When I went out to the dinner table to join the two, I finally took in my surroundings. I felt like I'd stepped onto the set of Harry Potter in the Burrow. The homey feel of it all made me want to sink into the nearest couch and sleep away my troubles, the smell of the farm outside mixed with the amazing aroma of the stew cooking in the fireplace just took me back to when I used to visit my grandparents' as a kid. It helped me calm down enough to sit down with the couple and talk with them. We ate in silence before we got down to business. The stew was amazing, just like Nanna used to make me. I felt like that guy in Ratatouille when he was sent back to when he was a child after biting into his meal near the end of the movie; it nearly brought a tear to my eye.

"This stew is amazing, Meredith. Thank you very much for the food. It really took me back to when I was a kid." I smiled and she returned it with a look of genuine pleasure and care.

"Yer very welcome, my lovely. Yer always welcome ta more if ya like. Plenty in the pot for a growing lad." She chuckled as she took Kenneth's bowl and filled it more for him. She really seemed to be the type of woman that wanted to care for everyone and shows unconditional love to all who enter her home. I don't think I saw Kenneth eat that second bowl. By the time I looked his way, it was empty and he was leaning back with a satisfied grin on his face as he stroked his belly. I couldn't help but chuckle at him when he gave me a knowing wink.

"S'pose we'd best start with explainin' things to ya, eh?" He said after a few moments. I nodded and grunted in affirmation.

"Yes please. I'd love to know as much as possible before I do anything." They looked at each other for a moment as I gave them an inquisitive smile. Their looks with each other made it seem they were having a whole conversation in private without saying a single thing. Every now and then, Meredith would nod her head towards me whilst piercing Kenneth with that look we all know so well; the look all guys know it's their time to do or say something. He sighed and cleared his throat as he turned back to face me.

"I s'pose I should start with you, eh? Firstly, you yerself. I knew what ya were the moment I laid me eyes on ya; it's in yer eyes. Outlanders seem to take on a weird change in that their eyes become a bright purple. Makes em stand right out unfortunately. Which brings me to the important thing to you. Do not go too far north and get close to the border." His face got serious now, almost as though he was giving me a grave warning. He leaned forward on the table and looked me dead in the eyes as he continued. "Ya don't want ta go close to Yulara, bein' an Outworlder an' all. Outworlders there go missin' and those who have been seen again don't seem all there anymore, accordin' to the rumours."

He stopped and let out a grave sigh. My eyes flicked between he and Meredith, the latter watching him with some concern on her face. She reached over and rubbed his back gently in a circular motion. He reached his hand over to grab hers once she was done and nodded.

"We had-" he stopped for a moment as he cleared his throat there. "-have a son who went an' joined the Yularan Imperial Guard. Best he found he could do 'round these parts. He used to share all he could in letter but they just stopped. We're worried about him. But that's not what we're talking about, eh?" He chuckled slightly as he tapped his nose. "This world you've found yerself in, is filled with wonder and amazment, or so the adventuring guilds'll have ya believe. Sometimes a Dungeon will open up somewhere and the guild sends out a group of these adventurers ta clear it. The more dangerous the dungeon, the higher rank adventurer needed to go in and fix it. I'll be makin' a trip back to town in a few days fer more supplies an' selling more crops. We have a deal with the Trader's guild there ta look after our merchandise until selling day. I could take ya with me and introduce ya around, see if anything takes yer fancy and ya can figure out something fer yerself if ya need. 'Course, yer more than welcome to stay here for a while too if ya haven't decided anything by then." He smiled at me once again. It was a smile that reminded me of a caring father who was telling you with one look that he's there for you no matter what happens. I nodded and returned the smile as he and Meredith pushed themselves up to their feet.

"I'll take ya to yer room, love. Ya can stay in our son's old room for now." Meredith raised an arm to guide me in the right direction. I stood and followed her up the stair and down the hall towards the back of the house. As we came close to the furthest room, a door very suddenly shut loudly behind us. I jumped slightly and turned to look with a very confused look on my face but Meredith said nothing, only frowning slightly as she then tried to quickly hide it with a smile and opened the door for me. It was a rather small room, it seemed their son was a simple man and didn't want for much. Just a single bed, bedside table, a writing desk, and a wardrobe. "You rest yerself tonight, love, and I'll come to get ya in the mornin'." She patted me on the shoulder and turned to leave. It took me a few moments to take in the room entirely again before I made my way to the bed and sat down.

