H-h-hey. Better late than never? Right?

The reason behind the chapter delay is that I had actual work that I need to do, and because I found the webnovel 'Worm' which is massive and a good read. Another reason is that I had to rewrite the chapter more than a few times, as well as rewrite the plot of the second half over and over.

For those who are sad that Jon will not be staying on earth, I'm sorry to disappoint you; but there is nothing there for him to do.

I want earth to remain the 'normal' world instead of using one of the 5 cent twists that reveals there's a ancient society of werewolves and vampires living in the background, that dragons are real and were just hiding in far away locations, that there's a evil dictator working behind the scenes to undermine everything that Jon has ever known. Or is that me?

Something else of note is that when I say Jon is tired, I normally mean that he is mentally tired, not that his body is tired. His stamina is near-infinite after all..

Lastly, some of you may be pleased to hear that I do not intend to keep Jon in the world 'Yonda'.

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Discovered new world: Yonda

Looking at the window, I realised with dismay that my day had just gone from bad to worse. As I stood there feeling somewhat hollow, I heard stones crunching underfoot as people approached the building. Quietly I broke from my trance and moved to the hole in the wall and climbed through. As they entered the building I stepped behind the wall out of sight, and seconds later a cry of alarm was heard as they saw the rift. Standing there, I heard their voices raise as they talked agitatedly in another language I didn't understand. They didn't give any indications of going away and I didn't want to entertain the notion of a fight, so leaving them behind, I quietly slipped away from the stone building and into the grass plains.

You have entered Laiem Plains

I walked through the dark with blades of grass tickling my ankles as I gradually began to feel tired, the exertions of the day was finally beginning to catch up to me. As I walked in the darkness, I occasionally stumbled over a dip in the ground before catching my balance, however each time was harder as my eyes grew tired and threatened to close. Stumbling again, I missed my footing and fell into a dip in the ground. However to my surprise the grass here was thick and dip was far deeper than I had thought. Lying at the bottom of the dip, I realised that I must be out of sight here, and I had covered a fair amount of distance from the building. Closing my eyes, I settled into a comfortable position and fell asleep in the warm air of the night.

When I next woke, my skin felt hot and prickly as the sun in the sky blazed above me. Sitting up I blearily blinked for a few seconds as I mentally adjusted to my location, mildly confused as to the grass about me. In front of me I saw two message windows floating.

Stiffness debuff: 10% decrease in stats for 20min

Update 0.1bUpdate Log

Given your play style, viewed levels are now indicative of just combat skill

The skill Movement has been removed as AGI will now take effect in that aspect

Displayed profession is now viewed in a manner indicating their skills if applicable

I started to smile as I saw the changes to the level system, this was very useful. I did wonder how the levels would be calculated, but dismissed the thought. I would find out later.

Sitting up I yawned and stretched as I blinked in the bright sun. Standing up I started looking around for the stone building. Spotting it a fair distance away, I realised I had covered more distance than I had originally thought. It lay in the distance half a mile away, with the camp behind it, white tents sticking out like a sore thumb. I couldn't see any walls surrounding the camp, just tents of faded white cloth.

Looking around in the daylight, I saw mountains and more mountains. The plains was surrounded by them. Behind the camp however, there was a gap in the mountains which I suspected had a road running through. I would likely see a road leading to the camp itself. Strangely however, when I looked around the area I could see no other manmade structures, just the stone building containing the rift and the camp itself. This land looked fertile and rich, the mountains themselves presumably containing ores. Why was this place practically abandoned? From what I had seen of the stone building, it was quite old and the camp didn't strike me as being new. And yet this place contained no proper housing, no farms that I could see. Just the camp and the building.

Shrugging I dropped the line of thought, I could always investigate this later and ask a few people. But for now, I wanted to recheck the rift and investigate the camp which was the only other object of note in this place. As I approached the stone building I kept a eye on the camp for movements or guards, ready to drop to the ground at the slightest movement, however I reached the building without any trouble. Peering through the hole I took a quick look inside the room, however the place was empty with the exception of the rift which upon *Identify* proved to remain unstable and unchanged. Moving around the outside of the building, I peered past the corner into the camp. The land the stone building was built on was raised above the surrounding area and gave it a good view of the surrounding area, it was what had given me a good view last night.

As I peered into the camp, I observed that the tents were staked in orderly rows with small paths criss-crossing where the people walked. Down the middle of the encampment was a wide pathway which connected the camp to the little paths with the centre of the camp containing a giant circus-like tent which was surely the commanders tent, presumably Taloks. Sitting behind the camp was a expanse of worn down ground which had reverted to bare dirt with thick logs of ground set upright in the ground to one side of the area. Was this where they trained? But despite my looking over the camp, I couldn't see anyone moving around. Was the place abandoned? Surely not. I'd heard people last night at the rift building.

