How long did I sleep anyways? Grayson crawled up from under his bed greeted with sunlight, which was odd, the last he had slept there was still plenty of light shining through the curtains of his window. Don’t tell me I ended up sleeping for the entire day. Cautiously he peeked behind the curtains and, predictably, the sun was shining high above in the sky.
It seems that all the shenanigans from the previous day had entirely exhausted Grayson. After gathering himself up, he decided that there was no point in moping around, not with the chance of the world deciding on a whim that today was the day they hunted him. To make matters worst it seemed like between the time that he went to sleep and waking up, the power had decided to go off.
A shower first, I think. I can worry about that later. Looking down at his clothing they were completely filthy and smelled a bit off.
Just as expected though, nothing was going Grayson’s way today. When he walked into the bathroom to wash himself off, the water wasn’t working.
My luck can’t possibly get any worse. How the hell am I supposed to take a shower if I can’t find any clean water?
Today wasn’t as luckless as hoped, some rummaging, a stubbed toe, and many curses, Grayson sat on his toilet wiping his body down with a pack of baby wipes he found tucked into a random cabinet. “Better than nothing I guess,” he sighed, wiping away at the filth and blood that clung to his body.
Now that’s out of the way I feel much much better. Grayson dawned a new pair of clothing feeling like a whole new person. With that out of the way, let’s see, breakfast, better start on the rest of my engineering homework, oh and tidy up the home before mom and dad gets back this place is a mess.
“...”
Who am I kidding, I need to stop procrastinating, get some grub inside of me, and start worrying about my survival. His eyes quickly scanned over the dead bodies still lying inside of his room. For some reason, the smell didn’t smell as bad as it did earlier and it hurt.
Not wanting to deal with it any longer he packed up whatever he could find useful and headed downstairs. This would probably be the last time he returned here.
Grayson stared into the fridge wondering what he’d eat for breakfast. Most of the items in Grayson’s house were items that needed to be prepared into a proper meal, owing to his mother’s beliefs that having food filled with processed foods would be a failure for her as a mother.
“I wonder how they're doing.” A solemn look flashed across his face as he thought of his parents. Knowing Mom she’ll probably chase away anyone with her constant nagging.
It was thoughts like those that helped him to keep his mind from going insane. Grayson sighed as he sat at his kitchen table munching on one of his dad’s protein bars and a bottle of water that he thankfully found in the fridge.
Name: Grayson Alderwood
Title: N/A
Race: Human
Class: N/A
Level: 1>2
Stats Points:
- Fortitude: 6>7
- Agility: 5
- Strength: 5
- Intelligence: 10>11
- Mana: 11>12
Skills:
[Firefly]
Summons a small swarm of fireflies that explode on impact, dealing area-of-effect damage.
Talents:
[Fast Adaptation] (Humanity Exclusive)
Humans adjust quickly to changing environments, allowing for more stable performance in unfamiliar conditions.
That’s interesting. I would have expected my stats to have increased like when I first awakened. This seems a bit disappointing if I’m being honest. There has to be another reason why this is the case.
Grayson continued to munch on his protein bar as he thought through his System.
Understanding this system is probably very important for my survival here. I’m not sure how stat points are calculated. My guess is that they might be tied to your actions, like how I gained fortitude for receiving attacks, and my mana and intelligence increased for using a magical skill.
“Sigh.” Grayson poked at his belly. Alright, that kind of explains why my physical stats started so low, I may be a little chubby, but that’s not my fault. All those calculus, physics, and stupid theoretical classes I took completely drained me over the years.
Gotta sacrifice some to win some. Back to my intelligence, it increased quite a bit but I don’t really feel any smarter. For stats, like strength and fortitude, my body feels a lot lighter and healthier. I’m assuming that these stats are self-explanatory and work exactly as they're named, but intelligence. I assumed it made me smarter but that’s clearly not the case. In video games, it usually increases your mana stats, but seeing as I gained that category I don’t think that’s the answer.
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Now that I think about it, back when I killed that Adult Squelch-
He shuddered a bit thinking back at its deranged eyes.
Right that Adult Squelch, I used [Firefly], which felt like it sucked some energy out of me, both physically, and in a different sort of feeling, which I assume to be tied to my endurance and mana stat. That’s not the point though, when I used that skill, I was commanding each of the few fireflies to shoot straight into that evil bastard's face. While it might not seem hard to do, I had to individually command each of the fireflies at the same time as everything.
My hypothesis here is that intelligence helps with your processing and multitasking abilities. I would love to test that out with some math problems, but now really isn’t the time for that type of fun.
“Not the time to be a little scaredy cat.” He knew it was time. It was finally time to leave this place. He had everything he could possibly need from his home, but it was not the place to be. He needed to get stronger by fighting monsters and quite frankly the few nonperishable food items he had were not enough to survive. He had maybe a meal of two worth of canned foods and protein bars.
It’s pretty clear to me what I need to get done. First I need to gather proper supplies and grow stronger.
He remembered the scene he’d witnessed in the mind of his future self—fighting off that massive swarm of monsters. From their conversation, he understood that he wasn’t the most powerful human, not by a long shot, especially when compared to the strongest among them.
To Grayson, that level of power seemed inconceivable. He knew what he had seen wasn’t something gained just from the tutorial, but the result of years spent growing stronger. But the thing was, it all started with the tutorial, and if that was any indication, he couldn’t afford to sit back and be passive. It was simple: either grow stronger or die trying.
There was no other choice, not with him knowing what the future held. Even with all that power his future self gained, it still wasn’t enough to prevent the eventual extinction of humanity.
