Chapter 2: Waking up in another world

Riley woke up in an unfamiliar place for the second time in what felt like only a couple of hours. This time his surroundings consisted of a bit more than just whiteness.

Riley looked around to see a large river, with the sound of crystal clear water running gently over the rocks within it. He was sitting in the shade against a large tree which seemed to be at least 100 years old. It was hugged by vines that coiled their way up its large trunk. The feeling of a light breeze brushed passed his face as he took everything in.

He died in his sleep, kissed a beautiful goddess and now he's in another world which has magic. He hasn't even had time to process any of this. He remembered that the goddess was going to give him a new body. Riley looked down at his hands and noticed that they were slightly larger than what he was used to. He stood up and walked around. He felt taller. Not by much but enough to notice a difference. He guessed he was just over 6 foot tall now.

Riley stretched his new body and felt he had more muscles than he had before too. His body felt light and powerful, which filled him with confidence in this new life. He was wearing clothes that he guessed were normal for the world. He wore a white button-up shirt and a brown leather tunic/vest type thing. His pants were standard adventuring pants and felt light and breathable. He wasn't wearing any shoes though. Keen to see what his new face looked like, Riley jogged up to the river bank to see his reflection. He saw looking back at him a young man, roughly the age of 18-20 with unkempt black hair, olive skin and bright blue eyes. His eyes reminded him of the goddess he just spoke with.

After admiring his new looks, Riley's eyes left his reflection and focused on the water below him. He wondered if it was drinkable. All of a sudden, some words appeared in front of him. Riley stepped back out of shock and the writing disappeared.

"What the.."

He focused on the water again and the words appeared just as they did last time.

[River water - fresh (consumable)]

Riley immediately wheeled around to see what else he could identify with the words that appeared in front of him. He focused on a funny looking plant growing near the tree he woke up at.

[Mana bush - grants mana when eaten (consumable)]

Riley found that he could identify anything he focused his mind on with this system. He found himself thanking the goddess for it in his mind as he would be able to find food and water and know that it wouldn't kill him.

Riley then decided to focus this new system on himself to see if anything happened. Suddenly a large box appeared in front of his vision.

[Status opened]

Name: Riley (last name unknown)

Age: 19

Sex: Male

Race: Human

Class: ***

Level 1:

Health - 10

Mana - 10

Strength - 10

Durability - 10

Agility - 10

Vitality - 10

Intelligence - 10

Skills:

Skill devourer - upon killing an enemy, you can gain their skills for your self. (Legendary)

Inspection - view information on whatever you see. (Epic)

Dimensional Storage - place any non-living item inside your storage. View your storage list [here]. (Epic)

Battle Awareness - increases the speed of thought and movement when attacked in combat. (Legendary) Note: this skill is temporary and is granted to assist you until proficient.

Blessing of the Goddess - grants increased experience gain and communication at holy sites.

[Status close yes/no]

Riley focused on the yes with his mind and the box disappeared.

"Cool. This is like those RPG games!" He said enthusiastically to himself. First he wanted to try the storage storage skill he has. Riley walked over to a stick, picked it up and focused on it. At first, his inspection skill was activated.

[Stick - (not consumable)]

Riley got up his skill list again and read through the dimensional storage skill again. He thought about moving the stick from where it was to his own dimension. Suddenly he felt the stick leave his hand and enter somewhere within his soul. It was a strange feeling to say the least. Now he focused on taking the stick back out of his soul dimension and it appeared in his hand as instantly as it had left.

Before he went to try more of his new skills, Riley had the thought of if he needed to be touching the item to place it in his storage. He placed the stick down and walked back a step, focused on the stick, but he couldn't get it to work. He felt that the stick was drawn to his storage but there was not enough energy to move it. Riley tried again, this time screwing up his face in concentration. This time he felt more control over the skill as all of his focus was on taking the stick from this dimension to within his own soul. The stick disappeared and just as easily as last time, he could summon it back into his hand. Riley practiced this skill from different distances. He found that he had a maximum range of 3 metres. It wasn't much but it was at least something.

