Floating through space. Peace, creation, no worries. Hannah took a long toke of joint she had rolled earlier today as she finished the hangar on her moon base. She sat perched on her office chair in front of her computer desk wearing mildly greasy underwear without a bra as her glassy eyes followed the character floating around her computer screen.

Space Engineers. A fun enough game but a truly incredible way to take up an entire evening when she simply didn’t want to think. And Hannah was good at not thinking. She took another draw till the cherry nearly burnt her fingers before putting the butt out in an over-full ashtray.

If she looked around she might have seen the piles of dirty clothes leaning up against not very organized furniture in her small apartment. She would have seen her unorganized textbooks stacked in the corner of her open closet. She would have seen her keepsakes and nicknacks pouring out from the once almost organized totes she had shoved under her messy bed. But Hannah had gotten really good at not seeing the problem anymore.

The almost finished base caused her more mental turmoil than she expected. She always felt this way whenever she was finishing a project. Something about finishing a job made her mind automatically go to all the other jobs she still had on her plate. Even through the haze of the self medication she began anxiously thinking about the next thing she would build in her game.

“Fuck it!” She yelled in an outburst of anger, throwing her mouse with too much force at the wooden desk in front of her. Stomping around her chaotic room, she fished for semi-clean clothes to throw on so she could walk the two blocks to the local burger joint and maybe numb her anxiety that way.

Messy and too-greasy hair framed a plain looking pale face that was scowling as she walked out of her apartment. Lost in her own mental space she nearly crashed into the young man that was in the hallway outside her apartment door.

“Oh shoot! Sorry!” He said, jerking out of the way of her harsh movements.

“Uhh.” She grunted at him as she looked over the man she had never seen before. “You new here?”

“Yeah.” He paused as he looked her over, not too subtly spending too long on her very apparent lack of bra. Seeing that she noticed, his eyes jerked up to her face as he blushed. “Sorry, yeah I’m new. I’m Liam. I’m a freshman. What’s your name?”

He said this while holding his hand out to the older girl and almost painfully trying to keep eye contact. Hannah knew she was “hot” according to guys her age. Plenty enough had told her the same over the multiple relationship failures she had experienced in her life. She was short by almost anyone’s standards and in her own opinion she was painfully plain. But damn did she have the right curves.

Grunting she took his hand and shook it. “Hannah, senior. You start next semester or were you a fish last year?” She said this while looking over the young man she couldn’t help but see as a kid. He was handsome, tall, rugged, and had a real country look about him with the leather boots and denim jeans. When he responded she noticed it was with a light Southern accent.

“No ma’am. I’m starting my first semester next year. I graduated early so I moved up here early December. How long have you lived here?”

“This town, close to five years. This apartment, two.” Looking up at the tall boy she groaned internally at the look in his eyes. Damn I think he likes me. “Well imma go get dinner so I’ll see you around Lee.”

“It’s Liam.” He cheerfully responded as she groaned internally again. That usually turns them off. Here goes the pitch. She predicted as he awkwardly began to talk.

“Well I’m super new here and I don’t know any good places to eat… I also don’t really know anyone at all… Is there anyway I could talk you into me tagging along? I’ll buy you dinner.”

UGG! My one weakness. Free food. “Ok, sure. Let me just grab something real quick.” Not waiting for his response, she quickly went back into her apartment and grabbed a bra. She might have brushed her teeth and hair as well as changed her underwear but she wouldn’t have admitted to that. What? He is cute. She said to the voices making fun of her in her head as she walked back out to the eager young man outside her door.

Frankly she’s gorgeous. Liam couldn’t keep his eyes off of her as she tucked into a large cheeseburger. She has beautiful auburn locks that shine in the lights and curl around her gentle face. Her eyes look like two pools of amber staring back at me. She’s adorably short, nearly a foot shorter than me. Who wouldn’t love that. Oh yeah. She is also perfectly built. Not at all like the beanpoles and barbies I’ve seen up here but also obviously not let herself go. Curves that would make a blind man drool. DAMN! If she just hadn’t put on a bra I think I would have married her by now.

