The twenties were when adults often came to regret spending their teenage years procrastinating.

If only they practiced the piano when they were younger… they could be playing it online and making easy money doing covers of nostalgic video game songs.

If only they practiced drawing when they were younger… they could draw something better than stick figures and make money off of suspiciously wealthy furries.

If only they practiced playing video games when they were younger… then they could—wait. That was what most of them did and they were still nowhere near good enough to compete at the top level of gaming. Realistically, that probably would have been the case even if they did practice piano, drawing, or any other creative medium in their youth.

Only the extreme minority of people could ever profit off of their passions, even among those who invested into their dreams since childhood. How were twenty-somethings who never spent a day in their life actually practicing instead of fantasizing about it supposed to compete?

But of course, that didn’t stop all of those twenty-somethings from dreaming about what life could have been like.

Maybe, just maybe, if they spent ten hours a day training a specific skill for a year, they could catch up to those who were practicing for the last decade or two? That was technically possible, right?

Look at that one success story on social media! Somebody went from drawing stick figures to realistic portraits in a year! Sure, there was a one-in-a-billion chance of that happening, but it happened, and that meant it could happen to anybody!

“Yeah, right,” Tabitha said, too tired from work to even pull the rest of her body up onto the bed as she browsed social media on her phone. She was content with coming home to her tiny, overpriced apartment and collapsing the upper half of her body onto the bed. Actually climbing up onto the bed to get her legs up there was too much effort, just like everything else was after a day of work.

That was one of the main things getting in the way of all those adults who wished they could change their lives. Having a life, that is. School, work, bills, family obligations, romantic partners, friends who make plans to go on a road trip for the weekend but then never follow through with them—there was too much to do to actually work on those silly things called “passions.”

Of course, that didn’t stop Tabitha from trying every now and then. That was why her room was absolutely littered with a copious number of work-in-progress projects destined to never come anywhere close to completion. It wasn’t just her room, either. Her entire apartment was filled with her projects.

Everything from clocks to microwaves were in the process of being dismantled to learn how they worked. There were a few jugs of fermenting alcohol that tasted like rocket fuel and jars of vegetables that looked like they had mold growing on the surface of their brine. There was also a half-completed computer… with a motherboard that had been snapped in half by mistake, and some furniture from a popular brand known for simplistic instructions that would likely never be finished. Then there were the pots with water burnt onto their bottoms, but she preferred not to think about those.

While others dreamt of playing instruments, creating beautiful pieces of art, competing in sports, or being pro gamers… Tabitha just wanted to make things.

Unfortunately for her, she was anything but a craftswoman. One might even say that the harder she tried to build something, the more unbuilt it became.

Learning how to create things took too much effort and wasn’t fun. That was studying. She didn’t want to study, she wanted to create. She wanted it to be like in the MMOs she played as a teen where all she had to do was gather the materials needed, click “craft,” and then boom! Item complete! Time to sell it and make money!

Crafting was always the true endgame to her in MMOs.

Unfortunately, the real world worked nothing like an MMO. All the real world did was make her college lose accreditation while attending it, resulting in years of student loan debt for a degree that would never be completed due to other colleges not accepting to transfer her credits. All the real world did was force her into a fast-food job where she had to put on a smile and act nice to hundreds of customers every single day while wanting nothing more than to shout at all of them with every passing second. All the real world did was make her so short that she needed stepping stools to reach tall shelves in her kitchen. All the real world did was drop a live wire into her fish tank and electrocute all of her fish.

Well, technically, that last one was all on her due to wanting to find out how the ceiling light worked, and it just so happened to be over her fish tank. And the lid to the fish tank just so happened to be off due to her trying to use it to create a makeshift shield after watching a fantasy show and wanting to make a tower shield.

Everything else was definitely the real world’s fault, though.

If only I could be transported in my sleep to some fantasy world and start life over, Tabitha thought as she began drifting off toward dreams that would hopefully be enjoyable. Really, anything other than the dreams where she dreamt of being late to college on her first day and having no idea where to go once she got there would be preferrable. Or those dreams where her car’s brakes stopped working at a red light. Those weren’t very fun, either. I’m gonna be a wage slave for the rest of my life, ain’t I?

