Reading over the description made me chuckle slightly, especially because of my previous antics, however it was still a crappy pull for a weapon. I'd have to make it work though, closing the menu I decided to head back to the tree that dropped the coconuts, planning to eat a couple to hold over my growing hunger. A few feet from the tree I saw the coconuts just as I had left them, thrown about in a haste to retrieve my club. Except now that I was staring at them with weariness, a couple of them starting to vibrate. Just a few hours ago, I was working a dull security shift, half-asleep in a rental trailer. Then, after being dragged into a cosmic tug-of-war by some "Goddess of Dimensional Weaving," I'd been unceremoniously dumped on a beach butt naked with stats, a system menu, and a dubious wooden weapon. And now, here I was, staring at coconuts that were moving in ways they definitely shouldn't.

"This can't be real," I muttered, though the hairs on the back of my neck were already standing at full attention. Something about those coconuts screamed wrong.

The vibrations grew stronger, faint clicking noises emanating from within their shells. My grip on the club tightened, and my heart thudded in my chest.

"Okay," I said aloud, trying to steady my breathing. "Just coconuts. Weird, creepy, potentially dangerous coconuts." As if in response, one of them gave a sudden, violent lurch, rolling upright like it had a mind of its own.

I took another step back, the club raised defensively. Staring deep into the moving coconuts trying to will whatever gave me the item descriptions would do the same now, but nothing ever came of it. The coconuts still moving towards me when they suddenly stopped. Catching my breath in thanks of it just being an earthquake when all out of nowhere the bottom halves of the shells broke open. Jutting out of the shell were crustacean legs like some sort of creepy crab hybrid. If that wasn't enough huge claws tore through the sides of the shell only leaving a jagged half top of shell. My brain had a hard time of comprehending what the hell I was actually looking at. The damn chelipeds were easily a foot long and the claws themselves could decapitate me.

"All right no big deal, just a couple of oversized crabs." I charged forward towards the closest of the two swinging back my club in a crazy golf or hocky stance ready to launch the thing. That's when the damn thing leapt at me from six feet away. Quickly pulling up my club I successfully half swatted/blocked the thing, and it ended up behind me on its shell. Mentally noting I needed a shield as soon as possible while watching it rock back in forth for a few seconds I checked it out of the fight, for now and went towards the still lethal one.

Examining this one further I saw something new I didn't see before. Creepy long eye stalks bent over the edge of the top of the shell. slowly winking between the set egging me on to make a move. That is when out of nowhere the description appeared.

Coco mite (Level 3)

Experience rewarded upon kill dependent on level disparity

Health 10 / Stamina 10

The coco mite is a revered assassin of the Devarian coastal region. They catch unsuspecting prey from above blending in with the local fruit. If you live to read this watch out for the claws and their quick jump ability.

First, I was annoyed with the message as it appeared way too late for any of that information to actually matter than I was grateful because it wasn't being a condescending jerk this time. Quickly clearing the message away, the remaining upright coco mite was still staring me down hard. Thinking of a way to bypass the quick jump ability a plan started to come into fruition. I ever so slowly inched my way towards a coconut that was a couple feet way. Making sure to keep my eyes locked on to the nasty alien wavering stalks. For what seemed like an eternity I did this until finally the coconut was within reach. Bending over and out reaching with my left hand I grazed the edge of it and that's when the Coco mite decided to jump at me.

Swiftly ducking lower and throwing up my hand reflexively I somehow managed to catch the damn thing by one of its claws.

"Gotcha!" I snarled, Triumph flaring briefly

Taking advantage of the scenario, I swung it around like a lasso while dropping my club. Then without any warning, I was just holding a claw that had been detached from its body. "Seriously!" I yelled, tossing the severed claw aside. The mite skittered backwards, gaining distance as I scrambled to retrieve my club. Luckily, I was mid-way through swinging his body around when it decided to detach, so we were a couple meters from each other again.

My pulse raced, but a grim smile appeared on my face.

