When the light finally returned, I could clearly see that I was not in my grandparent's backyard anymore. Everything I could see was white. White walls, white tile on the floor, and a white ceiling to top it off. The grout for the tiles was white even. It looked like an extremely sterile futuristic medical room and the only thing it was missing was the medical beds.
Before I could question why there was nothing in the room, I noticed that there was a humanoid creature standing in the center of the room. That's odd, I definitely would have noticed it standing there earlier. It's the only damn thing in the room, I thought to myself.
"Welcome to the multiverse human. I am HG-60743. My task is to introduce the status screen and help you select your starting class and skill before the tutorial starts." The thing stated in an unnervingly accurate human voice and looked strikingly like a human. The only thing that gave it away as nonhuman was the way it talked and the lack of facial expressions.
It just had a blank expression on its face and soulless eyes that stared ahead. It had short brown hair in a common haircut for men and had regular brown eyes to match.
"Where am I? What are you? Where is my family?" the questions flowed out of my mouth almost faster than I could think of them.
"You are in a System protected space to process incoming integrating populations before your designated tutorial starts. As I said before I am HG-60743, or Human Guide- 60,743, if you wish to be specific. I cannot disclose the location of any other system protected being to you." It said.
I guess this was what the words meant when they said 'prepare to be relocated'. My mind finally caught up to what the thing said before I bombarded it with questions. Classes. Skills. Status Screen. System.
Did I get transported into a video game or something? I had read books about something like this, but they were fiction. Keyword there being FICTION. As in make believe, in the same realm as fantasy and/or imaginary. Better yet, not real.
I started to freak out a little bit. This couldn't be happening. None of this was real. I had to be dead lying in a ditch somewhere and the universe was playing a trick on me. Before I could get too worked up and go down that rabbit hole of dark thoughts, a calming presence washed over me lowered my heart rate, and made my breathing even out.
"What did you just do." I demanded of the... thing.
"Heart rate and stress level exceeded natural resting values by a significant margin. Countermeasure calming spell activated." The thing said like it was explaining why water was wet, or grass was green. Not like it was explaining how it forcefully altered multiple natural processes of my body and stopped a near panic attack cold.
I wanted to start yelling at the thing for the blatant invasion of my body and mind, but I just couldn't get angry. Before the boat could get moving the spell pulled the wind from the sails and made me calm down. It was freaky.
Before I could ask any more questions the thing continued, "Now that you are level headed, let's begin. Could you say or think 'Status Screen' or 'Status.'"
Playing along with the creepy robot- that I was pretty sure could mind control me to do what it said anyway- I thought Status.
Name: Christopher Zalenski
Race: (H) Human
Class: None
Profession: None
Faction: None
Strength- 8
Agility- 7
Perception- 10
Fortitude- 7
Endurance- 5
Vitality - 8
Intelligence- 8
Wisdom- 5
Acumen- 6
Free Points: 0
Laws: None
Skills: None
Coins: 0
"What...the...fuuuuuuckk." I don't know if I thought it or said it out loud. My mind felt like a broken record. The only thing that I could keep thinking was 'what the fuck' on repeat. The thing was speaking again but I wasn't paying attention.
I was surprised that there wasn't a section on the page that had a portrait of me depicting my nonexistent gear like in a video game. I thought of what I would look like with fantasy armor and a sword on my back. It would probably replace my short sandy blonde hair with something more fantasy, like purple or something.
Eventually, the robot's insistent voice brought me out of my musings. "If you have familiarized yourself with your status sheet we can move on to class selection. This process is relatively simple as there are only five options. Please think about your missing class slot or 'class selection'."
I followed along with the voice. Bringing up a new screen and leaving my status sheet in the background.
Classes Available
Warrior
Warriors rely on strength of arms and various melee and weapon skills. They make for formidable frontline fighters, capable of mitigating significant damage. Ideal for those who enjoy fighting up close and personal with a certain approach to combat.
