A deep, unsettling exhaustion clung to Matthew—more than just fatigue—something was wrong. He opened his eyes and found himself in a dark, empty room.

He started looking around frantically. "How did I die?!" He thought back but could only remember talking to the receptionist. That was when he felt shivers roll over his body, and something told him he was being watched.

Matthew continued to look around, but when nothing was there, he called out, trying to talk to Karen. "Hey Karen, are you there? What happened?"

The familiar text started to appear. However, this time, the text followed a masculine voice.

Hello Matthew, you have not died, but you have tried to talk about respawning. I would ask you not to do that.

As the man spoke, pressure from all sides surrounded him; Matthew didn't like this feeling he was getting. To him, it felt like he was a dog in a kennel being told what he could and couldn't do.

A little annoyed, Matthew raised his voice. "That doesn't make any sense! At least give me a reason or even an excuse." This time, the voice sounded bored, as if reading from a script.

I do not need to describe anything; just know that your abilities, memories, and life are in my hands, so I recommend listening to what I say. If you do it again, there will be more consequences in the future.

Just like that, the ominous feeling and pressure were gone; Matthew even felt like the dark room had gotten slightly warmer and brighter. Still trying to understand, he screamed. "Tell me what is going on!"

As he yelled those words, he saw that the dark room had been replaced with the ceiling of some kind of wooden building in just one blink.

Matthew sat up, looking around. "What is going on today?" It was dark, a dim light originating from the center of the room. He sat on a small cot. The room had 8 other cots that were empty and looked neat. There was a wooden cup beside him with a translucent liquid within.

What really caught his eye was the light in the center of the room. The light felt warm, but he watched it closely. It seemed to be floating in midair. His mind told him it was safe, but something still felt...off.

Matthew slipped his legs out of the cot and stood up, starting to walk toward the odd light. As he stepped closer, the light grew warmer. "Am I still dreaming?" he asked himself.

Then Matthew heard what sounded like footsteps; Angie from before appeared at the door; he spent a moment looking at her. She seemed pretty tall, standing at his height; she had short shorts and wore a pink shirt with a light, flowy style. Her hair was usually a light brown, but right now, it had strands of hair that seemed to be comprised of light. Her eyes were a similar brown, but Matthew could still see the brown as if the white in her eyes was illuminated even in this dark room.

She stood at the door momentarily before saying, "I'm happy you are finally awake. You just fainted out of nowhere. We brought you into the guild's infirmary and had our resident doctor check you out. He was perplexed, however. You don't seem to have any medical issues. How do you feel?"

Matthew kept looking between the light and the woman. "I still feel a little lightheaded, but otherwise, ok, what is this?" he indicated to the floating light.

Angie smiled as she held up her arms. Rays of light seemed to stream from her arms and settle into each corner of the room, filling the room with light. Matthew looked around, amazed, as she explained.

"This is my ability. Since you just appeared, you may not know this, but everyone gets an ability, and this is mine."

Matthew felt a rush of excitement. "I remember seeing an ability in my stat sheet," he said, and even before thinking about it, his stat sheet appeared in front of his eyes.

Name Matthew Miller

Level 2

Health 100/100

Ability Memento

Ability level 0

Matthew focused on the ability for a few seconds, hoping for a description to appear, but when none came, he thought to himself, "What does Memento do?" Remembering he wasn't alone, he then turned to Angie and asked, "How do I know what my ability does?"

Angie smiled again and explained, "Abilities fall into two categories—active and Activated. Active ones run constantly, boosting things like speed or toughness. Activated abilities, though, require you to activate them and usually pack more punch."

Angie had his full attention, and he could feel an excitement he hadn't felt since going to a theme park as a child. As soon as she stopped speaking, he blurted out, "But how do I know what mine does?"

Angie sighed. "I was getting to that; what is the name of the ability?"

Matthew quickly looked back at his stat sheet, making sure he pronounced it right. "It's called Memento"

Angie pulled out what looked like a notepad from her back pocket. Matthew could see some light illuminating from the notepad. She then started swiping on it as if it were a smartphone.

After a few moments, Angie said. “M…M…. Ah, here it is, Memento; that's odd. The description is blank. I can see that someone started to fill in the information as it says it is an activated ability."

She looked up at him, "Well, that can be exciting, too. You will have to let me know if you find out what it does so that I can fill in the information. You may even be able to find out now by trying to activate it."

Matthew's excitement grew. Feeling his heartbeat quicken, he focused on his stat sheet. He thought hard at the ability, trying to will it into activating, for a long time, nothing happened. Then Matthew started to feel something, as if there was a new part of his brain he could communicate with. Matthew latched onto that feeling, and the feeling grew until, finally, something happened.

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His inventory screen opened inside his inventory. The Mile Stones were still grayed out, but his Broken Blade's background shifted between translucent and golden. Matthew mentally selected the weapon, and the background stayed a bold gold.

Matthew felt like he was starting to understand the world slightly better. Excited, he explained what happened to Angie, and she nodded along.

"That isn't enough to add yet; the weapon could be getting tougher, getting sharper so you can do more damage or 10s of other things that could be happening. As you test it out, let me know if you can figure it out. The Adventurers Guild pays out a reward for new abilities found."

Angie then turned and said, "We still need to finish your registration. Follow me when you're ready."

Matthew thought about it, and his head was finally feeling better, so he strode after her down a hall. They passed rooms full of people training with various weapons as he followed. He even saw sparks fly off as two men fought with swords. A few steps later, they returned to the large communal room. Angie waved him over, and he walked up to the desk she stood at.

You were out for a little bit, but it is getting late," she said, handing over a necklace with green stones. This is a visitor pass. With this, you can stay at the government-run inn across the street. Food is included. Visitors and travelers can use the inn for up to a month or until they find their own accommodations.

