Adam appeared in a room that looked like a small library from someone who still wore dragon t-shirts. Then he realized he’d probably still wear dragon t-shirts if he could find good ones. There were two purple velvet chairs next to an intricate wooden table with legs shaped like claws. The room was about the size of his one room apartment. There was a bright purple carpet laid out across the whole of the room with colorful circles and stars. Bookshelves lined the walls filled to the brim.
He looked down at himself. He was wearing a plain white linen shirt and brown linen pants. He also had on a simple pair of leather boots. Everything felt comfortable. It was weird to him that he could feel it. He really hadn’t thought much about what had happened to him and what it meant. He had technically died. Was this even really him anymore?
He stopped that train of thought quickly. He knew it wouldn’t go anywhere good and he needed something good right now.
Without warning, next to Adam, appeared an Overlord. This one wasn’t nearly as massive as the one in the mirror had appeared. Nonetheless it was terrifying to see in person. The thing wore a sleeveless linen jerkin that showed off its massive arms. It had on tattered linen pants and the same brown boots that Adam wore. A very high-pitched scream escaped his mouth as he stumbled back from the monster, tripping on the carpet.
“Yo, what’s up bro.” The voice that came out of the thing sounded like a deep growl. Even through that he recognized the person before him.
“Josh?” asked Adam. He was still trying to scramble back from the monstrosity when it spoke.
“Yep, it’s me.” Josh had black lines running all across its deep red skin like lava had cooled down in certain spots. He smiled showing rows of sharp teeth as he waved. The nails of his fingers were black and sharp.
“You scared the hell out of me.”
“Sorry bro.” He laughed and went to scratch the back of his head, but his hands smacked into his horns. They were as black as obsidian, protruding from just above his brow and twisting around behind his ears.
“Ow,” said Adam. As he got up from the floor. “That actually hurt.”
“Falling down? You know what, now that you mention it I can feel my tail. It’s super weird.” Josh gave an excited laugh as he whipped his tail around. It hit one of the bookshelves and he visibly flinched “Whoops, that kind of hurt.” Josh had his sleek red and black tail in his hands rubbing it where it had hit the book stand.
“Man, I feel fantastic,” said Adam. He moved from foot to foot while he flexed his muscles. Looking down at himself he lifted his shirt finding washboard abs underneath.
“Holy shit you look like a superhero.”
“I guess that makes you the super villain?”
Josh let out a sarcastic laugh. “Laugh it up nerd. Should we test out our new bodies a bit?”
“What did you have in mind?”
Before Adam could react Josh punched him in the face. Adam flew back into one of the bookshelves lining the wall. He laid sprawled against the hard wooden bookshelf as the tomes fell onto him. His head lulled slightly as he groaned. Adam’s vision was blurred for a moment. Pain seared through his body as a menu flashed in the upper left of his vision.
HP 45/50
Warning: HP stands for Health Points. If this reaches zero you die. You will recover 1 HP per 1 vitality every minute.
The pain vanished almost as fast as it had come and Adam’s HP ticked back up to 50. Josh came rushing over to his friend.
“Shit bro, I’m so sorry. Are you okay? I didn’t realize I could hit that hard.” Josh went to move the books off Adam but as he touched one he froze. His eyes glossed over slightly like he was looking at something far away. “Oh my god.”
“What?”
“These are skill books!”
Without a word Adam picked up one of the books off his lap and a menu appeared instantly.
Beginner Spear Skill Book: Learn the basics of wielding a spear Requirements: Str: 3 Dex: 3
Would you like to learn this skill?
Y/N
Another menu appeared before Adam as he finished reading.
Welcome to your starting skill selection! You will have one hour to choose two skills and exit the library. A door will appear when you have finished choosing your skills or time runs out. If time runs out before you choose, two random skills will be assigned to you.
“Did you get the message about skills?” asked Adam.
“Yep, what’s that book you’ve got?”
“This one is for spear.”
“Same.”
They quickly checked the other two books that had fallen and found them to both be beginner shield skill books. Then Adam looked at the book spines and noticed a picture of a spear on two and a picture of a shield on two. There were no words.
“Look at the pictures.”
“Ah, so two of each skill book it seems. I guess because there’s two of us?”
“Probably, let’s see what we’re working with. I’ll go check the other wall while you check this one. Call out what you find.”
