I will have to admit, the Author was not at all exaggerating when he said I was quite happy to hear my incompetent superior fell victim to a diarrhea spree. And as such, I don't mind in the slightest having to keep you informed on Eugene's progress.

If I must say, I have taken a liking to him myself. Although, he could certainly improve his vocabulary. I will ask the Author to take that into consideration once writing again.

Ah, but that's not important right now. Let us take the story, right back to when Eugene defeated the orc warrior -rather anticlimactically if I say-.

Tired. This was the word fitting him the most right now. And, if he had to choose, the next one would be quite disgusted. But oh, well, it was his own fault for smashing a pig's head to mincemeat.

As it happened to be, right after sitting in the grass, all his strength abandoned him. However easy his battle should've looked -mainly thanks to God's poor narrating skills-, being constantly on the edge was quite exhausting, especially for his brain. Every single one of his muscles ached as well, and his arms were barely responding to him for the incredible effort. It was an honest-to-god miracle how not even a single bit of crystal had hurt him. Coincidence? Most likely. High Charisma would be another way to call it, or so he thought.

It was, however, a battle to learn from.

He opened the several notifications from the system, as he meditated over the previous events.

There were several aspects to look into. Mainly, the fact that he was somehow able to understand all of the oncoming attacks, and therefor evading them at the last possible second. at first, he had thought this was something that came with himself. However, reading the system's notifications, this hope vanished away instantly.

System Notification

For first confronting a dangerous foe, you have been granted a boost to your survival instincts. This will be a one-time-only effect.

And there went the dim hope.

"I guess I wasn't meant to walk the OP character road..."

And so, back to checking the results of the battle.

System Notification

For defeating an enemy stronger than yourself, your soul soul has grown stronger! Your status has been updated accordingly.

System Notification

You have earned the following titles:

"Orc Slayer"

"Berserker"

Interesting. So he had earned new titles. But, what did Berserker went for? Perhaps it was his last minute mad race what earned him the title? With no way to know, and this ever-so uncooperative system, he decided to actually look at these titles. In fact, he would have a look at his whole status.

"Show me mine power, System!" Again using this weeb talk so unfitting to him, he opened up his status window.

Status Name Eugene Progression 3.00% to reach Progression Race Human Vocations Title (Empty) Runologist: D (50.00%) Blessings Phanes' Bless (None) Attributes

Physique

17

Charisma 20 Intellect

30

Magic

25

Not near as much growth as he had expected. Even while his stats had gone up just like usual -the usual for the hardest, more realistic RPG games where leveling up sucks, that is- his Progression level hadn't nearly gone up at all. By the looks of it, he would have to kill at least 97 more of those things before he actually got somewhere.

"Training in M*rage while watching YT would get me up faster..." And, for those who have actually played it, you know just how slow that is.

In summary, leveling up at this rate would be seriously difficult.

However, that wasn't the only problem here.

However blunt-edged, that giant bone sword was... well, a giant bone sword. And wielded by an enormous pile of muscles, the chances of him surviving that first strike were just as high as the chances of getting hit by a truck... while inside a hospital. It's a fact that, were it not because of the system's support, he would be talking to his great grandfather by now.

"Ah, I almost forgot. This is just a dream..."

And that was the second issue. Was it, now? Because, up until now, he had spent more that five hours in this unknown land. Were this a dream, would've he spent so much time in the same frame? Dreams as he knew them, even lucid dreams, were just fragmented shards of separated situations. Nothing as continuous and detailed as this. Everything, from the smell of grass on the soil to the tiredness he was feeling, was far too well-replicated as to be a simple dream.

To the point where he had started to suspect this was not just a dream, but reality. A crazy reality where he had been kidnapped by a mysterious voice and left out in God-knows-where -quite literally-, in a realm where a game-like system actually existed and he was a part of it.

"No, actually, let's make a small stop. Am I seriously considering this...?"

Being the protagonist for an Isekai story wasn't his style. Not at all. He was smarter than the bunch, while not enough to be called a genius. His looks were slightly below the average, but not so badly he could be summoned to a parallel world and then abandoned by an irritating goddess. And he definitively had no reason to escape his own life. He had a promising future as a programmer, a very good hobby as a writer, and the brains to know better than loving a 2D girl.

