In an ancient and mysterious forest veiled with fog, an unconscious man clad in various plates of steel armor was leaning against a willow tree. The set of steel mail he was wearing had seen better days, as it was covered in numerous scratches and dents, along with being slightly rusted. That battle from not too long ago did a number of things to his equipment in general, but thankfully he managed to walk away from that skirmish with his life.

At the drop of a hat, the soldier snapped wide awake and gasped for air as it filled his lungs; he then coughed profusely as if he breathed the noxious fumes from the fire of a dragon. After that episode, Maxon got himself back together and noticed right away that he wasn’t in the infirmary with his buddies.

Strange, this will be the first time that he was taken to another location without prior notice.

Wanting to investigate further, Maxon got up on his feet and looked around the place he was in. The area was an unknown woodland that possessed an eldritch feel to it: there was barely any light present, it was all overgrown, some of the plant life looked as though they came from another world, and there was this white mist that made seeing things rather difficult.

But despite all of these aspects that would normally scare the average person's pants off, Maxon was obviously different. He has been in numerous fights that involved going through locations full of fog, swamplands, rocky mountains, and vast jungles inhabited by ferocious beasts. Ergo, this was absolutely nothing new to him; being a cold-blooded fighter had its own perks.

To put it simply, the man was quite hardened and will keep pushing forward no matter what sort of danger lurks in the distance: this was also what his fellow soldiers stood by. However, this doesn’t mean he eschewed caution; life as a fighter was already a dangerous and grueling job.

Suddenly, the soldier’s thought process got interrupted; a twig being snapped in half was responsible for that.

On instinct, Maxon unsheathed a weathered short-sword and approached the source of the sound coming from a berry bush. He slapped away the shrub to fight the supposed monster that was lurking about, but found out that it was just an ordinary tree squirrel minding its own business. The animal noticed the weapon he was holding and scurried off in fear never to be seen again.

“Damn, so much for that.” Maxon said to himself, expressing slight disappointment.

It will be awhile before he finds a way out of this strange and eerie place. With no other options, the fighter continued moving forward and slowly disappeared into the fog.

--------------------------

At a taiga somewhere, all was normal. The sky displayed a beautiful cerulean hue with little to no clouds obstructing it, huge collections of pine trees were being brushed against the calm breeze, and song birds of many kinds chirped into the distance.

Suddenly however, the screaming of a young man falling from the sky could be heard throughout. He landed on the ground with a somewhat loud 'thud'.

The one that fell from the sky was an averagely-dressed male with dark skin and curly hair. The land around him shook somewhat loudly, but thankfully he didn’t suffer any serious injuries.

He slowly got up on his feet, “Ow... where did that thing take me?” the boy wondered as he dusted the dirt off his clothing.

Well, it wasn’t really everyday that you spotted a weird portal in a ditch somewhere and walked into it out of curiosity.

Anyways, now that our unlikely hero ended up in a strange and unfamiliar world, it will take a lot of careful planning and decision-making on his part if he wants to make it out of this alive. Jason decided to cautiously trek around the forest he was in, hoping to find some clues or maybe even help.

Fortunately, lady luck was on his side when he saw a wooden chest located inside of a small cave. Jason approached the thing and opened it; he was blown away by the things contained inside.

The 19-year-old received a set of reinforced leather armor that covered him from head to toe, a one-handed iron sword, a shield made with the same ore, a coin pouch capable of holding large sums of money, and finally underneath all of that equipment was a smart-tablet inside of a case that can be attached to one’s belt.

“Man, isn’t it my lucky day.” Jason said to himself with glee.

In his mind, what could’ve been better than this was a cow that can breathe fire and dispense chocolate milk out of its udders. However, he realized that obtaining a creature like that would probably be a long way off, so for now he’ll focus on building himself up to a decent level.

While Jace continued on a paved road for a short amount of time, he spotted a local village nearby. Wanting to be taken seriously, he strapped himself in all of his gear through interfacing with his smart-device. It was now self-evident that this thing functioned as a status screen and items menu.

All armored up, he proceeded to enter the small town and was greeted with friendly smiles. The village possessed a particularly modern-medieval look to it; the same thing could be said for the clothing of its denizens.

While he made the trip towards the local tavern, Jason saw many walks of life such as commoners, scholars, aristocrats, government officials, and even soldiers going about their day. It reminded him of his city back in the real world, where he was a no-name loser that mostly everyone just ignored.

