CHAPTER 1
If you want to read up to 30 chapters ahead go to https://www.patreón.com/cornbringer
This is the rewrite of my first Marvel Gamer story, I changed the plot, timeline and a bunch of different things, also, I hope you all can enjoy this, and have a great time, as I did writing it, with love, the one and only corn.
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I woke up naked, face down in the grass. Something I was not expecting at all, since I had gone to sleep on my own bed after a marathon of Resident Evil movies. Taking a deep breath, I rolled over and sat up, trying to think how I had ended up here, I mean, I was not a heavy drinker, and I didn't consume any drugs. Unless I had some kind of stroke or or some other kind of issue, then this wasn't some elaborate hallucination.
On a slightly more positive note, I was feeling better than usual. My body felt full of energy, and my back didn't hurt at all, which was a very rare occurrence in my life considering my many, many spine problems.
"So… someone roofied me, and fixed my back?" I muttered with a chuckle, though likely at such an idiotic idea.
With a sigh, I pushed myself up and started assessing my environment, my gaze looking around the green decor of what I could only assume was a forest.
"Trees, grass, and nothing else." I sighed, feeling rather uncomfortable, I mean, if there was one place you didn't want your dick out was a forest, with all the parasites and mosquitoes around… well, let's just say it's not ideal, also, running is rather hard naked.
As I continued to look around in hopes of finding a note that said something along the lines of, you are being pranked, I heard a howl.
"Bloody hell, wolves!" I hissed under my breath, this was not how I was supposed to go down. No, I either go down on fucking Scarlett Johansson or I don't go down at all!
Thankfully for all the nearby wildlife and my rapidly declining sanity, a handy message decided to appear right at that time.
[New Quest = **Where am I?**
You have awoken in a place you do not know, what can you do? Explore the forest to find more information about your whereabouts!
Objective = Explore the forest for clues, and find where you are!
Reward = 100 EXP
Accept = Yes/No]
The message itself was akin to a hologram, a blue box of text that made me question my sanity as a whole.
"This can't be right," I muttered, looking at the floating text in front of me, for wherever I turned the text would follow my head, taking a deep breath, I sat down in the grass, trying to make sense of this situation as a whole.
"A gaming hallucination…okay, it could certainly be worse, not gonna lie."
Trying to brush off some of my previous concerns, I cautiously moved my hand to the Yes option and smashed the non-existent button and sighed.
"Might as well see where this crazy train takes me."
[Quest Accepted!]
With a chuckle hiding my worry, I stood up, and as I did I wondered, how far my hallucination would go. Thus, that led to probably the most obvious thing to check.
"Stats?" I mumbled in an attempt to see how my mind was operating right now. Surprisingly enough, as soon as I spoke, a new holographic window appeared in front of me.
[STATS
Name = Alex Walker
Occupation = The Gamer
Level = 1
EXP = 0/100
HP = 100/100
MP = 100/100
STR = 10
VIT = 10
DEF = 10
DEX= 10
INT = 10
CHA = 10
WIS = 10
WILL = 10
PER = 10
LUK = 5
]
So, this atleast confirms wherever I am operates on game logic. Now normally this would probably cause the average person to freak out, since stats are usually reserved for MMORPG games and most casual players can't handle that kind of thing. Me on the other hand.
Well let's just say I'd lost more than my share of rent money thanks to my very active Steam account and leave it at that.
Mulling over the stats, for the most part it seemed a bit clear. I mean, some were obvious, but others… not so much. Fortunately for me, the text I was seeing seemed to have some sort of hover text, meaning if I hover my hand over them, I would get information.
PHYSICAL STATS
Strength (STR) = A measure of how physically strong a character is. Strength often controls the power and/or damage of melee attacks, the maximum weight the character can carry, also some weapons might also have a Strength requirement to use them.
Vitality (VIT) = A measure of how sturdy a character is, vitaly influences hit points, and resistances for special types of damage like poisons, illness, heat, fatigue and such. The higher the Vit, the more the character can run, and such.
Defense (DEF) = A measure of how resilient a character is. Defense usually decreases taken damage by either a percentage or a fixed amount per hit.
