---James---

< Mike (From Work) 📞

----------------------------------------

4:39pm

Hey man, what’s up?

4:58pm

noticed yh left work early today – you good? I saw sarge rinse you – dick – hope yh didn’t take it to hard.

Honestly mike? No bullshit? Okay, I keep feeling like I want to die. Its not like I’m suicidal or anything, I’m just so bored and hollow constantly and its getting kind of exhausting. I need money to live and exist. I need a job to get that money. I hate my job obviously, but everyone hates their job so…its not like my case is any special, I’m just being weak/whiny about it. I just don’t want to exist anymore y/k? I don’t want to work. But yeah I’m good, don’t worry. [Send]

James stared up at the dim screen of his Android for a longer amount of time than usual. He imagined what it would be like to hit send, what the closest thing to a work friend he had would do…

The moment passed.

James breathed in deeply, then shifted his thumb to the backspace – holding it till his overdramatic search for attention disappeared.

James cracked his constantly sore fingers and responded for “real”.

< Mike (From Work) 📞

----------------------------------------

4:39pm

Hey man, what’s up?

4:58pm

noticed yh left work early today – you good? I saw sarge rinse you – dick – hope yh didn’t take it to hard.

5:05pm

Yeah, Just tired. See you tmr.

Enter message

No one has any business whining to work friends. Especially such fragile ones…don’t want to drive him away with my unimportant thoughts and all that.

James’s phone slipped out of his hand the moment he hit send – dropping down beside his head and bouncing against his ear as he lost the energy to hold it.

His arm flopped down to his side with all the energy of a wet noodle and he stared up at the stained ceiling in his apartment.

Should I masturbate?

No…that’s too much effort.

Dinner?

…Meh.

James sighed at himself and closed his eyes for a minute.

A buzz from his phone vibrated against his ear. A response! …he ignored it.

A second buzz came through and James opened his eyes.

Directly in the center of his vision a single blue box floated – menacingly and silent.

Looking for a change?

Want a fresh start? A clean slate?

A world of magic and science, wonder and excitement is but a click away.

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Simply click yes to confirm the terms and conditions of this offer – act fast! Slots are limited!

Yes No

Blinking half asleep by this point, James squinted and read the floating words.

“What?”

Clicking yes before he realized what he was doing, James felt his finger tug slightly and then pass through the panel. A single haptic twitch as it passed through the screen and then both were gone.

The panel, his finger. The whole room behind it as well now that James thought about it.

The exact moment his finger connected, all senses left James’s being and a stream of information began to reel into his brain. A cacophonous din of lights and sounds and thoughts and rules and conditions and conditions to those conditions and secondary information needed to understand those conditions and…

All this information was roughly shoved towards James’s mind, with no real effort spent towards letting him actually think about it.

It was too much.

Too much information to fully process, given in too little an amount of time to process it in.

A normal human mind couldn’t hold onto this and so it didn’t. Instead, the information shot directly to one's soul and his being looked it over – understanding everything on an abstract level for the briefest of moments.

James’s soul understood what was being offered – both the good and bad laid out on an abstract level for the tiniest slivers of moments.

The soul accepted and faded away.

The Terms Of System vanished.

And information began to fall apart as whatever mechanism pushing it forward disappeared.

In this moment, as James’s consciousness slipped into nothing, his conscious mind clung to scraps of TOS valiantly attempting to make sense of what his soul had accepted.

The only useful scraps his mind could gather were bits and pieces James found most important. The only scraps he really needed to know. The personal highlight of the contract.

…This is a fresh slate in a world that hasn’t yet stratified…

…No boon the system gives you can be taken away without your consent – even by the system itself. Every moment of your effort will be rewarded. Every drop of work and hardship will be paid in full…

…To ease you into said world there will be a tutorial of sorts, with preset paths limiting your options. If you try and succeed, your life will be your own however, to do with as you wish…

...

James awoke standing up.

He felt different, weaker in some ways, stronger in others. Nothing bad and nothing massive…but enough of a change – enough smaller changes – that it was the first thing he noticed. It felt strange – the changes really should have been explored more – but more important than any of that was his current situation.

He was standing up.

