Jared blinked the sleep out of his eyes and surveyed his surroundings, his shirt draped over the nightstand, the open dresser, a bottle of water on the carpet next to his bed.
Everything seemed normal with one exception, the walls and ceiling have disappeared.
They were replaced with an idyllic view of a forest clearing, including the Disney like sound effects of chirping birds and the chopping of a woodpecker.
Still half-asleep, but with his heart starting to pick up speed, Jared swung his legs off the bed and stood up. Noticing the bigger dip of his steps on the carpet and looking down. Apparently the floor was gone too.
"This has to be a prank", Jared thought to himself looking wide-eyed at everything. He walked out of the cubicle thing, that was once his Bedroom, and to the nearest tree. Noticing just now, how massive it was, not Redwood massive but still, the biggest one he had ever seen. Turning his head left and right, he started to dismiss his prank idea. As far as he knows there wasn't a forest, like this near his Home in Phoenix Arizona. You know, one that just screamed fairy tale.
The Panic started to seep into Jared! He closed his eyes and gripped his Hair. "This can't be happening". he muttered hopefully to himself, over and over again. But he knew what was happening. He read about it a thousand times, sometimes even hoped for it.
He traveled to another world.
"VERDAMMT", Jared screamed and pacing back and forth. He always thought cursing in german was kind of cathartic, though it didn't seem to help right now.
Some people might think that he jumped to conclusions and they would right. But what they didn't know was that Jared had ignored a blinking symbol in the upper right corner of his vision since he opened his eyes that day.
After throwing a fit for about 15 minutes, Jared finally calmed down. Yes, he sometimes thought about living in one of his beloved books, but that was all it was, a thought. What have most world travel story's in common?
No technologies, no literacy, and worst of all no Books!!!
Yes, that was Jared, someone who loved reading over everything. His last meaningful interaction with someone that wasn't a Book Character was about a week before his father's death. And that was 2 years ago. One might think that as someone with an obsession with reading, Jared would be an overweight couch potato. That couldn't be further from the truth, he kept in excellent shape while listening to audio-books. Together with weekly visits to his doctor, he was almost as obsessed with his health as he was with reading. Only almost, because the reason for his routine was so that he could live longer to read even more.
He let out a sigh and with resignation focused on the blinking symbol in the corner of his vision.
Congratulation on obtaining the Titles: Otherworldler; The Strongest of them All; Bibliophile
"That's it?", Jared deadpanned, "no message from God for killing me on accident or some kind of save the world from the Demon King plea." He stared at the message for a couple of seconds.
"Okay, let's try something else Menu, Help, Status, Ski... AH HA!!." as he said status, a transparent blue Window opened.
Name: Jared Jotter
Race Human
Titles: Otherworldler; The Strongest of them All; Bibliophile
Age: 0
Class: N/A
Level: N/A
Mana: 210/100 M.Regeneration: 1.8/m
Stamina: 100/100 S.Regeneration: 2/m
Strength: 9
Endurance: 10
Dexterity: 6
Intelligence: 21
Wisdom: 8
Willpower: 15
General Skills: Language Translation; Inventory; Appraisal; Choice; Script Sniffer
Class Skill: N/A
" Looks fine except for my age. Really 0??? It should be 23," Jared thought," and what's up with that title The Strongest of them All." Suddenly another window Opened.
The Strongest of them All
Awarded for being born as Strongest Individual within your Race by far.
Grants the "Choice" Skill.
"....... What the Kacke", Jared exclaimed," am I some kind One Punch Guy". He scratched his head in confusion and went back to his Status. With a glance over the window especially the age column Jared understood.
"AHAHAHAHAHAAHA", he laughed like crazy rolling around his bed. He wasn't some kind of Demi-God. The System, the Gods, or whoever created these windows made a mistake. Because he came here from outside this System, it considers him just born but with the stats of a grown man. That's why he got the Title The Strongest of the All, normal newborns had probably stats like 1 or maybe even 0.5.
Calming down after a few more laughs he started to look at the other two titles.
Otherworlder
A̶̰̫͆͗ͅw̵͕̯͌̇̆ȧ̷̦͍̩̕r̷̬͝d̴̹̈́ḙ̴͍̔̿d̸̗̯̅ͅ ̶̨̹́f̸͇̣̠̽̚o̴͖̣̜̚r̷̥̼̀̍ ̶̹͗͗͝ͅț̴̟̑́̋͜ṙ̸̞ǎ̵̭̫͉v̸̥̻̺͋e̵͈͑̉̓ḻ̵̹̉̽i̸̖̔̎̀ṅ̵̛̦g̵͈̳͋̽ ̷̢̛̮̮̂t̸̲̲̏õ̴̩͊ ̸͈̻̘͝a̴̛͙͕͌̀n̷̯̼̭̓̓͝ó̸͔ť̵̩̹̱͝h̶̫̐̆e̷̔̀͜r̶͕̋ ̸̨̪͈̾̓̂Ẁ̷̬̱ǒ̵͙͝ŗ̴͉̺̍́l̵̪͓̤̄d̶̯̜̭͑̈́.̴̩̊̃͝
Grants the "Inventory"; "Language Translation";"Appraisal" Skills.
