Whoa, let's slow down a bit Lake. We should probably think about our actions before deciding to grind heat resistance by burning the skin off our face.

I sat up on the ridge I was laying on while thinking to myself.

First, there had to be some sort of character sheet or list of the abilities I got, I just need to find it. Normally, in stories the characters just need to yell out some word or phrase and they'll be able to open it.

"Status!"

Nothing happened.

"Then how about... Character Sheet!"

....

"List!"

....

"Stats!"

....

"Goddammit, what else? Maybe- Menu!"

Another ping resounded through my head and a bright light flashed in front of my face as text appeared in the air before me.

Main Menu: Lake Rogers

- Character Profile

- Quests

- Loot Boxes

- Options

Haha! I succeeded! I already had quite a few questions, but they could wait. Let's check out the character profile!

I raised my hand and poked the words "character profile", making the menu disappear and more text to flash.

Lake Rogers

Age: 19

Level: 1 (0/100)

HP: 12 (Regen/Day: 6)

SP: 11 (Regen/Day: 24)

MP: 0 (Regen/Day: 0)

Power: 10

Endurance: 13

Agility: 11

Vitality: 12

Manipulation: 11

Concentration: 8

Willpower: 14

Skills:

Perception - 1, Foresight - 1, Climbing - 1

Resistances & Immunities:

Fear Resistance - 1, Heat Resistance - 1, Bludgeoning Resistance - 1

Skill Acquisition Period: 4 hours 35 minutes remaining

Well, this certainly raised a lot of questions. First, why couldn't this have been a game system I was familiar with, dammit! I've played so many RPG's, and this doesn't copy any of them! Normally I don't like developers plagiarizing other games, but I'd be more than happy for it right now!

But tangent aside, some of these were really curious. I got what power, endurance, agility and vitality do for the most part, but what were manipulation, concentration and willpower for? Were those really substantial enough to have numbers assigned to them? Well, whatever the case, it seemed like I had pretty good willpower and crappy concentration. Made sense to me, I always forgot about things.

Now what really worried me was the bright red text at the bottom telling me I had four hours left in a "skill acquisition period". I had no idea what that meant, but I knew that timers were always bad news, and there was currently one staring me right in the face.

Thinking more about it, was this skill acquisition period a time where I'm allowed to get new skills? That sounded a little scary. Was this really telling me I had only four hours to get all the skills I would have for the rest of my life? I don't like that idea! I'm in some random cave, how am I going to be able to do cool things in order to get cool skills?

Realizing I didn't have time to waste, I quickly climbed off the seat I was occupying and began to hastily climb down the side of the cave. The part I woke up in was decently large, big enough for me to practice some activities in order to get some skills.

On the way down, I furiously thought of what I could do in order to acquire more skills, but I couldn't think of much. There had to be some really important activity I could do, even in a random sweltering cave!

Contemplation: Level 1 Acquired

Well, I guess that works for now.

Jogging into the small chamber I had woken up inside, I quickly got to work with my training.

I stopped in place and began ferociously shadowboxing, throwing my fists into the air in front of me. It took around a minute before the message popped up.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Punch: Level 1 Acquired

"Hell yeah! I knew that would work!"

Stopping, I backed up and started kicking. Low kicks, roundhouse kicks, high jump kicks, I did them all, looking like an absolute idiot in the process.

Kick: Level 1 Acquired

Finishing the kicks, with a look of savage determination upon my face, I readied myself and began lightly hopping on my feet. This took a bit longer, a few minutes, and I had to switch it up and start long jumping before I got the skill.

Jump: Level 1 Acquired

And there went all my inspiration. I was sweating hard, breathing fast and had looked like an utter fool, but I managed to get three more skills.

I had no idea what to do next.

Opening my menu, I began to peruse the tabs.

Main Menu: Lake Rogers

- Character Profile

- Quests

- Loot Boxes

- Options

Apparently there were loot boxes in this weird game system as well? I wasn't exactly sure how that worked, so I clicked on the tab.

No Loot Boxes Available

Damn, guess that was just how it is. A little disheartening, but I was somewhat glad there was no option to buy loot boxes with money. That would have been a little weird. Plus, I don't even have any money so it would be completely useless anyways.

I clicked on the Quests tab since that seemed like it might be a little more interesting.

Quests

- Available Quests (1)

- Completed Quests (0)

Seeing that I apparently had a quest already available to me, I quickly clicked on the message and opened it up.

Quest: Where Did I Go?

Congratulations, you are well and truly lost. You might have wandered into a spooky forest, got eaten by a dragon and found yourself somewhere else, or maybe just woke up in a place that's definitely not your bed. In any case, you're super confused and it would be pretty smart to figure out where you are.

Objective: Determine your location

Reward: Uncommon loot box

Well, I found out where loot boxes come from. It seemed like these quests could automatically be given by some kind of AI that monitors the situation you're in. That's the best thing I could come up with, at least.

How would I even be able to complete that quest, anyway? Just say my location? Or maybe it would know when I figured it out.

