Vitality And Spirit Fully Restored

“What in the hell-?!”

Darting up at the sound of a small ding that seemed to resound within the bounds of my very skull as much as it did my ears, I quickly came to realize that things were decidedly not right. For one, the things jutting into my back weren’t the familiar but similarly uncomfortable springs of my mattress. Second of all, it was way too chill despite the three different suns glaring into my face. 

And lastly, I had no damn clothes on!

Scrabbling up with a surge of panic and confusion, I dug my hands into the loose gravel as I pushed myself upwards into a sitting position. All around me, trees of various types and colors jutted high up into the sky, and I could feel my jaw hanging open as I gaped. Off to the side  there was actually a rather pleasant looking stream that gurgled as it rolled down hill, and it was downhill. Because wherever in the hell I was -which wasn’t my bedroom, somehow- the stream cut through a small forest clearing that parted to show the view below.

It was breathtaking, and only just added to the shock, because the stream rolled downwards at a small incline, large enough that the parted trees displayed the absolutely gorgeous sight of a mountain basin below. Sucking in my breath,I just looked around wildly, completely and utterly lost. Where in the hell was I? Where did my clothes go? How did I end up on a goddamn mountain?!

Wait.

Three suns? 

That thought seemed to penetrate my mind, and my neck whipped upwards as I goggled. It took a moment, because I had to squint to make sure. What tipped me off was the brightness, it was a bit too large and seemed to fluctuate. But when I managed to pierce through the glare, I just had to stop and stare. 

Because hanging there up in the sky were three different brilliant orbs of light, all different sizes and colors. While at first it was hard to tell, after a couple seconds of adjusting, the sky seemed to warp and become distorted in certain sections, the typical blue giving way to different colors.

By far the largest and most normal was the blazing, golden disc, or at least I assumed it was golden because it didn’t look any different than what I was used to. Then, there was a slightly smaller and more distant looking sun with a green tint, that I could only tell was green because it was dimmer than the first. It had a verdant-like look about it, fresh and airy. Lastly, in the back, or so I guessed, was a smaller, sparklingly vibrant sun that blazed a brilliant violet that was both alluring and ephemeral. 

The effects of the three different suns was surprisingly little, as the rest of the sky was the regular familiar blue. But still. Three suns.

Three!

“Where in the fuck am I?!” The words felt like a shout from my chest, but they came out as nothing but a choked whisper.

Mouth dry and jaw somewhat slack, the disorientation of it all had me finally look away from the view. In its place, I turned… And saw the thing that had woken me up in the first place.

Health and Spirit Restored

ERROR

Comprehension Anomaly

Starting Soul Synchronicity

It was a screen, of some sorts, that was barely there. Somehow, despite being entirely solid, it did nothing to obscure my view of everything behind it, and on the screen were… Odd, unknown symbols I had never seen before in my life. Somewhat impressive, because while I only knew one language, I knew enough about the development of linguistics and writing to have a decent understanding of most letter systems in the world.

Of course, then the symbols seemed to glitch out, like they were under some form of attack. Fading out for a moment, before parts of the symbols stretched past the screen in different directions, breaking apart before snapping back into shape. It did that a couple of times, until letters I could understand began to take form, spelling out a rather confusing message.

Part of me took note of the weird symbols, before they shifted into familiar words, and I groaned. No. No. Noooooooo! Don’t tell me. There was no way it could be something like this!

Fuck!

Letting out a curse, I hopped up and stumbled towards the nearby stream. Things were beginning to click together and I did not like the picture that was being painted. Idly, as I made my way to the stream, I noticed that I lacked the typical, slight limp I had grown accustomed to. Years ago, I’d ended up with a slight hobble after a certain incident with a high impact tree. And as I shambled to look into the reflective waters of the stream, I confirmed my thoughts.

This wasn’t my body.

In a way, it was, but it also wasn’t. Staring out from the water was a face that was mine, yet not. Have you ever thought about what you looked like? My reflection in the water was kind of like that. That kind of mental picture of ourselves and others, that was close to what we actually looked like, but wasn’t. Simple, small, minor things, that we just paid no attention to at the moment, because we thought of facial features in general terms and not specifics.

Or at least, most of us do, I wasn’t going to say every single person was like that. But most.

That’s what I saw in the water. At first, it wasn’t too apparent. But the more I looked, the more I noticed. My face was… Smooth. Smoother than it should have been. Especially my jawline. I hated facial hair, and I made sure to shave as smooth as I could. So, when I thought of myself, I never thought of having a beard or anything like that, and now it seemed I wouldn’t ever have to. A single reach up confirmed I couldn’t feel any kind of follicles along my face.

The rest of my body was similarly smooth. None of the surgical scars from old hospital stays. Those freckle like birthmarks I always forgot about on my chest. Or that old splotch of off-white skin from where I’d burnt myself from a campfire. Or... Or, or, or. There were any number of things, but the biggest aside from that was…

I was skinny as hell, and all muscle. Despite what that sounded like, it wasn’t like that. I wasn’t suddenly buff or athletic. But it was like all the excess had been peeled away, and only what was useful and usable had been left. Coming from a 21st century first world country and not being some sort of bodybuilder or athlete, that meant the small bit of muscle I had left me looking almost weirdly emaciated. Sure, I hadn’t been in the best of shape, but I hadn’t been fat, either. Still, I was pretty damn sure I was like, 80 or 90 pounds at most right now.

