Jason sat on the edge of the bed in the room that mimicked his own, his mind a whirlwind of images and questions. The experience in the ancient structure lingered in his consciousness like a vivid dream. The object he had touched seemed to pulse with the lifeblood of the universe, imparting visions that were both awe-inspiring and overwhelming.
"What was that?” he murmured to himself, trying to piece together the fragments of images that had bombarded his mind.
The visions had shown him a glimpse of something vast and intricate, a network that connected worlds and civilizations. But how did he fit into this grand scheme? And what did it mean for Earth? He stood up, pacing the room. The boundaries of his reality had been irrevocably expanded. It wasn’t just about surviving in a new world anymore; it was about understanding his role in a universe much larger than he had ever imagined. The console, now silent, seemed to be waiting for his next move. Jason approached it, determined to uncover more. "Show me my current objectives," he instructed, and the holographic display sprang to life once more. The screen listed a series of tasks, each seemingly designed to guide him deeper into the mysteries of the expanded universe. The first on the list was “Combat Training” marked as incomplete. There were others too, tasks like "Develop Skills" and "Basic Craft"
Jason’s eyes narrowed in determination. "Time to get to work," he decided. He needed to explore further, to interact more with this world, and perhaps, in doing so, he would find the answers he sought.
As he prepared to step out once again, Jason paused. The experience with the artifact had been disorienting, but it had also been enlightening. He needed to be ready for whatever lay ahead. He accessed the status screen once more, checking his attributes. "Strength, Intelligence, Constitution... I wonder if these will change as I face new challenges," he pondered.
With a deep breath, Jason stepped out of the room. The environment transformed around him once again, but this time he was ready. He found himself in a different part of the jungle, lush and teeming with life, yet unmistakably alien. In the distance, he could hear the cries of animals and beasts alike.
“Time to learn how to fight I guess; I really hope this is like most games I’ve played, and they’ll hold my hand through the start of everything.” With a deep sigh Jason began walking forward, as he looked over his shoulder, he could see his room disappearing before his eyes. As Jason ventured deeper into the dense jungle, he kept his senses alert for any sign of danger. The sounds of the jungle were a cacophony of life, each rustle and cry a potential threat. He recalled the games he had played, trying to anticipate what kind of challenges he might face.
Suddenly, the underbrush rustled, and a creature leapt towards him. Jason instinctively braced himself, and once he saw something coming towards him, he tried to roll, but it turned into more of a drive as he landed hard on his chest, knocking the air out of his lunges. Gasping as scrambling to get to his feet he heard the creature hissing behind him. As he turned around, he could see the thing that attacked him now. The creature, resembling a large feline with iridescent fur, circled him, its eyes assessing. Jason remembered his task – Combat Training. This was it, his first real test. He steadied his breathing, focusing on the creature, ready to react. For a breath everything froze, in front of Jason were three items, a Sword, a Staff, and a Shield. In his mind he heard “There is power within you, Choose well, and give this power form, form to give you strength.”
Jason looked over the weapons, ‘Magic would be so cool, but I don’t know how much Mana or if Mana is even a thing. The sword seems like the best choice for right now, but is it the best choice overall? A shield can protect me, but it can also be used as a weapon. I’m not the strongest, at least I wasn’t before I was pulled into whatever this is. I typically go for range attacks, and don’t like to be right in the middle of fights when I play games. Hmm… maybe I’ll go with the sword, which hopefully will come with a boost to strength. Then later I can get a bow. I hope this doesn’t lock me out of magic though.’ He thought to himself as he reached out to take the sword. It disappeared and he heard. “The first choice is made, strength is a valiant choice, now what do you give up?”
‘What do I give up? Oh it must mean between the Shield, which I assume is tied to defense, and the staff which is tied to magic. Well I really don’t want to be locked out of magic so I will give up the shield.’ As he finished this thought he reached out and touched the shield, it also disappeared, then a second later so did the staff. “Choice two has been made, good luck Jason Morrow.” The voice faded and in a blink the world was moving again, expect this time he was holding a sword in his hand. ‘Great, too bad I have no idea how to use this thing.’ He thought as he raised it in front of himself.
