酷视

Chapter 2: Leveling up system

And it was one hell of a task.

\'Food and water check,\' I thought as I stuffed the biggest backpack I could find with the groceries I just brought home.

The amount of supplies I bought alone was enough to put a massive dent into my meager savings. Right now, rather than surviving on bread and water, I would have to literally ration rice that I could eat in a day. But that wasn\'t enough for me.

\'Who doesn\'t risk it, doesn\'t get the damn biscuit!\' I thought while back at the shop, leading me to splurge nearly all the rest of my remaining money on various types of sundries that were cheap on this side of the gate yet could prove quite expensive in whatever world awaited on the other side.

"Okay, let\'s take stock of everything," I muttered to myself once I finally stuffed my backpack to the maximum and marked the stuff inside on a note by the side. "That amount of food should be enough for five days, a week if I ration. When it comes to the water, I will be fine as long as I find any source of it."

This was the blessing of the modern world. Even if all I could expect on the other side turned out to be some dirty water from a puddle, I wasn\'t worried. Just a single pack of detoxifying tablets and a purification bag solved this problem in advance.

Then came the sundries... Or, in other words, objects that I could buy for cheap thanks to the miracle of industrialization of my world. Following the experiences of the colonizers of the past, I stuffed an entire pocket of my backpack with sharp, glass beads and fake corals. Another pocket was brimming with all sorts of fake jewelry, lighters, matches and all kinds of wonders that were common in my world yet were likely to be one hell of a novelty in a less developed world.

"And with all that said and done..." I muttered once I ran down the list of the things I packed and raised my eyes towards the purple portal that filled my shoddy room with its magical, purple light. "There isn\'t anything left for me to stall for, is there?"

No matter how excited I was to check just what this gate was all about... I couldn\'t help but feel scared of the unknown at the same time. My preparations were nothing more but a silly attempt at calming my worries down, regardless of how impossible it was to prepare for something I knew nothing about.

"Well, I\'ve already spent my time waiting for an opportunity that would reward all my pains and efforts," I muttered to myself, using my own voice to reignite the flames of courage in my soul. "How sad it would be if it all went down the drain because I acted cowardly just this once..."

The moment I started to condition myself into stepping towards the gate, its call returned with a renewed might, pulling me like some sort of a black hole.

My steps grew longer, turning into strides. My hands reached out...

And just like that, the world suddenly exploded in purple, only for this strange, mysterious color to then vanish, revealing a vast swath of beautiful grasslands stretching from below my feet to as far as I could see!

"Woah..." With the burden of all the produce I packed into my back now weighing my shoulders down, I took a deep breath of this otherwordly air.

Yes, I had no doubt that I was now in a different world. After all, even if this portal could bring me to a different place on Earth... It could hardly produce a moon\'s sibling and hang it like a picture on the skydome!

"Haaaa...." Releasing the deep breath I just took, I couldn\'t help but smile.

Even the air tasted different here. But how could an air have any damned taste?

\'I guess that\'s what truly clean air tastes like,\' I thought, more than aware of all the downsides of living in the industrialized world. And no matter how I looked, there were no signs that this world bore the same quality.

I shook my head, ridding my mind of all the useless thoughts and considerations. I then took a look around, quickly noticing a wide strand of a river flowing out of a dense forest behind my back and cutting straight through the open grasslands that stretched out seemingly ad infinitum.

"No matter the world, people need access to water. So, to find people, I should follow the river," I muttered to myself, making use of all the knowledge I explored whenever reading novels that depicted the scenario I found myself in. Yet, the very moment I raised my foot to take a step, the world itself trembled.

[Traveler successfully registered!]

[Traveler\'s system initialization]

Two lines of text appeared before my eyes... only for my vision to suddenly turn blank, as if visual drivers for my eyes suddenly went through an update. And when my vision returned... I could now see two, semi-transparent windows floating just to the left of the center of my perspective!

