XelofBloom
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Prologue
🕑 Added 2021-01-01 22:48:30 +0000 UTCEve stared at the snow outside her door in mild confusion. Arizona was many things, but a place where the snow lay deep on the ground was not one of them. Glancing around, thick silent evergreens laden with snow had covered every corner of the clearing around her. Closing the metal security gate, Eve calmly locked it before closing the door and locking that as well. It rarely snowed in the Tucson valley, especially in the height of summer.
Something is very wrong here. Eve thought, her hands starting to shake.
Straightening up, she moved quickly into the kitchen adjacent to the front door and grabbed her smartphone. As she watched, her heart dropped into the freezer as she immediately saw the out-of-service area icon. Her mind froze as she witnessed something that shouldn't be possible with the advent of 7GX networks. A complete lack of cell service meant she was out of reach of the satellites that helped maintain the signal. That would only be a reality if she weren't on Earth anymore.
Impossible. Eve thought, her mind starting to run through scenarios. There wasn’t a chance she knew anyone who would have the money to pull a prank like this. Occam’s Razor, as her brother liked to always counter in their arguments, cut deeper than bone.
Suppose I’m no longer on Earth. Eve paused, hoping something would interrupt her terrifying thoughts. Then at least the house is paid for now.
Hysterical laughter bubbled up from her before fear silenced her just as fast. If she wasn’t on Earth, there was no telling where she was, or more importantly, what could be around.
Humans are crunchy and taste good with ketchup. Eve thought as she stumbled to sit at the small kitchen table. She knew she should be getting up, checking if the electricity worked, gas from the large propane tank functioned, and other things related to possible survival. Except she couldn’t, the sobering thought that she might never see her ass of a brother again, or talk beauty tips with her mother, or even listen to her father's terrible puns crushed in on her.
Gone. Eve thought, holding her head between her hands and staring blankly. Forever.
A brief flare of hope ignited at the thought that she might be able to find a way home before being smothered by the reality of the situation.
Eve wasn’t certain how long she sat in her kitchen, hours at the least, as sunlight slowly fell, turning the outside from light to shadow. Finally, as her mentality slowly came to grips with the new world order, Eve rose from her kitchen table.
“Four years in high school, three in the military, and two in management at a pizza parlor. I got this.” Eve said, psyching herself up.
First things first. Find that idiot brother’s notes. Eve rose from the table, moving back to the main bedroom where her domain was absolute. Moving into the bathroom, she took a long look at herself in the mirror. Brown hair, hazel eyes, with a face that screamed girl next door she looked a wreck now. Turning from the mirror and going to her bedroom entrance, she opened the guest bedroom door corner to her own and entered. Her brother often crashed at her place when he was between jobs as a trucker, so the room was filled with the neat organization of a compulsive attention deficit hyperactivity disorder patient. Shelves lined the walls filled with anime, books, and games. Moving past the single exercise bike that stood guardian over the closet entrance, she opened the closet door and moved inside. While the guest bedroom’s closet wasn’t as large as her own, it was packed with detailed books, most of them handwritten.
For Transport to Another World Vol. 1 by Matt Smith was the book Eve grabbed from the bookshelf's middle on the left side.
Opening the book, Eve flipped through the pages utilizing speed reading, a trick she had trained to rise into management at the pizza parlor.
After thirty minutes of reading, Eve set the book back in its place before exiting the closet. Grabbing a nearby pen and loose paper, she snagged a clipboard combining them all. Exiting the guest bedroom, Eve moved quickly among the sections of her house. Viewing the garden patio surrounded by a low wall outside, she made notations about the new plants that appeared. With neat, meticulous organization, Eve cataloged all the assets in her house, from the medical textbooks in the living room library to the lint in her trouser pockets from last night’s party.
Please, please don’t work. Eve thought as she finished making lists before sitting down in her lazy chair knock-off. Taking a deep breath, she said, “Status.”
There was a hushed silence as if time had stopped, and the world had taken notice of a new part of the eternal paradigm.
New species located within World.
Species scanned.
Species confirmed to be a variant of Humanity.
First Contact Protocols engaged.
Eve felt something reach into her mind and swore she heard a crunching sound along with the taste of metallic aluminum. Pain ripped through her body as her body arched in the soft leather sofa-chair while a scream ripped from her throat moments before the pain was replaced with mind-melting pleasure. She fell slack against the chair as the blissful high paralyzed her body like an expensive designer drug.
Unable to take the incredible amounts of euphoria, Eve’s eyes rolled back in her head before she blacked out.
System connection complete.
User: Eve Smith has been integrated.
Eve managed to see those words when she woke up before they vanished to be replaced by new ones.
Congratulations on your Naming Day!
Your physical and mental characteristics have revealed the following Classes available:
Chef
You have sliced, diced, sautéed, and baked your way through a cuisine that is literally out of this world!
A master of knife, ingredient, and the five senses, the power of the ultimate creator moves in your body, pushing you to new heights!
Taking this Class may restrict further choices in the future.
Gain the following Skills: Cooking Tools I, Minor Pantry I
Gain the following Spells: Chef’s Immaculate Wear
The path to true power is through the stomach!
Eve boggled as she realized she could scroll down as if the messages were a VR display. It was unnerving, yet somehow familiar as if something inside her had been altered to take the new reality of messages appearing before her as fact. Granted, it managed to keep her from turning into a gibbering screaming wreck or a beggar asking for one more hit of whatever had been used to melt her mind earlier.
For a long moment, Eve was tempted to take the Class of Chef; she’d always envied the woman on those cooking shows who effortlessly created marvels. Matt’s notes had been brutally clear, though, and her eyes twitched to glance at the small table beside her lazy chair. Grabbing the clipboard and pen, she started to scribble out her options as she scrolled through them.
