He looked around as the door swung open, “Oh honey! It’s time to get up” a feminine voice called, and started to walk towards the doorway...then suddenly everything slowed to a crawl. Time froze for him, and a bright blue screen appeared before him.

Character Creation:

Please enter your Characters Name:

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“I’m..what...Im in the GAME?!” he said, his jaw dropping as he glanced around his frozen surroundings. He had the benefit of being able to move around a little, but he couldn’t stand, assumingly he had to finish the system prompt to continue. He ran his hands through his hair, and glanced towards the window at the frozen spiked rooster.. “That’s a...Krekian Rooster,” he said, recognizing the death stare the animal was giving, frozen in the middle of its non-stop screeching. They were a common sight on farms in..the game ‘Wrath of Titans’ they were also super violent for no reason.

He was starting to hyperventilate, so he took a few moments to calm himself before starting back at the blue prompt. “It wants me to choose a name”..this is character creation...but players are supposed to spawn at the Divine Temple in the capital of their chosen race. What’s going on. He tried to open up the systems window, and yelped when he was able to do so.

Respawn Systems

[Locked]

[Locked]

Two blocked options...well, it seems if he wanted to continue he had to...play the game for now. He was terrified of what was happening, last thing he remembered he was dying. Now he was at the start of a new character…

“Guess I’ll just go with the name I'm familiar with..” he said and thought of the letters, which slowly appeared in the spaces as he requested them.

Please enter your Characters Name:

R a v e n _ W i n t e r _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

‘Accept’ he thought, and the blue screen disappeared before repairing with different text:

Your name is:

Raven Winter?

Yes // No

‘Yes’ he confirmed, and the window vanished, and time slowly regained its traction, the sounds slowly exploding back around him as a woman around her 40s or so walked into the room. She had pale skin, and black hair, with piercing icy blue eyes. If he didnt know what his real mom looked like, he could have mistaken this woman for her, she looked alot like him. Same hair, eyes, and skin tone, she even walked a little like him..

“Raven, son, are you awake? I know it’s your birthday, but you can’t sleep all day!” she scolded playfully with a gentle laugh that felt warm, felt welcoming.

‘Oh that’s weird’ he thought to himself as he glanced around. He cleared his throat as he gave a small, hesitant wave, and tried to gently swing his legs over the bed. Success.

“Hahaah! Yeah sorry!” he said...he could talk how he wanted, that wasn't that big of a surprise. There weren't dialogue options in the game, players could respond how they wanted. His...mom? Gave a small wave back as she tilted her head questioningly. ‘I do that!’ creepy…

“Okay hon, well why don’t you get ready. Your father will be back in soon and we have a big late breakfast prepped” the woman said as she closed the door. He quickly shot up and looked around, then jumped in surprise, containing a yelp from escaping him as a blue window popped up in front of him again.

Quest Started - Common

‘Birthday Boy!’

Get Ready for your birthday breakfast. Attend your birthday breakfast Enjoy your birthday!

Rewards:

A Surprise!

“This is crazy..I’m going crazy” he said as he started to breath slowly, taking several deep breaths in a row.. “I can breathe...and it...it doesn’t hurt” he gasped to himself, looking down at his body. He wasn't...lanky and thin, his skin wasn't papery, and he didn't feel like a strong breeze could blow him away. In fact he had a decent layer of muscle, as if he’d worked a physical job for a few years now.

He slowly walked over to a mirror that leaned against a wall across from him. He wore brown papery leggings, and nothing else currently. He did in fact have a nice looking body, he looked like...himself, but much healthier. He then screamed loudly as time froze suddenly and a large blue window appeared before him.

“Stop that!” he shouted at his surroundings, clutching his chest as his heart beat faster in fright. He then glanced at the screen in front of him.

Character Creation:

Available Attributes: 5 Points

Name: Raven Winter Level: 0 (0/100 EXP) Ranks: 0 (No Ranks)

Strength: 10 Willpower: 10

Agility: 10 Concentration: 10

Endurance: 10 Charm: 10

Luck: ??

“Wow...I'm so...weak” he said in horror as he noticed his stats. Most new players started with 12 in everything, and then 10 points to spend in their Attributes...yet he was missing a combined total of TEN stats, and only had 5 points to spend. He took in another calming breath.

“Ok...calm down Miles..Raven...whatever my name is.” he said as he slowly looked over the stats. He may not have a lot of things to work with right now, but he did have one advantage. He knew a lot about the game and how to play it. Even when hospitalized he still watched people play occasionally, and had researched a lot when he was actively playing.

“If I’m stuck in the game...then that means I can get stronger, which means I can get a class, which means I have to spend my limited resources wisely.” he told himself. He closed his eyes as he recalled the information for stats that he could remember.

