Chương 4: Go West Young Man

"The human body is a remarkably resilient machine capable of adapting to extraordinary stresses. And yet, even the most advanced bio-engineering cannot overcome the fundamental limitations of organic matter. Understanding these limitations is the first step towards transcendence." – From Applied Xenobiology: A Practical Guide, by Dr. Aris Harknan, Xenobiological Research Institute, 4th Edition.

MASON I had never considered an afterlife a thought worth dwelling on, but as I spent the hours before dawn in a liminal state between disbelief and terror, I was forced to admit that maybe I had been too quick to dismiss the possibility. Every new thought I had in this waking dream vacillated between convinced I was losing my mind and convinced I was already dead.

At some point in the night I received a skill from the System now taking up space inside my head, a ping like a gacha game reward indicating I'd earned something called [Psychological Resilience]. Apparently awarded for spending enough time contemplating the level of fucked I was and featuring a very literal name. SYSTEM MESSAGE: NEW SKILL ACQUIRED - [Psychological Resilience] (Iron Rank - Level 1) GOVERNING ATTRIBUTE: Wisdom.

DESCRIPTION: You have learned to bend where others break, your mind forged in hardship that would cripple a lesser being. Abandonment, loss, now betrayal, everyone you ever loved is gone or a liar, and yet you endure. This skill recognizes that strength of character, the ability to set aside your grievances to face your challenges head on. Your mind will be shielded from the corrosive effects of fear, the sting of despair, and you will find focus sharpened in situations where the world seeks to overwhelm you.

Train this skill further to improve its effects. I felt less anxious almost immediately, like I'd taken a megadose of Xanax. Beyond the description, I was awarded experience points, the System message noting a process it called [Scholar's Acumen]: SYSTEM ANALYSIS: User's foundational knowledge in the principles of psychology, cognitive behavioral theory, and trauma response has been recognized.

[Scholar's Acumen] applied to [Psychological Resilience]: SKILL-BASED XP (SXP) GAIN: 552% At the conclusion of the message, a new CODEX menu was unlocked and it was populated with a single entry labeled [Scholar's Acumen]. CODEX ENTRY: [Scholar's Acumen] - A universal System principle that accelerates skill progression based on the user's theoretical understanding of that skill's core concepts.

The number is variable; it operates on a scale from 100% (base) to 700% (complete theoretical mastery) and can be increased through further study. The System peppered me with a handful of skills as I sat through the night thinking and tinkering with the interface.

The most useful were a passive skill called [Sleep Deprivation] that reduced my need for sleep and made me feel instantly more alert - apparently brought on by regularly achieving high levels of physical exhaustion and consuming lots of caffeine - and another called [Memorization Enhancement] that claimed to aid in memory retention and recall and came with a whopping +700% SXP bonus from the [Scholarly Acumen] perk due to my chess background. They all appeared at "Iron Rank - Level 1."

As a test, I spent some time memorizing a bit of information from the system interface, my [Memorization Enhancement] SXP bar filling up visibly before crossing over to level 2 and resetting. The change from 1 to 2 was not dramatic, but there was a noticeable easing of strain, my recall taking a bit less brain power. Reaching Level 3 took longer, but the resulting effect was more noticeable. All the while, another, much larger experience bar was ticking up showing my character level.

The skill experience was contributing directly to the character level experience at a significantly reduced rate. I tried to imagine something analogous on Earth, but our understanding of the brain was so primitive we could barely track a single neuron firing - this System was not only mapping my brain activity in real time, cataloguing my memories like reading a hard drive, it also appeared to have the capacity to actually effect my physiology directly.

It was terrifying, but the tech-obsessed science nerd inside me marveled at the genius of it. Out of an abundance of morbid curiosity, I tried to cast a spell as I'd seen Zachias do. The System threw errors, clinical readouts telling me I lacked the requisite knowledge. The simple desire to do something, it seemed, was not enough. The sun peeked out over the horizon, morning at last. Light covered the underside of oddly-shaped bluish-green leaves in shades of gold I'd only ever seen in paintings.

The wildlife here was different too, the birds chirping at a low pitched warble that was at once unsettling and strangely beautiful. I kept thinking I would wake up any minute in a hospital bed, the butterfly once again remember he's a man - but the moment never came. The morning air felt clean and crisp as I started to walk, smells of nature that my city upbringing couldn't have conjured, damp soil and blooming flowers.

