Stat Increase: Mind +5.
That’s it. No Skills this time.
Item equipped: School Shorts.
Requires an empty equipment slot (1/5).
This embarrassing pair of shorts provides no effect.
Item equipped: School Shirt.
Requires an empty equipment slot (2/5).
This button up white shirt provides:
Quirk: If tucked in, this shirt will automatically un-tuck itself.
Item equipped: School Tie.
Requires an empty equipment slot (3/5).
This black and blue striped tie provides no effect.
Item equipped: School Blazer.
Requires an empty equipment slot (4/5).
This black blazer provides:
+1 Charisma.
Item equipped: School Shoes.
Requires an empty equipment slot (5/5).
This pair of black loafers provides no effect.
I’m back, baby! And I’m no longer a baby. Which is honestly the best news in as long as I can remember. Not that I remember much, or anything really. I have no idea who I am… but… I’m gonna stay positive. This game, life, afterlife, alien world, computer simulation, coma dream, eternal damnation, or … whatever it is… is not gonna drag me down. I’m gonna do whatever it takes. I’m gonna level up and I’m gonna keep surviving. I’m going to figure this shit out. I’ll find out who I am and what these fuckers are playing at. That’s right. You can’t keep baby down.
AIAI was telling the truth when it said I would be back in the same location. I still had the spider gunk plastered all over my face. I was laying belly down among some weeds, but at least I was clothed now. Wait, this is just the basic uniform that came with Child Prodigy.
“Damn it!” I said. “Where’s the gear I won?”
If this game had an inventory system, I needed to figure out how to use it. Oh, wait… there it is.
A pile of armour lay in the grass a few steps away from me. It looked kinda rusty. I wonder if AIAI figured out a way to screw me?
I rose to my feet and tried to take a step forward, but immediately fell flat on my face. My first thought was that I had been bitten by another Melancholia Spider, but when I pulled out my Pocket Book and switched to the Active Effects page, I found nothing.
It took everything I had to put the Pocket Book away and not immediately scroll to the Skills page and start learning about the cool stuff I could do. It didn’t matter how great my new Skills were, if I couldn’t figure out how to move then I wasn't going to survive the night.
Not that I needed to worry too much. It still looked to be around noon. Maybe time doesn’t pass in the Initiation Zone? If that’s true, then it’s a pretty cruel place to stick the world’s most impatient AI…
Maybe I had time to look at just a few Skills or at least my Stats page?
User: NULL Race: Human LVL: 1
XP: 35 Stats:
Perception: 2.
This is a score for your Senses, such as Sight, Smell, & Hearing. It is the primary stat for the core skill branches: Identify, Detect, & Target.
Constitution: 2.
This is a measure of your Max Health & Physicality. It is the primary Stat of the core Skill branches: Fortitude, Restoration, & Defence.
Brutality: 1.
This is your capacity for Combat & Mundane Devastation. It is the primary Stat of the core Skill branches: Strength, Warfare, & Weaponry.
Charisma: 2 (+1 from School Blazer).
This is your influence on Individuals in your vicinity. It is the primary Stat of the core Skill branches: Speech, Charm, & Summon.
Dexterity: 0.
This affects your Agility & Adroitness. It is the primary Stat of the core Skill branches: Speed, Dodge, & Stealth.
Tinker: 0.
This is the total of your Toolcraft, and Handyness. It is the primary Stat of the core Skill branches: Repair, Construct, & Demolish.
Mind: 6.
This is the extent of your Education & Knowledge. It is the primary Stat of the core Skill branches: Concentration, Retention, & Intellect.
Necrosis: 1.
This is your depth of Decay & Deterioration. It is the primary Stat of the core Skill branches: Vampirism, Rot, & Reanimate.
Further Stats revealed upon level up.
I read through the page once… okay twice… fine! I read it three times, and then I closed the Pocket Book. It returned to its invisible pocket above my heart. I knew I just had to reach for it and it would reopen. Once I deal with the imminent problems I face, I’m going to really love digging into this system.
Perk Discovered: Geek.
It takes one to know one and you know thyself.
Ooh, I discovered a perk. The little line that should be the description looked more like a joke to me. That’s odd. Also I didn’t know myself. I literally don’t know who I am. Maybe that perk would help me discover my identity?
Weird. I didn’t feel any different. Perhaps ‘Perk Discovered’ isn’t the same as unlocking a new skill. I should open up the Pocket Book and figure this thing out.
Wait, no. I need to stay focused on learning how to move.
