After accepting the “windows” he had seen, Gregory seemed to “wake up” as if from sleep on the floor.

I know, I told you all that you would spend time in this realm when over in the realm you were just in, but that is only after this moment. Now, you must find a rift and walk to it if you want to get back to the other world. You will be drawn to the nearest rift, so get there if you want to become stronger. For going above 75 WIS, you have gained additional information on the abilities you possess. Updated areas include Stat Information and the ability to see skills that you have progress toward obtaining.

‘Stat Information’

Updated information will show now. WIS

Determines the ability to understand complexities. What is learned with intelligence, is applied to other areas with wisdom. Determines the rate at which Mana recovers. Higher wisdom gives more information on the mechanics of how things work with the new world you have. Every 25 WIS increases stat growth by 1 point, up to 10 every level. You currently gain 8 stat points every level.

‘Stat Information, Feat List’

The Wise One You have 10% increased WIS for having the highest WIS. Perceptive You have 10% increased PER for having the highest PER. Lucky

You have 10% increased LUK for having the highest LUK, you have an extra 10% chance for things to work out for you due to having MAX LUK.

‘Feat List, Skill List’

Life in a Game Type Passive A gamer’s mind is on another plane, immune to any effects on it. A gamer’s body cannot permanently die, just respawn you at the latest save point. Downsides? When did you last save? Passive Luck Type Passive The universe secretly works in your favor, but push your luck and everything can go in reverse. Riftwalker Type Active Cost 10S, 10M Use the rifts to travel between the game world and reality. You can return at any time by using riftwalker to get the riftwalk out of there. Flare Type Active Level Novice 2(29%) Cost 10M Create a small sphere of fire, it will move toward the target location once released. The longer the gathering time, the stronger it gets. Bolt Type Active Level Novice 1(0%) Cost 10M Create a small blast of electricity, it will flow toward the target location. Power increases with gathering time. Slice Type Active Level Novice 2(29%) Cost 10M Create a thin blade of wind, moves quickly toward the target location. Longer gathering time will increase the power. Identify Type Active Level Novice 1(0%) Cost N/A See the information of the world around you. The higher the level, the more you will find out. Previous knowledge can influence what is seen through this as well. Multi-Cast Level 0(83%) Financier Level 0(97%)

‘Skill List, Status Window’

Name Gregory Jeffrey Drake Age 19 Level 3 Class Wizard Unique Class Gamer Race Human Title N/A Health 123/123 Stamina 156/156 Mana 260/260 CON 13 STR 6 AGI 11 INT 20 WIS 81 PER 55 FTH 10 LUK MAX Passive Skills Life in a Game, Passive Luck Feats The Wise One, Perceptive, Lucky Traits N/A Unspent Stat Points 16 Unspent Trait Points 1

‘Learn Trait’ What appeared before him though, was a list of thousands of traits. There were traits for different stats to increase their level, though some required another trait to obtain. Other traits had the effect of giving a small boost that status, the ability to increase health, stamina, and mana. Some traits gave very small resistances to damage. Other traits were there to make people look better, allowing them to basically be new people. Then, there was a small group of traits, three of them, that would increase stat points gained on level-up.

Trained One extra Stat point every 3rd level. Educated One extra stat point every 2nd level. Requires and replaces Trained. Boosted One extra stat point every level. Requires and replaces Educated.

As he picked trained, there was an additional point added to his unspent stat points. ‘Add unspent points to WIS.’ As he thought this, a window appeared in his vision, letting him know something.

WIS has reached or surpassed 100, you have reached one of the requirements for the Library of the Ancient Ones. Reverse Engineer passive skill has been granted for reaching 100 WIS.

‘Reverse Engineer Details’

Reverse Engineer Type Passive Through dismantling, your understanding allows you to use what you have learned. This is restricted to what is possible with you and your class.