A carpet of decaying leaves and needles like pinestraw littered the forest floor, the ground soft underfoot. Shadows in the early morning light danced with the light swaying of the trees. I ran a hand over the bark, it looked and felt like any I'd seen on Earth, but then I was no arborist.

The consideration of the tree sparked another new skill: SYSTEM MESSAGE: NEW SKILL ACQUIRED - [Xenobiology Proficiency] (Iron Rank - Level 1) GOVERNING ATTRIBUTE: Intelligence DESCRIPTION: Surrounded by flora and fauna the likes of which your Earth-bound mind has never seen, your natural curiosity sparks. This skill measures and enhances your capacity for understanding the complex interplay of life within the natural ecosystems of foreign planets.

Train the skill to level it up, gaining the ability to identify, analyze, and categorize the many organisms of Caldera, unlocking the secrets hidden within their unique biology. SYSTEM ANALYSIS: User has no existing knowledge of xenobiology. [Scholar's Acumen] applied to [Xenobiology Proficiency]: SKILL-BASED XP (SXP) GAIN: 100% It added the skill to a growing list of passive abilities.

If I'd been unsure before, the lack of a [Scholar's Acumen] buff confirmed my earlier suspicions - the more I knew about a skill, the faster it would level up. A new menu appeared showing my current list of discovered flora, it was just a single item. I selected it, prompting a detailed readout of information to materialize. ENTRY: Sylvani Arbor CLASSIFICATION: Flora DESCRIPTION: A towering tree species native to the Whisperwood region of Caldera.

Characterized by its smooth silver bark, bioluminescent leaves, mana-conduction, and a complex root system that draws nutrients from both the soil and the ambient magical energy. NOTES: Sylvani Arbor are considered sacred by the local Sylvani people, they believe the trees are conduits to the spirit world. SYSTEM MESSAGE: [Xenobiology Proficiency] (Iron Rank) has advanced to Level 2 If my brain was somehow creating this, it was an impressive display of creativity that I'd never known myself to have.

I'd somehow managed to concoct even a backstory for trees. I fingered my father's ring absently to distract myself and it buzzed against the pads of my fingers, my mind wandering as I walked, the lack of sleep adding to the mystical feeling of this impossible world. Magic, Systems, character levels? Madness. A flash of blue caught my attention, a butterfly larger than any I'd ever seen. It landed on my hand, wings shimmering like iridescent scales.

Its beauty was almost hypnotic, the patterns appearing to shift before my eyes. I watched mesmerized as it sunk tiny fangs into the knuckle of my index finger. The pain was like a wasp sting, immediate and startling. I slapped it down instinctively, the delicate wings crumpling as it fell to the ground with an audible hiss. My hand was already beginning to swell. SYSTEM MESSAGE: You have defeated a noxious skydancer.

CHARACTER XP (CXP) GAINED: +5 XENOBIOLOGY ENTRY ADDED: Noxious Skydancer The system interface was cleaner now, the text crisp and clear. SYSTEM MESSAGE - NEW ITEM: Skydancer Chitin DESCRIPTION: A lightweight, iridescent material harvested from the exoskeleton of the noxious skydancer. Can be used in basic crafting recipes. CURRENT KNOWN RECIPES OR BLUEPRINTS THAT USE THIS ITEM: None I small icon pulsed with blue light and a button appeared asking if I wanted to loot the butterfly's corpse.

I mentally looted the dead creature and another soft bell rang in my head. SYSTEM MESSAGE: Inventory System Unlocked The butterfly dissolved into a cloud of particles as the icon for the skydancer chitin brightened. ITEM ACQUIRED: Skydancer Chitin (x1) Another window appeared, this one displaying a grid of empty slots. The skydancer chitin icon disappeared from the loot window and inserted itself into one of the empty spaces in the inventory grid.

INVENTORY: 1/10 Skydancer Chitin (x1) It was disturbing, the way it had dissolved the butterfly's corpse. Curious, I retrieved the item from the inventory with a thought, the icon materializing back into a physical object in my hand. A tiny blue carapace, almost weightless. My mind was too fried to grapple with the immense implications of such a System. I stored the chitin back into the inventory, adding the ring as well to stop myself compulsively rubbing it, then dismissed the window.