Realizing that fact made him stumble and sway – the disorientation of ‘not having any disorientation’ hit him hard and nearly caused him to fall over.

Catching his balance, James looked around and noticed others all wearing grey pants and shirts.

Many of these ‘others’ were stumbling – glazed eyes suddenly opening wide in panic or shock at being transported somewhere without remembering it, their arms windmilling to stay upright.

His excitement peaked in these first few moments – a rush of more ‘feeling’ than he had felt in quite some time. A rush of something new, of adventure, of fantasy and a hint at something more – wonder coursed briefly through his veins before slowly, ever so slowly, beginning to dry up.

And then it nearly completely disappeared as he looked around further and started to realize everything looked…normal?

This…this isn’t right?

For some reason, some deep part of him had been expecting he would be transported to some forest full of dangerous monsters to fight.

He would be given some [fireball] spell. A sword and provisions. He would shortly meet an elf and save her from a wild pack of goblins, then later she would show her thankfulness by…

He would ‘something’. Prove himself ‘somehow’.

But those dreams were all drifting away as he looked blankly at his surroundings through a thick haze of disappointment.

Instead of a secluded exciting area with fantastical creatures, James now stood in a surprisingly clean – and more importantly decidedly unmagical and unimaginative – looking world.

Humans were the only race that surrounded him – split into people wearing grey clothing he just noticed matched his own and more ‘natural’ looking characters with varied outfits sitting behind booths and talking to people close by.

‘Fantasy’ ‘Shopkeepers’ shouted their wares out in English – yelling out about free samples and amazing deals and negotiable prices that included small tasks or ‘quests’ for payment.

A woman rode past on a distinctly fibreglass bike ringing her bell twice as she swerved around him and continued on.

This…this is a fantasy world right?

----------------------------------------

---Maddy---

Madison Graves stared about the brick road she found herself on – taking in every detail as fast as she could, eyes darting about and cataloging her surroundings.

Behind her the road veered around the corner of what appeared to be a barn. A rusted scythe was propped up against a bale of hay to her left – arranged like someone had simply tossed it there after a day’s work.

Behind the barn, just over an acre of farmland was fenced in by a small stone wall and in front of her, a grey cobblestone road extended out into small houses filled with people.

The road was lined with several clean looking and colourfully painted buildings – clumped up closer together the further away from the farm they went – and in the distance, Maddy could spot various booths and large buildings that gave off a different feeling than the houses.

One large building within reading distance, had a massive blinking sign with ‘Inn’ lit up using twisted neon lights. The walls of this Inn were painted bricks in blues and greys and blacks that repeated in a semi random pattern… and drew her eye for longer than they should have.

Maddy started to walk down the road still scanning everything she saw…something was wrong. Something felt…just a bit off. Just enough she knew it would bug her until she figured out exactly what she was sensing.

She passed the Inn and was suddenly in the village proper – cafes and bookstores were located beside places selling medieval-looking weapons and fronted by those booths that looked like lemonade stands. The stores and stands sold everything from pies, to arrows, to pieces of paper detailing martial arts techniques of dubious quality.

All the shops were painted in bright vibrant colours. Reds and greens and yellows all in new paint – as if they had been made days before.

Maybe they have been.

Everything felt 'normal' at first glance.

Maddy could feel the stones under her shoes, could smell the air and hear the voices surrounding her…but, slowly at first – then more quickly as she locked into what was wrong – the strangeness shone through.

This village looked less like a real location and more like a theme park – a mock up of a medieval village using modern paint and electronics and electric streetlights and people who looked less like villagers and more like…like the staff of a theme park.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Besides the mix of technology.

Beside the absolute mess of artifacts that created a town that hadn’t existed in any period of time – couldn’t exist in any period of time.

Besides the nice large signs in English conveniently labeling “main street” rimmed with neon blue glows. The random small buildings labelled ‘toilets’ every few dozen meters. The paint that looked like it had been applied only yesterday. The lack of sewer grates or drainage channels in case of rain.

Maddy finally realized what was bothering her.

It's not balanced. There’s too much missing – too many random things that don’t make sense.

