NOVEL FROG 2: Rough Start
Kai awoke in darkness and dead silence. I must be in bed, so that was all a nightmare? He groggily fumbled around before thrashing out with his hands and feet in every direction. His eyes bulged in terror. He was trapped inside something.
Please don’t tell me I’m buried under rubble. He trembled as his fists banged the area in-front of him. It was smooth under his fingertips.
It’s not brick, maybe plastic?
Thud. Thud! Thud!
Panic crushed his chest. His breathing became erratic. Words once again appeared in his vision.
System initializing…
Awakening from stasis.
Elements from participant worlds fused.
Enabling system interaction.
Enabling universal translation.
Greetings, Kai Allan.
Welcome to Dominion.
You have 100 bonus points to distribute freely before you may start.
Starting Setup:
Gear - 0/100
Stats - 0/100
Traits - 0/100
Location - 0/100
10 minutes remain.
It resembled the prompt from a game, and the familiarity helped calm him down. It was something he could do and his mind latched onto it like a drowning man grasping for salvation. He took a deep breath and attempted to center himself. He was mostly successful.
Kai hoped he was having a nightmare, but on the mind-boggling chance this was all real… He bit his lip and turned his attention to the starting setup choices, considering each briefly while trying not to hyperventilate.
Gear could be stolen or fought over, plus if he were to wear heavy armor, his ability to fight effectively would be compromised. Would he be able to choose the stats? What were they, how did they work? He looked at where he imagined his fists were in the darkness — he was confident in his ability to protect himself and therefore didn’t see merit in placing bonus points in whatever traits might be, at least for now.
He’d always wanted to explore exotic places, so what interested but also concerned him was the location line, it implied he could start in snow and be frozen stiff, or buried under a landslide, perhaps gored by some high-level beast in a monster-infested swamp while unable to breathe the air, with no idea how to use traits or stats.
He suspected spreading his starting points would also make sense, but would it result in numerous weak rewards? What if those who maximised one of them received the best rewards?
The hair on the back of his neck rose. The idea that he was wasting time bubbled to the surface of his thoughts. His heart raced. Location will probably be overlooked the most. Aiming for either an impressive or safe start, he pumped all one hundred points into location.
Location 10: Compatible with humans.
Location 50: Shared rare location.
Location 75: Vital Trait: Apex Explorer.
Location 100: Legendary location unique to you, Apex World Wonder Achievement.
Gear 0: Penalty - Weapons and armour removed.
Stats 0: Penalty - Start at G-grade.
Traits 0: Penalty - Known combat traits forgotten.
When Kai read the combat traits penalty, his budding excitement died and his heart crashed against his ribs, its beat echoing in his head.
He’d seen his monastery evaporate into dust, its knowledge lost to all but him. He hoped he would not simply forget; he was not the most devout monk, but to forget would be a dishonour to those who had helped raise him and to his friends who had surely died. His mouth went dry and his skin cold.
Initialization complete.
Welcome to the great battle for survival, 0.24% of all species that have ever existed across the universe are still alive today.
Struggle for supremacy!
I’m defenceless.