That''s concerning. What could the number possibly represent? Was it how much time we have left?
It didn’t seem to tick down at a consistent rate, but he also had nothing to compare it to. Maybe it’s a currency of some sort for the skills or stats? For a split second, he had the urge to panic spend his points but managed to rein it in. Haste would not help here.
Taking stock, there were very few things he knew for certain. He had been saved from certain death, probably for a purpose. Likely, his next life would be similar to some of the media he had read on the topic. However, he was leery about placing too much faith in those tropes.
This brought up another point entirely, the fact that this System seemed to be supremely unhelpful. It explained nothing, which meant that he was forced to make these choices blind. That would make mistakes inevitable and Dante had no way of knowing if he could change any of the choices.
Why would it ever be designed this way?
It truly stumped him. Perhaps, it’s a test of some sort? Or maybe it’s unfinished? The thought of his future life being entrusted to such a system did not sit right with him. His feelings about it didn’t change the reality, however.
This is a useless line of questioning, there is no way to know. I need to think about my strategy for what comes next.
Dante summoned the stat sheet again.
<table style="border-collapse: collapse" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 99.3644%">
Name: Dante Embry
Race: Human
Class: Unclassed
Level: 1
Attributes
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 90.0644%" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 36.4036%">Alacrity</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 14.9015%">9 [+]</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 34.1037%">Endurance</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 14.6011%">13 [+]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 36.4036%">Charisma</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 14.9015%">6 [+]</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 34.1037%">Fortitude</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 14.6011%">11 [+]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 36.4036%">Cognition</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 14.9015%">13 [+]</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 34.1037%">Perception</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 14.6011%">8 [+]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 36.4036%">Constitution</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 14.9015%">12 [+]</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 34.1037%">Strength</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 14.6011%">7 [+]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 36.4036%">Dexterity</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 14.9015%">12 [+]</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 34.1037%">Willpower</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 14.6011%">14 [+]</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Skills
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 90.0644%" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 72.3152%">Brawl</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 27.6949%">2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 72.3152%">Deception</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 27.6949%">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 72.3152%">Lock Picking</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 27.6949%">4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 72.3152%">Logic</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 27.6949%">4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 72.3152%">Menial Labor</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 27.6949%">3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 72.3152%">Sleight of Hand</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 27.6949%">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 72.3152%">Stealth</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 27.6949%">2</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Abilities
<table style="border-collapse: collapse" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 99.3603%; text-align: center">[Selections Available]</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Traits
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 90.0644%" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 72.2074%">Fickle Fate</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 27.8026%">MAX</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 72.2074%">Human Tenacity</td>
<td style="text-align: center; width: 27.8026%">4</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
If Dante was being honest with himself, it seemed that he was more fitted for a cloak-and-dagger style. It was what he had done in the past and he had gotten good at it. However, that was not going to work for him. He had promised Sophia to put all of that behind him, new life or not.
Fortunately, it seemed that his attributes promised a different path. His high cognition — which he assumed was analogous to intelligence — and willpower would seem to favor a caster-type build. This resonated with him far more. If he was going to a fantasy world, he was going to use magic. No question about it.
Although … Dante hesitated, remembering an incident that occurred a few years prior.
It had been about four years ago, he had just gotten out of his latest stint in prison and was trying to get his act together for once. After all, as his sister had reminded him, next time they would try him as an adult. He was playing his first campaign in Demesnes & Daemons and was just getting to know Raymond, who had originally been Sophia’s friend.
Dante had decided to play a wizard and, even back then, he liked to optimize. That is to say that he maxed every stat involved in spellcasting at the expense of everything else. Dante had done this despite the many, many warnings that he had been given. Also, he was ashamed to admit, but he had been trying to see what he could get away with. He was still … struggling back then.
It had been a few sessions in and they were in their first dungeon. They had just reached the boss''s lair and the party was worn thin. The villain, a necromancer, had cast a fireball straight into their midst. He had failed his save due to having low dexterity and it had utterly vaporized him. Literally. Near full health to ashes in a moment. The rest of the party had been fine, they didn’t have negative constitution.
He still remembered staring dumbly at the game board in utter silence before Ray slapped his back and said, “That’s rough, but no worries. We will get you right back into the fray.” Then, passed him a new character sheet.
Some probably would have stormed out of the room, but for Dante … the stakes had just risen. From that point onward, he found every encounter to be more engaging as there was actual risk involved. Needless to say, his new character — a sorcerer — had much more constitution.
The same core idea applied here, but the stakes were real this time. Dante had already died once and he had no desire for a repeat performance. He was not going to waste his second chance.
