- 4 Unblonded
Jim glanced around for a pen and paper—should’ve been easy enough to find in an office, right?
Naturally, everything had rotted.
With a sigh, he settled for making a mental to-do list instead.
“Alright,” he muttered. “Need to get out. Normally a ten-minute deal, but since I have no idea how many monsters that can absolutely crush me are between me and the door, let’s assume I’ll need to take it slow.”
Priority one: water. He could last three days without it, maybe longer without food, but dehydration would kill him fast.
He thought about the vending machines on six. Twinkies and cola had the shelf life of plutonium, so maybe, just maybe, he’d get lucky.
“Okay. Clear this floor first. Then form a new plan.”
That’s Jim for you. Productive as always.
Now, back to leveling up.
He pulled up his stats—finally. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to go through them and get everything perfectly lined up—it’s just that he’d been a little too busy, you know, fighting for his life.
There in the blue light of his mind stood his gains.
Name - Jim Trekkin
Brik-a-Brawler (Epic) Level 2 25/400 EXP until next level
HP - 30/30
Mana - 20/20
PROFILE - +6 unplaced
Power - 8
Reason - 5
Odds - 9
Finesse - 6
Insight - 5
Lure - 4
Endurance - 7
Skills: Throw Something, Swing Something, Stop the Bleed, Inspect
Perk: Another Man’s Trash, Ruff Diver
Titles: Legacy of Cain, Murderer Murderer, Edging, BDE
Okey Dokey. Now what did all this mean?
“What do stats mean?” He tried out loud. Nothing happened. Right, this was all in his mind. Apparently he had to get better at thinking of his brain like an organic mouse and keyboard.
With a bit of mental gymnastics, he started getting used to the interface.
Stat Breakdown:
Power – Determines your strength and speed.
- Strength: The raw physical force of your muscles.
- Speed: How quickly you can apply that strength in movement and combat.
Reason – Governs your wisdom and intellect.
- Wisdom: Your natural problem-solving ability and practical thinking.
- Intellect: Your capacity to learn, recall, and apply knowledge.
Odds – Influences your luck and critical hit chance.
- Luck: Affects loot drops, fortunate outcomes, and random events.
- Crit: Determines your likelihood of landing a critical hit.
Finesse – Controls your reaction speed and dexterity.
- Reaction: How quickly you respond to sudden events.
- Dexterity: Improves your precision, agility, and coordination in handling intricate movements or actions.
Insight – Tied to perception and kinesics.
- Perception: Detecting anomalies, hidden clues, or environmental changes.
- Kinesics: Reading people’s body language and spotting deception.
Lure – Affects charisma and diplomacy.
- Charisma: How naturally likable, persuasive, or attractive you are.
- Diplomacy: Your ability to sway opinions, negotiate, or resolve conflicts.
Endurance – Defines your constitution and willpower.
- Constitution: Your physical resilience, stamina, and resistance to harm.
- Willpower: Your mental toughness and ability to resist fear or manipulation.
That mostly made sense to him. “It looks like the average starting stat for humans is five,” he mumbled.
[Average human starting stat - 7]
That was pretty rude and felt like a slap in the face. Still, it seemed like he was making good progress. His class provided him with three flat stat points and three extra points, which wasn't bad. “Does everyone receive the same stats?”
[Common Classes receive 2 fixed and 1 free stat point, Uncommon 2 and 2, Rare 2 and 3, Epic 3 and 3, Legendary 3 and 4, Mythic 4 and 4]
Strange, Jim thought, the system started being a lot more responsive all of a sudden. Nice, this would make things much easier.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“Can I turn off the notices? Very distracting in combat” Jim muttered.
[Notifications minimized]
Great. Now onto skills.
Skill Breakdown:
Throw Something
- Gain a 10% proficiency with throwing non-categorized weapons
Swing Something
- Gain a 10% proficiency with wielding non-categorized weapons
Stop the Bleed
- Gain a 10% chance for bleeding effects to stop on their own
Inspect
- Reveals basic information about items, people, and creatures inspected at your level or lower.
Okay, okay. But how does one raise skills, he thought? Nothing happened. “How does one raise skills?” he asked aloud.
[Class holders must use the skill enough to gain deeper insight into the skill]
Was the system listening to him all of a sudden? Moving on.
Perk Breakdown:
Another Man’s Trash - Stat: Power
- In your hands even categorized weapons can be used as uncategorized weapons as long as the previously wielded dropped, lost, or thrown away
- Gain 8% damage with any uncategorized weapons
Ruff Diver - Stat: Odds
- Only active while in a dungeon that’s a higher recommended level than you
- +9% chance for loot in dungeons to be a higher tier
Title Breakdown:
Legacy of Cain
- By performing the first murder on this iteration, Gain 1 hp for every human slain
Murderer Murderer
- You have murdered the person trying to murder you. Anyone who has committed murder will naturally dislike or fear you
Edging
- You have been taken to the brink multiple times. Any hit that would take you below zero hit points instead reduced you to one. Cooldown 93 hours
BDE
- You have Big Dungeon energy, by performing the first dungeon dive, you will naturally sense when a dungeon is near
—-------------------------------------------------------------
Cah’thok nearly choked on his Bazzo, the fizzy drink fizzing unpleasantly in his throat. He had been sifting through random code streams, a mindless task he barely paid attention to, when something unusual caught his eye. A human—already in a dungeon. That alone was strange; the tutorial phase had only just begun, and most humans were still bumbling their way through the basics. Curious, he pulled up the logs.
