“Whoa…” the man groaned groggily as he arose from the ground.

He stumbled a little bit before fully gathering his bearings.

The man was standing near the banks of a large river. There was a wide and well-maintained road running alongside the river, albeit some distance off, as well as a forest some ways off from the road.

The man had hair that shone a ruddy brown in the bright sunlight, although normally it could be described to be black. He looked young and wore clothes ubiquitous to the day and age of modern Earth. 

The man scoured the lush and verdant scene surrounding him and said,

“Well at least I wasn’t dumped into some deserted and inhospitable land.”

“Time to check up on the most important thing next,” the man said vigorously.

“Status!” he exclaimed.

“Skills!”

“Menu!”

“Self?”

“What, do I have to think about it instead of saying it out loud?” 

A few moments passed with only the ambient noise present in the background.

“Dang… I’m stumped,” the man drawled while stretching.

However, he was immediately broken off from his carefree attitude because a large canine animal entered into his field of vision.

 This beast, while having features similar to a dog, was larger than any dog he had ever seen.

 The man froze as the beast stared at him.

‘Is that a wolf? Oh no, it’s looking at me… Just my luck, I don’t have any weapons. I don’t think I can outrun it either.’

The beast started approaching slowly, and while the man remained still and calm outwardly, he was steeling himself to engage in a brutal fight for survival.

 He could hear his palpitating heart pounding away loudly and he also felt somewhat queasy in the stomach. Perhaps he was in the middle of experiencing primal fear.

 He inhaled deeply, and just as he was about to spring towards the beast to attack it he heard a woman’s voice call out, “Dranger, come here boy!”

The beast pricked up its ears at the sound and ran towards a figure approaching from behind the bend which had obscured both itself and its master.

“Hooooof,” the man exhaled and losing the strength in his legs, crumpled down buttocks first into the ground.  

The figure turned out to be a woman clad in shining armor, with a sheathed longsword on the side of her waist. However, she was not wearing a helm, and so her evidently pretty yet smirking face could be seen.

She approached the man and said, “It’s always amusing to see how others react to Dranger, but my apologies for scaring you there stranger. The name’s Joanne Salutant.”

Grasping the hand offered by the woman, the man pulled himself up while replying, “I thought that I might have been done for, but thanks Joanne. I’m Daniel Kim.”

“What kind of animal is that anyways?” Daniel asked while looking at Dranger.

“He’s a Ducazian Mastiff,” Joanne replied.

“He’s bigger than a wolf,” Daniel said.

“Let me guess, you are an Otherworlder?” Joanne asked.

Daniel clearly hesitated but eventually replied, “Yes, I am an Otherworlder.”

“Do not worry Daniel. I am an officer of the Kingdom of Ducaz, a land friendly to Otherworlders. And by the look of things, you’re an absolutely fresh one,” Joanne said smiling.    

“Well then, come along now, we’ll get you registered with once we get back to Dallaren, the closest city and Capital of the Kingdom,” Joanne said while turning around and walking back towards whence she had come from.

Daniel did not pick up anything off or ominous about Joanne, and he was a man who trusted his instincts and intuition above all else.

So he decided to follow this woman and replied, “Joanne, you are truly a godsend!”

While walking, Daniel learned that although everyone in this world had statuses and skills amongst other things, normally they were neither visible nor explicitly identifiable. From his quick chat with Joanne, Daniel concluded that this world was a mixture of something like Earth and a Gameworld. Or rather, this world was in-between Earth, a place where everything was hidden and obscure, and a true Gameworld, where everything was quantifiable and easily accessible alongside there being abilities and items deemed impossible to exist.  

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About a five minutes’ walk past the bend in the road, was another man also clad in armor standing guard over two grazing horses.

“My, my, what have we here?” the armored man said.

“An Otherworlder, brand new arrival, Emers.” Joanne answered and then proceeded to pet the huge dog.

“You can call me Emers, Otherworlder. I’m of the House Roitrone. Anyways, glad to meet you,” the armored man said while extending his right hand.