Once again he kept telling himself he had no other choice. Oh he knew, he could have played ignorant and let the universe do its thing, but when thought of what his future self asked him. “A stranger, a child, a classmate, friends and family, all of humanity.” He clenched his fist, it was now or never. If it cost him his own life just to protect everyone he loved he would do it, no ifs and or buts.
With that, for the first time of his own volition, he stepped out of his house and walked forward. Steps resolved, shaking, but accepting of his choice. There was no going back.
The first order of business was to make his way to his local general store. There he would find some proper tools to survive off of.
“Never in my life did I think it would be this difficult to make it toward a general store.”
Twenty minutes had passed since Grayson left his home, and already, he felt disoriented. He knew the general direction to his destination, but the twisted terrain and overgrown vegetation had altered everything in ways he hadn’t anticipated. Now, he found himself in what he presumed was somewhere near a park close to his house, though it was hard to tell.
Somewhere off in the distance, Grayson heard faint thuds. With each passing moment, they grew louder and louder. They’re heading straight this way. If any of what he’d seen in the past day was any indicator, it probably wasn’t a human nor friendly.
He quickly grabbed for the adult Squelech’s dagger he had taken with him from his pack. It had quite a bit of reach and it seemed much sharper than any of the kitchen knives he owned. Grayson slowly backed away and hid behind a tall tree. Watching off in the direction the sound was coming.
Grayson held his breath hoping it wasn’t attracted to his smell and was just passing on by. The sounds of this creature's footsteps grew louder, eventually, it made its way past some bushes and he could finally spot what he was looking at. It was a boar-like creature that was quite a few inches shorter than Grayson and covered in fur.
It seemed like it was just passing by. Grayson sighed in relief. I know that I said I had to grow stronger, but you can’t possibly expect me to fight that thing. It probably weighs twice as much as me!
I’m not a suicidal idiot. Grayson walked off in the opposite direction. You would think that with all the knowledge of physics formulas smooshed in his brain, he would think a little more, but alas, whether it was the adrenaline in his veins or some other factor, those few precious steps he took caused the branches under his foot to snap.
The fur boar who was on its way out of Grayson’s path paused and turned around, and that’s when it spotted the suicidal idiot who couldn’t have waited a minute longer.
As you would expect, it charged straight at Grayson.
A silence descended upon the two as they stared at each other. A sweat drop dripped off of Grayson's face and landed with a plop as it hit the ground. His heart raced as the fur boar barreled in a straight trajectory toward him, its heavy hooves pounding against the earth like mini quakes full of deadly intent. Right as it entered into slamming range, Grayson quickly shifted his weight, throwing himself to the side as the creature surged past, narrowly avoiding its sharp tusks. The boar's charge had been so tunnelvisioned that it was predictable. He took this chance, darting forward to strike at the boar's side with his dagger in both hands, his blade barely piercing the surface. The hide of the creature was much tougher than he imagined, and when he tried to pull the blade free, he felt resistance and went cold. He struggled, tugging at it frantically, but the boar was already swinging its massive body around.
Before Grayson could brace himself, the creature swirled around slamming into him, knocking him off his feet, and slamming him hard against a nearby tree. Pain erupted through his back as he slid off the tree onto the ground disoriented by the attack. Through his blurred vision, he saw the boar snort angrily, pawing at the ground, in preparation for a final charge. It came thundering at Grayson once again, ready to impale him.
In the last second, as he gained enough time to think, Grayson rolled to the side desperately, forcing air into his lungs as he dodged the attack. Still recovering, he wasted no time and conjured his [Firefly] spell, summoning a small, glowing mote of tiny fireflies that hovered around his hand. He focused on the same spot he had earlier, trusting in his high intelligence stat. He commanded the little lights, and they hurled themselves toward the small wound he had cut into the boar earlier. In response, the boar screeched in pain, staggering and thrashing its head in agony, as its singed hide smoldered.
Furious and wounded, the boar once again charged at Grayson in its same predictable straight manner. Grayson miscalculated this time overconfident. He stepped back to avoid the tusks but lost his footing, the boar's tusks swiped across his body grazing him. Grayson was lucky its fury had clouded its limited judgment. The wound was shallow though painless nonetheless. The boar, still consumed by its agony and anger, clumsily mistook a stump next to Grayson as Grayson, and rammed its tusks into the stump, lodging its tusks deep.
There was no other perfect moment than this one. Grayson pushed himself up with a groan, swaying from the sudden blood loss coming down his side. "Here comes the suicidal idiot," he muttered limping forward. Determined, he gathered as much energy as possible and limpingly ran to the boar unwilling to miss this chance. He gripped his dagger one last time, driving it deeper into the wound he created earlier. The boar thrashed and squealed, trying harder to get unstuck and prevent Grayson from hurting it anymore, but he did not relent. Forcing his hand into the incision Grayson smiled.
"[Firefly]!" he yelled, concentrating. He released all the boar he could muster and released a concentrated blast of energy that echoed throughout the boar's body. He felt all the mana in his body drain.
The boar convulsed one more time as the spell tore through its insides. Its movements slowed as life drained from its eyes. Eventually, it collapsed, motionless, as a notification appeared in Grayson's vision.
Ironhide Boar Slain!
Grayson grimaced as the metallic stench of burning flesh filled the air, his eyes drifting down to his dirt and blood-streaked clothes. “I just put these on less than an hour ago. Come on!” This was definitely not how he’d expected his first outing to go, but at least he was still alive.