Common evolutions: Knight, Berserker, Barbarian, Pugilist.
+2 Strength, +1 Fortitude, +1 Endurance, +1 Vitality +1 Free points
Rogue
Rogues rely on cunning, agility, and stealth using various melee, weapon, and throwing skills. They make for formidable ambush fighters, capable of dealing significant damage before fleeing. Ideal for those who enjoy sneaking around and exploiting opponents' weaknesses.
Common evolutions: Thief, Assassin, Infiltrator, Poisoner.
+2 Agility, +1 Strength, +1 Endurance, +1 Perception +1 Free points
Ranger
Rangers are experts in survival, tracking, and ranged combat utilizing various bow skills. Ideal for those who enjoy a blend of stealth, archery, exploration, and tactical combat.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Common evolutions: Beastmaster, Scout, Sharpshooter, Trapper
+2 Perception, +1 Strength, +1 Agility, +1 Endurance, +1 Free points
Mage
Mages use the arcane of the universe to fuel their spells. They excel in powerful spells and enchantments to deal significant damage from range. Ideal for those who prefer a tactical and versatile approach.
Common evolutions: Ice Mage, Fire Mage, Elementalist, Artillery Mage.
+2 Intelligence, +1 Perception, +1 Wisdom, +1 Acumen, +1 Free points
Healer
Healers use spells to channel healing powers, protection, and support. They may also wield magic against foes. Ideal for those who wish primarily to support their allies, serving as healers and buffers.
Common evolutions: Battlefield Support, Medic, Doctor, Apprentice Healer.
+2 Wisdom, +2 Acumen, +1 Intelligence, +1 Free points
This was exactly like a video game. It even had the same generic starting classes and everything. Thankfully the calming spell was still in effect or I would definitely be freaking out. Whenever I played these kinds of games I usually played warriors, but that never stopped me from playing others occasionally for variety.
This wasn't a video game though, this was real life and I needed to start thinking about things more thoroughly. I began by taking stock of all the information available to me.
A mysterious -and supposedly all powerful- System teleported me from a nice family dinner to wherever this white room was. I now have a status sheet that has my given name sans my middle name, even though my name was never given. And I now had the choice between the five different starter classes. Oh, and apparently after my choices were made, I was to join in some kind of tutorial.
I tried getting more information out of the thing but all of the questions I asked of the robot were met with either 'I can't answer that' or 'Please choose one of the available classes to proceed'. It didn't use those words exactly but the meaning was clear, I was getting nothing more out of it. The only thing that I could get out of the thing was what each stat meant and that the average for humans was ten.
Strength, agility, and perception were obvious. Fortitude was how tough your body was and let you withstand physical damage and magical damage to a lesser degree. Endurance was basically stamina and how long you could swing a weapon along with a moderate boost to magical defense. Vitality helped with longevity and how fast you could heal from wounds. It also helped with fighting poisons.
Intelligence, Wisdom, and Acumen were the magical stats. Intelligence governed your mana concentration resulting in more powerful spells. Wisdom dealt with the size of your mana pool. Acumen determined how fast your mana would regenerate.
Looking over my status sheet with the knowledge that ten was average was kind of depressing. An eight in strength wasn't bad but could have been better if I had gone to the gym more. Agility wasn't the best. I wasn't fat or anything but I definitely wouldn't call myself skinny.
I'd never needed glasses and had 20/20 vision since I was a kid which explained the average perception. I wouldn't say I was a stocky guy just on the bigger side, with wide shoulders, and thick thighs kind of big. I couldn't remember the last time I did cardio, or ran for that matter, so that explained the lackluster Endurance.
I was still a young guy so an average vitality made sense. I was most of the way through a college degree so the three mental stats didn't make sense to me. I attributed it to the fact they dealt with magic and Earth had none leaving them low, no other reason.
