1 Character Creation

Everything around me was white. An infinite expanse of nothingness that seemed to encompass my entire existence. The last thing I remembered was falling asleep in my dorm, and right now, my mind felt too… conscious for this to be a dream.

Suddenly a blue holographic panel popped into existence, floating in the air a few feet before me. The screen seemed to show a sort of character creator, complete with a full representation of a body with no detail. There was some text, but it was too small to read from where I stood.

"ooooOK?" The situation was getting weirder by the second.

I sighed and tried to run my hand through my hair, only to discover I was bald. A couple of panicked seconds later, I concluded that I had gone completely insane. From what I could tell, any identifying features had been completely removed from my body. Which seemed to confirm my current theory that the stress of finals had driven me insane.

Well… I wouldn't have to study anymore.

"Might as well," I muttered to myself and started messing with the holographic screen before me. The text on the screen confirmed my suspicions that this was a character creator of sorts. Though it seemed overly complicated, with dozens of tabs for each body part that seemed much too complex for a game.

"Wait."

This couldn't be happening. The very thought of it was absurd. But, just a few hours before going to sleep, I completed a system cyoa, and one of the options I chose was to get the chance to completely redesign my body. Could a random cyoa I found on Reddit be responsible for what is happening right now?

"Hello? Is there a God or Rob around that can conveniently explain what is happening?"

…

No luck on that front, then. Somehow the cyoa was the only explanation for what was happening. This meant that I would receive the gamer system I designed, and If I'm right, then it's good news. Because while I didn't make the system incredibly OP, a system in basically any world would be a powerful asset. This is good because the cyoa never specified which fictional world I would be going to.

I briefly worried about being sent to some death world where my system would be useless, but those thoughts wouldn't help my situation. So I busied myself with checking through the menus absentmindedly while contemplating what my new body would look like. A new appearance was almost a necessity when I filled out any cyoa. It wasn't that I hated my appearance… No, I just disliked it and was glad I had the opportunity to change it.

My mind screeched to a halt over one particular option I had almost scrolled past. A species selector was standard for any character creation, but this one wasn't. I could choose to become a Faunus, and because I couldn't choose any of the other standard fantasy options, I knew what world I would be going to.

Remnant.

Not the worst option I could get. Sure, humanity was limited to relatively small settlements because soulless monsters roamed the world, said monsters were controlled by an immortal witch hell-bent on bringing those settlements down, and it was all created by a pair of irresponsible beings of almost incomprehensible power. But

Where was I going with this again?

At least I knew the source material relatively well. In addition, I had rewatched almost the entire show for Volume 9, so hopefully, I could use that knowledge for something.

Thinking about this really wouldn't help, so I decided to finish my new body and then worry about the future. Though going to Remnant did give me a few ideas about how I want to look.

Surprisingly or maybe not, I spent a long time reviewing every option. But eventually, I made my choices and looked at the overview the system gave me.

—

Species: Human (I debated for a while, but the racism didn't seem worth it.)

Sex: Male (Don't really care too much so why change it?)

Age: 19 (Again, why change it?)

Height: 5'8 (This might be controversial, but I never really liked being tall.)

Hair: Shoulder length, Light blue (I might as well embrace the world I'm going to. Also, it's my favorite color.)

Eyes: Blue (If I chose gold, I would feel like even more of a copycat)

—

Everything else was much more complicated, but it all came together to form a fairly lithe form with an androgynous face. I had always preferred slimmer builds and the form wouldn't affect my starting stats, so I chose to embrace the more colorful side of Remnant.

After ensuring everything was right, I hit confirm on the panel, only for another one to pop up and ask for my name. I was halfway through writing my original name on the menu before I stopped and considered it. I genuinely didn't mind my name, but I wasn't exactly attached to it either.

After a few minutes of thinking, I typed in my choice and hit confirm. As my finger pressed the button, the white void around me dissolved. I could feel my body morphing, but fortunately, it wasn't painful. Eventually, color started to bleed into my surroundings, and a sharp pain in my head made me close my eyes.

*Rumble*

The first thing I noticed was the sound of a waterfall crashing in the distance. Then, more sounds of people living and wind blowing started to filter into my ears. Finally, my head had recovered enough for me to open my eyes. Which I immediately closed. I felt almost overstimulated and dizzy with the different perspective and sensations, so I paused to control my breathing and balance.

When I opened my eyes for the second time, I got the first real look at my surroundings. I seemed to be on a dirt path in between two white houses. "Wow," I whispered as I looked up and got a decent look at the city I was in. It was built on an enormous mountain that seemed to stretch into the sky. Houses were built on different mountain ledges and looked vaguely Asian in design.

