Performing creation setup…

Tether activated.

Processing… complete.

Tether successful.

Initializing creator...

A human being's typical response to waking up and finding themselves in a black void is to do nothing and wait for the dream to end. At least, that's how I'd always seen it.

Certain other kinds of humans would probably try to have a little fun with the situation. Twist around, maybe do a couple of flips, and basically fool around with the feeling of zero gravity.

For me, I'd like to say it was a bit of both. Enjoy the fleeting moment while it lasted. So when I found myself in this exact situation, I did just that.

The act of trying to move was admittedly cumbersome due to the lack of surfaces there were to push off of and build momentum with. It wasn't a complete shut-down, though. It just made it more tedious… and I suppose just that little bit more rewarding when I finally did manage to pull it off.

"Oh yeah," I muttered to myself as I corkscrewed around. "That's how we do it. Spin to win."

All of a sudden, my nonsense was interrupted by an ethereal voice.

Having fun, there?

For whatever reason, it evoked the image of a girl in her late teens, or early twenties. Don't ask me why it did that, because god forbid should I actually come to fully understand why my brain does what it does.

I responded without breaking stride. "You bet. Not for long, though. Something tells me the novelty wears off pretty fast."

I'll take your word for it. I'm gonna have to ask you to stop, though. I doubt you'll be able to take anything seriously like that.

I attempted to do as she asked, but… "Ah, little help? I think I built up too much momentum. How do I stop?"

Lemme handle that. One sec…

All of a sudden, the feeling of weightlessly twirling around disappeared. Whatever had taken hold of me then reoriented me to the position I'd started this whole thing in before taking its leave. "Thanks."

Don't mention it. Anyway, let's move on. I'm gonna need to ask you a few questions first, though.

"Alright." I flashed a thumbs-up to nowhere. "Shoot."

Number one: what's the last thing you remember?

My right hand came up to rub my chin, while my other supported it. "Uh, let me think…" I racked my brain, trying to recall the last time I'd been conscious. "Ummm…" The awkward silence stretched on as I continually found no success in the endeavor. "Huh, I'm… drawing a blank."

You don't know?

"I don't think so?" I scratched the back of my neck in slight embarrassment. "My memory's always been pretty shit, so this isn't anything new for me. Gets really annoying when I walk into a room and forget what I was going to do for the third time in as many minutes, though." My shoulders came up in a shrug. "Sorry?"

Eh, don't worry about it. I was expecting that answer.

"Really?"

Yeah. Now, number two: does anything about you feel wrong?

My expression scrunched up into a look of confusion. "Wrong? Uh…" I glanced around a few times, then down at my body. I kicked my legs a bit, then flailed my arms. "Actually, now that you mention it, yeah. Well, nothing feels wrong, per se, just… I think there might be something off? If that makes sense? I dunno, I can't really put a finger on it."

Okay, lemme get that down… alright. Last question: what's your name?

I blinked. "My name? It's, ah…" I stopped. What was my name, again? "Um…" The silence began to become deafening. "That's weird. I know what my name is, right? So why can't I…?" I scratched my head. For whatever reason, none of the memories stored within my brain provided any help on this subject. Which was incredibly suspicious, because I knew I had a name. So why couldn't I remember it?

You don't know, do you?

"...no. No, I don't." That wasn't a good thing. Being unable to remember the last thing I'd been doing before coming here was excusable, but forgetting my own name? Not in the slightest. Something was definitely fishy here.

The silence was broken when the voice spoke again.

Okay. I'm fully aware of how bad this is going to sound, but… that means it worked.

My face snapped up. "What? What do you mean, 'it worked?'" A bad feeling was creeping up my back. Not remembering what I was doing before coming here? Something about myself feeling off? Forgetting my name outright? That right there was a recipe for disaster. "What exactly is going on here?"

The voice didn't respond for a while. When she did, it made the sinking feeling in my chest even more apparent.

...do you want me to sugarcoat it, or tell it how it is?

The question tripped me up a bit. It took me a bit to decide on an answer, which I delivered with a sigh. "Just give it to me straight, doc. I don't really like being kept in the dark."

I heard a disembodied sigh before she delivered the verdict.

