Something tickles my nose, making me sneeze. I sit up, rubbing my eyelids before opening them. I find myself on a flat bed of grass, looking around. I blink slowly, frowning. I have no idea where I am. Another world, if what I’ve been told is correct. Strangely, I find myself quite unfazed by this. I poke at my emotions for a second, then eventually shrug. Meh, I’ll think on it later.

  I stand up and look around. On one side is a wall of trees, seeming to go on forever. On the other side is a cluster of mountains, expanding higher than any mountain I’ve seen from earth. As far as I can tell, there are no signs of civilization present. Only animals.

  Speaking of animals… I turn to the forest again, just in time to spot 2 yellow eyes. A wolf.

  I jump back as it lunges forwards at me. It’s teeth miss me, but its claws succeed in raking into my left leg. I wince and grit my teeth. I reach into my bag and begin taking pieces of my gun, putting them together as quickly as I can. The beast continues to lunge at me with wild abandon. It looks starved and rabid, likely a creature kicked from its pack due to weakness and left to starve. Works fine with me. I throw my water bottle at it. The plastic reusable bottle bounces off its head, making it yelp and back up a bit. I use the precious few seconds to finish assembling my weapon. It lunges at me, and is met with a bullet through its eyes.

  {You have defeated a Grey wolf runt, Level 2. You have gained experience.}

  {Level up}

  {level 1 -> 2}

  I sigh in relief and sit down on a rock. I rip my shirt sleeve off and begin to use it to bandage my leg. Luckily, I didn’t eat all of my lunch, and packed a bit more than normal today. It should be enough to last me tomorrow, or it would have. I’ll be consuming more energy to survive here than normal in order to live… wait.

  I open my status sheet and grin. Stamina is a statistic with a defined value, just as strength, speed, durability and intelligence are. When I levelled up I gained 2 stat points, which can be used for anything.

  {Jim: I do not recommend doing that}

  I freeze.

  “You’re still here?” I blink in surprise.

  {Unfortunately, yes. I recommend you use your essence instead.

  “Oh yeah, that stat.” I frown. “What is it?” I rest my back against a tree and pour some water on my wound, closing it up with my torn shirt sleeve.

  {Jim: Essence is not something you should have. However, due to that stone on your hand, you are able to utilize it.}

  “Stone? What sto- holy shit!” I stare in shock at my right hand. Or rather, the red gem embedded there. I experimentally turn my wrist and flex my fingers. The stone should be messing with muscles and things in my hand, crippling the mobility of my hand, but it isn’t. I can move my hand just fine.

  “What is this thing?” I ask, frowning.

  {Jim: That is a soul core. It contains all the mana and essence in your body.}

  “I’ve never seen a stone this shape before.” I comment. It’s true, the shape is strange. The crystal is shaped like a tooth or a claw, but with the rough lines or a gem polished and cut into that shape. The stone is a deep red, pulsing with a soft light that doesn’t seem real. When I hold my hand into the shadow of a tree, the light doesn’t seem to affect the shadows at all. Rather, it seems to affect the tree itself. The tree seems to lose some life, and leave fall, as if preparing for winter. I quickly pull my hand back.

  “Was that my death affinity?” I ask. Before I get an answer, something shoots out from the trees and slashes into my neck. I try to scream, but my vocal chords are slashed cleanly. I wheeze and cough blood, quickly stepping back from the monster that came from the woods.

  {You have gained disability: Dysfunctional vocal chords}

  {Jim: You need to run, now!}

  I blink at the message. I try to ask what it is, but can’t.

  {Jim:That’s a blood mantis. It has corruption affinity and high amounts of curse energy. Use your essence on your stats!}

  I remember that Jim can hear my thoughts and smile, even as blood leaks from my mouth. That'll be useful for me. The creature looks like a praying mantis made of some black tar. It’s arms are like war scythes, reeking of mana. Or, at least I think that the energy coming from it is mana. Some sort of curse energy mixed with corruption. Jim, how do I use the essence? That would be very useful right now.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  A prompt appears in front of me.

  {Would you like to increase speed to 50? This will cost 45 essence}

  Immediately my speed increases, and the world slows down. The slashes of the monster look so… slow, now. I can’t help but grin as I weave through the strikes. Hey Jim? Time to dump essence into powering myself up.

  {You have spent 250 essence.}

  A fist connects with the buglike face of the mantis. Carapace cracks beneath my fist, the flesh on my fist sizzling and burning away from the contact. I look down at my hand, frowning. Even with a durability of 50, my flesh melted away like butter in a fire. It hurts more than I’d like to admit, but It’s ignorable. Even with the speed increase, it was almost as fast as I was. It seemed to be an all- rounder when it came to stat distribution, so it couldn’t compete with me at all. I assume this essence stat is unique, as if it wasn’t I would be dead right now. Why did that thing come for me?

  {Jim:When you appeared here, there was a pulse of your energy outwards, alerting everyone nearby}

  I nod. That sucks, but there’s nothing to be done about it.

  {You have defeated a Blood mantis, Level 53. You have gained experience.}

  {Level up}

  {Level up}

  {Level up}

  {Level up}

  {Level up}

  {Level up}

  {Level up}

  {Level up}

  {Level up}

  {Level up}

  {Level up}

  {level 2 -> 13}

  Screens flood my vision and I blink them away. Jeez, why so much experience?

  {Jim:That creature was level 53. Of course you gained lots of experience}

  True, true. Now, about my vocal chords…

  As I talk in my mind with Jim, I just take off my shirt ans wrap it around my neck. Hopefully that will stop the bleeding somewhat, though I wouldn’t know. I just have to hope durability translates to vitality, if not stamina.