Dexterity (DEX) = A measure of how agile a character is. Dexterity controls attack and movement speed and accuracy, as well as the chance of evading an opponent's attack.
SOUL STATS
Intellect (INT) = A measure of a character's problem-solving ability. Intelligence often controls a character's ability to comprehend foreign languages and their skill in magic. The higher the Int, the more skill points per level.
Charisma (CHA) = A measure of a character's social skills, and sometimes their physical appearance. Charisma generally influences prices while trading and flirting. Under certain circumstances, this skill can negate combat actions between two individuals.
Wisdom (WIS) = A measure of a character's common sense and spirituality. Wisdom often controls a character's ability to cast certain spells, communicate to mystical entities, or discern other characters' motives or feelings.
Willpower (WILL) = A measure of the character's mental resistance against pain, fear, and other types of ailments when falling victim to mind-altering magic, torture, or insanity. The higher the will, the harder it is to break.
Perception (PER) = A measure of a character's openness to their surroundings. Perception controls the chance to detect vital clues, traps or hiding enemies, and might influence combat sequence or the accuracy of ranged attacks.
Luck (LUK) = A measure of a character's luck. Luck might influence anything, or nothing, with lady luck, anything is possible! But remember, lady luck is a very picky lover.]
Well that summarized things up pretty well.
"Ok, since there's no Off Button or switch, guess I'll just have to play this by ear. Guess it's time to explore the forest… naked," I groaned at being reminded of my currently exposed state.
Again, deciding to push my concern aside, I took the first step into what I could only say was the start of something terrifying.
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After about eight hours of walking like I was Adam from the Garden of Eden, minus the fig leaf, I came to a conclusion. I was lost. And not lost like a kid in a mall, no, I was lost like a penguin in the fucking Sahara desert.
"So much for doing the quest my clearly deranged mind asked me to do."
Taking a deep breath, I sat down against a tree, and then I remembered I was naked, and stood up, ants and balls do not go well together.
That realization, along with a sudden breeze sending me into a fit of shivers made one thing clear to me. "Probably should find myself some clothes before I go on any actual quests."
As I stood up from the tree, the sound of tree branches in the ground, breaking were heard, and soon after a shout.
"If ya mowve i'll shoot ya!!" Oh great, a redneck. I recognize that particular intonation anywhere. Immediately I threw my hands up, silently praying this guy wouldn't blow me away before I could get a word in.
"I am lost!" I replied, hoping the unknown redneck would believe me.
"That so? Why are ya naked?" The unknown man inquired before his eyes narrowed. "Are ya gay!?"
Even if I was, which I am not, with that tone of voice, and a gun on my back, I would never answer him truthfully, and besides.
"No… just, some bad people stole my clothes, and threw me into the forest to die, sir," I replied, trying to formulate a plan should the man decide to shoot me...and came up with nothing.
Lucky for me the guy seemed to buy it.
"Ay see, whel. Come on, ay have some clothes faw ya, I don't want to see your chili dog hanging, so come!" Chilli d… why, nevermind.
"Thanks, really appreciated," I nodded, turning around. The man in front of me was both fat and skinny, and had a stench so vile that I could barely keep a straight face. Coupled with the greasy overalls, the long beard, visibly missing teeth and trucker cap, all he needed was a jug of moonshine in his hand.
[John McCloud LV 5
HP = 78%
MP = NULL]
[VIT HAS RISEN +1]
Jesus, smelling the man gave me a stat point, holy shit. Also good to know HP is a percentual value on others.
"The name is John McCloud, ay hate blayk folk ayn' gays folk, do ya like any of them?" Racist and homophobic, well ain't he the package.
Taking a deep breath, I shook my head, reminding myself my morals were not above my need to survive. "Thanks for saving me sir,"
"Ay do what I can," the man smiled, taking the compliment, almost making me forget how much of a stereotypical bigot he was.
Following the man to his hut, I took the clothes he offered me as his wife cooked us dinner. How he went from almost shooting me to inviting me to eat was beyond me, but I was not going to complain. That being said, I had to admit, putting the clothes he gave me was a challenge.
