----------------------------------------
He floated in an endless space, timeless, a vague memory of a star system, a universe. Stars and entire planets passed by, in arcs or straight lines. Fiery and icy, sometimes accompanied by countless asteroids and sometimes all alone.
He shot through this space. All he knew was that he was actually dreaming, and yet it seemed strange to him.
Where the Milky Way and the known star system should be, a gigantic circular sphere appeared, towards which he was racing. A perfect sphere, with star systems that reminded him of well-known fantasy runes. Just as he looked at the overall concept, it faded again. He was not surprised, because he had already forgotten it. And just as he was about to collide with a planet at infinite speed, or so it seemed to him, everything was suddenly dead silent.
When he slowly woke up from his dreams, half asleep, rubbing his eyes with his right hand, and the sun's rays shining relentlessly into his eyes, Avan straightened up and immediately panicked.
Damn! I overslept! It's already noon! I have to go to work! Shit, shit, shit... He cursed, inwardly upset, as he instantly realized the significance of the sun in the sky above him.
Avan reached, as he did every morning, for his smartphone, which he usually left on his black nightstand and should have woken him up in time.
He waved his left hand around to his left in search of his smartphone, and it dawned on him after a few seconds of fruitless searching that there was nothing there.
"Did I accidentally sweep it onto the floor again during the night?" He muttered and opened his eyes fully, only to be completely shocked by the sight of his surroundings.
He was no longer in his bedroom, or any apartment in general, but in the middle of a clearing flooded with light, surrounded by various trees, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. A cloudless and clear sky greeted him, and Avan had to shield his narrowed eyes with both hands to make out any more of his surroundings. A few birds chirped and all sorts of forest and meadow sounds of the flora and fauna around him rang out.
Had he not been so shocked by the sight and his sudden location, Avan would have found the landscape idyllic and truly beautiful.
With his heartbeat steadily increasing, Avan let his gaze wander over the area around him in great confusion and could not believe his eyes. He blinked several times in rapid succession and once again rubbed his eyes with his hands, only to find an unchanged image. His head slowly swiveled from left to right, and Avan tried to figure out where he was or if his surroundings looked familiar in any way.
For crying out loud... I fell asleep in my bed normally after my wing tsun training! How the heck did I end up in the middle of a forest? I have never sleepwalked before! his thoughts sprinted back and forth hoping to find a logical explanation for his new surroundings.
The trees he could make out at the edge of the clearing were mostly beeches with a mighty, branching root network and strong trunks crowned by majestic treetops. Yellow leaves moved gently in the invisible wind and rustled softly across the clearing.
On the meadow, on which Avan had found himself after waking up, green and juicy grass grew thirty centimeters high, which contained a turquoise glow at closer inspection.
Momentarily distracted by this almost perfect landscape, Avan returned to his real problem. He kneaded his throbbing temples and looked down at his half-naked legs, which were stretched out and covered only by a pair of short boxer shorts.
"Come on down, Avan. Something happened, and you're not home in your apartment anymore." He whispered softly to himself like a mantra as he clasped his hands in his lap and stared at them. "Whether this is a bad joke or something else happened, there's nothing I can do about it right now," he said. Thinking logically... Think!"
"What do I have to do? Where am I? Can I find someone who can help me? Is there any way to contact my work, friends, family or anyone? And then I can worry about how in God's name I ended up here!" He counted down the facts on his fingers reassuringly to himself, while moving the fingers of his right hand to match each enumeration.
Somewhat calmer and with a clearer head, Avan briefly slapped himself gently on the cheeks several times to stimulate circulation and fully rid himself of sleep. "Doesn't seem like a dream, for a start. If something like that should have woken me up..." He stated soberly, when the slight tugging from slapping the palms of his hands on his cheeks did not change his situation, as he had already thought to himself.
He moved his hands sideways with palms facing downward and ran them through the lush green grass while a gentle breeze blew across his face and the sun's rays noticeably warmed the areas of his skin outside his pajamas.
After a few minutes of almost meditative movement, Avan had calmed down enough to finally stand up, though his hands still seemed to tremble slightly. He looked around the meadow and decided to take the first logical step.
