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WARNING OUTWORLDER
You have broken a rule of the dungeon. Punishment Dispatched.
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A new pane shoved its way in front of him, covering the welcome message. “Great. So not only have I been Isekai'd into a dungeon somewhere, where I will probably die in some horrific fashion, extremely soon judging by that intentionally vague and threatening message. But I am not even allowed to swear”, Ambrose was miffed, as swearing was a cornerstone of his personality.
“Okay, so the first thing to do when you get pulled into a new world, is to not panic” Ambrose muttered to himself, already pacing back and forth, mentally dismissing the warning and all other messages so he could see his feet while doing so, immediately forgetting to actually read the remainder of the welcome message in his panic. “Alright, find weapons, get a class, get out of the dungeon, don’t die” Ambrose’s light and quiet voice echoed in the silence, returning as whispers and eventually snapping him out of his daze and back to the situation at hand.
Ambrose finally looked around the room he had woken up in, it was the size of a single bedroom, made entirely of a light blue stone, the dim glow that had finally forced him to open his eyes, emanated from a sphere only slightly larger than a D20, hovering above his head in the middle of the ceiling, pretending it was just a fluorescent lightbulb. There was no other furniture, though Ambrose wasn’t sure if he could consider the ominous orb furniture, there wasn’t even a door, just an empty entry way. Ambrose poked his head out of the door hole and into the darkness beyond, “Hello?” his nervous voice echoed down the hallway. No voice answered, other than his own. As he strained to see the monsters he believed waiting just beyond the darkness, Ambrose noticed a small, slowly pulsing, white light filling the space of his peripheral vision that was his eyelids. “Right, always read the system notifications” Chastising himself internally and feeling like an idiot for falling into the same issues as all the protagonists that came before, Ambrose brought the panes of glass back with a thought, and finally began reading his introduction messages.
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WELCOME OUTWORLDER
Your wish has been granted!
You have become the Sponsored of James, “The God of Losers” and have been brought into the world of Eramen to follow in his footsteps!
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Despite reading the message Ambrose could hear the voice of a child reading it out loud to him as well, though the sound was in the back of his mind, almost as if it was imagined. With some yet unknown punishment coming for him Ambrose ignored any thoughts about the voice trying to distract him and continued on through the stack of glass.
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FEAT MANIFESTED
Upon entering this world you have brought with you the trait that allowed you to be Sponsored.
Mundane: You are as basic, boring, and average as they come! Your Attributes and Affinities have been balanced out and always will be! Though you are unlikely to ever amount to much.
* Attributes have been balanced out and will remain this way.
* Affinities have been balanced out and will remain this way.
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Ambrose paused, mouth pulled back into an unimpressed straight line at the insult that was his crowning achievement. Though he did find it ironic that he was so “basic and boring” that he had been pulled into a different world, as if that was the normal thing.
As Ambrose opened the next pane his attention was drawn to a handful of symbols that seemed to hold some specific meaning that was lost on him. As if the pane was reacting to his confusion it went blank, before starting again, this time the symbols were gone but his confusion remained.
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YOUR ATTRIBUTES HAVE CHANGED
* Strength of Body: 10
* Speed of Body: 10
* Strength of Mind: 10
* Speed of Mind: 10
* Strength of Soul: 10
* Speed of Soul: 10
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The symbols had been replaced by these “strength of x” and “speed of x” representations, but he felt that if he wanted he could return them to their previous states. He could also tell that something was missing in this version “Right, that’s probably some kind of Concept or Dao thing going on.” He spent some time flicking back and forth, hoping to gain some familiarity with the six symbols that apparently represented his form. “ Okay so let’s put this into something I can understand. The two body stats seem to have an obvious game equivalent, Strength of Body is obviously just strength, maybe some aspect of Constitution and or Stamina as well. Speed of Body would be Dexterity."
"The Mind stats I am less sure of, Strength of Mind is probably the stand in for intelligence but maybe also Willpower? Speed of Mind would then be reaction speed and overall how quick you think? Or maybe Reaction would be a mix of Speed of Mind and Speed of Body? That all checks out to me but then what the hell…” Ambrose paused in a minor panic, realising that some people back home considered hell a swear word. When no other warning pane came into being he continued his thoughts.
“So normally in games Intelligence would deal with spell damage and total mana and Wisdom would deal with mana regen and also help with the mana pool some times, maybe that’s what these Souls stats are? So Strength of Soul affects how powerful spells would be, and then Speed would be how quick I could cast them and regen? That would then make the Intelligence stat just how smart I am, maybe how much I can remember at once as well, like a higher Intelligence, or Strength of Mind would mean I can have more spells ready to cast, like a preparation limit in TTRPGs. Gah why make this more confusing than it needs to be”.
