Chapter 1: (Revised) (1/2)

Randidly Ghosthound took a deep breath to calm the buzzing in his chest and tasted the stale tang of disinfectant. The cold air in the underground dormitory tunnel stank of undergraduate excess and lazy cleanup. He paced along the corridor with decisive steps, quickly reaching the staircase at the end. Randidly raked his hand through his black hair, which was falling in a mess down to his eyebrows.

Rather than going up to his room, Randidly turned around and retraced his steps. His emerald eyes cut back and forth methodically, searching the emptiness for some method to move past this tension. When he reached the other end, he turned around and began again. He was going nowhere in this university, in his life, down this damn tunnel, and he knew it. Randidly mused over the physical act of going nowhere as he pivoted on his heel. Honestly, being physically stuck here wasn’t so bad.

It was the suffocating, helpless sense of dissatisfaction driving him back and forth down the fifty-meter tunnel. His steps echoed in the enclosed space, sharp rebukes of the way he’d been living the first twenty years of his life.

I don’t belong here. Randidly’s eyes were red when he once again reached the grey cinderblock wall and turned around.

That was when it happened.

System initializing…

“Huh…?” Randidly stopped midway through a step, pushing the horrible dissatisfaction in his chest to the side.

If he didn’t know better, he would say a god-like entity had just spoken into his mind. Or he was suddenly in a videogame and received a system announcement.

Out-of-body situational awareness seemed to just appear in his mind. System initializing. “What was—”

The world warped. Randidly’s body became sliced so thinly, his layers were insubstantial and infinite. Bewildered by the combination of unfamiliarity and awareness, he couldn’t even scream. His already strained psyche was tortured by spatial forces beyond his understanding.

Without any of the delicacy of his disassembly, Randidly was slapped back together. He stumbled, hands trembling. The nervous energy transformed into a horrible certainty. His body felt strange and wrong, as though he lost something precious in that moment of separation. That something sinister slipped between the cracks as he had been reconstructed.

A Three-Horned Demon Ram spawned next to him, thrashing in pained annoyance where he had just been confused. The monster’s movements launched Randidly face first into the stone wall. Luckily, the transfer of momentum was only glancing. The charging ram had spawned practically on top of him. But even the relatively light touch of the ram’s powerful flank was enough to ensure the impact knocked him unconscious.

***

When Randidly woke, it was to a headache and several blue floating screens.

Welcome to New Earth! Your world has been accepted into Nexus, and as such, is now running on a new System to give you the tools and Skills to survive and live a fulfilling life! Good luck. And know your efforts will always be fairly rewarded.

Basic Stats Set!

Randidly Ghosthound

Class: ---

Level: N/A

Health(/R per hour): 28 (16.5)

Mana(/R per hour): 17 (6.75)

Stam(/R per min): 16 (9)

Vitality: 4

Endurance: 2

Strength: 2

Agility: 3

Perception: 2

Reaction: 4

Resistance: 4

Willpower: 4

Intelligence: 3

Wisdom: 1

Control: 1

Focus: 2

For more information, you can view your Stats anytime by thinking “Menu” and then selecting “Status.”

Congratulations! The “Newbie Path” is open to you!

Congratulations! Due to you being the first player in your world to receive damage, the “P. Def Path” is open to you!

Congratulations! Due to you being the first player in your world to observe monsters, the “M. Support Path” is open to you!

Congratulations! For possessing only a single Health, the “Risk Taker Path” is open to you!

Warning! Your Health is extremely low. Due to your low Level, arrows will guide you to the nearest Safe Zone in the Dungeon.

The stream of flashing blue lights mixed with Randidly’s concussion and clouded his vision. Several seconds of staring at the sticky pool of drying blood beneath him convinced him his headache wasn’t one curable by aspirin.

And these boxes…