Portal Game - Chapter 2 - Unintelligent Decisions(1)

When James woke up he was greeted by a raging headache and a recollection of the strangest dream. Something about a trip to the bathroom gone wrong. He was quickly brought back into reality by the big 2 metre tall violet portal floating in the air just a step away from him.

"AHH!" James shouted and attempted to jump away only to trip and his trousers and fall off the toilet towards the portal. He barely had enough time to regain his bearings when the clear screen from before popped up again.

[Congratulations! You have found an unclaimed portal!]

[Would you like to claim this portal?]

[Y/N]

"What the hell?"

The confused young adult surveyed his surroundings, taking in the state of his bedraggled bathroom before refocusing his gaze on the screen. It made no sense at all! Well, the words somewhat did, but the entire situation didn't. Here he was, taking a shit after a long day at work, when a portal randomly decided to materialise in front of him. And if that wasn't crazy enough, a block of text then appeared and announced that the portal was claimable and that James had the option of claiming it?

A curious voice in the back of his mind asked where this portal could possibly lead to, but it wasn't enough to make James disregard commonsense. He stared cautiously at the vortex, slowly inching away from the anomaly.

"ELISEEEEEE!" He called again to his useless sister only to receive no response. It was to be expected, but it was disappointing that Elise was a deadweight even when it counted.

Before taking any further action, James quickly cleaned himself up and made himself presatable. His hair was deranged and his clothes were disordered, but he was now in a much better state than before. He refocused his attention on the screen, and more importantly the portal.

'I have no idea what's going on here, but obviously I can't leave things as they are!'

He looked at the question on the display.

[Would you like to claim this portal?]

[Y/N]

After a little bit of thought, James hesitantly chose the no option pressing lightly on the screen as if it were a touch screen.

'If I just reject the portal, it'll go away right? Then everything can just go back to normal!'

Deep down, James wasn't sure he wanted normal, but it didn't seem like a good idea to just trust a random portal that appeared from nowhere. The screen disappeared upon being touched, leaving the room with only himself, the portal, the remaining shampoo bottles on the floor, and toilet paper scattered around like confetti. He watched the space anomaly expectantly, examining it for any changes that may take place. After a while of nothing happening, he closed his eyes and counted to 5, and then opened them again to check if the portal was still there.

He looked at the portal.

The portal was still there.

"Well shit" James said although the immature part of him couldn't help but be relieved. That didn't change the problem at hand though, the problem being the giant freaking tunnel to the unknown occupying his bathroom. Gathering all the courage he had, he slowly extended his hand towards the portal. When his hand was only 30 centimeters away, the screen appeared again.

[Congratulations! You have found an unclaimed portal!]

[Would you like to claim this portal?]

[Y/N]

James sighed in relief that the option hadn't been lost forever. He'd have regretted it immensely if the portal had remained without the option to claim it, whatever that meant.

'Here goes nothing…'

James braced himself and selected the yes option.

*ding*

The sound of a small bell echoed across the bathroom as the screen burst to life.

[Congratulations, you have claimed a Level 1 Portal]

[Binding with Portal…]

[Portal now bound to User - James Haggen]

[Portal has received trait: Bound]

[Requirements met: Level Up!]

[Portal has reached Level 2]

[Portal has received trait: Two-way Travel]

[New functions unlocked: Activate/Deactivate Portal]

[Welcome to the Portal Game]

"...What?"

James watched incredulously as the new notifications kept popping up on the screen, each one making less sense than the last. The display seemed to be treating the portal like a video game, which would be fine if the freaking giant space vortex floating in front of him was just a figment of his imagination. Deciding it was for the best, James chose to suspend his disbelief to help him better take in his situation. He looked back to the clear screen to find that the notifications had made way for a menu.

[Portal Operating System:

Menu:

Status

Activate/Deactivate Portal

]

The menu only had two options, one of them being the newly added one. Without further ado, James selected the status option.

[Portal Operating System:

Status:

User - James Haggen

Level - 2

Point A - Earth

Point B - Svilenia

State - Activated

Traits - Stable, Bound, Two-way Travel

Back]

While James could guess what the majority of the status meant, there was one part that stood out to James especially.

"So this portal leads to a place called Svilenia?"

Almost instinctively, James took out his phone and searched up the new name on the internet.

"Huh."

