---James---
James stood in an empty plain. All the signs of monsters and the weird patchwork of connection biomes he had gotten used to was gone.
Instead, there was nothing but short grass for kilometers in every direction.
The back of James’s throat felt funny. There was a tingling like he had swallowed something weird. A bitter tingling that grew until he could taste the fear.
There was a faint buzzing in James’s ear – a nauseating whine of danger that grew even as the taste did.
A shadow passed overhead.
James looked up.
The sky was blue – too blue. A brilliant pure ultramarine without a single cloud in sight.
And then it wasn’t.
A shape blotted out the sky growing bigger and bigger as it descended.
The dragon had to be several kilometers long. Dozens! A hundred at least! With a thundering shake – barely enough time to even take it in fully – the dragon had landed.
It was fast. Too fast – quite a lot of it was ‘too much’.
James hadn’t even gotten his bearings yet – but the dragon’s head was suddenly all he could see. Less than a hundred meters above his head blotting out most of the sky. Larger than a football field. An impossible creature single handily bigger than anything James had ever seen before in his entire life.
Its eyes! One of its eyes was larger than a bus was long. James activated [haste] and began to run. As fast as he could, he had to survive a moment longer! He couldn’t help himself. How could he kill something bigger than a mountain?
The world went white.
James died.
🐉 Achievement get: Dragon Fire Speedrun. (rare)
Description: Survive <12,780ms> after catching the eye of a true dragon.
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Stat: +9 Mental defense
Stat: +9 Soul defense
Stat: +9 Free Body Defense
James awoke standing in the middle of the steampunk town he had left days before.
He awoke and stood in the street unmoving. Everything hurt. Everything continued to hurt. It felt like his whole body was bruised - from his fingers to his toes.
Someone pushed past him roughly and he simply moved to the side – stumbling onto a bench almost conveniently placed nearby and beginning to shake.
His body slowly shifted from pain to numbness.
His mind was frayed – he felt confused. The man didn’t know who he was – what he had been doing.
He felt the fear of being hunted of being prey – unnaturally amplified. He couldn’t stop shaking – this wasn’t him being cowardly or weak, his body refused to listen to him. His mind refused to stop repeating the memory of everything burning. His senses had been sped up by [haste] – he had seen the grass catch on fire for a split second before the dragon’s breath had even arrived.
The ground had boiled up – the air had ripped apart.
…it felt like James had been nuked. It felt worse than a nuke somehow. He hadn’t been this effected by a death yet.
Slowly, ever so slowly, the almost unnatural ever-pervasive fear melted away. It felt like morning frost disappearing in the light of a new day. His mind still felt scattered – his body had shifted from being numb and tingly to the familiar weak feeling of a death penalty.
Something deep within him still felt scarred however. Up till this point James would have ignored it but the achievement gave him something called ‘soul defense’…
Well…if James had to describe the feeling, he would say it felt like his very soul had been burned. Something you couldn’t feel. Couldn’t sense. Something that shouldn’t be hurt had…been hurt.
It felt like if he had been burned for a millisecond longer, everything that made him up would be gone. Resurrection or not it, would simply be ‘gone’.
Slowly as James pieced himself back together, he saw another blue box.
Due to monumentally stupid decisions you are unable to be resurrected. Something about dragon fire interfering with resurrection or something? Listen, you cleared this zone’s level requirements – head on over to the next zone already. It’s a long ass trip but you’re a big boy and can do it.
I believe in you.
Twat.
James…didn’t have enough mental capacity to think about that right now. His body was still wracked by some magical fear. He wasn’t in control of himself and he hated it.
While he had been pulling himself together, the light of day had fallen. It was dusk and he did not feel like leaving the town just yet.
Instead, he slipped off the bench and began to work out. Pull ups. Push ups. James worked out till exhaustion – then switched muscles. He didn’t have any weights – he didn’t have any stones – so he was stuck doing any exercise that didn’t need a tool.
He pushed himself till he could barely move – his body dripped with sweat and James felt himself grow stronger.
Working out to exhaustion was easy to do with how weak his body felt. The burn centered him. He felt more himself. He was in control of this burn.
His stats were coming back. That’s what the steady increase in strength was – it was like after being resurrected he was shoved into a body that hadn’t moved in weeks. As he waited out the death penalty all his existing stats were transferred over.
…he also gained a point of arm strength and a point of ab strength – a lower rate than working out in the wilderness had gotten but still a reward for his sweat.
As James worked out it quickly became evident that his one arm was stronger than the other. It was annoying – one side was pushing up with less effort than the other.
He didn’t want to become lopsided. James wanted to become strong. But maybe those weren’t mutually exclusive?