Tabitha was just about to sleep after thinking about wonderful topics such as never paying off her student loans, never accomplishing any of her dreams, and never feeling the same happiness she once felt as a child, right when a notification popped up on her phone to grab her attention. She couldn’t resist checking to see what it was.

As for what the notification was for…

One of her friends from high school who got married to a wealthy accountant a couple of years ago just announced that she was pregnant with twins.

One by one, everybody Tabitha knew her age was getting married, having kids, landing their dream careers, and so forth. Meanwhile, all Tabitha did was take apart clocks, accidentally kill her pet fish, be disqualified from a mortgage despite paying more in rent than she would be in mortgage payments, and get accused of the fresh coffee she just brewed at work not actually being fresh by the eighty-something-year-old geezer who just arrived and didn’t get to personally watch her brew a fresh pot.

Maybe I should fake my death and go live in the wilderness. Ain’t nobody gonna find me out there… ah, screw it. The government’s got them drones now. Betcha I ain’t even safe out there. That was Tabitha’s last thought before falling asleep, and the last thought she would ever have from the life she knew.

The next time Tabitha woke up, she could immediately tell that something was wrong because her eyes weren’t itchy from the dusty vents of her apartment. There was also the fact that she found herself on the ground with grass underneath her and a tree reaching up above her.

“This one of those lucid dreams?” Tabitha asked before sitting up and looking around with a yawn. She wasn’t used to the air smelling so… fresh. Or rather, she wasn’t used to the air smelling like anything other than diesel and the scent of millions of humans’ collective suffering.

The diesel smelled worse between those two.

“Well, if it’s a lucid dream, that means I get to do whatever I want, right?” Tabitha looked straight at the nearest tree and gave it a single command. “Turn orange.”

The tree, standing tall and proud as all trees did… remained its standard shades of brown and green.

“Alright. Maybe it don’t quite work that way. How’s about… give me a hammer! Let me swing around one of them big, oversized hammers like it’s nothin’!”

Tabitha held out her hands, ready for a hammer to suddenly appear within her grasp… only for nothing but a gentle breeze to slip between her fingers.

“Well, so much for that. This lucid dream stuff ain’t as easy as I thought it’d be. Pretty disappointin’ so far, and I don’t suppose there’s a help menu or somethin’.”

System Menu

Do you require assistance?

All Tabitha could do was blink a few times at the rectangular window that appeared in front of her. It looked like a pop-up menu similar to those from the MMOs she played when she was younger. Regardless, she wanted a help menu and a menu just popped up asking if she wanted help, so she nodded and replied, “Yes?”

System Menu

What do you require assistance with?

“Err… everythin’? How do I make stuff?”

System Menu

You may craft items using Crafting Skills.

“Craftin’ skills?”

System Menu

You do not have any Crafting Skills unlocked.

“Well, how do I get them?”

System Menu

By acquiring a Crafting Path.

“Could ya be a bit more helpful than that?”

System Menu

What do you require assistance with?

Tabitha sighed and paused her line of questions. As soon as she was quiet for more than a few moments, the window disappeared and left her alone.

At least she learned a couple of things. She needed crafting skills if she wanted to make anything and she needed a crafting class if she wanted crafting skills. Between those two things…

“What a complicated dream. Wait, don’t this sound like some kinda game?” Tabitha asked herself. “What kind of stupid question is that? Of course it sounds like one! Hang on now, if this is workin’ like some sort of MMO… I should have some character information or somethin’. Hey, Menu! Get back here!”

System Menu

Do you require assistance?

“Show me my character information.”

System Menu

Error.

No status information found.

Assessing error…

Solution acquired.

Due to a lack of status, you will be treated as a human undergoing their Path Ceremony.

Beginning Path Ceremony.

Congratulations, you have gained enough life experience to choose your first Path.

Thanks to your experiences before this point, you have qualified for the following Paths.

…

Error.

No qualifying Paths.

Solution acquired.

Due to a lack of qualified Paths, you will be granted a choice between the five most common starting Paths among Humans.

