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Hero? I'm assassin, but that's the same right?
Chapter 1. Why does it feel like a game?

Chapter 1. Why does it feel like a game?

“Ehem... Welcome Heroes. I am the King Gustav XII the rightful ruler of the kingdom of Askonia.”

“Yep and I am some dude that got who knows where by who knows how...” looking around I noticed a few more persons beside king and few guards... well obviously some strange lady in purple robes, probably his wife... or lover. Then some kid on a wolf, probably his son. And some guys in a school uniform? Oh few girls too... there are like five males and three females with modern clothings, more or less... and one looks like he is a historical reenactor...

“Um... where are we?”

“What happened?”

“Doggy!” okay that one wasn't expected. It's a boy... funny...

“Kids... you could at least hear that crowned dude out.” they looked at me quite strange.

“Ano... who are you?”

“You care? Call me...” what name should I tell them? “Kuro.”

“Kuro-san... where are we? What happened?”

“World war 3 happened. I suppose it's post nuclear hallucination...”

“World war 3? what do you mean?”

“Flashes and panic? Remember?”

“No... I was going out to the concert-”

“Say what date that was?”

“... 2011. August. Why?”

“2026, November. Others?”

“1994.”

“2001.”

“1854.”

“And for real?”

“1854. I have my passport right here.” that dude got some sort of a scroll.

“So we are from different timelines? Oh what countries are you from? I am from USA.” right... like I will tell them about my birthplace...

“USA? I am from Gleven Republic.”

“What? You mean that we are from different universes?”

“Seems like it.”

“The King-”

“Shut up baldy!” looking around I thought about my future actions.

“I'm not bald! I'm shaved!” he has a complex about his hair?

“I will call you 47 then.”

“I'm only in the mid thirties!”

“I don't have Appraisal, so your statement is invalid.” at that words the baldy... 47 dropped to his knees.

“My youthful charm...”

While the baldy was covered in self pity some chubby guy in glasses asked.

“You say you are from 2026, right? Was there aliens, robots, mechas?”

“Yeah I'm from 2026, but to your questions... aliens are unknown, as we found a planet where they could live, by the way the first space colony was on the moon. Robots are reality, though they are more like drones. Proper AI is hard to create. At least the one that can converse with others, and follow orders, as they tend to be quite rebellious. Mechas? We didn't even get a power armor and you want mechas? As I remember there was a prototype exoskeleton, but it was on early development. Oh and space combat was a no-go. Too much resources needed just for one ship.”

“*Cough* I welcome you heroes! We are in-”

“What robots were created?”

“Oh regular. Some flying ones, more like a miniature jet, some on tracks, some were spider types. I even was on testing of bipedal, but... let's just say that bipedal robots are lame.”

“What are robots?” the guy with scroll asked.

“Seriously now, are you-”

“WILL YOU LET ME FINISH MY GREETING SPEECH?!”

““...””

“Khm... Welcome Heroes to the kingdom of Askonia. I am the King Gustav XII.” he finished?

“What do you mean heroes?”

“You were chosen by the gods to defeat the Demon Lord-”

“I'm atheist.”

“Me too.”

“I'm Christian.”

“Muslim.”

“Chaos follower.”

“CODEX.”

“D&D.”

“Guys that are the game religion, no?”

“The great goddess of light-”

“Hey! Light is useless! Follow the darkness. They have cookies!”

“And pies!”

“Just say [Status] and see your blessings.”

“Yeah right... [Status]” huh? Blue screen?

Welcome to the Status Page. As you are new to the System you can choose to participate in tutorial.

Y/N?

OK... Sure... um... how do I do it? Concentrate...

You decided to participate in tutorial.

SYSTEM powered Status v 3.516

Manual.

On the main page you can see your level, experience, health, stamina, mana, thirst, nutrition, fatigue and carrying weight.

Level is your extra power. The higher the level the more powerful the user. Curent level 1.

Experience. When experience get to 100 user will increase his level.

Health is your life energy value. If it drops to 0 you will pass out. If it drops below that you may die.

Current Health 653/745

Maximum Health regeneration 60/hour

Mana is your magic energy value. If it drops to 0 you will be unable to use magic. If it becomes negative the user will experience heavy hedache.

Current mana 57/590

Maximum Mana Regeneration 21/minute

Stamina is your short-term physical energy. If it drops to 0 you will become slower. If it drops below 0 user can experience discomfort.

