The janitor wasn’t a very world-wise individual. He knew how to survive in a city, but he didn’t really get out much. His adult life consisted of working, going home on repeat. He didn’t go out of his way to go camping and thus, lacked vital skills needed to survive in the wild. Still, he knew his priorities.

“Fireball!” He screamed, aiming his palm at a tree. “Magic missile! PK Fire! Thundaga! Magic Burst!” The 32 year old man shouted while waving his arms, doing his best to will anything to happen. Nothing did. A bird flew away from a tree nearby, crying wildly. Alex tried to feel for a deep pull of energy inside him. He had zero clue what he was doing, but that’s what everyone did in situations like this, right? At least, that’s what happened to everyone on the websites he read stories on.

He fell to his knees, breathing heavily, worn out from his screaming. Sweat dotted the top of his head from the heat. He looked up at the treetops above him, where light filtered down through the leaves. The grass felt great under his fingers, so he clenched it, and tried to pull it out. A few blades of grass ripped free, but at his level of strength, there wasn’t much success. Strength… “Status,” Alex commanded.

[Alexander Stone]

Race:

[Human]

Level:

[0]

HP:

Hale

MP:

Untouched

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Parameters

Strength:

Poor +Major Advantage

Constitution:

Average +Minor Advantage

Stamina:

Average

Reflex:

Average

Coordination:

Poor

Wisdom:

Proficient

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Skills

[Outside Context Problem]

You come from another world that has no access to a system. The World is watching what you will do.

What the hell did it all even mean? Obviously, this was like one of those system portal stories he loved to read so much, but the system shown was unusual. He hadn’t seen one like it before. “At least...” he chuckled, “My system is original.” He rolled over onto his back, and the screen followed him. A nice, rich blue. As he lay there, he did his best to decipher what he saw.

“Help! Info! GM! DM! Admin!” Nothing happened. He had to at least try. Alex went over what he did know. The message was in English for him, which meant either English was spoken here, the system tailored itself so he could understand it, or it was automatically translated for him. Honestly, he hoped it was the first one. He doubted the world would just grant him magical language abilities, and he honestly struggled with learning new ones in school. He also couldn’t assume that what the system showed him was how the rest of the world was, if it was automatically translated for him. Maybe English existed, and wasn’t the main language, which meant it auto translated. Maybe there was no English at all. Either way, Alex could read his status screen. The thought alone made the man grin.

Second, it showed his race was human. That implied there were races that were not human as well. It could also be that because he had a system, it could recognize he was human, but that humans don’t exist at all. He could be the only human here. Or perhaps, it said he was human because he believed he was human. Alex tried to think really hard that he was a cat. Nothing changed on the screen and he just felt foolish. He was not a cat. That lead to him feeling extreme guilt for the cat in his apartment. Sasha had no one if he was here. Would she starve? Would someone rescue her? Would anyone even bother looking for him there? A deep sadness filled the man.

He took his feelings and shoved them deep down inside him like he always did when confronted with anything upsetting. It was useful skill that helped him deal with children bothering him as he cleaned the school. Right. Level. Having a level of 0, or even a level at all implied progression. He just needed experience points or whatever the locals had. He still didn’t know why it was 0 instead of 1. There could be a million reasons. He looked forward to figuring it out.

As for HP and MP? That had to be health and magic points. Meaning magic! He may not have been able to just wave his hand and look for a tingle on his back for ultimate power, but there HAD to be magic! He felt giddy thinking about it, then felt guilty for feeling giddy about any of this because he abandoned his cat by coming here. There were no numerical values for these two things. His HP was Hale. Meaning in good health. He didn’t feel like it, to be honest. His knees always ached, especially when it was going to rain. Scoliosis destroyed his back over the years, and his hands had this tremor to them. None of this went away when going through the portal. He received no new powerful body, or even just an ordinary one without the aches and pains of a life of drudgery work. All he got was this forest and the system, which he would never trade for going back. Even if he grumbled a bit, he was thankful he found the portal first.

His MP was Untouched. Meaning he never used his magic and it was full? Maybe? Perhaps untouched meant he never touched the ability to use magic, and it was locked away from him. He wasn’t able to just use it, after all. Still, he couldn’t let himself feel discouraged. He would use magic one day. He had too. Still, just having magic was great. There were no other bars like the health and magic. No stamina bar, or anything else. He wondered how it was calculated.

Then he had his parameters. That was such a weird way to say his stats. It was fancy. Strength had to be about physical strength. That was easy. It worked the same basically everywhere. It likely controlled how much he could carry in his…

“INVENTORY!” He shouted desperately. Please, please, PLEASE let there be an inventory! There was not. Either it didn’t exist, required magic or an item, or maybe he just wasn’t talented enough for it. Alex repressed that thought before he had a panic attack.

Constitution as perhaps how tough he was? His natural defense? He wondered if he had an armor class like in D&D. He doubted it. If he did, it was probably 5. The screen said his was average. Was that average for all humans? Average for anyone with a system? Average for people of his age and body type? There was that plus minor advantage thing as well. What did that mean? His strength had that too, though it said major. His strength was also poor, which he really couldn’t contest. Alex knew he wasn’t the strongest person in the room by far. He was absolutely tougher than most people he knew. He could take a hit or two. Maybe that’s what the advantage was? Slightly better?

Reflex and Coordination he thought were the same thing. Apparently, according to this thing, he was wrong. Alex knew he could run okay, for a fat guy. He wasn’t the fastest, but he wasn’t the slowest. In tight quarters, he could maneuver his body pretty well. That’s why he was still hired as a janitor. He could reach dark corners behind things. However, he couldn’t catch and throw if his life depended on it. Maybe that was why his coordination was poor. He felt like it was poor. Maybe reflex was related to being able to move, and coordination was how efficient was at it, as well as related to close term movement vs long term movement. It was his best guess.

It seemed Stamina was a stat instead of a meter here. Average sounded about right for him. He could walk forever, but was limited in his ability to run. The man was sure if he lost weight, this could increase. He just knew it was his own fault his body was so average. Though he did wonder if this was tied to his magic as well with the lack of an intelligence stat. Maybe wisdom did that?

After all, the only thing he was proud of on his body was his mind. But what did the stat govern, itself? How do you quantify wisdom? He knew just enough to know he wasn’t the smartest person out there, but he thought he did pretty good for himself. Then again, if he was so wise, why was he a janitor at a high school? Alex grinned. He wasn’t a janitor anymore. He was free. There was an entire world ahead of him, he just had to figure out how to survive. He needed food, water and shelter. Now that would be a task for this city boy.