"The Tale of Gamers: So, We're Doing This Huh?"

Chapter 1: "A Meeting of The Past"

"Hey" people talking

'hello there' people thinking

"what are we planning" people whispering

[hi there, gamer] system

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING OTHER THAN MY OCs. EVERYTHING BELONGS TO THEIR RIGHTFUL OWNERS AND I AM DOING THIS FOR FUN.

(Unknown Location)

A body laid in the middle of an empty glade, surrounded by a vast and dark forest. The figure looked to be male, one who just reached adulthood. He had black and short hair, a slightly lean build that suggests experience in exercising. Wearing what seemed to be simple sleeping wear, a white shirt paired with grey sweatpants with bare feet.

For what seemed to be hours, the man was still, until a crow perched on one of the many trees squawked and flew away.

( ? POV)

Groaning and feeling uncomfortable, I slowly opened my eyes and noticed something strange, 'Why is my ceiling dark?' as I closed them afterwards. Then I immediately opened them as I just realized I was not in my room as I bolted upright and noticed I was somewhere else.

"Am I dreaming?" I asked to no-one as I wobbly stood up and looked around. I was lost for a lack-of-a-better term as I stood there and gawked at my surroundings with a slack-jawed expression

Although I was essentially stranded and lost, I tried to keep my cool, but it was getting increasingly difficult as I started to hyperventilate as the darkness was slowly overwhelming me, "Where am I? Why am I here? How did I get here?" as I hysterically asked out-loud for about a couple minutes before I decided to get it together.

Taking a deep breath, I decided to remember what I did last night and to my horror, I couldn't remember a single thing. "I…Wait, that doesn't…" as I stood there scrunching my eyebrows in concentration to remember what I can. Eventually, it felt like the only thing I could remember was my name, it was Jay.

Letting out a shuddering breath, I felt my entire core shook as the gravity of my situation is increasingly getting worse. Before I continued with my mental breakdown, I noticed a small pond to my right, 'Strange, the area didn't seem wet from rain so this must have been here ever since.' I thought as I gradually calmed myself.

Deciding to go over, I frowned as I was barefooted, and the ground here wasn't exactly soft. A few strides later and I was kneeling in front of the pond. A reflection of my face stared at me, the face of a frightened and young man.

I didn't notice any damage or new scars on my face, the small scar I have currently is on my right cheek. It goes down diagonally and curves downward to my jaw. As I have no recollection of how I got this, it wasn't too noticeable as it isn't a deep scar but up close, I have no doubts someone will notice.

However, the major change were my eyes. Even without remembering, I instinctively knew my eyes were black in color, but now it was different. Gone were the charcoal colored eyes, replaced with a piercing electric blue that seemed to glow unnaturally. I of course was mesmerized, it seemed so predatory and yet passive. Beyond those changes, nothing seemed out of place and just to make a final reality check, I put my hands together and cupped some water with them. Immediately, I splashed my face as the cold water hit and drenched me, "I guess this is real, huh?" I said as the water slightly rippled and distorted my reflection.

As the water settled, my eyes widen in alarm as a hulking figure was behind me. Spinning around and stumbling backwards into the pond, I looked back to see something that came from nightmares, a humanoid wearing rusting silver armor that had some parts looking like bone. Patches of black cloth decorated different parts of the armor, and it wielded a sword that seemed to emit black tendrils connecting to its hand. The most disturbing part however was its face, it was literally just a skull.

This thing emitted a dark miasma and aura of death that made me break out in a cold sweat. It stood there looking at the ground, twitching every so often before it abruptly craned its neck up, I swore I heard its bones creaked and cracked as I dumbly stared while being soaked in the pond.

It then locked eyes with me before pointing its sword at me and it lets out an ear-piercing shriek that snap me out of my state as I immediately went to cover my ears. Before I could however do so, it swung and I hastily got out of the way, diving to the side to avoid being skewered by the blade.

Ignoring how wet my clothes were, I saw the monster swiftly recover as it started to advance towards me. Doing the most logical thing I could, I turned away from it and ran, going deeper into the forest despite my inner protests at how malicious the entire forest felt.

As I ran, I noticed how quiet the entire area was except for my panting and my pursuer that was getting closer by the second. For the next couple of minutes, I kept running, but I made the mistake of looking back that I didn't notice what was in front of me. While I saw the thing cutting branches and bushes in its path, in front of me was a cliff and a steep drop. When I looked back in front of me, I was almost near it and with the rate I was going, I was gonna fall off.

