SnowRabbitInnkeeper

Missed two days, so you guys get three chapters today!

Samantha's PoV

YES! This is a huge step forward. I smiled when I saw my name, Greaves. As I looked through the information, I formed a few theories. Theory one, there are multiple races in Aesirvale, as opposed to Earth only having humans, and the System doesn’t even consider us a race until we were in compatible bodies. Theory two, [Classes], levels, Qi, Mp, and Attunement would become available when we were synched. Theory three, Hp was Health points, Mp was Mana points, and Sp was Stamina points. Theory four, gaining levels would give stat points. Theory five, the stats on the right were mental stats, and would affect magic and Qi related things. Theory six, ten points in a stat was, roughly, peak human ability on earth, without using drugs that is. Theory seven, my Constitution stat affected Health, Endurance affected Stamina, and Vitality affected regen for both. Theory eight, more difficult physical tasks will drain Sp faster, and similarly, wounds in more dangerous locations will cause more damage, rather than being entirely stat based. I also found that [System] was also the command word to close the windows. Most of my theories were based on the similarities to the System menu and the character menu iv VoV

I watched my Sp as we walked, finding it went down by 1 every half mile or so, which supports my theory that Sp is Stamina points. I didn’t want to reveal that I learned how to open my status so that people would stay focused on their surroundings, and I couldn’t warn people about testing my damage theory without giving away what I was testing, but I could test my Stamina exhaustion theory under the pretenses of scouting, especially since we were getting close to the base of the mountain. The ground was already beginning to form an incline. I shifted a little closer to Arthur so I could talk to him without others hearing.

“Hey Art, we’re getting close, maybe we should go ahead so that we can lead the group straight to a cave when they get to the base.” I hated hiding anything from Arthur, but I didn’t want someone to overhear, so I’d have to wait until we were farther out.

“Good idea. I’ll send Pvt. Miller and Pvt. Baker. They’re fast, and have hunting experience that will help with sneaking by wildlife.” Damn it Arthur. I didn’t want to have to do this.

“I really need a run to calm my nerves though, and you look like you could use one too.” He didn’t, but my husband cares too much to say no to my request, and he definitely won’t let me go alone. It’s one of the things I love most about him, how he doesn’t do half measures when he decides he cares about something or someone. The facts that he’s tall, handsome, intelligent, charismatic, and that he has a six-pack are just icing on the cake. And damn if he doesn’t have cake.

He must’ve noticed where I was looking, because he used our code word for ‘not now’ in his response. “Ok, we’ll go ahead together. I wish we brought the keytar from the gifts table. I could use it to form a cadence.” There was no keytar at our wedding.

“Pvt. Thompson, Pvt. Decker.” The two were at the front corners of the formation and didn’t waste time as they moved towards their Corporal.

“Sir”

“Sam and I are going to scout ahead; Dean will take my place and you will take Sam and his places.”

“Understood, Sir.”

Arthur and I started jogging ahead as the soldiers shifted the formation to fill the new holes. We steadily accelerated and, as soon as we were out of earshot, I lightly bumped into Arthur’s side to get his attention. I would’ve tapped his shoulder, but he’s too tall for me to do that while running. Sigh, the pains of the short. My attempt to get his attention seemed to work as Arthur glanced in my direction as he ran.

“I figured out how to use the windows.” My statement caused Art to stumble on a tree root, nearly falling over before he caught himself.

“WHAT! Why didn’t you say anything?!”

“I wanted people to keep their eyes open instead of trying to manipulate the system.” Good, the windows know when you’re trying to interact with them and when you’re just saying the command words. “There might be other functions, but you should try saying [System].”

“[System].” He stumbled again, probably due to a bunch of semi-translucent windows opening in front of his face.

"What's it say?" We spent the next few minutes talking about his status. His race also listed 65% compatibility. His professions were [Leader] and [Soldier], at ranks 3 and 8, respectively. His Hp was 90, Sp 94/100, with the same regen as me. His Mp, Qi, and their respective regen rates were also listed as N/A for him. Everything that was listed as N/A for me was the same for him. His Strength and Constitution were at eight, Endurance and Vitality were tens, Agility was six, Dexterity was seven, Clarity was eight, Intelligence was seven, Wisdom was nine, Attunement was zero, and his Will was ten. The differences in his Sp, Hp, Constitution, and Endurance suggest that theory seven is correct. It seems that every point in Constitution and/or Endurance increases Hp or Sp by ten respectively.

I was watching my Stamina as he listed his values. The Stamina portion of theory eight seemed to be proving true as my Stamina levels fell faster while I was running. It took us about seven minutes to break out of the forest, and immediately in front of us just 15 yards ahead was a cave, just above where dirt and grass became stone and gravel. There were still 37 minutes on the clock, so our group would get here with about 15 minutes to spare if they kept the pace they were moving when Arthur and I left. Arthur and I decided to wait a few minutes before heading back to rest and check for activity immediately outside the cave.

It took us just five minutes to reach the group on our back. Judging by their urging to increase the pace, the less fit members of our group seemed excited that we were over half-way there. We did end up speeding up a bit, arriving at the cave with 21 minutes to spare. Arthur took half his squad into the cave to check for threats, leaving Dean in charge outside. They gave us the all-clear and we all went into the cave. While the entrance and initial corridor were only about six feet tall and four feet wide, the inside was much more spacious. The ceiling was ten feet tall, and the space was an irregular oval shape, eight feet across at the smallest gap, 15 feet at the largest, and it went 100 feet back. There was a pile of rocks that was probably a collapsed tunnel near the back of the cave. A few people grabbed the cooler and no perishables before we left, so we all ate before we stacked everything besides the food at the entrance, trying to block it off as much as we could. As soon as we finished our makeshift barricade, the System decided to grace us with a wonderful message.

Fu-

And the world went dark.