Seeing his eyes on her face, Hanna asked around a bite of fries “What? Do I have something on my face?”

Laughing, he accepted her scowl as she wiped at her face with the napkin. They had spent the last half hour together getting to know each other and, to both of their surprises, they were quickly becoming friends. Liam was good natured enough, as well as head over heels enough, to take any amount of grumpiness or crassness she threw his way. And his own bluntness and charm did a great deal to improve her opinion of him as well.

“No, not really, problem is I just can’t keep my eyes off of you.” Blushing she hid it well before he continued “Well I guess it is a bit easier since you put that damn bra on.” She took a swing at him. It wasn’t a real attempt to hit him and it was more like she was trying to smack him with the fistful of napkins she had. He easily leaned back and avoided her attempt but they both found themselves laughing at her expense as she flicked fries at him across the table.

They were the only two in the room besides the staff behind the counter. Which was probably a good thing as they made a lot more noise the next few hours they spent getting to know each other.

He really thought he was getting through to her. When he had first seen her she had looked so sad and angry he didn’t know what to do. He just knew he couldn’t leave her like that. So he took her out to dinner, and if he wasn’t mistaken he was falling in love with her.

Wait, why is everything white? Is that a mirror? How am I looking at myself? Where’s Hannah? Holy shit! Where are my legs?

The first few moments Liam spent in full blown panic and heavy denial. It wasn’t till he realized he could move and still had some control of his person that he began to calm down.

Ok, so I’m hovering in front of my body. It appears I’m breathing, alive, and healthy, but somehow I’m detached from myself and both of us are floating in some kind of white void. Why am I here?

As soon as he internalized that question, a green floating screen appeared before him.

Liam McCallen, you are here to awaken to your potential. How will you proceed?

Do you wish for your character to stay identical to your current self or do you wish to undergo evolution? Evolution offers the option of class change, stat change, race change, and appearance change among others.

[Forgo Evolution]/[Evolve]

WARNING: Evolution can cause unintended effects on personality, memory, and instincts.

“What the fuck…” He said into the void. “Wait, the fuck! I can talk!” He somehow said with no apparent mouth. Well whatever. Who would I be talking to anyways? That thought got him thinking about Hannah and his folks back home in Texas. Is everyone alright? Is anyone else going through this as well?

With no way of answering the questions plaguing him, he turned his attention back to the screen hovering near his body. Looking closely, he studied himself from nearly every angle. Yeah I get it. I’ve been called handsome before and I get it. I just… I don’t like it. He thought this while looking at the thin frame that kept him from pursuing his dream of being a football player, his sandy blond hair that somehow was already thinning near the crown, and his height. He was no short man, but he grew up around proverbial giants and his 6 foot 2 inch height never seemed enough to him.

I could change my appearance? Even my stats? He had never been much of a gamer but even he understood it was referring to his strength or intelligence. And race as well? Well I have nothing against being another race but I really do like the color of my skin and the culture I grew up with. It tempted him. Even with the foreboding warning, he found himself really attracted to the thought of being able to change who he was on a whim.

“YOLO, or whatever I guess.” He said as he mentally accepted the evolution and prepared for whatever would happen.

His body disappeared and he felt something deep down in his personhood rip away from him. If he had lungs to gasp he would have. Somehow his disembodied person still made the noise.

Hanging in front of him were 4 boxes. Three pulsed green and one was grayed out.

Race Selection

Class Selection

Stats Selection

Appearance

Not knowing what else to do he willed the race selection box to open. When did I learn to do that? He thought as the box expanded.

Race Selection

Human

Restless adventurers, prideful kings, simple farmers. Diverse but similar, strong but weak.

Elf

Ancient, beautiful, magical, and broken. None know elves but elves.

Orc

Blood, conquest, war, and thunder. Tribe is all. The weak have no place.

Dwarf

Reclusive, powerful, and greedy. Greater craftsmen have never been known. Magically stunted.

Gnome

Simple yet intelligent. Tiny yet grand.

Goblin

Ruled only by self. Wicked and strong.

Gnoll

More beast than man, subject only to the pack.