The subtle thing that’s bugging me is that it doesn’t feel like it's been lived in. It feels like the commercial district of town that’s been cut out and placed in the middle of nowhere.

I’ve walked down the entire main street and passed nearly a hundred shops…for just a few dozen houses. There's way too many restaurants and bakeries for the number of people that supposedly live here – and I can’t see how they are supplied. The farm for example is way too small to stock more than a single booth or two and is located way too close to what is basically the commercial district.

Where do they get all the materials?

Does every shopkeeper live inside their shop?

Where are the children?

I’ve seen only two of them – and one or two old people – but tons and tons of adults all happy to sell their wares…

There are enough shops and ‘commercial’ buildings for me to think of this as a town but it's not nearly big enough to count as one and then I add that to all the other little problems.

The farm behind her looked even weirder in her memory. The field was too small. The barn and implements too clean.

The scraps she had held onto from the TOS felt too limited to matter. She needed more information.

…you will find yourself in a new world…

…by accepting these terms, you will be transported to a far away location with no way to ever return to where you currently live…

…you will be given access to a system that rewards actions or “achievements” with various powers…

…rarity is important – nearly as important as true effort. Doing things your own way. Forging ahead. Picking non typical options and doing non typical things. The zones you will find yourself in reward novelty and innovation…

…for there is true magic ahead. Your wildest fantasies may become true as you come to learn anything is possible…

Maddy wanted to start filling in all the missing information. She didn’t want scraps, she wanted the whole picture nicely laid out in front of her.

She quickened her pace, jogging over towards the gate at the end of ‘main street’ and peering out at the plains beyond.

Two guards stood at either side of an open arch directly in the middle of the road – Maddy nodded to each of them then stepped out of the village and quickly scoped out the surroundings.

A few yells and sounds of violence drifted over to her ears as she saw a couple distant figures fighting what looked like regular wildlife.

Besides the fighters, the most important ‘thing’ of note seemed to be just over a kilometre out.

There was a shimmering in the air, just barely visible that distorted everything past it and then almost disappeared as it moved up. Maddy tracked the almost invisible wall to the sides and as far as she could follow it up – covering her eyes slightly against the glare of the sun – and confirmed its dome-like shape trapping them in.

There was wildlife being attacked by her fellow…abductees?

On the ground ahead of her, two stout men wearing identical cotton clothing to her, wielded matching heavy-looking swords as they ran back and forth attacking what looked like rabbits. Their swings missed the hopping fuzzballs and the rabbits were fighting back – as Maddy watched, one bunny hopped up like something out of a children’s movie. It spun in the air and karate kicked the man’s chest knocking him onto his butt.

Further out and to the side, a badger continuously headbutted a crouching man holding nothing but a shield bigger than he was… and beyond them, a thin stick of a guy shot arrows after a bounding deer – missing all his shots as the creature dodged back and forth.

The rest of her situation settled in and Maddy turned – running across the entire town once again as she retraced her steps.

Maddy liked figuring out the optimal way of doing anything and the scraps of information she had retained from the TOS reflected that. Information about the best way to proceed. The best way to get ahead.

She just needed to be unique.

Maddy passed by weapon booths without a glance – bypassing others as they looked at swords and knives and shields and bows. A shop of spears, a shop of daggers.

Nothing unique here.

Everyone’s picking the same sort of weapons…I need a rare choice.

She paused for a moment to listen in on one women as they hefted a massive tower shield.

“So how do I pay for this?’

“Don’t worry about it dearie. This is the tutorial village – all visitors get one free weapon! One free weapon, one free complimentary meal, and one free ‘nights stay at the inn! If you want a new weapon, just come back and trade that old thing back to me.”

That’s…a weird way to do business but I suppose if this is a ‘tutorial village’ it makes sense.

She hadn’t found any money on her persons, but the mystery of the village made sense if everyone was just here for them. Part of the package and all that. She had already spent too much time acclimating to it.

Maddy ran faster, actually sprinting as she travelled the last block to her starting area.

🏃 Achievement get: Runner 1

Description: For spending several minutes moving faster than normal.

----------------------------------------

Stat: +1 leg speed.

She spied her goal for returning and walked over to pick it up. Bending down she paused noticing an old woman staring at her from the window of the nearest house.