"Fuck!" I shouted as I made an attempt of slowing down but instead, I tripped and tumbled towards the edge and fell off. My hand instinctively reached out to grab something and to my surprise I was able to grasp the edge.

Although I was able to save myself, with how I was going, the sudden stop might have dislocated my shoulder as pain suddenly flooded my system. I cried out at the sudden sensation but as I looked down and only saw overwhelming darkness and faint silhouettes of trees, I let out a sigh of relief and endured it.

My relief was short-lived however when I heard metal clanging and heavy footsteps as I looked up to see the thing was looming over me. It almost seemed like it was mocking me as it tilted its head to the side and slowly reached out a hand as if it was taking pity on me.

I wasn't easily fooled as I knew there were only two options for me here. Either I let this thing kill me or I die by my own accord, essentially damned if I do and damned if I don't. I gritted my teeth as the hand was nearing mine and I steeled my resolve as I made my decision. I let go and plummeted to my death, unknown that the entire thing was being observed.

It felt like an eternity before I could remotely move as I stared at the hole I made through the trees. Turns out the drop wasn't that extreme but the dense foliage the trees provided and me suddenly disappearing made it so my pursuer assumed I was dead, I hope.

I grunted as I tried sitting up before hissing in pain as I laid back down, looking down I noticed I had a branch protruding out of my side. Thoughts went in and out of my head as one of the more prominent ones was, 'Why am I not in agonizing pain?' to which I decided to do the stupid thing and try to see if I can pull it out when I realized, I wasn't on the ground, not fully at least.

I was suspended off the ground as I realized I was impaled on a tree just a few feet before I hit the floor. "This really sucks." I said as I tried to remove myself from the tree. I spent roughly a few minutes before I got lucky or unlucky, as I broke the branch and started falling once more. When I landed, I was on my back and the damn thing went deeper and I started seeing black spots in my vision as I was just about to pass out from the pain.

I was shakily breathing and grunting in pain as I laid there before I noticed what looked like an exclamation point in the corner of my vision. I was just about to focus on it before it disappeared, in my delirious state I assumed it was my imagination and focused on the branch in my side.

Trying in vain to stand up, I suddenly felt something from where the pain originated. It felt like my skin was moving towards the branch, it really felt weird and yet I had the urge to pull the stick out. Deciding that if I was gonna bleed out I'd rather not have something sticking out of me, I held the stick with both hands as I braced myself to pull.

With a deep breath, I pulled with all my might as I clamped my mouth shut to prevent letting out loud noises of pain. When I pulled it out, I was surprised when my skin knitted itself together and the pain was suddenly suppressed but it was still there, just faint. I felt the newly fixed skin with my fingers, and it was like the skin was never damaged in the first place, no scarring even.

"What is going on here?" I asked confused as I inspected my entire body for any other injuries and to my surprise, only my clothes were damaged somewhat. I couldn't continue on this discovery as I was alerted by branches being snapped to my side.

Out came my pursuer as I let out a sigh of resignation before immediately running once again, the monster hot on my trail. We played this game of cat and mouse for a few minutes before I found myself running out of the woods and onto an open area. Up ahead was a dark castle that seemed to have rocks surrounding it as water from the sea crashed at the base of the rock formations. To the sides were beaches and docks that housed ships that were all broken and torn.

As I continued observing I realized that I was running away for my life as I suddenly gasped in pain when my pursuer snuck up and slashed at my back. I stumbled forward and went to face him, only to be sent back when it lashed it with a kick. My body landed with a thud as the thing stalked forward as I tried to think of anything to escape.

But it was all in vain as my pursuer suddenly stepped on my chest and pinned me to the ground as it pointed its blade once more and thrusted towards my throat. My brain went into overdrive as in my eyes, everything started slowing down.

'Is this it? Am I gonna die here?' I bitterly thought as the blade neared its destination. I wanted fight back, to stop the sword from impaling me through my throat. Yet, before it could reach me, I suddenly felt something deep within me. It was power that felt like a roaring ocean and without realizing it I unleashed it.

A strong shockwave was sent out from my body, my would-be killer was sent flying towards one of the trees that wasn't uprooted from the force I emitted.

My eyes widened when I realized what had happened as I now saw the devastation of what I unconsciously did. The forest that I came out of lost a lot of trees, as if they were violently ripped out. I felt the ground beneath me was cracked as if something heavy was dropped with enough force to form the spiderweb-like cracks.

I stared at the apparent destruction when I notice something, there wasn't just one of those things, there's a small army of them now and they were all menacingly staring at me as I was bombarded by bloodlust from each one.

