In the process of editing and re-releasing the earlier chapters. It'll be a slow process though, please bear with me!

In a completely barren wasteland stood a male figure, coated in smooth, obsidian leather. The morning sun was peaking through the sky spreading rays out light to clear the night sky before finally reaching the stoic figure.

Crimson blood dripped off his blackened breastplate falling to the cracked soil which eagerly drank it all up - leaving nothing behind. In the background lay scattered corpses completely foreign to his eyes, some of which stood over 10 metres tall. A single cry was heard as a white hawk tore through the sky, gracefully landed on the shoulder of the dark figure.

Hearing the cry from his faithful companion, two azure eyes slowly opened from the figure, taking in the whole scene as…

-------------------------------

“What the hell was that that? Damn, whats with this fantasy-esque dream, fucking dragons too? Or some such massive scaly bastard anyways. Yeah, if memory serves I am batshit crazy anyways. What’s one more sign?” Andrew sighed sluggishly he then tried to throw the covers back over his head.

“Huh, oh right I passed out on the couch. Fuck my life, regardless... coffee. Then I’ll think about things…” yawned the tired man as he rubbed his bleary eyes before adding, “Well, looks like we’re not in Kansas anymore, but seriously coffee. Where the hell is it?”

Taking a good look around he noticed countless changes in his run down house. Numerous holes gave way to the clear sky where the morning sun could be felt on his face. Emerald green budding vines wrapped themselves around the newly cracked walls, climbed in between the worn furniture before scaling through the holes in the ceiling.

Yet, without any appreciation to the exotic scenery, he stumbled over to the cupboards to grab the instant coffee. Remarkably, it still seemed to be present even with the change of scenery. To Andrew, it was simply yesterday, however, the room seemed to slip through the hands of time. ‘Thinking rationally, this is all a dream. Well, hopefully dream-me is kind enough to grace me with hot water.’ sighed Andrew as he questioned his sanity for the nth time this morning.

As he grabbed the rusted, that was a pain even in the best of times, it finally gave way, but nothing followed through the pipings. Glancing at the stove top clock that was working yesterday he, exhaled loudly in exasperation.

“Damn, well it was worth a shot, I guess? No running water, electricity and let’s just assume all the food is bad. Can’t I just-”

System merge: Complete. Loading interface: Complete. Removing barriers in player homes. Tentative. Please take a few minutes to get accustomed to the gameplay mechanics. Interface will be automatically brought up. Due to system code, ”np:1.103,” all players must view the basic tutorial.

“What the hell? God damn it, it’s been years since I’ve even had the time to my eyes on a video game. Now all of a sudden this happens? Kill me now.”

System error; attempts to end gameplay prematurely will be ignored no matter the method before players enter their respective zones.

Sighing loudly, he glanced at the holographic interface before playing around with it like a tablet in front of him. While there three bars on the upper left portion of the screen, there was little else in his field of vision aside of the eerily game like menu. Scrolling down the menu he saw: inventory, status, journal, settings(locked), and the help tab. Clicking on the help section as it fluctuated pointedly, he was given an overly convoluted overview of the situation.

From what he could gather, he was currently located in a relatively peaceful Kingdom named Farwynd, which was a small kingdom located on what would previously have been known as the northern half of the North American continent.

“So elves, fairies, and beastmen tend to call this area home? Damn, what the hell do those people think of Canada? States are basically feuding humans. Mexico to Argentina is pretty much a jungle and mountains with apparently countless species of deadly animals. So, at least more those two, they pretty much right on the money for both accounts. And beyond that I don’t know anything about the other continents. Is there supposed to a expansion pack or some such bullshit later on? Endgame: Australia with venomous, deadly… everything? ” He quipped dejectedly to himself.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts he moved onto the first bullet: Gameplay Mechanics. Essentially, one would use their own power to combat situations and your own intelligence to interact and react to situations as they appear. No additional help will be given aside for inherent abilities, character specific abilities, as well as the ‘level ups’ resulting in stat bonuses. This is all in order to bridge the playing field between the two factions of, ‘original,’ occupants. Depending on your resourcefulness the system may grant additional benefits, however such instances are rare.

