1 Chapter 1 - The Awakening

I opened my eyes expecting to see clouds floating in the sky but nearly pissed my pants. The sky was unfamiliar, or more like unbelievable. I took in a sharp breath trying to make sense of what was before my eyes.

There was a huge planet in the sky, with rings. It looked similar to Saturn, except that it was blue in colour and the rings were green. The size was also smaller, about double the size of the moon I remembered. I closed my eyes, thinking perhaps when I open them again everything will go back to normal. Needless to say it didn't work. The sun was slowly creeping up from the horizon casting an orange glow on everything. The last thing I remember was that I had gone for a morning jog and tired, I had laid down on the grass to catch my breath.

Although it was hard to tear away my eyes from the planet in the sky, I managed to sit up and quickly looked around me. My surroundings had changed. I was in a park before but now I seemed to be in an opening with trees around it. I couldn't see anybody else. The trees were incredibly tall. They were nothing like the trees from my town. Maybe I was being pranked, but none of my friends had the capability to fake a planet in the sky. I didn't remember taking any hallucinogen and I hadn't eaten anything since last night so unknowingly ingesting one was ruled out.

I stood up and looked at myself. I was still wearing the same clothes, tracksuit and sport shoes. I checked my arms for any syringe marks. There weren't any. I started walking towards the trees, but couldn't help looking up at the strange planet in the sky again and again. The forest was eerily silent, there no birds chirping. I started to call out loudly, hoping that someone will hear me and tell me where I am. I touched the trees to make sure they were real. I discarded the drugged theory because my mental faculties were also working perfectly fine.

As I wandered around in the forest my mind went into overdrive thinking about all the different scenarios that could explain what I was experiencing. Could this be like one of those modern hunger games where I have to go and kill people for the viewers pleasure? But my world doesn't have the technology to create a fucking planet. Interstellar travel is also far away in the future. Perhaps I was abducted by Aliens and am now on a different planet, most probably a part of some human test. That would explain the Planet in the sky as well. 'Yes, that's it. I've hit the nail on the head.'

I loudly called out into the jungle again and suddenly there was a rustle of leaves. The shrubbery parted and an Alien stepped out. It was followed by two more of its kind. I froze and looked hard at the creatures in front of me.

They had green skin and were completely naked. One of them was holding a wooden spear with an iron tip, another was holding a knife while the third was simply armed with a stone.' Hold on! Those three were awfully pitiful looking aliens. Surely a race capable of interstellar travel couldn't be so primitive. '

I held up my hand and made a Spock sign. "Greetings Extra Terrestrials! I come in peace." The Aliens looked at each other and back at me in confusion. Then the one holding the spear barked out some incomprehensible words. As I stood there stunned, the green alien with a spear made a dash towards me. I flinched as he neared, but his foot got stuck in the vines and he tripped. The spear fell out of his grip and rolled to my feet.

The moment he fell I got myself together and reached down to grab hold of the spear. Clearly the aliens were hostile. although short and thin, there were three of them. The first alien was groaning on the ground face first. I aimed the tip of the spear behind his head while I look threateningly at the other two. Hoping that they would surrender or withdraw to protect their comrade's life.

They instead spread out while glaring at me. My heart sank. As I was trying to think of what to do next, the alien on the ground pushed himself up. I felt a contact on my spear and heard a groan. I looked down and saw the tip of the spear was skewered into the back of the aliens neck. Red liquid was flowing from the wound as the alien jerked for one last time before becoming still. There was a flash in front of my eyes and then everything turned black.

I was standing in darkness but oddly enough I could still clearly see my hands and legs. The sudden change in my environment was even more astonishing and scary. I tried to squint into the darkness, expecting an attack from the aliens which never came. I also didn't have the spear with me or any clothes for that matter.

A sudden glow appeared in front of me. A holographic screen had popped out.

Name : Eden Cunningham

Titles: None

Level : 0 to 1

Experience: 0/3

Race : Human

Class : None

Profession : None

Mana: 0 to 10 (Refills at 0.5 per minute)

Endurance - 5 to 6

Toughness - 1.5 to 2

Strength - 1.5 to 2

Agility - 2.5 to 3

Intelligence - 5 to 6

Dexterity - 3.5 to 4

Aura- 0 to 0.5

Skill Points : 2

Realisation dawned on me.

Those were not aliens. They were goblins. Although I wasn't able to pay attention to their features but they were definitely goblins and this was a game world. I had been transported to a world which was like a game. My world was still very far away from creating Virtual Reality so this was definitely not a computer program. It was far too real.

I looked carefully at my stats. They sort of made sense. I used to be a long distance runner which explains the high endurance. Toughness and Strength were lower as I had a lean body. I had been considerably fast, but not too much. As a postgraduate Civil Engineer, the high Intelligence also made sense. I had spent 5 years playing basket ball which might have affected my Dexterity. The rate of growth was also more for the sections I had more of a talent in. I didn't really understand how the Aura was calculated, so didn't pay it much attention. The base points seemed to have been calculated according to my body it seemed. Which meant the system could actually quantify my physical capability.

I looked closely at the screen and saw two buttons.

< Buy Skills>

<Buy Stats>

I clicked on the buy skills button and another window popped up. The first option was <Passive Skills> and the second was <Active Skills>. I clicked on the passive skills and a long list popped down. I scrolled through them and saw that many of them were grey and couldn't be clicked on. I pressed down on <Weapon Mastery> and saw what I was looking for <Level 1 Pole Weapon Mastery : Basic mastery in all pole or long armed weapons such as Staffs, Spears, Halberdiers and so on> It only required 1 SP to buy so I went ahead and clicked on it.

I went back to the passive skill menu and after searching for a while found one that I liked which cost another 1 SP. <Level 1 Buddha's Mind : Increases mental fortitude. Allows the mind to remain calm under duress and make split second decisions. Effect gets amplified by Intelligence> The moment I pressed down I felt higher degree of serenity and calmness. The panic building up from the all the unfamiliar stuff decreased considerably.

I glanced at my status screen and saw that the skills had appeared under the title passive skills with their description. Endurance was obviously related to Stamina and perhaps my Health. Toughness was most likely my base defense and my bodies ability to take a beating. Strength and Agility were pretty straightforward. Intelligence probably impacted reactiveness and ability to use my skills. Dexterity may be related to my reflexes and ability to use weapons. Aura was a bit too vague to be understood right now.

There was a cross on the corner of the holographic window. I had the feeling that once I closed the window I'd be transported back in front of those goblins. I prepared myself as my finger slowly drew close to the cross in the corner.