*Evan POV*

To my surprise, the second I thought of that, a blue screen opened up in front of me as a list of skills came into my view.

Skills:

Passive:

Pain immunity

Dual Equip

Sword Mastery (Lvl: 1)

Actives:

Parry

Counter

The skill list was short, but there was a status list right beside it.

Status:

Max Life: 100

Max Mana: 40

Melee damage/Critical strike chance/Critical strike damage: 103%/100%/150%

Ranged damage/Critical strike chance/Critical strike damage: 100%/100%/150%

Magic damage/Critical strike chance/Critical strike damage: 100%/100%/150%

Thrown damage/Critical strike chance/Critical strike damage: 100%/100%/150%

Summon damage: 100%

Attack speed: 100%

Max number of minions/sentries: 1/1

Damage reduction: 0%

Max Movement Speed: 0%

Max life Regeneration: 0.2 per second

Mana usage reduction: 0%

Uhhh... What?

The skills and the stats menu confused me because they don't exist in Terraria... But, Hey! Dreams are supposed to be weird. I don't know if they're this weird, but still, weird enough.

Hmm, Terraria is still infamous for not having a leveling progression and instead having a gear progression. Where the better gear you have, the closer to end-game you’ll get. But judging from the skills and the stats menu, it seems like there’s some kind of leveling progression present here. As I further pondered these stats, I realized that I was somewhat wrong. All stats damage and critical strike status are based on gear progression and not leveling progression. I thought I had a 100% critical hit chance on all weapons but the 100% just means 100% stats of that weapon I'm equipped with.

As an example, assuming I have a sword that deals 10 damage, if my stats say that I have 150% melee damage, then the sword will deal 15 damage instead of 10 damage. This means that no matter how much I upgrade my base stats, everything is still reliant on the gear I possess just like the original Terraria. Which is quite neat.

Hmm… I'm talking to myself a lot again.

My train of thought suddenly broke as I noticed something. Some strands of my hair came into my view which freaked me out. Because those strands of hair I saw were white. A bit silverish too. I quickly grabbed a tuft of my hair and brought it to my view, which was when I noticed something very disturbing.

All of my hair is white!

I panicked. I’m not like 80 years old right now, am I?

I remember there being a still lake where I woke up, I can definitely use it like a mirror so I rushed back there at my fastest speed. I found the lake later and looked straight into it.

"...What the hell?" I said confused.

What I saw in the reflection was not me. The brown-haired, Brown-eyed, mature-looking guy that was supposed to be there was not there. Instead of me. There was a whitish-haired, light blue-eyed, baby-faced, masculine guy. I slowly touched my face to make sure I was not imagining things but no, the white-haired guy in the lake was definitely me, or at the very least the new me.

Hmm... Firstly I felt a bit weirded out but now that I look closely, I couldn't help but whistle. The new me is not that bad from the original, In fact, I look more handsome than before, which is a great plus! I wonder though, am I playing as some other game's character? The face doesn't ring a bell, but it's really not that bad either.

Alright, Crisis Averted! Now then... where was I? Oh, Yea! Skills! Let's see...

Dual equip, parry and counter are self-explanatory. However, I don’t know what Sword mastery and Pain immunity do. The moment I thought that, just like before, a blue window opened up and their skill description came up.

Level 1 - Sword mastery: 3% melee damage increased.

Know the way of the sword. A higher level in this skill will increase your overall ability and skill level with a sword. At Max level, even a sword master will not be your match.

Pain immunity: Completely resistant to any type of pain, illness, and anything the user thinks uncomfortable(heat, cold, fear, tiredness, hunger, etc.) You can still feel the sensation.

(This passive can be turned on and off at anytime.)

I can already see some loopholes in Pain immunity’s description but, what the in the hell does it mean by getting turning it on and off?

Just like always, A prompt appeared out of thin air asking me if I want to turn off pain immunity. I might as well try.

I thought of turning Pain immunity off and...

*Pain immunity has turned off*

Weird, does this means I can feel pain now? But If I'm really in a dream then I shouldn't feel pain... Right? I quickly pinched myself to test it out and...

