Consciousness was pain…. And noise. Some sort of terrible, awful, noise.
He blearily opened his eyes, taking in the desert sun… it was almost straight above him, forcing him to squint, and realize he’d been out for at least an hour. That… was bad. He needed a hospital. That could be brain damage, or anything, really.
He slowly shifted, looking around…. And saw…. The Semi-truck on its side. The man trapped in it… and the lizard.. At least another foot longer now, five or six feet long… buried most of the way in the truck.
There was a loud, crunching, tearing sound… and he realized that the driver was being eaten, even as he watched.
Not ten feet from the truck was… the partial remains of what had to be Nathan. The poor gas station attendant was clearly partially eaten; his arms and legs both largely stripped of flesh, exposed bone visible… and if the creature had already eaten what it wanted of him, and was now working on the driver….
He’d probably be going after Marcus, soon.
He looked around for a moment… spotting the Right Hand of Death, lying on the pavement not ten feet away… and started crawling towards it. Feeling more confident, more comfortable, with each passing moment… until he reached it… and lifted it into the air… giving a nod.
There we go. Monster, magic gun. He looked at Nathan’s body… and saw the other revolver lying beside him…. And slowly, gingerly, got to his feet… his heart practically stopping when he heard the noise in the truck stop.
The creature lifted its head out of the windshield, turning to look at Marcus; the face was a horrific sight, covered with blood that was clearly not its own, a loop of intestine danging out trailing back to the mostly-intact truck driver…. Who actually seemed to still be alive, and in terrible pain.
He raised the revolver, hand shaking, trying to center it on the lizard’s head… and pulled the trigger; and just kept pulling the trigger, as quickly as he could, having no idea how many times he shot as the lizard first screeched in pain, as the first bullet hit its shoulder… then started to charge Marcus… as a second… third… fourth round hit it.
At the fifth, it was crawling… the abrupt sprint turning into a slow, wounded shamble. Moving so slowly that Marcus was able to calm down, focus…. And place a bullet directly between the beast’s eyes.
New blue screens popped in front of his face, immediately.
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
Congratulations! You have killed your first enemy!
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Killing enemies awards you some of their inherent energy, dramatically accelerating your progress at leveling. The smaller and weaker you are, the less energy it takes to improve; as a human only recently initiated, you are below the average; depending on what sort of enemy you killed, you may have just given yourself some solid progress towards your first level!
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Try killing many enemies of the same type, or enemies of higher level than you, for additional rewards! When the fight is over, you can either harvest the enemy for its meat, or touch it and think ‘Loot’ to acquire less valuable but neatly packaged rewards! If you have an extradimensional space, it will automatically be stored there!
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
Congratulations! You have gained your first level!
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
As you gain levels, you will increase in power over time; until you acquire a class, this will simply mean you improve in all respects at a steady pace. Think ‘Display status’, or focus on yourself and think ‘Examine’ to learn more.
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
He stared at the blue boxes…. Just like the previous times, they seemed to vanish as soon as he clearly understood them… and while that could be important, what was more important… was the trucker.
Half of his torso had been hollowed out. His left arm was gone. He was still, somehow, clearly alive, and suffering, which… didn’t seem possible. He should’ve been unconscious long before this, and dead from blood loss as well. Did the lizard-thing have some sort of power to keep its victims alive til it was done eating?
Regardless. He looked at the revolver. The reason why it had ‘Horse’ available as a bane option was suddenly extremely clear. Shooting wasn’t always a hostile act; sometimes, it was a mercy.
He leveled the revolver on the driver’s forehead. “I…. wish I had other options. Better options. I know this hurts. I’m sorry.” He closed his eyes, holding the weapon steady… and one last pull of the trigger. An audible snap… the man went limp, eyes shut.
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
Oh no! You’ve killed a fellow sentient being!
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
While circumstances might sometimes force this, and we can’t punish you for your actions, we highly recommend cooperating with your fellow sentients; for the first few weeks, any you meet, regardless of appearance, are either of your species, or chose to change races at level five.
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Marcus gave a low sigh… and looked at the tangled mess that was once the pumps… his truck, and all his worldly belongings. He was gonna have to call the cops, and hope the cameras caught enough of what just went down that he didn’t go to prison for the rest of his life.
Assuming prison was still a thing.
He walked up to Nathan, and looked at the revolver lying beside his hand… and sighed, reaching down to pick it up..tucking it into his belt, on the opposite hip from the first. He really needed to get a couple of holsters, cowboy style, if he ended up using these regularly. He checked it; the gun had five bullets in it; Nathan had gotten off a single shot before the lizard killed him.
A slow shake of the head… as he patted his pockets… finding his old flip-phone. He’d cancelled his old plan, returned his iphone; and got a cheap ‘burner’ phone for the trip; wanting to get rid of as much old baggage as possible.
He tapped it out… 911. And got about the response he expected. ~’We’re sorry, all circuits are busy. Please wait, and try again.~You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Great. Hopefully that just meant it was an emergency, and not that the world had collapsed.
He looked around for a minute, then at the yellow ford taurus; and at Nathan’s corpse; mostly eaten, the keys nowhere to be found. Well. Fuck.
He walked up to the monster, wondering. If he ‘Looted’ it, would he get the keys? Or would they vanish? Did he have to cut open its belly and pray he could find them inside it, somehow? He didn’t even have a good knife handy.