Current stamina 660/660

Maximum Stamina recovery 66/minute

Thirst. Basic necessity. At 100-90 user will be slaked. At 90-50 user will have no debuffs. At 50-20 user will suffer of dehydration. Below 20 user's regeneration will become slower. At 0 user will lose health and stamina. High regeneration effects on stamina, moderate on health and minor on mana. 

Current Thirst 87

Nutrition. Basic necessity. At 100-90 user will be nourished. At 90-50 user will have no debuffs. At 50-20 user will become hungry. Below 20 user will become ravenous. At 0 user will lose health and stamina. High effects on regeneration of health and stamina, minor on mana. 

Current Nutrition 99

Fatigue. Basic necessity. At 100-90 user will be well rested. At 90-50 no debuffs. At 50-20 user will become tired. Below 20 user will become exhausted. At 0 user will lose mana until the blackout. High effects on mana regeneration, moderate on stamina, minor on health. 

Current Fatigue 76

Carrying Weight. If 0- 1/4 of max weight then person is unencumbered. 1/4-max encumbered and will get penalties based on the difference between current and max weight. >Max can't move. 

Current max weight 113kg

Attributes.

There are following attributes which can be increased either by spending points, or by training them.

Strength. Each point increases weight limit, attack power and health.

Current 29

Vitality. Each point increases health and health regeneration.

Current 25.

Vigor. Increases your health, stamina, health regeneration and stamina recovery.

Current 20

Endurance. Each point increases stamina and stamina recovery, and to a lesser degree carrying weight.

Current 23 Agility. Each point increases your overall speed. Current 20 Speed. Each point increases your moving speed. Current 22 Dexterity. Each point increases your speed and precision of your movements. Current 40 Perception. Each point increases the acuity of your primal senses. Current 35 Processing power. Each point improves your thinking speed and can slow down the world around you. Current 50 Intelligence. Each point improves your memory, increases the mana capacity and to a lesser degree mana regeneration. Also increases spell power slightly.  Current 20 Willpower. Each point improves your mental health, mana regeneration and to a lesser degree mana capacity. Slightly increases mental resistances.  Current 33 Magic. Increases spell power, mana capacity and regeneration. Current 5 Charisma. Increases your likeness to the surrounding creatures. Current 11 Luck. Shows how lucky you are. Current 77

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Race, trait and titles.

 Race shows your current race and variation. Can be changed by doing some specific action, or by curse/blessing. Race: Human 

Titles are gained by fulfilling their requirements. Some titles have no impact.

Traits are what you were born with. Can be acquired by spending points. 

Weapon master

??? -> Alchemist

Pyromaniac

Master Assassin

Living Shadow

One-man army

Lone Wolf

Hero

Twisted Genius

Parallel processing

Enhanced regeneration

Indefatigable

Tough skin

Skills.

All skills the user know. All skills are separated into three categories active, passive and magic

Active skills.

They are used when user concentrates on them. May have requirements of health, stamina and/or mana.

Passive skills are the skills that user learned or acquired through his life

They can be toggled by user's will.

Magic skills.

Mostly contains quick use spells and rituals.

Slash

???

???

???

???

???

???

???

???

???

Assassination

Hide

Penetrating strike

Pain resistance

???

???

???

None

Masteries.

Masteries shows what do you know and your understanding of the chosen field.

Weapon mastery

Defense mastery

Utility mastery.

Magic mastery

???-Grandmaster.

???-Grandmaster.

???-Master.

???-Master.

Archery-Competent.

Throwing-Competent.

Dagger-Master.

Short blades-Competent.

Long blades-Competent.

One handed-Competent.

Two handed-Competent.

Axes-Competent.

Hammers-Adequate.

Spear-Novice.

???-Basic.

Heavy armor-Master.

Medium armor-Master.

Light armor-Master.

Evasion-Expert.

Dodging-Competent.

Blocking-Competent.

Counter-Adequate.

???-Basic.

Sneaking-Expert.

Swimming-Expert.

Camouflage-Expert.

Survival-Expert.

???-Expert.

???-Expert.

???-Expert.

???-Expert.

???-Expert.

???-Expert.

???-Expert.

Traps-Expert.

Hunting(skinning, butchering, etc)-Expert

Cooking-Adequate

Fishing-Trained

Herbalism-Adequate->Novice

Crafting (include wood- and stone-working)-Novice

Fabrication (includes Blacksmithing, weapon- and armor-smithing)-Novice

???-Novice

???-Beginner

???-Beginner

???-Basic

Psychic-Untrained 

Affinities.

