The light ball companion ⁠— Glim ⁠— floated by my side as I surveyed my surroundings. Even though I wanted to bombard it with questions, I had to actually make sure I was in a safe place. Strangely enough, the hulking corpse of the Everwood Moose had begun to rot, and the arrows on it were unsalvageable; broken. Considering the ones that I managed to save, I had about thirty-nine arrows remaining. Well, thirty were from the so-called Archery Basic Kit. Speaking of the Kit, the bow was… odd.

It seemed sturdy and much more advanced than my previous bow, it featured things as three strings and a sort of pulley system, but at the same time I didn’t get a feel for how to aim it or how to even nock an arrow properly. Thankfully Glim noticed my struggle and explained it to me, as well as the historical significance of the bow which I filtered out. Using that time instead to practice a few shots against the grass and other soft targets, I got about an hour of practice before Glim finished, the time was enlightening to me. I did not particularly care of its involvement as a tool of war, or the fact that it was nothing more than something for the Initiators to get their foot into The System. Initiator being the term for those new to The System, and Integrated for the more accomplished ones.

The forest seemed much more serene now that the sunlight was up, though part of me believed the sun was simply not real. We were in a completely different space than my planet, and yet the sun was perfect in every way, not too warm but not too cold, it did not hurt my eyes either. The more I thought about it, the more interesting the Skirmish space seemed. Though it didn’t particularly matter to me. Even with the information that had been injected into my being, a lot of things didn’t quite make sense to me. For example, what did NaN mean? What could I use Prime currency for? Yes it was a universal currency, but for what? It was no use to think about it, I hadn’t quite asked enough things to Glim.

I finished looking around before finding another tree to sit on. The bark was still the same texture as the tree from the other day; humid but rough. At the same time, even though I was healed already, I couldn’t help but stare at my clothes. The leather vest that I wore had one of its sides half-torn, and so was the fabric underneath. My leggings were missing chunks starting below the knee. The only thing that had survived were my boots, but I had a feeling those would not last if the trend continued.

A sigh escaped me as I tried to get my questions for Glim in order. Though I guess there was a question I wanted to ask first.

“Glim, the System Knowledge you provided me. Is that everything you are allowed to tell me?”

It circled around me rapidly.

[Of course not, Partner,] I shuddered being called that. [I am but a guide, once you’ve received enough guidance I shall leave. It would be pretty boring if you got everything in one go, hence it was nothing but Basic! Basic knowledge!] It chirped.

“Right.” I nodded. “Don’t call me Partner ever again, refer to me by my name. Then I’ll ask the most important questions; what does NaN stand for, and what is a Feat in the large scheme of things, and what things are you not allowed to tell me?”

Glim paused and bobbed up and down, seemingly processing the information.

[I shall now refer to you as Blair. As for NaN, it simply means Not a Number. The reason empty categories display as such is something I cannot disclose if I don’t want to instantly die! Which trust me, I don’t. Well I doubt if I can even die, but you get the point. Death is bad.]

It circled a bit.

[A Feat can be considered an achievement as you know, they are permanent achievements granted to your very being as part of your history. This history can help mold your Prophecy and how it will impact you in the future. So the more Feats you possess, the better, it can also grant access to certain skills! But Feats are granted upon the minority of the Integrated, so something like eating won’t do anything. However! Eating a Colossal Worm will!]

[The first Feat to ever exist is⁠—] It paused and shook. [And as such ever since The Beginning, Feats have been an integral part of The System. Ah by the way! The System has existed since The Beginning, you could say it is what marks The Beginning! But unfortunately I do not have access to such information, since the program that runs me dates to⁠—] It trembled again. [When he was granted a⁠—] It paused with yet another tremble. [And as such that is how us Assistants came to be!]

I frowned looking at Glim, it kept trembling and not completing its sentences.

“Why do you keep pausing?” I interrupted.

It excitedly moved up and down. [That is because it is classified information. But I am still trying to tease you about it! Am I doing a good job? Are you interested? Ask more! Perhaps I might just tell you something classified on a slip-up!]

“Okay, answer the last question.”

It stopped bobbing. [I am not allowed to disclose anything outside of the Skirmish or that goes past the Integration period. The things I can tell you is that opportunities to acquire a Prophecy will arrive on the fourth day, and perhaps a Prophecy might be the answer to your race problems. Since they are the only known way to evolve your race!]

Huh.

I stared at Glim with a somewhat confused expression. It had actually given me useful information in its totality for once. Normally it rambled on useless things amidst the important information. I never enjoyed that. But thankfully it said something interesting this time around. I vaguely remembered the other term for Prophecy was Class, and it was a feature of The System⁠ ⁠— I did not know what they were, but it seemed to be beneficial to me.

“Glim, alert me when there is such an opportunity.”

[I will! But only if you ask me nicely!]

I sighed. “This is an order.” I stared at the now frozen glowing ball of light. “By the way, is there a way for you to not be a floating beacon of where I am?”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

[Fret not! I am only visible to you, and to others with SGAs, however you do not need to worry about it. In the Skirmish there is only⁠—] It shuddered. [That’s why you shouldn’t worry about it, but once there is another SGA user nearby I shall notify you! Ah, I'm made out of mana too, so I'm intangible!]