Matthew looked at her oddly. He thought it weird that the government would help people like him for no gain. "Why would the government do that?" he asked. "What was in it for them?"

Angie nodded, saying, "Adventurers in this town and many others bring in a large amount of the revenue that the town runs off of, so the government sees this as an investment."

Matthew nodded, thankful for the help. He pulled on the necklace, watched the small green gems sparkle, and smiled. "Thanks, Angie."

After staying the night at the inn, Matthew was taken aback at how good he felt—that is until he heard a monstrous roar from his stomach. Matthew looked around his room.

The room was simple but large enough to accommodate a twin bed, a desk with paper and pencils, a small dresser, and a small shower.

After getting dressed, he walked out of the room and down the hall to what he thought was the inn's mess hall,

Walking into the mess hall, it seemed it was later than most people woke up since the hall was pretty empty. The hall had three large tables with stools on either side. There was a window with a deep counter with a menu set atop it. The sign had words that looked like gibberish. He blinked, and then they were words he knew well.

Biscuits and gravy

Pancakes

Crepes

Matthew rubbed his eyes. "I must still be tired." That is when a late thirty-year-old man who looked like he could bench a bench walked over to the window. The man had dark skin, a bald head, dark brown eyes, and muscles that seemed to glisten with sweat.

The man looked at Matthew for only a moment before smiling. "Hey kid, I'm Drey, the head chef at this establishment. Need help choosing?"

Matthew smiled at the kind-sounding man. "It's Matthew. Nice to meet you, and no, I have always loved biscuits and gravy, so I would love that if possible."

Drey gave Matthew a big thumbs-up, saying, "Great choice. I'll call your name once it's done."

Upon trying the biscuits and gravy, Matthew knew this man was a master chef. The gravy had a lightly smoked flavor, seemingly from the meat. The sausage tasted smoked, but he could also taste that it had been grilled before being mixed in. The biscuits themselves were a perfect amount of fluffy and felt like biting into clouds.

After his first bite, another man walked up to his table and looked him over. Matthew, in turn, looked at the man.

He looked a little shorter than Matthew. He had bright red hair, piercing green eyes, and a smirk that seemed to put Matthew on edge. The odd man sat down next to him and started talking.

"I can't cook, so I come here each day. You can't beat Drey's cooking!" He then held out his hand. "It's Caden. Nice to meet you."

Matthew reached out to shake his hand. Something annoyed him about this person, but he couldn't put his finger on it. "I'm Matthew," he said off-put.

Although he said he enjoyed Drey's food, the man quickly scarfed down his own plate of biscuits and gravy and left, speaking with a full mouth. "See you around."

Matthew shrugged as he ate the last bit of the fluffy goodness. He saw that the man had left his plate on the table, so sighing, he took his and Caden's plates to Drey, who was standing at the window. "Thanks for the meal; it was great!"

Drey smiled. "I'm glad you enjoyed it; see you later."

Remembering what Angie had said, he walked out of the inn and into the Adventurers Guild. Earlier in the day, the building was crowded. A group of people was near a large board with a poster on it. The line for the government side of things was, again, massive, but the line to talk to Angie wasn't long.

Matthew got in line, and a little while later, he was face-to-face with Angie. She nodded when she saw him, saying, "Hi Matthew, it's pretty busy today, so I'll just ask: Are you interested in becoming an Adventurer?"

Surprised at how quickly everything was going, he stammered, "I-I would like to learn more about what that means."

She nodded again, saying. "There is an interview where one of the assistants will talk to you about what an Adventurer does and ensure you are prepared for that responsibility."

Matthew waited to make sure she was done talking before giving his response. "I would love to do that then."

She rang a small bell, and surprisingly, James came out of a hallway in the back and waved at him, saying, "Oh, Hey Matthew, it looks like I'm doing your interview today."

Matthew followed James into a smaller room with two chairs and a table, and they sat across from each other.

James pulled out one of those smartphone-looking things. He saw Matthew's eyes locked on it and explained, "This here is a Nova tablet. They allow us to store information, keep notes, and access the before-mentioned data."

He then clicked a few times before nodding, "I already filled out a little saying you are unregistered, but before I ask this next question, let me explain a little about what we adventurers do."

We fight beasts to protect people and our families. This is our most important responsibility and one you can never forget. It comes before getting stronger, it comes before earning money, and it comes far before gaining power.

Everyone has different ways of conducting these interviews, but I feel the need to ensure that each person who wants to become an Adventurer is coming from the right place, so this brings me to my first question.

Matthew, do you want to be an Adventurer?"

Matthew honestly didn't have a good answer but swallowed. He didn't know if he could live up to this responsibility; caring for others was never his strong suit, but eventually, he came to a conclusion: "I believe that I would like to become an Adventurer. I do want to gain the power to protect myself, and I am willing to use that power to protect others."

James nodded, then seemed to relax and look Matthew in the eyes. "I know I made it sound difficult, but a lot of the time, this job is fun and rewarding. I just want to make sure your expectations are in the right spot.

The Adventurers Guild has a training program for new Adventurers. This program also allows others to test out what being an Adventurer means. This class is actually why I'm here today. Would you like to join us today before making a decision?"

"A class?" Matthew thought. "What I really want is to go back home." He felt his shoulders sag but quickly tried to distract himself. "I don't like the idea of getting hurt, but I have already been killed three times in this world; I don't want to just keep dying or feel helpless and require others to save me. I want to get stronger so I can defend myself."

This didn't make Matthew feel better, but it did help him make up his mind. He said, "I would love that. Could I get a different weapon, though?"