Chapter Two: Status Screen

Slowly my senses began to return to me and the first thing that greeted me was the soothing sound of waves as they danced gently against a sandy shore. Within minutes I could feel the warmth of the waves washing over my feet, and taste the salt in the air. As the radiant light faded I finally opened my eyes to take in my surroundings. Turning in a full circle I gazed upon my new world. I couldn’t help but acknowledge how desolate and ominous the area I had appeared in seemed. The sands were a crimson red, and the waves seemed almost black. No birds were flying over the shoreline, and in every direction along the coast, I could see an emptiness only broken up by a series of ruins I had appeared next to and stone pillars that ran in each direction until they faded from view. Even the sky seemed dark and gray, which was depressing until I saw the hints of the sun rising over a distant forest that ran parallel to the sea.

“I was expecting something more cheery. You know more like a typical starting zone and less lair of the final boss. What do you say ‘Oh powerful system? Throw me a bone here?” I asked the heavens. I waited for a moment before shrugging. “That’s right Leo, you’re just talking to the clouds while standing alone on a beach. Nothing to see here folks, just a man losing his mind.”

Maybe I should make my way to the forest. I thought as I tried to gauge the distance between myself and the forest. The treeline was easily two miles from the waves and a white mist clouded around the trees as thick as a blanket. My intense concentration on the far-off wood was enough to make a line of text pop up informing me that I could not gain access to that location until I had completed my starting area. That’s fine, I love beaches. I thought to myself with a shrug. I turned my attention back to my immediate surroundings.

“Now what? You were the smart one who decided you were too good for a tutorial. What’s your next step, Leo?” I muttered sarcastically as I tried to come up with a plan. Shut up Leo, I snapped at myself internally and then began wondering if I had suffered brain damage from dying. Shaking my head I tried to assess my situation. I was in a new world with no direction, and I needed to figure out what my first course of action should be.

In most tutorial areas there would be a village or something nearby that the main character could find easily enough and then get guidance on how to start there. adventure. Usually involving a pretty girl and being told that they were the destined hero summoned to this world to save the day. Raising my eyebrows at the ruins skeptically I wasn’t hopeful about my chances when it came to finding a town. The buildings had clearly been abandoned for some time, and there were no signs of life anywhere else on the beach for as far as I could see.

While I was trying to come up with ideas I was interrupted as an icy wind blew in off the water that sent shivers up my spine. Looking down at my attire I groaned inwardly. I was wearing sandals, shorts, and a sleeveless shirt. Not really good at keeping a person warm. Before I do anything I should probably make sure I can at least secure a temporary shelter from this wind.

With that thought echoing in my mind I walked towards the ruins. As I approached it became quite clear that this must have been an ancient fishing village. This close to the waters I really couldn’t imagine it being anything else. I wasn’t quite sure what I was hoping to find as I began making my way through the rubble, but at least it was something to do.

“Greetings from the new world. Your first quest! Don’t freeze to death. Our intrepid adventurer digs through the ruins of a fallen village in hopes of securing shelter against the winds!” I announced in my best game show host voice. As I performed the laborious task of digging through the rubble I was hoping that there would be some old clothes that had survived the passage of time. Or maybe a storm cellar that I could hole up in.

I didn’t make it far into the process before I started to realize that my hopes of finding anything significant were futile. Out of the twenty or so structures, there wasn’t a single set of walls that had remained intact. Wooden planks had been torn apart, and some had broken beyond repair. Stones debris was piled around as no doubt the ocean storms assailed the village causing the buildings to collapse in on themselves over time.

“What’s that adventurer? You thought your new life was going to be easy? Sorry, maybe you should have taken the tutorial. Good luck!” I complained in a voice mocking the system as I realized that my best bet would be to attempt to build my own shelter out of the mess of the village. In fact, that’s probably why I had started so close to the wrecked village, to begin with, I reasoned. With a new sense of purpose, I set myself to the task before me.

The first thing I did was try to find the most intact and solid wall that still remained standing. It wasn’t very large, only about six feet in height and nine feet across. But based on how much of the building had broken apart around it, I could tell that this had probably been one of the larger structures initially. I figured that since it managed to remain standing this long, it should be the perfect starting point for my base.