"Did you call for help or something?" I weakly chuckled as I started to stand up. I was outnumbered and whatever I did was giving me a massive headache and for once in my short life without memories, I never felt more alive despite almost dying so I'll be damned if I don't take these guys with me to the grave.

The small army then rushed at me and I knew within seconds they'll reach and kill me, but the combined feelings of pain and frustration alongside my will to live prevented me from just running now. Whatever power I had was waning and weakening, I felt it, so once the closest one swung downward on my head I stopped it and everything around me.

The sword was frozen just inches away from hitting me, the monster holding it was stuck in stasis as well as its comrades. I started making them levitate and gradually increased it where they were a few feet off the ground. My head was starting to pound even more, and I felt a trickle of blood escaping my nose, so I poured every energy I could into crushing this entire army.

"AAAAAAHH!" I roared as I sent another blast of energy that once more sent a shockwave but this time, instead of sending my enemies flying I crushed and tore them to shreds. To my relief, they weren't really human as I suspected but the black substance they bled was my final confirmation. When I finished, I dropped to my knees, panting and gasping for air as I endured the very painful sensation of multiple hammers pounding at my head. My vision was getting blurry and it seemed like I was on the verge of passing out for the second time.

Before I could fully collapse however, I saw a woman wearing what looked like a bodysuit while wielding a red demonic-looking spear walking towards me and a holographic screen, unaware that these two will be pivotal for my future and merely the beginning of my new life.

[Gamer System fully established!]

[You have 3 new notifications!]

Without even giving the woman or the new texts in my vision attention, I fell forward as my entire vision darkened and I fell into a dark and deep slumber, not knowing the connection I had with the woman who was staring at my unconscious body with an unreadable expression before letting out a quiet sigh as she inspected the aftermath.

(Dreamscape)

When I opened my eyes, I was blinded by a bright flash and I was standing in a room deprived of almost any objects minus a rack of weapons. The room looked plain, it seemed to be made up of multiple dark grey tiles and white lines that seem to be a design on each tile. It felt familiar and yet not, but before I could continue looking around a door slid open behind me, the sudden noise making me slightly jump and gasp.

I turned around to see a bizarre but no less intimidating sight, a figure clad in black armor. Their gauntlets formed of segmented pieces put together and reached to their elbows as a pair of shoulderguards covered the remaining parts of their arms. The breastplate seemed segmented as well and from my angle I can see two blue cloth dangling at the lower back of their armor, reaching past the back of their knees, and stopping at the middle of their calves. As I observed what looked like their version of coattails, their boots reached past the knees and settled on their thighs. Finally, was their helmet, if I didn't know any better then it almost looks like it resembled a crow.

Overall, it spelled out danger and experience as the knight strode past me towards the weapon rack. One of the tiles to the upper right of the rack suddenly cleared itself before a holo-screen popped up. I squinted my eyes as I walked closer as the knight was tapping precisely and rapidly with one hand.

When I got close and peaked over their shoulder, I saw they were inputting difficulty levels and enemy numbers on it. Just from that, I immediately assumed this was a training room of sorts, but the question was, 'How is it possible for a medieval knight to use something so advanced?' I mentally asked as the knight finished and nodded to himself before grabbing an odd combination of weapons.

In his left hand was a simple short spear as he wielded a longsword in his right. I stood there bewildered as he proceeded to the middle of the room right before the room suddenly flashed red and holographic combatants appeared. The holograms were all humanoid, but they seem to vary with their weapons. Some wielded swords, axes, spears, maces or even daggers while some wielded bows, crossbows, and javelins.

In my opinion, anyone who would be caught in the middle of such a group would lose, oh how wrong I was. The knight took stock of their situation before they suddenly hurled their spear towards an unsuspecting archer before they went and engaged the closest enemy with their sword. I thought that was a stupid move until the spear kept going through the marksmen.

My jaw dropped as I observed it seemingly come alive as it pierced and impaled its way through the ranks of marksmen before it began spinning back towards its owner who was calmly and effortlessly parrying, deflecting then punishing their enemies before they lashed out with a punch then caught the spear. As I watched the one-sided massacre, I noticed how the knight almost never bothered when they get hit, always letting their armor take the brunt of an attack or if need be they used their spear to bat aside weapons before countering with their weapons or as they like to implement a form of martial arts.

The army of holograms were reduced to only a couple dozen as I continued to be mesmerized by the sight. The knight fought in a mixed display of elegance and brutality wherein they use their speed to dodge and weave through attacks before closing in for a strong attack that cleaved through their opponents. Within minutes, the remaining holograms were destroyed as the room sounded out with a horn that indicated it was finished.