Which meant I was in… Mistral, The kingdom the characters visited in Volume 5. Not the best start, considering the most influential people here are criminals and Salem supporters. At least I arrived in what seemed to be a fairly deserted alley between two larger white buildings.

Sigh. Well, I should at least check what I got out of the arrangement. One of the drawbacks I chose in order to get more points was to have my system come in the form of a magic book. Luckily the book would be stored in my magic unless I summoned it, which I should be able to do instinctively.

I looked down to see some sort of mark glowing on my right hand with an ethereal blue light. It looked like a circle filled with arcs of electricity emanating from the center, similar to a 2D plasma ball. The drawback was definitely noticeable and would activate whenever I used my system in a meaningful way. Still, I doubt it would be inconvenient enough to make me regret the 30 points it got me.

With a small effort of will, I finished bringing my book into reality and carefully studied the contents.

—

Name: Aster Tempest

Level: 1

Class: None

Titles: N/A

Health: 100%

Mana: 29/29

—

Strength: 9

Dexterity: 10

Constitution: 9

Intelligence: 12

Willpower: 11

—

Traits: [Gamer's Body] [Gamer's Mind]

Skills: [Martial Arts Lv.2] [Enter Dungeon Lv.1] [Observe Lv.1]

Magic: [Mana Bolt Lv.1]

—

<Inventory>

<Quests>

<Gatcha>

—

From my perspective, I had basically just done the cyoa, so there were no real surprises. Though assuming the base attribute level was 10, it was flattering that the system gave me a 12 in INT. Unfortunately, I hadn't worked out much freshman year; my body stats reflected that.

Everything else was pretty self-explanatory though titles would be useless until I did something of note. But Class had none listed instead of n/a, so maybe.

'Class'

—

Available Classes

Common: [Warrior] [Mage] [Martial Artist]

—

Ok, those are the only options I have. I can get more classes by either doing specific actions pertaining to a class or maxing out an existing class. But, hey, at least those years of practicing Taekwondo will finally be helpful. I usually prefer to play a magic build, but I shouldn't discount anything yet. What are the advantages of Warrior?

—

Warrior - Common Class - The most basic short-range Class. This Class focuses on strength and melee weapon combat. +1 to STR per level up and slightly increase the pace at which melee weapon skills gain experience.

—

I quickly checked over the other classes; they were all fairly similar. They were all common and only gave a +1 on level up to INT and Will, respectively, while boosting the skill gain of their respective categories.

I eventually decided to choose Mage as it was my preference, and my stats were already more geared toward an INT build. Plus, I could change it for little to no repercussions.

—

Class Changed: None → Mage Lv.1

—

With that finally done, I moved on to the other things I could do at the moment. Which after looking through my system and having some miscellaneous stuff explained to me turned out to be almost nothing. My inventory was empty, and no quests were popping up, so the only thing to do was focus on the Gatcha.

The Gatcha function was an impulse buy when I was designing the system. One completely random roll per day would grant me something useful. Maybe there were better things to spend my points on, but now that I had it.

'Roll x1'

I was disappointed that there was no fancy summoning animation, but I waited for my roll to finish.

—

Summoning Complete!

Gained: [1x - Steel Arming Sword - Common - A basic double-edged steel sword with a 30-inch long, straight blade and a one-handed grip.]

—

Ok, so no infinity +1 sword, but I needed a weapon and this should help. Now I was left with the dreaded Gatcha urge to summon more, but sadly I would have to wait an entire day for my next chance. So to distract myself, I set about getting used to my new body. Mostly I just did some stretches and walked around to familiarize myself with different movements necessary to daily life.

With everything I could do with my system now covered and relatively comfortable in my new body, I needed to leave my little alley. Unfortunately, I had checked the inventory and had no starter money, so I would need to fix that before doing anything else. I spared a glance up the mountain at where the huntsman academy stood. I could probably go up there and talk to whoever was in charge, but I'm 90% sure that would net me a fast pass to the Grimmlands.

I couldn't remember anything specific about Mistral that would give me a solution for my money problems. So I just decided to wander around and look for anything that could help. But, unfortunately, the only real productive thing I could do was level my observation skill and try and think of a way to get some supplies.

[Observation: A white house]

Ok, hopefully, that would get better as it leveled up. I continued making my way through Mistral, admiring the sights, looking curiously at all of the people, and using observation as I walked. The crowds were certainly more colorful than on Earth. I even saw a few people walking around with mecha shift weapons.