Shows how good you are with different elements. Affinities can be increased through training and/or special actions. Min -100, Max 100.

Fire 100 Water 15 Air 5 Earth 25 Light 0 Darkness 50 Lightning 20 Nature 10 Ice 10 Blood 30 Shadow 50 Illusion 10 Void 5 Space 0 Time 0 Holy -80 Chaos 30 Death 10 Life -10 Psychic 100

Buffs/Debuffs.

Also may contain blessings and curses.

Active Buffs.

Active Debuffs  Blessing of Chaos

Irradiated

Due to the user's completion of tutorial he will be granted 5 unallocated points.

Would you like to know how to use them?

Y/N?

So it's sort of a game? Sure I would like to learn everything.

Let's start with their functions.

Points can be used for increasing the affinity of an element, increase in attributes, or faster learning of the specified skill. Also points can be used for purchasing a title and/or skill, however only if the user passes the minimum requirements. User can buy [Basic Knowledge] skill for 5 points. Would you like to buy it?

Y/N?

Ehm... can you explain what is [Basic Knowledge]?

[Basic Knowledge] is a skill that allows the user to gain basic knowledge in the SYSTEM.

Buy now?

Y/N?

Eh... can I learn it on my own?

It's not possible.

Buy [Basic Knowledge]?

Y/N

… OK... I'll buy it. Better have info.

Acquired Skill [Basic Knowledge]

Due to the user still being in tutorial mode of the system the user were refunded 4 points.

Sweet... oh right what does it do anyway?

What information would you like to uncover?

How do I get points?

By completing quests, gaining levels, consuming specific potions and killing powerful creatures. Would you like to continue the tutorial?

There are no Yes/No?

Y/N?

You're quite funny do you know that?

Please say yes or no...

Sure... continue tutorial.

Due to you having unallocated points you will be educated in their use.

Select Attributes menu. Choose the attributes you want to upgrade.

All to luck. I will max out it first.

Wise choice. Luck can't be trained.

Eh? You could at least told me that before.

You still used your points on it, so what's the problem?

… did you just-

Now let's talk about masteries.

For a set amount of points you can increase the level of your masteries. Note that leveling up Untrained and beginner masteries will cost one point each, while every level after will cost as the previous two.

You currently can freely upgrade one of low leveled masteries.

Hey, why does it sound like a regular F2P game? You won't demand money from me will you?

You can exchange gold for unallocated points.

Oh and the ratio?

Service currently unavailable due to insufficient user funds.

Right...

So the masteries... I will take [Psychics]

Psychic-Untrained became Psychic-Basic.

New Powers gained.

Telekinesis, Telepathy, Empathy (weak), Mind Blast.

Oh cool. How do I use them?

Telekinesis is activated by concentrating on an object and moving it with your mind.

Telepathy is activated by concentrating on a sentient creature and talking to it through the mind link.

Empathy will allow you to sense emotions of the individual to a lesser degree.

Mind blast interrupts thinking process of a sentient creature, or blocks for a while the instincts of a living creature. Damages mana reserves and slows the mana regeneration.

Now Affinities.

The greater your affinity to the particular element, the stronger will be the spells you use, while it will cost less mana. Using unallocated points gain increase of one percent in affinity.

Congratulations. You completed advanced tutorial. Gained 5 unallocated points.

Oh any other tutorial?

You like free stuff aren't you?

No more tutorials, so you should just go and earn some points by yourself.

OK. Say are you my assistant now?

After you bought [Basic Knowledge] yes.

Pleasure to be working with you.

Likewise.

You should now listen to the king.

Oh... sure. Now that I think about it... aren't the real world suspended?

For you yes, but it's because of activation of processing power. By my calculations only around 4.3 seconds have passed since the beginning of tutorial.

How do I-

Just exit Status screen. Think [Exit].

““[Status]””

“Hey what the?”

“Blue screen?”

“Why does it has to be a blue screen?”

… They don't have processing power?

Regular human processing power is 3.6 so it's either 3 or 4 mostly.

Hey you can talk to me while outside the [Status]?

Yes. It's one of the effects of [Basic Knowledge].

Can I get some other skills that would let you act as an battle assistant?

Skill [SYSTEM enhanced assistant] costs 40 points.

… I'll buy it later.