“Alright, shit, shit, shit… Stuck in the middle of nowhere, different world, seeming game mechanics. Ugh! Knowing my luck this isn’t a typical dumb overpowered Iskekai Scenario!” I rubbed my palm against my face as I glared at the screen. After a moment, I swiped at it, having to repeat the motion a couple times before it finally went away. Frustration and anger bubbled up within me, and I focused on it.

It was better that than the slowly rising feeling of unease and panic that lurked beneath.

Breathing in, I looked around more slowly this time, taking everything in. I was definitely on a mountain. How big of one, I couldn’t tell, but the ones I could see on the other side of the basin seemed fairly tall. About as tall as some of the ones back home, anyway. Really, more concerning was the lack of any signs of civilization at the base of the mountains. From here, I could see a small lake, but no matter how I looked at the edges of it…

Nothing.

Worse, the trees around here were unfamiliar. They looked a bit like large oaks, and few maples and pines, but they were off. The bark on some of them being just a bit darker than they should be, carrying a sort of burnt orangish hue here and there. The needles on the pines were a bit too thick and large, and the maple-like trees had the right kind of bark, but the leaves looked a bit different. Honestly, I wouldn’t be able to tell a damn thing if my grandfather hadn’t taken the time to point out the different kinds of trees around where I lived.

It was the same with the plants, but worse. Unlike with trees, I had at least a decent understanding of a lot of different plants. Sort of. I was no expert, but I’d done a lot of research on important plants and such in various cultures for a few essays here and there. Probably the biggest had been anything that had required reading Pliny the Elder, and that one weird Mithridates dude. So, basically, I had a lot of half remembered knowledge on different plants, but most of it was muddled and I knew the names more than the specific descriptions, but at least it was something.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Either way, it was enough to tell me I had no clue what most of these plants were.

Biting my lower lips, I looked around, before slowly moving to pick up a couple rocks. Then, I moved towards the edge of the trees, and I began to test the branches. I barely knew what in the hell I was doing, but after a couple minutes, I figured the oak looking one had the best bounce to firmness ratio and I snapped a couple branches off. Another few minutes, and I had a couple long sticks.

Okay. I was in another world. I had no clothes. No supplies. Nothing to tell me where I was. And no idea how far away any kind of civilization was, or if any even existed. 

There was a good chance I would die out here, so whatever the hell I felt about the situation, I needed to look at it rationally.

“Get ahold of yourself-” I paused halfway through my muttering, cut off mid sentence by a sudden, shar blank. For a couple seconds, my mouth kept working, trying to make shapes as no sound escaped. I’d just been about to admonish myself, but… 

What was my name?

In fact, as I thought about it, I realized I couldn’t remember my family’s names eithers. Not my dad’s nor my mother’s or sister’s. Even though I could clearly remember spending time with my grandfather learning about the woods in our backyard, even though I could all but see his face, his name escaped me even as the knowledge he imparted came readily.

Taking a shuddering, horrified, shaky gasp of air, I forced my way past the issue.

I could worry about everything else later. First, I needed to make sure I could survive. That meant I’d need to find shelter, but before even that, I had no idea what else was out here with me. No matter how inexperienced I was with all of this, all that history research at least gave me some basic idea of what to do.

Right. So, I had a couple usable sticks. I actually knew how to make a bow, another thing my gramps had taught me when I was younger. Unfortunately, I’d need to wait to make one. Instead, I had to dig up a couple plants and then use a rock to sort of… Gut them? All I knew was that I needed the fibers. To my surprise, after digging them up and going through them, another screen popped into my vision.

Gardening Lv 1 Learned

Neat, but not really useful at the moment. It did remind me that I had that to deal with at some point too. A system like this typically indicated a sort of automated global ruleset operations akin to game mechanics, but I had no idea what that entailed. I didn’t know a lot of things. That lack of knowledge made me take another deep breath, hands shaking as I tried to find the right parts of the plant.

Again, it took awhile, and I wasn’t entirely happy with how shabby it turned out, but I’d managed to find enough fibers. Then, I’d twisted them together, waving them into a tight, but thin strap of rope. That was the first part done.

Next, I spent another few minutes banging rocks together like I was a goddamn caveman. Angling the strikes and using rocks that were thinner and smaller so I could angle them into a point on both ends. After around maybe half an hour, I had two shoddy, but hopefully usable spears and I was ready to move.

Weaponcraft Lv 1 Learned

Using what was left of the plant fibers to make a sort of sling to holster the spears on, I flung them around my back and stood up. It was time to find some shelter.

Then, after that, I could contemplate why I couldn’t remember the names of any of the people I knew, let alone myself.

I lucked out. Majorly.

