Chapter 4: Experiments

I was uncomfortable.  That was the first thing that came to my mind as I regained consciousness.  Not confusion over what just happened.  Not astonishment over my own stupidity for eating a marble I got from a goblin corpse.   Not even that I was still experiencing a large amount of pain, just the simple acknowledgement that I wasn't comfortable.

My neck was stiff, my clothes were wet and sticky and I my own smell was giving me a headache.  So yeah my first thought was about the trivial inconveniences I was experiencing, sue me.  

I groaned loudly as I opened my eyes and my headache intensified as the bright light of the sun caused a sharp stab of pain in my head.  It took me a couple of minutes before I was acclimated enough to keep my eyes open without causing myself more pain.  I promptly groaned again when I noticed another blue screen hovering in front of me; I just knew it wouldn't be good news.

Sighing to myself I decided to just get it over with and read the screen.

System Alert UI patch forcibly installed.  Access to basic UI functions activated

Well that's interesting, so the world's like an RPG now then?  Is that why there are goblins?  How'd I force an update?  That marble?  Likely but what does that mean for me then?

While these questions revolved around my thoughts the screen continued floating in front of me without disappearing.  Noticing it hadn't disappeared after reading it like the previous screens I tried interacting with it in order to try getting rid of it.  My initial actions consisting of gestures and voice commands didn't work so I ended up trying to physically touching it.  Poking it didn't get rid of it but swiping it away seemed to do the trick, only after the first one was gone another took its place.

Achievement UnlockedGame BreakingFor forcibly triggering an update before its patch a unique Title, Attribute, and Skill has been awarded.

I was intrigued by the new screen as it gave me a bit of insight into how this new "game" worked.  I once more swiped away the screen in the hopes of having further screens pop up explaining my rewards.  I wasn't disappointed.

New TitleBeta Tester:  You are now considered a beta tester by the system and will be given updates in advance of others for testing purposes.  You have been granted the ability to re-spawn in order to properly test world features.

I was shocked.  Strike that I was stunned speechless.  If my guess was correct I've essentially become unable to die in this new world.  That meant I would get to fully immerse myself in my hunts without fear.  I was drooling at the prospect.  Something I wasn't quite sure about my feelings on was being granted updates before others.  That can be both a good and bad thing depending on individual updates/patches.  I shake myself out of my stupor, apparently I actually had drooled so I had to wipe it off my face.  I swipe away the message, eager to see my other messages.

New AttributeGame Breaker:  Able to go above the limitations imposed upon you by the system to a certain degree.

This information was a bit vague and I was left with a lot of speculations on to the exact meaning.  Did it mean I could perform actions not deemed as possible by the world?  What would that entail?  Would I be able to fly now?  I hoped I could fly.  I controlled the impulse to jump off the roof in an attempt to fly....for now and brought up the next screen.  

New SkillHelp Menu:  Ability to call upon the help screen for more information about the world.  Will teach you the rules of the world so you can know when not to do stupid things.

I smirked in amusement at the screen.  Apparently whatever was running the show now had a sense of humor.  Still I wasn't about to complain, after all information is power.  I close the window and when no new one took its place I think back over the recent information.  When my thoughts reached my new attribute and my previous thoughts about possibly flying a rather insane smile appeared on my face and without even hesitating I start running at full speed towards the edge of the roof.  

When I reach the edge I jump as hard as I can fully believing I was able to fly.  As soon as I reached the height of my jump I started flying!  Just kidding I started falling like a rock while laughing madly.  I wasn't afraid of dying, which was guaranteed really since the school was four stories, as for one thing I thought it was very likely I'd really re-spawn again and for another I thought it would be an interesting experience.  Which was why, as I got closer and closer to the ground, I was still cackling like a mad man before I was finally silenced by the concrete.

There was a lot of pain for a brief moment before things went black.  The sensation of death was very interesting as I could physically feel something, I believe it’s my soul, start leaving my body taking my consciousness with it.  It was hard to tell time in my "soul form", as I decided to call it, as I had no sensations or feelings at all, all I had was a vague awareness of myself.  So I don't know how long I was like that but eventually I started feeling things again, slowly at first before increasing in number, and before I knew it I was in pain, like I was burning alive from the inside out.

Once more a novel sensation but one I don't think I'd care for very often regardless of the sick semi-pleasure I got out of it.  A few moments after sensation started it stopped and I was able to see again, though it took me awhile to notice as I didn't realize my eyes were closed for a while.  I found myself, oddly enough, inside my sleeping bag....naked....and less muscular than before.

So your shit doesn't come back with you and the re-spawn ability has a price then I'm assuming.  Good to know.

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I got out of my sleeping bag and noticed the sun was slightly higher than when I tried to play chicken with the ground.  I didn't have a watch and didn't have the skill to tell time by the sun so I just shrugged and figured it took at least an hour or two before I revived.  My thoughts were interrupted by the rumble of my stomach.  It made since as I hadn't eaten anything since last night before I passed out.