Leaving his daydreams of shooting fireballs into every room of bad guys behind for the moment, Ambrose attempted to focus on not being an ADHD mess and finish reading the messages. Even with potential death stalking after him for saying a no no word, focusing didn’t come easy at times. “Seems that this stat rebalance thing hasn’t really changed anything, at least mentally.”
Ambrose began checking his body over, only slightly disappointed at not finding bulging muscles. “ Maybe my stats haven't actually changed all that much, I guess 10 is normally the natural average for humans in the books and games. Maybe the affinities is where I balanced out, ooh maybe that means that I am suddenly good at juggling, I never was very good when it came to that, I still find it rather odd that we had to do that for a Uni assignment in Software Engineering. Like that course was all over just a bit weird.”
Before Ambrose continued further down his anxiety fueled self distraction, an echo which sounded eerily like a crash and a scream in the distance reached his ears, breaking him out of it. Now whispering breathily, he hid himself in a corner around the door hole of his room “Right. Messages. Read. Quick”
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YOU HAVE RECEIVED A DIVINE QUEST
As a Sponsored you are entitled to conversations with your Sponsor so that you can know their divine proclamation, and receive guidance.
Normally to receive this guidance you are expected to make strides in your path, but as you just got here, this one is on us. You simply need to ask.
Goal: Call to your Sponsor
Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
Reward: A chat with your Sponsor where you can gain an understanding of your duties and your divine path!
This is a system assigned quest and has been automatically accepted.
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Well at least I won’t be left completely in the dark Ambrose thought to himself while muttering about how stupid this all was, trying to bury his fear behind his annoyance.. Three panes left, then he could evaluate his circumstances and maybe look for somewhere safer, further away from the noises. Then maybe he would try calling out to this apparent god of his.
“Who the hell even becomes a god of losers anyway.”
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BE AWARE OUTWORLDER
In Eramen all sapient creatures start at level 1 and then automatically level up over time, reaching level 10 around the time they reach maturity so they have the life experiences to define themselves for the first time. As an Outworlder you have already reached your species maturity and lived a set of experiences. Because of this you start at level 1, you gain exp through the normal methods at a highly increased rate until you reach level ten. Gather as many different experiences as you can in this period to best define yourself!
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Ambrose carefully and quickly re-read the message, confident that there was some mechanic he was unaware of that would come into play at level 10. He decided it was likely the class, profession, or other equivalent system and continued, not sparing more thought to it. “After all, there are not many options for experiences trapped in a dungeon.”
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BE AWARE OUTWORLDER
You have entered into a dungeon.
Welcome to The Gaol of Neterin.
The dungeon would like all to be made aware of the following rules:
* No being crass.
* Be polite to the monsters, they have feelings too!
* Be thankful to the dungeon for all the experiences and possible loot it is providing you.
* Your word is your bond, don’t break it.
* No killing those weaker than you unless you make use of the corpse.
Breaking the rules will allow the dungeon to execute a punishment. The more stringent the rule that is broken, the more severe the punishment is allowed to be.
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“Focusing” Ambrose pushed out in his goblin voice, nose scrunched up and lips pulled back. Ignoring the very real possibility that it was goblins that hunted him.
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BE AWARE OUTWORLDER
Your Awakening spot is in an area of low ambient Mana.
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“Well I don’t have magic yet so that shouldn’t be an issue.” Running out of panes, Ambrose’s eyes crossed into a confused frown once more. “I thought that would be about the Affinities changing.” A disapproving grunt bubbled up from his throat. “I guess they are hidden. I suppose that checks out, you don’t know how naturally good you are at something until you actually try, I really would have liked more numbers though. Right step one somewhere safe. Step two, find something to try and juggle. Step three, something, something. Step four, profit”
Ambrose decided to try and grab the orb above him so he wouldn’t be wandering the halls of the dungeon in darkness. He jumped, grabbing out towards the small ball, hitting it towards the wall instead of grabbing it. The orb gently floated towards the wall, stopping before reaching it, now hovering an equal distance from the ceiling and the wall. Trying again Ambrose was able to grab hold with his fingers but the orb repelled itself out and away. “Alright you, I’m gonna getcha, little sneak”.
