He sits up quickly and looks to his right, seeing Beltag sitting up slowly while stretching and yawning.

He quickly gets up and runs behind the nearest tree. Probably won't keep me hidden for long, but blah, he thinks, peeking out from behind it, trying to keep himself as hidden as he can while still looking at Beltag.

He watches as the giant scratches its sides and stands up, as tall as a tree. It looks around a bit while stretching before picking up a large log. As it comes more into view, Degritone notices that it's not a log, but a fishing rod and reel.

Sophisticated enough to have fishing rods. I hope they don't have the giant to human version of arachnophobia. Or just hate small humanoids for some reason. But first, some checks and tests. Skills, he thinks as he gets fully behind the tree and sits down. The skill screen comes up. Cool, mental commands work.

Stomp lv2

Running lv3

Improvised Weapon Mastery lv2

Search lv4

Scan lv3

Visualization lv13

??? lv0

Getting excited, he opens ???'s popup.

A Skill currently in the process of being created.

47% complete

His eyes widen and he gains a smile while starting a little happy dance, holding back the want to make some happy noises. SKILL CREATION EXISTS! 47%? That mean time is required or more specificity? Regardless, SKILL CREATION! He thinks loudly and excitedly in his head.

And I have... 1, 2... 3, 4... 11- no, 12, 16 PP to spend. Paths.

PP: 16

Initiate 5/10

No new? Stagnating PP, or similar to Pathless paths from Randidly after? Also, how new paths? He thinks to himself as he finishes off Initiate, for 5 more free stats and an announcement.

Congratulations! You have finished the Initiate path!

The path was short, but you took your time, familiarizing yourself with your surroundings.

PP: 11

Initiate 10/10

???

???

Two. Similar to the Pathless paths from Randidly. I wonder if it's similar or of they're paths I was close to getting but didn't qualify for, but, being without a path, gave them to me, anyway? Exclusive? Same? Whatever, let's go with the first on the list. He shrugs as he thinks that. The path becomes the following while the other disappears.

Hoarder 1/50

He pops out its description.

Unlocked by having 25 free stats unallocated.

Unlocked early by not having a path available.

Due to be 40% of the way to unlocking the path naturally when unlocked, all rewards will be 40% as effective.

Rewards:

None

Completion: ???

"Hm," he says. Now I know not to pick a path when I haven't naturally unlocked any yet, he thinks disappointed before pouring the rest of his PP into Hoarder. Though, it appears to be a reward path, rather than a growth path, since it has no rewards beyond the completion one. If it's a skill, I don't see how it can be only 40% as effective unless it gives it some skill-specific debuff.

He shrugs. "Whatever, time to deal with the giant. What was its name again?" he quietly asks himself as he stands up and gets out from behind the tree, holding his arms up. He sees Beltag sitting cross-legged at the edge of the river, a large string leading from its rod and reel into the river.

He slowly approaches the edge of the water, keeping his arms up. "Beltag," he says loudly, waving his arms slowly, "can you understand me? I wish you no harm and highly doubt I can do any."

Beltag looks over at him. Degritone stops moving his arms and finishes the step he was in the middle of, standing relatively still. Beltag points at him and he feels a slight chill on the top of his head. So, you can feel when you're scanned? he thinks.

"Yes, I can understand you, little one. I've never seen one of your race before, human, are you far from home?" Beltag asks, their voice a very, very deep rumble, only barely audible in terms of frequency, but loud enough to rumble Degritone's body.

He nods. "You could say that, though I'm new to the system, though I'm probably one of the people who-" he pauses, losing his words. He stares at Beltag for multiple seconds, trying to get them back.

"Who...?" Beltag asks.

Degritone shakes his head. "Oh, sorry, I have issues saying words sometimes." He pauses. "It takes me a while to translate from my head t' my mouth." He pauses.

After Beltag doesn't respond for a couple seconds, Degritone continues, "I was going to say that I'm probably one of the few people who will quick- who..." a pause, "who will easily understand this. Back in our world, we had fiction about- stories about-" a pause, "similar events as to what's happening." The entire time he's talking, his eyes are slowly moving around, not looking at anything in particular.

"I already understand the basics, or at least what I consider basics. I don't remember the exact calculations, but health is based off physical and endurance, regen based off vitality, and so on, and I get skills and paths." He takes a quick sigh before continuing, "There's actual a decently similar story I enjoyed that had a similar skill and path system."

"I was wondering if you could tell me what this place is-and how to get out. It seems like a dungeon, possibly. Uhhh..." He trails off as he looks down and to the right, tilting his head with his eyes. "Actually, you've probably been with the system for a long while. I could use some pointers from someone who's been with it for 21 levels as a level 0."

Beltag's eyes go slightly wide. "This is a dungeon?" They stare at something in front of them and move their right hand as if they're swiping at something. After a few seconds, they say, "Ah, it is. Great." They roll their eyes. "I just had to be in the location taken for an introduction dungeon, didn't I?" They sigh.

"I'm sorry, little one, but you are not allowed help while inside an introduction dungeon. Did you try adding friends? If not, don't bother trying, it won't work, as the dungeon will refuse to let the request through until after you leave. As for what do to, you'll figure it out, and I'm unable to tell you," they say, standing up.