But this time, it will be different; he will no longer keep his head down like he often did in the past. No, instead he’ll try to do his best to make a difference in the lives of people. It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it in the end.

The armored traveler finally arrived at the town’s pub and entered it. The establishment was sparsely occupied with patrons coming and going, so it was relatively quiet. He sat himself at a table and rather quickly, a pretty waitress approached him with a kind attitude.

“Welcome to the Golden Leaf Tavern!” the server greeted, “What would you like today?” she asked.

“Can I have some chocolate milk and pork empanadas?” Jace requested, while he read through the menu.

“Absolutely. Anything else?”

“That’s all, thank you.”

The waitress took the menu and then headed towards the kitchen.

While waiting for his food, Jason decided to use this time to look for any piece of information that could aid him in his adventures via his tablet. What he found greatly intrigued him, as the world he was in worked similar to that of an ARPG, to which Jace was an avid fan of. He also learned that someone can only increase their stats or skills one at a time, depending on how many points they had.

Adding to that here’s what the Attributes (or Statistics) were:

Power: How much damage you can inflict.

Toughness: How much damage you can resist.

Mobility: How fast you can move.

Vitality: How many hit-points you have.

Smarts: How intelligent and analytical you are.

Charm: How persuasive you are.

Jason also noticed an info-box regarding a mechanic called Super-Techniques. He tapped on it and here’s what it said:

Super-Techniques allows an individual to do fantastical things, such as deal high damage at long range, induce weaknesses, temporarily increase one’s stats, heal allies, and many other things at the cost of MP.

“Huh, that sounds awesome,” Jace thought to himself, “I think I’m ready to set up my character.”

He tapped a button and the rolling of dice began. A player got three tries for each Attribute, so it was important to choose the most optimal outcome.

Results:

Power: 6, 5, 4

Toughness: 4, 6, 1

Mobility: 6, 4, 5

Vitality: 5, 4, 3

Smarts: 3, 5, 5

Charm: 2, 6, 5

Key:

1 = Abysmal

2 = Terrible

3 = Bad

4 = Below Average

5 = Okay

6 = Above Average

7 = Good

8 = Great

9 = Excellent

10 = Exceptional

Then Jason picked the values. Here were his final results.

Class: Knight

Stats:

Power: 6/10

Toughness: 6/10

Mobility: 6/10

Vitality: 5/10

Smarts: 5/10

Charm: 6/10

At last, Jace was now ready to go. Suddenly, his moment of anticipation was interrupted when the waitress from earlier served him his food and beverage. He really wanted to go out and explore the lands, but doing it on an empty stomach is a pretty bad idea. So he decided to stay and eat for the time being.

15 Minutes Later...

At an equipment/item shop located directly next to the tavern, the newly-minted knight was buying healing potions, maps, rope, lamp oil, and other helpful tools. While checking out all items, an elderly lady behind the counter noticed the appearance of the individual and couldn’t seem to recognize him; thus her curiosity to know the stranger materialized.

“Say, young man, what’s your name?” the senior citizen asked.

“Umm, Jason?” he answered.

“Nice to meet you, my name is Benita,” the old lady informed, “What brings you here to our town?” she wondered.

Thinking that the store owner won’t believe Jason’s ‘fallen-out-of-the-sky’ story, he decided to give his own tale, with the context of being a denizen of this world.

“Well, to put it concisely, I’ve spent most of my childhood and teenage years being a shut-in loner.” the knight said.

“Really?” Benita responded with surprise.

“Yeah, spent a lot of time reading comic books, playing board games, and watching dumb movies. It was really fun, but as I aged, started venturing outside my home more frequently, consumed cerebral and informative media, and lived through serious events that affected tens of thousands of people, I realized that the things I used to engage in were shallow, meaningless nonsense. So I took it upon myself to begin traveling the world.”

“Hmm... interesting.”

“But there’s something I want you to understand, there’s nothing wrong with escapism in general,” Jason disclaimed, “I'll admit that I dabble into Anime, Manga, and Video Games at random intervals to help me cope with reality, but when they're used to actively shun real life, that’s when it becomes a problem.” he opined.

“Well, what a kind, yet honest thing to say.”

“Just saying, there’s no harm going out of your comfort zone once in a while.”

After that conversation had concluded, Jason bid farewell to the store owner and proceeded to go on his way. However, before the young man could start his adventure, he heard a rather violent commotion going on next door at the tavern. Worried, he barged into the pub and spotted a barmaid being intimidated by a pair of thugs.

“Listen bitch, your boss has a lot of nerve scamming us to get where he is.” the goon on the left angrily said.

