Alright for fuck's sake Brandon concentrate! I still haven’t looked around the room. I’m sure that part of this is all me stalling, so I don’t have to see what I’ve killed. Even with this emotional block, it’s still a huge deal for me.

I’m twenty years old and come from rural Idaho, in the United States of America. I grew up hunting so I’ve killed a lot of birds and even a deer once, but that’s a far cry from killing something that was also trying to kill me and that looks humanoid.

I've been in a couple of minor scuffles before, but after a few punches, things calmed down quickly, and there wasn't any real danger of injury beyond a bloody nose or a split lip.

I mentally activate Identify Item and it appears this also covers monsters. I decide I better ask Scarlett about this just to be sure.

“Scarlett, will Identify Item Basic always identify Monsters as long as they’re within 50 levels of me or only after they’re dead?” Seems like a good question to me.

Identify Item will identify any Sentient, Monster, or Item as long as it is within 50 levels of you. This is true as long as the Sentient or Monster does not have an item or skill that can hide themselves or the gear that they wear.

So I can even look at the gear people are wearing?

Yes, but they will know that you are using the skill on them or their gear unless you also have an item or skill that can hide it from them.

Alright, I’m pretty sure I understand and this is starting to feel silly.

First, I look at the larger of the two bodies, the boss, and the skill seems to automatically activate. I see Grille Level 25 Goblin - Dungeon Boss. I walk closer and can’t help but look at his sharp teeth and make sure he doesn’t have gold-capped teeth or something. Nope, no caps. I knew he would be level 25. I’m given the opportunity to check his Inventory like I’m looting something in a video game and when his inventory pops up. I see he has 100 gold pieces and 5,000 silver and a couple of lesser healing potions. He also has some food and water on him. According to the item descriptions, the food is called “dungeon rations” and says it will provide enough nutrition to keep even an adventurer going for 10 hours. The water says “clean water”. It’s exactly what you think it is. Drink it when you get thirsty. There are 10 bars and 10 jugs of water that I'd say are about the size of a 2 liter water bottle.

I get a prompt asking if I want to auto loot him, and I do it. I’m worried that much gold and silver is going to overwhelm my small inventory room, but I just see it show up as a counter, just like I was playing World of Warcraft or something.

This is cool as fuck!! I know I’m an athlete, but I’ve always said I’m a nerd trapped in an athlete’s body. My hobbies are definitely on the nerdy side. I’ve read the entire Wheel of Time series half a dozen times. I read a ton of fantasy and while I’ll certainly play Madden or MLB the Show I tend to play fantasy style video games too. Honestly, those hobbies are really helping me wrap my mind around all of this stuff.

I ask Scarlett about it again and she reminds me that my UI and how I interact with it is determined by how my mind would best deal with the information I now have access to through the system. The System tracks money, and it is not necessary to actually physically handle money or items in an inventory most of the time. If I want to buy something from a trader, I will see a prompt that pops up and can accept or turn down their offer. That’s pretty goddamn handy.

Examining Grille's body again, I estimate he's at least 5'10"; despite being wiry, he's quite muscular, certainly not emaciated. His skin is an olive green hue, no hair anywhere on his body except his head. His head looks a bit like I’d assume a goblin would look like with a pointy nose, large ears, and those sharp teeth.

He isn’t hideous or covered in warts or anything though. The face is definitely not human, but he doesn’t look like I’d expect from watching Lord of the Rings. Of course, Tolkien used goblins and orcs pretty much interchangeably. If I saw this guy on the street it would be obvious he wasn’t human but I would have thought he was attractive in his own alien way.

I shake my head and look at the other goblin and see her basic info pop up, Gidgyt - Level 21 Goblin Consort. I’m honestly not sure what that means, so I ask Scarlett.

“Scarlett, I understand what a consort is, but why is it her class?”

A Consort is a support class available to some monsters and Sentients. A requirement of the Consort class is to be the romantic partner of someone who has a Lord or higher class. Dungeon Bosses also count. They will have skills that are largely focused on making their partner more powerful or that help with administration.

“Did she have to level up from a different class at level 10 or something? Was just being the Boss’ romantic partner what gave her the class?”

