Lucas sat on the ground, put the bottles of water near him and considered his current situation. With the water and the snacks I got while escaping from the spider monster, I will be able to last two to three days. But the existence of these particular things inside the dungeon is too suspicious.

My coming to this world is probably not natural occurrence.

He clenched his fist.

After several moments he breathed out and reluctantly relaxed his hand. Anger is not good advisor and right now I need a clear head.

The entity or entities responsible for my predicament have not revealed themselves until now. I am probably on my own and should not expect outside help.

In that case the first priority now should be to explore my new location and try to find some form of shelter. After that I can worry about finding more water and food.

I also need some makeshift weapon for self-defense. Although this place doesn’t look hostile, even if there are no weird monsters like the spider-thing in the dungeon, there may be wild beasts. Who knows what kind of predators might exist in this world.

I should try and see if I can access my RPG profile again. I may be able to discover something helpful and it did show I have some unassigned attribute points.

Lucas concentrated, but didn’t dare to close his eyes this time. It was a little harder that way but after a while the information appeared in his mind.

Everything was the same as before.

So the basic pillars of RPGs are all present, but I don’t have any skills, classes or traits and all of my attributes are zero. I have no idea what purpose [Celestial Harmony] and [Harmony Points] may have.

Also why is the age 0.22 and how does that number correlate to my 26 years?

I have sixteen attribute points. Since I am level eight that’s two points per level if they all originate from the level.

Most of the attributes seem standard for RPGs, but I cannot be certain of their effects just going by their names.

Lucas decided to try and find if there was additional information. He spend a few minutes and after several attempts finally got some basic descriptions.

He found the attributes were pretty straightforward. [Strength], [Agility] and [Endurance] increased respectively physical power, physical speed and stamina.

[Constitution] increased the resilience of the physical body against all kinds of damage and [Vitality] made healing faster.

Unsurprisingly [Mana] and [Aether] increased the respective quantity of those energies and the exuberance attributes improved their regeneration rates.

Nothing out of the ordinary so far.

He considered the [Energies] category.

I have no idea what Aether does. In games Mana is usually used for activating skills or spells, but I don’t have any and there are no options for acquiring new ones.

Lucas focused on the [Skills] category and tried to get more information, but he was not able to gain anything. He then turned his attention to the [Classes] and [Traits], however they also didn’t reveal anything new.

He continued his efforts to understand his profile by focusing on the [Celestial Harmony] and [Harmony Points] and tried to glean some additional details about them. Unfortunately this too proved futile.

So currently I can only make some difference by assigning attribute points.

In that case increasing Mana and Aether is out of the question since I don’t have any use for them now. [Vitality] will not give me any direct benefits in combat or exploration so that is also out.

[Endurance], [Agility] and [Constitution] will be useful without a doubt. I am not so sure about [Strength]. Increased physical power can let me use heavier objects, but I don’t have suitable weapons or armor and I will most certainly not wrestle with monsters unless it is absolutely unavoidable.

The speed which [Agility] offers is very alluring. The old saying of ‘he who runs away, will live to fight another day’ is not without merit. And faster movements will give me more offensive power, because damage depends on speed and mass. This new reality doesn’t appear to be different in that regard.

Lucas continued to consider how to allocate his attributes. While thinking of the positives of [Constitution] he remembered a universal build in a game of his childhood – dexterity for max block and everything else into life. That build was especially popular in hardcore mode.My current situation is definitely comparable to hardcore mode. This world has some RPG rules and respawning after death may be a thing, but I doubt it, and I don’t want to find out the hard way

I don’t think [Endurance] will be as useful as [Agility] or [Constitution]. In my situation speed seems superior to everything else and damage resistance can be life-saving if escape is impossible or something else goes wrong.

Maybe invest equally in both [Agility] and [Constitution]? Would that force me into some Rogue/Warrior build in the future? I am not big fan of Rogues and I would like to learn magic if it exists.

I shouldn’t worry about distant possibilities, immediate survival is more important. Even if I screw my build a little, better to be alive and imperfect than flawless and dead.

Lucas pondered for several more minutes and made up his mind. He decided to invest eight points in [Agility] and eight points in [Constitution].

I have no idea what happens when attributes are allocated. The process may be painful or it may incapacitate me. He wasn’t able to see or hear any immediate threats and decided the risk is worth it.

To be on the safe side Lucas at first invested only one point in [Agility] and waited.

I don’t feel anything. He performed several movements and was not able to perceive any difference.

Than he invested one point in [Constitution], but again there was no detectable result. Maybe just one point is not enough to produce a noticeable effect? That means eight probably will not make a big difference either, which is bad news for me. He proceeded to invest the rest of his points and got both [Agility] and [Constitution] to eight.

Again there was no difference. It is possible the change is not immediate.

He waited for several minutes but nothing happened.

I don’t have any more time to waste. Failing to find shelter before the night comes will be bad.

Lucas decided to get a makeshift weapon. He started walking around the nearby area and looked under the few present trees for a suitable stick. Soon he found a relatively straight one and took it.

There are two possible directions to go in this gorge. Which one should I take? Maybe I should climb a tree so I can observe further and see if there is anything interesting.

Lucas saw a suitable tree dozen meters away and went toward it.

While walking he spotted a cave entrance in the wall of the gorge. It was not very far from the glowing cloud of the dungeon.

So soon there are results. This is a positive sign. Maybe my luck will be good for once and shelter will be available right away.

Lucas approached cautiously and saw the cave entrance was rectangular and slightly larger than an apartment door. That gave him a pause.

That shape cannot be natural?

He came in front of the opening in the rock and observed it. There was a very short passage leading to an inside space. As far as he could see it was empty with no obvious signs of danger. It was also silent and there were no unusual smells.

Lucas gripped his stick and slowly entered.

The inside turned out to be a single chamber with no other passages. It was gloomy and not very big. Enough light was passing through the entrance to see somewhat clearly.

Only a single object was present. It was a dimly glowing sphere with a horizontal ring around it. Four columns were connected to the ring and were supporting it above the floor. Due to the weak light the object was emitting, he was able to see patterns carved into its surface.

Well now this is clearly not the work of some primitives. So there is some form of civilization in this world. That may or may not be good for me.

He continued to observe the artefact.

What could be the purpose of this device? It appears to be partially active. Is it dangerous? This place seems abandoned. Why did the builders leave it here? Lucas was curious, but didn’t dare to approach the object. For all he knew it might be radioactive or emit some kind of harmful magic.

This chamber can serve as a good shelter, but it would be unwise to stay at this place without knowing if the artefact poses some kind of threat. He decided to leave the room and continue with his exploration.

After going outside, Lucas went back to his previously chosen tree and resumed his plan to climb it and look for something interesting.

Two or three minutes later he managed to climb to the top. From his vantage point he saw a spectacular sight.

In one direction the gorge ended with a beautiful waterfall. It had height of a few tens of meters.

That seems to be the source of the nearby water I can hear.

It also means my way is blocked in that direction.

He looked to the opposite side. After several hundred meters the gorge made a turn and continued out of sight.

Lucas carried on with his observations, but there was nothing else which drew his attention or seemed interesting.

So he climbed down and prepared to resume his exploration for a suitable shelter.