I need to find a settlement, or at least other people. Above all, I must finally go on the search...
He shielded his eyes with his left hand, noticing how the sun's hot, unrelenting rays were slowly burning his face, leaving his otherwise white skin sunburned if he didn't get into the shade soon.
And isn't it actually the beginning of february? Yesterday it was almost cold enough to freeze. What on earth is going on...
Before Avan could let himself go and just feel sorry for himself on the ground and with his knees drawn up, he shook his head jerkily as he looked more closely at the edge of the forest and weighed his first steps.
It almost feels like I've been kidnapped and dropped off on another continent. Or a typical ufo abduction, as some conspiracy theorists constantly rumor on the internet. Hmm... Or a reality show, and someone signed me up for it without my knowledge. But that would be more than legally questionable, wouldn't it? Avan's thoughts jumped from one possibility to another as his breathing finally returned to normal.
Suddenly he just laughed out loud, half in disbelief, half amused at his thoughts of supernatural scenarios.
A few brief and quickly passed thoughts were also about all the countless isekai and anime stories in his head, which he always loved so much, and told of the typical reincarnations in a strange and magical world.
No matter how, where, or what. I must set out to find other people. And maybe the ones responsible for all this crap. He finished his thoughts, and for a moment thought about his work colleague Dave and the gaming evenings they had spent together, and what he thought about the fact that Avan suddenly didn't show up at work, even though they had always taken public transportation to and from work together.
While he was still finishing his thought, he suddenly heard a strange rustling behind him, coming from the dense vegetation and bushes between the trees. And something that he hoped he had misheard; a deep but low and threatening growl, like that of a predatory cat.
Yeah, right... Such a cliché... I hope so... He thought to himself as he spun around very slowly. At the sight of the creature, which he already perceived directly out of the corner of his eye, he almost stumbled, when he took a hasty and rash step backwards.
Before him, still between the branches and the trees, a black wolf stared at him from hungry orange slit eyes. The almost majestic beast loomed between some forest shrubs and had a steady deep throaty growl as it stared at Avan like that.
The wolf reached Avan from height to chest and was focused on Avan with its bared teeth and saliva dripping from the sides of its fangs.
Before he could get a clearer thought, Avan took a fearful, sharp step backward and promptly fell to the ground for it after stumbling over a small bump. He hastily crawled further backwards and further away from the wolf beast as adrenaline rushed through his veins.
The wolf took this as a sign of fear, only to step menacingly further into the clearing. Avan could now also see more clearly and between almost intangible leaps of thought that it was much larger than any normal wolf he could imagine or knew from television documentaries. It was nearly six feet tall and had pitch black fur, with orange eyes watching its prey and two large fangs protruding at the corners of its mouth, showing its bared teeth.
Fuck, fuck, fuck! Cliché my ass! he thought with panic and fear widening his mind. Avan, who by now was shaking more than before when he unexpectedly woke up in this strange environment, frantically looked around for an escape route, while at the same time trying to somehow keep an eye on the wolf.
The wolf, meanwhile, emerged fully from the undergrowth and took another menacing step into the clearing and in Avan's direction before crouching with all four legs, ready to pounce on the frightened prey at any moment.
Before he could form a single thought, the wolf leapt like a bullet at the terrified Avan. It was only thanks to his constant beatings and martial arts training that he was able to force his body to react in time and throw himself to the side to get out of the immediate reach of the wolf's claws and teeth. It wasn't anything Olympic-worthy, but it served its purpose. After quickly making sure he had escaped impending doom, Avan hurried to his feet and began sprinting in the opposite direction, right into the middle of the rather dense forest. At the same time, the confused eyes of a wolf looked after him, wondering how his prey could dare to escape.
As he sprinted, Avan had to keep himself together so that he wouldn't fall face first due to his constant stumbling, but he put all his strength into his muscles to run through the undergrowth and zigzag between the trees. At the same time, he could still hear the muffled and heavy wolf footsteps following right behind him.Avan jumped around and over the root weaves of the many trees and ran through the beech forest, the predator right on his heels.