‘Seems I can really grow stronger with this, especially if I can figure out how other’s skills and classes work using this skill. What does it mean by dismantling though? It is impossible to dismantle a class or skill, which means it would be almost useless for me to ever use this skill. Perhaps dismantling is broader term than that. Perhaps it is using the word as a synonym for taking apart, which would mean I would just need to completely understand how an ability is used. If that is the case, perhaps I could create my own spells in the elements of fire, lightning, and wind. It would also mean I need to see what other people are doing, and see if I can get an understanding of it. Still, better head out and find that rift. I can feel a pull toward it.’

Gregory changed his clothes to something more comfortable. He removed his suit, putting on a pair of loose black cotton pants, a black cloth belt with a stainless-steel buckle, a white performance shirt with a collar that went to the top of his neck and sleeves that came half-way down his forearms, a loose black cotton jacket with a collar that reached a little above the performance shirts collar, and pair of white athletic shoes.

Heading out now, Gregory decided to walk instead of use his car to go out. He had nothing here to worry about, since the entirety of his payments were set up on automatic withdrawal, he had money coming in from rent and the stock market directly to his bank account, with only a few random checks ever coming to him. Many other people likely had to do some work to get themselves prepared to leave, Gregory just wanted to change before he left. As he neared where the rift should be, he saw people jumping from a two-story building toward where the rift should be. Of course, the four-story building on the other side would be easier to reach it from, but then even the dumpster they had moved wouldn’t break their fall enough to prevent broken legs. Gregory dismissed this fear though. He wasn’t going to waste time trying to reach it. He went into the four-story building, and felt the rift to be on the same level as the third story of the building once he got there. Getting to the top of the building, Gregory looked down at where the rift would be below him.

“Now or Never.”

Moving toward the center of the building, Gregory got a start so that he would pass through where the rift should be. As he entered the rift, he felt as if he was weightless for a moment, before he found himself standing on an open field. In the field were hordes of sheep, deer, and boars. ‘Inventory’ Removing the robes and boots from there, Gregory took off his own shoes, putting on the wizard boots, and then the robes, sash, and hat. He also removed the staff from the inventory, and then closed the inventory.

‘Let’s see if I can replicate what I did earlier, fire and wind. I need to combine them at some point away from me, and make sure to keep the mana’s separate and distinct inside my body.’ As he recast what he had done earlier, it resulted in a small explosion at his location, bringing his health down to 73. ‘One more time, focus, I did it before I can do it again. Please work’ As he did it again, the spells flew out from his hands, combining before reaching the area where the deer were. Once again, it created a small inferno across the ground, killing the deer in the area. This time though, it killed more animals and he still gained two more levels.

You have gained the skill Multi-Casting. You have gained the skill Flame Engulfment. You have gained two levels, 18 Stat Points gained, Status has been improved. You have gained the Title Coward. You have gained a Trait point.

‘Dismiss windows, view Flame Engulfment and Multi-Casing details. Learn Trait Educated’

Flame Engulfment Type Active Level Novice 1(0%) Cost 30M-200M Covers a target area in a strong flame. The target area can be larger or smaller depending on the wishes of the user. Multi-Casting Type Passive Level Novice 1(35%) Can cast 2 skills at the same time, using up to 10% of the body’s mana with perfect success.

Gregory grinned viewing these, he was getting visibly stronger, and it seemed that flame engulfment would be a good way to kill these sheep, deer, and boars in a very quick way. ‘Flame Engulfment’ The flames multiplied, he had cast it at max mana use, and it was visibly cooking all the creatures as they were dying. When others arrived, using the same way Gregory had to get here, they looked in shock at the flaming field that lay before them. All the potential experience they could have gained was gone, all to one person to boot.

You have gained a level, 9 Stat points acquired, Status has been improved.

’23 stat points to WIS’

You have gained 2 levels, 21 stat points acquired, Status has been improved. You have gained a level, 11 stat points acquired, Status has been improved. Single-handedly clearing an area has granted you a level, 10 stat points gained, Trait point gained, Status has been improved. You have obtained the title Super Coward For reaching level 10, you can no longer gain experience from killing non-hostile creatures.