Although that's something to think about.  Will what's inside my body be reset as well?  Will I need food every time I revive?  OOO!!  Maybe I never have to poop again if I just kill myself whenever I have to go, something to test.  I also appreciate the free pseudo shower, though I have to wonder where, or when, it got the body it decided to give me.

My food supplies were still good so I decided to treat myself with a bunch of junk food.  Not the healthiest choice but I didn't care, hell It wasn't even certain if I actually needed "proper" nutrition now.  Going over my options I decided on gorging myself on doughnuts and some dry luck charms, so what if it was childish.  

I was still naked at this point neither caring to dress or even having something to change into besides the remnants of the clothes from two days ago and the clothes on my corpse.  The thought reminded me about my previous fate and I was curious as to what had happened to my old body so doughnut bag in hand I walked over the edge and looked down.  Sure enough there was a very lovely, if a bit smushed, corpse splattered on the ground.  It seemed like those clothes were not salvageable but I decided to check out my corpse anyway as I thought it'd be fun.

Finishing the last doughnut in the bag I made my down from the roof.  The trip was a bit uncomfortable this time as my junk kept scrapping against the wall but at least the discomfort was helping instill a desire to improve my abilities.  Making it to the ground I walked around the building until I made it too my corpse.  Rather belatedly I realized that I hadn't taken off my weapons before jumping off the high dive and the bow and machete weren't in very good shape.  I wasn't sure at the state of my knives but I would look for them after having my fun.

Unfortunately the body was nowhere near intact enough for me to play with it like a puppet, morbid and extremely dark sure but hey I never claimed to be sane.  I did catch a lucky break in that one of my legs was fairly intact and was no longer attached to my torso so I decided to keep it and use it as a weapon just for the sheer hilarity of it.

Done playing with my corpse I decided to go out and see if I could find myself some good prey to hunt.  I still hadn't used my new skill to read through the help menu but I was a bit to excitable at the moment to patiently read through it, besides a familiar urge was making its presence known to me.  

It took me less than half the time it took me last night to find more victims, lucky me.  The expressions the dumb creatures had when they saw a large naked man running at them while laughing like a maniac with a severed leg brandished above his head was priceless and would be a treasured memory for the rest of my life.  They were so stunned in fact that I managed to run up to one and smack it in the fact with the appendage before they recovered enough to attack me.

The fight was very long and left me extremely cut up, beating someone to death with a leg takes a long time even if they are a midget.  Still it was one of the most enjoyable fights, and kills, that I've had so far.  A familiar problem arose during the fight and didn't calm down until long after the fight was over.  It was curious to me as it was a rare thing for me, it was doubly strange as I didn't feel sexually aroused mentally but my body was reacting like it was.  I had no urge or inclination to take care of it.

I wasn't sure but I theorized it had something to do with the fact that I hadn't ever felt this much emotion and excitement since I first entered puberty.  Maybe it was like a second puberty?  Whatever the case I wasn't too concerned and after giving the goblins a brief once over, they didn't have any more marbles, I started making my back towards my home.  I briefly pondered over whether or not I should search for more clothes but I quickly realized it didn't matter.  Apparently once I calmed down my body finally let me know exactly how much damage it had actually taken....it was fatal.

I shrugged to myself as the pain wasn't really an issue but I wondered how I hadn't noticed a dagger stuck in one of my kidneys.  Still bleeding out was kind of boring and would take too long so I decided to enter the nearest house and do a quick experiment.  Walking had gotten a bit hard and when I entered the house my vision had started to blur causing me to bump into random crap.  Thankfully the kitchen was close by the entrance.

I briefly flicked a light switch and was grateful to see that the power was still on, it was sort of necessary for what I wanted to do.  I got lucky and found the silverware drawer on my second guess and quickly dumped the entirety of  its contents inside the microwave.  I knew you weren't supposed to put metal inside the microwave and no theoretically why it was a bad idea but I had always wanted to see for myself.  Since I was dying anyways why not have some fun no?

So good news was that watching the microwave freak out and eventually explode was fucking cool.  Bad news was burning spoons that are flying through the air really hurt when they hit your face.  That was my second death in as many hours but at least I was enjoying myself.

The whole death experience was the same as last time so it wasn't as interesting.  I did find it oddly peaceful so it didn't mean though.  After the same rebirth process I found myself back in my sleeping bag, naked once more.  The strange thing was I was no weaker than last time.  What did it mean?  Was this my base state and would be how I always woke up when I re-spawned?  Or was I was weakened by a certain amount each time and my state before I died the first time only far enough developed to warrant one downgrade?

It was food for thought and would be something I would see if I could find out when I looked through the help menu, but first I was hungry again and I think I remembered there being a large bag of chips in my stash that I was looking forward to.  I hope I can restrain from just killing myself every time I was full so I could eat more food.  I'd try but there was no guarantee, especially if I got bored. Ooo is that a bag of Gummy Bears?  I don't remember picking those up.