It had been a few hours after Death left me. I was still sitting on the ledge looking out at the beautiful scenery below; feeling the warm sun rise over the sky, watching the fluffy clouds passover me, and feeling the nice cool breeze wash over my face. I used all of that excess time on the cliff to calm myself, to let this new reality set in, and to set my future goals.
During the time death left me, I sat down and I let the fact sink in that I was in another world. I let the fact sink in that I was here to get my revenge and that I was alone. I needed to make certain that I understood these facts so that I wouldn't make the same mistakes that I did in the other word. I decided then that I would not conform myself to the society of this world and that I would act the way I wanted to and follow my own path in this second chance at life.
I let the fact sink in that I had died. I let myself remember the fear and the hate and the anger that I felt. I let myself remember how hopeless I had been and the fact that I chose revenge over a peaceful afterlife.
However, no matter how angry and how desperate I am for revenge, I would not let myself be lost and corrupted and controlled by that anger. That anger, wrath, and rage will always be within me, but I was given a second chance at life and if I lost myself in my emotions and made poor decisions now, then I would fail without even coming close to accomplishing my goals. I was not given a second chance to be the same person and make the same mistakes. I had to change the way I thought and lived to get my revenge. I had to become a killer. I had to confirm that I wouldn't hesitate to kill. I also had to confirm that I wouldn't hesitate to murder someone who looked like they were innocent. If they stood in my way in getting my revenge then I would have to kill them. The words of death, still ringing in my ears about not showing mercy, pushed these thoughts of killing to the forefront of my mind during my time on the ledge.
In the end, I confirmed in my mind and hardened my heart so that I wouldn't hesitate to kill. However, even if I say I will kill, I will not know until that time comes. Even so, it is comforting to know that anyone that I kill receives an afterlife. So for the innocents I kill, at least their souls won't be used for power by whatever lesser gods are in this world. That was my only comforting thought that I could give those innocents that got in my way.
After that existential crisis, I then chose to inspect my body accurately and completely so that I made certain I knew what I would be dealing with in this world. I also performed tests on the differences in the amount of gravity of this world, which I found to be no different from my last world. The only big difference I noticed about myself though was that I had gotten shorter and I felt I had more energy.
I decided to believe that moving to this world changed my body. Either that or the body I received here was different than the one in my old world. I didn't know which was the truth. In the end though, it turns out that I am a few inches taller now than when I was in my old world(5’8”). I am also skinnier, but not deathly skinny. I have good muscle tone over my chest(not a lot but I’m not fat so that's a plus). I have firm leg and arm muscles too. I did not know what my face looked like, so for now I assumed that I looked the same.
After checking myself and taking into account what was new, I decided on my goals for this life. One thing I learned in my world, if you don't set up and detail your goals you won't get anywhere close to accomplishing them. So I set my goals in my head. They are as follows:
1. Find and kill the ones that killed me in my other world.
To do that I will need:
- Information on who and where they are
- Plan on how to kill them
- Tools necessary to kill them(gun, knife, rope, etc)
2. Make this world my bitch.
To do that I will need:
- To get a job that doesn't require me to bend to anyone's will
- Become strong enough to live on my own without societies help
- Make a decision and stick with it
- Not die until I’m an old fart
3. Have a wife, kids, grow old and die
To do that I will need:
- To become stronger to not be killed
- To become smarter to not be killed
- Wife
Now that I had set my goals I had a firmer grasp on my direction moving forward in this world. I mentally put them all in my mind so as to not forget them. To take my first steps to accomplishing my goals though I must obviously get down from this stupid mountain.
I spent the rest of my time on the cliff searching every inch of my clothing and the ledge for the map death spoke of. However, I didn't find any map or anything else in my clothing or on the ledge. I had hoped that the map was not blown off the ledge and down to the forest floor when I wasn't looking. I had become hesitant about starting my climb down the cliff without the said map.