You're being sent off to a world where the majority of habitable land is covered in creatures who do nothing but kill people.

I thought I'd been prepared, but nope. That opening sentence ran me over like a runaway truck would do to an isekai protagonist. Painfully ironic, considering my situation.

Humanity still thrives, but has nowhere near the numbers your home has, and most of the population live in fear of death. The people that don't wage a never-ending war of survival against their natural enemies, fruitlessly trying to take back territory. Very few attempts are successful, and even less last very long before they're overrun again.

If nothing else, the voice did a good job of making things sound hopeless.

Your own chances of survival are… slightly better than the average human, but it is still very likely that you will die young at any given time.

Every word I heard was another nail pounded into the coffin I suddenly felt closing around me.

In short, well… I don't wanna outright say you're completely screwed, but everything you'll have to deal with says that by all accounts, you will be.

The only sound I could make in response was a defeated whine as my hands came up to cover my face. "I'm gonna fuckin' diiiiiie…"

Of course, this is all assuming you don't do anything to try and change that. Remember, a 1% chance is still a chance, as you should very well know.

I scoffed. "Yeah. Right. We'll disregard how that's always been against me." I folded my arms and turned my head to the side. "Fuckin' one-percent crits, always killing my characters…" came out as a mutter.

Actually, y'know what, ignore that. Point is, you're not doomed. You won't be completely helpless against your foes.

My eyes flicked forward. "Oh, yeah? And why's that?"

Because you'll have this!

I was rendered silent when a transparent window expanded into view in the center of my vision. At first, it was blank, but information began typing itself into various areas as soon as the window was done growing.

[Personal Information]

Name: N/A

Title: Newbie

Class: N/A

Level: 1

EXP: 0 / 100

~Status~

HP: 40 / 40

VIT: 4

STR: 5

WIL: 6

DEX: 4

AGI: 6

RES: 3

LUK: 5

CHR: 3

Condition: Healthy

I blankly stared at the window, glazing over the majority of the information. It took a bit for me to organize my thoughts, and when I did finally manage to file some things away to get myself back in working order, the first thing out of my mouth was "those are some pretty crappy stats. I mean, yeah, it's kind of expected of someone who's level one, but still, ouch."

The voice agreed.

Yeah, those are… ooh. Compared to the average stat totals of a typical level one human in your new home… they're more than twice as strong as you. Which isn't good for you at all, since that also means that even the average slime-equivalent monster can stomp you with hardly any effort. How about we fix that?

[Received 24 stat points!]

Both my eyebrows shot up. "Wow, uh… thanks. I wasn't really expecting you to be so nice." Usually, the kind of beings who did stuff like this weren't too keen on throwing their experiments any bones. I had to wonder if this was some kind of bait-and-switch tactic she was employing just for the cruel satisfaction of watching me suffer, which in hindsight didn't make that much sense since she'd tried her best to be gentle so far. Thankfully, any hints of betrayal were quickly dispelled.

Oh, trust me, I'd much rather have you earn those points yourself instead of just giving you handouts. But, well, with the way you are now, I can't really see you earning them on your own. Honestly, that would probably be the most depressing catch-22 I've ever seen. Forever unable to get stronger because you're too weak to obtain the means of gaining it.

A humorless chuckle escaped my throat. "Y'know, I'd make a comment about your lack of faith being disturbing, but given this, I... can't bring myself to argue against you." If the circumstances were different, I might have been elated at getting what amounted to every RPG nerd's dream power, but at the moment, my hopes for the future weren't exactly optimistic. Hell, the fact that the voice kind of implied that my death was all but guaranteed if I didn't have this power only made my outlook worse. What in the world would I be going up against if I needed this game-breaker of an ability just to survive against whatever it was?

I found myself going back to staring at the window. "Anyway, er… what exactly do these stats do? I mean, I can make a few educated guesses, but popular media has repeatedly told me that you should never assume when it comes to stuff like this."

Ah, right! Heh, kinda blanked out for a second there. My bad!

The ten labels in the "Status" window moved and arranged themselves into the center of my vision, descriptions typing themselves out next to them.

