As Felix fell towards his near certain death, time slowed and his thoughts filled with memories from his past.

So I guess it’s true. You really do have your life flash before your eyes when you’re about to die.

He saw childhood versions of himself and Maggie making snowmen as kids. They were on the front lawn of their old house in San Francisco. The one with the red door.

Then he was in high school, Houston this time, playing lacrosse against a rival school. He scored a goal and jumped into the air. He’d been so fit back then. Memory after memory flitted before him, and he tried to savor each one in his final moments.

Around the fifth memory, Felix began to suspect something was up. It felt like he’d been falling an awful long time, even for this high up.

He looked around.

Yep, still falling.

He didn’t seem to be falling fast enough though, not that Felix minded. Another couple seconds ticked by. Though he was still falling backwards, Felix could see the approaching ground in his peripheries. Taking in one last deep breath, he squeezed his eyes shut and braced for the pain.

“Ooof,” went Felix, every last bit of the breath he’d been holding exiting his lungs all at once. Dazed and disoriented, he realized he had landed on something. It was sort of soft - not soft enough to break a 50-foot fall - but definitely softer than the ground.

With a groan, Felix sat up, realizing that he’d landed on a giant furry mound. His addled brain finally made the connection. It was the bear. He had landed on the back of the giant bear. Looking over at the bear’s head, he saw how the bloody mess of its skull was caved in. Several feet away, his EZ-boy sized boulder sat, likewise covered in blood.

Felix laughed out loud at the absurdity of it all but quickly stopped. His ribs hurt way too much when he laughed.

“I should totally be dead,” he said to no-one in particular. “Or at least paralyzed or something.”

Even ignoring the fact that he not only survived but managed to kill this bear monster, there was no way he could have survived that fall unscathed. He looked up at the branch he’d been hanging from. It was so far up he could barely see it.

Once he’d recovered his breath enough, Felix patted down his body, feeling for damage. He definitely had a few bruises, but there was nothing at the scale he would have expected. In fact, now that the shock of landing was wearing off, he felt good. Kind of like a high school kid again. But his body also felt weirdly light and insubstantial. The weirdness only grew when he pushed himself off the bear. Again, he seemed to fall in slow motion, the several feet to the ground taking twice as long as he expected.

When he finally landed, Felix took a single step before immediately tripping over his own feet, falling into a slo-mo face plant. He lay there for a moment, enjoying the feeling of terra firma after his wild climb, before turning over on his back. He looked up at the branches of the tree and the blue sky beyond. The world was so beautiful. It felt like he could see details and colors that he’d been blind to his whole life.

Something is definitely going on with me. I can’t walk right. I’m appreciating nature. Is this what shock or PTSD feels like? Maybe it's a post-adrenaline high?

“Reminder: New Notifications Pending!” came that androgynous voice again. It sounded even more insistent this time, almost exasperated. He’d forgotten all about it.

“Is anyone there?” he called out.

“Initiating introduction protocol 737-C,” said the disembodied voice. “This is a one time message. Please listen closely as it will not be repeated. Per procedure I3.05.21 v6 subsection C, the system can periodically make its presence known and answer limited queries for the subject as said subject acclimates to their new world. Knowledge transfer is restricted to only basic and pertinent information.”

Finally, Felix thought. Something like a tutorial system. He considered a moment before asking his first question.

“What constitutes basic and pertinent information?”

He waited, listening for the voice to return, but it didn’t. Grumbling, Felix tried again. “Why did you suddenly start talking?”

This apparently was the right question. The voice spoke back up.

“After analyzing the subject’s recent decisions, it has been made clear that the subject has failed to recognize the importance of checking new notification messages in this world. Thus the reminder.”

“Ok,” said Felix, somewhat miffed that he was getting crap from some kind of computer for not checking his messages. “What are the notifications then?”

Again, silence reigned. Felix tried a few more questions, but his newfound companion apparently had said all it wanted to. He sighed, sat up, and decided to read his damn notifications.

Notification: You have defeated a level 31 Spirit Bear!

Notification: You have gained a level, skill related stat points allocated. Three free stat points available.

Notification: You have gained a level, skill related stat points allocated. Six free stat points available.

Notification: You have gained a level, skill related stat points allocated. Nine free stat points available.

Notification: You have gained a new title.

Title Description: Captain Ahab (Uncommon)

Captain Ahab had his Moby Dick, and you had your giant spirit bear. You managed to actually kill yours though. Nice work! This title is awarded for slaying an unawakened spirit beast more than 30 levels above you.

