Nick awoke surrounded by impenetrable, delicious darkness. There was something warm and indescribably supple propped beneath his head, bracing his neck with a perfect blend of softness and support. He was so relaxed, free from stress and pain for the first time he could remember, that he wanted nothing more than to fall back into bed and sleep for a week. Give into the urge to close his eyes and let everything else go.
But a small voice in Nick’s head, spurred on by retreating dreams saturated with blood and death, refused to let him drift below the threshold of consciousness once more. It called to him, tugging him back into the waking world one grudging step at a time, until the blurred lens of his cognition snapped into focus once more.
He came back to himself with a start, panicking when he realized that he had forgotten to set the makeshift alarms he had crafted during the tutorial. He opened his eyes, scanning the cave for hostile beasts, confused as to why he had fucked up and lowered his guard. When his fingers brushed against the satin covers, he began laughing at himself, rubbing sleep from his eyes while his mind finished catching up with the present.
He wasn’t back in his cave, but resting in a System-generated saferoom, where nothing hostile could reach him. He spread his arms wide and flopped back onto the mattress. Nick spent the next few minutes enjoying the sensation of lying in bed with a roof overhead, savoring this ghost of his former life.
Before long, he was awake and alert, and the full realization of where he was and what had happened came flooding back in a tide of bittersweet memory. The tutorial and arena battle, Taltos’s challenge for the fate of his home world. His four-day period of rest and recovery, part of which was already spent. There would be time to unwind and decompress later, but not now. Right now, Nick needed to get busy planning and preparing. Determine how to use his time in the safe room as efficiently as possible.
But before he was ready to contemplate such weighty matters, he had a smaller problem to solve first. How the hell do I turn on the lights? He reached past the edges of the sprawling mattress, fumbling in the dark for a light switch on the wall or a lamp cord he could pull before remembering that he was residing on an alien world. That the conveniences of an earthly hotel might not be the standard here.
Shrugging to himself, Nick decided that the simplest solution was probably his best bet. “Could you please turn on the lights?” he asked. To his relief, soft light sprang to life from small crystals embedded in the walls and ceiling. They revealed the most extravagant bedroom that he had ever seen. He grinned as he took in the opulent furnishings, having been too tired the night before to properly appreciate the quality of his accommodation.
He rose from the bed, walked across the room, and slid open the blackout curtains that served as a doorway, separating the bedroom from the rest of the safe room. He walked into the bathroom to take care of business before heading down into the central area, where a sight awaited him that caused all other thoughts to vanish from his mind.
While Nick was fast asleep, night had fallen upon this world. A resplendent alien moon hung full and fat in the star-studded sky, clearly visible through the transparent ceiling that covered most of the penthouse. The great glowing orb was massive, at least five times the size of Earth’s Luna, its cratered face gleaming with a magnificent silver radiance. Ethereal moonlight reflected off the infinite cloudscape swirling below Nick’s feet, painting the whirls and waves in a thousand shades of lead and chrome, transforming the textured surface into a nocturnal wonderland.
He was still buck naked and starting to get cold. Drinking in the marvelous sight as he crossed the penthouse, Nick walked over to where the System had placed his gear and picked up his new denim coveralls. The thick blue cloth looked rugged and durable, but the fabric was remarkably comfortable when he ran his fingers across the weave.
He slid his legs into the holes and pulled the boilersuit on. Like all System-generated rewards, the coveralls fit like a glove, with no pulling or chaffing whatsoever. After pushing his hands through the sleeves, Nick reached down and closed the zipper, the teeth of which looked different from those made on Earth but functioned just the same.
After taking a moment to enjoy the sensation of clean, well-tailored cloth lying flush against his skin, Nick was ready to peruse his notifications and check out his new class. Before he got busy crunching numbers and formulating strategies, he opened the menu to check the time, relieved to discover that he had only been out for five hours, despite feeling like he had slept twice that span.
Duh, Nick. It’s your new and improved Survivor trait. It’s nice to see that it’s pulling its weight already. After taking a seat in a comfortable armchair where he could admire the view, he was ready to peruse his profile in full, the first time he had read it since leaving the tutorial behind. But before he got to that, he opened the main menu once more to read through his notifications.
Notifications (2)
Active quests (1 quest offer pending)
Contestant profile
System encyclopedia (Tutorial knowledge points: 10 + voucher)
The quest offer stared back at him with an air of menace. A promise that Nick would soon be fighting for his life once more, with the fate of his world hanging in the balance.
He would get to it in just a minute. But first, he wanted to read something more encouraging, and enjoy the satisfaction that came with watching his numbers go up. As he had hoped, his fight in the arena had come with additional benefits, beyond his new class and magic flask. He took a deep breath and sent his intentions into the display, willing his notifications to appear on the screen.
Congratulations. You have accumulated enough experience to reach level [9].
You have one free attribute point awaiting allocation at your discretion.
Through rigorous training, you have conditioned your body and improved the following baseline attributes:
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Dexterity has increased from [7] to [8].
Ah well, Nick sighed. It’s still good news. While he’d been hoping to have level nine count as coming from his new class and benefit from its improved attributes per level, he hadn’t really expected it. The level had come from his battle in the arena after all, before he had been given the option to choose his class upgrade.
He had a hunch that he would be reaching level ten sooner rather than later, since he’d engaged in two difficult fights back in the arena. With his new class, each level would offer far more power than before.
Still, progress was progress, and a free attribute point was nothing to scoff at. Nick decided to wait until he had read the quest details in full before spending his free point and moved on to examining his profile. He was thrilled that his battles in the arena had been sufficient to raise his dexterity. All the desperate dodging with his life on the line had paid off in more ways than one.
