Goodie sat in a brightly lit office, the wall exhibiting the same exposed brickwork of every other building he had seen, its interior clean to the point of being considered obsessively so. A map of the city took up the wall he was facing.

He had the distinct impression of being in a principal’s office, not that he had much experience with being in them. He turned to the man behind the oak desk. Jeremy sat across from him; his bushy moustache seemingly grown bigger since Goodie had seen him a week ago.

“How are you?” Jeremy asked. His face filled with genuine concern, as opposed to the rehearsed sincerity that he exhibited when they had first met.

“I’ve heard about what’s been happening.” He told Goodie in as soothing a tone as possible. “The vomiting, the crying, …the episode. I know you’re under immense pressure at the moment, but I just want to say that all that is perfectly normal for someone in your situation.”

Of course, it’s normal, Goodie thought, who wouldn’t react like that after what happened to him? Losing everything, having to relearn everything, having to fend for yourself, completely alone!

Alright, maybe Goodie wasn’t alone per se. But he certainly wasn’t among loved ones, let alone friends.

“I know we don’t know each other, but I am here to talk, okay?”

“Yes, sir.” He said while thinking no. He wasn’t okay, and he would never be okay again. Not on this world.

“You don’t have to keep calling me sir all the time, Mr Goodwill. You don’t even have to call me Jeremy, most everyone calls me old man”

“Isn’t that a bit rude?” Goodies asked. While Jeremy was certainly older, he couldn’t have reached forty yet.

“No, no…they’ve always done, on account of me being one of the earliest.”

Earliest? Maybe he was older than forty. Wait when was the first summoning? Maybe he was older than four-hundred?

Jeremy, seeming to read Goodie’s mind, answered him. ”Ah…no, I'm not that old. The portal that you came through is out of… temporal sync, I think they called it? The people that come through, don’t come in chronological order.” Jeremy took a moment to let that sink in,” The spell seems to focus on the year two-thousand, plus-minus a couple of years. There are of course exceptions, I being one of them. Specifically, I came… or come from nineteen eighty-two, the farthest on record that the spell has reached back for someone.”

Goodie didn’t know what to say to this, but when Jeremy gestured his hand towards him, he said “twenty-nineteen”

Jeremy was a little surprised by that and responded with a hopeful smile. “We get to mars yet?”

Goodie just groaned. If they were going to go down this route, he was going to have a massive headache on top of the possible ulcer forming in his stomach.

“Ah, I’m guessing the reason you asked about politics when you first got here has something to do with it.”

Goodie didn’t want to answer, mostly because he didn’t want to explain about all the bullshit. But also, because he didn’t know how to explain any of it.

Jeremy decided to move on, “We really need to talk about the [SYSTEM].” Jeremy continued, speaking in a soft, almost whisper-like tone. “Would it be alright if we did it now?”

Goodie just nodded his head.

“Okay then. The first thing I think we should discuss is the origin of the system.” His words bringing Goodie’s full attention upon him, “The system was not a gift from some god or anything so you don’t have to worry about divine intervention or something of that nature. It came from one of the early victims of the summoning.”

Goodie gave a questioning look and Jeremy in response, pointed to the window. “I know you haven't been out much, but you’ve noticed how the locals treat our lot, correct? That’s because we possess the system and they do not, they cannot. Actually, I say that we possess it, but it’s more like it possesses us. Like a virus.” Jeremy paused, trying to remember where he was heading with this.

“…Ah! There is magic in this world, and mystery and monsters and so on…, there is now and there was back before the system came into being.” He indicated the window again, with a wave of his hand, “Out there, there’s this phenomenon called awakening, usually brought about by extreme trauma. Little surprise why he got it.” He said with a sad grin.

“Apparently, it’s a forced expression of the soul and what it does is, it brings out the inner you. So, all the mess that goes on inside of you, that gets refined down to a single point. That, in turn, becomes something. Not necessarily a power or an ability, but more you. Yes…it's about making you more you.”

Jeremy leant back as he continued.

“…and whoever this guy truly was, was obviously a gamer, or at least he had the soul of one. Now, with the mention of souls, some people have claimed that the [SYSTEM] might be self-aware, I myself having seen very advanced behaviour from it, from time to time, but I’ve also seen it operate with the intelligence of a rock. Can’t say for sure what it really is, but personally, I think it’s sabotaging itself. It seems to have a preference for minimum effort.”