Nothing. The search result wasn't empty, but it gave him nothing that could be recognised as a place. Then again, it made sense considering that point A was planet Earth. Making a small leap in logic, James concluded that Svilenia was most likely another world. Selecting the back option, James went to explore the other option on the menu, choosing Activate/Deactivate portal this time.

[Deactivate Portal?]

[Y/N]

Upon selecting yes, the violet tear in space trembled, startling James as he jumped back. The portal began shrinking almost instantly after, closing in itself completely to become only a blur once it had reached only half a meter in height. James examined the place where the portal had once been. Although he could still see some faint spacial distortions in the air, it was a lot less noticable than a giant fucking purple wormhole, so James was happy with the results.

The logical part of James' mind told him to just leave things as they were now. Something insane had happened to him, something not normal, something that never should happen to anyone in the real world, and now James had the opportunity to walk away and pretend all this strange shit had never happened. Sure, he'd have to look at the deactivated portal whenever he went to the bathroom, but that wouldn't hurt anyone. Yet, as these thoughts passed through his mind, James found himself dissatisfied.

"I've found a portal for god's sake, and I want to just leave it alone without looking through it once?"

Finding himself too curious for his own good, James reactivated the portal. The blur that was the deactivated portal quickly transformed into the giant vortex it was before, this time much more smoothly and without fanfare. He looked at the spiraling interior of the spatial anomaly and took a deep breath. He knew that what was on the other side was probably dangerous, but he was already bound to the portal. He didn't want to just leave it alone.

"It's just a quick look, what harm could it do?" The young adult convinced himself to go against his better judgement, and then, in probably the single most unintelligent decision in his life, James stepped through the portal.

For a moment his vision became a world of violet as the ethereal energies of the portal enveloped him. The sensation wasn't uncomfortable like James was expecting, instead it presented itself as a strange tingling feeling, kind of uncomfortable but with no pain. Within no less than 5 seconds, James entered a whole new world.

The first thing that James noticed about his new environment were the trees. The leaves of the large wooden plants were the colour of autumn, with myriad shades of red and yellow transforming the surrounding forest into a pre-winter wonderland. The beautiful vegetation contrasted magnificently with the deep blue sky preparing itself for the transition from day to dusk. As James stepped out of the portal and truly entered the world of Svilenia for the first time, he found himself in a clearing of the Forest with the portal being at the center.

"Wow…"

Just as James was about to further appreciate the beauty of this new world, the clear screen of the Portal System popped up in front of him again, obscuring his vision.

[World transfer detected!]

[Communicating with Voice of Svilenia...]

[Communication Complete!]

[This is the Transferee's first visit to Svilenia!]

[Integrating Transferee Into Svilenia...]

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” James squinted at the screen

The answer to that question was forced upon him just seconds after.

{Welcome Otherworlder, to the Plane of Svilenia!}

This announcement wasn’t proclaimed by the same system as before, no, it didn’t come from the little clear screen like the others did. The message bore into James’ mind, not as a voice or as written words, but as an idea, a knowledge that this was what the so-called voice of Svilenia wanted him to know. What followed wasn’t so pleasant. A stinging sensation enveloped his entire being as some sort of invasive energy entered his body. It was the same feeling as when a layer of skin is ripped off somehow, exposing the underneath to the harsh air around it. The stinging wall followed by pain not dissimilar to receiving a vaccination across his entire body. The experience wasn’t excruciating, but it certainly wasn’t comfortable and would forever be a bad memory that James would prefer to never recall.

The worst came after. The voice of Svilenia spoke again, but with a much larger quantity of information to share. Knowledge was crammed into James’ brain far too quickly for his feeble mind to retain, yet the Voice of Svilenia wouldn’t let him forget anything and it never seemed to shut up. Unknown words and phrases flashed through his thoughts and then moved on before he could even begin to comprehend them. This happened again, and again, and again until James was sure he was going to collapse from the mental overload. After a while the Voice of Svilenia ceased speaking, leaving James with a headache even worse than before. James blinked, surprised he had managed to remain both standing and conscious throughout the entire process.

*Ding*

The pale screen of the Portal System popped up.

[Integration into Svilenia Complete!]

“Fuck you,” James said to the screen.

Examining the newfound knowledge that now rested in his mind, James found that he now had knowledge of a myriad of unknown languages, none of which he recognised being from Earth.