Becoming a spell caster meant that he would have to be vulnerable. He would likely have lower health and lower defenses, and his magic would take time and concentration to cast. There was a reason that mages were often part of a party after all. Dante also had no idea if he would have the space, resources, or talent to be a mage.
That was assuming the fiction he was drawing from was accurate …
Besides, he had to take into account the fact that he had no information about the other side. If he was fortunate, then he was going somewhere peaceful and no one knew he was coming. The disaster scenarios were just too numerous to account for. The one responsible for the summoning could be on the other side and they could have certain ideas about debts. Or perhaps he was about to be transported straight into the den of a monster. He could even be born again, which was horrifying for another reason entirely. All bets were off.
Plus, he was starting at level 1. This meant that he was at the absolute bottom of the food chain, so to speak. No matter how strong he was able to make himself, it would be meaningless if he went against something with a higher level.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
As for a general strategy … While he would love to create a hyper-focused build with synergies between every ability, it was far too risky. Especially given that the system seemed determined not to give him any information. The opposite, trying to cover every base, was also not going to work. It was spreading himself too thin and was too reactive besides. Sure he wouldn’t have a weakness, but it would always lose in some way to anything more focused.
A balanced approach would work best, though one weighted towards a theme. And that theme?
Survival.
Dante would withstand any test for a chance to return home. That would be enough for him. Besides, surviving is what he did. In his experience, there was one thing that trumped all others when it came to survival.
Information.
You had to be able to react to a threat to survive it. Conversely, noticing and getting the first strike on an enemy could end a battle before it even began. So increasing his perceptive ability would come first.
Which reminded him …
Dante focused his attention on the mysterious number again and was surprised.
8,130
It had dropped far faster than he had expected. Time to test if it related to how many skills or attributes he could take before it dropped any lower. Steeling himself, Dante placed his intent on the plus next to Perception.
+1 to [Perception].
Dante didn’t feel any different, but then again he didn’t have a body. He quickly focused back on the number and found that it was still the same. The blinking pluses next to his attributes remained as well. It seemed he still had more points to distribute.
Well, it’s time to test the other side of that theory as well.
When he had been scrolling through the ability list before, one of them had caught his attention early on. He was sure that he would not regret picking it up and that it would serve as a test nicely.
[Sharpen Senses] acquired.
Once again, there was no change either to the mysterious number or to his perception. After a quick scan through the first couple dozen ability list options, it didn’t seem like any had disappeared. So it seemed like he was mistaken that the number did not represent the points that he could spend. It meant that he could search the ability list for as long as he wanted. Well, for up until that number hit zero. If it was indeed a timer.
There was a sudden distracting pulse from the edge of his consciousness and Dante turned his attention towards it. He was happy to see that it was his friend from before, the one who he had been ‘communicating’ with before.
Dante sent a pulse back, but the response seemed unchanged. After a period of listening, he realized that there was a pattern. It was Morse code, he was fairly sure — though he didn’t understand it. It went something like: one long, four short, 2 long, and 4 short before repeating.
Dante wasn’t quite sure how to respond and just sent the same message back. Shortly after, the messages stopped. Perhaps his friend had given up on him. Which was a bit lonely, but he couldn''t blame them. It’s not like they could have an actual dialogue.
No two ways about it, Dante was going to have to sit back and search through this ability list for anything that fit his criteria. Given its apparent length, this was going to be an exercise in patience more than anything else. Good thing that he had a sixteen in willpower…
<hr>
Dante had no idea how much time had passed at this point, but he was certain that he had gone through thousands of these abilities — perhaps even tens of thousands — and had not reached the end of the list. He doubted that there was an end.
Though many of the abilities were worthless. Who would ever take [Perspire Adhesive] or [Mana to Cheese]? And he couldn''t ever see a use for [Sprout Fingers]. Nothing that would be worth that price anyway. Besides those, he had come to realize that there were, in fact, many many abilities that dealt with magic. They spanned from something as generic as [Basic Pyromancy Affinity] to the awe-inspiring [Chronomancy Savant]. There were even supportive abilities such as [Mana Battery], [Enhanced Mana Regen], and [Arcane Sight].
Dante had no idea how useful each of these was, but at least they confirmed that magic was going to be a thing in this new world. Dante was sorely tempted to buy one of them. What good was reincarnating in a magical world without magic of his own? But, he was a stranger to how magic worked. For all he knew, all spells required something beyond mana or were prohibitively expensive.
The remaining abilities seemed … freakish to say the least. Many seemed to change how the body worked at its fundamental level, things like [Steel Bones] or [Pneumatic Muscle]. These had the advantage that they were the easiest to understand what they did. But on the other hand? Could Dante even call himself human after selecting something like that?
