With a single thought, the level up notification vanished from Alex’s sight. He was too freaked out to think about important things like that! He had just been attacked by what seemed like sentient beetle monsters. After running for what seemed like ages, Alex collapsed by the bank of the river. He rolled his body over in the gravel and sand so he could look into the water. His reflection showed a pale and sweaty dark haired man with a panicked look in his brown eyes. He dunked his dead into the water, swallowing as much as he could handle. He scooted back away from the water, his head cooled off from the river. Instead of being soaked in sweat, his face was just soaked. It didn’t help his uniform any. The thicker navy blue material of his pants stuck wetly to his skin from the sweat. His left shoulder throbbed in pain from where he landed on it. Tiny welts on his skin stung where he landed hard on the ground into the dirt. He felt the sting and light burn from a cut on his arm. Alex didn’t even remember getting cut. He opened his status page.

[Alexander Stone]

Race:

[Human]

Level:

[1]

HP:

Lightly Battered

MP:

Untouched

His HP reflected how he felt right now. Lightly Battered, if anything, undersold it. Alex hadn’t felt like this ever before. He was just some city guy. He wasn’t used to pain or hardships like this. Sure, he was routinely exhausted, but he had never been in a fight. All the stories he read rarely went into just how it made you feel. “Aaaugh,” he moaned pitifully. He just wanted to complain. He hated this. He really did. If this was the cost of battle, he just wanted to go home to his cat.

No, Alex had to be honest with himself. He might like how his body felt, but for the first time in his life, Alexander Stone felt alive. Alex felt like he could actually do something. He was level 1 now. That had to mean something! He checked the rest of his status. There had to be something!

Parameters

Level Up! You do not meet the requirements for a Stat Change

Strength:

Poor +Major Advantage

Constitution:

Average +Minor Advantage

Stamina:

Average

Reflex:

Average

Coordination:

Poor

Wisdom:

Proficient

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Skills

Level Up! Please view your updated skills list

[Outside Context Problem]

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

[Language]

Poor - You have spoken a tongue foreign to this world and heard the words of a living creature. You have been gifted the Skill of Language!

[Weaponry: Staves]

Poor - You have taken the first steps of mastery of the ability to wield a staff in battle!

[Fear Resistance]

Poor - You have taken the first steps in overcoming your fears!

Alex had new skills! It seemed every level up applied the experiences you went through to you directly. There was only growth through leveling, but it could be massive or small depending on what you did. Alex wondered how leveling was calculated. It seemed so strange. Did the skills he earned contribute or was it only combat? Could it be some other system entirely? Merit based? Alex had no way of knowing. He really needed to find someone to explain it all to him. He needed some sort of basic understanding if he was going to figure any of this out. He also noted the skills seemed to be ranked just like his stats. He needed to test the languages thing. He guessed the staves was from the stick he used. Fear was confusing. Why was it a skill? Was being terrified a debuff? Was it why he wasn’t still panicking? There was just no way to know without getting scared again, and honestly Alex wasn’t about that life. He was just fine not figuring that one out.

He was starting to feel better. It was easier to think of the beetles as just monsters. Never mind what getting the language skill implied. They had to just be monsters. And even if they weren’t, they still attacked him first! It was self defense! Drinking the water in the river also helped. He just hoped it wouldn’t get him sick, like water in other countries could if you weren’t used to it. That would be pretty bad. He didn’t need those kinds of issues when stranded out here. It didn’t matter too much, to be honest. He would either get sick or he wouldn’t. Worrying about it would not help him any. Instead, now that he had access to water, Alex needed to focus on food and shelter. He wanted to cross the river, but he didn’t know how deep it was and the current was pretty fast. It would also get his clothes more wet and that could cause problems. Then again, it was really hot. Alex doubted his clothes would take long to dry. In the end, he just kept walking down the river, using the tree branch as a walking stick. The rough bark hurt his hands, but that was fine. He was fine.

As Alex walked, he listened to the sounds of nature. The water frothing to his right as he wandered down his chosen path. He saw deer and other such animals drinking water, only to run as he approached. He could hear birds crying to each other, and other such sounds that he had never heard before living in the city. He saw a squirrel like creature with two tails, a rabbit who’s tail was another rabbit head, birds with four wings. Even the trees looked different sometimes. He saw strange fruits, and things that looked native to his world. He still didn’t trust the edible looking things, but he might break down soon in hunger. A red fruit that was shaped like an apple, but lumpy was the most common.

He marveled at all he saw, the guilt from the battle all but gone as he passed by. Eventually, in the distance above the trees, he saw the top of what had to be buildings. The river ran directly through a town! Civilization! The sun was setting, casting the entire area in a soft white hue. As time passed, the smaller golden sun was setting, leaving the massive white sun in the sky. The light from that sun was much less intense, almost like a moon, but brighter. Above the trees, Alex could see another celestial body orbit around the big sun. It was smaller than the second sun, but the light was more moon-like, just like the first sun. It was interesting to see how it changed the area.

He was extremely nervous as he approached the city. There was a wall surrounding it, with a gate filtering the water coming into the city by the river. There was an entrance near the river, with people coming and going without a problem. Guards were keeping an eye on the passing people, but no one was stopped. The people themselves were more interesting.

There were humans like himself. Tall, short, skinny and wide, all kinds of people were present. Dull colors like black and brown hair were the majority, but there was plenty of other colored hair too. Blonde, pink, red, everything. Skin colors too. Most people were actually darker because of the light exposure in the area. They wore rustic clothing for the most part. Simple cotton clothes. Pale tunics, leather crafted pants. Booths, gloves, the whole nine yards. Standard fantasy ware, before factory made clothing was popular. Of course, there was higher quality clothing among better washed individuals, who were obviously wealthy people.

He also saw short, stout people who reminded him of dwarves. There were people with animal features, and even creatures who were made of entire elements! Many different creatures too, though Alex didn’t know if they were actually creatures or people who just looked different. He didn’t know anything about all of this. He was interested in learning. As he reached the gates, he eavesdropped on conversations he couldn’t understand. He could feel something tugging out of him from his chest, like he was wire being un-spooled. Slowly, he began to understand what the people were saying, as if they spoke English. Was this the language skill? That strange feeling must have been him losing MP. It made him feel like he was less real.

“WALB DECOV? HUNOP FELcause the old lady let me go, you know?” One man said to the maybe-dwarf next to him.

“You don’t know anything about marriage, you old sack of eggs!” the short man laughed in response.

Being able to learn languages just by listening to them was the most magical thing Alex had ever felt. His skin tingled with goosebumps, or maybe that was just his massive sunburn. He stopped listening to people’s private conversations and just focused on himself.