A Gaming Conception

When I went to sleep, I didn't expect to be thrown into someone's Worm CYOA. I recognized it as the third version, but I don't remember making this one personally. But there is no time for that. If I hesitate I will age, if I retreat I will die.

And yet another idea. The quote has no actual meaning for the story at this point in time, just the situation he finds himself in. With that said, let us begin!

Chapter 1

When I woke up, the first thing I saw was a floating box in blue. Normally I would think I was hallucinating, but something about that thought felt wrong. I KNEW that all of this was real.

[Welcome to your new world, and the Game of life you play within it. You have no time for a real overview of anything. Your tutorial will be war, your reward is survival. If you hesitate you will age, if you retreat you will die.]

[Name: ? (Lv1)

Title: none

HP: 100

Str: 10

End: 10

Dex: 10

Int: 10

Wis: 10

Luk: 100]

[Skills:

Gamers Body: allows you to live as a Game character

Gamers Mind: allows you to not be crippled by intense emotions and the ability to see System screens

Charles Atlas Superpowers: gives peak human stats in physical and mental attributes, and enhanced skill mastery… as long as you train correctly

Man of Mystery: makes it almost impossible for your identities to be connected with out your consent and you actions unable to be predicted through supernatural means.

Special Snowflake: you are the only 'you' to exist. Your power(s) cannot be copied through any means

Plot Armor: your luck is ungodly, so long as it contributes to your continued survival]

I finished the giant info dump, and not a moment too soon. I really didn't have time to do anything, only recognizing the goblin a moment before it went to attack me. Scrambling to dodge out of the way, I moved faster than I expected. This was obviously due to my boosted stats, but I could tell it would take some time to get used to. While it was off balance, having thrown all its strength into that swing and not meeting the resistance it expected, I punched it. It seemed to be the lowest level of enemy I would find here, so my attack took out half of its health, and another killed it. Five experience for the kill, out of the 150 I need to level up. For drops, I got a few dollars and the rather battered and rusty sword it used. And then I heard a ping.

[New Skill created

Unarmed Combat Mastery (Lv1 7%): your ability in hand to hand combat, this regulates your skill when attacking without a weapon. 3% when attacking without a weapon]

New skills are always helpful, especially ones for increased damage. Swinging around the sword got me a similar skill for swords in general, which will help me more here. Choosing a single direction, I began to walk. Wandering in every direction would only serve to backtrack, and I had no interest in staying longer than I had to. That got me a quest to escape, reward of 6,000 XP and a random skill. I came across a couple more of those goblins as I walked. These got progressively easier as I gained more experience in killing them. All the items dropped, unless they were better than what I already had, were put into the inventory.

Interestingly, the goblins also had random drops other than what they had on hand. Weapons and armor, those only dropped on enemies that were carrying them before their deaths. I picked up several chunks of metal of some kind, leather, mushrooms, and other random items. My inventory didn't have a limit to what I could carry, so I just grabbed it all.

Killing so many of them, or I assume the exertion of the act, got me a point in strength. I didn't get any other increases, which was understandable. I didn't really need any speed to chop off their individual heads, I didn't get hit any and it didn't take much to kill them, there was no real need for thinking about what I'm doing, given the simplicity.

Actually, intelligence and wisdom don't seem like the stats that I would put too many points into. I had no magic to be affected by them, and as far as I know, I've already gotten to the point where increasing those stats don't help much for anything other than magic. And there is a point in most games where those stats increasing doesn't help much for anything other than magic.

Hearing a clank, I turned around to see another goblin already attacking. I did what I could to dodge, but it didn't work completely. The blade created a long gash, but didn't bleed thanks to Gamers Body. It did take a couple of healt points. Taking its head and killing it, while putting its items into the inventory, I realized I needed to have a way of detecting enemies like that. I still remember the description of the Atlas perk, and the echolocation it talked about.

All I needed to do is make a sound, and listen for the sound bouncing off objects. Simple in theory, probably not so much in reality. I tried it anyway. Clicking my tongue and listening, that's all I did for the next minute. I did, eventually, get the skill for it.

[New Skill created

Echolocation (Lv1 0%): the ability to hear sound waves bouncing off objects, and creating a mental map of the area around you through those sounds]

This is going to be very useful. Now, I shouldn't have goblins ambushing me like that one did. I was proven wrong a moment later, when I tried the skill and discovered that I couldn't even make sense of what I 'saw' through it just yet. But I continued at it, knowing the value of the skill if I could level it up enough. All I had to do is walk around and listen to the sounds made by any action.