Fieldhand

Conscript

Monk

Apprentice

Hunter

Starting Skill

Growing I

Level Bonuses

+2 Endurance

+1 Strength

Starting Skill

Training I

Level Bonuses

+2 Strength

+1 Vitality

Starting Skill

Pray I

Level Bonuses

+2 Mind

+1 Willpower

Starting Skill

Analyze I

Level Bonuses

+2 Dexterity

+1 Intelligence

Starting Skill

Tracking I

Level Bonuses

+2 Agility

+1 Dexterity

“Hang on now, hang on. This feels like an important choice. Can’t ya give me some more information on these? Then again… it’s a dream, so I doubt this is going to last for more than a few more minutes.”

System Menu

Your starting Path is a permanent choice.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m sure it is. Alright. Uh… it’s pretty obvious what they all are, but I’m gonna ask for clarification just to make sure. What’s apprentice?”

System Menu

The Apprentice Path is suitable for those who wish to prioritize Crafting-related Paths and Skills.

“Say no more, Menu. Say no more.”

System Menu

Please make a Path choice.

“Hold your horses, will ya? Let me take my time to enjoy this dream here. It ain’t every day a gal gets to dream she’s in a video game. Now then… alright. Apprentice!”

System Menu

Please physically choose your option by pressing it on the System Menu.

Tabitha shrugged and reached forward to touch where it said Apprentice.

System Menu

Congratulations! You are now an… Error.

“And now’s when the dream comes crashin’ down, ain’t it?”

System Menu

Previous solution inadequate.

Life information missing.

You will be granted the Apprentice Path after setting life information. You will be treated as an average human at the time of their Path Ceremony.

The average human has twenty-three attribute points by the time of their Path Ceremony. Please distribute your attribute points across the following Attributes.

Strength. Vitality. Endurance. Dexterity. Agility. Intelligence. Mind. Willpower. Charisma. Luck.

“This is normally when I’d be lookin’ up a guide,” Tabitha said. “Hey, Menu. Sometimes games try and get all fancy about what stat does what. Do me a favor and explain them for me, will ya?”

System Menu

Strength

Primarily affects Physical skills.

Vitality

Primarily affects Defensive Skills.

Endurance

Primarily affects Energy Skills.

Dexterity

Primarily affects Crafting Skills.

Agility

Primarily affects Ranged Skills.

Intelligence

Primarily affects Knowledge Skills.

Mind

Primarily affects Magic Skills.

Willpower

Primarily affects Resistance Skills.

Charisma

Primarily affects Social Skills.

Luck

Primarily affects Chance Skills.

“Alright. So, if this was a real game, I might properly spread them out. But since this is a dream, and Dexterity affects craftin’… why not go all in on that? Ya hear me, Menu?”

System Menu

Do you require assistance?

“Yer not a very good conversational partner, now are ya?”

Tabitha didn’t get an answer.

“Alright. I want to put all twenty-three points into Dexterity.”

System Menu

…

Please confirm your decision. Do you wish to allocate all twenty-three Attribute Points to Dexterity?

“Darn straight I do!”

System Menu

…

All Attribute Points attributed to Dexterity.

You now have the following Attributes.

Strength

1

Vitality

1

Endurance

1

Dexterity

24

Agility

1

Intelligence

1

Mind

1

Willpower

1

Charisma

1

Luck

1

“Looks horrible. I love it. Good work, Menu.”

System Menu

Congratulations, you have acquired a new Achievement!

Dexterous Prodigy

Awarded for achieving 15 Dexterity before your Path Ceremony.

Reward: +1 Dexterity per level for all Paths.

Congratulations, you have chosen Apprentice as your first Path!

Congratulations, you have acquired a new Achievement!

First Path: Apprentice

Awarded for choosing your first Path (Apprentice).

Reward: 5 Attribute Points

Would you like to assign your Attribute Points?

“You know it! All into Dex.”

System Menu

…

Please confirm that you also wish to assign all of your new Attribute Points into Dexterity.

“Come on now, Menu, don’t make me say it twice.”

System Menu

…

All Attribute Points attributed to Dexterity… again.

You now have the following Attributes.

