Identify and eliminate negative thought patterns. It was a tactic I read about in a cognitive behavior therapy book. Apparently, by eliminating such thoughts, I'd be able to identify problematic behaviors and correct their course. Yet, that was easier said than done. Especially when the negatives outweighed the positives. Whether it was just my nature or a series of misfired electrons, I only focused on the bad.

  The one positive in my corner was a pouch of 50 silver coins that I meticulously counted out to keep myself from spiraling over the negatives of being stranded in an unknown world occupied by potentially hostile forces.

  My stomach growled, providing me with a powerful motivator to come up with a plan and put it into action. I decided my first aim would be to secure some food and water. Second, I'd gather as much information about the world as possible.

  It took less than four strides with my new body to walk across my shack and open the front door. I stepped outside with caution, mentally preparing myself to be smack dab in the middle of a toxic landscape. Instead, a warm breeze greeted me along with a breathtaking landscape of rolling hills painted with violet canopies and almond-colored trees.

  Fresh air entered my lungs as I took in the view, a newfound excitement urging me forward. I followed an overgrown path that sloped downhill, weaving into a forest. Before I entered, I turned around, noting the shack’s location.

  Rows of overgrown bushes obscured the shack, making it nearly impossible to make out the further I moved downhill. I focused on counting my steps, mentally mapping the way back.

  Birds chirped, insects buzzed, and an odd sense of familiarity washed over me. Perhaps Gadika wasn't too different from Earth after all. Maybe when Justice said this was a world of magic, she meant it metaphorically.

  Four hundred steps into my trek, a gray beetle with a spotted horn swooped down from the treetops and hovered in the middle of the path. I slowed my pace, examining the insect as I waited for it to fly off. My eye flickered and bold words appeared out of thin air.

  Target:

  Level:

  Karma Level:

  I didn't expect Karma’s Gaze to reveal the status of a mere insect. And the ability activated automatically. Such a feature would prove invaluable for collecting information about this world. Knowing realm specific terminology would make it that much easier to blend in. The possibility of being identified as an alien was all too real and unsettling for my taste.

  "Move along." I shooed the beetle away with a flick of my wrist.

  For a fleeting moment, I thought I won our little standoff as the insect flew upward. But it hovered upright, and leveled its stinger at me. Its tiny projectile ejected out of its bottom, speeding straight at me.

  I sidestepped it, but lost sight of the bug. Then I heard it buzzing over my head. Another orange tipped stinger extended out of a tiny hole in its rear.

  I somersaulted forward, unused to the extra weight of my body, scraping my hands as I rolled. Its projectile whizzed into the ground beside me. Keeping my eyes on the beetle, I rushed after it as it reloaded another shot.

  It was unlike any species of insect I'd seen on Earth. I knew some bugs could sting you in a kamikaze strike, leaving their stinger in your flesh and then flying off to die. But this beetle seemed to operate more like a flintlock pistol.

  As I closed the gap, I slapped my hand through the air only for the bug to whiz past my head. I swiveled on my feet, but it was too late. The insect's projectile shot into my right shoulder, setting my pain receptors ablaze. Within moments, a numbing sensation ran down my right arm, immobilizing it.

  I hadn't even made it a mile from my starting point, and a mere insect was about to kill me. It didn't help that the little bastard was keeping well outside of my reach. In a drastic change of tactics, I ran, forcing my legs to carry my unfamiliar body further down the path, desperate to escape.

  The low humming buzz followed. Glancing back, I saw the devil beetle charging up another shot. I threw myself to the side, avoiding a stinger to the face and whipped the coin purse from my pocket.

  The satchel soared through the air, nailing the devil beetle that was hovering ten feet above me. The bug spiraled out of control, landing in the dirt.

  It struggled with a broken wing, attempting to get off the ground, but I was too fast. I stomped its body underneath the heel of my boot and smeared it across the forest’s floor.

  +10 XP

  Bold text dropped from out of the sky. Yet, unlike I didn't see an experience bar or any visual indication of what it meant. Clearly, some sort of unseen RPG system was at play. Was this the magic Justice spoke of?

  Despite Karma’s Gaze revealing the status of others, I was clueless about how I could view my own stats. My surface level understanding of a game I hadn't played in a decade was as murky as ever. Nor was I certain how much Justice had lifted from the game when she created this world. At the very least, I didn't recall devil beetles as an enemy type.

  Justice told me this wasn't a game. Which seemed accurate, It certainly didn't feel like one.

  The buzzing numbness throughout the right side of my upper body failed to dissipate. I tried to open and close my right hand, to no avail. While it slightly pained me to move, I had been in way worse conditions before.