Jared turned solemn," Of course a System that messed up my age because of world travel wouldn't have an Otherworlder title," he thought, "Someone or something brought me here and manipulated the System to create the Otherworlder Title. But for what reason, as far as I know, they didn't leave me a message." he continued, "well nothing I can do about it for now, if I'm even right, let's keep going." Jared knew he always made the craziest assumptions about the plot of a story, which turned out wrong in the end. So he put the weird Title out of his mind for the time.
Bibliophile
Awarded for an unhealthy desire for the written word.
Grants the "Script Sniffer" Skill.
"The only title I earned the right way.", he said smirking. At least now he knew that his skills all came from his Titles." Is that the only way to gain Skills?"Jared contemplated, "Let's check out the skills."
Language Translation
Grants the User the Ability to speak and understand every spoken word.
"Okay good", he thought" no trying to charade out of getting burned on a Stake by an Angry Mob."
Inventory
Grants the User the Ability to store anything in a timeless Subspace. The Subspace can be accessed through the Inventory Window by willing it open or by willing an Object in or out of the Inventory.
Restriction: Only Nonliving, Must be carried.
" YEEEEEEESSSSSSS," Jared yelled and did a little victory dance. The personal space of OP-ness was always his favorite ability in any system story. Afterward, he grabbed the alarm clock of his nightstand. One of those retro ones with the bells on top. He checked the time and willed it into his Inventory. Without sound and light or anything else the clock simply disappeared. Jared couldn't keep the grin off the face and called out to his Inventory.
Another window appeared, this one looked different not only in function but also in style, like it was made for a different game. Cautious but not the least bit slowing in his eagerness, Jared looked over the window. A 20 by 20 grid with a slider on the right side, a search bar on the top right, and some kind of folder tab on the top left with a small plus sign next to it. "The small plus sign is probably there to create more folders."Jared thought, still vibrating with giddiness.
He looked over the grid and saw a small clock icon in the top left corner and pushed it. His alarm clock appeared midair at the tip of his finger. He fumbled with the clock for a while before he could catch it, his poor dexterity showing. Jared quickly looked at the clock face and if he subtracted his fumbling time, then yes the clock was suspended in time.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
With a giant grin, he created two new folders called "BEDROOM" "BOOKS" and willed his clock into the first. Jared looked around observing his possession. His bedroom always had been small and cramped but with everything out in a forest clearing and about to be devoured by his inventory. It suddenly looked a lot more.
He started with his nightstand. The old shirt, three books, one of them a grimdark fantasy novel,
"Please no foreshadowing."He thought accusingly at the Book before he put it away with the others. In the drawer was an assortment of snacks, most of it salty cracker or dry fruit and nuts mix." That should be able to last two maybe three days if rationed." Jared murmured to Himself.
After he put away his phone and charger. He went to his dresser and sorted everything into his Inventory, socks, belts, underwear, shirts, some towels, pants mostly Jeans, and Books he stuffed into one of the drawers. Also picking up something to wear, dark blue jeans, and a gray loose fitting Shirt with fresh socks and underwear. Yes, he was wearing his briefs and an old shirt the whole time.
After fishing the jackets and hoodies out of his closet together with some of his older shoes and more books. He went to his bed storing the pillows and the blanket.
"Now comes the real test, the ability said that I can store everything I can carry."Jared thought. He touched one of the two small mattresses and tried to will it into his inventory but nothing happened. Next, he grabbed it to heave it into the air while constantly willing the mattress into his inventory and the second it stopped touching anything but him and the clothing he wore it disappeared.
"YES," Jared yelled and after another victory dance, he started to disassemble the rest of his Bedroom. First removing drawers and anything he could, before lifting them for half a second to store it into his inventory. That worked until his Closet and with no other choice, he took off the door with the mirror by force, careful not to break it, before smashing the closet into pieces and storing them separately. You never know when you need a straight plank, almost as important as a towel.
He looked around him satisfied. "Except for some trampled grass, you would never know that there was a bedroom in the middle of the forest just a minute ago."Jared thought."Right, I wanted to check out the rest of my abilities." Quickly opening his status to not get distracted again he looked at his next ability.
Appraisal
Grants the User the Ability to appraise anything and get a common amount of knowledge.