There are many classes in the System and there will be times when events or a set of requirements are met that will enable someone or something to evolve their classes outside of the standard level 10, 25, and so on.

I inspect Gidgyt a little more. She’s probably 4 ½ feet tall and while she’s clearly a goblin, she probably wasn’t unattractive while alive aside from the whole pointy nose and sharp teeth thing. I don’t want to get too creepy, so I don’t do too much looking.

I look at her inventory and auto loot her own food and water, as well as a couple of basic health and mana potions. After I do that, I decide to cover their bodies with a sheet and look around the room a bit.

I decide to pull a health potion out and see if I can get a bit more information from it.

I use my Identify Skill and I see: Lesser Healing Potion, Can heal up to 200 hit points of damage. Consuming it provides general healing, but you can pour it directly onto a wound to heal a specific injury first. If poured on a wound, it will only heal that wound. There is a three-minute cooldown after use and no other potions can be consumed during that time.

Well, it is time to walk around the room and see if I can find anything good. I’m gonna save the chest for last. I also want to ask about goblins and see how they fit into the monster thing, so I ask Scarlett about that.

“Scarlett, are Goblins magical creatures as well? You didn’t mention them as a sentient race.”

Ah, goblins are a complicated situation. Goblins were first identified by the System very early after the System began expanding into new worlds and universes. They are born, not magical creations, but when they were first identified, they were determined to have intelligence on par with many monkey species on Earth. This meant that they did not have souls and were thus not a Sentient race. They grow quickly and can reproduce when they are only 8 years old. Their gestation period is only a few months, so they could spread quickly when introduced to the newly integrated System worlds. They generally remained between levels 1-100 and the System decided they made ideal creatures to help the Sentient races, who have embraced the System, level up.

Over the millions of years they began to evolve and are now of a high enough intelligence to be considered a Sentient race. They have inventories so they are definitely Sentient. However, the System is not a compassionate entity. It is not an important distinction for you. Even killing other Sentient beings will help you level, so whether a Goblin is a Sentient or a monster, it does not matter. This dungeon will not open as long as a goblin level boss remains alive. The Goblins who populate this dungeon will seek to stop you from achieving this, so you will most likely need to kill all of them to achieve your goal.

“If this dungeon has been down here sealed off for potentially thousands of years, how are these goblins still here? Why haven’t they leveled up and swarmed out of here if they’re not just magically created?”

Once again, I am going to use your own vulgar language to explain this to you. System Fuckery.

I can’t help it, I just start laughing as Scarlett continues on

.

These Intro Dungeons have artificial levels and population caps. They cannot level above the artificial level 25 cap. Only a certain number of goblins may be on each floor, and they all have positions they should be occupying. System Fuckery makes sure that there are the appropriate numbers of monsters in here and that they are the level range that the System intended.

“Wait, does that mean all the goblins in the dungeon are likely going to be level 25? And does that mean I’ll be limited to level 25 while in here as well?”

Each level has a higher level cap than the one above it, with this tenth level being capped at level 25. All the goblins on this level could be level 25, but most will not be. Goblins are lazy creatures and they have no incentive to level. The bosses will be very dangerous, and if you are mobbed you will die, but you have a chance as long as you are clever and lucky.

You will also be limited to level 25 while you are in the dungeon. The level limit caps will not apply to you, but the dungeon cap of level 25 cannot be bypassed.

Well fuck, that level cap thing sucks, but it sounds like if I do things correctly, then I might be able to game the system a little bit. Alright, time to open that last chest then figure out how I’m going to go about things.

I walk up to the chest and identify it. Final Dungeon Loot Chest. I open it up and the inventory screen pops up again. Inside, I see a couple of pieces of gear and some potions, food, and coins.

Coins, food, and potions first. There is 500 gold inside! I don’t know prices on anything yet and even though my Identify Item skill is supposed to tell me values of an item, it appears I need to go places and see prices before that is activated, but, 500 Gold seems like a good amount of coin. I now have 600 Gold and 5,000 silver. The food is 20 more Dungeon Rations and waters except that there are 2 special ones! There is a regenerating ration bar that says as long as I leave one bite, it will be fully replenished within a day. The water flask also says that as long as it is in my inventory, it will replenish within a day as well.

