Hearing birds chirp as well as rushing water I snap awake wondering what the hell is going on.
I remember falling asleep in my bed so how the hell did I end up in a clearing next to a rather beautiful river!
As I scan the clearing more closely I notice the river seems to be mountain fed, which should be fairly obvious I guess considering that this clearing seems to be a pocket valley with the water heading south east judging by the way the sunlight is coming over the ridge.
The air doesn't seem to be too thin, maybe four to five thousand feet above sea level, plenty of oxygen due to the surrounding plant life, though I don't really recognize the trees, they seem to be deciduous like oaks and coniferous like pines. The leaves and needles as well overall shape don't really match though.
The birds look like swallows on steroids, about the size of ravens, here and there around the edge of the clearing there seem to be rabbits and that looks like a deer, a deer with golden antlers, should probably wait to check that out though, because a screen just popped up in front of me.
Have to check that out first, it's slightly see through but it's blocking my vision and if you can't see then you can't verify if threats are approaching with your eyes and have to listen for anything approaching.
Name: Jack Al'Trades
Lvl. 1 0/200xp to next level
Renown Level - Unknown in current world of residence.
Race: Fallen - Due to being given Angelic blood because of the whims of one you don't mess with and originally being of human descent your race has evolved.
Wait what?
I'm now a Fallen because some idiot thought that giving me Angelic blood would be funny, like what the fuck kind of dumb ass does that!
Stupid piece of shit!
The screen flashed all of sudden and a new window popped up saying
"She is glad to finally have you talking about Her, but She prefers that kind of language be used to address Her in more private settings."
The screen displaying the message disappeared allowing what I'm guessing to be my status page, if what I recall from those light novels correctly, to show back up as I just shake my head and mutter
"Great a masochistic bitch has her eyes on me right now."
Then I slowly grin and say
"Kinky, don't mind if I do at some point missy."
The screen seemed to stutter for a few seconds before it finally said
"Please don't rile Her up, it won't end well for whoever She decides to take Her frustrations out on and for reasons She will not share, you are allowed to say whatever you want about Her. Just the few words you have said, when said by somebody else, led to their species extinction. We're not going to ask why She allows this, that is waaaayyy beyond our paygrade. All we ask is that you don't rile Her up."
I stare at the screen for a minute then shake my head say
"Noted, doesn't mean I won't do it again though. Can I look at my status now?"
The message clears and I'm finally able to see my status board again, which shows most of the pertinent details I guess.
Hp: 125
Mp: 260
Vigor: 25
- Health: 9
- Defense: 8
- Strength 8 - Vigor governs Hp with 1 point of Vigor equaling 5 points of Hp, it also governs damage resistance and overall Strength. Standard values are from 4 to 10 for normal humans.
Endurance: 26
- Stamina: 9
- Athletics: 9
- Breathing: 8 -Endurance governs how long you may be active for, how long you can go without sleep and in general length of time you engage in high intensity physical activity. Standard values are from 2 to 10 for normal humans.
Control : 23
- Dex: 11
- Ranged: 9
- Spellcasting Speed: 3 - Control governs how much control of your body you have for all activities, this includes Dexterity for rapid movement, control of ranged weapons, and speed of spellcasting. Standard values are from 1 to 10 for normal humans.
Cunning: 22
- Tactics: 8
- Scouting: 7
- Roguery 7 - Cunning governs tactical, scouting, and rogue-like thinking processes. Standard values range from 2 to 10 for normal humans.
Social: 23
- Charm: 9
- Leadership: 8
- Trade: 6 - Social governs how well you interact with people, your leadership skills and how well you can trade. Standard values range from 1 to 10 for normal humans.
Intelligence: 26
- Mana Regen: 5 Mana per second due to race being Fallen
- Knowledge: 12
-Learning Speed: 9 - Intelligence governs the amount of mana you have, with one point of Intelligence giving 5 Mana, due to having the Magus passive, your Mana is doubled. It also displays level of knowledge and learning capability. Standard values range from 1 to 15 for normal humans.
Standard values are for average adult humans of at least Level 10.
Note that these values are not static and can change due to many reasons. Exercise, reading and acquiring knowledge can increase these values while being lazy and doing nothing can cause them to decrease.
Passives: Note that passives affect all base stats, both in positive and negative manners.
Active Gains
Maximum Grind
Maximum Effort
Enduring
Solid Foundations
Deep Foundations
Bedrock Foundations
Geared Up
Gear Drip
Magi
Magus
Winged One
Hidden - Gain Renown to unlock details.
Renown - Level of Fame or Infamy in the surrounding area, county, kingdom, continent, world, system, quadrant, galaxy.
Alright then.
So now I've got to keep an eye on this, make sure that I stay alive, find shelter, get food and somehow or another get a hold of my pops from the save that started this shit.
As I thought of the pops the status screen jittered then showed
"To unlock access to your first pops, increase Renown level to Well Known for your current area."
"Alright, where is my current area then?"
