I panted and leaned against a tree, tired after keeping up a fast pace for a big portion of the day.

I am [mute].

I laid down behind a bush, keeping myself just a bit hidden from the main road I had been running along.

For that misfortune, my patron god, Seraph, granted me her blessing. It gave me an affinity for magic that superseded my brothers.

I looked at my menu, thinking of how I could make use of my situation.

My parents wanted me to be a [mage] class to take advantage of that, and I didn’t. I had to watch as each of my brothers got to make their own choices. Some of them ended up dead for them, but that never made me any less envious of what they had. Choice.

Nope, not a good situation at all. Despite all my planning, so many things had to align for me to even have a chance at sneaking from the village, and I had been given no time to prepare better for the wilderness, not without giving myself away.

I had to be a [mage] class. I had to pick a class with telepathy. I couldn’t make it on my own without being what she wanted me to be. I hated it. Every reminder of how sad and angry it made me, of how wasted my life felt.

I shuddered. How would I possibly do this? I was so low level. Who would hire me? I was a 13-year-old girl with basically no physical stats. If I dallied too long, the [hunter]s would return from their hunt, and tack me down, no matter how well I hid. I had poured my heart and soul into this decision, and now I was scared.

...

No! I had to stay certain of myself, no matter what. I had to be confident, to be cocky! Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to move!

Slowly, I gritted my teeth, and my lips began to part into a wide smile.

That feeling in my heart, that trembling in my body...it wasn’t fear, it was thrill.

It had to be.

I raised myself from the ground and gave my menu one more look-down.

My Menu:

Saya: Age: 13

Chaotic Good

Patron: Seraph

Class: [apprentice]

Race: [human]

Level: 3

Exp: 76

Base Stats: Str: 10 Dex: 11 Con: 8 Wis: 15 Int: 13 Cha: 10 (Strength)(Dexterity)(Constitution)(Wisdom)(Intelligence)(Charisma)

Stat Growths: Str: 20% Dex: 15% Con: 5% Wis: 40% Int: 35% Cha: 30%

Inherent skills: [mute] [seraph’s wisdom] [fast learner]

Trained skills: [storytelling tier 3] [hope] [scribing tier 2] [magic tier 1] [print communication tier 2]

Magics: [mage hand] [flame manipulation tier 1] [water creation tier 1]

Equipment: robes, rope, canteen, slate, chalk, backpack, sword, 2 weeks of food, robes of the Seraph, intermediate boots, [life wing]

Cracking my neck, I got to thinking.

If I was going to do this, I had to work with what I had as best I could. I began assessing my odds.

Well, as one might guess, being stuck with so little equipment and abilities weren’t very reassuring. My first order of business was to get stronger. I was not likley to win fights against much else but weak monsters at my current level, but the best way to level up was fighting monsters, so, as stupid as it sounded, my first order of business was fighting one.

If I killed a monster for the first time, I would be awarded a 5% bonus to my strength growth rate, which was nice. Plus, monsters gave large sums of Exp for the low leveled. I could certainly level up if I killed one.

Some things to know about the system:

Every time I level up, each of my stats has a chance to increase equal to their ‘stat growths’. If I were level 1, my stats would be, on average, 10. Stats are a multiplier on one’s preexisting physical traits, so if I had 15 strength I would have 1.5x more strength than if I had 10. Since I had 10, I would be as strong as if I had no system -so an ordinary 13-year-old.

There are also trained skills and inherent skills. The former are usually acquired when someone levels up, but inherent skills are more like traits someone is born with, unrelated to their class, abilities, or magic.

Noticeably, I got a new skill when I left the village, called [hope]. I don’t know what it does, but it seemed to have increased my wisdom by 1. I had all but given up on the [mage] class, but a stat was a stat -I wasn’t complaining.

With everything in mind, I decided that tracking down a monster and killing it was the best thing I could do. If I could level up a few times that would be a huge boon for me. I had seen plenty of people track down monsters before, and had taken an interest in it, so I had enough knowledge to do it myself.

As they grew up, monsters got bigger and stinkier, so it was easier to find their tracks, especially since the forest was quite muddy after the recent rainfall.

I walked down the main road, keeping an eye out for tracks. Though, as it happened, my nose noticed the pawprint first.

Deep, stinky pawprints crossed over the road. I kneeled down to figure out what monster made it. The pawprint had clear liquid at the bottom of it. A bubble rose to the surface and let out a small whiff of steam.

I took a sniff, then reeled back, sneezing to get the air out of my lungs. Yeah, that was the stench of acid.

Almost certainly, the tracks were made by a [bubblebear]. They were common in the forest and left poisonous ‘bubble puddles’ in their tracks.

