Success was often found in the small things.

For example, the act of having shoes wouldn’t seem much until you had to walk all day without them on hard city concrete and tarmac avoiding glass and other less desirable substances.

I turned over the beat-up footwear. One had worn on the heel completely but it was better than what I had (which was nothing). Having them fished out a modern clothes recycle garbage machine near local thrift stores might have been the lowest point in my life so far, but I didn’t have much use for pride when I knew the dangers lurking around the corner.

“Observe,” I said as I slipped them on. Tight but not painful. They were white once but age had rendered them grey.

Worn Sneakers. Footwear.

It is those given purposes when thought useless that prove their worth the most.

“That was actually pretty deep of you,” I mused and the box shifted.

It is ratty shoes. System had to fill the space with something.

“Yeah yeah...” I grumbled and tried a few test walks along the street. Karakura really liked white and narrow straight streets I noticed along my quest to find shoes. Not that the system found that worthy of an actual quest.

The shoes itched but my poor feet finally had a layer of comfort. I shouldn’t be so pleased but it felt like I was making progress in some areas.

“First shoes, then godly powers, then a sweet beach house somewhere that people haven’t died,” I announced happily. A dream was good to have, if unrealistic.

I ended up along the main river that ran like a snake along Karakura’s west side. I actually was surprised at how clean it looked, the grassy hills that slid down to stone walkways that were cut up by overhanging bridges ever so often. It was under one of these bridges I took refuge from the warm sun above and the suspicious looks I got from the locals.

A foreign hobo might not stick out in Tokyo but Karakura was not exactly bustling with people.

I had to smile at the underside of the tunnel that was covered in graffiti. Guess under the surface, even the white and clean Karakura had some thugs and free souls lurking about it seemed. I opened my menu with more a desire than any vocalisation. The desire to see my stats more important than any vocal command.

Handy that, I wouldn’t have to worry too much about saying the wrong word in combat and getting blindsided by a screen. That would just be a sad way to die.

True name: Russel Rivers

Given name:

Nickname:

Title: The Gamer

Physical: 5

Spiritual: 5

Energy: 5

Mental: 5

Points to spend: 1

Skills:

Danger sense 1: You can sense the danger of a truck travelling into your face within inches!

Gamer Body Max: Allows the body to be adaptable and attain growth.

Gamer Mind Max: Allows visualization of menus and pop-ups! Allows user to see unique Gamer elements in the world!

Climbing lv 2: Allows you to scale foes and environments faster.

Observe lv 2: See information about targets. Right now, the only information the user knows already can be summed up

Quest: None

Right, now that I had some time to accept where I was and what that sort of meant... It was time to take a long hard look at my own being spread before me in flat numbers and basic skills. Things weren’t exactly looking great. Climbing Hollows would be handy if they were say Menos and I had to reach those beaks of theirs but that was all I had going for me.

Where were all the skills of my previous life? I wasn’t a desert ranger with mad l33t skills on rocket science but I should have had some things carry over.

And what was more pressing was I couldn’t see my level or exp bar. As if reading my mind, a new line slid into view under the title of Gamer.

Level 1. No exp had been gained and System is still slowly adjusting User to new existence. Some features are being held back to avoid overload and to give User time to adjust. No one likes having the entire instruction book thrown at them at once.

“Thanks, I think,” I gave a nod. At least my System was responsive and answered questions rather than the wall-like system that dropped messages and left.

I pondered the level 1 for a moment.

“Is fighting the only way to gain Exp or are their other paths I can look into?” I decided to ask before I started to mess around with grinding or seeking death with monsters I couldn’t see. I stretched my legs out and enjoyed the gurgling of the passing water.

Experience Points may be gained by any means that is considered overcoming an obstacle. Fighting is the fastest but the System is not limited to developing combat skills alone.

“Cooking? Crafting? Exploring?” I prompted.

Reality is what you make of it.

I gave the window an odd look. There was that weird phrase again. Well, the information was good all the same. I looked at my lone stat point.

It was gained from a quest and I was kind of excited because these points were considered a limited resource. Should I spend them or save them? If this was the normal system then banking them was smart because you could actually grind stats with hard work but my stats were different...

All my physical stats had been merged into a single stat, the same for mental stats. Also I had a Spiritual and Energy stat.

Now the System was rewarding stat points as quest rewards...

“What do the Stats represent?” I asked aloud with some hope. It seemed the System was feeling chatty because a simple box opened.

Physical: Power of your physical body.

Mental: Power of your mental faculties.

