When I woke, I felt relieved to see the blue sky returned to me. That woman's, that Goddess' warmth was gone, but it was replaced by the gentle embrace of the sunlight shining above me.

               I was immediately sure that everything up until now was just a dream, that I simply blacked out after being hit by that truck. But when my hands moved to my temples to soothe my throbbing headache, I felt blades of grass still wet with morning dew lap at my fingertips. I turned my hand over to confirm the dampness with my eyes and realized there had been some truth to the dream after all.

               I knew there had to be something to it. There was no grass anywhere near where I was hit.

                I sprang up into a sitting position and saw that I was in an unfamiliar forest, surrounded by trees and bushes similar enough to those from my home world to not feel out of place, but just different enough to notice. But that wasn't what cemented the fact that I had moved on from my old life.

               A rustling that came from one of the nearby bushes stole my attention away from my thoughts. Scooting back a little, I waited with baited breath to see what it was. I was already hoping for something fantastical. Something that would not only confirm the Goddess' truth, but that would allow me to accept my new fate.

               Before long, an animal I had never seen before popped out from between the leaves. A small ball of white fur trampled the grass with a couple half jumps into the sunlight. It looked mostly like a rabbit, but only mostly. The large antlers on its head pegged it as something that did not exist in my old world.

               It hopped around innocently, its nose twitching as it sniffed around for food, prodding the occasional leaf or fallen branch or patch of grass, likely smell-testing which would taste best, until it spotted me and froze. It just looked at me.

               When I focused on it, curious as to why a snow-white rabbit would be found in a lush, green forest, a small box that looked like a window prompt on a computer screen appeared above its head with the words "Jack Rabbit" in its center and a long red bar running across its bottom. I recognized it immediately as the name of the species and the red bar as a symbol of its current health.

               "Amazing..."

               The Goddess was telling the truth.

               While it could have been possible that I was in an exceedingly realistic virtual reality game, I had my doubts. The grass beneath me felt too much like how I knew it to feel. The cool, gentle breeze that swept through my hair also brought the refreshing scent of the forest to my nose. I could hear the almost relaxing sounds of the forest, birds chirping and flying away, the light strain of branches where the wind caught the leaves of one of the many tall trees and rustled them, a far cry from the autumn world I left, and of the rabbit's rapid sniffing of the air. When it tilted its head curiously at me, the thick fur coating its body swayed in the wind.

               I had no knowledge of any sort of virtual reality game that could be this detailed. Not that I ever really tried any out. To me, they were just a bunch of sub-par games wrapped up in promises of a virtual world that alone would be worth your hard-earned money. They weren't worth the time, so I had no experience with them that could truly allow me to compare to the sensations greeting me now.

               Unable to tell if this was a game, dream or reality, I pinched my cheek just to make sure and …

               "Ouch!"

               The rabbit froze stiff at my cry and bolted back into the bush where it came from.

               "Amazing."

               I sat there in the forest, observing my new surroundings while I rubbed my cheek, I hadn't meant to pinch so hard. A deep happiness that I couldn't remember feeling before hit me, I laughed, like a truck.

               For everything I looked at, if I focused on it long enough, a window with a name appeared. Most of the trees and bushes had names that I was familiar with back from Earth and I assumed that the few that I didn't were just ones I never knew about or were something all for this world alone.

               Before long, when I was starting to run out of new objects to inspect, a large window appeared in front of me.

               On it was something like that of a menu from a video game. However, all there was, was a start button and a settings button. I reached out to touch it, thinking it was some kind of wall, but my hand phased through it like nothing was there.

               "What the… I can see it but not touch it?"

               Out of curiosity, instead of pushing through it, I tapped the "Settings" button with my finger and a new screen appeared. Instead of text appearing there instantly like with the rabbit and trees, words slowly started appearing following a blinking cursor, as if someone were typing them in real time.

                [Hello there. How are you liking your new world?]

               If everything up until that moment wasn't enough, that simple line of text was all I needed. It didn't come with a name attached, but somehow, I instantly felt that it belonged to that Goddess.

