Chapter Four: Entirely Average
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“How do I answer?” he asked aloud, his voice trembling.
His eyes darted over the blocks. He found one depicting flames and smoke.
“There! It’s fire.”
He placed the block into the first slot, and a soft click resonated through the chamber. The walls paused momentarily, then resumed their ominous advance.
The board shimmered again, presenting a new challenge:
“I am taken from the earth, placed in a wooden case where I am never truly free. I am used every day, and with each use, a part of me dies, yet I serve until nothing remains. What am I?”
His mind raced. What could it be? The walls inched closer, the air growing thin. “Lead!” he exclaimed, choosing a block with the shape of a pencil etched in.
Another soft click. The board shimmered once more.
“I’m light as a feather, yet the strongest man cannot hold me for long. What am I?”
Jason’s patience wavered. Frustration grew.
What is this trial? What is the point of this?
He felt suffocated as the walls came ever closer.
Memories of his foster parents came unbeckoned - the warmth of their kitchen, the comforting aroma of freshly baked treats. Baking had always been his solace, a ritual demanding precision and patience. He recalled their gentle guidance, anchoring him in the present, curbing his tendency to either shut down or explode. Alex had been the calm one, the steady force in the storm. But Jason, he was always the storm itself.
Jason remembered a time when they let him help. He couldn’t have been older than seven and he’d accidentally poured salt instead of sugar into the banana bread. Food was scarce since the War. He was on the verge of crying, shouting, or throwing the pan in frustration.
“If you ever feel lost and overwhelmed,” they had told him, “or have an urge to run or react, just stop for a moment. Take a deep breath and make a cup of tea. Then, tackle the problem one piece at a time.”
Remarkably, they ate that cake, salty as it was. It tasted terrible, but in that moment they carved out a slice of happiness together. A tear traced its way down his face. He hadn't thought of that moment in years.
He closed his eyes, drawing in a deep breath. He didn’t have any ingredients for tea, so the breath would have to do.
And then he saw it - a picture of someone breathing on one of the blocks. The answer to the riddle.
“Breath!” He took the corresponding block and placed it in the third slot with a click.
“I can do this. Alex would tell me not to give up.”
With renewed determination, he scanned the blocks. The board shimmered again:
“What has keys but can't open locks, space but no room, and you can enter but not go outside?”
He hesitated, the walls now brushing his shoulders. Then, clarity struck. Easy.
“A keyboard.” He slotted the block into the fourth slot.
He channeled the same patience and care he used in baking into solving the puzzle.
The next riddle appeared:
“I can fly without wings. I can cry without eyes. Wherever I go, darkness resides. What am I?”
Jason’s heart pounded. Shadows twisted around him, whispering threats of failure. Sweat dripped from his brow.
“A cloud!” He realized. As he placed the block, the device glowed, the symbols aligning perfectly.
No new riddle arrived.
He watched, breath held, but the walls continued their relentless advance. Anger surged through him—there were six slots, but only five riddles. He clenched his fists as the walls pressed closer. Desperation clawed at his mind, urging him to panic, but he forced himself to stay calm. He scanned the remaining blocks and his eyes fell on a blank one.
It didn’t make sense. Only five riddles had been provided. The walls were nearly upon him now, squeezing the air from the room. With a mixture of frustration and determination, he grabbed the blank piece and placed it in the last slot.
The walls halted their advance, and the sound of grinding stone filled the room as a door at the far end creaked open. The door beckoned him to the next trial.
Wisdom, Intelligence, and Luck Calibrated
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Initiating Strength, Dexterity and Constitution Assessment
The world around him shifted into an abyss of shadows.
A panel in the middle of space opened slowly, a blinding light pouring out and cutting through the void. From the panel, a white rabbit emerged. It seemed innocent enough, a fluffy bundle with a twitching nose, but Jason sensed the sinister truth.
If there was one thing that Jason knew from old movies is that that was no bunny. That was a death machine masquerading in a cloak of cuteness.
The bunny halted, its crimson eyes boring into Jason. In a heartbeat, it became a blur of fangs and claws, hurtling toward him. He threw himself aside, the creature's teeth snapping inches from his neck. He hit the ground with a crunch, cracking black tile beneath him.
Scrambling to his feet, Jason's heart hammered. The bunny turned with eerie precision, its eyes alight with malice. It sprang at him again, and he lashed out, his boot connecting and sending the bunny skidding across the floor. But it twisted in mid-air, landing gracefully, its furry fury undiminished. It dove at him again, this time tearing a chunk from his leg and knocking him to the floor.
