AN: Lots of system explaination at the beginning. It might get confusing later on if you skip it, so please bear with me. The latter part of the chapter has some more vivid and hopefully interesting action to compensate for it.

Chapter 2:

Markus decided that there was no reason not to go with the girl’s advice. If this was a dream, it was his own consciousness giving him hints and on the off-chance that this was real, it was even more important advice from some - albeit self-proclaimed - goddess.

He had interacted with the previous message windows using his thoughts and will and he had played enough video games to know that there should be some sort of status screen in any serious RPG.

Markus strongly envisioned a ‘character screen’ and wished for it to open up. Almost immediately, his view changed into something he already seen in many different variations.

A Game Menu was showing up in front of him, displaying the character details. On top of the menu there were several ‘tabs’, indicating that there was more to it than just the character information.

[Log] [Character] [Skills] [Spells] [Map] [Inventory] [Notes] [Interface]

Markus decided to take a look at every one of the screens before doing anything.

The [Log] screen displayed everything that had happened until now, from the dialogue he had with the Helena-girl, over the damage he caused to the dragon to the titles and bonuses he had gained.

It seemed like he could even copy the text and enter it into a [Note]. There weren’t any notes until now, so Markus created one and pasted the complete log into it to test it out. Maybe what the girl said to him was of some interest at some point in the future.

Next he looked into the [Skills]. It was just empty and so was the [Spells] tab. Very disappointing.

The [Map] screen was interesting though. Not only did it show his immediate surroundings, Markus could also zoom out and look at the whole area he was in. This map function was already a cheat skill by itself. Left of the actual map screen there were several buttons to toggle information. Enemy, neutral, friendly, structures, roads, he could toggle everything on or off as he liked. On top of that there was even a [Search] field.

The inventory actually contained some items, certainly the starter gear Helena had been talking about.

[Leather shoes], [Simple shirt], [Simple trousers], [Sheathed Iron Dagger] and several [Magic Scrolls]. Each item was listed separately and there were sort and search buttons similar to the map screen. When Markus focused on the shoes, an information window opened up.

[Leather shoes

Simple shoes made of leather from some animal. Purely functional and of average quality. Clean and unused.]

Definitely starter gear, nothing special whatsoever. The remaining items were similarly unremarkable.

When Markus wished for the dagger to be pulled out from the inventory, it suddenly appeared in his hand. Reversely, when he wanted to put it back into the storage, it vanished from his hand and appeared in the item list again.

He certainly wanted to wear the clothing, but the ‘clean’ part in the description painfully reminded him of the fact that he certainly wasn’t clean right now. Not wanting to dirty the only clothing he had for now, he decided to first try to wash himself somewhat or at least wait for the dragon’s blood to dry.

The [Magic Scrolls] numbered three. When he focused on the name, a sub menu opened up, showing the different kinds of scrolls.

[Fire Ball], [Ice Shard], [Magic Torch].

Markus pulled the Fire Ball scroll from the inventory. After opening it, something like a magic circle could be seen drawn all over the inside of the scroll, surrounded by strange runes. He could neither read the runes nor had he any knowledge of the seemingly occult drawing, but he just ‘knew’ that pouring magic power into this scroll would result in some sort of magic to be unleashed.

Not wanting to waste the scroll for nothing, he put it back into the inventory.

Next he picked up a rock from the ground. It vanished and appeared in the inventory list as he wanted.

[Rock

A fist sized rock. Unknown mineral.]

He put a few similar rocks into the inventory and they stacked like the scrolls.

The only other thing of interest on this plateau was the huge corpse of the dead dragon. Markus held his hand against the corpse and tried to add it to the inventory. It vanished and appeared on the inventory list like everything else, leaving behind only a large pool of blood, gore and broken dragon scales. What a truly ridiculous ability.

Another interesting menu point was [Interface]. Markus could toggle the display of various parts of the interface straight into his normal view so they were still showing with the menu closed. Even when pulling the windows far into his peripheral vision he could still clearly make out all the information displayed.

He toggled the log to be always showing, excluding dialogue. He also added a small version of the map to show his immediate surroundings and kept his Mana, Stamina and Life Force values to be always showing. On that occasion he noticed that his “life” was displayed in percent, without any HP values.

Finally, Markus opened the [Character] screen.

[Name: Markus

Age: 16

Level: 258

XP: 5900/25900

Life Force: 100%

Titles: Dragonslayer, Vanquisher of the Dragon Lord, Crimson Pervert

Strength: 2

Resilience: 2

Agility: 2

Intelligence: 2

Wisdom: 2

Derived Stats:

Mana: 4

Stamina: 4

Magic Resistance: 126

Physical Resistance: 126

Status Points available: 2570]

“Age 16? Are you kidding me?” Markus was already 34. As a woman 16 might be a desirable age, but for Markus 16 did not sound very tempting. In fact he was glad once he was growing a full beard well in his 20s and people finally started taking him seriously. He did not have a mirror available right now, but he was hoping that this was some kind of mistake.

