As consciousness came back to me, so did a feeling of unease. Maybe it was the fresh air, maybe it was the wind I felt maybe it was the fact hat I was waking up in a forest. Did I drink last night?

“Maybe I was in a dream,” I thought, "but no one is confused in dreams, maybe after you wake up from them."

The grass beneath my feet and the earthy scent in the air felt too real for this to be a dream, but the towering trees—massive like redwoods—and the sky with its strange, unnatural shade of blue told me something was very wrong.

As I started walking, I stepped on some acorn-like fruit, and the pain made it clear it was no dream. It could be some sort of afterlife, but I was really not much of a believer, and who arrives in heaven with no shoes on, just jeans and a black t-shirt? I didn't feel like I was on any drugs, so that left aliens kidnapping me, and that could go either way.

Suddenly, I saw a console-like message in my lower left:

“You have unlocked classes - Only Mage class available taking into account your stats.”

"What are my stats?" I asked, more rhetorically than anything.

I immediately got a screen replacing the last message.

Strength 5,

Agility 4,

Stamina 3,

Perception 2,

Intelligence 41,

Charisma 7,

Spirit 2,

Faith 0.

Well, scratch aliens off the list. Couldn't help but nervously laugh. So much for being an atheist, cause that stat being there kinda implies gods are real here, which is always bad news. Is there any story where the gods were not assholes?

On the other hand, why is intelligence that high? I mean, my mom always said I was the smartest, but even I knew she might have been exaggerating a bit. The other stats looked abysmal but that was only in comparison with the INT stat. Thank god there is no laziness, stat. I looked to the sky and laughed at my childish joke.

Well, it was obvious this wasn’t Earth, and this world seemed to have some kind of magic, probably gifted by a god or gods. As the saying goes, when in Rome.

"Accept the Mage class," I say aloud. A few seconds later, I got a new prompt:

“You are now a Mage, three spells will be provided to you. Do you have any preferences like offensive/defensive/utility?”

Like any guy, I’d played my fair share of games, so without overthinking it, I asked, "Details?" But nothing happened. After a few more attempts—Options, Preferences, Menu—I realized the system might not be that advanced after all.

After a few seconds, I relented and said "One of each?"

You have learned Lightning Bolt, Mana Shield, and Arcane Intellect.

I half expected to receive knowledge matrix-style on the spells, yet again nothing happened. So I shyly say out loud, "Arcane Intellect." I quickly check my stats, and I now had 46 Intelligence. Not bad, although without a point of reference kinda hard to tell if it's worth it. Guess this lack of information might be to discourage min-maxing.

Spotting a fallen tree a few meters ahead, I said, "Lightning Bolt..." glancing up, waiting for any sign of the spell. A few seconds went by, and still, nothing happened.

Changing my approach, I raised my right hand and again said, "Lightning Bolt."

To my utter amazement an actual electrical arc rushed towards the target connecting with it in a bright flash.

"Wait… did I just do that?"

I stared at my hand, half expecting it to burn or sizzle. But no, it felt fine—better than fine. I tried again, more intentionally this time. "Lightning Bolt!" Another spark. A bigger one. I couldn’t stop the grin that spread across my face. Excitement surged through me. I did it again and again, watching the charred tree trunk split and smolder. Was this real? Could I actually cast spells?

Part of me still clung to the idea that this was some kind of dream or drug-induced hallucination, and I was just playing along. But seeing the spell actually work snapped me into the realization that I might not be in Kansas anymore.

As the adrenaline began to fade, I started to realize this wasn’t all fun and games. It hit me just how easily I could kill someone with this spell. I definitely needed to learn better control.

Pointing my hand at the log with trepidation, I said, "Lightning Bolt" once more. This time, a much weaker version struck it, leaving only a black mark behind.

Relief washed over me as I realized I wasn’t just flinging raw power around anymore—I actually had control over it. After a few minutes and a couple of destroyed logs, I realized there was an intent component to the magic. If I aimed casually or without much thought, the results were weaker. But when I truly concentrated, visualizing the exact moment and impact of the lightning, the bolt struck with a much more satisfying crack.

The first hints of thirst reminded me that I no longer had the luxury of running water. Magic was incredible and all, but I still needed to eat and drink. So, for now, experiments would have to wait. After scanning the area for a path with a downward slope, I pressed on.

After what felt like hours, a stroke of luck finally came my way in the form of a small stream trickling before me. Lacking any containers to hold water for boiling, I decided to take my chances with it. It appeared clean enough, but more immediate concerns pressed on me—like the fading light and the creeping cold. My jeans, t-shirt, and bare feet weren’t going to offer much warmth, so I could only hope the nights here wouldn’t be too long or too cold.

