I slowly open my eyes with a pounding headache and see that I’m back in my seat on the train. Maybe it was all just a really weird sleep deprivation inspired dream? Nope it was real. My backpack is gone and nobody else is on this train. I look down at my clothes and realize I’m in clothes that make me look like a commoner from Medieval Times. I’m sporting a white cotton shirt with tied leather strings that start at the bottom of my collar bone and go up to the base of my throat. I immediately undo the top string to get my collar out a tiny bit and gaze down past where my backpack once sat on my lap at the brown coarse trousers that have replaced my slacks. I don’t have anything else on, including my feet being bare. “You didn’t even give me a bag or anything?” I ask nobody around me.

  Maybe Vaelorym will respond into my mind like a divine message or something. I wait a few seconds and nothing happens so I shrug and stand up. I walk down the aisle of the train and slink my way out the door, not paying attention, while my mind wanders. Suddenly, I feel grass and dirt between my toes. I shake my head to clear my thoughts and finally notice that my surroundings are a dark forest with light filtering through the canopies in patches. I slowly turn and the train I just stepped off is completely gone without a trace of ever existing.

  “Do you really have to make everything so mysterious Vaelorym?” I question into the trees around me. There’s still no response as I wander into the woods around me slowly and carefully. Maybe I can pull up my stats and get a description or something of what my skills can do? I mentally think of the word Status and see the screen come up again.

  Information

  Alaina Glace

  Race: Variant Human Tier I

  Class: ???

  Level: 1

  Status

  Health Points: 30/30

  Stamina Points: 40/40

  Magic Points: 15/15

  Attributes

  Strength: 7

  Dexterity: 8

  Endurance: 6

  Constitution: 6

  Wisdom: 5

  Intelligence: 6

  Charisma: 5

  Luck: 10

  Skills:

  Survivalist Basics I, Shelter Building I, Assessing Eyes I, Instinctual Understanding (Basic) I, Energy Control II

  Titles & Achievements:

  Ancestral Progenitor (Be the first of a race of your design. Congrats! Plus five percent effectiveness of all charming skills or spells)

  Traverser (You got yourself Isekai’d… Cool, I guess. Want a cookie? Gain Instinctual Understanding Skill)

  Vaelorym’s Trace [True] (You got handpicked by Vaelorym, The First Division. The True level of the blessing refers that you got the blessing directly from the deity in question. Maybe they will offer you further skills or improvements in the future)

  Racial Traits & Bonuses:

  N/A

  I try and mentally hover or click on the skills and nothing else comes up. I’m guessing I can’t just get a freebie on where to go, so I close out of my menu and continue through the trees. I walk through the beautiful trees that seem to tower much taller than anything I remember seeing on Earth. They must be about sixty meters up to the canopies on average.

  I admire the greenery around me as I continue mindlessly into the woods. Everything around me is so much more lush and healthier than anything I’ve ever seen before with colors that are more vibrant than even the best paintings around. I see a plant that looks vaguely similar to a Bird of Paradise and slowly study it as I crouch down. Suddenly I remember one of my skills and try and figure out how to activate it. I try and focus my eyes to see if my Assessing Eyes will burst to life, but nothing happens. Maybe it’s a passive skill that will make me pick up or harvest something first? I remember how that weird bat wolf thing drew energy into different designs on my body and I slowly study my body to see if I can find anything. As I picture how the energy originated near my heart and traveled outward, I come across a few different zones of intermingled strands of energy.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  I sit and cross my legs and meditate while looking into these different zones and where they originate. Three seem to be focused around my brain with one of them also stretching behind my eyes. Following that trail I notice two identical messes on each of my eyes. As I slowly trace along my pathways, I notice that the entire network is encompassed by a massive design that seems to be interconnected and fully designed out. I study it and see that the energy travels more fluidly and efficiently compared to when I was healing the beast in the tests.

  “That one must coincide with my Energy Control skill since it’s fully designed out while the others are my basic unrefined skills.” I theorize while looking around to make sure I’m alone. I turn my sight inward back towards my eyes and think towards my Assessing Eyes skill. If I’m correct these two must be that skill and I have to try and figure out the messes to make them work. I slowly trace and fix each twisted strand and it begins to unfold into a circular design in the shape that looks vaguely similar to a certain magnifying glass item from an old video game I used to play with my dad. The design finally becomes fixed after about twenty minutes of twisting and unwinding and it suddenly snaps into place. I close my eyes quickly as the pain washes over them and it feels like they’re being pressured out of my head.

  After a few seconds the pressure passes and I open my eyes. I focus onto the plant again and see a basic breakdown of the plant.

  Canaries’s Heart: This forest plant thrives in the warm, humid weather of the different eastern forests of Azurios.

  Uses: Unidentified

  I read and reread the information a couple times as I stop focusing and refocus on the plant a few times. Maybe more information will be gathered with other skills or after I learn about them from someone else.

