Disclaimer: What you are reading is entirely a self-insert isekai power fantasy made for the sole purpose of my own self-enjoyment and to further improve my writing skills in general. Any resemblance of characters, world-building, setting, creatures, magic system or whatnot is entirely made by me or i've taken direct inspirations from other well-established medias to broaden my scope.
I also wanna emphasize that this story is heavily Adult Rated so expect elements of sex, use of alcohol, gore or whatever nasty thing you guys could think of. I've warned you. Anyway, let's game on!
Chapter 1: Every End Has Their Beginnings
As I was jolted out of my slumber, I was surprised to find the whole room around me is covered in complete darkness. I attempt to make some noise, hoping to get some answers yet to no avail.
I looked at my surroundings carefully to find any sort of resemblance of familiarity before I went to sleep. Still nothing, it's all an empty void almost as if I was floating in outer space. With no reasoning behind it, there was only explanation I could think of at the moment.
"D-did...did I die?" I asked myself.
Yes. Apparently, I had just lost my life after I went to bed. Was it caused by an unknown disease? Maybe. My living conditions didn't help with my slowly withering body so that probably what came to be.
While I was continuing to ponder on what truly had transpired, something had emerged right under my nose in front of my face. A blue screen reminiscient of RPG-esque videogame main menus i'm accustomed to it back in my childhood. Good times.
The screen starts to reveal texts and the moment I read it, I can't for the life of me would believed it to be true.
(Welcome to New World Plus, would you like to start a new life as a gamer?)
"...your kidding right? T-this can't be real" I cautiously asked myself.
Having just learned about your untimely demise is one thing but leading me to believe that some message promising me a better life like every gamer's dream to be come true is a whole different matter differently.
I mean, this has gotta be a complete sham, right? I wouldn't believe such a thing would ever exist because usually in this predicament, someone wants to be transported into another world hoping to be the chosen champion like the crappy 'Isekai' games I've played in the past. It usually follows a pattern like say the protagonist starts off powerful, bang the girls, find this super duper special item, defeat the demon king, the usual stuff.
While i'm not a bad person per say but let me just say; hypothetically speaking that if what the message says is true, I wouldn't wanna be put myself into the protagonist role. Don't get me wrong, bad stuff is still bad stuff. I much rather not fight with an all-consuming evil plunging the world into utter chaos. It's better to let someone else to deal with it. Instead, I wanna live a normal life.
Then again, I do want some company. Having erotic women around satisfying you after getting back home from work sounds way too inticing like the erotic games i've played. However, I much prefer a more healthier environment where the erotic women I wanna marry have multi-layered personalities all while we're living as a happy family. Don't forget about the children too.
I love kids (Kids are cruel Jack, um who?) but not in a sexual kind of way (If you actually believed this, you're weird bro) but rather I genuinely never had one before much less taken care of one of my own. That would be quite an experience.
Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked here. The screen still remained onto my face flashing occasionally with the same message. I've been thinking thoroughly if I should accept it or not. Running more mental gymnastics if I should follow through.
All these underlying questions makes my head hurt. I'm scared what's on the other side. It might be just a huge prank, an illusion or maybe it was my own version of purgatory. I'll never know yet despite all of this, there's only one underlying answer I could think off.
"...I do...I DO!! You're maybe just a wall of text but you know what? I'm done giving up!" I exclaimed triumphantly.
"All my life, i've never had the luxury of living the way I want. That's why, I don't care if all of this is some big fat joke. It's way better than staying here doing nothing in this boring place."
(Very well, please click the START bar below the screen)
Just as the screen had finished it's small transmission, a new pop-up appeared. This time below the message I've received, a flashing bar with the word 'START' written in full caps.
(I look forward to seeing you on the other side, good luck traveller)
The message then fades into nothingness, leaving behind the now blinking 'START' bar. I looked at my surroundings one last time. Flashes of numerous possibilities of what it could be on the other side. I brushed off that line of thinking knowing i've made up my mind. With no hesitation, i pressed it. A flash of bright light envelopes around me before my vision started to blurred, engulfing me into complete darkness.
