Oliver was driving home from his first semester of his freshman year in college for the Winter holiday, regrettably not being able to come up with an excuse to stay away from home as he did with the thanksgiving break he reluctantly left his dorm. As his beat up 2007 Honda Accord that he inherited from his late grandfather the previous year chugged along the interstate, he reflected on the last 4 months, being away from his family, not having to deal with the stress of the expectations and the passive disappointment that was ever so present living in that household, finally seemed to have disappeared only to return in the form of dread and anxiety in the days leading to his return for the winter break, he told himself that he was being ridiculous and overreacting, that there are tons of people living in worse family situations and he had no reason to complain, this however did not seem to ease his conscious in the slightest. As Oliver was mulling over what he was going to say to his family when he got home his train of thought was interrupted by a sudden phone call, startled he read the caller ID which was the name of his best friend Aaron, the negative thoughts that was plaguing olivers thoughts were pushed aside he answered the phone to greet his only friend, "Hey, Aaron, whats going on?" Oliver asked, "Waiting for your slow ass to get back in town, you were due back like 2 hours ago my guy" Aaron said a joking tone, "Yeah, im sorry about that man, it was hard to get out of bed today to be honest, im about 15 minutes out from my house though." Oliver said apologetically, "After 4 months you're still unnecessarily apologizing, im just giving you shit dude" aaron said in laughing tone. Aaron knew that Oliver struggled with social cues and understanding the tone in which people said things and tried his best to be a good friend and pull him out of his bubble as long as they knew each other but he still couldn't help messing with him from time to time, "Anyway, let me know when you're home and settled in so i can come over and play some mario kart" Aaron said, "For sure, just dont come crying to me when you dont win a single race" Oliver said in a joke mocking tone "Guess we will have to see then, asshole" Aaron said in a mock offended tone. As Oliver Hung up he pulled into his family home that never really felt like a home, he took a deep breath as before he got out of his car and approached the door, before his hand reached the door knob it opened, Oliver saw the indifferent expression on his mothers face staring at him as she said "Oliver, you're back." like she was stating a fact rather than her being excited to see him in any way, "Your brother will be here soon and dinner is going to be ready in an hour so be in the dining room by 5:30" she continued, "Alright" Oliver said Dryly. Oliver entered his room and took in his once familiar bout now somewhat nostalgic surroundings, Bookshelves full of fantasy and sci-fi novels, walls covered in video game posters and artwork. Oliver put his clothes away and scrolled on game development forums on his phone for the next hour. Once it was time for dinner he took a deep breath and went downstairs to dinner, The Knight family consisted of 5 people, Oliver's parents who both Co-ran a mid sized real estate company, His older brother who wasn't in attendance because he moved out and just got a job at a law firm, and finally his younger sister who his a senior in highschool. As Oliver sat down, his mind drifted towards what he wanted to do next for the indie game he was currently developing, but was interrupted when his mother asked once again if he was sure he didnt want to change his major, this was a huge topic of controversy that has been the catalyst of several arguments between his parents and him, she once again brought up his older brother who had a "respectable" career and how he should take after him. Olivers parents disapproved of his choice to be a game developer so much they refused to pay for his schooling as they did with his older brother and planned to with his younger sister. Which made Oliver get a part time job at the local computer store in the town where he attends college. Oliver saw no point in trying to argue with them because it always ended the same, so he finished his meal and quietly excused himself to his room.
After he sat down at his desk he sent a text to Aaron telling him he could come over whenever. As Oliver booted up his Computer suddenly he felt a sensation that only could be described as a railroad spike being driven through his head has he heard a female monotone voice say OLIVER KNIGHT HAS BEEN GRANTED ACCESS TO THE SYSTEM, PLEASE STAND BY FOR TRANSPORTATION PROCESS⌠"What?" was the only words Oliver could muster before his entire room starting rumbling like an earthquake just hit then suddenly a bright flashing light enveloped him as he lost consciousness
Oliver woke up in what seemed like a sprawling prairie with grass so long it swayed in the wind, the air strangely fresh and free of the pollutants Oliver has gotten used to, after a couple moments to collect his thoughts he said out loud to himself "Was i kidnapped" after looking around his night time surroundings more he noticed it wasnt as dark as it should've been for night time, and everything seemed to have this faint blue light covering it, he looked up and he was awestruck as he saw not 1, not 2, but 3 moons hanging in the night sky, he then said "Was i drugged?" as Oliver tried to collect himself and consider his surroundings when a window popped up in front of him that read TRANSPORTATION PROCESS COMPLETED, NEW QUEST AVAILABLE "Quest? Okay im definitely dreaming, i must have fell asleep while programming my game" but after Oliver tried pinching himself and slapping himself he just wouldn't wake up. "Slightly worrying but ill wake up eventually" Oliver decided to tap on the NEW QUEST AVAILABLE Notification that was on the edge of his view, which opened up a new tab labelled QUEST JOURNAL "at least i know im not dreaming about Elden Ring" Oliver chuckled to himself as he read the only quest that was in his quest journalÂ
QUEST: NEW BEGINNINGS:Â
You find yourself waking up in an unfamiliar land
OBJECTIVE: Learn where you are and what to do next - INCOMPLETE
REWARD: 1 Silver Coin
"Well thats annoyingly vague" Oliver complained to himself then suddenly he was surprised by a new notification that read
YOU HAVE ENTERED COMBAT
NEW QUEST AVAILABLE
"Huh what do you mean ive entered combat" Oliver said has he looked behind him he saw a slime about the size of a basketball slowly crawling towards him from the woods, he decided he had plenty of time to check his quest journal so thats what he did
QUEST: DEFEND YOURSELF
Your life is being threatened by an enemy, defend your life
OBJECTIVE: Kill or Subdue (Minor Slime) 0/1
REWARD: 15 Copper Coins
"I feel like saying threatening my life is a bit dramatic, this thing moves as slow as snail and doesnt have anything to attack me with" Oliver said skeptically as he approached the slime.
