1 Chapter 1: "I think I got isekai'd?"
My eyes were butterflies, fluttering and stirring before finally opening. The grass tickled my shirtless back. The birds soared through the sky without a care for anything on the ground. "It's so nice outside—" My voice caught in my throat. 'What the hell, why do I sound so weird?' My voice was alien to me.
I craned my neck to look at my body, an unusual sight laid before me. 'A six-pack?' My head flopped back onto the soft grass. I raised my hands above me. The sunlight trickled and splashed between my fingers. 'I have the correct number of fingers, which is odd. When I dream I am supposed to have a random number of them. At least, that's what I read online somewhere.' I sighed.
My hands flopped back onto the grass. "If this isn't a dream, where the hell am I?" A sound akin to the startup sound of Windows XP bounced around in my skull. I jumped as a table began to fill my field of vision.
Name: Jason
Human
Level: 0
XP: 0
No skills acquired
Special skill: null
HP: 100/100
No Mana acquired
Stamina: 50/50
"A character stat sheet?" I cringed at the sound of the unfamiliar voice coming from my mouth. My expression changed into one of shock. "A character stat sheet!" I exclaimed. I rub my chin thoughtfully for a moment. "Uh is there a tutorial?" My voice cracked awkwardly, as I shouted at the floating character table in front of me.
A new screen appeared above the original table.
<System> No. Go gain new skills.
I rolled around on the ground for a few moments to express my grief. After I had composed myself I got up and waved the tables away. The Windows XP shut down noise startled me as it closed. "I hope I can turn the volume down on that someday." I rolled over and placed my hands on the ground to get up. My body seems way stronger than my assumed old body was. "I think I got isekai'd." a chat window popped up in my peripheral vision.
<System> No shit, should I give you the insight skill level up for figuring that one out?
I sighed and slapped furiously at the window to make it close. "Wow, this system is an asshole." I spin around looking for something to do. 'Man this system isn't very helpful.' My face scrunched up into a pout as I struggled to think of a way to farm XP.
"That's it!" I yelled so loud I heard a bird take off from a nearby tree. A shit-eating grin covered my face. "It's fishing time." I paused expecting a snarky response from the system. No screen popped up so I let out a sigh of relief. "Now, I need to find a good stick to make a rod."
As I walked the soft turf tickled the bottom of my bare feet. 'Sure is nice here.' I thought as I walked into the thicker part of the woods. I walked up to a large tree and scanned it for a good candidate for my fishing rod. A decently straight and round stick protruded from the large branch that hung over me. I jumped just missing the mark and collapsed face down like a sack of potatoes on the ground.
5 Fall damage
HP: 95/100
I lifted my head to see that I had scraped my knee. "-5 HP? Really? It's just a scraped knee." I scowled and struggled to press my hands to the ground to hoist myself up once again. "Another try." This time I jumped and grabbed a lower branch on the tree. My right hand slipped and I began to flail until I had regained control. With an exasperated sigh, I grabbed it with my other hand. My legs became a pendulum swinging back and forth timing my jump to the final branch. "I hope I can make this."
On the upswing, I let go and yelped a bit as I soured through the air with my eyes closed. I felt my hand desperately grasp the larger branch. "I made it!"
Skill acquired: acrobatics level 1
XP +50
I ignored the skill pop-up momentarily and broke off the stick I had chosen for my precious fishing rod. "Yes!" I jumped cautiously to the ground and ducked into a roll instinctively. After I stood up I looked at the stick in my hand and grinned. "Nice, I got a new skill-- and most importantly, a new stick."
<System> Of course you'd be impressed by a stick.
"Yeah whatever, now it's time to make a cord to tie to the end." My heart sank and my face became sullen. "I don't know how to weave a cord." I stopped a moment and my expression changed as a new idea crept into my mind. 'I'll just make the stick sharp!" I looked around hastily. "Wait, knives don't grow on trees." He shook his head. "Do they?" He said slyly.
No response.
"Alright, What about starting items, you have those?" Shame washed over me. 'Why did I not think of this earlier?' My self-doubt was interrupted by a loud ding sound. An inventory tab popped up in front of me.
Inventory
Leather Armor (Worn)
Leather Pants (Worn)
Leather Shoes (Worn)
Short Sword (Poor)
Shortbow (Poor)
Barrel Lid With A Handle (Poor Shield)
Fishing Rod (Flimsy)
Waterskin
Torch
Strange Red Gem (???)
My jaw touched the ground and my arms went numb. "What the hell!" My shouting echoed through the thick forest surrounding me. I reached out and touched the fishing rod. A sub-menu appeared.
Equip?
Drop?
Cancel?
I tapped the Equip button and a shimmering star exploded in my hand. The bright light revealed a newly materialized, but very flimsy-looking Rod. "This will do!" Satisfied with my results I noticed I was still shoeless and wearing ragged pants. I repeated the same process with the leather armor and shoes.
I tugged at the collar of my newly equipped Leather armor. "Damn this is itchy," I wished I had a shirt to go under it. Satisfied with my new apparel, at least mostly satisfied, I set off to find a good spot to fish.
///
After searching for an hour I found a quiet pond. The fish could be seen happily dancing about the surface of the pond. Each time a large fish came up to pounce on an unsuspecting bug I plunged gracefully. They were Olympic divers, majestic and powerful, each time their strokes had found purpose.
"Nature seems to be magnified in this world." I paused for a moment. "No, maybe I was getting too comfortable in the city." I nodded. "Yep, I'm just a fish out of water right now." A corny grin filled my expression
<System> That wasn't funny at all.
"Tough crowd I guess." My smile persisted.
