How do I do tables? It is absolutely beyond me at the moment, any one who is more tech savvy then please explain it in simple terms considering the RR {table} (obviously subbed with []) thing doesn't seem to work. Anyways, enjoy! And feel free to leave comments!

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Struggling only made it more difficult with every passing second so he positioned his first blade, still embedded into the flesh of the wolf, with the little strength he had left to clear just enough of an area allow for some weight to be taken off, but better yet a clear breathing passage.

“A-a-a… Andrew! Are… are you.. alright?” Cried a once again shaken Lisia.

Considering his position, he let out a small breath before looking at the notification screen in front of him.

You have leveled up! You have three stat points to distribute into your primary stats.

You have leveled up! You have three stat points to distribute into your primary stats.

Current quest progress:

1/10 wolves slain

Congratulations! You have learned the skill, [Improvisation] due to your repeated use with scavenged weapons

“ANDREW, CAN YOU HEAR ME?!” Cried Lisia hysterically.

Playing around with the menu - mentally, as he found out works, whilst ignoring the woman completely, he saw to his upper left existed a flashing red and green bar. ‘Oh, health and stamina bars, I almost forgot about that. Well, so long as I don’t die, there shouldn’t be much of a problem.’ Shrugging off the bars for the time being, he went back to allotting his new found stats and checking out his new skill.

Andrew Marks

Level 6

Str: 12 (+1) (-1)

Agi: 12 (+1) (+2) (-1)

Per: 12 (+1)

End: 10 (+1) (-1)

Vit: 10 (+1)

Int: 9 (+1)

Wis: 8 (+1)

Chr: 9 (+1)

Lck: ? (+1)

Status:

Bleeding - Will continue to lose health until treated.

Bruising - Due to the severe abuse your body has received, AGI, STR, and END will decrease by 1 until healed.

Skill:

Dual Wielding (Beginner: 2): While wielding two weapons Damage Rating penalty is reduced by 22%. Penalty currently at 28%. Grants easier range of motion and knowledge of advanced techniques are granted at base level up of the skill.

Improvisation (Beginner: 1): You arm yourself to the teeth before encounter any situation, using any available tactics and weapons in a manner to ensure your survival in this new age. Increases attack rating by 5% for all weapons. Increases hit chance and critical chance by 2% for all weapons (be it; physical damage based melee, thrown, or projectile). Spell failure rate decreases by 3% and spell duration increases by 3%. +1 to all stats including luck.

Deciding on a path for general survivability, he evened out most of his more combat orientated stats. Even knocking Vitality up by three points in hopes to be in less pain, or at the very least, heal faster on the move.

Dismissing the menu, Andrew found himself face to face with a fuming Lisia who shouted furiously, “If you were alive, tell me! I was so worried, but no, you get had to stare off into space for the hundredth time instead of even letting me know!”

“Oi, Taryk, can you help me out here. This bastard is heavy and I don’t think I’d be able to handle it alone.” he spoke to Taryk, ignoring Lisia again, who he saw somewhat as a pest after being berated while he was still in a fair amount of pain.

“You may be small but you should be strong enough to give me leverage with the spear at least.”

“On it, but what about that one?” came a voice outside of vision.

“Lisia? She may be good at a few things but fighting sure as hell isn’t one of them. Hell, even I’m weak or at least compared to these furry bastards.” muttered Andrew before turning his away from the elf’s face, or, as much as he could considering the circumstances.

“Hey! I heard tha-” “Get ready, Human!” began Lisia before being cut off.

Feeling a bit of weight taken off of his chest he dragged himself from underneath the corpse with difficulty. As he emerged, Taryk whistled jokingly, “Well, I’ll be, we have got ourselves a certified demon on the loose her, am I right Miss?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he spoke casually waving it off but he couldn’t deny it at all. From his neck down he was soaked in crimson blood, four long jagged slashes flayed the back of his shirt which just barely hung on to his body. The once grey undershirt became dyed red with both his and the wolf’s blood. The countless scratches from the trek had already started to heal but remained a bright red only emphasizing the dark blood he was bathed in. The only space the relatively presentable was his face, small cuts here and there from thistles or tree branches that swung into face on the way here. But all in all it was nowhere near as bad as the remainder of his body.