Only visible to me? How did that even work? Mana? No, it was something that I didn’t need to concern myself over. If anything my clothes were a bigger concern to me, but I had other things to worry about. Such as eating. I hadn’t eaten anything for well over a day, I had yet to feel hungry but there was no point in waiting to go hunt something. Not when levels could theoretically make me stronger through attributes.

Speaking of levels.

Name: Blair | Level: 2

Race: ??? (E-Grade)

Feats: [Lone Survivor]

Basic skills: Universal Understanding (NaN),

Universal Inquiry (NaN)

Free attribute points: 4

VIG: 18 | END: 35 |

STR: 22 | AGI: 39 |

PER: 34 | WIS: 13 |

Attunements: Dark plants (I)

Prime Currency: 100

I had four attribute points to distribute. Oh. I had also gotten stronger from the Feat [Lone Survivor] it gave ten-percent extra? I mentally processed the numbers with slight struggle, before realizing that Agility would equal 39.6, but it seemed to be rounded down instead of up, to 39. I frowned ever so slightly but figured it was probably better. I did not want to see an inflated number, it was better to see true strength, rather than something I simply did not have.

I went over the attributes I had, I understood what they did but not how much each number helped.

“Glim, regarding attribute points, is there a point of reference?” I asked upon realizing that I actually had zero clue what the numbers themselves meant.

[Yes there is, I am glad you asked! For example, strength. Generally a unit in strength will increase your capacity by 5kg! Give or take of course, it all depends on the physiology of the being as well as special circumstances. But I assume you want the full course on the stats! So I will start with Vigor⁠—

◇ ◇ ◇

Glim spoke and spoke, and spoke. At first it was easy to understand with strength, I did not understand what Vigor actually did other than make my skin tougher to pierce and give me better vitality, more life in a way. It referred to it as my actual health and what kept me alive. Basically the higher my Vigor was, the harder to kill I was, but I did not understand the units such as. The amount of hits you can take from an electro-suspended rock. Which was well, the number directly correlated to how many hits you could take before eventually dying. If a rock could kill me in eighteen hits then I did not want to be near it.

Dividing endurance by two, equaled the amount of time I could sprint for in minutes. Which was weird but I accepted it nonetheless. Glim had also mentioned another strange way to measure it one-to-one which I was not interested in. Agility was relatively easier to understand but not quite, simply put I was faster the higher the number went. But supposedly ten units of agility equaled to a sprint speed of 5 m/s depending on physiology and other factors.

Though there was something strange. According to numbers I could sprint much faster than before coming here. I hadn’t tested it yet, but in theory I had grown stronger simply by getting Initiated into The System. Which I found pleasantly surprising, and weird as well.

Much to my disappointment Wisdom did not make someone much wiser or intelligent. The attribute was much more abstract than what I initially imagined. Wisdom affected the strength of my mana and its capacity. There were other uses such as increasing mana efficiency or assisting in skill acquisition down the road. But overall, it was hard to actually understand the units of its measurement.

Perception was much the same story, but Glim reassured me that I simply needed to understand that it made me considerably more aware. Also, taking the chance to warn me against having too much of it. Apparently some people would go crazy if their other stats could not match their perception. Strangely enough, it was the only stat that Glim warned me about.

But Glim did happen to mention something interesting after the fact. Displayed attributes were different depending on race, but most of them were largely the same. Apparently only the last two attributes changed for the integrated. Namely, Perception and Wisdom in my case. He mentioned an attribute called Intelligence to give me an example, which simply did not exist for me. It was something that interesting but I did not think much of it ⁠— it was something that I couldn’t change after all.

With all of that in mind, including warnings. I stared at my attributes and the 4 points I could distribute.

VIG: 18 | END: 35 |

STR: 22 | AGI: 39 |

PER: 34 | WIS: 13 |

It did not take long for me to pick something, which was the lowest practical stat that I could put to use. Vigor. I had almost died against the Everwood Moose. If I hadn’t consumed a potion at that time, I would have certainly just died outright. With that thought in mind, I put all four points into Vigor, bringing it from 18 all the way to, 23?

I frowned unable to comprehend what happened. That was a gain of 5 points, not 4 points. Perhaps it got added to the base? Before the Feat applied, it was 17, if I add four points, it would turn into 21, and ten-percent more would make it 23. That made sense. I felt a headache growing trying to make sense of the numbers. At least I sort of understood the math that went behind it, however it was still a major time-sink to try to understand every single number in my status.

I still had the attunement of Dark Plants to worry about, which I did not even understand how to use. Only that it was a sort of affinity with that type of plant. The term was surprisingly familiar to me, but I couldn't remember from where. I shook my head. It wasn’t the time to worry about my status. I had already distributed my points.

I looked at the forest, at the rustling trees and the rich sunlight that filled it. Then I looked at the top farthest edge of my vision, and saw the timer.

[Incubation Period: 6 days 11 hours 32 minutes]

And finally I looked at Glim who excitedly began to bob from having my attention. I was no longer in Foresia, and I had killed a beast I would have never been able to kill in the past. I could grow stronger. Perhaps it was possible to avenge my family.

[It just occurred to me.] Glim interrupted my thoughts. [But you don't seem to have any active quests! And that's no good! Let's change that right this moment!]