They reel in their rood and set it beside them before picking up a long log, most of it cut away to form a blade. They stand up and begin going through motions, as if fighting something invisible near them.

At first, Degritone is slightly frightened, but then he realizes what they're doing. He smirks. They can't help. But nothing says anything about training. Possibly trying to show me some giant sword skill. "I appreciate the attempt, but I have no sword on me. The closest thing to a weapon I have is a rock."

Beltag looks slightly disappointed and sits down, placing his sword back where it was and going back to fishing. "Well then, have fun doing everything on your own. Get out of here soon. I need to get back to my village."

Degritone raises his left hand to his chin, putting his thumb under his chin and his bent pointer finger over his lips. Is there any way I can loophole them to give me information? If I ask questions, they wouldn't be able to answer if the answer would be helpful, but that would also mean that anything they can answer wouldn't be helpful, but that would make it helpful by ruling out possibilities. So there probably isn't a way around it, but let's try.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

He says up to Beltag, "If you can't help me, then how about giving away useless information? What ISN'T the way to get out of this dungeon?"

Beltag laughs, forcing Degritone to breathe with every pulse of laughter. "I can't tell you anything you don't already know. But, to answer your question, one way to not get out is to do nothing. Which you already knew."

"Dang, well, I'll leave you to your fishing. Think you could get me across the river?"

Beltag thinks for a while. He pulls his lure out of the water and casts it again, but puts too much power into it, causing it to go across the river.

Degritone smirks and grabs onto the line, putting his feet on the lure. Beltag reels it in, making sure to keep it out of the water. "Just happened to put too much power into your cast?" Degritone asks as he's let off beside Beltag.

"Something like that."

Degritone nods. "Thanks," he simply says before heading toward the small end. Wait, if this is another world, or part of it, at least, how am I able to breathe, and the gravity feels the same, and all that jazz? Does their world have the same atmosphere and planet size as Earth, or is it because magic? If possible, I'd like to get a scientist on that when we get back.

He shrugs and opens his status screen.

Name Degritone Race Human Resources 17.88.../17.88... (+73.57...) 13.22.../13.22... (+81.43...) 30/30 (+74.29...) Class None Experience 0/0 Strength 4 Endurance 2 Vitality 6 Agility 4 Physical 11 Magic 11

"I guess I should allocate my 10 stats. Waiting to see what's up ahead might be too late, now that I think about it. But what does adding to health and the resources do?" He asks himself as he continues to walk. He notices the plus is underlined. "How do I tap it without clicking it? Just intent?" He pokes the plus over maximum health with the intent of opening the popup.

Increases maximum health Endurance multiplier by 1.

"Ah, cool. Let me think about this." He sits down. "If I have 10 Endurance with no increases to the multiplier... 40 before Physical. 8 and 6... 48. 2 and... 4 plus 8 12, 28. So, what ratio would be preferred? Equal to make it a square number? I don't have Desmos to graph this, so..." He crosses his arms.

"For example, 6 and 6, 36, while 5 and 7, 35. So, equal for square is best? Do I care about stamina right now? Probably. Let's see, I have 10 points. 3 to endurance, 4 to max stamina, 1 to max health to make all those equal to 5. Then I'm a regen nut, so 1 to health regen and vitality to make it 6 and 7? Or maybe to Strength for more damage in case I need it..."

"I'm definitely doing..." He adds 3 to endurance, 4 to maximum stamina, and 1 to maximum health.

Name Degritone Race Human Resources 48.33.../48.33... (+73.57...) 53.33.../53.33... (+81.43...) 79/79 (+74.29...) Class None Experience 0/0 Strength 4 Endurance 5 Vitality 6 Agility 4 Physical 11 Magic 11

Upon finalizing the stat changes, he feels a sudden rush of energy in his body, a warm sensation takes over his chest, while a slight tightness takes over his entire body and a coldness takes over his head. He immediately stands up. After a few seconds of looking around, he sits back down.

"So, I'll assume the hotness is stamina, cold mana, and tight health? Or maybe tight is just because endurance increased the durability of my skin?" he looks around for a sharp stick and finds one, taking his left glove off before stabbing the stick into his left hand. It enters his hand and he starts bleeding slowly.

He shakes his hand, causing the stick to go flying and blood to get flung around his immediate area. "OWWWWWWWWWWWIEEEEEHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAA-AAAA-AAAAAAA!" He exclaims. "So, no more durable skin. Maybe just goosebumps from the change in energy pool size. Then what does health even mean? And can health be decreased? Like, if I stick that stick into my hand and leave it there, does it lower my max health? If I get my arm cut off, will it regrow? Or will my max health stay reduced? Or neither?"

"Questions that need a test subject. And I'm not willing to force anyone to go through that. I'll have someone cut off my pinky toe to test once I get out of here." He says to himself, putting his glove in his pocket. Don't get bloody. "Now, what do I do with my last two? Maybe keep until I see a creature." He lets his brain go on autopilot for 15 seconds. "Sure."

He stands up and starts walking, the tightness in his skin decreasing. His palm still bleeding, he hears movement in the bushes behind and to the left of him.