‘Now, what should I do? Climb down the mountain without the map and hope I find the place death spoke of, or stay on the ledge and wait for help or death to come back(if he was coming back).’
Currently the sun is highest in the sky and I had still not made a decision yet. The only thing I was doing at the time was cursing Death for not being clearer with everything. Although, it did give me some peace of mind and made me feel better cursing at him.
Earlier I had thought about waiting for someone to show up and help me, but that idea was shot down after remembering what Death said about not trusting others. I then began searching everything within my view for any intelligent life/ towns/cities/ or campers in the forest to make my way towards if I couldn't find the place death spoke of. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any intelligent life with my current forest view. It seems I was in a unexplored wilderness which was devoid of intelligent life.
‘This is going to be harder than I thought. I will need to make my way through the forest to find people eventually. I guess I shouldn’t worry about that now. My current problem is getting down from the mountain.’
I looked to my left and right. The mountains looked to spread down the side of the forest for miles in both directions. It felt like the world stopped past these mountain ranges at my back, and that the world flowed for eternity in front of me.
“Huh. I guess I should start climbing down now. I don't have the map but I can't stay up here at night. I would probably freeze. So I will have to climb down.”
With determination, I made my decision and was going to follow through with it. I looked over the ledges on the left and the right. There were not many differences in the look of the ciffs on each side. The cliffside was a straight shot down. In the end though, I decide to go out over the left hand side. I didn't really think about why. I just chose it. It was scary at first, but I didnt let my fear stop me from moving forward. After an hour I had gotten used to climbing down the mountain. I just needed to focus on what I was doing and not think about anything else.
I had gotten about halfway down without a problem. I wasn't really tired(thank you adrenaline!), but I knew this pace wasn't helping in the long run. I needed to speed up. The sun was already into late afternoon and I still had roughly a couple 1000ft left to climb down. I only had so much daylight left. I guessed that I had about 5 hours before sunset started and 6 hrs before no more sunlight. I needed to move a little faster. I was sweating buckets, not from climbing, but from how nervous I was from falling. I was surprised at my physical body though. I was still in peak condition after all this time and work I was putting it through.
Hours passed fast. I was wrong on my timing. I was still about 300ft from the ground, but I lost my sunlight. Night was starting to set in, I need to get down fast before I slipped up and fell. I got excited at the possibility of finally getting down, but also nervous that I would mess up and fall if I wasn't careful. I slowly began again after a short rest, moving my hands and legs down the mountain. What I feared happened the very next second though, I slipped. My boots must have missed somewhere, so to compensate I used all of my strength to hold onto the side of the mountain face with my hands. However, when I did that something unexpected happened. My hands crushed the spots they were holding onto and broke off from the side of the mountain. In short, I fell.
I looked up at the sky as I fell, pieces of the mountain still in my hands. I was shocked. I didn't even scream before my body hit the ground with a loud thud. I opened my eyes slowly, hoping that nothing was broken. I mentaly searched my body with my mind looking for the pain I knew would come; but to my surprise, it didn't. I lifted my right arm up, then my left arm. Then I sat up. Nothing. No pain. It seems nothing was broken, nothing bent, and I was in no pain.
“I’m…….not hurt?”
I stood up surprised, dusted my clothes off, and looked at my body in the moonlight. I was ok.
‘Why the hell am I ok? How the hell am I ok? I should have at least been hurt from that fall if not killed!’
However, something started to distract me from my questions. Now that I was on the ground, a strange red flashing light appeared. I could see it from the top right hand side of my right eye. My eye didn't feel like it was bleeding. I then thought it might be something flashing in that direction so I turned to get a better look at the light. However, no matter how fast I turned my head to look at the flashing light, it would always move at the same speed and be in the same spot flashing at the top right hand part of my right eye.
‘...the hell?’
I then touched my face to see if it was a lighting bug on my face, but I found that the light was brighter with my hand over my eye and that there was no bug on my face.
