I still would prefer that you read on Litnet, but I will be adding the chapters to here. I had honestly forgotten to update after the first, so... My bad.

Many more will follow, though without any author's notes.

Draga had honestly been dreading the entrance he'd have into whatever world he was sent to. When Jak and his sister had been summoned by Tetral, they were dropped from the sky, while he'd been put in Hell. Not the afterlife, obviously, but the underground civilization of the Demons.

Where he arrived wasn't actually that far off from Hell, all things considered. He was underground, for one, with the cavern ceiling producing artificial light. Granted, here it was some kind of glowing mass of crystals instead of the arcane light generator Kirase and his group had set up, but the similarities were striking.

One major difference right off the bat was the presence of trees. Lots of them, actually, with what looked like oak trees spread as far as his eyes could see.

Strangely, despite being able to see for what seemed like a mile out, he didn't actually see the walls of the underground chamber. Granted, even two miles wide was nothing in comparison to the hundred or so of Pandemonium's cavern, but that had been carved.

This place looked a lot more natural, particularly with the plant life.

Or not...

It wasn't obvious at first glance, but there wasn't anything other than the trees. No moss, no grass, no flowers, and not even any other kind of trees.

A bland environment, for sure, and one that wasn't looking too inspired. Then again, in most games, it wasn't exactly reasonable for someone to do everything. If the gameplay itself was fine, he'd be willing to let it go.

To that end, Draga did a quick scan over himself. His clothing was the same, though it looked to have been repaired somehow. Annoyingly, that included the breaking in of his shoes, which made them slightly less comfortable.

Still, it seemed odd that he wouldn't get any equipment to start with. Usually in an RPG they start of you off with a sword, or a knife at a push.

Perhaps I do, and I just need to find it?

Sometimes you needed to work for it, like searching through a maze- which this forest would definitely qualify as, from the look of things- but he didn't want to leap to conclusions. If he ran into some enemies unarmed...

Well, it was better not to find out if he had a lives system. He probably had some kind of revival mechanic, but there was no use dying just to test it out.

Okay... I'm in a game. How would I access the controls?

The Herneans generally had a system of command menus you could access in their virtual reality games. Perhaps this was something similar?

Common things, then. Uh... An Inventory?

At the thought, a rectangular window pulled itself together in front of him. It was large, roughly five feet wide and half that in height, with a number of distinguishing features outside it's own semi-transparent black appearance.

Far to the left was a picture showing off him- clothes and all- along with some basic information, like his height and weight. Annoyingly, it said he was 5'11.5" instead of the six feet he absolutely was. The annoyance quickly faded, however, as he continued to examine the rest of it.

Surrounding his model were a set of equipment slots for various pieces of armor, weapons, and accessories. Apparently he could only wear a total of eight rings, too, which was a tad annoying. You could fit more than one on each finger- that was just common sense.

All of them were empty for now, though, which also meant his clothing didn't count. That was great, actually, since it meant he wouldn't be stripped down while changing armor.

To the right of that was the bulk of the Inventory: a seven by seven grid of inventory spaces. At the moment, most of them were empty, with exactly two exceptions: what looked like a sword and shield.

Tapping a finger on the icons brought up some details on what they were; apparently The Game, as he would call it until it was given a name, started people off with a shamshir and buckler.

Considering he was in a video game, the latter sounded next to useless. So many enemies were absurdly strong, had ranged weapons, or just plain breathed fire, all of which negated most of the advantage the small circle of wood could offer.

The sword, on the other hand, was definitely useful. It didn't have any magical properties, but it was more than sharp enough to use in a fight, while the curved blade could make it more useful as a slashing weapon. That went well with the style he preferred when sparring with Kirase.

Dragging the icon over to the left hand weapon slot, a sheathe just sort of appeared at his hip. Within it was the sword, as described, which he was free to pull out and inspect. There wasn't anything special or even decorative about it, but the material was clearly not stainless steel.

Good. It shouldn't just break on me, then.

It still couldn't last forever, but it shouldn't be too hard to replace. Even if he would have to craft it, resources for that were typically abundant.

Draga checked over the panel for some method of closing- like an [X] in the corner, or something similar- but came across nothing.

Experimentally, he mentally willed it away, which did- indeed- get rid of it. Definitely a thought controlled system, then, which was a marked improvement over what he was used to.

With that sorted, at least for now, Draga moved onto pastures anew.

Options?

At his tentative request... Nothing happened. He tried again with other terms, like settings or menu, but no new menus came of it, which just... Just sucked. Being able to rewrite the rules, even partially, would have been absurdly useful.

Okay, that was out, but there should be other things- like a map!

At the thought, exactly such a thing appeared before him. It was circular, and a lot smaller than the other menu, but it featured a grid and a number of dots on it. There were three red ones- two of them moving some distance away while the third sat still near the edge- while he was represented by a blue arrowhead.

Not a bad design, all told, but the scale was unclear. It didn't feature any landmarks for him to use, instead defaulting to the cave walls which he couldn't see from here.

Still, it was better than nothing, and he'd keep it in mind for later.

Character? Status?