Dimension: Terra - Sturtor Forest, Summer - Day 1
As I woken up for I believed to be the second time, I was in surprised to find I could barely move. Probably thanks to the transportation process crippling my body as a side-effect. Great, off to a bad start I'm guess. Speaking of which, where the heck am I?
"What is this place?" I protested under my breath. Struggling to set myself free from this elaborate contraption i'm in. It looked be a bunch of roots coming from a tree entangling my entire body. I attempt to break through with sheer willpower yet it wouldn't work either. I really hoped this isn't my concept of purgatory, that would really suck bad.
Fortunately, some help did arrived. In a form of an interface HUD appearing directly on my face.
"Well it did say i'm starting my life as a gamer so this must be where my gaming abilities comes from." I hypothesized considering I had no other options at the moment.
"Come on gaming powers, work with me here." I made my second attempt breaking out of this wooden confinement. Still no luck. Dammit, don't tell i'm really am stuck down here.
But I wouldn't let that feeling get me feeling down, I made a promise to myself. Instead of mopping around, i continued to make more attempts breaking out starting from moving my whole body forward then clawing my way through. I grabbed a small loose root with my right hand, freeing the top left part of my body.
This action prompted a new message within my HUD so I checked it out. Navigating through my mainframe is mildly infuriating with the roots getting in my way. Nevertheless, I shrugged through and open to an orange exclamation point under the 'Abilities' section. I tapped it with my free hand to see what ability I've gained.
(The user [Mike Sirius Kuradell, has unlocked the ability [Tear Off] )
(For using your own mental aptitude, gained an additional INT by 1 Point)
"Uh okay?" I was preplexed, rightfully so. On one hand, despite my experiences in playing RPG games, it's still feels weird using applied videogame mechanics into real life. On the other hand, i'm grateful I have something to get me out of this blasted cell.
"Right. What does [Tear Off] do?" I wondered. Going through the gamer system again makes me start questioning the ingenuity on how the power system really works, I would need to see if the same rules apply here. First and foremost, they must need to apply under these three criterias; Functionality, Credibility and Duration.
Ability - [Tear Off] (Physical) (Rarity: Lesser) (Grade: E)
[Provides an additional extra 40 STR for a short period of time.] [Cost: 15 MP]
(Description: One of the most commonly used skill in the entirety of Terra to escape from sticky situations. Only the most desperate or weakest indiviuals would ever need it.)
As expectedly, there were tons of info I can't decypher either due to the lack of INT I have or I need to learn new skills. Luckily, the system seemed to recognise how difficult for a newbie like me to understand so it simplified itself to the best of it's abilities. With that, I felt relieved I wouldn't need a whole dictionary to learn about.
(For using your own mental aptitude, gained an additional INT by 1 point.)
"Okay I hope that wouldn't be a running theme with my progress." I cautiously hoped that would be the case.
"Here it goes. [Tear Off]."
Upon activating the ability, I suddenly felt a spike of power risen within my fingertips. I started by grabbing the roots enveloped around my right half, ripping it open as if it was made of toilet paper followed by ripping the rest of the tree roots encasing my bottom half, allowing me to break free.
Once it was done, I fell forward down a few centimeters of the ground, landing on the ground head first.
"Ooof, yeah that hurts." I cursed myself under my breath, struggling to get back up due to the immense mana consumption for pulling off [Tear Off] firsthand. Not only that, i'm pretty sure i've never felt so weak before contrary to my previous life. I've stopped thinking about it too much before checking out the area I've spawned in.
Looking at the surroundings carefully, it looks like an interior of a large hollowed tree, with mold splattered everywhere, sticking out on the walls, sentient roots moving aimlessly to catch new victims. Ending it off with a trail filled with pebbles leading towards somewhere with a sign written the word 'Exit' with red paint.
Not willing to risk another possible booby trap, I tried to check the rest of my character stats when out of nowhere, the entire area is shaking. Large boulders falling from the ceilings wrecking havok at anything that stands at it's way.
Expectedly, I ran straight to the exit. Fearful of what's more to come in this strange new world i've stumbled into.