I stepped through to what I thought was a clearing and nearly fell into a chasm. Zachias's display of magic from the night before had left a crater in the ground a hundred feet wide and three stories deep. It still smoldered, smoke billowing out of it in thin tendrils. Sand trapped in the middle had been turned to glass from the heat and pressure. I navigated around the crater, doing my best to maintain a northern heading without falling in. Hoof prints were visible around the eastern edge of the crater.

Someone had come to investigate, a lot of someones by the look of it, their tracks crisscrossing and swirling before returning the way they'd come. The trees around the hole were burnt, some still smoldering. I followed the tracks and didn't have to walk long to reach the road, finding it about a half mile or so further on. Zachias had called it the King's Road, giving the impression it was finished and maintained, but it was a glorified dirt path with grooved ruts about the width of a wagon wheel.

The tracks from the forest headed east toward what Zachias had called Eastwatch, the place of my birth. I hesitated. Curiosity pulled me east to follow the tracks, to a mystery of my origins and the murder of parents I never met. If I was really a Duke, maybe I had power here. Influence. What would that even be like? I couldn't picture it - me, with influence? God forbid. West would bring me back to reality, a life I didn't particularly want, but at least one I knew was real.

Perhaps I'd reach the town, speak to this Marcellus, wake up with a cracked skull and a bizarre story to tell. Some part of me wanted to stay, I couldn't deny it, to explore this world that Zachias claimed was where I came from, to solve the mysteries that had plagued me my whole life. And yet... I had a good life on Earth, a small few people who might even miss me, the promise of success and comfort.

I made a decision, walking west toward Kelna, the weight of so much unknown more than I could bring myself to embrace. I put my head down and ignored the curiosity that kept pulling at me, averting my eyes from the alien world's many distractions, keeping my focus on the road ahead. This had to be a dream, elaborate and detailed, but a fiction all the same. This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

I walked for hours, the sun climbing higher in the sky, baking the back of my neck as the temperature rose. I encountered nobody on the road, but the trees loomed like silent sentinels, pressing in around me as afternoon turned to evening. Animals skittered about in the trees, chimeric extraterrestrial hybrids that seemed to confirm that I was suffering some kind of mixed-reality hallucination - their forms so familiar and yet so different.

Shadows grew longer as the sun set in the distance, the unpleasant reality setting in that I would likely be spending the night in a ditch, unprotected from whatever things lurked out in the dark. As if reading my thoughts, the branches of the trees up ahead rustled loudly, three figures emerging from the cover of the forest to block my path.

They were clad in patched leather armor and filthy clothing, three men that looked rougher than even the shambling homeless that populated the streets of New York, faces dirt-caked and marked by open sores that leaked puss and blood. Their mouths were hidden behind cloth masks almost as dirty as their faces, red where sores had bled through the fabric. One of them held a rusty sword, another a crude club. The third carried a bow and arrow he appeared to have carved himself - it was aimed directly at my chest.

SYSTEM MESSAGE: New Quest Available QUEST: Road to Redemption - Bandit Interception QUEST RARITY: Common QUEST LEVEL: 1 DESCRIPTION: A small band of starving brigands has been harassing travelers along this stretch of road. Eliminate the threat to restore order to the road and ensure safety for your fellow travelers. OBJECTIVES: Defeat all hostile bandits. (0/3) REWARD: 15 Copper Coins UNLOCK: CODEX - Whisperwood Bestiary QUEST GIVER: World Quest - A guiding hand watches your journey with interest.

ACCEPT / DECLINE A small window appeared, displaying the quest details. I blinked, momentarily distracted by the notification. A quest? I didn't even want to think about who or what was generating the rewards. I accepted it without much consideration, wanting the notification to clear. The man with the sword spoke, his face above the bandana was pockmarked and dirty. His words came out in a guttural language I had never heard before.

SYSTEM MESSAGE: Southron Telviri Language Detected, Activate Real-Time Translation? I mentally accepted the message, the man's ravings turning into an accented English that was at least comprehensible. He was in the middle of a speech I imagine he gave to all the travelers that passed him on the road.