As I couldn't see anyone, I carefully stepped down the slight slope and entered the camp, alert for movement and signs of danger.

You have entered 17th Outpost Camp

Approaching a tent, I looked inside fugitively, however there was nobody inside. The contents of the tent was pretty bare with a thin carpet on the ground covering the dirt and bedding in the corners with small possessions next to them. The possessions didn't look very valuable with clothes, half eaten bread, wooden objects, metal coins, small boxes and the like. I did notice that there was nothing that indicated technology, the things I found was mostly things people could make themselves. I didn't paw though the things I found however, I wanted to establish my position here before being caught stealing. I had enough enemies already, and making more was not going to help.

The tent in the centre of the camp was huge compared to the other tents, rounded with stripes running vertically down the sides like a circus tent. Colors of muted white and blue, faded from time spent under the sun. When I drew closer to the tent, I could hear voices talking, however when I drew closer to listen in, it was depressing when I realised that they were not speaking english. I wanted to get a good look at them, so I quietly approached the doorway of the tent to peer inside. Standing inside the tent, four men stood next to a table facing each other as they animatedly talked with agitation apparent on their faces as they argued. Looking above their heads, I looked at their boxes.

Thad Quon lv.8 Outpost Spearsman

Ami Pel lv.7 Outpost Spearsman

Darl Qail lv.8 Outpost Spearsman

Dan Poliz lv.12 Outpost Mage

Mage? Three of the guards were dressed in their leather armour, but the remaining guy was wearing cloth, with thin leather straps crisscrossing down his arms and legs binding his clothing tight. This was obviously the mage, and while he looked a little scrawny I didn't care about that as I looked at him with judging eyes and a gleeful smile. Finally. A good chance to learn magic had presented itself to me. I didn't have illusions of being taught by his own free will, but he could get me started on learning it, teach me how to sense mana. My gamer ability would allow me to learn the rest.

But for now, I would need to talk to them and introduce myself, see if I could get on their good side. However they were part of the Boligian Empire so I didn't think they would be friendly towards me, so the best plan of action would likely be to separate them and talk to them separately. Killing them was a terrible option, especially if I wanted to have the mage teach me magic without trying to kill me in the process. I didn't want to fight the mage, I wasn't sure how his magic works and how difficult he would be to fight and I wasn't sure I could take him alive. His level alone was a good indicator that I should win as it was a few levels beneath mine. But I couldn't afford to fight him while they were in a group, there was no guarantees I could win against that. Looking at the mage, I thought *Examine*

NameDan PolizGenderMaleJobMageLevel12Age22Health120/121Stamina93/113VIT11STR11END10AGI12DEX11INT14WIS13LUK11

Skills

Meditation lv.4

Mana Channelling lv.5

Fire Mastery lv.4

Flame lv.2

Fire Blast lv.3

Horse Riding lv.4

......

I was distracted as I looked at the table, and in this moment of distraction I was spotted. Shouting, a guard saw me and alerted everyone to my presence as I crouched at the doorway looking in. Alarmed I looked up to see everyone looking back at me, their hands tight around their weapons as they stared. Giggling nervously, I stood up and stepped into the doorway, hands held high to prove I wasn't holding a weapon. One of the guards shouted something at me, but I was unable to understand what he said. I opened my mouth "I didn't understand that sorry, speak english?". The tension grew tenser in the air after I spoke and the mage said something to the guards, after which their expressions turned murderous when they looked at me. They slowly started to move, trying to surround me as the mage formed loose fists with his hands and focused with half-closed eyes. I could sense a fight in the making and started to back away as I lowered my hands and summoned my inventory.

When the guards saw my club come out from the air, they shouted in surprise, but as they looked at it their eyes widened and one of the guards muttered a obvious curse. A quick glance at the club made the reason apparent. The club itself was dyed a deep dark red from blood and my current appearance must have been suspicious to begin with as I still had the dried blood covering my skin. I backed away even further as I yelled desperately to them "Just wait! Can't we talk about this!". The mage said something to the guards and I had a moment of relief, which was banished as they moved to the sides and gave me a clear line of sight with the mage.

