Mike's eyes fluttered open and fought to break through the fog that permeated his vision. As his eyes adjusted, he became aware of the sea of unfamiliar faces scrutinizing him. The races and even species of the throng varied more than he ever would have guessed possible. His years of training for combat situations took hold, and he began scanning his surroundings, trying to see everyone at once and locate threats, while also not becoming hung up on one individual in particular. The full scale of diversity that greeted him made the task nearly impossible however, as each creature proved entirely foreign, and he found himself lingering on far too many faces. Some of the beings looked to be nearly 3 times his height, while others would have barely come up to his waist. He saw arms ending in claws, hands, and hooves. Some beings lacked arms all together, and tentacles stood in their place. Some had fingers shaped like trumpets of old. Though most of them looked vaguely humanoid, there were a few that would more closely mirror a tree. Despite their differences, they all had one thing in common, a thick metal collar was fastened around each individual’s neck.

As he gazed about, a pair of emerald green eyes stood out from the rest, set in a face so beautiful that his breath caught in his throat. As he took in the transcendent beauty, he was surprised to catch a glimpse of long, slanted ears partring the ebony hair that framed the woman’s face. More surprising than seeing the ears, was that he actually found them quite fetching.

Well, maybe that isn’t too surprising, he reflected, I have always had a thing for diversity.

The woman looked more human than most of the creatures, though her beauty and perfect poise marked her as anything but. In her presence he felt old, stooping, and ugly, despite being far better off than he had been compared to only a year prior.

Realizing he was being distracted, Mike forced his eyes to continue moving, until they rested on the face of the creature closest to him. A hulking entity that could only be described as a cross between human, elephant and hippo.Thick, sturdy legs supported a body with shoulders nearly 5 feet wide. The being’s skin was a light purple, with the backs of the arms, neck, and feet being markedly darker and looked to have the toughness of tanned leather. The hands and feet looked human, but the fingers were at least 3 times as thick as Mike’s own. A thick and very short trunk protruded from the creature’s face, completely obscuring its mouth save for the two short tusks that poked out around the trunk. As he studied the tusks, he realized that their haphazard movement was actually an attempt at communication. All at once, sound seemed to pour back into his world and he was assaulted with a barrage of unintelligible noises. Try as he might, Mike couldn’t understand anything from the hodgepodge of noises that were being produced, and it took a full five seconds before the System intervened.

[Congratulations, new Title unlocked: Far Traveler

As the first from planet X5117 to obtain this Title, you gain the ability Polyglot]

A sharp pop sounded in Mike’s ears, and suddenly the surrounding hubbub became intelligible words, though not all of the words made sense to him.

“Why isn’t he saying anything?”

“How could anyone survive a fall like that?”

“He looks weak.”

“Is he an elder? Why does he look so old for a Terran?”

“His aura is barely that of a Corist.”

“--That’s likely because he is suppressing it.”

“He must be backed by a powerful group if he is able to use space-time travel.”

The unending questions and cacophony of faces started to blur and Mike grabbed at the sides of his bald head. “Where am I? Did the System send all of you here too?”

His question had the opposite effect as intended though, as a piercing silence fell across the crowd, only to be broken a few moments later as they all began talking once again in earnest. He understood even less of what he was hearing, not because the words themselves were foreign, but because phrases like “integrated universe” and “singularity effect” held no meaning to him. He quickly picked up on two words that seemed to be a part of every conversation however: Anomaly and System.

An interesting thing happened during the cacophony, that without his combat training would have definitely slipped past his notice. Throughout the crowd of onlookers, small groups, mainly consisting of those with tentacled arms and faces, began to push their way towards him, their animosity palpable despite their tentacles preventing him from seeing their full facial expressions. Before they could make much progress towards his position, however, the groups were cut off by slightly larger groups, which blocked their way and stared them down with steely confidence. The defensive groups consisted of just about every other species, and Mike was pleased to see that the beautiful woman was among them.

