"What is this?" Jeff asked Kazi as he turned the monster loot around in his hands. It kind of looked like a large bowl made out of the same carapace material the beetle had. The outside had spiky horns all about it. The inside had an almost leathery material that felt soft to the touch.

"That is a Horn Crowned Helmet," stated Kazi. "We still aren’t specked out enough to get all the items details, but we can check that out at the System Pillar."

Jeff quickly turned it upside down and the bowl looking item suddenly seemed like a gross yellow and purple spotted hard hat. Intrigued, he brought it over to the Pillar.

"It's not going to just suck it in and give me merit points right?"

"No," his companion responded, "not unless I give it the green light to do so. I do that for each of the body parts you have turned in so far."

"You've just been accepting stuff without telling me I had options?" Jeff asked feeling frustrated.

"Yes of course. I can read your intentions and knew that there was no value in those parts except for gaining merit points."

"Still, I wish you had told me about that. I need to know about everything that's happening with this new System," Jeff stated firmly.

A burst of irritation came from within him from the Spore that shared his brain chemicals. "First off, it's not a new System. It's just new to you. It's been around for eons. Secondly, I have decades of experience and knowledge helping me make decisions behind the scenes. Do you really expect me to tell you hundreds of years of system knowledge in less than a day?!"

Jeff felt struck by the heated response of the Spore.

He was still frustrated that this thing had fused with him against his will. He was still angry that he was stuck on a new planet having to survive in the wilderness. He was terrified of having to fight monsters. And he was furious that he still hadn't seen his kids and confirmed that they were safe.

He wanted to blow up at the Spore. To complain about everything that had happened so far. He realized he just wanted a fight.

He knew all of his emotions were valid and justified, but that didn't mean they were useful at the moment. He normally was able to keep his emotions contained and focus on the matter at hand. He was quick to make a plan and quick to act.

Like when I ran straight into the System Pillar, Jeff realized.

"FUCK!" He suddenly yelled.

They had 'chosen' him BECAUSE he was quick to act. Because he could make logical decisions in a crisis situation. He was chosen because he could find the logic in jumping into an alien spacecraft and drinking a random potion to save his kids.

Knowing that almost made him want to explode just out of spite. Then he resigned himself to thinking more logically.

And all of these emotions triggered because I didn't want to lose my loot.

The thought came quick and made Jeff smile. Then he started to laugh.

He was in a bad situation, that was obvious. Freaking out would be justified and natural. But the thing that had kept him alive so far was shutting off those emotions and focusing on the best actions for each moment.

People that needed several days before they accepted their new reality were all back on Earth, watching his tutorial experience. He suddenly realized that that was by design and the Boschyan Army had even thought that through.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

He quickly went through his list of logical conclusions.

Having a melt down helps no one. Kazi had done nothing yet that was untrustworthy. He could trust the Spore and the System until there was good reason to do otherwise. They gave him magic and magic is awesome. He was still on his path to see his kids.

Feeling resolved again…for the fifth or sixth time since the chaos started yesterday. Jeff smiled. Then he shoved the helmet into the golden Pillar.

Horn Crowned Helmet

This helmet adds awareness that can help you survive deadly encounters.

+1 Processing

+1 Sense

Value: 75 Merit Points

Jeff pulled the helmet out of the Pillar and quickly put it on his head. He felt his thoughts speed up and his relaxed sense field stretched a little farther.

He realized that the Level 5 beetle must have had high processing and sense. That's why it kept dodging his attacks and reacting so fast.

He shivered. He needed to get stronger before he faced something that could dodge all of his attacks. His discs were awesome, but they had proven to be rather dodgeable by those with higher stats.

Maybe increasing his Might and Cognition would also help counteract that. Those two and Imagination were the only attributes still left at 1.

He needed to focus his three free points on those. He could spread them out or continue his '2 and 1' strategy. He supposed he could dump all 3 points into one stat, but that just left weaknesses.

If he understood enough about the stats then those weaknesses could be worth having strengths in other areas. From what he had learned so far it was better to have a pretty balanced stat pool. At least at the beginning. Once he developed more abilities he could specialize. He figured he was still only level 4 and he could decide on a focus after he received more quest rewards.

The stories he use to read always promoted specialization, but now it was his life on the line. Extra Might could help him move his shield faster. Extra Congnition could let him control more discs. He wasn’t totally sure what Imagination did, but he’d hate to find out five levels later that it was super important and he’d been ignoring it.

Jeff sighed and dumped 1 point into Cognition, Might and Imagination. Each of them now sat at 2 points. His brain suddenly became more focused and less cloudy. He didn't know that it was cloudy before, but now it was obviously clearer than before.

Stats: Level 4

Body: Tier 1

Strength: 3

Dexterity: 2

Vitality : 4

Mind: Tier 1

Cognition: 2

Processing: 3

Imagination: 2

Spirit: Tier 1

Might : 2

Sense : 4

*Depth: 7

Available Points: 0

Between his new helm, the recent stat growth in depth, and now leveling up he had grown quite a bit. The helm really made fighting a level 5 worthwhile.

"Kazi, sorry for blowing up earlier. I know you are doing your best to help me." Jeff said. "Can I check out the Pillar shop for some more gear? I think having a melee weapon and a shirt might help."

"I thought you'd never ask. I've been hanging onto these 300 credits for forever. I got them as a reward for being in the top 1% of my academy class almost 20 years ago. Let's go shopping!"

Kazi instructed Jeff to put his hand against the Pillar. Soon screens filled with items and their descriptions filled his vision. He clicked on a weapon he wasn't familiar with and saw a video show up next to the description. It was some sort of bow designed for those without opposable thumbs. He skipped past it and tested some of the filtering options to narrow it down to items he could actually use himself.

After running into a few AMAZING items he decided to also filter for price. He would love to have gloves that gave +45 to Strength, but they were nowhere near his price range.

I need a shirt and a weapon, he reminded himself. I definitely don't need water walking shoes… yet.

Passing on some of the unneeded items almost physically hurt. Maybe it was due to his still recovering spirit?

He decided to grab some breakfast and take his time with the decision. There was a lot more available to him than he expected. It was time to think it through and get himself some magical gear.