This time Ambrose prepared himself, wiggling his butt slightly subconsciously, trying to aim towards the orb. Launching upwards something felt right, the white glow of a waiting notification filled the space beyond his peripheral vision once more. Clapping both hands around the orb, pulling it down towards the earth with him, Ambrose smiled. Between his hands, was his prize and he had clearly been rewarded for it somehow. Even now the orb was slightly pushing against his hands, as if he were holding like sided magnets against each other. Slowly releasing his hands, Ambrose hoped that the orb wouldn’t return to the ceiling. It immediately floated upwards but stopped, sitting above his palm. Moving forward he found that he could keep the orb floating in front of him by keeping the orb above his hand, and in the centre of his body. “It’s not ideal, but it's better than darkness. Ooh Notification time.” Ambrose pulled the pane of glass out from the inside of his head, enjoying the little bit of dopamine that came with it.
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CONGRATULATIONS OUTWORLDER, YOU HAVE MANIFESTED YOUR FIRST SKILL!
As you intentionally take actions, and try to improve at them you will gain Skills.
You have gained the Skill Jumping at Level 1 (Common, Mundane): Leaping a gap? Launching yourself out of the way of something? Or wiggling your butt to help you reach that little bit higher? You can do it all!
* Improved Proficiency while using Jumping Abilities.
* Reduced impact from falling while using Jumping Abilities.
By gaining Jumping you have gained the following Abilities.
* Jump: Push off of something to go in the opposite direction.
* Fall: Don’t break your legs from jumping too high.
Skills and other methods grant Abilities. The strength of these Abilities are affected by your Affinities, Attributes and Skill level of any relevant Skills. Different Skills affect Abilities at different rates. As you come from a world without Skills you have been offered a free hint for ways to improve your first Abilities.
Improving your Strength of Body is the easiest way for you to improve the Effectiveness of your Jump Ability.
Tumbling Skills also apply to the Effectiveness of your Fall Ability.
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Ambrose blinked. His butt wiggling had gained him a Skill.
Leaving the room, awkwardly manoeuvring around his orb as to push it forward. Ambrose crept along the hall away from the noises he had heard earlier. Passing more empty rooms Ambrose felt his fear rise, trying to pull out some form of character sheet to distract him.
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Ambrose Edward Rogers Level 1 Human Nothing
Attributes:
* Strength of Body: 10
* Speed of Body: 10
* Strength of Mind: 10
* Speed of Mind: 10
* Strength of Soul: 10
* Speed of Soul: 10
Skills:
* Jumping Level 1 (Common, Mundane)
Abilities:
* Jump (Jumping)
* Fall (Jumping)
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“Well that’s insulting and severely lacking in information. Hurray” Ambrose could swear he could hear the system child giggling at him in the back of his mind as he closed the disappointing pane.
“You know people would say that I am crazy for talking to myself, of course they would be right I am kind of crazy. But at this point it’s pretty clear I am actually talking to something, so now it's not crazy, just stupid to talk to myself. By myself we meant to the dungeon, and the child, and maybe my god, and maybe other gods. Yeah totally not myself. For sure handling this whole situation really well.”
Several minutes went by, Ambrose was struggling to not continue his inane rambling, slowly stewing in his fears and anxieties of what might lay just beyond his sight. His patience was rewarded as light began to grow in the distance. It appeared that Ambrose was reaching the end of the building he was in. Maybe I won’t have to worry about that punishment after all. Though his growing excitement quickly returned to fear as another Skill notification occurred, as he heard a noise from outside.
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CONGRATULATIONS OUTWORLDER, YOU HAVE MANIFESTED A SKILL
You have gained the Skill Stealth at Level 1 (Common, Mundane): Hiding from your parents? Your mistakes? Or maybe a monster just outside that door sent specifically to punish you? No matter what you are hiding from you’re now less likely to be found!
* Reduced signs of presence while using Stealth Abilities.
* Quicker moving while using Stealth Abilities.
* Smoother moving while using Stealth Abilities.
By gaining Stealth you have gained the following Abilities.
* Hide: Stay still, stay hidden.
* Blend: Go unnoticed in plain sight.
* Skulk: Keep quiet, keep safe.
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The noises became clearer as a second pane of glass came into view.
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CONGRATULATIONS OUTWORLDER, YOU HAVE MANIFESTED A SKILL
You have gained the Skill Perception at Level 1 (Common, Mundane): Tasting a five star meal? Smelling the roses? Listening to the plan of the monsters preparing to ambush you? Experience them all the deeper.
* Primary senses are improved while using Perception Abilities.
By gaining Perception you have gained the following Abilities.
* Feel: Feel the texture.
* Listen: Listen to the whispers.
* Observe: Observe the colours.
* Smell: Smell the roses.
* Taste: Taste the flavour.
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No weapon. No class. No magic. In his pyjamas. Scared and definitely not alone, Ambrose flexed his new Skulk Ability and fled back into the darkness of the building.