~ ALATREE

Alatree could barely contain his excitement as he dashed through the forest. This was it! The first day of the rest of his life! He had spent his entire life fantasizing about a chance like this. 

Just yesterday he was a part time worker struggling to finish his degree in a major he realized halfway through he didn’t want. Tens of thousands of dollars in debt he decided that he needed to get his diploma anyway just to make money. So what if he would hate his job? Plenty of people did, and at least he would be able to afford a decent meal and maybe even a few dates if he could get a girlfriend. 

That all changed last night though. He fell asleep reading some random web novel and the last thing he saw as he closed his eyes was a blue screen. 

That same blue screen greeted him as he woke up this morning in a field of grass with nothing but blue sky overhead, only broken up by the occasional shooting star. He just stared at it for a moment, then two, then three as his groggy brain tried to make sense of his surroundings. 

System message:

Congratulations! Welcome to Bosark!

You have been successfully stolen from Earth! Lucky you! This is the only time you will get a direct message from the wondrous god of this world, ME!!!! Please enjoy the complimentary snacks and fun gear as we make our way through the stars! Good luck surviving, thriving, and living your best life now that you no longer have to stay on that stinky world of yours. EAT IT STUPID EARTH GOD!

Now let me explain why you are here and lay out some ground rules…… None. Done. Go on and have some fun because there are no rules here on Bosark! Unless I decide to make some in which case it's either listen to me or cease existing. Anyway that’s about it. Your new name is Alatree. Bye!

He read the message a couple times in a row, and as soon as it finally sank in and he was aware enough to comprehend it all the message vanished. 

Wait, My new name? Did I have another name? But try as he might he couldn’t remember ever having any other name than Alatree. Which was strange because he knew that wasn’t a normal name. That bastard messed with my memories! He was pissed. Who does that? Who just renames a person and then messes with all their memories so that they can’t even change it back? 

While a part of him was grateful that his isekai wish had finally come true, the idea of a world run by this crazy god left him very nervous. Could Alatree really trust that a world like this would have a balanced power system, and what did he mean by stolen? It was a little fun to have the existence of god confirmed, not that it would do him any good because he doubted that there was any way to tell the people back on earth. 

Another blue screen popped up interrupting him as he mulled his thoughts over. He sat up to look at this one instead of laying on the ground as he had been. Sitting up he could see that the grasses and hills went on into the distance on his left while forward and to the right of him there were trees. He could see through the blue screen if he tried, but it was still a little distracting.

Status

Name: Alatree

Species: Human

Class: None

Title: None

Level: 0

***Locked***

***Quests***

******

******

******

******

Got it, no class or title, that makes sense. Level 0, also kind of makes sense considering Earth didn’t have levels, but at least now he knew that this world had a leveling system. Not the worst case scenario. A sword and magic fantasy with no system would be a death trap for someone like him who didn’t have any common knowledge about life here. Not sure how to feel about the locked portions though, or the fact that there was a quest system. Hopefully that wouldn’t cause him trouble in the future. 

On the other hand if this god was the one handing out the quests then wouldn’t that make him a sort of paladin? That wasn’t so bad. Alatree the paladin! Hmm, Al the paladin? Latree the paladin? Nope, sounds too much like latrine. Al wasn’t too bad though.

Not the time! He snapped out of it and focused back on taking stock of his situation. The first message mentioned snacks and gear. Looking down, Al was wearing soft leather pants that tied around the waist, the leather jacket he bought a few weeks ago over a light linen shirt, and his favorite hiking boots. Did he really get his closet raided for a jacket and shoes, but no underwear, and why the linen shirt and leather pants? At least he had socks. No underwear though. 

On the ground beside him was a cloth sack the size of a basketball or a small backpack with a single long leather band Al threw around his shoulder as he stood up. The bag was surprisingly heavy. He drew the stings and looked in to find an assortment of dense looking yellow and pink crackers or biscuits each the size of a smartphone. They were printed with a face in the center, some ridges around the edges, and a big thumbs up on either side. Taking one out they weighed about as much as his phone too. 

Well at least the complimentary snacks looked like some sort of travel ration. Better not get them wet though, it didn’t look like the sack was waterproof. Al stored it away for now. He wasn’t hungry yet and didn’t have any water so food could wait for now. 

