Nothing for him. Nothing To Him.
Stephen is a 20 year old Dollar Plant cashier. His eyes were darker than the skin on his back. Matching the hue of a trench lacking photons to illuminate its surroundings. These lifeless eyes focused only on the present and not of the future or even the past.
To him, there were too many uninteresting details within the world for him to care. For now, just scanning items and checking in cash was all he wanted to do.
"Hey Stephen!!" The Team Leader walked up to the register. He was a tall and burly man. It's a wonder as to why he's in such a rural area in the first place. "I thought your shift was over already man, are you here for overtime or somethin?"
".....No, I just forgot what time it was. I'll take my leave then." He took his Dollar Plant hat off and walked away from the register. "Okay then....stay safe Stephen."
Stephen kept walking to the back of the shop as if Darrel said nothing to begin with.
"Well isn't today my lucky day." The voice of what seemed to be a woman entered Stephen's mind.
Stephen stops walking. His forearm rubbed against his eyes as he thought "Did I not get enough sleep today?"
"No, you've gotten enough." The voice appeared again.
"....I must have gotten sick from the cold weather." He took another step forward into the back room of the store and the terrain changed before he knew it.
A room filled with white walls. Nothing applied to this room other than the silhouette of a woman in front of him. "Nice to meet you, Stephen."
".....Did I fa-"
"You're awake." She immediately responded.
"..... I'm halluci-"
"You're not hallucinating." She corrects him again.
"But...humans can't float." Referencing the woman in front of him. Her feet has yet to touch the ground.
"Well, humans from your world can't do a lot of things. But that's besides the point. CONGRATULATIONS STEPHEN EINSBURG!! I, DAIJIN, THE GODDESS OF ANIMALS, HAS CHOSEN YOU TO BE MY FIRST APOSTLE!!" Her lips curve upward in joy.
"Apostle? God?" Her flow carried his thoughts.
"Yes! And as a goddess who has chosen you as her first worshipper I will offer you my divine gifts!! But unfortunately we do not have enough time for me to explain everything in detail. So I'll explain briefly. First, you will be sent to another world to save you from the boredom you've experienced from your previous world. Secondly, I will grant you a system to help you adapt to your new world and communicate with me. And lastly, I will grant you 5 skills to further help you adjust to this new world. All I ask for in return is for you to devote your life to worshipping me."
"That....sounds fictional but if you can do that then I will accept wholeheartedly."
She reached her hand out to him. "So it's a deal?"
He looked at her hand and grabbed it. "Sure." Their hands light up in a white flame.
"Fantastic!! Now you are my first disciple. As your first official task, make an altar for me and pray to me consistently. Don't worry about the small details. You can use anything to make an altar as long as you believe it's a way to communicate with me or a way for me to hear your prayers." A rune filled circle expands beneath Stephen's feet
"All the information will be given to you during your transfer!!"
The flames of white illuminate his entire body. "I hope I get to see you again soon. Bye Stephen!!!"
_____________
Stephen appeared in a forest he was unfamiliar with. Left with an imprint, discerning the events before being fictional or not was difficulty. "Is all of this a dream?"
He raised his hand slapped himself as hard as he could. "Agh....." Holding his cheek regrettably, he looked at his surroundings. "I guess it's all real then. If she's an actual god then I have no choice but to do as she said."
"Make an altar? How does she expect me to do that in this environment?" Surrounded with greenery, He was indeed confused by the request of the God known as Daijin.
"She said anything will do as long as it's perceived as a connection to the God in question but ….will anything really do?" He concluded that the best option would be to make an altar consisting of what she holds dominion over. That being animal parts.
"This gives me a chance to try out the shit she gave me." A screen with a transparent look to it materialized before him at the mere thought of its existence being necessary. On the holographic screen was the outline of a human body(Stephen's body) followed by 6 DNA strands. Alongside the DNA strands were the houses of different animals with traits next to their names.
Stephen only had 5 skills he gained thus far. But it seemed like there were more to these skills than what was led to believe.
Stephen opens the trait tab for anthropoids and looks through the few skills he was given in said section. As much as he wanted to ask how could use the abilities in the first place, he had an intrinsic talent for such. Something that he is instinctively knowledgeable on without knowledge on how to do so. This is seen throughout wildlife. Lions do not necessarily need to be told how to hunt to be able to hunt in the first place. "These are a lot better than I thought."
"Let's try out super strength." His hands grip onto a tree he was spawned next to. Vein unseen by the meat covering its appearance was now visible from an outside lens. At least, the outline of them were. The pressure of his fingers upon the tree intensified. His right foot slides back against the soil beneath him. Leaves rustle against the wind brushing against its surface. The roots begin to leave the ground it burrowed itself into. As the young man easily uprooted the large Flora, bark separated itself, making a crescent with triangular shapes inside it form at a peak higher than Stephen's head.
"SCREEEEEEE!!!" Brawling aloud, the tree falls onto its roots. His hands no longer held the tree, instead his ears were being covered. The soundwaves of such a shriek shook his eardrums. It was a frequency unbearable to humans.
"AAAAAAAAAAGGHHHH!!!" He stumbled back as the scream fades.
THOOM! This tree-like monster falls onto its own trunk. Stephen, too occupied by the sonic cry it wobbled into another nearby tree. "What…." His head was on fire. Especially his ear canal. A ringing noise found itself into his ears. They were irritated by the high levels of soundwaves that they picked up. They were at their limit already. Peeling his eyes open as the pain slowly subsides, he notices a tree wiggling on the ground. "What was that?"
