“Why could the Goddess not have dropped me off in a city?” as Max asked the empty air.

The Shire Wolf snarled, showing its massive dagger like fangs. Max just stood there dumbfounded as he watched foam fall from the wolf’s mouth. As the wolf stalked closer, Max finally woke from his daydreaming. He was in danger and the longer he stood still the less likely he would get out of this. The wolf started to gain speed, lowering its haunches into a compact form used for charging. Max reacted like most would, he turned and ran. Each step jostled his cloak and put strain on his bare feet. Max for the first time wondered:

Where are my god damn shoes!

As Max ran, he glanced behind himself. The wolf was gaining. Small branches and sticks became hazards as he ran, impaling themselves into the soles of his feet. Bloody footprints started appearing behind Max, painting the deep green grass a dark red. Pain filled Max’s thoughts, slowing his movement, and creating ever-growing agony.

Max knew he had to do something, so he stopped and turned. He focused on his sword sitting idle in his inventory, willed it into being. His right hand was already in a position to grip the hilt as soon as it materialized creating a smooth transition. The sword, however, quickly took to the force of gravity, something Max was not ready for and staggered too upright it. At this moment the wolf lunged, leaping forward towards Max. In this moment time seemed to slow for Max. His mind exploded with thoughts, none of which would help him in the slightest.

The wolf and Max collided, knocking Max off his feet, and bouncing the wolf a few feet away. The wolf instantly rebounded, finding its footing, and moving quickly to the slowly recovering Human. A sharp pain, paired with a sickening crunch, erupted from Max’s left shoulder and upper back. The wolf had latched on to him tearing his cloak, shirt, skin and crushing his bones. Blood was being pumped out with increasing speed, mixing with the blood pooling from Max’s feet.

“AHHAG!” Max let out a feral cry dropping his sword and instinctively materializing his steel dagger from his inventory. The wolf lessened its bite, repositioning its jaw to create a better grip. With each reposition, Max swiped with the dagger. Small cries of pain sounded in-between the wolf’s snarls. The wolf was finally shaken lose. Both the Human and wolf watched each other, warry of each other’s weapons. Max made the first move, lunging out with the dagger. A mighty snap sounded from the wolf’s jaw as it bit down on the loose fabric of Max’s cloak.

The wolf thrashed its head in like a fish caught in a net, unable to remove its teeth from the fibrous material. Two holes appeared in the wolf’s flank, each deep and twisted. The dagger found its way into the wolf eye socket and brain, finally ending its life.

Max pushed it off him and sat there just staring at the carcass. Max replayed the last few moments in his head, completely ignoring the pain from his wounds. Max was an office worker on Earth. He had never been hunting. He has never killed anything more than a bug. Killing like this, Max knew, was above him.

He thanked the creator of his cloak, knowing it was the only reason he was alive. He also revied the boon of having a personal inventory. Max finally gave into the pain and laid back, knowing he was going to bleed out. He had no supplies, let alone medical supplies. He could make a crude tourniquet out of cloth strips and sticks, but the location of his shredded skin would prove attaching it impossible.

With a sigh, he opened his pending notification.

Congratulations you have killed a level 2 Younge Forest Shire Wolf!

6 Experience gained!

Congratulations you are level 2!

Since you are a “Lost One”, you gain 5 stat points per level.

You have gained 5 stat points.

A white-golden light quickly enveloped Max. The light flowed into his left shoulder and back, regrowing muscle and skin. Blood was rerouted causing more a more efficient flow. His feet extruded large splinters and a numbing sensation removed his pain. The light faded as quickly as it appeared, leaving Max with a similar feeling as when the Goddess had calmed him. A euphoric bliss, like everything was right in the world, like nothing could harm him. Max knew this was wrong, however. The feeling was a lie. The world was not safe, the last few minutes proved that. Max pulled up his profile after realizing the light appeared due to his level-up.

