『Game Start』

For the nine years that Harry had been alive, he had never used the word "normal" to describe himself. He could hardly do so with all the abnormal things happening around him: Like the time his aunt Petunia had attempted to cut his hair only for it to grow back to its original length; or the time he had found himself on the roof of the school during one of his cousin's games of Harry-hunting. No, Harry Potter was anything but normal; abnormal would be the word to describe him. However, he was fairly certain that seeing people's names above their heads was taking it a tad too far. Even stranger still, at the end of each name there were two letters and a number – Lv. X – which he gleamed from the older students at school depicted a person's level. From what he could see, most students' levels ranged from 1 to 6, while the average adults' ranged about 7 to 10.

Along with the names and levels, which every person had, there were some that had titles underneath their names. His uncle for example had the title «Grunning's Director» while the title under his aunt's name just read «Housewife». However the most puzzling title he saw was the title underneath his own name: «The Chosen One».

He puzzled over what it could mean. His uncle's made sense, as he was a director for Grunnings drill manufacturing company. And he rarely saw his aunt leave the house other than getting groceries and gossiping with the other neighbors. But what could his mean?

His thoughts, however were interrupted by his aunt's curt voice, "Good you're already up, get started with breakfast then."

"Yes, aunt Petunia." Harry went to work preparing breakfast for his obese relatives. His movements were fluid and displayed his great skill gained from cooking for his relatives since he was six.

"And after you're done with that get started with your other chores."

"Yes, aunt Petunia." His voice came out dull and bored, having already expected it as he continued to cook.

After cooking breakfast, only being allowed to have a small piece of toast for himself, he set off to finish the other chores: Weeding the garden, watering the flowers, and taking out the rubbish bin.

"Have fun in school Duddy" Harry overheard, as he was finishing the last of his chores that took the better part of the last hour; meaning that his fat cousin had finally finished breakfast and was only now ready for school.

Of course there was no love between the two cousins – what with one cousin's favorite game being called "Harry-hunting". So Harry made sure that there was a good distance between the two just in case Dudley felt the urge to play a game before getting to the school. It wasn't that Harry thought Dudley could ever catch him, but if Dudley's friends were to join in, he doubted he would be able to escape.

Fortunately he made it to the school unmolested by either his cousin or his friends. His classroom was the only place where he was safe from his relatives for at least a few hours in the day; his cousin was in another class, his aunt at the house, and his uncle at work. Despite his relatives' threats of punishment about him doing better than Dudley in school, Harry aimed to be the best student receiving only A's on exams and assignments. Though he received many beatings and nights without dinner for it, he reasoned that they didn't really need a reason to deny him food or give him a beating anyway.

After teaching the lesson to the class, the teacher left the class a period of self-study when they could review the day's lesson. As per usual, the time allowed Harry to study his notes for the class, only this time it would turn out differently than the other days.

Without warning, a screen popped up in front of him with some words in bright blue letters.

『Diligent studying increases your INT by 1』

"Well, that's something new." Harry looked around to see if anyone had noticed the words that had just appeared before him. Since no one was panicking at the sight of the mysterious floating screen, he assumed that it was one of his own abnormalities.

Taking a closer look at the screen, he saw an option to close the screen located near the bottom. He quickly pressed the button, only for another screen to pop up with a new notification,

『15 stat points available to distribute』

Followed by the option to do it now or save it for later. Deciding that he was far enough in his studies that he could afford to examine this new oddity, he pressed a button labeled 『Distribute』

Immediately the small notification screen expanded to a larger screen titled «Status»

『Name: Harry Potter

Level: 6

Class: «Wizard»

Title: «The Chosen One»』

His level, which he was proud to see, was 6; far beyond the levels of his classmates and almost all the other students bar the eldest. The screen then listed what he assumed were his stats.

『HP: 150/150

MP: 400/400

STR: 3

VIT: 4

DEX: 12

INT: 16

WIS: 6

LUK: 25

Points: 15

Money: 0』

He knew that he had 15 stat points available from the earlier screen and no money, which hardly surprised him since his relatives had never given him a single penny.

He stared heavily at the class he identified as «Wizard». While he didn't understand most of the abbreviations, he definitely knew what a wizard was, or at least what fantasy novels portrayed wizards as. However his relatives had told him that magic didn't exist, and never allowed a magician for Dudley's birthday no matter how much he whined and kicked.