Finally, in order to try his other two skills, he needed to be in combat with something. Before doing that, he needed a weapon. Riley found a nearby stick that was near the line of trees that surrounded the clearing he was located. The stick was roughly 1.5 metres long and relatively straight. Perfect for a spear. Riley had no idea how to secure a rock to the end of a stick, but he did know that if he sharpened the end of the stick into a point, it could do the same thing. He found a rock and spent some time sharpening his stick into a spear.

Once it was nice and sharp, Riley looked around for his first victim. The forest seemed like a risky move as he did not know what was in there. He definitely wasn't ready to face a monster of some sort. But surely the goddess wouldn't place him in a forest full of big monsters right?

He then looked over to the river and thought he could spear a fish. He rolled up his pants to his knees and waded into the cool, clear water. It wasn't long before he spotted a fish swimming downstream as he treaded lightly on the rocks of the riverbed. Without hesitating, Riley threw his new spear at the fish.

He missed. The fish darted away further downstream and never to be seen again. To be fair it wasn't the best throw. Riley then stumbled upon a slight channel in the river which fish were more likely to swim. He stood and waited with his spear in striking position. Looking upstream, he saw a large fish approaching. Steadying his breathing, he aimed for where the fish will be and

Whoosh!

The spear pierced the fish and a cloud of blood surrounded the wound. The spear wiggled as the fish thrashed around. Riley quickly picked up the spear and secured the fish in his hands. He stored his spear in his storage and clutched the fish as he trudged his way back to the river bank. Riley had to kill the fish humanely now and found the sharp edge of a rock to cut it where its spine met its head. Instantly the fish stopped thrashing in his hands and he could relax his grip.

Ding!

Riley heard a sound ring in his head as he saw a notification appear in front of his eyes.

[You have gained exp.]

(Bonus: x3 multiplier activated)

[Abilities gained: Dash]

He was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to gain a new skill and focused on the words in front of him.

[Dash: Grants user a burst of speed in one direction. Cool-down: 10 seconds]

"Nice!" He exclaimed.

After placing the fish down, Riley positioned himself as if he was about to start a running race and concentrated on his new skill. Just as he moved his muscles to take off, he felt a surge of power and the skill activated. Riley felt the air pummel his face as his body moved with explosive speed. He had to slide his feet in the ground to stop himself before he hit a tree and hurt himself. After composing himself, he noticed a small number counting down in the corner of his vision. It was the cool-down for the skill.

"That could be useful" he thought to himself.

Based off of his brief experience watching fishing shows, Riley knew that he had to gut and drain the blood from the fish before he could eat it. He searched for a small rock with a sharp edge he could use as a knife and sliced open the belly of the fish. Blood and guts leaked out of the fleshy body of the fish. He semi-reluctantly used his finger to scoop out any guts and sever anything still hanging on to the body.

After washing his hands vigorously in the river, Riley decided he would spend some time working on a survival shelter and a camp fire. It felt like the mid afternoon by this point and he didn't know how long he would have until nightfall. This world could rotate at a faster or slower speed than earth, meaning he had no idea about the day length.

Riley spent the next few hours collecting sticks and bits of vegetation to create a small make-shift shelter. He had no idea what he was doing the whole time, but by the end of it he was pretty happy with his efforts. Any sticks or pieces of wood he didn't end up using were added to a pile near where he would put his campfire. Riley felt himself getting hungry and his fish, which he had wrapped in a leaf and kept in the shade was seeming great.

Riley thought of using his inspection skill to find a rock that when struck, could create sparks. After searching for about 30 minutes, he came across a funny pink-coloured rock.

[Brauxite: a rock infused with fire mana - (can be used to start a fire)]

Riley immediately picked up the rock and took it back to his campfire. He striked it with his knife rock into some small sticks and dried up leaves and it worked instantly. Usually people spend ages starting a fire in the wild so it was pretty lucky he found this rock he thought.

