(Silver-Haired Elf)

"How could this happen?!" The white-haired woman roared.

"How could an outsider find this place?! Nobody has come here for decades, let alone some weak human that gets knocked unconscious in one hit!" She said, pointing to the naked body of the man whom she'd just bludgeoned.

"Miss Instructor," A recruit called. "What's going on?"

She turned her head from the body on the ground, to the recruit.

"I don't know..."

(Tim)

How did it end up like this?

Tim thought for sure that getting sent into another world with monsters and (hopefully) magic would be fun, but so far he had only been subject to various dangers. Who would've guessed? The first time was when what we will now refer to as the "Venus-Guy-Trap" almost ate him, and the second was when he was captured by elven natives, the same ones that are currently dragging him to their village as we speak.

Tim knows this, as he was wide awake for all of it. After he was struck by the silver-haired elf's club, he acted as if he was knocked unconscious from the hit, when in reality, he had taken the hit like a champ. How he could stay conscious, he didn't know.

At least they didn't kill him on the spot. There are still hostile native tribes that do that back on Earth after all, so it wouldn't be so strange to encounter them now that he's in a separate world.

Maybe these elves aren't so bad after all.

Okay, they are definitely bad.

Once he arrived at their village, they dropped him somewhere after putting a bag on his head. Now he is laying in some strange, cold place, tied up and blind. How do some people enjoy this?

The distinct sound of a wooden door being opened can be heard, later following a quaint set of footsteps.

"Hello." A feminine voice spoke. "Whether you can understand me or not is irrelevant. What matters is that we get this over with."

He stays silent.

"You are being accused of spying on the village of Bermuda, plotting against higher authorities, and resisting detainment, as well as a number of other claims against you. If you wish to state a defense to these claims, you must present yourself to the great elders in order to rebuke said claims against you. Any questions?"

He debates whether to stay silent or not, but decides that he has no choice.

"Wait! Wait!" He panics. "There's been a misunderstanding! I'm not a spy!"

There's a pause before the woman responds.

"I'm not the one you should try and convince," She said. "If I was, you have blown your cover already. Not many humans know Elorian."

Huh?

"I don't know what you're on about," He retorts. "You're the one speaking English."

"You'd be more convincing if you weren't speaking Elorian as you said that. And besides, I know of every language in this side of the continent and I've never even heard of English." The woman declares confidently.

...

"I don't know what to say. I've been lost ever since I came here, and for the short amount of time I've been here, I've been in danger for most of it. I'm sorry if I encroached on your people and their land. I just want to leave." He said, hiding his frustration flawlessly.

There was silence for another moment.

"Like I said, I'm not the one you should be trying to convince. With that being said, if it makes you feel better, I don't think you're lying. Not that it means anything."

Tim doesn't believe her in the slightest, as she still has him tied up.

"Say," He asks. "You never told me your name, did you?"

Another pause.

"I suppose I didn't, huh?" She said.

There is silence as Tim waits for a response he never got.

Gonna be like that, are we? He thought.

"Alright, if you aren't going to tell me your name, at least explain a few things to me," He said.

"What kind of things?" She asks.

"Just the basics. Or what I assume to be the basics." He said.

"As bad an idea it is to answer a spy's questions, you've got my attention. Ask away." She said.

"I already told you I'm not a spy," He grumbled.

"That's not a question." She stated.

"Fair play. So first question..." He starts. "What does all this property panel stuff mean?"

"Don't try to make a fool out of me." She said, anger visible in her voice.

"I swear I'm not," He said, trying his best to sound as genuine as possible.

"You really don't know? Everyone is taught that by their parents from the day they are born." She said.

"Not everybody, as it turns out," He said, pushing the boundaries of genuine.

He could almost feel the glare she was giving him, even through the bag on his head.

"You have to be lying." She said, wearing his patience thin.

"Lady, if I was any more truthful right now, I think I would explode," He said, anger now starting to rise in his voice as well.