And as such, just what part of him was fit to be an Isekai adventure protagonist?

That was highly unlikely. Just by objectively looking at the facts, any sane person would doubt whether they were getting worried over nothing or not.

Even so, Eugene's motto was "better safe than sorry".

If, by any chance, this was actually another world instead of a dream. If, by any chance, this was all real...

He would have to be a lot more careful about his future.

He couldn't play that maniac killing spree he had played before a second time. That was more than risky. And it had also fully depleted his mana pool. However satisfactory it was to skewer the orc's brains with his crystal spikes, it was an unnecessary move.

Not only that. Looking back and thinking about it, just what in the world was he expecting by throwing crystal knifes? Sure, a normal person might have been injured by it. Maybe even severely if hit in the eye, or some other vulnerable part. However, this was no ordinary person. It was a freaggin' orc warrior! Just how naive was he, thinking a little piece of crystal would somehow magically fix everything?

Yes. He was really naive.

He had to change that. No longer knowing where the line between the dream and reality laid, he couldn't afford to keep thinking that way. For the future battles to come,he had to put his safety at top priority. Even if that meant running away, which was an actual choice when he blinded the orc.

"Even so, that first part wasn't badly thought. I might use that light reflection as a part of my strategies repertoire..."

For now, he would have to think about a fighting strategy that included as little face-to-face combat as possible. However, not leveling up was not an option. If this really was the real life and he was in a different world, by the looks of it, it was a highly dangerous one. If this kind of enemy were the equivalent for slimes in starting fields to this place, then he would end up dead sooner or even more sooner. That, unless he got stronger, of course.

Thinking it thoroughly, he realized didn't know what to do once he was rested. He needed to organize priorities and make a list of objectives. He was not at all fan of doing bothersome things like such, but the time called for it. And as such...

"So, to list out my current goals... it would be like this."

1- Devise a safe and efficient fighting strategy.

2- Finding a steady drinkable water income.

3- Finding a steady food income.

4- Finding a place to clean myself up.

5- Finding out where I am.

6- If possible, getting the hell out of here.

"Yeah. This would be all my immediate goals."

Satisfied with this priority list, he got up from the ground. A part of his uniform pants had stuck to it, thanks to the coagulated orc blood. On the good side, the stink had gone away. On the bad side, getting the filth out of the pant would be much more bothersome.

For the number 3, finding a steady food income, he had a temporarily solution. The orc's carcass was most likely edible. In fact, cooking the meat properly could even make it taste like pork steak. He didn't dislike the idea at all.

And then, he found a new problem. He had no way of making fire, and therefore, cooking was impossible. That was another serious problem, one that needed to be solved as fast as possible. Cooking the meat was a must-do in order to eat it. Otherwise, licking the floor would be just as hygienic.

He made a mental fix on his priority list, adding "Finding a way to make fire" as the number 4 and making the proper changes on the rest of the list.

"Devising a safe and efficient fighting strategy... Easier said than done... Oh!"

Eugene suddenly remembered something. He wasn't done checking the battle results. There was still something he hadn't looked into.

Opening up his status window, he focused on his vocation... then, his spell, Runology. Seeing the words displayed on the friendly green interface window, his face quickly shifted to show surprise at first, followed by a smile, and finally a thoughtful expression.

"This was unexpected..."

This was the content of his Runology window.

Runology

Acquired Runes (Glass) 100%

Available Runes

1 (0.05%)

Max Spell Length

2

Does this mean what I think it means? is what he thought. And, of course it was.

Well, this changed it all. Depending on the next rune he got, his future could get fairly easier. Although the process to choose a new rune was completely random, even if the one he learned this time was another non-combat one like (Glass), the combination of both runes might become something useful.

But even so, why was his Runology's level going up so fast? Compared with his status, this growth was far too unbalanced. Was the growth always like this? Or would it become exponentially slower? I hope not, he thought. But in this strange, and as he had realized by now, unfair world, the worst choice seemed like the most probable one. Right, so let's not think about it, he thought.