Whether or not it was some deliberate act of god or gods, or whoever in the hell was in charge here, or just pure chance, I didn’t know. But seeing as I saw no towns at the base of the mountain, well... I’d followed the stream up, hoping maybe there might be something on the other side. Not that I’d gotten there, but several miles further up the stream and some aching feet later, I did find some shelter.

A small cavern entrance, set into a very small cliff face that water poured down the side of several meters away. The entrance was large enough for me to slip inside, but small enough to keep out predators. Larger ones, anyway. As I crept through into the tunnel, I frowned as I kept my eyes to the ground and above.

No bats, but it didn’t take me long to find that a snake had holed itself up in here. I could barely make it out from the sunlight streaming in from the entrance, but it seemed like it was alone. All I had to do was jab it with the spear. Luckily for me, the thing seemed to be sleeping, so I had enough time to line my shot up and then just thrust the spear forward. Like a bolt, my arm snapped forward and the knapped spear tip sank straight through the thing’s scales and impaled it.

I had to frown and hold it up as the snake let out a frantic hiss of surprise, writhing as it died. The thing was fairly large, to be honest, clearly an adult. Or at least I hoped it was an adult, because it was as thick as my arm, and the way it shifted in pain was enough to break the twine keeping the bits of my spear together before it finally dropped down onto the ground, motionless.

5 Exp Gained

Another notice. I probably should really figure that out, but I’d been focused more on finding shelter first. Weird game like experience mechanics could come later.

However, letting out a sigh, I figured that later was now. This small dank cave was about as good as I was going to get, or so I figured. The snake wasn’t much, but a few dry branches to start a small fire going and I could roast it. Hopefully, anyway. I didn’t have much hope for my first attempt at skinning something.

Leaning back against the cave wall, I slumped down and focused on the sensation of those… Pop ups.

“Menu. Info? Status?” I echoed, wincing at the sudden flaring of a mental screen in my vision. That it somehow took up center place in my field of view without obscuring anything was making my head hurt, but I tried to ignore it.

Name: Forgotten Level 1

Race: Human Profession: Health: 100% Mana: 100% Experience: 5/1000   Brawn: 3 Agility: 5 Vitality: 4 Spirit: 9 Cunning: 13 Knowledge: 22     Gardening LV 1

Weaponcraft LV 1

    Stranger

Well. That was fairly straight forward. That there was no set value for health or mana was interesting, however. Actually, if there was mana, that would imply that there was something akin to magic. Or at least, something to use mana on. I couldn’t deny some part of me felt excited by that, and I did my best to focus on that.

Now that I was out of immediate danger and had a moment to rest, it was getting hard not to think about the reality of the situation. But I knew it wouldn’t do me any good. Nothing productive would come from wallowing, and I needed to have a clear head to survive. So, instead, I pushed any such thoughts to the side. Deep and all the way back in my head, where the little voices gibbering about how I was all alone, and that my family was a literal world away, and that I had nothing, all of that, was pushed into a dark, tiny box where I wouldn’t hear it.

Taking a deep breath and ignoring how I shuddered, it was just the cold, I considered the rest of the sheet. Studiously, I ignored the part of my sheet with the blaring letters of ‘Forgotten.’

Magic. That… that could be a thing. I’d always fantasized about magic, and the thought of actually having it was mind blowing. It made my heart race, and my lips tugged at the corners. Of course, before that, I’d have to find a way towards civilization. At least if this system followed the typical course for its style, then my stats were well suited towards a magic build.

It was a bit off, that my stats were so lopsided, but then again, I couldn’t really call them wrong. Again, while I wasn’t exactly out of shape, I didn’t have much muscle either. Compared to the things I knew and had studied at random, however, then it made sense I would be more heavily scaled towards the mental. Still, in the situation I was in… Hopefully, just doing things would raise my stats a bit.

I figured I’d need them.

“But what is Stranger?” I wondered aloud, focusing on the word below my skills. I had an inkling, but to my surprise, as I focused, the word seemed to enlarge as another screen popped into my vision.

Stranger:

One unfamiliar to the System.

Well. That was…

“Exceedingly unhelpful.” I muttered at the vague string of words, brows furrowing. Some sort of Perk or some such then, though the exact effects would be up in the air. If there were others that could be gained, I could compare them then. Vague as it was, though, I could intuit a few things.

When I’d woken up, there had been that notice about comprehension and synching my soul or some such. Combined with that Perk, obviously I was just as new to the system as the system was to me. What that meant was still up in there air, but I could make a few guesses based on the way these things typically went. For now, though, a few things were clear.

I was all alone out here. I was noticed by the system, but had no idea how it worked. There was no handy nearby guide. Nothing but that one Perk on my screen that didn’t seem to do much. To the System or wherever it called itself, I wasn’t special beyond that. Without a frame of reference for my stats, I wasn’t sure how I stacked up, but I felt normal. I wasn’t suddenly super strong or smart.

So, practically speaking, I was fucked. Stuck in the wilderness with nothing but this new system, my wits and what little I knew about hunting and trees.

If I was going to survive, I’d need to adapt. And quick.