[HP: 40 / 40 - Your current (left) and maximum (right) hit points. If the number on the left reaches zero at any time in your current state, you will die. It should go without saying that you'll need to do everything in your power to avoid that if you want to stay alive.]

[VIT: 4 - Vitality. One point in here equals ten points of max HP. Simply put, how much your body can take before giving out. The ideal stat to increase for conventional tanks.]

[STR: 5 - Strength. The primary stat used when calculating the damage dealt by physical attacks. This also determines how much weight you can carry. An essential facet of any damage-dealing front liner's kit.]

[WIL: 6 - Willpower. Mainly used when calculating the damage dealt by non-physical attacks. Can also be applied to a variety of other activities. Back liners will focus on this more often than not.]

[DEX: 4 - Dexterity. Determines the accuracy of all attacks. Not only does it also improve your fine motor control, but so too does it speed up your brain. This allows you to process stimuli at an advanced rate, essentially giving you the ability to slow down your perception of time. Ranged fighters are all but worthless without it.]

[AGI: 6 - Agility. Determines your evasion rate against all attacks. Increases the speed at which your body can move itself, and how fast your nervous system can transmit control signals to your limbs. Generally not a good idea to have much more of this than you do Dexterity, otherwise you might find yourself rendered unable to react to the actions of your own body in time.]

[RES: 3 - Resistance. Reduces damage taken from all attacks. Increases how well your body can absorb hostile impact force and the toughness of your skin, bones, and muscle tissue. Focus on this in order to become all-around harder to kill.]

[LUK: 5 - Luck. Affects many different things. The full scope of its abilities is better left unsaid. Relying on this should be saved for an absolute last resort.]

[CHR: 3 - Charm. Determines your skill at swaying others to your side and how well you can construct an argument. May or may not affect how appealing your appearance is to others. Considered a dump stat by everyone but leaders and politicians.]

[Condition: Healthy - Your current condition. Any status effects inflicted on you will be shown here, as well as how much longer they will last for.]

'Huh…' I thought. 'Fragile, but speedy, and no slouch on stopping power. Like a textbook glass cannon. Is that what I am?'

The low dexterity as compared to my agility was cause for concern, however. Like the description warned, I had no intention of putting myself in a situation where my body acted before my brain. "Hey, um… miss…?"

I heard what sounded like a choked "oh" before the sound of a palm smacking into a face rang out.

Uh, call me… call me… Gaia! Yeah, just call me Gaia.

My eyebrow raised up. 'Okay, pseudonym… wonder why she doesn't use her real name?' Regardless, I went forward. "Gaia, then. How exactly do I assign my points?"

Point allocation? I'd… love to tell you, but I think you'll be better off choosing a class before you go making choices like that. You don't want to dump everything into stats that the role you choose doesn't make good use of, do you?

My fingers snapped themselves. "Right, point. What are my options?"

Gimme a moment to bring up the list…

The status labels minimized themselves and returned to their previous positions. Once they were back, the 'Class' label started flashing, causing every other label to disappear while it moved to the top of the window. Nine tabs appeared in the empty space, all in a row, each with a name and an accompanying picture example.

[Classes]

[The nine class lines each have their own stat specialties and skills. Please choose which line you would like to become.]

The first tab's picture was that of a man with padded leather armor, resting an overly wide claymore on his shoulder.

[The Drifter Line]

[Jacks of all trades with a generalized stat spread. Boast a relatively equal distribution of vitality, strength, dexterity, and agility, at the cost of some resistance and willpower. Often associated with freelancers due to their varied skill set, which mixes in a little bit of everything that the other classes offer at a reduced power, trading effectiveness for versatility.]

The second tab sported a ponytailed woman in long-sleeved robes brandishing what I guessed to be a katana.

[The Celerian Line]

[Honorbound duelists whose Modus Operandi revolves around exploiting enemy openings and weak points. Chiefly focused on dexterity and agility to help them capitalize on opportunities after dodging everything their foes throw at them. However, on its own, their damage output leaves something to be desired, and they can't take hits very well. Their skills are best suited for one-on-one matches, featuring devastating single-target attacks and critical hit boosts.]

Tab three showcased a heavyset man decked out in full plate armor, with one fist on his chest in a classic medieval salute and the other holding a halberd.