Goodie was only half following what Jeremy was saying as he tried to digest what he was being told.

“A lot of people fall into the belief that because the system reduces everything down to a numerical value, that it can affect everything, that it’s somehow interwoven with whatever makes existence, existence. This is not the case. As I said before, it prefers to expend as little energy as possible, so while it certainly has the power to affect some things, it is not god-like in its reach. Sometimes something changes or something new comes along, and system can’t define it, but if given a few days the system will adapt.”

“It also seems to have trouble interacting with anything that has even the most basic of spiritual defences. The few classes with an identification ability…? When they try to identify anything the system has access to, they get all the information their skill level allows, whether it be adventurers, item, rocks, whatever… when they try to use it on the locals, or even animals, they get a question mark at first, being replaced when things such as their name and abilities become known, only then to change again when said information was proven wrong or incomplete.”

“Thing is, if someone else tries to identify that person afterwards, their information is readily available, much like they would get from identifying one of us. The significance of which, and I’m quoting one of you future people here, this may indicate that the system may treat us, the adventurers, as nodes in a network. Using us to form a spiritual Internet, whatever that is.”

Goodie was going to explain but Jeremy held up his hand, “I understand the concept, it’s just after my time.”

He took a moment to give his jaw a rest before continuing.

“Right, then,” he said as he pulled out a piece of paper and held it in front of him. Goodie took it and looked it over. On it, a simplified copy of the [MENU].

“That’s for reference while we talk, not for you to fill out,” he said, pointing to the sheet. “Your personal stats are important and you should never reveal them without good cause…” He warned.

Jeremy seemed to collect his thoughts for a moment “Now, obviously you know what your name and age represent. But I’m guessing that second number caught your attention, right? Yeah, that’s your estimated life span, as I’m sure you’ve guessed, but don’t pay too much attention to it. As I said, these stats go up and down all the time and I’ve seen plenty of people outlive their numbers.”

“The number comes from your constitution and beauty attributes.” Goodie was about to ask before Jeremy headed him off. “The beauty attribute concerns physical symmetry and biological efficiency. Basically, your body’s filled with little errors going on in your DNA, and they're constantly building up, building up, and building up. Your constitution deals with repairing the damage from these errors, but your beauty concerns how few of these errors exist to begin with. So, you want more life, up those two attributes.”

“On a side note. Don’t think pumping beauty to the max will make you beautiful, your skin and bone structure may change a little, but at the end of the day, you will still be you.” “Besides…” he added, “…beauty’s ultimately a matter of opinion.”

Jeremy then slapped his hand together, giving goodie a bit of a shock.

“But we’re off-topic.” He paused a second before continuing, “You know what your attributes are, right? strength is being strong, dexterity, your hand-eye coordination and so on” he waved away the topic.

“What you really want to know is, what effects what.” He licked his lips while looking around. For something to drink, Goodie assumed. Not finding anything he continued.

“Your health, like your age, is based on your beauty and constitution. While it’s not a magic shield, it actually is a good indication of whether or not you’re in trouble. Just a pity you can’t see it during combat.”

“Your intellectual attributes are a bit more complicated. Your intelligence dictates the amount of mana you can store, the generation of which is reliant on your imagination. Your logic impacts the speed of your spell casting and your overall control of magic. The power of said spells being boosted by your willpower.”

“Don’t bother with charisma. If you could, I would suggest taking points out of it for more useful attributes.”

“Doesn’t it work” Goodie asked?

“It does and it doesn't. Talking with friends, talking to a lover, giving a speech, the system can’t control how people feel about you, so the attribute does very little. It would be one thing if it could lower prices or convince people to do what you want them to, but no luck.”

“I have been told that at higher levels, you get an instinct for what people want to hear, almost like an empath. You know the psychic guys that sense emotions?

Goodie knew what he was talking about, but his lack of facial expression had convinced Jeremy otherwise.

Whatever!” said Jeremy as he displayed his full geekdom, further confirming what Goodie felt was the type of people that the summoning spell targeted.

Jeremy continued, “Your class, which you shouldn’t have yet, is like a job and a skill set. It empowers you with the abilities it gives you but also confines you to your career. It’s something that you need to take your time in thinking long and hard about what to choose, as it will affect your whole life.”

