Outworlder: A title given to outworlders. REDACTED.

Well that was completely pointless. Might as well have told me that sky is blue and the grass is green. Adam was a bit disappointed with his underwhelming title. He had hoped for, well he didn't know what he had hoped for but it certainly wasn't what he got.

Ok this is the last one I think, the only thing it hasn’t explained is what attributes are and what they do. Adam thought as he mentally willed for the last notification.

The screen updated once more and displayed the information on the primary attributes.

Efficiency: It is the increase in user’s effective attribute compared to the base attribute. Based upon the efficiency percentage there is possibility for an exponential increase in the actual effect observed compared to the base value.

Strength: Capacity of muscles to apply force. This attribute determines how much power you can generate with physical actions. Slightly affects Total health and total stamina. Increases damage done with physical attacks

Vitality: Capacity of the body to recover from adverse conditions and is one of the attributes that affect total health and stamina. Increases health regen and decreases the effects of physical debuffs and decreases time taken for recovery.

Endurance: Capacity of the body to endure stress and adverse conditions which include damage and detrimental effects. Greatly affects total health and stamina and increases stamina regen while decreasing the body’s need for sustenance and sleep.

Speed: Capacity of muscles to facilitate quickness of motion. Increases body’s ability to perform feats of agility, evasion and precision as well as increasing the max acceleration which the body can achieve while in motion.

Reaction: Capacity of the body to effectively respond to external stimuli. Decreases time taken to mount responses to stimuli as well as improve coordination and ability to apply corrections while in motion. Increases the body’s ability to perform feats of agility, evasion and precision at high velocities.

Intelligence: Capacity of the mind to learn. Improves ability to analyze, comprehend and draw effective conclusions based upon stimuli. Improves ability to learn complex skills and spells and slightly decreases time taken to master them. Slightly affects total mana and stamina. Increases effectiveness of mana-based skills and spells.

Wisdom: Capacity of the mind to apply learned skills and abilities and improve their efficiency. Improves ability to discern effective actions and discern effective methods to produce desired results. Greatly affects total mana and stamina and increases mana regeneration. Slightly improves effectiveness of spells, skills and abilities.

Mentality: Capacity of the mind to bear stress and debilitations brought about by adverse conditions. Increases resistance to mana-based damage. Increased resistance to mental debility and decreases their duration and effects. Slightly increases Total Mana and stamina. Increases mana and stamina regen.

Perception: Capacity of the mind to perceive and interpret external stimuli through the body’s senses. Improved ability to penetrate illusions, see through hiding abilities, find weak points and increase accuracy, precision and evasion are some of the effects of improved perception.

Focus: Capacity to concentrate. Improves ability to execute actions, improves accuracy, precision, and evasive actions. Increases chances of spotting and striking weak points. Improves damage done through all means and slightly increases ability to speed up execution of spells, skills and abilities.

Quintessence: Attribute of the soul used to interact with ether through the system interface. Has a synergistic effect with the SOUL attributes and has an effect on other attributes.

Control: Attribute of the soul used to interact with ether through the system interface. Has synergistic effect with the SOUL attributes and has an effect on skills, abilities and spells

Willpower: Attribute of the soul which interacts with BODY and MIND. Affects efficiency and resistances.

Except for the attributes, Adam had no problem drawing conclusions about what the other attributes would enable him to do. Not much information given on SOUL and its attributes and the information being displayed is really vague.

But even so I’m beginning to think those SOUL stats might be more useful than they are made out to look. So what should I pick for my Boon? Adam contemplated on the choice of boons provided by system.

User has successfully been integrated into the . Due to the extreme levels of present in user during integration, this has resulted in presence of highly unstable . Choice of boons have been adjusted to reflect this. can provide user with 1 of the boons below:

- 2 points

- User is allowed to pick his own aptitude instead of being assigned one at level 1

- 3 of user’s choice

- 1 active skill and 1 passive skill of user’s choice (limited to Epic and below)

Note: is restricted from giving UNDUE advantages to any integrated individual. overrides these restrictions to an extent, hence is allowed to give a choice of boons depending on the amount of unstable present in user at the moment of integration. It is advised to defer collection of boons till user has set up his .

