I opened the achievements screen and was met with a list of about 20 items. Centering myself, I began to read through them. My head was already spinning, and my stomach was starting to protest at the complete lack of food in it. But I refused to get up until I at least had a passable understanding of what this UI had to offer. I knew there was much I was likely missing, even right in front of me, but I wanted to be confident I had found all the hidden nooks information could hide.

Achievements.

Outlander - Cheat death and accept the Outlander Opportunity. 1 AP

1st Blood - Slay an enemy. 1 AP

Baryonic Progression - Unlock your progression system. 1 AP

Titled - Gain a Title. 1 AP.

Basic Achiever - Gain an Achievement Point. 1 AP

Basic Quester - Complete a Basic Quest. 1 AP

Favored - Gain Favor. 1 AP.

First Fight - Complete the “First Fight” Quest. 1 AP

Skilled Reward - Gain a Proficiency, Skill, or Ability as a Reward. 1 AP

Basically Proficient - Gain a Basic Proficiency. 1 AP

……..

As I read, I quickly realized that if I had come across this screen yesterday, many questions would’ve been answered right out the gate. The first achievement straight up told me I hadn’t died. It even answered the question I had of “what an achievement point was?” within a few lines. I wasn’t quite sure what they contributed to yet, but any kind of currency was good. I just needed to figure out how to use them. I continued reading, chastising myself for my distraction. Just a bit more, then I’d figure out some breakfast.

….

Level Up - Gain enough AP to earn a Stat Point and progress your level. 1 AP.

Spoils of Battle - Complete the “Spoils of Battle” Quest. 1 AP

Item Drop - Gain a consumable item as a reward. 1 AP

HealthPack - Use a healing item on yourself. 1 AP

Basic Tutorial 1 - Complete the first day of Tutorial Quests. 1 AP

Universally Skilled - Gain a Universal Skill. 1 AP

….

This was the first I had come across anything mentioning “levels”. I itched to go down that rabbit hole, but I needed to stay focused. As I continued to read I received a straight forward summary of my last day here. It had all been a rush, but it seemed like so much more when it was laid out in a list like that. Many of the achievements were clearly themed around me being brand new to this world. However, some of the following ones finally started showing where I had taken risks and been rewarded accordingly.

………….

Basic Crafting - Craft an item. 1 AP

Basic Weapon Crafting - Craft a weapon. 1 AP

Basic Combat - Complete the “Defeat 10 combatants” Quest. 1 AP

Crimson-Eye Beetle Slayer - Slay 10 Crimson-Eye Beetles - 1 AP

Overachiever 1 - Discover Hidden Quest Objectives. 2 AP

Apex Skill - Gain an Apex Skill. 2AP

King of the Hill - Kill a Prospective Node Warden. 5 AP

……………..

That seemed to be the end of it. As I read I determined that I had gained 29 achievement points or AP. According to the “Level Up” achievement these were converted to Stat Points. It didn’t say what the conversion rate was, but it was nice to know they did something, and nice to know how I might get more stat points. Currently, I have only earned 3, but I knew I would need much more than that.

Evidently, each quest I completed rewarded me with one AP in addition to the quest rewards, and the time I had discovered hidden objectives had rewarded me with 2 bonus AP. I didn’t think I could count on accruing points as fast as I had. As far as I could tell I was rapidly burning through all the “easy” achievements. These were the ones rewarded for discovering something for the first time. By far taking the risk last night had been the most rewarding.

“So..” I pondered out loud, “I can get reliably stronger by completing quests, by doing new things, by crafting, new things, by fighting new things, and by risking my life, a lot..” all easier said than done. Despite this, I couldn’t help but smile. I know what I have to do to survive in this world. I had an objective, goals, direction. This wasn’t any different than the daily grind of my life. Go to school, study hard, pass tests and classes, work hard at my job; if I did those things I would slowly become successful in life and be able to keep my family safe and comfortable. The rules had changed now, but I now knew what the grind was. And if Kate and Mom had somehow fallen into this world as well, I’d keep them safe, just like I knew they’d be working to keep each other and me safe.

“I’ll find you Mom, I’ll find you Kate. I’m coming home.” And I’ll keep you safe, just like before, we’ll take care of each other.

I had work to do, I had made some strong promises to myself, and I had a path to follow now, but I needed to check out the last menu item first: Log. Achievements had revealed so much, I finally felt like I was understanding the world I was in now, and I could see the rules the world had devised. Any further information could only strengthen that understanding.