All these people looked in horror at what lay before them. They had no chance at using easy leveling anymore, one person had removed that chance from them all. They knew they could have used the other building to get here sooner, but they refused to even consider it until whoever this was had done it. They thought there would be plenty of chance to level up, but it seemed that this person was a strong magic user.

‘Learn Trait Boosted, Stat Points Remaining, Title List’

Unspent Stat Points 48 Coward The killing of non-hostile creatures has granted you the title coward, you coward. Super Coward The mass massacre of non-hostiles has granted you notoriety as a Super Coward.

‘Close all windows, 23 points to WIS’

Gregory began walking, but was huffing every step of the way. He was very annoyed; the titles were mocking him. On top of that, the others were upset that they had lost the chance to even train themselves, all because the first person in was “too strong” for them to kill any of the starting creatures. They didn’t want to end up roasted trying to fight Gregory either. Gregory though was walking into a wood, one that called out and frightened at the same time. In his current state though, he was too focused to think about that. He just wanted to find a way to lose the coward titles. They didn’t seem to give any bonuses, and would in fact cause him notoriety as one to prey upon the weak. What Gregory missed as he walked though, was that there were sets of worried eyes following him. He was walking into a forest of ents, and straight toward a young dark ent. Even though they were nowhere near as strong as a full-grown ent, young ents were still not weak. An ent was only weak to heat, and even then only after its water reserves were used up.

There was a moan, a long dark moan, from what sounded to be a male voice. Gregory started running for it, but then saw nothing except for a lone tree where he thought the voice came from. At that point, the tree started moving, moving a limb to hit Gregory. He barely dodged, rolling on the ground to escape the attack. He used flare, in combination with slice, but even that hardly damaged the creature. He kept on using it though, while simultaneously doing what he could to avoid getting killed. On the seventh cast together, the ent finally showed some damage, it started panting as if being dried up. At the same time though, his excitement led to him getting slammed by the creature, and he took what felt like a log swung at his chest. Instead of using flare with slice again, Gregory used Flare with Bolt this time. The attack did visible damage, and there was smoke seeping from the ents mouth. It seemed the lightning caused a piercing injury to the ent due to its dryness, and the fire had gotten inside. If he could just stay away now, he may be able to win while keeping it dry. Of course, he was running between small areas when possible, but he also had to make sure it couldn’t rejuvenate itself, so Gregory was stuck being less safe than he wanted to be. He again performed a combination of flare and slice, trying to keep the ent dry to prevent it from getting rid of the fire inside. At this point, the creature was roaring at him. It had gone insane, and wanted him dead. It was also leaking moisture at the feet, keeping Gregory casting while running to prevent it from healing. As he ran, he fell over a log, the ent slamming him with one arm. He could feel that it had done some damage to him. His leg felt like it had been hit by a falling log, not to mention that he had visibly done substantial damage to the robe he was wearing. Gregory was nearly out of mana now, but knew that his last chance would be another combination of flare and bolt aimed at the creature’s head. As he cast the spell, the ent raised its arm and pulled its body back. Just before the ent could bring its arm forward though, Gregory’s attack pierced its head, causing it to fall backward.

For killing a creature double or more your level, minimum 10+ levels above you, you have obtained the feat Kingslayer. You have gained the title Fearless for beating a creature 10+ levels above you. Coward and Super Coward titles have been removed for your bravery. You have gained 5 levels, 55 stat points, a trait point, and your status has been improved. You have gained 2 levels, 22 stat points, and your status has been improved for such a feat of power. Special Item Dark Lifegem obtained for killing a dark ent.

‘Kingslayer details’

Kingslayer Only a few kingslayers exist, they are those that have single-handedly taken out a being much stronger than themselves. For accomplishing such an impossible feat, they are obviously stronger than their level suggests. They have +5 to all final stat values.

‘In my case, I was luckier, I don’t think I was stronger. I am probably wiser though too, which may have helped.’