Teacher
You can teach others using simple concepts to create complex towers of communication.
A master of using words, the mind's power is a bastion of sanity against the ignorant hordes.
Taking this Class may restrict further choices in the future.
Gain the following Skills: Eidetic Memory I, Polyglot I
Gain the following Spells: Transmit Memory I
Eve moved through the other Classes, listing each one down before moving on. After finishing all of the twenty available options, she slowly narrowed them down to three choices according to the logic Matt had espoused.
Eve thought back to the book's line that stood out to her from For Transport to Another World Vol. 1 by Matt Smith.
If there is a System in the world you are transported to, then the only rule that matters is Power.
Eve shuddered at how her brother could speak such horrifying words. Even worse, the detailed explanations that he had written down as for why the statement was true made complete and utter sense.
While there was a slight distance between an asshole customer and an asshole city lord, it was really a matter of scale for one thing.
Power.
While a customer could get her fired, a city lord could have her executed without any evidence. That was assuming she was somewhere with a structured society instead of in the middle of an endless enchanted forest or the tail end of a wasteland.
For that reason, her choices were cut down to three. Eve glanced over each one once more as she hesitated to pull the trigger.
Hunter
You have slain animals and plants in your quest to feed.
A master of patiently waiting for the prey to arrive before dispatching them with ruthless efficiency, you are death to the unaware.
Taking this Class will restrict further choices in the future.
Gain the following Skills: Hunter’s Camouflage I, Hunter’s Eye I
Gain the following Spells: Remove Scent I, Conceal Traces I
Warrior
You have slain other humans in combat with weapons fearsome in nature.
A master of murder, your abilities are unmatched in battle as you have never known defeat.
Taking this Class will restrict further choices in the future.
Gain the following Skills: Sense Weakness I, Powerful Strike I
Gain the following Spells: Endure I
Scholar
Your education exceeds over 94.751% of the world population.
A master of the mind, your abilities push towards the secrets of power known to few.
Taking this Class will restrict further choices in the future.
Gain the following Skills: Scholar’s Sight I
Gain the following Spells: Levitate Paper I, Inkless Words I, Summon Book I
I have roughly a month of accumulated food after I cook, salt, and store everything available. Eve thought. Water will last for two months before I run out, perhaps three if I ration it. At that point, if I don’t have a way to get food, I’m dead. Thank god the house provides shelter, or I’d be dead on arrival here.
“I have to choose from several options. From what I can see, there are three paths.” Eve said, her voice trembling. “Rogue, Warrior, Mage.”
Of course, Scholar could lead somewhere besides magic. A warrior could lead somewhere besides physical combat, and Rogue could go who knows where. Eve thought, looking at Hunter, Warrior, and Scholar with dead eyes. No, I have to trust Matt. I have to trust him, or I’ll go insane questioning myself.
In any world that has Mana available, choose magic.
Specialize in Charm, Water, or anything that boosts information, because, in 99.9999% of all realities, these are the most powerful options for a new System User.
Charm will give you the ability to control others and build yourself safely out of sight.
Water is the most versatile method of combat, defense, and support in one.
Information will keep you alive if the other two are not available.
Taking a deep breath Eve’s hazel eyes flew open, and she said, “Scholar, please, System.”
You have chosen the Class of Scholar!
May your knowledge enrich us all!
You have gained the following Skills: Scholar’s Sight I
You have gained the following Spells: Levitate Paper I, Inkless Words I, Summon Book I
You may now access your Status at any time with the power of your mind!
Status. Eve thought, testing the System’s words.
Name: Eve Smith
Race: Human
Class: Scholar
Level: 0
Health: 60/60 (.6 hps regen)
Mana: 120/120 (1.2 MPs regen)
Stats: Str 7, Dex 8, Con 6, Wis 11, Int 12
Skills: Scholar’s Sight I
Spells: Levitate Paper I, Inkless Words I, Summon Book I
Scholar’s Sight? Eve asked.
Scholar’s Sight I
Examine the target with the power of your mana.
Eve quickly checked the information for everything else.
Levitate Paper I
Move paper anywhere within five meters of your body for ten minutes.
Inkless Words I
Write on paper anywhere within five meters of your body for ten minutes.
Summon Book I
Summon a book that you own within 25 meters of your body.
Eve instantly activated Summon Book I pulling the Transport to Another World Vol. 1 by Matt Smith. She watched as her mana ticked down by one before refreshing back to full. Testing Levitate Paper I and Inkless Words I each took a single mana per use. Playing with the flying paper, she tested how fast the paper could move.
Which was how she discovered the speed wasn’t limited. Whoever had created the Spell within the System seemed rather lazy. It was as if they had placed instructions that the paper moved as fast as the user wanted and never had their work second checked.
Eve discovered that when the paper she had been levitating sliced off the corner of the wood table next to her chair.
Frozen in shock, she stared at the harmless-looking paper that had just chopped a piece of wood off like a monofilament edge blade. Further experimentation revealed that it was no accident. The paper followed the words exactly as written in the Spell, and if there was something in the way, it applied basic physics. Similar to how a tornado could pierce wood with a piece of straw.
Magic world, magic logic. Eve thought before using the paper to trim a small piece of wood until the tabletop was perfectly circular once more. The realization that her Levitate Paper I could be used as a weapon did immense things for her sense of safety. Granted, she had absolutely no clue how it worked, and she honestly didn’t care. After trimming the table next to her chair back to a more normal look, Eve got up from the lazy chair giving the soft leather one last look.
Time to put in the work. Food first, then magic experiments. Eve thought, quickly moving off with her floating paper following like a loyal puppy.
Comments
Mr. Bigglesworth
Indeed, the title is Los!
rador dekeche
Seems interesting so far, does this story have a title?
