"I didn't defeat anything!" I said as I scanned what was left of the settlement. It wasn't much more than a couple scattered pieces of wood here and there, "Why is it saying I defeated all those goblins and orcs?"

I came to where that first little shack had been, but it was completely washed away. The whole settlement was gone and a small stream of water was now winding its way through its previous location and down the side of the mountain I now realized I was standing about halfway up. I looked up towards the peak I couldn't see before through the trees and the dam wall which now had a roughly 30-foot gap. I ran towards the edge of the town where the massive amount of water had carved a similar path heading down the side of the mountain. I looked down and saw the remains of another slightly larger settlement that had been destroyed by the rushing water.

"Well, we better start making our way down there to loot the bodies," Mae said as she landed on my shoulder and peaked over the edge with me, "You received a ton of experience for that happy accident."

"Happy accident? I just took out an entire town of people," I said indignantly. Shame washed over me as I continued to stare at the ruins.

"Not people," Mae corrected me, "Orcs and Goblins are not people. They have committed worse offenses than any people you ever met on Earth. Plus, you are the only person here. Even the other humans you meet here are NPCs." I didn't press for more information as I was still processing my atrocities.

"The guilty feeling is real enough, but if this is just some sort of game I might as well play it since I've already killed dozens of these orcs and goblins. Also, there is no way I am in Heaven committing murder. This has to be the product of too many RPGs and me hitting my head or something."

"Who said this was Heaven?" Mae asked obviously not expecting a response, "I suggest you check your status and go look for some gear down there. Also, don't forget to open your magic and map pages. Your map will automatically update any areas you can see and now that you've used magic you'll have a magic menu."

I looked out into the valley and tried to take in as many details as possible. I could see some smoke rising in the distance, but couldn't tell exactly what was there. I focused on pulling up the map screen and it filled my vision. I could see the path I had taken from the campsite, the top of the mountain, the two ruined settlements, and the forest below me. Everything else was shrouded in grey fog and I couldn't make out any details. I could see some small red exes in the settlement below and figured that they were the fallen orcs and goblins. Mae was right, I needed gear and it would be foolish to waste this opportunity. I'll have to go with it for now and just hope I wake up soon. I can either see this as an ethical nightmare or try to have fun and just tell myself this is a game while continuing to see it as an ethical nightmare.

I focused on the word magic and a screen popped up that showed the fireball spell I had used. It had 1 of 20 in italics next to it and no other information. "Why does it say 1 of 20 next to the fireball spell in my magic menu?"

"If you use the same spell scroll 20 times you will learn to use that spell without needing to have read its spellbook," Mae said as we worked our way safely down the mountain, "as spellbooks are pretty rare, scrolls will probably be your go-to method to learn new magic."

"Why didn't you say that when I first picked up the scroll? That seems pretty important." I said as I caught myself slipping in the muddy new path down.

"I am your guide. I can give you basic information and answer most of your questions about this world, but you have to make discoveries for yourself. Careful!" Mae decided to fly instead of ride on my shoulder after multiple near misses of my flailing arms as I tried to keep my balance.

It took about an hour to make it to the settlement down the mountain. It looked to be about noon if this place was anything like Earth. I looked at my map again and went to the nearest red ex. It was a goblin scout based on the text that appeared when I focused on it and it had the same strange, faint outline as the footlocker from earlier with the word lootable. I reached out and a similar grided inventory screen popped into view. This time I mentally selected each item separately instead of hitting take all. It worked as expected and I examined each item before adding it to my inventory.

Goblin short bow

Junk Quality

This shoddily-made bow is should hold together long enough to shoot some arrows.

Standard arrow damage. 5% chance to break on use.

Goblin arrow x12

Junk Quality

This arrow is shoddily-made. 50% chance to break on impact making it unretrievable.

Damage 1-4

Carrot: Restores 2 HP

"Finally a weapon. Although it doesn't seem to be very strong," I said as I thought about the bow and it popped into my hand. Then I thought about an arrow and it automatically appeared in place on the bowstring, "I could get used to this inventory system. It is so intuitive.