There didn’t really seem to be a good option here. He knelt down, laying a hand on the body, and thought ‘Loot’. The body started to glow softly.
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
Congratulations, you have looted your first monster!
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Most of its body is being converted to ambient mana, empowering yourself and the world around you. The rest is converting the creature into appropriate materials.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Looted: 6x Lizard Hide; 1x Wallet; 1x Keychain; 1x Expended bullet; 20 pounds Lizard Meat
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
It all just appeared, neatly laid out where the corpse once was. Six squares of scaly hide, each a bit over a foot to a side. A mostly intact wallet and keychain… a bullet which had clearly been mushroomed into uselessness by the victim’s flesh; and ten neatly cut, almost rectangular, lumps of meat.
So. He didn’t have an extradimensional storage. Hopefully he didn’t need that meat later. He glanced at the gas station, then at the lizard corpse. Well, hell. If he was borrowing poor Nathan’s car….. There was more than one form of looting.
***
The gas station had a small section for alcohol; and a stack of coolers, heavily overpriced ones, both of the cheap disposable styrofoam sort, as well as of the more expensive plastic variety.
The beer was a bit tempting… but this was not the time to be buzzed. He needed to keep heading west, and find the authorities, or a safe place otherwise.
Maybe….. Should he take out the tapes? No….
He shook his head, and took three of the coolers; loading them down with juices, sodas, and pre-packaged sandwiches from the cooler, before dragging the lot out to the car… finding the backseat empty, and the passenger seat completely filled with wrappers from various fast-food places. He shoved the lot of it out onto the pavement, and set one of the coolers on the seat… alongside a case of bottled water.
Deciding he was about as ready as he was going to be, and all that was left was to get some clothes from the wreckage of his truck, if he could, he looked at his hand, and took a deep breath. Examine or check status? Was Examine something that would work on anything, and Check Status just on himself?
He closed his eyes. Check status.
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
Marcus Jonah Grey
</td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Unclassified Human
</td>
<td>
1
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Strength
</td>
<td>
6
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Endurance
</td>
<td>
11
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Stamina
</td>
<td>
21
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Agility
</td>
<td>
8
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Mind
</td>
<td>
9
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Power
</td>
<td>
5
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Abilities
</td>
<td>
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Skills
</td>
<td>
Minor(Ranged Weapons, Melee Weapons, Persuasion, Automotive Repair) Moderate(Survival, Sales)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Titles
</td>
<td>
None
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Boons
</td>
<td>
Armor Upgrade x1, Tool Upgrade x1
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
He blinked. That didn’t seem particularly right. He would guess he was above-average, strength-wise, and his endurance and stamina shouldn’t be much better than anyone else. He didn’t exactly run marathons.
“...I don’t suppose there’s any chance of questions being answered by whoever is doing this? Like why my Stamina is so high, how to use the boons, any of that?”
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
Administrator Message
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
We’re sorry, Marcus, but we can’t answer individual questions very often; even this answer is derived from a template. There aren’t many of us, and billions of your people, we’re doing our absolute best to provide boons and benefits tailored to preserve your species as a whole, but we didn’t create this situation, and what we can do is limited. A handful of automated answers will populate from here.
Stats are measured on a galactic scale, not a human one. You will discover, once you are able to change race or encounter other species, that humans are one of the most enduring and adaptable species out there; albeit not the most agile or physically strong. At a point when humans are still going strong, an Elf or Demon will have long collapsed from exhaustion.
Boons are used by picking an appropriate item, and thinking about activating it. When you first pick up a piece of armor, you will be notified, and given the option to upgrade it; simply think that you want to, and it will happen. While the ‘Tool’ boon can be used for a variety of things, including making a vehicle more durable and consuming less or no fuel, or doing something similar to a power tool, it is recommended to use the ‘Tool’ option on the largest piece of portable storage you can locate; this will allow you to turn it into an extradimensional space you can access from anywhere.
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Well. That answered some questions, but left more. He had some luggage in his truck he could use, of course. But… how big could the space be?
He glanced at the truck, laying on its side. If the power could upgrade an entire vehicle…. That massive storage container the Semi had been pulling was still fairly intact. He could just pick his biggest piece of luggage if it didn’t work, but if it did….
He walked over to the truck… trying not to look at the man whose life he had recently ended.. And laid a hand on the cargo container on wheels currently laying on its side, thinking… ‘Tool Upgrade.’
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
Using boon: ‘Tool Upgrade’
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
You have selected a storage container of some sort for your upgrade. This container will begin to fade from existence in the real world, taking longer the larger the container is. When it has fully faded, you will be able to place and retrieve items from inside it at any time, and if it is sufficiently large, enter and exit it. Time does not pass inside the container while you are not accessing it.
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
He gave a nod, and a smile. Well, that was useful, at least. He glanced at the container… which was slowly starting to grow. It might take a while… but when it finished, he should have all the storage he could ever need. If his stuff hadn’t been ruined by the impact, he might even wait around, load it all up, too. But….
Any second now, some giant eagle might swoop in, or a swarm of giant ants, or god knew what. He needed to get somewhere more populated, and fast. He turned to the yellow Taurus; and took a deep breath.
Hopefully, things wouldn''t be too bad once he got on the road.