Title Effects:

* Well that was Unexpected!: Luck +5

* To the Victor Goes the Spoils: Loot taken from monsters or spirit beasts will be more valuable and plentiful

Notification: You have gained a new title.

Title Description: The Gravity of the Situation (Rare)

By killing a spirit beast that was significantly stronger than you using only the power of gravity and a utility skill, you have shown a surprising ability to make gravity your bitc–... I mean, friend. Yeah… friend.

Title Effects:

* Ultralight: Gravity has only a 50% effect on you. Warning, this ability cannot be toggled off

After reading all his notifications, Felix began to understand why the system was impatient with him. The notifications did a lot to explain his current circumstances, especially that last title upgrade. The gravity reduction was how he had survived what would otherwise be a life altering - if not life ending - fall. It, plus maybe the stat increases, was also apparently the reason Felix couldn’t seem to walk two steps without tripping over himself.

At the thought of the stat gains, Felix decided to check his character sheet.

Character Sheet:

Felix Chandler, Human (Basic - lvl 3)

Unallocated Stat Points: 9

Stats:

Strength

12

Dexterity

7

Endurance

6

Durability

8

Perception

17

Intelligence

19

Charisma

5

Luck

15 (+50%)

Resource

Capacity

Regen Rate Per Minute

Health

45/80

0.08

Stamina

5/60

0.06

Mana

190/190

0.19

Damn, thought Felix. That looks pretty different. He recalled the combination of his skills would increase all his stats except Durability and Luck by one point each level. That meant after three levels he’d increased almost all of his stat points by 3. His stamina and mana capacities also seemed to get a boost. I wonder how much that actually affects me.

He thought about it. Based on those numbers, his strength stat was a third higher than before, and his dexterity was almost twice as high. For the first time, Felix inspected his body, trying to see if there was any difference. He was shocked to see there was.

While Felix was by no means an Olympian now, his gut had shrunk noticeably. Flexing one bicep, Felix saw there was now an impressive amount of muscle tissue hidden underneath a layer of fat. Turns out, leveling was great for bodybuilding.

Felix mentally recapped everything he’d learned. So most of my stats are significantly higher, and gravity doesn’t work on me in the same way as it used to. That means that I’m not only adjusting for my new body limits, but also to a body that weighs at least half of what I’m used to.

His earlier clumsiness started to make a lot more sense. Felix mulled it over for a bit, before getting an idea. He couldn’t go down in stats, even if he wanted to, but at least he could adjust for his recent weight loss.

He cast his gaze around, finding several dozen stones of various sizes that he had ejected from his inventory. He crawled over to them one by one and reabsorbed them, this time into his Rogue’s and Merchant’s inventories instead of his Porter’s Inventory. He stopped when the effective weight replaced the amount he’d lost from the gravity modifier.

Finally his normal weight again, his body no longer feeling supernaturally light, Felix stood up. He took a confident step forward, then another. On his third step, he lost his balance again and fell flat on his ass.

“Well shit,” said Felix. “I might be in trouble.”

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-

No matter what Felix did or how he adjusted his weight using the different weight modifiers of his various inventories, he couldn’t get over his imbalance issue. Movements just felt wrong, sometimes too fast and light and other times too sluggish and heavy. It wasn’t like adjusting to the added weight of the boulder earlier. He couldn’t seem to get a handle on it.

Ultimately, Felix had to make do with walking exceedingly slow. It was the only way he could avoid falling over. To say this concerned him would be a vast understatement. So far, running away had saved his life twice in as many days. Now that option was utterly unavailable.

Looking over at the giant bear carcass, Felix tried to give himself a pep talk.

“Got to look at the positives,” he said, patting the furry corpse like it was an old friend. “I’m still alive, which is a miracle. I’ve got the most badass inventory skills ever. Oh, and I also just got two new titles. Sure, one of them has basically crippled me, but that’s ok because I’d probably be dead without it anyway.”

Needless to say, the pep talk didn’t work. Feeling like he had no other options, Felix returned to the one thing he knew could distract him from his mounting despair: experimenting with his inventory skills.

He first tried to absorb the bear carcass with his Porter’s skill. Unsurprisingly, the bear exceeded the one silver value limit.

If only I could fit it into the Rogue’s inventory. Then I could loot the damn thing. Felix looked at the bear carcass longingly, imagining all the glorious loot it might contain. He considered the possibility of cutting it up into microwave sized chunks, then trying to loot each with his Rogue’s skill. He dismissed the idea. That was just too gory. Plus, he’d need a chainsaw to cut through this thing’s thick hide, fat, and muscles.