"The standard appraisal ability," he spoke out loud," but what does common amount of knowledge exactly mean." He took a shirt out of his inventory and tried to appraise it by willing it.
T-Shirt Black
A full Black T-Shirt made out of 100% Cotton
Durability (84%)
"Okay yes, common knowledge but not useless if it shows me what things are made of and the durability," Jared thought and looked at the shirt, there were no holes and tears but the color was washed out and the material was a lot thinner form washing. He put away his shirt and tried to appraise some grass.
Sunra Bluegrass
Sunra Bluegrass is most commonly found in cool moist climates, a characteristic of well-drained, fertile soil.
"Another useful information, so I'm in a cooler climate." Jared thought," it should be about 25°C that means it's summer or late Spring." Appraise should be useful nothing mind-blowing but good to have. He looked at his last ability leaving the other one for the end.
Script Sniffer
Grants the User the Ability to sense the Written Word in a 50m radius around them.
"Neat but not really of use in the middle of a forest," he chuckled and for fun tried to activate. First, nothing happened just like he thought but after a second he felt an almost imperceptible itch. Confused he reached for it at the back of his shirt and pulled, revealing the little washing note stitched there. Shaking his head in amusement," Right not books but every written Word." Now was only one ability left and with a little excitement, he focused on it.
Choice
Grants the User the Ability to choose between one of the following Skills:
Titan's Strength (Lv. 1)
Unparalleled Mind (Lv. 1)
Absolute Control (Lv. 1)
Everlasting Life (Lv. 1)
If a Skill is chosen this ability will disappear.
Not knowing what else to do he focused on the first Choice and four Windows popped up simultaneous each on with a little "Choose" button at the bottom.
Titan's Strength (Lv. 1)
Grants the User the Ability to display the ferocious strength of the Titans.
+200 Strength
Unparalleled Mind (Lv. 1)
Grants the User the Ability of a Mind like nobody else of their Kind.
+200 Intelligence
Absolute Control (Lv. 1)
Grants the User the Ability of absolute Control over their Body making any task as easy as breathing.
+200 Dexterity
Everlasting Life (Lv. 1)
Grants the User the Ability of a Life Force so strong their Body will always Return to its Perfect State.
x200 Regeneration
Looking dumbfounded at the choices he shook his head clicked on Everlasting Life (Lv. 1) without hesitation.
The second he did, he stopped breathing and everything seems like bursting. Jared fell to his knees, warping his arms around him trying to keep his body together, or at least that was what it felt like.
After some time that felt like an Eternity, the feeling stopped and he could breathe again. He lay on the ground exhausted and covered in sweat." Scheiße!" he coughed out.
But as bone-deep as the exhaustion was, it was gone a second later and Jared felt like he had the most relaxing sleep in his life and 5 day Spa treatment. He grinned got up and looked at his Status.
Name: Jared Jotter
Race Human
Titles: Otherworldler; The Strongest of them All; Bibliophile
Age: 0
Class: N/A
Level: N/A
Mana: 210/100 M.Regeneration: 6/s
Stamina: 100/100 S.Regeneration: 6.7/s
Strength: 9
Endurance: 10
Dexterity: 6
Intelligence: 21
Wisdom: 8
Willpower: 15
General Skills: Language Translation; Inventory; Appraisal; Everlasting Life (Lv. 1); Script Sniffer
Class Skill: N/A
Only 2 things changed both his Regeneration went from 1.8/minute and 2/minute to 6/seconds and 6.7/seconds respectively. And Choice changed into Everlasting Life (Lv. 1).
Jared grinned while looking at the Skill. The Level next to the Skill was the first thing he took notice of during his Choice. He had already wondered if there were no skill levels in this System. But it seems not all Skills can level up.
The second thing he paid attention to was the name EverlastingLife, one didn't have to be a genius to know what the skill did at Max LVL. And even if it didn't grant him Immortality to read all the books, it was the best shot he had.
Now that he had finished everything he wanted to do. Jared needed to figure out what he was gonna do next." I need to find civilization," he thought," I did have a Survival Book phase, but that was years ago." He could barely remember them so that was of no use.
With nothing better to do, he walked over to one of the trees, the biggest as far as he could see. He started climbing and instantly noticed how different it was.
Normally one would feel the strain in arms, legs, and the pressure in his fingers, but now there was nothing. For all he could tell, he could be lying down and randomly moving his arm and legs.
Reaching the top with ease he hoped to see some kind of man-made structures. But sadly as far as he could see there was nothing. To the west, at least he thought it was west if the sun moves the same way, was a humongous Mountain range. And some of them seemed to spew smoke.
To his North and South was an endless sea of trees, but to his east, he just saw the gradual thinning of the forest. Moving down the tree and with one last look around the clearing, Jared turned East and started walking.