Alex woke up to a deep penetrating heat across his whole body, *the hell, why is it so hot, I know I was drunk but it is way too fucking hot* He thought to himself as he pushed off the ground... *this, this feels like sand* his eyes shoot open and he's immediately forced to close them again due to the blinding light. Slowly he re-attempts to open his eyes, allowing for them to adjust to the light. Taking in his surroundings. His mind raced "what the fuck, what the fuck what the fuck, am I.... in a desert"
He swivels his head looking in all directions, but all he sees is dune after dune and the ripples of the heat emitting from the sand, in the corner of his eye. just as he resigns himself to a slow and brutal death via dehydration he sees a shimmer of light and he turns his head to face it, or he would have if it was there, instead it stayed in the corner of his eye. he tries again and the same thing happens, instead he switches up his approach, attempting to instead focus of the shimmer of light.
> welcome to the celestial ascent system user: ALEX MANDI would you like to view your status? Y/N
a blue flash appears in Alex's vision, taking up about a 3rd of his field of view "HOLY CRAP" Alex stumbles back, startled by the sudden change *a system?* He pauses after regaining his bearing. Alex focuses on the screen like projection Infront of him and with a thought he realised he was able to move it at will, changing its size, moving it across his field of view, even making it disappear temporarily. *I guess I should take a look at my status* Alex focuses on the screen again, mentally pressing Y.
> status
> Name: ALEX MANDI
> Tier: 0
> Class: N/A (Level 0)
> Race: Human (F)
> Vitality: 5
> Endurance: 6
> strength: 4
> Dexterity: 3
> Willpower: 2
> intelligence: 7
> wisdom: 3
> perception: 5
>Skills: N/A
Status effects: overheating (stage 2), dehydrated (stage 1)**
Alex stares at the screen taking in the sudden flood of info. *these stats don't feel very uniform, perhaps they originate from what I was already good at. I ran cross country throughout all of high school which would explain the high endurance but why the hell is my willpower 2?* Alex tries to distract himself from the disappointing willpower stat by looking at the overheating status effect. when he does a new smaller window pops up next to his status screen.
> your body has been exposed to high heats for too long causing you to become weakened. prolonged exposure to these high heats or an increase in the temperature will lead to an increase in tier, if overheating surpasses tier 3 the status effect (OVERHEATING) will evolve into (BURNING TIER 1)
>
> EFFECTS
>
> tier 1: -1 health regeneration
> tier 2: -3 health regeneration
> tier 3: -7 health regeneration -1 strength
>
> Note: if your health regeneration becomes negative you will lose health based on your health regen
He changes his attention to the dehydration effect.
> your body consists of 70% water and your tank is running on empty. For every Class tier^2 days (min: 1) you go without hydration the tier will increase.
>
> EFFECTS
>
> tier 1 -1 health regeneration
> tier 2 -2 health regeneration -1 dexterity
> tier 3 -3 health regeneration -1 dexterity -1 strength
> tier 4 -4 health regeneration -1 dexterity -1 strength -1 endurance
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> tier 5 -5 health regeneration -1 dexterity -1 strength -1 endurance -1 intelligence
> tier 6+ for every tier above 5 the health regeneration from this effect doubles and all stats are reduced by 1
*holy shit, I need to find water asap or I'm dead, these debuffs will stack up fast if I'm not careful* Alex notices their are more notifications in the corner of his eye but he ignores it for the moment and begins the short trek to the highest dune near to him. Whilst walking he notices that he's only in his navy blue boxers and white tee, no shoes, no pants. Shrugging it off for now as there's nothing he can do about it anyway he keeps walking for 5 mins before reaching the base of a dune that reaches about 40ft high. Alex climbs the dune, slipping a few times he makes it to the top and looks around, hoping the vantage point will allow him to see a source of water in the distance. Quickly his face drops into despair "nothing, no trees, no water, no humans" Alex doesn't even get angry he's just filled with a deep sense of dread "I'm dead, I'm gonna fucking die in the middle of this godforsaken desert" Alex would cry but his tear ducts have already ran dry "no screw this I'm not dying here" He picks himself off his feet steeling his resolve.
DING!
>you have shown a great feat of will +1 to willpower
*I guess showing exceptional feats or training a stat can raise it. I wonder how effective things like pushups and mental exercises are* Alex pushes those thoughts the back of his mind until he's not in a constant life or death scenario. He refocuses on the notification in the corner of his eye. he's not sure how but he instinctively knows that there is one notification remaining to be seen.
DING!
> please choose a starting class to ascent to tier 1 and assimilate as a true member of the system
>
> choices available 5:
>
> **light warrior**
> as a light warrior you excel at lightning quick attacks, thievery and stealth you prefer to either stay in the shadows and strike before they even know what's going on or to overwhelm your foe with a flurry of blows.
>
> **medium warrior**
> as a jack of all trades you pride yourself on a combination of speed, stamina, endurance and even the flexibility to learn magic, however inefficient
>
>**heavy warrior**
>you are an unstoppable force, you may not be smart nor fast but you make up for it and more in pure endurance and strength. You take the blows when your allies can't and you'll respond with overwhelming force
>
>**ranger**
>you are a precise marksman and one with nature, you thrive in forests and similar foliage dense environment, as a guardian of the natural world who lives for the hunt you have gained a basic mastery of the bow and have a minor affinity for nature attuned spells.
>
>**beginner mage**
>take your first step into magic and the mystic arts. As a beginner mage you begin the long but rewarding path of mastery over mana in all its form, whist you may be fragile but you blow any enemy away before they can touch you.
Alex looks over the options multiple times, weighing the suspiciously vague descriptions of each class against one another. "first of all we can cross ranger off the list" he looks around sardonically at the almost ironic lack of any plant life, not even a cactus. that's a no on beginner mage too as whilst magic would be badass I don't like the idea of not being able to shrug off any blows is scary.
He looks over the remaining 3 choices one last time before settling on medium warrior "I don't know what the hell the hell I'm fighting and where the hell I am so versatility is very important, I've played a million different games and in all of them the medium warrior is the perfect jack of all trades" he pauses for just a second before selecting medium warrior.
a blue screen appears in his vi...
CRACK
searing pain floods his right collarbone and he's overcame with a feeling of weightlessness as his eyes refocus. *why is the ground mo- holy shit I'm gonna die.* The ground races past beneath Alex as it becomes painfully obvious that he has been launched through the air and he's already travelled over 30 feet as the ground rapidly approaches. he makes a feeble attempt to pull his arms over his head but they don't respond as the ground gets closer and closer.
*shit shit shit shit shit*
THUMP