Why couldn’t the Rogue’s Inventory have the capacity of the Porter’s Inventory? Felix lamented. Then he paused and gave himself a face palm. You idiot, it can. Skill synergy lets me apply effects between skills.

Concentrating inward, Felix focused on the place where his skills sat nestled in his consciousness. Again, an intuitive understanding seemed to guide him as he activated skill synergy. Holding the Porter’s Inventory skill in one part of his mind and the Rogue’s Inventory skill in the other, Felix imagined connecting a thread between them. He willed the Porter’s Inventory’s capacity and weight reduction effects into his Rogue’s skill, instinctually knowing that if he let his concentration lapse even for a second, the tenuous thread would snap.

When he was reasonably confident he’d done it, Felix reached out and placed one hand on the bear’s corpse. It disappeared into his Rogue’s inventory.

Success!

His premature celebration almost made him lose his concentration, the thread began to unravel. Felix activated his loot skill. Then the thread broke.

Several things happened in rapid succession.

First, a familiar “Ding,” sounded out, followed by a “You have a new Notification!” Then Felix’s whole body cramped up like he had the worst constipation imaginable, causing him to keel over. Last of all, an assortment of items spewed out all around Felix, who lay retching on the ground.

Some minutes later, Felix recovered from the decidedly unpleasant business of temporarily exceeding his Rogue’s capacity limits. Walking slowly, so as to avoid tripping, he gathered up everything he’d looted into his Merchant’s inventory. As he picked up one item after another, he auto-transported various sticks and stones into his Porter’s Inventory to offset the weight gain.

For the first time in what felt like forever, the thrill of collection hunting took hold of Felix. His excitement redoubled when he realized that he could organize his items inside his inventory. Spending a moment to sort the list into categories by type, Felix beamed as he read over everything in his Merchant’s Inventory.

Merchant’s Inventory (Basic - 0.18%)

Volume: 1.3/2 cubic meters

Mass: 29/200 kgs

Skill Shards: 27

* Shard of Rogue’s Inventory (x2) - Absorb?

* Shard of Merchant’s Inventory (x1) - Absorb?

* Shard of Porter’s Inventory (x4) - Absorb?

* Shard of Survivors Intuition (x5) - Consolidate?

* Shard of Gravity Manipulation (x5) - Consolidate?

* Shard of Ursidae’s Rage (x5) - Consolidate?

* Shard of Rapid Flight (x3) - two out of five skill shards remaining

* Shard of Big Game Hunter (x2) - three out of five skill shards remaining

Consumables: 4

* Bear Meat (x4)

Items: 4

* Arcadeus’s Heavenly Pen - Divine (x1)

* Furry Pants of the Labyrinthian Spirit Bear - Uncommon (x1)

* Rawhide Summoning Scroll of the Ursidae - Uncommon (x1)

* Dented Red Paint Can - mundane (x1)

Felix first focused on the skill shards. He’d looted 27 of them from the bear, which seemed like a lot.

Was this what Arcadeus meant by finding skill shards being half the fun of this world? If so, he and the blue deity had very different definitions of fun.

Looking at the types of shards he got, Felix realized they probably weren’t random. Getting the inventory shards had to be because of his skills. Gravity Manipulation seemed like a reference to the title he’d just gotten. Even Survivor’s Intuition, Rapid Flight, and Big Game Hunter all seemed to reference his frantic fight with the bear.

The only skill shards that didn’t make sense were the five Shards of Ursidae’s Rage. All the other shards were about him, but this one didn’t seem to fit. He had felt terror, frustration, hopelessness, exhaustion, but never rage during their fight. From somewhere deep in his subconscious, Felix vaguely recalled that the word Ursidae had something to do with bears.

So maybe I got that skill shard because of the bear’s rage? Felix shrugged. In the end, it didn’t really matter. He had enough storage space for all the shards at the moment, and between what Arry said and the fact that he couldn’t put a single shard in his Porter’s Inventory, he figured they were at least valuable enough to sell.

Felix was just about to continue on to the later items in his list when his eyes caught on the “Absorb? Consolidate?” prompts. Based on context clues, he reasoned Consolidating meant creating a Skill Crystal that a mundane human could use to get a skill, but what did Absorb mean?

The absorb option is only available for the skills I already have, so maybe it makes them stronger?

The thought had Felix grinning. As a test, he mentally selected Absorb on his single Shard of Merchant’s Inventory. It disappeared from the list, and Felix returned to the Skill Sheet main page. He read through the description. Unfortunately, as far as he could tell nothing had changed.