However, even with the horn sounding out, the knight never relaxed so it meant that they set another round against what would most likely be another army of holograms. And as I suspected, another army of the same variation appeared but this time almost all the melee fighters were armored.

The knight only looked around them before an immense pressure blanketed the area. Despite not fully being there, I felt the pressure too, but it was even worse for the holograms. Some were outright crushed while the rest fell onto their knees or backs, the knight then stabbed their sword into the floor before making an open hand gesture as they slowly closed it into a fist.

The result was instantaneous as half of the holograms were suddenly squeezed, shredded, or crushed but the knight seemed unsatisfied before a sudden shockwave pulsed out from them as every hologram was disintegrated. The shockwave was powerful enough to even crack the entire room before it was immediately fixed somehow.

"That was insane." I murmured as I noticed the knight now relaxing slightly but was still somewhat tense while holding the two weapons. I never really thought that I'd see someone fight like they did but the power they demonstrated, it seemed familiar.

"So, this is where you've been." A voice sounded behind me as I saw another person was at the door the knight came through. The person was a guy who was a head taller than I was, he reminded me of how I looked originally with black hair and eyes but he had an aura of intelligence and exuded friendliness, despite the glint of mischief present in his eyes. He had a lean build like I did, but his facial features were more charming or quite simply handsome. He was wearing casual clothes, a grey hoodie with a red medical cross on his chest paired with black pants and sneakers while tucking his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. He gave a grin at the knight who I imagined was blankly staring at their friend. The guy looked at the top and seemingly squinting at something before letting out an impressed whistle, probably a holographic scoring or replay of what happened.

"The girls and I were looking for you, you know? Found something that might interest you so get cleaned up and meet us at the hub." He remarked before leaving and shutting the door behind him. I heard the knight give a scoff before sending the weapons they picked up from the rack by magically making them float and gently inserted themselves into their previous spots. The knight then started walking towards the door as my vision started to blur just as the knight was taking their helmet off.

(Barracks)

My eyes opened to see a ceiling greet me as I felt something soft underneath me. Glancing to my side I saw a table with a set of attire on top, turning my head to the rest of the room I noticed that it was spartan and simplistic. Aside from the table, there was a wardrobe, a chest, bookshelves stocked with some books and the bed I was currently laying on. Before I could do anything else however, a screen suddenly appeared in my vision.

[Health and Mana have been restored due to player sleeping!]

I was shocked as I stared at it for a minute before trying to swipe it to the side, which to my surprised worked. It disappeared but I immediately noticed a small exclamation point on the bottom right of my vision, so I focused on that. Lo and behold, more screens popped out.

[Skill: Telekinesis has been acquired.]

[Due to strenuous activity, END has increased by 2 points.]

[Level up x3!]

I laid there going through the text and I was confused and excited at the same time. Confused because when did this happen and excited, well knowing that I'm not completely useless and that I don't need to run away from every encounter now.

Looking over the screens once more, I decided to tap the second one and it opened a new screen for me.

Status List:

Character Name: Jay

Alignment: Neutral

Level: 4 – EXP: 0/10,000

Title: None

HP: 140/140 – (20 HP per minute regen)

MP: 100/100 – (10 MP per minute regen)

STR: 10

END: 14

AGI: 5

DEX: 4

INT: 10

LUCK: 2

Point: 30

Age: 18

'That is some terrible luck, so that partly explains the events that transpired in me running away from whatever chased me, falling off a cliff, being impaled on a tree and the sudden group of enemies that nearly killed me.' I thought as I observed that I received 30 points to spend and that END is my highest stat. I then focused my attention on the other stats, and I tried my best to comprehend or guess what they signified.

'STR would be how strong I hit and my ability to carry heavy objects. END would be my health and the rate of how quickly I regenerate it. AGI would be affect the speed of my movement. DEX would pertain to my skill in using weapons and my hands. INT would be my mana and how quickly I get it back, but it will also dictate whether I can use a specific spell or magic, no doubt depending how high it is. LUCK would be the figurative coin tossing, either I get something to help me out or my problem worsens.' I surmised as I saw an arrow just above the status list. I tapped it as the entire character sheet disappeared, replaced by a new list.

[Character Screen]

[Notifications]

[Relationships]

[Inventory]

[Skill List]

[Options]

Remembering I had other notifications, I tapped the [Notifications] and it showed me the remaining two. I swiped the level-up one and went straight for the telekinesis one. Upon tapping, it opened up another menu for me.