The trinity stat points look good but is it really the best choice to make in my situation? And the traits, they could have been useful if I had some damn skills besides Analyze. the last option is logically the best one since it lets me select 2 skills of my choice. It would at least let me defend myself and give me a means to fight.

It’s the logical choice to make Adam so why the hell are you so fixated on choosing an aptitude. You don’t even fully understand what it does and it’s something you can get at level 1. Sure it’s going to be system assigned but it’s likely to assign one that’s useful...Right?

Maybe I should hold off on making a choice at least until I’ve seen what the is like, which leads to the next question. Should I activate the right now? My body’s ok, actually it's better than ok, I feel like I’m 10 years younger which feels damn good.

Adam was lost in his thoughts and realized too late the changes that had taken place inside the hole, what little moonlight that had been coming through the entrance had stopped and the burrow had become shrouded in complete darkness.

finally realising the change that had taken place, Adam looked upwards where the entrance was supposed to be and he could hear and slightly make out something moving and that something was big enough to completely block the entrance. And from what he could sense that something was moving towards him.

How did the monster get inside?! It was too big to fit through the hole! how the hell did it get through without me realising and I didn’t even hear it trying to get in. FUCK! Adam was scared and on the verge of panic but he tried to move further inside the burrow but was hampered by the walls. The further he moved inside the smaller the space got until finally he had to resort to crawling on his knees.

As he hurriedly tried to crawl away from the creature he looked back and tried to make out just what kind of creature was moving into the cave.

He saw a pair of red eyes and that was all he time to process before the creature struck. A hiss of air was all he heard before the creature struck, quick as lightning.

Adam couldn’t even react much less put up a struggle before the creature had his legs inside its mouth and bit down like a guillotine. Between Adam seeing the creature’s eyes and the attack that tore him in half, less than a second had passed.

Adam had only seen a blur before his instincts kicked in and he tried to turn and move away from the creature but it was already too late, he realized that he was falling forward on his face and he couldn’t put any strength in his body. He couldn’t understand why he was falling face down and why his body had stopped responding to him.

The creature was fast and powerful and when it attacked, its speed and power enabled it to bite Adam in half and he hadn’t even realised or felt anything as he fell forward on his face and onto the floor.

What the fuck happened? Why am I on the floor? Did the thing attack me? Why can’t I feel my legs?... fuck…FUCK. It struck me and bit my legs off… and I couldn’t even feel it. Fuckin hell. Is this it? Am I going to just bleed out and die?

Adam was dying and he was helpless to stop it. Time seemed to slow down and thoughts flitted in and out of his head.

He knew it then, he really was dying this time but strangely he wasn’t afraid, he thought about his family, about his life. A life cut short by a monster that was chewing on his legs like it was savoring a cut of fine meat.

Probably hasn’t had human flesh to eat before. I hope it chokes on it and ends up getting poisoned. Fuck. I just survived a goddamn dinosaur and now I’m getting eaten by something else. It hasn’t even been a day! Fucking hell!! He was dying and the only thing he could do was curse his fate.

Adam could feel it in his depths. The feeling of rage, of hate tempered by despair. Pitch black anger. He cursed fate. He cursed the monster. He cursed the universe and what it had done to him. Most of all he cursed his weakness.

He was dying and there wasn’t anything he could do. He was helpless to stop it and that sense of helplessness, of weakness was fuel to the fire that was his rage. A rage that burned with such malevolence and hate, he felt that the rage would burn him to ashes before he bled out.

Such was his rage bordering on hate that he felt spite and disgust towards himself for being prey and in that moment he would have done anything to strike back at the creature that was feasting on him.

NO! I refuse this fate. I’m not just going to die here like some prey animal! I refuse to die like this! I swear I’m going to get strong enough to hunt that monster… and then I'm going to tear it limb from limb.

The rage gave him enough strength to do one final act of spite before he succumbed to his wound. In what he felt would he his final act, Adam willed the notification with the to appear. Activate gauntlet! Adam mentally willed and everything went dark.