Chapter 1
A new world
Lightning cracked the sky over my head. Fortunately my buzz was strong enough that it didn't interfere with my swing. This was the seventeenth hole and I was two strokes behind. It was possible that was also due to the buzz which likely was a bit more than a buzz seeing as how the green kept moving and rippling.
"Hey! You gotsta play betttter than that... I wanna drink ss... sssome too" Brian declared from his slumped over position in the passenger seat of the golf cart
I had to admit that this was one of his better ideas for a drinking game. I would normally crush him in golf but we were using his clubs and I had nearly two feet on him making his clubs far too short, not to mention that the score keeper was his fiancée Samantha who definitely had motive for keeping Brian slightly more sober if at all possible. A shot per stroke wasn’t too bad if we were relatively even but Samantha was conveniently losing count more and more.
The party had started with a dozen of us playing but a few who didn't want to drink or played too poorly and fell out early making it only a handful. That is until the storm rolled in. Whether through dumb pride or something else, only Brian and I continued on after hole fifteen, we were soo close now and this really was quite a lot of fun.
"Shhhhush immm thinkin" I admonished Brian
"Thinkin? You already hit thr ball you thinking how bad you are at golf or somethin?"
I paused looking at the ball that somehow made it ten feet closer to the green when I wasn't looking. "Ssso I have... wwhaaa what's the co ... count?"
Samantha rolled her eyes so hard I could hear it "you're both four over so far this hole, your turn still"
I blinked "Four over... thisss is a par threee right?... alllright ill make you a deal..."
After a pause Brian spoke up "what deal?"
"That’s what I wanna know" was my flawless reply, and after a moment I continued "no that’s not right, wwhwat I whanna know is how many is four over par on par three"
Another long pause and another peel of thunder prompted Samantha "Alright we're done, lets go"
After some very convincing arguments and perfect logic we decided to finish the hole, winner take all. I don't drink often but when I do, I drink to excess. That being said I have managed to master certain things, one of those is the ability to gather myself into a semblance of sobriety for a few seconds regardless of how smashed I actually was. I channeled all my focus and balance into my next stroke. For a moment after the swing we all stared. I had chipped from the rough nearly behind a tree, the fact that I managed to find trees to get stuck behind on a par three was impressive in its own way, and landed within feet of the pin.
After the shock wore off I thrust my club into the sky and cheered, then a new sort of shock hit. Lightning strikes were fast but this one seemed to take several seconds. I saw the tree I managed to slip past explode, and light blinded me followed by darkness.
You have died
Congratulations!
You have been selected as participant 43 of 100
Good luck 43, conquer and rise above the rest!
Transferring soul to ORIENTATION ZONE 43
Before I could process what was going on a robotic vaguely female voice droned with a monotonous tone usually reserved for DMV employees, "Welcome participant number forty three, please state your name for the record"
"What?" I stupidly asked
"Congratulations Mr. or Mrs. What on being selected for this wonderful opportunity, do you have a preference for a starting class?"
"Who are you? Where..."
My eyes had adjusted enough to make out the faceless grey humanoid thing sat behind a mundane desk with small fake plants decorating it, just in time for them to interrupt my questions, "Very well, class for What set to who, please select an unclaimed starting location"
"Ahh I see, I must be laid up in a hospital in a coma or something after the lightning"
"Checking coordinates 188-9"
My eyebrows rose "How's that fit into the who’s on first what's on second thing you've got going on? I didn't give you any coordinates"
At this point the coma theory was definitely the front runner. I had been way too into RPGs and litrpgs and isekai stories. My mind definitely would have conjured something like this.
The DMV robot continued "Error location 188-9 invalid, correcting..."
She then froze for several seconds. Just as I was about to speak up she started again "correction successful, dungeon created at location 188-9 please state your three ability requests"
Ohh this was where I got my overpowered cheat skills right? I get to choose three? "Immortality"
"Denied, please state your two ability requests"
"Wait, what? You denied it how are there only two now?"
"Granted please state your last ability request"
I almost shouted at the emotionless thing, instead I took a deep breath and thought for a moment. I almost wasted my cheat skill chance, but what could I ask for, they denied my first choice and took the chance away. Requesting something blatantly overpowered would likely be denied but I needed something to give me the means to function in a new world at least. That made the choice for me, something protagonists in the books I had read usually take for granted but would be almost totally necessary.