‘No. This doesn't make any sense? What is this red light? I tried tapping it with my finger but it wouldn't go away. It doesn't look like it's anything external so it must be internal. Why can't I make you go away? It doesn't feel like pain. Although, it is starting to get annoying.’
My irritation was growing. I was starting to get to my breaking point where I would start punching that side of my face until it went away.
“Stop flashing. What are you?!? If you got something to say then just state it!”
When I said that the flashing stopped and a large intangible blue screen with words on it appeared in front of my face. I jumped back and fell on my butt when it appeared. It startled me. I then looked and realised that it had words on it and that I couldnt push it away from me because my hand went through it. I then studied it. The blue window read:
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
[Congratulations on making it down the mountain! See! I told you it wouldn't be that hard.
So, you are probably wondering what this is. It turns out I should have probably told you a lot more about this world before sending you here. Sorry. My bad. Oh well, it doesn't matter now. This will all make sense shortly though.
So you see, this world has a few differences than your old one. Now I want you to open your mind. This is a new world. This isnt a place where you know so everything is and can be different. So, for example, this world has magic and beings that can use magic. Cool right! Different from what you know in your world but I thought you would find that cool.XD Also, there are more than just humans who live here. There are magical beasts, elves, trolls, dwarfs, demons, gods, monsters, dragons, and a bunch of other cool beings and stuff! The continent you are on is called Garvantia. You will find all of these species here somewhere. Also, this blue thing you see before you is a notification window. Dont panick and freak out when you see one. They are normal here. You have to either concentrate to open the window or close the window, or state that you want it to open or close. I would suggest though turning notifications on so that you don't miss any of these cool notification screens telling you what happened.
Either think or say turn notifications on and it will stay on. If you think or say show me my notifications you can see all of your recent notifications. I think that is all I should say for now. You’ll figure it out….or you won’t.
Anyway, don't forget to have fun in your new world. I’ll be watching so make it a good show.
Until next time, Death out!]
“.......................magic?....monsters?.....WHAT KIND OF WORLD IS THIS DEATH?!?!? THAT IS DEFINITELY SOMETHING YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME EARLIER YOU JACKASS!!!”
After screaming into the air, I calmed myself down to process this wealth of new information.
‘....hmmmm…..I guess this is cool. Magic, monsters, and all that…..It does sound fun, but it also sounds incredibly dangerous because I don't know anything about this world other than my preconceived notions of what monsters and beings in this world might be…........huhhhh...well….I mean it's not like that the information would have changed my mind about coming here, but still! I should have been told these things beforehand! And now that jackass can send me love letters whenever he wants? Just perfect.’
“He better not be pulling my leg about this though. A world where magic exists? Hell ya! That's actually really cool. I really want to use magic now! I am a little concerned that dragons and demons exist here but other than that I guess I’m cool with it all. I really would like to see an elf though.”
A creepy, almost perverted smile flashed across my face.
‘NO! Calm down! You can't be fantasizing about elves. He just told me monsters exist and I’m alone, at night, unarmed in a forest! This is the worst situation I could be in! It's just like asking for predators to come kill and eat you!’
I look around the forest floor nervously, looking for signs of danger. I keep my back toward the mountain and face the forest.
‘I don't see any movement so I should be good for now. I need to be more careful. I almost died from falling off the mountain. I can't think about such things now when I could be attacked at any moment. I should probably turn on notifications and check them to see if that blowhard sent me anything else he forgot to tell me.’
I concentrated on my next words.
“Turn notifications on!”
Silence.
‘Did it work?........How will I know?......hmm….death I swear to god, if this was all a ploy to make me look stupid I will seriously be pissed.’
The silence continues.
‘hmmm…..I guess I’ll know when I get another notification? Maybe? Would that be it?....hmmm…..I guess I’ll look at my notifications screen now and see if I got any other notifications. If it's all fake, eh...I’ve already gone this far down the rabbit hole so screw it.’
I concentrate again.