…strong.
…that guy. In the badlands – why was he so strong again? He concentrated everything into his fingers?
…
It’s a trade off, isn’t it? Its like when I decided to pick a specialized body instead of a generalized one. I wanted more control. I wanted to feel like the stats mattered more…I wanted to be more efficient. I wanted to be stronger…
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Would I have survived losing an arm with a generalized body? I don’t know…part of me feels like I wouldn’t have done so well but maybe that’s just copium.
James worked out long into the night and regained some of his previous strength. He thought about his body. He thought about his skills. He thought about his new goal – breaking his skill without picking a side – and considered the final option on the list.
It really looked like the only option to not get involved with either side was to get involved with both. He had to learn what it was he was asking for…that’s what the quest had said.
He finally got around to considering the system message and what it meant.
James couldn’t be resurrected anymore. He had to move to the next zone.
…the message had been a bit rude. Had that been the system? The system had been relatively nice to him so far…
…the system wasn’t a person was it? No…nothing the system gave could be taken away.
Without consent.
That caveat of ‘without consent’. His resurrection had been taken away…so what did this mean?
It meant the system hadn’t given him resurrection. Something or someone else had. The person who sent the message?
Probably.
…if it was a person giving him the resurrection maybe he didn’t want it anyways! James didn’t want to rely on someone. The system was different…it was just… Just a fact of his new life. It only gave him stuff when he pushed himself so the system was a transaction. James would rely on himself and the system. Nothing else.
A while later something flashed into James’s mind. Stuff the system gave – his skills for example – those couldn’t be taken away. He couldn’t lose them unless he wanted to.
…there wasn’t that sort of rule for a ‘broken’ skill was there?
…was breaking your skill a huge scam? Break it so its no longer protected by the system and then someone would come along and steal it?
…James would need to figure out how safe breaking a skill was. He refused to get scammed. The man in the badlands was even more suspicious in his memory – was anything he said reliable? Could he trust a single word out of that snake’s mouth?
James stretched – attempting to touch his toes – and sat in somewhat pissed off silence.
So.
So this was something else that would require talking to people. Another thing being thrown on the pile – really sucked didn’t it? No matter how much he wanted to be fully independent the world conspired against him. Conspired to force him to rely on others, conspired to make him 'choose'.
…
James spent a frankly excessive period of time in self-reflection. Something he had been trying to avoid – reflection was for people living in cushy safe ‘cities’. For people alone with their thoughts. In dead-end jobs like his previous employment.
He wanted the simple feeling of survival. How single-minded he had become in the badlands – how focused he had been on the next step. Surviving another hour. Another day.
He missed it. That was the feeling of happiness.
James had gotten pretty good at surviving in the day if he was honest with himself. The stats in hearing and sight had made it hard for anything to sneak up on him. After fighting enough creatures, he had gotten better at gauging their strength – he knew the monsters to stay away from and the ones that he could beat pretty consistently now. He fought pretty consistently, but most of it felt like ‘hunting’ rather than challenging himself.
Nighttime…to be honest he wasn’t sure if he could survive the second night – not unless he finished healing his arm. If he healed it he was relatively confident in surviving again.
And that was another thing!
James was mad at himself for the suicidal choice. It felt like it wiped all the progress he was making regaining his arm. Just wiped it all out.
…the system was really generous to me when I only had a single arm to fight with. I’ve been kind of ignoring it, but the system does more than just reward you for results. It cares about how you get those results, how much effort you put in.
...it also cares about restrictions doesn’t it? How hard stuff is?
So, ‘step one’. Travel to the next zone.
‘Step two’. Learn about what the factions in this world are like…what is possible with a ‘broken’ skill and if I want to go through with this. Complete that quest.
‘Final step’. Grow strong enough that I’ll never have to rely on someone ever again.
James slapped his face at the thought, the faint clapping noise echoing in the sleeping town.
Why does it sound so childish when I frame it like that – I’m an adult! My goal isn’t stupid!
…its also not really a step…just a constant goal to work on. A better step would be ‘better use the system’. Get better achievements by restricting myself.
James finally picked himself up off the ground and made his way over to the bench. James shifted himself into a semi comfortable position and looked up at the sky. The stars were out twinkling in the night.
He fell asleep on that bench – his tracksuit sweaty in the evening chill. As James slipped away his plans turned to dreams. Dreams of power, Dreams of happiness.
…
Awaking to someone walking past, James carefully observed his surroundings and sat up slowly.
It seemed the early birds in the native population were waking up – he didn’t want to deal with any of them, so he made to leave – checking the massive map in the center of town once before he did.