"Alright. I'll explain it. I guess it makes sense that the guy who gets lost in a jungle is the same guy who doesn't know how his properties panel works." She said.

"Was that supposed to be an insult? That felt like an insult." He asks, already knowing the answer.

"So what do you already know about your properties panel?" She asked.

"I know how to open it," He said.

There is silence for a moment. Obviously, she wasn't expecting his knowledge or lack thereof to end so abruptly.

"How are you alive right now?" She muttered.

"What was that?" He asks.

"Nothing," She said. "Anyway, the basics then."

As the woman finished her lesson on the system and properties, Tim's knowledge grew more and more. He felt like he understood the basic concept of his properties and how they worked, as well as some other things that he didn't ask, but she felt he should know. One of these things was her name, which was too long for him to remember, so he now refers to her in his head as "Leah."

The most important things she taught him, however, were about his Attributes, Properties, and some things he hadn't even seen in his panel, which were Traits and Affinities.

Attributes worked how he expected them to. Vigor increases his physical strength and resilience, while Agility increased his speed and flexibility. He wasn't sure about Convalescence and Spirit, so he asked and he got answers.

Convalescence is one that Tim rarely found himself understanding, but what he caught from the hasty explanation was that it was a pure survival skill. It affects how quickly you regenerate from damage and slightly increases the speed at which you collect mana from the environment among a few other things.

Spirit, from what Tim understood, was the one stat to rule them all. It affects the rate at which you collect mana, but far quicker than Convalescence. It also affects how powerful certain skills are, and how much mana your body can contain without spilling out. It is basically Vigor for magic and then some.

Tim asked her how he could raise his Spirit, and if min-maxing was a thing, both answers ending up disappointing him.

Apparently, he had to progress through each and every ability he gained to the fullest before he could raise the Attribute that those skills were bound to. Then arose another question, which was how he would get abilities.

She didn't believe for a second that he had no abilities, as he had been able to get here without dying, but she answered him anyway.

Tim learned that if he wanted to acquire his abilities, he would have to perform an awakening ritual, usually provided by most churches in local towns. He also asked how to perform an awakening ritual, himself, but the only thing Leah knew was that it was expensive.

Tim had his panel open the entire time that Leah was explaining this, and as it was in his mind, the bag that was currently still on top of his head didn't hinder him in the slightest. Tim had told the general layout of his panel to Leah, without giving any specific details away, and Leah had suggested some improvements.

Leah mentioned Affinities, as well as Traits, and explained them quickly.

"Traits are basically just titles that you are born with that may grant you a boon of any kind depending on the trait." She said. "You can also receive them as rewards for monumental tasks and achievements, but you won't have to worry about that."

Was she mocking him?

"Affinities are, to put in the simplest terms possible, your body adapting to your environment." She said. "When your affinity to an element grows higher, you gain resistance towards that elemental type of damage. You would also have a natural feel when using skills, magic, or items that correlate with said element."

"You can gain affinity by simply living in that elemental environment." She said. "It would grow very slowly, however, and usually adventurers that want to raise their affinity higher would go out and move their home to a more extreme environment that represents that element. For example, an adventurer that wants to raise their fire affinity would, instead of living in a desert, live near a volcano. Those are only the most dedicated and intense adventurers though."

Just when Tim thought she was finished, she started back up again.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" She said. "There are certain people who have an affinity from the day they are born. Most of the time, it's due to the parents having such a strong affinity for an element, it is passed down in the family bloodline. Other times, however, individuals are just incredibly lucky, and sometimes even unlucky."

"What do you mean unlucky?" Tim asked.

He had a few ideas as to what she could mean, but he wanted to confirm a theory.

"I mean that sometimes they get an element you don't want to be known for having." She said. "The ones I can think of on the top of my head are Taboo and Death. That would probably get you in a lot of trouble with the churches. Of course, that wouldn't be a problem here, as-"

She stopped herself.

"You should open your Traits and Affinities." She said. "Take a look at what you've got, if anything."

