt I can hunt or forage in the city, most animals would likely steer clear of the gaunts and who knows what else. Should I try for the wall and take my chances in the wilderness beyond it? This sucks, for all I know the area beyond the wall is a wasteland that’s even worse than it is in here. Not to mention, I would hate to give up the clean water and security I could have here.
As his options ran through his head, Lanek walked to the door he had seen behind the counter in the main room of the guild hall. Wandering into this section of the first floor, he found several storage rooms with racks for weapons and armor, all empty of course. He also found a large metal door that had been left open that led to what could only be described as a vault. An empty vault, but a vault nonetheless.
Feeling somewhat dispirited at the lack of loot, Lanek turned to the last unopened door in the guild hall, just across from the vault. The door itself was made of some kind of polished wood that was of much better quality than the other doors in the guild, aside from the vault door. Opening the door, Lanek stepped into the room and activated the lights.
The room consisted of a fairly large room that was filled with bookshelves on every wall. The center of the room was dominated by a large desk and chair facing the door. The craftsmanship of the furniture was far above the utilitarian examples throughout the rest of the guild.
“This has got to be the guild leader’s office.”
On the walls to either side of the desk was a door. Lanek opened the door to his left and whistled. He found himself in bedroom with a large bed covered in fur blankets that just made him want to dive in and go back to sleep. The floor had several fine rugs with intricate patterns spaced around the room as well as a comfortable looking armchair, large wardrobe, and storage chest. Best of all, he could see a private bathroom through an open door to his right.
“Now THIS is what I’m talking about!” he exclaimed while barely keeping himself from jumping around like an excitable child.
Entering the bathroom, Lanek spotted a mirror and gazed at himself in wonder. Peering back at him was not the face of a man in his late thirties with graying hair. Instead, he saw a young man in his twenties with black hair and brown eyes.
However, this version of him was in much better shape than Lanek had actually been in his twenties. He had only started treating his body well, eating healthy, and exercising late in his life out of necessity. Lanek had been on an out of control path leading to heart disease and an early grave. If nothing else, he was thankful that he kept his current levels of fitness when this world had stolen him from his home and turned back the clock.
Here’s hoping it reversed the damage that a lifetime of unhealthy habits did to my body.
Lanek whirled around as he heard the door to the guild leader’s suite slam shut. The lights went out and Lanek swallowed hard as he heard a creaking sound in the darkness. He reached for his only weapon as a soft green light, no stronger than the light of a candle, drew his attention to its source. It was coming from the direction of the room he hadn’t explored yet. A room with a door that was now open.