'There's no way I could be a wizard… Could I?'

Shaking his thoughts clear he remembered that he had no reason to trust the Dursleys, since they had lied to him on numerous occasions in the past. Checking out the other stats, he decided to wait until he knew exactly what each one was before investing his "stat points" on them, and he knew exactly where he would be able to find out; from the older students who spent many hours playing a particular game.

After the final bell indicating that school was over, Harry made his way over to one of the clubrooms. Stopping in front of the room featuring a poster that read Dungeons & Dragons, he entered the room where the four occupants gave him a quick glance before the closest to the door asked,

"Wotcha need kid?"

Noticing that each of the students were older than him by a few years – they looked to be thirteen or fourteen – he steadied himself before responding,

"Just here to ask a few questions, and watch a bit."

"Aren't you the one who asked about levels last week?" The speaker's voice was a bit gruff, except for when his voice cracked emphasizing that fact he was entering puberty.

"Yeah, this time I was wondering about the other stats and stuff."

"Alright, well we're about to start a new game this week and what better way to learn than playing?"

"No kidding, our wizard's sick this week anyways so you can fill in for him."

Harry chuckled in his head, recalling that his class status from earlier had mentioned that he was a wizard as well.

"I don't know how to play though."

"Don't worry about it, playing is the best way to learn. Jacob you're DM this week for the noob."

"What's a noob?"

"It basically means beginner." The newly identified Jacob responded while setting up the game.

After setting up the game and getting the explanation for the stats, abilities and skills of each class, Harry wasted no time in joining in.

"Alright, to start with let's start distributing our stat points. HP stands for health points, which means how much health you, can take before you die. MP is magic points and those are what you use for skills and spells. The amount of melee damage is determined by your STR or strength while your INT determines both your ability to solve certain problems and magical damage. Then there is your VIT or vitality, which increases your HP and gives a better stat increase in HP when you level up. WIS helps solves problems that INT can't and measures how much magic each spell/skill will cost. Then there's DEX that affects both your speed and chance for a successful dodge. Last of all is LUK that helps every stat and drop rates of items from enemies.

"Now let's introduce our characters."

"I'm Steven the paladin, level 1 of course. Owner of the title of «Holy Shield» and my skills are «Heal» level 1 and «Defense+» level 2"

"Wait, what about skills?"

Harry asked a bit confused.

"Oh, I completely forgot, here is the list of skills the wizard can pick. You pick out any skills that you can afford. Your class starts with 600G which is gold." Jacob handed him a small pamphlet that had a portrait of a wizard on the front. "You pick out the skills while we continue with the introductions."

"Continuing on, I'm Jonathan my class is the thief. My title is «Black Cloak» and my skills are «Steal» «Examine» and «Knife Throw» all at level 1."

While listening to the intros, Harry looked through the skill book and found that there were a large amount of skills. Active skills that required MP and were similar to Jonathan's «Steal» skill; while passive skills like Steven's «Defense+» which doesn't require MP but automatically increases his defense when being attacked or defending others.

"I'm Henry a healer that goes by «The Saint» and my skills are «Heal» at level 3 and «Cure» level 2"

They all turned to Harry awaiting his choices. "I'm Harry the wizard «Black Mage» and my skills are «Fireball» and «Freeze» both at level 1."

It wasn't until three hours after the start of the game that they finally departed from the clubroom, having explored about a third of the current dungeon. They had set the game difficulty lower for him since he was new at the game. However he had learned quite a bit and was going to try to see if the abnormality surrounding him followed the rules and mechanics of Dungeons & Dragons.

Starting with the basics he tried to open his stats,

"Status"

Upon the word leaving his mouth a screen opened up. The same list from earlier in the day that listed all his stats and another reminder to distribute his stat points. Closing the window, he moved on to his next topic of interest.

"Skills"

Just like with the stat window, a similar window opened describing his skills, however there were two windows one for skills that were classed as Active and another for Passive. In regards to Active skills, there were only two skills: «Apparition» and «Examine». Not knowing what the skills were he checked the description that the window had on it.

『Skill Name: «Apparition»

Skill Level: 1

MP Cost: 35

Details: Description: Allows for teleportation from one place to another. Distance traveled relies on amount of MP available』

Reading it over once more, he was shocked. "That's how I got on the roof." Checking the other skill it explained.