Strength- Strength was pretty self explanatory, it was how strong the character in the game was. It affects physical damage, carrying capacity, and allows people to wield heavier weapons and wear heavier armor.

Agility- Agility was how fast a character was, and how quick on their feet in a fight they were. It also controls Attack Speed, and a passive Miss Chance for people attacking the character.

Endurance- Endurance was how hard someone could get hit, it controlled health as well as resistance to Physical Status Effects. The higher it was the more likely someone was to keep standing after they got hit.

Willpower- Willpower was extremely important for magic using classes. It was responsible for how much Mana they had to cast spells or channel abilities. Though it wasn't good to just dump this stat as a Physical Class, because it was also the stat that controlled Magical/Mental Status Effects.

Concentration- Concentration was good for any character, the higher it was the more skills they could use in quick succession. It lowered the cooldown of abilities, and allowed more skills or spells to be used at the same time.

Charm- Charm was the common dumstat in the game, but it was still useful. It allowed for bartering with NPC merchants, or could help get better rewards for quests. Some abilities used Charisma as a way to decide how big of an area the spell or ability could affect. But those were more rare than not.

Luck- Luck was the weirdest stat in the game. Every character got a random value between 5-10 starting out, and it controlled Critical Hits, could increase Miss Chances, could negate Critical Hits. It also did not control what kind of loot dropped from defeated enemies, but it could help drop bonus loot. There were also stories of people getting other crazy benefits with high luck, but it was too hard to nail down as the stat was so unpredictable. There was also no way to raise it with Attribute Points, one had to find special items, or rare quests to increase their luck.

He reopened his eyes as he finished consolidating his information. Out of everything his luck gave him the most worry from a gameplay standpoint. He couldn’t even the value currently, which was strange.

“No matter about that right now, I should think about what class I want to play and assign points with that in mind” he stated, giving himself a firm nod in agreement.

“What class should I choose when I have the chance though..” he thought said with a firm hum, he was most familiar with the Magi class. Flinging spells from a distance, and causing a massive amount of damage. Though, it was hard to play a Magi alone...and if he was trapped in the game he should play around that thought.

For the same reason he couldn't choose the Assassin class. Though they did a lot of damage they, like Magi, performed much better in a party.

“Barbarian?” they had a lot of health, but he was most unfamiliar with their abilities. So he wasn't sure how to play them to their best, and he didn't want that kind of disadvantage. The only remaining class a player could start as would be a Swordsman...he knew a lot about them because he played with one for a long time. That was what Jacob was…

***

A few years ago...

“I'm definitely playing a Magi!” a young Miles said as he clutched his fists in the air in excitement. “You should play like an Assassin, and we can combine our powers to beat up anything that stands in our way!” he expressed to the slightly older boy next to him on the bus.

The figure of Jacob smiled, dark green eyes, light brown hair, and pale skin. Quite the opposite pallet to his pale friend.

“I think i’m gonna be a Swordsman, actually.” Jacob said, nodding to himself, cracking a small laugh at the curiously tilt of the head Miles gave him.

“Whhhhhy! That’s like, no offense, the most boring choice!!” Miles said, shocked, exasperated! He wanted his friend to have a good time, and how could anyone have a good time as a boring old swordsman.

“Weak is not the man who stands before certain failure. Brave is the man that stares death straight ahead, with naught but blade in hand and courage in his heart” Jacob said, tilting his head back at Miles who pouted..

“Who said that?” Miles said squinting at the quote Jacob said, and the other youth simply laughed as he was prone to do, shrugged his shoulders, and gave a toothy grin with bright white teeth.

“I did of course.” was his only reply, then Miles threw his arms in the air and leaned back in the seat as he shook his head.

***

“Swordsman dish out a good amount of damage, have good health, and have high survivability. It’s the best class to choose if I have to go solo.” he decided with a nod. Strength, Agility, Endurance, and Concentration were all good stats to focus. His biggest worry at the moment was living though, so he decided to focus on health and speed. That way he could kite or run if needed, plus high Agility Swordsman were a popular choice when he was playing.

He assigned 3 of his points into Endurance, and 2 into Agility, “Accept” he stated afterward, and the system window closed, before opening up again after a few moments. Though he was prepared for it this time:

Assigning Skill Points….Generating Character Sheet...Applying Background…

“Applying Background?..” That was odd, usually a player got to pick their background, but seems he was skipping that step.

Character Sheet Complete!

Available Attributes: 0 Points

Name: Raven Winter Level: 0 (0/100 EXP) Ranks: 1 (Farmer)

Health: 10/10 Concentrated Power: 1

Strength: 10 Willpower: 10

Agility: 12 Concentration: 10

Endurance: 13 Charm: 10

Luck: ??