Blood trickled from the gash in his leg, but there was no time for pain. Jason grabbed a shard of shattered tile, clutching it like a makeshift dagger. The bunny's claws raked his arm, leaving deep, burning wounds. He gritted his teeth, the taste of iron mingling with fear.
He stood and they circled each other, a deadly dance of predator and prey. Jason was obviously the prey. His breath came in ragged gasps, his vision swimming. The bunny's relentless assault was taking its toll, but surrender wasn't an option.
With a last, desperate surge, Jason tackled the creature, pinning it beneath him. It thrashed and snapped, but he held fast, leveraging his weight to keep it down. Raising the tile high, he drove it into the bunny's chest. It screeched, a nightmarish sound that reverberated off the walls.
Blood sprayed as he stabbed again and again, driven by sheer survival instinct. At last, it fell still, its death throes echoing in the silence.
Jason slumped beside the lifeless form, his body a canvas of pain and blood. A prompt appeared:
You have defeated the Bronze One Rank monster, Wittle White Bunny Wabbit.
He staggered to his feet, dragging himself toward the door. But just as he reached for the handle, a chilling noise stopped him in his tracks—a low, guttural growl. He turned, dread coiling in his gut.
The bunny’s corpse twitched, spasmed, then convulsed violently. Its fur began to rot away, revealing patches of decayed flesh and exposed bone. Eyes that had once held malevolent cunning now glowed with an eerie, unholy light. The creature reanimated, its claws sharper, its fangs longer, and a foul stench of decay filling the air.
A Zombunny?
Jason’s blood ran cold. The zombunny lunged at him with renewed ferocity, an undead nightmare given life. He barely dodged out of the way. The creature's claws swiped at him, catching his side and tearing through flesh.
Pain flared, but adrenaline surged. Jason swung with all his might, catching the zombunny across the face. It howled, a sound of pure torment and rage. But the zombunny didn’t relent.
Jason tripped backward, his breath ragged, his body trembling. As he pulled himself to his feet, a grim determination settled in his bones. If he could conquer this horror, he was ready for anything this twisted world had in store.
Looking up, Jason saw the creature was gone, hidden in one of the many shadows of the room. Determined to end this nightmare, he stood, eyes scanning the room for any sign of the zombunny. But the chamber was silent. There was no sign of the creature anywhere.
A chill ran down his spine. His instincts screamed at him to move, but he couldn’t see the threat. Then, a soft, sinister rustle came from above. He looked up to find the zombunny flying towards his face, its undead form descending like a harbinger of doom. Before he could react, its claws and fangs met their mark.
[YOU HAVE DIED]
[YOU HAVE RESPAWNED]
The monster had vanished and Jason was alone again, fully healed, staring at a blue screen with white writing.
Assessment Complete
You qualify to choose from the following races: Human.
Attributes and race are based on performance and current assessment of mental and physical tolerances:
* Strength: 9
* Dexterity: 11
* Intelligence: 12
* Wisdom: 12
* Constitution: 8
* Charisma: 8
* Luck: 10
Achievement Unlocked - Entirely Average
Congratulations, you are entirely average. Your total attributes earned combined are 70, averaging 10 per attribute (the earth average).
Plus 5% chance you will be overlooked while in a crowd.
“Well, that’s stupid,” he muttered. “Not much of a choice, then.” He selected human, feeling a surge of energy and light as the system processed his “choice”.
Character Creation Complete. Please stand by while you are transported to Terra Mythica.
As Jason waited for the Terra Mythica loading sequence to finalize, he couldn't help but marvel at how far technology had come. During the Great War, an AI virus had spread through everything connected to the internet, leading to the largest technological purge in human history. To stop the virus, humanity had destroyed everything operating on binary code—computers, flash drives, and even old DVDs, just in case the virus had infiltrated them.
Print media, vinyl records, cassette tapes, and surviving VHS cassettes were all that remained. For fifty years, computers were banned. Technology only made a comeback with the advent of Excelsior Tech, introducing a new system impervious to malicious AI. The Internet had been replaced by the Grid, accessible only through Excelsior technology. And all the old VHSs were uploaded.
Jason compared the sleek prompts and immersive attributes of Terra Mythica to the old movies he'd watched on VHS. He didn't have video games, but some movies had shown technology at its pre-war height. He remembered one where two teens created a living, breathing woman using a computer. Another depicted a kid almost starting a global thermonuclear war by playing tic-tac-toe with an AI. And then there was the historic recounting of people getting zapped into game machines to fight as digital gladiators.
He thought back to the times he and his twin brother would watch the holo discs together. They must have seen the masterpiece Double Dragon a hundred times. Now, here he was, immersed in a virtual reality that finally caught up with the incredible technology of the 1980s and 90s.