I realize I have no idea how long a day is, so I ask Scarlett and she tells me 30 hours. There are also 300 days in a year broken down into 10-30day months. There were 5-6 day weeks. Year wise this is really not much different from Earth.10 total days longer based on hours.

K, back to the chest. I see that there are 10 each of mana, health, and stamina potions and instead of Basic they’re Standard. Each one replenishes up to 500 points of their respective stat. That’s pretty sweet for me at the moment. 4 minute cooldowns of course. I take all of them into my inventory for now.

I see that there is still a potion in the chest and when I mentally grab it I see it is a free skill point potion! Looking at the potion, it says that it is Tier 3, so it allows me to choose a skill from any class, or a second skill from the Rogue class for 1 point. I will need to choose the skill immediately after drinking the potion. I’ll hold off on drinking it until I look at the two pieces of gear.

The first item I see is a necklace. I take it and identify it and the gaming pack rat in me rejoices! Using Identify, I see: Necklace of Holding Tier 4. At Tier 4, this necklace of holding includes a storage space 20’ Wide by 20’ long and 20’ tall. All food and drink placed within will remain fresh and in the state that it was in when it was put into the necklace. You cannot place living creatures into the Necklace of Holding. This item takes up one of the jewelry slots.

The first actual piece of gear is a cuirass and I use Identify on it:

Cuirass of the Adventurer Tier 4 level 100. Part of a set of 7 pieces of armor. Stats, 30 Constitution, 20 Endurance, 20 Strength, 10 Dexterity. The item is self repairing as long as it is not completely destroyed.

Item set bonuses(you can mix light, medium, and heavy to achieve set bonuses):

3 pieces - Your armor will be self cleaning. Your underclothes will also remain clean.

5 pieces - The armor will regulate your body temperature as long as you are wearing at least 5 pieces of the set. You will feel comfortable in heat to 130 degrees fahrenheit and cold of zero degrees fahrenheit. You will also receive a 10% reduction in heat and cold magical damage.

7 pieces - You will receive a 10% reduction to all damage types and a 20% reduction in heat and cold magical damage.

I can’t help but laugh as I look at the set bonuses. It feels like the set bonuses are both funny and practical. If you’re an adventurer, I imagine you’re going to be in a lot of places where it is hot or cold and where it is difficult to remain clean. The set bonuses are basically a walking climate control system. Who wants to develop a fungal infection or some kind of nasty rash because they can’t shower?

I’ve spent a lot of time in locker rooms over the years and I’ve had more than one coach or PE teacher tell us to pee on our feet in the shower to help avoid athlete’s foot. I honestly don’t know if that is an old wives' tale or actually works but I’ve always just had a pair of flip flops I keep in my locker to wear whenever I shower in a locker room so my feet don’t touch the floor and I haven’t had athlete’s foot yet. I also regularly spray my cleats and running shoes with some antifungals just to be safe.

I equip the chest plate and move on to the last item in the chest. I use Identify and see:

Unbreaking Falcata Tier 4 level 100. 20 Dexterity, 10 Constitution, 10 Strength, 10 Endurance. This weapon will remain sharp and will not be damaged by items below Tier 5.

Looking at the weapon, it looks pretty badass. It is either a long dagger or a short sword. It has a single edge and a stabbing point. The Blade is ever so slightly curved and gets wider about ⅔ of the way down the blade before coming to that point. Definitely reminds me of something you’d see in ancient Greece or something. It says nothing about having to be wielded in my primary hand. I wonder if I can dual wield it, so I equip it and get a notification.

You do not possess the dual wield talent and will suffer a 50% dexterity penalty with your offhand weapon and a 25% dexterity penalty with your primary weapon.

Well shit. Good thing I have a couple of skill points available. I see dual wield is something that is in both the warrior and rogue classes, so I’ll use my remaining warrior point and take that. This means that I don’t have any remaining warrior points to actually take a weapon skill from basic to proficient and I don’t think I want to waste my Tier 3 skill potion on that. I sense that I’ll be able to use both of my weapons just fine, even if I won’t exactly be a mace or blade master at the moment.

