James awoke with a gasp. Looking around, he found himself in an unfamiliar environment. All around him was stone, and James was seated on an uneven rocky floor. Looking up, the tiniest rays of sunlight shone through a crack in the ceiling. Without that, James would likely be in total darkness.

‘What the hell just happened? Where the hell am I? What the fuck is going on?’ His thoughts were getting more and more erratic.

James tried searching his memories to figure out where he was. The last thing he remembered was waiting at the bus stop. Then that black cloud appeared and swallowed him! What exactly was that thing? And what happened after that?

Following that last question, James felt a sharp pain in his head that stopped any further thoughts.

“Gah!” He put a hand on the side of his head.

‘Just what happened to me?’

Focusing again on his surroundings, James felt more questions pile up in his mind. He appeared to be at the end of a long tunnel underneath the earth. But there were no support beams to prevent a tunnel collapse. Only smooth stone as far as the sliver of light allowed him to see. It didn’t seem like a natural cave. The tunnel was straight as far as was visible, and the floor seemed to slightly angle upwards the farther down the tunnel he looked.

James went to pull his phone out of his pocket. Perhaps he could call emergency services and get someone to help him out of this cave, but he discovered it wasn’t there. His wallet, keys, and pocket knife were still there, but no phone.

‘Oh! I was on hold waiting for the lawyer when that cloud swallowed me up!’ He realized. James frantically looked around the ground near him, and sure enough, his phone was lying only a few feet away.

Quickly grabbing his phone, he pressed the power button. Nothing happened. He held down the power button, trying to turn it on, but there was still nothing.

“Dammit!” James wound his arm back as if to toss the phone away but stopped before finishing the motion. He couldn’t destroy one of his only means of communication just because he was pissed off. Maybe the lightning inside that cloud did something to his phone?

James took a few deep breaths, attempting to calm himself. While the details of how he found himself in this cave were… unknown, the result was clear: He was currently stranded underground and needed to find a way out. Dwelling on something so strange wouldn’t help him escape this situation.

First, James pulled off his backpack and emptied his pockets to inventory everything. He had a simple pocket knife; the blade was probably around 3 or 4 inches long and folded into the handle. His wallet and keys likely wouldn’t be helpful in this situation, so he moved them off to the side from his knife.

The backpack contained a laptop he used for school, which also didn’t turn on. A phone charger, some loose papers, a bag of beef jerky with about half the meat left, and a full plastic water bottle. That jerky and water might be his last meal if things went south here.

James tried to distract himself from the morbid thought by checking over his clothes. He wore black tennis shoes, jeans, and a white T-shirt with a faded graphic from some old movie. He also had a lanyard on with his school ID attached to it. He pulled the lanyard from around his neck and looked at it.

The picture was taken two years ago when he started college. He had grey eyes, and James’ black hair was cut shorter. He had a black eye from a kickboxing tournament he had just competed in the day before. James thought he still looked rather handsome in the photo despite the black eye.

He remembered how proud his grandfather had been after that tournament; it was the first time James had won a tournament. The old man always insisted that James would need to be able to protect himself once he was gone.

His thoughts quickly turned to the man who raised him his entire life, the same one who died just hours ago, alone in a gloomy hospital room.

‘Quit thinking about it!’ He told himself. Dwelling on the negative thoughts was only going to turn this shitty situation even worse. No matter how cold it sounded, mourning his grandfather's death now would only distract him. Surviving in this tunnel and getting out took priority.

New Skill Acquired: Unyielding Composure (Uncommon)

James jerked back as a blue box suddenly appeared in front of him.

“What the hell is this?” he asked aloud. First, he gets sucked into an ominous black cloud, then finds himself in a strange underground space, and now a blue, RPG-like box pops up from nowhere, declaring that James earned a skill?

With all those facts coming together, James had a few ideas of what might have happened to him, but none made much sense. His first thought was that he was inside a videogame, but that was beyond reasoning. Second, he was in some new reality, one where people could gain skills and presumably stats as well. Thinking on some of the games he played in the past, there was usually some kind of status sheet listing the character’s stats and skills.

A new blue box appeared before James as if responding to the thought.

Name: James Costello

Age: 20 years

Race: Human

Status: Normal

Stolen novel; please report.

Titles: Core Assimilation (Unique)

Level: 1 (0 / 50 Experience)

Strength: 13

Endurance: 13

Agility: 12

Intelligence: 10

Mana: 20

Free Points: 0

Skills: Unyielding Composure (Uncommon) Level. 1

‘Huh, so I do have a status screen? He couldn’t believe this was real. It looked a lot like some RPG games he had played in the past. He had stats, skills, and mana! Could he use magic like a wizard? James tried to touch the screen, only to have his finger go straight through it.

The screen seemed to respond to his thoughts, so James mentally asked for a description of each stat displayed. Nothing happened. James went down the screen, trying to prompt any information he could. Finally, a box appeared.

Unyielding Composure (Level 1)

Rarity: Uncommon

Description: This skill allows its user to maintain dignity and mental clarity in the face of intense pressure and adversity. In high-stress situations, the user gains greater focus and has a lower chance of being affected by negative mental debuffs. The chance of being affected by negative mental debuffs decreases as the skill level increases.