The second one got a result, bringing up a stat sheet. It was black, like the Inventory had been, with bold white lettering.

Name: Draga Konungur
Class: None
Title: The Fifth
HP: 675
MP: 1800
Str: 8 (12)
Dex: 12 (18)
Vit: 9 (13.5)
Int: 16 (36)
Wis: 14 (31.5)
Luk: 10 (15)
Points: 0
Status Effects

Not a particularly impressive set of stats, there, but that depended on context. Ten was usually the default in any stat, so he was technically nine stat points above the typical starting area.

It wasn't clear just how impactful that was gonna be in the long run, but it was still an advantage of sorts- especially if he went into magic casting, given where those points actually went.

The bonuses were intriguing, and something he would be looking into in a moment, but two other things caught his eye: both 'The Fifth' and 'Status Effects' were glowing a dim blue which faded in and out, as if asking him to press on them.

Lacking a reason not to, he tapped a finger on his title.

The Fifth
Each Gamer is given a kind of unique quirk to their game as a sort of badge of honor. Being the fifth, you get a title which grants mastery of any weapon or tool you encounter.
Current masteries: Shamshir

Huh? How would he be given skill by The Game? Would it just beam the knowledge into his head or something?

He hadn't noticed anything odd happen when he equipped the sword, so it couldn't be anything obvious. Granted, he already knew a fair bit about using a sword, but altering his memories seemed like it would be more impactful than that.

It was something to experiment with later, when he got into combat. For now, the tab closed and he moved onto the other.

Status Effects

Tet's Blessing (MAX)
Passively increases Str by 50%
Passively increases Dex by 50%
Passively increases Vit by 50%
Passively increases Int by 50%
Passively increases Wis by 50%
Bonus 2 points upon leveling up.
+200% EXP from killing monsters
+100% EXP from training

World Conqueror
Passively increases Int by 50%
Passively increases Wis by 50%
Passively increases Luk by 50%

"Oh..."

A chuckle forced its way from the back of his throat, which rapidly grew in number as he stared at the screen. Well, that was a way to start off a game, wasn't it?

The laughter died out quickly, but not for any particular reason he could make notice of. He was just... Just pleased.

Still, there was one more thing to look into which would determine his future. Skills.

At his command, another window opened up, this one far smaller than the rest- though it obviously had room to grow. Draga read the whole thing with a smile.

Gamer's Mind (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0
Gamer's Body (Passive) LVLMAX MP: 0
Card Game Mastery (Passive) LVL74 EXP: 14.57% MP:0
Board Game Mastery (Passive) LVL82 EXP: 0.96% MP:0
Marksmanship (Passive) LVL14 EXP: 13.37% MP:0
Accelerated Reflexes (Passive) LVL16 EXP: 76.72% MP:0
Mathemetician's Answer (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0

Where to even start? Each skill was like a miniature well of information, despite all being entirely passive.

To get the easiest out of the way first, Card and Board Game Masteries simply improved his Intelligence stat while partaking in those activities. That was... Actually really useful, since MP seemed correlary to his Intelligence and there wasn't really anything stopping him from playing a game in combat.

Accelerated Reflexes was similar, in that it assumed his Dexterity was higher while engaging in a reflex challenge. The Game handily defined that as any task requiring swift physical reactions.

Marksmanship seemed to describe a slight auto aim feature, since it said it improved his aim, but it also buffed damage and gave him crit chance while using range weaponry. Definitely worth speccing into, if possible.

And then there were three... All complicated, but summarized in their own descriptions. It would honestly be easiest just to read them directly.

Gamer's Mind (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0
Naturally calms the mind and grants immunity to all negative mental status effects.

Gamer's Body (Passive) LVLMAX MP: 0
Grants the user the body of a game character so they can live life as if it were a game.

Mathematician's Answer (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0
Broadly put, the application of mathematics in the real world. While increasing the speed of calculation, the main use is to broaden the effects of Int, owing to the user's heightened thought processes. Int may be used to improve or replace Dex and Luk for some effects, such as enhancing attempts at evasion, improving the accuracy of attacks, or increasing the likelihood of critical hits.

Not grand concepts- for the most part- but still multifaceted. Mathematician's Answer was going to be a nightmare to actually determine the exact effects of, but that could be dealt with in time.

The other two, on the other hand. Hoo boy were those summaries too short.

What does 'calm' mean to the game? What counts as mental or physical status effects? Would controlling the body through the nerves in the spine still count as mind control?

And what does the body of a 'game character' mean? Did he have revives? Did he suffer grevious injuries? What about bleeding or equipment damage?

Most video games actually bothered to explain their abilities and effects- for good reason. If I don't know what my skills do, how am I supposed to make effective use of them?

Letting the annoyance out in a sigh, he closed the tab. He wasn't going to get much more out of it, unless Tet was willing to just appear in front of him and explain everything.

Draga paused, giving the playful deity a chance to do just that.

No such God appeared, but as he realized an instant later, he wasn't alone anymore. Draga spun on his heel to face the challenger.

Only to get bulldozed and flattened into the ground before he could react- enhanced reflexes or no.