After only a few seconds, or perhaps dozens of minutes, of running for his life and having no sense of time, he suddenly found himself on the edge of a cliff. Too late to react in time and stop somehow, he stumbled forward and fell over his feet with one step over the rocky edge into a lake twenty meters below.
"Awwwww! Fuuuuck!" Shouted Avan in his brief and unwilling free flight, passing out briefly upon impact with the surface of the lake.
A short time later, Avan woke up with a jolt and immediately leaned forward, coughing and spitting out the water he had involuntarily swallowed.
"Ouch! That was pretty steep..." he muttered as he looked up at the cliff from which he had just fallen.He was rubbing his face and over his arms, which were itching and burning red after the fall, when just like that, out of nowhere, some letters and a strange window suddenly appeared in front of him.
*Chime*
You have learned the Passive Skill: Pain Resistance.
As you bang your head against obstacles, walls, and water surfaces, you don't care. Your head has learned to endure your inability to handle situations with more force.
Your pain becomes more bearable with each level of skill.
Avan, slowly shaking his dazed head, finally noticed the floating window in front of him. Arghhh! He startled and waved through the window. What the hell kind of joke is this?
And what the hell, that hurt! he thought as he continued to try to get the writing away from his face convulsively.
As he thought about the annoying window and was about to curse it, it just disappeared again without a trace as it had appeared.
It reminds me of some kind of overlay... straight out of a damn game, he thought. And grinned at the possibility, even though he'd just been pretty annoyed at being surprised by it like that. It WOULD be great... Or maybe I'm losing my marbles right now. Hah.
No sooner had he finished his thoughts about the strange interface and the possible loss of his sanity, than he immediately heard familiar, heavy footsteps coming down the slope on the side of the cliff he had just fallen from.
Confused, wet, and still unable to properly assess the situation he had gotten into, he stumbled to his feet and immediately continued running in the same direction he had been heading before his fall.
As he ran forward and away from the hunting wolf, he spotted what looked from a distance like a small camp among the trees about a hundred yards ahead of him.
And where someone camps, there must also be people! Avan's thought jumped and he strained even more, because he could almost grasp the supposed safety in front of him.
"HELP! A wolf is after me!" he shouted in the direction of the camp as he rushed between the last trees that separated him from the safe place, while beads of sweat and drops of water ran down his sleeping clothes. With regained hope and strength, he stumbled into the camp while desperately looking around for anyone who could help him against this freak of a wolf that was still at his heels.
What he initially thought were sleeping humans were actually lifeless, freshly bleeding, ripped open human corpses lying around a smoldering campfire. He could make out some claw marks.
Avan had to press both his hands in front of his mouth and suppress an enormous gag reflex that wanted to arise at the sight of the badly mangled corpses. Strange-looking flies buzzed through the air and his sudden appearance in the middle of the camp had startled a small swarm, which buzzed furiously and slowly settled down on the corpses.
Oh fuck... Shit, it looks bad! And so much to help!
Two men and a woman greeted him silently, with torn and open wounds, half-eaten faces and bloody guts hanging out, while all kinds of flies were feasting on the open wounds and all the blood.
Avan suddenly felt the urge to vomit again at the sight of these horribly mangled corpses. He held his hands over his mouth a second time and swallowed audibly to prevent anything from coming up this time. Urgh. Nope! No, don't! Not now, Avan! His watering eyes next turned desperately to the weapons of the people, some not yet drawn and in their scabbards, as if they too had been attacked out of the blue.
He could quickly make out a bow, two daggers, a sword and what looked like a fish spear or something similar.
Without thinking twice and without having the time to grab something else to unsheathe it in time, he grabbed the spear that was lying on the ground next to one of the two deceased men. He turned around just in time to see the wolf lunge at him again.
With a final panicked effort and a loud yelp, he grabbed the spear by the pole with both hands and pointed the spearhead upward at the onrushing wolf while wedging the lower end into the dirt below, just as his subconscious mind was telling him to do from all the television documentaries.