“Show me my notifications”
Instantly a blue translucent plack about chest height, 2 ft tall and 2 ft wide appeared while leaning slightly back to give me a better view of the screen. On it was a list of notifications with the date, time, and subject heading of the notification. I jump back startled when it appears in front of me and land on my butt again.
‘Holy shit that was scary! Damn it. It's going to take a while to get used to that. That's just not what I would call normal. huh. I guess I should get used to it though. ok. Hmmm…….wait...this thing looks almost like an email inbox.’
The notifications index looked like an email inbox to my earth trained eyes and it turns out I do have more notifications. I start to look at the notifications on the screen. The most recent one was the congrats one from Death. However, there appears to be 3 slightly older ones in my “inbox”(I’m calling it that now to make my life simpler). I looked over them. I received them all about the same time today. I started with the oldest, which I assume was the first one I received when I entered this world. It read:
[You have just entered into this world, congrats!]
‘The hell? There is a notification for something simple like that? Let me try the second most recent then. If the older notifications are stupid stuff like this I’d rather know what happened most recently. The important information should be there.’
I open the second most recent one:
[Congratulations! You received permission to wear Death’s Blessed Clothing and Boots. They are now bound to you for life. Only you may wear these.
Item Descriptions:
Death’s Blessed Shirt
A shirt made from Death and Darkness itself. The stench of death will follow whoever wears this shirt. While wearing it your affinity with death and shadow magic increases by 10%. While wearing this shirt the user receives increased strength by 100 stat points. This shirt has been blessed by Death; it will mend itself if damaged or torn.
Death’s Blessed Pants
Pants made from Death and Darkness itself. The stench of death will follow whoever wears these pants. While wearing it your affinity with death and shadow magic increases by 15%. While wearing these pants the user receives increased endurence by 150 stat points. The pants were blessed by Death; it will mend itself if damaged or torn.
Death’s Blessed Socks
Socks made from Death and Darkness itself. The stench of death will follow whoever wears these socks. While wearing them your affinity with death and shadow magic increases by 5% each. While wearing these socks the user receives reduced stamina consumption by 15% These socks were blessed by Death; they will mend themselves if they are damaged or torn.
Death’s Blessed Boots
Boots made from Death and Darkness itself. The stench of death will follow whoever wears these boots. While wearing them your affinity with death and shadow magic increases by 5% each. While wearing these boots you have received the Rare skill Walking Death. While wearing these boots the user receives increased dexterity by 150 stat points. These boots were blessed by Death; they will mend themselves if damaged.
Death’s Blessed Cloak
A cloak made from Death and Darkness itself. The stench of death will follow whoever wears this cloak. While wearing this cloak your affinity with death and shadow magic increases by 15%. While wearing this cloak your body will be able to hide in the shadows unseen. While wearing this cloak all magical damage is reduced by -15% unless it's holy magic. Holy magic damage is reduced by -10%. While wearing this cloak negative mind status effects are reduced by -25%. This cloak was blessed by Death; It will mend itself if damaged or torn.
Bonus From Death’s Blessed Clothing(Complete Set)
For acquiring all of Deaths Blessed clothing the wearer receives special bonuses. The stench of death can now be controlled and turned on or off at will. While wearing all of Death's Blessed Cloathing the user recieves and increase in constitution by 150 stat points. While wearing the full set you are favored by death and attacks are more likely to kill or do critical damage to opponents.
Because you were blessed by Death with his full set of clothes you have been given the Godly skill Fallen Army.
WARNING: Because you received these stat bonuses due to clothing and items you do not receive the affiliated skills from passing stat thresholds.]
It took me a while, but after reading it a few times my mind went blank.
‘.......Eh? What the hell? What does stat points mean mean? What does any of this mean? And wait….death said he new wore clothes!! That lying…...tch….Is this world some kind of game? What is with this stench of death thing? What is with these bonuses and magic affinity. Actually that sounds pretty cool….are they high though? Low? What is going on here?!?’