That’s when he noticed something even stranger. The human had just reached Level 1… yet was deep inside a dungeon rather than at an entrance. A quick look at the backlog explained it—this idiot had remained inside the dungeon while it was still forming around him. That was not supposed to happen.
Intrigued, Cah’thok decided to observe. While the human fiddled with his PROFILE, he even answered a few of his questions, just to see how he’d react. But then, he saw it, and for the first time in a long while, he froze.
[Legacy of Cain]
Cah’thok’s grip tightened around his drink. There was only ever one First Murderer title per iteration, and it could not be allowed to exist in the greater universe. This was a serious problem—one that protocol dictated should be reported to the Director immediately. His hand hovered over his com button. If he reported this, the Director would take swift action, ensuring this human was erased before he ever became a threat. Problem solved.
But…
If he didn’t report it, if he let this human grow, if he let him become the monster he had the potential to be… then when the time came to report that, the value of the information would be so much greater.
A slow toothy grin spread across Cah’thok’s face.
He moved his hand away from the com and began typing furiously. A few lines of code later, the First Murderer title was hidden—still there, still active, but buried beneath layers of data. No random Global Onboarding Data Scientist would notice it unless they dug deep—and no one ever did.
This was perfect.
He had just bought himself time. Time to watch. Time to see.
And in the meantime?
Well.
At least this would be entertaining.
—-------------------------------------------------------------
All the abilities looked decent—nothing spectacular, but serviceable enough. It seemed his perk percentages were determined by his stats. With six free points to assign, he wasn’t sure what would be most useful. Naturally, he’d bolster his perk stats, yet he worried what would happen if he gained more or decided to balance his overall attributes. He needed to mull it over.
Rising from his seat, he scanned the room once more and gathered everything he thought he might need for his sortie. He fastened his dagger to his belt, left behind a rope and some herbs he’d pulled from his bag, but kept a small hand shovel. Finally, he grabbed his trusty paperweight and shoved it into his pocket.
Not wanting to traverse the hidden shrub—the more one moved through the bushes, the more obvious the trail became—he headed for the ordinary door. Eyeing the precariously rotten bookcase that blocked his path, he heaved it aside. It shifted so easily that he almost doubted his own strength, recalling how heavy it had been when he’d used it to block the door earlier.
With the obstruction removed, he noted that the door still stood. Gently, he grasped the handle and pulled it open. Immediately, the door detached from its rusted hinges and tumbled into the giant hole in the floor before him.
The clamor was immense, and he quickly ducked behind the office wall. In a silent moment of relief, he thanked whoever was watching that he hadn’t tried to flee through this door when the goblinoid had burst in—he’d have been toast.
After a tense silence, he cautiously peered out. The space was dilapidated and overgrown, yet it also seemed larger than he remembered—perhaps due to the missing drop ceiling or other structural decay. Although overgrowth, random trees, and crumbling walls obscured much of the view, the area appeared clear.
Jim’s gaze then fell upon a yawning hole just ahead—roughly five feet across and plunging into darkness. In the dim light, he couldn’t discern its bottom, but it appeared to extend all the way to the ground floor.
“I can do this,” he murmured. Taking a deep breath, he stepped back a few paces, then bounded forward in two long strides. He cleared the gap fairly easily, though he couldn’t shake the sensation of sweating bullets as he landed with a stumble.
He nearly crashed into a dilapidated cubicle but managed to regain his balance. Crouching low, he began to scout his surroundings, inching forward and straining his ears for any unusual sound. He hopped from cubicle to cubicle, finding little sign of danger—until he ducked into one that was already occupied.
A blue-skinned goblinoid, previously concealed in the dim light while rummaging through a desk, suddenly came into view.
“Hazzar back?” it asked, stopping in its tracks and staring at Jim. “Oops,” it mumbled, then slowly backed out of the cubicle.
Its initial surprise shifted into a wicked grin as it lifted its club from the ground. “Lesson one: have your knife ready next time,” Jim muttered under his breath while drawing his crude dagger.
With a howl, the goblinoid charged, club raised high. Jim leaped aside as it smashed into the next cubicle. Reacting faster than its foe, he plunged his dagger into the creature’s back.
The goblinoid twisted and swung its club as Jim jumped back, quickly performing a brief inspection.
[Level 5 Gobloid Gatherer – HP 45/50]
“Okay, only need to stab it nine more times—I can do this,” he said confidently.
Before he could prepare further, another goblinoid’s head popped up from a few cubicles away. It blinked, raised a small rusty knife, and charged.
“Shit,” Jim cursed.
Pivoting sharply, he sprinted back toward his office. With both goblinoids hot on his heels, he reached the edge of the hole and leaped. Landing deftly, he quickly glanced over his shoulder.
The first goblinoid wore a look of surprise as it plummeted into its doom. The second, however, managed to land nimbly with its knife at the ready.
Without hesitation, Jim stepped forward and delivered a swift, Spartan kick that sent the little asshole tumbling into the hole.
[You have killed a Gobinoid Gather, EXP gained]
[Skill Gained: Ad Lib Aikido]
[You have killed a Gobinoid Gather, EXP gained]
Exhausted, Jim trudged over to the wall and slumped down. “Alright,” he muttered, “time to revisit the plan.”