For minutes, the only sounds to be heard were the rustling of cloth and deep breaths. Sunlight glared down at the resting body of Viscus, causing the chill of the air to turn warmer by the minute. Sand slipped in between his blond hair and baggy clothing, but he couldn't help but want to lie there for a few minutes more.

He would have liked to say he was fine, but a cursory glance at his surroundings reflected the opposite. His only method of transportation was half-deep in the sand, and his only means of ranged attacks were either lost or out of ammo. The fight took everything out of him, both literally and figuratively, and all of that just for a 'plus 25 xp'. Viscus didn't chuckle or laugh or express his feelings. If anything, he was glad.

[-HP : 1/50 (0.12/sec)

-AP : 0/80 (0.23/sec)]

He was glad to be alive. The moment he fell on the ground, he couldn't help but check the status. The noise of his aura breaking never entered his ears, or maybe it did, just when his arm was being chomped on. If he had seen that screen before he let himself fall, he would have forced himself to stay standing out of sheer terror that touching the ground would spell doom for him. The thought made Viscus shiver, but it didn't live for long as his being alive proved to be a more joyous thing for his mind to muse on.

He didn't dare move, though. He planned to get up once 20 minutes passed, because at that time his fatigue would disappear, courtesy of his Gamer's Body. It may have translated damage to HP, but from what he'd seen, it never addressed the fatigue part of the equation. Now that he was immobilized, Viscus couldn't help but switch his gaze on the unused stat : Mana Points, shortened to MP.

While he was training the night before, he didn't think to try and use it, despite being one of the most overpowered resources, at least according to most variations of the Gamer story that he'd read. "Probably.. A mistake on my part." Viscus thought to himself. He didn't know where to start, though.

"Manifest mana?" He spoke out loud in hopes that it would do anything. He was met with silence and air full of sand to the face instead. He spat out in response. "What if I.." He began meditating, but rather than clearing his mind, he focused on his body. The idea was that energies were typically stored on the inside of the person, so "what if I tried looking inward?"

As the world began cutting off, he started visualizing his body. The pitch black darkness that he was seeing started lighting up, only faintly. The outline of his body came to be, and it kept updating in real-time as if there was a laser scanner going from the down up, slowly scanning from his feet till it reached his head. The outline of his body was so faint that Viscus would wager it was only a degree lighter than its surroundings, but his focus soon moved to the inside.

Looking inward sounded incredibly difficult to describe as a process. One couldn't physically see what's inside their body, and, to make matters worse, mana wasn't something tangible or physical. If anything, he was relying on sensing it rather than seeing it. And after a while, he did sense it.

Right beside his heart, he found a miniscule, blue orb. The orb was burning with a blue hue, but it was still there. At that point, Viscus didn't know what to do. 'Seeing' the origin of his mana should have been the most difficult process, he thought to himself, but he didn't know what else he should do past that. He laid there for minutes just staring at the cackling little thing, until an idea popped up in his head.

Viscus summoned all the mental power he could muster and tried to 'prod' the orb. To be more specific, he visualized a third arm and used it to touch the mana orb. The moment he did, he 'felt' it. The mana felt sticky, like he was dipping his arm in a tub of glue. It caused him to shiver in disgust, but he quickly resumed his focus on the task at hand. The mana, according to his sources, shouldn't feel sticky. It should have felt like water, flowing like a river around his body. At that thought, it clicked.

Immediately, he used his third arm to pull out a piece of this mana and take it on a journey around his body, like a brush after taking a dip in ink. Using the piece of mana, he drew a pathway, moving from his heart, to his head, to his arms, and to his legs. It appeared to his mind like a single line looping around his body, but it did the required job. The glob of mana grew smaller as he drew until he connected the last piece back to it. He felt excited, his heart beating quickly, but to his disappointment, nothing happened. The orb of mana stayed the same, if a little smaller, and the lines seemed to appear non-functioning as far as his mind could see.