Lisia, in shock because of screaming at what could easily be seen as a dead man, remained silent but Taryk spoke again questioningly, “Not that I was paying too much attention before but did you get, bigger? Skinnier? What the hell, I can’t even place it.”

Laughingly lightly, “Ah, that’s the system here, from my experiences anyways, as you get

‘stronger,’ ie level up you body grows accordingly. Strength makes you, well, jacked? Agility, more toned, Endurance makes your body density greater, and Vitality… no idea. Charm probably makes you more attractive, don’t know if it’s race specific though.”

“Interesting, interesting,” replied the goblin deep in thought, “say, if I were to follow you around and get ‘stronger’ would that make me become like the Chief?”

“Probably - less ugly, I’d imagine though. But seems like that’s the case. No guarantees or anything. Plus there is the whole, ‘You are likely to die thing,’ but I don’t know if that bothers you all that much.” As he spoke in a lackluster manner he wiped his now recovered swords on the pelt of the wolf.

Walking around to the front of the wolf corpse - as he had imagined - Andrew saw the iron spears handle snapped into fragments under the pressure of the wolf’s assault. While the spear head was perhaps recoverable, he truly didn’t want to experience any more of that creature’s blood any time soon.

Deciding it was as good of a time as any for a snack, he snapped his fingers in front of Lisia’s face. Startling her awake from what delusion or internal conflict she had at the time, he asked Lisia to gather firewood with him while leaving Taryk to work on the corpse. Even before the pair walked away, the lent Novice Dagger already made quick work on wolf’s body expanding the already substantial pool of blood significantly.

As the duo walked into the wood Lisia quietly asked, “Hey, do you… think someone like me could be able to hold my own against some of these creatures?”

“Sure, why not? Can you kill though? Seriously, it’s kind of a pre-requisite if you want to improve by the, ‘Game’s,’ standards. Or, at least, as far as I’ve experienced anyways.”

“Umm, Andrew, do you by chance know what race I am? I can obviously tell you speak my language but some things that came out of your mouth seem so.. Foreign? I don’t quite know how to word it, but, regardless, it’s one of my sacred vows, upon coming of age, to protect the creatures of this world with my life - not slaughter them.”

“Huh, who was the one who screamed, ‘kill all of the vermin,’ or something to that effect, not too long ago,” yawned Andrew with a clearly uninterested expression.

“I - I - It, isn’t like that!” Lisia pouted sheepishly. Clearing her throat - as if it would cause her previous lack of composure to disappear, she continued on, “we defend our people as well, even if we have to break our vows! To simply go and attack an innocent species… it is a little unfair don’t you think?”

“Before or after they sink their fangs, claws, swords, or whatever else into your clansmen? Can you really call your home a safe one if your people’s beliefs require the blood of their own to act. Also there is another issue of turning your belief system upside down for circumstances that are easily avoidable… Well, assuming, of course, your people are not already on the bottom of the food chain.”

“Yo-you! You arrogant, ignorant, uncultured ass! To think I held some faith in you! You are the - ”

Staring blankly at the ranting elf, as she spoke on and on, Andrew turned backwards and started to walk away. Looking over his shoulder he spoke, “Hey, you might want to a get a move on or else you’ll become some puppy chow. Whether or not you follow through with some unfounded ideal such as all life was created equally is up to you. But the wolves in this area sure as hell won’t even bat an eye. And, at this point, even if you are being chased by some mongrel I’ll just watch it for entertainment value.”

Considering all that was required of them was a few pounds of dry small twigs, a bit of bark, and some slightly more sustainable logs to keep the fire ablaze; it was all dealt with rather quickly. Getting back into camp with a loose bundle of wood was quite a bit more challenging compared to gather the materials, however. With every step weighed down by the haul in his arms, he felt the wounds in his back throb sharply. It was all he could do to keep his mouth shut, refusing to show his weakness in front of the frail elf. Even to him, Andrew didn’t quite understand why he was so insistent on keeping a composed face in her presence. ‘Just male pride. Ridiculous, stubborn male pride. Or could it be… She’s the one holding me together? Unlikely, but whatever it is, I can think about it later. It’s barely even been a full day here yet.’

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts once more, Andrew headed back to the temporary camp. On the way over he spotted many animals and plants he disregarded earlier in his haste. Most creatures seemed to resemble those he was once used to, but the differences caused him to be slightly taken aback. Cyan coloured squirrels with a extra pair of arms as well as an additional tail seemed to try to threaten him by, ‘pelting’ him with berries.