Despite being told they were clean, the smell wafting off them was awful. Like a raccoon farting after chugging Mountain Dew, chillI and hot garbage. How's that for a mental image? Thankfully I pushed past that and once I was clothed moved onto the next matter at hand.
"Sir you happen to have a map so that I can find my way back home?" I asked, avoiding the food his wife had served me, it looked like vomit, smelled like vomit, and had the texture of guess what… oatmeal surprisingly, which kinda resembled vomit.
"Ay think there is one on thay ...err newspaper," John McCloud nodded, nodded, giving me a very old looking newspaper.
Taking the newspaper I noticed something odd. The date read January 1992, meaning either I'd somehow pulled a Marty Mcfly and went back in time or this guy was bad at staying up to date "I… do you have anything newer?"
"That one is frawum yesterday," the racist, homophobe replied.
Deciding not to ask anymore questions I started to read the newspaper, until I stopped a certain part of the paper. The article was an obituary...for one Howard and Maria Stark.
So like most people over the age of ten in the 2010s I was a big MCU fan and knew that in spite of the many crazy promotions Marvel did, especially after being bought by Disney, they never released newspaper replicas. And the guy next to me didn't strike me as one who frequented conventions, outside of maybe a gun show.
However, as I tried to piece everything together, a message appeared in front of me.
[Quest Completed!
LEVEL UP!]
"Aren't ya gonna eat!?" the man barked, seeing my plate full.
"My bad," I smiled, taking a mouthful of that awful diabolical concoction.
[VIT HAS RISEN +1]
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After a long meal, which included a few stats points and a quick trip to the bathroom, I walked out of the house with a map that somehow got absorbed into my being after a pop up option appeared. This in turn opened a minimap on my peripheral view, which was good cause I didn't know how to read a map, so this was my saving grace.
As for the quest and the gamer thing, well…. I was still operating under the idea this was a bad drug trip, but if it wasn't well. Long and short of it was I was apparently the world of Marvel, though the jury's still out on whether it's the MCU or some other Marvel universe, of which they have a lot of. While that might sound exciting, there were more than a few fucked up realities I was praying I wasn't in, especially Marvel Zombies...yikes.
Taking a deep breath, I shook my head and continued my journey hoping I would soon reach civilization. And well, let's just say games lied to us. Instead of a five minutes journey, like in most games, it took me eight hours to walk my way out of the forest into the nearest road, where I would use my charisma skills to get a ride, aka I would beg for one.
Here I painfully discovered being a man was a weakness in the hitchhiking business, so I waited and waited for hours, until a truck came by, and offered me a ride.
Unlike my last encounter this guy looked considerably more well kept and friendly enough. Heck he was offering me a ride without a gun to my face so that was a plus.
[Roman Wallace LV 5
HP = 100%
MP = NULL]
"So, what were you doing in the forest?" Roman, who had yet to properly introduce himself, inquired.
"I got lost and well here I am," I didn't elaborate since trying to be more detailed would just make me sound crazy.
"Well, I am glad I can help, the name is Roman by the way," Roman smiled, giving me a firm handshake. "I have some burgers in the back, and water in case you want some."
I looked at him and nodded, after that terrible, terrible, terrible thing I ate, some actual food sounded positively heavenly. "Thanks," I smiled.
"Ha, don't thank me yet, I will need a favor though."
And there goes my good mood. I swear if this fucker asks for anything remotely sexual, I will jump out of this truck.
"At the truck stop, I'll need your help cleaning this baby, consider it a pay for the ride."
Oh….that was totally fair and completely reasonable. .
"Sure," I nodded, cleaning a truck, easy enough, I did that shit in college for extra cash.
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[STATS
Name = Alex Walker
Occupation = The Gamer
Level = 2
EXP = 0/300
HP = 240/240
MP = 100/100
STR = 11
VIT = 14
DEF = 11
DEX= 11
INT = 11
CHA = 11
WIS = 11
WILL = 11
PER = 11
LUK = 6
]