Tim awoke in a soft bed with a raging headache and a stomachache to match. Actually, the pain from his bowels was much worse than the headache, but it wasn't of any help either.

Tim felt as if he had been ripped off. He could be knocked unconscious due to pain, but he couldn't fall asleep naturally? How does that even work? He wasn't a neurologist, but he was pretty sure that wasn't how the brain worked. Actually, did he still have his brain?

Moving away from that confusing topic, Tim noticed he was in his inn room from the day before. There was a strange message appearing in his mind, similar to when he opens up his property panel, but Tim ignored it and instead decided to give his attention to the wrinkly old man in robes, standing over him.

"...You like what you see?" Tim joked.

Mr. Gee smiled.

"Suffice to say the ritual worked." Mr. Gee said, gesturing to Tim's chest.

Tim followed the man's finger and saw what he meant.

"Holy shit, I'm jacked!" Tim exclaimed excitedly.

"I don't know where you get these phrases, but yes, you are moderately more fit than you were before." Mr. Gee said matter-of-factly.

"You're damn right I am-" Tim stopped. "How do you know what my chest looked like before..."

Tim gave Mr. Gee a suspicious look.

"Pervert," Tim said with mock embarrassment.

"Relax. I simply received the results from the ritual and analyzed the changes to your body." Mr. Gee said, unperturbed by Tim's display.

"Oh. Alright then. I guess that's fine- did you say the results from the ritual? But I was..."

"Unconscious." Mr. Gee finished.

A sudden look of realization appeared on Tim's face.

"As you have already realized, since you were unconscious during a portion of the ritual, you were unable to moderate what information was released into the magic tag." Mr. Gee said.

"So all of my information was recorded," Tim said, his voice turning icy cold.

Mr. Gee flinched.

"N-not all of it." Mr. Gee admitted. "Since you were only unconscious for a portion of the ritual, the tag was unable to collect a majority of the information."

"So what information do you have then?" Tim asked.

"I have your name, which I promptly provided to Alexander," Mr. Gee said. "Then I have a few other things like your age, weight, muscle mass, and properties. I'm honestly surprised more didn't go through. I would have loved to see what your bio had to say."

Tim froze for a moment.

"So my properties..."

"Please don't worry about that! Your Death property won't be a problem here." Mr. Gee said. "We have been lied to by those hateful zealots of the church more than enough to know better than to trust their baseless slander. All they care about is furthering their political agenda, no matter how many lives they take."

Mr. Gee almost whispered those last few words, but they still ended up being the most prominent.

Tim could already guess as to what the situation was, based on what he's observed thus far. He had already seen hundreds of similar situations in the storylines for the games he plays. Well, used to play.

Basically, the humans get put into power and decide to put down another race for threatening said power. Humans always have been known to fear that which they don't understand. Of course, roping religion into the situation makes conflict all the more likely.

The silence after Mr. Gee's words lasted for what seemed like forever until Tim decided to break it.

"Whatever the case, you said you already showed Alex my proof of identity right? So I can leave then?" Tim asked.

Mr. Gee looked up.

"Of course! Now that we know you're a noble, we have no right keeping you any longer than you'd like." Mr. Gee said.

"Great! Then I'll be-"

Tim was stopped by Mr. Gee.

"With that being said," Mr. Gee said. "The territory outside of this village belongs to monsters, and I would hate to see you get lost or worse on your way out. Have you looked into getting any sort of equipment before heading into danger?"

Tim couldn't help but agree, as he had no equipment of any sort. The only thing he has to his name at the moment is a dirtied robe with a hole in the middle, exposing his muscular chest and gut.

"I suppose you're right." Tim agreed. "You wouldn't mind letting me borrow some clothes and a weapon, would you?"

"Not at all." Mr. Gee said, a smile on his face. "In fact, I'll do you one better. Go tell the man at the front desk downstairs that you're signing out to go do some shopping."

"Got it. Thanks." Tim said.

After Tim left the room, Mr. Gee pulled out a small ring-shaped object that quickly projected a hologram-like image in front of him.