Though, some of them seemed quite good. It would be easy to build synergies as well and it was quite clear what they would do. He had no idea how the new world would react to such features. Humans were famously intolerant of anything different, even something as small as skin color. Dante had no desire to be a social pariah.
So no extra limbs or anything that would be readily apparent at first glance.
Though it was impossible for him to feel fatigued, Dante was quite sure he had hit his limit. He had been having to scroll back up the list and reread sections more and more. Continuing beyond this point would only see him forgetting viable options with no guarantee their replacement would be as good.
It was time to choose.
Now that Dante had upgraded his ability to notice incoming threats with [Sharpen Senses], he needed a response to said threats. He would be going with a strategy he was familiar with.
If you can''t fight a threat, hide from it.
Which, in turn, would assist him in ambushing any would-be attackers. Dante would never fight a fair fight if he could help it.
With that in mind, he selected [Chameleon], then checked the list once again and still found it unchanged.
Either I have a lot of selections available or I’ve only picked weak abilities.
Something would always go wrong and he would need to be prepared in case he was spotted. Dante’s first instinct was to select something that would protect him, like [Impenetrable Skin]. But, after thinking it over, he instead selected [Split Second Reactions]. Hopefully, it would let him identify, react, and dodge threats. By his reckoning, it was better not to be hit at all.
Especially when that blow could kill him in a single shot, defensive ability or not.
Dante returned his attention to the list and was startled to find that there had been a change this time. The vast majority of the list was now greyed out. He attempted to select the aforementioned [Impenetrable Skin] but was unsuccessful.
Guess my luck finally ran out.
Which meant that this next ability was likely the final pick.
Every ability that he had liked, and even the ones that he had been considering, was now off the table.
Which meant it was back to the searching. Great. If only there was an option to — as soon as Dante formed the thought, the unavailable options disappeared.
Well, at least there’s that.
If Dante was honest with himself, he wasn’t sure how much list searching he had left in him.
Just until the first option that doesn’t sound awful, he promised himself. Then, he got to it.
<hr>
Honestly, some of these would be more harmful than helpful, Dante thought while considering [Partial Self-Detonation]. Without mitigating powers, that one sounded like a good way to get yourself killed. Besides, it sounded extremely painful.
Just about every ability left had either been like this, with enormous drawbacks, or something only mildly useful. Currently, his favorite pick was [Mana to Water]. While Dante was wrestling with that decision, one other entry caught his eye that gave him pause.
[Warding Flesh].
That sounded … promising? It was the first even vaguely defensive sounding option that he encountered ever since his options became limited. It wasn’t quite clear what exactly it would ward against. Perhaps some form of magic? Dante recalled fantasy stories where wards were used in a magical sense. If it was the same case here, then the ability sounded useful.
However, it sounded like it might make some change to his flesh, which was certainly not ideal. It was a risk for sure but, for whatever reason, he had a good feeling about this one. Before Dante could second guess himself, he locked it in.
What''s the worst that could happen?
[Warding Flesh] Acquired.
The list abruptly closed and he found himself staring back at the character sheet, now complete with his new abilities and absent the [Selections Available] line. Seems like that''s the end of that. Dante was … not entirely disappointed. He had gotten a decent number of selections and he was mostly happy with the ones he got. There were a few glaring gaps that he would have liked to cover, like some sort of healing ability if he ever did get injured. Hopefully, he will get the chance to fix that later.
Though I can partly fix that now, he thought while inspecting the pluses next to his attributes. Fortitude and constitution were a given. Perhaps a 3 fortitude, 3 constitution, 1 endurance ratio? It would certainly work well enough for this first level-up, he just hoped he had enough. Hopefully, he wasn’t making a massive mistake here.
Bracing himself, Dante put one point into those three attributes.
+1 to Fortitude.
+1 to Constitution.
+1 to Endurance.
Seems like I still have more.
+2 to Fortitude.
+2 to Constitution.
Oh, even more? Certainly not going to complain about that.
+1 to Fortitude.
Immediately after placing that last point, the [+] next to his attributes disappeared.
Shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up …
Immediately after he had that thought a small window popped up over his [Status] which simply read:
[60]
As he watched it ticked down to [59], then [58]. This one at least, Dante was sure, was a timer. Likely one that counted down until the beginning of his new life.
That … was not a lot of time to prepare himself. Less so, now that Dante realized that he hadn’t yet thought about what he was going to do when he got there. Not that he had any idea what it was going to be like. All he could do was watch the clock count down.
3 … 2 … 1 … Initializing Dimensional shift.