Lizardfolk

Scaled hides and sharp teeth. As comfortable in water as on land.

Draco Blooded

Blood of the dragons runs through their veins. A blessing and a curse.

Kobold

Weak, subservient, loved by dragons.

Giant

Dumb as stone. Large as mountain.

???

There are many other races that are not available unless unlocked via fate, achievements, or bloodline.

Oh. Those kinds of races. He recognized the common ones. He had watched the Lord of the Rings before. The lord of the who? He knew something had just slipped from his mind, but he couldn’t seem to grab ahold of it no matter how he tried. Oh well, one problem at a time.

He thought about the races and studied the short and cryptic descriptions. Well I don’t think I want to be an orc or goblin if they are anything like the image in my head. The others seem ok if not a little flawed. The only one that interests me, besides human, is giant. It would be amazing to tower over the world around me but I don’t think I could ever be ok with being dumb. Ok, the decision makes itself.

He reached out his mind and chose Human. The list disappeared and he found himself before a humanoid shape. The visage almost made him retch. If he even could retch? It was what a human male would have looked like if someone had taken a human skeleton with no defining features or facial structure and put an absolutely minimal amount of flesh on the bones before stretching pale skin across the frame. It was also missing important aspects such as hair, ears, a mouth, clothes, or eyes. The empty sockets stared back at him grotesquely before he quickly opened the next screen to hide the thing before him.

Class Selection

[Fighter]

Class focused on dealing maximum damage with physical weapons with an emphasis on defense.

[Defender]

Class focused on mitigating damage via armor and skills with an emphasis on dealing damage with physical weapons.

[Huntsman]

Class focused on damage output with ranged physical weapons with an emphasis on tracking, trapping, and survival.

[Mage]

Class focused on casting and learning spells. Different mages can choose different emphasis.

[Sorcerer]

Class focused on learning magic based skills as well as mastering wild-type magics.

[Shaman]

Class focused on channeling and healing magics. Becomes stronger the larger the group, tribe, or village that supports the shaman.

[Rogue]

Class focused on subversion and precision damage with close range and thrown weapons. Heavy emphasis on trapping and sneak.

[Support]

Non-Combat based class that focuses on group support. Can take extra professions.

[Undecided]

Placeholder class that cannot level. Will allow for class selection at a later date.

[Null]

Unfortunate inability to take a class or level any professions. Some are born this way. Sore are cursed.

???

Many hundreds of hidden classes exist that can only be unlocked by fate, experiences or bloodline.

Somehow that’s less and more than I was expecting. Almost all of them involve combat besides the support. But that one and [Null] both mention professions. Maybe that’s how someone would be a farmer or merchant? What do I take? Magic is tempting but I feel I’m more of a hitting stuff kind of guy. So what [Fighter], [Defender], or [Rogue]? I’ve never been really sneaky and I don’t have much interest in learning how. So I guess that comes down to [Fighter] or [Defender]? [Fighter] sounds more useful in combat and killing but [Defender] sounds more survivable.

His thoughts argued for a little while longer before he was drawn to the thought of Hannah. Is she ok? If whatever happened to me happened to others then she will probably be in danger. I can’t imagine an orc or a goblin being friendly to her. Shuddering at the thought of a giant pulling her to bits he made up his mind. And pressed a button.

Suddenly a screen flashed up.

Congratulations! You are now a lvl. 0 [Defender]

Conditions met and you have received the title [Defender of the Weak]

Oh, ok. Well there’s titles too. That one doesn’t sound so bad.

As the last screen faded two others popped into existence.

[Defender]: [Defenders] are a bulky and defensive class that relies on armor and skills to prevent damage. Any good team must have a [Defender] on their side as sometimes there are attacks that simply can't be avoided. A [Defender] can still put out a lot of damage as they are less inclined to spend time avoiding or blocking attacks. Some defenders will use a shield for extra protection and to avoid damage to their armor, however most prefer to let their skills and armor do the defending while their arms are free to do as much damage as possible. A low level [Defender] may be able to stand nose to nose with many monsters that would make a normal person flee. A high level [Defender] is a fortress unto themself.