I start to think in more detail about the statuses and the descriptions that these clothes state.
‘I guess this world is like a game world, with levels, magic, resistances and everything else in a game world. If I think about it that way, all of this makes sense….…..hmmm...well, I guess it doesn't matter. I’ll just roll with it. If it's true then I guess I should thank Death next time I see him for giving me some helpful clothes….if they are helpful. hmmmmm…..I hate the fact that these clothes apparently stink though. I don't smell anything myself, but I guess they stink to everyone else? I’m glad I can at least turn it off. If it's that smell that I smelt when I died, it would take me a long time to find a wife who could put up with me. heh…..Let me see if I can turn it off.’
I concentrate on my words like how I opened my notifications page.
“Stench of Death OFF”
Silence.
‘Did it work? Please tell me it worked. I hope it did. I would hate it if I smelled. My poor future wife. Would she have to be nose blind?’
“I don't understand this level thing thought. What does it mean level 20 monsters? Is there a leveling system in this world? Is level 20 high or low? Is Level 20 a type of monster like a dragon or a housecat? What level am I? Why isn't there more information! Death!! You need to explain damn it!!”
Not receiving a response and with no idea how to send one to him I then decide to open the second oldest hoping there would be more information there.
‘I hope it's not another stupid thing like congrats on entering this world.’
[Your groin has been touched/cursed/blessed by death! Now, whenever you have sex with someone you will curse their body. After having sex with you once they will no longer be able to experience a climax without you.]
“...........Eh?”
“.............................Eh?”
“EEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHH!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!”
“DEATH YOU GOD DAMN MOTHERFUCKER!!! YOU CURSED MY DICK!!! YOU BASTARD!!! I KNEW YOU MOLESTED ME!!! YOU JACKASS!!!! I WILL GET MY REVENGE ON YOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUU!!!”
I start to cry pitiful tears.
‘I was unconscious too. He took advantage of me! THAT PERVERT!!! What the hell does this mean?!? huhhhhhh……. Why does this have to happen to me! I just wanted to get my revenge and then live my life. Then get a wife and some kids. NOW I WILL CURSE ANYONE I HAVE SEX WITH!!! REALLY?!? WHAT THE HELL?!?!?!?! EXPLAIN DEATH!!’
I then hear a noise in the woods in front of me. I go deathly silent. I then realized that all my yelling earlier probably told something that I was here. I could not be alone right now in the forest. My body freezes.
‘Shit! Shitshitshitshit! I need to calm down.’
The forest resumes it's silence. Whatever it was must have left the area I was in because I couldn’t see anything or hear anything moving. While this was all going on, my mind could not move on from the notification.
“Maybe it's not all that bad. Maybe this could be a good thing?……..uhhhh……..nope….It's definitely going to be a bad thing I can just feel it...huhhhhh…and I was a virgin tooo!!! Damn it death!”
Tears start to stream down my face as I hang my head in despair. After that shock, I close my inbox and try to focus on something else. I start to look around the forest again. I try to look and see any monsters or creatures in the bushes and quickly decide that I need to find a place to sleep for the night so I don't become an easy meal for a monster.
‘The safest place to sleep tonight would probably be in a tree on a branch so nothing crawling on the ground can get to me. hmmm…..Ok. Tree branch bed it is.’
I start to look at the trees of the forest next to the mountain and pick a very thick and tall one. I climb it with surprising ease, which I assumed was from the stat boosts from the clothes. I then sit on a thick a sturdy branch and steady myself for the nights sleep.
‘Yep. I should be safer up here then down there. I’m too tired to care about all of the other stuff right now. I just climbed down a mountain for goodness sake. I’ll figure everything else out tomorrow. Yep. Tomorrow's me will take care of it.’
I use my cloak to rap around me hopefully allowing me to blend into the darkness more so I don't alert the monsters that could be in the trees to me. I try to stay awake for a little longer to see if anything was moving towards me or around me, but after about an hour I drifted off to sleep.