He sighed inwardly then looked at the orb. "It looked like the heart of a system, but-" Viscus nearly woke up from his meditation as the urge to smack himself on the head heightened. The orb was a heart, and it, at the start, didn't have any place to pump to. Once it was connected, it needed the final push for it to finally do its job. With his third arm, he grabbed the entire orb in his hand and squeezed. His body trembled, and he physically felt the mana start moving. Mana began rotating around his body slowly, but visibly accelerated as the parts with more mana glowed brighter. Second by second, the light spread out more around the lines he drew, the orb fluctuating as if it was pumping the blue energy, which he was sure it was doing. Soon enough, the light stabilized around the entire loop, and he left the meditation. Light came back to his surroundings as he opened his eyes and saw multiple notifications pop up.

[Dagger Mastery Level Up! X3] [Pistol Mastery Level Up! X2] [Aura Level Up! X2] [Meditation Level Up! X5] [Mana Vision Unlocked] [Mana Circuit Unlocked] [Mana Heart Unlocked] [Mana Circulation Unlocked]

He felt dizzy at screens that continuously popped up in front of him, but a smile couldn't help but grow on his face. If all of this was according to plan, then he should be able to manipulate mana outside his body. Viscus opened his palm and visualized the mana seeping out of the circulation and manifesting outside in the shape of a cube, and to his surprise, it did. After 10 seconds of accumulation, a small, blue cube of a size about 2x2 cm floated on the top of his palm, a phenomena that Viscus couldn't help but sit up to look closer at. With his free hand, he tried touching the cube, and it felt as solid as a, well, solid.

His gaze went from the cube to the notifications that had yet to disappear, and he finally noticed it. "It leveled up!" Viscus couldn't help his heightened excitement. The power that he coveted for a full night had finally leveled up, and all it took was a near-death experience. His excitement tapered off as a hollow chuckle came from his mouth, but he would be sure to use it correctly. A quick look at his status showed that his HP and AP were topped off, so he stood up and stared at his hand after dismissing the orb.

When he did, he tried to find a way to finally use his Aura, and, unlike before the fight, he was able to feel something. It was like his Aura was a fifth limb, the rest being his arms and legs, and he could mentally move it. For a more apt description, at that moment, his Aura served as a skin, but he could command this skin to cover this part more - at the cost of protection of another part - or extend it outside his body, though that was more difficult than he expected. "I won't be shooting any Aura blasts any time soon." he chuckled to himself, "Mana though.."

Before he made to investigate more about his mana, he checked his MP and couldn't help but choke. Previously, he had 30 MP, but after summoning that cube, it was down to 10. He didn't know why it decreased so dramatically, but he realized something more important - he couldn't go mage. He wasn't in any type of leisure that would allow him to grow his magic-related stats. If anything, he was in a situation where he shouldn't have conserved the 4 free stat points and instead dumped them somewhere in the physical group. The mana cube he'd summoned was as light as a sugar cube, so he couldn't fathom how much MP he'd need to make it an effective weapon. "There goes my hope of standing far away and hurling spells."

One thing he also noticed was that his physical stats had changed. For example, [STR : 18 (18)] became [STR : 19.8 (18)], something that he could easily attribute to his Aura. A benefit that it should have given but didn't was to 'enhance physical functions', and that was probably due to it being level 0. Now that it had grown to level 2, he became able to actively use it and finally experience the power it should have given him from the start. Yet, he didn't feel anymore powerful than before the fight with the Grimm. He felt fearful and uncertain, but also hopeful. He was growing stronger, and next time he was bound to efficiently deal with the Grimm, though that was up in the air since he couldn't predict whether the next Grimm would instantly demolish him or become a stepping stone for him to grow stronger.

As he began scanning around the area for his missing daggers and guns, he couldn't help but notice multiple things in the place the Grimm was killed. "Right.." He nodded to himself after understanding the situation. He was the Gamer, and that meant he should find loot, somehow. He was sure the bandits didn't give out more than they originally had, but the Grimm did give out something, and he couldn't help but tilt his head at. He stood above two daggers, the ones used to kill the beast, and black fur. Picking up the dagger he used to defeat the monster with, he saw that it was slightly bent. The blond sighed in disappointment. It was bound to lose its durability and break sooner or later, though he didn't expect it would have been that soon.