I continued walking along, thinking and making sounds that got progressively outside the hearing range of an average human, but I could hear just fine. I had encountered five goblins in as many minutes, lower than I thought, given the reputation of this city. I knew that had to be my luck coming into play, but it still seemed strange to me. The main advantage these creatures had was mostly in numbers, given an entire cities' worth of people were turned into monsters.

Due to my constant use of the skill, [Echolocation] leveled up quickly enough that, by the time I found the next goblin in my path, I could actually use the 'images' it showed me to see instead of my eyes. This time, I found a group of three goblins rather than the lone ones I had been fighting so far. As with the rest, I couldn't seem to sneak up on them, so I just walked to them.

As with the rest of their kind, they rushed at me swinging their swords, and- was that a spear?! Where did it even find such a thing? They seemed to have some concept of teamwork, and quickly surrounded me after I dodged their first strikes. This... could be a problem. When one of them went to swing at me, another tried to make me unable to dodge, having its weapon positioned to hit me if I went in that direction. [Echolocation] was a great help, at one point the goblin with the spear tried to stab me in the head, and the ability to see it made it so I could dodge enough to only get a scratch just above my ear instead of being skewered.

After that, I stopped being so cocky, quickly learning just how dangerous these creatures were that they were left alone, other than Cauldron and Contessa plots. What they lacked in skill, they more than made up for in teamwork, and given their numbers, it was a death sentence for most people other than some high-level Capes.

Now that I was actually thinking about the danger, I watched as the creatures moved and what I could tell from their movements, where they were going to attack. This allowed me, in conjunction with [Echolocation], to read their movements somewhat and dodge before they attacked, and out of the way of the attacks from the others at the same time. I ignored the pop-ups, which turned transparent shortly after, and continued the fight.

Being able to tell where my enemies where going to be, even a little bit, helped immensely. I soon took the head of one of the swords wielding goblins, disrupting the others and making them far easier to kill as well. Sitting down on the ground after finishing, I took what these goblins dropped and looked to the sky. Waving at the drone in the sky, I turned towards the notifications I got during the course of the fight.

[New Skills created

Cutting Resistance (2%): your resistance to cutting damage that gets through your Endurance stat. Caps at 95%

Eye of the Mind (True) (Lv1 13%): your ability to predict how people will act in a fight, born through battle.

Evasion (Lv1 24%): your ability to dodge attacks directed at you.]

[New Title unlocked

Army of One: in battle, numbers mean little to you. As long as you can defeat each opponent individually, and have the energy to last that long, you will find facing groups of enemies no more difficult than fighting each one back to back.]

And that Title was quickly equipped. Given my Luck is supposed to be something of a tool to help me survive, I am likely to stumble across more and larger groups of goblins. There seem to be several references to Fate/Stay Night, actually. [Eye of the Mind (True)] is a rather obvious example, but my Luck stat is another. In that case, Luck is a person's chance of having unusual things happen to them. Low rank of that stat is the problem, unusual happenings without Luck increasing their chances of getting out alive. And mine is similar, being an increased Luck for anything that will help me survive. And given my circumstances, it will be doing all it can to make me stronger.

After that battle, the next were much easier. It was rather rare, then, to find goblins wandering alone, and those that were, were stronger and gave more XP than the normal ones. It was when I started finding groups of enemies in the tens that I much difficulty. [Army of One] says fighting groups of enemies will be no more difficult than one by one, but that isn't entirely accurate. It helps, it really does, but it cannot change the fact that I am fighting multiple enemies, and each one of them can attack whenever they want, including at the same time.

Regardless of that, I alternated using either spear or sword to attack, often holding a shield I took from another goblin to defend myself with. That got me up to levels 7, 8, and 5 in their respective mastery skills. Occasional use of two swords or spears at the same time gave me the [Dual Wielder] skill. The skill is, like other mastery skills, a combination of my skill with multiple weapons and a damage modifier of the same. Unlike the other mastery skill, it is not tied to a specific weapon type, but weapons in general, as long as I am using more than one of them at the same time.

Sighting another group of goblins, I decided, in a fit of whimsy, to sneak up on them. It hasn't worked before, but I decided to try again. But first, I would do all I could to make it harder to detect me. Focusing on my lungs and heart, I tried my best to slow both of them. Going slow and being careful of how I stepped, I continued on to them. I managed to get close, right behind one of them, and-

A notification from the system popped up, and I stabbed at it. I killed the goblin in front of me, struck through the heart, and into the battle I went. After killing all of these goblins, I took a look at what my power decided would be important enough to notify me about right then.

[New Skills created

Stealth (Lv1 1%): your ability to go without notice when trying not to be found.

Bodily Functions Manipulation (Lv1 2%): your ability to control the different functions your body naturally has.]

Okay, I can see the use in these. I would have preferred getting the message after finishing the battle, however.