Spiritual: Your power and control over the spirit and demonic arts.

Energy: Your power and control over the magical and nature arts.

The things you learned by asking the right question...

“Magic and nature arts?” I mused. Bleach had Reapers and Hollows along with agents of hell. Those neatly made up the spirit and demonic arts if I remembered from the show. There was a lot of weird crap in the afterlife. A lot of it made by Mayuri or Urahara because they were sort of mad scientists.

But magical and nature arts had to refer to physical counterparts. I was going to have to stray into sheer guessing territory while I pondered but if the afterlife and reapers were around then there had to be people in the real world besides Fullbringers and Quincies that had weird powers.

Magicians, shamans, druids, sages, and whatever other variants that had been named through history. Living people with power that defied the people’s understanding.

Well, back to what I did know that I was able to learn Spirit arts despite being a living being. I hope I didn’t have to eject my soul from my body to use them. That would kinda put a damper on the appeal.

My stomach rumbled and I guessed my Gamer’s Body didn’t give me the ability to wear the same clothes without smelling or to never feel the need to eat.

Ah well, I flexed a hand and said quietly.

“Inventory.”

A window blinked into view with neat grid lines that intersect to make neat little boxes. I looked down, picking up the most unassuming pebble around and chucked it at the window. There was a crackle of light and the first box now had a little cartoon image of the pebble.

I cracked a grin as the System gave me a message.

Collect 99 Pebbles and earn a title!

“Surely you can’t be serious,” I had to ask.

The response made my sort of love my power.

I am serious and don’t call me Shirly.

---

I casually browsed the supermarket. Having the ability to see Japanese words shifted as I approached them into English was both amazingly cool and distracting.

Of course, the stiff face cashier was watching me like a hawk in case I did a grab and run with his knock-off noodle brands. The man had a job after all and his security camera was trained on me.

Sadly, as I began to pick up cereal boxes and other things like bottles of water. I made a show looking uninterested and putting them back onto the shelves. Out of sight of the cashier who was defending his shop like a knight defending a maiden’ virtue I slipped these items into my inventory that had the lovely ability to phase through physical objects and be near the back.

I must have had enough snack bars and water to last me a few days.

Acting has been gained by pretending to shop! Acting allows you to be seen as doing something believable. Does not cover lies you try to convey unless you act in character. Mental Skill.

Stealing has been gained by... stealing. Allows you to take items with increasing ease if the item does not belong to you. The effects are subtle at first. Physical skill.

I left with my underdressed condition doing me a favour for once. I could hardly hide food and bottles of water in a shirt, shorts and ratty shoes after all.

Around the corner, I took a deep drink of lukewarm water as I pulled it from empty air.

It was delicious.

If I had a chance I would need to get some fresh clothes and such. But while I had little guilt about doing what I had to survive, I wasn’t going to turn into a cat burglar overnight. Not unless I had something besides the urge to do something stupid to be gained from it.

I whistled slightly and read my new skills. Combined with what I had... I really did look like I was a thief. Climbing... observing... stealing.

I just needed treasure sense I would be ready to steal Aizen’s Zanpakuto.

I paused in the middle of the quiet street and looked down at the unassuming rock I just kicked by accident.

I licked my lips.

“Pebble number 2... welcome to the family,” I said and then it occurred to me that some thief and ninja classes had rock-throwing skills to distract or do small damage. I hoped I didn’t actually end up making my joking into a reality.

The issue was... I was actually thinking of seeing if I could get stealth to ambush foes in the future. Ah well, I could learn some magic and get a bow. The stealth magic archer was a cliche for a reason.

I reached the river and reclaimed my spot.

It would get cold at night but I just have to think of something until then. For now, I did my first ever sit-ups and push-ups.

I’ll spare you the details but... it was not pretty.

It was ten minutes later, gasping and feeling like my shaking arms would just give when it happened.

You have unlocked: Physical Exercise! A series of movements and training to enhance the body. Every 5 levels increases the Physical stat by 1! Has various effects on health and recovery. Physical skill.

It looked like sheer working out and training would unlock these sort of ‘Training’ skills instead of just giving me stats. I wasn’t complaining. The skill had potential bonuses on top of the stats. It was very possible that other physical skills might also reward stat points.

I laid there, sweating and struggling to move.

It was then, laying flat on the ground, I saw it.

A pebble about ten feet away. Perfectly smooth and perfect. I felt my will harden and I gritted my teeth as I stood with a wobble before lurching forward with determination. My body already numbing exhaustion and pain.

It had to be... mine!