After storing the two daggers in his inventory, he picked up the large piece of black fur and concentrated on it, hoping for some clarification from the system. Thankfully, it did show information that made him feel conflicted, a mix of annoyance and happiness.

[Moderately Low Quality Jackalope Fur : Crafting Material]

On one hand, it was 'moderately low quality'. On the other hand, it was currently useless in his hands. He didn't know how to craft yet, but he knew how important making his own equipment was. If he could hazard a guess, there was a reason the System chose the [Creator's Blessing] trait. Had it been him choosing, Viscus most likely would have taken it, and that was a choice based on his own thousands of accumulated hours playing RPGs and fully knowing how overpowered his own equipment could be compared to the shop bought ones, at least for most of the games he'd played. He stored the piece in his inventory and started scanning around for the rest of his equipment, unfortunately only finding one gun and the rest lost in the sands. To add, it was one of the .40 caliber guns, and both he and it were out of ammo. Viscus put the gun in his inventory and put a hand above his eyes to shield from sunlight.

Not a second later while he was taking a deep breath, Viscus spat out as more sand flew to his face, not before his eyes perceived the dry land spreading far into the distance. This made him realize that he was stuck in the middle of nowhere with no vehicle to use as transport. His gaze froze on the jeep for a while, however, as he asked himself "Can I pull it out?"

Before he would attempt pulling the car out, he opened his status screen and dumped all his points into STR, increasing it to 22, which translated to 24.2 after Aura boost. He then walked up to the upside down jeep and started pulling as hard as he could. "Come… on!" He struggled, his face going red from the effort, and he let go. The vehicle had slid out of the sand a bit, correctly upside down unlike before. Next, he tried to roll the vehicle over, but it was more difficult than pulling. Despite being more than twice as strong as a normal human, he couldn't lift it. He clenched his teeth in frustration while huffing from the exertion. "How?" He asked himself as he stared at his arms, and an idea popped up in his mind.

Viscus focused on his mana, this time rather than taking it out of his body, he tried spreading it outside of the loop and, in a sense, feed his muscles the energy. The action appeared fruitless at first, until he started feeling more energized after a while. Remembering how much using magic costs MP, he quickly dashed at the car in his energized state and lifted it from below its side, successfully pushing the car up all the way, making it standing on its side rather than on its roof. Not wanting to run out of power midway, he made the last push and finally flipped the car back on its wheels, then fell on his knees, sweat dripping from his face. He was breathing roughly, but a pleased smirk was plastered on his face.

One thing he noticed too late, however, was that a part of the front of the jeep caved in, and that made him a bit fearful. Trembling, he slowly entered the car that miraculously was untouched by sand from the inside and rotated the keys still stuck in the ignition slot. The car seemingly coughed but revved mostly normally after that. Viscus sighed in relief and sat himself as comfortably as possible, then pulled in the seat belt. He wouldn't want a repeat of this encounter, at all. He held the driving wheel tightly in his hands and opened his inventory to check for directions. Viscus glanced at the notifications from the corner of his eye, but ignored them in favor of focusing on finishing the quest and reaching Vacuo. With focused eyes and a glaring gaze, he slammed his foot on the pedal. "Please don't let me meet another Grimm. " He muttered to himself, though no one was there to hear him out.

-CEM-

What he didn't expect was the car acting as if it was one of those cartoonish tractors that bump and jump every once in a while. Yet, he was thankful that it was still providing its services and not exploding. Its speed was down a notch, but it was still faster than just running there, if he even could do that. The idea seemed appealing for a moment until the threat of Grimm crept back up to his mind. That and some camel-looking Grimm also chasing him. From his encounter with the rabbit-like Grimm, the Jackalope, Viscus learned to never ram into Grimm, only dodge. It was something he took to heart and nearly flipped the car over for. Fortunately, after many hours he was able to spot civilization in the distance.