"Universal language mastery" I said after some thought on how to word my request.
The robot thing stopped for a moment and then for the first time I sensed an emotion in the voice, reluctance
"Granted.." then all in a rush so fast I wasn't able to make sense of anything "you will now be transferred into your new body after a twenty four hour period of acclimation you will begin to receive quests after seventy two hours you will receive your first zone quest two hundred forty hours will unlock the leader board any questions? No? Great goodbye."
And the world went dark again
Beginning world domination iteration 1430
Transporting participant 43 of 100 to designated location
Beginning initial phase
240 hours to culling phase
Several seconds passed and nothing changed. I wondered if my fried brain had given up making an otherworldly adventure for me. It was slightly disappointing, of course I wanted to live an rpg adventure with magic and dragons and hot elves, even if it was all a lightning induced coma dream.
Now all I had were my own thoughts and endless darkness. That sounded a lot like a recipe for madness. Assuming I woke up at some point, the chances I would be a vegetable or a lunatic were far too likely for my tastes, but what could I do.
Time passed.
You always heard about people in comas somehow fighting and recovering or letting go and passing, but I had nothing to fight or to let go of, I just existed... I would whistle a tune but I couldn't even do that... Give me back my isekai adventure!! I tried shouting but of course nothing happened. My mind wandered for a time until boredom began gnawing.
I recalled a time when I used to have recurring nightmares, I had eventually worked out a way to wake up. I would, in the dream, open my eyes as forcefully and wide as possible, trying hard enough to open my eyes actually transferred into the real world and my eyes would open waking me up. Could I do something similar here? No way it was that easy right? I tried. I opened my eyes fast and wide, willing them to open... nothing happened
Ding
What was that? I definitely heard a thing just now, something like a chime or small bell. Wait... wasn’t that was usually an indicator of some sort of level or something in games. Was I still in my coma-rpg? I could try and find out.
With my ability to speak hindered slightly by being nothing in a void of nothingness I went to the second best option and thought at the universe. "Status"
Name: What
Class: Who
Level: 1
Experience:0/100
Territory:0/64800
Stats:
Hp: 20/20
Stamina: 20/20
Mana: 20/20
Strength: 1
Dexterity: 1
Intelligence: 2
Wisdom: 2
Endurance: 2
Constitution: 2
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Titles: none
Skills:
Wait: level 1
Universal language mastery: level 1
Traits:
Shape-shifting: level 1
Eyes (perception organ): level 1
Hah I was still in a game world. It seems the DMV bot took everything literally as well, I was What the who, which apparently was some kind of Shape-shifting thing. Speaking of which I had a subcategory of eyes under shape-shifting, was that what the sound was pointing at? I was trying to open my eyes and that somehow made me shape-shift eyes? That’s all great but despite my apparent level one eyes I couldn't see anything. The lack of sight might be a good thing though. If I had to create eyes that implied I would have to create everything that I wanted my body to have. Was I some sort of blob with eyes just blooping there on the ground?
Well assuming I had made eyes for myself there were a few possibilities as to why I couldn't see. Maybe there was no light, or maybe I had to somehow make optical nerves and a functioning brain to process the information from the eyes... I really hoped it was just dark. What could I do if it was dark? I know there are creatures that give off light but I didn't know how that worked.
This was all too much, lets start with something manageable, ears. I actually do know how ears, at least human ears, work. Lets try to recreate how I made the eyes. I focused my whole being on the idea of hearing. The construction of the inner ear, the little canals to the eardrum, even just what sounds were.
Ding
Yay, I didn't need to check because I could now hear. There wasn't much to hear, just a little wind and shuffling but I could hear. I checked on the new status anyway finding the change.
Traits:
Shape-shifting: level 1
Eyes (perception organ): level 1
Ears (perception organ) level 1
Great! I didn’t have to make anything to connect to the ears so maybe it really was just too dark to see. What could I do now? Maybe I could build a body for myself bit by bit but without being able to see what I was doing I would be lucky to put things in the right spots and be mobile enough to find a way into daylight, assuming there was such a thing as daylight here.
How did blind people manage? How did blind animals manage? I was pretty sure people used a combination of practice, aids, and sometimes animals to find their way. The only animals I could think of that were blind used things like scents and sounds, or some combination of those, but there was no way I could figure out echolocation on the fly. Could I make inanimate things? Could I make a torch?