"Ouch!" I shouted.

I immediately started sweating profusely.

Oi.

Hey! Dream! Work Correctly This isn't funny! This is a lie, right?

A pinch myself again and more hardly for no reason.

"OUCH! That definitely hurts!" I screamed.

Waitwaitwait! does that mean I'm not in a dream? That's impossible... isn't it? I better test this out fast! I spend the next minute finding a green slime. As soon as I found one, I let it hit me to test my theory.

-20

"OUCH! THAT FLIPPEN HURTS!" I yelled out to the slime.

It hurts way too much! Like someone pouring a bucket of Lava onto the shoulder where the slime hit me! I wanted to complain and bitch about it more but I saw the Slime jiggle around, attempting to attack me again. So, I quickly turned my Pain Immunity skill back on. The very moment I did that, all the pain I was feeling moments ago was gone, and I felt calm again.

The green slime had already lifted off of the ground, attempting to tackle me but I had placed my Wooden Sword in front of me to block its full-on attack. I felt a large recoil in my hands as the slime hit my sword before getting repelled and falling back. I saw the chance and immediately activated my Counter Skill. My body moved on its own as my hands held my sword up high and slammed it down on the green Slime.

-12

I started sweating. not from the damage I dealt, but from the fact that this may not actually be a dream and may in fact be real life. that or I could be in a very well-crafted hoax in the real world, I'm not betting my money on it though. Especially since the pain I felt was very real.

At that exact moment. Something hit me on my back as I was knocked forward a bit.

-23

What In The Bloody Hell!?!

I looked back and a blue slime had just sneaked attacked me from behind.

THIS BITCH ASS SLIME!!!

"YOU DARE SNEAK ATTACK ME!?! I WILL FLIPPEN SNEAK ATTACK YOUR MOTHER AT NIGHT!! YOU PIECE OF REJECTED SMOOTHIE!!!" I yelled all my frustration at it.

Well, I wanted to feel angry but my Pain Immunity skill wasn’t letting me. So I could only dish out my frustration with words. The green slime in front of me lunged at me again but I rolled to the side this time.

*Skill unlocked: Somersault*

I ignored the notification and quickly thrust out my wooden sword at the slime.

-9

*Skill unlocked: Thrust*

God damn it! It literally survived on 1 HP! I lifted my sword to hit it again quickly, but It lunged at me again. I don't have enough time to bring my sword down to block it. At that very moment. I felt like time had slowed down. I’m low on HP and I don’t think I can survive another hit.

This is definitely the real world.

I can absolutely die.

But there are so many things I have to do. My family will worry about when I will get back home.

GOD DAMN IT!

I REFUSE TO DIE JUST YET!!!

I dual-wielded the short sword in my other hand and pointed it towards the slime that was about to hit me. It impaled itself on the short sword and died as its sludge went everywhere. A bit on me as well. The other blue slime behind me lunged at me too but I turned around and struck it away with my large wooden sword before closing in and impaling it with my Short Sword, killing it instantly.

I stood there for a moment.

Deep breath in.

Exhale slowly.

"Ah. The sweet smell of victory." I said to myself, trying to make light of the situation.

2 silver coins and some slime gel dropped on the ground where I killed the slimes, those spoils automatically went into my inventory and I couldn't help but take in another deep breath. I don't feel any kind of stress or tiredness or anything like that, which is kind of weird. I should’ve been scared even now but I feel completely normal again. I think it’s because of the pain-immunity skill which also seems to negate any kind of negative emotions in me as well. Really helpful if I must say so myself but it kinda makes me feel... inhuman. Regardless, a little re-cap.

I don't think I'm in a dream. Way too real. I also felt pain when I de-activated the Pain-Immunity before so that's one solid fact that I'm not in a dream. Lastly, just to be safe, let's also assume that I won't respawn after I die.

Damn...

I’ll need to be careful from now on. The good part is that I don't feel any kind of pressure because of Pain Immunity, and even in the fight right now, I was more focused on how I would wreck shit up for the slimes and not on how I was almost done in by them. I guess I'll need to be... constantly aware of it, the Pain-Immunity thing.