The mage raised his closed fists towards me and sensing the danger, I sought to move out of the way. However to my sides were guards with their spears pointed at me, forbidding me from retreating in that direction. However in my haste I gave no concern and knocked a spear away as I moved towards the guard. Half falling and half running I knocked over the guard as I heard a angry roar of flame behind me, heat pushing on my back as I fell on top of the guard. Looking backwards, I saw a thick pillar of flame emitted from the mages palms as he directed the flames towards the area I had vacated. His expression was not visible from where I lay and I was mildly relieved, he apparently did not know he missed.

I quickly got up and moved away from the downed guard. When the mage saw me, his expression was one of surprise and again I begged them to stop, to talk. "Come on! Why can't we talk!" However they refused to react to my words, did not seem to understand what I said. The mage's hands formed fists and he began to focus as the guard got up from the ground. They surrounded me again with two guards by my sides and the third in front of me, stabbing their spears at me, making me dodge their thrusts. I implored them to listen to me, just stop and we could talk. I was uneager to fight them and make more enemies, this was one of my last chance to find out what was going on, find out where this place was. And yet they refused to talk to me, insisting instead on violence. Was I the only one who was using logic here?

The mage raised his palms towards me again and sensing the movement I danced to the left, placing the guard between the mage and I and thus preventing him from throwing his fire at me. But I was unprepared when the mage shouted a word and the guards instantly dropped to the ground as he threw another storm of fire. The flames roared as they blazed over the prone figures of the guards and this time, I was far too slow to react, too slow to move and as I tried to fall to the ground I could see the fire filling my view. The fire mere inches away, I closed my eyes tight as my muscles tensed in anticipation of the pain.

Sudden and intense pain rolled over me as the fire hit. Releasing the club in shock, I howled in agony as the fire blazed over my skin. Searing, blackening, frying me alive. Screaming in pain I fell to the ground and rolled, hands held to my face as I desperately tried to extinguish this pain. My skin burned black and my vision was blurred with tears as I rolled on the floor crying with the pure agony. The heat felt as if it was seared into my bones, my skin mere paper and my flesh the fuel to the pain.

HP -216

You have been burned, apply cold water to lessen the damage and speed the recovery

Though what vision I had left, I saw shapes pick themselves up from the ground and surround me, weapons pointed at my figure as I lay moaning on the ground pathetically. I saw a spear raised in the air as the guard moved to impale me and desperately moved to the side as the spear stabbed into the ground where my stomach had been. I faintly heard a sound of surprise and a quick jabber of talking as they conversed with each other. I was in no position to pay attention however as my tortured skin had flared in pain from the movement. I saw the spear raised again and as it jabbed down I desperately rolled to the side towards the legs of a guard. The guard choose instead of back away to avoid colliding with me, and I used this chance to get my legs underneath me and stand in a hunched over position, my burned and blistered arms held in front of me. My skin burned in agony where it had touched the dusty ground, stones having dug into my skin with smears of blood showing where I had lain. Laughing, the guards began to make sport of me, stabbing at me with their spears as I desperately tried to dodge. With each movement I made, pain flared and I let out a moan in agony, furthering their laughter.

HP -3

HP -5

HP -2

HP -1

HP -2

The mage stood by, watching me with a frown on his face as he watched me move around. He snapped something to the guards and they stopped their torment, surrounding me with spears once again. Facing me behind the guards he spoke in barely recognisable english "Who are you". I was somewhat surprised to hear him speak and relieved that they had ceased their torment. "James" I moaned out as my body screamed in pain. The mage asked me then "Why are you here". Even in my half-crazed state I knew I couldn't confess to my murder-spree with my last-ditch escape into the rift, so I fabricated a story "I don't know! They pushed me through this weird thing!". The mage frowned, his eyebrows furrowing as he looked at me agitatedly. After a short pause, he finally asked me "How can you talk?". I opened my mouth to speak, but a guard suddenly yelled. The mage turned to face him, then followed the guards hand as he pointed towards my chest. A expression of fear crossed his face as he yelled at me "What are you!". The guards backed away from me, fear in their faces at they looked at my burned skin.

My health was steadily recovering now that they had ceased their torment and the bleeding had stopped without the need for me to assist. My voice rasped as I replied "James. I'm James". Accusingly the mage growled "I don't care about your name. You are not human. What are you". I shook my head, not knowing what he meant as I tried to buy myself time to heal. Then I had a thought and looked at my burned skin. Under my gaze the blackened skin slowly flaked off, raw red skin exposed to the air as my health recovered. Looking about me, the guards were fixated on my wounds with fear apparent in their figures as we watched my body slowly recover from what should have been permanent wounds. Their weapons shook in fear as they held the barbs pointed at me, eagerly waiting for the mage to give the order to attack.

