“Welcome to your new life, new player!”

Wonder jumped up, still trying to catch his breath. What happened?!? One minute, he had been downloading a new, free game from Steam. The second, he were waking up… here.

Wonder did a quick look around. He was in a deep, dark forest. The trees looked like pine trees, but tall and ancient. He was on a small, paved patch, but most of what surrounded him was grass.

“You have been selected to come and live in the world of Hoseki! Your race, appearance, and gender have been pre-selected for you based on your Soulwave. But now it’s time to select your class!”

Six glowing panels popped up around Wonder, shining brightly. Wonder blinked. This was starting to stink of a Lit-RPG or one of those isaeki manga he liked. Though he was pretty sure there weren’t any that required a free download off Steam…

Not important.

Wonder forced himself to breathe and looked at the options. He had no doubt this would affect his life going forward, so he had to be careful.

First option was Knight. According to the quick blurb, Knights swore loyalty either to Darkeon or Lighteon… must be the two primary kingdoms. They got a boost in DEF and ATK, and could specialize in either melee or ranged attacks. Pretty much the traditional well-rounded starter character.

Next was Rogue. This one also looked pretty traditional. Thieves, assassins, etc. What caught Wonder’s eye was that it said a stat called REP was replaced by STLH, which Wonder had to guess was stealth. But he never heard of a stat called REP… wait, was there a tutorial book?!?

Fuck, probably wasn’t. Still, as his Dad liked to say, never hurts to ask.

“HEY! MIND GIVIN’ ME A STAT DEFINITION?”

Dead silence from the the announcer. Dammit.

OK, he was gonna have to guess.

Despite rogue being one of his old traditional RPG MMO choices, he left it. In most games, he hated being sneaky.

As well, assassin? Killing actual people in an actual world? Uuuuuuuuh, pass please? Hopefully?

Next one was another traditional trope: Mage. Here it got interesting. If you did a mage, you could pick from one of the six elements to specialize in. Ranged melee got a damage boost. You also got an increased mana pool… but at the cost of losing your STR stat and a penalty to your DEF stat. AKA, you became squishy-squishy.

Wonder shook his head. He didn’t know what he was getting into. For all he knew, Hoseki had a lot of dangerous monsters who went nom-nom on noobs like him. And there may not be a revival function… most Isaekis, even game-based ones, did not have that. Also, he didn’t know he would be considered weird here, so party-building was debatable. Pretty much what that meant was becoming a squishy was a no-go.

Next was Paladin. Here it got even more interesting. It looked like actually two classes, depending on which deity you swore alliance to: Dark or Light. Like the Knight, you got bonuses to ATK and DEF, and there was a bonus to the mana pool as well. There was a penalty to REP of the opposite god. As well, if you went against your god’s wishes, HP damage and possible other punishments (that was the literal wording).

Wonder winced. In general, he might be good with Paladin. However, his lack of knowledge would bite him in the ass here. He didn’t know anything about this world or its gods. He couldn’t take the risk and pick, like, Kaldazar from NPCs by accident. For those who have not read or listened to that book, very evil and dark god.

Wonder checked the fifth option. It was a bard. Wonder nearly kicked that out right away… so many stat penalties, and it said basically you needed to stay with friends. The REP bonus was insane, however. Wonder began to wonder if REP stood for “reputation”. It at least made logical sense. And while Wonder loved art, stories, and music, there was still the question if people would think Wonder too weird to party with. So it was like the mage: becoming squishy was a no-go.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

The final option was what finally caught Wonder’s heart, however.

Hunter.

Wonder had to smile. Since his first MMO, he held happiness for the Hunter/Archer classes. Bow and arrow from a distance: plus. Oftentimes had animal pets to assist: double plus. Especially when his ability to party or make friends was questionable.

He read through the blurb to be safe.

Hunter

Hunters are ranged fighters who hunt Beasts and animals in the forests. While some join their Kingdoms or gods, the majority are people hunting for food to feed friends and village. Some of the more experienced ones will take jobs for money, and even tame Beasts and easily Recruit or Adopt sentient non-human Minions. Traditionally solo, but can play easily with parties.

Stat Bonuses: ATK, DEF, AGI

Other Bonuses: Ranged Attacks, REP with fellow Hunters, Beast Taming, Minion Recruitment & Adoption

Penalties: None

Did someone specifically create this for Wonder or something?!?

Unlikely, but still.

Wonder smiled and hit the Hunter button with a finger. The other screens vanished, and the announcer shouted, “ANNNNNNNNND WE HAVE OUR FIRST HUNTER!!! CONGRATULATIONS, HUNTER!”

Huh?

First hunter?

Ugh, everyone else might do Knight. It seemed the safe bet.

“As congratulations, you may pick ONE Ultra-Rare Beast or Minion to be your first companion!”

A multiple of glowing orbs surrounded Wonder. Wonder jumped. “WHOA!!!”

He looked around. They reminded him of Pokeballs… inside seemed to be sleeping creatures.

Wonder rubbed his neck. He probably had to check each manually, but…

Something yanked at his hand.

Wonder looked down, and nearly jumped. A tiny Slender Man?!?

Eh, maybe?

The creature holding onto his finger was definitely slender, had white skin, and wore a kiddy version of a suit. But his white head had a mouth, while traditionally the Slender Men had no features at all. And, Wonder’s artist eyes realized, small indents in place of eyes. Radar, maybe?

The creature was sucking its thumb, looking around nervously. Did it think Wonder was his daddy?

Wonder looked around, but saw no tall, fully-grown versions of this creature. Nor an actual Slender Man. Unlikely that an urban legend from Earth would end up in “Hoseki”, but this was a fantasy world. Wonder couldn’t kick it out of the ballpark… except he didn’t see one.

Wonder looked, and felt an urge. He mentally pushed, and a window appeared in his vision:

FS Sapling

Rarity: UR

Sentience: Sentient

Type: Humanoid

Alignment: Dark

A newly born forest spirit. Despite the alignment to the Dark, they are very weak in this stage. Will wander around the forests until they find a parent or until a wild animal kills them. Once bonded to a Parent, will defend that parent with increased magical attacks and Minions. Can convert small animals into Minions that will defend child and parent. Also has melee capabilities with small tentacle-like growths from the back, however tentacles have high tendency to break at this age.

Recruit/Adopt Minion?: Y/N

Wonder had to blink. This was basically a baby Slender Man then! Or at least this world/game’s version of it. Someone was trying to avoid copyrights…

Wonder sighed. He couldn’t leave a baby alone to fend for itself! Dammit…

Wonder hit the Y.

“CONGRATS, YOU… ADOPTED A SAPLING?!? WAS THAT EVEN IN THE LIST?!?”

The Sapling seemed to perk, and made grabby-hands for a pickup. Now tiny tentacles emerged from the back, waving eagerly. Wonder smiled and picked the baby-toddler up. “Hiya, Izuku… welcome to the family.”

“Annnnnd we got a My Hero…”

Wonder said, “HEY ASSHOLE SHUT UP. I DON’T ADVOCATE LEAVING BABIES ALONE IN THE WOODS SO FUCK YOU!”

Wonder cracked his knuckles. He wasn’t normally this fierce externally. Must be being in the new body. He felt freer than in his old world.

And he liked it.

“OK OK! SOR-EE!”

There was a deep breath. “ANYWAY, CONGRATS, NEW PLAYER! THE GOAL OF THIS GAME IS SIMPLE… END THE WAR! OR LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER, I DON’T CARE! BYEEEEEE!”

The world went black.