Slowly I began hauling stones from all of the other structures and piling them to create a foundation. I used wet sand to pack in between the rocks as I worked making it a half-assed type of igloo. I knew I didn’t have the tools to build a roof so I just focused on making each wall an equal height with plenty of room inside for me to rest and build a fire. I could only guess how cold the night would be, even outside of direct contact with the frozen winds. Slowly the sun rose from above the forest until it was high overhead.

“Oh, this is nice. I get to be barbecued during the day and turned into a popsicle at night. Not to mention getting sick from having damp skin during the cold.” I groaned as I continued my efforts. The sun’s direct rays were warming the beach but that didn’t do anything to comfort me. I had already been sweating from my labor, but as the heat rose I became drenched in my own fluids. I wanted to stop working, but I knew I couldn’t afford to now. A human can go days without food, and maybe a day or two without water. Freezing to death could take a single night. “Try looking at the bright side Leo, you aren’t a pure human anymore. There’s a chance you could last longer than normal,” I tried reassuring myself ineffectually. Clearing my thoughts with a shake of my head I went back to work.

It was only as the sun had moved well past the zenith and had started its descent that I finally felt satisfied with my efforts. I had managed to encase a large enough space that I could lay around inside and the wind could blow harmlessly overhead. I had made the side walls roughly eight feet long and six feet high to match the one I had used as the starting point. On the other end opposite the shoreline, I hadn’t bothered to spend as much time putting it together. Curving in from both sides were barriers 4 feet high but only coming together a part of the way before leaving an opening wide enough for me to pass in and out of my shelter.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Admiring my work, I strode confidently into my new base and grinned with pride. That grin turned into a frown a moment later as a large screen appeared before me. Unlike the blue I had grown accustomed to, this one was golden, which made some sense considering the message it delivered.

New Quest: Survive a night against the Howling Damned. Bonus Objective: Build or Secure a fortification to help stave off the assault. Quest Reward: A specialized cloak. Item rank will be based on quest performance.

“Yay, I built a base, now I just have to survive in it,” I exclaimed with false excitement looking at the quest. The implications of the objective had me worried. I didn’t have a clue as to what the howling damned were, but now as I stared at my shelter I suddenly felt all too exposed. I wanted to believe that since this was still a starting zone the system wouldn’t have dropped me off in a location that was impossible to survive in. Experience though told me I should not take that for granted. Anything at all could happen in this world, and while it was true I had needed to build a shelter, I also needed to start understanding the mechanics of my new life.

Taking a relaxing breath I pushed down the paranoid desire to rush off and start building a fire. I would need one but by the sun's positioning, it was only midafternoon t and I didn't want to waste the limited amount of burnable material too early. Until I gained access to the forest or found a more secure shelter I had to think tactically. I needed to know how this world worked. I almost smacked myself in the head when an obvious thought bubbled into my mind. Well, the system did give you attributes. If you want to understand the world, maybe start with the status screen.

Sitting down inside my fort I tried to figure out how to open the status window. I tried a few verbal commands before remembering that the system told me it responded to my direct thoughts. I pondered for a moment on what a typical status screen might look like, and with a push of my will I was rewarded for my efforts. The system responded revealing a white screen with a long list of information.

Name: Leodon Xavier Walvin

Race: Fel-Human [Locked]

Level: 0 [Locked]

Class: Not Applicable [Locked]

Title: Not Applicable [Locked]

Status

Health: 100%

Mana: 100%

Stamina: 54%

Active Effects: None

Passive Effects: None

Free Attribute Points: 0

Attributes

Strength: 7

Vitality: 5

Agility: 6

Perception: 6

Intelligence: 7

Charisma: 2

Wisdom: 3

Luck: 2

Free Skill Points: 0

Skills: Not Applicable [Locked]

“Well, that’s slightly unfortunate,” I muttered to myself as I saw that almost everything was locked, and even worse I wasn’t even level one. Pushing my disappointment aside I continued on. I was banking on the fact that if I could understand my status screen it might give me insights on how to navigate my new life. The first thing I focused on was my race.

