Noah slowly noticed the floating screen in the corner of his eye as the adrenaline and fury slowly left his system.

“I levelled up? Damn! What’s that do?”

“Noah Clark, levelling up gives you points that you can allocate into your different attributes”

“Ahhh! What! Who are you!”

“I am an artificial consciousness created to help assimilate newly integrated people. I am called Artificially created assistance sentient, ACAS for short.”

“When I was delivered to you, I was bonded to you. we are communicating via short range mental communication. This means that anyone else you meet will not be able to intercept our conversation.”

“well that’s a useful feature. When I got here that voice said you would only answer basic queries. But you saved my life?”

“Yes, considering the circumstances I was freed from some of my protocol limitations.” ACAS explained, the light coming from within flickering in time with its speech.

“The situation?”

“Yes. You have been sent to this location through an error in the system. Most newly integrated subjects get situated in various cities on all the planets in their local galaxy.” “You being sent to the middle of a jungle on a Hellworld is due to a computational glitch. Thus, the Overmind has released most of the limitations on my protocols to aid in your survival”

“that’s useful to know and really really pisses me off. I’ve been taken from my home and stuffed in a jungle where I’ll probably end up dying, fucking great!”

As quickly as it appeared his anger slipped away to slowly be replaced with excitement.

“You said I have points to spend yeah? How do I do that? And can you tell me what a Hellworld is? I get the feeling I’m gonna need to allocate my stats to survive this place”

“A Hellworld, put simply, is a world that is nigh unhospitable. It is filled with flora and fauna that is ultra-aggressive and deadly. On this planet there are only 3 cities that are completely safe and being defended by the latest and best perimeter security made. The location you are going to, is not one of those. A Hellworld is death incarnate for most sapient lifeforms, few can withstand the destruction that the natives can bring to bear. This also includes viral and bacterial life. I would suggest putting points into constitution as soon as possible” ACAS explained. “You can allocate points by checking your status. It will show any points you have available. From there you will be able to mentally select attributes to increase.”

“I’m gonna have to pull out all the stops to survive this. Hey! This might make me level faster, if you know, I survive”

“Okay. Status!”

Level: 1

Total

Available points – 20

Strength

5

Dexterity

6

Constitution

8

Endurance

7

Wisdom

7

Perception

4

Charisma

5

“Ooh nice, I’ve got 20 points to play with. I think ill take your advice and stock a few into Con. Hmm what else will help me survive. Probably endurance, strength and…. Perception? Yeah that snake could turn invisible, maybe more perception will let me see things like that.”

Mentally clicking buttons, Noah fed points into his skills. Once he stopped, he felt a tingling sensation coming from deep within his core, spreading to the rest of his body. The feeling quickly became uncomfortable and then burningly unbearable. He felt like his body was on fire. And then. It stopped.

“Wow. That sucked so much. But now, holy shit I feel better than ever!” “Let’s see my new stats. Status!”

Level: 10

Previous

Current

Points Available - 0

Strength

5

8

Dexterity

6

6

Constitution

8

18

Endurance

7

9

Wisdom

7

7

Perception

4

9

Charisma

5

5

“Now that’s a good look. Ok, I’m guessing that this will work as well, it seems logical so far.”

“Map!”

As soon as he said that, a virtual map appeared in the corner of his vision, filling his field of view when he concentrated on it. He was represented by a blinking red dot, and a line very similar to any normal satnav tracked from his location, 80 miles north and then ended.

“80 miles, I don’t think I’m gonna do that in 3 days, I’m gonna have to forage ain’t I. Damn.”

“Well, best get started, it’s not gonna walk itself.”