“System notifications.”

[Congratulations! Due to your outstanding achievement, you obtained another racial skill, raising your cap from a standard of {3} to {4}. You have been granted the chance to pick one from a random selection of three {inferior} new races. Choose wisely, Progenitor. Or not. The choice is yours.]

As always, trying to figure out if the system was a singular entity, a group of people, or an artificial intelligence was all too pointless – many messages rambled on as if possessed by the ghost of a failed writer, while others resonated with an almost metallic quality to it, devoid of life.

Nevertheless, those fleeting moments where he was ridiculed, scorned or insulted... he felt compelled to survive just for another day. It was the only sign of human life in the Pits,if you didn't count hallucinations.

Brian’s pallid gaze sharpened further, thickening. New upgrades. “A racial skill. It’s been a while since I’ve… had to pick one.”

As he grasped one of the floppy, furless, pink bodies of the baby bunnies with a trembling hand, he couldn't help but compare its texture, tender and supple, to fresh liver. Just the thought made him salivate. He began to dust it off from the dirt caked on its body.

Brian could still feel the familiar tingle at the base of his nape signaling unread system messages, so, with a swipe of a hand he brought them back to the forefront. The motion was unnecessary, but it gave him something to do.

And, there it was. He brought it in front of his face as he examined it with practiced familiarity. His eyes narrowed. The 4th one. He read it again, hoping for the number to be a mistake, but there it was.

Fourth out of… how many people? Seven billion, eight, even? That was totally nonsensical. He was the 4th one to get out… out of everyone on the fucking planet. What.. about the others?

With a pragmatic heart, he twisted the soft head of the animal with a pop and put it in his mouth, bones and all. That calmed him for a bit, and he resumed thinking.

Statistically speaking, that wasn’t possible. He knew he was pushing it with the way he was progressing – he couldn’t take it anymore and had gambled a reckless move to get out. He was near the cap of the allotted 10 years – he had been there for more than 9 years, the timer didn’t lie about that.

Being the 4th one to be freed after so much time meant only a thing; the complete annihilation of the human race. No. Soft tissue gooped down his grasping fingers as his burning thoughts accelerated. No friends, family, or any contact whatsoever, at least for the first three years. It was hell, in the truest sense of the word. Nonetheless, there was not a fucking chance he believed in it. No matter how hard it had been, statistically, someone just lucky enough to fulfill the conditions had to have appeared.

He read the message. His eyes were fixated on one thing only. Recalibrating… two months and one day…

The bunny exploded in a flurry of gore and organs.

Push forward.

He picked the bunny’s brother or sister without looking at it.

Right. These fuckers were underestimating them. Brian’s toothy’s mouth opened as he tore the bunny’s belly open with a practiced motion. He had never skinned a rabbit in his life, but they resembled goblin fetuses in size, at least. More tender, too. Blood gushed out and he placed his lips in the cut, gulping down everything he could. His starved hand blindly grasped for another as he burped.

Remunerating wasn’t for him. All he had to do was to crawl forward, if he couldn’t anymore, he would just learn to soar to the skies instead. That's how he had survived until now. The new message begged to be read in the typical fashion of the system, and he allowed it.

[Pioneer, thank you for your patience. We thank you. Please choose one of the following pools of races.]

Pioneer. Again, that word. Brian briefly scanned the single first message he had received since stepping in this new world, and there it was. Any capitalized word was either something he had to be especially wary of or pay attention to with utmost care. It certainly meant something, but he didn’t have the necessary Skills to check anything. Guesswork was his only weapon.

His fingers cut deep into his thighs as he huddled into a ball. It was getting dark outside, noticeably so. The coolness of the ground on his bony back reassured him even further. He read the three races, they were as followed:

[Nutcracker], [Human-faced Hound], and [Bovine (Common cow)].

That was it.

Brian blinked. “This is new.” Right, the last time, in the tutorial, everything was already set with three predetermined races already there, he could only pick one skill from each. This was good, it gave him a little bit more leeway than usual.

