“Cass!” A voice called out to me from the darkness. The pain was beginning to finally subside. I felt my consciousness returning.

“Cass wake up, please!” It was Caleb… Well, it was his avatar’s voice, calling out to me.

“What happened?” I asked as I tried to open my eyes.

“I’m not sure,” Caleb replied, his voice filled with terror.

My eyes finally opened and I took in the surroundings. Immediately I felt sick to my stomach. It was too real. Back in the Character Creation Screen, everything had been rather cartoonish in design… But this was too real. This was too crisp. Instead of an avatar, Caleb looked like a real woman.

“Sylvanas… What’s going on?” I asked redundantly. Then I noticed the tears in my cousin’s eyes.

“It’s gone,” she mumbled, motioning towards her crotch.

“Holy shit,” I said, my voice filled with quiet wonder. Off to the side I noticed the other members of our motley crew all gathered together, each awake and staring at their own bodies.

“We’ve been transported to a new world…” Said the ogre formed neckbeard, a strange excitement in his tone. “And those of us with gifts have cheats!”

“Oy,” I called out, “Are you certain this isn’t just some hyper realistic update for Eternal?”

I knew the answer in my head. I already understood. This kind of realism wasn’t possible. The fact that Caleb had already checked his crotch too further proved we weren’t in a game anymore.

“We already stripped her pants off to prove it,” the Ogrebeard replied as he pointed to Sylvanas.

“You did what?” I asked, anger in my tone.

“They didn’t, I did,” Sylvanas said. “The ugly one happened to peek is all. I smacked him good for it already.”

“You should have killed him!” I replied as I started to draw the katana at my hip.

“It’s just a misunderstanding,” called out Marc’s voice. I quickly looked around for him and found him hiding behind a nearby tree. He was absolutely adorable. He looked just like a young dog, probably a mix between a shepherd and a husky. “We all assumed we were still in the game… At first.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Check your menu. In your messages box. There’s a message from ‘God’.” said Marc.

I immediately tried to open the menu and was startled when it popped up.

Character

Inventory

Map

Friends

Message Box

Log Out

The ‘Log Out’ option was grayed and unselectable. I quickly opened up my message box and, just as the others said, found a detailed letter inside.

Hello! I am God. I lost a bet recently and unfortunately owe the God of this other world a few souls. You lucky five are my payment! Sucks to be you! I decided to give you all a few cheats and even let you create your new bodies, though. Wouldn’t want you to just go there and die for no reason after all! Well, maybe I’ll win you five back next time I play poker. Have fun in a world of swords and magic. Maybe kill the Demon Lord while you’re there. Sightsee for a while too! The Kingdom of Cress has amaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing vanilla-coated wafers. Later~

I was taken aback. “Did you all get the same message?” I asked.

“No, each was slightly different,” Sylvanas replied. “He told me to enjoy life as a woman and that I shouldn’t sweat the details…”

“He told me about some amazing Vanilla-coated wafers,” I replied meekly.

“He told me to become an adventurer and gather a harem,” the Ogrebeard said as he eyed me and Sylvanas. “You two can be the first members, of course, if you want.”

“We’ll pass on that,” I said as I unnotched my sword, resisting the urge to cut him down at that moment.

“Fine. But don’t come trying to join it once I’m a famous adventurer,” Ogrebeard replied.

“He said I should find a nice family to take me in as their pet…” Said Marc in the saddest tone as he dropped his doggy ears. I wanted to tell him he could be my pet, but I resisted the urge.

“What about you, Jacob?” Ogrebeard asked the tall beastman.

“I’d rather not say,” Jacob replied.

“Eh come on! Tell me!” Ogrebeard pressed.

“He told me in this world murder is legal, and that I shouldn’t feel regret over what I’ve done in my past,” said Jacob with a daggerpoint tone.

“Jeeze, fine man. If you don’t want to tell me you don’t have to make up some lie,” Ogrebeard said, waving his hands dismissively.

… Jacob’s tone sounded dead serious to me, though. I looked at him and caught his eyes. They looked like portals to a dark place.

“So…” I said, cutting the silence like a knife, “What do we do now?”

“According to the map, we’re about halfway between two major cities. We can either go North to Bellwood, the Capital of the Farndais Kingdom, or we can go West to the Labyrinth City Geddon,” said Ogrebeard, proving himself actually rather reliable for a moment.

“Will either place have issues with… Some of us not being human?” I asked, drawing on what little knowledge I had from web novels where people were transferred over to other worlds.

“No clue,” said Ogrebeard with a shrug. “For now I think we should learn to use our skills and get strong out in the wilds before approaching civilization. Check your ‘Character’ option on the Menu. There’s no ‘EXP’ or ‘Level’ listed, just my skills. I don’t even have a stat spread.”

I quickly opened up my menu and checked my character option.

Character Information

Race: Apostle Human

Class: Ninja

Traits: The Penetrator

Passive Skills: Silent Movement, Heightened Agility, Sneak

Active Skills: Backstab, Shadow Meld, Ground Shrink, Poison Creation, Critical Strike

“Can you see more information about each skill?” I asked?

“Nope. As far as I’m aware, there is no guide or help feature.” Ogrebeard replied. “Anyways, since you’re both humans, you’re a beastman, and you’re a fucking dog, I assume I’m the only one here with more than one gift. I spent all three of my gifts on ‘Random Highest Tier’ for my race. Thus I propose I become the leader of our party. Follow me and we’ll all get by just fine.”

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

I looked at my cousin and saw the amusement in her eyes. “You want us,” I paused to laugh, “to follow and obey you? Not happening.”