“So, basically kill monsters, get stronger and likely get paid for some random reason? Sounds interesting, maybe I can retire for a bit if I get ahead. Assuming this isn’t a dream anyways...” yawned Andrew as he finally saw a small hope to end his old monotonous existence. “Hmmm, oh right, certain skills cost stamina or mana depending on the intended effect. Obviously, magic is mana whereas physical skills cost stamina. With mana causing mental fatigue and stamina causing physical fatigue, it’s fairly straightforward. How do you get them in the first place though?”

In the help section there was actually no information available to him to tell him where he could acquire them, but he wasn’t daunted all that much.

Basically what flashed through his mind was him using a sword to dance in between waves after waves of goblins, orcs, or other typically antagonized fantasy races - slaughtering all the while.

“Basically what comes after that is some stat point system. I imagine this is relatively normal among the people around here.” as he viewed his initial sample Status off the help screen.

Andrew Marks

Level 1

Str: 10

Agi: 7

Per: 11

End: 6 (-2)

Vit: 8

Int: 9

Wis: 8

Chr: 9(-5)

Status:

Withdrawal decreases END, causes irritable behaviour thus decreasing CHR. Effect will increase as time goes on before slowly dissipating in the future if left untreated.

Skills:

N/A

“No health, or stamina values? Huh, oh well, realism or something. Speaking of which, the joys of being a smoker, I guess. Huh, lets see... “ As he instinctively tried for the pack of cigarettes in his pocket he noticed something strange happen to them. While he could pull out the pack without issue, every cigarette he pulled out almost instantaneously crumbled into a fine dust. After a few failed attempts he noticed a small window pop up in the corner of his vision.

The item you are trying to use has ran out of durability. It will remain in a broken state, thus unusable, unless taken to an appropriate repair personnel. If used in this state it will break down.

Tossing the pack on the countertop, he sighed loudly, before finally looking back into the open tutorial menu. In addition to initial stats shown it came with a basic rundown of their intended purposes.

Str: Strength; determines the amount of damage down by physical weapons.

Agi: Agility; represents movement speed as well as provides adjustments to accuracy with ranged weapons and magic spells.

Per: Perception; determines reaction speed, eyesight, and provides an increased chance of determining a creature’s level and characteristics above the player’s own level or external ability.

End: Endurance; is directly related to the player's HP, or health points, in addition to allowing for the tolerance of greater damage inflicted onto the player.

Vit: Vitality; increases HP regeneration, stamina regeneration, and provides defence against physical diseases and poisons.

Int: Intelligence; allows for a greater MP pool, or mana point pool, increased magical damage, and factored into comprehension of outside languages with Wisdom.

Wis: Wisdom; increases MP, or mana point, regeneration, resistance to curses and damage-over-time (DOT) magical spells, and the other contributing factor for language comprehension and acquisition.

Chr: Charisma; increases the chances of successful negotiations, sex appeal to the opposite sex, and grants bonuses in quest rewards. Additionally, bolsters the morale of friendly pets, companions, and troops under your care.

Lck: Luck; it is a hidden stat that affects every aspect of combat, interpersonal relationships, rewards provided in the system. The initial stat value will not be shown in the menu unless otherwise unlocked, however, any increases to this value will be shown in the skills menu. Upon leveling up it is not possible to add additional points to value, only by completing certain conditions will the value increase naturally.

Mor:Morality; Along with Luck this value will not be shown, however, many of the world’s higher ranking inhabitants will be able to sense your inherent disposition be it, good, bad, or something inbetween. Many factions will use this value to determine whether or not the player himself is a benefit to their cause - or a threat. This method of screening is only available to members of those factions that are above five levels of the player. This stat will dictate what quests can be received by the player as well as the amount of trust an individual places in them.