[All Skills]

[Gamer's Mind - One of two essential skills of a Gamer. Giving the player a calm state of mind and helps them control their emotions better. Making the player immune to telepathy, psychological attacks and negative mental status effects.]

[Gamer's Body - One of two essential basic skills of a Gamer. Making the player's body like an RPG character. Pain disappears after a few seconds, sleeping in bed restores HP and MP while also removing negative status effects. When the player reaches 0 in HP, the Gamer dies.]

[Skill Creation - A skill that allows the player to form any type of skill so long as they have the appropriate stats to create as certain skills require higher stats in order to make.]

[Telekinesis (2/100) - The mental ability to manipulate objects whether by moving it from one place to another or sending out telekinetic attacks that either crush or blast apart enemies. It's up to the user how to use this skill but certain actions require more MP than others.]

I read all four skills and I am thankful that such things exist, especially the first one. "So, I'm essentially a living cheat huh?" I said out loud as I focused on the third one. [Skill Creation], this skill pretty much saved me in time before I died but does this mean I had this the entire time?

It would certainly explain why I had such a hard time dying, with how grievous the wounds I sustained especially with the impalement, I should have died then. I shook my head and returned to the list, the first two are definitely a boon but I noticed that in [Gamer's Mind] mentioned psychological attacks, what if someone was able to place a sort of illusion that only changes objects in my environment? Will it negate it or simply leave it be because it's not exactly harassing my brain.

I pondered these thoughts before deciding to be careful around illusionists and to develop a way to counter specific illusions that don't count as an attack. I looked over [Gamer's Body] and I now had an answer for my skin knitting together back there in the forest. It's cool that I won't need to worry about internal bleeding or holes in my body most of the time, but I wish there was a way to have some scars to stay. I chuckled at my childish thoughts before finally looking over to [Telekinesis].

'This was the magic or skill that primarily saved my life, but I wonder what triggered it to create itself?' I wondered as I never really thought of creating it. I shrugged it off instead as I finished inspecting my skills, so I decided to see what the other menus hold.

I then set my eyes on [Relationships], I will admit deep down as far as I can remember (which is not much), I'm not the best at people. Sure, I can create a facade that will make me more likable, but it gets tiring and I'd rather not do that. I sighed as I tapped it, only to get nothing back. I frowned in confusion before trying again, this time something popped up.

[ERROR…PROCESSING]

I stared at it, dumbfounded that somehow the relationships had such an error. I sighed as I waited for it to fix itself or hell, cancel itself. It was a few seconds later that the text disappeared, and I became confused nothing popped back. I decided to try one last time and to my relief, it somewhat worked?

[Relationships]

[_c_t_a_h] – (55/100) – Thoughts about you: Indifferent and Neutral

[_e_] – (80/100) – Thoughts about you: None, you're on different worlds to even interact.

Now this is odd, I have two viewable relationships and the rest seemed to be greyed out with symbols and random numbers in the name, but they all sat at 50 out of 100. I looked at the first name and I don't have any clue who that is, in fact, I don't know both of these incomplete names. Indifferent and neutral, so basically everyone I've met. The second one however, had a pretty high affinity with them suggests I've met and bonded with them in some way but even if the name only has 3 letters like mine, it's not like I can remember anyone who has such a name.

I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration as I decided to visit [Inventory] next. To my non-existent surprise, it's empty but I saw that I have options to categorize them by name, type, value and quantity. Of course, if I had way too much stuff in here, there's a search bar at the top as well so no issues there. Moving on to [Options], I'm pleasantly surprised there's not that much here.

I actually laughed a little when I discovered there's a feature to keep scars, but I have to be selective with which ones I want to keep. There is also an option to mute sounds which to me SOUNDS useful, get it? Anyway, the best option here is the mental commands, instead of me saying it out loud or bringing up an invisible menu that is only seen by me. I enabled that feature and ignored the mute button while also enabling the scars option.

Exiting out of the [Options] menu and deciding to finally get off the bed, I first sat on the bed as my still bare feet touched the cold stone floor. I stood up and to my surprise, I didn't even feel like I've been lying down for a long time, who knows how long I've been unconscious since there isn't any clock here for some reason. I walked up to the table to see what attire my savior left me and I'm not too sure how to feel about it.

Whoever gave me new clothing, they included a black breastplate as well. "I think I'm expected to fight or get hit, and I just know it's gonna be a long painful session." I sighed as I stripped off my shirt before replacing it with the new dark grey one alongside the black pants they've provided. They all fit me comfortably as well as somehow perfectly fitting me.