"System, I want to spend my available runes."

System Notification

All your Available Runes will be used. You will learn 1 new rune. Proceed Postpone

"Proceed... Let the Force be with me. Or something like that."

After a few seconds which felt like an eternity to Eugene, a new message popped out.

System Notification

1 rune was randomly chosen

(Feather) - Nullifies the action of gravity over the target. Mana points will be deducted based on weight and gravity force. 1 point equals the approximate weight of a tennis ball.

(Warning: Overuse of this rune could cause nausea on indecisive short-brown-haired girls)

Proceed

"Hmmm... Interesting!"

Yet another non-combat rune. However, this one was far more useful. Eugene could come up with several ways of using this rune. He also just loved that anime reference, so much so he was quite close to fall to the floor again from all the laughing. But, back to the point, using this rune would require further training.

"That clarified, let's see this put into practice."

He wouldn't be as idiotic as to try this new magic on himself. of course not. For that, he used his (Crystal) rune, choosing the shimmering crystal shard as it's target.

This time, he didn't have to delve into that dark universe like when he first used (Crystal), although he felt it on his soul. Maybe it was because now he could focus better on casting the runes? Or because it was less complex to nullify gravity than turning something into something else entirely to an atomic level? If Eugene had to say, he would probably say it was the later. But, without knowing how the runes' system worked, he couldn't tell. Instead, he focused on the rune's 'meaning', quickly forming a mental image of the rune on his head...

The rune came to be as it floated in the air, with it's dazzling golden light. Putting mana into it, Eugene casted the full spell.

"(Feather)!"

This time, turquoise-colored strands of glowing light enveloped the rune, changing it's color. The crystal shard, as well, began glowing with the beautiful, mysterious aura. Quickly merging with the shard itself, the magical light created a myriad-colors show. Once completely blended together, a thin layer of turquoise light remained... and the crystal shard, slowly, but surely, began floating. Rising up higher and higher.

"..."

Astounded by this magnificent show, Eugene realized almost too late he was about to lose the piece of crystal forever.

But, wait a second. Could he control the floating effects? Nowhere around the spell description said he could, and he hadn't tried just yet...

But, well. To give up without trying wouldn't solve anything, he reckoned.

Focusing on the ever rising crystal shard, light surrounding it, Eugene tried to push it towards him.

The results were rather curious.

The shard moved. Not like Eugene wanted it to, but it moved. As it seemed, the control over the floating effect only included altitude... or rather, to the grade in which the target ignored gravity. The crystal shard lowered down to Eugene's altitude, but it didn't move a single inch towards him, horizontally speaking.

"So... In summary, (Feather) lets me control the effect of gravity over the target..."

It wasn't as he had thought it. But it still had several, interesting uses. And this one, unlike (Crystal), wasn't limited to non-living things. Interesting, really interesting... He would have to experiment with this rune later on.

And with this, he moved on to the next...

...No. In fact, there was one more thing. One he had remembered just now.

The fact that two runes could be used in the same spell, that was.

"Oh, yeah... I almost forgot. Probably because I only had a single rune up until now..." Nevermind. He had remembered and that was all that mattered, he reckoned.

But yet another problem popped out. How did one combine two runes in the same spell?

Logic told him that, if a casting a spell required taking the rune's 'meaning' into consideration, casting a spell using several runes would most likely take to think about both of the rune's meanings at the same time.

Difficult. But, with enough concentration, possible.

However, something went wrong when he tried to combine (Crystal) and (Feather). Yes, both runes were there, floating in midair. However, the mana he was supposed to feed them with was... fighting, in lack of a better word. Because it was constantly shifting from one rune to the other, none of them actually activated, rendering the composed spell useless...

"Is it because they just aren't compatible?" he asked. "Yeah, that looks like the most probable choice..." Certainly, he couldn't possibly imagine what kind of effect combining such different spells would have. In lack of a better theory, he decided to base on this. Of course, always open to other possibilities.

Tiredness was almost already gone, as he suddenly realized.

He would have to keep moving.

"Today was... an eventful day. In more than one ways..."

One step at the time, Eugene walked away, heading to the horizon. One step at the time, moving to new heights...