After a few minutes lying there, staring at nothing, Joshua finally made himself get to his feet. Sitting around all day was literally not going to get him anywhere.
He was getting thirsty, so he supposed he should explore his surroundings for water.
He looked at the forest around him. There were multiple paths leading into the trees. While all were smooth and well-worn, they all promised a lot of walking.
“I should figure out my interface before I go wandering around.” He nodded to himself. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. I’m definitely not just procrastinating.”
He scanned the spell section of the Divine Guide introduction. He was pretty sure they were the same ones he’d seen on the character sheet he’d been shown when he’d wanted a TL;DR, and none seemed attack-oriented. Did he really have no way to attack but with his fists or throwing a Croc at something?
“Maybe I can scare them off with my blood-covered appearance.”
The character sheet seemed like it might give him some useful information, and as he began to wonder how to access it again, it appeared, pushing the Guide’s introduction to the side and causing it to shrink and fade out slightly, and causing the giant table of contents to disappear completely.
“Oh, right. It can read my thoughts.”
Name: Joshua Baxter
Species: Tellurian
Tier: Mortal
Rank: White
Enhancements: ❬0❭
Aspects
Divine ❬0❭ (Talisman: [Divine Guide])
Body ❬0❭ (Affinity: None)
Mind ❬0❭ (Affinity: None)
Soul ❬0❭ (Talisman: [Sinister Pigeon])
Talents
⧼Divine Guide⧽ ❬0❭ (Aspect: Divine)
⧼Sinister Pigeon⧽ ❬0❭ (Aspect: Soul)
Spells
[Map] ❬0❭
[Loot] ❬0❭
[Identify] ❬0❭
[Storage] ❬0❭
[Grand Purpose] ❬0❭
Godmarks
⟪Auspicious Contender⟫
So he was a mortal named Joshua Baxter according to this Divine Guide. No surprises there.
“My rank’s white? What are you trying to imply? What’s a Tellurian?”
His interface didn’t answer.
The godmark bit caught his eye. He didn’t think that had been there before. He was pretty sure he’d gotten it from killing everything in Randall’s garden in space. If it was anything like the god’s ‘blade’, it could be extremely useful if he encountered any other suspiciously carnivorous creatures.
He’d barely begun to wonder how he could see more information on the godmark when a screen suddenly appeared in the center of his vision, pushing the stat screen to the side but not causing it to shrink or fade out.
It was a weird feeling having it effectively read his mind and predict what he was going to want before he quite knew himself.
⟪Auspicious Contender⟫
(godmark)
A mark granted by Sanction of [Festival, God of Entertainment].
You have shown a promising start for the Games. This godmark boosts effectiveness against established contenders of higher rank, or when significantly outnumbered.
Scales with audience.
“Well that’s disappointing. I’d expect a godmark to be more impressive. What are the Games?”
He waited, hoping some informational would pop up.
None did. “Does that mean I have to look through that giant table of contents?”
Would you like to view the table of contents to [Divine Guide User’s Guide]?
“Eh, maybe later. What are Aspects?”
This he did get a response to, and a new screen appeared in front of him, pushing the others to the side.
Divine
A bestowed Aspect of the transcendent.
Body
Your physical form.
Mind
Your consciousness.
Soul
Your incorporeal gestalt.
“Huh. That’s… interesting. I guess. Why do half have talisman and the other half affinity?”
He didn’t get an answer.
“What is a talisman?” he tried.
Would you like to view the table of contents to [Divine Guide User’s Guide]?
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“No,” he sighed, and moved on to the other areas of his stat screen.
He already knew what his spells did from the descriptions in the User Guide’s introduction, and none gave the impression they would enable him to wipe out entire planes of existence like Wrath’s Blade had, but he decided to test them out just to be certain. Plus, putting aside the crappy circumstances, the idea of actually casting an actual spell excited him.
He started with his Map spell. Casting it turned out to be as easy as using the Guide itself. Simply having the intention would cause the spell to cast.
“That was rather anticlimactic.”