'Not even gonna question how they got my size right.' I thought as I started putting on the boots. I was a little peeved that there weren't socks but I didn't care too much about it as like my clothes it fitted quite nicely. Next was the breastplate, I struggled a little bit to try and lock it but eventually, I somehow got it. The last piece of my attire were the gloves, they were simple black gloves that reached past my wrist but otherwise it also fitted perfectly.

As I refastened the straps to my breastplate, it was only then I realized something. [Inventory] could have helped me. I facepalmed so hard I'm sure I lost 2 HP as I sighed at my forgetfulness. To test it, I mentally opened up the menu and it shows here I'm wearing a [Leather Breastplate], [Dark Grey Shirt], [Black Pants], [Leather Boots] and finally [Leather Gloves]. I unequipped my armor and it vanished in white motes of light and I looked at my screen and it was simply there. So, I reequipped it and it went back on with a small flash of light.

"Note to self, I need to remember that I'm not an ordinary person anymore." I commented as I decided to leave my room and go meet my rescuer and temporary caretaker.

As I left my room, I found myself in a dark and grey hallway, over to my sides were doors that I assumed were the same types of room I woke up in. Though that begged the question, why were there so many and yet the entire place seemed abandoned. I shook my head as I started wandering until I stumbled upon the exit since, this place was quite huge.

It took me about half and hour before I even located the exit, this place wherever I am was filled with bedrooms, like a massive dorm or more specifically a barracks. In front of me was the tall double doors that lead to this building, so with a deep breath I pulled one of them open and stepped outside. My expectations were that the sun would blind me on my way out but to my disappointment and anxiety, it was dark, but the moon was illuminating my surroundings.

Around me were castle walls, some of them had sconces on them that gave a tad bit of light. Looking around, I found myself in some sort of courtyard with weapon racks decorating the sides, training dummies with painted targets on them. In front of me was another building that looked like an armory of sorts, to my left was what I assumed the main castle and to the adjacent side of the barracks where I came from, was a smaller building that from one window I saw long tables and chairs, I guessed that was a hall of sorts, maybe a cafeteria?.

I then looked back at the courtyard/training yard as I took stock of the weapons, "It almost reminds me of what I saw while unconscious." I recalled as I saw the exact weapons that the knight used, and to my astonishment I was drawn to them. I walked over to pull out and inspect the weapons, the spear was only a couple inches shorter than me, it was heavy, and the blade or tip was dulled. The sword was a simple longsword, the guard forming a letter T with the blade and handle but thankfully it wasn't as heavy like the spear.

I remembered watching that knight fight with this combo with incredible ease and somehow, that type of fighting and choice of weapons resonated with me. I tried moving around with both weapons as I seemed to favor one side for the other as the weight was a little unbalanced. Remembering that there is a way for me to fix this, I immediately looked at my stats and used all 30 points.

HP: 150/150 – (25 HP per minute regen)

MP: 100/100 – (10 MP per minute regen)

STR: 15

END: 15

AGI: 15

DEX: 14

INT: 10

LUCK: 6

Deciding to put 5 in STR, 10 in AGI and DEX, 1 in END and the rest in LUCK, I definitely felt the change as the weapons became lighter but it still had enough weight to let me feel them in my hands. My eyes also became slightly sharper, a result of one of the stats and my body felt faster too. I then realized that without recklessly swiping and slashing with the weapons in my hands, I had next to no idea how to even use them. That's when I remembered that I could bypass that with [Skill Creation].

[Assessing stats for creation of skills…Success!]

[Skill: Swordsmanship has been acquired.]

[Skill: Spearmanship has been acquired.]

[Skill: Combine Swordsmanship + Spearmanship into unique skill? Y/N]

I mentally pressed yes as knowledge begun filtering into my head, most of it was basic sword or spear stances and techniques but what confused me was when I combined both skills, I expected something to aid me. Before I could voice my thoughts, another screen popped up.

[Dual Wielding (Spear w/ Sword) (1/100) – the combination of using a spear and sword, often said to be impractical but somehow, you've made it work. A mixture of elegance and brutality, you have the potential to be a dance of death on the battlefield.]

It was weird honestly; my head was being filled with ideas that could help me realize the skill to use but it was not much. I believe in order for me to level this skill up would be to refer to its base skills, so [Swordsmanship] and [Spearmanship]. I also assumed that in order for me to level up this skill was to have both base skills at the same level and past that point, I'm drawing a blank. I'll focus on using one of the weapons first before considering trying to do something reckless.