Pondering over the stats, Markus discovered that focusing on the different stats opened up a short description of the effect. Before spending points he may not be able to relocate, he decided to check each stat.

[Level: Adds to physical and magical resistance]

[Life Force: Current remaining physical and mental health. Cannot be raised. When this value drops to 0%, the character dies.]

[Strength: Physical power. Also adds to stamina pool.]

[Resilience: Ability to withstand physical and magical damage and harmful effects (resistance). Also adds to stamina pool and recovery rate.]

[Agility: Physical reaction speed. Also adds to spatial awareness and general body control.]

[Intelligence: Determines maximum strength of spells. Also adds to mana pool.]

[Wisdom: Determines mana recovery rate. Also adds to mana pool.]

Doing a quick run around the plateau, jumping like an idiot and throwing stones, Markus tried to establish something like a benchmark of his physical abilities. He also did some random multiplications and memory tests to find out if intelligence helped him thinking. Doing all this naked made him feel like he was living up to his title as Crimson Pervert.

He then raised his strength, agility, intelligence and wisdom to 550 each, then put the remaining points into resilience.

Finally his stats looked like this:

[Strength: 550

Resilience: 370

Agility: 550

Intelligence: 550

Wisdom: 550

Derived Stats:

Mana: 1100

Stamina: 920

Magic Resistance: 162.8

Physical Resistance: 162.8

Status Points available: 0]

Repeating his ‘workout’ Markus found his physical abilities vastly improved. He could easily jump for a couple of metres, break into a superhuman sprint and rotate his body in the air while still somehow landing on his feet. All this didn’t even cause him to sweat. His stamina dropped a few points over the course of around 20 minutes, but those points were recovered in less than a minute. The stone he threw flew for at least a hundred metres, when before it barely reached the edge of the plateau.

While doing the more artistic parts of his physical workout, a message showed up in the combat log.

[Skill: Acrobatics] gained.

Unfortunately, his mental capabilities did not improve nearly as much. Markus did not really worry about it though, he was confident in his natural intellect. At least he was above average in his normal life.

After confirming that much, he opened up the [Skill] window and took a look at his newly acquired [Acrobatics] skill. On top of the screen he found his current skill points, currently 2580. Below was the description of his first and currently only acquired skill, with its current skill level at 0.

[Acrobatics: Skill in executing seemingly body-breaking gymnastics.]

Markus decided to check the consumption of his stat points using this skill. Carefully raising the skill one level at a time, he figured out that the first 5 levels cost 1 skill point each, while the next 5 cost him 2 points each, for a total of 15. At level 10 the skill had maxed out.

Confirming his new ability by casually doing some backflips, breakdance moves and running around while jumping and doing some saltos, Markus decided to finish his performance by landing in a full split after a double salto, which was a big mistake. His body could move like he wanted, but he was lacking the actual life experience and still a male, plus naked at that. He perceived the imminent crisis shortly before impacting on the ground, but his hastily outstretched arms could only do so much to cushion the blow to his scrotum.

While cringing on the ground and hoping that the Helena-girl was currently stalking someone else, he read in the log that the actual damage had been negated by his physical resistance. It still hurt a lot.

After collecting himself and his dignity, Markus opened the map function. He was currently in the middle of nowhere on top of a mountain, smeared in blood. His first objective should be cleaning himself, then getting to somewhere with other people.

The map was awesome to the point that it would take a chunk of the exploration fun out of any game coming with this wealth of information from the start.

Markus first toggled the map markers for enemies and an overwhelmingly large amount of red dots showed up on the map, covering nearly all parts of the region. He adjusted the level strength of the enemies to only show those of level 2 and above, making most of the points disappear again.

Neutral beings were far fewer in numbers, only numbering a few dozen up in the far north, near the edge of the map. There was also a group of moving dots heading south from that location. Friendlies were absent altogether.

Turning on roads and points of interest, Markus discovered that there were several paths mostly going from the southwest to the north. He himself was currently on the mountains towards the southeast. The area he was in was separated from the rest of the map by a meandering river.

Along the roads were several markers, showing [Willsden Village (destroyed)], [Allistor Farmstead (destroyed)], [Brookside Settlement (destroyed)] and some similar markers, indicating settlements that were abandoned or destroyed.