“...explain.”

As expected, there was no explanation, just information tossed around like he was supposed to understand what was going on. He didn’t have the slightest clue in the world what a nutcracker was, let alone a human-faced hound. Brian was mildly amused to find and discover animals native to his planet were also integrated into the choice of the system – they didn’t have Skills, after all. It wasn’t necessarily a bad choice to pick it, since he might end up with a horn or a rumination ability. He pinched his belly – he was so lean it was difficult to even pull his skin before his fingers slipped off.

Starving to death wasn’t really something he had on his bucket list of things to experience, he got close to it more than a handful of times. He skewered another dead bunny because he could – munching on them was becoming a craving – and continued pondering. On the other hand, instead, considering everything he had faced so far, a mere stomp or grass eating ability just wouldn’t cut it. He needed something more concrete.

Whatever a nutcracker was, the appeal just wasn’t there. Maybe his choice would’ve been different if he had even a single, scraggly line of information. As it stood now, the hound thing seemed the most promising. Considering that it was deemed as an “inferior race”, it couldn’t have been something to cry for. A human-faced hound, if the name suggested so, was a magical beast with the body of a hound, and the head of a… man. Yeah, that was all he had at his disposal. Was it even a monster from Earth's folklore?

Folklore Galore. A raging inferno ravaged his brain as his thoughts realigned. Focus.

That was potentially beneficial, he could obtain something useful. Brian clicked the option with a trembling finger and the screen flashed before three more options materialized in front of his eyes, the buzzing of the display blinded him for a moment before another, smaller screen took a good part of his vision. It was the same as the hundreds of ones he had already perused before – see-through with a neat font-design. Pleasant to look at, even.

Brian’s familiarity with the skill menu was immediately extinguished by a dearth of good options. “That wasn’t… a good gamble. At least I tried.”

Between [Howl], [Human Speech], and [Fetch], the only mildly useful one was Howl. Every other skill seemed like a joke. Is this what the system seems as “inferior quality?” God forbid he would’ve turned into a solid piece of wood if he picked nutcracker.

Brian braced himself as a stream of memories lobotomized in his mind, scrambling and reassembling his insides. For mere flashes of a fraction of a second, he was one of them, searching between trash and day-old carrions to find something edible to eat.

His small frame failed to hold his four scrawny legs, and he let out a pitiful howl against the injustice of the world before he fell on the hard sidewalk.

He jolted back to reality as he remembered he was Brian Spencer again. No matter what... the experience of being someone – something else was enough to spook him. His hair straightened.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

He tried to analyze it, but nothing opened up. The Chief had briefly mentioned only a specialized handful of Skills were able to parse the truths of the system. He twisted a bit to the right, a jagged rock was embedding itself near his pelvis, and he pulled up his status screen.

There weren't any new messages.

“Status.”

[Brian Spencer]

Racial skills – 4/4 (3+1)

[Goblin: Natural Weaponry (Gold - 9200/10000)]

[Mermaid: Ambience Of The Deep (Sapphire – 30900/100000)]

[Human: Indomitable Human Spirit (Modified) (Unique) (MAX)]

[Human-faced hound: Howl (Bronze - 0/100)]

***

Natural skills – 0/4

[N/A]

[N/A]

…

It sounds about right. He glanced at the bottom part of it. After ten long years of seeing his status screen each day, having the “Natural skill” slots not grayed out was strange. The Chief was right. He nodded, red long earrings dancing around him from the motion. They were supposed to show themselves up once he crossed over, and he was glad they did. His Natural cap was currently residing at 4, as him maxing out Indomitable Human Spirit had increased it by one.

The coldness of the true night seeped into his bones as his body blended within the shadows of the underground burrow, blackening, becoming a true facet of darkness. His edges faded, merging with the surroundings; he finally wanted nothing more than to sleep, to respite. The young man’s eyelids closed together for mere moments. He was alone, and he was there. That was all it mattered.