With bared teeth and a loud growl, the wolf landed directly on Avan, squeezing the air from his lungs and nearly crushing him under its massive weight. The black beast snarled and growled in Avan's face, its two clawed claws fortunately sunk into the ground above his shoulders. The wolf suddenly whimpered and then all was quiet. Avan tried to understand what had just saved him, while he tried to push the black wolf away, since he could no longer breathe.
He also felt something warm, sticky and disgusting running down his torso and how it was viscously soaking his nightgown.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch. Fuck off and get away from me!" Avan whimpered as he heard a soft ringing somewhere in his head.
*Chime*
Congratulations on reaching level 2!
You will receive 5 free stat points for leveling up.
Please check your character interface to distribute your free stat points.
...
*Chime*
Congratulations on reaching level 8!
You will receive 5 free stat points for leveling up.
Please check your character interface to distribute your free stat points.
*Chime*
Congratulations! You learn the Passive Skill: Steady for killing a monster far above your level at level 1!
What a great feat! You managed to kill a monster far above your own strength and level as a level 1 toddler.
*Chime*
You have learned the Passive Skill: Steady 1
When you stagger, you have a high chance of staying on your feet instead of succumbing. This skill can help you cast magic without being interrupted or shooting while standing on the back of a horse or even a dragon.
"What the...?!" He tried to comprehend what exactly had happened and whatever that smelly and sticky liquid was that was soaking more and more of his clothes as he continued to struggle to crawl out from under the dead monstrosity. Since he was not further interested in these windows at the moment, he just waved them away in annoyance and they actually disappeared again just like that.
Of course, it's gallons of blood... Avan realized as he pushed the wolf aside with all the strength he could muster and finally crawled out of his stifling, sticky prison. Gasping and lying on the ground, surrounded by half-eaten human corpses and a massive black wolf at his side, he suddenly began to laugh loudly and absurdly.
Maniacal, relieved laughter echoed through the trees and nearby forest.
Avan, with tears in his eyes, just continued laughing. It slowly dawned on him how close he had been to his own death after waking up in a strange environment, frightened and terrified by his encounter with this black beast.
He had survived. He didn't know how, but he had indeed survived.
After sobbing for a while and laughing like a madman, he finally got up and moved like a zombie to the nearby lake he had just run away from.He walked right into the lake while strangely taking off his shirt and boxers as he walked, dropping them carelessly into the shallow water. Just to get rid of that smell, the blood and the sticky feeling all over his body.
He felt a little relieved and after a few soothing seconds of the cool wet, started scrubbing off the dirt and blood with his hands while still half stunned and dazed, watching out of the corner of his eyes as the lake around him turned partially red.
After he finished cleaning himself, he reached for the still soaked T-shirt and boxers and began washing those as well.
Then Avan slowly stumbled out of the lake, still naked, and back to camp in a confused state. He absently put on his nightclothes, almost falling down several times, while staring at the still shimmering ashes of the burned down campfire that had opened up in front of him. With a sideways glance at the wolf's corpse, he also finally noticed the reason why he was still alive. The spearhead had penetrated directly into the upper chest, probably piercing the heart, saving Avan from his own gruesome death.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
The smell... And all the blood...the guts... Avan frantically moved to the side and vomited. Panting, he wiped his mouth with the back of his right hand and shook his head, still feeling nauseous.
He turned his head around to look at the unfortunate people lying around the camp and muttered to himself. "Damn... Really seems like I've had better luck than these poor guys here... I guess I still saw the wolf coming... The scratch marks are definitely from the wolf too." He enlightened her with a quick glance. "So, where am I? ... And I really need something else to wear, I can't walk around barefoot, without shoes, and wearing only my sleeping clothes ..."
After becoming aware of his shortcomings, he slowly and with much hesitation began to rummage through the camp and the belongings of the recently deceased.
The bow of the woman I can use... Rest in peace. The belt from the warlike looking guy to equip the dagger sheaths from the other guy. And the spear...Did I really hit his heart with that? ...And all the spare clothes they have... But I have no use for the tattered armor they wear. And why armor...? he muttered to himself as he carefully searched through the belongings of the deceased.
