Sounds of a busy office, people bustling around with chairs scraping along the floor and doors opening and closing, welcomed Micky back to the world of the living once more. As he remembered where he had been and those two weird blokes with nightsticks standing over him he attempted to jump to his feet, ending up in a sprawl on the floor as he fell out of the chair he had been propped up in.

”Easy does it, son. You’ll do yourself a proper mischief flopping about like that”. Micky recognized the voice as belonging to one of the men who stood over him earlier. Looking around he saw that he was in some kind of shared workspace full of desks, with swinging saloon doors at either end of the room. Small blue-white bulbs lit the space.

There were maybe 14 or 15 people in the room, all of which were wearing the same outfit of a brown shirt and leather vest as the two men. It must have been some kind of uniform or gang outfit thought Micky as he slowly got to his feet. Turning in the direction of the voice he saw the gruff-voiced stranger had taken off his helmet revealing close-cropped salt and pepper hair and was sitting with his feet up on a desk.

“Wait, are you the guys that kidnapped me? I don’t have a lot of money and I have no idea where we are so you can just let me go. I won’t tell anyone about you or this place.”

The man chuckled softly to himself “right lad, I think you’ve got the wrong idea here. I’m Garrett and I work for the Baer’s Landing watch. You’re in the watch house, you have been for the past six hours after you passed out in that alley.”

“Watchhouse, you mean like the police?” Micky asked quietly.

“I’m not sure about these police of yours, but the Watch is responsible for keeping the peace and making sure people are safe.”

“Okay… but you said Baer’s landing, right? I was in Wellington last night and I have no idea how I got here, or where exactly here is, to be honest.”

“Yeah, about that. I’m not exactly the person who should be telling you about this stuff. By rights, it should be the Transmigration and Relocation Center, but you didn’t arrive at one of the recorded destinations. So how about I give you the brief version, then once you’ve had a chance to get your feet underneath you a bit more I’ll walk you down to the TRC” Garrett offered.

“That sounds okay I guess, wait did you say transmigration” Micky started calmly, although his voice had risen in both pitch and volume towards the end of the sentence.

“You’re telling me I’ve transmigrated, like to a different world? This has to be a BLEEPING joke right? Did Harry or Luke set this whole thing up? I swear I’m gonna slap both those morons if this was a setup”. Micky’s voice had reached a near screech at this point and heads in the office had started to turn towards him.

Garrett raised a hand apologetically towards them and then responded to Micky “look mate I know this is a lot to take in but I promise we’ll help you sort this all out, take a seat and I’ll show you something which might help you make sense of all of this.” Micky let himself be led back to the chair and slowly sat down.

“Right, take your right hand and put it on your left wrist put a couple of fingers on the System sign, that’s the little symbol. Right now all I want you to do is think ‘menu’, reckon you can do that?” asked Barret as Micky slowly followed the instruction, still half-convinced this was an elaborate prank. As he thought ‘menu’ a solid blue block appeared in the center of his vision.

Welcome to the System.

You are relocator number 305,563,872.

Your current location is Baer’s Landing.

Would you like to see your current quest log, view your Profile, or examine your Skills?

“Uh, the Profile I guess” Micky spoke out loud.

Garrett chuckled “You don’t need to talk out loud lad. Just think about it, the same way you thought ‘menu’. The blue square in front of Micky flicked and changed, it now displayed a table

Name

Michael ‘ Micky’ Taylor

Level

-

Class

Unassigned

Hp

36 of 36

Sp

48 of 48

XP

0

Stats

Might

6

Grace

8

Will

12

Wisdom

9

Sway

13

Balance

6

This profile reflects your current status as assigned by the system at the time of your relocation. Please select a stat for more information.

Seeing Micky’s eyes glaze over as he examined his stats Garrett rose from his chair and stretched out. “Righto, I reckon he’ll be at this for a minute, Caed can you watch him for a second? I’m gonna sneak off and grab a coffee.”

Holy actual BLEEP Micky thought to himself looking at the menu. I have hit points. I’m in a video game. Oh, BLEEP, I’ve fallen into an Isekai novel and I can’t get out. Wait I can still think about swearing. “BLEEP this”. Nope, I still can’t swear out loud so that’s still BLEEPED.

“Garrett what are all these stats?”. Not receiving any kind of response Micky decided to dig into them on his own, mentally selecting might he began his examination

Might: the measure of an individual's physical power and potency. This represents both physical strength as well as the hardiness of an individual's constitution. The average Might for a human in your age and bracket is 8.

Wait thought Micky, the average is 8, and I’m a 6. That's just rude. I know I’m a bit out of shape but no way I’m that much weaker than the average lad. Right, moving on then.