A large form obstructed his vision, preventing him from continuing to gauge the conflict, as the large creature in front of him squatted down with an outstretched hand.

Mike took the opportunity to analyze him, for the creature was clearly male, and was very confused by what he saw.

40,000

Name: Guigui

Monster Type: Hippophant

????

In the past, the number had always been on a scale somewhere between 0 and 100, but Guigui had a number 40 times that. Did that mean that killing the creature in front of him would award 40 whole levels?

An even more terrifying thought struck him then, What level must he be if killing him would award me 40 whole levels?

Mike realized he was being rude when a gravelly, yet surprisingly dignified voice broke through his reverie, “You really shouldn’t gauge someone else's power so blatantly, it is considered most improper.” The giant’s hand remained outstretched and his eyes friendly despite the censure his words conveyed.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t know…” Mike stuttered out, his usually unflappable demeanor and propensity to always speak his mind failing before the

“It’s quite alright,” the giant replied. “The name’s Guigui, although you already know that, yes?”

Mike could only nod dumbly, too aware of his disadvantaged position to do anything else.

“Fascinating. So the stories are really true then, the abilities granted you by the System truly allow you to see others' names and strengths?”

The comment was phrased as a question, but Mike was unsure how to answer it, given that for the first time since the System integration he had failed to actually the stats of anyone around him.

After another awkward pause, Guigui spoke again, “Apologies. Here I was talking about propriety and then I go and ask you about your existence. Forget I asked. Here, let me help you up.”

Though the apology sounded genuine, Mike couldn’t help but sense a shift in Guigui’s attitude towards him. Not wanting to decide if Guigui was friend or foe at that moment, Mike took the proffered hand and was nearly catapulted to his feet, the strength of the hippophant being self evident even without being able to read his character sheet. As Mike’s feet touched down, he stumbled slightly, his legs struggling to bear his weight.

“Oh, sorry. Didn’t mean to pull you quite so hard.” Guigui said, incorrectly guessing the reason for Mike’s near fall.

Trying to mask his weakness in front of so many unknown elements, he exerted himself to remain upright, but after only a few moments, he was forced to activate Tactics and channel Dexterity into Strength. When his Dexterity was down to a measly 21 and his Strength up to a full 53, he found the proper balance, as he was able to stand without struggle and even felt like his normal self, although the lack of Dexterity was palpable despite him not doing anything that would actively require the attribute.

“It’s totally fine. I’m surprised, myself, at how tired my body seems to be.” Mike replied. Realizing that his response was awkwardly late in coming.

Not wanting to further distance himself from the only person who had shown him kindness thus far, Mike hastened to add an apology and explain his earlier hesitation, but was cut off by sharp whistles before a single word had exited his mouth.

Seeking to locate the source of the noise, Mike gazed around at his surroundings for the first time since waking up. The gorge he found himself in was immense. He had visited the grand canyon a time or two, but this had to be at least three times deeper than that if memory served him correctly. A small blue river marked the upper lip of the canyon hundreds of feet above him. Very little was visible between the top of the canyon and forty feet above his position, where bright lanterns washed the surroundings in a dullish light. There were enough of them to eliminate the majority of shadows, but their ambiance felt oppressive, as if they prevented Mike from fully drawing breath.

His eyes finally found the source of the noise, as a troop of heavily armed aliens marched towards his location. Where those that had rescued him from the rubble all wore collars, these individuals all wore heavy padding on the vital areas of the body, with dark, black metal accentuating certain areas of their garb.

As they neared, the crowd parted around them like butter facing a hot knife, some even moving away from the scene in their eagerness to distance themselves from the armed force. Acting on instinct, Mike went to analyze the one leading the pack, only to be jostled by Guigui’s hand on his back. Realizing his potentially very costly blunder, Mike threw the giant a nod of thanks. A barely distinguishable move of the head was his only reply, and then Mike found himself standing directly in front of them.