He was honestly slightly disappointed. A flash of color or cool sound effect would have been appreciated.
“Oh well. At least there’s no cast times.” And not having to wave his hands around or recite an incantation was a boon. He wasn’t sure if they took mana or something like it, as no bar showed up and he didn’t feel any different after casting it.
As promised, the spell brought up a map of his area, though it had a fog of war over most of it. The only area uncovered was around a tiny blue dot, which he assumed represented his current position.
He walked in small circles to confirm this.
Next he tried controlling the position with his mind. It worked, and he was able to pan his view around, the map zooming by like he was looking out a car window.
A car flying sideways through thick fog. He couldn’t make out anything due to it, and he couldn’t find any area that wasn’t obscured by it. Even zooming all the way out just showed a fog-covered mass surrounded by black.
The guide had said something about enhancing the spell to see more of the world. Was that what the zero after it on his character sheet meant? Its level? How was he supposed to level it up? Just by using it?
Enhancing Spell [Map] requires 1 spirit shard. You currently have 0 spirit shards. You cannot enhance [Map] at this time.
“Of course I can’t. How do I get spirit shards? What are spirit shards?”
He got no answer.
Sighing, he moved on. Ignoring the windows filling his vision, he focused on a nearby tree and cast his Identify spell with a thought.
[Vandarin Tree]
(plant)
“What’s a vandarin? Is that like a poplar?”
Just to be thorough, he tried casting Loot on the tree.
Cannot loot living object
“Interesting. Does that mean I can loot any non-living objects, not just corpses?” He looked around for a dead tree to test it on, but didn’t find any. Everything in the forest looked healthy.
“I can remedy that.”
He grabbed one of the nearby white-flowered, blue-stalked plants, and yanked, expecting to uproot the entire plant. But it was firmly anchored, and all he got for his trouble was a small gash on his wrist.
“Um…” He stared down at the wound. “Did I just get cut by a flower petal?
You have been afflicted by [Starmist Venom]
Your Body and Mind speed is increased at the expense of precision
“Wonderful.” His mind did seem to be moving a little faster now, and a little more chaotically.
It was a minor difference though.
“At least it’s not going to kill me. I hope.” He read the message again. “Plants can have venom? That’s weird.”
He wondered how long it would last. Other than a slight amped feeling, there was no indication he was afflicted, no little icon floating in the corner of his vision.
“Oh well, not like I had status icons back on Earth.”
He’d tried saying inventory before and it hadn’t worked. This time he thought the word ‘storage’ and a new window popped up.
“Rather picky on word choice,” he grumbled.
His inventory was a simple black cube, the front open to him. It was the first time he realized the interface had depth. At least this part of it, anyway.
“Uh… Does everything just get thrown together? Like a bag of holding? How do I use it?”
After several seconds of waiting, he said, “Wow, you’re not going to answer. How shocking.”
Would you like to view the table of contents to [Divine Guide User’s Guide]?
“Why read, when I can experiment?”
He took off one of his Crocs and tried putting it into the cube.
To his surprise, it worked, the shoe shrinking down to the size of a finger. He tried putting his other Croc in, but got a message that his inventory was full, despite there being enough space inside the cube itself.
“Oh, now you call it an inventory.”
A one-slot inventory didn’t seem particularly useful. But it was better than what he’d had back on Earth.
“Wait a minute, if I only have one slot, where were Randall’s items stored when I looted them?”
Again, he got no answer from his interface.
“Why do I even bother?” The answer was probably in the Guide. Did it have a search function? Probably not. Just that ridiculously long table of contents.
“Do you have a search function?”
Would you like to view the table of contents to [Divine Guide User’s Guide]?
He ignored the message and pulled his Croc back out. If flower petals here were sharp enough to cut, even its rubber sole might not be enough to shield his foot, but it was better than nothing.
He idly wondered whether he could store himself inside of his inventory. Shrinking down to the size of an action figure might come in handy.
Not that he was willing to test it out.
