0.

Darkness. No sense of direction or time. No feeling but the oppressive force keeping him locked in place. His chains kept tight across the cosmos as the ravages of everything and nothing battle through his very soul in search of escape. The ancient man seemed not to care about the vast power swirling, not just in but around him, like a typhoon of cosmic energy bent on savaging every morsel of creation in its path. The man's eyes, a glossy indifference over orbs of pure swirling energy lighting up in colors of every variety as if universes spawned and decayed in them, peered unseeing through his prison of darkness and energy. His body, a withered and husk-like form, kneeled over the circular ancient stone platform he was tethered to. How long had he been here? With millenia passing under his watch in an almost endless cycle of the same broken and recreated soulscapes, time had no meaning. His only thoughts being that of the plans he had set in ages so long past, there would be almost none beside the Cosmic Kings and their personal Lords that remember he even exists. His lips, although cracked and dry, shone with the same energy in his eyes between the pits and cracks where his flesh did not cover his true form. They pulled up into a grim grin as the man felt the most minute of changes. A small spark, come and gone in an instant in the void, was what the man had been waiting all these aeons for. He stretched his aura out into the vastness, pushing back the relentless tide of chaos on his soul, and pulled this spark to him. "You, little one, will be the seed of our renewal." HIs words, the first spoken from the man in ages measured by the rise and fall of universes, were soft yet carried energy enough to blanket out stars. The soul-spark held by the man's aura was a rainbow color flame with a hairline of obsidian black down the middle like a cat's eye. The resonance of power held both traces chaos and order. Dominion and Freedom. The smile, now spread across the man's face, relaxed his weary features. "Be born anew, my Oathkeeper."

---------------

Roann Thomas awoke with a start. His bed felt like it was made of rocks and his pillow had a wirey texture he had never associated with comfort but with the itchy grass around his home. Sitting up and rubbing his eyes he gazed around at the brightness that had awoken him to begin with, realizing as he did so that his bedroom was different. Instead of blue pastel walls of his cheap studio apartment, a bright vibrant green met his eyes along with the shapes and sounds of a forest. Cloudy confusion rocked his mind.

"What happened last night?" he asked himself quietly. He knew going out to the bar had been a crap idea what with it being a week night and him having work the next day at his 9-5 office job selling overpriced computer parts to over competent teens trying to build their own PC but he knew he had made it home last night. Remembered very clearly hitting his knee on his only table in the apartment. His confusion grew even further upon one realization, along with a sizeable amount of panic.

"Why am I naked?!" Roann screeched, curling his legs under him and putting his hands over his shame. He rapidly looked around the clearing he was in and sighed in relief that he was alone, although still panicked that he was without any protection from the elements. A semi-transparent green tinted window popped into view before his eyes.

You have been Reborn.

Welcome to Euloria.

Roanns eye's grew wide.

"Euloria? Reborn? What is all this?" He rapidly stood up and looked around, rapidly forgetting his modesty. The screen followed his vision but he could see through it without much difficulty. The forest surrounding him was vastly different to any he had ever been to. Trees that looked like pines but with wider, flatter needles stretched up taller than even the oldest trees Roann had ever seen, reaching at least 100 meters into the air and spread just enough to form the vein like clearing to see the sky overhead. Small shapes moved around the branches of the tree that started only about 2 meters off the ground, and Roann again worried about not having any clothing.

"Where am I?" he asked to no one, but was surprised when the screen in front of him changed. It went from being just the two short sentences about Euloria and being reborn to a menu style having multiple tabs.

Menu

Items-->

Equipment-->

Map-->

Skills-->

Quests-->

Journal-->

Stats-->

Confused, Roann tried to push his finger at the menu like a touchscreen. Right where his finger seemed to touch the screen it blurred and did nothing but obscure the lettering underneath. He frowned and thought the words MAP. Instantly the screen flattened out before him and shapes rose out of it like a hologram in his games, showing trees and a rough circle of light inside an expanse of darkness. It read in small words in the corner

Map

Territory uncovered - 0.001%

????????? ?????????? -

????? ????????? -

Continent

Asteria

Kingdom

Trinityn

Province

Yevin

Town

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Unavailable

The names were places he had never heard of, let alone should have been able to get to from his home in the South-Eastern United States. His eyes wandered to the base layout of the map and he wondered if it would start to fill itself in if he moved around. First things first though, he had to figure out how to get some pants at the very least. Interestingly enough no sooner had he thought about his need of pants when a different screen popped up.

Quests

New Quest- Where are my pants? - You are in a strange new world with no clothing and no knowledge on your situation.

Kill Unranked creatures - 0/10

Explore surroundings - 0.001% / 0.005%

Rewards -

1 - Set of rough Trousers

1 - Common level weapon (choose from 3)

"A quest? Like an actual video game quest?" asked Roann with some hints of bemusement in his voice. He wondered just what kind of world he was in if quests were real and monsters were a thing. Cold trickled down his spine, rereading the quest line - Kill Unranked Monsters 0/10. Monsters.

Real monsters? Like the Boogeyman, Dracula, or the Wolfman? How was he supposed to fight monsters? He wasn't an action hero or some jock who watched MMA all day. He was an average built guy, not muscular, but could handle himself if need be. A few scraps in High School was his extent to fighting knowledge. He mentally sent the screen away and looking around he noticed a limb laying not far from a tree around 25 foot away.