The two started their research. Josh’s side of the room was filled with books on weapons. There were daggers, one-handed swords, two-handed hammers, shields, bows, and more. Adam’s side of the room was filled with books of magic. He had to check every single one because the pictures weren’t nearly descriptive enough. So he slowly went through the rows.
Book of Basic Fire Magic: Teaches the user how to use basic fire magic
Book of Basic Ice Magic: Teaches the user how to use basic ice magic
Adam thought it would be all the same sort of magic he’d seen before until he went further down the rows and discovered some interesting ones. The next few he saw peaked his interest.
Book of Basic Metal Magic: Teaches the user how to use basic metal magic
Book of Basic Warding Magic: Teaches the user how to use warding magic
Then he stumbled across one that he knew Josh would want.
Book of Basic Demonology: Teaches the user the basics of Demonology Requirements: Str: 3 Int: 3 Wis: 3
“I think I found your demonology book.”
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“No freaking way, really?” Josh rushed over and grabbed the book. He smiled, hugging the book to his chest. “I can’t wait to try this out.”
Before Adam could protest about the possibility that Josh might burn down the library the demonology book disappeared from his friend’s hands. Josh stared ahead for a moment. He looked like a demonic statue, unmoving until finally he sucked in a breath like he had been underwater far too long.
“What happened?” asked Adam.
“Holy shit. I saw things. LIke, I understand what I need to do to make a contract, and summon a demon. It’s actually kinda gross, but I know how to do it.”
“So can you summon one now?”
“No,” said Josh, shaking his head. “I, um, need some materials first.” Josh was oddly vague about what exact materials he needed.
Adam looked up at the timer hovering in the upper right corner of his vision. 30 minutes left. He relayed the time to Josh. It was still plenty of time to look through the rest of the skill books.
Twenty minutes later they sat cross-legged facing each other with a plethora of books surrounding them.
“So,” said Adam, “what else are you thinking?”
“I think I want the great sword one,” said Josh.
“A melee, demon summoning fighter style? That’s an interesting combination.”
“Yeah, but who doesn’t want to be an anime-sword wielding, demon summoning badass.”
“Fair,” said Adam. He couldn’t deny that it did sound pretty sick.
“What about you?”
Adam thought for a second before he answered. “I think we need some heals for sure since we’ve only got one shot at this, but of all the magic skill books I didn’t see a single one focused on healing explicitly."
“What about this one?” Josh held up a green book embroidered with intricate leaves. Adam knew what it was. It was a nature magic skill book.
“I guess it could have a healing spell attached to it. It’s probably our best shot.”
“There’s the holy one too.”
Adam let out a small sigh and said, “yeah, but I don’t think I want anything to do with holy magic in a land we don’t know anything about. Could be associated with some crazy religious cult or some weird god.”
“Nature then?” asked Josh.
“Yeah,” said Adam, “I think that’s a good call.”
“What about your last one?”
“Way of the Fist,” Adam said with conviction. “I feel like this one is special.” It was one of the few books that they had found that wasn’t just a weapon skill book, but instead it seemed to be a style.
Josh nodded and tossed Adam the book on nature magic and the way of the fist before he dug around for his great sword book. Adam read the descriptions again.
Book of Basic Nature Magic: Teaches the user basic nature magic Requirements: Wis: 3 Dex: 3
Way of the Fist: Teaches the user the way of the fist combat style Requirements: Str: 3 Dex: 3
It seemed like an interesting combination to Adam, but he watched Josh use his book first. As if on cue the book disappeared from Josh’s hand. He looked forward suddenly, his back going straight and his gaze looking past Adam in a thousand yard stare. A moment later he relaxed and a grin split across his face.
“Holy hell,” he said. “I know how to use great swords. Like, I saw things man. It’s like I grew up training with them my whole life. My trainer was this big overlord dude. I can still feel the sting of his stick when I made a mistake in training.” Josh rubbed his leg absently as he spoke trying to force the phantom pain away.
Adam was a little hesitant after watching what happened to Josh. He wasn’t sure how he felt about things messing with his memories. He hesitantly picked up the book of nature magic. With a sigh he accepted the notification that asked if he wanted to use the skill book.