A clean asphalt road became clearer as he neared closer to the city, with giant walls appearing as if they were growing taller. Sentries mounted the walls at certain enclosures with openings serving as windows, though some of these enclosures came across as empty, but Viscus liked to chalk that up to his eyes betraying him. Soon enough, he finally approached the gate and, to his surprise, was stopped by absolutely no one. He passed through and was assaulted by shabby buildings and mud strewn across the road. People with different skin and hair colors dotted the street, and he couldn't help but gulp when some of the shady ones landed their eyes on him and the vehicle. He was hesitant to exit out of the car but decided it was best that he left.

The blond found a location to park the car, pocketed the keys in his inventory and bid it goodbye for now. The next time they reunite, he would fix it up and upgrade it. "Thanks." He whispered to the car while placing his hand on it then moved away, and he was greeted with a notification that he wasn't, but should have been, prepared for.

[Main Quest : Baby Steps (Tutorial) - Complete (Reward Not Issued)]

Hoping that the rewards wouldn't physically affect him, he accepted them. Viscus couldn't help but feel curious at the unknown reward it was issuing, with the first one being Aura, so he hoped the next would also fulfill an important purpose.

[Level Up +1] [Minimap (Incomplete) Unlocked!]

A smile broke through Viscus's blank visage. "Yessss!" He clenched his fist and hissed in joy, though the civilians didn't take kindly to his actions, giving him weird looks. Viscus froze after realizing his situation. Going through the roller coaster that was before reaching Vacuo caused him to forget that he wasn't living alone in this world. He chuckled as he lowered his arm to his side. Before he stepped away from the jeep, another screen popped up, and he couldn't help but tilt his head in confusion.

[Main Quest : The Outside World (Tutorial) : Even after taking arduous steps to arrive at civilization, you are but a child still learning about the truths of the world.

-Objective(s) : Reach Level 10 (3/10) - Own 1000 Lien (60/1000)

-Reward(s) : 200XP, Unlocking Of Semblance, Continuation of Main Quest

-Failure : Death]

The description of the quest felt insulting to say the least, thought Viscus. Other than that, he truly did not want another encounter with the creatures of the dark, but there wasn't anything he could do if that objective was to be fulfilled. As for Lien, the Grimm unfortunately didn't drop any, so he had to find another source. Reminded by a glance at the unclosed notifications, Viscus remembered to take advantage of the level up and put two points into each of his DEX and AGI. One thing that Grimm specialized in was power, and, if his memory served him right, most huntsmen were agile and dodge-based fighters. In his current shape, he had no right thinking about taking a hit from the Grimm, and he doubted that increasing his END or VIT would serve him any better than DEX and AGI.

After dismissing all the screens, Viscus couldn't help but stand for a few seconds while staring blankly in the air. "I have a mission, but no obvious way to achieve it." He hummed to himself. "I need a quick way to gain Lien, but how..!" As he lowered his face and scanned the streets, his eyes widened the moment they landed on a conspicuous person like these ones that eyed him and his car. He clenched his teeth and felt a bitter taste filling his mouth, but he didn't feel like he had any choice in the matter. He was already a murderer and with no skill to his name. The only abilities he had were fighting related, and he wouldn't call his hobby of designing weapons as a qualifier.

A sigh escaped the blond as he off-handedly checked his inventory. "Maybe I should find a way to sell the gun.." He took off from the car and randomly into the street. The road that previously felt like it had plenty of space suddenly felt cramped as many people bumped into him and he realized something. "Wait, am I being mass pickpocketed right now!?" Irritation filled him as he growled at the mass of flesh surrounding him, and, like magic, they separated away from him. Some from the growl, others after thoroughly checking his pockets and coming to the conclusion that he was just a penniless man.

Walking with less hassle surrounding him, he spotted a map in his inventory that he left for later. Not the map showing the entirety of the territory of Vacuo, but the one showing streets and buildings with an X mark at some corner of the paper. Viscus looked around and found an alley where he could safely stand in place and check the paper. He couldn't help but think "Why did these bandits have this map?"