  {Jim: Your vocal chords will likely never heal from that attack.}

  I pause. I take a second to think. Im sorry, what did you just say?

  {Jim: The corruption will make it near impossible to heal, and the curse will stop it from repairing naturally. That’s why Blood mantis’s are so dangerous. You’re lucky to be alive.}

  Yeah? Lucky to be alive? Well, I don’t feel lucky! How will I talk to people?!

  {Jim: Through mind magic}

  I recall picking that, yes. How will that help?

  {Jim: You can broadcast your thoughts outwards as if speaking, and you can use telepathy directly on others.}

  I guess that works, yeah, but still. I do like having vocal chords. I sigh and walk over to my backpack. I had dropped it to the ground during the quick exchange with the bug. I look down at my gun for a second, then I take the scope off of it. I leave the rest of it on the ground. I’m keeping the scope for sentimental value, as I doubt the weapon will be useful to me.

  I stretch, then begin to walk in a random direction. Or, I was about to, if not for the man that fell out of the sky and landed right in front of me.

  <{(0)}>

  Grand general Brennen was pissed. Understandably so, given the utter bullshit that had occured. Some lizard smashed through his city and took what didn’t belong to him. He knew where the creature went. What was Even worse was Rosaline. That woman betrayed her country for a monster. He would make sure to hang her skinned corpse from his home as an example to any would-be “freedom fighters”. Such stupidity.

  None of that matter now, however. In front of him was a human boy that frowned at him. This boy was an other worlder. A rare phenomena, but one that has happened before. He had recruited more then one other worlder into his ranks before. They seem to have a unique perspective and skills that others couldn't obtain. They were invaluable. This boy in particular, even more so. He stood perfectly balanced on his feet. His eyes were assessing him as well. This boy could clearly read body language, a rare skill, though not a system skill yet. Perhaps it would develop into one.

  He decided it would be good to say something instead of just standing there and staring. He activated his skill.

  Observe.

  {Pyro Akabis, Level 13 (Inhuman)}

  The grand general had a fairly basic observation skill. It told one's name, level and species. And what he saw excited him. The inhuman was a rare variant of the human race. They look similar, almost the exact same, but have higher base stats and more growth potential. They also have more exotic hair and eye colors on average as well as slightly sharper canines.

  “Pyro akabis.” Brennen decides to take a slightly more mysterious route. To show he knows the boy's name. However, the boy just narrows his eyes for a moment, then nods.

  “Yes. I am…” He frowns. “Who are you?”

  “I am the grand general of these lands you stand on. New Camica.”

  “Camica? That sounds like Canada and the United states put together.” Pyro says, frowning. That gave Brennen valuable information. Firstly, he was from around the early 2000s in the world he was from. Secondly, it was a version of earth. Thirdly, Canada and the United States of America were important and known nations. Taking note of the similar accent to his own, he considered he was perhaps from one of them. He took note of the backpack, which looked quite resilient. Perhaps Canadian.

  “That is because it is.” The grand general nods. “I sensed your appearance in this world and came to see what had occurred for myself. There had been recent incidents, and I wanted to know for sure.”

  “So this really is another world…” The boy frowns. That confirms another thing. He is relatively new, perhaps only a few days here. He also has had no other human contact. That made his current level relatively impressive. He has leveled to 13 in a few days? It would take the average human a few months to attain such a… feat… is that a soul core? The boy has a soul core?! It was decided in that instant, this boy must be brought to his side. A prodigy with already noticeably impressive skills in movement and body language, a prodigious aptitude for leveling, and a soul core. Even he didn't have a soul core. He could raise this boy up to be a commander.

  “Say, Pyro, I live in that direction.” He pointed into the mountains with one finger directly in the direction of the city. “Go there. Once you get there, find me, and I will help you adjust to the new world. Ask for Grand general Brennen”

  Pyro’s frown continued for a moment. Such a strange name. It sounded more draconic than human. Eventually, he nodded.

  “See you there, Grand general.” It was only at this moment, as the man flew away, that he never saw the boys lips move.

  <{(0)}>

  That man seemed nice. But… also suspicious. He clearly isn't trustworthy, however I have few other options if I want to survive. The man made a good offer.

  {Jim: I have to agree. Even if I don't have a positive opinion of the man, it's better for you if you do what he said.}

  Oh? You don't like the man? Why's that?

  {Jim: Past experiences, but that is not important. I think you should do it if you don't want another round with the corruption bugs}

  I shudder at the thought. Yeah, agreed. How should I get there?

  {Jim: You could purchase a skill or mutation.}

  Wait, I can purchase those? As I talk I begin to walk.

  {Jim:Yes. 2 skill purchases and 1 mutation purchase per tier}

  Tier?

  {Jim:Tier of evolution. You are tier 1.

  Oh. Yeah, I remember that now. Why does my race say “Inhuman”?

  {Jim: It's a rare variant human race. You're lucky}

  Yeah, sure I am.

  I turn my head towards the mountains. I guess it would be best to get going. There's not really anywhere else for me to go. I get into position, then begin to jog. Or, at least I thought it would be a jog, but I broke the sound barrier nearly instantly, almost crashing directly into a tree.

  Dammit, forgot that I’m fast now.

  {Jim:You know the tree was right there, right?}

  Oh you shut up. I turn, and begin to move.

  It is beginning to dawn on me how fucked I am.