That wasn't ominous or anything. He thought.

Tim was trying to find his Traits and Affinities in his panel, just as Leah said, but he couldn't find anything. After trying for about a minute, he got an idea. He just thought of the words and did the same method he had done for opening his panel in this first place, and it worked!

Traits

Affinities

Rebellious Soul

Foreigner

Deathborne

Death Attuned

Hybrid

Death: 100%

Holy: 81%

Celestial 66%

(Raise affinity with other elements to view them.)

Without needing to be told, Tim looked at the different traits, wondering what they meant. Another vision appeared, displaying exactly that.

Rebellious Soul

A trait to describe those who have and will defy fate.

"No normal soul can defy the will of the gods. You are no normal soul."

The user has increased Holy affinity.

Foreigner

A trait to help those who are far from home.

"You're gonna need this."

The user can understand and speak all of the sapient races' languages.

Deathborne

A trait that forms from coming back from the dead.

"You think I'll stop just because I'm dead?"

The user has increased Death affinity. Death Attuned

A trait for those that have a soulbond to Death.

"Come on! A little death never killed anybody!"

The user has increased Death affinity.

Hybrid

A trait for creatures with qualities of both monster and sapient.

"The best of both worlds!"

The user is able to utilize the skills and properties common in sapient races, as well as the evolution function of monsters.

Okay, these are really useful, don't get me wrong...but how did I get them? I can understand Foreigner and maybe even Rebellious Soul, but what about the others? Tim thought.

Tim brought up his Properties Panel and found what he was looking for.

General Information

Attribute Property

Name Tim Hodgins Vigor Death 0/1 Race N/A (Undead) Agility Flesh 0/1 Rank Normal Convalescence Hunger 0/1 Spirit Dominion 0/1 Progress to (Copper) rank: 0%

Tim knew there was something he was forgetting. Right where his race was supposed to be, it showed a N/A sign, universal for "not applicable." How is his race not applicable? What's more, is what it says in parentheses.

(Undead)

Tim had many ideas on how that could have happened. It may be due to his death, something he remembered having happened less than 24 hours ago. It may also be due to his little temper tantrum in that white room, which he will from now on refer to as Heaven's waiting room.

Tim had a few questions, most of which he wouldn't even think of asking Leah about, as him telling a stranger that he was technically a zombie wasn't his idea of a perfect plan, especially since he had recently been told that Death is not a good affinity to have. He wondered how much trouble he would be in if it was found that he had both the property and affinity.

This whole undead thing certainly cleared up a few things, however, as it would explain the whole situation of his significantly reduced reaction to pain. He wondered why that wasn't a trait...

Something Tim had been curious about after reading his Traits, was what his Hybrid trait meant. He could utilize skills and properties like people, but evolve like monsters? Was that possible?

Quickly searching through the deleted sections of his panel, he discovered what he had previously looked over, and swiftly added it to his Properties Pannel.

General Information

Attribute Property

Name Tim Hodgins Vigor Death 0/1 Race N/A (Undead) Agility Flesh 0/1 Rank Normal Convalescence Hunger 0/1 Spirit Dominion 0/1 Progress to (Copper) rank: 0% Evolution Progress: 0/100

He decided to keep it simple and just add it below his rank progress.

Something that interested him was how it was formatted compared to his rank progress bar. It said 0/100 instead of 0%. He would have pondered this a bit longer had he not been interrupted by a sudden thought.

This is all very convenient. Even though I'm believed to be a spy by these people, the warden is being exceptionally lenient and polite, almost as if they are trying to gain my trust. It also just so happens that they are a naturally adept teacher. This is shady. Tim thought.

"Say, I've got another question." He said. "I understand that you're some sort of teacher, but why have you been putting up with me and answering all of my questions?"

The room went silent for a moment.

"To keep you occupied until the others get here, silly." She said.

Right as she had said that, the door to the room burst open, the sound of heavy footsteps following shortly after.