“Log”. The Achievements page vanished and was replaced with a very similar page, but instead of a small list of Achievements, this page had everything. It was even more overwhelming than the first.

Occupant (William Wolff) Log

…

New Occupant awakened from Extended Stasis.

Pre-Progression System Activated. Log available. All other interfaces locked.

…..

UI Message: “Balance achieved. Standby for Re-Entry to Grid”

UI: Message: "Balance has been achieved. Test Grid: Gamma has been successfully reformed from matter, energy, ether, and flux from consolidated planes. You will be returned to your original relative location.”

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

……

It had been a very long day and a half, but I remembered these words. Cutting through the endless darkness I had existed in for an indeterminate time, they had felt like the first words to be heard in a lifetime. I had forgotten the finer points, so it was very satisfying to be able to re-read them. I found the part that I recalled being most confused about at the time. This was when the UI had offered my the choice of dying immediately or being sent to the “Outlands”.

……..

UI Message: Choose between Outlands and Original Location. Warning: Original Location will result in immediate fatality.”

UI Message: Occupant has accepted the Outlands opportunity.

UI Message: Occupant. Balance has been satisfied. Opportunity: Outlands will contain similar risk of fatality. Either be slain or rise above.”

UI Message: If successful, paths to power and sovereignty await. If you fail, there is only one path, the all-consuming Void.

UI Message: Standby for Entry to the Outlands. Reach the Singularity.

…….

I just sat there for a few minutes. I had remembered the words, but I realized I had remembered them like one might memorize a passage of text or a section of building code for a test. I could spout it back, but the meaning of the words was nonsense. Reading it in plain english was very different.

I had chosen to come here. And if I hadn't, I would’ve re-appeared in that alleyway and been run-through. I rubbed my hand on my still-growling stomach, imagining the large hole that would’ve been immediately formed if I had chosen that path. The word “Balance” stuck out to me as I continued to rub my core, it had shown up a few times on reading through the screens. I couldn’t be sure, but it seemed like the only reason I was able to come here was because I had been about to die anyway. So they UI could send me to a place where my death would be just as likely, but just pushed back a bit; therefore preserving “balance”.

I looked down at my carp friends, still dutifully picking at any final pieces of gore they could find. “I don’t think the danger has passed for me little guys, I may be back here sooner than you think.” I couldn’t be sure if “balance” was satisfied that I had sufficiently faced a similar threat of fatality yet. Even more so than before, I couldn’t let my guard down.

I continued reading through the log, and began to see the entries where I had earned Achievements, completed quests, fought enemies, and crafted items. The enemies were simply named “enemy” and the spears I had crafted were simply grouped as “weapons” which was annoying. Especially since the Node Warden Quest had all but told me the name of the Beetles. I had hoped that this log could identify things for me. Oh well.

There was much to learn from this screen, but I learned two important things; the first was that my skills and proficiencies had come from quests but also just by showing sufficient expertise.

….

Sufficient Knowledge Shown: New Proficiency “Short-Bladed Combat” Unlocked.

….

I had known this, but having it confirmed by the log was good. The fewer theories I had and the more actual rules in place the better.

The second was that, as I had learned earlier, gaining achievements was how I gained stat points.

…

New Achievement: Basic Weapon Crafting. 1 AP Awarded

Experience Threshold Reached. Level Up. Free Stat Point Awarded.

…

As far as I could tell, unlocking the Progression System had taken 2 achievement points, after which each new stat, or level as the log called it, came after 8 more achievement points. Though my last level had come after the Node Warden achievement which had given me 5 AP, putting me over that 8 limit by 3 AP. Following the 8 AP system I should gain another stat point after 5 more regular achievements. As I read on, some of the later achievements, the ones that had given me 2 AP had also rewarded me with Favor. I had gotten 2 Favor from both times I had gotten 2 AP, and then gotten 10 Favor for the “King of the Hill” Achievement. The log seemed to be the only place that listed how I had received Favor. I wasn’t sure where I had gotten the other remaining Favor. Presumably I started with it. I still didn’t know what Favor was for, but more couldn't hurt.

As I read and re-read, I found it odd that the log said I had “leveled up”, as I hadn’t come across that in the Status page. Or at least that’s what I had thought. When I switched back to my status, I was immediately proved wrong as a new line had appeared.