"That boy is dangerous." Mr. Gee muttered. "I can only hope he doesn't set his sights on me. Who knows what kind of trouble he'd bring..."

Magic Recording Tag

Name

Tim Hodgins

Race

N/A (Undead)

Properties

Death, Flesh, Hunger, ????????

Traits

???

Foreigner

???

???

???

***

Once Tim finished his lovely conversation with the man behind the desk, whose name he found out to be Finrick, he sat down at the most sanitary table he could find. Granted, the cleanest table he could find was still moderately hazardous, as the amount of advanced technology in this world was little to none. Either that or the village Tim was residing in was especially primitive.

While waiting, Tim was debating whether to refer to Finrick as Finn, Rick, or just to say the whole thing. This train of thought was quickly derailed, as not long after Tim sat down, Mr. Gee could be seen walking down the stairs.

"You ready to go?" Tim asked.

Mr. Gee nodded and motioned for Tim to follow him.

Tim did as the old elf wished and quickly caught up with him.

As Tim was brought to a multitude of different shops, Mr. Gee had tried asking him the specifics of the gear he would like, but as Tim wasn't nearly confident enough in his knowledge of fantasy materials, he simply asked the old man to choose for him.

"I suppose I can do that, but I still need to know how you're planning to fight." Mr. Gee said.

"What do you mean?" Tim asked.

"How do you fight?" Mr. Gee asked. "Do you get up close and personal? Do you stay back and shoot projectiles from the safety of cover?"

Now Tim understood. This was like his class.

Back when Tim played RPGs and made a name for himself in the online community, he had been bending the meta to his will, running an unconventional setup of a solo tank, going all-in with health regeneration. He had never been able to finish fights quickly with fortitude alone, so he made sure to raise his strength just as much, yet it never resulted in a quick fight. He was sick of having to spend hours at a time fighting DPS players only to have them realize their inevitable defeat and run away.

That wasn't how Tim wanted to live. Now that he was in a world where one mistake meant getting eaten by a giant carnivorous plant, he wanted to go for something more to his liking.

"I'm planning on fighting very aggressively," Tim said. "All I need is armor that is light enough to move freely in and strong enough to stop a blade from cutting. For a weapon, I'll take anything that's good for slashing."

Tim's reasoning for his ultra-aggressive playstyle in this new world was due to him understanding that he was not as physically fit as his video-game character and probably never would be. His body was not one that could ever be considered "tanky." With that in mind, he went for the next best thing when it comes to defense, and that was offense. There once was a saying that "the best defense is a good offense." He wasn't exactly sure who said the quote, but he was sure it was at least mentionable.

Tim also understood that this was a whole new world with dangers of unthinkable calibers, but he also knew that if he kills things quick enough, they won't be able to kill him. Plus, he wasn't satisfied with the way he was forced to combat enemies in his games, so he was trying something different. A world full of monsters probably wasn't the right place for testing, but he wasn't counting on falling out of the afterlife and into a fantasy world again, so there's that.

Mr. Gee nodded, and they continued through the village, slowly acquiring more equipment as they went.

After Tim was finished shopping with Mr. Gee, he was left in his inn room by himself with all the spoils of today's haul.

Mr. Gee hadn't been stingy with his money at all, apparent by the quality of each individual piece of equipment.

For armor, Mr. Gee picked out a set of dark cobalt-colored robes that looked to have been roughed up. Tim was told, that despite its appearance, it was one of the best items available. Tim was skeptical at first, only being thoroughly sold when he witnessed the shopkeeper attempt to run a sword through the robes, only to have the robes come out completely unscathed.

Mr. Gee had also bought Tim a set of ebony-black boots, made of a mixture of unknown cloth and a type of wood Tim had never heard of. T'was to be expected, as Tim had only been in the world for less than 3 days.

The boots were made in such a way that they would make traversing difficult environments much easier. They were also said to have been enchanted to harden when immense force is put against it, similar to oobleck back on Earth, but to a much higher degree.