After gathering a few strange purple leaves that seemed the thickest, I completed my makeshift bed. Then I found a sharp-ish stick and, celebrating my new weapon with another drink of water, tried to lean against a tree and get some rest. I thought about making a fire using my spell but decided against it. Who knew what creatures lurked in a world where magic was real?

Sleep, of course, eluded me. I wasn’t surprised—the slight chill, the uncomfortable bed of leaves, and the eerie moonlight casting odd shapes everywhere made it hard to relax enough for sleep to take hold. Not to mention, the whole "magic is real" thing. Still, I’d always been an optimist. I focused on the positives: sure, I was far from home, but magic had to make up for some of that. I wasn’t freezing to death, there were no creepy animal noises, and if fantasy stories were to be believed, I’d meet someone soon enough.

Realistically, I hoped there wouldn’t be a language barrier here—learning something like Elvish would be a real headache. Since sleep wasn’t coming anytime soon, I decided to experiment with my last spell. I said "Mana Shield" out loud, hoping for some sign it had worked. Nothing happened. No flashy lights, no magical glow, not even a breeze to suggest something had shifted. Assuming it might require mana, I tried to sense any change in myself, but every attempt to gauge this "mana" resource turned up empty. No inner reserve of energy I could tap into, no helpful HUD or status screen popping up to confirm whether the spell was active or not.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Was this supposed to be instinctual? Did I have to feel my way through it, like learning a skill in the real world? Maybe there were no shortcuts here, no game-like interface to make things easier. Frustration began to creep in. I couldn’t help but wonder if the spell was even working at all. Or maybe, I hadn’t activated it properly?

There was a simple way to test it, I suppose, so I picked up a few leaves and tossed them above my hand. To my surprise, they stopped just short of touching my skin, hovering in midair or more likely resting on the barrier the shield created. If this spell could block impacts the way it stopped the leaves—hopefully even stronger ones—it could be an incredible skill. Still, I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that there would be some serious drawbacks to using it.

After tossing a few more leaves, I realized this spell worked without me needing to say it out loud, and that saying it again canceled it. Remembering if it was on or off was going to be a hassle.

A sound jolted me awake from the tree my back had been resting against. Since I barely heard it, the direction of the noise eluded me. Tensing, I reached for the stick. Yes, I knew I now had an offensive spell, but after 27 years on a planet without magic, the stick offered me a sense of psychological comfort.

When the sound repeated, the direction became clear. The part of me that watched too many spoof horror movies screamed to go the other way, but I was beginning to understand the protagonists. Curiosity is a powerful thing, and I was all alone in a forest with no idea if there was an exit somewhere. Armed with my trusted stick and magic, I slowly made my way toward the sound.

Upon arriving at the source, I discovered three... wolf-sized armadillos surrounding a woman. The two dead creatures nearby suggested she hadn't been idle in her fight. However, her limp while retreating made it clear that she had faced some setbacks. After a brief moment of hesitation, I raised my hand and called out "Lightning Bolt," easily striking one of the distracted creatures. The armadillo whined and collapsed a few seconds later.

The other two looked at me, and as if sensing the tide was turning, made a quick retreat, finally giving me time to get a better look at the woman.

She was tall, athletic, with short light brown or black hair, hard to tell in the low light, almost touching her shoulders. She wore a backpack and clothes that seemed to have seen better days. Near her, a short sword like a gladius was dropped along with its scabbard. Surprisingly, there were no pointy ears.

Now the moment of truth. First impressions tend to be important, to say I was nervous would have been an understatement. Laying my stick on the ground, I raised my hands to shoulder height, palms open, and despite feeling a bit awkward, I couldn't resist saying, “I come in peace.”

I had expected there to be a language barrier, yet her quick response stunned me: “Well, you helped with that,” she said, pointing at the smoking corpse, “so I might be inclined to believe you.”

"You understand me?” I managed to respond after a lengthy pause on my part.

She grimaced as she checked her leg, “Why wouldn't I?” she said, like it would be the most obvious thing in the world but continued.

“Wait...don't tell me this is your first day here?” she continued and the question seemed more rhetorical that anything.

But I replied anyway, “In this forest, yes.” Surely, she didn't mean what I thought she did.

“I meant in this world.” she cleared it up.

Regaining my composure, I replied, “Well then, I’m guessing you won’t find it strange that I woke up on this planet just yesterday.” My tone was a mix of disbelief and humor.