"You are currently located in the at the extreme Eastern end of the Vallas mountain range on the Eastern end of the Iragos Continent in the Western Hemisphere of the planet Tor Nazak.
The Vallas Mountains are currently unclaimed by any nation with the closest ones being the Kirinadar Empire and the Palatine Empire with several sizeable city-states and the Kingdom of Holfast to your south.
The Vallas Mountain act as a natural border to the Northern Wilds with several passes going through. The nearest pass to your location is about 70 kilometers away with a 9 kilometer trek through the pass to the nearest village.
The village is around built around Fort Erandar and named Erandar Village.
Residents are a mix of several races and the village is the primary route of expansion for the Kingdom of Holfast.
That is the extent of the information we will give you regarding nations at this time.
Gain more renown or interact with residents of the area to learn more."
That's great, just great, at least I have some distance before I have to worry about running into somebody else, but that doesn't mean I can slack on making sure I have a roof over my head and food in my stomach.
Speaking of which, I chose the Magi passive, which means I'm able to use all types of magic right?
The novels always say that magic is the power of the mind and reading all of this stuff took more time than I thought.
Getting up I look around at the clearing again and spot a fairly large hill at the edge of it, close to the river and it fades back into the trees. So I decide to get a closer look while keeping an eye for anything that may decide I would make a good snack.
As I get closer, I notice that it's a fairly solid layer of dirt over what looks like regular old rock with one side partial collapsed leaving an escarpment that has exposed a decent amount of stone.
Muttering to myself
"Earth magic, Earth Magic, science has no place here."
I picture the stone, not collapsing, but moving like water to form a decent sized area with a s-curve tunnel leading to it.
I feel the magic take hold though I'm not sure how I knew and the spell completes before I drop to one knee holding my head and feeling woozy. I give it a second before looking at the notification that popped up.
"Spell learned: Earth Shaping - costs 5 mana to shape 1 sq meter of earth. Due to Magi passive, spell cost is doubled.
Looking at my mana I see
Mana: 20/260 regens 5 mana per second due to Fallen race.
Cannot go below 10 mana or you will risk death.
So I managed to shape about 15 square meters of earth and as I walk through the s-curve I have to slightly crouch and turn my torso a bit to get through. Not a bad defensive mechanism if there wasn't magic involved I guess.
The tunnel ends after about 3 meters opening up into a small space big enough that I can stand up, lay down flat on one side with a slope down to the back, maybe about 6 meters of open space with the volume being odd due to the shape.
I check my mana and see that it's full again and my head's stopped aching, so I head back outside to see the sun is starting to fade behind the mountains on the Western side of the valley.
I quickly grab some nearby kindling and while I'm doing that I look to see if I can find some berries to eat.
I see some and go to touch them when I get a notification again
"She has decided that She will not watch you die to stupidity, standard wilderness plant testing will not save you in this world, so She has graciously decided to grant you Appraisal. An abuse of Her power, but it is what it is. Enjoy Her favor, though I know not why you have it mortal."
"Huh, oh well, can't really say I don't want a masochistic sugar mommy.
Identify."
Nirfa Berries - While not extremely toxic, eating them raw will cause you to shit your brains out like a Black Friday sale runs out of the good stuff immediately. To eat safely, dry over flames to burn the toxins as high heat renders them inert. Can also be used to make stews and drinks as long as high heat is used in the cooking process."
Bonus!
Laxative berries!
If I had somebody to mess with right now I'd definitely be going, hey try this real quick! They taste really good! Trust me on this one dude!
I go back through the tunnel and use Earth Shaping to make a funnel through to the surface with a baffle to disperse the smoke from the fire and make a small fire pit that I fill with kindling.
As I look at the kindling I imagine a flame like you'd see on the end of a lighter coming out of my pointer finger and
"Spell learned: Firestarter - costs 1 Mana per second active. Due to the Magi passive Firestarter costs 2 Mana per second active.
Dismissing the notification I light the wood on fire then proceeded to crush the Nirfa Berries onto a stone platter that I crafted while draining the juice into a stone bowl I'd crafted at the same time.
Why am I keeping the juice you ask?
Why not?
Make some arrows, dip them into a paste made from the juice and you get the idea right?
The Nirfa berries actually seem to dry extremely quickly once they were squeezed of their juice and placed by the fire. It's only been about half an hour since I finished setting up for the evening so that's actually rather fast.
"Identify.
Nirfa Raisins: Nirfa berries that have been drained of their juice and dried by the fire. A handful makes a decent meal due to being high in fiber and several essential nutrients."
Well let's eat a handful and see what happens.
After nomming on the raisins for a bit I realize the description wasn't lieing, a handful does fill you up a decent amount. With that being said I check my status one last time before falling asleep.
Name: Jack Al'Trades
Level 4 314/800xp to next level.
15 skill points to use
Well thats a start I guess,
"Geared Up."
Now I have a blanket and a pillow, Rare quality too, like damn this is nice, I may not want to get up in the morning!
As I nod off I make sure to look over and check that I banked the fire correctly, then slowly drift off listening to the crackling flames.