I pulled back the string and aimed at a board that was sticking out of the ground about 15 feet away. I let fly the arrow and missed by a good 7 inches. "Wow. I am not great at archery," I said as I thought of another arrow and it popped into place. I managed to hit the board after 3 more shots. This was not going to work very well in a fight.

"You are starting from square one in your skills, Teddy." Mae had some sympathy in her voice as I walked over to collect the arrows I had shot. "You have to walk before you can run."

My mind focused on the word skills when she said it and sure enough, a skills menu materialized in my vision. I had a handful of skills that had started to level up without me knowing it.

Archery: Level 1 (7/100)

Athletics: Level 1 (56/100)

Sneak: Level 1 (1/100)

I tried to figure out why the numbers all seemed so different. "What do the different numbers mean? I assume they are progressing to the next level, but I shot 4 arrows and have 7 of 100 next to archery. How does leveling work in this game?"

"You get different amounts that the system calculates automatically. Your overall level is accumulated from monster kills and quests that give varying XP based on the situation, level of the monster, and many more factors. Each level requires its number times one thousand so it gets a little harder with each level. That means at level 1 it takes 1,000 XP to reach level 2, then 2,000 more to reach level 3, and so on. Your skill level also has many factors such as success or failure, whether you are in combat or not, and more. Skills also get progressively harder but by a factor of 100. So it will take 100 skill experience to reach level 2 then 200 to the next level, and so on for skills. A simplified explanation for your archery skill would be you were out of combat so the points were lower and you received more experience from hitting the target than from missing it." Mae said explaining leveling as we walked to the next red ex.

"Speaking of XP, is there any way to change the notices I'm constantly getting? They are kind of distracting mid-fight," I asked as my eyes found their next lootable target.

"Some people's kids," Mae said as she fluttered alongside me, "Yes, just think about turning the notices off and they will stop. You can turn them back on the same way. You may want to keep level increase notices on though so you can allocate points as soon as possible."

I only turned off the XP alerts since they weren't as helpful in my mind as the level-up alerts. I also tried to make alerts pop when skills increased but I was unsure if it worked or not as there wasn't a telltale sign that anything had changed.

As I stared at the next lootable body and I was now thinking about my overall level I realized that I hadn't looked at my status screen since the dam incident. I pulled up my main menu and froze as I read in awe.

Theodore: Level 6

Thief-Mage

HP: 100/100

MP: 100/100

XP: 1,250/6,000

25 Attribute Points to Apply

"I grew 5 levels by accident! Also, how do attribute points work?" The shock mixed with a little guilt as I mentally reminded myself that this wasn't real and I hadn't really killed dozens of orcs and goblins. This is just in my mind.

"The system didn't care that it was an accident. Each of the monsters that died because of your direct action counts towards your XP total." Mae shook my shoulder a little to get me to focus again on the looting that needed to take place. "Try focusing on your attributes to bring up that menu and apply your points. They don't do you any good just sitting there."

I focused on attributes and another new menu popped up. How many tabs are there? All the attributes had descriptions underneath them and a number 1 to the right with a plus and minus sign next to the number. The bottom of the screen had a button labeled apply. I figured I could distribute my points then make it final by mentally selecting the button. I finished and looked over the selections.

Brawn: - 5 +

Muscular strength. Affects strength, melee combat, and bodily fortitude.

Precision: - 5 +

Hand-eye coordination and vision. Affects accuracy in everything from ranged combat to pickpocketing.

True Grit: - 5 +

Mental Strength. Affects fight or flight response, courage, and mental fortitude.

Nimbleness: - 5 +

Speed. Affects the ability to move quickly, jumping, and dodging.

Blessing: - 10 +

Luck or favor. Affects looting and every other action in a positive way.

I spent four points in each attribute to bring them all up to five, then I dumped the rest into what I hoped would help me to get better loot. I always loved trying to find the best loot for my characters in RPGs. It is a pretty great feeling to get the perfect gear for your character build and if the blessing attribute gives me a better shot at the good stuff then I might as well increase my odds.

Once I hit apply I felt a rush run through my body. I felt stronger and lighter on my feet. I still had a few dozen bodies to loot so I got to work.