Of course it was at this moment that the System issued him a Quest. Brian groaned amidst the filth he was smothered in. What he’d give for a good night’s sleep. Probably nothing, actually. A deep sleep meant death.

[New Quest issued! Pioneer, your arduous journey carried here all the way to what was once your home, the Earth. Contents of the quest: Save the world from the Calamities. Rewards: incomparable power.]

[Active quests raised from {1}, to {2}. You now have {3} more slots.]

Push forward. Come on.

All he could do was stare at the screen as it spewed on incoherent blabber. His mood soured and he finally had the presence of mind to check the contents of the satchel hanging low on his belly.

The goblin leather was rough and warm to the touch, but still tough. It had turned to a light pink hue over the years. Maybe because of all the blood?

He half expected a trap to be hidden inside of it, but nothing exploded. Brian carefully emptied the items inside. He could smell pungent spices, the kinds that killed your sense of smell from a mile away.

There was no water.

Other than that there were two thick needles made of goblin bone, one was broken and so yellow it resembled a decayed tooth, an intact jar of… something, and some dried mushrooms which he recognized as the poisonous variety.

He immediately put it in his mouth.

With a bit of elbow grease he could concoct something good. Once mama rabbit came back to the burrows he’d get his new pelt shoes.

He shifted again as all of the grime from earlier slowly dripped down from his body, leaving trails on his skin that would undoubtedly be a pain to clean.

He grabbed another rabbit and twisted its neck, letting all of the juices fall in his gullet. All in all, it wasn’t too bad, he was content. He looked at the useless floppy meat sack in his hands with a blank stare, mouth stretched to a thin line.

He tossed it away as he grabbed another, they were rapidly diminishing. He was using them as water bags, later tomorrow or the day after tomorrow he’d smoke them to preserve the tender skin to be eaten as jerky.

It was chubby in his hand, with a small content of blood leaking from its poor mouth, dead eyes staring at him. Brain raised a finger and slowly cut up the skin near the pouch, careful not to let the innards fall off. He wasn’t the best skinner in town, but trying didn’t hurt anybody.

The end result could’ve been a lot worse. Starting from the fact that their little bodies were already punctured by his tar claws, Brian had successfully managed to skin half of the animal. Red patches of muscle leaked blood everywhere, and he longed to slurp it all up.

[Congratulations! You obtained the qualifications to obtain the Dismantling Skill, would you like to learn it?]

His hollowed eyes widened “Huh? Oh, a natural skill. So that's how it is.” He licked his black lips and ignored the message. That was a dud. If he really had only a bunch of natural skills to pick from, then Dismantling would’ve harmed him rather than helped him, in the long run. It wasn’t necessary, he could butcher just fine with his hands alone. That begged the question as to why he hadn’t learned any skill while he was crawling and bawling his life trying to get out of the prairie. He carefully looked at the limp body, then opened his mouth and pressed it in whole, pushing it down his throat. His outline was almost completely hidden by the surroundings of the den now, even his teeth had turned to the color of dark obsidian.

He hastily swallowed it as his back started to vibrate. He pressed himself flat against the sides of the burrow. It sounded like a stampede, like a multitude of heavy bodies rushing at high speed.

Brian’s heart almost jumped out of his head there and then but he kept it under control. His neck flattened and he let a bit of the air out, resorting to shallow breathing. It took him only a moment to realize the sound was getting closer.

That's no mama rabbit. Or daddy rabbit. Whatever it was they neared on him. Considering his location, the river would’ve been on his immediate left, if they stopped there, he was safe. He admonished himself to not take proper care for the entrance of the burrow, but he was too tired.

Were those horses? It was incredible for how long he hadn’t thought about horses and yet his mind could still remember the sound they made as soon as he heard them.

The sound collectively stopped behind him, and then his back trembled again as multiple sounds could be heard.

