fics I read

Maybe he shouldn't complain, but Joshua Davis thought he had the smallest bit of bad luck in life.

His early years were good enough. Not great, but good enough. Young Joshua had never been a social boy and hadn't really tried to either. He was fine by himself, staying at home with his family and watching TV, be it cartoons or documentaries. Later on, he found books through a relative and his life spiraled into whatever fictional story he could get his hands on. Eventually, he slowly made his way through other mediums until he ended up with fanfictions.

Later on, during high school, Joshua started to realize that maybe living like that hadn't been a good idea. Most of his friends had ended up going to a different school and he found himself having difficulties when attempting to socialize. He would look around and realize that he had no real friends. His own family felt distant to him and his… close acquaintances that went to the same school as him… there was little to say about those. It was disconcerting at first, and then, it slowly developed into sadness.

It was then that his hobbies became so much more. He didn't delve into the stories for entertainment anymore. Now, Joshua did it to escape a lonely existence. Maybe he should have made an effort to make friends, to connect with his family once more. But after so long, Joshua found himself struggling to socialize in any manner. Interacting felt awkward at first, and then his insides started to tie themselves into knots every time he had to talk to someone.

So, he stopped trying and simply continued on with his life. Letting the fictional worlds wrap around him and forgetting his reality.

However, he knew he couldn't keep up like that. And with a new year, he had decided to try harder. He was so tired of being alone that he would withstand any amount of awkwardness if he could grow closer to other people again.

And so, Joshua started easy, with his parents. At first, little comments here and there. Then he started spending time with his father, helping with certain projects. Or cooking with his mother or simply sitting with her to watch some TV series that she liked.

It was progress.

And this was supposed to be the next step. They were going to visit some relatives and he would try to get better there. After that, it would be going up to strangers at college. That would be a challenge, he had thought.

Joshua wouldn't get to face that situation though.

It was simply not to be.

'Why am I thinking about this now of all times?' The younger Davis wondered as he looked around bitterly while blood drops ran their way down his face from where a glass had cut above his eye.

His expression was surprisingly calm when one considered the absolute chaos that surrounded him. But his mind was numb, he realized as he looked dispassionately around.

His parents sat in the front seats. The crash had left them bruised and with little cuts here and there, but otherwise fine. His mother was screaming hysterically, although it reached the young man's ears barely as background noise. His father, meanwhile, was trying uselessly to push his door open, but the impact on his and Joshua's side of the car had rendered that route impossible, not to mention the effect it had on the Joshua's left side.

His eyes moved towards the broken window on his side. He could see several damaged cars outside, some more and some less than his family's. Screams came from some as the people tried to get survivors out of their now metallic prisons.

Joshua felt the strength leave his body along with his blood, idly wondering which of his wounds was bleeding more, his arm or his leg. Maybe he should have shouted for help, screamed his lungs out, asking for someone to help him.

But he didn't.

An even louder scream made him turn towards his mother and notice that she was looking at him or, more specifically, at his injured limbs. His father quickly turned his efforts into turning and lending him a hand, which was made quite difficult by his seat.

A piece of clothing that he couldn't identify was passed towards him and he tried to use it to put some pressure on his wounds with his right hand. It was all for naught though. It quickly turned red and the blood coming out hadn't diminished in the least.

'Doesn't feel like I have much time to be saved…' Joshua mused detachedly as his sight started blurring and the chaos of sounds muted slowly.

He turned his eyes towards his pale and concerned parents. A last look at their faces, through the mist of unconsciousness.

"No!" His father screamed, in a tone that Joshua had never heard from him. "You don't give up on me, son!" He demanded, the blurry sight of him shuffling around trying to reach his son was the only thing Joshua noticed. "You were trying so hard. It won't end like this!"

"No!" His mother screeched, it was painful to hear for the younger man. To listen to his mother scream with such a broken voice. "No, this can't be happening! You'll be alright, you'll be alright," She turned around in her seat as best she could. She sounded like she was trying to convince herself.

Joshua heard a voice outside the car, it sounded close even if he barely noticed.

His vision shook.

"I love you," He heard his mother repeat in between sobs.

Someone had moved him, apparently.

He hadn't felt it.

"I love you, son," His father breathed out. He seemed to be closer than before. "I'm proud of you."

He could only feel the cold.

His eyes closed.

And then there was only silence.

[}-o-{]

Joshua Davis sat up with a start. He was even more surprised by the fact that he was in a bathtub. Looking down, his eyes widened in horror as he saw the water in it filled with blood. Then, all at once, the memories of the cash came back to him.

Breathing faster than he had ever done in his life, he brought his arm up, out of the water, and stared at it. There was no sign of the piece of twisted metal that had pierced it when a car had hit the door next to him. Instead, there were only thin scars on his wrist.

He frowned as he slowly rubbed out the bloody water with his other hand. Joshua blinked again when he saw that there were similar scars on his other wrist.

His hands started trembling.