".. so empty yer pockets, leave yer clothes, an' we letcha keep yer life. A fair deal, eh, Lout?" He directed the question at the large man with the club who grunted.

"Lout agrees." I'd been mugged a time or two, though never by anyone quite this disheveled.

"Look, fellas, I've had a day you wouldn't believe. I've got nothing worth stealing. If we could ju-" I started, but the swordsman held up a hand to silence me, his eyes arching above the bandana.

"He talks like a nobleman," the third man chimed in helpfully, his bow still pulled taut, arrow quivering on the string. I quietly cursed the System for programming me an expensive accent.

"He sure do, don't he? Thinkin it might be our lucky day, boys." The man with the rusty sword twitched and scratched at his neck, a gesture I'd seen many times before under different circumstances.

"I'll level with you, okay? I'm running away. Pa wanted me to take over the family farm since I turned seventeen and well, I just.. I want to be an artist," I said, pulling my shoulders inward.

"I left with nothing, just the clothes on my back, headed for Kelna. The ransom won't be worth your effort, you'd be trying to get blood from a turnip." SYSTEM MESSAGE: NEW SKILL ACQUIRED - [Prolific Liar] (Iron Rank - Level 1) GOVERNING ATTRIBUTE: Charisma DESCRIPTION: You've spent a considerable portion of your life constructing elaborate fictions. From embellished stories to outright fabrications, your capacity for bending the truth is legendary.

This skill recognizes your extensive experience in the art of deception. It will enhance your ability to craft convincing lies, detect inconsistencies in the stories of others, and generally navigate the murky waters of social manipulation. SYSTEM ANALYSIS: User's extensive, lifelong experience in social engineering, psychological manipulation, narrative construction, and the interpretation of non-verbal cues has been recognized.

[Scholar's Acumen] applied to [Prolific Liar]: SKILL-BASED XP (SXP) GAIN: 458% Another useful skill pinged to life in my interface, though I didn't appreciate the judgmental tone of the messenger. Rusty sword approached me, face moving in close so I could smell the blistering stench of his breath. I tried not to recoil.

"He thinks wer idiots, boys." I saw the punch coming, telegraphed as it was, but I didn't move, letting it land and crumpling to the ground coughing.

"Fer such a big lad, ya go down awful easy. Search 'im, Lout," he said with a touch of irritation, as if it was my fault I'd been punched. I wheezed on the ground, curling up in a ball. The large man moved in, slow, uncoordinated. I did the math: rusty sword was surprisingly weak, his punch barely registering, if I could put Lout between me and the archer maybe I could bring them both down before he let that arrow loose.

I considered what it might mean if I died inside my own hallucination, would I just wake up again back at the campfire, my own personal Groundhog Day, or was this purgatory and I'd finally get ushered to hell? Hoping I wouldn't find out, I let him get close, rolling on to my knees. When he was in striking range, I rose into an uppercut, aiming for his jaw. The impact rippled up my arm, a shockwave of pain that almost knocked me out.

Lout was launched off his feet, blood spraying into the air in a wide arc that sparkled in the sun. He hit the ground with a dull thud then lay still, surprising everyone, most of all me.

SYSTEM MESSAGE: ENEMY DEFEATED: Bandit Grunt (Level 1) CHARACTER XP GAINED: +50 QUEST UPDATE: Bandits Defeated (1/3) SKILL ACQUIRED - [Unarmed Combat Proficiency] (Iron Rank - Level 1) GOVERNING ATTRIBUTE: Strength, Dexterity [Scholarly Acumen] applied to [Unarmed Combat Proficiency] SKILL-BASED XP (SXP) GAIN: 365% ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED - "First Blood" Had I just killed a man with a single punch? And been given some sort of achievement for it? What kind of sick world was this?

Distracted by the deluge of System notifications, I didn't hear the bow string being loosed, a flock of birds sent fluttering out of a nearby tree. Pain blossomed in my side, a flaring heat that nearly knocked me over. My hands moved instinctively to the shaft protruding from my abdomen. The system messages disappeared, showing the surprised face of the bandit archer who stood ten paces away holding an empty bow.