The neutral indicators were concentrated between two markers, [Springkeep] and [Springkeep Village]

What struck Markus’ immediate interest was a marker close to him, named [High Seat of the Supreme Dragon Lord]. It was a little up the mountain, on the other side of the nearby peak and not on the plateau he was standing on right now. Checking the place out while he was close could not hurt.

The area was larger and harder to access than the map indicated, but with his new athletic abilities it was fairly easy for Markus to reach the point indicated on the map. Soon he found himself in front of a huge cave entrance. Claw marks and other unnatural looking signs showed that this place was dug out but the dragon itself, probably as some kind of nest or hort. Markus felt an eerie feeling trespassing into this monster’s territory, although the beast was already dead.

When he entered the cave, the minimap switched to a view of the cave’s interior. Opening the large map, he could see no other indicators but a single red dot a bit into the cave. The cave went into the mountain for a bit, than forked into two ‘branches’. One ended in a large oval space, the other, slightly smaller one had several round rooms at its end, one of them containing the red dot.

Pulling the iron dagger from his inventory, Markus decided to check in on the enemy first.

Getting deeper into the cave, a strong smell assaulted his nose. It was a mix of sulphur and something rotting away. The smell intensified the further he went, making Markus feel nauseous.

It was also getting darker and darker, making Markus strain his eyes to be able to see the path ahead.

[Skill: Low-Light Vision] gained.

The message popped up in the log and Markus immediately levelled the skill up to the maximum. His vision was slightly grainy and mostly devoid of colour, not that the cave was very colourful, but he could now see everything ahead without any problems.

Close to the end of the cave, Markus could hear a faint scratching and ripping sound. Taking a look into the empty room to the left of him, Markus saw a pile of various bones. There all kinds of species, known and unknown to him, but most of them looked like domestic animals. He could make out the fractured skull of what must have been a fairly sizeable bull and some goat remains. All of the bones had been picked mostly clean, but the remaining pieces of flesh and marrow seemed to be the main source of the rotting smell wafting from this area.

Finally Markus saw who, or better what, was making the noise he was hearing since some time ago. A dragon, tiny compared to the one earlier, but resembling it and well over two meters from head to scaled tail. It was sitting on the ground, its four clawed limbs resting on the side of its body and its undersized wings folded on its back. Even lying down it was half as tall as Markus himself.

The small dragon was ripping apart the half-eaten carcass of what seemed to have been a cow at some point, causing the noises.

Markus tightened the grip on the dagger he held in his right hand. While pondering whether to attack while having the advantage of the first strike or turn around and leave the dragon alone, the beast suddenly raised its slender neck and turned its head towards Markus.

Why it suddenly noticed his presence was a mystery for future generations to solve, perhaps it was the smell of its parent’s blood coming from him.

Letting out a piercing scream that was amplified by the echo within the cave, the dragon got up and charged towards Markus. Lunging its head forward, it snapped at him with its large maw.

Markus was no easy prey though, and he jumped backwards, evading the attack.

[Skill: Combat Evasion] gained.

Markus immediately opened the menu and maxed out the new skill. The dragon closed the distance and repeated its attack. This time Markus dashed low to the right, took a roll over floor and got up immediately next to the dragon. Being close enough for an attack, he took a swing at the dragon’s flank with his dagger.

A scratching sound emerged, but there was no major damage to the small dragon’s scales. In fact, a glimpse at his weapon told him that he had only managed to dull the edge of his dagger with this attack. The natural armour of this monster was no joke at all.

Regretting his decision to seek out this beast, Markus evaded the next attack of the dragon with a roll backwards. The dragon seemed frustrated with its nimble opponent that evaded both its attacks so far.

It stopped attacking and glared at Markus with its snake-like eyes. Markus returned its glare, pondering his options to attack.

While staring at the reptile, a small window popped up underneath it.

[Bronze Dragon (infant)

Level 20

Health 100%]

For a short moment Markus was glad that none of the dragon’s older siblings were around. If this was only an infant, he certainly did not want to meet any of them.

The dragon seemed to have made up its mind and attacked again. This time it jumped at Markus like a cat trying to catch a small prey. Markus side-stepped its attack and followed with a kick to the dragon’s shoulder.

With a small thumping noise, the dragon’s body was pushed away half a meter, breaking its stance. Markus closed the distance and delivered a punch with his right fist that was still holding the dagger.

Aiming at the same spot he kicked before, a small cracking noise was heard when he broke several of the dragon’s scales and the beast screamed out in pain.

[Skill: Unarmed Melee] gained.

Markus jumped back a few meters, then opened the menu and maxed out the unarmed skill as well. The earlier blows seemed to have had an effect on the dragon, its health had fallen to 92% and while it turned around towards him, it looked like it was slightly limping by now.