I took a nearby branch and dipped it into the track’s puddle. A common hunting tactic was to dip one in the footprint for three seconds then take it out. I could tell how new the tracks were depending on how the acid stripped the stick of its bark. If the acid had been sitting for a long time, it would be more base, but if it was new, it would strip the stick. I took the stick out and saw it was about halfway stripped. I nodded. That meant the [bubblebear] was around an hour away.

Making a mental note not to touch the acidic tracks, I followed the bear from a safe, not-stinky distance.

I began walking through the woods with my sword unsheathed. I had never gotten the chance to get used to the sheathing and unsheathing process in the past, so I kept it out just in case.

I walked through the woods with my sword unsheathed. Honestly, I never got the chance to get used to sheathing and unsheathing it, so I just kept it out in case I got into trouble.

After a little over an hour of walking, I found it by a small lakefront, eating some dead creature.

The [bubblebear] looked like a bear, of course, and had a massive lizard-like tail that could probably break my arm in one swing, deadly claws on its front feet, and acid-leaking, partially scaled paws on its rear legs, and an eye on its back for seeing opponents behind itself.

Usually, hunters used spears to fight these things...unfortunately, I didn’t have anything like that.

Well, it was time for a plan.

My biggest asset besides my sword was my [life wing], a gift from seraph that let me propel myself once in any direction each time I was in midair. If I tried to fly upwards, it could bring me an additional 4 feet of height, though its power increased depending on my level and decreased if i was hurt.

That, alone, would probably give me the mobility I needed to close the distance between me and it.

Its back eye was a very vulnerable spot on it, so jumping atop it and stabbing that thing was high on my priorities. Once I got on it, the thing would do whatever it could to get me off, so it would probably try to fall sideways to crush me once I did.

I didn’t have any skills to help me grapple or attack it, so I had to play to my strengths -mobility, size, and wisdom. Once it tried to crush me, it would expose its underbelly, and that would give me the opportunity I needed to kill it.

I nodded, setting my mind on that strategy.

I walked to the lakefront, revealing myself to it.

It immediately saw me with its back eye and began to swing its tail back and forth, threatening me from afar, the edge of the tail moving quick enough to crack the air.

[bubblebear]s rarely attacked creatures, since they were scavengers, first and foremost. They would find meat that other creatures killed, then intimidate them from the kill to eat what they pleased, swinging its tail at anyone threatening to take its meal.

I took one last look at my surroundings, ensuring there weren’t any creatures lying in wait, then put my plan into action. I took a good-sized stone then laid with my back on the ground, not far from the creature’s tail. Then, I threw the stone up.

To kill it, I needed to close the gap between me and it, and that meant avoiding its tail.

The stone flew upward only a few feet before the [bubblebear]’s tail snapped to the side, crushing the rock in two and sending it careening into a tree with a clack.

So I had to distract it! Immediately after it swung, I took the opportunity to launch myself onto my feet with my wing, backflipping with its propulsion, then dashed towards it.

I had crossed a third of the distance.

Its tail swung to a stop, then whipped back towards my legs. I jumped high into the air with [life wing], flying over the deadly swipe. I landed back on the ground, gritting my teeth as I took a step out of my deep bootprint. The sucker fell for both my tricks!

I had crossed two-thirds of the distance.

I narrowed my eyes as its tail swung back once more, and after just two steps, I launched myself over it once more.

The [bubblebear] jumped. My eyes widened as its back feet kicked off the ground, changing the angle of its tail swing. I braced myself, folding my legs up towards my body, but the tail barely caught my right ankle, twisting it just too far.

I yelled at the sudden pain as I fell through acid-soaked dirt its back foot kicked up and landed on its back, only for my voice to quickly cut out from [mute].

Damn it, I underestimated its intelligence!

In anger, I raised my sword then stabbed down at its eye, even while it briefly tried to shake me off, its eyelid blinking rapidly. My sword lodged deep into the monstrous organ just as it began to roll over to get me off.

I smiled as I jerked my sword out then jumped off the roaring [bubblebear] with my weakened [life wing], taking the brunt of the landing with my left foot.

Step one fin-

It swept its tail towards me, even while I tried to get solid footing, so in a panic, I did the only thing I could think of. I let my right foot slip on the mud, sending me falling straight to the ground. I watched in shock as the tail swept towards me, then glanced right above my nose once I got buried in the mud.

Immediately, I propelled myself back onto my feet with my [life wing], cringing from my ankle’s pain, then as the [bubblebear] tried to roll back on onto its feet I ran forward to stab its underbelly. I now knew it was smart and had plenty of tools to threaten me, so I didn’t commit to the stab, intending it as a feint.

It flung acid at me with its back paws to intercept my attack, so I turned on a dime, ducking out of the way, then struck its tail as hard as I could. My sword only cleaved halfway through its scales. Suddenly, its tail spasmed, hitting me in the gut and sending me sprawling to the ground, too light to resist it.