I focused very hard on everything I knew about a simple torch. A piece of wood about 2 feet long with cloth soaked in pitch or something to provide fuel... OK so I didn't know much about torches but it couldn't be less than I knew about eyes or ears and that worked out.
Ding
Well I couldn't see so it wasn't a success but what was the notification then
Traits:
Shape-shifting: level 1
Eyes (perception organ): level 1
Ears (perception organ) level 1
Peg leg (transportation limb) level 1
Well then. Was it only body parts I could make even if they were prosthetic? Maybe I was just inept at this. Shape-shifting is cool... but I wouldn't have minded being a dragon or something. I've been lying in presumably a fleshy puddle for hours now and all I've managed with any success is being able to hear. It's good nothing hungry is nearby or I'd have been a rather easy meal, assuming I'm edible.
With that disturbing thought driving me to figure this out quicker I decided I could just follow whatever walls this place had to find a way out. I needed to be able to feel things then, fortunately I also had a fair idea of how nerves worked and so I focused on making a spine, until I realized I would need to support the spine with more bones... I needed to grow an entire skeleton.
That was less optimal, I knew the general shape of a skeleton but not each individual bone and joint. Even knowing the general shape was making me worry, it took all my focus to make functioning ears and now I needed to make an unknown number of complicated bones and joints linked together. After considering that for a time I decided it wouldn't go very well, but then I didn't need to conform to a proper skeleton did I? I just needed some sort of mobility and nerves for guidance.
Alright, back to a spine, unsure of how long it needed to be and how large each vertebrae was meant to be I just went with something like what I remembered from school and movies and even Halloween decorations. As I focused on my idea of a spine I began to feel a tingle, the tingle became a burning sensation that was very distracting. I managed to ignore it enough to continue until I heard the notification I was waiting for.
Traits:
Shape-shifting: level 1
Eyes (perception organ): level 1
Ears (perception organ): level 1
Peg leg (transportation limb): level 1
Spine (nervous system anchor): level 1
Success! Although I would consider a brain to be the anchor of a nervous system, it didn't seem like I needed one of those. Not sure what that says about me, but I definitely won't be bragging about it. Alright now nerves for the nervous system. I focused on growing a network of them out from the spine, and immediately lost consciousness.
Some time later I woke up and after checking my status which showed no changes, I tried to understand what went wrong. I suppose I don't know much about nerves but it didn't seem like I did anything particularly wrong. I was growing my network of nerves and I could feel it working just like the spine, I could FEEL. I didn't have a word for the sensation, not a tingling or burning like with the spine, more like getting a massive hangover and then staring wide eyed into a light as it was turned on, while also being hit in the back of the head with a bat... and listening to a firecracker go off right next to your head...
Alright I think I understand what went wrong, that was way way too much all at once. At least the progress seemed to reset and the pain went away all at once. I didn't know how long I was out but I really didn't want that happening again. That brought a worrying thought to the fore. I was struck by lightning and assumed I was in a coma. I wasn't sure how comas worked but this seemed too lucid. I was in and out of wakefulness and I could feel pain. If this was just some coma dream conjured by my damaged mind wouldn't the things that I thought should work, just work? In my own little world I would make the rules, why would my mind make something hurt like that?
If this world made more sense I wouldn't even consider that it was a coma dream, but in spite of the weirdness and the frankly convenient rpg themes, I was starting to doubt I could make it all up. I shook my metaphorical head and put it out of my mind. More pressing concerns demanded attention. Growing nerves from scratch was going to take longer than I wanted.
Again I focused on growing nerves, this time one nerve. The newborn nerve branching off my spine screamed at me. The pain was like drilling a sore tooth with a drill made of salt, no wonder why making dozens at once knocked me out cold. I pressed on trying to ignore the pain until finally the nerve made it to a point I couldn't press past.
Ding
Traits:
Shape-shifting: level 1
Eyes (perception organ): level 1
Ears (perception organ): level 1
Peg leg (transportation limb): level 1
Spine (nervous system anchor): level 1
Nerves (nervous system): level 1
Holy crap, finally! I let my focus slip and relaxed. As the pain faded I could feel sensations from the nerve but they were so faint I couldn't parse anything from them. Great now you want to be quiet, until just this moment the little bastard was on fire, now I could barely feel anything from it. I don't know how dense nerves are on humans but this would take forever at this rate.