[Traveler\'s system > Leveling up system]

[Peter Wozniak > Peter Von Ziaq]

[Level: 1]

[Strenght: 0.25]

[Agility: 0.25]

[Wisdom: 1]

[Inteligence: 1.25]

[Endurance: 1.5]

[Aura: 0]

[Usable points: 1]

The first window was pretty much self-explanatory, save for its two lines.

How did the traveler\'s system turn into a leveling-up system? And how did my normal surname turn into something befitting of an ancient nobility?

\'It might be a while before I figure those two things out...\' I thought.

For now, I didn\'t have enough information about this world, this strange system, or literally anything else. And without the necessary information, the best I could do was guess.

But guessing would lead me to create a random explanation for those things, which in turn would only make it harder for me to figure out the truth even once I gained the information I needed!

So, as to not make things harder for myself, I simply ignored the first two lines and moved my attention down, to all the statistics the window displayed.

\'What\'s with those fractions?\' My mood soured as soon as I saw the zeros and the numbers displayed after the dot.

\'Assuming that one is generally an average for a simple human... then how freaking weak am I right now?!\'

It was hard not to freak out, even if I just warned myself of how dangerous it was to allow any assumptions to cloud my judgment.

Surprisingly though, the hardest nut to crack turned out to be the very last line displayed in this floating, semi-transparent window. Not because it was hard to understand the purpose of the \'usable points\'.

I played more than enough RPG-type games to instantly figure out what I could do with that free point. The hard question, though, was where should I assign it?

\'Usually, putting everything in the one stat that\'s already high would be the most risky yet most optimal strat...\' I thought, my enthusiasm to see what would happen thwarted only by my innate fear of going through with a useless build.

And while it was only my gut speaking, I could somehow tell it wouldn\'t be all that easy to change those stats once I assigned the free point.

\'Let\'s put this off for later, then,\' I decided, turning my eyes to my right, where the other floating window tempted my attention.

[Main mission: Starlight plain

- Easy route - Escape the Starlight plains

- Advanced route - Survive on the Starlight plains

- Master route - Uncover the secret behind the Starlight plains

//Completing any route doesn\'t lock the ability to complete the others!//

//Rewards increase with the difficulty of the route//]

[Suggested mission: Bounties of the forest

- Easy route - XXXXXX

- Master route - XXXXXX

- "Are you fucking serious?" route - XXXXX

//You need to raise your wisdom to unlock the information about routes!//

//Required wisdom: 1.5//]

I took my time scanning every last word displayed on the second window. Yet, no matter how hard I stared at the blanked-out spaces on the side quest, nothing else appeared.

\'I guess I need to put the side quest for later?\' I thought, low-key happy that this system of mine not only allowed me to actively track my progress but also offered some suggestions over how I should proceed.

There was hardly anything that could make me happier than to have a guide in this unknown world! But at the same time, my innate distrust made me wary of it. After all, how could I know for sure that this system actually pointed me toward fruitful encounters?

\'I lived my life in an easy mode so far. And the results were...\' I thought, gritting my teeth when all the abuse I toughened through throughout the years resurfaced in my memory.

My eyelids moved down, the darkness that ensued allowing me to calm down a little bit.

"Well," I muttered as I took a deep breath and opened my eyes. "I lived my life in an easy mode and I didn\'t like it. Isn\'t this a perfect opportunity to try to challenge myself, then?"

With renewed confidence, I took a step forward, leaving the comfortable shadow of the nearby forest and stepping into the plain.

The plain that somehow made surviving on it a challenge, according to the quest displayed by my system, that is.

"Ugh..." Nearly instantly, a dull sigh escaped from my lips as my mind filled with images of the past that I despised.

The moment when I learned the truth about my relationship resurfaced in my thoughts, filling my soul with all the grief I felt back then. The silent, seething rage of watching my mom\'s things get sold off soon joined the fray... And all of that, after taking a single step into the plains!

\'I guess that\'s what surviving this place is all about,\' I thought as I hurriedly took a step back into the shadow of the forest. Yet, as I glanced over at my status... a smile somehow appeared on my lips while my soul calmed down, the negative emotions from before defeated by the sense of exhilaration.

And it was all thanks to just one, small change.

[Usable points: 1] > [Usable points: 1.07]