Hahaha. Author, you nearly make choke to death with my own ironical laughter. That person, cleaning up his own mess? Making a seahorse drink coffee with a fork would be a thousand million times easier. And, allow me to point out, you slipped your mouth -pardon me, your fingers- there. And I quote: "God is about to push his other problems on someone else—". Yet another demonstration of the incompetence of the higher being above our heads. Were it not because of actually responsible people like me and Drawer, this story would be dammed.

What? What do you mean, we don't have a Drawer?! What happened to the last one?!

God... fired him?! What on the bloody falling heavens does that twerp have on it's head?! Clouds?!

Hey, you! Yes, you! Hire a new Drawer right now!

Eh?! No budget?! God spent it all on beers again?! Ugh, I feel a migraine coming up... Curses upon you, God! Ahhhhhhh! If I ever see you again, I will be sure to smack you in the face!

Ah, I'm sorry, readers. Pardon my language, but it seems God has fucked it up big time, yet again. Now I have a mammoth's weight worth of paperwork over my desk. If any of you knew of a kind Drawer who might want to make this story's cover for free, would you please mind letting me know? I won't be able to do anything on my own right now...

Ah, but don't worry. I will keep guiding you through Eugene's adventures. Well then, let's resume our story.

After practicing with his (Crystal) rune for a while longer -also known as, cast the rune until you're completely out of mana, rest until you recover, repeat-, Eugene found out multiple things. Firstly, there was the fact that, as expected, the more he depleted his magic, the more tired he would feel.

"Well, that was to be expected..."

On the other hand, he found out that summoning (Crystal) repeatedly increased the spell's efficacy. Meaning, he could transmute more substance for less mana.

(Crystal) could be applied not only to solid matter, such as the grass and the soil, but also to the air. Because there was not lake nearby, he hadn't tested the spell in liquid matter, but after seeing its previous results, he would bet it would also be effective.

Not that his opinion had much importance to the system, of course.

Feeling somewhat satisfied with this training session, he decided to check his status once again, hoping something had changed through this unstoppable grinding -as he named it-.

"Let's see..."

Status Name Eugene Progression 2.00% to reach Progression Race Human Vocations Title (Empty) Runologist: D (15.00%) Blessings Phanes' Bless (None) Attributes

Physique

10

Charisma 20 Intellect

22

Magic

17

"Oh ma ma...!" Now this is progress, is what he thought. Two, maybe three hours of casting the same spell mechanically, and this was what he got? Undeserved, but appreciated nonetheless. His Magic and Intellect attributes had raised +2 each, which he could deem as a +1 per hour. Not bad, although slower than what he would like.

"Next up, let us check our vocation!"

Runology

Allows the formation of spells with the combination of multiple runes. Runic spells cost lesser mana and summon faster than normal spells

Acquired Runes (Glass) 100%

Available Runes

0 (50%)

Max Spell Length

2

"...Ohoh...?" Even more interesting! Now, this was what he called explosive growth! His mastery over the (Glass) rune was already maxed out, and the progress to get a new rune was already half way through! Was it all this easy? Or was it because this was his first rune? Or maybe thanks to his high magic attribute? He could not tell. After all, while the system's help windows showed the basics of each element, they did not explain details such as this one.

"Well. With this, I think it's about time for me to move. I haven't taken a single step out of here since I got here, after all... Ah, but this dream is probably going to end anytime soon..."

No matter, Eugene thought. After all, he could do just about whatever he wanted to in this dream. Sure, it would be a pity once he woke up, but then, wasn't it even more important to enjoy while he could?

With such thoughts, he set off to the horizon, to the raising sun.

The emerald-green grass crunched below Eugene's school shoes. Something that he hadn't noticed up until now was that he was still wearing his school uniform. It was surely fitting to the cold weathers that seemed to never leave his hometown; but with this slightly tropical and warm weather, it was more of a wearable sauna than a bundle of clothes.

"I better find something more fitting to this place, or else..."

Noticing his damped clothes were now sticking to his skin and making the pleasant warmness turn into a living hell, Eugene had to take off his shirt and shoes, socks and all, and leave them laying in the ground, just to take a sit right next to them and take a little break.

It had been little more than three hours since he set off from what he decided to name the Startpoint. Walking without any special goal in his mind, he had been waiting for the first battle, even if it was against something as weak as a butterfly.

Yet, the world seemed to enjoy breaking his plans. As of now, no living creature had come across him. Let alone a proper enemy...