Although... What if I start on the outside and come in, nothing says they have to be connected while I grow them. Silently praying that this would work I repeated the process. This time starting as far out as I could and working inward. After the nerve started to grow with no adverse effects I added more, and more. Suddenly I was growing hundreds of the little things, thousands from all over my body. I could tell based on the shape of the growing nervelets I was indeed a blob on the ground, with a small rise where the spine was. The time it took to shape the intricate web was actually less than what it took to make a single nerve while it was live.
I stopped as the branches joined and twisted together, all just shy of the spine. It seemed I would have to finish all in one go if the first time was anything to go by. If I failed in any way all my work would reset when I lost focus. I really needed to knock out some more body parts, like lungs and teeth so I could take a deep breath and grit my teeth. As quickly as I could before being overwhelmed, I connected all the nerves to my spine.
Ding
Traits:
Shape-shifting: level 2
Eyes (perception organ): level 1
Ears (perception organ): level 1
Peg leg (transportation limb): level 1
Spine (nervous system anchor): level 1
Nerves (nervous system): level 2
When I awoke this time I could feel my body tingling with excitement as I looked over the changes. Level two nerves and Shape-shifting also leveled up
Ding
Quest added
Hmm? Something new popped up. Still lacking a mouth I thought "quests"
Active Quests:
Newborn survival:
You have been born into a new world, the producers have seen fit to allow a 24 hour grace period of safety for new body acclimation. That grace period has expired and you are now as vulnerable to the cruel world as any other newborn.
Objectives: survive another 24 hours without protection
Reward: zone map
Well that explains why a helpless blob hasn't been eaten by something yet. I still wasn't really prepared to defend myself from anything yet. Squeaking and clicking noises sent a chill up my new spine, I couldn't see them but I knew those sounds, and it fit as a starting zone. Rats.
Ding
My new Shape-shifting level and definitely not unhealthy levels of panic fueled my rapid growing of a shell of wood over my entire body. Thankfully I had found I could create body parts made of nonstandard materials with my peg leg torch mishap. The experience was strange, it was still made of me, turning the outer few inches of whatever weird fleshy material I was made of into wood. Even my nerves still reached into the new wood body, but other than an odd pulling sensation where flesh and wood met, I got nothing from the nerves embedded in my new shell.
My new situation didn't help much as I was now once again unable to tell what was going on beyond what I could hear through my wood covered ears and feel from my nerves pointing at the ground. What I could hear though had me nervous. The sounds had come closer and I could hear tiny claws on wood now. They weren't biting or digging, presumably unaware there was a meal beneath their feet but they could tell it was something interesting and more and more of them seemed to be climbing aboard.
I quietly came up with a plan and began growing the new parts I would need.
Ding
Traits:
Shape-shifting: level 2
Eyes (perception organ): level 1
Ears (perception organ): level 1
Peg leg (transportation limb): level 1
Spine (nervous system anchor): level 2
Nerves (nervous system): level 2
Shell (defensive growth): level 1
Tail (combat limb): level 2
Armor (defensive growth): level 1
I slowly snaked my new tail out from under my shell and raised it as high as I could. Then began smashing down on my own shell in a frenzy. Fortunately I had the foresight to coat the whacking side in wood plates and though it had spine running through to give the muscles some support, I left most of the nerves out so it wouldn't hurt to beat on. It did seem to make changes a bit easier to make with the new Shape-shifting level, which I was very glad for.
Making the large limb had confirmed a theory I had. My body was finite, each change took mass and though I was packed floor to shell before, now with my tail exposed, I had far more room under my shell. The tail smashes were effective in knocking the rodents off me but even with direct hits they didn't seem to be dying. Most ran off as they were thumped, but some fell off and didn't move though I could still hear them squeaking. I couldn't see them still but maybe they were injured and couldn't move? I didn't stop to check, instead I continued smashing the little hell spawn. Even after my shell was clear I smashed the ones around me that didn't run.
DING
I didn't stop until I couldn't hear them anymore. Finally I had a moment to calm down. Rats! Who thought diseased rodents were a good enemy for starting an adventure. I checked what my notification was and saw I had gained a level with that nightmare.