Almost every experience was novel to John since he was back in a real flesh and blood body. He was only back in physical form for at most an hour, but in that time even breathing was downright fascinating. Speaking with Jerry was a rush. Feeling the fire in that study they shared was electric. Who knew he would have missed tapping his foot that much! All in all, his experiences until now could have been summarized as pretty damn neat.

It was in the present though that John nearly wished he was back in his cloud form. John’s rose tinted glasses shattered when he woke up.

Apparently, when you get reborn, the powers in charge think it’s a lovely idea to place your sleeping form in the most uncomfortable of positions upon an exposed tree root. A foot to the right and John would have still been a happy camper, but alas.

Bright light flooded the vision of John. The shadows of gently swaying branches danced rhythmically about the verdant grass.

The pain in John’s back was muted considerably by the scene welcoming his now seated form. Light breezes wafted past him, playing gently with his hair before fluttering away. Cloudless blue skies made a perfect backdrop to the day. While alien to John, the dual stars in the blue expanse overhead fit naturally as if the duo were actually his own sun.

Despite the grin adorned upon his face, John shed nimble tears looking upon the dark green sea of leaves spread before the small hill he woke up on.

In a perfect 360 degrees the sea spread. Sunlight reflecting off the serene leaves gave the impression of a lazy summer day. The types of days that John himself had enjoyed as a boy in the park near his childhood home.

Shrugging off the pull of memories from a different life, John could not help but voice his thoughts.

“Beautiful, it’s been so long since…”

The words faded from his lips. They just couldn’t suffice to describe the scene.

Sunlight warmed his skin, a feeling he hadn’t felt since he’d last had skin, and that had been…

“…17 million years huh?”

He shook his head with a derisive snort. There was just no use in dwelling on the time he’d lost. No, John was looking forward to forging something new. The regrets of his former life would stay with that life. That life was over, so too were all the things that stopped him from being the person he wished to be.

John was a thief, but he was not without empathy. He held many regrets and some guilt for stealing from others. Guilt that he believed was reason enough to never be deserving of happiness.

This body of John’s was new. It wasn’t immediately noticeable, but the thickness of his limbs, color of his hair, and tone of his skin was all different from his old body.

‘New body, new life, new me.’

Panic was for once totally absent from John’s mind. It had been a constant visitor during his stay in hell, but now, looking at this new world before him, eagerness gripped his heart. He was a bright-eyed child, and the world was his candy shop.

***

The daydreaming lasted for some time, but as with all things, reality had to rear its head once again.

*Gurrgggle*

The protests of John’s stomach were quite clear. He needed food. A problem he hadn’t had in a long time, no stomach and all.

It was time to go exploring his new home, hopefully not starving to death in the process.

Surviving was something the human John did have experience with, but that was in cities where food was plentiful yet guarded. The woods on the other hand… in his element, he was not.

Leaving his grassy hill, John began his walk through the forest surrounding him.

Thankfully, underbrush was not present in plentiful amounts. The ground beneath the leafy canopies stories above him was rather bare really. John was grateful. For remote wilderness, it was rather like a walk in the park than a hike in the woods.

John was no forester, but he was quite sure that plants didn’t usually glow.

Standing at hip height was the most out of place thing John had seen thus far. Orange hued leaves drooped low. They bore bright blue fruits that shined in an enchanting sort of way.

‘What is this… thing…?’

*ding*

Skill Gained!

Skill Name: Identify

Rarity: Common-1

Type: General

Family: Wisdom

Rank: 1

User is able to identify any selected object. Success depends upon skill rank.

Usage: Active Use

Cost: None

As a gift to all species under the system, the skill identify was thought to be appropriate for increasing the efficiency of all tasks.

‘Well, ain’t that something!’

Jinga Bush

A common plant found in most forests. It bears glowing, edible fruits that are very nutritious.

‘There goes that problem’

John quickly dropped to his knees before the plant, thankful his benefactors saw fit to equip him with some sort of leather pants that seemed durable while allowing free range of motion.

He quickly began harvesting the fruit from the bush, happy to have found a meal so easily.

‘City boys like myself really shouldn’t have to forage in the woods, super unfair.’

A part of John was wary of trusting the floating blue screens, but the larger part of him rationalized that if the screen truly wished to hurt him, it wouldn’t be so round-about as to lie about what things were. At least he hoped so. It didn’t seem he had many other options lining up to be his meal.

The identify skill gain did remind John of what Jerry told him about the skill screen

‘System, what does all that information with each skill mean?’

Query Noted…

Skill Name: The name assigned by the system to the skill.

Rarity: Rarity describe how common something appears in the Universe. Rarity will follow the trend of Common - Uncommon - Rare - Epic - Legendary - Artifact - Unique. The number beside the initial grouping further describes the extent of rarity within grouping from 1-most common to 5-least common.

Note: Unique items or skills are those that very few in the universe have gained, found, or created. All things classified as Unique receive [?] as sub-rank

Type: Generally explains what activity the skill accomplishes.

Family: Families of skills are made up of all skills that are dependent on the same attribute.

Rank: Standard of ability.

Description: More specific explanation of what skill is, and how it might be used.