[The Recruit Line]

[Traditional frontline tanks, built to last battle after battle and still keep going. Prioritize resistance and vitality over agility and dexterity, leaving strength and willpower as their middle ground. As you can no doubt guess, their skills mainly deal with defensive boons, and everything else related to staying in the fight.]

A woman in a worn tunic and ragged shorts hesitantly carrying a simple spear was on tab four.

[The Villager Line]

[Simple folk who just want to get through everything in one piece. A balanced spread of vitality, strength, dexterity, and resistance keeps them safe, with only their dexterity really suffering for it. Survivability is the name of their skillset's game, as well as rewarding clever use of available tools and items.]

Tab number five was represented by a bulky guy with a headband and leather gloves carrying a large axe while showing off his biceps.

[The Journeyman Line]

[Spirited fighters that can take just as much as they can dish out. Extremely high vitality is offset by near-nonexistent resistance, while large strength reserves and decent dexterity are kept in check by low agility. Their skills encourage them and their allies to press the assault with attack buffs galore.]

The sixth tab was lorded over by a stereotypical bald male bodybuilder, wearing only a shredded pair of shorts with one hand on the grip of a morningstar smashed into the ground.

[The Ruffian Line]

[Unsavory thugs with the highest damage output per attack of any class. Strength is their everything, with a side focus in resistance and vitality, balanced out by the lowest dexterity around and a lack of agility. Their skillset leans more towards juggernaut-like self sufficiency on the battlefield, turning their innate bloodlust into fuel for their unending rampage.]

A lean woman stood on the seventh tab, dressed in a breastplate and matching shoulder guards, pointing a bow at something out of sight and drawing back an arrow with a gauntlet-clad hand.

[The Hunter Line]

[Sharpshooters who prefer taking potshots from the safety of the high ground. Prioritizing dexterity does wonders for their aim, and their projectiles pack a respectable punch, though their resistance is understandably below average as a result. They specialize in accuracy skills, and are fans of helping their allies pull off critical hits.]

The girl on tab eight was flipping up a welding mask with one gloved hand, the other carrying an oversized wrench, paired nicely with her reinforced shirt and overalls.

[The Engineer Line]

[Intellectual brainiacs whose works of art are their pride and joy. Stockier than most and with willpower to spare, but are weighed down in return and aren't the best at dealing damage with direct attacks. Smart usage of offense-oriented items and ally buffs is what their skillset excels in.]

Finishing things off, tab number nine had a cloaked figure in a lithe landing position, cloth billowing behind them, revealing the dagger clutched in their hand. The hood obscured most of their features, and the rest of their figure was androgynous, giving me a difficult time piecing together whether the subject was female or male.

[The Sneak Line]

[Borderline untouchable rascals with notoriously sticky fingers and a penchant for getting themselves into shady dealings. By far the fastest and most dexterous class, but also the most fragile, having very little in the way of defenses and extremely low health pools, accompanied by an attack power deficiency. Fortunately, they are very, very good at scoring critical blows, providing a deadly, if a bit unreliable alternative to pure strength. They are arguably known best for their wide array of miscellaneous utility and evasive skills.]

Below each of the tabs was an arrow indicating that they could be expanded. Pressing it revealed the bonuses each of the classes would grant to my base stats, as well as which stats would be increased by how much upon leveling up. They generally matched up with the respective class's description.

Of course, when I actually saw the stat growths upon level up, I almost did a double-take. "All of these additions added up equal… twenty-seven points total every single level?! Holy Christ!"

Gaia suddenly chimed in.

Actually, it's thirty-two. You also get five extra stat points every level that you can assign to your leisure, for that extra bit of customization. It's not very exciting if everyone just has the exact same stats as everyone else in their class, right?

I blanched further and took a breather to gather my thoughts, putting a hand on my forehead. Then she went further.

No, wait! My bad, it's really thirty-nine. I forgot to add your luck and charm growths to the total.

The two stats mentioned gave my brain the opportunity to switch topics and ignore the ridiculousness of the current one. Returning my attention to the tabs, I skimmed the growths again. "Hold up… luck and charm don't show up on any of these level-up bonuses. What's up with that?"