“This is so freaking strange,” James said, practising one of his new languages. It sounded odd and surreal coming out of his mouth, seeming like some odd hybrid between German, Arabic and the singing of birds. The noises his mouth was making were completely alien to his ears whilst also somehow compatible with the human tongue. He winced at his pronunciation which he instinctively knew was god awful. It would take a while getting used to speaking the unfamiliar tongues of Svilenia. Aside from the languages, there was something else sitting at the back of his mind. It was almost like a button yet it wasn’t, instead being more like a pressable concept.

‘So a button made of thoughts’ James concluded, not attempting to describe it further.

He pressed the button and the voice of Svilenia spoke.

{Profile:

Name: James Haggen

Race: Human

Level: 0

Class: None

Subclass: None

Health: 60/60

Mana: 70/70

Strength: 5

Dexterity: 6

Constitution: 6

Vitality: 7

Intelligence: 7

Wisdom: 10

Spirit: 9

Titles: [Otherworlder], [Portalbound]

Class skills: None

General skills: [Sense Portal] - Lvl MAX

“Okay, so I have stats now?” James regarded the information dubiously. It wasn’t too surprising compared to the other outrageous developments of the day, but it did leave some unanswered questions. What did each of the stats represent and how did they work? How similar was this world to a video game? Since when did James have mana? For the last question, James could only guess it had something to do with the physical pain he felt during the integration. Had the simple act of traveling to a new world given the ability to use magic? Another thing James found interesting were his highest two stats. He had no freaking idea what spirit was meant to mean, but he couldn’t help but feel smug at seeing the big 10 next to wisdom.

Bringing his attention to his titles and skills, James noticed that he already had two of each. Focusing on the titles, he couldn’t help but wonder what they did. To the young adult’s surprise, the Voice of Svilenia responded to his query. As if another mental button had been pressed, the concepts of the titles expanded in his mind, revealing the information he required. He first looked at his [Otherworlder] Title.

{[Otherworlder]

You are a foreigner to the plane of Svilenia. You are a stranger to the realm’s culture and customs and even the smallest of children are more knowledgeable of the ways of the world than you are. Whilst the locals have their advantages, you also have yours. Unrestrained by your birth and upbringing, the Voice of Svilenia declares that all paths to power are open to you.

*Allows you to ignore certain requirements to obtain new classes*

*You gain 3x experience. This experience boost will decrease exponentially the higher level you become*

}

Well, this title almost seemed to be an insult at first. James scoffed before he quickly changed his tune at the realisation that he was only level 1. What level were most children at? Most likely a lot higher than his. While the natives of Svilenia most likely were trained in their youth and taught all the skills needed to survive in this world, what did he have? James could only be thankful that the world was generous enough to give him a way to close the gap. The benefits offered by the title were definitely useful. The small experience boost would be a godsend in catching up with the residents of the new world whilst the perk of skipping requirements to adopt new classes certainly seemed interesting. Shaking his head, James looked at the other title.

{[Portalbound]

Not only are you a traveler of worlds, but you are the master of a portal. With you, the powers of multiple worlds combine to create new and never before seen paths. The myriad worlds may communicate through you.

*You gain the skill [Sense Portal].

*Your powers can influence other worlds.

*This title cannot be seen or detected by third parties.

{[Sense Portal] - Passive - Lvl Max:

You are an Otherworlder bound to a Portal. Just as you are connected to your portal, your portal is connected to you. Hence, you shall always have a general awareness of the location of your portal.

This skill cannot be seen or detected by third parties}

Having had it been pointed out to him, James discovered that what the skill description said was true. Like some sort of sixth sense, he could feel some sort of tether attached from himself to the portal.

"Looks like I'm not going to get lost any time soon" James smiled at the revelation.

Now free to explore the new world to heart's content, James took a moment to really take in his new environment. James marveled at the autumn forest that expanded as far as his eyes could see. Barely able to contain his awe and unable to further resist the urge to explore, James took another step forward only for his foot to land on some unknown object. He looked down.

It was a tube of toothpaste.

It was surrounded by an assortment of shampoo bottles.

Speechless, and trying not to notice the avengers themed body wash that Grandma had bought him for Christmas, James ignored the obvious hazard to the wildlife and headed out towards the forest.