[Affirmative]

Huh. I didn't know it could take requests like that, but it seems like it should have been obvious. Continuing on, the [Bodily Functions Manipulation] seems to be referencing to the control over your metabolism that [Charles Atlas Superpowers] used as an example of something the CYOA perk said I could learn with the right training. The Gamer power obviously speed that up, and I assume my Luck helped with that as well.

Things continued in that manner for the next two hours. The stealthier aspects of my skills were somewhat neglected for the more combat oriented. Indeed, the BFM skill evolved, which they can apparently do after reaching a level threshold specific to that skill, turning it into [Self Manipulation]. The original skill was rather limited in its functions, even if they were very useful, so its threshold was lower than it could have been. At this level, I can increase the growth of my hair and such, even moving it to a degree, like a muscle. It took some time to make it grow to a length that would be useful, but I didn't much care how 'girly' it would make me look, and I had plenty of edible food dropped from goblins and the ability to control my metabolism.

Trying to control several groups of my hair at the same time, because the control over it reminded me of something I've read before where the character in question used their hair to hold and use many weapons at the same time, gave me the [Multitasking] skill. I couldn't control my hair enough to be able to use it like that yet, and so far I could only keep track of two similar trains of thought at the same time, so it wasn't something I could do right now, but I would soon.

Still, the now almost constant slaughter of goblins got me to level twelve, and distinctly superhuman in all physical stats, enough that my hair is actually strong enough that I could use it as another arm if I could control it well enough. Going by the pattern of the level ups so far, I can safely assume that the equation for XP needed is 150x, where x is my current level. That was rather obvious, given it's been exactly that so far, or similar enough that I haven't been able to think of any other equation that would fit.

I am going for a fairly balanced build, at least on the physical side given what I've already said on the mental side, with a slight focus on speed. I think it is a rather smart choice, all these stats are important, but when fighting enemies with such varied skillsets like Capes, I think the best decision is to just not be there when they attack. Given what I know about guns, my endurance might be enough that the lowest calibers used in a world like this might do ten or so damage before my [Piercing Resistance] is applied, I really don't want to test it.

Finally catching sight of the wall in front of me, between a couple buildings, I cursed and praised my Luck. There should be no reason it takes more than two hours to reach the edge of this city. I gained so many new skills, but I had to fight So! Many! Goblins! But, other than that, I started making a plan. I have no identification, so there's no way to pretend to have existed in this world before being dropped into Ellisburg. I don't have any skill for lying, and even if I gain one it will be at the lowest level. While I should be able to remove some of the signs of lying with [Self Manipulation], I don't know how to recreate the signs for truth.

And I have no doubt that will be necessary. There is no chance the PRT would leave a dangerous, S-Class threat that took over a city unmonitored. There was that drone that I waved at, after all. And I am someone who walked out of a city that teams of Parahumans and trained soldiers were slaughtered in, with only two people who survived. I am likely to be given a face-to-face meeting with Alexandria, after as thorough testing as they can put me through, if they don't just kill me immediately. Killing me is unlikely, however, due to both my Luck and Cauldron's need for as many Parahumans as possible for the fight against Scion.

To continue my plan, I made it so my hair was colored blue and would grow that way, made my eyes yellow and able to see better, and changed the shape of my face. It might be basically cosplay, and I doubt the series actually exists in this world, but I thought it was appropriate. Besides, I was watching it before getting sent here, and I am no longer the same person as I was just three hours ago. And if the anime does exist, it'll be something of a reference to an amazing show.

[Would you like to change your name?

Y/N]

Chuckling a bit to myself, I clicked yes and typed in what I was to be known as, in this new world. As the doors opened, I took one last look at the floating blue screen, and walked in.

[Name: Rimuru Tempest (Lv12)

Title: Army of One

HP: 180

Str: 19

End: 18

Dex: 21

Int: 11

Wis: 12

Luk: 100

Points to spend: 33]

XXXXX

And that's the end of the first chapter. I probably shouldn't be making so many of these new stories, even if most of them are likely to never be posted, but I just can't help myself. Now, as I've said above, most of these references mean nothing. I just like where they come from and decided they fit in some way. And I literally finished what I had available of the series he took his appearance from a couple hours before finishing this chapter. I'm going to chalk down that entire scene to that, a lack of sleep, and a couple of parallels my mind made between the two. And the design looks more unique than most I've seen in the Isekai genre, so I decided to use it.

Just about all my choices for the CYOA are obvious from reading the story, so I am not going to put them below this Authors Note like I usually would. And since this story has the most references to other media than any others I've posted, I'm going to say here that I don't own anything except maybe the words I have put on the internet, and if anyone on this site says otherwise, I ask you to take a look at the URL.