He awoke with a jolt, lurching forwards as though to grab bedsheets.

Finding only empty air, Cal looked around. He was seated on the cold stone floor of a small room, dimly lit by a single lantern by the door. A small hut, or shed, it seemed. There was a shelf and an open chest in the far corner, though he could not quite make out the contents from floor level. There were no windows.

Cal was wary to stand up. His grogginess was quickly fading, but the confusion was not. A bubbling panic rose in his chest as he tried to figure out what had happened to him. He checked his body, hands probing for injuries or bruises, but he found none. He thought back to what he last remembered, but it was hazy. The only thing he remembered was dinner alone in his apartment and two beers. Nothing crazy.

Rising to his feet, Cal began to inspect his surroundings more closely. He appeared to be alone in this place, and the shelf and chest were piquing his curiosity. The shelf had a weapon that appeared to be a thin, long sword. It was a simple thing, with dust coating it thoroughly, but it looked well made. He reached for it gingerly.

[Rapier]

Cal quickly drew his hand back. A flashcard appeared before him, identifying the item. It lingered in the air, slightly translucent, with ornate but not quite cursive lettering.

Fuck.

Cal tried to ignore the prompt and reached for the weapon again, this time grabbing the handle and lifting it off the shelf. Another two prompts materialized, taking its place.

[Set Weapon?]

[Y, N]

Cal stared at the floating boxes, brows furrowed in concern. He didn’t know what to do. Was this a dream? Was he insane? Would this decision be permanent? If he said no, would he get to say yes later? He mulled it over some more but remembered that the rapier wasn’t the only thing here in the room with him. After staring at the object and the floating screen for altogether much too long, he placed the weapon back on the shelf, sighing in relief when the prompt disappeared.

Turning to the chest, Cal looked inside. There was a set of black pants and shirt, a green poncho, a white mask, black gloves, and a book. He reached for the book. It was a large heavy grimoire with dark brown leather and no lettering on the outside. As his hand grew near, no prompts made themselves apparent. He quickly flipped through the pages, but most were entirely blank. Only the first page carried an entry.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Hello! I am Leaf, and I hereby name you my successor: Moss.

Regretfully, if you are reading this, I am dead. I failed.

The good news is that I’ve given you a leg up. Congrats!

I’m not allowed to tell you much, but I have placed some starting items in the spawn point, which I for one did not have the luxury of. You probably won’t survive, especially if I didn’t, but who knows?

Welcome to Falleria, Hero.

Reading over the page once more, Cal flipped back and forth between believing it wholeheartedly and dismissing it altogether. Whoever wrote this was much too nonchalant, and the information was almost all but useless. Where the hell was Falleria? A new world? It was a hard sell. There were a lot of explanations missing regarding how he arrived. What were the prompts?

He put the book back and reached for the clothes. At the very least, Cal was grateful to be able to clothe his, well, less than clothed self. The trousers stopped at his ankles, and the shirt was on the smaller side, but the gloves and green poncho fit very well. He tested the full face cat-themed mask, finding it easier to see through than he anticipated. The material was carved bone, with round sockets missing for the eyes, and slits for the ears to poke through and hold it up. It fit, but he opted to leave it in the chest, for now.

Much like the book from earlier, there were no floating prompts as he donned his new outfit. Perhaps it was only for weapons?

Cal sat down in his new humble abode. He needed to think through this, just a little bit more. He had read LitRPGs. He had played all sorts of games. He had seen fantasy animes. But, what was this? An alternative universe? A different location in the same universe? The future or past? A tutorial? A tower? A dungeon? A game? A test?

There were too many options, and Cal didn’t know enough about his current situation to head boldly into whatever… this was. He could proceed with some tactics he’d seen before though and hope for the best.

“Menu.”

…

“Help.”

…

“Character.”

…

“User.”

...

Cal rubbed his forehead, immensely thankful to be the only one in the immediate vicinity.

“Status”

[New System Hero Detected]

[Please State Name]

Cal sighed in relief.

“... Moss.”

[Welcome to Falleria, Moss]

[Analyzing User...]

[Analysis Complete]

Moss

Race: Human

Class:

Weapon Alignment:

Titles:

Strength: 8

Vitality: 10

Dexterity: 12

Agility: 12

Wisdom: 6

Intelligence: 10