"Round two, you little bastard, but first." I muttered readying myself for the next move.

I retreated back towards the upside-down crab and crushed it quickly. I refused to have any further surprises.

"Congratulations, you have slain a system integrated creature, you gain the foll..."

I slammed the message closed without a second thought. No time for distractions, running out of patience I decided to charge the remaining mite. This time looking into its mismatched closing eyelids I could see something I hadn't before. An unmistakable sense of weariness? He must've worn himself thin with our previous encounter. With a heavy heart I hesitantly approached him, club raised to my side. I witnessed both eye lids close at the same time. My heart sank, but I gripped the club tighter. "I'm sorry," I muttered under my breath, more for myself than for the mite.

With a burst of effort, I swung the club like a batter aiming for a home run. The mite sailed through the air, disappearing into the distant trees with a rustling crash.

"Congratulations, you have slain the following system integrated creatures:

1x Coco Might Level 5 (Rare)

Experience rewarded: 1500 exp

Killing this creature will result in fear of you from all coco mites in the surrounding area.

1x Coco mite Level 3 (Common)

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Experience rewarded: 250 exp"

I exhaled shakily as the message faded from view. For the first time since waking on this strange beach, the world was silent. I wasn't sure if I felt victorious or just... tired.

-------

"It's a lot easier to do in the games, but a man has got to eat." I said aloud to no one in particular as I picked up the crab claw.

Loot gained: 3x Coco mite meat

The claw had disappeared and, in its place, lay three small pieces of what looked like crab meat. Eagerly I shoved them all into my mouth not caring of the dirt covering one of the pieces. My tastebuds were slammed with an overwhelming sweet flavor of crab mixed with coconut. Unexpectedly I kind of enjoyed it. Eager for more I ran over to loot the other creature. Seeing it smashed like this for the first time didn't feel me with sadness like I thought it would, however it hit me with a heavy dose of unsatiable hunger. Quickly touching the corpse, I got my reward.

Loot gained: 3x Coco Might meat / 5x Chitin plate

This time, the meat was different—three massive, steak-like slabs lay in front of me. How such a tiny creature could yield such gigantic portions was a mystery I didn't care to solve. All I knew was that I wouldn't be going hungry for a while.

I scanned the ground for anything useful and spotted some intact palm leaves nearby. Grabbing a handful, I carefully laid the meat onto the largest leaves, overlapping them to form a makeshift wrap. Working quickly, I tore a few palm strips into thin, rope-like strands and used them to tie the package securely. Dirt and grit might've added flavor to the first batch, but I wasn't taking any chances with these steaks.

Satisfied with my handiwork, I stood and hefted the bundle. That's when I noticed something odd, my injured foot wasn't throbbing anymore. I flexed it tentatively, then took a few cautious steps. The pain was completely gone. Confusion mingled with relief washed over me, opening up my status menu to see if I could find a reason behind it.

Congratulations, you have leveled up please apply your unassigned stat points to continue

Unassigned points: 15

I stared at the screen, mouth agape, as the reality of what had just happened sank in. Three whole levels? I had gone up three entire levels from what was essentially dumb luck.

My mind replayed the encounter—the desperate swing of the club, the frantic sidestep, the claw detaching in midair. If I hadn't ducked at the right moment, if I hadn't reacted on instinct, I wouldn't be here now. The thought sent a cold shiver down my spine.

"Fifteen points..." I muttered under my breath, trying to shake off the unease. This wasn't just a game anymore. This was survival, and every choice mattered.

Knowing that abilities and mana were now a thing I thought back to the magic classes I had played in role playing games. Throwing fireballs and ice spikes out of my hands did sound interesting but for now not knowing how spells worked or where I would even get them in the first place, I did what anyone in my situation would have. I went full tilt and slammed five points into Constitution, Endurance and Intelligence, quickly hitting the accept button and instantly regretting it.