"Is it because my Luck stat is too low? Or, on the other hand, is it too high?" Once again, no way to know. Curse the system, keeping so many things in the dark!

Now, what to do...?

Should he practice his Runology once again? No, that wouldn't be smart of him. He was starting to feel hunger racking the insides of his stomach, and up until now all the food he had found was... well, grass and bushes. And he doubted they would be particularly edible... Thirst was also starting to turn into a problem, as his throat was starting to dry and there was no hint of a water source nearby.

And the pleasant warmness was now turning into a veritable hell once again, and this time he had no shirt to take off. In other words, he would have to find somewhere with food, water, and shadows to guard his body from the sun's blazing rays...

"Also known as, a forest."

Yes, he would have to find a forest...

*Badump!*

His body tensed. His head, heart and brain were al pulsing. His whole self was telling him he had to move the fuck out of there right now if he didn't want to die. He didn't understand why, and he didn't stop thinking about it. Without as much as a second of hesitation, his whole body jumped forward with all his might, breaking the fall and rolling in the grass. The move was so swift that he thought someone else had seized control of his body and forcibly made him move.

Immediately after, a new green window, accompanied by the typical *Cling* shot out, taking a small fraction of his vision field.

System Notification

A charge of Phane's Bless has been used. 4/5 charges left.

"What?!"

Looking to the place he had been in less than a second ago, he understood the meaning of such words.

"Holy mother of... fuck...!"

Standing there, looking freshly-taken out of the most realistic fantasy games, was something that Eugene could only categorize as an orc. It was almost two and a half meters tall, with a fat, rounded body, and porcine-like proportions. The fact that this thing could stand on it's two back legs was a miracle on its own. The fact that he was holding a giant reptilian-like animal's skull as a shield in it's left hoof, and a large sharpened bone as a sword in the right one, was more of a nightmare. It's greasy blue-ash skin seemed enough to stop any attack on it's own. And the two black eyes staring at me as if I were some kind of drumstick, lodged in the boar's half-drooling head, gave off a hungry impression, to say the least.

He focused on the orc, and, to his surprise, a new window, this time blood red, popped out, displaying the enemy's information.

Status

Name (None) Progression 46.27% to reach Progression Race High Orc

Vocations Title (Empty) Warrior: D (3.00%)

Blessings (None) (None) Attributes

Physique

120

Charisma 0 Intellect

5

Magic

0

In short words, Eugene was fucked up.

"What the fuck can I do against this thing?! Go easy on me, you shitty dream!!!"

This was far too much for his first encounter! What in the bloody Jesus was Eugene supposed to do against a giant mass with sword and shield, albeit incredibly primitive ones?! Nothing, he reckoned. There was just no way in the world this could end with him on the winning side!

The orc dislodged his broadsword from the ground. Had Eugene evaded a second later, he would be human bacon by now. The thought sent shivers running through his spine. Not the time for that, he thought.

Taking a single step as it raised it's sword once again, the orc moved forward. Or rather, it ballooned forward. A breath's worth of time later, it was standing right in front of him, swinging his giant bonesword, ready to slice Eugene in two neat halves.

In less then a second, he thought. Motherfucking OP pig.

Once again, the Phanes' Bless kicked in. This time Eugene rolled to the side, and the sword fell a few inches beside him. He could feel beads of sweat rolling on his forehead. This was too much. He couldn't do it. He couldn't possibly do it! It was an impossible task!

*Cling* the system's message informing the loss of yet another Phane's Bless charge followed. Great, three more times and he would be done for.

This time, something else made him move though. Even before Eugene had seen it coming, something told him the orc was doing a lateral swipe with it's sword next. This mysterious something also told him that jumping in the place would get him through the attack with not so much as a scratch.

And effectively, jump, swipe, getting through the attack without a scratch.

"Wait a second..." Next up, a shield bash. And to evade, he could easily take a couple of steps back... The shield barely gave him a brand new hairstyle for free, but not a single bit of anything you could call harm.

By now, Eugene had noticed something...

Namely. "Its attack pattern is so... simple?"

Yes. This was the easiest way to describe it. He could perfectly read the brainless pig's movements. Difference in their attributes would matter little to none, if those attack did not connect.

Why did he have such knowledge? That would come later on. Right now, the top priority was...

"Well then, fucking ex-OP oversized boar..."

He took a step forward, facing the large pig that now looked like nothing but an enormous chunk of porksteak.

"...Time for a rematch"