After reading the description of ‘Unyielding Composure, ’ James felt he understood what it meant. After he acquired the skill, his mind felt far calmer than before. He felt that it was easier to push past all the fear, anxiety, and grief he had felt since waking up in this cave.

After looking at his status screen, he was curious about another thing: the title ‘Core Assimilation.’ With a thought, James pulled up the description, just as he did with the skill.

Core Assimilation

Rarity: Unique

Description: This one-of-a-kind title will allow the user to consume the cores of monsters. The user will gain a small portion of that monster's power upon consumption. There is a slight chance for the user to acquire skills the monster uses.

How did he get this title? Titles in games are typically awarded after completing an achievement or something similar. Its rarity is unique, and the description calls it ‘one-of-a-kind.’ The most unsettling part of it was what the description revealed. Although he had a clue to this, now it was confirmed. Wherever he was, monsters were real. Presumably, James will soon face some of these monsters. He decided to push the questions of how he got the title to the back of his mind. This situation he found himself in was far more dangerous than he had first believed.

James packed all his things into the backpack except the pocket knife, then slung the pack on his shoulders. He needed to be prepared should he run into any monsters. He stood up and looked down the dark tunnel ahead of him. With a deep breath, he started walking down the tunnel.

James took slow and careful steps. The floor was at a slight incline, and the minor amount of light he had was quickly dwindling. Soon, there would be no light, and James could only hope he wouldn’t run into monsters while entirely blind.

After a few minutes, James couldn’t even see his hands when held in front of him. He shuffled along with one hand on the wall to his right and the other hand, which was holding the knife, extended in case he ran into a turn in the cave. This continued for at least 10 more minutes. James found keeping time in this situation quite difficult and quickly lost track of it.

After some time, the floor leveled out, and there was a turn in the tunnel. James continued on until another blue box popped in front of him.

New Skill Acquired: Dark Vision (Common)

James immediately pulled up the description for the new skill with a thought.

Name: Dark Vision (Level 1)

Rarity: Common

Description: This skill allows the user to see in situations with little to no light. The range at which the user can see will increase as the skill level increases.

Now, James could see about 10 feet in front of him. His vision went from being pitch black to a murky grey. He could make out the shape of the tunnel and see his hands when they were held out in front of his face.

With this skill, James hoped he could actually make his way through the cave. It also got him wondering just what was required to acquire a skill. The first skill he got, Unyielding Composure, was gained when James first woke up. Everything was so confusing. He was afraid and grieving. Despite that, he pushed through and worked on furthering his survival. Perhaps that's why he gained the skill?

The second skill James got, Dark Vision, was far simpler. He simply walked through complete darkness for a while, and eventually, the skill appeared. James hypothesized that he gained new skills through certain actions. Maybe if he got into a fight, he could get a kickboxing skill or a running skill by sprinting for a certain distance. It was certainly an idea worth testing.

As James walked down the dark tunnel, he occasionally threw a punch at the air or swung the pocket knife in a cutting arc as if attacking some invisible enemy. If anyone was there to witness this scene, they would probably think he was insane, but James needed to understand how he acquired his skills.

After a few minutes of this, James quit. It didn’t garner him any new skills and would only serve to tire James out. He needed to conserve his strength in here. Who knew what lurked in the depths of this cave?

James heard something ahead of him before he saw it. There was the sound of something scurrying. He cautiously moved forward. He was edging closer and closer to the sound until he saw it—a giant rat. It was as big as a medium-sized dog and had to weigh at least 40 pounds. It had dark-colored fur and big, beady black eyes.

It seemed to notice James at the same time that it came into his view. Without any hesitation, it pounced at James.

Caught off guard, James took a few steps backward out of surprise. He quickly gathered himself, though. This was the first living thing he had encountered since waking in that tunnel, and it wanted his blood.

The rat landed right at his feet after failing to connect with its pounce. James let out a swift kick with his right leg, sending the rat to the tunnel wall. It seemed stunned for a moment but quickly righted itself. It released a piercing screech that showed off two giant incisors and lunged at James again.

This rat wasn’t quick compared to some he had seen back home. Perhaps due to the increased size it lost some of its nimbleness, but that worked well for James. He caught the rat in the side with a right hook before it could touch him.

Swiftly opening the pocket knife, James stabbed at the rodent's side, where he hoped some vital organs were. The blade sank to the hilt, and the rat released an even louder squeal. James stabbed twice more into its belly. The rat’s dying shriek echoed off the walls of the tunnel. Shortly after, it stopped struggling.

New Skill Acquired: Small Blade Mastery (Common)

You have killed a Big Rat (Level 1)

5 Experience Gained!

James pulled the knife out of the rat's corpse. He quickly wiped the blood off, using the animal's fur to clean the blade. That Big Rat gave him 5 experience points, so James would need to kill 10 to level up once. He also got a new skill! This also confirmed his hypothesis that James needed to perform specific actions to acquire new skills.

Before James could move further down that train of thought, he heard more scraping sounds coming down the tunnel. James stood up and stepped away from the oversized rodent’s corpse.

Another rat? James felt it would be easy to reach the next level if things continued this way.

Just as he thought that 3 Big Rats appeared in his line of sight.

“Well shit, this might not be as easy as I imagined.” He said.