“Scarlett, will my weapon proficiencies go up on their own with use, or will I need to use skill points to get better?”

All of your proficiencies can go up with use. It is unnecessary to use a skill point to become better with a weapon. Most people who are born in this world use practice with weapons instead of using skill points. A majority of people who are “Isekai’d” as you call it use a skill point if they come from a world that does not primarily use melee weapons but many people who are transported here also come from planets where they often fight, most likely each other, as opposed to monsters.

Your own planet has had people summoned here in the past and it is only you who no longer seem to have any fighting skills.

“Wait, who else did they summon here in the past?” And how many times?”

System Error, current knowledge of Talan is unavailable at this time.

“Scarlett, you’ve said that a couple of times now. It sounds like you’re having some trouble. Will this affect me?”

I am able to perform my basic requirements with my Intro program. I am able to provide limited historical data, but until I am able to re-establish my link with the System. I cannot provide up-to-date information on the surface of Talan.

“Alright, I guess I better get back to looking at my stats and gear then.”

So with my four pieces of gear, really wish I could have seen this loot before I took that +25 Dexterity ring haha, I have an additional potential pool of 65 Dexterity, 50 Constitution, 45 Strength, and 45 Endurance. Of course, since I’m level 7 and have nowhere near enough non gear stats, I’m going to have just a fraction of those points at the moment.

I still have 1 more skill point to use as well and I have so many ideas for what I should do with it since there is no class restriction. Do I take a second Rogue skill? That seems like the smart decision number wise since I think that a Rogue/Warrior hybrid is going to help me out the most. But taking a mage spell might be a good idea. I will have to ask Scarlett how many points a simple spell costs to cast. It can’t be too crazy since a level 1 mage would only have 100 or so points of mana. Should I take a Healing spell to bridge the next 3 levels until I get a self heal? I don’t have a bow, or the desire to be a Hunter, so that’s off the table.

“Scarlett, how does spell casting work? Like I imagine a mage will have a fireball or ice spike spell or something? How does mana cost matter there?”

Yes, Mages can choose from the different elemental spells, or even Magic Missile if they so choose. The base cost for those spells is 10 mana, but they will only do around 10 damage at 10 mana without damage modifiers. Allocating more mana will cause the spells to do more damage. There are also skills that increase damage percentage.

Well, I think that takes that out for me then. I wonder if there are any shield spells though that would stop me from taking damage? I ask Scarlett so I don’t have to go through the list myself.

“Scarlett, is there a Shield Spell available? I could choose with that Tier 3 potion? Or should I take another Rogue skill since it’ll cost 3 points next time?”

A shield spell is available from the Mage class. It would be a good choice if you are worried about damage. There are several Rogue skills I could recommend as well. Evasion will help you avoid taking blows. It is an activated skill that costs 50 points of stamina per attack evaded while active. There is no cost for activating it if you do not use it. Dexterity mitigates the amount of stamina that evasion costs. .1 stamina reduction per point of Dexterity. Dodge is a skill that is available to warriors and has similar costs to Evasion, so that may not be the best choice. Confounding Blades is a skill that will make it harder to track your bladed weapons. If an opponent does not have high Wisdom or Intelligence it can be very useful.

Fuck, there are so many damned choices. Looking in the Rogue skill tree, there are a bunch of useful skills. I can’t choose true invisibility. It is one skill I can’t choose even with this potion. Assassinate would enable me to pull an enemy who hasn’t noticed me into the shadows, but I have no idea what to expect once I open that door. It is a stamina hog too.

“Scarlett, if I manage to get a Rogue/Warrior Hybrid class at level 10, will some of the Rogue skills open up to me?”

Yes, you will gain access to many of the Rogue skills as well as lose access to some of the Warrior skills. You will rarely lose a skill you have already chosen, but it is likely that if you do not have Shield Bash, you cannot choose it after you have acquired a hybrid class. “Tank” skills, as you think of them, will be the most likely skills you will lose access to. You are unlikely to get true invisibility though, like a pure Rogue possesses.