Status

Name William Wolff

Origin Earth (5)

Race Human (1)

Level 3

Rank -

Class -

Major Discipline -

Minor Discipline -

“So the UI continues to hide things from me until I find them myself” I mused with frustration. This. This was why I felt like I was missing important information. I had no way of knowing what the UI was keeping from until it deemed it appropriate for me to find out. I did notice that my log had updated upon returning to that screen to reflect the change in my Status screen.

…

Requirements Met. Occupant Progression Level now shown in Status.

…

I thought back to the battle with the Beetles and how it had taken the UI essentially bashing me over the head to let me know I had a new skill available. In that situation it had worked in my favor to wait, but I couldn’t afford to be in the dark regarding the log changes, or even my Status. I decided that for the time being I would keep both screens up at all times. Up until now I had been swapping between screens, but with a focused thought I was able to keep two screens up. A little more adjusting and focused mental commands and I had set both screens to the sides of my vision and ensured they were transparent so I could still read them but they wouldn’t be blocking my direct vision.

I had finished all that when I saw a log update.

…

New Achievement: Heads-Up Display. 1 AP.

…

“Hmm, so exploring the UI and figuring things out for myself also helps me grow and get stronger. Good to know.” If my math was right, I was now at 30 AP total, and would gain another level after 4 more AP.

I was still a little lost, but I felt much better about everything I had done. I had done seemingly everything I could to prepare myself for the coming challenges. Except one thing.

I hopped back to my character summary, and used my stat points on Strength, Agility, and Endurance. They seemed the most immediately beneficial and couldn’t hurt. I’d make more educated decisions when I understood what was going on better.

I don’t know what I had expected, but instead of increasing by a set number, each stat increased by one percent. One percent? That’s it? I had a lot of work cut out for me if I was only increasing my stats by measly percentages. And another thought struck me.

“So these stats aren’t my base stats, they are just bonuses?” I wondered aloud, and suddenly felt very foolish for my earlier tantrum. “Sorry UI, my bad, of course we’re all at 0, your scale probably doesn’t go high enough to measure all my stats” I said and promptly closed my menu before the UI threw some mean, but accurate, low numbers at me.

With all of that finally out of the way I sat up and splashed water all over my body to get the rest of the gore cleaned out. It was unbelievable that there was still blood coming off of my body and pieces of bug flesh still tucked away in nooks and crannies. I think the only way I could’ve gotten filthier is if I had jumped into a blender with the damn things. Ultimately, I was able to remove most of it, much to the joy of the small school of green carp I had now attracted.

I looked around and took in my current base of operations. It was a disaster, this was no way to live. I needed to do something about the piles and piles of dead bugs littering my clearing. Also, the large one, which had been a Prospective Node Warden, whatever that was, needed to go as well.

“Will there be more of these Node Wardens?” I had no way of knowing, but I would need to prepare with that as a possibility.

As much as I really just wanted to lay in the sand and water and feed the fish, I might be a sitting duck if I didn’t get moving. I said goodbye to my little carp friends and set about cleaning up and harvesting some of the bug parts. Their carapaces were incredibly strong, especially the big one, and I had a few ideas for what I could do with them. First thing was to track down my other blade. I had lost it while digging through the giant beetle. So I walked back and do a quick cursory search.

I dug around with my current blade at the hole I had cut myself out of and eventually found it. Or what was left of it. It had mostly disintegrated in the night, it seemed that the acidic slime I had washed off was truly lethal if not dealt with. Looking at the one I was already carrying I now noticed that it had broken down somewhat as well. Fortunately, I now had dozens of replacements to choose from. I quickly found 2 other mandibles that looked sturdy and sharp and extracted them from their dead owner.

Weapons dealt with I saw to my remaining wounds. That lake water was truly miraculous, but it seemed to mostly numb the pain and disinfect, and only actively healed if I was submerged in it. The bigger cuts I had taken still needed care. So I took a few minutes sparingly applying some more of my ointment to my wounds. I already looked much better than the night before. And my status currently said I was “Healthy”, so I couldn’t be in too rough a shape.

My dried meat was all gone, that greedy first beetle had taken the rest, but I did still have some coconuts. I finally saw to my overwhelming hunger, then finally set to work. I had quests to accomplish and a camp to clean.