Alex woke up from hitting his head against the hard floor. It took him some time to remember why the hell is he here and even longer to accept the absurdity of his situation.

How nice could it be to, instead, wake up in my room and forget everything as a bad dream?

He was moved in a caged wagon alongside some other people. They looked human, though some of them did have green, blue, or deep red hairs: four females and six males. Among them were two little girls, no older than twelve. Also, one very old man, probably in his seventies or eighties, snorting in deep sleep. Others seemed to be in their twenties or thirties. Every one of them looked extremely weak, impoverished. Their clothes are rags and a metal choker on each of their necks.

"Hey, can anyone understand me?"

Some weakly looked at him, one young man said something in the unknown language and then turned his face away from him like the rest of those people. He was ignored both by his captors and his inmates.

Strangely enough, but he couldn't see levels above those people's heads.

Maybe this chocker is some kind of power-restricting device. Or, more likely, not everyone in this world has levels in the first place. They could be just ordinary people.

The feeling of gratitude to his saviors disappeared completely.

They don't spare even kids and elderly! This is beyond fucked up.

As a person raised on the modern Earth in a safe country, he considered any sort of slavery unacceptable. The treatment those people got from their captors was too cruel even in case they were some sort of criminals. But he doubted it, considering how they caught him for no reason.

Fortunately, Alex himself wasn't restricted in any way. There was no choker on him, probably because those golem-like creatures considered him harmless. Or maybe they didn't have any spare in the first place.

Well, I'm not completely helpless. At least, I have some free time to look into my status screen and menus. Maybe there would be something that could help me to find a way out. Menu!

This time he made the holographic images appear without saying a word. This is how it should be done in the first place.

Menu:

Status

Abilities (Locked)

Skills (Locked)

Development Tree (Locked)

Quests (Locked)

Inventory (Locked)

Equipment

Maps (Locked)

Configuration

??? (Locked)

More than half of the options in the menu were locked.

Just great.

When he concentrated on the locked sections, more detailed info appeared about unlocking conditions.

Conditions to unlock Abilities:

1. One Monster Core of any type or quality. Would be absorbed.
2. 100 Achievement Points. Would be lost.
3. Level 5.

Out of all options, only two were currently unlockable to him - Inventory and Maps, both cost 10 Achievement Points and didn't have any additional conditions to unlock.

Well, either one could somehow help in my situation. I will check other available options before making my choice. Moreover, maybe there are other useful ways to use those points. For now, let's study my status screen.

He already glimpsed at his stats before but didn't have any time to check properly.

Status:

Basic Information

Basic Attributes

Mana Attributes

Resistances

Before, he only examined his Basic Information without paying to it much of his attention.

Basic Information

Name: Alex Bright

Sex: Male

Age: 10-year-old

Race: Original Human

World Integration Type: Player

Class: None

Rank: Starless

Level=1 (53%)

Now that he examined it properly, even the first part of his status made Alex confused.

What the hell? No matter how I look, I'm not a 10-year-old little boy but an adult man in his early twenties. Well, maybe a year here is two times longer than on Earth, whatever. Also, Player? Is it really some type of game? No fucking way, everything is too real—way beyond any modern VR. Well, at least three sections at the bottom are self-evident.

Basic Attributes

Strength=7 (61% Power, 39% Endurance)

Agility=8 (43% Speed, 57% Control)

Spirit=25 (50% Power, 50% Endurance)

Mind=25 (50% Speed, 50% Control)

Luck=33[max] (10% Intuition, 90% Fate)

His basic attributes didn't make much sense to him as well.

I guess those Spirit and Mind attributes should be equivalent to Wisdom and Intelligence you can see in video games. Well, I once tried those IQ-tests online and got a score of 140, so... And what the hell is with my maxed out Luck? My number should be negative instead.

Mana Attributes

Mana Shield=100%

Spirit Force=100%

Attack=5 (+10)

Defense=5 (+10)

Output=5

Absorbtion=5

Acceleration=5

Integration=5

He investigated this section, uncertain.

Well, other than Attack and Defense, everything else doesn't tell me much. There are no additional explanations, either. I would need to figure out everything on my own.

Alex sighed in disappointment and then checked the last section of his status screen.

Resistances

Slash=0% (+30%)

Strike=0% (10%)

Pierce=0% (+40%)

It was briefer than any other window. Alex guessed it was probably because it only listed those types of damage against which he already did have resistances higher than zero.

Well, as someone smart once said - 'Know Yourself, Know Your Enemy'. Now, after viewing my Status, I'm absolutely sure that I'm no match to even the weakest one of those stone creatures. It isn't like it wasn't obvious from how they slaughtered those toads with ease. Hell, even their levels are too high for me to check, and those stars probably proof of their ability as well. Now, let's check the Equipment and Configuration sections, maybe, just maybe, there would be something I can use to escape.

Too deep in his thoughts, Alex didn't pay attention to his surroundings. So, when his wagon, pulled by a giant lizard, suddenly jumped because of some rock under its wheel, he lost balance and hit his head at the metal bar of the cage.

"Fuck!"

Alex loudly cursed, mostly out of surprise. It gathered some stares from his inmates.

His head hurt. But, for some reason, much less than he expected, considering the speed of the wagon and inertion with which he was sent. There was no wound on his head. Out of curiosity, Alex checked his Mana Attributes. There was just a single change.

Mana Shield=83%

Well, at least I know that this Mana Shield is something like HP from those RPGs I played before. Not very helpful for now, but still.

Before he can continue browsing his holographic screen, someone called Alex.

"Hey, boy in fancy clothes. Was it you who cursed out loud just now? Can you understand my words?"

The old man, who was asleep up until now, slowly stood up and asked the question in an authoritative tone. In the language, Alex could perfectly understand - English.