To come into this world is never a peaceful event, usually one steeped in tears and blood, so to land face first onto a mound of dirt may be one of the better entrances. Though the young man who lay on the ground with a sprained ankle likely had a less optimistic view of the situation.
Leo Eule had been an exceptionally ordinary person in life. He spent his time watching crappy cable tv shows and grinding pointless achievements in mediocre video games. This is, of course, not an issue for an 8 year old, and some would even say it’s expected, but when you hit 18, the expectations change.
Leo had been more than happy with his easygoing life. If there was something more fun than beating kids in Overwatch 1v1s, he would need to see it to believe it. He even believed that he could’ve been a successful streamer with his talents. This ignored his lack of actual skill in games, alongside his lack of streaming equipment and knowledge of streaming.
When Leo was threatened with being kicked out, he had to concede that his reddit arguments weren’t enough to avoid getting a job. Even so, this could’ve been a new chance at life for the young man, an opportunity to climb the corporate ladder. He may have even climbed up to the position of CEO or found a family that somewhat tolerated him.
But as he headed off to Burger Lord to apply, his fantasies came to an abrupt stop. Something that the truck that barreled towards him probably should have done.
But that was Leo’s past life, a life where he’d only lazed around. Not only did he not work on his bucket list, but he didn’t even have the motivation to buy the bucket.
“Where am I?” he asked aloud, looking around at the vast forest he found himself in.
He gathered his bearings and tried to stand up, but a sharp pain from his ankle prevented him from doing so. He “decided” to stay sitting, but this decision was more due to his inability to move in his current condition. His mind raced with possibilities that could explain the strange land he was in. Maybe video games did fry his brain, or he is suffering a mental breakdown, or he got food poisoning from eating at Burger Lord.
He sat there puzzled, his frantic thoughts distracting him from the pain. He was brought back to his new reality with the noise of a soft plap.
“Is that a fucking slime?” Leo sputtered out after turning to look at what had caused the noise.
The small blob sat before him, but despite its lack of eyes, he could feel its stare. The tension in the air was palpable, as he stared at the oversized blob of goop. He saw it start to shrink in size, his breathing halted as he looked in anticipation, prepared for anything. It turned out that anything was the slime launching itself forward, as it landed with a hearty plap.
“Hey, uh, buddy, are you friendly?” Leo hesitated, uncertain how exactly a slime could hear or respond to his question.
He extended his hand out, as if he was about to pet a dog, despite the fact that this slime was very much not a dog. He didn’t have any real plan on how to deal with the slime, but he felt it understandable, considering he had just been having a normal day a few moments ago.
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He saw the slime start to move once more toward his outstretched hand, as it shook like Jell-O in an earthquake.
“Aw, are you trying to say h—,” he attempted to ask, but he found his speech cut short, as a glob of slime was hurled at his arm. While this may not sound like cause for concern, it turned out that slimes are a lot closer to acid than one would expect.
Leo no longer cared about the now trivial pain in his ankle, as he quickly stood up and screamed from the slime’s corrosive attack. He thrashed his right arm around like a madman possessed, as he ran to escape the slime and get the goo off of him. He did manage to remove most of the slime, but he was unable to shake off the acid burns.
He was blinded by pain and tears as he ran, Leo hadn’t faced anything more painful than a papercut before, much less an acid burn. In his frantic escape, his bad luck turned even worse, as a short tumble on a tree root turned into a large tumble down a small cliff face.
He felt his body break with every crash against the jagged rocks, as thorns tore through him. Leo tried his best to brace himself, but couldn’t do anything to stop his suffering.
By the time his fall ended, he lay broken and bleeding at the bottom of the cliff. From what he could feel, his left arm was now broken to match his burnt right arm. He also felt with each breath that many of his bones were now broken. He couldn’t tell which ones were, just that everything felt painful and broken.
He felt himself run out of tears to cry, as he stared at the sky, unable to find the strength to move. Each breath was agony, as his body felt completely drained of energy. He couldn’t help but think of how this may not be just a really bad daydream, and that he is now being tortured by God.
With nothing but time to think, he couldn’t help but think about how good life was just 30 minutes ago. His mind wandered to the last fight with his mom, and how even if it ended like this, she did just want the best for him. Then he thought of his journey to Burger Lord, and how he definitely should have used a crosswalk, even though all of the cool kids jaywalk.
“Oh God, I’m actually dead,” the realization hit him like a ton of bricks, “I got hit by a truck and died. No fucking way dude.”
“So I just get hit by a truck and then get reborn into another world?” Leo cried out, as tears started to flow once more while he started to truly process the situation he was in. “Real original world, really goddamn original.”
At this point, the tears started to stream violently down his face. He would never be able to see his family again, he would never play any video games again, hell, he might never even eat food again.
“Please, God, if you’re out there, don’t let me die like this,” he pleaded through his tears, “aren’t I supposed to be some master of necromancy or from some crazy bloodline? I didn’t even see the system before I died here.”
While his plea to God may not have been answered, his call for the system was. Before him a translucent screen that shined blue displayed his stats, something that simplified his very existence as a human into nothing but numbers to be counted.
[Leo Eule - Human][HP: 1/9]
[Class: Inept][EXP:0 ]
[Strength: 1]{-3 Due To Broken Arms}
[Dexterity: 3]
[Intelligence: 3]
[Charisma: 2]
[Abilities]
Leo looked on, hopeful that he would find some hidden ability that would let him live. He was certain that there had to be something, that he was the chosen one sent on a quest, or maybe he was a child born from a powerful bloodline, but there wasn’t. He was not given the destiny that he demanded, he was only given the life that he cultivated.
Leo Eule was an exceptionally ordinary person in life, and now he would be an exceptionally ordinary person in death.