  I waltzed over to my cloth sack of coins, picked it up, and weighed it in my palm. As I replayed my life-or-death battle with a beetle, I noticed the strength of my throw was more powerful than now than on Earth. Whether I could attribute that to my new body or hidden stats was to be determined.

  I continued down the path, stepping through overgrown patches of grass, keeping my head on a swivel as I analyzed the area for potential threats. Stumbling into a nest of those insects would be a quick and painful death.

  Thankfully, I encountered no such issue. After what felt like a half mile, the forest thinned out and the path ended, leaving me standing before a wider dirt road that offered me two options. Left or right.

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  Recalling what Chaos had mentioned, I turned my gaze to the sky. Despite the sun shining in full afternoon force, two moons hung in the distant horizon, one north and one south. The horizon reminded me I knew nothing of this world and that any assumption could be a shortcut to death.

  I balled my left hand into a fist and kicked a loose patch of soil across the road. As I stood at a literal crossroads, I retrieved a coin from my purse and examined it. One side featured an armored bear holding a spear. The other side was engraved with a foreign word from an unrecognizable language.

  Allowing fate to take the wheel, I flipped the coin. It landed bear side up, so I headed right on the dirt road.

  The paralysis seemed to be slowly dissipating. I was at least able to move my fingertips on my right hand again. Sweat acted as an adhesive, sticking my plain cloth shirt to my back as my throat itched, drying out more and more with each step.

  I never cared for hikes to begin with. Let alone a hike without a canteen. Worries of dehydration filled my mind as I continued on as a supposed hero, summoned to cleanse Gadika of its corruption, only about to be defeated by an afternoon stroll through the woods.

  Two more miles of walking developed a stitch in my side that barked with each stride. Another mile brought forth a cramp in my hamstrings.

  "Status," I said, wishing for a user interface to reveal itself.

  Nothing happened.

  The sun shifted in the sky, causing the trees to cast more fiendish looking shadows along the road. I appreciated the shade, even if it made me feel a bit like Little Red Riding Hood. And much like the fable, wolves approached in the form of three humans on horses.

  They wore walnut-colored robes with hoods that obscured their faces and carried swords sheathed at their sides. The clopping rhythm of their horses slowed as they turned a bend and saw me.

  Karma’s Gaze revealed their statuses and names immediately. Lee, Kohad and Zelva, who were all level two with their karma descending from -700 to -976.

  With my right arm out of commission, I hoped they’d simply pass by. Though the probability of that happening shrank as Lee pulled on the reins of his horse, parking it in the middle of the path. Zelva and Kohad settled in behind him, clearly following his lead.

  I waved and smiled at them like they were a group of old college pals, planning to dispatch Lee first if the situation devolved into combat.

  "Who are you?" Lee asked.

  The guard’s question was quite valid. I was Derrick Hauser, occupying a stranger’s body, pretending to be David Cyprus. Introducing myself with either name felt strange. Their names were more in line with a world of fantasy and magic than mine.

  "I'm just a traveler passing through," I said.

  Lee grinned, showing off a set of crooked teeth that matched his negative 976 karma rating. Too bad I lacked any baseline regarding the significance of that number. For all I knew, jaywalking could drop your karma level by 100 points alone.

  "This road is too dangerous to travel alone."

  "I seem to be managing."

  The group laughed as Lee pointed to my paralyzed shoulder. "It doesn't look that way."

  I took another few casual steps, slowly closing the gap to get a better look at the bandits.

  "If you run into bandits in that condition, they'll make quick work of you," Lee said.

  My gut urged me to strike first, burst forward, and knock Lee from his horse. However, assuming that I was level one, I didn't like the gap between our levels, nor was I able to comprehend the usefulness of Karma’s Gaze in combat. Whether its passive provided a massive advantage or an underwhelming buff to my damage forced me to proceed with caution.

  "I appreciate the concern. Now, if you wouldn't mind allowing me to pass."

  Kohad and Zelva seemed to think my request was a joke. Their laughter echoed through the trees as I examined their equipment. Kohad had a sizable mace that hung from a loop on his back. He was quite larger than Lee, built like a tank with a glint of plate armor shining beneath his cloak.

  "Hand over your coin and we'll allow you through," Kohad said.

  Zelva swiped a strand of blonde hair from her face as she readied a bow and nocked an arrow.

  "Quickly now, or we'll have no choice but to strike you down," Zelva said.

  I watched in real time as their karma numbers adjusted accordingly. Lee's negative karma dropped from -976 to -1005. Zelva's and Kohad's karma followed suit. Seeing the threat of robbery and murder only sinking their numbers by a few points made it easy for me to conclude that these people were scum.