I sighed as I returned the spear because I would prefer to use a sword for now, until I reach a certain point, only then will I pick the spear to train. As I replaced the spear, I got the feeling I was being watched and I jumped out of my skin when a voice sounded off behind me.

"I did not expect any visitors in my home ever since the influx of monsters from the Land of Shadows." A feminine voice said as I turned around as I felt a lump in my throat formed. Standing just a few paces away was an incredibly beautiful woman with long purple hair, wearing what looked like a skin-tight suit that accentuated her physique. In her hands was a familiar looking red spear that made me realize one thing.

"You were the one who saved me, and you watched me pass out." I said as calmly as I can but I still felt uncomfortable, not just from the presence of the woman but the spear itself was emitting a dark aura that while I didn't show it, I was nervous deep down.

"Indeed, I watched you fall off and survive somehow as the Darkwraiths were tracking you." She said as she stared at me with a neutral look as I looked at her eyes. I stared at her crimson eyes as we met briefly before she huffed away and twirled her spear and settled in a stance and glared at me coldly.

"I care not of your triumph against them however, with their presence any potential students were prevented from facing the trials. Face me in combat, prove to me you were worth saving." She glared at me before suddenly vanishing from view as my eyes widen in alarm before my senses screamed at me that she was behind me. Spinning on my heel and narrowly avoiding the thrust she made, I was suddenly kicked away as she prepared to slash at me.

With only basic knowledge with swords, I parried her spear to the side before tilting my head to the side as her thrust was able to make a small cut on my cheek. I was about to try and retaliate before she abruptly spun and followed up with multiple thrusts. I tried to block and parry as many as I can but with her speed, experience, and skill a lot hit their marks, making light cuts and nicks on my body.

Deciding to use [Telekinesis] to even the odds, just as she was about to thrust once more, I pulled her towards me and I saw her eyes briefly widen before settling themselves into a neutral expression. I went with a punch using my offhand and aimed at her face but she twisted her body mid-air and avoided it completely before I felt her give me a hard smack on the back that made me stumble. I followed up with a forward roll, just in time to see her spear impale the ground where I last stood.

"Lady, I don't even know who you are, where I am or why you even care about seeing if I'm worthy, but are you seriously trying to kill me!?" I shouted at her as she continued to look at me with an indifferent look. She pulled out her spear from the ground and readied herself once more.

"Fight your hardest or I will slay you from where you stand." She scolded me as if I wasn't trying my hardest against her. I glared at her before taking a deep breath and settling in a loose one-handed stance. From what I experienced, she encompasses me in physical strength and speed, I'm not sure if she possesses magic like I do but I hope that if she does, she won't use it.

Because I sure as hell am not surviving if she combines both physical and magical prowess. I looked over my HP and MP, my health isn't looking too good. I assumed the entire battle took only a minute because it sat at an uncomfortable 50 HP while my MP was at 88.

'So, I used 10 MP for the initial pull, and it took 2 for us to close in on each other. I need to catch her off guard, I can't overwhelm her like this.' I planned as I looked side to side and saw the racks of weapons that just gave me an idea. I rushed at her with a slash as I willed one of the axes from the racks behind her. I disengaged just as she batted the axe aside that immediately went and floated behind me, waiting to be sent against her. I clashed with her again in a flurry of slashes that I aimed for her limbs to either disarm or stun her, to no one's surprise she easily countered by deflecting my sword or simply moving out of the way.

Sending my floating axe at her, I immediately followed up with a pair of swords from our sides as they flew at her to impale her. As she once again batted the axe aside, she spun and twirled around to parry both swords that fell onto the ground just as I got near her and got stuck in an ensuing blade-lock with her spear, my sword pushing against the shaft of her weapon.

I gritted my teeth as I glared at her as she answered with a blank stare that sent shivers down my spine, 'This isn't working!' I frustratedly thought before deciding to do something that I hope would work out. I lashed out with a kick that she blocked with the end of her spear before I pushed off and telekinetically sent the three weapons on the ground towards her. As she took a couple of seconds to deal with the flying weapons, I outstretched my hand towards the spear I was holding earlier.

It flew towards me as I sloppily caught it before fixing my grip and I hurled it with all of my strength as I gave it a boost via [Telekinesis]. Just as I thought she was going to be hit, she did the impossible and split the spear into two, like it was an arrow shot from a bow against a blade.