Shakily, Joshua let out a disbelieving chuckle when he realized that he was in a bathroom that wasn't familiar to him at all. With his whole body trembling uncontrollably, he closed his eyes and started breathing as deeply and slowly as he could. After a moment, he concentrated solely in relaxing his tense muscles. He had practice with that, he had to do similar things often when he was forced to be in social events or when his solitude got to him.

Slightly calmer, Joshua took a moment to decide what to do.

'Keep it simple, stupid,' He reminded himself, wanting to retain his cool. Opening his eyes, he decided that the first thing he should do was get all the blood away from him and if possible, out of view. And thus, he let the bathtub blood-filled water go down the drain and opened the shower to clean himself off. Then, he started filling it again. Water had always made him comfortable. He loved to swim.

Without any red in sight to remind him of… Blood… Metal… Screams… White faces… He closed his eyes again and concentrated again. He was a mess. But he was in a position that allowed for that, he supposed.

'What are these scars? Where are the wounds from the crash?' He wondered as he looked over his arms and legs. 'Where even am I?' He added while looking at the bathroom again. Looking at his body again, dread started filling him. 'This doesn't… why do I feel like something is wrong here?'

With deep breaths that he couldn't quite keep slow, he pulled himself out and stumbled his way towards the mirror. Fortunately for him, he didn't trip due to the water.

His own face looked back at him, although it looked paler than usual, which was saying something. 'All things considered, that makes sense', Joshua thought wryly. With another deep breath in, he looked over his features once more. This time though, he noticed something weird. 'My hair was shorter than this…' He frowned as he passed a hand through his shaggy black hair nervously. The sight of his deep blue eyes calmed him though, although he couldn't point out why.

This time, instead of trying to calm himself, he tried to just get his mind to actually think.

'I was in a car crash. I was… dying…' He started summarizing. 'And then… I woke up here, with slightly longer hair, no sign of the accident's wounds and scars on my wrists that seem like…' His eyes opened and the young man stared at where his forearms met his hands. 'These…' He looked back at the mirror. 'What the hell?'

Shakily taking one of the white towels in the bathroom, he absentmindedly started drying himself. His mind wasn't into that though. It was like his body had went into autopilot while his brain tried to make some sense out of what was happening.

Wrapping the towel around his waist. He walked slowly out of the bathroom.

What welcomed him was a bedroom. A small one, and it was so plain that he got the distinct impression that it was a hotel room of some kind. There was the bed, a desk and, clearing all doubts, the baggage that he had brought for the trip.

'What am I doing here?' The young man asked himself as he looked around, suddenly unsure of what to do. Feeling his body grow cold, he guessed he could at least dress before starting to think on anything. Soon, he stood in the room wearing a simple pair of black jeans, black sneakers and a navy-blue t-shirt.

Absentmindedly, he started pacing around, looking around keeping his mind occupied or maybe distracted was a better word. It was while he was inspecting the desk that he found a piece of paper. A simple, innocent sheet. The content was anything but innocent though.

A suicide letter.

Sitting at the desk and looking at it, he noticed his own name heading the whole thing… Joshua then proceeded to read through it, with growing dread. He read about… himself and how his family died in… 'In the crash? But… they were fine! I remember them being fine! I was the one that…' And, as he continued through it, he read about his other self being… 'Fine? But… my wounds…' His eyes then trailed off towards his left leg and arm, where the scars of the accident should have been. And, at the end, he explained how he had given up. How the death of the only people close to him had been the last straw.

'What the hell?' He thought to himself as he slowly set the paper back on the desk and rested his forehead on his palm. 'I died, I know I did… or should have, at least. I remember the wounds, and all. And my parents were fine, or… mostly fine. If I survived surely they did too…' He tried to rationalize. 'So… why… and why don't I remember…?'

A tear fell down his cheek.

Closing his eyes with a pained expression, he continued taking deep breaths. His mind ran a mile an hour despite his desire to calm down. The contradictions of his memories and the proof around him battling for the right to be real in his brain.

After a long moment, he regained a semblance of tranquility, he opened his eyes.

"What the hell?!" He pulled back in shock, accidentally falling to the ground together with the chair he had been sitting on. Unfortunately, what surprised him followed right after him. What was it? Well…

[Skill Unlocked: Meditation]

The black text appeared in the middle of a blue square screen. For a long moment, there was silence as Joshua stared in stupefied surprise at the box floating midair in front of his face. Then, surprise morphed into disbelief and ultimately… shocked amusement.

'Sure… things weren't weird enough already, were they?' He thought to himself, trying to add a bit of levity to the unbelievable situation. And then… it hit him.

'I died…' He thought, strangely only listing the fact instead of lamenting it. 'I know I did… and now I wake up in… whatever this is, and read that my parents are the ones that died and not me…' He continued, a focused frown taking over his face as he stood up, and pushed the blue square aside to check the letter again. 'And I somehow… killed myself after surviving? And then, there's this,' His eyes turned to the screen on his side.

'It can't be, can it?' He laughed nervously. 'Status?'

