Congratulations: Humans! You have completed Stage 1.
Stage 2 will commence in 24 Earth Hours.
Time Remaining: 24 Hours
Small white bright lights flashed in front of all of us. Two fancy books came out of the light.
These must be the skill books the reward promised.
Congratulations! You have gained increased access to the Systema! If you say or think Voco Status you can bring up your status page!
“Huh. Voco Status.”
Kai Yu
Level: 1
Health: 62%
Mana: 100%
Stamina: 41%
Experience: 15/100
Effects: [] Fatigue I [] Bleed I []
This is exactly like an MMO, but my HP, MP, and SP aren’t a set value? Neat.
“Hey, Arjun!” John yelled. “Snap out of it buddy. We’re stuck here for now, but we need to stay focused.” He followed up with a firm shake for a reaction. Arjun looks paler than I do, and that’s saying a lot, even with my Chinese heritage. I spent most of my time in the gym, in the pool, or on my computer. I didn’t and still don’t care for much else.
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With John’s shaking Arjun looked at him, nodded once, and sat down.
“Great.” John said, “So, everyone got the same message about the skill books and the system, right?”
We all affirmed him one way or another.
“Ok. Anyone know anything?”
“It looks like an MMO system from D&D or WoW.” I spoke up.
“What now?” Everyone seemed confused.
“You know. Like RPG games? Oh, ok. Nevermind.” I shrunk a bit, “Basically on your system page, there are a bunch of stats. I think you can activate it if you say or think Voco Systema-”
The screen appeared.
“Speak of the devil. Anyways, the six stats listed define how strong you are. I’m not sure about their in-depth details, but I think we can all get the general gist of the six stats.”
“Ok cool. Yeah, I understand the gist of these stats. Everyone else have any questions?”
They all shook their heads.
“Alright. What about these so-called skill books?” John looked at me while asking the question.
“Well, in the games I played, they usually are useable items that give you a skill, which you get to use after using the skill book. Let’s try opening them and see what happens.”
I opened both books in quick succession, and simultaneously two screens appeared before me.
Skill: *Inventory* learned.
Inventory: A built-in backpack for your personal use. Think or say inventory to use.
Skill: *Identify* learned.
Identify: Unearth the mysterious unknowns. Think or say identify to use. Scales slightly off perception, willpower, and level.
“We should start gathering food and water and building a little shelter for ourselves. We don’t know how long we’ll be stuck here, so we’ll probably need to self-sustain for a while. We have a source of water at least, but let’s try to find some food. There seems to be a forest that way, so let’s go explore as a group.”
Nobody countered him, so we all ended up following John. Once we got to the forest everyone was insanely tense. The trees were some of the largest I’ve ever seen, towering at least 150 meters into the sky.
“What if there’s more of those animae in there?” Arjun asked fearfully.
“I doubt it. They came in like they were teleported, which probably means there’s none in the local area. We need food as well since we don’t know how long we’re gonna be stuck here. Anyone been through any basic survival training?”
Nobody spoke up.
“Well, shit.”