Daniel shook hands with Emers and said, “I’m Daniel Kim, a rank newbie, thanks for helping me out.”  

“Ours is a peaceful kingdom, my man; I’ll gladly accept anything that breaks up the monotony of the routine,” Emers responded with a large grin.

After being helped onto the back of Emers’ horse, the group started trotting away, travelling at a steady pace on the road.

Dranger was keeping up, albeit he was trailing behind the horses.

Daniel wanted to ask about this world, but Emers had other ideas.

“All the fun’s in exploring and learning about the new, my man! You’ll be briefed about the basics once we get you to the offices, and better than I could ever explain it to you,” he had said.

Rather, Emers was the one asking the questions about the Otherworld that Daniel had come from and the kind of life he had lived.

So like this they travelled towards their destination.

It had seemed to be the middle of the day when he had first awakened, and although at first he had relished the experience of riding a horse for the first time, Daniel eventually grew uncomfortable. He was also bored of listening to nothing but the iron-shoed hooves of the horses sauntering on the stone paved road. His discourse with Emers had thinned out over the course of many hours.

‘At least it is still as interesting as always to observe people,’ Daniel thought to himself while drawing mental images of the people they had passed by.

There had been other soldiers, although on foot and not as well equipped as either of Emers or Joanne. There had been people who Daniel deemed as peasants, with racks on their backs carrying wood, hay, and whatever else. There were also commoners or regular people, most of them walking on the road to wherever their journeys took them. They had also overtaken and passed wagons and carriages going the other way. Almost everyone seemed pleasant and content with their allotment in life. Ducaz certainly seemed to be a serene kingdom.

“My main man, it’s true that Ducaz and her neighbors are hospitable places. But this isn’t the case elsewhere even on this continent, let alone the known world! Even within our kingdom people are not perfectly safe from the attacks of monsters. Still, people can live out good and honest lives, meaningful lives, here.

And that’s more than what I can ask for, so I do my part,” Emers had enthusiastically explained when Daniel had mentioned the serene quality of the people and the land.

Only when the sky seemed to be burning ablaze with flame-like hues did Emers notify Daniel, “Look forward Daniel my man, and you’ll see our Grand Lady Dallaren, standing proud and ready to welcome us into her embrace. We’re nearly home then.”

“Wow,” Daniel let out an unintentional gasp, “that is a magnificent city!”

In the middle of a wide open plains stood a majestic city. It had tall thick white walls stretching out in either direction from a solemn and grand gate. An immense white castle could be seen jutting out from inside the walls, as well as a few other white structures.

As they got closer, Daniel was able to perceive a line of people standing in front of the gate, as well as others who had set up camp around the road leading to the gate.

“The gates will be closed soon, we made it just in time,” Emers noted.

Emers and Joanne were let in immediately and were even saluted by the guards.

Interestingly, Ducaz seemed to utilize a Roman-style salute. The guards stretched out their right arms slanted upwards with their palms in line with their arms and fingers gathered and outstretched.

Inside, the city was a lively and bustling place. And yet, there was an orderliness and cleanliness about the city as well. Not every building was white, indeed, the buildings looked similar to what one would expect out of a medieval fantasy. An aspect that greatly contributed to the fantasy feel was that there were other races besides humans milling about.

There were people with pointed ears. There were short and stocky people with full beards. There were people with furry ears and tails. There were people that had monster-like semblances. Everything, including the people, was a new and curious sight.

After a slow trot through some busy main roads with Emers good-naturedly joking about Daniel’s wonderment at his surroundings, the steeds were stopped in front of a large and stately multi-story white building.

“Here’s where we part ways my friend. Get yourself inside and to a receptionist, they’ll know that you’re an Otherworlder. If nothing else, your clothes give it away,” Emers said with a friendly smile.

“Thank you Emers and Thank you Joanne. I’ll try and do good by you someday,” Daniel replied while meeting the gazes of first Emers and then Joanne after having gotten off from the horse.

“May the Goddess smile upon you, traveler,” Joanne saluted and then turned away.