The creature looked at him more carefully now, a slight hesitation now in it’s gait. It continued to stalk around Jason looking for an opportunity to attack. As Jason followed it, turning as it walked around him, his sword clumsily raised, he stepped on a rock and stumbled, the creature lunged forward. Jason screamed and tried to right himself, but ended up falling, as he turned to land on his back, he thrust the sword up. It stabbed into the front right paw of the creature, causing it to hiss in pain. It then tried to jump back, but the sword was stuck deep, and it was unable to escape. Now a creature cornered it tried to swipe at Jason, he just barley managed to jump back, but it was awkward as he held the sword, with a strong pull he yanked it from the creature’s paw, then raised it above his head and swung it down, more like a woodsman chopping wood and less like a warrior slaying a foe. It didn’t matter though, the creature was lunging again, and the sword cut deep into its head, delivering an instant kill. Jason stood panting, his ankle starting to hurt a bit.
"Okay, this is definitely not like playing on a console," he gasped, his heart pounding.
A new sense of confidence filled him. He was learning, adapting, becoming a part of this world. He walked over to the nearest tree and collapsed against it. Still breathing hard, he took off his shoe and looked at his foot. He must have rolled his ankle during that fight, as it was starting to swell. Sighing he put his shoe back on. “Oh I wonder if I can loot the creature, I should have tried before sitting down…” after a few more seconds he got up and limped over to the creature. ‘Hmm in most games you just have to click on the thing you want to loot… how about…’ Jason reached out and touched the creature.
You have slain a Forest Feline, You gain 15 experience, Healing Balm, Feline Pelt (Good), and 12 silver.
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“Hmm well I don’t see anything so maybe that means I have an inventory, and hopefully that means I can store this sword in there too while I’m exploring.” Just as he finished speaking a new screen appeared in from of him. It was the same blue as his status screen but it showed a grid of 5x6, with the first two slots taken up. In the bottom right of the screen was a symbol that looked like a coin, the color of silver, with a number 12 beside it.
“That’s what I’m talking about!” he almost screamed in excitement. He then quickly looked around to ensure nothing else was going to jump out at him. After a breath he started trying to figure out how to use his inventory. ‘Hmm maybe I just push and pull?’ With that thought he lifted the sword and pushed it towards the third box, he felt a sensation like air being pulled towards the box and let go of the sword. It disappeared and an icon of a sword now showed in the third box. ‘Alright that was an odd feeling but glad it’s pretty simple, now to get this healing balm and see if it’ll help my ankle.’ He reached forward and pulled out the balm, this time the feeling was like wind blowing into his hand. He walked back to the tree, sat down, and applied the balm to his ankle. The color reminded him of snot, and the texture was almost slimy, the smell however reminded him of an ointment his mother would rub on his chest when he was sick. Immediately the pain went away, and the swelling went down. ‘Wow this stuff is amazing. Looks like I can get about 3 maybe 4 uses out of this one item.’ He thought to himself as he put the balm away.
As Jason gathered his bearings, the jungle around him seemed to pulse with a life of its own. The encounter with the Forest Feline was just the beginning. He knew he had to be prepared for whatever else this world had in store. As he resumed his exploration, he reflected on the fight, and that he had just killed something, it was a wild beast and it attacked him, and he killed it. As he thought about it expected to feel dread or something but all he felt was excitement, even the thought of having to slay another creature didn’t cause him to feel any way but excitement, he was now a hunter, and he would hone his skills so that he became the very best.
The jungle was a labyrinth of vibrant flora and hidden creatures, each step revealing something new. As he walked, he kept an eye on the environment, using his Analyze skill to learn about the plants and animals he encountered. He stopped when something near a tree caught his eye. He walked over to it and leaned down to examine it.
Unknown Creature Egg. With the proper care it can be hatched.
