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Path to Perfection
Independent Variable

Independent Variable

My eyes shoot open, all I see around me is purple, tiring to move around, my body feels restricted. Rather than letting claustrophobia kick in, I focus on my small surroundings, trying to figure out what's going on. Feeling the walls, it's hard and smooth like glass. Looking closer, it's slightly transparent, allowing me to look at my blurry surroundings. A figure approaches, towering over me from this point of view. As I try to get a closer look, the purple casing disappears with a small pop, leaving me to fall an inch ass first onto the dirt.

Looking around, the fact these people are just as confused as I am becomes abundantly apparent. Pulling myself to my feet, I look around and give a small wave.

“Hello? Anyone here mind filling me in on what the fuck just happened?”

The crowd seems to break out of its stupor as they start looking at each other, seemingly unsure of what to do. The person who stood over me before was now stepping back slowly, freezing in place as I looked at him. He had long red hair, curly, long for a guy, falling just below his shoulders. His frame was short and thin, the man seemed to have meat on his bones, and a good ratio of muscle, only problem is he didn't have a lot of either, leaving him with a body one would commonly see on shut ins who only leave to get to class and head right back to their dorm afterward. Running through the list of features, his skin was a pinkish pale, his eyes were dark green, freckles across his cheeks, simple trousers held against his lower abdomen with a tied string, finishing it off with a gray shirt you would see in a medieval setting, and simple shoes that would again be found in a medieval setting.

“You, what did you do to the purple shell around me, did you put me there? If not, then how did I get here?”

The man looked at me, clearly confused. He spoke but I didn't understand a thing coming out of his mouth. Shaking my head I wave him off, Sitting back down on the floor and crossing my legs, trying to think about what to do when a screen appears in my eyes.

[Welcome to the world of Omter! You have been unwillingly displaced from your home world and placed into foreign land. For this, you receive our sincerest apology, and reparations in form of slight assistance.

If you accept the gift, you will receive:

Translation skill

Spirit familiar

System assistance /or/ no system restrictions

5x levels

Do you accept? Y/N ]

What the fuck?

[answer accepted.

You have received: (gift of gab)

You have received: (familiar summoning and binding ritual)

Congratulations, you've hit level 5!

System assistance

/or/

No system restrictions ]

Deciding not to be controlled by this system, I choose no system restrictions.

[congratulations, your (independent variable) status has been updated to (unbound variable)]

Overwhelmed with this sudden influx of information, I looked over to the man from before, trying out the language skill the screen said I received.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Hey, not to sound like a broken record, but where am I, and how did I get here?”

The man's eyes go wide as he responds.

“You're in the village of Merrin, and I don't know how you got here. If you don't mind me asking, who the fuck are you?”

Standing up, I approach the man and reach out a hand, hoping handshakes are known here. He looks confused for a second but grabs my hand and shakes it, his grip firmer than i thought it'd be.

“My name is James Martin, yours?”

“I'm Neld Bluee.”

“Great, now Neld, do you have a place I can stay?”

----------------------------------------

“Listen, I can give you shelter for a couple days, chances are the mayor has already sent a messenger to the local lord, you are an anomaly and they don't take to anomalies well.”

Neld paces back and forth through the room, me sitting on the hard bed as I watch him.

“I'm sure whoever it is can only do so much to me, I'm like a foreign diplomat, I've got immunity.”

He stops pacing and looks at me.

“You are not a diplomat, anyone can tell that easily. We are also at war, diplomatic immunity means nothing right now. Listen, you can stay here for a night, but then you have to leave. Now if you'll excuse me, I have matters to attend to.”

Neld leaves the room, the door closing gently behind him. Shrugging, I decide to use my time wisely and look at my notifications I have pending.

Looking at the tiny notification icon at the top left of my peripheral vision., a screen popped up, shocker.

[STATUS

Name: James Martin

Race: human/?

Level:5

Class:N/A

Skills:

Gift of Gab (legendary)

Traits:

unspent stat points: 25

Fortitude: 100

Dexterity: 100

Willpower: 100

Spirit: 100 ]

Focusing on the gift of gab skill, it opens up once more, another screen.

[Gift of Gab (passive)

Level: N/A

Rarity: legendary

Description: master any language's communicative aspects immediately after hearing, seeing, or otherwise processing it.]

Nodding, I focus on getting rid of the screen and it disappears. Looking at my stats, they seem weirdly high. Not knowing anything about them, I wait for Neld to get back to ask him. After a couple minutes, I hear a loud banging, then someone rushing up the stairs. Suddenly, Neld bursts through the front door.

“James, look outside!”

Looking through his bedroom window, there's a large golden arch slowly rising from the ground. Looking back at Neld, I ask.

“What's that? I'm guessing I should be worried.”

“That's the lord's mage, he comes here using his portal every couple years, making sure there's no rebellion or dissent brewing. His last visit was only a couple months ago, they have to be coming for you!”

Adrenaline fills my body as my eyes go wide. Looking back out, I see the tips of the two golden half arches slowly inching closer together. Deciding to get the fuck out of dodge before shit goes down, i move toward the door frame. As I'm about to pass through, Neld grabs me by the arm.

“Listen, they're going to haul me off to find out what I know, I housed you so I'm about as culpable for you as you are. We don't have a lot of time, go downstairs and out through the back door, I'll grab my supplies and meet you out there. Now go!”

He slapped my arm and sprinted off to rummage through his room. Not looking back, I rushed down the stairs and through the dining room, taking a left to go out the back door. After a couple minutes waiting outside, Neld comes out with a comically large backpack on.

“Where'd you get that?”

“Grabbed it from a traveling merchant while he was sleeping, now follow me.”

We make our way to the treeline, going further into the forest to not risk being taken in by the lord, something that is absolutely terrible according to Neld. I trust him, he's kinda my only lifeline right now.