It was a few hours before sunrise when Kai awoke. The goblins were still asleep, their minds filled with heady dreams of conquest and glory. They slept in the treetops above while nestled in cloth hammocks. It was apparently taboo for them to even consider sleeping on the ground. There were too many creatures and spirits lurking below that were more than happy to bite into unsuspecting prey. Kai had to admit the logic made sense and found himself admiring the way in which their hammocks projected their natural spikes outwards. He would have to get a hammock of his own later, but for now Kai contented himself with sleeping next to the corpse of the Facestealer. Even in the dead of night nothing seemed willing to approach the circle of destruction Kai sat in.

With not much else to do while he waited for the sun to appear Kai took a look at his status screen.

Name: Kai Walker

Health: 50/54

Mana: 115/115

Class: Empath

Abilities: Empathic Link, Prayers for the Fallen

Skills: Survivalist (lvl.3), Trap Maker (lvl.2), Poisoner (lvl.1), Black Spear Wielder (lvl.2)

Magic: None

Collected Memories: House Leandros

Status:

Strength: 4

Agility: 4

Dexterity: 4

Endurance: 9

Intelligence: 4

Wisdom: 4

Charisma: 6

Ravenous points: 45

Debuffs:

Ravenous (lvl.3)

Out of curiosity, he tapped one of his skills.

Survivalist (lvl.3): Allows the user to instantly develop a framework for survival based on surrounding resources. The veracity of the plan depends on available resources, general health and level of the skill. Costs 5 mana to use.

Kai blinked and read the skill description again.

“Wait, these random skills actually do something?” Kai asked.

“Yes,” Aux replied. “What, did you think they were just there for show?”

“To be honest, yeah. I don’t have a walking or breathing skill now do I? No, I do those things regardless of whether or not I have a skill telling me I can. Same thing here. I don’t have to use a ‘survivalist’ skill to start thinking of ways to survive.”

“Is that a hint of hostility I detect? Why is that? You have nothing to lose in using your skills.”

“It just rubs me the wrong way. The fact that a ‘skill’ even exists suggests that I don’t have the capability to do it on my own.”

“It appears you have misunderstood some things. That is my fault and I apologize. Try it. I think you will be pleasantly surprised by what you see.”

“If you say so.”

With that, Kai muttered Survivalist under his breath. A screen appeared in front of him.

Do you wish to activate Survivalist (lvl. 3)? Y/N

Kai accepted and a shiver rocketed up his spine. A vision took hold of him as a voice like the beating of a drum began to speak.

Beyond here, further into the forest there is a community of people who live far above amidst the treetops.

In his mind Kai could see just that. A collection of round houses and platforms built on thick, wide branches that were as large as a five story building. The platforms were lit up by blue glowing lights emanating from mushrooms locked inside planters. People wearing multi-colored masks walked the tree bound streets alongside birds and animals that scurried by.

For many that live there they will never know what the forest floor looks like. They use a system of pulleys and lines to traverse between trees in a city that is built between giant branches. For water they have round baskets that condensate the mists that constantly envelop their homes. Gatherers collect fruits, nuts and hunted meat as they swing and leap from treetops using hooked claws that allow them to cling to the sides of trees like any other animal. Those that stay in the treetops cities live good lives. The trees are their shelter and there they are safe.

You are not safe.

The vision shifted and an image of the Facestealer popped into view.

Look at the body of the creature you slew. Its claws and hooks are suited to pull its gargantuan body up the trees if need be. They can service you as well. Cut off its arms and legs and attach them to yours. You will be able to climb, but you are not done yet. You have the strength and can afford to be crude. Attach its blades to a heavy boulder tied to some rope. Hurl it into a tree and it will hold your weight. You can use that to swing from tree to tree faster than you can climb.

The vision faded and Kai found himself thrust back into darkness. Kai thought for a moment and considered the information he received before asking his questions.

After a while he said, “The climbing gear is a good idea. Might take a bit of work, but I could probably punch a sufficient enough hole into the trees with those claws. But the rock idea? That’s just crazy. I’d have to have an insane amount of strength to fling a boulder while suspended from a tree. Then you’re expecting me to also have enough strength to throw the damn thing so hard it will penetrate a tree into its core so I can swing from it like Tarzan? You’re out of your mind, new guy.”

“Actually, I think you do have enough strength to do so,” Aux said. “You have 4 strength which roughly calculates to being twice as strong as the average, trained human being. If you add a few more points to your strength then-”

“Wait, wait, wait!” Kai exclaimed while waving his hands through the air. “What did you just say? How does 4 strength mean I’m twice as strong as the average human being? What do these stats even mean anyway?”

“To answer your first question, there are a number of factors that can play into determining a person’s relative strength. However, as a baseline, having 0 strength would mean you can lift roughly 65 kilograms of maximum weight. For every point after that you can lift another 20 kilograms. Thus, at 4 strength, you can lift double the weight of the average, trained man.”

“...So you’re telling me these stats aren’t just for show.”

“Yes, I thought you knew this. It’s the same as how it was in Eternia Online.”

“Eternia Online was a game! This is real life not some fanta-.”

Kai stopped the sentence short and fell silent. That was the thing, he was in a fantasy world. But, he still couldn’t accept it. It just didn’t feel right. Just a few weeks ago the line between fantasy and reality was clearly defined for Kai. In games he could just pretend to live in a world of magic and outside games he could focus on the real world. But the line between fantasy and the real world was becoming blurred.

“What’s wrong, Kai?” Aux asked.

