Recruitment 03: Not a dream

I take a step back as the strange disc appears in front of me. Then another. With the third step, the disc suddenly disappears.

"What the hell?", I ask no one in particular.

"Ehh, pocket dimension?", I say questioningly while holding my hand in front of me.

Again, the dark blue disc, around forty centimeters in diameter, appears in front of me.

I pinch myself in the side to test if this is a dream. "Ouch!"

Which turns out to be stupid. If getting punched in the face and getting your nose broken doesn't "wake you up", pinching yourself shouldn't do much either.

Thinking about it, I probably also didn't have to speak out loud.

I quickly think back to that, hopefully, but in all probability not, dream. Especially all those strange messages I could still remember uncomfortably clearly now that I think about it.

There were many strange things in there, but one thing quickly became obvious. Now isn't the time for lectures.

I put my backpack back on the floor in front of the door and my coat on its hanger.

Then, I go back into the kitchen and sit back down at the open window with another smoke. But this time I have a cold beer to accompany it. Then I let my thoughts wander for a while.

Finally, I find the resolution to confront the insanity disguised as blue windows one by one.

The first one was clear about what it means. It, let's call it generically "the system" for now, was calculating my status, the capabilities of my body.

The second window was my status. While I'm not sure if I should feel insulted over the very low values for memory and concentration, I have to admit that those were pretty accurate. While I wasn't necessarily a slow thinker, I always had a problem with memorization and concentration, which is the prime reason I just barely managed to get into university despite being a hard worker.

On the other hand, I was always pretty good at sports. Some people even told me that I could have pursued a career there if I took it more seriously, but that was always too unsafe of a job for my taste.

The last thing to notice would be the stat limit. One hundred points. I can't be sure what would happen once I reached the limit in one stat, but I would probably find out sooner or later. Maybe it just wouldn't increase anymore, or I would get some kind of bonus. Either way, I won't find it out now.

The third message is also pretty clear. I got a "Super point", whatever that is.

Followed by the fourth message, which told me that the system seems to have a certain minimum standard. Namely, ten points in every stat. Seems like it wants no one who is too weak or stupid.

Well, If they want us to fight and my opponent is some fat kid that can't take three steps without running out of breath, that could hardly be called fair. Then again, that man was quite insane.

I gulp as I grab at my throat again. Everything where it's supposed to be.

But in the end, that means I'm less stupid now? Still not sure if I should feel happy or insulted...

The fifth screen seems to have calculated how much my natural abilities are over the minimum and then taken that away from my points. This tells me two more things.

First, there are four types of points of different quality which can be exchanged for three points of the next lower quality. The highest being Super points, of which I was granted one in the beginning. Then Overskill points, Skill points, and finally Stat points.

Secondly, this tells me, that I can exchange those points to improve my abilities. While I'm not quite sure what I can do with Super points, the other three have corresponding abilities they could be used on to improve them.

The next screen was just the newest update of my status, now including the points I have still left.

Then, came another round of Granting. One Overskilll and two Skills. Namely the Overskill Pocket dimension and the two Skills Shock absorption and Heat resistance, as shown in the next screen.

The ninth Screen was once again my status, though now it included two new details. For one, I can only have one Overskill and five Skills. As well as the fact that both of those have levels, starting at level one.

One important thing to note is, there seems to be some important difference between Skills and Overskills. The most obvious thing is that Overskills are more powerful than Skills, in all probability, but that doesn't seem to be everything. Maybe it's just the power, maybe the difference is that Skills are restricted to your own body and Overskills are closer to classical magic. Maybe it's something else entirely.

But one thing is for sure, in the future, I have to be careful about what kind of abilities my opponents could possibly have. My last opponent probably had some kind of berserker transformation ability. If he figured out how to use it himself or if it was a passive ability, I can't be sure.

The tenth and eleventh screen suggest that I wasn't using my real body, but something like a game avatar during the fight. There are several reasons why that might be necessary. To prevent injuries on my real body, to fight in my sleep, it even could be the cause of the blur that made it impossible to identify the other man.

And last but not least, the most informative, but also the most worrisome screen.

While I'm very doubtful about their authenticity as gods, or about this war, it tells me that there are at least six more fights. And once I'm done with those, that's not the end.

And it will be at least six more since I can't be sure if there is a second round, like in a soccer league, or not. Actually, with a total of seven fights, this could mean that there is one fight every day, or night, for a week.

And then, there are the rewards. Of course, the first and second place rewards are to join the army and continue fighting, probably in more complicated missions, and the special reward also seems enticing.

But then, there is the other reward. Elimination. That is the one thing worrying me the most. After all, it could be almost everything. From: I return to being a normal person, over: I die, to: my existence gets wiped from the entirety of space and time. While they may not be gods despite calling themselves that, there is no doubt that they can do things far outside of my understanding.