Skills:

None

He nodded to himself, “Health is low, and I can only use one skill at a time” he concluded, glancing at his Concentrated Power. He was slightly surprised at his Ranks though, which would have come from his Background...but Farmer wasn't a choice in the game. At least usually. Farming was just something players could do.

“No matter…” he said to himself as he closed out of the window. He then opened the closet and dug out a cream colored shirt, dark brown trousers, a black belt, and muddy and worn leather boots. He couldn't find an option to open an inventory or equip anything, so he just tried to get dressed normally. Success! He’d never thought he’d feel such joy from the simple act of undressing and then putting clothes back on, but it was finally something he had a little control over.

He then walked into the next room, and saw a small table packed with plates of food. It was evident this was a small household, his was one of two rooms. Then there was a kitchen, and a living area, that housed two chairs and a sofa equivalent. He could see the sun outside, and wheat fields along with a couple of pigs just outside the window. He was certainly on a farm, so at least his background rank made sense.

He looked over to the woman who had woken him up, and a name in blue letters appeared over her head, ‘Mom - (Rank 1 Farmer)’ it wasn't too big a surprise, it was a normal function of the game. Weaker NPCs don't have levels, just Ranks. At that moment the door swung open, and a tanned man with sweat dripping off of him came in with a large smile.

“There’s the big man! Ahaha” he ran over, he was pretty large, and Miles thought he was going to be trampled but he was just scooped up in a rather sweaty and smelly hug instead…

‘I noticed earlier but it’s still strange how well I can smell things...and feel’ he thought, smells and feelings were mutes in the game. So people didn't lose sense of reality, but he guessed this was his reality now so it would make less sense for things to be muted and diluted.

‘Dad - (Rank 3 Farmer)’ appeared above his head. Rank 3 was pretty high, the highest rank in something could go was 5. As that came to mind, he tried to pull up his own Farmer rank, and a blue screen appeared as he was sat down by his ‘Dad’.

“I am starved! Let me get washed up then let’s eat up with the lad here!” the man said and rustled his hair.

Miles just ignored it as he read through Farmer:

Farmer - Rank(s): 1

Rank 1: A farmer is used to wear and tear and bad weather! +25% resistance to harsh weather conditions.

‘Hmm, not the worst thing I’ve ever seen. Guess it’ll do for now..’ he consumed himself as he slowly sat at the table. Joined by both his...parents...after a few moments.

He ate quietly as the couple chatted in front of him, he couldn't lay low forever though, as eventually his Dad looked over towards him.

"19 already" he stated in a gruff voice, "Seems like it was just yesterday and I was shocked it was 1177, and I was just turning 19 myself." He said with a chuckle and jumped lightly when Miles dropped his silverware in shock.

"Are you okay son?" He asked quickly, though Miles was pretty quick with his words, simply going for a quick joke to hide his sudden surprise.

"Yeah, I just forget how old you are" he replied, earning himself a playful glare while he forced himself to laugh playfully. "How old does that make you now anyway??" He added, hoping to glean a little bit more information.

"I'm only 42 you little brat" was the reply, with a quick throwing of bacon in retaliation. This time Miles let out a real laugh, these two were enjoyable. Not like his other...real...family at all.

'He's 42, and turned 19 in 1177, which means he was born in 1158...that makes the current date..1200 ATF' he thought to himself. That was certainly a shock of new information. The dates of the game were pretty familiar to him, as he had enjoyed the lore for the game when he was young. ATF, stood for After Titans Fell, and marked the changing of the times when people didn't have to worry about the unbelievably powerful beings. The craziest part to him though was...the game didn't start until the year 1300 ATF. Which meant he was 100 years in the past of where he remembered.

“Well that's an interesting development” he said letting his forehead slump to the table top.

***

Later that night, after a long day of pretending to know what was going on he let out a gentle sigh. He was too tired to yell at the blue screen that just assaulted his vision, instead letting tired eyes glance over it.

Quest Complete!

‘Birthday Boy’ - Common Rank

Rewards:

Awarding 50 EXP

Calculating Luck bonus

Applying [Locked] Benefit to Luck Calculation.

A locked benefit… it meant he had something that he had no knowledge over yet. Not that it still wouldn't do what it was meant to do, he just couldn't read the actual ability until he unlocked the information regarding it. It did mean it was a rare ability though, to be locked even from the start…

His eyes glanced over to his Luck stat as the number slowly ticked around, like a spinning slot machine until it slowly rolled over to 30.

“Thirty!” he almost rolled out of bed in shock, that was the highest he’d ever seen a Luck stat ever! Much less to start out with it!!

“What’s going on!” he wanted to scream, but he didnt want to wake the other in the house up, and he really didnt want to wake up the stupid rooster. So instead he screamed it in a very low whisper to himself before he slumped back, too exhausted to know what was going on, being dead was easier..