They sounded like steps. Heavy, slow, methodical. Like they had a purpose. He immediately conjured the image of goblins before he squished that thought. He wasn’t there anymore, and this approach wasn’t something they’d use. They were far more cowardly.

Rabbit in hand, he couldn’t even hear his own breath as whatever was above approached the entrance, then stopped.

Brian’s mind tried to envision the location of the steps, but even his proficient ears failed to locate them all – he’d die the moment he was out if they were hostile, there were too many of them. Unfortunately, he was out of options if they actually were, and it’d just resort to dying now or later. He'd rather pick the never option.

His eyes widened as a voice sounded out, it sounded very much like a question. They had stopped at the entrance and weren’t progressing any further. He could clearly understand the alien language. What? It sounded like a mishmash of languages Brian had forgotten the name of, something European.

He was at a loss as to what to do. Stay there? Leave? Fortunately, the voice boomed out again before he could act rashly. Though muffled by the underground environment, he remained so utterly focused, not a word escaped his ears.

“We greet you, Pioneer! My name is Carmen. I apologize if we have woken you up. We bear no ill intent. I am one of the swords of the king… of our people.” She sounded middle aged and pleasant to the ears, as if she was reciting a poem instead of a declaration. He heard her clear throat in a surprising human fashion, and metal smacked against metal, echoing in the night.. He almost leaped out of the burrow, claws cutting in deep his skin, grasping his shoulders, holding himself tightly in a comforting embrace. She spoke the words again, and he was almost too tired to guess if she phrased them the same way, but too alerted to ignore anything. “You may already know this, but let me give you a brief summary of where you are currently located. You are currently in a world called Thoum – that sounds really weird to say, actually. Anyway, uh, yes. We are trying to recruit you. As the 4th initiate and Pioneer out of a world of a staggering amount of people, you may not know this, but you're very precious to us. As much as all of my men behind me, tenfold.” Silence.

She spoke again, this time her tone was a bit more hurried. “Look. You either go with us or with other groups that will undoubtedly show up in a few hours, the outcome would be the same.” She sighed. “If you are unconvinced, we brought you the third… Pioneer. He’s from a small city in… what was it called again? Mack!” Brian was having not a small amount of trouble in trying to follow her rambling. Everything was going too fast, he was growing increasingly disoriented. He could hear her talk with someone while some other steps shifted around him, but never got too close.

“–care about that. Uhm, anyway.'' She resumed talking “The place’s called Italy. It should be in the Kingdom of Europe, whoever he is.” Lightning struck inside of his bones as she continued on. Italy? “What? Europe’s not a person? I’m not buying it, I don't care! You down there, If you want to have a chat with him, feel free to do so, just remember, we are tight on time. I know you can understand me, Pioneers are that weird. Uh, no, I’m not calling you weird, sorry. I deeply apologize.”

If what she was saying was true…

“You will be given a stipend, free training with other Pioneers –” Pioneers. Plural. More than anything Brian wanted to talk with someone who could understand him, someone from Earth. “– ree housing, a teacher, and, well, of course, food. You’re probably quite hungry down there, and we know your injuries and ailments didn't heal just from leaving this “tutorial”, we can patch you up. It took a bit of time to track you. Also, in a few moments, you’ll receive a quest about it, so you know we’re not just lying about it.” He had been careful not to leave any trace as he had crawled low all the time. The agony of it all, scraping against rocks, mud, and dirt… just to be found by a lousy woman...

You’re telling me it was all useless?

“I know this is a lot to take in. Also, on the off chance you are sleeping, which is quite probable – actually, given, well, no – due the lengths of this circumstance, I’ll return in a couple of minutes, probably shouting this time, which I’d rather not do. Or rather, my men wouldn’t.” her footsteps slowly echoed away in the stillness of the night until they stopped some paces away from her starting point. He could hear people talking, but they were too far off, and he was maybe getting a word every couple of sentences.

A system message informed him of another Quest.

His heart thumped in his weak chest.

Now, what to do?