Then Felix looked at the name of the skill, or rather the experience percentage next to it.

Merchant’s Inventory (Basic - 5.18%)

My skill progression went up by 5% from just that one shard!

Felix immediately absorbed his six other inventory-related shards, before pulling up his updated skill sheet.

Skill Sheet:

Porter’s Inventory (Basic - 21.2%)

Merchant’s Inventory (Basic - 5.18%)

Rogue’s Inventory (Basic - 11.3%)

Felix beamed. Absorbing those shards was worth hundreds of hours of using his skills. For once, Felix wholeheartedly agreed with Arry. Collecting skill shards was fun.

If only they had all been inventory related, Felix thought, a bit sourly. He might have gotten to the next tier already. Best not to look a gift bear in the mouth I suppose.

Felix moved on to his next section - consumables. He pulled one of the pieces of bear meat out. A large brown paper wrapped hunk of meat appeared in his hands, the paper secured with a bit of twine.

Well that’s convenient, thought Felix, as he unwrapped the paper to look inside.

The meat was dark red and gristly. It looked tough, and had a distinctly gamey aroma. While Felix was incredibly hungry, having survived so far on just a basket of fruit, he wasn’t yet at the level where he would resort to eating bear tar-tar.

I’m just gonna reserve this one until I figure out how to make some fire, Felix decided, rewrapping the hunk of meat. He was happy to note that the bear meat could go into his Porter’s Inventory, so he went ahead and transferred all of it into there.

Next, Felix got to the part of the list he was looking forward to the most: items. First and foremost, Felix retrieved his trusty weapon and the potential source of all his misfortunes - Arry’s pen. Just like the description suggested, there wasn’t a single mark of damage on it. There was, however, a lot of blood, which Felix wiped off on some grass before absorbing the pen back into his Rogue’s Inventory.

Felix was surprised to find that the edible arrangement’s paint can had somehow survived.

I suppose it does make sense, given that it was in the bear’s stomach when I looted it.

Felix summoned it out. Unlike the pen, the paint can was worse for wear. It still was in one piece, but its surface was covered in dents and scratches, while its red paint exterior was almost entirely flaked off. Thinking a receptacle of some sort may come in handy, Felix stored the paint can into the Porter’s Inventory along with the bear meat.

That just left the two new items in his inventory. He had saved the best for last.

Focusing on the first one, the full description from the Merchant’s Inventory skill activated.

Furry Pants of the Labyrinthian Spirit Bear

Uncommon Tier

Description: Fur is murder! Fur is murder! Well in this case, the previous owner of this fur tried to murder you. So it’s okay, right? Both stylish and comfortable, this pair of slacks is bound to impress all the ladies. Some men too, if you’re into that.

Status Effects:

* +5 to strength

* +5 to endurance

* +10 to durability

Unique Effects:

* It’s Alive!: This thing isn’t just a dead piece of fur. It's alive! Not sentient though… yet… That would be seriously messed up, right? Anyway, this piece of clothing acts like a living thing in most ways. That means it can heal itself over time if damaged. Just be sure to keep it happy and well fed. It’s not wise to anger something so close to your unmentionables, know what I mean?

Wow, Felix found himself thinking the word for what felt like the tenth time in the last couple days. Again, he was struck with contradicting feelings. On the one hand, the stat boosts were awesome, especially since durability was one of the only stats he didn’t automatically get stat points for with his skills. All his issues with the item had to do with its Unique Effect.

What did it mean the pants were alive? And not sentient, yet? Was it going to become sentient? The warning about not feeding it definitely wasn’t reassuring either. What does it eat? How does it eat?

Felix pulled the pants out of his inventory and looked at them. It was just as described. A pair of pants made from the bear’s furry hide. He picked them up, noticing with some discomfort that it was warm to the touch, like living skin. Further inspection revealed that there were no seams anywhere, the fur covering both the inside and the outside of the pants.

It was as if a mad scientist with a fur fetish had decided to grow pants from bear DNA. Still, it didn’t move on its own or growl at him, so that was something, right?

Felix looked down at the boxer shorts that he had now been wearing for more than two days straight. They were definitely the worse for wear, soiled with mud and torn in places from branches and brambles. His legs were also a latticework of red angry scratches. In the end, Felix didn’t care if they were alive. He wanted to wear some god damn pants.

Felix stood and tentatively put in one leg then another. The furry pants were plenty big enough to fit into. They automatically cinched themselves around his waist. He turned back and forth, craning his neck to see.

