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Chapter 1 - Chapter 1: The Awakening

Issac Johnson, or "Ike" as he was referred to online, was your average 21-year-old fantasy-obsessed geek. He was an all-around pretty average guy, he was fit enough not to be fat, yet he wasn't exactly "shredded", his face had some acne, something he told himself he'd take care of years ago, and his hair, a light brown, was slightly messy from the crappy gaming headset he'd been wearing for years.

But today,

It was a regular Tuesday. Literally, it was Tuesday afternoon, and Ike was bored out of his mind, scrolling forums and reading comics, while a 2-hour documentary about some pseudo-science creator, debunking his conspiracies, was Ike's fourth time watching it. As Ike surfed the web, trying to find something interesting, he had gotten the sudden urge to procrastinate on his bed, doom-scrolling videos about video games, history, cooking, and the occasional carpentry video.

And then, out of nowhere,

He fell asleep. Nothing out of the ordinary, especially because it was 3 AM and the Manhattan skyline outside his window had dimmed quite a lot since he'd gotten on his computer. But the dream he had was odd, it was your typical fantasy-isekai dream, where he was the hero, had a harem, and everyone loved him, except it wasn't like that, all he saw was a medieval city, burning with these bright blue flames, almost as if they were holograms, but it just felt Real. Like he had been here before, but before he could switch his dream to something else, he woke up.

He heard the birds chirp, the sun filtered into his eyes, and the subtle sounds of trees swaying in the wind. Except, he usually had the blinds closed, and the only birds he knew of near his apartment were pigeons, not some heavenly songbirds, and the weirdest part? His bed felt like he was lying in the grass, a welcome feeling, but not the right one. 

And then he woke up,

But he wasn't in his bed, nor his room and no blinds were blocking the sunlight.

Why? Because he was in a goddamn forest, that's why. At first, he was calm, but then it hit him, literally, he slapped his face so he could wake up, yet he remained in the forest, and then he panicked.

And then, he Saw It.

A window, straight out of an RPG, was staring him in the face, an honest to god, system window, and on it was written:

[JOS Booting Up]

[Welcome, Administrator, Issac Johnson]

"What?" he blurted out in the confusion. This was a scene out of an anime or one of the comics he liked to read; he knew this was real, from the slap earlier, but this answered his questions perfectly. He was in an Isekai, hopefully not a shitty one he hoped.

Just as he thought that the system, as if reading his mind, popped up again:

[Unique Skill Acquired]

Adaptive assimilation

"Now with all new translate function"

The pop-up, although annoying, was rather relieving for Ike, as he had hoped that he would get some Overpowered main-character ability, but from the description of the skill, it seemed like he wasn't getting that treatment.

And when he finally thought the bullshit was over, The system blared:

[Enemy detected]

Please be on guard

Ike was ready, he grabbed a stick that was lying on the ground and prepared for an incoming attack, when suddenly:

[Gray wolf]

An ordinary Gray canid

Ike saw the wolf, it was gray like it could have been right before rain, and there was a blade sticking out of its back, the blade was rusted and probably not of the best quality, but it was a weak point. Ike lunged at the wolf and tried to hammer the blade deeper into the wolf. The first strike wiffed, completely off target, but then, the second hit, well, it hit. The wolf started howling and bleeding all over the forest floor, maybe it was hoping that someone would come help it? But no one did, and by the Time Ike realized what he'd done, the wolf had already bled out from the gaping wound. An then, in a flash of blue, another window appeared:

[Gray wolf, Defeated]

[Level Up]

[Would you like to loot? Y/N]

hell yeah, Ike thought to himself. He was still in the woods, and he only had a stick, but the loot from the wolf would be sure worth the effort.

[New Skills Acquired]

[Enhanced Perception (Passive)]

The user gains a higher understanding of their surroundings.

[Night Vision (Passive)]

The user can see in the darkness.

Suddenly, Ike's field of view skyrocketed, but he was still confused. Why did he get skills instead of items? And then another message:

[Due to Unique Skill: Adaptive assimilation]

You can collect skills from fallen enemies.

"Cool," Ike grunted, expecting a physical reward. "But what about regular loot?"

[Inventory Unlocked]

Another screen materialized before him, showing a grid-like inventory menu straight out of a game.

[Inventory]

Mana-Wood Branch (Rare) x1

Wolf Fangs (uncommon) x2

Wolf Hide (common) x2

Rusty Sword Blade (Mythical) x1

Canteen (One-use) x5

Ike now had a, wait, "Mythical!" Ike screeched. The rusty blade, the one lodged in the wolf, was a mythical grade item. "How'd it end up in a wolf?" Ike asked the system, no response. He guessed that some unlucky adventurer had managed to lodge their legendary blade into this wolf and then died without being able to retrieve it.

Just as Ike was about to relax, he sensed something behind him, and without even looking, punched backwards.

[Enemy Defeated]

[Level Up!]

[Received New Skills]

Ike looked at his hand, which felt like he'd stuck it into a swamp, and on it was.

A slime, a blue-clear gelatinous blob, maybe the size of his head. "Poor guy, probably on his own little isekai adventure," Ike said as a joke to himself. It was unlikely that the slime was sentient if it had attacked him after he had single-handedly killed the gray wolf. "Now, let's check out these new skills."

[New Skills Acquired]

[Liquid Transformation (Active)]

Transforms the user's body into liquid.

MP Cost: 5

[Disguise (Active)]

Changes the user's appearance at will.

MP Cost: 5

"MP?" Ike questioned his eyes, MP would imply it stood for something like mana-points or magic-points, curious about the stat, he called out "Stats!" into the system. Suddenly:

[Stats]

Name: Isaac Johnson

level: 3

HP: [100/100]

MP: [10/10]

Class: [None]

Str: [10]

Agi: [10]

Con: [10]

Int: [10]

Wis: [10]

Cha: [10]

unallocated points: [6]

Skills: [None]

Class Skills: [None]

Unique Skill:

[Adaptive Assimilation] Lv. 1

"what kind of copy-paste ass job did the person who made this system do?" Ike questioned the system again, no response. The stat screen was a combination of two different stat screens. First, the format was ripped straight from one of his favorite manga/anime. And second, the stats themselves were ripped straight from a TTRPG he had played with his friends when he was like fifteen.

He then questioned the skills he had gotten from the slime; he didn't quite get what liquid transformation meant. Just as he thought about the skill, his arm suddenly began melting, but not the arm that touched the slime; it was the other hand.

"ABORT, ABORT!" he shouted, panicking at the fact that his arm was melting. As soon as he said the word "abort," his arm slowly changed back into, well, an arm. Relieved about not losing his arm, he thought he should probably, if this were a fantasy world, go to a town and register as an adventurer.

"Map," Ike said, expecting a whole lot of nothing; instead, what he got was an extremely detailed, although light blue, map of the area, with a town labeled "oakenridge, adventurers guild" highlighted with a flashing dot.

Ike steeled himself as he headed towards the road to Oakendridge.

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