It is a common saying “[Defenders] fear no man.” This is untrue. However, most defenders have much less to worry about on and off the battlefield.

The stats of importance to a defender are strength first and constitution second.

Ability: [Thick Skin] This is a passive skill that greatly increases the base defense of the user’s skin. While it cannot compare to bronze or steel plate, even when wearing such armor, any attacks that get through will do less damage.

[Defender of the Weak]: This title is given to a [Defender] who is willing to sacrifice oneself for the safety and security of others. This title imparts the ability [Shelter].

Ability: [Shelter] This is a passive skill that boosts the defense of all allies within 10 feet of the user proportionally to the defense of the user.

Ok that’s actually really cool. I got abilities? Skills? Are they the same? Either way I think I’m way more likely to survive now. And the description mentions monsters. I guess that makes sense but does it mean orcs and goblins or something else?

Unable to answer any of his own questions he gave the disembodied equivalent of a shrug as he opened the next panel.

Stat Selection:

Take pre-rolled balanced stats or roll your own? [Pre-Rolled]/[Roll]

There must be some benefit to taking the pre-rolled. Right? Is it just to avoid risk and luck? I don’t know but I do know I’m not ok with anyone else taking my life into their hands.

As he chose to roll a set of 4 six sided dice appeared floating near the creature that supposedly was him. He shuddered and looked away from it, hoping he would be able to make himself look less monstrous before he was done.

When he thought about rolling a screen popped into existence before him.

Rules are simple. Roll 4 dice and add together the three highest scores. This will be done 6 times. One for each stat. You will then roll one die for your last stat, luck. Afterwards, place the stats where you please.

Rules? Who makes the rules? Is there a God in charge of this? Frankly why am I so confident I’m not drooling in a padded cell somewhere? Well I guess I’m not but that doesn’t change anything. Even if I am stark mad I still have to do something.

Taking his fate into his own hands, he began to roll.

3, 1, 4, 4. That’s 11.

3, 6, 2, 3. That’s 12.

1, 1, 5, 1. Ooh that’s a 7.

2, 1, 5, 2. Ok that’s a 9. Two more.

4, 6, 4, 5. Awesome! That’s a 15. Not bad. Ok one more chance.

6, 6, 5, 6… Wow. Ok that’s an 18. I’ll take it.

All together that’s 11, 12, 7, 9, 15, and an 18.

As he was thinking another single dice appeared before him. Strangely, it seemed to have a lot of sides, even more than the D20 he had seen once. It also didn’t have any numbers on it, just question marks on each of its many sides. This made him nervous but it rolled like the dice before. Unlike the rest before it, this die seemed to fade from existence before it came to a standstill.

Strange. Ok, well I think I have good stats here. Now where do I put them? As he was asking another screen appeared.

Character Name:_________

Character Level: [0] EXP:(0/10)

Character Title: [Defender of the Weak]

Character Race: [Human]

Character Age: [17]

Character Stats: (1-20)

Strength: [ ]

Dexterity: [ ]

Constitution: [ ]

Intellect: [ ]

Wisdom: [ ]

Charisma: [ ]

Luck: ???

Your character race [Human] allows for the placement of 4 points in any of your stats with a maximum of 2 points in any one stat and a max stat of 20.

Ok, this is cool. With the [Human] buff I can have at least one maxed stat. I think that one will go in strength. He began putting stats into place and working them around with his thoughts till he came to something he felt was right.

Character Name: Liam

Character Level: [0] EXP:(0/10)

Character Title: [Defender of the Weak]

Character Race: [Human]

Character Age: [17]

Character Stats: (1-20)

Strength: [20]

Dexterity: [9]

Constitution: [16]

Intellect: [12]

Wisdom: [11]

Charisma: [8]

Luck: ???

Liam, yes that’s my name. Yet somehow he didn’t feel as confident about that till he saw the name in the box in front of him. He had spent a long time agonizing over where to put his stats before deciding. The low dexterity and charisma made him cringe, and yet he couldn’t bring himself to choose to have a low stat in intellect. The thought was simply repulsive to him. And without knowing what wisdom did he was afraid to go any lower than he already had. Words he heard sitting in a pew or in Sunday school growing up floated around his head and made the difficult choice between dexterity and wisdom nearly impossible. The low charisma was regrettable, but he couldn’t see it making sense anywhere else.