Looking at the list of classes over again and comparing it to my status sheet, it looked like the physical classes would suit me better than the magical ones with my low Wisdom and Acumen. Based purely on my best stat, Ranger would be the best fit. I was never really good with a bow and being on the taller side at 6'1" made sneaking difficult.
Warrior was probably the best choice, plus it was the one I wanted the most. The only thing that made me hesitate was that I didn't know if I was going to be put with other people in a party or if I was going to do the tutorial alone.
The robot wasn't helpful either so with the limited information I had, I selected Warrior.
Warrior class selected.
You have leveled up.
Stat points allocated.
Skills available.
Just like that I had my first level. I knew it didn't really count as my first real level, but it was still kind of exciting. I could feel foreign energy in my body slightly strengthening it, moving through all of my muscles and bones. It felt amazing.
Opening my status sheet again showed that my stats did go up and that I had a free point available. I put it into Endurance to bring it up and felt the energy again working throughout my body.
"Now that you have selected your class, please equip your starting armor and select your starting weapon." The thing said.
A clean set of leather armor materialized on a table next to me and a variety of weapons were also on the table. Watching a table, weapons, and armor -that definitely wasn't there before- just materialize out of thin air was freaky to say the least.
There was every weapon imaginable on the table: One-handed swords, two-handed swords, great swords, axes, maces, hammers, spears, halberds, glaives, even tonfas and nunchucks. The nunchucks made me laugh a bit because I read a study once where they proved that a stick of the same length was more effective than nunchucks as a weapon.
That didn't even come close to all the weapons available on the table. There were some that I couldn't even name.
"Be aware that any one-handed weapon can be accompanied by a shield or be turned into a matching set for both hands." The robot added.
Well that changes things. I was originally leaning toward a two-handed sword or a spear before I knew that shields were even an option. Knowing that I had zero experience with any of these weapons, going without a shield to help block seemed stupid. A spear was still an option to keep things at length but I felt that a shield would be more helpful to keep me alive.
Knowing I was limited to one-handed options narrowed my search by a significant option. Getting rid of all the exotic and complicated ones narrowed it further.
I was really only left with a sword, axe, mace, or hammer. Swords took a lot of technical skill to make good use of, and they weren't very useful against anything that wasn't a human. Mace and hammer were worth considering but I thought something with a blade would help me better than a blunt weapon.
Before I confirmed my selection of the axe, I picked up the leather armor that was on the table to get a better look at it. Never seeing leather armor before made it hard to judge the quality but it looked like a standard set of leather armor to me.
It was a tannish brown color with black straps that looked to keep everything snug. Running my hand along the leather resulted in a hardened and smooth feel to it that made me think that it had gone through some kind of processing but without knowing of what kind, I couldn't be sure.
Equipping the armor was straightforward. The chest piece went over the head and got tightened with the shoulder and side straps. The leggings went over the pants I was currently wearing and the boots fit snugly, but not very comfortable. The greaves strapped in fine around my calves. The bracers were the hardest to put on and tighten down because I could only use the one hand. All that was left was the helmet and that easily slipped on. The only thing left unarmored were my joints, my arm above the elbow, and my face.
After struggling a little, I managed to strap it all down and look over the completed look. Spinning around a bit and giving myself a once-over made me think that I was ready to go to a Renaissance festival or something. Everything fit perfectly without anything catching or hitting when I moved which was good. Moving in it was still restricting but that should get better with experience.
I probably should have expected that from armor that was materialized on a table specifically for me to wear. After I had the armor equipped, I walked over and selected the one-handed axe off the table.
It was unadorned with it only having a wooden handle and metal head. You could easily tell that this wasn't made for chopping down trees by the way the head was shaped. The wood had some kind of stain or sealant on it but felt sturdy enough. The edge was so sharp that I could probably shave my beard with it.
After picking up the axe, all the weapons on the table disappeared off the table only to be replaced by a generic round shield and an identical copy of the axe I was holding. After picking up the shield off the table with my free left hand the table and axe disappeared completely.