It looked like he was wearing the bottom half of a monster costume, but that didn’t matter to Felix because these pants felt good. They fit him like a second skin. He’d been afraid the fur would be way too hot in this warm weather, but it was surprisingly breathable. Interestingly enough, he also felt like he could move a little bit more naturally, even despite the addition of yet more stat points.

More than satisfied with his first clothing in this strange new world and glad to now be only half naked instead of almost entirely naked, Felix moved on to his last item.

Rawhide Summoning Scroll of the Ursidae

Uncommon

Description: A scroll of unknown origins and filled with untold possibilities. Unlike summoning skills, summoning scrolls do not guarantee a bond with a summoned familiar. Think of it more like an introduction and a potential contract. Be forewarned, conditions of the contract must be established and agreed upon before both parties sign. Either party is able to decline the contract without repercussion at any time before signing. After signing, however, the contract is binding by the rules of the system.

Unique Effects:

* Summons Introduction: Provides one opportunity to summon a being up to the Uncommon Tier

Huh, thought Felix, again experiencing a mix of emotions. He’d gotten so used to the colorful and personalized flavor text of all the descriptions, that the oddly bland and straightforward flavor text of this one seemed almost ominous.

Is the system trying to trick me here or something?

Even if it was, Felix knew he couldn’t let this opportunity slip by. He’d struggled in these last few days to survive. With his mobility hampered by all the changes happening to his body, he felt as vulnerable as a baby in these woods. For the first time in years, he realized he needed help. Maybe that’s what this familiar could be.

He pulled the summoning scroll out of his inventory. As the name suggested, the scroll was made out of the tanned hide of an animal. Given that it used that word “Ursidae” again, Felix figured it was probably bear hide.

Complex lines wove themselves all over the scroll’s surface, surrounded by diagrams and an ancient-looking script. They seemed to move like an optical illusion in Felix’s peripheries. The thing had a distinctly magical feel to it. At its center, surrounded by a circle, was the outline of a hand. Again, intuitive knowledge flooded into Felix, telling him all he needed to do was place his hand on the outline to activate the scroll.

Felix sat, placing the scroll on the ground. He reached out his hand, preparing to place it inside the outline. Then he stopped. Something about the description was bugging him. He thought about it, until finally he figured out what it was.

The description said the scroll was a potential contract, he realized. And what do I have that apparently has some kind of mysterious contract magic in it? Felix grinned. In the end, it always seemed to come back to Arcadeus’ pen.

An hour later, Felix stared down at his handiwork, satisfied. It had been an ordeal, but he had finally done it. He’d meticulously traced every line on the scroll with robin’s egg blue ink. He had no idea what kind of effect this would have, but something about it felt right. With the way the lines now seemed to glow with a light of their own, Felix felt confident he’d only increased the scroll’s potency.

Without further ado, Felix placed his hand on the scroll.

Felix’s confidence was replaced with an increasingly familiar feeling of terror as shadows exploded from the scroll. They bubbled and roiled like viscous fluid, rising into the sky, far higher than the bear on had been on its hind legs. It blocked the sun. Two glowing orbs pierced the darkness. They glared down at the tiny, terrified speck that was Felix Chandler.

“Who dares summon the all-powerful Demon Lord Dexadross?” exclaimed the figure, its voice deep and loud enough to shake Felix to his bones.

Felix cried out, physically pressed backwards by the summoned creature’s aura. Shielding his face with one hand, he stuck his other hand outward. It trembled as he clutched his only weapon, the divine fountain pen, in some futile hope of keeping this demon at bay.

The shadowy figure merely gave a malicious chuckle. “Do you think you can harm me with that- Hey, what is that?”

The shadow creature paused for a moment. Then it leaned down to get a better look. Felix cowered under the gaze. It was all he could do to keep the fountain pen pointed at the demon who now loomed over him.

“Hey,” said the demon lord, a note of surprise in its voice. “Is that Arry’s pen?”

“What?” was all Felix could squeak out. He was so confused.

All at once the shadows evaporated, leaving behind in their wake one seven-foot tall, over-muscled panda bear humanoid in an orange jumpsuit.

“Man,” said the panda man to the cowering human, extending out a giant paw. “Arry must really like you to loan out his favorite pen. Well any friend of Arry’s is a friend of mine.”

Felix could only smile weakly before passing out from the shock. As the darkness closed in on his vision of a panda’s concerned face, he managed a final thought.

Am I ever going to escape the effects of stealing this infernally damned pen?