Falling back to the ground in a whumpf of sand, I lay and took a moment just to breathe, gazing at the water. Slowly, in and out. In. Out. Huuuuuuuuu…

He was in a new world. He couldn’t get back home based on the information at hand because he was dead. Somehow, he'd managed to go through the most important interaction of his life half dazed acting like it was a joke and now, for the first time in at least a year, I began to cry as I realised I would never see any of my family ever again, or my friends, or just anyone.

I was alone in the wilderness with no idea about so much as the fundamental physics of the world I was in, or the kinds of people that lived in it. And that was if there was anything that even classed as a ‘person’, though I wasn’t going to choose now to become a racist by any means.

It was this thought that made me began to move however. I did know some things though, I knew most things were the same just looking around. Realistically the physics of the two realities were probably very similar with the exception of magic and any additional elements it brings to the table like mithril or whatever. And if it goes by usual fantasy terms then it probably has most if not all earth metals plus the extras, iron, copper, gold and silver should all still exist. Trees and plant life, looking into the forest, seemed predominantly unchanged based on the fact that it was coconut trees that made up the coastline. And based on the environmental factors on the whole I appeared to be in a place with similar enviroment factors as somewhere like Hawaii…

Looking back out across the water I could see further islands, smaller certainly than this but still with the tell tale volcanic peak, dotted off the coast and toward the horizon meaning I was probably in an archipelago as opposed to a hot spot island chain.

Though it could still be an island chain if the archipelago formed over a subduction zone? There may be an island chain that was created through the area due to the friction of the subducting oceanic plate...

Eh, who knows, while it could be useful later it isn’t immediately relevant to survival. As interesting as it is…

Allowing myself to be distracted in these sidetracks helped me further calm and focus on the immediate situation.

“So, the necessary elements of survival are shelter, food, water and entertainment.” Speaking to myself for lack of a person to bounce ideas off of.

Entertainment was something for later, after I had the other three I had to find something to do, or the simple lack of anything to do, would drive me slowly insane and suicidal. Which long term could be an issue on the island, meaning I had to find some people or escape.

For the minute however the focus was shelter, food and water.

I decided to look over my status to take stock of these fantastic ‘abilities’ I’d been promised.

Status:

Name: N/A

Race: Sloth

Class: N/A

Core Trait: {[Sleeping Giant]}

Skills:

Mountain Goat’s Grip

Unlock

Spells:

Miner’s Lantern

Newton’s Binding

Traits:

Wanderer’s Jukebox

Arcane Juggler

Pele’s Mantle

Haverhide:

Tatter Moth Swarm

Loner’s Companion

Token of the White Tower

The Beholder’s Book of:

+Fungi

+Arboreals

+Weather

I became slightly side-tracked when reading my race again however, and walked to the edge of the water. Pausing for a moment I thought about my old face for a minute, no particularly impressive features apart from nice eyes, my mam would always say, green that always reminded me of the fields I could see from the upstairs window of my bedroom at home. Looking down I saw something so unexpected i couldn't help but whip my head back howling, shattering the suddenly tense situation.

Falling back onto the sand in what was beginning to feel like a pattern all I could wheeze out was…

“I…I…I fucking look like stone…wheeeeeeze… fucking stoner sloth! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

The weight I’d been carrying drained with that connection, that stupid fucking salt passing advert put such a stupid face to the whole thing that I couldn’t help but laugh. How couldn’t I? My life had become so ridiculous and unreal, but it was happening and just laughing felt like it reworked everything in my head.

What happened was terrible and I would trade anything to just go back but even if the possibility existed it would, most likely, involve travel back via the void to face Douglas again and he may just kill me this time or leave me out in the void to mutate into an eldritch jellyfish or something.

I had always been going to die at that moment and right now I had another chance. I had fucking magic powers now and I was going to make the most of my second life.

Returning the water’s edge, I was found myself surprisingly pleased by the presence of two pine green eyes staring back at me. My fur, weird thingsto say, was earthy brown but almost crystalline, being partially translucent, but still as flexible, if slightly thicker than the hair you might see on a particularly shaggy dog.

The fur around my eyes was a darker black fur, and the fur coming back from the peak of my snout/nose was a white colour like my grandparents and had a silvery hue. It came up and around the eyes but avoided contrasting too much as the shorter underfur was brown everywhere and served to blend the colours together to the extent where there weren’t distinct lines.

On the whole, my body was like a fusion of a sloth with the frame and size of a human. My height was hard to judge as the sizing of organic life couldn’t be trusted they could be pygmy or giant species, so I could only go by the sand and rocks around me, which led me to believe I was probably about the same size as before so roughly six-foot or a little taller.

Looking down at my arms, they were completely coated in hair that grew toward my hand, from which my fingers stuck out, like trees in a field of wheat. Claws, claws were what they were. They were around 10 inches long and slightly curved, the base of which was like a hairy human finger in terms of manoeuvring, same for the second knuckle but then just claw no third joint. For such an innocent seeming creature the sloth had claws like scythes of bone, the nutty little leaf eating fuckers. Which meant he was a creepy little leaf eating fucker now, well..a creepy big leaf eating fucker, the transfer had left me 100% of my human gut.

