“Hello!” I called in panic, glancing around the unfamiliar room. “Is anyone there?”

Just a split second ago, I had been asleep, I was sure of it. I had the wide-awake feeling, the adrenaline rush that comes from waking up from a nightmare.

But now, I was standing in a pure white room—white walls, white floor, white ceiling. The surfaces surrounding me seemed to provide light for the room with a faint glow.

I stumbled, barely catching my balance. It was disconcerting, waking up and finding myself standing. I was wearing a simple, white robe that I had never seen before, and my feet were bare.

Had I been kidnapped? Was someone playing a weird prank on me? Was I still dreaming?

The room was a perfect cube, and interspaced evenly on the wall in front of me were four doorframes. There were no doors, only a shimmering wall of darkness that provided a stark contrast to the rest of the brightly lit room.

Above each doorframe, I could see blue text floating in the air, labeling each door. The text looked weirdly three dimensional, and it was slightly translucent, allowing me to see the wall behind the words.

Easy

Normal

Hard

Hell

I involuntarily jumped away from the door marked Hell, and as I did, I knocked over a vial that was by my feet. The vial skidded along the glossy white floor and I frantically grasped it before it could slide towards one of the open doorways.

As I studied the glass flask with a murky liquid inside with trembling hands, I knew, somehow, what I needed to do. If I wanted to survive what was coming, I needed to drink the vial.

The dense liquid was already coursing down my throat when I started to wonder what the hell I had just done. It felt like someone had set fire to my every internal organ.

I curled up in a ball and screamed. Every inch of my body, every nerve, felt like it was simultaneously shredded by a flurry of knives and burned by a sea of fire.

After five seconds of the worst pain I had felt in my life, the pain was gone completely. The only lingering pain was the pain I had caused by falling to my knees and pounding an unforgiving floor with my fists, along with a mild headache.

Why did I think it was a good idea to drink that bottle? Am I really that stupid?

Even as I asked myself that question, I saw new text superimposed in my vision. This time, the red text appeared in the upper right corner of my vision, and as the words appeared, I heard a voice in my head saying the same thing that I saw written out in front of me.

I felt my mind race. I had an A.I. in my head. That was… good? Maybe? I was in an unknown place, and from the way the blue text hovered above the doorways—not actually written on anything, more like a hologram—I had a vague suspicion that I knew what was happening.

Well, if I had an A.I., maybe I could ask it.

“Hello?” I called out. “What the hell is going on?” I tried to hide my fear with anger, but I couldn’t stop my voice from trembling.

the A.I. responded. Samantha—it was the same name as the A.I. in Her, but the voice in my head didn’t feel nearly as human as Scarlet Johansson’s voice. No, the voice in my head had one of those stereotypically rich and soothing voices that computers use to try to ingratiate themselves with humans in creepy sci-fi movies.

As the A.I. spoke, her voice resonated in my head, making it impossible to ignore or dismiss. I couldn’t help but feel like it was strange, that it already knew my name. What else did it know about me?

The A.I. continued,

Wait, what? A voice in my head trying to convince me to go to Hell…

“No. No fucking way.” My voice trembled, but I immediately started walking towards the door that said “Easy.”

I could hear a hint of nervousness in the A.I.’s voice. Her words even flashed importantly, superimposed over my vision like glaring red subtitles.

The A.I. continued,

That was a low blow. I didn’t answer.

Put that way, it did make sense. I found my feet wandering towards the door marked Hell.

I was just a few steps away when I felt a sense of wrongness, a complete gut rejection and fear of the mere thought of going through the door marked Hell. Without stopping to consider my decision, I turned and jumped through the second closest door—the door marked “Hard.”

I was surrounded by nothingness for a second. No blue or red text, no A.I. talking to me.

And then I appeared, tumbling awkwardly through a doorway in another white room. This room had five tables in neat lines, and on each table was an assortment of weapons or items, looking like they came from a fantasy RPG.

The A.I. no longer sounded smooth and collected. It sounded more human, actually. Frustrated. The A.I. sounded like my mom, before she had passed.

I ignored the A.I. for now, focusing on taking in the tables. There was an assortment of weapons on the first table directly in front of me. Several swords, a mace and chain, a spear, a bow and arrow, a magician’s staff, a wand, an axe, and a massive, ancient book.

Above the nearest table, I could see words hovering: Pick one primary weapon.

I stood, staring, at the wands, staffs, swords, axes, and bows on the table, until the A.I. chimed in.

I tried out the suggestion, Identifying several weapons, and several strings of blue text appeared in the upper left corner of my vision.

Magician’s Wand (F-rank): Serves as a focus for channeling spells. +1 Mana Pool; +1 Mana Regeneration per minute while equipped.

Orlan Blade (E-rank): Active Effect: Increases your Strength and Agility for the duration of your next attack. Cooldown: 10 minutes. Passive Effect: +2 Strength, +2 Agility.

To be fair, Orlan’s Blade sounded like a great weapon. It was one of the few E-ranked weapons in the room.

Well, I might as well hope that this was a dream. Some kind of fantasy role-play. I might as well enjoy it. I reached out for the sword.