  Scum that performed enough evil deeds to accumulate such a rating didn't deserve my mercy. And despite being wounded, outnumbered, and facing a probable second death, I couldn't help but grin.

  "What's wrong with him?" Zelva asked.

  Laughter exploded out of my parched mouth, continuing until my throat was sore and I was holding my side. I wiped a tear from my eye, overcome with an intense wave of happiness. It had been two years since someone had tried to rob me. And these assholes didn't even have Glocks.

  Lee pulled a sword from his sheath and pointed the blade's tip at me. "He's lost it."

  "No, no, it's not that," I said, trying to suffocate the unbearable joy radiating throughout my soul. "I'm just glad this world won't be boring."

  "Enough of this. Let us grant his death wish," Lee said.

  Lee charged on his mount, speeding toward me.

  Free from fear of death or defeat, I was simply ecstatic to be back in my element. Lee swooped past me, swinging his broadsword in an attempt to decapitate me, but I ducked, losing only a few strands of hair.

  "Shit, he's fast," Zelva muttered as she let an arrow fly.

  I sidestepped the arrow, feeling a cool rush of air blow my ear as I dashed in her direction, the edge of my lips growing sore from my relentless grinning. Lee steered his horse, turning it around as I closed in on Kohad and Zelva.

  "Die bastard," Kohad barked as he swung his mace low like a croquet mallet.

  I launched myself into the air, clearing the weapon and jumping higher than I ever thought possible.

  I hit the ground running, adjusting to my new body and its disregard for gravity. Zelva swooped in on her steed, bow drawn, another arrow ready. But before she fired, I leapt into her path.

  Knee meet face.

  I expected to simply knock her from the horse. Instead her vertebrae shattered, her head snapped backward and the front of her skull folded in like a cracked egg.

  "You sonofabitch," Kohad screamed.

  The sight of Zelva lifelessly falling off her horse sent a shock wave through my body as I flipped to the ground. I didn't intend on killing her. Yet, she crashed to the ground, head twisted around like an unspooled rag doll.

  Kohad swung low again, aiming for my center of mass. I sunk backward, just barely dodging the attack, grabbed his wrist and twisted. His bones disintegrated in my hand as I squeezed, causing the barbarian to let out a shrill cry as he fell backward off his horse.

  Sensing another attack like I had a pair of eyes in the back of my head, I tilted my head to the side, avoiding another haircut. I spun around, staring at an enraged Lee. I recognized the unadulterated look of vengeance in his eyes.

  But I felt no pity. They were the ones who threatened and attacked me. I wasn't the bad guy.

  Lee screamed as he swung his sword wildly, clearly losing all sense of his training and combat experience as grief overwhelmed him. After another flurry of easily avoidable attacks, I lunged into his space, grabbed his cloak, and pulled him down from his horse.

  "No, wait!"

  A single punch smashed his face inward, killing him instantly as blood and teeth exploded from his mouth.

  Compared to the devil beetle, these bandits were the true insects. It became clear how powerful my advantage was in combat against those with negative karma.

  Kohad lay on his back, crawling backwards with his eyes drowning in an ever-growing pool of pain and fear.

  "You monster, you killed them," he said as he tried scurrying away like a spider with its limbs torn off.

  He was right, I was a monster. The beast inside of me reveled in this victory, siphoning up every bit of the man's panic as if it were a delectably aged fine wine.

  I skipped over to him in a state of pure elation.

  "Please, spare me," he begged.

  "You've seen my face," I said.

  "No, you can't..."

  Before he could finish speaking, I picked a dagger off the ground and jammed it into his throat. Warm blood spewed across my clothing, staining my hands as a little voice in my head whispered, "This is necessary."

  +75 XP

  +50 Karma

  Bold text floated down from the heavens and disappeared beneath the bloodied dirt road.

  .

  It wasn't until the excitement and adrenaline wore off that I realized what I'd done. Three lifeless bodies lay in a circle around my feet. Guilt reared its ugly head up through the back of my mind.

  "They were evil. I'm just doing what I was summoned here to do," I complained to Zelva’s corpse.

  I killed a woman and two men today. As a vigilante on Earth, I only crossed that threshold a few times.

  "I'm better than you," I lied.

  Talking to their corpses did little to relieve the burning sense of regret that stoked itself in my soul. I ransacked Lee's corpse, finding another 20 silver coins on his body, though the others had nothing. As I pulled back his cloak, I recognized the engraved symbol in the center of his plate chest piece. It was the same armored bear wielding a spear as the one engraved on the coins.