As the [bubblebear] finally got to its feet, I scrambled to my sword, which had been flung a few feet away.

With its tail and eye out of the picture, the bear was just an ordinary bear, though perhaps a little smaller, and dragged down by the hanging tail’s weight. I walked backward, clutching my stomach in pain as it roared at me, then began to charge.

The creature predicted my jump once, so perhaps it would do it again...

I ran towards the creature, meeting it head-on. After just a few steps, I squatted down, ready to jump.

The [bubblebear] did the same, bending its legs in preparation to jump.

The instant I saw it do that, I continued running.

The [bubblebear] soared above me as I dashed below it, stabbing my sword straight into its underbelly.

I realized my one miscalculation as I dove past it, however. Acid footsteps. Screeching for just a moment in surprise, I grasped its tail, which landed beside me, limp, and flailed in the mud, trying to get out of its tracks using the tail as leverage.

While I was panicking, the [bubblebear] turned to face me. That caused its tail to move, and I along with it. For a moment, I was scared, then I realized that the creature had actually gotten me out of the acid.

Then, the bubblebear began to chase its tail.

It tried to catch me as I held on to the tail, letting it drag me through the mud. It moved in circles, and its tail kept me just out of reach for a good half-minute while its movements slowly grew lethargic, my sword still lodged in its belly.

Blood seeped from its wound, pouring down the blad and into the ground, blending with its acid.

I laughed at the irony while it tried to catch me, slowly dying for its own mistakes. The battle was basically over, at this point. This was kinda fun, in a way. I felt accomplished. I had finally done something with my own two hands!

Eventually, the bear come to its senses and tried to drag me to a puddle, but at that point, it was too late. I let go, stood, patted my clothes as it stumbled towards me, then walked away, leaving the [bubblebear] behind me. As it stumbled, the sword drove further and further into it.

Then, it fell.

...

I watched it with a smirk, halfway to laughing, again. My menu hadn’t popped up to tell me I had won, so clearly, the creature wasn’t dead.

I opened my menu’s message log, then waited.

A few moments later, a notification popped up:

You won!

54 experience gained! You leveled up!

I walked to the bear then shoved it onto its side to retrieve me sword. After that, I used the bear as a seat, reveling in my kill with kiddish glee.

New bonus: [monster hunter]- +5% strength growth rate

New skill: [monster hunter tier 1] [poison resistance tier 1]

You may contribute your experience to your [class progress]

Class progress is a hidden stat that determines what classes you can turn into. It would only really matter once I got to level 10. Most people interacted with their menu by voice, though sometimes people didn’t even need that, but I just used my slate when I was prompted to. I pulled out my slate and wrote:

Me: {54 Exp into [swordman]}

Contributed 54 Exp into [swordsman] classes. You have access to new classes! You gained the skill [swordsmanship tier 1]

You may become a: [sword gamer] or [assistant guard]

Gaining new classes after level 10 requires a [class seal] -a very expensive piece of equipment- or by contributing 300 into a general class. Contributing Exp doesn’t get rid of Exp, just allocates where it goes. Admittedly, it was a little...vague and confusing.

I frowned at [sword gamer]. I guessed I unlocked the class because of how risky the fight was, but considering how methodical and well-executed it was, I felt like I was being called a gambler, my best traits ignored.

Then it was time for stat growths. The moment of truth, would I be stat screwed, or would I be a lucky little runaway?

Stats increaced: Str: +1 Dex: +0 Con: +1 Wiz: +1 Int: +1 Cha: +1

Wow, that’s one of the best level-ups I’ve heard of! Good to see my 5% constitution stat growth paid off as well.

You may increase a growth rate by 5%

Me: {Con}

Done!

Do you have any complaints or concerns?

Me: {my fight was calculated and should not have been considered a bet}

Any mistake could have resulted in your death. Are you sure?

Me: {yes}

Feedback submitted and preferences changed! Thank you for your thoughts!

I smiled and nodded. I wasn’t sure who made the system, but they must have been quite admirable to consider feedback from so many people. Well, the system itself could have been a real personality capable of taking feedback like that, but I didn’t really know if that was the case.

Well, that was a wonderfully satisfying day!

I spent the rest of the day praying to Seraph for luck while I burnt the [bubblebear]. I had heard that luck was a real thing from old tales, but I wondered if it really existed or not. Could a god even grant someone luck?

As someone whose birth patron was Seraph, ‘The Silent Angel’, I could do a few interesting things with her help. By burning the corpse of the [bubblebear] and praying, I could send its resources to a Sanctuary, where they would give the meat to someone who needed it more.

Finally, I packed up and left, my agenda complete. I ended up camping by the roadside and finished my day off by eating and cleaning my sword of blood with leaves, before finally going to sleep.

1 Exp for sword maintentance!

Huh, nice.

31 Exp, level 4