                Unsure of how to respond, since there didn't seem to be a keyboard attached to the window, I spoke my answer.

                "I like it so far. I haven't really done anything yet, but it's beautiful here."

               New text appeared on the screen.

               [I'm glad.]

                A quick answer. There was a pause, but she continued.

               [I can't speak with you for much longer. I can't allow myself to interfere too much in the realms of mortals. So let me just say this: head east. Simply head in that direction and I am sure everything will be fine. Any questions?]

                "Um, yea. Thanks for doing all this, but what about those abilities you mentioned? What are they and how do I use them?"

               If she meant combat techniques or magic spells or something else, it was important for me to know how to make use of them while I had the chance. This forest may seem peaceful, but it was still a forest. There could be any number of wild animals that could attack me.

               [Just look in the settings window for an explanation on how things work. Anything else? I have to leave you now.]

               I tried to think of something fast and just started blurting things out as they came to mind.

               "Is there anything I should know about this world? Is there some big-name enemy that I am supposed to fight? Or a war between two kingdoms that I need to settle? Or…"

               Before I could rattle off any more questions, more text appeared on the screen.

               [I can't tell you that. This world, this life, is for you to explore. The games in your past may have been your inspiration for it all, but you choose your path from here on out. There are no quest markers. You decide the path you shall take. Head east if you wish. Or don't.]

               There was another pause before she continued. Her words came faster than before, almost like she was actually in a rush. I was curious to ask what sort of power could cause a literal Goddess to be so hasty, but I didn't get my chance.

               [I'm sorry, but I must leave you now. Good luck and I hope we don't meet again for a long, long time.]

               The second I finished reading that last sentence, all her previous lines of text disappeared along with the proof that I ever held a conversation with a god. I felt suddenly very alone and leaned back onto my palms.

               "… I suppose an actual goddess must be busy."

               This situation could easily turn out to be several times worse than finding yourself stranded in the middle of nowhere back on Earth. At least there, you knew what planet you were on. Here, assuming this planet held a different name, I knew nothing. I could tell the names of the trees, but I had no way of knowing if their leaves were poisonous to the touch. Nor did I have any idea on which foods found here could be edible. Nor did I know how to avoid the dangerous wildlife potentially stalking through these trees. She said she didn't have time to help me more, but I wish she told me something more than just "head east."

               "Well, I guess she can't give me too much help, or I'd just have an excuse to grow lazy off the ease of it all… Guess I'll check the settings."

               After the goddesses' text bar disappeared, the usual system setting screen you'd see in any game took its place. A short list of options showed up labeled "Stats", "Items", "System Settings" and "Help." I checked the settings page first. Changing the settings to fit my liking was always the first thing I did when starting up a new game. While I didn't need to worry about if my computer could handle the level of graphics I was seeing, since this was my new life and because I had the option, I wanted to see what was available.

                "Wow, she even added the ability to change the display and sound. But wouldn't that change the way the world itself looks?"

               I thought up several possibilities on how I could use these features to my benefit, but decided to leave them unchanged. Because the world was made for me, I thought I should experience it the way she meant me to. However, I did notice the option to display a HUD with my life bar and prepared equipment, so as to not obscure my view of my surroundings, I set it so that the HUD wouldn't appear unless I looked for it directly.

               From there, the only other option currently available to me was the Help function. Typically, this was the option you would go to figure out the controls of the game, check your general directive, review objectives and all the world information you already learned, and more all depending on the game you were playing, of course. This was much the same, except that it didn't show a typical control scheme for a mouse and keyboard or controller. Instead, it showed a single line of text.

               [To use spells or abilities, simply think or wish for them to happen.]

               "Well, that seems easy enough."

               Intrigued further, I took a quick peek at my character stats page. Well, I guess it's just my stats page, isn't it? I figured whatever abilities she gave me were listed there and they were along with all my other person info. I took a few minutes to familiarize myself with them.

