[ 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.”

Jack figured it was high time he figured out just how his newly attained, stick forward, powers worked. He figured that the inventory screen was not just a one time thing, otherwise it would be all but pointless, but he wasn’t quite sure how to get it to stop being a one time thing. He tried, despite how utterly cringe worthy it felt, by speaking some words:

“Inventory?” Jack whispered. He was glad he was alone in these woods, at least from other people since that felt so dumb. Still, the aforementioned inventory screen appeared, with another in front of it, which Jack decided to call status notifications, probably because that was the text written at the top of the window.

[Status Notification: Note - We would like to inform you that all windows may be opened by simply thinking about them. Would you like to know about the available windows? ]

[ Y/ N ?]

“Yes.” Jack thought, obviously. “And why didn’t you tell me that before I cast mental harm on myself…” Another status notification appeared replacing the prior one.

[ Currently available windows: ]

[ Inventory. Status. Atlas. ]

“Status…” Jack thought. “That’d be useful.” A window promptly appearing.

[ Jack Adams: Human, Loyal Customer ]

[ Barren ]

[ Title: The one with the Stick™ ]

[ Str: 1 | Agil: 1 | Int: 1 | Frtn: 2 | Con: 1 | Att: 0.1 ]

[ Further attunement needed to access more information. ]

“ Well I can guess what most of the stats are, strength, agility, intelligence, fortune — I think — constitution and… I don’t know what the last one is. Well, it does say I need to further my “attunement” to increase my access to knowledge, so I guess its something to do with that.” Jack was always one to make assumptions based on what he knows, despite the fact that he was clearly not in Kansas, nor was he seemingly on Earth for that matter.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

“Hopefully this Atlas can tell me a bit more.” Jack thought.

[Atlas]

A map appeared before Jack, more simple than he’d like, but better than nothing. There was no compass, and nothing to denote scale, but he saw where he came from, including an icon that seemed to indicate himself a bit ways away from what he assumed was his starting point. The Atlas seemed to give him a bit of an idea what was outside his line of sight at least, Jack noticing that the trail continued further a bit, with what he could only guess was a river, based on the markings on the Atlas, running alongside it.

“I gotta find people, preferably not monsters despite the fact this stick wants me to kill them. These tracks gotta end somewhere.”

Jack kept trudging along, despite the fact that his pants had gained some semblance of dry they were in fact still rather moist and he was beginning to get a bit uncomfortable.

— — —

Wandering along the path, Jack came to an opening in the bizarre forest, finally getting a clear view of the sky. Only a few hours had passed, and it was still quite dark out. Looking at the sky, Jack noticed a couple irregularities that all but confirmed his suspicions that this was not — in fact — Kansas. In the sky were something between stars and comets, streaks of light that seemed to stretch across the sky of all varieties of colors. Beyond that, there was a large ring in place of what would be the moon on Earth, a deep maroon color. Jack wondered what that would mean ecologically, but the more pressing matter was the fact that not only was he being guided by a magical stick given to him by some company that seemed to think he was a “valued customer”, he was in fact not on his home planet.

Jack didn’t know how it was possible, or why he was the one chosen, as well as why his bed was included in the transaction; however, he was stuck in the middle of the forest with a stick and he wanted to make that not the case.

Being in a clearing, as well as only half rested, Jack decided that after a good once over of the area he would try to get some half rest since a tired mind wasn’t exactly what he needed right now. Not to mention it was so dark he could only see a few feet in front of him, which he hoped would not be the case.

“Please let the world have day, they never think about that in Isekai stories, but dammit what if there’s no day!” Jack had read his fair share of Isekai stories in his day, and never did they consider that a real other world could have fundamental differences like lack of day. In fact, Jack was just glad he could breath and that the gravity was normal.

After scouting the area, finding nothing but some rocks and flowers that looked like they were out of a horror story, Jack decided to get a bit of rest. Jack found a spot in the clearing where trees provided a bit of cover, and a large rock blocked the wind. He laid down, keeping one eye open. He could hear rustling every now and then, so light sleep was the most he was going to get.

— — —

Jack was glad he decided to get some rest, as he was far more tired than he expected. While he did get rest, he did not get any sleep. The rest was nerve wracking as the shock of the situation he was in started to set in more as he laid there with his thoughts. Jack remembered the bloodcurdling shriek he heard, the sound reverberating in the beat of his heart. At the time, Jack was still convinced that nothing around was real, while not a dream surely he was on something. As the hours went by though, he realized that he needed to take things seriously which is why he decided to rest as a tired mind only meant more stupid decisions.

Jack noted that the day he worried for did come, though the sunlight was more a cool blue color, similar to an LED bulb, than what he expected from the Sun. At the very least he could see now, and what he saw was a forest. The trees were not the same green color he was used to, as he figured out the day before. They were various shades of blue, some with more purple notes, and the leaves were similar to those he recognized but off in various ways. Jack guessed, from his rudimentary knowledge of biology, that the color of the leaves had something to do with the sun, since green was a color suited to absorb the light of a yellow sun.

“Time to resume my task of finding the people who left these footprints.” Jack decided. Getting up from his makeshift campsite. He had left his pillow and blanket back at his bed, but as soaked as they were he figured they would do little for him. Not to mention whatever that thing was, he presumed a monster, was back there. Jack set off in the direction of the trail that continued on the other side of the clearing.

Behind him, a beast sniffed looking for its next prey.