I can honestly say that my sixteenth birthday was the weirdest day of my life. The first thing I noticed upon waking was hair in my face. Blonde hair that smelled like strawberries and sweat. The second was the incredibly athletic naked female body wrapped around me under my sheets. I didn't need to look at her face, I had known that scent since we were just kids, and the still fresh memories of our first night together and our first soulgaze only reinforced the special place its owner had in my heart.

I smiled down at Elaine, my girlfriend, my world, and smoothed back her rumpled blonde hair tenderly from that beautiful face. For all of a second before she reached up and smacked at my fice while burying her face under the blanket. I winced at my smarting nose and laughed at her antics. Elaine had never been a morning person. Hell neither had I but riding the high of my first time with my ridiculously pretty girlfriend had me up in more ways than one.

I was about to follow her under there before something caught my eye. Due to strenuous physical activity your VIT has risen by 1! I blinked at that. Ok, that was pretty odd, even for a wizard. I'd played my share of Dungeons and Dragons so I recognized the format. I glanced suspiciously down at the lump in my blanket. Elaine was pretty good at illusions, and this wouldn't be her first time pranking me. I waved my hand through the image to see what happened and- Due to use of charm and romance, your CHA has risen by 1!

I rolled my eyes "Ok Lanie, funny stuff, but can we save the roleplay for a day that isn't my birthday?" I grunted as she punched me in the solar plexus before reaching up to cover my face with her palm, a quiet shh noise following the clear instance of domestic violence. I rolled my eyes and looked around quickly before deciding to just check on the windows with my Sight. Elaine wasn't this good an actress on her best day, and no way in hell she casts illusions this good without looking anyway.

I opened up my third eye, allowing myself to gaze upon the world as it truly was…and stared dumbfounded at the still there window hanging suspended, unmoving in the air in front of me. I reached up again to touch the window Congratulations! Due to considerations of power and circumstance, you have been chosen as this worlds Gamer! The Gamer is a unique individual in each world who lives their life as if it was a video game! Defeat enemies to become stronger, and accomplish tasks to grow in power! For more information on your world and your new place in it, check the "Backstory" tab of your status page!

I blinked in utter shock at the window, completely unchanged from the others in the sight of my inner eye. I pushed Elaines hand off my face (much to her annoyance) and adjusted myself in bed till I was sitting up more. I blocked a lazy swing at my balls by Elaines fist with a wince and slipped very carefully out from under her to slide off the bed and put on my nearest pair of sweats. I yelped and spun to glare at Elaine when I received a punch in the hip, but just saw her arm hanging limply off the side of the bed, peeking out from under the blanket. Woman was a damn menace.

I slipped quietly out of the room, making sure to close the door softly and stopping to check if she was going to throw a shoe at it or something for daring to rouse her from her slumber. Luckily my door remained intact as I pulled on a sweater from the closet and headed out into the back yard to try to get some privacy while I looked into this little mystery. The last thing I needed was to spend my birthday undergoing a series of grueling and irritating mental and magical tests to see if I was a nutbar. I walked barefoot into the cold October morning, the dew speckled grass crunching slightly under my feet as I slipped between the trees to a rather remote clearing I used when I needed to think.

Even Elaine wasn't aware of this particular spot, and once I made it into the clearing I sat down on a stump off to one side which had been shaded by another tree. The seat of my pants started to soak through from the chilly moisture of morning dew but I ignored it before taking a deep breath and speaking the word I highly suspected, in one way or another, would change my world forever. "Status."

Name: Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden

Species: Human (wizard variant)

Level: 1- 0/100

Age:16

Title(s): None

HP:100/100

MP:1000/1000

Dissonance:79%

Statistics:

STR-4

CHA-5

VIT-6

DEX-2

INT-9

WIS-6

LUK-1

Passive: Starborn- Born under a confluence of signs, your powers can grasp that which eludes the grasp of most magics.