Gregory left the forest, limping out of it as quickly as he could to prevent himself from having to fight another ent. When he finally made it out, he saw that the field was empty, they must have walked further to try to find some other enemies. Or, there was a run-down city in the distance, perhaps they went that way for help. It was hard to tell, it had been some time since he had entered the woods, and the area was hilly. They could have made it to the city, or be behind a hill on the way. Any other direction, and they could be behind any number of hills trying to find something to hunt. Gregory decided to go toward the city though, it was the best chance at finding information about this world, and find out where he may be able to go to fight other creatures.

As he headed toward the city, Gregory saw a mountain of wolf corpses on the way, he also saw the group of people he had left behind when he headed toward the forest. Now though, they seemed to be much stronger.

Looking at them carefully, Gregory tried to figure out what their specialties were. There were about four people there. One more than he had seen on the building earlier trying to get in. One was a sorcerer, one a cleric, and the other two were wearing armor and wielding medium to heavy weapons.

Since they seemed to be stronger now, Gregory decided to check the rankings, trying to determine how much of a threat they would be. Viewing the rankings for stats, he saw that he was on top of the WIS and PER charts by quite a margin. After him, the numbers for WIS and PER were 31 and 15 respectively. In LUK, the stats were varying, though the next highest was 173. Viewing STR, AGI, and CON though, Gregory knew that this group probably had some of those. The highest had achieved 109 in STR, and there were a few others with 100s as well. In AGI and CON, the highest were a 49 and 72 respectively. The next highest numbers in these though were only in the upper teens, which were still good, but nowhere near frightening. FTH surprised Gregory though, there was another MAX there, which to Gregory represented a threat. For INT, the highest was a 115, followed by a few 70s, and then Gregory’s 25, which was followed by upper teens in the stat. The rankings also didn’t show the name next to the stat, only what it was. This was probably for personal protection, so some people weren’t made more of a target for parties or being attacked.

’37 points to PER, 35 points to INT, 12 points to CON, 14 points to AGI, 4 points to STR’

100 PER has been reached, you have reached a second requirement for Library of the Ancient Ones. For reaching 100+ in PER, the skill Observant has been granted.

‘Observant details’

Observant Type Passive The user can make out anything they can see. This could be as broad as seeing the fine details in body movement, to the flow of mana and how it comes together. This ability improves the eyesight to the degree that they can view how mana is controlled and even the smallest movements in muscle.

‘I can use it with Reverse Engineer. If I can see, or feel everything, I can figure out how it works and learn to use it myself. This is a really amazing ability to have, I should definitely work on getting into a group now. I am strongest when I can be as diverse as possible, so I need to train with others to gain new skills and abilities.’

Gregory had decided to get closer to that group, trying to see if he could learn anything from them. For the most part, they were too far away, but there were a couple of skills he could see well enough to get the idea of. Healing and Mana Bolt were the spells he had seen used, healing was visibly something not just mana, so he shaded his mana with his FTH, and he could feel it lighten. Eventually, the mana had the same color as the mana he had seen used for the heal spell. Once it got to that color, Gregory was mixing larger portions, and instead of releasing it out of the hand, used it internally to heal himself. He could feel his leg mending itself, as well as all the smaller cuts and bruises mending themselves. It was a slow process, but he could feel it working. After about two minutes, the damage had all repaired itself and he could move normally again.

The skill Self-Healing has been learned through experimentation. Self-Healing Type Active Level Novice 1(0%) Cost 30M, 10S Mana is transformed to give it healing properties, and then kept within the caster to be distributed. This spell can heal almost any wound, but takes a variable amount of time depending on the injury. Healing Type Active Level Novice 1(0%) Cost 20M, 10S Mana is transformed to give it healing properties, and then released into a target through the hands by touch. This spell can heal almost any wound, but takes a variable amount of time depending on the injury.