 Job List:

 Adventurer lvl.1

 Swordsman lvl.1

 General Stats:

 Health – 200

 Mana - 100

 Vigor - 10

 Strength – 10

 Endurance – 15

 Speed – 10

 Magic – 10

 Luck - 20

 Special Abilities:

 Lower Telekinesis

 Material Creation

 Material Destruction

 Memorization

Special Traits:

Bottomless Item Box

Easy Class Gain

Easy Spell Copy

Increased Charisma

Increased Confidence

Increased EXP gain

Increased Luck

Increased Mana Recovery

Increased Stamina Recovery

Scaling Increased endurance

Silent Casting

               "What the hell? What's with all of this shit?!"

               She wouldn't tell me about the world because she didn't want to influence mortals too much, but she started me with what looked like a bunch of cheat codes.

               Cheating in games by downloading overpowered abilities always ruined the fun of the game. They always started off fun, acting out your god-like whims by either becoming invincible or incredibly rich, but when you easily dispatched all enemies and instantly finished all puzzles and could buy anything you wanted, it quickly grew boring. There would be nothing left to strive for.

               But if this was my real life, I felt I should probably be grateful. Even at a cursory glance, I felt many of the traits alone would end up saving me in one way or another.

               After quickly reviewing my abilities, I could see why that goddess assumed I would like them. While my stats seemed well rounded for a beginner, the "Easy Abilities" and the "Increased Exp" traits basically sound like cheats meant to help me level up faster. I suppose that means my Adventurer and Swordsman classes were going to level up quickly.

               "But wait… Doesn't the Silent Casting trait and the existence of a magic stat imply that magic really does exist in this world?"

               Usually when I played RPG games, I almost always used magic simply because of how much fun it was. Swords, axes and bows were all fun in their own rights, but they were all things you could find and use in the real world if you wanted. Magic, however, was pure fantasy. At least, it was supposed to be. If it was real, then I'd really have to forgive that Goddess for ending that miserable existence for me.

               I checked around the menu and found another tab in my stats page labeled "Combat Abilities" and opened it. There a page popped up with two subsections labeled "Physical Abilities" and "Spells." The Physical Abilities section was empty, so I figured I'd have to learn some before they showed up there. However, in the Magic section there wasn't a name of a spell, but an icon of what looked like a wrapped present.

               I reached out to touch it with my finger before I stopped and tried focusing on it like the Help page suggested. Its lid popped off and it spewed out a golden light so powerful that it was very nearly blinding. A chorus of beautiful voices sang an exciting and beautiful fanfare that I was only partially sure I wasn't imagining, but there wasn't exactly anyone else around to confirm this.

               When the lights and voices faded, I rubbed at my eyes before reading the contents on the window.

               Just what present did she leave me?

               Excited that this must be the real present the goddess said she'd give me, I waited with baited breath until eight square icons and a small box of text appeared on the screen. Each of the icons had a different symbol on them, each describing a typical elemental attribute. The first was a small flame, then a droplet of water, one of what looked to be a glacier, a miniature tornado, a lightning bolt, a basic image of a house, a shining black square and what looked like a ball with a few lines stretching out from it, likely symbolizing light. Beneath them, the text box read:

               [You may choose only one starting spell. Choose wisely.]

               Reading that, I chuckled to myself a bit.

               "Even her gift has typical video game limits. She didn't even label them. Still, how am I supposed to know what these spells even do?"

               I couldn't really complain. Just the idea of using real magic was exciting enough for me to want to pick one at random and let it loose to see if it really worked. Nearly endless thoughts and possibilities crossed my mind. Without a proper label for these attributes, the actual spell they provided me could literally be anything. If I chose the tornado, obviously the wind attribute, I might end up being able to create catastrophe-level winds to blow my foes away. Or, if I went with the glacier, or ice, as I normally did in games, I could freeze them solid with a burst of frigid ice shot straight out of my palm.