The Stat page said Dexterity was the primary Stat for the ‘core Skill branch’ Speed. I wasn’t sure what a core Skill branch was, but Speed seemed pretty obvious. So I needed to up my Dexterity. Simple, I’d do some stretches. Flexibility is practically the same thing as Dexterity.
“Here goes nothing.”
I could reach down from a standing position, but I couldn’t touch my toes yet.
“You know, Human children are usually pretty flexible,” I said aloud to no one in particular.
I considered looking up Human in the Pocket Book. There was bound to be a way to find more info on the different races. Alright, here’s the deal: For every twenty stretches I do, I get to look up one thing in the Pocket Book?
“Deal,” I said to myself, then added, “I’m not crazy.”
Stretching sucks. If Humans were supposed to be stretchy, we would be made of rubber and develop an affection for straw hats. I was definitely not made of rubber. Despite my stiff joints, I did make it through a whole round of stretches, so I got to look something up in the Pocket Book. Race details or Perk details? Hmmm…
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Perks:
Intellect determines how many Perks you can unlock per Level up. Intellect: 6.
Unlocked Perks:
None.
Standard Locked Perks:
Sleep Tight (1).
Regain Health while resting.
Party Up (1).
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Invite Entities to your Party and share in XP.
Point Home (1).
Creates an Icon that will point to your nearest Faction HQ.
Friendly Fire (1).
Reduces damage dealt to Party members and friendly Summons by 10%. Stackable.
Modesty Pants (1).
When no items are equipped, these undergarments will cover your private parts.
Discovered Perks:
Devour (5).
By feasting upon the corpse of a fallen foe, you may absorb one random Stat point or Skill you have not already unlocked. Devour is discovered by feasting upon a corpse of a fallen foe who had unlocked this Perk.
Geek (5).
Your Pocket Book will retain information about Skills that you witness even if you have not unlocked them. Geek is discovered by being a total geek.
Wow. Wow. Wow. I made the right decision! Having 6 points in the Mind Stat gave me 6 points to spend on Perks every level. I could afford at least two perks or all four of the Standard Locked ones. The only issue was I really wanted Devour and Geek, they both looked incredible. But they also cost 5 points each. If I picked one of those I would only be able to unlock one of the Standard Perks.
There’s no question. I would obviously pick Sleep Tight, but which of the 5 point Perks should I choose? Geek would give me incredibly useful knowledge if I got into combat with a dangerous Skill user, but Devour was just so… badass. Damn it. I wanted both.
Fine. I’ll pick one now and the other next time I level up, whenever that will be.
Geek was probably the most reasonable choice. After all, I might never get a chance to use Devour if I didn’t survive my next combat encounter. Geek may even help me understand the Skills I’d heard about during Class Selection. It may hint at how I might unlock those Skills for myself. There were so many possible uses for Geek, whereas Devour was kind of a gamble. Don’t get me wrong, Devour looked very cool and obviously powerful, but it would be more useful once I was actually fighting things. For now, I should avoid all fights as often as possible.
Right, it’s sorted. I should pick Geek and Sleep Tight.
Oops, I may have unlocked Devour the very moment I read the description.
New Perk Unlocked: Devour.
May the Feast begin.
New Perk Unlocked: Sleep Tight.
Don’t exploit the bed bugs bite.
Ah, that felt good. Well, I’d better do another round of stretches, then I could look up my race. Or maybe I could find the formula for Speed. I knew it was related to Dexterity, but it may be more complicated than just a simple one-to-one ratio. There’s also the issue of my Hunger and Health. The small amount of spider gunk I ate didn’t restore much of my Hunger Circle and it would run out again soon.
Starvation is always an early problem in Survival games, but it usually becomes easy to handle once you are situated. I also needed to figure out how to activate Skills. I’d learned a bunch up to this point, but I probably needed to select them in some way.
But most importantly, I really needed to learn how to move. I managed to roll downhill before, but that was just gravity moving me. I’m guessing that my current Max Speed is zero.
I could stand up and do stretches, which meant I could physically move my body, but I couldn’t change location of my own initiative. It was like being stuck inside an invisible hexagon that pushed back at me with the exact force that I used to push forward.
“Well, that was another round of stretches complete,” I said. Why hasn’t my Dexterity levelled up yet?
If this wasn’t working, then I was wasting a lot of time. It’s a shame I couldn’t choose where to apply Stat points like I did with the Perks, but I guess it is what it is.
Decision time, what should I learn about: Skills, Race details, or Speed formula?
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Skills:
Retention reflects the number of Chosen Skills you can select from the Available Skills list. Retention: 6.
Passive Skills:
These Skills are permanently active.
Basic Vision (Perception).