That's because the luck and charm growths are entirely personalized and uniquely individual, entirely unchanged by whatever class a person may have. Of course, this does result in a bit of, ah… Darwinism, let's call it, due to some people simply outshining others in terms of natural luck or charm. But, again, without variables, the whole thing would become stagnant, and that's not very engaging.

A single laugh squeezed itself out of my throat. "It always comes back to survival of the fittest… why am I not surprised?" Yet another point in favor of my demise. Spending most of my days in a chair, staring at a screen was coming back to bite me, it seemed.

Oh, come on, lighten up a little! You're not gonna get anywhere with that attitude!

I shot the void of nothingness a flat look. "And how exactly does a better attitude help me kill things? I fail to see how thinking happy thoughts will improve my damage output."

Hey, you don't know that for sure! You could find a skill that buffs your stats based on your motivation, or something like that!

An eyebrow came up. "Are you trying to convince me, or yourself?"

For the love of- arrRRRgh… y'know what, just pick a class already.

In hindsight, it probably wasn't a good idea to mouth off to the entity that was most likely responsible for pulling me here in the first place, but she hadn't exactly done a good job of giving me reasons to respect or fear her. Regardless, there was no reason not to do what she asked.

I gave each of the classes another once-over, and began debating with myself. Right off the bat, I picked off Sneak and Celerian. I wasn't much of a fan of depending on the Random Number God to deal any real damage, and I wasn't willing to roll the dice and bet on the off-chance that Critical Hits weren't randomly generated and instead depended on weak point hits.

Ruffian was out too, simply because I wanted to actually hit things instead of just swinging wildly and hoping that one of my attacks connected. The last thing I wanted was to get shafted by some tiny bugger due to crappy accuracy. By that logic, Recruit was also eliminated, since its dexterity also wasn't that great, not to mention it was slow as balls. I wanted to actually have a chance of escaping if I ran into something too hot to handle, thank you very much.

From there, the choice became more difficult. After further deliberation, I removed Engineer, concluding that it was a bit too much of a niche class. Soon after, Journeyman was erased. Under different circumstances, I probably would have greatly appreciated the compensation to my more lacking stats, but now, knowing that my base stats as they were would soon be no more thanks to the free 24 points, I decided against locking myself in.

Three classes remained - Drifter, Villager, and Hunter. All of them were very appealing when taking my current situation into account - Hunter would give me an excuse to hang back away from harm while still dealing damage, Villager would give me access to a great many skills that would increase my chances of survival, and Drifter would ensure that I was prepared for almost any situation.

However, when I considered the possibility of battles in enclosed spaces, Hunter had to sing its swan song. Experience indicated that its performance would likely suffer if things escalated into close-range combat, and I wasn't very comfortable dealing with a disadvantage like that. And then there were two.

Versatility, or staying power? Dexterity, or resistance? Perhaps even swords, or lances? I went back and forth on the last two, constructing pros and cons for each. After a period of deadlock, I tilted my head up. "Hey, Gaia? Could you give me a coin flip, please?"

Unfortunately, or maybe rather fortunately...

While I appreciate the politeness, do you really think leaving something like this to a game of chance is a good idea?

Her words took me back to the description of the luck stat, and I found myself agreeing. "Yeah, probably not. Thanks."

Eventually, I felt like I had reached a consensus with myself. Skill flexibility had ended up being the deciding factor that had won the argument. As the old saying went, "a jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one." While the wisdom did fall flat slightly given how Villager was evidently not prone in the least to suffering a case of crippling overspecialization, the point still stood. I tapped the Drifter tab twice, causing it to move front and center while the others faded away.

[You have selected: Drifter.]

Is this acceptable?

[Yes | No]

I pressed the green button, confirming my choice before I could start having second thoughts.

[Drifter] set as starting class.

Class stat bonuses received:

+1 VIT

+1 STR

+1 DEX

+1 AGI

My main character window popped back up, the four increase notifications flying over to the respective labels and merging with them to signify the additions. I smiled in satisfaction, my innate RPGer making me feel like I was finally getting somewhere despite not having any tangible evidence to prove it. "That's what I like to see!" My eyes were then drawn to the 'unspent points' indicator. "Now can I put the extra points in?"