At this point his clothes were already essentially ruined so he didn’t mind too much. Merely hoping that there was no corrosive substance in the strange berry that would cause him to lose another article of clothing for good. In addition, existing alongside the strange six - or arguably, eight limbed rodent, were miniaturized dogwood trees growing from the branches of the various species of larger trees; be it a traditional spruce or even a wilting willow.. ‘Some sort of parasite or weed, perhaps? Wait, did I hear something?’

“...help… help me.. I was.. wrong!” came out between gasping breaths behind him in the distance.

“Hmmm, what are you doing, please don’t tell me you’re…” started Andrew with a sigh.

Shortly after, the surprisingly nimble Lisia leapt through the forest brush, trying to call out loud but nothing came out of her mouth. Still running, she ran up to the now agitated Andrew - tackling him. While she was sobbing almost soundlessly he lost his hold on the firewood still in his arms falling straight back onto his freshly wounded back. Wincing slightly before sighing loudly, he patted her back out of reflex before drawing his hand away.

“Fuck, why can’t I bring myself to keep to me word back there? Elf, whatever is behind you will die by your hand. I’ll help, but you will be the one taking his life.”

“...” Lisia looked at him with a stunned face. When he pushed her off of him and into the direction of the low growls, however, she tearfully consented by nodding her head rapidly.

Lazily pulling out his two blades from his inventory and massaging his temples with the pommels for moment of comfort on his aching body. After he was through he noticed another ‘Mutated Grey Wolf’ come into his vision pacing back and forth like the king of the forest..

“Prideful creatures, eh?” He muttered before quickly holstering one sword and grabbed a small, cracked log about the size of his forearm. Pitching it at the wolf who clearly didn’t see such an object being a threat to it. As the log spun in the air, the wolf simply raised a paw to block it with a feral grin on face. Re-equipping himself once more, he saw the log end up hitting the top of the wolf’s paw before causing it spin upwards connecting with one of the wolf’s jaws.

While causing next to no damage, it fulfilled its role adequately. As one of the wolf’s head became enrage, the other seemed to be barking excitedly. The one head that became enraged nipped at the other ‘laughing’ head furiously before a minor conflict began in between the two halves and disregarded both the elf and the human completely, all to nip and scratch at it’s single body.

Andrew seeing this was speechless, ‘Is everything in this world completely idiotic? I mean, honestly, there is no reason to turn a potential blood bath into a relatively easy kill.’ Not losing his chance, he ran up towards the preoccupied wolf. When he was within an arm's reach away he swung his sword severing a tendon on the wolf’s leg. Then another, and another, before the wolf fell over. Entirely unable to put pressure on the three legs the wolf, who attempted to get up, simply fell slipping on the blood that poured from each of the three slashes.

Whistling quietly to himself, Lisia came over entirely petrified. “From the looks of it, she was hiding last time. Didn’t even bother to pay any attention to the fight before…”

“That’s… that’s not it, I- I just would rather… not do something like this.”

“Well, look at you go. See how much pain you’re putting him through? Oh my, I thought those mighty… something-or-another elves were protectors of the forest and cared for its inhabitants. And yet, a sadistic little elven women wishes only to view her kill bleed out, multiplying its pain ten-fold,” retorted Andrew indifferently while musing to himself. ‘I genuinely feel that this type of species should have died out much sooner. Must’ve been the elves keeping them alive, and well, gifting them with their false sense of pride.’

“So Miss Humanitarian, how about it?” Andrew spoke while holding the handle of the copper short sword out to Lisia.

Her hesitation annoyed Andrew to some extent so he forced it into her grip before closing her own hand around it. “Hold it, Elf.” The moment she touched the short sword she started trembling uncontrollably.

‘Why must I do this?! He… he can not be serious. How can you expect a lady to shed blood! Especially a pure and noble wood elf who swore to protect creatures like this! Such a beautiful and majestic creature… that tried to kill me, even playing with me all the while…’ cried Lisia painfully in her mind.

Steeling her resolve after a few troubling minutes, she pressed forward with the blade in hand. Every step felt like an eternity for the young elf, each took all her willpower to lead her closer to the bleeding wolf. Even as she approached the powerless creature, no matter how she tried to justify raising the sword - she simply couldn’t.

