Alex sits up, rubbing her eyes and taking a deep breath. The room is still there, with its strange carvings and flickering torches. She glances over at the statue, which seems even creepier after a night’s sleep.
This isn’t home, Alex thinks to herself as she swings her legs over the side of the bed. I need to figure out what’s going on and find a way out.
She stands up, stretching and surveying the room. The shelves with the strange books, the kitchen area, and the fountain all seem unchanged from the night before. Her gear is still where she left it.
A notification bursts into her vision.
Adaptation 100%
Multiple skills added based on history
Adjusting to user
Enabling instructions
Alex waves the messages away only for a new one to take it's place.
View Status?
Yes/Yes
Alex snorts, looking at the notification. "I suppose I deserve that after how much I've ignored this thing," she says to the screen.
A status screen fills her vision, parts of it shrinking or changing as she watches.
Name: Alex
Species: Human (World Walker)
Class: None
Level: 0
Health: 210
Stamina: 200
Mana: 330
Special Abilities
World Walkers Insight:
Gain: Universal Linguistics
Enable: Skill Book interface
Primary Attributes
Vitality: 16
Strength: 16
Agility: 14
Will: 18
Focus: 10
Luck: 01
Status Effects
Hungry: Slight debuff reducing stamina regeneration.
General Skills
Survival Rank 25
Tracking Rank 10
Foraging Rank 8
Skinning Rank 3
Cooking Rank 10
Pain Tolerance Rank 8
Field Medicine Rank 20
Demolitions Rank 14
Engineering Rank 14
Rigging and Descent Rank 14
Threat Assessment Rank 17
Observation Rank 13
Insight Rank 12
Thermal Regulation Rank 5
Crisis Regulation Rank 5
Command Vocals Rank 10
Horse Attunement Rank 22
Mount Awareness Rank 20
Long Hacking Rank 21
Mounted Manipulation Rank 22
Mounted Endurance Rank 28
Mounted Speed Rank 21
Improvised Tool Use Rank 16
Kinetic Leverage Rank 20
Longsword Mastery Rank 9
Greatsword Mastery Rank 3
Rapier Mastery Rank 3
Single Edge Weapon Mastery 4
Axe Mastery Rank 25
Halligan Mastery Rank 25
Watchmens Rest Rank 38
Class Skills
None
Passive Skills
None
Alex notices the mass of skills from her old life that seem to be represented and her the alterations to her class and level. Just as she is reaching the bottom of the page another notification appears.
Greetings and welcome to the wild. This page represents you and is meant to capture information about your growth. Assigning additional skills or points allows for higher growth.
Notice: Like skills will now be combined to allow for more utility and higher effectiveness.
Would you like to view your skills?
Yes/Yes
Alex snorts when her eyes scan the last line. Okay I guess I no longer have choices.
The skills screen opens replacing the others in-front of her.
General Skills
Versatile Blade Mastery Rank 18
A blade in your hand is an effective tool and weapon. Never underestimate the edge this gives you.
Passive Scaling: Increases physical damage, cutting effectiveness, and durability of blades by 8%.
Unique Combination Skill Bonus: All active skills involving a blade are 5% more effective and efficient.
Wayfinder Rank 28
The world is a map, and you are its master. Whether in the deep woods or a desolate ruin, you possess the innate ability to find what you need to survive and leave nothing of value behind.
Passive Scaling: Increases success rate of tracking and foraging by 14%. Harvested materials (skins/herbs) have 10% higher quality.
Unique Combination Skill Bonus: You gain a "gut feeling" for the most efficient path through hostile terrain, reducing fatigue by 5% when followed.
Sapping Rank 28
Structure is merely a suggestion. You understand the physics of destruction and the geometry of force, allowing you to bypass any obstacle with the right tool.
Passive Scaling: Physical attacks against structures, locks, and inorganic armor ignore 15% of the target's Damage Threshold.
Unique Combination Skill Bonus: When using a tool (crowbar, halligan, etc.) to pry or breach, your effective Strength is calculated as 1.5x higher for that specific action.
