I woke up in a gray room—stone, this time with clear walls and a floor. I was, in fact, lying face down on said floor, further reinforcing its existence. I was still a little shady about the walls, as I could only see one and a half.

I tried to get up. I managed a weak pushup before I failed spectacularly and fell back onto the very real and very hard floor. The anticipated pain didn’t show up. I had pain everywhere. Every inch of every piece of me hurt. Even my hair hurt. It was a lot of hurt. My head still swam, my vision was blurred, and my limbs were still numb. I knew I needed to get my body pain sorted before I could clear my head and vision. As for the numbness, the very real floor was very comfortable. That and I hurt too much to care or was too numb to feel it. Regardless, the motion would have to wait. I lay there and closed my eyes.

I started to focus on my breathing. It was surprisingly easy. Easier than the yoga classes an ex got me into. As I got my breathing under control, I focused inward. I could feel a warmth there. It was like all of a sudden, the yoga mumbo-jumbo made sense. I felt warmth at my center and started to push it outward. I focused on my left arm first. I tried the warmth along what I envisioned my arteries and veins to be. From my chest through the shoulder. I felt the pain lessen as I went. As the energy hit my elbow, I could fully feel my shoulder again, and by the time it hit my fingertips, all the numbness and pain was gone.

I repeated the process several more times. It was not without setbacks. I must have missed something in my right arm, and the pain all came flooding back. I was right about one thing: the cold floor and numbness were working together to keep some of the pain at bay. When I started on my head, I’m almost certain I passed out again.

After what felt like hours, I had my body in check. I could feel all my limbs, and I could stand up successfully without wanting to vomit. The raging headache still made me vomit a foregone conclusion, though. I finally was able to see the room I was in. Though ‘see’ was a liberal term.

The room was about twenty feet on a side, including the roof, and made of the same pale gray stone block. The only deviations were the doors. On the far side of the room, I could make out a reasonably ornate door; the headache and blurry vision made the details difficult. It was nothing compared to the massive portal behind me. I rode an elephant at a fair one time and remember having to duck a little to get back into the tent where I got on. Old Trunkface and I could have meandered three sheets to the wind through this doorway without worry. The door took up half the wall in width and every inch in height. Two massive brass panels met at the high arch. I was very apprehensive of whatever this door was meant to let in.

Of course, with all my pure intelligence, I tried to open it. It was locked, thankfully. Even the simple exertion of pushing on the doors set my head to pounding. I took this as a good sign. It wasn't feeding time…yet.

I needed to get my head straightened out. I could barely think, let alone successfully run, when those doors opened. I returned to breathing. Focusing on that, I sat in a meditation pose with my back to the cool brass. The sensations in my back assured me that if the door budged, I'd have at least a little warning.

I refocused on my head. Using the same yoga and recovery methods I’d used on my body. I envisioned the well of energy in my center again, this time though it was clearly there. A well of energy waiting to be tapped.

Still unsure of what was happening but unwilling to let that stop me from adapting, I started the process earnestly. I focused on the energy pushing it from my core through my spine and into my skull. I went just to the limit of losing control and passing out. I finally reached the top of my skull and something clicked. It felt like I was lit on fire and quickly drenched in ice water. As the cold shifted to cool, everything relaxed. I could feel all of my body better than before. Hell, my body felt better than before. For the first time in a long time, I had no pain; it felt weird.

My vision was still fucked, though. It wasn’t blurry per se, but there were intense colors just at the edge of my peripherals. More past the edge than at. To the left was a dark black that only stood out because of a white border; a lime green band graced the top of my vision. The right was bright, iridescent blue. The blue was half as full as the black, reminding me of Vex’s irises but far less intense. I smiled at what memory I had of our encounter. I wasn’t too concerned that it was only half blue for two reasons. One, it was steadily increasing, and two, it wasn't flashing like the gray bar at the bottom. I was lucky to be sitting because I was unprepared for what happened when I focused on it.

A message popped into my vision. It wasn't over what I could see, but I could see it with another set of eyes. I could see in front of me, all the way across to the door on the far side of the room, and also see the message. It was a blue that I quickly named Vex Blue with a black background. It was one word in the darkness.

Welcome!

It was too bright, but I thought that it dimmed slightly. And then the message changed.

Congratulations on your Awakening!

You are currently E-tier.

You have 6 of 6 Loci unlocked

You have been granted a unique race, ‘Outworlder’

Due to divine interference, your race has been changed to ‘&(7khkhe.’

Due to divine interference, your race is hidden, ‘Outworlder’ will display

Racial abilities: 6

Quests completed: 0*

You have completed part of a hidden quest and have been awarded EXP as appropriate.

Yep, it was all a dream, or I was dead, or in a coma, or a video game. I won’t lie; I spent the next hour trying to quit.