               But before I could let myself ponder all the various kinds of spells that were sure to exist here, I had to choose. Hyping them up too much might just end up with me disappointed if I chose the water spell and was only able to shoot a trickle of water from my fingertip like a broken squirt gun.

               Thinking carefully, I figured the flame, water, wind, ice, lightning spells were likely basic elemental attack magic you could expect to start a game with, or at least learn early on in a playthrough. I wasn't sure what the black square represented off the bat, but I assumed it was meant for darker forms of magic such as necromancy or illusion magic. Until I knew more about the world, I decided it wasn't safe to choose a type of magic that could get me in trouble, since most fantasy worlds view those types of magics to be more evil-inclined.

               I also had no idea what the house icon represented, but if it wasn't going to give me the ability to instantly spawn a house or to teleport to my player home, then I wasn't interested.

               That left the glowing ball. It was the only option I could see that could represent a lower-level healing spell. Being able to heal my wounds after or during a fight was definitely a great bonus. And since this was my real life we are talking about and not some fictional character, such an ability would be abundantly precious.

               Before deciding, I went back to the main menu and checked my Items page. This apparently allowed me to see a visual representation of that Bottomless Item Box I saw in Traits page. How it was that, that counted as a trait, I couldn't be bothered to guess. In it showed the typical RPG menu showcasing both what I had equipped and what I had stored away. My equipment, which I hadn't even noticed I had been changed into, was a very basic villager's outfit, a long sword, a pair of leather gloves and boots. And, as expected, the inventory also held one bottle filled with a thick red liquid, labeled "Low-tier Healing Potion."

               "I think that settles it, then."

               While a healing spell was immediately the most eye catching, after some deep thought, I chose the fire spell. Healing would no doubt be useful, but that was only if I got hurt, which I didn't plan to do. Typically, I tended to play these types of games as a silent assassin type. Taking down NPCs with swords, bows and magic all without ever even being seen. Things may not work out that easily in this world, but I wasn't too sure yet if I should stick to what I know or just wing it. Only one of those options sounded safe, but I didn't want to lock myself down to one playstyle. Er, lifestyle. This wasn't a game I could just start over if I built myself wrong.

               I wasn't sure if that was what I was going to do yet, but I didn't want to set myself back by taking something I didn't truly need. I thought this because the existence of the potion itself implied that, not only was there an alchemy system of some sort here, but also that wounds could be healed by simply taking a swig of potion. Meanwhile, I could use the fire spell to attack, light torches, make campfires and cook. As of now, this was only an assumption, but without the confines of a video game's coding, the versatility of most magics was likely stunning.

               At least, I hoped that was the case as I tapped the fire icon.

               [New spell acquired: Fire Ball]

               Feeling almost reproachful of myself for being so quick to choose when the spell showed up in the magic section of my combat abilities page and the other options all faded away, I started to worry that I may not have made the right choice. I had only assumed I could light things on fire with magic simply because fire in my previous world could burn anything it touched. But if I were to shoot some fire at one of these trees, would the flame simply disperse after making contact or would it actually set the tree aflame?

               "Better test this out first."

               I got to my feet, reached for one of the low hanging branches above my head and plucked it off. Using the Holding the stick out in front of me, I pointed my free palm at it. Using the Help menu's advice, I imagined a fire ball in my mind's eye and soon, an orange glow emitted from the center of my palm before I could consider whether or not I was supposed to make a particular hand gesture to get something to happen. Then a baseball-sized orb of flames appeared before me, so close all I needed to do to touch it was close my fingers. Sparks spilled off of it and faded to nothingness at my feet and it's vibrant heat warmed and dried my fingertips still wet with dew.

               "It really works!"

               Amazed to the point of jumping like an idiot that I was actually using magic, I almost forgot why I was testing the spell in the first place. So, I imagined the fire ball flying out of my hand at the stick and it happened almost immediately after the thought crossed with real intent in my mind.