『Skill Name: «Examine»

Skill Level: 1

MP Cost: 1

Details: Shows information on the focused target』

Getting over his shock at such an amazing skill, he looked in his Passive skills list, which seemed to be a never-ending list.

『Skill Name: «Cleaning»

Skill Level: 13

Details: Description: Skill level determines the speed and efficiency of cleaning』

『Skill Name: «Cooking»

Skill Level: 10

Details: Skill level determines the quality of foods made』

『Skill Name: «Language: English»

Skill Level: 15 [MAX]

Details: Skill level determines the proficiency of speaking, understanding, and writing』

『Skill Name: «Escaping»

Skill Level: 5

Details: Skill level determines the percent change to escape battle or captivity』

『Skill Name: «Gardening»

Skill Level: 12

Details: Skill level determines the quality of grown plants』

『Skill Name:

Skill Level: 1 [MAX]

Details: Ability to see a world comprised of 1's and 0's』

『Skill Name: «Instrument Proficiency»

Skill Level: 2

Details: Skill level determines proficiency of equipped instruments』

『Skill Name: «Jumping»

Skill Level: 3

Details: Skill level determines height and distance of jumping』

『Skill Name: «Magic Regeneration»

Skill Level: 6

Details: Skill level determines amount of MP generated』

『Skill Name: «Painting»

Skill Level: 4

Details: Skill level determines the quality of painted works』

『Skill Name: «Physical Endurance»

Skill Level: 3

Details: Skill level determines resistance to physical damage』

『Skill Name: «Running»

Skill Level: 10

Details: Skill level determines distance able to run』

『Skill Name: «Stealth»

Skill Level: 7

Details: Skill level determines detection rate』

『Skill Name: «Walking»

Skill Level: 20

Details: Skill level determines distance able to walk』

『Skill Name: «Writing»

Skill Level: 9

Details: Skill level determines quality of writing』

Apparently passive skills were accumulated just by repeating a task, or in most cases, just using basic human functions. However there was one passive skill that caught his interest: The «Gamer Life» skill, which apparently explained the reason for all these menu screens.

He then decided to check on another possible ability of his,

"Inventory"

He wasn't surprised the menu opened up. What he was surprised about was that his current clothing counted as equipment with each named『Dudley's Hand-me Downs』 followed by mentioned article of clothing. Noticing that there seemed to be infinitely many inventory slots as indicated by the infinity symbol in the corner, he checked to find that nothing was in any slots as of yet. Deciding to experiment, he pressed a pencil onto the screen, only for it to disappear into the screen and appear as an icon titled『Worn-out Pencil』

Further testing of his abilities however was cut short, as Petunia wanted him to start making dinner. With the new discovery of his ability he wasn't surprised when, after finishing cooking, a notification popped up.

『«Cooking» skill level increased by 1』

Harry woke up the next morning, much earlier than any of his relatives, itching to test out his strange ability. Since it was a Saturday, he had more time to experiment. But before getting down to the testing, he needed to get some nutrients since he had only had the barest to eat the night before despite being the one who made the meal.

When he attempted to open the door to his cupboard, he found that it was locked. Sighing to himself he pulled a nail from the boards underneath him and attempted to pick the lock. Fortunately his efforts paid off and he heard a soft 'click' from the door and another notification.

『The skill «Lock Picking» has been learned』

Grinning to himself, he made his way to the kitchen to get some food.

In his hands, he was carrying a couple of juice packs and a few bags of chips in his hands, which he knew no one would miss due to Dudley's appetite. However, he suddenly remembered that he could store the food in his "inventory" and then proceeded to do so. After having a moderate meal, according to his standards, he set to work on some skills he thought he could figure out.

Behind the house in the backyard, Harry had his hand out while visualizing the same skill card that his character had in school. After several minutes of standing still, eyes closed, arm outstretched, he felt a warm presence in his hand. When he opened his eyes, flickering in his hand was a small blue ball of fire. Shortly after that, the screen that had become so familiar to him popped up.

『The skill «Fireball» has been created』

Letting the screen close. Harry let out a small giggle, which slowly morphed into full-blown laugh, while in palm of his hand, the fireball burned brighter in sync with his laughter.

AN: Beta'd by Prince Mikhail