2: The System

[I hope you I didn't trouble you much by bringing you here!] the sky child smiled, [But it really doesn't matter, because you're going to live the rest of your lives here!]

The muttering of the other contestants was eclipsed by this new voice, and it took Marlon a few seconds to realise the child was speaking inside their heads! [Alright, to get you used to life here, I shall be your guide! Information shall be provided on whim only today, so if I were you, I would get your questions in! The world you are currently standing in is called 'Hanul'! Hanul is a vast, unconquered land that is yours to explore and claim! You should get to know it well, as it will be your new Earth!] Suddenly, a green menu apeared, floating in front of him. [Eeeeexcept... it does have a few... 'different' qualities. This system is one of them. Take a look!]. Marlon noticed that he couldn't see the menus of others, but it was evident that they could see their own from their squinting and pointing. He inferred that there must be information that one would consider 'personal' in this holographic green sheet, or else all would be able to see. He peered forward to take a look.

•••

Main menu:

- Character

- Inventory

- Statistics

- {LOCKED}

- {LOCKED}

- ¢{¢|=@(£+_#(£48&¢{¢|≠×^}¢]™]$

- Help

- Settings

•••

Marlon could obviously see it was one of the 'classic' video game character menus, with his character, statistics and inventory. Settings and help were also present, reinforcing Marlon's belief of this world's video game base. There were two locked categories, and one that seemed like complete gibberish of random characters and numbers. After all, considering that the creator of this world was probably the child, he thought it likely that it may be based on a game of sorts. [First, I'll walk you through your system!] the kid said cheerfully, again disrupting his personal thinking space. [I'd like you to click on the 'Character' button, please!]. The child looked around from his disk and noticed that people were either cowering in fear, or jabbing the air. [Just simply will it to be, and it will happen!] he explained patiently. Marlon thought about opening the section, and, to his surprise, it opened! [Well done!] the child exclaimed, no longer talking to them all, but only to him. [You seem to have got the hang of this!]. Marlon was not pleased by the child's compliments. On the contrary, he was rather suspicious. Composing himself, he looked with interest at the new menu hovering in front of him.

•••

Name: [Marlon Jones]

Race: [None]

Class: [None]

Sub-class: [None]

Alliance: [None]

Town: [None]

Culture: [None]

Skill Points: 1

Attribute Points: 1

Talent Points: 3

===

Level: 0

Progress: 0/50 exp

Health: 50/50

Stamina: 50/50

Mana: 50/50

Effects: [None]

Strength: 9

Speed: 10

Intelligence: 13

•••

[As you can see, all of your personal categories are blank! You'll fill those soon enough though. You have three attributes; Health, which determines how many hits you can take; Stamina, which determines your melee power and your endurance; And Mana, which measures less physical actions like spells. You can use level points to raise the capacity by 5 on any chosen attribute.]

[You should all be at level 0. Your level measures your rank and strength, and rewards you for gathering experience points. Every time you level up, you will be given one attribute point, two talent points and two skill points. Your experience requirements will also be raised by 50. Each skill point will raise strength, speed or intelligence by 1. The talent points, well, you'll find out about those later. I'm guessing you all have a vague idea of what each of the skills represent, and what they affect, so I won't bother to explain that.]

Marlon looked at the sheet, and his guess of a video game base for this world was strengthened considerably. After all, these kinds of statistics were commonplace in virtual games. "Hey," Freya said, whispering unnecessarily, "What are your skill levels? Mine are strength 8, speed 9 and intelligence 12...". "Mine are different," Marlon responded "My strength is 9, speed is 10 and intelligence is 13.". So it seemed the stats weren't assigned equally. They may be based on their lives on Earth. He explained this to Freya, and she nodded, but then her eyes turn worried. "It scares me how we are already refering to our real lives as if they were years in the past, not ten minutes ago..." she shivered, "It's almost as if we've already given up hope to get back!". [Right you are!] said the child, butting in once again to their conversation. [You're never going to get back, so best not try, am I right?]. Freya was shocked at this sudden intrusion, but Marlon marked it off as one of many. [Anyhow!] said the child, raising his voice to talk to the entire crowd, [You should exit the character menu now. Let me show you the inventory!]...