Name: Daniel Blackwell
Age: 15
Gender: Male
Body/ Strength: 6/ Endurance: 5/ Toughness: 4
Mind/ Acuity: 27/ Wisdom: 1/ Intelligence: 1
Soul/ Destiny: 0/ Fate: 3/ Radiance 9997
"Yeaaaahhh." I sigh dejectedly as I look at the floating status screen before me. The one that I have seen so many times in "Love & Leylines." The game I was recently obsessed with.
But that I even had the idea to test this already made me embarrassed. `Damm. I'm a fucking nerd. First thing I do when I wake up in an unknown body and fucked up situation is try to pull up a stat screen. At least no one saw me doing it.`
My incessant thoughts interrupt. Making me frown and shake my head to clear them. To allow me to focus on what's important.
And that is, of course, the fact that I somehow seem to have ended up in the world of "Love & Leylines." "At least based on the status screen. Although that might not mean anything." I muse while scratching my chin.
Considering the possibility that this might just be a coincidence for a moment before discarding that unlikely possibility. `This smooth skin feels so unfamiliar and weird, for real, for real. But I guess it's fair considering this kid is only 15.`
Now, for most fans of the game, this probably sounds like a dream come true. After all, "Love & Leylines" was a story-driven romance game set in a fantastical world with plenty of drop-dead gorgeous characters and thousands of branching storylines, including a few harem routes for both genders.
But for me, this was more than a little awkward. Because I never paid much attention to the story.
See, this game had an amazing combat system. A mixture somewhere between Dark Souls and Devil May Cry.
With a heavy focus on timing, distancing, dodges, and parries. A combat system way out of the ordinary for a game like this. With plenty of challenging fights that drew quite a big crowd of people who didn't care about the story.
And I was one of them.
`Why the fuck was it me out of everyone gang?` I huff and shift around on the overturned crate I am sitting on. My feet dangle off the side while my elbow digs into my pudgy thigh. Supporting my chin while I rest it on my hand.
`I mean, what even is this situation? Was this part of the tutorial? I can't remember. It's been so long since I played through it.` I wonder, as I look around. At the death and destruction surrounding me.
The wreck of the still-smoldering, magical airship that was destined to bring me to the capital city of Eidralore. The setting for the early game. But also at the corpses of my fellow students lying in the snow. And all the spilled-out cargo.
"My stuff is probably somewhere among that." But even though this is the first time in my life I've seen a dead person from really up close, I don't feel disgusted or afraid.
`Hmmm. Never cared much for people I have no personal connection to.` That's how I try to rationalize my lack of reaction. Even though I know that's not true.
It's probably more likely that I'm just fucked up in the head and desensitized to such scenes. `Unrestricted internet access from an early age in the lifeleak glory days probably does that to you.` A small smirk plays on my lips at the thought.
But I shake my head again. Standing up from the crate I was sitting on and stretching. Planting my feet in the thick snow on the ground. Getting my blood flowing to focus once more. Checking my stats once more.
`The stats are bad even for a starter character.` The average fifteen-year-old has ten in everything. Adults are usually around fifteen to twenty. And trained soldiers around twenty-five to thirty.
`The only two outliers are acuity and radiance.` Most of the basic stats in the game were rather self-explanatory, if used a bit strangely in comparison to other RPGs.
Strength is strength. Obviously. However. In this game, strength also decides how fast you are in combat. It's explosive muscle strength that allows you to move fast in real life, after all. And the game devs were smart enough to realize that.
Endurance is stamina. How long you can go on before becoming exhausted. Toughness is how much physical and mental punishment you can take before going down.
`I wonder if that actually has a bearing on my mindset?` "Hmm." I tilt my head as I consider the possibility that my stats might influence my thought and behavioral patterns. But since I feel no different from usual, I just shrug my shoulders and continue.
`Acuity is the first weird stat.` Since it not only stands for how fast your reflexes are. Which, in most games, would be linked to the dexterity stat.