I blinked at the information in front of me. Ok, well that was…not especially helpful. The intelligence was flattering I guess, but my LUK stat was abysmal, which kind of made sense honestly. I couldn't begin to imagine what the hell a "Starborn" was. Even with the explanation my Passive was a complete mystery. I thought back to my sessions playing D and D and figured if there was a Background tab, there must be other tabs. I cleared my throat, enunciating "Skills". I honestly didn't need to say it with so much projection, but it felt important. I'm a wizard, drama is to expected. Through a new action, a skill has been created! (Dramatic Flare): A Wizard manipulates the forces of the universe, and one of those forces is Style! +1% Gravitas to all pronouncements, declarations and statements of intent for each level of this skill!

Skill List:

(Dramatic Intent):Expand for full description. (Level:1)

(Sex): I feel like I don't need to go over this one, if you dont know what it is, you shouldn't have been doing it! +1% pleasure to all partners for each level of this skill, +1% chance to impregnate all biologically compatible partners per level of this skill when not using protection! (Level:5)

(Gamers Mind): The composed mind of a seasoned Gamer, immunity to all mental manipulation and status effects! The Gamer is always composed when his life is on the line, which is always! Perfect self control under duress! Warning: Self control isn't immunity to emotions, you aren't a sociopath, you'll still feel emotions, they just wont override your common sense! (Level:MAX)

(Gamers Body): Live your life as if in a video game! All damage from any source will be translated into HP loss! A good nights sleep will fully restore HP and MP as well as remove all negative physical statuses! (Level:MAX)

(Physical Resistance) : Through repeated physical abuse, you grow stronger! +1% resistance to physical damage per level of this skill!(Level:5)

Ok, what the actual fuck? Firstly, Elaine and I had to have a discussion about how rough she was allowed to be, five levels in Physical Resistance meant she had been playing a bit rough last night. Second of all, why the hell was my Sex skill increasing my chance to knock someone up? I was sixteen, I didn't need a damn baby! I focused on that portion of the skill, hoping to expand on the information. Sex is the process of creating life! The better you are at Sex, the better you are at making babies! Maybe you should wear a rubber next time, idiot!

I glared at the window, fuck you too game, hopefully that five percent wasn't going to screw me this one time. I eyed my LUK stat nervously and decided to learn some more about my stat page with my handy new expanded information trick. I focused on Dissonance. (Dissonance): You are still a young Wizard and still new to your power, Dissonance is the bridge that covers the gap between your strength and your capabilities! A spell that would cost 100 MP for someone with no dissonance will cost 179 for you! Even seasoned battle wizards usually posess some Dissonance, though the older and more skilled the wizard, the lower the value is! Only truly brilliant Wizards are completely in tune with their magic and can cast spells perfectly! Dissonance lowers by one percent every five points of wisdom and every ten points of intelligence!

I grimaced but nodded, that made sense, if intelligence correlated to MP like it did in most RPGs I could get pretty damn strong, but it wouldn't make me a master spellcaster. I would have to grind that up just like a normal Wizard, albeit hopefully faster and with less studying. Based on my messages from my night with Elaine I could raise stats by using them, though I assumed that would take longer as I went. I needed to level up and see if I would get any stat points from that. I should hold off on using them until later when grinding them would be harder. Due to several minutes of intense thoughts and planning your intelligence rises by 1! By reaching ten intelligence you've unlocked a new perk! Mana Condensation: Super condense your mana into liquid form to be consumed later to restore MP! Warning: Every hundred mana condenses into enough liquid to restore ten MP, mana potions can be imbibed by any being with a magical affinity! Due to reaching ten intelligence your dissonance has dropped to 78%!

My eyes widened at the message. Ok, a hundred to ten ratio for Mana potions wasn't amazing, but it did allow me to stockpile MP for later use. I could build up a reserve and spend the day just practicing spells. My skills didn't include any actual magic, which I did know, so I assumed I had to actually use the spells to create the skill. Still, once I got some of those I could try to find a quest like the intro message had mentioned so I could level up. My face stretched into a wide grin as I stared off in the direction of the rising sun, today, my 16th birthday, was the first day of the rest of my life.

Hey guys, I'm working on a novel called Level Down on Royal Road and I want to work on the Litrpg medium a bit to gain some experience for that story. The Dresden files had no Gamer stories, so I figured it was a win win. I'm really excited about this one. As I usually say, any reviews will certainly help with motivation, but either way I plan to continue this as practice. Hope to hear from some new readers, let me know what you think and what youd like to see.