I could sense the danger approaching and quickly looked at my health. My health was stabilized at 43, steadily raising as we stood at a standstill. The flames had damaged me far more than I had originally thought. By this time the pain was just a distraction, the agony having died away as my health recovered and my body healed. As I looked away from my health, I noticed in horror that the mage had slowed down his breathing, his hands having formed fists as he began to focus. Seeing the warning signs, I realised that my HP would have to be good enough. Ducking down low I moved towards the guard in front of the mage and as he stabbed towards me I ducked to the right of his spear and knocked it away. My skin burned from my movements and my palms were agony as I grabbed my club from the ground as I evaded the spear thrust. A few windows popped up to appear that I was bleeding, that I sustained a few loss of HP points. But I ignored them. Running towards the mage, I swung my club at his skull with desperation as he tried to back away, his palms raising towards me. I truly did want to learn magic, but in this situation and against this group. I couldn't win, especially with the mage alive.

The mage screamed as my club slammed into his head and a soft crunch was heard. A popup immediately appeared in my view.

EXP +450

Moving forwards, I placed my club back into my inventory to keep my weight down as I started to run. Despite my movements jerking as pain spiked through my body, I was still able to stay ahead of them as they gave chase. As we ran they attempted to throw their spears at me, but my movements were unpredictable and I kept moving about the tents in a attempt to lose them. They refused to split up when they lost sight of me and everytime this happened I gained precious seconds in the chase. Thus in this manner, I stayed ahead of them.

I felt a little detached as I noticed my HP dropping at a mere HP every 5 seconds, instead of the 1 HP/s I had noticed previously. Was this because the wounds were skin deep? Was it because my stats were better? Oh crap! Spear!

As I ran and they chased, my bleeding eventually stopped and my health started to recover, all too slowly it felt like. We took breaks occasionally by mutual agreement with the guards panting heavily for breath, myself resting trying to recover my stamina and a few valuable HP. They were always the ones to resume the chase, trying to catch me by surprise even as I tried to prolong the breaks. Eventually during the chase I finally judged myself able to fight after my HP hit 80. Taking my club out as I ran, I suddenly turned around and faced them, taking a stance as I held my club threateningly towards the three guards. Stumbling to a halt, the guards wondered if this was another rest from the chase as they eyed me with apprehension, wary of me. Noticing that I finally intended to fight, they slowly started to spread out in a attempt to surround me as I called out "Do any of you speak english", however I did not receive a reply. Trying to provoke a reaction, I called to them using their names "Thad, Ami, Darl. Do you guys speak english?" They did react when I called their names, however they still did not say anything to me, choosing instead to talk to each other, making comments to bolster their courage as they advanced on me. This was very annoying, it seemed that the mage had been the only person to speak english around here.

As they moved in to attack, I focused on the fight and resolved to kill them, retaliation for the agony caused. They moved in unison as they stabbed their spears towards me, but even now.

They failed to react fast enough.

My club slammed into the first guard's spear and in the same swing I used my motion to shove the end of my club into his stomach, knocking him down. Taking on the other two guards, I slammed the second guard's spear from his hands and as he stumbled backwards disorientated, I grabbed the last spear and pulled the guard towards me before he could release it. Stumbling, he looked up as I swung the club from the side and gave them a curt introduction. Turning to face the second guard, I held my club before me as I asked him "Do you speak english?", but in reply he screamed incoherently as he backed away weaponless with fear written on his face, so I finished my business with him. By then the first guard had recovered and was standing with his spear shaking with fear, threateningly pointed at me. Facing him I asked my question "Do you speak english?". But again, I had no luck.

EXP +260

EXP +300

EXP +280

I was very close to leveling up now, but I felt weary from the action and wanted to rest. I placed my club inside my inventory and located the centre of the camp and entered the commanders tent. Looking around, I spotted bedding on a frame of wood. I was willing to bet this was the best bed around here. At this stage I did not fear being caught by other guards as I had seen no reaction to the chaos, and the guards did not seek reinforcements despite having trouble on their hands. Looking down the road earlier, I had not seen any figures in the distance and I doubted the rift could be reopened on the other side. It would have reopened already if that was the case. I was likely as safe as I was ever going to be.

Groaning with relief, I lay down on the bed intending to take a small rest. But I had underestimated how tired I was, and so I slept through the rest of the day and into the night.

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Now that you've finished the chapter, would you say the quality of the writing has dropped? Its been somewhat of a concern of mine and a reason the chapter was delayed while I rewrote it over and over until I was somewhat happy. Its likely to be a concern next chapter as well.