Name:

Max Fowler

Race:

Lost One (Human Earth)

Class:

N/A

Level:

2

Experience:

1/10

Heath: 20/20

Mana 10/10

Stats:

Strength:

Dexterity:

Stamina:

Intellect:

Wisdom:

10

10

10

10

10

Stat Points:

5

The first thing Max noticed other than his level being 2, was that there was a new row. Experience. Since he gained 6 exp after killing the wolf, Max guessed that to reach level 2 was only 5 exp. If that was true, since level 3 required 10, following Max’s logic the requirement would double each time.

Max looked at his stats wondering what to do. He didn't know what Strength or Intellect or rather, what any of his “stats” did. Did strength actually make him stronger or--? Same with intellect? Did it make him smarter?

I’m going to hold off on points for now. I don’t want to mess something up so early. Max thought. Max started to head off into the forest but stopped.

“That was a young wolf huh? Its parents must be somewhere in the forest. I don’t want to run into them.” Max, trying to decide if he should stay put or move deeper into the forest, finally choose that he should stay in the clearing where he had the protection of the area being open. He could see and hear the ruffling of leaves and bushes, hoped that this would give him enough time to react.

“Next time I’m going to actually use the sword.” Max resolved after mentally berating himself for forgetting about gravity...

Max began to look over his minimized boxes. He closed the ones that he did not need anymore, like the description of his sword or cloak, but stopped one particular box.

Please wait while the system contacts the appropriate branch…

This may take a few minutes.

Max wondered when someone was going to figure out that he was trying to contact them. This thought made him realize he should use his Universal Language scroll so when he found someone, he could talk to them. Max unrolled the scroll. It was made of paper. This gave Max some hope over how medieval the world would be.

“This was made with a press. I hope that means they have plumbing.” Max slowly closed his eyes, looked up at the sky and whispered. “Please Goddess Ofes, let them have indoor plumbing.”

There was no response.

The scroll had what Max assumed to be a written language on it. The weird thing was that the letters were constantly shifting. Sometimes they were letters, sometimes glyphs, sometimes they were sound. Max did not understand how this was possible, but for some reason he knew that it was every spoken and written language known to this world.

The scroll shriveled into dust after Max used it. The dust flowed with the wind, straight into Max’s head. He recoiled slightly and gave himself a quick check-up. He felt no pain, no headache, no different.

“Did I do something wrong?” Max asked aloud. No answer came. Max stood there silently for a few moments. His mind quickly goes over multiple scenarios. It did work and he knows how to talk to everyone, or it didn't work, and he was screwed. Max took Spanish in highschool but figured that would be useless here. Max decided that he would not touch the Racial traits without knowing how they worked, what they did, and their value.

Max was overcome with dread at the thought of this. How would he get the answer to those questions? Would he find civilization? Would he be able to communicate? Max just wanted to go home. His home, the one on Earth. Max just laid there quietly sobbing as the blissful feeling from his level-up slowly faded. He wished with all his heart to leave this place. To go home. He was alone and he had no direction. The Goddess did a good job in explaining that he was essentially screwed, which only worsened the situation.

Max opened his eyes with a sudden shock. He had fallen asleep, something he didn’t think was possible. Not with all of the surrounding danger. His surroundings remained the same, he noted, telling him that this was not a dream. Max at this moment declared his hatred for the color green.

Max eventually sat up. How long have I been here? The sun is starting to go down. I need to move. Find shelter.

Max started to look over his cloak. It was torn and shredded but wearable. His left shoulder was partially exposed but enough of the fabric was intact that it wouldn't fall off. Max tried to clean off his dagger, but the blood was dried now, he simply stowed it in his inventory.

Branch Found! Connecting…

Lesterwood Adventuring Guild connected!

Max Fowler Connected!

“Hello? Max? Can you hear me?” A female voice greeted Max.

Max, let out a small cry. He could understand her. The scroll worked but more importantly, he was not alone any longer. There was hope.