It seemed that it had also given him the healing skill, but not the cleric class, which probably meant there were other skills to that class. On the other hand, he also wanted to attempt conventional mana. He took from his energy pool, and then started channeling that straight to his hand in the form of a bolt. At the same time, he was channeling mana, while spiraling it, into a sphere in the other hand. Before long, both spells took form and shape in his hands. ‘I can definitely use this to make them think I am a Sorcerer.’

You have learned three(3) new skills. Mana Bolt Type Active Level Novice 1(0%) Cost 10M Mana is formed as an arrow in the hand, which can then be fired from the hand at higher speeds than a sphere due to the size and shape in comparison to most other forms. This form is for optimal piercing power and is a piercing magical attack. Mana Sphere Type Active Level Novice 1(0%) Cost 15M Mana is given the shape of a sphere, with a rotation on it to improve explosive power. This attack most causes magical concussive damage. Mana Manipulation Type Active Level Novice 1(0%) Cost VAR Mana can be controlled by the caster to form their own spells. Must use their imagination to create spells, and the power can only be limited by imagination and the personal limitations of the caster. For learning all the spells associated with a Sorcerer, you have unlocked a new class. For overusing and abusing luck, Massive Luck Curse has been added to you. It will last 24 Hrs.

When he checked his LUK after that, he saw that it was the same as normal, but with a 110 in parentheses. It seemed he still had good luck, but nowhere near enough to do anything stupid like had just happened with the ent. He also knew that he wouldn’t survive 24 hours as he currently was out here, at least not alone anyways. He walked to the opposite side of the forest that he had entered, and then was heading toward the party that he believed to be the one he had left behind earlier that day. As he neared them, the one that he could tell was the highest level amongst them paused, and then looked toward Gregory. As Gregory neared, he began walking toward Gregory as well. This man was probably in his 40s, gray streaking the black on his head, and his bear was totally black. He was tanned, and with a strong frame, and probably a little over six feet tall. He was wearing a suit of thin plate armor made of what looked to be iron, with a medium sized iron round shield, and what was probably an iron war axe as well.

”What kind of skills do you have? We could always use another magic wielder though.”

“I am a Sorcerer, I mainly use the raw form of magic and manipulate it to my desires.”

”Good, we almost thought you were a wizard. There was a wizard I thought looked like you from the back, but he was a freaking coward. That guy wouldn’t have robes as destroyed as yours. Anyways, he took a whole load of sheep, deer, and boar for himself. I bet he is weaker than us now though. The wolves we killed were way stronger, and really boosted us quickly as a whole party. How about you join us though, it would be a good way for you to grow stronger without having to worry about a powerful creature coming and attacking you alone”

‘I see what he does, he uses words to influence people. He is good at it too, and probably could have organized all these people. I wonder if he has a unique class, though I guess the only way to know for sure would be to ask him. If I ask him though, he would likely find out I have one as well.’

“I’ll join the party, it couldn’t be a bad thing to feel safe with all these dangers around. Especially with people as strong as you have described. Makes me feel like I will die if I get caught out alone.”

”You probably would lad, you probably would.”

Gregory walked toward the party, introducing himself. “Hello, my name is Gregory, what about you all?”

From behind him, came the voice of the man he had just talked to. ”They aren’t using their regular names, opting for more fantasy names instead. I am Sean though, you can feel free to call me by my name. I am of the knight class, which is I think why I have a full suit of armor.”

Pointing to the other people in the group, he rested first upon the cleric and sorcerer. “They are the twins, they call themselves Dynamite and Backup, Dynamite is the sorcerer, and Backup is the cleric. They are presumably in their thirties, but both make their money off of game championships.” Moving his hand to the other warrior, he stopped again. ”She calls herself Maki, though that could be her real name. She is of the Berserker class, which seems to be a heavy armored barbarian class from what I can figure out. I know most people didn’t have full suits of heavy armor, so I am guessing it was only the Knights, Berserkers, and possibly Paladins that got the heavy armor. Maki wields two different weapons, a giant axe, or the two handed sword she is wielding right now.”