  Suddenly I hear a loud, bellowing roar and screaming from further in the woods. I stand up and quickly sprint off towards the sounds as I run through scenarios of what could be happening and what the people or creatures might look like. I can hear the commotion about a hundred yards ahead and start to slightly slow down as I scan the area for danger. On the way into the scene, I spot large ruts that have torn up the grass and dirt in the area. On many of the different trees I can see signs of a battle with large gashes into the wood that trail deep with small spots of blood and burnt chunks of fur.

  As I round the trees, I spot a massive hulking figure standing on its hind legs. It looks like a sickly brown bear of sorts, but bigger than I’ve ever seen with a strong-plated shell-like growth on its back. Standing on its hind legs, it reaches about thirteen to fourteen feet up into the branches of a strong tree. Up in the branches I see a small, green glowing figure that’s trying to back or crawl away further onto the thick branch it is occupying. I can see from my current location that it seems to be injured and the bear has small burn marks on its hide.

  I quickly scan the area and formulate a plan of action. The small glowing figure spots me and screams for help again. I motion for it to calm down and keep the animal busy as I keep scoping out the target. I’m trying to figure out how to get this thing to leave without having to kill or injure it too badly, but I also don’t want the small figure to get eaten or killed either.

  I pick up a thicker branch that got discarded in the fight and rush up behind the beast and swing it as hard as I can at the shoulders and neck area that isn’t covered in the natural armor. The branch shatters against the beast and it smacks its head against the tree as it loses balance from the sudden force. It slides down the tree and stands on all fours and turns towards me with a growl building in its throat.

  “Uhhh hey, can you like not hurt that thing and maybe leave?” I ask while trying to make myself not appear threatening.

  The beast roars and surges forward towards me and swipes its massive claw towards me. I’m barely able to even see the paw moving towards me as I feel a sharp pain and look down to see a gash across my abdomen. My shirt slowly starts turning red near my stomach and my vision flickers red as a warning symbol flashes in the corner of my sight line. I panic and back away before it can swing at me again.

  “Run! Hurry!” I scream at the glowing figure as I stumble backwards and fall onto my back.

  I put my arms crossed in front of my face and chest and wait to see if the beast will continue its assault. I focus more onto the beast and feel the energy enter my eyes as my Assessing Eyes gives me a breakdown of the animal.

  Armored Roller Bear: This bear-like beast is the unholy matrimony of an angry Grizzly Bear and an overzealous Armadillo. The natural armor from the beast makes its back very hard to injure, while the under belly is extremely vulnerable. Here’s a tip! This thing rolls with extreme prejudice!

  Uses: Unidentified

  What kind of messed up creature is this thing? Who decided that a leprosy infested armadillo would cross with a big muscly grizzly?! Oh yeah that’s a thing too, I guess. Hopefully this thing doesn’t give me leprosy cause I’m pretty sure I can’t cure that anytime soon.

  I roll backwards onto my feet quickly like a trained fighter from an old Kung Fu movie and dodge behind a tree. I guess having above average stats does something pretty noticeable even if it’s just for a few points. I quickly go over a few different strategies as I catch my breath.

  I peek around the tree and see the bear starting to crouch down and get small. Oh, this might be it! It might be trying to roll through me like that tip said. I step out from behind the tree and make a bunch of loud noises and watch the Roller Bear’s reaction. It crouches down lower and dips its head between its front legs and curls up into a big, armored ball.

  It slowly starts spinning like a certain blue hedgehog we all know and launches itself at me. I wait until the last moment and then dive and roll behind the tree again as the bear slams past me. It rolls for a good twenty feet past me then slows down enough to make a wide rolling turn towards me again. I’m now standing with my back to the tree and watching a big ball of armored nope rolling at me. I quickly jump as high as I can and look up in time to see a thick bough of the tree reaching over my head. I grab the bough and wrap my arms and legs around it to brace myself for impact.

  The tree trunk cracks as the bear slams into it head on and I feel the tree creak and sway. I feel the tree slowly start breaking further up the trunk and start falling to my right. I let my legs swing downwards and look below me before the tree can fall onto me and see the bear on its back and trying to roll over like a stuck turtle.

  I swing my legs up and then hard down for extra momentum and slam straight down onto the bear. I feel the rib cage of the animal crack as I bounce off its chest and land in a crouch a couple feet away from the bear. It groans in pain as I stand back up and watch the bear for any more signs of problems.

  “Please please please either stay down or leave.” I plead with the animal while hoping I didn’t kill it.

  The bear rolls over almost immediately and latches onto my left leg with its thick powerful teeth and jaws. I fall onto the ground and scream at the top of my lungs and feel myself starting to pass out. The red warning strobes around my vision as I struggle to stay awake from the unbearable pain as black starts encroaching over the red warning signs.

  *Luck Stat Prevented Deathblow from Enemy Roller Bear*

  I feel something in me snap. Adrenaline courses through my veins and I feel my heart pump more fiercely than I’ve ever felt before. I yell with a fierce guttural sound that comes from the depths of my very being as I force my eyes open. I slam my right foot up under the body of the bear and kick as hard as I can.

  I feel another snap and hear a wheezing sound released from the bear as it slowly releases my leg. It stumbles backwards away from me and falls up against the trunk of the tree and stops moving as the tree slams down to my left. I’m covered in branches and leaves and slowly start to black out.