James felt a sense of deja-vu running through his mind as he left this town for the third and hopefully final time. His idle thoughts screamed at how stupid he was for not getting better supplies. If he didn’t like swords he could get a knife instead – and something to start a fire with! His life would be so much easier with a flint and steel at the minimum. And a water bottle! Or water skin!
James continued on. Getting any of those things would require either him stealing them or working for money to buy them. Unless he could find any of them conveniently lying around, he didn’t want them. Unless he could get items on his own terms he didn’t want them!
Could he hunt some creatures and sell them? He’d probably get ripped off… but if he was able to get supplies with that it might be worth it?
James’s body was still in the death penalty – he was roughly halfway through the cooldown.
…that was enough. Despite him still being 'in the death penality' the exercise felt like it had brought him back. back to 90% of his strength at least.
James jogged along the path. Towards the next zone. Towards his goal.
...
It almost felt boring how safe this grassland was…
After half an hour James got an idea. He ripped the bottom of his shirt and wrapped it around his eyes.
This would make him stronger.
Tying the blindfold tight, James started up once more. He stumbled a few times but got into a rhythm walking along the path. His ears strained and every sense he had began to feel super charged. As if trying to make up for the lost sight, he felt the occasional wind and used that to keep himself pointed in the right direction.
After a short while of walking like this he got an achievement.
🙈 Achievement get: The blind stroll. (rare)
Description: Walk for ten minutes in the wilderness after purposefully removing your sight.
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Stat: +1 Hearing strength
James smiled and continued walking.
After thirty minutes of careful steps through darkness he received a second popup.
🙈 Achievement get: The blind walk. (rare)
Description: Walk for thirty minutes straight in the wilderness after purposefully removing your sight.
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Stat: +1 Hearing strength
Stat: +1 Fear defense.
James grinned once again – the popup appearing in his vision. A blazing blue box in the darkness of his blindfold. The feeling of his hearing growing was addictive.
The blue box was proof this was working. This was indeed a path to power – even if it was only senses, his time in the badlands had proven how useful hearing was.
James continued to walk.
I should fight something like this – I’m sure it would be great fighting experience…and I’m sure the system would reward me handsomely for it.
He didn’t know if he was brave enough for that. He didn’t have a safety net anymore.
…that wasn’t the sort of thought he wanted to be having. It made him want to fight blindfolded even more – prove to himself he wasn’t a coward. He didn’t care about proving it to anyone else – James realized he had worked out in town without caring if anyone saw. He hadn’t even thought of it but even just the other day he would have thought that was embarrassing.
…It just seemed so pointless of a thing to worry about if he was leaving right after. He’d never see anyone in that town again. It didn’t matter what they thought.
Back to a blindfolded fight. I might try and find something small and weak then fight it blindfolded. Work my way up to the big game. That seems like a good compromise between stupidity and training.
Attempting to whistle to himself a few times and failing, James continued to walk across fields. His feet occasionally left the path, but he always swerved back onto it.
Walking blindfolded was actually sort of exciting. Not exciting in the same way the badlands had been – and if he somehow died here he would die of embarrassment…but it was thrilling in a certain sort of way. His ears strained to pick up the slightest noise in the surroundings. He felt almost like he could see himself – a rough outline of where he was.
…I think I have to admit something to myself.
I think…I think I’m becoming an adrenaline junky. Not content to simply walk I have to make it harder for myself – Why does the danger excite me this much? Is it all that fear defense messing with my brain?
Fear defense! Why didn’t that help against the dragon! If that shitty feeling it forced upon me wasn’t magical fear than I don’t know what it was.
…okay it was probably just too strong. Speed is better than defense anyways.
🙈 Achievement get: The blind trip. (unique)
Description: Walk for an hour in the wilderness after purposefully removing your sight.
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Stat: +1 Hearing strength
Stat: +1 Fear defense.
Stat: +1 Sole Touch strength.
Stat: +1 Nerve speed.
…that was a weird stat. ‘bottom of feet touching’ strength. It was specific and concentrated enough that James felt the difference more than the others even if there was only one 'point'. Through his feet, he could feel a bit of the vibration of his steps hitting. He was a tiny bit more certain with the placement of his legs.
On a whim, James removed his system-granted shoes – or not ‘system granted’ now that he thought about it. ‘Whoever resurrected them granted’.
He held them in one hand as he walked – feeling the dirt beneath his steps. He felt the slight slope of the path and better centered himself on it – no longer occasionally stepping off the guide below.
James felt good. He felt free. Free to do whatever he wanted no matter how stupid it might be.
…and if anyone were around to see a man walk barefoot and blindfolded along a dirt path? Well, their opinions on his sanity wouldn’t matter.
James was free.