Welcome to Ragaea.

Those words floating in front of him were the first thing Jaeger saw when he opened his eyes. He was lying on the ground; he had probably fallen from Ventress, but he didn't hurt as much as he expected. He was disturbed, though, by those floating words, because they weren't on anything, they were just floating. Words should be on parchment, wood, metal, anything, not just floating. And as if in response to this thought, the words disappeared. The sigh of relief he held in his chest was snatched away as a parchment unfurled and a series of words forced themselves in front of him. No matter how he turned his head, it remained directly in front of him.

Welcome to Ragaea.

Modification of system aspect detected, consciousness has been confirmed.

You are now a part of the System and your destiny is limitless.

You have been awarded the Class: Bounty Hunter

You have gained title: Outworlder.

You have gained title: Dimensional Abductee.

Notice: Titles award certain benefits to check benefits check your status screen.

Notice: Outworlder local language(Klangdorian) translator unlocked.

Notice: Dimensional Abductee language(all) translator unlocked.

As the last sentence appeared, Jaeger shook himself as if he were waking from a trance. He might have been able to explain the words, he'd heard of people with head injuries seeing things, but the scenery around him was beyond his imagination. He was clearly not in Beseria.

All around him was a forest filled with trees, grass, and the sounds of animals, but that was where the familiar ended. The trees were huge, bigger than any he'd ever seen, and the colors. The trunks were red and the grass around him was a light blue like the midday sky. But the red of the trees wasn't a subtle red, no, it was a deep burgundy red. The forest animals he saw were also almost familiar, a rabbit with antlers, a deer with two extra legs. He even caught a glimpse of something large and slow moving out of the corner of his eye, it never came close, staying in the depths of the forest, but its lumbering form echoed as it walked. Which drew his attention to something else, the sounds. Not just birdsong and the rustling of leaves, but new sounds. Creaks that came from the trees like the sighs of tired men. Howls, growls, and shrieks came from all around, but he couldn't tell if they were predatory or just new.

“I need to find a city. This forest is strange; this parchment is strange.” He waved to move it, and his hand went through it. “And possibly a hallucination. But a city has to be normal, or at least something I can understand. I just need this thing to go away.”

With that, the parchment rolled up and disappeared. With a grateful sigh, he finally stood up, grabbed his hat and went to find his horse. Fortunately, she was lying down right behind him, and after a few moments she shook herself awake and stood up. He walked over to her and patted her down, muttering reassurances and checking her over. She was fine, she kept looking around, but this new place probably had a lot of new smells too. After checking her tack, quickly securing his gear, and checking her hooves, Jaeger hopped into the saddle and started to ride.

“C’mon girl, hopefully we can find a bit of civilization quickly if we follow this trail.”

The ride through the forest was eventful, but only because so much was new to them. There was an intoxicating smell of the forest, it was close to the smell of the forests back home, but with a spice to it. The trees were still trees, just different colors. So the beginning of the ride was interesting, but soon the familiar riding zone came where time and scenery just passed by. It wasn't until a wooden sign appeared in the distance that Jaeger perked up, and as they rode closer to it, he read the sign.

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Patterson ahead

Jaeger assumed this was a settlement and moved on. His assumption proved correct. Patterson seemed to be a walled city, with stone walls surrounding it and guards outside the gate he rode to. A long line of carts, people and animals waited ahead, but they seemed to disperse as he rode up. He didn't know why, but he just shrugged and accepted the special treatment. As he approached, the guards looked at him and one slowly approached.

“Nice outfit you got there. You from round these parts?” The guard held his halberd comfortably in his hands.

After having time to think about it, Jaeger had decided to tell the truth, or at least some of it. He would openly admit to being an Outworlder, he wouldn't be able to hide that fact for long anyway, but he would keep the abductee thing to himself. Whoever had kidnapped him might be powerful and his freedom might not last long if they found him.

“No, I'm an Outworlder. I appeared in the forest back there.”

“All right, well, that's not uncommon. What is your class and level? Klangdor only has four openly forbidden classes, and if you have them, we'll have to sort you out and train you. You can tell me or we can use a scanner, but the scanner will be more personal.” The guard, seeing his blank expression, explained. “The scanner will show us everything on your status screen.”

“My class is Bounty Hunter. I have no idea what my level is.”

“Step aside, and I'll show you how to access it, and then send that information. Once we're done, I'll send you down to the guild for your guide." Waving me to the side, he gave me a quick tutorial on how to use my status screen. "All your personal information is stored in your status sheet. Just think or speak status, its different for everyone but that usually works. I hope for your sake it does, because this is the easiest way to do it. Some poor bastards have to constantly press an invisible button to bring there’s up."

Jaeger thought Status, and the parchment unrolled again, but this time it showed an image, him with Ventress behind him. He had his musket in his hand, a pistol at his side and an axe at the other. Dressed in his full armor. Next to the portrait was what appeared to be a description of him and a breakdown of his abilities in numbers. He relays the information to the guard who nods his head.

Name

Jaeger ‘The Hunter’ Darkblade

Class

Bounty Hunter

Level

5

Health Points

230

Magic Points

150

Physical

17

Mental

14

Social

13

Luck

15

Reputation

Outsider

“Physical, Mental, and Social are the standard ones that everyone has. Physical includes everything you have to do physically; fighting, running, lifting, you get the idea. Mental is all your mind; it doesn't say how smart you are, just how well you can use it. Social determines your first impression, your ability to charm, inspire and motivate, and basically how people treat you. The last two are unique, everyone has at least one unique stat. Luck is a rare one, but it is just that luck. Keep it high and make sure it doesn't go low.” He shrugged. “Reputation though, that's interesting. Ask the guild when you get there, but if I had to guess, it's probably a bounty hunter thing. I'd guess it tracks your interactions and maybe changes as you get more known.”

After that, the guard answered a few questions I had, but it all came down to this. No one controls the system, and stats are increased by hard work, quests, and experience. I tried to get more answers, but the guard just told me to ask the guild and gave me directions. He took me back to the gate, told me to be careful on my horse, and wished me luck. So I rode off to find the Adventurers'