“Let me make things a bit more clear,” Ogrebeard replied as he took the massive hammer from his back and pointed it at me. The strength it’d take to lift that alone was probably absurd. “How about you either join my party or you become what I experiment my skills on.”

Sylvanas stood next to me and drew a longsword, seemingly from thin air, and a shield materialized in her off hand.

“You seem to be mistaking something…” I said, pausing at an awkward time because I legitimately didn’t remember Ogrebeard’s name. “I was given 5 Gift slots.” I pulled out my katana and pointed it towards the dorito-munching brute.

“Nice try, bitch, but you’d need to be a top 500 player to get the 4th gift slot. I can believe you having 3 gifts as well, since those just required you to invest time… But even I couldn’t break the top 25,000, let alone the top 500,” said Ogrebeard with a grin as he stepped forward.

“I’m guessing you watched the Firelands Saga professional games?” I asked, my voice filled with a mocking tone.

“Yeah, what of it?” Ogrebeard replied.

“My gamertag was CassL, you’ve probably watched me play a few times,” I said with a smirk. “And my cousin here is TrueSylver.”

“Now I know you’re lying… You have to be, right? I mean… Holy shit, I thought you looked familiar when we were standing in line!” Ogrebeard’s tone seemed to take a full 180. He genuinely seemed to be conflicted and deep in thought. “Shit, now I really want to fuck you.”

“What?” I asked, deadpan. Unfortunately Ogrebeard didn’t seem to be listening. He rushed towards us, hammer raised for a fight. But, as if the heavens ordained it, everyone stopped moving when the ground started to shake.

“Shit guys! Run!” Cried Marc from the side, as everything seemed to be descending into chaos. The trees behind Marc exploded revealing the figure of what looked to be a fucking T-Rex. The dinosaur roared loudly, its scream reverbing in my skull and sending shivers down my spine.

Ogrebeard immediately sprinted into the underbrush on the left side of the clearing. “Split up to lose it!” He cried. “I’m going to the Labyrinth City,” His voice echoed through the trees. “If you ever want to join my harem, I’ll leave a spot open for you, CassL.”

I grabbed Sylvanas’s hand and started running as well, but we moved towards the north. I noticed the beastman Jacob was nowhere to be seen. Marc ran off towards Ogrebeard.

Our Motley Crew, together for all of an hour, had already broken up. Though, to be fair, it was probably for the best. I’d have definitely slit Ogrebeard’s throat in his sleep had we stayed with him.

The trees flew by as I ran through the forest. I had to control my speed, since I had my cousin with me. I was astounded by how quickly I was able to move, and I was even more surprised by how little fatigue I felt. After an hour of straight running, Sylvanas couldn’t continue any longer and we stopped to rest. The sounds of the dinosaur-like creature had long since faded, but we wanted to err on the side of caution.

I didn’t feel tired at all. I looked down over my body and smiled. An agility class was the right choice after all.

My cousin didn’t look too good, though. She was breathing hard while trying to catch her breath. Then, something amazing happened. A yellow light began to circle her. From that light I could feel a strange pulling sensation, almost like static electricity. Intuitively I could tell it was mana.

All at once Sylvanas’s tiredness faded and she regained her full complexion.

“What did you just do?” I asked, my interest piqued.

“I just tried to use my ‘Heal’ spell,” Sylvanas replied, her hands shaking with excitement.

“So you just thought about it and it happened?” I asked. “There was no chant or incantation required?”

“No. Nothing. I just… Tried to do it and it worked.”

Immediately I decided to try something...

“Cass? Cass!? Where did you go?” Sylvanas started calling out, worry on her face.

“Calm down, cousin,” I replied. I’m right here. I cancelled my spell ‘Shadow Meld’ and stepped from the shade of a nearby tree. “I was trying out one of my own spells,” I laughed. “It really was as easy as you claimed it would be…”

I paused for a moment in thought before staring into my cousin’s eyes.

“My class is Ninja and my race is Apostle Human. I also have the trait The Penetrator, letting me ignore armor. My skills are all agility and assassination based, and I can apparently create poisons,” I said, not skipping a beat. Sylvanas met my stare and smiled.

“My race is High Human and my classes are Priest and Knight. I have the traits The Bargain, The Beast, and The Endless,” Sylvanas said, happy with her choices… Then she frowned. “I’m also completely a woman, anatomically… Cass, I don’t know how I feel about this.”

“We’ll have to worry about your gender crisis later. For now we should focus on surviving. I seem to have more stamina and speed than you, which I can either attribute to my class or my race. I assume my basic stats are high due to my race being Apostle Human, which cost two gifts,” I said.

“Fine, but I’ll need your help. This is all so strange… I’m not completely convinced this isn’t a dream…” replied Sylvanas. She paused for a moment before adding, “I thought there would be more options later to use Gifts on, so I only risked using one on the race and class selections. If I could choose again, I’d probably spring for Apostle Human too, and maybe a higher healing class… I’d also make my character resemble my original body a bit more.”

We both sighed. “Had I known this would happen, I would have made my character an epic mage,” I said with a smile.

“That sounds fun,” Sylvanas replied. “I think the tall one, Jacob, picked a mage class… Should we go look for him... Or Marc?”

“I’m sure they’ll be fine,” I replied, my mind moving a thousand miles per hour. “Honestly, we should be more concerned with ourselves. I think we’re probably considered strong in this world… But I’m not entirely certain. We should be careful until we have a chance to measure our strengths up against other people.”

“Okay. Then we’re partying up like old times until we figure out just what the hell is going on?” Sylvanas asked.

“Sure thing cuz,” I replied and held up my knuckles. We bumped fists and set about preparing for the next leg of our adventure: discovering just how broken our gifts made us.