Usage: Denotes whether the skill must be consciously activated or is always active.

Cost: what pool of resource is used to fuel the skill.

Quoted statement of practitioner of the skill.

John took his time working his way though the expansive table that popped into existence before him.

He had no problem memorizing the information on the screen. The system called his intelligence rank 3 after all. It seems that memory and intelligence are related.

Truthfully, John couldn’t be surprised. Memorizing millions of runes in what he now knew to be his soul core had to have improved his intelligence to such lengths.

He still had some more questions of to ask the system though.

‘System, give me a rundown on what rank is and how to improve it’

Query Noted…

Rank: The different ranks of attributes and skills define what level of prowess an individual has compared to others of their species or other practitioners of their skill.

Attribute ranks may be increased by doing activities that utilize the attribute in question, or by increasing the ranks of skills within that attribute’s family.

Skill ranks may only be increased by use of the given skill. The difficulty and complexity of tasks completed using the skill may change the size of increase the skill undergoes.

John picked up on something when he was reading the answer given by the system.

The system didn’t like using hard numbers to define an individual’s ability. Everything was based on tier.

John sighed, both in relief and annoyance. On the one hand, John couldn’t crunch numbers to make the best ‘build’ as his gamer buddies from his youth would say. At the same time, at least he would avoid the headaches inherent in that task.

Satisfied with his questioning of the system, John returned his attention to the piled fruit at his knees.

Taking a glowing blue fruit in hand. John apprehensively took a bite.

And was blown away.

The tangy explosion on John’s tongue was totally unexpected. Not only was the fruit sweet, but it actually popped in his mouth.

It was the same kind of pop as from a soda, or pop rocks even.

Coupled with the popping, was the flavor. While it had the texture of a nectarine, the flavor was like that of an orange. It was altogether great tasting and nutritious. It was the ultimate food as far as John was concerned.

It only took three of the Jinga fruits to fill John up. He still had seven left and would be remiss to leave them to rot.

Determined to take them with him, John pulled the rough cloth shirt that he woke up with over his head. Tying the bottom of the shirt let John turn it to an improvised sack.

‘Identify’

Shirt Sack

A crude attempt at making a sack from a plain cotton shirt. Suitable for small, light objects.

Satisfied with his admittedly subpar work, John grabbed his fruits and dropped them into the shirt.

‘Waste not, want not. Like Mr. Romanovich used to say when I was a kid.’

With his prize slung over his now bare shoulder, John continued onward.

***

The skies had begun their shift to evening as John still wandered among the trees.

He was beginning to feel pangs of nervousness as he continued forth. The scenery remained mostly the same the entire way. No natural forest should be so uniform in appearance.

Besides the hill. The ground was near perfectly flat as far as his eyes could peer into the shadowed depths of the forest. Of course, there was gnarls of root exposed every so often, and the trees were not placed in ordered rows or anything. Despite his best attempts, he just couldn’t shake the feeling that man’s hand was to blame for the forest he now walked in.

Few leaves or sticks littered the ground as he plodded along. And aside from the frequent chirping of birds, no animals had shown themselves.

Still, he continued along.

Still, the two stellar bodies crept toward the horizon.

***

Sunset was odd with two suns in the sky. The smaller of the two was already gone from sight. The other surely not far behind it.

The Sunset also heralded other news for John, the newly self-styled wanderer.

He was not prepared to sleep in the cold and dark of the woods at night. He had no way to make a fire, nor was there really sufficient fuel to be found in the abnormally sparse forest.

And while he saw no animals, that did not mean they weren’t there. Coming face to face with any predators was understandably not on John’s to-do list.

The breeze shifted a bit, coming from John’s right side about 30-35 degrees from the direction he currently faced.

That new breeze carried on it a smell John knew had to do with people.

Food.

An aroma of cooking meat, sizzling fat, and perhaps a hint of some exotic spice.

With his nose now guiding him, John followed the scent to its source.

‘Only people cook their food, lets hope so at least’

“ha-****, you-*** -joking-****-nasty”

‘Voices!?’

Sure enough, the sound of voices carried to John’s ears just as the smell of their food carried to his nose.

Excited to meet people to talk with, John quickened his pace.

The glow of a fire was warming his face as he stuck his head out from around a tree thick enough to hide his form.

“And so, I told the oaf, I told him that I only knew it because his sister, yeah, his system-be-damned sister was the one who told me!”

“Bwa-haha! I can’t believe you Baff. Thronhul’s fists are as big as yer head. What’re you doing mouthin’ off to im’ like that?”

“He insulted me ma. I can’t just take that lyin’ down y’know?”

“Aye, aye. Still can’t fathom ‘ow you fit balls that big in ye’ britches though!”

The two merry companions burst into a raucous round of laughter as John steeled his nerve.

‘They seem friendly enough, lets hope they take kindly to visitors.’

Stepping out from around the tree John started to form words.

They never passed his lips.

The man, who was not Baff, stood below his chest with an axe sharp as a razor pressed up into John’s throat. Nearly hard enough to draw blood.

“An’ who, by the braided ball hairs of me da, are you?”

‘Oh, shit…’