Contestant Profile: Nicholas ‘Nick’ Henry.
Level: 9.
Tier: 1.
Species: Human of Earth (E).
Class: Kineticist (uncommon).
Base attribute points per level: +1 magic, +1 dexterity every other level.
Free points per level: 1. You have 1 unspent free point at this time.
Attributes
Strength: 6 Dexterity: 8 (9) Toughness: 7 (10) Mind: 8 (10) Creativity: 7 Charisma: 5 Magic: 2 (4) ??? ???
Abilities
Ability slots: 2 active, 1 passive, 1 free.
Active abilities: Mana dart (spell). Piercing ray (spell).
No passive abilities have been acquired.
Class Traits
None. (The trait for this class has been incorporated into your bloodline).
Geneline Traits
Gift of Tongues: you can understand and speak the languages of all intelligent creatures.
Awakened to Magic: +1 to magic.
Versatile: +1 to all attributes. +1 free ability slot.
Bloodline Traits
Filled bloodline slots: 2. Open bloodline slots: 1.
Survivor (enhanced): you require 50% less food, water, oxygen, and sleep.
Force Adept: you receive a bonus to mana efficiency and scaling from energetic attributes when casting spells that use force mana or pure mana. Force Adepts are unable to cast elemental spells and receive a substantial penalty when manipulating elemental-aspected mana in any way.
Skills
Active
Sword: 0
Evasion: 0
Throwing: 0
Light shield: 0
Wand: 5
Inactive (inactive skills may be used but not improved)
Size up: 10
Foraging: 9
Inventory (unfiltered)
Elixir of restoration (rare). Modifications: Soulbound.
Bag of molding (uncommon).
Arena dagger (uncommon). Modifications: Eversharp.
Adventurer’s toolbelt (uncommon). Modifications: Self-maintenance.
Pugilist’s gloves (uncommon). Modifications: Durable.
Adventurer’s coat (uncommon). Modifications: Durable. Self-maintenance.
Cloak of thermal regulation (uncommon). Modifications: Self-maintenance.
Wand of force (uncommon). Modifications: Soulbound. Skill activation (Wand).
Explorer’s boots (common).
Ratman dagger (common).
Hemp shirt (basic).
5 alarm traps made of twine and shell (basic).
Worn bathrobe (basic).
Denim coveralls (basic).
Canteen (basic).
Brass spyglass (basic).
Ratman helmet (unidentified).
??? Sword (unidentified).
Tools
Bamboo tubes. Tiny scissors. Crude straight razor. Fishing hook. Fishing line. Small blue gemstone. Magitech lamp orb. Coconut husks. Several crude spears/stakes. Whetstone. Flint and steel. Soiled bandages. Bits of shell. Charcoal. 2 belt sheaths. Fishing pole. Travel journal.
For just a moment, Nick thought that he saw a blurry spot at the end of his inventory. A phenomenon that he had noticed the first time he had opened his profile on the Searing Isle. He blinked, and when his eyes opened once more, the distortion was gone, leaving him wondering if the System was glitching or he was, before dismissing it as a symptom of all the stress he had been under lately.
He sighed in satisfaction as he made his way through the various lists and menus. He gave himself a pat on the back, immensely satisfied by his overall progress. Not only were his stats growing at a steady pace, he had greatly improved the quality of his equipment and expanded his toolkit as well. After leveling up his Kineticist class a bit, Nick would become significantly more lethal than he already was, thanks to his new trait and the increased attributes per level. He hoped that it would be enough to overcome the dangers that awaited him the next time he stepped through a portal and set foot upon the world beyond.
Nick’s next objective was to read Taltos’s challenge in full, then decide how to spend his free attribute point. When he was done, he would cash in his final tutorial knowledge points and the voucher for a rare kp unlock he had won back on the island. But in that moment, he realized that he wasn’t ready to face such weighty matters head on. Not on an empty stomach at any rate.
He would dive down that rabbit hole soon… after arming himself with the comforting glow of a full belly. With that goal firmly in mind, he was ready to head into the kitchen and make himself some breakfast. His stomach agreed with his priorities, and the mere thought of food had it grumbling in anticipation.
With a sigh, he rose to his feet, crossed the open floor, and walked into the kitchen. While the upper level of the suite was accented in rich, dark wood, the lower rooms featured a brighter motif. The floor of the kitchen and dining areas was formed from a cheerful blond timber, with complex patterns to the grain that wove their way around one another, reminiscent of a great labyrinth. When Nick bent down to take a closer look, he realized that he couldn’t see any breaks at all. It was as if the entire area had been formed from a single piece of lumber, which, for all he knew, it had. There was a long bar set along one wall, with shelves above it holding various pieces of cooking equipment.
Nick ambled past a large dining table painted with bright patches of lacquer, heading toward the sink and what appeared to be a refrigerator carved from a deep blue stone. He stepped up to the faucet, turned the handle, and bent down to drink straight from the tap for a good thirty seconds before drawing back with a sigh of satisfaction. The water was cold, clean, and utterly refreshing.
Being able to drink his fill after having to conserve his resources for so long was an indescribable luxury by this point in his life. Speaking of luxury, he walked over to the stone box and pried open the door, grinning from ear to ear when he saw the feast arranged within. He stuck his head inside, enjoying the brisk chill, then removed what appeared to be a rack of smoked ribs.
Deciding that he was too hungry to bother to heat them up, Nick grabbed a plate from the shelf, sat down at the table, and began gnawing the meat off the bone. Cold or not, eating properly cooked meat, topped off by a blend of spices, was so delicious that it brought tears to his eyes.