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I laid my head down on the pillow and shut my eyes. I could feel that slight panic start to well up again in me so I started an exercise I learnt of called box breathing. Four seconds in, hold for four seconds, four seconds out, hold for four seconds. I used to have a lot of bad anxiety and panic attacks in my teenage and early twenties and this came in handy when an attack would come on. The panic slowly subsided after a minute of breathing before I heard a faint ping as though a phone notification went off. I slowly opened my eyes, expecting to find myself home and my alarm going off next to me, pulling me from this random dream, instead I found what appeared to be a screen in front of me. It was like I'd been put into a VR video game.

Congratulations, Morgan! You have officially lived longer than 12 hours in this world. You have been deemed worthy to unlock the character screen! Use this feature to check your stats and skills, upgrade as you level with stat points and skill points, view the map of the world or the map of your local area (1 mile radius), and examine/sort your party! (Feature not yet unlocked)

That second sentence hit me. 'You have officially lived longer than 12 hours in this world.' What the hell was it on about? Could I have died in the hours I was unconscious before Kenneth found me? What kind of messed up system drops me in a possiblly dangerous area while I'm conked out? I could feel my mouth slowly become more agape as I read on.

Due to you being of a world nothing like this, but the concept a familiar and overplayed genre of media in your world, your Goddess deemed it necessary to aid you with The Screen to settle you in easier. You may also ask for information on the world around you and the people you meet. You will not gain personal insight into an individual, but you can gain insight to the many different races of people and species of creatures of this world, as well as brief history of the areas you visit. Good luck, adventurer! The Lady is watching.

"Great..." I muttered aloud to myself. "Not only have I gotten the isekai treatment, I also get the video game screen to go with it. What's this Goddess of mine it mentions too? And this Lady? I wonder who they are and why they chose me of all people... I'm nothing special." I let the silence hang for a moment as I looked back through my life, trying my best to find anything to make me wothy of all people. I shook my head and continued to peruse my new feature. "In any case.. I wonder what my stats look like. Any chance I got the godly powers that make me overpowered in episode one and can rule this new world with my amazing harem?" I chuckled as I examined the screen.

Character sheet

Name: Morgan Evans

Race: Human Outworlder

Class: Reaper

Level: 1

Health Points: 18

Mana Points: 4

Stats

Strength: 5

Dexterity: 6

Vitality: 6

Wisdom: 4

Intelligence: 4

Charisma: 7

Note: These stats do not affect your mental attributes, but the abilities you acquire along the way as well as your physical abilities. You won't buff up the higher your strength, but you will be able to lift more and deal heavier blows with melee attack the higher it grows for example.

Skills

None yet acquired. Please report to the starter dungeon for Reapers to acquire the equipment needed to begin skill acquisition.

"Guess not..." I sighed as I looked at my stats. It was pretty average down the board but that charisma was the interesting part of it all. I was never a fan of people back on Earth in the slightest. Most of my jobs mainly kept me in the back away from people, where I learnt a good range of cooking and, admittedly, self care. One of the head chefs I met once was a great guy who taught me a lot of good stuff my father never was able to teach me. I looked back up at my character information page, namely that class.

Class: Reaper

Reaper... I wonder when my class was decided for me. I certainly had no hand in that decision but I guess it's decided now. Who the hell was this Lady, too? I had many questions about this and was ready to sit up all night and go over as much of this screen as I could. Maybe if I asked it questions about this world, I can come out a little better for myself. I was about to start asking about the land I'm currently in at least before the screen popped up in my face with a new message.

You have passed the Wisdom Perception check against a nearby person's Stealth. They have shown up on your Local Map.

"Huh..?" Was all I could manage before I scrolled through and found the Local Map page. True to its word, there was a white dot right outside the room I seemed to be sitting in. I frowned however when I realised this map was much smaller than the screen promised. "One mile radius, my ass." I grumbled as I attempted to find a way to shut it off. There, in the top right corner, I saw the zoom feature well hidden. I tapped the minus icon a few times and it zoomed right out, showing the path I must have travelled on on the cart with Kenneth, the rest of the map darkened out by that dreaded Fog of War that was usually the downfall of my poor completionist brain in some open-world games I used to love playing.

For now, I shrugged and put that thought to the back of my mind and finally found a way to close the screen as I slowly crept off the bed and tried to quietly make my way to the door. I heard a slight "Eep!" as I drew close and footsteps very quickly shot off down the hall, then a door slammed. I wondered if it was the same person as before that slammed their door shut not long ago as Meredith and I went past. I simply shook my head and went back to the bed to continue perusing my character screen until sleep eventually took me.