Field Response Rank 25
The gold standard of emergency management. When the world is burning or blood is spilling, you are the anchor. You maintain your core temperature and mental clarity while shouting orders that people actually follow.
Passive Scaling: Resistance to Panic, Fear, and Extreme Temperature (Heat/Cold) increased by 15%.
Unique Combination Skill Bonus: For 60 minutes after a traumatic injury, your Field Medicine actions are 20% more effective at stabilizing status effects.
Rider's Connection Rank 30
You and your mount are a single organism of two minds. This connection allows for feats of endurance and precision that would be impossible for a lone rider.
Passive Scaling: Mount Stamina and Top Speed increased by 15%. While mounted, your "Reach" with weapons and tools is extended by 10%.
Unique Combination Skill Bonus: You can always find your mount.
Sentinel's Vigilance Rank 40
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
The pinnacle of situational awareness. You have seen the worst the world has to offer, and you’ve learned to keep one eye open even in the dark. You see the hidden thread in a lie and the glint of a dagger in the shadows.
Passive Scaling: Grants identify on people, creatures, and items within 30 feet. Success rate and detail level scale with the difference between your Rank and the target's level.
Unique Combination Skill Bonus: You can enter a state of "Half-Sleep." While in this state, you recover from exhaustion at 50% efficiency. You remain 100% aware of audio and thermal shifts in your immediate surroundings while resting and cannot be surprised. When fully resting your sleep efficiency is 200%.
Class Skills
N/A
Alex blinks, staring at everything her list of skills has turned into.
Note: Skills have hidden effects and scale with levels. Explore and grow in strength or die trying!
The notification vanishes before she can even think to wave it away. She walks over toward the water fountain, debating if she can boil the water when a piece of floating text appears above the water.
Identified: Pure water
Notes: The water is purified and provides sufficient hydration.
Alex eyes the floating text skeptically before deciding that if the pop-ups are going to lie, she's fucked anyway. Holding the cup under the water stream, she fills it and takes a long, deep pull from the cup. The water tastes like clean, cold water. She can't help the sigh that escapes her lips.
Walking back into the kitchen, she is surprised when she sees words carved into the countertop.
"Apply mana manipulation or starve."
What the actual fuck is mana manipulation and how do you apply it? Alex thinks, reading the short sentence five more times.
"Mana! Bam!" Alex shouts, slapping the counter. Nothing happens. She laughs, deciding to see if any of the other text is now readable.
Heading to the pedestal next, she finds that the note in front of the statue is legible.
"You stand in the trial of Ember. Let the fire within all of us guide you. In this room is a fountain with water, books for study, and a mana kitchen for food. When you feel prepared for your next challenge, meditate before the burned one and enter the dungeon beneath. If you lack the skills to advance, study. The door will unseal when you have acquired the class or died."
Well, jeez, that's grim. Alex thinks, staring at the paper and up at the burned statue a few times.
Wait, one of my skills lets me get more strength. Alex realizes this thought and runs over to her halligan and back to the door. She starts hunting for the seam of the door from the day before. She spends close to half an hour examining the wall, even hitting it where she thought the seam should be a few times. Nothing. The wall didn't react, and she couldn't find anywhere to apply leverage.
What in the house of mirrors bullshit is this? Alex thinks, staring at the wall and talking to herself.
Well, I lack a way out, and according to the sheet, it comes back with a class. I don’t have the basic skill of mana manipulation, so I guess books? Alex thinks this through before moving over to the library and scanning titles.
Icathar's Guide to Low-Level Mobs
Weight of the Sun: Sword Forms of Solar Gravity
History of the Flame part I
History of the Flame part II
History of the Flame part III
History of the Flame part IV
History of the Flame part V
Handle the Heat
Formula of Mana by A.R. Hipkin
Alex pulls the last tome from the shelf and settles down at the desk to start reading. First, she flips to the back, looking for an index. Then, she quickly skims through pages for diagrams or a section about mana manipulation.