And I need one of those backpacks...or maybe two if I can handle the weight? Naaaah, the bigger one should do. Maybe later... If I can really bear the sight again...
With trembling legs he walked towards the wolf, and with an unpleasant crunch he released the spear from his chest belly, which had penetrated the wolf's back. Only to quickly escape the flowing blood that came from the now open wound. After escaping the blood splatter, Avan looked around the camp and spoke to himself. "This looks like a medieval camp. I wouldn't normally find anything like this in a campsite. And they look like they came straight from a LARP festival, that's for sure.... But with real weapons? And a black wolf of death running around killing people? This whole scenario seems more and more likely to me that I'm not on Earth anymore..."
With a shudder and a shake of his head, he turned around.
After getting himself some sort of leather vest, a belt, a pair of linen pants, the spear and both daggers, he stared again at the dead black wolf while musing to himself.
What should I do now? Look for others and inform them about the carnage that has happened here? I hope I'm not too far from a settlement, town or village.... And if I'm really not on Earth anymore, where am I?
Avan looked up at the approaching afternoon sky and squinted at the horizon. First twice and then another time.
He could see two moons. Two. Moons. Yeah, well. That's enough evidence. Thanks, Sherlock. He stated in shock, looking at the strange alien sky in amazement.
Stunned, his head and eyes turned to the sky, Avan tried to process his thoughts of two moons.
"This is so fucked up...Definitely not Earth anymore.Definitely not Earth anymore. Maybe some aliens actually abducted me. Or maybe I just died..." he said to himself as he scratched the back of his head nervously with slightly shaking hands.
While still processing his thoughts, he walked back to the lake and dropped down on a nearby rock to finally calm down a bit and get away from the dead.
"This all looks like a fantasy world. Did I die? Reincarnated? Isekai anime style? It's like a role-playing world with stats, levels, abilities, monsters.... And what had the windows told me after I killed the wolf? Something about a character interface..." whispered Avan.
He shook his head and continued to think about what he had discovered moments ago.
"Character interface... Hmmm... How can I access it?" And the moment he muttered the words, a character interface window opened in front of him.
Avan Leaf
Level: 8
Free Stat Points: 35
Element:
Class:
Subclass:
Stats
Strength: 5
Dexterity: 5
Vitality: 5
Intelligence: 5
Wisdom: 5
Spirit: 5
Active skills
-
Passive Skills
Pain resistance: 1
Steady: 1
Potential: ?
Distracting himself and hoping to somehow block out the images and the situation, he stared intently at this strange yet simple-looking window in front of him.
"Well, well, well. Okay. So, when I say character interface, my character arc appears? At least somewhat intuitively... Or do I even have to say it out loud? Can I just concentrate with my mind to summon it, and make it disappear with another thought?" Avan was talking to himself. I mean, in all the games and fantasy novels I had read, it was possible. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
With a thought and a desire to make the window disappear, the character interface just vanished again. "Huh, okaaay. At least that kind of works. Fortunately pretty easy to understand..."
He recalled his character interface using the same method and the screen reappeared before his eyes.
"Way too big... I can't see anything because these windows are literally blocking my view. Is there anything I can do to make them smaller? Or move them to the side or something?"
He focused on the size and position of the screen. After considering reducing the size, the screen shrank to half the size, just as he had imagined. And then aligned itself on the left side of his field of view.
"Much better... Let's see what I can work with here..."
Avan Leaf
Level: 8
Free Stat Points: 35
Element:
Class:
Subclass:
Stats
Strength: 5
Dexterity: 5
Vitality: 5
Intelligence: 5
Wisdom: 5
Spirit: 5
Active skills
-
Passive Skills
Pain resistance: 1
Steady: 1
Potential: ?
"Hmm... Well, that beast apparently gave me a LOT of levels. 35 free status points? How can I put those to good use? Maybe another mind thing...? I already have a working proof of concept."
Focusing on strength, he was ready to use one of his free stat points, and the strength suddenly rose to a six.
"That works well for me. Maybe there's an explanation for these values, too? So far it's all intuitive, like the system is reading my mind."