I guess I’ll just have to accept not getting along with the ladies as well anymore.

The thought made him think of Hannah and propelled him onwards. I don’t know if this is time sensitive but maybe I can get back to her faster if I finish here faster. Will I even go back to the burger joint when I’m done or am I being prepared for another world? The difficult questions made his head spin and he had to put the thoughts aside as he dismissed the screen.

“WHAT THE AHH!” Screamed forth from his disembodied person as he looked at the body in front of him. Where the body had once been closer to a famine survivor before it now looked him like a bodybuilder. No that wasn’t a fair characterization. He looked more like a Greek god than a bodybuilder. He didn’t have abs per se. There was a healthy layer of protective fat over his body but he was absolutely stacked. He looked similar to one of the contestants of the World's Strongest Man but better in every way. Well, besides the lack of hair and eyes that is.

Is my dick even bigger? No way! Is that constitution or what? You know what this is ridiculous. While thinking this he saw that the last text box was no longer grayed out and he opened it gratefully.

While the others had opened up text boxes, clicking on the appearance box simply gave him the ability to mold the flesh in front of him. He didn’t really understand where the knowledge came from but suddenly he knew exactly what to do.

First thing he did was add a pair of eyes into the empty sockets. The eyes that looked back at him were unmistakably his. For a moment he tried to change the color and shape of the corneas. But no matter what he did the eyes quickly reverted to the light blue he was born with.

The eye is the lamp of the body. Not sure where that came from, but knowing it to be true, he moved on to things he could change. He quickly added a full head of dark brown hair before deciding to do something his parents would never let him get away with and grew the hair about half a foot past his shoulders. Nice. He quickly added eyebrows and eyelashes to match before deciding on a clean short beard beneath a square jaw. He then dumped an absolute load of body hair all over.

If I’m going for the man’s man look, I might as well fit the bill.

He then decided to add a little more body fat once he realized he could. He figured it was a safe bet that food would be hard to come by soon. He also might have even further enhanced his manhood to something the young man thought was appropriate for the character he was creating. Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t have known that most women would be more afraid than attracted to the sight.

Finally, he played around with the height and breadth of his body. If he took it too tall it began to look lanky and unmanageable. He didn’t put a lot of time into what it looked like short. After a bit of fiddling, he decided on a height that he guessed was around 6 foot 8 inches. He had a barrel chest and wide shoulders that were attached to arms almost too long for the body. His wingspan was probably close to 7 feet, but he thought it would work well when wielding a sword. His hips and legs were stocky but he figured that was more than necessary to support his large mass.

He backed up and looked over his creation. It honestly looked like someone had crossed a silverback with a grizzly then taught it to walk on two legs.

Oh well at least I’m strong. Maybe I’m not much of a looker or a talker but I'll be damned if I’m not strong enough to handle anything that I come across.

He took it all in before pulling up his stats and abilities as well to get the full picture. It was good. At that thought another screen winked into existence.

Confirm character creation? Liam the lvl. 0 [Defender] [Y/N]

As he confirmed the message he felt his consciousness meld with the body he had made before fading to black.

He awoke with a start to the pain of something crushing his feet. Immediately he looked down and saw beneath the table he was sitting at was a pair of large hairy feet bursting out the end of the strips of leather that had once been his boots.

Realizing where he was, he looked across the table from him into a pair of familiar deep amber eyes. Those eyes looked at him with unmitigated terror as they stared up from a small green face.

“Hannah? You’re a goblin?” He said in shock. That shock was further amplified by the shock of his own deep voice. A same shock that seemed to be shared with the small green creature across the table from him.

She was even smaller than she had been before and he was much larger. Where had been auburn locks now were greasy dreads of green/gray hair. The curves of a woman were now the flat almost childlike green body of a goblin. The smooth and gentle face he knew was now a sallow pinched face that was crowned with large bat-like ears. What had once been a sweet smile was replaced by a grimace that pulled thin lips back from a set of long spiked teeth.