"I commend you for displaying your magical abilities, but I believe it's time we end this, no?" She idly commented before I felt her doing something that involves magic. Before I could even comment she suddenly summoned a copy of her spear and once more rushed me. This time, it was infinitely faster than her initial speed, in which I could barely keep up in the first place, as she thrusted both spears towards my chest. I used my sword and my left arm to block, when it impacted my sword, it did very little as the blade shattered and the spears ended up burying themselves into my arm.

I checked my health and saw that I was around 10 HP left. I started panicking until [Gamer's Mind] kicked in and helped me calm down just as she disappeared, and the spears vanished. I was about to release a sigh of relief when I looked ahead, and she was posed to throw her original spear as it bled a red aura.

"GAE BOLG ALTERNATIVE!" she roared as she sent the spear towards me. I knew I wasn't fast enough to dodge it, so I did the next thing I thought. I outstretched both of my palms as I shut both of my eyes and focused into a new skill, I was willing to create.

[Assessing stats for skill creation…Success!]

[Skill: Ward Creation has been acquired.]

I quickly looked over my MP and saw that I still had 60 left, only gained back 10 in the entire 2nd engagement with her. I poured whatever MP I had into creating a ward that caught the spear. I strained myself into preventing the spear from piercing me as I saw my MP was quickly lowering itself.

"Oh? A barrier that caught Gae Bolg Alternative? Average physical and fighting skills that can be trained and magic that can mentally manipulate objects and people as well as a new defensive magic, perhaps you were worth saving." She observed as I continued to struggle against the spear.

I was already out of MP as she was talking but I was given the option to substitute my HP for usage and I did so without hesitating. I was steadily falling towards 1 HP, but just before that the spear suddenly stopped before vanishing and appearing in her hand. She nodded in satisfaction before I dropped to my knees as I saw my health stopped at 2 HP.

She came over to me before hauling me to my feet, "Rest for now my student. We will continue your lesson once you have recovered." She advised before walking past me towards the main castle part of this place. I stared at her in disbelief and I was mentally stressed out to even make a comment as I watched her walk away. I let out a breath as I flopped onto my back, but apparently my new "teacher" had one last thing to say.

"Be sure to clean up your mess as well my student." She called out as I turned my head to the side, looking at her.

'Not all of this was my mess!' I thought but answered with a tired affirmation as she nodded, seemingly satisfied with something. I laid there for half an hour, even as my HP and MP already regenerated a while ago, I just stayed in position as I pondered my new situation.

'A new power and chance to be strong with an incredibly powerful combat instructor, how exciting!' I sarcastically thought but I was actually pretty happy and excited, I was eager to learn how to fight but I ain't mentioning that to my new teacher. Who knows what she'll do, just thinking about it sent a shiver down my spine.

I suppressed the shuddering of my entire body as I mentally manipulated the scattered weapons back to their respective racks, filling the broken ground with the loose cement that was also scattered in our fight and I looked at the shattered pieces of the training sword.

I picked up the handle and inspected it before deciding that I'll keep it in my [Inventory]. It was a perfect fit for a training sword so I was thinking of using it for the future, no doubt I'll get a crafting skill because I doubt she's going to give me a weapon if I ever pass her training.

As I send the sword handle to my storage, I couldn't help but think that despite all of the close encounters, I think I'm gonna enjoy my life, one way or another.

Hey there! I'm new to making fanfiction and I just wanted to share this to anyone who reads after the chapter.

As you have noticed, this is another Gamer story. Now, if you haven't left yet then lemme just say that I know the genre is more or less common but I'm just doing this as a hobby and something to let my imagination run rampant.

With regards to how the story goes, I'll be implementing a lot of things from different fandoms such as the "Darkwraiths" from Dark Souls. I'm a huge fan of FromSoftware so expect me to reference it here and there or I'll be including enemies from the SoulsBorne series.

Now, you will notice that the MC starts in Fate, specifically where our beloved Shishou resides. I honestly like Scathach, don't get me wrong but I was somewhat struggling trying to get her personality right and make plausible dialogue that matches with her personality. My biggest apologies if I somehow mess up with that part of her, if you have some problems with it do let me know so I can try and fix it.

If you have any issues so far with the story, do let me know as well because as much as I am not doing this for profit and simply for entertainment, I still want to try and improve and I can't always rely on my bestfriend as my single audience lol. Although, I would not appreciate if you simply leave a review insulting my work, while I will ignore it I prefer constructive criticism better, if I suck then let me know. If I did something right, always tell me to keep improving.

With all of that said, I welcome you to the madness that is "The Tale of Gamers" and I thank everyone who reads and enjoys this.

Your Author,

Widbrand