The first thing Theo remembered after the expanding sun was a sharp pain in his chest. Unconsciousness gave way to that sensation, followed by an oppressive humidity and the scent of soot and sweat. He realized before anything else came back to him that it was his sweat. He stirred, forcing his eyes open. The scene that swirled around him was dizzying, made worse by the crowd of text in the middle of his vision. No matter where he tilted his head, the annoying text followed.

[Welcome to paradise!]

Quest

You’re Dead!

Congratulations, your entire world has been destroyed. The [System] has determined that you qualify for transfer to World B71 (commonly known as Iaredin). A powerful entity has vouched for your transfer, upgrading your transfer vessel with additional benefits.

Acclimate yourself to your new world, and enjoy Broken Tusk!

Objectives:

Meet the villagers of Broken Tusk.

Sleep in your new home.

“Ugh, it doesn't feel like paradise,” Theo said, swatting at the text. “What the—”

His words were interrupted by the same painful poke. As the shapes in the room resolved, he saw a massive woman standing over him, and only now realized that he was laying down. She was a tall, well-muscled lady with short hair, olive—almost red—skin, short tusks protruding from her bottom lip, and a scowl hanging on her face. Theo blinked away the sleep, frantically trying to drive away the woman through sheer willpower. She didn’t go, simply glowering down at him.

“About time,” she said. At least he could understand her. “You have a lot of questions, and I don’t care. Well, here’s the short version. You owe me money.”

“Nice to meet you, too,” Theo said, staring up at the ceiling. He tried desperately to avoid eye-contact with the intimidating woman.

With his vision cleared, he took stock of where he was. Shoddy wood paneling on the walls, cracked boards on the floor, a roof with more mold than he’d ever seen, and a bed stuffed with straw. The uncertainty that painted his face upon awakening vanished in an instant. He wasn’t dead. No matter how strange things were around him, the sun hadn’t killed him.

“We found you in a field a week ago,” she said. “My name is Miana Kell, mayor of Broken Tusk. We figured you were integrated from another system, so I had Luras prepare to get you situated. Wait here.”

Miana rose from the side of the bed, stomping out of the room and off into the hallway. Theo rose to a sitting position on the bed, a shock running through his heart when he saw his hands. He frantically pushed back the rough cloth covering his forearms, inspecting his skin. It was rougher than he remembered, and purple. His fingers ended in thick claws, and as he pressed his palms against his face, he found horns. They traced along the shape of his head, swooping up at the back of his skull. The horns were rough, variegated with ridges along the length. Then he felt the tail attached near his butt.

“Alright,” Theo said, his brow knitting tightly. “What’s going on?”

His question fell into the emptiness of the room. He rose to his feet, inspecting his legs and letting out a sigh of relief. At least I don’t have hooves, he thought, inspecting his bare feet. With a wiggle of his toes, he shrugged.

“Greetings,” a voice like coarse gravel came from the threshold of the room. “I’m Luras Trinner, hunter and trapper. I hope you transitioned well.”

Luras was a mountain of a man, easily two heads taller than Miana. He wore what Theo could only conclude as leather armor. It looked well-oiled, hugging the man’s massive frame and layered for protection. A pair of daggers sat at his hip, with a bow held in his hand. His skin was darker than the woman’s, edging toward a dark ochre color to contrast to her pale orange. Something about the softness of his expression put Theo at ease. His shaven head even caught the light spectacularly.

“Not so sure about that, Luras,” Theo said, letting out a nervous chuckle. “I appear to be a demon.”

“Ah, yes,” Luras said, digging in the satchel at his side. He held a parchment out, squinting to read the text. “I tried to memorize this, but… you know. It says that most transitioned worlds don’t have the number of races we have here. Right.”

“Well, I was human,” Theo said, shrugging.

“We have humans here. I’m a Half-Ogre… well, we’re not really half of an Ogre, but that’s just the name. Just like how you’re not a demon. You’re one of the Dronon—part demons. Come on, I’ll give you a tour of the town while I explain things. Can you walk?”

The simplicity of the gentle way the man spoke smoothed away the rough edges of Theo’s mind. His mind’s eye produced images of Ogres from fantasy. Towering brutes that would eat someone’s liver as soon as they would introduce themselves. Luras was very unlike that image, presenting a calm exterior that brought more questions than answers. He wobbled on the spot, swaying around to understand his new body. His balance seemed worse than before the transition, the strength born of years of service gone in an instant. But his mind seemed more honed, able to process things quicker and come to an understanding. It was all ‌strange.

“Let’s go,” Theo said, nodding to himself.

Luras led him through a short wind of halls, holding a rickety wooden door open for Theo to step outside. The exterior was more of an assault to his senses than the interior, the humidity doubling in the open air. The scent of wet earth and manure filled his nostrils, a light bustle of other Half-Ogres walking along a central dirt road. Each building in Broken Tusk was of the same shoddy construction. Boards seemed nailed together in whatever manner pleased the builder, the cracks jammed with green mosses. A yellow sun blistered overhead, casting its light over the terrain.