—

Observation Lv. 1 → 2

—

Well, at least one part of my plan was working. Unfortunately, I didn't have much luck with the necessities of daily life part. Looking at my situation logically, I was without money and identity in one of the largest cities on Remnant. Even the random people were higher level than me, and I didn't really have any special skills to quickly get a job. Also, leaving the city would have me eaten by Grimm, and I didn't exactly have survival experience.

Haaah, my only real options were to either use a dungeon to get supplies or steal. Ordinarily, I might try the dungeon, but with the Inescapable drawback, just entering one had a decent chance of killing me. So I would have to steal. It was unfortunate, but I wouldn't be too broken up about it.

—

Quest Created!

[Gather Supplies: Successfully steal some food to eat while remaining undetected.]

Success: +10xp, +Food, +500 Lien

Failure: ???

—

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Mistral was a beautiful city, but I absolutely hated it. Who decided to make a city where the primary method of transportation was walking upstairs? At least I only had to take 2 flights to get to the market. The place looked like a much larger version of the farmer's markets I had been to in the past. People moved from stall to stall, buying all sorts of goods. I even saw one stall selling relatively simple-looking mecha shift weapons.

Though I did feel something weird in the air after entering the market. A general feeling of dread that seemed to emanate from the surrounding buildings and people. Eventually, I was able to deduce the source. It was actually my Enter Dungeon skill acting up.

[Enter Dungeon: Spider's Den?]

Apparently, instead of creating dungeons, I would have to find them around the world. From what I could gather with my skill, the entire market and maybe more were all part of a dungeon. I could enter from any doorway in the area and would always exit through the same door. But I decided against exploring it because I would be given a mandatory mission upon entry that I would need to complete to escape. So, for now, I would stick to thievery.

Usually, I wouldn't be confident in my stealing prowess, but I did have one advantage over the common folk. If I could hide the glow from the mark on my hand, my inventory should leave almost no evidence that I stole something.

With careful movements, I walked up to a stall that sold food. Most of it seemed like fresh produce. It was larger than the stalls around it, so I tried to focus on where the owner stood and his sightlines.

—

Skill Learned: Stealth Lv. 1

—

Huh, that's weird. I guess even the attempt to hide from a single person in a crowd would count for the stealth skill. I took one more look around and made sure my body was blocking the view of most people before examining the basket of apples in front of me and reaching to examine one.

[Observation: A fresh red apple]

Well, at least that is a bit more information than just a white house. I shook my head and moved to put the apple back in the basket with my left hand while stuffing my right in my pocket. Just as my hand made contact with the deepest apple I could find in the box, I deposited it into my inventory. The only indication I did anything was a brief flash of blue in my pocket.

—

Class Gained: Thief Lv. 1

—

Yeesh, ok, the Thief class was just common, but it was absurdly easy to get. I rolled my eyes and moved away from the stand, looking for my next target. I should probably get enough food to last me a day.

—

Observation Lv. 2 → 3

—

—

Stealth Lv. 1 → 2

—

It was just getting to around midday while I continued my mission, observing things and occasionally stealing food. I managed to level up two of my skills, but it would probably get harder to level them up as they grew.

It was surprisingly easy to steal when you had a personal pocket dimension. But I decided to leave the area because I had enough food for now. It totally had nothing to do with the tough-looking guys walking around whose levels I couldn't even see. Sadly I wouldn't get to figure out why this place had a dungeon named Spider's Den.

"Hey!"

I whipped my head around and cursed as I saw a tall, broad redheaded man pushing through the crowd right in my direction. I wasted no more time observing him before taking off into the crowd at a run. Fuck! I just had to push my luck, didn't I? What options did I have to get away from this guy?

[Observation: Brick Lv.??? - Enforcer for the gang Spider]

I almost tripped over a person while looking at the man's status. Good news, I now knew why this place had a dungeon. Bad news, even though he had a harder time getting through the crowd, the man still gained on me.

I tried losing him in the crowd, but I was still losing ground. Even worse, I could see more men, supposedly Spider affiliated, in front of me. Brick's yelling had gotten their attention, and now I was being surrounded. Apparently, I had just chosen to rob the market guarded by gang members.

Well, I could fight the high leveled gang members chasing me. But I think I would rather take my chances in the dungeon. So with my hand glowing an ethereal blue light, I ran towards the nearest shop and threw myself through the door.

[Now Entering Dungeon: Spider's Den]