Andrew standing behind her a few meters away saw the inability to act and let out a wry smile, “Shouldn’t it be me who would be hesitating about killing some animal? Damn, I thought the system would give these people, the new settlers - or, whatever you want to call them, a little bit of sense regarding the dangers of creatures that could kill you in a single moment.”

“It is not like that! And what is this thing about new and original whatever? I keep hearing such weird language coming from you! I want to know what that’s all about!”

“Sure, sure, don’t think you’re getting out of your responsibility though.” replied Andrew casually before adding, “Well, my world was incorporated into this one… or something to that effect. Either way, my world, or the area where I lived, would be considered peaceful compared to this one. Dangerous to some extent, sure, but relatively safe so long as you’re not an

idiot - like those peace-loving, hippie elves. I digress, just normal humans and normal animals. No squirrels in drag; no wolves that decided having two heads would be a good idea for survival. And much more, but anyways, you should have the balls - or ovaries, I suppose, to push that knife through that bastards throat.”

Stealing a quick glance at the wolf, he muttered, “You fucked up. Prissy little… Oh well I have an idea you’re probably going to hate!” Evidently, the wolf’s little life had already abandoned him during their conversation but Andrew was undaunted. He retrieved his sword from Lisia and started walking back to their camp to let Taryk know of the other wolf’s corpse for processing.

Walking into the camp surprised both Andrew and Lisia. What was once an intact corpse was stripped to the bones. Which, as far as salvageable items were concerned, had been piled into a corner for transportation. Sitting next to the stack of bones, fur, and blood, were the two heads bound together in a woven net of vines. Underneath it all lay a bloody mess that was once the organs, tissues, and a napping goblin whose mouth still had fragments of flesh clinging to it. Covered in blood and wrapped in the wolf’s pelt as if were a blanket, the goblin slept in absolute bliss.

Lisia was sickened by the otherworldly display whereas Andrew just sighed before speaking softly, “wakie, wakie, still hungry? This time it’ll be the same job, just save us some of the better meat this time.” With the mention of food the gluttonous goblin uncurled himself from the blanket before stretching and yawning loudly. Seemingly ready, Taryk, dagger in hand, excitedly ran to Andrew before being pointed in the right direction and running away for his new feast.

As Taryk ran, Andrew already grabbed his short bow and drew an arrow from the quiver. Silently walking over to where he was being terrorised by the little mutant squirrel, he entered a clearing only to be greeted by getting a rotting berry explode on his face. As he suspected, the mutant creatures were too prideful to register any human as a threat to their well-being. Walking directly under the tree’s branch that held the squirrel he lifted his bow. Even as he notched the arrow and took aim the squirrel taunted him by turning around and spreading his two tails out as if giving him a target. Standing on a relatively small branch the squirrel chattered loudly before lobbing a few, surprisingly well aimed, over his shoulder towards his face, missing by only a centimeter or two.

Enduring the third berry, Andrew suddenly loosed his arrow - it missed, but as the squirrel jumped to the side Andrew mercilessly kicked the tree, shaking it to its core. Even as a creature as agile as the common tree squirrel - albeit typically less deformed, it simply didn't have a spot to land when the branch swayed violently. Catching a small twig with the tip of its front claws as it fell. The squirrel shaked his rump triumphantly whilst being suspended in mid-air.

Another boot to the tree and the squirrel fell, shrieking loudly on its flight 5 meters down. Andrew, calmly looking from below, raised his left hand catching the squirrel as it traveled faster and faster. As he increased his perception he noticed a large difference in reaction time and promised himself to max it out if at all possible. As the cyan coloured squirrel entered his grasps he clenched his hand strongly - breaking the squirrels legs in the process.

A struggling gasp came from the creature before a defiant look appeared on its face. As the claws were rather annoying, and potentially disease-ridden, he dropped the squirrel on the ground before placing his foot on top of it to hold it down. All four arms struggled endlessly, but the tails were slowly being fractured with his weight and their resistance.

“Kill it, or I’ll find another for you. I know how you’re looking at me right now. Don’t even bother hiding it as I don’t really care about your opinion of me. I’d suggest using a dagger or else if you want to try cooking -” spoke Andrew without even looking back.

“I get it! I get it! Just stop, I’ll do it… just give me a bit of time…” Lisia tried.