Theo breathed the air, a grin spreading across his face. It wasn’t paradise, but he wasn’t dead.

Luras led the way silently, stopping by a Half-Ogre-sized monolith in the center of a circular section of the road. It sat atop a stone dais, stones hewn from some dark stone Theo didn’t recognize, although he wasn’t an expert on stone.

“I assume the System doesn’t exist in your world,” Luras said.

“Nope,” Theo said, shrugging. “Hey, do you have a mirror?”

“No. I think there’s one in your shop—we’ll get there. The system gives everyone a chance to pursue skills and collect information. That’s the only way I can put it generically enough for you to understand,” Luras said with a meek shrug. “Consider this your introduction… You can access information about yourself with a thought. It should appear in front of you in a format you can understand.”

Theo obeyed, sending a mental command that resulted in a box containing information crowding his vision. He took a moment to inspect it.

Belgar (Theo Spencer)

Drogramath Dronon

Level 1

Alchemist

Core Slots: 2

Stats:

Health: 40

Mana: 10

Stamina: 50

Strength: 5

Dexterity: 5

Vigor: 9 (+2)

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Intelligence: 8

Wisdom: 15 (+2)

Points: 0

“Alright. This says I’m an alchemist. And it thinks my name is Belgar—a ‘Drogramath Dronon’ named Belgar,” Theo said, chuckling.

Theo dismissed the screen, watching as Luras traced his finger over the scroll. “I don’t see that breed of Dronon on here, but whatever. The System placing you in our town makes sense. We have an alchemist’s workshop that’s been abandoned for a while.”

Theo folded his arms, racking his newly powerful brain. “I was a soldier in my world. Why did it make me an alchemist?”

His mind flung back to what the Harbinger said about living a peaceful life. Theo wanted to keep that information to himself for the time being. There was no need to rock the boat before he knew what this town was all about.

“You’re the first person I’ve given this speech to,” Luras said. “I don’t know how the System determines what to make you.”

“Alright. On with the tour,” Theo said.

The pair walked a path that looked much like the other paths. The smell of manure grew as they trudged, the path becoming more muddy by the second. Theo regretted going barefoot, with the muck underfoot quickly becoming more animal droppings than soil. A sprawl of farms came into view after they ascended a sloping rise. Endless fields of a slender crop, reaching toward the sun, stretched as far as he could see. The view of Broken Tusk below revealed how small it really was.

“You’re looking south, toward the town. To the east is the river. West holds the marshes. This entire area used to be a marsh before a wizard came to visit. It was well before my time, but he diverted the river out into the ocean. He even raised these fields so our people could farm,” Luras said.

“Your people being the Half-Ogres?” Theo asked.

Luras shrugged. “When the Ogres left Broken Tusk almost five-hundred-years ago, they left behind their half-blood children. Those children formed an alliance with the Marshlings. We consider those two peoples to be the founding races of Broken Tusk, but all are welcome.”

“Very utopian,” Theo said‌. He was already impressed that no one on the street shrieked in terror simply by looking at him. He would need a mirror to see how bad it really was.

“We get by,” Luras said with a grunt. “I’ll show you the blacksmith and your shop. We’ll avoid the tannery. I guess you don’t know how skills work.”

“Nope.”

“Everyone has access to skills based on their level. You want skills that work with the cores you have. You should have started with at least one core,” Luras said.

“Let’s see,” Theo said, mentally sending the command core to the System.

A screen blocked his entire vision, filling it with two ornate orbs that pulsed with purple light. He could see two empty slots on each of the cores, and inspected them one after the other.

[Drogramath Alchemy Core]

Legendary

Alchemy Core

Bound

2 Slots

Level 1 (0%)

[Alchemy Core] given to the descendants of Drogramath.

Effect:

Increases the synergy of [Alchemy] abilities.

+2 Wisdom

[Drogramath Herbalist Core]

Rare

Herbalist Core

Bound

2 Slots

Level 1 (0%)

[Herbalist Core] given to the descendants of Drogramath.

Effects:

+2 Vigor

The information made little sense to him. He understood that these were cores related to his ancestry, a bloodline that he knew nothing about, but the rest was nonsense. What a core was, or how it functioned, was still beyond him.

“I’ve got two cores. [Drogramath Alchemy Core], and [Drogramath Herbalist Core],” Theo said. Something twinged in his mind when he said the names of the cores, as though he was imparting the knowledge he had about the things directly to Luras.

“You started with a legendary and a rare core?” Luras said. “That’s absurd. I’ve never heard of that happening.”

“Well, I don’t even know what the hell a core is,” Theo said, laughing.

“Damn. Right, well… A core is like a family of skills. You level your core separate from yourself. You can attach skills to a core, but you need to attach the right skills to the right cores. You can’t put a fighting skill in your alchemy cores.”

“Makes sense. Where do I get skills?”

“You should have some by default. With your luck, I bet there’s more legendary stuff,” Luras said, narrowing his eyes on Theo.