“You better come up with the money right now or we’ll torch this place to the fucking ground!” his partner threatened.

“Listen, I just work here. I don't know where Hans is at, please don’t hurt me!” the barmaid begged earnestly.

“Alright then, time to tear the whole place down!”

Things will get ugly real quick, so it was time for Jason to intervene.

“HEY!” shouted the knight, instantly grabbing the attention of the thugs, “Leave her alone you goddamn miscreants!”

“Who the hell are you?” one of the ruffians questioned.

“A heroic warrior,” Jason answered earnestly, “Now I will give you two options: a) Leave and never come back, or b) Get your asses knocked onto the ground. Which it will be?” he presented, while getting out his sword and shield.

One of the goons discerned how Jace looked somewhat formidable with all that equipment. As such, he began to have second thoughts.

“Antonio, should we really go toe-to-toe with this guy?” his partner-in-crime asked with concern.

“C’mon Emanuel, he’s just a fuck-wit that has fancy gear trying to look tough; I’m sure we can take him on,” Antonio assured, “Alright boyo, if it’s a fight you want, it’s a fight you get. Let’s take this shit outside!”

With great energy, the three men rushed out the door and into the town square where there was more space to duke it out. Many onlookers gathered around them and some even started a small gambling scene, betting a moderate amount of money on the fighters. Antonio and Emanuel broke out their weapons, such as a battle-axe and rapier, and the three men got into a battle position.

It was all quiet and the air was filled with great amounts of tension. Jason, looking at the whole situation, had prepared for this day to come; it will be his first time fighting full-contact with actual weapons.

Emanuel charged first at the knight with an expeditious pace and thrusted his rapier towards him. Jason dodged this move and counter-attacked with a swift, hard kick to the gut, knocking the thug back to a considerable distance. Then Antonio ran towards our hero and performed an overhead slash with his axe; Jace quickly saw this and rapidly sidestepped, once again dodging an attack.

Using the goon’s slow speed to gain an advantage, the warrior bashed Antonio’s head with his iron shield, greatly disorienting him; it made the criminal look like a bumbling idiot. Then the process repeated itself with different strategies on part of the thugs, but they ultimately proved to be futile.

Mid-way into the fight, Emanuel was trying in vain to not to fall unconscious and found his partner struggling to keep his footing. For details, injuries in this world, such as slash and stab wounds, looked like glowing red lines and punctures.

“Shit, we can’t beat this guy!” Manny concluded, “He’s just going to keep avoiding our attacks and then countering them; we need to retreat!” he urgently suggests.

“I guess you’re right; it looks like I underestimated this kid.” Tony admitted.

The fencer took out a smoke bomb and threw it onto the ground; it released a large cloud of smog and temporarily blinded everyone including Jason. Once the smoke-screen had cleared away, Antonio and Emanuel had vanished from the scene without a trace.

Even though the combatants were gone, they fled sustaining heavy injuries. By doing that, it was considered a surrender; thus, Jace was the winner. All those years of practicing sword-fighting, watching martial arts movies, and frequent visits to trampoline parks had paid off.

The citizens warmly congratulated the knight for his skill and effort; they then moved on with their lives. Immediately afterwards, he heard a notification sound coming from his tablet.

Level Up!

+6 Ability Points (for Attributes) awarded.

+4 Skill Points (for Super-Techniques & Skills) awarded.

“Huh, neat.” the player commented.

“It absolutely is.” said a masculine voice.

Jace turned around and was immediately blown away, as he instantly recognized the people that were approaching him.

“Oh my god... Jeffrey, Leslie, Mr. Hamilton, is that you?” Jason uttered with shock.

“It’s been a long time my boy. How about we head back to the barracks and have some food together?” Mr. Hamilton suggested.

And thus, this is where the adventures of Jason McGuire truly began.

-----------------------

Stats:

Antonio -

Main Class: Knight

Sub-Class: Berserker

Power: 7

Toughness: 6

Mobility: 4

Vitality: 6

Smarts: 4

Charm: 5

Level: 3.2

Emanuel -

Main Class: Knight

Sub-Class: Fencer

Power: 5

Toughness: 4

Mobility: 7

Vitality: 6

Smarts: 6

Charm: 4

Level: 3.2

Jason -

Main Class: Knight

Sub-Class: None*

(*Yet)

Power: 6

Toughness: 6

Mobility: 6

Vitality: 5

Smarts: 5

Charm: 6

Level: 3.4