Grace: the measure of an individual's physical speed and coordination. Both movement speed, as well as dexterity of hand, are affected by Grace. The average Grace for a human in your age and level bracket is 8.

Well, at least I’m average at that thought Micky, although the number of times I’ve fallen over since getting here seems to put a lie to that one.

Will: the measure of an individual's mental strength and determination. This impacts an individual's ability to enforce their will upon reality through the use of Mana through gestures, invocations, and chants. The average Will for a human in your age and level bracket is 5.

This was the first time Micky had been truly shocked by anything in his stats. Mentally dismissing the menu he looked around for Barrett, finding him back at his desk with a steaming mug in one hand.

“Barrett mate, I’m still finding this all a little hard to take in. I’ve just seen the ‘Will’ stat. Does this mean magic is a thing here? Like real magic?”

Putting the mug down Barrett looked towards Micky, “I wondered when this would come up. Yes everyone has some ability to use ‘Mana’ although it varies wildly between people. My ‘Will’ is only 7 though so I’m not the best one to be asking. I can show you a little something though, watch this.”

Raising his right arm in front of him Barrett moved his hand in a complicated series of gestures which finished with his palm raised and his fingers splayed apart. Flickering into life a couple of inches about his palm was a small sphere no larger than a golf ball made of pure light. It gave off a gentle warm glow that lit his hand and cast scattered shadows. With a flick of his wrist, Barrett dismissed the sphere.

“That was a Witchlight it's one of the first things we learn when gaining control of our Mana”.

Micky was absolutely gobsmacked by this small display. “Oh BLEEP me, this isn’t a joke is it? I’ve really been transmigrated. How the hell did I get here? Does this mean I’m dead, or I died in my world”.

Barrett dropped his arm down and took a slow sip of his coffee. “I’m sorry lad, I’m not the best one to be asking these questions. Why don’t you finish up looking at your Stats, I’ll finish my report, then I’ll walk you over to the TRC”.

“Okay, okay I just have one more question, what is a Class? My Class slot just says ‘Unassigned’.”

“Hah” snorted Barrett. “Now that’s a big question, and I don’t really have an answer for you. There are as many theories about class as there are stars in the sky or grains of sand on the beach, and they’re worth about as much. Some people will tell you it’s the system recognizing your achievements, while others will tell you it's an expression of your inner desires. To receive a Class you need to meet a set of specific requirements both in terms of stats and achievements. A person can have as many classes as they like, but the more classes you have the harder it is to level them all.”

To forestall the wave of questions Barrett saw in Micky’s eyes he continued speaking “For example, I’ve got two classes, ‘Guard’ (4) and ‘Brewer’ (2). To become a guard you need a ‘Might’ and a ‘Grace ‘of at least 10, and a ‘Balance’ of at least 15. Then to receive the class you need at least three months of training and service to a recognized ‘Guard’, and to aid in the arrest of at least 3 system recognized criminals.”

“BLEEP” exclaimed Micky “my balance is only 6.”

“As I understand it” replied Barrett “that’s not that uncommon amongst new transmigrators, did you examine ‘Balance’ in the menu?” Placing his hand back on his wrist Micky dived back into his menus.

Balance: the most fluid of stats. Balance is the measure of an individual's stability and overall mental health. This can shift depending on an individual's situation and circumstances. Unlike the other, physical or mental Stats points cannot be assigned to ‘Balance’. It can only be changed through changes specific to the individual. The average ‘Balance’ of a humanoid in your age and level bracket is 15.

“Wait” blurted Micky, “the average ‘Balance’ of a humanoid is 15? Mine is like a third of that”.

“Aye lad, is that really surprising? You’ve gone through a hell of a change today. I don’t think any of us will blame you for feeling a bit off balance.”

“Right, I guess,” said Micky. “I’ve got two more stats to look at.” “You do that lad, I’m almost done here as well.”

Wisdom: the measure of an individual's ability to recall both situations and information. This impacts the number of gestures, invocations, or chants that may be learned. The average ‘Wisdom’ for a human in your age and level bracket is 8.

Cool thought Micky, another stat that I’m at least above average in, I was starting to feel pretty personally attacked by the rest of them. If I’m reading this correctly it looks like I’m set up for some kind of caster build.

Sway: the measure of an individual's ability to influence those around them through act or deed. The average ‘Sway’ for an individual in your age and level is 8.

Before Micky could process this last piece of information Barrett rose from his desk “Right lad, ready to head out?”

“Where exactly are we going?” asked Micky.

“We’re going to head across town to the Transmigration and Relocation Centre. It’s where all recent arrivals for Baer’s Landing are supposed to materialize. How you turned up in that alley is a bit of a mystery lad. They will run an orientation program for you and help you get your feet underneath you. They’re better equipped to answer any questions you might have as well."