Strength

1

Vitality

1

Endurance

1

Dexterity

29

Agility

1

Intelligence

1

Mind

1

Willpower

1

Charisma

1

Luck

1

“That’s what I like to see!”

System Menu

Checking for any more errors.

…

No errors detected.

Finalizing status information.

Creating Status Card.

At that point, Tabitha was happy to relax and whistle while the system menu went about its processes. The process of creating a Status Card looked like a credit card being materialized in the air in front of her layer by layer as if it was being 3D printed using what looked like bronze. Once it was done, it began falling toward the ground which made Tabitha clumsily reach out to grab it. She ended up looking like she was randomly flailing her arms around, but she did catch it!

The card matched the bronze color of the system menu and summarized everything they just went over.

Status Card

Name

[Not Set]

Achievements

2

Race

Human

Skills

1

Path

Apprentice

Paths

1

Level

1

Total Level

1

Stats

Attributes

HP

10/10

STR

1

INT

1

SP

10/10

VIT

1

MND

1

AP

10/10

END

1

WIL

1

EP

150/150

DEX

29

CHA

1

LP

10/10

AGI

1

LCK

1

Tabitha tilted her head and asked, “Whatcha mean my name ain’t set? It’s Tabitha.”

She then got to watch as her displayed name changed from “[Not Set]” to “Tabitha.”

Status Card

Name

Tabitha

Achievements

2

Race

Human

Skills

1

Path

Apprentice

Paths

1

Level

1

Total Level

1

Stats

Attributes

HP

10/10

STR

1

INT

1

SP

10/10

VIT

1

MND

1

AP

10/10

END

1

WIL

1

EP

150/150

DEX

29

CHA

1

LP

10/10

AGI

1

LCK

1

“That’s more like it. Now, there’s a good few acronyms I don’t exactly understand there, but this is gettin’ borin’. I wanna craft somethin’ before I wake up.” Tabitha then looked around with her hands on her hips, looking for anything that she could craft with. Unfortunately, there was nothing that stood out. All she saw were trees, bushes, and dirt. Well, and the occasional rock, flower, and mushroom. “Couldn’t I have dreamt up somethin’ more original than the most generic forest in existence?” She sighed. “Wait. It said all I got was that Analyze skill. Does that even count as a craftin’ one? Do I get skill descriptions? Oi, Menu. Tell me what Analyze does.”

Skill Information

Name

Analyze

Analyze allows the user to uncover all basic information about items. Can be activated by holding any item and focusing one’s concentration on it for five seconds.

Level

I

Type

Trigger

Field

Knowledge

“Huh. Well, that’s somethin’ that sounds like it’ll be important for craftin’, at least. But it ain’t quite a craftin’ skill on its own. Reckon I should test it out anyways.”

With that, Tabitha looked around for something nearby to pick up and found… a stick. It was a nice stick, sturdy and long, but it was still just a stick. Regardless, she picked the stick up and focused all of her attention on it for about five seconds. That prompted a new window to appear before her.

Item Information

Name

Stick

A stick from a tree or bush.

Rarity

E

Quality

34

Element

Nature

Bonus Tags

[High Quality]

[Durable]

“Huh. This is remindin’ me of a particular series. Let’s see… oi, Menu. What’s this High Quality and Durable stuff mean?” Tabitha asked.

System Menu

High Quality

Increases the total Quality of an item by 1.25x when used as a Material.

Durable

Decreases Quality wear by 50%.

“Go figure I’m havin’ a dream about that series. Always loved playin’ me a cute girl doin’ alchemy.”

As far as Tabitha was aware, she was simply in a dream inspired by one of her favorite video game series. A fair assumption to make considering everything going on.

“But I still don’t get how the heck I’m supposed to craft things. Ya know what? If this game ain’t gonna give me a skill to do it the easy way, I’ll do it the hard way!”

After all, it was just a dream. How hard could it be? There were plenty of times in her dreams before where she did something like build a functional car, and all she had to do to build it was to basically think about building it. Screw together a few different things and then boom! Entire car complete.

That being said, what could she do with a stick?