“Just so the creature will suffer - like last time? Poor, poor goblins… Treating you as some sort of princess when in reality…”

“Fine! I’ll do it, just one blow is enough right…?”

“Oh, the poor, struggling, critter under my foot must be in so much pain. How can we remedy this, I wonder?” Sighed Andrew dramatically.

“...”

“On zero, the squirrel gets loose. Should you refuse to kill the critter I won’t even bother bringing you with me in the future. Just do what you want in the camp as the sole female, five, four, three..”

“Ah!” fumbling with the blade she literally just stole off of Andrew makeshift holster, she shut her eyes tight before slashing on the ground wildly just barely missing Andrew in the process. With her eyes shut she didn’t register that she split off every single limb on the small critter and emptied its entire torso of any organs, but she kept slashing without a sign of stopping. As her tears came forth a window appeared in the corner of his vision.

First Kill Bonus!

Lisia has complete the prerequisites enabling her to become a Companion to the Player. If you so choice to accept her, she will have an increased leveling speed, abilities granted by the system in the future for merits completed.

As the Player interactions are of a greater precedent in experiment they will be given the right to assign the perks allotted by the system:

Level Boost

Receives Passive Skill

Receives Active Skill

Affinity Bonus

Faintly amused by this turn of events, Andrew took a glancing look at her still wildly swingly, exhaling heavily at this point.. No matter how he saw her he still couldn’t see a sense any sense of ability for battle. ‘Levels are essentially meaningless if I can just feed her enemies. Whereas affinity could be something extraordinarily vague and would be meaningless in most situations. Time to gamble, I suppose,’

Debating between active and passive wasn’t easy, but as he realized if she was still going to be of little help in a confrontation an active skill would likely be no more than a fancy parlor trick. With that in mind he was left with the passive skill, which likely would be entirely random due to her being fed a half dead critter.

Lisia has learned a new skill!

Adaptability (Beginner 1): Ever-changing and ever-evolving in this world, the individual gains a great wealth of knowledge and mental fortitude. Those who are more open to these changes can see through various weaknesses granting them +5 intelligence, +5 wisdom, +2 perception.

For some reason or another the system essentially gave his full authority over Lisia’s growth as well as the ability to read her status screen:

Lisia Jean Aira Dradrenau

Level 1

Str: 3

Agi: 9

Per: 8 (+2)

End: 5

Vit: 6

Int: 8(+5)

Wis: 4 (+5)

Chr: 10

Affinity:

Nature (Small): When using nature based spells, such as restoration and rooting, duration and potency is increased by 15%.

Skill:

Language Comprehension: (Intermediate) Elvish {Farwynd Dialect}, (Beginner) Demi-Human {Goblin Dialect}, Demi-Human {Werebeast Common Tongue}

Adaptability (Beginner 1): Ever-changing and ever-evolving in this world, the individual gains a great wealth of knowledge and mental fortitude. Those who are more open to these changes can see through various weaknesses granting them +5 intelligence, +5 wisdom, +2 perception.

Minor Restoration (Beginner 1): Calling up the forces of nature an individual can quickly mend minor wounds at the cost of MP.

As the midday sun was drew overhead Andrew thought to himself, ‘awe, so the game isn’t that cruel as to completely screw over everyone then.’

Good job Players! During you time in this ‘Game’ we have developed for you all we have been lenient as a certain degree of a learning curve is necessary for full engagement inside this experiment. Since your arrival in this world. Currently, 320 867 players are still active, you are the lucky few who’ve braved the hazards and with luck and determination forged a path in this cruel thing we call life. But do not get careless. As your ‘Training Period’ is over we are now releasing the full difficulty as well as consequences from world actions. Be aware, even if you had no part in it, you are still a party to the act itself as a member of the same race. Thus, we are forcing you ride out the consequences. Traditionally these reactions are small scale, however, larger scale conflicts are not uncommon in these tumultuous times.

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Chapter RSS About the author 3 Fictions 65 Posts 2 Threads Ambush Follow Author Tuesday, December 22, 2015 6:52:10 PM Wednesday, December 30, 2015 1:50:15 AM Canada Shy Penguin

Bio: Chronic Inability to Finish Stories; CIFS for short. A major affliction that has gripped me in its steely maw for weeks, months, and (shivers) shows no sign of stopping.

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