I’m falling. Again. It’s getting old. Luckily this time I don’t see my life flash before my eyes, but it does hurt pretty badly when I hit the ground, which started significantly closer to me than last time.
I get up and survey my surroundings. Forest with plants? Check. Clear sky? Check. Blue blob trying to eat my shoes? Check. Everything seems to be normal and in good order… Until I come to a realisation and look down, very slowly.
‘WHAT THE HECK!’ I scream as the slimy blue creature opens its mouth around my shoe and gnaws at it unsuccessfully.
I kick it as hard as I can, but my foot goes right through it like water.
Hang on. Blue blob with a watery consistency… Is that a Slime?
Okay, what the heck?
I walk over to a nearby fallen log and think over everything that’s happened to me today… Or last night? The sun’s up now, and the clearing I’m in is well-lit, so I can see the… Slime… Very easily.
It keeps trying to eat my shoe as I think, which isn’t very helpful, considering that I’m probably going to have problems with brain damage at this point, right?
‘So I’m in a fantasy world, I fell through the ground… I woke up in bed, an Elf said something about a System… Wait, a System! Does that mean stats? How did he say to access it? Uh… Think… Think what? SYSTEM! STATS! BEN!
A transparent white screen with a black border appears in front of me, which I’m obviously not prepared for, because I fall backwards off the log and the Slime stays attached to my shoe even as I flip over onto my back.
‘ding’ Welcome to the System! Because of your foreign origins, the tutorial option has automatically been removed.
Name: Ben Creeson
Class 1: None
Class 2: None
General Skills: None
Personal Skills:
- Frozen Amelioration - lvl 1
- Otherworldly Understanding - lvl 5
Status:
Vitality: 5
Endurance: 5
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
Strength: 5
Dexterity: 5
Intelligence: 5
Wisdom: 5
Health: 50/50
Mana: 50/50
Stamina: 50/50
I get back up and squint at the screen.
I'm not that weak, am I? And how do I get a Class? Regardless, this is just like those some of those books I read back at home, and I don’t know if that’s a good thing. Slimes, Systems… Dragons?
If there are Dragons, I’m screwed.
And there’s no tutorial. Does that mean it’s easy, or that I have to figure it out myself?
I look down again at the slime still trying to eat my shoe.
‘Hey there… Please stop..?’
It doesn’t stop.
So what can I do? I can’t kick it, I can’t throw it off… I glare at it. As hard as I can.
‘ding’ ‘You have unlocked the general skill Identify - You have taken the time to notice the small details, allowing you to see further information on anything you look at.’
Well then. How useful. Might give me some insight into why the Slime likes my shoe so much. I doubt it, but there’s nothing wrong with trying, is there?
[Blue Slime - lvl 4]
That tells me nothing, but man that’s cool. Seriously. A screen that shows me the relative strength of the things around me?
I use it on my hand. Nothing.
I use it on the tree beside me.
[Tree]
Very useful. Okay then. So the skill isn’t very detailed… Yet. I notice that there are skill levels, so I might be able to upgrade it enough that it’s actually all-knowing!
I file that thought away and keep using the skill on the trees around me, thinking that they might be different because if there are Slimes, there have to be other monsters as well, right?
Sadly, I’m right.
As I use Identify on one of the trees on the other side of the clearing, a different message pops up among all of the other, regular, trees.
[Tree]
[Tree]
[...]
[Unruly Living Tree - lvl ??]
The moment I look at it, the Unruly Living Tree sprouts arms and uproots itself from the ground, racing towards me as fast as it can go.
The thing is tall and large, and looks like one of the older trees in this part of the forest, at least from looking at the trees that I can see.
The [??] where there was a level on the Slime’s Identify is worrying, but could mean that it’s anywhere from one to a lot of levels higher than the Slime.
I ready myself for a tough fight, then…
I’m sprinting through the forest as fast as I can, trying to get as far away from the moving wood as possible.
What? You thought I would throw away my life to a tree with arms? As if.
Trees and bushes rush past me, blurring as I run as quickly as possible. What’s great is that I’m not looking at where I’m going, so I don’t see the ditch in front of me. Then I’m falling down a hole.
‘I should really stop doing this.’ I think to myself as my head knocks against the side of the hole, and I go unconscious again.