Race: Fel-Human

Details: Variant Humans were either born with or corrupted by dark energy until it altered their nature. Different variant bloodlines have alternative traits.

Rank: [Locked]

Fel- Human Racial Traits: [Locked]

Variant Racial Trait: [Locked]

“Oh cool, now I really have become the beast in the castle.” I chuckled to myself thinking about one of my favorite Disney characters. I was still frustrated that I didn’t have full access to the benefits, but I decided to accept it. This had all the makings of a video game world, so that meant there had to be a quest that would unlock everything. Without the tutorial though I would just have to hope I discovered that quest before I ended up in serious trouble.

Next, I turned my attention to my attributes. All game systems had them, and while many used the same ones they didn’t always do the same thing. With a thought I pulled up the information I was looking for.

Attributes: Effective capabilities. Notice. All attribute increases receive diminishing returns after ten points. With a further reduction every five points after that.

Strength: Increases physical output, physical defense, total stamina, and melee damage by 10% per point.

Vitality: Increases total health, longevity, the rate and effectiveness of health recovery, and resistance to poisons and diseases by 10% per point.

Agility: Increases movement speed, balance, reaction speed, and stamina recovery by 10% per point.

Perception: Increases coordination, accuracy, dexterity, and sensory perception by 10% per point.

Intelligence: Increases memory, thought processing speed, and magical potency and damage by 10% per point.

Wisdom: Increases experience gain, reasoning capabilities, mental reaction speed, and mana regeneration by 10% per point.

Charisma: Increases personality, artistic capabilities, the potency of charm effects used, and resistance to hostile charm effects by 10%

Luck: Increases fortune, likelihood, and potency of luck-based effects, and extra-sensory perception by 10% per point.

“Well that’s fascinating,” I muttered hesitantly as I read the information. I noted the diminishing returns and wondered how steep the drop percentage would be. The data did give me a deeper understanding of the attributes I started with. I reasoned that if ten was the drop-off point that probably made it the peak of normal human potential. If ten was the high then that meant five had to be average. Noticing how low a few of my stats were a lot of my life began to make sense, and I couldn’t help but chuckle ruefully.

Admittedly I was curious what the information meant about charisma increasing my personality but that could wait. Until I started dealing with other people in this world I doubted I would get a firm grip on how it worked. I didn’t even bother opening up my skills. I didn’t have access to them anyway so they could wait until I unlocked them.

Maybe I should check my map. I thought. After all, even the most basic games had some sort of map system or minimap with location information. I thought intensely on a map screen but this time the system didn’t respond. I tried calling out and waving my arms but still no system map was forthcoming. Shaking my head I decided to let it go. Perhaps the map was blocked out since I didn’t have a tutorial active. With a disappointed sigh, I rose to my feet and dusted the sand off. I didn’t think there was anything else I could learn at the moment. I did have a firmer grasp on my situation though. It was time to start gathering the firewood.

Maybe completing this quest would give me an idea of how to initiate the others I needed. Making my way through the opening I had left in my shelter's walls I felt my foot get kicked out from beneath me forcing me to topple forward and land on my face. The sand was soft enough that the fall barely winded me but I was still surprised. I started to push myself back up to my feet when a sharp pain shot through my ribs causing my vision to blur. Another flash of agony spiked through my side, this time with enough force to roll me over. I gasped as I tried to regain my senses, my hands clutching my chest. As my vision cleared I could see a man standing over me aiming a crossbow at my head. Behind him stood several others all with various weapons.

“Oh, Shit!” I cursed as a new line of text appeared before me. “I am so dead.”

New Quest! Survive the Encounter with the Priests of the Watcher. Bonus Objective: Survive the Encounter with just the starting equipment given to you by your Background. Quest Difficulty: Extreme. Quest Reward: Unlocks Racial Rank, and Traits. Quest Reward: Grants Access to the Leveling and Class Systems. Quest Reward: Starting Equipment will be modified to fit your class. Notice. The content of rewards will be improved based on quest performance.