“To be honest, this magic stuff makes me uneasy. Back on Earth there was never a problem I couldn’t fix just by thinking about it and coming up with a plan. Concrete solutions rooted in tried and true scientific data were my specialty. It’s how I’ve survived. But now? Now everything I’ve ever known to be true is getting flipped on its head and things I relied on before are becoming obsolete as nothing is ever logical or rational when it comes to magic!”

“But it is not like you don’t have magic of your own. You are not completely defenseless.”

“I know, but it's like having an arm chopped off and replacing it with a robot arm. It might work and act the same and hell, eventually you’ll even come to realize that a robot arm is better than an organic one. But the skills you use to maintain it are different. Programming, robotics, mechanics, electrical interfacing and neural data collections. Sure, the robot arm is faster, stronger and more accurate than a human one, but having augmented limbs is like stepping into a foreign world if you’ve never done those things before. It’s the same here. The things I thought I knew about my body don’t apply anymore.”

“And that makes you anxious?”

“It makes me vulnerable and as much as I hate to admit it, the Survivalist skill was right. As long as I don’t adapt and change to my surroundings I’m never going to be safe. With that in mind, you need to tell me what all these stats and skills mean, Aux. In a way that I can understand.”

“Of course, that’s what I’m here for.”

Aux then proceeded to tell Kai the details of his status screen. Apparently, some stats did correlate to a real life increase in skill. Health was an indicator of closeness to death, but also every one point of health above 50 meant 1 less day required to heal a wound. One point of strength gave 20 kilograms of lifting strength, one agility added 5 kph of running speed, one dexterity added 10 meters of accuracy if shooting from a distance and one endurance added one point of health and 10 MPa of tensile strength to his body.

Putting that into perspective with his current stats Kai could now: heal shallow cuts in hours, lift double his body weight, run as fast as an olympic sprinter, accurately shoot an apple off a 40 meter tower, and had the equivalent of pure aluminum armor around him at all times.

Intelligence, wisdom and charisma were a bit more… esoteric. They were the stats that governed Kai’s magical prowess. Intelligence gave 5 points of mana and measured “Kai’s magical influence on the rest of reality”. Wisdom influenced his ability to detect and tune into the arcane. Every point of wisdom would regenerate 5 points of mana in a day. Charisma was a measure of how well he could use his Empath abilities. 6 charisma meant he could comfortably establish an Empathic Link with 6 people.

As for his two other skills their descriptions read:

Trap maker (lvl. 2): Allows the user to devise traps based on the resources available. Also determines the user’s ability to spot traps and disarm them. Costs 5 mana.

Poisoner (lvl. 1): Allows the user to synthesize poisons and determine what materials can be used as poisonous reagents. Also determines the user’s resistance to poison and ability to detect poison. Costs 5 mana.

“Okay, essentially, I am at peak human condition. On Earth I would be at the level of an athlete, but still within the bounds of what is capable with the human body if you ignore the increased regeneration and tensile strength.”

“Essentially, yes. But you are still relatively weak compared to your surroundings. It is likely that your two goblins friends could overpower you in terms of raw strength.”

Aux was right about that. Before going to sleep the goblins and Kai had torn off some of the legs and claws of the Facestealer to roast over their fire. While Kai had to use his black spear to slowly chip away at the chitin armor, the goblins had used their bare hands to rip the Facestealer’s legs straight off the body. It was hard to guess their exact strength but from that alone Kai could tell that they could kill him easily if they ever caught him unaware.

Kai looked at the status screen again. There was one last thing that needed addressing.

“If I add these Ravenous points to my stats I can go beyond the limits of what a human can do. That might sound useful but I’m guessing this is gonna be like Pandora’s box or a monkey’s paw where I’ll regret it the moment I use it.”

“Perhaps. You won’t know until you try.”

“Well, here goes.”

Kai tapped his strength stat and next to it was an option to add Ravenous points to it. He tapped that and a screen appeared in front of him.

Do you wish to add Ravenous points to strength? Y/N

Kai accepted and added 5 points to strength. Another screen popped up that read:

Buffs: Strength (+5) Duration: 8 hours

“Wait, it’s temporary? This Ravenous ability is just a glorified panic button then.”

“I think you are again misunderstanding something. You already were under the effects of Ravenous.”

“What do you mean?”

“The debuff says that you gain power whenever you kill something stronger than you. That’s why you’ve been gaining stat points. If you weren’t under the effects of Ravenous you’d still be a human with subpar physical capabilities.”

“But what’s the cost? There’s always a cost. These kinds of things don’t just come for free.”

“The cost is not always apparent when it comes to magic.”

“It’s sentences like that which make me reluctant to touch magic with a ten foot pole.”

“You’re more than willing to use your Empath abilities.”

“Yeah, but it’s different. More innocuous. Not as sinister as, say, sacrificing your grandpa to make a spear.”

The sun was beginning to rise as he looked over his status screen once more. While the cost of his powers was still unknown he had to admit that everything on it was useful. Too useful. It wasn’t hard to imagine that in the future he would be able to become an absolute monster. A monster that would kill things to get stronger. What kind of things, though?

Kai stood up and walked to the Facestealer. Grasping one of the legs he pulled and felt it ripping from its socket before it came out with a satisfying pop.

“Remember,” said the voice like the beating of drums. “Compared to the rest of this world, you are still weak. Fashion yourself some climbing gear and get off of the ground.”

“Yeah, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Kai said as he considered how much strength the Facestealer had before dying. “At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how much strength you have if you don’t know how to apply it.”

With that, Kai closed his status screen and set to work crafting climbing gear out of the limbs of Facestealer. By the time the goblins had woken up he had already climbed up to their hammocks where he offered them some fruits for breakfast. After finishing their meal, they then climbed back down the tree and with the equipment looted off of the Facestealer in tow they set off towards the goblin village.