It felt like a cold stream was trickling through his body as images started to appear in his mind. At first he didn’t fully comprehend them. Then he was living the memories. There was a small sapling in a beautiful forest glade. The sapling grew rapidly before his eyes. It shot toward the sky as if it wanted to reach the heavens. It was lush and full of the greenest leaves Adam had ever seen. A voice sounded within the glade a moment later.
“Do you wish to learn the ways of nature?” asked the voice. It sounded ancient and strong.
Adam looked around for where the voice was coming from. He noticed the bark was running in strange ways on the tree. A moment later two deep blue eyes were revealed within the bark. They looked down at him.
“Um, yes?”
Adam didn’t know why he was questioning it, but the tree didn’t seem to notice. Instead, a branch moved from high above. It came down with a grace that belied the size of the tree until the tip was right in front of Adam’s face. At the very end of the branch hung a golden apple.
Adam just stared at the fruit. A moment later the branch shook and Adam felt the annoyance of the tree. He picked the fruit and took a bite. The juices exploded in his mouth with flavors of the best part of every fruit he had ever eaten before. Then the knowledge rushed into him. He felt the nature magic set itself deep in his stomach like the roots of a tree. It felt alive in him like a breeze on a summer day. Words came to his mind a moment later and he spoke them without hesitation.
With his hand raised the magic roiled up and through his body and down his arm. Emerald leaves of glimmering magic burst from the tips of his fingers and shot toward the tree. The tree laughed a belly laugh and Adam saw the green light grow brighter and brighter until he had to cover his eyes.
When he opened his eyes again he was sitting in the library with Josh across from him.
“Whoa,” he said, “I think I just learned a healing spell.”
“No way!” exclaimed Josh. “Use it on me. I wanna see it.”
Still sitting Adam pointed a finger at Josh and recited the words. He felt the magic in his gut bubble up and race toward his outstretched arm. A moment later glistening emerald leaves of pure magic burst out and wrapped themselves around Josh before dissipating into millings of tiny green lights.
Josh’s eyes went wide. “That felt tingly.”
Adam’s MP bar dropped from 50 to 30 and a message appeared.
Warning!
You have just used MP for the first time. MP stands for Mana Points. Abilities and spells require mana and if you run out you will be unable to use abilities or cast spells until your mana has recovered. The rate at which MP is recovered is based on your wisdom. You will recover 1 MP per 1 wisdom every minute.
Congratulations! You have learned the spell Emerald Leaves.
Emerald Leaves: Heal a target instantly for 50 HP Cost: 20 MP Cooldown: 5 minutes
“Do the next one!” said Josh. “My weapon one was super sick.”
Adam nodded and picked up the next book examining it.
Way of the Fist: Teaches the user the basics of the way of the fist style of combat Requirements: Dex: 3 Str: 3 Vit: 3
Would you like to learn this skill?
Y/N
Adam accepted the notification and the book disappeared. Instead of a small stream, a rushing river of knowledge came crashing down into his mind. For a moment he was frozen. This was unlike learning nature magic. This was so much more. A montage of images flashed before him. They were of him training with the way of the fist from childhood. His master stood before him, an old bald man with a wispy white beard that touched the ground. He stood tall and proud even in his old age. His master was hard but fair in everything. Adam had trained from sun up to sun down since coming to his master as a small child. His fist flew and kicks snapped out at training dummies, fellow students, and finally at his master in his final test.
Adam needed to only land a single blow on his master to complete his training that day. He felt the sun beating down on his shirtless body. Sweat dripped to the dirt arena in buckets turning it to mud around his feet. He had been trying and failing for hours now. The entire school was there as witnesses. He wouldn’t fail. He couldn’t fail.
His master stood before him with both hands behind his back. Like a viper Adam struck out with his fist. His master moved like water and dodged to the right. As he dodged he moved in closer and brought his knee up in an attempt to drive it into Adam’s stomach, but Adam was ready. He brought his hands down and blocked the blow. His arms shook from the force, but he couldn’t think about the pain because he knew what would come next.
His master’s head came shooting straight towards Adam’s exposed face. Adam moved with pure instinct bringing up both hands palm first into his master’s chin with all his strength. It felt like hitting solid stone. The crack of the blow resounded throughout the arena as a circle of dust blew up from the force. Adam felt bones in his hand crack as his master froze millimeters from his face. A smile spread across the old man’s face.
Then Adam was back in the library. He looked at his friend who was waiting expectantly.
“So?” asked Josh.
“I-I know kung fu.”