Jin 1

When life gives you Lemons...

"…Ow…" a male voice suddenly whined "…Fucking ow!"

It took him a while to realize it was his own voice. He wasn't that surprised by the revelation, he was for all purposes buried under metal rubble. His muscles screamed in pain as he lifted a plate of metal off himself. He hissed in pain, but it was worth it – he was free of the weight!

He straightened his back, reaching his full height of five feet eleven without much difficulties. The man moved forward, and immediately regretted it as sharp pain shot from his thigh. He winced. Normally the man would complain, but now he just gritted his teeth as he looked to check the wound. There it was, a shard of metal imbedded in his leg. He gripped it carefully and pulled. A pained yelp escaped him, but the shard was outside.

He threw it away in anger.

They only went on a vacation, his friends and him. It was holiday after all. He cursed under his breath. Now they were injured and lost, and that was the better case.

The man found himself in a forest. Deep, green forest with healthy trees and lots of wildlife – the observation supported by the number of birds chirping and the fearless rabbit that was sniffing the ruins of what used to be a part of a car. All in all, he should count himself lucky. There was no way they could survive getting hit by lightning and the following explosion of the car. Yet here he was, with nothing but a scratch on himself.

"…this shit is weird" Jin muttered, disbelieving his circumstances. Little did he know it would become his new mantra soon enough.

Jin scavenged what he could, but it wasn't much, and none of it would help him with the most pressing issue – survival. He needed more food than the few chocolate bars he found. More importantly he needed water. There was none. In a stroke of luck, Jin found a compass, which was mostly undamaged.

In the end, he managed to get his hands on the aforementioned compass and chocolate bars, a small pack of cookies that marvellously survived what the car didn't, and a first aid kit. Jin immediately used it to treat his wounds, though with his lack of experience with anything more than papercuts and bruises, the treatment was amateur level at best. Something he'll need to work on, Jin thought bitterly as he finished the inventory. He had only rough idea on what to do, and the more he thought about it the more likely to fail it seemed to him. While he indeed was an active individual, he had understandably little faith in his survival capabilities.

Jin was a twenty years old student, and while he wasn't what one would call a studious type, he dedicated all his built up energy to doing sports. That said, most sports he didn't really enjoy and quit soon after he begun. In the end Jin discovered he was a natural when it came to martial arts. That was when he was fourteen. Now he had six years of wrestling and Muay Thai behind his belt. That, along with natural talent, better than average speed and regular exercise made him into the dangerous close to mid-range fighter. But that was about all he had going for himself in this situation. Sure, he was better off then most other people would… And that brough to his attention another issue.

He wasn't alone in the car. Whatever happened that made him resurface here might have also saved his friends. And they were definitely in a way worse situation than himself. Unless they landed in civilisation, which was the best he could hope for.

Fuck.

As Jin plotted his course of action, he took note of a weird, round orange ball. It moved slowly in a bouncy way towards him. Jin watched the ball as it stopped by his feet. He spoke "How did you get here?"

He crouched to pick the ball up, curious to just how did it get in the middle of a forest like this. Jin picked the orange ball up, intent on inspecting it. When he turned it around Jin suddenly let go.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" He yelled in fright. The ball, no, the ball-like freakshow bounced up in attempt to bite Jin with it's fucking teeth half it's size big! Jin's hand shot at the ball thing out of reflex. The monster crashed in a tree and actually popped.

+1 Xp

"…this is a joke. Tell me this is a joke…" Jin pleaded the screen that popped up.

Do you want to open the status page? – Y/N

Apparently, this world somehow functioned like a game of sorts. This added a whole new layer of problems for Jin. As he was level 1, he had to be wary of basically everything. How was he even supposed to fight like that? No, scratch that. His stats seemed too high for a level 1. His highest was his Dexterity at 70, closely followed with Strength and Constitution, at 55 and 50 respectively. Then there was Agility at 35 and finally Magic at measly 10. Then, the interface went and used his basic stats to calculate Attack, Defense and Speed (using his strength, dexterity, agility and constitution in different combinations). Then there was Magical Attack and Magical Defense, the first based solely in his Magic stat, while Magical Defense worked with Magic and Defense for calculations. Jin quickly noticed the interface didn't factor in the skill of an individual… unless it was included in the stats already.

That said, Jin couldn't afford to stay in one place for too long. He put the singed pack on his back and left with hope in his heart.