"A different world?"

Nothing. That was probably too vague, or maybe I was actually in death valley, hallucinating a game AI. Not exactly sure how that would work, but I didn't want to rule it out just yet.

I entered the last tab in the menu, Options. I was actually thinking this would be really useful. Maybe it would have some sort of tutorial, or at least a list of all the terms being used so I wouldn't be so confused.

Nope. I'm not sure why I expected it to be helpful at all, because the only things in options were different sliders and settings for the text boxes and notifications. I could change the color, shape, even the sound of the texts and messages sent by the system. It was actually surprisingly in-depth, and it seemed like the options were nearly endless. I was surprised at how many ways you could customize the look of the system. I was also surprised by how utterly useless it all was.

Sighing in disappointment, I once again trekked up the cave to near the top. The new plan would be to grind up my heat resistance by continually sticking my head out of the cave, until I eventually would be able to stay out long enough to look around.

Now, it may have looked a little crazy to just decide to pop out into lethally hot weather, but the skills had already proven that they do have some effect on me. Climbing makes me climb faster, for example.

And besides, it was that or sit and starve in a cave, and I did not want to starve in a random ass cave.

Climbing up to the lip of the cave, I stuck my hand up and winced as I left it there for a few seconds, before it was too much and I had to pull it back inside. By that point, it was looking much more red and shiny, and it stung like hell.

I did it again. And again. I actually got a different skill, by that point.

Pain Resistance: Level 1 Acquired

That looked extremely useful, but it wasn't what I wanted so I stuck my arm out a third time. This time, it hurt a decent amount less, although I wasn't sure if it was the pain resistance or just me getting numb.

Still nothing. I did it again.

Heat Resistance: Level 2 Acquired

"Nice!"

By the end of it, my left arm up to my elbow was smoking and looked like I had just dunked it into boiling water. Not for very long, mind you, but it was still a pretty gnarly burn.

I opened up my character profile and saw that I was at 11/12 hp. I wasn't exactly close to death, but my arm still looked like crap.

I sat down on the ridge and took a breather, holding my arm. It felt pretty bad, but it didn't seem terribly serious. There were a few spots with blisters forming, meaning it was probably a mix of 1st and 2nd degree burns. It was a little scary, because it could get infected if left alone, but I reckoned if I wasn't going to find enough water to clean a burn I wasn't going to find enough to live.

Alright, the plan would be simple. Stick my head out of the cave like a mole for a few seconds, just to take a quick look around, and then duck down before getting burns all over my face.

Grabbing a small handhold just under the opening of the hole, I took a deep breath to ready myself and brought my head up.

It wasn't as bad this time. Sure, it felt like shit, and I was totally going to get burnt if I kept my head there longer than a few seconds, but it seemed like the levelled up heat resistance was working well, alongside the newly gotten pain resistance.

Opening my eyes, I froze at the sight.

I honestly didn't know what I was expecting. I just knew that it was extremely hot, maybe I was ready for some sort of rocky canyon, maybe a barren desert. I didn't think too hard about what it would look like outside the cave. I think I was probably avoiding the question.

What I was faced with was an endless wasteland. The dark orange dust blew across the rock cliffs and ground like a thick mist. Pillars of dark stone rose into the sky like jagged claws. The sky was covered by dark red clouds, darkening the land. From my location, it looked like I was on some sort of higher spot, a cliff, overlooking the wastes.

But what really scared me was the things that were there. All manner of them, wandering the area. Some were larger than houses, huge things, with horns and fleshy hides and blood strewn across their terrifyingly large fangs.

Others were smaller, only as big as me. Some had spines all over their bodies, great white claws as large as knives extending from their fingers. Some had wings, pinkish red things that flapped painfully, huge talons extending from below. Others had tentacles, great grey limbs with ghastly hooks, flailing about as if searching for prey.

I could see them all, wandering, fighting and killing when encountering another. It was a horrid, bloody sight.

I ducked back down when the burning became too much to handle, sliding down to my ridge. I was breathing hard, my face felt like it was cracking and bleeding due to the burns. I distantly thought, I probably lost another hp.

I just stared at the wall, not thinking of anything in particular, just sitting there. Staring at the wall. I was a little numb. The burns on my arm felt itchy, but I left them alone.

Before seeing what the outside looked like, I was having quite a lot of fun with myself, I think. I was happily going through those game menus, checking out my stats and theorizing about the system. I was just happy something remarkable had happened to me. I felt like it was something special, something I've been waiting for, something to take me out of the hole I've fallen into the past four years.

But of course, it all came crashing down.

Again, I really didn't know what I expected. I should have grown used to these sorts of things during the past few years. I should have grown used to the fact that whenever I feel special, whenever something's given to me, it's taken away.

But for some reason, this really hit me hard. Probably due to the monsters. That would make sense.

"This is hell, isn't it?"

Quest: Where Did I Go? Has Been Completed

Uncommon Loot Box Acquired