But the eyes were the same. Yes, with more fear and maybe revulsion in them where once had been humor and attraction. But those eyes were the same.

“Hanna? Are you ok?” He reached over the table towards her.

The creature screeched and struck out with a clawed hand. Each claw was a wickedly sharp nail that had grown almost as long as the finger it was attached to. Yellow and chipped, the nail simply scraped over the skin of his hairy arm without doing any damage.

“Wait Hannah! It’s Liam! Your neighbor!”

The claws flashed out again and this time went for his throat.

“Hannah stop!” He yelled as he grabbed the goblins arm. Immediately beneath his fingers he felt something snap.

Realizing what he had done he dropped her. “I’m so sorry Hanna. I didn’t mean to. I guess I don’t know my own strength.” He said as the creature backed up cradling its ruined arm.

Liam slowly advanced towards the goblin with his arms outstretched in a hopefully peaceful gesture. As he did he duly noted that he was completely naked besides the mangled remains of the boots beneath his feet. “Look I’m sorry. I know this must be confusing but I’m not going to hurt you.” The eyes before him were now full of nothing but hatred.

Once he was within arms reach he slowly tried to sit down. As soon as one hand touched the ground the goblin lunged forward with its mouth open wide. Liam recoiled but not fast enough as sharp teeth closed around his throat and sunk into the meat of his neck.

“Ahh! What are you doing? That really hurts! Hannah let go!” He was shouting now as he tried to gently pry the creature from his throat. “Please Hannah!” As much as he struggled the teeth were only slowly sinking deeper.

He grabbed onto her legs as gently as he could and slowly tugged. For a moment he felt the teeth tighten around his neck before he heard a low snap and the goblin fell limp from his neck.

*Ding*

You defeated Lvl. 0 [Goblin] Rogue

+ 25 EXP

[LEVEL 1] [Defender] Reached

You have received new skill [Iron Will]

Leveling will take effect upon next full rest.

Congratulations! You have fully awakened! You are now a level 1 [Defender]. With your new level your health will be set. Taking your current health to be considered a single health point you will now be increasing your health points. You may either roll a d12 and add +3 for your constitution or take a 7 +3 instead. The level up will not take effect until you sleep.

Some numb part of him took the choice to take the preset 10 HP. He somehow knew if he didn’t the message wouldn’t disappear. And he didn’t want anything blocking the view before him.

The small body nearly fit between his two hands. It’s arm twisted at an unnatural angle and its neck was obviously broken. But its amber eyes emptily stared back up at him. It had his blood in its teeth and was slowly being covered with more as the slices in his neck rained fat droplets down on her small naked body. Soon tears were added to the blood.

He had never killed anything before let alone a person. And it burned him. His heart felt like it weighed a ton and all he could hear was the blood rushing in his ears. He didn’t know how long he sat like that before he saw a creature crash out of the kitchen behind the counter.

Placing Hannah’s small corpse down, he turned towards the new threat. A humanoid lizard strode into the room. His large teeth were covered in blood and gore and clutched in his scaled hand was a bloody kitchen knife.

As Liam turned and readied his hands, a new screen appeared hovering over the lizardman.

Lvl.1 [Lizardfolk] Fighter

Ability [Iron Will]: This is a passive skill that hardens ones will. Any will based status effect will have a lower effect or no effect on the user. The user cannot have the [Terror], [Flee], or [Routed] statuses imposed on them.

Character Name: Liam

Character Level: [1] EXP:(15/100)

Character Title: [Defender of the Weak]

Character Race: [Human]

Character Age: [17]

Character Stats: (1-20)

Strength: [20]

Dexterity: [9]

Constitution: [16]

Intellect: [12]

Wisdom: [11]

Charisma: [8]

Luck: ???

Character Class: [Defender]

Character Sub-Class: [Empty]

Character Professions:

[Empty]

[Empty]

[Empty]

Character Skills:

[Thick Skin]

[Iron Will]

[Shelter]