As Jason closed the prompt and examined the egg more he could see it was about the size of a chicken egg, though that was where the similarities ended. This egg was two toned, part of the egg was a deep green and the other part a dark brown, close to black. The green color let out a soft glow and when Jason picked the egg up it felt warm to his touch. After looking at the egg for a bit he put it into his inventory. `I really hope that doesn’t like kill the egg, but if it does maybe I can make breakfast.’ He thought as he got ready to head out, but just then.
New Quest!
Title: Egg of possibilities.
Description: Ensure the egg is properly cared for, and hatches.
Rewards: ????
“Well guess that means it didn’t get killed going into my inventory. When I get back to my ‘room’ I’ll set up some type of habitat for it. Also, quest are a thing, I just assumed the task were quest but it seems they are different. It seems like quest might be given by whatever does the menus? I guess that means task are given by... other people or things?” He said to himself as he continued exploring. After a few hours he decided to take a break and sat down leaning his back against a tree. “Man, I’m getting hungry… if I didn’t have a quest to hatch this egg I’d be getting ready to fry it up…” Looking around he spotted a bush with what looked like black berries. Walking over He took one and used analyze on it.
Berry of the Forest, Variant Black, Can be eaten, or used in cooking. Other uses can be discovered.
‘Good enough for me.’ He thought to himself as he picked all the berries from the bush and walked back to his tree, snacking on them. The taste reminded him of black berries, as he ate them, he realized they were quite filling. After eating about half of them he felt as full as he would after a full meal. ‘Okay, I will be sure to pick more of these if I find them.’ He thought as he put the rest into his inventory. As he was getting ready to stand up, something came slithering out of the bushes where he had picked the berries. Jason quickly pulled his sword from his inventory as the creature let out a deep hiss and sprung forward. Jason jumped to the side and the Giant creature hit the tree he was just leaning against. Not wanting to give it time to attack again, he raised his sword and brought it down hard on the creatures’ head, his aim was off, and he hit where the neck would be, but the end result was the same. The creatures head was cut clean off its body and it laid unmoving in the dirt. Now having a moment to look at was attacking him, he could see it resembled a snake, expect it was four feet long and had iridescent scales that shimmered with a spectrum of colors, most notably a dark brown and a deep green. Jason reached down and touched the snake.
You have slain Glimmerscale Serpent, You gain 15 experience, healing balm, Snake Skin (Excellent), and 12 silver.
"Combat Training: Level 1 Complete," the console's voice announced, seemingly from nowhere. Jason put his sword away, seeing the balm now had the number 2 in the bottom right corner of it’s box, and the skin now in the forth box, though the skin had a golden star in the top right corner. ‘Hm guess that is a quick way to tell if something is Excellent quality.’ He thought to himself. The snake begin to dissolve, soaking into the ground where it was killed. ‘I didn’t stick around long enough to see this with the feline, or is this unique to this creature?’ he wondered to himself as he looked up at the sky. The sun was beginning to dip below the horizon, casting the jungle in a twilight hue. Jason realized he needed to find shelter for the night. He looked around for maybe another ruin or something he could use for shelter. As he searched, he stumbled upon a small clearing. In the center, a strange plant glowed with a soft light, unlike anything he had seen before. Approaching cautiously, Jason used Analyze.
Bioluminescent Orchid. Rare. Can be used for illumination. Other uses can be discovered.
"A light source could be useful," he thought, collecting the plant carefully.
As he prepared his makeshift shelter, Jason couldn't help but reflect on the day. He had done a lot in only a day. Slain two creatures that meant to kill him, found, well received, a weapon. Even though he didn’t know how to properly use it right now, he made a resolve to find someone to teach him, and if he couldn’t he’d just have to figure it out on his own. His shelter consisted of leaning some logs he found against a tree, and putting leaves or anything else he could find over it. Honestly a strong breeze could probably knock it over. He sighed and laid under it. ‘Nothing to do about it, just hope nothing comes looking for me in the night.’ That night, as he lay under the alien stars, Jason felt a mix of apprehension and excitement. Tomorrow was another day in this new reality, another step towards unraveling the secrets of his new reality.