But it's also like, actual mental acuity. How keen you are and how well you can process things. Visual stimuli, for example. A very important stat for combat. And one I was glad is high. `Probably thanks to me having good reflexes in real life. Or rather. Back on earth.`
"Just wish some of my other stats carried over as well." I mutter as I kick a small snowdrift that was in my randomly chosen path away. I'm especially confused why wisdom and intelligence weren't higher. I was decently smart. And had good common sense. `Could usually apply what I learned pretty well.` Which those two stats stood for.
`So even if only my mental stats carried over, at least those two should be higher.` I pause then. Thinking hard for a moment. Before it clicks.
`Ohhh. Right. Intelligence is how much knowledge I have. And wisdom is the ability to use it. But since this is a whole new world, I don't really know anything. So obviously those stats are abysmal.`
At least that's what I assume. But it sounds like a fair argument. So I'll consider it true for now. `Best guess anyway.`
The next stat column was obviously even stranger. That there was a whole category of stats titled Soul threw plenty of people for a loop the first time they started the game. But if you break down the stats, they really aren't that complex.
`Fate is just luck.` In the game, it was responsible for what kind of random event you might trigger throughout the time you play the game. And chances for getting loot. `Though I get the inkling that this might be different here.`
`Destiny is how important you are to the main story.` It was also the one status that only the player character could ever increase. All NPCs, of course, had the stat. But unless something drastic happens, their Destiny stat usually stays the same.
`And Radiance is how strong your soul is.` In the game, that stat was just important for resisting certain dark magic and mental attacks.
`So I guess I won't have to worry about that type of attack. Like ever. But why the fuck is that stat so high? I mean, seriously. This looks straight up bugged.` And I wasn't kidding when I thought that.
It was theoretically possible to grind out stats until you reached 9999 in all of them. But with diminishing returns and softcaps in terms of what stats do for you, there was really no reason to try doing that.
Of course, people still did it. But with how difficult and time-consuming it was to grind in the game, it took players years playing only one character to grind out just one stat to 9999.
Now that this world was real and people aged and died, it was even more unlikely to meet anyone with stats above 1000.
`Yet I start out with one stat almost maxed out.` I sigh again as I crouch down and pick at a sealed crate in front of me absentmindedly. Not quite finished thinking about things just yet.
Not ready to think about survival and what I need to do just yet. `It's possibly one of the least useful ones. At least at the start. Since mental attacks are late game only and rare as fuck.`
I sigh and rub the bridge of my nose as I straighten up again. "Bigger problems." I murmur to myself as I stare at the crate. The incomprehensible letters on it give me no clue as to what's inside. So I don't even know if it's worth trying to get it open.* "Could just be funky hats of the noble brats."
`Hey, that rhymes.` I facepalm to chase that intrusive thought away. "Huhhh." Sighing audibly once again as I shake my head. `Fucking lock in, bro. You're going to die otherwise.`
I look around again. Taking in the death and destruction around me once more. Reminding myself that it was still possible for me to end up just like them.
`Me getting out of this crash alive means nothing. It was just dumb luck, probably.` In fact, it was pretty likely that I'll end up dead anyway.
Because this time, I look beyond my immediate surroundings. Beyond the crash site, which is slowly getting covered in snow. To the vast, otherwise empty snowfield around me.
Stretching for miles and miles in each direction. Then to the forests and mountains far off in the distance.
`Gotta get there at least if I want any chance of surviving.` At first, I thought staying near the wreck of the airship might sound like a good idea. I could probably find or improvise a tool to get most storage boxes open. And with plenty of supplies, I could probably last for a while even out here.
But not only did I not know what kind of things were on board this airship. But I also don't know if things will stay as they are.
"Ship could blow up. Wild beasts could descend on this place and start tearing shit apart. The corpses could even rise as undead." It was all real possibilities in this fantastical world.
`Meaning I can't linger for long.` Is my optimism speaking. But in reality, it's a miracle nothing bad has happened yet.
`So no more wasting time. Let's get to it.` I clap my gloved hands together. Making a soft thudding sound that seemed to reverberate into the silent snow-filled emptiness around me for far longer than it should.