               I laughed to myself, nearly giddy enough to start dancing on the spot, and let the fire fly at the stick. I would have been remised if I somehow manage to miss a pointblank shot, even if this was my first time trying, but it struck home. The fire hit the stick, passed right over it and burned it black. The smell of the smoke reminded me of when I went camping once as a kid and we toasted a few marshmallows over an open campfire, only back then it took several seconds of heat for the sticks we used to even start going black. Meaning that this smaller fire was somehow more intense. I laughed again.

               Just as I realized my little test was a success, the flame continued to fly through the air towards an empty plot of grass.

               "Oh shit…"

               If a branch could burn, then so could grass. And everything else inside the forest. Which I was currently standing in.

               Terrified that I might have just started a chain reaction that would lead to the forest around me being burned down, and that I'd be sent straight back to that Goddess out of sheer stupidity, I was fully ready to panic when another jack rabbit appeared.

               It burst out of a different bush this time, chasing some kind of smaller animal I didn't have the time to read the name of. The rabbit jumped into the air, intending to pounce on the pray it finally closed in on, but it was struck mid-arc by the fire ball.

               There was a brief squeak of pain as the fire hit the jack rabbit and sent it flying backwards, as if hit by a heavy solid object. The fire fizzled out into nothing against its fur and thankfully didn't spread from there. The small animal dropped to the ground and stopped moving. Its fur was burnt an ashy black. I waited a moment to see if it would get up and run away from me, this previously unknown threat that attacked it out of nowhere, but it was completely still where it laid in the grass. Its tiny chest didn't even move to show it was breathing. It was dead. And I killed it.

               I narrowly avoided disaster, but I felt a slight sting of pain in my heart at seeing its motionless corpse. Back on Earth, I'd never gone hunting and never killed an animal. There were a few times where my father took me fishing, but as luck would have it, I never once caught anything. So, even though it was apparently just some kind of predator itself that fell prey to a larger foe, I felt a little bad.

               I took a cautious step towards it and as soon as I was close enough to touch it, its body burst into white light and it faded away. In its place was what looked like a small, jagged branch. Happy at least that the fire didn't spread past that, I picked up the branch and focused on it.

The name "Jack Rabbit Antler" appeared in front of me. Using my knowledge of gaming, I decided to put the antler in my storage to sell or use it later. But before I could even look to see how to actually access my item box, the area around the item turned dark. A purple miasma of sorts faded into existence and swallowed the antler whole, before disappearing itself.

               "What the hell?"

               I opened my menu and saw that the antler was tucked away neatly in a new "Ingredients" tab within my item box.

               "… Guess all I have to do to store things is think about it. That's good to know."

               With this in mind, I hesitantly held my hand up and imagined pulling the antler back out. As if reaching into an invisible bag that floated in the air, the miasma appeared again and slowly swallowed my fingers up to the wrist. I felt nothing, not cold, not heat, not pain, not even a breeze that could tell me I was reaching into some other dimension, another world with a climate. It was as if my hand merely stopped existing, but I could still feel the other items I started with when I thought of them. My fingertips prodded the leather sheath to a sword, then glided over the smooth glass of a potion bottle. I reached deeper and felt the rough antler touch my hand. I grabbed hold of it before yanking my hand away from the miasma.

               Just as I expected, the antler was now in my hand. After turning my hand over to check for damage, found nothing, I imagined the antler going back in my inventory and it once again phased through my hand and into my item box.

               "Hmm. I wonder if this is one of those abilities the goddess mentioned only I have."

               So far, at least, this world seemed to operate on the same kind of physics and logic of my old world. Considering how the fire was able to burn objects in the world itself, then it didn't make sense that other people would be able to reach into nothingness and pull out an object. The laws of physics do state you can't create matter out of nothing, after all. Well, except, maybe you could with magic. But the fire ball spell was the only spell I had and if such a spell existed, then I didn't know. Considering that the Item Box didn't show up under the Spells tab, I guessed not.

               Guess I'll just have to keep it a secret from everyone else I meet until I'm sure whether or not they could do it. I imagined that if they couldn't, they'd love to abuse this power and force me to haul things over long distances for them. I also imagined that might be a good way to make money if the need ever arose, though.

