002: One on One

Rain goggled at the box hovering in his vision. He had fallen to the ground when the wolf died and the message appeared. He had been feeling more and more like this world was some sort of game or copy of modern fantasy culture. Having it confirmed so blatantly was quite unexpected.

So I’m in a game? He breathed in the scent of blood and death and gagged. Way too real to be a game, and yet, this thing…

The dialog was hovering in the center of his field of view, moving with his eyes. It was making it a bit difficult to focus on the world with it hanging there. Also, it was shattering his assumptions about reality.

OK, level up, got it, now… Dismiss! Close! OK! Well, this is annoying.

“OK Close. Dismiss.”

Bah.

Rain pulled his bound hands down underneath himself and, with some struggling, managed to get them in front of him. The rope wasn’t too tight, but it wasn’t exactly pleasant. He swiped at the dialog with his bound hands. To his surprise, it moved with his touch, as if he was dismissing an app on his phone, sliding to the left and out of view. Even more interesting, the panel seemed like it had an actual physical form. It felt like glass, but somehow electric and fuzzy. Rain didn’t know quite what to make of the feeling. At least he could see now.

OK, so I leveled up and got a message telling me about it. I can dismiss the message, but I need to touch it to do so.

Hegar was looking a bit worse for wear, panting heavily. The mage also seemed like he had seen better days. He was sitting down with his eyes closed and was massaging his temples. Rain couldn’t see the woman or the archer, but he assumed they were nearby. Nobody seemed to be paying attention to him.

If I was gonna run, this would be the time. I could probably find a sharp rock or something and cut these ropes, but… Yeah, they would totally catch me. Plus, I keep calling them bandits, but I’m not sure they are actually. Maybe…adventurers? I mean, they look shady as shit, but who am I to judge. I don’t know anything about the culture here. Maybe brown is the height of fashion… OK, probably not.

Rain looked around again and, satisfied that he wasn’t being watched, scooted back so he could lean against a tree. Hegar glanced up but didn’t do anything to stop him. Instead, he moved towards the wolf. Drawing a knife from his belt, he started butchering the animal. Rain’s stomach flopped around unpleasantly and he decided to find something to distract himself.

Status, Rain thought, as hard as he could.

Damn, nothing happened. How about…Inventory…Skills…Character…Menu.

“Shit!” His entire field of vision was suddenly filled with blue. A panel was hanging before him, much larger than the dialog, listing out several options in the top left corner, but otherwise blank. Getting over his shock, Rain took a closer look.

OK, Attributes.

The panel disappeared, replaced by another one listing what looked like a character sheet.

OK, so I’m pretty generic. Level 1? So I guess I started at zero? 10 points per level, and a base level of 10 for each stat? Wait, so if I put 10 points in strength, does that mean I’ll be twice as strong? I mean, that sounds pretty good, but I don’t think it can work like that; otherwise, everyone would be able to bench press a tractor trailer. And what the heck are these other stats? Recovery? Of health, or is that everything? What the heck does Vigor do then? Maybe I should put some points in clarity, because this is pretty fucking cryptic. What happened to dexterity, intelligence, and constitution?

Rain sighed and stared at the numbers. I can’t put points in these, not until I know what they do. I have these guys to protect me, so it isn’t like I’ll die out here without the stats, so I can wait. I don’t want to do something I might regret…

Damn it, James was right, I am a hopeless min-maxer.

Thinking of his friend from college and the DnD campaign they had both played in, his mouth quirked up into a half smile. Maybe it was the adrenaline, but Rain wasn’t thinking too hard about his reality at the moment. Instead, he wondered what James would have said about this character sheet. James played bards. Always bards, ever since high school. No charisma in this world, eh? Too OP?

His smile fell as he recalled the ending of that particular campaign. His character had died of poison as the rest of the party tried desperately to save him. It had been a bad time for Rain. His father had died at the start of the semester and he had decided to drop out to help support his mother. He had stuck around for this last session of the campaign, only for his character to fall in the final battle. The next day, he packed up his car and returned home, finding a job in construction. He hadn’t kept in touch with James or any of his other friends. His mother had died a few years later and long hours and mild depression had caused him to withdraw from most human contact. It was only in the past few weeks or so that he had decided to claw himself out of the hole he had dug.

I guess I don’t need to go to the gym now… ha. Fantasy world, experience, levels. Who needs cardio?

Rain looked down at his slightly pudgy gut. I wonder. If I put points in strength, will I hulk out? Question for later. Damn it, why can’t everyone just speak the same language like in every science fiction show ever? That guy can throw fireballs, but doesn’t know a translation spell? Another question for later: Translation spell, is it a thing? Oh, maybe I can check.

Back. Dismiss. Menu. Ah, there it goes, ok, Skills. Great, I can go direct. Let’s see here.

Not a lot here, umm Fencing.

Ah, I see, so these are categories. Humm. Physical Passive.

Physical Passive   Tier 0   Strength of Arm 0/10 (+) Increase physical strength by 2% (str)   Lifespring 0/10 (+) Increase health regeneration by 10% (str)   Continue Reading You are reading a free preview (50%). Log in to unlock the full chapter and join comments. Log In to UnlockCreate Account Related chapter tags #delvechapter2#delvechapter3#delvechapter4#delvelatestchapter#delvereadonline 0 chapter views Related Novels Moneymaker [Superhero Academy LitRPG, B1 fully written] Accidentally Crowned the Demon Lord The Hero was Kicked Out of his Own Party Nin-To-Five (A Naruto SI) 0 Comments You must be logged in to comment. Bookmark Quote TTS Link Play Pause Stop Skip Scroll Settings Note DMCATermsPrivacyContact 0 online