He stood over it for a moment then said to himself "harmless like i sa-" Oliver was interrupted by the slime hurdling towards his head as fast as a volleyball, he didnt have enough time to react and got hit on the head with what felt like 10 pounds of clay.
As Oliver picked himself up off of the ground he thought "i definitely have a concussion' after orienting himself he made sure to make as much distance between him and the evil slime as possible while still keeping it within sight, but then oliver noticed it was slightly blurrier then he remembered, as he saw the the slime absorbing something on the ground he felt his face
"That asshole broke and ate my glasses" Oliver then decided the slime must die. He found the sturdiest looking tree branch he could find and rushed the slime, but this time the slime decided to lunge at Olivers gut.
After Oliver relieved himself of the contents of his stomach, he picked up his tree branch once again and wielded it against the mighty slime, this time dodging it as it lunged at him, but this time Oliver wanted to fight back, He hit the slime with his trusty tree branch like a baseball, as the tree branch made contact with the slime, the tree branch broke but the silme was also sent flying a few feet back into a tree, then popped like a slimy water balloon against a wall. Oliver was basking in his triumph as a new notification alerted him
MINOR SLIME DEFEATED, +5 XP
QUEST: Defend Yourself - COMPLETED
REWARD: +15 Copper Coins
"+5 XP⌠I have experience points? For what" as Oilver asked himself this, a new tab popped up
CHARACTER SHEET
NAME: Oliver Knight
LEVEL: 0: 5/50 XP
"Level 0, huh? I guess i need to kill more slimes⌠oh i have a stats tab too?"
STATS
STRENGTH: 5
INTELLIGENCE: 9
AGILITY: 6
ENDURANCE: 5
PERCEPTION: 4
'Not too terrible i guess, at least my intelligence seems high" oliver said embarrassed
CHARISMA: 1
"Oh screw you" oliver said offendedly
ARCANE: 0
Reading that last stat jostled Oliver from the dismissive state he has been in ever since waking up, he took some time and thought over all of the things that have happened in the last 20 minutes "I wake up in the woods, theres 3 moons, i have an RPG system, and i got attacked by a slime. I really want to say this is a dream but ive never been this lucid during a dream, not to mention that living JELL-OÂ hurt like hell, it still hurts too be honest, ive read books like this, like a lot of them, so i can think of 2 possibilities, 1, i actually got transported to another planet, maybe dimension like in all of those books, or option 2, ive gone absolutely insane, and im in a padded cell somewhere, maybe a coma after that earthquake"
Then oliver decided to not worry about what was out of his control and do the best he can with the situation provided, he has fantasised about situations like this all of the time, he just never thought hed be in one. He explored the system hes been granted access to, it seemed like a typical RPG system, with an inventory and everything which would explain why he didn't find any coins after completing the quest he got, they were just automatically added to his inventory, but when Oliver saw a tab for a map, he got excited, he was lost and hopefully this will point him in a direction where he could find something or someone to help him.
But was immediately disappointed after opening itÂ
MAP FUNCTION LOCKED: LEVEL REQUIREMENT NOT METÂ
"That figures, that would be just too easy now wouldnt it?"Â
Disheartened Oliver decided to finally consider the topic hes been avoiding, the arcane skill, he obviously knows what arcane meant but the implications of that skill scared but also excited him, magic doesnt exist where hes from, at all, but the arcane skill not only implies magic exists wherever hes at, but that he could potentially use it, he just needs to find out how to raise the stat