As he took a step, bark wrapped itself along his body. "What?!" Restrained to the bark of the tree he stumbled into, once he looked up the same face that was on the tree in front of him was on the tree holding him.
The holographic screen materialized into reality. His face lit up by the light of the screen as he read its contents.
"6??? There's 4 more?" Cracks form on the bones of his arms and ribs. His eyes widen once his brain registers such excruciating pain. "AAAAAGH!!!!" Never experiencing said pain before, he attempts to squirm but ultimately fails. "G-GET OFF OF ME!!" Moving forward, he incidentally pulls the Subrindes Arbores with him. Unbeknownst to him, the weight of the tree was insignificant to the amount he could truly pull. His excess force allows him to break free of its grasp. His body hits the ground in pain.
Gasping for air, his thoughts weren't normal. Racing at high speeds "They're gonna kill me!!!! They're gonna kill me!!! I'm scared!!!! I can't do this!!!!
"Hm??? Did I mine a diamond in the rough?" The Goddess peering at her chosen warrior smiled briefly.
Stephen's body, through the fractured bones, was standing amongst his foes.
All animals have a fight or flight response. Gazelles, Gorillas, Lions, Sharks, Reindeer, we all have a response to a crisis. Humans included.
Stephen's body while haven't ever been in a fight before held the will to live and thrive. His heart pumps faster and faster. Rising abnormally, his body temperature was the scope of the average human.
"Kill Them!!! Kill Them!!! Kill Them!!!!!" His mind was clear but his body was screaming. His objective was clear even without the need of the quest.
Bark expands from the smiling floras missing appendages but a chunk of their trunk disappears. Splintered wood falls to the ground with one man standing before it. The silhouette of veins in his neck were visible, his jaw moving to chew threw the bark. His bite force rivaled a Tyrannosaurus Rex. 116 times greater than that of a normal human.
"This tastes rough." While a chunk was missing, it was only in proportion to the size of Stephen's mouth. The tree's appendages were on the move but Stephen's body was already out of the way. While adrenaline does wonders for the human body, many facets were generated on the surface of Stephen's eyes. The light picked up in the area was collected into bundles of photoreceptors. Akin to a fly's sight. Unlike them, his vision did not hold that low resolution because of the size of his eyes. His eyes are over a hundred times larger than a fly's thus he holds more facets in his eyes. Flies usually have hundreds to thousands of facets. Each facet holds an individual image of the surrounding area. So for Stephen, he is picking up a lot more information through his eyes than a human could ever dream of.
"I'ma regular guy. I'll have to use everything I've got to beat these trees." Rather than thoughts, his body itself instinctively held this and his mind held said concept subconsciously.
Eyelids open atop and beneath his pre-existing eyes. Looking into the world, new sets of eyes were born. Wooden tendrils reach out to his body. But so does Stephen his hands meet the tendrils before they reach their destination. Gripping the bark appendages, one yank was all that was needed. The Subrindes Arbores was flung toward Stephen. His body rotated and pulled the Flora over its head. With one move, he slammed the tree into the one stuck on the ground. With the strength he gained from
Liquids splatter everything after their death. Stephens taste buds registered a sweet syrupy taste. "What's this?" Curiosity killed the cat. This was almost the case for Stephen.
His head tilts backwards. A wooden appendage scrapes against his forehead. Blood cells fly through the opening within his skin. One eye closed as he stepped back from the attack. "Right." Before him were 6 smiling creatures and none of them were friendly.
"There were 6 in total." Picking up a splintered piece of wood. It was around the size of his forearm with a pointy tip because of the destruction of the body it belonged to. Looking to the left, he smiles. He turns his body counter clockwise whilst grabbing a nearby tree. Tearing it from the dirt roots are sent flying with the tree. The weight of the tree caused two of the Subrindes Arbores to fall. The arm of another comes targeting Stephen's forehead.
His head slips to back then downward. As he adjusted his body, his arm sped upward to meet the wooden arm. The splintered piece of wood stabs through the Subrindes Arbores arm. Unsheathing the weapon, the branch met with the pressure associated with Stephen's hand. His body once again rotates with the branch. Because it's still attached to the beast, it was dragged with it. Crashing into the tree beside it, broken pieces of bark flew. He lowered his head again to avoid another wooden tendril. He propels himself forward thus ripping the arm off of the dead Subrindes. Turning around, he launched the arm at the trunk of another Subrindes Arbores. The tip of the tendrils is so sharp it pierced through the Subrindes Arbores body. Sap floods out the small area of space between the arm invading its body and its own bark. THOOM!! The body fell on its roots.
Stephen licked the sap on his face that came from the Subrindes Arbores.
The last remaining Subrindes Arbores stopped itself in its tracks. A round Red-blue gradient fruit covered in pink and red petals forms on its arms as elongated it to Stephen.
"Hm?" A notification appears before Stephen.
His body finally calmed down now that it did not detect animosity in the air. He could think normally again.
"Is the fruit special? I guess it won't hurt to spare it." He grabs the fruit from the monster, accepting its submission and sparing it.
"That's nice." His back pressed against the nearest tree. Spinning the wheel immediately he watched it go over so many small names that he couldn't even read them. Of course, at this time his Six Eyes and Fly Sight were deactivated.