But some small, nagging part of me just couldn’t settle with the instructions. I had sat in on a few D&D games before, and I’d played my share of video games. “Why would you want me to take a sword and a Mana skill book? Isn’t it best to focus on one class?”

I heard an exasperated sigh from the A.I. the A.I. sighed exaggeratedly.

Resigned to my fate of a nagging A.I., I picked the Orlan Blade and a Mana-infused knife.

Each table had some kind of magic that would only allow me to take one item.

The table with the skill books and spell books was the most interesting to me. There were spells like Wind Blade and Earth Manipulation. There was a Stealth skill book, a Rapid Fire Archery skill book, a Heavy-handed Strike skill book, presumably for Swordsmen, and more.

Following the A.I.’s insistence, I picked the Mana Modulation skill book, and a pair of Magician’s Robes.

The last table gave even further insight into the type of world I was in—or what type of dream I was having. In addition to an Interdimensional Pouch, there were potions that gave permanent stat boosts, healing potions, mana potions, invisibility potions, rings that granted immunity to poison, and tiles with complex runes inscribed on them with effects that varied from shielding to explosions.

Notably absent in the room were any sci-fi items. No blasters, lasers, or computers.

The Interdimensional Pouch was one of the few E-rank items on the table, so I had no qualms following the A.I.’s suggestion and picking it up. It sounded incredibly useful.

I surveyed the items I had picked up. The sword came with a sheath slung over my back, and the knife came with a sheath and belt which I wore over my new Magician’s Robes. The light brown robes, at least, made me feel like I was in Star Wars, which was a step up from the white robe that I had been wearing which made me feel like I was in an afterlife. The Interdimensional Pouch looped through my belt along with the knife.

Mana Modulation Skill Book (F-rank): Allows you to modulate mana inside your body. Can be used for slight boosts in Physical Defense, Agility, Dexterity, or Strength. Grants Internal Mana Affinity (F-rank). Cost: 10 Mana. Duration: 1 minute. Cooldown: 10 minutes.

Mana-infused Knife (F-rank): A blade that can double as a weapon or as an enchanting tool. +1 Mana Pool, +1 Mana Regeneration per minute.

Magician’s Robes (F-rank): +2 Mana Regeneration per minute.

Orlan Blade (E-rank): When activated, increases your Strength and Agility for the duration of your next attack. Cooldown: 10 minutes. +2 Strength, +2 Agility.

Interdimensional Pouch (E-rank): Has an internal storage space of about 5x5x5 feet. Allows you to summon an item inside the pouch by placing your hand over the pouch and picturing the item. Enchanted to be weightless.

I’d been so distracted by the gear and the voice in my head that I had forgotten one thing.

“Do I have a character sheet or something?” I asked. It seemed like a logical next step, considering the skills and weapons that were surrounding me.

I frowned, somewhat uncomfortable at the thought that there was a program in my brain now that could make mental commands like that for me.

Was that a power play? Or was it genuinely trying to be helpful? Well, there was nothing I could do about it. And hopefully I would wake up soon. I studied my Status Window.

Name:

Jarek

Level:

1

HP:

10/10

Physical Defense:

10

Strength:

9 (+2)

Mental Power:

10

Dexterity:

9

Agility:

9 (+2)

Mana Pool:

10 (+1)

Mana Regeneration:

2 (+3)

Available Points:

0

Coins:

0

Class:

None

Profession:

None

Titles:

Skills and Spells:

Identify (F-rank)

Mana Modulation (F-rank)

Affinities:

Internal Mana (F-rank Low)

Equipment:

Mana-infused Knife (F-rank): +1 Mana Pool, +1 Mana regen.

Magician’s Robes (F-rank): +2 Mana Regeneration per minute.

Orlan Blade (E-rank): +2 Strength, +2 Agility.

Interdimensional Pouch (E-rank):

I hadn’t had time to properly process my window when my personal taskmaster spoke into my brain again.

“Shouldn’t I practice first? Test out my skills?” I asked.

“What?” I stared into the darkness of the doorway in front of me, slowly processing what the A.I. had just told me.

“What level is the goblin?” I asked.

“The goblin will be level 10. However, with the added bonuses of your weapons, your stats now roughly equal the level 10 base stats.”

But wouldn’t the goblin have armor too? I wondered to myself.

The A.I. sighed audibly at my hesitation.

Previously, the mana in my body had just been sitting inside me. Sensing your own mana was like a sixth sense. I could tell instinctually that I had a full Mana Pool, but I didn’t know how to do anything with my mana. It was similar to the feeling of having a full stomach, but it was as though I had a second stomach, full of something that wasn't food.

When I activated Mana Modulation with a simple mental thought (Mana Modulation, Activate! while thinking about Agility actually seemed to do the job), I felt the mana inside me fundamentally change and move throughout my body. I could tell the mana was flowing through my body, doing something, but it wasn’t until I tried moving that I noticed what had changed.

I felt incredibly light on my feet, like a leaf on the wind. For once, I felt like the A.I. was being useful. I rushed towards the black doorway, titles on my mind, feeling lighter on my feet than I ever had before.