Well fuck it, then I’m just going to choose Shield. It costs 100 mana to cast and then can absorb up to 100 points of damage. I can use mana in 100 point increments to increase it. I imagine it will remain useful to me forever. It does scale as I level up as well. I drink the potion and grab the skill.

Well that’s it folks! I have all of my levels and skill points assigned, and I’ve equipped my new gear. I have officially embraced getting Isekai’d, and now I just need to figure out how I’m going to handle this dungeon.

Okay, I’ve leveled up and chosen some skills. I set up my hot button prompts and go with the basic and standard healing potions, as well as a mana and stamina potion. This leaves 1 open spot on my inventory hot button slots, but I don’t really think I need to add the food or water, so that’s not a big deal.

I can now see my skills that need to be activated below those hot button slots and they go in a row below them.

From Left to right, it goes like this: Identify Item Basic, Unnoticed, Unerring Strike and Shield

With my Stat Points and Skills chosen as well as magical gear equipped for the moment, my character sheet looks like this;

Brandon Rawlings, Level 7 Human Medium Warrior.

My Stats:

48 Strength, 46 Constitution, 42 Dexterity, 39 Endurance, 15 Intelligence, and 9 Wisdom.. I now have 460 HP, 390 Stamina and 150 Mana.

My trait

Lucky Bastard - Exactly what it sounds like, you’re more likely to get lucky in a 50/50 situation and more often than not the dice will fall your way. You will be a great gambler.

My General skills are:

Identify Item Basic - this enables you to see the item stats of any item within 50 levels of your own highest level class. It also shows you a suggested value of the item.

Universal Translation - this skill is chosen by every person and monster capable of speech within the System. It allows you to understand anything that is capable of speech.

Basic Pathfinding - This skill lets you see a mini map on your UI that fills in as you explore a location.

My Combat Skills are:

Unnoticed - If an enemy is not actively looking for you they are likely to miss you on first glance. This is not invisibility and if an enemy has a search skill active then they will see you. The skill must be activated. It does not cost any stamina or mana to activate but will prevent Stamina regeneration while active.

Unerring Strike - Your attack will not miss where you target. It can still be blocked or countered by someone or something with a defensive skill but will not be dodged unless their skill level is higher than your level with Unerring Strike. Skill Costs 100 Stamina and has a 1 minute cooldown

Dual Wield - You no longer suffer a Dexterity penalty for wielding two 1H weapons.

Shield - Activating Shield gives you a protective barrier that will absorb 100 points of physical or magical damage for the cost of 100 mana.

Magical Gear

1. Cuirass of the Adventurer Tier 4 level 100. Part of a set of 7 pieces of armor. Stats, 30 Constitution, 20 Endurance, 20 Strength,10 Dexterity . The item is self repairing as long as it is not completely destroyed.

Item set bonuses(you can mix light, medium, and heavy to achieve set bonuses):

3 pieces - Armor stat bonuses will be increased by 10% and your armor will be self cleaning.

5 pieces - The armor will regulate your body temperature as long as you are wearing at least 5 pieces of the set. You will feel comfortable in heat up to 130 degrees fahrenheit and cold of zero degrees fahrenheit. You will also receive a 10% reduction in heat and cold magical damage.

7 pieces - You will receive a 10% reduction to all damage types and a 20% reduction in heat and cold magical damage.

Jewelry - Can wear up to 4 pieces

1. Ring of Dexterity +25 Dexterity
2. Necklace of Holding - 20’x20’x20’ adds to inventory space

Weapons

1. Unbreakable Flanged Mace - This flanged mace will not break nor will the flanges dull when striking any item below Tier 5. It has a 10% chance of stunning anything level 100 or below, 20% if they are below level 25. It causes crushing damage on armored opponents but is capable of cutting anything that is unarmored. It also gives the following stats; 15 Strength, 15 Endurance, 10 Constitution,10 Dexterity . It is a 1H weapon and must be in your primary hand. The item will be soulbound.
2. Unbreaking Falcata Tier 4 level 100. 20 Dexterity, 10 Constitution, 10 Strength, 10 Endurance. This weapon will remain sharp and will not be damaged by items below Tier 5.