Despite Tim's protests, Mr. Gee had also provided him with many different types of charms and magical items that would improve both resistance towards magic used against him, and the efficiency of magic that he used, himself. Tim had only mentioned magic once to Mr. Gee, but that seemed to be enough for him to go all out, buying almost an entire small shop's worth of magical items. Of course, that didn't mean as much as you'd think, considering magic items were moderately rare, and the village wasn't exactly the most economically advanced place in the world, or at least Tim hoped not, but he appreciated it nonetheless.

Last but not least, Tim's weapon. Mr. Gee had taken the most time on this, browsing through every weapon in the shop before deciding not to pick anything from the main selection, instead opting for a private talk with the shopkeeper. Once Mr. Gee finished whispering to the shopkeeper, the man walked behind a curtain to the back room, and soon came back out with a silver and blue box, slightly shorter than the length of Tim's arm.

Inside the box was a dagger with a black hilt and a blade just as dark. The material of the blade seemed oddly similar to chromium from Tim's original world but was quickly demonstrated to have none of the brittleness of its look-a-like back on Earth. With a single test, the knife proved to be able to easily slice both cloth and leather with minimal pressure required. Once you put real force behind it, however, you could slice wood with relative ease. Of course, Tim wasn't strong enough to exert that kind of force just yet.

Mr. Gee had mentioned the dagger being magical as well, with almost every part of the weapon brimming with enchantments. The blade was enchanted to be sharper, stronger, and harder. The hilt, easier to hold. Tim was unsure how enchantments were even put in place, but he had an idea that the symbols on the dagger had something to do with it. The last and most unique ability of the weapon in Tim's opinion was the capacity for the dagger to serve as a magic conductor, increasing the effectiveness of certain types of magic whenever held.

Most people can cast magic without the need for a tool if it is in their arsenal of skills, but a magical weapon or tool can certainly be helpful, as they have the potential to increase your magical capabilities to that of a higher rank. Of course, many choose not to wield one, as they usually come in the form of large staffs that are inconveniently heavy. The magic tools that are as small as Tim's dagger are rare by themselves, but it's even more uncommon for one so small to be so effective as to rival a larger one like a staff. Wands exist, but they are thought to be of little help, and many claim that it feels unnatural and uncomfortable using a wand and that it isn't worth the minimal increase in magic power.

Tim had been spending a good chunk of the day shopping with Mr. Gee, but still had a few hours before it would get dark. He thought about leaving, but the idea of being stuck in the dark with monsters of unknown strength didn't bode well with his idea of survival.

So instead, Tim decided to confront something he had seen that morning but decided to put off due to the hustle and bustle of the day.

- Awakened [Hunger] property through the use of a ritual.

- Unlocked [Hunger] property skill [Vital Hunger].

- Awakened 1 of 4 properties.

- Awaken 3 more properties to progress to Copper rank.

[Vital Hunger] (Passive)

Cost: N/A

Increases health and stamina regeneration when food with high magical concentration is consumed.

(Bound to Convalescence)

Tim had been vaguely reminded of his in-game character whenever he saw the ability's relation to health regeneration, but he put that thought aside.

He had been subjected to a feeling of intense hunger ever since he woke up but he couldn't necessarily describe the feeling as uncomfortable anymore. It was a strange feeling for sure, but it felt like more than just a normal stomachache. It was slightly painful, but also reassuring in a way. It was akin to the feeling of entering a dark alleyway with a gun. You feel exposed entering the alleyway, but you also feel safe with the gun.

Many ideas and worries were coursing through Tim's mind and all he wished for was the embrace of sleep to take over so he could stop thinking for a while.

As that was not an option, Tim instead opted for the next best thing, and that was to train. He was thinking about training his new ability, but he didn't know what foods had high magic concentration, so he would have to stick to basic exercise for now.

He was unsure if the exercise would actually help, given that his body was undead, but it hasn't been much different from a living body, so he figured it couldn't hurt.

"Watch out world," Tim said. "I'm finally going to exercise!"