Adam grabbed a tree as he reached out. Malchus was gone, the tower, the Centurion, everything. Sunlight blinded him and he had to cover his eyes. He could hear birds chirping and the air felt warm and dry. Not moist and humid like the tower.

Adam looked around. He was in a forest, another forest. This one looked different still. The trees were taller, thicker, their leaves full and bright.

Adam backed up and tripped. He rubbed his head and found a box at his feet.

[A gift box from Malchus]

What was this? Adam closed his eyes and tried to shake the feelings welling up inside of him away. He saw Malchus holding back the wave of energy, and the room full of dead men. He rolled over and retched. It took him several minutes to calm down. He had to focus, he didn’t know where he was and he had no supplies.

When he was sure that the worst had passed Adam turned back to the box.

[A gift box from Malchus]

[Do you wish to open the gift box?]

Adam selected yes. The box disappeared in a glimmer of light, leaving two items behind. One was a dagger and the other looked like some sort of monocle. Adam picked up the dagger, it was heavy, at least five pounds which was outrageous for a dagger. Its surface was smooth and dark grey with a hint of green when the light hit it.

[Adamantium Dagger - A dagger made of adamantium. This heavy metal lends the dagger extra armor penetration when stabbing and bonus blunt damage when slashing. Modified increased equipment requirement. Requires 70/100 proficiency in daggers or Rank S to equip.]

What was this, a dagger that was modified to be harder to equip. Virtually no one had a Rank S in any skill. Those that did were destined for greatness. Even so proficiency rank was only part of the puzzle, attribute growth was another huge factor. That’s why people like the Holy Sword Saint were revered legends. Although a Rank S was sure to leave their mark in history, even if they didn’t cut as deep.

[Would you like to equip Adamantium Dagger?]

Adam was confused, he had never seen an equipment message before. They were only supposed to show up if you met the requirements for the item. He selected yes and the dagger became equipped to his weapon slot, appearing on his belt in a sheath.

This was impossible. Something was wrong. Adam opened his stats screen, and his mouth fell open.

He had a Rank S in daggers. Not just daggers at that but a Rank S in every proficiency he had ever heard of and some others. Weapons, magic, and crafting proficiencies. Daggers, swords, bows, fire, wind, water, smithing, alchemy, enchanting and many more. Adam’s mind was reeling, all of the proficiencies were still only level one out of a hundred, but the higher the rank the stronger the skill and faster it and the proficiency leveled up.

Adam looked at the monocle.

[Veil Shaper - Artifact - An artifact created by the ancient god of knowledge and trickery, Hetzenct. Capable of piercing all deception, as well as concealing all knowledge that the bearer wishes to remain hidden.]

[Would you like to equip Veil Shaper?]

Adam agreed and the monocle appeared against his right eye. Nothing seemed different though. He looked around, everything seemed normal.

He checked his skills, he had several basic skills for each proficiency. Since he had the adamantium dagger and had some, albeit very unsuccessful experience with daggers, he decided to keep it as his main weapon. Since he didn’t know where he was or what monsters might be lurking around. It may be unwieldy but at least it was something. He also had magic to fall back on now, or maybe to use first to try and end the fight from a distance, like Lynn had done in the fake dungeon.

Adam noticed a transparent rune at the top right corner of his vision, like the ones in the tower. He activated it. It opened into a small pop-up with a simple prompt.

[Give Item:________]

It was more or less like the command prompt from the tower. Again Adam was floored. He entered potion, but nothing happened. He tried entering Lesser Healing Potion. A small vial of red liquid appeared in his hand.

[Lesser Healing Potion - A small vial containing a weak healing potion, using it will restore a small amount of HP.]

This was a dream. Some sort of post-scarcity miracle. He could make anything presumably. As long as he knew the item's exact name it seemed. There didn’t seem to be a search feature to rely on. But even so.

He entered Lesser Healing Potion x5. Five small vials of red liquid appeared in his hand, although he dropped several of them.

It looked like he would need some sort of storage. Adam thought of Malchus’ storage ring. He entered Storage Ring. Nothing happened. It seemed like they were called something else.

Adam played around with the give item prompt. He succeeded in getting a small leather pack, some bread rolls, a waterskin, some lesser mana potions, and the previously created lesser health potions. He didn’t want to overload himself, and his priority was getting out of this forest and to civilization.

Also he had figured out how to give himself money, 50 silver and 50 coppers. It wasn’t much compared to what an adventurer could make, but it was over a years worth of wages for the farmers and miners back in his town. It should be plenty to get him by for now, and he could always make more. The impact of which he’d have to consider on the economy.

Adam considered his other skills for a moment. He had decided on using daggers, at least for now. Which was a one handed weapon, this left him a free hand. A shield was an option but not practical with a dagger’s short reach. They also required the wielder to be agile. He could use a second dagger he supposed but that would lock him into close combat, and there were penalties for dual wielding. Magic was an attractive option, he had it after all and it would be a waste to not use his MP, even if the mana pool was small. He had potions to restore it after all. An infinite amount too it seemed. It would also allow him to attack at range without resorting to using both hands to shoot a bow.

He thought back to his time in the tower’s library. He had read many books, well, skimmed them mostly. There was an introductory to magic and combat book that he had read from cover to cover. It was outlined in layman’s terms and it was one of the few he could easily follow. Wind magic and dark magic were both good options for dagger wielders. Wind offered movement options and tracking style magic, along with ranged attacks. Dark magic on the other hand really did shine at night time, but it had ways to weaken opponents and debilitate their minds, it was one of the premier combinations for assassins, which wasn’t something that Adam was particularly drawn to. Wind magic for now.