Go right ahead! But lemme give you a quick word of warning before you do. Once you confirm those choices, there's no going back. I really mean that - there is no way for you to re-spec your points whatsoever. So, y'know, think carefully before you hit 'okay.' It could end up saving your skin sometime in the future.

I nodded along a few times as she talked. 'Yeah, yeah, pretty standard stuff. Heard it a bunch of times before. Now, then…' I mimed cracking my knuckles and stretching my fingers out before wiggling them. 'Let's make me a build!'

The occasional click sound would accompany the next period of relative contemplative silence. I would also speak out loud from time to time, reiterating things I decided on.

"Okay, nice and even 100 for hit points… probably a good idea to buff my res… having the option to dodge-tank's always nice… wait, shit, what'll happen if I don't ping my dex? I mean, probably not much since it's only a three point difference, but ehh… think I'll trade a point of agility for one… and one from willpower. Actually, what do I even need that for…? Meh, I'll keep the one there since I might need it later. Uhh, luck and charm… I'll just give 'em two each. Description said it's basically useless if you're not a leader, and I hate taking responsibility…"

At the end of my brainstorming, my stat sheet looked like this.

VIT: 10 (+5)

STR: 9 (+3)

WIL: 7 (+1)

DEX: 9 (+4)

AGI: 9 (+2)

RES: 8 (+5)

LUK: 7 (+2)

CHR: 5 (+2)

Unspent points: 0

Content with the results, I hit the 'apply' button, then 'yes' when it asked me to confirm my choices.

All right, you're almost done! There's just one last thing you need to take care of.

It wasn't very hard to guess what it was. After all, there was only one 'N/A' left on my page. "My name, right?"

A new window popped up in front of me as a response.

[Enter your name.]

I stared at the blinking cursor long and hard, and a question popped into my head.

'...do I really want to name myself?'

Thinking back to what little my memories could offer, one thing I found was that I had no intention of changing my old name - whatever it was. Apparently, my mom had given it to me, and I'd stuck with it for however many years I'd lived in my original world. With that in mind, it just didn't feel like I should be the one giving myself a name. You could argue that I didn't fully trust myself to come up with one, or that I wasn't willing to take on more of a load than I already had.

Either way, the query was given.

"...Gaia?"

Yeah?

"Could… do you think you can fill this out?"

Wait- seriously?!

Shocked silence followed. Then, in a hesitant tone…

Are… are you sure?

I closed my eyes and let out a heavy breath. "...yeah. Yeah, I'm sure."

The silence felt like it was carrying a weight that somehow fell on my back despite the absence of gravity.

...all right. If that's really what you want…

The muted clicking of keys filled the void for a brief moment. The bar filled up, and the window changed.

[You have entered: Zeiss Serven.]

Is this name okay?

[Yes | No]

Despite myself, I felt a small smile quirk my lips up. "I like it. Sounds like a good name."

The last thing I heard before I hit 'yes' and subsequently blacked out was this.

Thank you, Zeiss. For trusting me.

You're going to get through this.

I promise.

New file created.

Save your game?

Please wait…

Game saved.

A/N: Hoo, boy. Here we go again.

So, uh… hi? You may not remember me, but I'm the guy who posted cringe in this corner of the site about a year ago and kept updating it until around July of 2019. It started out trash, but I'd like to say it got better, and I plan to learn from the many, many mistakes that I made last time while penning this rewrite. I'll try to keep the tone consistent, maybe pare down on the crack and self-indulgence, I've revised the system, and hopefully, the plot won't be as janky as it was. The general structure of it will stay the same, though. All that I'll be doing is just making sure that what happens actually makes sense.

(I still think it's trash, though. But it's the kind of trash that's actually presentable and can at least hide that it's trash. For a bit.)

I bet you veterans can notice the differences already. Zeiss isn't as memey, Gaia actually cares, and the cosmetics of character creation have been cut. The starting location and time of entry bit was removed as well, to deny Zeiss a bunch of his unearned agency. The story is also shooting for a first-person limited point of view from the start, instead of transitioning into one after the prologue arc.

Anyway, though, the real action will start next chapter. You'll get to see the basics of how the new combat system will work and a reintroduction of skills.

Until then.