Finishing her action Maddy grabbed the farm tool then walked over towards the window and held it aloft.

“Does this belong to you? Am I allowed to use it?” Maddy asked.

“Don’t worry about it dearie. This is the tutorial village – all visitors get one free weapon! You can choose any weapon you like from any location…and just so long as you return it from where you found it, can swap with another just fine." The old woman spoke with a slight accent – it reminded Maddy vaguely of a southern one but less aggressive. Like someone had moved to Texas for a few years but hadn’t grown up there.

“Thanks for clarifying. I hoped that was the case.”

Turning to retreat towards the main gate Maddy paused.

“Is…there another gate? Or do I need to return to the end of the road? Is there a map of the town I can look at?” She asked hesitantly.

“There are three gates in this town. The main gate and two side gates…nearest side gate should be at the rightmost side of the field."

“Thanks once again!”

Maddy turned and moved out into the field looking over past the other end of the barn. Sure enough, a second gate was visible – this one much smaller and staffed by a single guard.

She ran over awkwardly trying to avoid bashing the scythe into things as she did so – Maddy hoped she hadn’t spent too much time preparing. As she stepped out into the field, the faint sound of a shady-looking man explaining their poisoned dagger to a prospective person twinged her absurdity meter.

“Arr young man. This `be the tutorial village – all visitors get one free weapon! One free weapon one free compl…”

----------------------------------------

---Richard---

Richard entered the game world for the first time. He felt strange and stifled as he got used to his game avatar. Looking around for a mirror he found none – but it was hard to focus on that with the fucking yelling happening a few feet to his side.

“I did it! This is finally happening!!! I’m in an isekai! I’m the chosen one – I’m the protagonist of my own story! I’ve read about this! This is how it starts! AAAHHHHHaHahahaa. FINALLY! I’ve been waiting my whole life for this! I wonder where my sidekicks are? I wonder what problem I’ve been summoned to solve! I wonder what cute girls I’m going to save! Who will be first in my harem? That one just looked at me, She probably just fell for my endless charm. Where’s my status? STATUS. INTERFACE! INSPECT! STATUS! STATUS!”

Richard found himself moving before he knew what he was doing.

He quickly walked around the side of the house beside him – large purple bricks on either side of the allyway between it and the house beside it.

There.

Richard moved over to a rubbish bin climbed up onto the hard plastic and braced himself against the wall behind him.

Turning across he looked at the upper window and jumped – grabbing onto a ledge his arms shaking slightly.

Grunting the young man pulled himself up.

Richard had never been out of shape, but for some reason after being given a game avatar they nerfed his strength – setting it to some baseline or shit. He could normally do over a dozen pullups without breaking a sweat, but pulling himself up onto this window ledge felt like he was carrying a second person wrapped around his waist.

Richard cursed as he kicked up and nearly fell – sliding his side up onto the sturdy ledge.

Peering in the window for a moment he saw a nearly empty room with a single bed lamp and bedside table.

Not wanting to enter the bedroom right away, Richard instead grabbed the upper side of the windowsill and slowly shifted his feet about – crouching and leaning around the side of the house.

His hand fumbled about the lip of the roof before finding something sturdy, feeling and latching on to some nob above him.

Without waiting or hyping himself up. Richard stood up the rest of the way – rotating his body out and up as he did so with a slight “ouph”.

Richard’s hand had grabbed onto a metal hanger of sorts that bent down and held the eavestrough in place. Staring at the hanger at eye level Richard shook the metal to test its sturdiness.

Should hold.

Eyeballing the screws for a moment then shifting his eyes to the side and checking the distance, Richard decided to risk it.

Swinging his leg Richard hop kicked and pulled his body to the side – awkwardly stumbling into the gutter which bent worryingly downwards and let loose a faint screech before he was secured, safe and laying on the roof.

🧗 Achievement get: Climbing 1

Description: For using nothing but your body to scale an obstacle 10 feet or higher once.

----------------------------------------

Stat: +1 Grip Strength.

The achievement faded away a moment later – short and to the point.

Not a thought had been spared for his safety – not after the truth the blue boxes had told him.