I had a claw replacing each missing digit with 4 finger claws and 1 thumb claw on each hand.

The claws on his feet were like something from Where The Wild Things Are. Short only sticking out an inch out of foot which was again covered in the partially translucent hair.

Unlike the species of my world, who I’d Wikipedia deep dived a couple times, this universes definition of "Sloth" was slightly lackadaisical with me having almost the complete anatomy of a human beneath the skin but a sloth head and skin.

Focusing back on his hair though it wasn't the first time i'd noticed somethimg unusual, deciding to check my status for the two notifications I never got the descriptions for, I looked back at my status and pulled up the descriptions.

Saying that, what really happened was I looked around the edges of my vision for several minutes, before realising that I didn’t have any pending notifications, so I probably had to say or think it.

Taking a moment to experiment I found both to work.

Reading the description first for [Pele’s Mantle].

Pele’s Mantle This trait turns all hair into a naturally occurring glass fibre. Due to the users race of Sloth the skill has evolved to include all fur and may absorb materials to evolve, taking on further geological properties.

Then looking at my former inventory skill I got an interesting description, if one with disturbing and amusing connotations.

Haverhide

Dimensional storage space accessed through any patch of user’s hair.

A second pocket of 50cm, by 50cm by 50cm, may be accessed solely for the storage of monetary or precious wealth.

Size of main storage space is currently:

1.5m, by 1.5m by 1.5m.

“Holy shit! Now I can literally pull gold out of my ass…”

Focussing again on the first description I ruminated on how the trait may work out. Could I become a walking tank by absorbing tons of stone into my fur…Or even better!!! Diamond hide!!! An impervious armour of diamond hairs would be amazing, but then again… If anyone has anything like a [Poacher] class they’d probably be able to smell me all the way out here no matter how isolated, with a potential pelt like that, ready to be collected and laid out in front of the fire to lay and eat fondue on.

...........................

Reaching up to slap myself I stopped, seconds away from shredding my own face. Resorting to simply shaking my head to clear out the internal rambling i fixated myself back on the three things I needed. Firstly, I would focus on shelter, it looked like it was either 10-11 or 1-2 judging by the sun being a little before/after its zenith, but I didn’t know how long the day was, likely long based on the ecology but, better to be safe than outside dying of exposure. With a heart full of can-do attitude, I headed towards the coconut trees and the jungle that followed it and up the base of the volcano.

I then promptly landed face first in the sand as I was hit with a wave of exhaustion. In the dark that existed between my eyes and the sand of the beach there was a flickering light in the corner of my vision.

You have unlocked a restriction of your Core Trait:

{[Sleeping Giant]}

Your core trait is characterised by a being at rest and as without so within, within without.

Your physical energy is significantly limited, and as such you become exhausted with ease. Too much exertion will place you into an unconscious state.

WARNING:

The unconscious state created by exhaustion and or any other negative debuffs will not trigger the abilities of Core skill:{[Sleeping Giant]}

“Really putting a damper on a guy’s mood here…” I mumbled into the sand before rolling over.

Realising that this was probably why I kept falling so easily in the past half an hour, I decided to brainstorm a method of scouting the area for an opportunity for shelter when I remembered one of the items I got from the transfer.

Tatter Moth Swarm

These scraps of fabric were woven into moths by The Life Weaver:Feedle and while mindless; serve as endless opportunities for utility. Being able to reweave themselves into anything from a single large sheet, a rope, or an outfit. The discerning gentleman who likes having a suit made of moths may also find a fine collection of turnip watches to accompany it.

Warning:

Your base slots for familiars is 0/1 if you accept this familiar you may not accept any more, nor take any pets or companions until you unlock more slots via evolution, class acquisition/evolution or Trait acquisition/evolution.

The item, though called a swarm, appeared as a single intricately woven moth that I delicately pulled out after catching a claw on one of the threads. This was after having stuck my hand, claws first, into my belly, the sensation of impalement mercifully absent as the slightly curved implements of nightmare, sank further and further in-between the course, crystalline hairs, never reaching skin, as if reaching between the fur coats of a Narnian wardrobe.

It's body was made out of black fabric which is the point i noticed it was a patchwork of my clothes that I’d been wearing during the transfer. The main body of the moth was the softer material of my hoodie while the wings were the tougher cotton material from the cargo trousers, which, at the edges of the wings, were ragged and torn. The face of the plush was made up of two soft round cushions with a button sown in the centre of each, I noticed after a second with a small note of embarrassment, that the buttons, and therefore the fabric, were from the ‘gentleman’s doorway’ of my boxer’s. The rest of the face was made up of a single tubular piece of fabric from my socks that appeared to represent the proboscis, and emerged from just under the eyes. The antennae were the drawstrings from my hoodie with the little bronze aglet still capping each.

I assumed the ‘tattered’ nature of the wings was the source of the name, but it seemed like it would fly so it should, he hoped, be able to act as a scout and so be worth accepting as a familiar, it was shaped like a real moth, and when dealing with something as nuts as magic I thought it was my best bet.

You have accepted the [Tatter Moth Swarm] as your familiar.

Prepare for link.

“Ah shit…” blacking again as something reached through the aether, wound up, and sucker punched me in the cerebellum.