When he cast his final spell, Grand Purpose, nothing happened other than feeling a strange hollowness echo inside of him.
“Are there instructions for the spells?”
A new screen appeared.
[Grand Purpose]
(spell, passive)
Cost: subsidized
Grants quests and other guidance when appropriate.
“Passive? Does that mean I can’t cast it to give myself quests whenever I want?”
Noticing that the cost was subsidized, he checked his other spells and found they were all the same in that regard, though the others didn’t have the passive label.
“So they don’t cost mana either? Do I have mana now?”
If so, he couldn’t get his interface to show it to him.
He moved on to his talents.
Unfortunately, the pigeon was the only one that seemed like it might have offensive capability, but he checked the Divine Guide talent anyway to be thorough. Maybe there would be insights into what else it could do.
⧼Divine Guide⧽
(talent)
A gift bestowed by the gods to aid mortals in a harsh world. Grants the spells [Map], [Loot], [Identify], [Storage], and [Grand Purpose]. Allows the attunement or absorption of Stones, Talismans, Shards, and other bonds. Intuit facets of the world with which you’re unfamiliar. Intuitively grasp foreign concepts, languages, and symbols.
“Huh. Am I speaking a different language?” He tried saying random things, but if he was, he couldn’t tell.
“That just leaves the pigeon that might be helpful. Help me Sinister Pigeon,” he said without enthusiasm, “you’re my only hope.”
⧼Sinister Pigeon⧽
(talent)
Summons [Sinister Pigeon] as a familiar. At greater enhancement levels, summon familiars for your familiar.
“My familiar can have familiars. That could get out of hand.” He recalled all the birds in Randall’s garden. Maybe he’d been right that they’d all been the god’s familiars; or at least his familiar’s familiars. He thought about what just the one had been able to do to his plane’s engine. “Out of hand… or very useful. Okay then… I guess I’ll summon the pigeon. My own familiar won’t attack me, right?”
But first, he needed to be able to see past all these windows. His vision was positively filled with them now. For some reason these ones hadn’t closed like the earlier ones had. It was worse than browser tabs.
Before he could even wonder how to close them, all the windows vanished.
“Now I get to have a very clear view of something as it eats me. Yay. So, how do I summon this familiar?”
He felt a sudden warmth, and purple light flashed out from within him.
He blinked and found himself staring at a pigeon flapping its wings in front of him. Normal-sized wings, on a normal-sized pigeon.
It still had a red mohawk, but didn’t look near as impressive.
“Are you smaller because I am? What a rip-off. And what is wrong with your eyes? They look… ridiculous.”
The pigeon squawked disgruntledly.
It didn’t seem near as menacing as it had before. In addition to being way smaller, instead of its previous dark and sinister appearance it was now mostly white, and its entire head and neck were bright red instead of just its mohawk.
It looked like it belonged in a petting zoo.
Joshua sighed. “Ah, whatever. It’s what’s on the inside that counts, right?”
The pigeon squawked enthusiastically.
“So, do you have any special attacks?”
The pigeon squawked twice in what Joshua took to be a no.
“Are you sure you’re a pigeon? I don’t think that’s the sound they’re supposed to make.” It was also flapping its wings so languidly that it didn’t seem it should be able to stay aloft.
The bird stared at him blankly.
“Your eyes are freaking me out, man. I know birds’ eyes are weird, but this is on another level.”
The bird continued to stare blankly at him, floating there, barely flapping its wings at all.
He sighed. “What am I supposed to do now, then?”
Ongoing Quest: [The Basics of Life]
Explore your area and find supplies. Better hurry, and remember the rule of threes.
Reward: You get to live.
“Oh joy.”
He looked at the bird hovering in front of him. “Well, what do you say, Sin? Can I call you Sin?” He shook his head. “Of course I can, you’re my familiar. Ready to go on an adventure?”
The bird squawked in excitement.
Then pooped.
Right on Joshua’s foot.
Joshua looked up at the bright, sunless sky. “If you can hear me, Peace, you really suck.”