As for how the system worked Alatree started out saying ‘system’ and ‘status’ as well as thinking it, but it didn’t seem to matter what he did as long as he wanted it to appear or disappear it would do so. Even pumpernickel worked once he convinced himself it should. 

That covered the basics in his mind. Al couldn’t remember any other preparation he should make before exploring. He did pause for a second, but no that seemed like everything. Look around, check his current state (seemingly healthy and clothed, with no immediate threats to life), and make a plan. Time to explore a whole new world.

For the most part everything looked pretty normal. Sure there was a meteor shower out by the plains, and the sun was blue, but other than that nothing stood out yet. Alatree could hardly wait to see what amazing things he would find here. The god of this world probably just set him down in a safe spot that resembled earth a bit to help him acclimate, that’s all. 

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

With his faith in adventure restored he made his way towards the woods. It was either that or try his luck along the plains. Knowing that predators tended to kite the edges of woodlands and without any idea how large the plains were, the forest seemed like his best choice. Plus there was bound to be something edible. That takes care of food. The trees need water so probably a river or some animal trails he could follow to a stream. That takes care of water. The weather seemed temperate, but who knows what night would be like. Considering that access to wood for a fire, shelter, or a convenient tree to climb could save his life. 

Alatree was feeling pretty proud of himself. Already planning out how he would meet his survival needs, and making decisions about it. He always knew he wouldn’t become an idiot the second he came to a new world like some protagonists in the trash web novels he loved to read.

By the time he walked into the sparse trees that bordered the plains he could barely keep from running. Well it isn’t like anyone was looking…. He took off and started sprinting through the brush just because he felt like it, and enjoyed the wind on his face. Until he ran out of breath a hundred or so meters later. Has it really been that long since he went running? Well a dead sprint through the woods was a bit harder than just a light jog on a treadmill.

What is that over there? He whipped his head around as he saw a flash of light and color through the canopy. It was… the sun. The wind had blown some branches out of the way. While a blue sun was kind of cool, it was still pretty tame for a guy who grew up on isekai stories about world jumping and system cheats. 

Boring. He was bored. Something he never thought he would say after having his greatest wish come true. But after an hour of walking up and down hills through the woods he had seen nothing but normal looking birds, bees, and the occasional bunnies. Oh and let's not forget that one mouse he saw. Shocking!  

Some of the inclines were pretty steep and he was torn on whether to go up and get a better view or go down and try to find water. He settled for going down to gentler slopes and hopefully water. He wouldn’t know where to go anyway if he did get a better view, and Al was getting kind of thirsty at this point.

In an attempt to test out level gain Al chased a few small animals to kill. He didn’t like it and wasn’t sure exactly what to do if he caught one but needed to know how to gain experience here. Have you ever tried to catch a wild hare, or snag a bird from the air? Not happening. He only needed to faceplant once to realize this was a bad idea and accept his fate. Even tossing rocks made him curse his lack of aim and wonder what he was doing here.

But all of that changed the moment he spotted the bunny. The infamous bunny that every fantasy lover knows about. White fur? Check. Red eyes? Check. Horned head? Check, checkity, and check! Finally, it was about time. This he could handle. It would attack him and he would finally get some experience points.

His smile grew so large it hurt. If the floating blue boxes, blue sun, and message from god hadn’t made it clear that he was on a whole new world then this certainly did. All until the bunny hopped forward and the horn stayed in place connected to the rest of the gnarled old tree stump it was a part of.

That was it, he gave up. All hope was lost. The smile hadn’t even fully left his face yet. The resignation and sadness hit so deeply that when a huge bunny the size of a pick-up truck leapt out and ripped its smaller brethren in half with a bite Alatree simply couldn’t process what happened. This was not the kind of fantasy world he wanted. Somehow even from twenty feet away he felt the smallest specks of blood hit his face before the smell could even register.

Fortunately his ancestors didn’t let him down and even though his only thoughts were: Nope, goodbye Mr. Bunny, his feet hit the ground and he was sprinting away before he knew it. Unfortunately Mr. Bunny knew he was there and didn’t seem too happy that part of its combo meal was trying to get away. It let out a mighty squeak, that might have sounded comedic if he hadn’t just seen that thing slaughter its normal sized lookalike in one bite, and bounded after him. 

At this point the trees were a solid 5 meters wide and thicker around than Mr. Bunny, but they were also spread farther and farther apart. That left plenty of room for Al’s hare hunter to chase him down. 