Adam checked the sky. It seemed to be midday. He should probably pick a direction and keep heading the same way to not end up going in circles. That seemed like advice that he had heard on one of those survival programs. If he could find a way to head downhill he should eventually find water, and water would lead him to people. Adam picked east for now, that way the sun would be at his back and wouldn’t blind him as he traveled.

Traveling without a companion was incredibly boring. And a little unnerving since he wasn’t sure where he was going. The woods were thick and overgrown with not a single sign of habitation. Adam feared that it might be some time before he found anyone.

He decided to check his skills, one of the wind magic spells was a non-combat skill, and it should let him level his wind proficiency without needing to fight.

[Sense - allows the caster to detect the presence of any living creatures within a short distance.]

“Sense,” Adam said, activating the spell.

Something large was right behind him.

Adam leapt forward but felt a sharp pain in his back, he lost two thirds of his HP.

[Giant Mantis damages you with Scythe Slash.]

Adam whirled around and drew his dagger. Unsurprisingly he faced a very large praying mantis. The creature towered over him. It’s head twitched from side to side, it’s two bulbous eyes scanning him.

[Giant Mantis - Level 3]

Adam could see all of its details. It was weak to fire and blunt damage. It had 4 strength and agility, 3 constitution and endurance, and 1 wisdom and intelligence. All very average for a level 3 monster but much more than Adam’s stats. He could also see its health bar, something he hadn’t been able to see on monsters before.

Adam drank a lesser healing potion, it tasted not great, it was medicine after all, his HP was restored to full.

“Wind Blast.”

A ball of wind slammed into the mantis from Adam’s hand, his MP dropped below half. Its HP bar dropped to 80%. It was tough, Lynn had killed those cave bats with a single use of her magic. The bats were only level 1 but her stats were higher than Adam’s too. He drank a lesser mana potion and restored his mana. He wouldn’t be able to cast more than one spell at a time.

The mantis charged him, swiping down with one of its scythe arms. Adam raised his dagger to block the blow. He barely got it up in time. It was so heavy. It connected with the arm with a loud clang, knocking the arm back. He swung out with the dagger but the mantis easily scuttled backwards dodging it.

“Wind Blast.”

He hit it again, dropping it to 60%. His own mana was almost gone. He drank a lesser mana potion refilling his MP.

The mantis seemed angry. Its jowls clicked together quickly and its scythe arms clacked together. It jumped toward him again, he managed to block like before, but the second arm came in low and caught him in the side. He sucked in a pained breath, his HP dropping again to around 33%. If he got hit twice in a row he’d be done for.

Adam downed another potion and filled his health back up. It slashed at him again like before with both arms. Just like before he blocked one and took the other to the side. He drank another potion. This wasn’t sustainable.

He hit it with another wind blast, taking it to 40%. It speared him again with a scythe arm. He drank another potion. Wind blast was still on cooldown and he’d need another three seconds to use it again. He took another hit and drank another potion. That left him with one lesser healing potion. He tried to open the item prompt but he couldn’t focus on it and the fight and his skills all at the same time.

“Wind Blast.”

The mantis hit him at the same time. That left Adam with a choice. He could only drink one potion at a time. If he was hit again he’d die. But he didn’t have the mana to cast another spell. And so far his ability to hit things with a dagger was exactly 0%.

Adam drank a potion.

It was a calculated risk and Adam hoped that he was good at math. His HP was restored to full.

The mantis attacked him again. He ducked the blow from the top dodging it. The second arm took him in the side. Adam gritted his teeth ignoring the pain and lashed out with the dagger.

It connected with the creature's thorax crushing it and knocking the creature onto its back. Its HP dropped to zero.

[Congratulations you’ve leveled up to Level 3.]

It was a close victory. By all rights Adam should have died several times over. Only the potions had saved him and just barely.

[You’ve received Insect Foot, and 3 copper.]

Adam looked at the insect foot, it was the size of his hand. He decided to discard it, dropping it into a patch of tall grass. He placed the copper into his bag along with his other coins. He’d need to get himself a coin purse of some sort.

Adam decided to check his stats real quick. He’d gone up a proficiency level in daggers to 2 and two levels in wind magic to 3. And also… his attributes had gone up.

[STR 11

END 11

AGI 11

CON 11

INT 11

WIS 11]

Adam was shocked. He’d gone up ten points in each attribute. One's stat growth was the combined total of the attributes they gained when leveling up divided by the number of attributes which was six. Adam had gained 60 points, which put his stat growth rating at 10. He’d never heard of a number so high. Alastair’s was 3.5, and either the royal advisor or Melinda had said that the Holy Sword Saint had only been a 3.

Adam clutched at his chest. His heart was racing. He was excited yet terrified. This meant he had the potential to be as strong as a hero. Probably stronger. But strength had its own set of problems. Power always led to trouble, and danger.

He was a nobody, he had no one and no group to back him and protect him. And that royal advisor had all but kidnapped the others. Adam liked his freedom. He’d spent too much time languishing in that town, a burden to all. And years spent locked away in the tower doing nothing but checking on fishing nets. He didn’t want to be trapped again, powerless over his own destiny.

Adam thought about what Malchus had said. Save this world? What did that even mean?There was nothing destroying it as far as he knew. No demon lord like in fiction, or giant dragon, or eldritch god from outer space.

Adam shook his head. No he decided, he was in control of his own destiny, he would be the one to make the decisions in his life. Whatever that life may be. Would he help people? Sure within reason as anyone would do. He set out heading east again.

The ground beneath him collapsed with the first step that he took. He tumbled down into the earth and landed with a hard thud. Nothing seemed broken, and his HP had only fallen 5%. It was nothing to worry about. He looked up to see where he was, it was some sort of tunnel. A skittering noise drew Adam’s attention behind him.

[Giant Ant - Level 3]

[Giant Ant - Level 3]

[Giant Ant - Level 3]

Well shit.