“So just one day? And you’re already casting spells? Seems like you’ve adapted quite well,” she said, clearly surprised. “You wouldn’t happen to have a healing spell, would you? My leg is killing me.” However, I could tell she didn’t hold out much hope for that.

“No, sorry, I was given only three spells, didn’t even get to choose them.”

“At least you got one good spell,” she said while taking something from her backpack and spreading it on her wound, an ointment of some kind.

“So…” she said, glancing at me for a moment. “I imagine you have loads of questions, considering it’s your first day and all. Since you just helped me, the least I can do is answer them.” The last part came out in a high-pitched voice as she bandaged her wound, and it was clear that it hurt.

I did have questions, so I launched into them almost immediately “What’s the name of the planet? Can you get back home somehow? Where does magic come from? Are gods real here? And…sorry…What’s your name?” She held out a hand in a universal stop sign as I was starting another question.

"Easy there, maybe let me get some answers." she said.

“First, the planet? We call it Earth" she grimaced again while bandaging,"Getting back? Not that I know of."

Then gave me a bewildered look, "What do you mean, where does the magic come from? And yes, obviously gods are real,” she said, a little upset by the last part. “And my name is Alira.”

“Guess Earth is a logical name to call it,” I laughed, but it only lasted a moment as a touch of sadness washed over me. “Well, if I have to get stuck here, at least there’s magic.”

”You sound surprised!” she responded.

“Well, yeah, there is no magic where I’m from.”

“No magic? I have never heard of people coming from worlds with no magic. Sure, each world has a different spin on it, but actually no magic, damn, your world must be something else. Wait, don’t tell me your world doesn’t have gods either.” Her incredulity was visible.

“Not really, that's why I was asking because having a stat that says faith was …scary, to be honest,” yet the humor was clear in my tone.

“Well, you better start believing fast. Faith is the most important stat of them all, and you can’t fake it; believe me, I’ve tried, and I’m still single digits.” She was clearly a little bitter about the last part.

“Then I’m doomed because I have literally zero in Faith."

She joined me in laughing and managed to say between bouts, “Zero? That’s the funniest thing I heard in a long time.” She actually had little tears from so much laughter.

Starting to feel self-conscious, “Is it really that bad?”

Getting a little more self-control, she answered, “Well, normally I would say yes, cause all of the classes require at least some faith, with the exception of Mages, which I’m assuming you are?”

"So that's why I only had the Mage class to choose from?" it did feel like I was cheated on with no other class options.

She nodded then continued, “All classes, how shall I put it, scale with two stats. In my case, agility and faith. You can train agility, however faith requires actual devotion to do so. It’s way harder to scale since you have to train in meditation and asceticism bullshit.” She did seemed really touchy about that subject but carried on, “Mages, since they don’t need faith, scale only with Intelligence, but scale double off that. But the bad part is, Intelligence is in some ways even harder to scale than Faith. At least with Faith, you know what you have to do, but no one really knows how to increase intelligence after a certain point. That’s why people rarely pick mage; you just hit a plateau fast. There is only so much you can learn.”

I started to get a little suspicious because of her single digits faith comment. “What is the level people usually plateau in intelligence?” trying to make it sound like a normal question.

By her tone, she didn’t read too much into my question. “Obviously, people might lie about it, so a definite number is impossible to give, but 20 is an average accepted number.” The shock must have been visible on my face or she was a very good observer. “What? …how much intelligence do you have?”

“I’d rather not answer that question.” I said sheepshly.

“By Elune, you don’t seem embarrassed but modest! You have over 20? You don’t look like an old, white-haired, slightly crazy Wizard.”

I shrugged. “Guess when you don’t have magic, you have to compensate with something else.”

“Fine, keep your secrets,” she said, half smiling while checking on her leg. The wound looked better already. Seeming pleased with the progress of the healing, she got up. “It was an interesting conversation, but that ointment was not cheap, I’ll tell you that. So I have to go find some materials to at least come out even.”

“Can I come?” pointing at my lack of shoes, “Some money sounds very good, or do they give stuff away free for good looks on this world?”

She almost had to sit from the laughter but regained her composure. “You should stick to hard coin, though since you helped me and all that, I’ll buy you a pair of nice shoes and call us even.”

“That seems more than fair to me.”

“Follow me ...” she paused looking at me then continued with a grin, "What should I call you? Armadillo slayer?"

Facepalming, I responded, "I'm so sorry. I forgot to introduce myself, I was just so caught up in the questions, my name is Tiberius."

"Come then, Tiberius, slayer of exactly one Armadillo." she said with a smile.

I couldn't help but notice she had a very nice smile.