               I reopened my menu and checked the item box trait to see if a description explaining its limits existed, but found nothing. Just another thing I'll have to figure out for myself.

               I shrugged and checked my basic stats page. My mana read as having lost twenty percent of its full value, meaning I could only use the fire ball spell five times. Which made sense. The world would be heavily unbalanced if that weren't the case and a noob like me could start chucking fire balls non-stop.

               Next to my stats was an EXP gauge for both my Adventurer and a class that clearly wasn't there a minute ago, labeled simply as "Mage." Apparently, killing the rabbit net me 50 EXP points. This put me about a tenth of the way to level two for each.

               "Looks like using magic increased both the new Mage class and the Adventurer class. Does that mean classes that weren't directly meant for battle gained levels regardless of what is used to defeat enemies?"

               Using spells to level up the Mage class made sense the same way it made sense that killing the rabbit with a spell did nothing for the Swordsman class. However, the Adventurer class sounded more like a title, rather than a specific weapon group or combat style.

               "Does that mean it will level up no matter what I choose to fight with? Easy enough. But to get that much experience from just one rabbit… That Increased EXP trait is going to really come in handy."

               Usually, killing small woodland critters in games was more for the sake of collecting their meat for healing or survival purposes, rather than actually gaining experience, because they barely offered any to begin with. But if I got that much of a boost from the trait, maybe going on a little rampage here in the forest would be warranted.

               I shook my head. I was a little surprised at myself for even considering such a thing after killing the jack rabbit caused me discomfort.

               Then again, this was my life now, right? Leveling up should be an important aspect of whatever daily grind I set up for myself here. Feelings aside, I'd rather kill the rabbits than let myself remain as weak as a level one character forever.

               I shook my head again when I considered the mana cost. That kill was pure luck. I had no confidence yet that I would be able to hit a moving target on purpose. And I didn't want to find out if there were any drawbacks to burning through your supply of mana. For all I knew, it could just leave me mentally fatigued or outright kill me if I let it hit zero.

               After deciding that was the case, I moved to put my hands on my hips and take in a deep breath to ready myself to take on the world, but what I felt was something harder than flesh smack against my palm.

"What's… Oh."

               Apparently, a stray thought while I was rummaging through my item box caused the sword inside it to appear on my hip. I ran my fingers over the leather strap making up the grip and felt a smile spread across my lips.

               Like magic, swords were a staple of fantasy stories. Perhaps against my better judgement, I did buy a couple cheap ones online back on Earth, but I doubted they'd really be of any use in a fight. They'd probably break under the slightest tension. But this one's weight felt very, very real.

               I slid the blade out of its sheath and held it up in front of my face to inspect it. The name "Bronze Long Sword" appeared in front of me. It was a basic starting sword, made of what might be this world's cheapest metal work, meaning there was nothing special about it, but it did leave me wondering it blades made of other metals would be more powerful like they were in games or if the metal only affected durability, sharpness and overall weight of the weapon. At least, the differences in metal stacking up higher damage number really never made sense to me, but I went with it just like everyone else.

               Feeling excited all the more about the world built for me, I shoved the sword back into its sheath, enjoying the crisp, metallic shunk it made as I did enough to pull it out and slid it right back in. Finished with my testing for now, I focused on my HUD and turned towards the east as it appeared on the compass above my head.

               The goddess suggested going this way and so far, she's been nothing but nice to me. Might as well try out her advice.

               This time, I'd do better. Starting in this new world was going to rob me of my ability to just wing it when it came to life. Laziness wasn't going to be an option, literally. There was no computer screen to hide behind and likely no modern comforts to keep me comfortable. My life was likely going to depend on me putting myself out there. The same way it was probably supposed to be back on Earth.

               It felt odd to think that I needed to be reincarnated to understand all of this, but now there was no choice for me but to do better.

               Offering up one last prayer to this goddess in hopes that Lucy really would find a new, loving owner, I took my first step towards a new life.