It didn't take long for Nature to flip him a bird. Jin was experiencing such a beautiful sunset, only to be ambushed by a higher level monster, in the only moment he wasn't overly wary of his surroundings. It was a feral wolf, level twelve monster as he would find out later. It leapt at him, fangs ready to burrow in his flesh. Jin, naturally, sidestepped the beast with ease. It circled around him, looking for an opportune moment to pounce on the young man again. And pounce it did, it's fifty kilograms of moving muscle impacted Jin. Jin landed on his back, the wolf on him. The wolf hungrily lunged, only to have it's head caught in a headlock. It tried to move, but Jin's arms were too strong. Yet it struggled, as if it's life depended on it. Which, it turned out, it did. Jin twisted it's neck in one quick motion and broke it's spine.

+50 Xp

Level Up!

...

"..."

"Seriously?!"

The beast likely saved Jin's life. Quite the irony, but he would've ran out of food after a few days. This way Jin managed to reach a small, narrow road that lead through the forest.

There was little to celebrate, but Jin still felt a sense of accomplishment. He did it. He found a trace of civilisation. Now if only they were friendly enough. Or not openly hostile, either one would do. At this point, the otherworlder was rid of any trace of injuries from his unexpected arrival. On the other hand he was low on food, lower on water and his legs were killing him. Jin was also forced to discard his shirt, as it was badly torn in the small skirmish with the wolf earlier.

Jin had no more encounters with hostile wildlife, safe for a balloon or five, and hadn't met any bandits or so. He was properly thankful for that, too. He did however meet an older man in dirty, worn clothes. Turned out, the country he was in was called Merlomarc. The old man was a farmer from a nearby village. His name was Rick. Ol'Ricky he called himself, and while Ol'Ricky wasn't, his own words, the most noble company he was certainly the prettiest… Said the Old man with a long scar across his face with a wide, scary grin. Jin shuddered at that.

As they made small talk in order to alleviate the boredom, Jin asked about the place they were currently going towards and more importantly if there was a way he could make some money there. Society ran on cash, if he had it he could move faster and more efficient.

"You want coin? HA! The boy wants coin for his work!" Ol'Ricky laughed. Jin didn't find it funny. He would need to eat, and his hunting skills were non-existent. And he certainly didn't want to resort to theft. No, he would definitely need money in order to buy supplies. With suitable gear and enough food, he could find his friends faster. But Ol'Ricky wasn't done yet. "I will tell you what, boy. You won't get much coin in Lurolona. Why? 'Cause we ain't got much either! What you can earn, if you work hard, is food, shelter and maybe even some clothes. And just maybe you could find a lost knife or two somewhere. What do you say, boy? Do you still think the coin to be the most important?"

Jin smiled. Even if he knew money would be necessary, this would do. Not that he could choose, but it warmed his heart, seeing the old farmer offering help, even when they couldn't afford it financially. "I'm sure it will help. Thanks, old man."

"Hey! This is what peak performance looks like!"

Jin burst out laughing as the farmer puffed out his chest, which held hardly any muscle.

This shit sure is weird, but at least people are not bad…

And as he thought that, another wolf launched itself at him.

Here we go, the first chapter done. One of the main cast is introduced, as is part of the plot. Yes, I said one of the main cast, since there will be more than just the sassy martial artist. We will be following him for the next few chapters.

That said, some of you might have some questions about the system, so here is the gist of it:

There is five basic stats. Strength, Dexterity, Agility, Constitution and Magic. Each one of those stats is pretty much self-explanatory. Then there are the stats most of us connect with the original concept of the Rising of the Shield Hero. Those are Attack, Defense, Magical Attack, Magical Defense and Speed. Those are the Advanced stats.

Now, in order to fully describe the character's physical capabilities I've taken the option to introduce the first package of stats, eg. The basic stats. In this fiction, those stats are what determine the Advanced stats. The Heroes, however, have only the Advanced stats displayed, and the Basic stats are governed by them as a result.

For example, Naofumi with defense of 300 would have 200 in both Strength and Constitution, since normally I'd add halved Strength to Constitution to determine it.

The same works for attack, only that is determined by Strength + halved Dexterity + weapon modifier. That would also include Naofumi though the Shield would place damage reduction on his attacks to a point of annulling it.

You also might have noticed that Jin is way stronger than a level 1 has any right to be. That has a reason, too. If you recall, he is mentioned to be a skilled martial artist, as well as being physically fit, exercising regularly and all that. Your average soldier is in the range 10 to 20 level and isn't any stronger than a regular human. Jin's stats correspondent with his actual capabilities.

If there's any questions, requests or suggestions then feel free to let me know in a PM.

Thanks guys, see ya next time!