“But no pressure.” He said with a cheeky grin, which vanished as soon as he realised his mistake. Goodie had been fully under the pressure of what may come of his decisions for the last week, that joke felt like a nail to the gut. Which made what Jeremy was about to say even more problematic.

“Now we come to the real problem.” Jeremy scratched his eyebrow with his thumb while trying to think of a better way to explain what he was about to say next as Goodie had already shown poor control when dealing with stress, and what he was about to say next would definitely be stressful. “This world has positive and negative energies. They’re not the forces of good and evil, though the local religions would say otherwise. These energies are literally as their names describe. Commit an act that is negative, such as murder, and you will absorb an amount of negativity. The same with a positive act.”

“It’s not listed in your menu, but trust me you will feel it. And you will have to deal with it, as it’s a danger to your life. It corrupts you internally, twisting your mind to become more prone to committing atrocities. And not just that but in some territories, it’s perfectly legal to kill someone with high negativity, even if they haven’t done a thing.”

“Fortunately, or unfortunately seeing as how anyone can do it, there are ways to deal with negativity. You’ve seen the beggars outside? They’re not begging because they lack money, hell, most of them make more than I do. Donating to them and being seen donating to them, generates a crowd-sourced positivity. An effect many of the nobility have been using to keep themselves clean and out of the reach of the law, Ours and local.”

Goodie wasn’t as negative about negativity as one would think. The build-up of the bad stuff was unlikely at best as he wasn’t a bad person. He had no desire to kill, or steal, or commit any of the other bad deeds that others seemed to enjoy so much. Due more to his innate cowardice and fear of the consequences than any moral qualms.

Jeremy clapped his hands together. “Enough with the negative stuff. Let's talk about something po… well, not negative.”

“You said you were from after two-thousand, Right? So, does the word isekai mean anything to you?”

“Yes, S… Jeremy?” Goodie tried, the name not sitting right in his mouth. It felt too personal for some reason. While he didn’t dislike the man, he felt the need to keep things formal between them.

“Do you know what I mean when a say the cheat or a cheat?”

“Ah…good, good,” he said, seeing Goodie visibly perk up. “Don’t get too excited, though. These cheats are lacklustre at best.”

Jeremy searched around his desk a moment, then around the office before finally finding what he was looking for on the shelf to the left of his desk.

He presented a book, filled page to page, with the tiniest handwriting Goodie had ever seen in his life.

“This is a list of all known cheats, most of which are just copies of skills that you can have from other classes. Some skills are forbidden, the punishment for their possession can be extreme, so ask before selecting anything.”

“I’m assuming you’re familiar with the cliché skills [IDENTIFY], [INVENTORY], [ALL TONGUE], etc?” He gave Goodie a look that said these skills were classified as disappointments.

“[IDENTIFY] can only reveal what the [SYSTEM] already knows about something. And as I’ve said before, it’s not a god. The information you’re given is subject to change, and in my opinion, mostly made up. Entire pages of information would be rewritten overnight when something new was discovered, it mostly happened in the early days, but that still shows how unreliable it can be and how much the [SYSTEM] still has to learn.”

“[INVENTORY] relies on your willpower; at ten points you can store ten items that can be no larger than ten cubic centimetres. And no, time does not stop in the storage space, so things will rot. It can be useful in some situation, but not enough justify taking it over other, more useful skills.”

“[ALL TONGUE] does let you speak all known languages, which at the moment I think is… seventeen, but most of them are the ones from earth. You can get by just fine without it, as almost everyone around here speaks English, at least the people who matter do. We’ve also been teaching it to the various merchants so that they’ll pass it on to the other regions.”

“I would suggest [ENHANCE], it’s an all-rounder that can be useful in almost any situation, but ultimately you’re going to have to read up on all of these and decide for yourself.” He said, tapping the book in his hand.

The ‘old man’ gave him a look that asked what Goodie thought he should do.

“I think I need to come up with a ‘PLAN’, sir…Jeremy.” His answer seemed to be satisfactory, as Jeremy just smiled and nodded his head.

He then escorted Goodie back to his lodgings, the two of them discussing many less important things. Mostly feelings. Endearing, but was somewhat undermined when Jeremy ended their conversation with another well-rehearsed “You’re going to be okay.”