When another piece of parchment appeared in front of him, Jack was still a bit shocked but less so than the first two times. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not, but it is what it is. On the paper was:

[ Tracking Number: 88492193 | Timer: 29:11 ]

The timer was, as the name implied, counting down. Jack assumed this was for his “Particularly Magical Stick™” that was supposedly on the way. Now that the weird pieces of floating magic paper were gone, replaced by the non-floating magical paper with a real working timer on it, Jack decided to consider the horrifying sounds beyond his comprehension that lead him to picking the wondrous stick.

“I gotta hide don’t I?” Jack decided. “I do not want to be anywhere near here when that thing gets here.”

Jack got up from his half soaked bed and started walking along what he presumed was some sort of trail, though he was unsure if it was made by an animal or by people. He was all but validated in his choice when he noticed some shoe prints in the dirt up ahead, and decided this was certainly the correct choice.

“I sure know what I am doing.”

— — —

While not fit by any sense of the words, Jack could at least walk at a decent pace when thinking of what potential shit he was in for if he decided to stop and smell the roses. This did not stop him from looking around as he went; however, and Jack was doing just that.

The plant life was a mix of similar-to and way out of line for what Jack was used to. From colors that didn’t quite seem natural, to plants that grew seemingly out of the air, something was clearly not normal about this forest he found himself in.

“Obviously none of this is normal”, Jack laughed to himself. “I mean floating paper? What the hell.” As he continued forward, he kept track of the timer on the paper. The trail he was on was quite long, as the timer was coming close to hitting zero.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“I can’t wait for my… stick”.

When the timer did eventually hit zero, the paper in his hands didn’t vanish, but the text on it changed to:

[ Please place this paper on the ground for delivery! Thank you - QuantaCo ]

Jack did just that, and in a few moments a long ornate box materialized out of thin air right above the point that the paper was moments before.

“Neat.” Jack thought, walking over to the package with a bit of trepidation. While the magical company hadn’t blew him up yet, he wasn’t sure he exactly trusted them considering they likely brought him here.

Opening the box, Jack winced as, thankfully, nothing remarkable happened. Inside the box, as promised, was truly a… stick. It looked to be a run of the mill stick, not even blue like the waterfall tree that wet his pants, which were dry now and back on his body. Jack decided that he’d at least take the stick, since he could at least use the dubious thing as a club to hit whatever made that terrifying sound. He picked up the stick and:

[ Your gift has been delivered successfully! You may attune to your gifted arcane tool. ]

[ Yes / No ? ]

— — —

This time the message came, not in the form of a piece of paper, but instead a semi transparent glass like screen that floated in front of Jack. He wondered what the change of method was for, but what concerned him more was the message in front of him.

“Attune?” Jack thought. “What does that even mean and why would I want to do it with a stick?” Despite his obvious confusion at the proposition, as well as not really knowing what the proposition is, Jack decided he was just going to accept whatever he could get at this point, moving his finger towards “Yes”, guessing it must be some sort of touch thing.

A blue orb of light came out of Jack’s chest, at the same time a red orb came from the stick he held. The two orbs shot towards one another, dancing in circles towards a central point. A purple light began to grow as the two orbs appeared to meld into one. Then the light broke into two, settling back in the stick and Jack’s chest respectively.

Jack felt a sudden rush in his head, just like the dream and the first time the papers appeared. This was a different feeling, where before it was painful and hot, this was pleasant and soothing. Along with the feeling, came an intrinsic knowledge that the stick he held was his and no one could take it from him (not that he thought they would).

As the feeling died down, a new message appeared in front of him.

[ Again, welcome valued customer to the “Monsters, Magic, and Other such things” package. We hope you enjoy your time as well as your gift. ]

[ You are now registered and attuned, and now have access to the System. ]

Another window appeared, showing a silhouette of a person, along with an array of boxes. This window was less glass-like and looked more like a HUD in a video game, transparent and more of a 2D projection on Jack’s vision. Despite having no confirmation, Jack knew that this was an inventory of sorts, and the silhouette was him, at least he guessed based on his knowledge of games.

There were two boxes to the right of the silhouette, one with the image of a stick. Before he had the chance to think, another window appeared.

[ A Particularly Magical Stick™ ]

[ A stick brimming with magic, an attuned user can reap the benefit of the wooden glory. Kill Monsters [0/10 ]

“Huh, neat.”