Another world calls. Do you accept?
Yes No
Scott took only two seconds to process the strange window, before thrusting his finger into the bold YES floating before him.
"Anywhere but here."
And then, in a flash of light, he was gone.
----------------------------------------
How much time had passed? He had no idea, but excitement tingled in every single part of his body. He had read the stories before, and knew the opportunity that was given to him. A new world, the ability to grow in measurable ways, a fresh start. He took the moment he had to take stock of where he had woken up. Waves met sparkling pink sand, a small forest stretched behind him, and the beach curved away to either side. He took a moment to simply absorb the sound of the ocean lapping against the shore, the wind blowing through the branches. He took a deep breath, then called for what he hoped would be a close friend in this new realm.
Name: Scott Lvl: 1 HP: 12/12 MP: 1/1 Str: 7 Int: 10 Dex: 14 Wil: 6 Con: 12 Mag: 0 Status: None
"Urgh." It seemed like the transportation he accepted didn't modify his old form all that much. He felt somewhat hurt by the assessment before him, but there was a whole lot more that he needed to figure out from this screen alone. Why was his magic stat zero? Everything else was straightforward. Health, Mana, Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Willpower, nothing unusual or difficult to determine from what he had read before, and as much as it hurt those stat assignments were probably fair. After taking a moment to digest this information, he decided that Mag was perhaps zero due to magic not existing as a true force in his old life. That would need to be remedied, since it was clearly affecting his mana capacity as well.
He moved on to the next thing he had to see if this world's system or whatever it's official name would end up being had skills:
Skill Title Rarity Description Use Mode Dilation Common Speed up your perception and reaction time, causing time to appear to slow by 10x for you. Lasts 5 seconds. Active: 1 MP
Oooh. It wasn't some super rare mega skill, but did this mean Scott was some sort of Time Mage? He hoped so. That would be an incredible starting skillset, however hindered by his lackluster magic stat he might be. The description could do with some clarification, though. Lasts 5 seconds from how he perceived things, or real time? That would be the difference between him experiencing half a second as 5 seconds vs experiencing 5 seconds as 50. That could be figured out later, though. From here, it seemed like there was nothing to but go find where he would be staying for the time being. That part might be difficult, without any sort of magic skill or change in stats, his skillset and physique wasn't suited for the kind of things this world would likely ask of him labor-wise. Undeterred, he moved onwards into the forest, eager to find civilization and begin this new life with a bang. Walking into the tree line, Scott took in the environment. The beach was gorgeous, though rather devoid of any notable life. The forest hummed around him, however. He could see insects all around him, and heard the occasional skittering and dashing figure of some sort of small mammal. It never stayed still or let itself be exposed for long enough that Scott could assess what it was, but it all seemed harmless so far. He rolled his shoulders and geared up for a bit of a walk until he found a town or village of some description.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
----------------------------------------
Status obtained: Hunger
Maybe Scott should have eaten or packed or... anything before hitting that button. He had walked for a bit now, and hadn't found any sign of sentient life. However, he did see a break in the tree line coming up...
Was that the shore?
There was no way Scott got turned around. He was certain of the fact that he had walked in a straight line, but sure enough, the pink sands of the beach stretched before him. "Guess I spawned on a peninsula or something. No big deal." He turned to his right and moved back into the forest, setting off at an angle from where he came through to avoid retracing his steps. This should get him going inland.
----------------------------------------
The smell of salt was beginning to grate on Scott's nerves. After four hours of travelling, he had done nothing but walk through the forest a bunch and encounter the sea three times. At least, this meant there was only one more cardinal direction to head in, but there was a sinking feeling that Scott did not like in the slightest. He began to feel dizzy and his breathing grew erratic for a moment, but he stopped to reassure himself. He had this under control. Fresh start. Just have to find civilization, even just a single hut would do for the time being.
----------------------------------------
As he travelled through the forest, he encountered a small spring bubbling up and forming a small creek. It wouldn't do for him to die of thirst before his adventure began, so he took this moment to stop at the spring and drink up. The water was mildly dirty, but water was water and Scott was thirsty. That was when he heard a rustling behind him. Quickly pivoting, he saw a pair of eyes looking out at him from the brush. That couldn't be good. Quietly, and as slowly as possible, Scott lifted his foot to begin back pedaling...
That was when the creature lunged. A large beast, lithe like a tiger or panther but with a long muzzle and general demeanor of a canine, lunged from the brush.
Activated: Dilation
The time had to be used carefully. He had to run, and though his first instinct was to continue backpedaling, he needed to get out of the way of this lunge. Planting his raised leg firmly down, he tried to launch himself into the woods. In slow motion, Scott watched as he slowly began to sail into the air, away from the creature's path... just a bit too slowly. The creature's claws made quick work of his pants, rending it and giving Scott a nasty cut across his thigh, but it wasn't enough to stop him from flying into the woods, taking off into this brush as time began to resume it's normal flow. 5 seconds his time, then. Not wanting to waste even a single second, Scott did his best to ignore the searing pain in his left leg as he took off into the woods. Hopefully recovering from that miss would take long enough that the creature wouldn't be able to track the scent and resume the hunt...
----------------------------------------
Scott fell to his knees. After another 2 hours of walking in intense pain, he saw what he feared most. The ocean. Again. He would have to walk the shoreline for quite awhile to verify it, but... the signs seemed pretty clear. It was an island. An apparently uninhabited one.