Daniel watched the two trot away on their horses on the large white steps leading up towards the administrative building, then spun around and started walking towards the entrance.

Once he entered inside, what came into view was an ornate hall erected of marble, with a grand desk in the center staffed by a couple of female receptionists.

There were not many people around and it was quiet.

As he made his way towards the counter, one woman noticed him approach and beamed a smile towards him.

“Hello, I’m Daniel, a brand new Otherworlder. I’ve been directed here by a couple of officers of the Kingdom.” he said while reciprocating the smile.

“Hello Daniel, I’m Patricia, a secretary of the Foreign Ministry here at Dallaren. The regular offices have already closed for the day, but I can help you register here if you don’t mind,” Patricia said.

“Please do,” Daniel answered.

Patricia then excused herself and left for a moment before returning with several documents and items.

She handed Daniel two booklets while she said, “The first booklet contains a brief introduction about this world, and the second booklet is a simple guide to this city. Are you able to read it?”

“Yes, I am able to understand the written form of your language,” Daniel said as he glanced down at the covers of the two booklets.

“That is good news. Next, we can have you registered as an out-of-world visitor. This process is optional, but will grant you a temporary stipend until the time comes for you and us to make a final decision regarding your circumstances,” Patricia said.

“What will the final decision entail?” Daniel asked, wearing an apprehensive frown.

With a reassuring smile that would wash away all anxiety, Patricia continued to explain, “It’s nothing to be worried about Daniel. After a certain amount of time has passed for both sides to evaluate each other, usually about a month or two, you will have to make a decision. You will have the option to accept a conferment of resident status with a chance at gaining citizenship eventually down the line. You may of course refuse. Some Otherworlders choose to travel to other jurisdictions where there are more people with similar heritage.”   

“Alright, I’ll register. But will you answer me a question before we get started?” Daniel asked.

“My pleasure, please don’t hesitate to ask any questions,” Patricia responded.

“I know that everyone has stats and the like. But how do you go about viewing this?” Daniel asked what had been foremost on his mind.

“There are items that allow the user to peruse such personal information. There are also skills that allow one perusal of their own stats or the stats of others, such as Introspection, Examine, Identify, and Appraisal. The type and level of the skill combine to output differing depths and breadths of information to the user,” after confirming that Daniel was nodding his head, Patricia continued, “Skills can be learned from people, from tomes, or from experience, bestowed by the gods, or begotten from birth.”

“I see. So how are stats determined in the first place anyways? I mean, how would one raise their stats?” Daniel followed up with another couple of questions.

“The answer can get complicated Daniel, as there are many factors to consider in the workings and details of the system. However, if I were to put it simply, engaging in an action governed by a particular stat would be the most basic and fundamental method to raise one’s stats. For example, to raise your intelligence stat, you should study. Of course, you can study in many different ways using various methods as well,” Patricia elaborated and then added, “Phew, sorry, that was quite a mouthful while not being helpful enough, wasn’t it?”

“It’s fine, I understood the gist of what you were explaining. You’re a kind soul, Patricia,” Daniel said. 

“How nice of you to say that, I appreciate it. Ducaz is the kind of country that brings out the best in people, and I’m proud of that,” Patricia said.

“Mm-hmm. You folks have a wonderful Kingdom here, from everything that I’ve been able to see and experience. Just that, some wise folk back in the olden days of my world have taught that the only thing wrong with peace is that, it too, must change,” Daniel remarked.

“That seems to be the case in all the worlds,” Patricia said, while gazing downwards and clasping her hands together.

“Hah, I’m being a downer aren’t I? My bad. It just feels like I can open up with you, Patricia. And you know, I’m just entranced by the way your eyelashes curl. Makes me want to find out more about you, what kind of person you are… heh, I think I have a crush. Patricia, I’d love to talk with you again, even after today, over a cup of the local brew, and heck I don’t even know if I’ll like the brew!” Daniel said with a smile.

“I’d love to as well,” Patricia responded with a beaming smile.