Walking over, he picked up the piece of wood. It was about 5 foot long, shaped like an upside down L, smooth at the end almost like a handle, with about a foot and half at the end jutting out from a knarl and was pointed at the tip. He swung the limb as a practice swing, the arc catching him by surprise, and dug itself a good few inches into the ground. Pulling, he extracted the wood from the ground and hefted it to his shoulder. He let the pointed end hang down over his back then swung again straight up and over. The limb moved jerkily with his clumsy movements but he felt confident he could probably hit something if he tried hard enough. Could he kill with it though? Looking at the hole in the ground from his initial swing and seeing that it went down at least three-quarters of a foot, he felt pretty sure about that too. Setting the wood down next to him, Roann sat down and mentally pulled his menu back up, and opened the menu tab he figured would answer some questions he had.

Stats

Name - Roann Thomas

Race - Human (??????)

Age - 26

Alliance - Unknown

Class - Unknown

Rank - Unranked

Path - Unbound

Essence shards - 0/5

Abilities - 0/15

Strength - 12

Dexterity - 10

Intelligence - 11

Wisdom - 9

Constitution - 10

Perception - 10

Charisma - 12

Luck - 18

Ki - Unknown

"Wow. It really is like a game." he muttered.

Roann's thoughts were put on hold as he heard a rustling from a nearby tree. Looking up he caught a brown blur moving from branch to branch with a swiftness he wouldn't expect from something that large. Not getting a good look before the blur hid behind a thicker set of needled branches, Roann backed further from the tree he spotted the creature in. He wanted to run away, fearing it was a rabid monster that would rip him apart, but knowing if he gave in to his fear response he would surely be easier prey for this thing. Backing up swiftly, he maneuvered himself so his back was to a tree and waited, watching the tree he'd seen the creature in. Silence, then all at once a furry brown mass shot from the tree arching through the air towards Roann. He swung downwards, but missed with the tip, landing a solid blow with the middle like a club, and the mass hit him with a screech in his left leg and bounced around the side of the tree. Being braced against the tree helped him keep balance and his blow must have done something to the creature as it staggered to get up when he wheeled around to get a good look at it. It looked like cross between a vulture and a squirrel with no feathers. Brownish-grey and about 3 foot long, its head looked like a squirrels but with a curved beak instead of a mouth and its six limbs were spread evenly out with the front two being longer and resembling bat wings more than legs with a bushy tail flattened out at the end.

"What the f-" Roann tried to get out, before the creature lunged at him, jumping and spreading its wing-appendages to try to wrap around Roann. Leaping away, he steadied himself and swung again. This time a bit like a bat and a little more on mark, he caught one of the wings with the tip tearing a hole in the thin skin of the wing and grazing the side of the creature, crimson blood spray splashing him. Not to be out done, the thing flipped around and tore a chunk out of his left calf, eliciting a yell of pain from Roann. He kicked out and landed a square hit to its middle, throwing it into the tree with a resounding crack of some smaller bones in its legs, then swung like a pickaxe straight down, sending the wooden tip plunging into the creatures neck. A small spasm and a gurgled exhale saw the creatures life end. The whole thing had lasted only seconds. Wincing, Roann collapsed and looked at the dead creature then at his own torn leg.

"You totally deserved that, you prick." he got out before a screen popped up.

You have defeated Forest Branch Lurker

Would you like to loot?

Yes/no

Roann looked at the screen.

"I can loot just like games too apparently." he said with a chuckle then gave a yelp when his leg screamed in protest. He mentally gave the affirmation and waited for the gains. The creature's body started to melt into a multi-colored whirlpool of liquid that looked pretty neat to Roann, almost like a galaxy swirl. Then the smell hit him.

He gagged and rapidly scoot backwards for cleaner airflow. It seemed looting was an automatic and much accelerated decomposition process to monsters.

Another screen flashed into existence before his eyes.

You have looted Forest Branch Lurker

You have received

Forest Branch Lurker Hide x1

Low-grade Healing Herb x2

Quest updated - Where are my pants?

Kill Unranked creatures 1/10

The items he gained went into his inventory, which confused him. He was stark naked, so where did he hold items? Opening his menu, he mentally poked open his item storage. It was a simple grid system with around thirty-six boxes for items. Two of the boxes were filled now with images of a roll of hide next to a dull green herb with a small two in the corner. Wondering if he was right, Roann thought about having one of the herbs appear in his hand, and almost instantly it appeared. It didn't look anything special, just a small bundle of herbs that resembled rosemary and mint leaves, but Roann could feel the power they held through just through the contact with his skin. He took the plants and wondered what next.

Gingerly, he took herbs and put them onto and in the wound on his leg. A second later and the herbs flashed a bright green and became a Gel like substance, filling his wound, then as he watched the gel turned into a dull tan pink color and it was his own flesh,he knew. Solidifying into what he thought was scar tissue, he slowly put weight on the leg and was shocked to discover the wound was gone, replaced by a dull ache, but fully healed.

"Game logic does me right for once." he said with a smile. "I guess it's time to go get nine more."