The first thought was turning it into a spear. So, she looked around for something to carve it with and ended up settling for the flattest stone with the sharpest edge that she could find and decided that would have to be good enough. It might have had a crack in it, but that was fine. She only wanted to use the stone to carve a sharp, pointed edge. Surely, she could do that much. She even did something similar when playing around in the woods behind her grandparents’ house as a kid. Were the spears she made any good? No. But could they probably, technically count as spears? Maybe.

Next came clearing out a small, flat area for her to set her stick on. Once she had it in position, she brought the sharp edge of the rock up to the end of the stick that was already slightly tapered and got to carving.

Something was already different from all the times she did it as a child.

As if she really was just dreaming, her hands almost moved on their own and her movements were anything but amateur. In fact, she carved away at the end of the stick with a skill that surpassed what she should have been capable of—what she knew she was capable of. Even the rock seemed like it was doing a better job of sharpening the stick than it should have been able to.

She ended up with a spear that actually looked like—well, like a spear. It didn’t just look like some pointy stick. The tip had a fine, sharp point to it that shouldn’t have been possible without using a knife or some other specialized process, and it was almost perfectly symmetrical, too.

Tabitha let out a satisfied smile when she saw it. “Well, I’ll be. If you ain’t the prettiest darn spear a gal has ever seen, she wouldn’t know a ferret from a shark.” She let go of the sharpening stone and, just as soon as she did, a new window popped up.

Item Created

Name

Wooden Spear

A piece of wood carved into a spear.

Rarity

E

Quality

20

Element

Nature

Damage

2 - 4

System Menu

Congratulations, you have acquired a new Achievement!

A New Crafter

Awarded for creating your first item.

Reward: Recipe Log Unlocked

“I did it! I—hold on now. Ain’t that quality lower? And what happened to those tags? Shouldn’t they be visible on there? Well, maybe not that High Quality one, but what about the Durable one? Hold on a second…”

There was only one suspect she could think of to put the blame on for her spear’s lacking quality, and it definitely wasn’t herself.

She focused all of her attention on the rock.

Item Information

Name

Rock

It’s a rock.

Rarity

E

Quality

7

Element

Nature

Bonus Tag

[Broken]

“Menu… tell me what Broken does,” Tabitha said, glaring at the rock.

System Menu

Broken

Removes positive Tags when used as a Material or Tool.

“Why, you cheeky little—”

The rustling of a nearby bush interrupted her, causing her to jump up and immediately point her spear at it.

“I’ve got a spear and I ain’t afraid to stab ya with it!” Tabitha shouted at the bush. “Get out of there!”

To her own surprise, whatever was in the bush followed her command and jumped out of it.

A purple, gelatinous blob with a pair of beady, black eyes on the front of its mass and a slimy horn sticking out above its eyes landed between her and the bush.

“Of course,” Tabitha said. “The startin’ monsters always gotta be slimes. Always felt just a tiny bit bad about killin’ you cute lil things. But I’m warnin’ ya, any empathy I might have is gone if ya try anythin’ funn—”

The slime jumped at her with far more speed than it originally used to exit the bush, pointing its horn directly at her.

Having never been in a fight before, Tabitha hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to do, before forcing herself to jump out of the way. She took too long, though, and ended up suffering the horn slicing through her right pant leg and cutting her skin.

System Menu

-2 HP

“H-hold on now!” Tabitha shouted. “All that did was cut me! I’ve only got ten health! You’re tellin’ me that took twenty percent of my health?! Four more of those and I die?! Wait… it—it hurts.”

Tabitha looked down at her leg and noticed that the cut went deeper than she originally thought. Blood leaked out from the wound, and she felt an intense pain as realistic as any.

Everything was realistic.

The scent of the forest, the sounds of birds and insects chirping around them, the pain she felt in her leg, the texture of the spear she held in her hands—everything was not just realistic, but consistent. There was no standing in a forest one second and then flying on a plane the next like in dreams. There were no shifting color palettes. No getting stabbed and only feeling a dull, phantom pain. No mountain of gold coins for her to sit on top of while telling all of her annoying customers and coworkers to grovel before her.

“This… this ain’t a dream, is it?” Tabitha asked as the slime readied itself for another attack.

She started regretting dumping all of her points into a single attribute.