“Hah, basically if I am an asshole I can only hang around other assholes because of some silly ‘aura’ type function. If I’m good, all I can do is hang around some little angels, that are likely the most judgemental people out there. Whatever, I can deal with that later.”

Facing back to the doorway he sighed, ‘Soon I’ll have to go out there, huh? Might as well finish this up beforehand though.’ Turning back to last main point of the help section: Inventory. Apparently, as one of the benefits for being placed into this experiment, the players are given an inventory which can remotely store and dispense items on command. A maximum of 16 slots are provided where items may be placed. No (currently) living creature could be placed into the system, however, no matter the size of the object if it is compatible with the inventory command it could be placed into the system costing only one bag space. Certain conditions must be met, but ‘item stacking’ is possible in some instances.

After checking the basic information he went into his own inventory section. Primarily, in order check if there was anything that may help him survive in this world.

“... Are.. are you kidding me?” Shouted Andrew he saw a small iron dagger pop out of thin air after his command. Grabbing the levitating dagger he tried to cut the apple he previously knocked over the day before. Grabbing the apple with his palm he tried to hold it still before as a system prompt appeared in front of him.

The object you are currently using lost the entirety of its durability, this object is now considered broken, and will be lost.

Ignoring the remainder of the message he turned his hand over where a small mound of fine dust appeared before sliding off onto the floor boards in a slow stream. ”Well, the system said [Novice Dagger: Durability n/a, Damage Rating 1-2] before so, while it is probably shit, it’s all I’ve got for the moment.”

“Hey, wait a moment…” After a little bit of experimenting with the dagger, in which he ‘thought’ the dagger to go away. And to his surprise it did, so again he willed it back into his hand. A few more trials with other objects that seemed as though they could help him. He decided to try the whole house. Placing his hand directly on the cracked walls, avoiding any vines for fear it would mess up the process, he willed the entire property into his possession.

System warning: As you are now considered the owner of this property you may store this residence into your inventory. As this is part of your ‘old world’ possessions, it will not take up a bag slot, but rather be considered your Player Home. When buying property, the Player will be given an option to place this house, however, only one home can be stored at a time. I repeat, you must purchase land in order to place in once again, additionally, this will be considered the end of your tutorial phase. Do you agree the terms?

“Sure, why the hell…” Before he even had a chance to finish, a foreboding voice played in his head,

Confirmation accepted. Good luck, and happy hunting

In a flash of light the house itself disappeared and in it’s place stood a lush forest in which spiralling vines and bright, almost luminescent foliage grow from underneath the concrete. Hidden within that forest stood a few familiar condos, devastated by the forces of nature, leaving only the metal frame, but still upright enough to be perching in the undergrowth.

In the background stood three skyscrapers that were once representative of humanity's prosperity in the region - now reduced to a fraction of their original size surrounded by rubble. With the passing of time, buildings, once built to weather the greatest storms, were devoured by the slow creeping of plants that were let by the absence of the hands of man.

“Weird. Not much more I can really say. At the very least this place seems far better than all that nonsense dealing with people, should I just stay in this forest forever? So tranquil and quiet...Wait? No, no, no. What the hell are those this things?” As he was speaking a small squad of tiny green skinned creatures made their way over a small forest trail leading not far from his location. All of three feet tall, they almost blended in with the thick undergrowth of the forest interior but the glare of the light hitting their copper swords gave way to their slow advance. Advertisement Support "Ephemeral Cycle" PayPal Patreon Previous

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Chapter RSS About the author 3 Fictions 65 Posts 2 Threads Ambush Follow Author Saturday, December 19, 2015 4:36:46 PM Tuesday, January 5, 2016 3:34:57 AM Canada Shy Penguin

Bio: Chronic Inability to Finish Stories; CIFS for short. A major affliction that has gripped me in its steely maw for weeks, months, and (shivers) shows no sign of stopping.

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