She finds a section about mana manipulation but it leaves her confused. Deciding to assume the book builds like math in stages, she flips to the beginning and starts to read. To say the read was confusing is an understatement. Alex had to study for hours and days for certifications and just to be a firefighter, let alone the continuing education requirements.
Not only does she feel like she's back in high school physics for the first time, but the information in the book directly contradicts her understanding of the world. It’s as if someone looked at energy in thermodynamics and just said "eh," shrugged, and waved their hand.
She reads for a few hours before angrily getting up and walking over to the fountain to get a drink. She paces, thinking about the book and the stupid thought process within it before finally walking into the mana kitchen, slamming her hands on the counter, and glaring at the words.
"Apply mana manipulation or starve."
Alex stands there glaring for a while before going back to the book and staring at its cover. She quickly scans a few more titles around her, not seeing mana mentioned again.
Taking a deep breath, Alex closes her eyes and thinks for a minute. Okay, Alex. If the world doesn't make sense but you don’t get food without mana and you have mana according to the magical interface, we need to assume mana adds a new layer of complexity. So ignore things you know and instead focus on what's in the book.
Alex opens it and reads through the first few sections again, eventually getting up and pacing with the book, ending up in the kitchen with her hands pressed onto the counter as she tries to follow the mana manipulation section.
She sets aside her skepticism at the pseudo-science and reads through the section again about focusing inward and the applications of mana. As she stands there, staring at the book for a moment, she thinks there’s something, and then her stomach grumbles, and she just throws up her hands.
"Fuck this. Let's see if I can do the other bullshit and just get out before I starve." She grumbles under her breath, moving over to the statue.
She looks for a button for several minutes. Then for a seam or door she can open. Finally, with a huff, she just lays down on the floor, staring at the flickering light of the flames on the ceiling and wondering if this is a giant fucking joke.
Staring at the shadows the flames cast, she finds herself thinking about home. About Moxie and her family. About her crew and how they would be handling it. She remembers some of the stupid situations they ended up in and some of the fires she and her crew were involved in.
Alex feels her heart rate settle as she thinks through memories, some good, some bad. Her eyes focused on the ceiling, the flickering of the torchlight. As she lies there, she notices something as she thinks about the moments she went into buildings to pull people and pets out. To the day she ended up in this fucked-up world. She thinks through the events for the first time really.
The confusion of stumbling through the smoke of the fire, looking for an alternative path. The stupidity of doing that when command hadn't told her to and her team was likely actively getting ready to cut through to her.
As she thinks back, she feels the same drive to save the person she saw on her thermals. She feels that same resolve starting to fill her.
She forces herself to her feet and walks over to the kitchen, slamming the book shut and her hands on the counter. She decides she is going to get food. Focusing, she feels that same inner strength, that resolve, and then something starts happening. The refrigerator door swings open, food flying into pots, and the stove top heating. She feels light-headed as she stands there, hands on the counter, and food starts sizzling.
Within minutes, she feels lightheaded, but the smells of food rouse her awareness. The dishes begin stacking back up clean, and a plate of blue glass sits covered in food. Alex stares in disbelief at a simple plate of oatmeal with what looks like cinnamon on it.
She doesn’t question it, grabbing the plate and sitting on the counter to start eating. As she finishes the plate, the blue glass thins and vanishes with a puff of warm air.
Notifications stream in.
New Skills
Battle Meditation Rank 1
Mana Manipulation Rank 1
Study Rank 1
Affinity added: Flames
Alex just stares at the notifications for a minute before starting to laugh. Another notification appears.
For your convenience, visual cues for your status have been added.
In the corner of her vision, almost imperceptible until she focused on it due to the notification, are several bars; two completely full and one empty.
Alex moves over to the fountain, getting a drink before collapsing on the bed. Her stomach settling with the food and water, she passes out in moments. Her mind remains oddly aware for a time of the room until she fully sinks into sleep.