He spent some time filleting the fish he caught earlier and roasted it on a stick. Riley also grabbed some of the mana bush he found earlier and enjoyed his first meal in another world. By this time the sun had well and truely set and he was admiring the night sky. This world had two moons, one bigger and one smaller, as well as an ocean of stars that illuminated the night sky. It was way more beautiful than the night sky he remembered from Earth.

After finishing his dinner and spending some time gazing at the stars, Riley stripped off his clothes to wash all the dirt and sweat off his body before going to bed. He noticed that his body was muscular and toned. To the level that he could be a model if he was back on Earth. He also had a noticeably larger manhood than he did previously. This was just in the flop too.. the words of the goddess echoed in the back of his head.

"I will make your new body to the liking of a woman"

As he remembered this remark and the wink that followed from the seductive goddess, he felt his new manhood twitch for a second.

"We'll at least I know it works" he said to himself.

Riley dipped into the crisp water of the river and dunked his head under water. The feeling was bliss as he immediately felt refreshed. After washing himself thoroughly, Riley stood by the fire to dry himself off, and after getting back into his clothes, he crawled into his small survival shelter.

Riley couldn't help but feel as though he was vulnerable to being attacked by anything that lived in the forest next to him. He drew his spear out of his storage and clutched it, listening for any sounds in the forest.

After about an hour of listening to the sounds of nature around him, Riley couldn't help but fall asleep.

He woke, suddenly to the strange sound of a bird crowing in a tree near him. It was a bright morning and for a moment, Riley had forgotten where he was. He had thought that everything that happened yesterday was a crazy (very realistic) dream.

After taking a minute to recall everything that had happened, the reality that yesterday he was lying on his bed and now he was in a completely different world in a completely new body had finally hit him. He could feel his heart thumping in his chest as he processed this thought. How come it had taken him so long to realise the gravity of what has happened to him? He was so excited about leaving his mundane life that he didn't even think about his dad at home and what he must be feeling. His old body was dead, lying on his old bed. He imagined his funeral. His dad and his extended family who he didn't really see much. His friends from school and uni. The image of all the people in his life at his funeral caused his eyes to well up, as the thought that he would never see any of these people again made his stomach sink like a stone.

"But I'm in a new world with magic, with this new body. With the legendary skills from the goddess I can be anything but ordinary!" He thought to himself.

With a new burst of confidence, Riley had a quick dip in the river and took himself and his spear into the forest. Not only did he explore to find something to eat, but by hunting an animal, he can gain new abilities.

While walking he used his inspection skill to find strange looking fruits and berries, avoiding the poisonous ones and picking and storing the edible ones in his storage dimension.

Riley managed to see a few small rabbits that had a small horn on the end of their head, but they were too quick to catch. The idea of making a trap passed through his mind but it was just as quickly dismissed as he had no idea how to make one.

After no luck other than a few fruits to snack on, Riley made his way back to the clearing. Just as he arrived however, he heard a rustling of leaves and whipped around to see what it was. It was a wild pig that had horns like a bull. His eyes widened in anticipation as he could get extremely injured by this animal. But at the same time the meat would taste delicious.

Suddenly, the pig/bull thing ran directly at him. Riley raised his spear and prepared to dodge out of the way. If he used his dash ability, he would be thrown too far away and may lose his balance. What was strange was that just as the pig was a few metres away, time slowed down. Riley found that his mind was alert and his movements were sharp. He easily stepped out of the way as the pig it ran passed him in slow motion. Riley easily rammed his spear into the side of its neck and time flipped back to its regular speed. The pig was knocked off its feet, slid on the ground and squealed as its neck spewed with blood. It could not get back onto its feet so Riley picked up a large rock and smashed its head to end its life quickly.

Ding!

[You have gained exp]

(Bonus: x3 multiplier activated]

[Sufficient experience has been gained. You are now level 2.]

[Abilities gained: Charge]

Riley opened his status to see what has changed.

Level 2:

Health - 10 -> 20

Mana - 10 -> 20

Strength - 10 -> 11

Durability - 10 -> 11

Agility - 10 -> 11

Vitality - 10 -> 11

Intelligence - 10 -> 11