Well, from here on out, I guess my only saving grace is going to be healing potions, and while I do have a small amount of passive Health regeneration, It’s not something to be relied on. I better find all the materials I need to make healing potions ASAP. I'm gonna need some mushrooms and sand. I can smelt the sand into glass... And then make some bottles for potions... good thing I already have some slime gel...

I started making plans and strategies for surviving the first night, as I went into the wilderness.

*A Few Minutes later*

The sun was shining brightly above me, There were blue, white, and red-colored birds flying and chirping above the dense trees. There were some beautiful, unique-patterned butterflies hiding in bushes or resting atop beautiful flowers. And lastly, there were some rabbits and squirrels hopping around. It all created an illusion as if fairies ran the forest.

Sadly, the only thing out of place here was me. Running away from a huge mob of green, blue, and purple colored Slimes, both big and small.

"DAMN IT ALL!!! I FORGOT THAT IN EXPERT MODE THE MORE YOU KILL THE MORE THEY APPEAR!" I don't know If I screamed that out to get it out of my system or for someone nearby to hear it and help me.

I had gathered up a good amount of sand and red mushrooms, but for the gels, I needed to kill a lot of slimes. But I killed too many slimes and now they're all after me! I tried to lose them in the large number of trees but for some reason, they keep finding me! I’ve been running for a couple of minutes by now and I’m pretty sure there are even more slimes chasing me now.

Finally. I saw a glimmer of hope. A small mountain in the distance with a small entrance, big enough that two of me could easily fit in. It was a good place to hide in for now and not get trampled on by a whole slimes armada.

I quickly equipped the wood blocks that I had in my inventory. This thing will be my saving grace now. I rushed to the mountain and pretty much just jumped in. I quickly turned around and faced the entrance. With the wooden blocks that I had equipped in my hand, I quickly started blocking the entrance. The small wood blocks in my hand would turn into large wooden blocks, which were half my size whenever I placed them down. I don't know how it works, but it's a game mechanic so I'm not going to question it.

I successfully did it, before the slimes reached the cave I was in. As soon as the wooden blockade was done, I heard hundreds of thuds from outside the wooden wall. I relaxed down on the soft ground as that was the noise of hundreds of slimes failing in their motive to kill me.

“Whew, that was close.” I said as I wiped the imaginary sweat off my forehead.

Because of the Pain immunity, I don't feel tired from running or anything like that, heck; I stopped building up a sweat as well. I don't feel any tiredness or exhaustion, But I can sure as hell feel all the effects happening to me. It's quite bizarre and hard to tell.

I could still hear the slimes thudding on the wooden wall trying to break through. But I wasn’t worried about that. For now, I should worry about whether there are dangers inside this cave. I crafted a couple of torches from the crafting menu in my inventory. crafting torches is easy since you can make them by just combining wood and gel.

Now that I think about it, it’s weird how you can create torches from just wood and slime gel. Maybe the slime gel is flammable? Well, I'm not going to be doing monster research here so might as well quickly light up this place. I walked around and started lighting the place until I noticed something.

Huh, I thought there would be a cave here that would go down into the deep underground but no, this place starts and finishes here. This place is just a giant hole in the side of a small mountain. There were vines hanging down from the ceiling, the grass here was small but abundant and there were some flowers growing on the edges of this small cave.

I'm not complaining about this place though. It's quite nice, and it's good enough to get rid of all the slimes aggro. I decided to completely light up this place in the end, turn it into a temporary household where I can safely relax for a bit. While I thought that, I saw a glint behind some rocks and checked it out. And lo-and-behold, I saw it, a wooden chest in a corner, hiding behind a rock.

"A surface chest!" I shouted in excitement.

Even in the original game, Surface chests are the easiest to find and they have much-needed gear for the first night or the early game. They’re not that useful afterward, but for now. I’ll take all the help I can get. I couldn't stop my excitement as I quickly ran up to it and greedily opened it up.

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