After a long walk up a staircase that seemed to stretch on forever, Grant reached its apex. The exit was boarded up with wood, which he had to break away with his sword, but after that, he was finally done, climbing out into the light. He never wanted to even think about stairs again in his life.

[Your Endurance stat has increased by +6!]

[Your Stair Scaling skill has gone up two levels! Stair down your goal and step up until you reach it!]

"I need to find out how to turn those off..." he puffed, bending over to catch his breath. +6 Endurance, his ass. All he wanted to do right now was lay down and take a nap.

He was inside what appeared to be a small circular temple, its domed ceiling made of gorgeous stained glass which tinted the sunbeams various cerulean hues. It honestly would've been beautiful, if not for the notifications hanging in front of him. They eventually faded away, letting him appreciate the view.

Legs aching, Grant circled around the temple looking for the exit. The temple had no doors, just a signle arch-shaped opening that lead outside. When not filtered through stained glass, the sunlight was totally blinding, so Grant kept a hand over his eyes to let them adjust. He stepped through the gateway, his boots touching down on a dusty, overgrown dirt path. He stood on a high hill overlooking a vast, rolling sea of tall green grass and scratchy wild bushes. In the distance, he could see a large village near a river, tall wooden walls built on all sides.

The shabby dirt path cut through the vegetation, twisting and turning over the hills all the way down to the village. It wouldn't be a hard walk, but certainly a long one. Grant sighed, propping himself on his sword.

He looked around, spotting an old twisted oak on a hill not too far away. Might as well take a break.

Grant rested against the tree for a few hours, slipping half-asleep. He kept his sword gripped in his hand, in case a monster burst out of nowhere or something. After his nap, he brushed the dirt off his butt and took off down the path. While he had slept, the sun in the sky slipped down to the west, and as he boredly walked down the trail, it got lower and lower. By nighttime he was only halfway to the village.

"This sucks," he thought, dragging his sword behind him to watch it carve a line in the dirt. The long walk reminded him of going on hiking trips with his hippie parents, who could somehow derive enjoyment out of staring at trees and rivers and plants and rocks for hours. He figured this would bore even them, though. At least those mountain trails served some challenge, and at least the subterranean dungeon had skeletons to beat up - by now he was praying for a monster to jump from the tall grass, if only for something to do other than walk.

"I guess I should try to figure out how the system here works." he paused in place to rest his legs a little. "What was the word again?"

Hoping Gigi couldn't hear him from whatever heavenly plane she was on, he cleared his throat. "Stats." he said. With that, a blue screen appeared before his eyes.

"Yeah, that's... that's about what I anticipated." Grant scrolled down to the bottom since he wasn't gonna read all that shit - kinda like you just did. Yeah, don't think I didn't see that.

Classes seemed more important than the seemingly meaningless stat column, so he checked those next. "See classes!"

Alright, this seemed a little more useful. He figured the Perk Points could be used to buy the Perks, which ranged from useless to handy based on the writing. Grant held off on buying any for now - he figured that was a decision best suited for when he could sit down and really consider things.

He also decided to hold off on bothering with checking the skills: clearly the Perks were this system's version of abilities, and the pop ups for them were similar to the pop ups for the stats, so he figured it'd just be a long list that he (and you) would scroll down and not really read.

"Ha!"

Jumping in fright, he spun around to see Gigi behind him. One of her small hands was raised to her mouth, hiding her mouth as she continued to giggle.

"You used my system! You used my system!" she sung mockingly, pointing and dancing in place like a child. "Ha!"

"How old are you, five?" Grant asked, rolling his eyes at her. While he tried his best to hide it, he was still shivering. Jesus, she'd scared him!

"That's a rude question!" she said, still happily hopping up and down. "So, what do you think of my system? Not to brag, but I made it all by myself!"

"Yeah, you really shouldn't be bragging." he started down the path again.

"Huh?" the goddess's cheer faded, her trademark pout coming back in full force. She raced to Grant's side, having to half-run to match his longer strides. "What's wrong with it?"

"How much time you got?"

"Jerk..." she turned her head away. "Hm. But you still used it! Getting into the isekai groove, huh?"

"You wish."

Gigi smirked, then dissipated. Snorting, Grant folded his arms. God, he couldn't stand that girl!

glenn-fletcher

Edited because I messed up on the textboxes.