Automatically provides Clarity Vision up to Basic Distance x Perception.
Current distance: 20 meters.
Basic Fortitude (Constitution).
Automatically provides resistance to Extreme Temperatures, Poisons, Venoms, Toxins, Curses, & Hexes up to %Constitution.
Current resistance: 1%.
Basic Speech (Charisma)
Automatically translates to and from Common in spoken and written forms for Chosen Language.
Basic Concentration (Mind).
Automatically enables you to maintain one Skill or Spell up to Basic Duration x Mind.
Current Concentration: 6 seconds.
Chosen Skills:
None.
Available Skills:
Ram Slam (Brutality).
Charge forward in a sudden burst of energy Slamming all obstacles in your path with your hardened Ram-head up to Basic Distance x Brutality.
Vampiric Bite (Necrosis).
Activate upon successful bite. Drain an enemy’s Resources while recovering your own. Damage inflicted = Brutality. Resource transference = Necrosis.
Basic Restoration (Constitution).
Heal yourself. Health regained = Constitution per second.
I immediately chose all three available Skills and closed my Pocket Book. The change was instantaneous. I could feel the Skills within my body. The centre of my forehead tingled and I felt if I focused on that exact spot something would happen. It didn’t take a genius to realise that’s probably the Ram Slam.
The sudden urge to puncture flesh with my teeth alerted me to the Vampiric Bite hiding in my canines, or fangs now, I guessed.
Basic Restoration was a little more subtle. I could feel a peculiar warmth inside my chest. I focused on it and the warmth erupted throughout my body. My health started rising and the red bar quickly filled up in just a few seconds. On one hand, it was great that I could fully heal, but on the other hand, that meant my Max Health wasn’t very high.
And that’s when the blue bar appeared. I’m gonna go ahead and call that one Mana. It blinked straight down to empty. Fuck.
Stat Increase: Magic +1.
Call it what it is.
The Mana bar— Magic bar— remained empty. I could no longer sense my Basic Restoration or my Vampiric Bite, but Ram Slam was still available. Eh, might as well try it.
I aimed at the fallen armour and activated the tingle on my forehead. My green Stamina bar plummeted to empty and I burst forward.
To say I overshot my mark is an understatement. I zoomed past the rusty gear— still no idea if that’s gonna be any good— through a tangle of weeds, straight over the muddy path, and narrowly avoided a tree which was great because I’m pretty sure I would have insta-died if I hit that hard wooden trunk at that kind of speed.
Running out of Mana— sorry, old habit I guess— feels like running out of cheese. You can live without it, it’s just a miserable existence.
Running out of Stamina is like going for a run on a freezing day after not doing any exercise for a long while. Your body knows you’re in trouble and it does everything it can to gain control of the situation. You start hyperventilating, sucking in ice-chilled air until it burns the back of your throat. As the bitter air rushes in, it strips the moisture out. You bleed sweat. Even as your throat dries up like a pile of bones in the desert, the rest of you drowns in your own sweat. Then your heart decides to get in on the action… by breaking the fuck out of your rib-cage. Your hands tremble. Your legs shake. Your teeth clack together like a goddamn death rattle and some weird thing called ‘stitch’ starts stabbing you in the gut for some reason. What’s that about? Anyway… that’s what running out of Stamina felt like, but believe it or not, I was smiling…
At that moment— Oh, sweet nectar of the gods— I saw those beautiful, beautiful words:
Stat Increase: Dexterity +1.
Did you get the Zoomies?
New Skill unlocked: Basic Speed.
The green Stamina bar grew a tiny bit.
“I can walk!”
Admittedly, it was very, very slow. But what did you expect? My Dexterity was one and my Level was one. It really felt like my Speed might be 10 meters per minute. I was moving at snail pace. This is insane.
It took a while to cross back over the woodland path towards my rusty gear. After what felt like an age, I noticed my Mana bar tick up by about a sixth. So that’s good news, but it was only a single bit. I was recovering one Mana per minute, which made sense because my Magic Stat was currently 1. I still couldn’t activate Vampiric Bite or Basic Restoration though.
Not much later, my Stamina bar ticked up by two bits. Could that be because of my Dexterity Stat? But the green bar was nearly twice the size of the blue…
I assumed the Mana bar drew from my Mind Stat. I’d seen the number 6 enough times to recognise it. But the Stamina bar didn’t seem to correspond to anything that made sense. I needed another look at my Pocket Book once I reached this special gear.
So I walked. I walked with my legs. I walked in the direction that I needed to go. One foot followed the other. Step-by-step, I found my way. Tolkien would be so proud.
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