Suddenly, a prompt popped up.

[Map detected. Synchronize with Minimap (Incomplete)? Y/N]

As he proceeded to press the Y, he was given another screen warning him that this would cause the destruction of the physical copy of the map. With him not even knowing the topography of the location, he'd rather have this paper on his minimap, which he hoped would show him the actual location. As the map seemingly dissolved into data, he saw the minimap pop up, but it was.. Empty? Viscus blinked and looked again. The only data the minimap was showing was what he could determine as the path he took through the city. He tried placing his finger on the minimap, and to his surprise, the map reacted. Whilst he slid his fingers, the minimap would move alongside him until he noticed the minimap registered the map somewhere further from where Viscus was standing.

He took a deep breath, smelling the dust and humidity in the air, then stepped back into the main street. From there, he moved onwards while following the minimap's guidance. Viscus wasn't in any mood to take in the beauty of the place, which was mostly the stench and gazes of the people around him, while the latter wasn't making him wholly uncomfortable, only making him feel more out of place. His pace was brisk, and in no time was he at the designated spot X after navigating through the maze of alleyways and streets. The location he stood in was a close-ended alley that was somewhere even more suspicious than he'd expected. Though, he couldn't help but want to smack himself on the head while stepping closer to the dark wall. The map he found was in a bandit's car, so of course that should allude to it leading to something of questionable nature. When he was close enough to the wall, he picked up a discrepancy.

It wasn't clear at the start, but there was a staircase leading underground at the end. Viscus glanced left and right, checking if there was anyone that was going to try and jump him, though it proved to be pure paranoia rather than anything else. He climbed down the stairs, descending further into the darkness. His steps felt like they echoed extra loud, along with his heartbeat and breath. And from the darkness, he saw light. It was a small lamp lighting a massive gray metal door, and in front of it stood a hunk of a man dressed in pure black with tattoos of various shapes and sizes, some of which on his face and the others on his arms and legs. His sharp eyes took a glance at Viscus before opening the door. "Make no trouble." A gravelly voice reached Viscus, to which he nodded meekly.

The metallic door slid open, revealing a soothing, soft lighting with jazzy music in the background. Circular brown tables were dotted around the place and surrounded with wooden seats padded with a reddish material. Most of the seats weren't occupied, but the ones that were had rough looking people chatting, playing poker, or just drinking and talking. Some of the tables were seated by some individuals alone, silently drinking wine, if the red liquid was any indication, or eating food that he could not determine the origin of. Closer to the right of Viscus stood a bar with one of the stereotypical old man bartenders wiping glasses while staring blankly at nothing. Different types of bottles decorated the back of the bar, with red wooden stools placed in front of the bar.

Nervously, Viscus shuffled to the bartender and seated himself on one of the stools. He tried imitating the scenes he'd seen in movies and ordered soda, a liquid that he could drink without the risk of getting drunk. After the bartender slid him the glass, the blond grabbed it, took a gulp, coughed, then spoke to the old man. "Uh, hey." The man who was back to cleaning glasses glanced at Viscus and raised his eyebrow. "I'm.. looking for work." Viscus said after a moment of thinking, and the man narrowed his black eyes, while the blond masked his nervousness with taking another gulp of the soda.

"What type of work?" The man spoke after a long pause, something that Viscus was thankful for. "What do you think I could do?" The young man tried his chances with the old man, who switched back to his idle task of cleaning glasses. "For a while we had a delivery to make but no delivery man," The old man paused. "Would you like to do that?" Viscus's eyes glowed at the opportunity. "What's the pay?" The bartender leaned closer as he took Viscus's empty glass away. "100 Lien once the delivery is confirmed."

"I'm in." Viscus voiced his opinion instantly, and the man motioned him toward a door behind the bar marked storeroom. As Viscus was standing up, the bartender spoke. "By the way," Viscus froze in place. "That soda will be 3 lien."

Wonder what your feelings regarding this story will be. It's a fun thing to write, not so much for poor Viscus, though.

Oh and..

Welcome to Vacuo.