Devon walked towards a stream, putting the palm sized crystal in his coat pocket and cupped his hands in to have a drink and wash out some of his wounds. He did a quick check of his status as well to make sure he wasn’t dying, even though he felt like he was.
He had no problem with drinking the unfiltered water, as he knew he was far away from civilization. He allowed himself a few seconds to calm down before setting a goal of getting into the trees before resting. That kind of goal was always helpful to him, whether he was getting a day’s work done or escaping a nest of giant scorpions.
As he walked, he looked at his status. He discovered that he could move it around and moved it to the side of his vision so that he could see while walking. He shortened his stats as well to make it more like the roleplaying game sheets that he used in college.
The friends that played those with him had moved away from the city where they went to college, and now that he had started his new job he didn’t really interact with anyone his age.
Devon’s status looked cleaner now, and with a few more notification changes he looked over it again, seeing some titles he must have earned from running away.
Status
Devon
Human (100%) (+1 Free Points)
Level 2 [World Traveler]
Stats:
FP: 2
End 7 | Cu 7
Str 9 | Dex 8
Vit 7 | Int 13
Resources:
Mana: 14/130
Stamina: 70/115
Health: 34/70
Titles:
Lost, Thief (3), Brawler (1)
General Skills:
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Explorer (Passive)(0), Al-----s C-o---
Class Skills:
Bravery (Active)(N/A), Crafting (Passive)(0), Mana Manipulation (Active)(0)
Items:
Sneakers (+1 Dexterity)
Focusing on each, he pulled them up, being careful not to trip on the rocks scattered between the wildflowers.
Lost: You are far away from home and have no way to get back. (Temporary)
Thief (3): Steal an item worth 10,000 credits or more.
Brawler (1): Land 1 hit on a living creature in a fight. +5% Strength per level.
The first two didn’t seem to do anything, but the third was a welcome addition. He would need it if he wanted even a chance against things like that scorpion. The Free Points, or FP, were the next thing he checked. He already knew that stat points would vastly increase his power, but he wanted to know more. Such as, how much would they increase his abilities?
After thinking about it for a bit, Devon decided to put his points into Dexterity. He made his decision and felt a quick rush like the wind tingle through his bones. He could feel the difference, hopping around a bit, but he wasn’t superhuman with 10 Dexterity as far as he could tell.
Adrenaline rushed through him for a second as he remembered that he was in a new world. He had no idea what the rules here were, how magic worked, or if there were limits on this power. He couldn’t even describe what this feeling was, except that he knew he wanted to know everything. He was breathing incredibly fresh air; he was outdoors without any backpack or need to go back; and he was definitely going to die. But there was so much to learn.
When Devon was still a teenager, he had desperately wanted something new to happen in the world. Some sort of groundbreaking invention, a law of physics broken, just anything. He didn’t even want to be a part of it, he just wanted to be freed from normal school and his day-to-day life.
This faded away once he reached 20, the waters of city life smoothing and smothering Devon. He started working as a software engineer and let himself enjoy the small things. This was a life Devon would have gladly continued until retirement, playing games in his free time and probably getting a girlfriend or boyfriend eventually.
This wasn’t a bad thing for a human with no overwhelming ways to improve, but Devon’s true nature was not being part of the whole. He would have become boring, any traces of the adventurous teen gone in favor of becoming a cog in the motor of industry. He would have. Instead, he was killed and brought... here.
It took 15 minutes to get down the hill even though Devon didn’t have a pack on. The stream trickled into a roaring river that wound between the hills, and gradually sloped downwards to the rising sun, in the direction he just decided to call east. When he got down to the river, he had a decision to make.
The most obvious choice would just to walk down the river directly towards what may be civilization. He of course didn’t have any information about this world, but even if there wasn’t civilization the river could at least provide water.
The only other option was wandering randomly through the hills. The only reason Devon even considered this was because it might actually provide better survival chances. If there were mind control skills, or rewards for killing him or anything he would be better off waiting to go into civilization.
Everything was new here. Even the grass had a more flexible and hardier feel to it, giving a spring to his step. And he just knew in the back of his mind that these steps would be the beginning to a long, long journey.