…to a place designed for you and the others who have accepted this contract…

…exactly what the rules of each area are, is unknown, but the first area will give you: a body, low pain, resurrection upon any death…

…depending on your actions you may gain boons. Achievements gifting stats and skills or both consumable and permanent rewards to you or items you own. No boon the system gives you can be taken away without your consent…

…any changes to this contract and any area with new rules will be conveyed to you before hand and must be accepted and consented to…

…the world is bigger than you think and if you succeed you will understand how it works. How this is possible. The secrets of the universe await! …

This world is a game and I’m going to treat it like a game.

…but it's kind of hazy now. Wonder how they went about giving us all that information and then taking it away?

Eh…doesn’t matter. Worse case I die and deal with whatever respawn penalty there is. I can’t remember anything about it, so it probably doesn’t matter.

Standing up and moving to the front and then edge of the roof, Richard paused and glanced around – trying to figure out his position. The annoying player was still below now yelling and calling one of the NPC’s a peasant.

What a fucking tool. I’m sure we can give you a proper intro to fantasy land can’t we now?

Richard giggled slightly to himself as he unzipped and aimed. Within a few seconds, a clear stream shot out and fell to the side – he corrected himself and the stream properly started soaking the shoulder of the little bitch.

A shriek rang out as Richard relived himself and his victim flailed about – they flinched and looked upwards getting a face full of piss for their troubles.

😲 Achievement get: The obscene rooftop marksman. (unique)

Description: For crassly aiming your body fluids at someone from great height.

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Resource: Chaos gland (1/10 chaos points)

* First time rare resource acquisition results in storage creation. Chaos points are obtained from mischief and can be channeled through relevant skills.

* +1 chaos point for free.

Active Skill: Aura of Mayham.

Uses 1 chaos point to slightly increase a myriad of negative effects in a localized area for 1 minute. (Confusion, Bad luck, chance of tripping)

➕ Achievement get: Gain a rare resource for the first time. (unique)

Description: Gained "chaos affinity"

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Stat: +1 mental stability.

Passive skill: Skill Use

Knowledge on how to use your new resource has been gained.

Looking at the stream of rewards for his actions – the stream mirroring the stream he was releasing below – Richard couldn’t help himself. He started giggling uncontrollably.

He was being rewarded.

He was playing this game the way it was meant to be played – the proof: how many achievements he was being showered with.

Shaking the last few drops out, Richard zipped himself back up and stepped back from the edge of the roof.

Below a wail rang out and in the distance he saw two guards pushing through the crowd – aiming towards the bitch below.

“POLICE!”

“JUSTICE!”

“I’VE BEEN ASSAULTED! Did anyone get a good look at him? How can I report this? I NEED…”

The screaming voice faded quickly as Richard ran across the rooftop. He jumped when he reached the edge and landed heavily on the next roof over.

🧗 Achievement get: Jumper 1 (rare)

Description: For jumping across a gap at the edge of your capability using nothing but physical abilities.

----------------------------------------

Stat: +1 leg strength.

Stat: +1 leg agility.

Jumping across several more roofs he laughed. This game is fun.

He didn’t know exactly how much one ‘leg strength’ or ‘leg agility’ was and it didn’t matter. The exact change was noticeable if just barely. The jumper title upgraded to level 2 after five more houses and level 3 after just over thirty. Each provided that same small increase in speed and strength.

Spying a glint near the chimney of a roof, Richard paused briefly to pick up a round sparkling silver coin. He admired the tender, watching a new title appear and then disappear rewards coming in fast.

💸 Achievement get: Zone 1 collector 1.

Description: For collecting 1 hidden coin

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Stat: Eyesight +1

Richard reached a low roof and dropped down to the alley below – two final rewards for his actions flipping past.

💧 Achievement get: Dropper 1 (Rare).

Description: For falling 6 meters and landing on your feet.

----------------------------------------

Stat: +1 Leg defense.

Stat: +1 Feet defense.

🏘️ Achievement get: A chain of rooftops. (Rare)

Description: For crossing over 30 roofs in a short amount of time.

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Stat: +3 Physical balance.

“I fucking love this game.”