Theo didn’t want to disappoint the only person in this new world he would happily call a friend. Inspecting his skills and sharing them with him might be a bad idea. How valuable were these skills, and could Luras be trusted completely? Without an answer to his questions, he mentally summoned his skill menu. There were two skills at the top, and an endless list of skills underneath. The indicator showed that he didn’t have any skill points, and couldn’t purchase a new skill. He reluctantly shared his two skills with his companion.

“[Drogramath Distillery Specialty], and [Drogramath Herbalism],” Theo said, grimacing.

[Drogramath Distillery Specialty]

Alchemy Skill

Legendary

You claim heritage to Drogramath, the potioneer. The Demon King’s specialty was distillation, allowing you to extract the essence of alchemical ingredients. Distillation produces a pure form of extract, although some claim it to be more unstable.

Effect:

Allows the user to operate distillery equipment at a significantly increased efficiency.

Allows the user to gauge, by eye, the exact quantity of mixtures in units.

+2 Wisdom

[Drogramath Herbalism]

Herbalism Skill

Rare

Drogramath has an eye for reagents. His descendants have an easier time identifying plants that produce alchemical ingredients.

Effect:

You have a sense whether something will produce alchemical ingredients.

+2 Intelligence

“I knew it,” Luras said, laughing. He saw the pained look on Theo’s face and clasped a hand on his shoulder. “I’m not faulting you for this. You’re just insanely lucky.”

“Is this something that I shouldn’t share freely?” Theo asked.

“I’d keep it quiet for now,” Luras said. “If someone asks, just refuse to show them the skill. It’s considered rude to force someone to show you their skills. You should equip those two in your cores, by the way.”

Theo obeyed, equipping the alchemy skill in the alchemy core and the herbalism skill in his herbalism core. He felt a noticeable surge running through his mind as he equipped them, receiving the bonuses that both of them had. He smiled up at his friend, gesturing for the tour to continue. The pair trudged down the slope, waving at farmers as they went. They finally caught sight of the other races inhabiting the town. There were Humans, which stood a head shorter than Theo, and the waist-high Marshlings.

“They’re so cute,” Theo whispered, garnering a smile from Luras.

The Marshlings toddled around on stumpy legs, their smooth skin appearing like that of a salamander. Their fat tail swept the ground as they walked. They had webbed feet, most of them appearing to prefer going shoeless. On the side of their lizard-like heads were protrusions that reminded Theo of axolotls with little frills coming forth. The tone of their skin varied from person to person, some having bright pink pigment, and others that of mud. They were all extremely polite.

The blacksmith’s shop sat on a raised platform of stone, the work area completely outdoors. Steel sang under the Marshling’s hammer, and he doused himself with water every few seconds of hammering. The work area itself was incredibly tidy, hammers hung on shelves to the side with a coal-burning forge sitting in the center. An anvil sat on a small stump, low enough for the diminutive man to work the metal.

“Every town needs a blacksmith,” Luras said. “Throk spends most of the day working on stuff for the farm, but you might be able to ask him about crafting skills.”

“Right,” Theo said. “Because I’m a crafter.”

“Yeah. You won’t have much in common with a person like me in terms of skills,” Luras said with a shrug.

The tour continued southward, the road less crowded the further away from the square they went. Homes dotted along the path on either side, a squat building looming in the distance. It was a stone construction, standing out against the wood plank buildings that became iconic for Broken Tusk. A sign hung on the outside, depicting a vial with red liquid inside. The paint faded long ago, leaving it looking dilapidated, like the rest of the building.

Luras produced a key from his pouch, handing it to Theo. “This passing of the key represents your ownership of the alchemy lab. Do you know how to inspect items or buildings?”

“I’m guessing I just think about it,” Theo said.

“Get that intent in your mind, and touch the building,” Luras said.

Theo once again obeyed, holding the thought of inspection in his head as he pressed his fingers against the mossy stone. A box appeared in his vision, displaying information about the building.

[Alchemy Lab]

Owner: Belgar (Theo Spencer)

Faction: [Broken Tusk]

Level: 1 (0%)

Upgrade Status: 0/20

Rent Due: 7 days

“Oh. I have to pay rent,” Theo said, frowning.

“Every week. Miana will probably give you a grace period while you get set up,” Luras said.

“How am I going to afford food—or get water?” Theo said.

“I’ll bring something for you later. You can get a meal at the inn for a copper coin,” Luras said. “You can draw water from the river, but if you don’t have high [Vigor], ‌boil it.”

Theo knit his brow. Suddenly finding himself in another world was hard enough to deal with, but now he had to see to his own survival. Meals back on Earth were easy enough to come by, especially in the end-times. Everything was provided by the agency, and before that, he could just go to a grocery store and buy whatever he needed. Without Luras’ help, he’d starve.

Luras handed him a waterskin and smiled. “This should tide you over for a while.”

“I owe you, Luras,” Theo said, nodding to himself. “Once I figure this alchemy crap out, I’ll pay you back with interest.”

“I wouldn’t say no to a [Health Potion],” Luras said, grinning. “Let’s head inside and take stock of what you have.”