As he focused on the individual values, another screen appeared with a clear list of all the values and descriptions.
Strength:
Increases physical penetrating power with melee weapons and unarmed combat.
Increases the capacity of the weight you can carry.
Increases all activities related to physical strength.
Dexterity:
Increases physical speed and dexterity in combat and movement.
Increases physical range, weapon handling, and accuracy.
Increases all activities related to physical speed and finesse.
Vitality:
Increases your life supply.
Increases your physical resistance.
Increases your stamina pool.
Intelligence:
Increases your magical effect and power.
Increases your overall understanding of magic.
Increases your speed of learning.
Wisdom:
Increases your mana pool.
Increases your mana regeneration.
Increases your perception.
Spirit:
Increases your mental resistances.
Increases your magic resistances.
Increases your luck.
"Whew," he groaned as he read through the explanations. "Explains some things, but not very in depth. I hope it will eventually evolve or grow up..."Avan finished his thought aloud with a grimace.
Not particularly helpful explanations of the values.
I mean, more luck, seriously? What exactly is luck anyway? How and what does it affect?
Let's stick with 10 Strength, 5 Dexterity, 10 Vitality, and 5 Intelligence for now. More damage, a little more flexibility and speed, a little more health and stamina, and of course more intelligence. Hah...
Avan Leaf
Level: 8
Free Stat Points: 5
Element:
Class:
Subclass:
Stats
Strength: 15
Dexterity: 10
Vitality: 15
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 5
Spirit: 5
Active skills
-
Passive skills
Pain resistance: 1
Steady: 1
Potential: ?
I'll keep the last five points for now. Maybe there's something I don't understand about these stats yet. Or maybe there are thresholds, like in some of the games I've played? Pah.
Avan, satisfied with his decision for now, thought about his next steps and what he should do now. "It's getting dark now anyway. I don't want to run into another one of those wolf things. Or anything else that wants to eat me now. Soooo... Use those tents? But definitely not here with so much blood lying around. The smell and the fresh flesh couldn't be more obvious to attract more beasts."
With these thoughts, he marched back to camp with the ashes of the campfire still smoldering. He jammed one of the more comfortable tents under one arm and some sleeping bags under the other.
Glad that he still had the scouting experience of when he was a young teenager, he had no trouble setting up the tent again on the other side of the lake, as far away from the camp as possible and under the protection of two larger gray rocks that perfectly protected the tent from at least two sides. He threw the sleeping bags into the tent and decided to sit down and let everything that had happened sink in.
Avan was aware of his situation, probably far, far away from home. He had already managed to survive his first encounter in the wilderness and now had to figure out where he was and what he could do with his skills, values and levels. He imagined the possibilities and things he could accomplish here. And he remembered the empty class slots and that weird element status.
Maybe I can be a badass mage who throws fireballs? Or a warrior wielding a dual sword? Could I gain the ability to fly? If that was even something people could achieve in this world... he thought excitedly, even though the images of the mutilated corpses continued to haunt the back of his mind. Avan was visibly excited and had gotten over his initial shock at having woken up in another world.
Will Dave miss me tomorrow? After all, we had arranged to play this cool new MMORPG...? And my parents...? He just hoped he wouldn't be dead in his bed and someone would find him there decomposing. That would really suck for whoever finds me there.
Well, I can't change that now, can I? It's not worth thinking about anymore. Thinking pragmatically, Avan... I'd rather focus on all these new opportunities here in a new world, and on hopefully meeting some friendly people tomorrow who can explain some things to me. Because in this world, there is a great lack of guidance... Who would have thought it after waking up in a strange magical world?
In any case, I'll have to make my way around here logically. Avan smiled slightly, relieved and a little excited at the possibilities that had opened up for him. On Earth, I was always a lazy piece of... But this here? Besides the black wolf and the corpses, this could be my chance for life.
Crazy, but what else can I do now? Let's make the best of it... I shouldn't lie to myself. It's a fucking dream come true!
With these last thoughts, Avan just dropped exhausted on the bedroll and quickly fell asleep, accompanied by magic, medieval battles, and black wolves, and torn open corpses.
________________