If he weren’t scared out of his mind and focused solely on looking for some glimmer of hope for his survival Alatree would probably have a lot of complaints about dying on his first day in a new world. As it stood he had a couple moments before being ripped apart and was desperately hoping for a miracle. 

As he ran Al noticed a drop off a few strides away on his left and dove for it. No time to think of the consequences of diving towards a ravine of unknown size, he needed any escape he could find. 

The giant bunny had to slow down just as it was gaining speed to pounce on its annoying prey, otherwise it might fall into the ravine. Instead it slashed at Al with its foreclaws to pull him back from the edge. It was too late though. Despite the pleasant tug of claws on flesh it only managed to leave a gash in Alatree’s jacket and a shallow cut through his beltline before he went over the edge.

Pain flashed through his mind, temporarily dazing him as he slid off the edge and into the ravine. Al didn’t notice, but the ravine he dove for was indeed deep enough to kill him. It was a solid 20 meters to the bottom, with nothing but stone to break his fall and his body. Otherwise why would an experienced native to the area like Mr. Bunny not have just kept chasing him? 

The fluffy abomination gave a glance over the edge so it could find his corpse when it made its way around to the other side but didn’t catch sight of it. Without an obvious meal waiting on it the bunny left rather than risk hunting in another beast’s territory. This one meal wasn’t worth an injury from fighting. 

Meanwhile Alatree was fairly convinced he was indeed dying. By sheer dumb luck he bounced off a stone outcropping on his way down and got wedged against the mini cliffside by his ankle. An ankle that promptly snapped when it caught his weight, and was slowly twisting the bone out of the skin and various meaty bits that surrounded it. If the cut on his back was enough to daze him, then the compound fracture of his ankle and following pull as it was held in a twisted position helping to support him broke what little composure Alatree had left. 

Al tried to gasp, to scream, and to cry, but felt his whole body lock up from the surprise and pain. He couldn’t even breath or think through the shock. This state of frozen agony suspended him in place as the edges of his vision grew blurry and consciousness graciously faded away.

~ JUNIPER

Today was the day. The first day of the rest of her life! Juniper could barely contain herself; she was so excited. This would be the first time that she and the other young ones of the tribe ever left the hollow. Her last day as just a pup. From now on she is an adult!

As a young squirrel-kin the day that they finally left the hollow of their tribal tree was one of the most massively monumental moments of their lives! She was chittering in excitement as she left the childrens’ nest and ran her hands along the smooth wooden walls of the tree.

This has been their tribal tree for so many generations that no one remembered how their village was made without damaging the tree or leaking sap everywhere. Even now, despite spending her whole life here she found it amazing. The halls of wood were polished by generations of feet, with glowing white flowers scattered randomly to light the way, and pulsing golden swirls that hid within the grain of the wood.

Not everyone felt that way as a few of her siblings jostled her aside while some sprinted along the ceiling on all fours, digging their sharp claws into the soft wood to try and get to the main room first for the ceremony. 

Even Juniper’s best friend Delilah who usually kept a very dignified air for a squirrel-kin (honestly she takes her role as First Pup way too seriously) was taking little hops and jogs every now and then because she couldn’t hold herself back to just a fast walk on a day like today. It was kind of funny to see the tall and beautiful Delilah act like all the other young ones for once. With her thick, waist length, red hair and a large perfectly manicured tail so soft it even made some of the other girls blush she had always been the princess of the tribe. 

Considering the matriarchal nature of the colony, that wasn’t just a meaningless title. Delilah really had been picked to be the future ruler of her tribe. The only tribe of squirrel-kin in the entire forest! Most squirrel-kin preferred to live alone and many tribe members still left after a certain age for one reason or another. 

Unlike Delilah, the future matriarch, Juniper was a bit more… free spirited. She was caught attempting to leave the hollow through the main room dozens of times when she totally just wanted to get a peek outside real quick. She would have come right back for sure. It was just a look over the edge is all, she wouldn’t even have really left. 

Now things were different. She was finally old enough to go outside and had only one goal. Adventure. Oh and magic too. Can’t have a good adventure without some magic now can you. Even the guards couldn’t stop her today!

No way the guards would be watching her when the princess was on her first trip outside. Hehehe trip. No way they would expect Delilah to agree to fake a little fall so her best friend could have some fun either.

Juniper could see it now. This was how it would all start. The Best. Day. Ever.