The injury did not stop the beast from attacking him again, as it rushed towards Markus once more. Evading by stepping to the side again, Markus prepared to deliver another kick. Before he could launch his counter, he was hit by the dragon’s tail and flung away for a few meters.

The attack did not cause any physical damage, although it was painful. The dragon seemed to have anticipated Markus evading and was prepared to hit him with an unexpected attack. For being an infant, a dragon’s intellect seemed to be far above what Markus would have thought.

After pushing Markus away, the dragon immediately jumped at him once more, trying to exploit the situation in which he had to stand up. Due to his body control, Markus managed to roll into a position in which he was prepared to evade or attack immediately though. Before the dragon reached him, Markus jumped up and delivered a hard blow with his knee to the dragons jaw, pushing its head to the side. When the dragon turned his head towards him again, he followed up with a stab of the dagger towards its eye, avoiding the armoured scales.

The blade was buried inside its head to the hilt.

[Skill: Daggers] gained.

[Skill: Critical Attacks] gained.

The body of the dragon went limp in an instant. Apparently, the blade had severed or destroyed something important inside its head, probably its brain.

Confirming that the health of the monster had dropped to 0%, Markus pulled the dagger out of its skull. The edge on one side was chipped and dull and the tip had been bent in the most recent attack. He put the damaged weapon into his inventory, then took a look around his surroundings.

Apart from the meal the dragon had been in the process of devouring, there were several dead and blood-stained goats in the corner of the room. Judging from the smell, they did not look fit for human consumption, even if properly cooked.

Markus put the corpse of the infant dragon into his inventory and went to check out the last room at this end of the cave.

The final cave around the corner contained a bunch of giant eggs. They were spotted and a bit taller than Markus. There were half a dozen giant, unhatched eggs, and a few broken shells. Apparently dragons did not stick around for long after hatching, otherwise there should have been more juveniles around.

Markus stashed the unhatched eggs and empty away in his inventory before turning around and heading towards the large space at the other end of the cave system.

On his way Markus maxed out the [Critical Attacks] skill and raised the skill with daggers to level 5. He was not a big fan of those weapons in games and it was the only weapon he had right now, but he did not want to waste skill points needlessly.

The last room was most likely the personal ‘bedroom’ of the defeated dragon lord. A small opening in the high ceiling shone some light into the room, or rather hall. It was vaguely circular and was about 50 or even more meters in diameter. On the far end Markus could make out a sparkling pile of items.

What caught his attention was a large pile of remains near the entrance of the room though, mostly because of its smell. There were some domestic animals like before, but there were clearly some human bones mixed into it as well. Why a somewhat intelligent being would keep something disgusting as this near its sleeping spot was a mystery for Markus.

He tried to ignore the heap of bones and gore as best as he could, then went towards the treasures at the other end of the cave.

In line with what he knew from all fantasy settings he had encountered so far, dragons seemed to be in love with shiny things. There were all sorts of, mostly golden, items piled up. Coins, nuggets of precious metal, jewellery, even weapons and armour. Some were damaged, other items were in more or less pristine conditions. It looked like the items were a mix of loot and offerings. Perhaps someone had tried to appease the dragon by offering up items it liked willingly.

Like a vacuum cleaner, Markus pulled everything into his inventory without caring too much about what exactly he was picking up. He would check the loot in detail later, for now he just wanted to get out of this smelly area.

Making sure he did not leave anything of value behind, Markus inspected the cave one last time before heading outside again. Using the map to confirm that there were no hidden rooms or other things of interest, he stood at the cave entrance overlooking the area in front of him.

When he stepped outside the cave again, the map changed to the familiar overview of the area surrounding the mountain range. Now that he had entered the cave before, he could switch back and forth between the two maps on the menu screen.

The next point of interest, a destroyed settlement, was quite far in the distance, so Markus decided to head straight towards the river first. He wanted to wash himself quite badly and finally put on some clothes.

Making use of his superb body control, he jumped and ran down the mountain in nearly no time without straining himself too much. When he arrived at the foot of the mountain, he noticed an empty feeling from his stomach and encroaching hunger.

Looking at the map, he searched for some edible animal. The remains in the cave looked familiar to him, at least in part, so he used the search box and entered “cow”. Immediately most of the moving red and yellow markers on the map vanished, leaving only a few yellow dots, which were mostly concentrated in the north at the settlement that had not been labelled as (destroyed).

Changing “cow” to “boar”, a couple of red dots showed up near him. Picking the one closest to him, Markus walked into the forest at the foot of the mountain, heading towards his prey.