The sky had cast a divine attack on Ashur’s eyes: blinding him with the sound of white noise ringing in his ears. Ashur brought his hands up to cup her eyes – but naught seemed to dampen the brightness in his eyes.

The feeling of being transported was odd to say the least, like one was at a rollercoaster ride and it was just about to hit the curve before descending rapidly.

He began to appear at his new destination and gain his eyesight back from the light receding – causing him to rub his eyes. It still carried across the unpleasant feeling.

To the outsider, blue lights formed over a space and fragments of boxes would thread together to create Ashur’s being, and colour would streak downwards from the top as the final threads came together, revealing the short of stature dwarf.

Bright as hell Ashur thought to himself. Blinking a few times as he came to be with his surroundings: he had come to a courtyard. He would check a few things that were working. He grabbed his cock, shifting it to the side so it was comfortable, then stretched – mostly his feet. But at the same time, there was a new and uncomfortable sensation in his body that he couldn’t quite place.

It was his height: whereas he had been a hulking human over six foot, this was a Dwarf barely hitting five. The sensation was making him feel a bit sick, but cracking his neck would alleviate it a little as he tried to grab his bearings.

His head was swirling in a circle and still in a state of disbelief how his senses were working. He would sniff, wiping at his nose with his wrist before settling into a smile as he stretched his legs. He was still in a state of disbelief over it, and would continue to curl his toes like one might dig their toes into the sand on a beach.

'Well, shit.' if he hadn’t acted impressed before, he was now.

Impressed at last.

He wouldn’t stop there, but would first need to check a few things, learn about his surroundings and the new world he was in, and the game aspects. He would mentally bring up the commands, which again went through the same things from earlier.

‘Status window.’ Ashur thought simply, and it would bring up a box. 'Huh.' the contradiction between knowing what he wanted to do but getting the steps to get there… luckily, the tutorial had shown him already. It was still of some surprise as he was gathering his bearings.

CHARACTER INFORMATION

STATS

JOB INFORMATION

NAME: Ashur [Dwarf - Halfkin]

STR 5

NONE (lv. 0)

LEVEL: 1

END 5

CLASS: None

DEX 5

TITLES: None

AGI 5

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GUILD: None

INT 5 (6)

HP: 200/200 (+5.2 /sec)

WIS 5

MP: 125/125 (+1.3 /sec)

LCK 1

It brought up all the information one wanted to know about themselves: a very simple setting that would be opaque but strong enough to allow someone to read it. During combat, or combat being initiated would automatically cause it to disappear unless the setting was disabled, though advised against. There were multiple tabs however where he could swap through them to get more information about things and bring up other parts of the system the adventurers would use.

It did still pull someone’s attention from their surroundings, making them easier to kill.

There was also the extra level of INT that he’d gained. That was awesome as well and gave him a burst of confidence for what he needed.

It did look like the job information window was empty. Studying it, it made Ashur realize it meant he would likely be able to have multiple jobs.

Oh. Sentient. His thoughts were briefly interrupted as he remembered the word from before, he had been looking for it but would take a deep breath out and focus once more, dismissing the window.

What Ashur didn’t realize that had happened was that when he had gained the extra intelligence, that his corporeal form also got smarter and his comprehension had as well.

It was something that he would come to learn meant that each stat point meant everything in the world. People could try to min-max and put everything into intelligence: wizards could have a lot of intelligence yet not the wisdom to use it, it was all great knowing the complexities of how mana was made, used and conjured: and none of the sense to apply it. The game’s systems were theorized to be in the millions of INT, if it were to be quantified. Nobody could reach that state of intelligence.

As a result, Alcatraz had managed to create a balanced system in which you had to raise things in moderation and fairly with one another.

Someone with all strength and no endurance could punch like a truck and break a brick wall: whereas no endurance would also break them alongside the brick wall.

Refinement was key.

What Ashur would learn later was that other stats could be learned or found and trained: things like leadership and haggling weren’t unachievable.

But the increasing options only emphasised the need for a balanced character. This is where the no lifers had come in, although it had been one year since the game had come out: it had been three in game.

Ashur was yet to find it, but there were also communities of people. Guilds in games and in real life: from monsters to goods to spawns to specific builds. A lot of it could be found online.

Some people wanted to be the best. Others wanted to game the system, others wanted to live a simple life. Others were even capable of applying their knowledge they had learned to make a living in game. A chef having come out of the game could also make things at a better quality than someone fresh into the job: while intelligence increased one’s capacity for understanding and comprehension, many people were already capable enough to perform those tasks with the knowledge (but not always the commitment or hard work to have learned it).

For now, Ashur was looking at his surroundings. He was in a Courtyard. Specifically, to the right of a concrete path that behind him would lead towards a door of a U-shaped building. It was a central square set outside a building – built into the walls was stained brick with an etched picture of a bygone saint in their world. The architectural design looked like that of a Tudor inspiration with stone fixed to grey brick and with a thatched roof.

It even seemed that the game spared no detail: the wind carried across the smell of food from afar and dust from below him, the sound of concrete crunching underneath his boots and the sound of running water in the background.

For the entirety of this time, Ashur hadn’t even paid attention to what he had been wearing, not even when he had been in the tutorial section.

For his short stature he was wearing black leather boots and trousers to match. He was also in a long-sleeved tee shirt that looked like the colour of brown dust itself, alongside a dark hempen cloak. The clothes itself were on the scratchy side and felt more like they had been made with the inside of a potato sack.

Ashur’s arrival had not gone unnoticed: the courtyard he stood in wasn’t that long nor wide, only divided by a small wooden gate closed before he had arrived.

But no sudden man nor woman would come running his way beckoning the attention of quests or making friendly talk – they just stopped to see the commotion. Seeing that Ashur looked back at them went about their day, though, perhaps due to his new race people would stare for a bit longer than what Ashur would’ve considered usual. This was not the case: it was merely a case of someone spawning in the area that drew the glances. Not the race.

‘That’s the look of someone tired of another’s shit.’ Ashur thought as he stared back at them until they moved on.