"Gods dammit, Jory, ya gutted him. How we gunna git a ransom now?" I wasn't listening, gritting my teeth and trying to stay calm. The shaft had not sunk in deep, but it hurt like hell and was bleeding heavily. I stumbled back, leaning against a nearby tree trunk.

"He startled me, boss. Never seen Lout get done up like that, lost my grip," the archer said, sounding genuinely distraught.

"Well, nuttin we can do bout it now. Check on Lout, I'll finish the poor bastard, only decent thing ta do at dis point." Rusty sword stood over me, the pain growing as it spread outward from the wound. He stepped into the swing and I kicked his leg out from under him. He fell on the tip of the sword with a wet sucking sound, face frozen in shock. He didn't scream, impaled through the chest before he'd even realized what happened. Small mercies. I felt sick, but what choice did I have?

SYSTEM MESSAGE: ENEMY DEFEATED: Bandit Leader (Level 2) CHARACTER XP GAINED: +75 [Unarmed Combat Proficiency] (Iron Rank) has advanced to Level 2 QUEST UPDATE: Bandits Defeated (2/3) I suppressed the system messages, avoiding the distraction this time. The bandit I'd heard the man call Jory was recovering, struggling to string another arrow onto his bow. I yanked the sword handle out of the leader and it came free with a grotesque squish, my stomach churning at the smell.

Straining against the pain, I threw the sword with both hands, mustering as much force as I could. It flew through the air end-over-end, hitting the archer square in the chest. The impact took him off his feet, launching him three paces and pinning him to the tree behind, his legs dangling. He didn't even register the shock, blood dribbling obscenely out of his mouth. He croaked out a sad groan before going slack.

SYSTEM MESSAGE: ENEMY DEFEATED: Bandit Archer (Level 1) CHARACTER XP GAINED: +50 SKILL ACQUIRED - [Weapon Throwing Proficiency] (Iron Rank - Level 1) GOVERNING ATTRIBUTE: Strength, Dexterity [Scholarly Acumen] applied to [Weapon Throwing Proficiency] SKILL-BASED XP (SXP) GAIN: 100% QUEST UPDATE: Bandits Defeated (3/3) QUEST COMPLETED: Road to Redemption - Bandit Interception REWARD RECEIVED: 15 Copper Coins CHARACTER XP: +150 CODEX: Whisperwood Bestiary Acquired NEW CODEX ENTRY AVAILABLE: WHISPERWOOD - OVERVIEW I'd had some close scrapes before, even been stabbed once, but nothing prepared me for the experience of a fight to the death.

I was happy to be alive, but disgusted with myself for what I'd done. I fought the urge to vomit, my whole body shaking uncontrollably as I tried not to look directly at the carnage. SYSTEM MESSAGE: [Psychological Resilience] (Iron Rank) has reached Level 5 The archer was still pinned to the tree, the sword buried up to the hilt. A new window appeared in front of me showing a long list of what the man was carrying with a brief description of each item.

SYSTEM MESSAGE: Loot Detected [x5] Copper Coins [x1] Simple Wooden Short Bow [x20] Wooden Arrows [x1] Leather Quiver [x1] Torn Cloak [x1] Bandana [x1] Dried Rations [x1] Flint & Steel [x1] Worn Leather Boots [x1] Patched Leather Bracers [x1] Dirty Linen Shirt [x1] Rough Woolen Pants I took everything but his clothes, which thankfully did not dematerialize.

"I'm truly sorry about this," I said to the air and pulled the sword from the archer's body, cringing as he fell to the ground. With no scabbard for it, I added it to my inventory and it disappeared in a puff of particles, a System message indicating it had been successfully stored. I experimented a bit more, strapping the quiver to my back and filling it with arrows. I'd never shot a bow before, the action feeling awkward.

I pulled the string back, the sharp pain erupting in my abdomen suggested that was a bad idea. The arrow flew limply about twenty feet, my arrow count ticking down from 20 to 19. After a certain distance, the item was considered gone from my inventory - no infinite item glitches or throwing and returning swords like Thor's hammer. At least, not with my current skillset.