Have you ever wondered what it might feel like to have a climbing pick slam straight into your frontal lobe? Would your body convulse uncontrollably, as though a cattle prod had been shoved somewhere unspeakable and cranked to max voltage? Would every nerve ending ignite in protest, screaming in unison like the aftermath of a botched chemistry experiment gone horribly wrong?

I don't know the answer, thankfully, but in this moment, I was living through something that felt damn close to it. Teeth gritted while writhing, fighting unconsciousness focusing on anything but the pain, watching the palm fronds swaying in the breeze, bringing with it respite from the heavy damp moisture in the air. Trying to steady my breathing, while squeezing the dry sand feeling the muscles in my hands cramp, when suddenly it passed.

"What the hell just happened?" Rapidly blinking in fear that it could restart at any moment.

After a few minutes I started to relax and decided to do a deep dive into the systems menus to restart my search for an explanation for all of this.

With my status screen pulled up, I tried mentally willing a "Help" menu or an "Information" one a few times, with no luck. Getting irritated I revisited old memories and that's when I got an idea. I decided to go through the details of the main stats to get a better explanation of what they did. Except when I pulled up the status menu it was completely blank except for my name and race. Panicking I closed it and reopened with nothing changing, I tried a few more times and then poof. The details started popping up as I read along.

Class: If you survive long enough to reach level 5 you will get the option to unlock a class. Most children know this, but since you are an outer world descender, you lack that information. Be careful with your selection it'll determine how far you make it. Well until you get enough creds to do a class wipe, but they are expensive and an excruciating process to endure.

Titles: You can think of these as classifications or jobs for the commoners.

Renown: While being a descender you may be requested from certain planetary nobility to save their dying worlds from countless issues or helping small villages with their... incessant nagging requests.

Okay system is kind of dick, noted.

Achievements: If you accomplish a great deed or have done something really, really dumb it ends up here. As an instant reminder to not do that dumb thing again or to tempt you to do even more dumb things because usually, some sort of reward is handed out depending on how rare the deed is.

Strength: This stat represents how much weight you can carry without becoming overburdened, it also effects how hard you hit a thing.

Dexterity: If you want to be quick on your feet and as quiet as a mouse this is the stat for you. (How do you think you never caught me at your mom's house?)

Who the hell wrote these things? I wondered taken aback by the childish remark, while also thinking of some alien creature chained up researching Earth insults. "Funny enough I didn't even have a mom because I grew up in foster care, dumbass." Did I just call a floating box a dumbass? Yes. Did it make me feel better? Also, yes.

Endurance: This stat directly correlates with your stamina, which is the thing that keeps you in the fight longer or helps you move faster and do other things. (I personally lack in this which is the real reason you never caught me.)

Constitution: Your life blood, the thing that keeps your heart beating and healthy. Also, in charge of remedying lighter wounds and your health points.

So that answers one of my questions. My foot must've healed from my constitution. I still felt a little tenderness from it, but nothing like it did. I noticed that even though my constitution patched me up it did not do anything about the dried blood on my foot.

Intelligence: "I BIG, I STRONG!" yelled the bloodied massive barbarian just before an ice spear exploded through his brain. This stat will help you not be like the barbarian and more like the magic caster that ended his life. Increases your mana pool and mana regeneration.

Wisdom: Represents perceptiveness, intuition, and practical intelligence. (If you are looking to be a hermit or live to be an old sage with a pipe weed addiction, max this puppy out.)

Charisma: Do you always feel like people are talking bad behind your back because of the way you look or smell? Charisma will help with them doing it less. It affects how you are perceived by other sapient lifeforms.

I let out a small chuckle completely understanding the wisdom reference. It was a little unsettling how much of this reminded me of gaming, I'd have to be careful with that. Seriously doubting respawns were a thing in real life and still believing that the system wasn't behind the fruitful literature that was right in front of my face. Debating whether the all-powerful system could get hacked, a random notification came into existence.

Congratulations, you have completed your status overview! All system menus are now available to you.

At the top of the status menu, new tabs appeared. Everything from an inventory interface, properties to a gods damned information menu.