All the time, the words floated there, mocking me. After I quit trying to quit, I took a little time to process what was happening. By the time I got to ‘bargaining,’ I began to chuckle. The chuckle became a laugh. The laugh? A cackle. I think that finally approaching hysteria broke me out of the cycle.

At some point, I stood up and began to pace. I sat my happy ass back down and tried to continue to process. It felt like I was in a video game or some poorly written LitRPG. I decided this was a good thing. I knew games, and I knew litRPGs. I knew the rules, generally, and what that meant.

The colors must be my health and mana and whatnot. I decided the almost-but-not-quite-vex-blue was mana because it was now almost full. The green? I bet that was stamina, but I wasn’t about to sprint across the room to find out. That left the black and no longer pulsing gray. I looked to the gray, and the messages disappeared. To confirm my growing theory, a second look brought it back. This left the glowing black as health. I was expecting red, but this was obviously not one of the systems I had read about.

I looked back at the message and focused on the part about race, and a new message popped up.

Race-Outworlder*

Outworlders are individuals transported to Andalisa in times of great need. These individuals are touched by the divine and will bring great change to reality.

I was ‘touched’ by the divine alright. I thought back to my encounter with Vex. I knew how it started and what the aftermath of sex looked like. The panic I couldn’t place, though. It wasn’t the ‘my first time’ or ‘Oh shit! We forgot a condom’ panic. It was more of a Hollywood ‘don’t you die on me’ panic. I tried to replay everything in my head, but only the kiss and the end stood out. As I thought about it, I got a flash of somewhere in the middle and was staggered by the intensity. It was just a flash, but Vex looked good naked. Yep, definitely sex. Still, why the concern at the end?

Looking back to the menu, I saw the part about my race being changed due to divine intervention. At first, I laughed at the connotation of intervention and admitted to myself that I'd probably do it again, even if it killed me. Judging by her parting words, Vex was down for another round, too. Though she did say, "Have fun,” so it might be a while.

You have to love a woman who understands your needs.

Given her intensity, I guessed something happened to me, and I was no longer an Outworlder. Generally, in the books, a rare race was good or bad. I said, ‘fuck it, we will see,’ and moved on.

I focused on the ‘racial ability’ part and had another message popup.

Non-Aspect skills:

Interface-due to your origins, the system is presented in a custom fashion.

Vitality- due to your unique nature, vitality has replaced health.

Object-bound soul- Your soul is bound to an object, and the object takes on the characteristics of your soul.

Reap the Dead (Loot Power)- Mana-created/infused entities occasionally create objects from non-absorbed mana and potential.

Dimensional Pocket- You can store up to 500 cubic feet of material.

The Uncanny Way- your natural sense of direction is greatly enhanced.

I had both a loot power and a storage power, just one shy of the Asano trifecta. I wasn’t disappointed in the slightest, though. That gave me a goal of a portal power. Goals are good, right?

500 cubic feet was a lot of space. A hiking pack was what? Two? At best? That and the loot power, which literally said ‘loot power’. I knew what mana was, so I guessed ‘potential’ for the loot skill, and the hidden quest was experience points. It also said non-absorbed, so I hoped it wasn't a trade-off.

The interface power made sense. Gamers gonna gamer. I guess the system just wanted to make things easier on those not born into it. Or prevent me from grabbing grandma’s tits in the dark.

The system taking care of me was present in spades in the direction of power. I got lost going to the bathroom the first night I lived in my apartment. Though it did concern me, how do you multiply an intangible? Well, if I could at least tell which way I came from in a forest, I'd be happy.

The vitality, I guess, explained the black instead of the red bar. With divine interference affecting my displayed race, I guessed I should keep Vitality a secret. Hopefully, it wouldn't affect healing in this place. I hesitated, calling this a game. It was too real. We didn't have this tech yet.

The last ability confused me. My soul was bound to an object….what object? As if in response to that very question, I felt it—a light pressure against my chest and neck. I reached up and felt the amulet beneath my shirt. I ran my fingers along the chain but could not feel a clasp.

“Soul bound to an amulet I can’t take off…check!”

“Goddess of death…check!”

“Weird stat for health that’s not health…double check!”

“Not going to tell a soul about any this…mother…you..bet..your..fucking …ass… check!!”

I stopped myself there. For some reason, I trusted Vex implicitly. If she was hiding how she changed my nature from even me there was a good reason.

I went back to the messages, which I was now calling the menu, because why not? to get any more information. I got nothing. I tried mental and verbal prompts of every type I could think of. I got so desperate that I even tried to squat, stand up, squat, stand up, and completely lost track of thinking the equivalent of ‘B’ and ‘A,’ let alone ‘select’ or ‘start.’

I was out of things to try which left only one option. Because fuck the giant fuck off door. I went to the more reasonable ten-foot-high one instead.

Also, it was open.