SYSTEM MESSAGE - NEW SKILL ACQUIRED: [Archery Proficiency] (Iron Rank - Level 1) GOVERNING ATTRIBUTE: Dexterity [Scholarly Acumen] applied to [Archery Proficiency] SKILL-BASED XP (SXP) GAIN: 100% Another skill proficiency was added to my growing list of passive abilities. My Character Level had also reached the cap during the fight, a new message indicating I needed to complete an "Ascension Ritual" to increase my Character Level.

Curiosity giving me an excuse to distract myself, I checked the new CODEX entry which accompanied the message: CODEX ENTRY: Character Level Ascension Character Level represents a fundamental advancement in a being's attunement to the System, unlocking greater potential and power in the form of attribute points (2). Progression is not automatic. Once the Character Experience (CXP) threshold for a given level has been reached, a user must perform a Level Ascension Ritual to advance.

This ritual recalibrates the user's aetheric pathways, strengthening their body and soul. The primary catalyst required for the ritual is the raw mana contained within monster cores. The level of the cores consumed must typically be at or above the level of the Character Level the user is attempting to attain. Monster cores? Hopefully I'd never find out what that was. I looted the other two bodies, equipping the rusty sword with the acquired sheath from the bandit leader who'd been carrying it.

I found a few more copper coins, a bit more food, and something called "dreamweave" which my interface informed me was a potent psychedelic drug, confirming my earlier suspicions about what had left these poor souls in such a sorry state. With the arrow in my side, I couldn't wear the leather jerkin for its added defense, not that it was likely to fit anyway. Pulling the arrow out struck me as rather a bad idea given the lack of any means to close up the wound.

Leaving it in, on the other hand, was asking for an infection. Gritting my teeth through the pain, I stumbled off the road and into the woods, hoping to find some kind of shelter where I could build a fire to cauterize the wound. If the bandits had camped nearby, I couldn't find it. I followed a stream east up a hill, thinking it might lead me to a cave. My side ached, blood continuing to dribble out of the wound as I moved.

The sun had almost completely set when I finally came across an opening in the side of a hill, ivy partially obscuring the darkness beyond. SYSTEM MESSAGE: NEW LOCATION DISCOVERED: Hidden Cave (Whisperwood) NEW SKILL ACQUIRED: [Cartography] (Iron Rank - Level 1) GOVERNING ATTRIBUTE: Intelligence Another new skill, this one an active ability that came with a detailed description of what was basically a map system. The notification faded, a new icon showing in my interface.

I focused on it and a map appeared generating a satellite view of the surrounding area. It showed my path revealed in every direction for 50 meters. My location blinked green, the cave highlighted on the map with a small icon. It wasn't much of a cave, barely deep enough to lie down in, but it was shelter. I gathered some kindling, using the flint to start a fire in a display of outdoor competence that shocked me - desperate times and all that.

I earned another skill for the effort, though I was in too much pain to care. Inside the cave, fire going, I removed my shirt gingerly, ripping a strip of cloth from it, and began the grim task of field surgery. The pain was excruciating, but I pressed on, cleaning around the wound as best I could. I heated an iron arrow tip from the quiver until it burned red hot. Taking a firm grip on the shaft sticking out of me, I yanked hard, the barbed arrowhead sticking in bone briefly before releasing.

Blood oozed out of the gash, but it wasn't as gnarly as I'd feared it might be, the arrow had gone in cleanly. Mopping up the blood, I took the heated iron tip from the fire, pressing it against the wound with an agonizing sizzle. It was like no pain I'd ever felt before, immediate and insistent.

SYSTEM MESSAGE: NEW SKILL ACQUIRED: [Field Medic] (Iron Rank - Level 1) GOVERNING ATTRIBUTE: Intelligence [Scholarly Acumen] has been applied to [Field Medic] SKILL-BASED XP (SXP) GAIN: 384% I nearly passed out, but held it together, binding the wound tightly with a fresh strip of cloth. I leaned back against the cave wall, exhausted but alive. Shivering in that cave, blood oozing out onto the hard stone, I wanted nothing more than to deny reality. I'd just killed three men. Magic was real. And my family was dead.

I curled up on the ground, wound throbbing, the fire doing little to warm the icy darkness that crept in at the edges of my thoughts. I closed my eyes and let the darkness take me. Should I wake again still in this hell, I resolved to face it as I must, but for at least one more night I let myself dream.