[Joshua Davis

Title: None

Race: Human

Strength: 3

Speed: 5

Dexterity: 3

Vitality: 4

Perception: 2

Magic: 1]

'What the… I… just what… I mean… but it is… what?' He stammered, out loud and in his own mind. His brain was unable to come up with something to say about what appeared in front of him.

A sigh escaped his lips then as his shoulder slumped. 'What happened to me?' He thought to himself dejectedly before his mind came up with the most plausible explications for what happened to him. 'I'm hallucinating, or in a coma because of the accident… or am in a different world where my parents died and I killed myself because of it,' He summarized mentally. 'And I have a Gamer System of some kind, can't forget about that,' He added sardonically.

'Definitely a dream or something,' He nodded, although, he didn't really believe that. He had had dreams. And he knew this wasn't it. Hallucination of some kind it might be, but not a dream.

Slowly, feeling his body go numb, Joshua picked up the chair from the floor and took seat at the desk. With the screen on one side and the letter on the other, he tried to think about what was happening. 'Tried' being the key word there, because his mind seemed to have decided it was done with the insanity around him.

He went over the letter one more time. Now though, he took his time, reading every word carefully. It seemed that everything had ended for the other Joshua. His parents were buried, and he had pushed everyone away. Understandable, really, considering what he was planning on doing.

'It means I'm alone though,' He bitterly realized. Then, his eyes trailed off towards his now scarred wrists. 'What's even the point anymore?'

"You don't give up on me, son!" He shook as his father's words resonated in his mind. Then he laughed hollowly.

'This really was me, wasn't it?' He mused with an empty half-smile as he eyed the letter. 'I really did this,' He finally accepted. 'This was the me from… another reality?'

'And now,' His blue eyes found the blue of the screen, still floating on his other side. 'I got another chance, somehow,' Oddly enough, he wasn't as happy about that as he thought he should have been.

"You were trying so hard. It won't end like this!"

"You'll be alright, you'll be alright."

Joshua closed his eyes. He could almost hear their voices like they were really there. And then, he wept. Wept for the life he had lost, for the parents he would never see again and for lost opportunities.

And from those regrets, a resolution took shape.

He opened his eyes, looking for the first time out the window in front of the desk. His eyes still leaking tears from the sides and a shaky smile on his face, but still determined. He had doubted and feared enough for an entire life, literally.

'No more,' He decided. 'Let's make the best out of this.'

[}-o-{]

[Language

English – Lvl 45/50

Determines the user's ability to understand English.]

[Meditation – Lvl 1/100

Determines the user's ability to connect with his inner energies.

Increases stamina, health and magic regeneration by 1% while actively meditating.

Increases stamina, health and magic regeneration by 0.1% passively.]

'Well, sorry for not being fucking thesaurus,' Was the man's first thought at seeing that he lacked 5 levels to max English. After that, he settled for taking in what all this meant for him.

'This is a very lame list of skills,' Joshua thought to himself as he sipped from the coffee cup in his hand. After crying his eyes out and mourning his losses for a few hours, he decided that leaving the hotel room for a moment would be good. And thus, he ended up finding a seat in a cozy little café nearby and ordering his favorite drink in the world.

'I can work on that though,' He decided, determinedly ignoring the bitter feeling that pooled in his stomach. It would get some time to get over all that had happened. But he had always been good at pushing aside bad feelings. It had helped him ignore his problems for the longest time, but for once it would actually be useful.

'Perks?'

[Human

Increases the growth speed of all stats and skills by 20%.]

'That's not bad, not bad at all,' He nodded to himself, a small pleased smile making its way to his face before he squashed it. Nobody was looking at him, but he still would need to stop himself from showing anything. Nobody could see the system, it seemed, and he wanted to keep it a secret for as long as possible.

After a moment, he called for his status screen once more.

'No level, HP, MP, no Intelligence, no Wisdom, no Charisma, no Luck… This is one weird Gamer System alright,' He mused to himself before his blue eyes focused on a specific point in the screen. 'Magic though… does that mean that there was magic in my old world? Or is that another alternate reality thing? Something to look into, I guess.'

Blinking, he pulled out his phone and started searching the internet for any of the fictional worlds he was aware of. 'If I can have magic and a Gamer system then anything is possible,' He reasoned. The problem with that was, most magic centric worlds he was aware of had magic be a secret to the public. That made searching confirmation in the internet difficult. He did check for DC and Marvel references just in case. In the end though, he gave up and decided that he would look into it if he ever found anything regarding actual magic. Besides, he didn't want to unknowingly get himself in a tough spot for searching something he had no business even knowing about.

'Let's continue with this,' He decided as he turned to the screens once more. 'Options?... nothing, huh? Inventory?... No inventory? Now, that's a disappointment if I ever saw one. Quests?... I don't know why I'm even surprised anymore.'

'So, this is what I've got,' Joshua thought as he looked at the blue boxes and considered his options. The thought of contacting his family crossed his mind, but it was quickly pushed aside. He had never been very close to them, and it didn't feel like they were really his family, anyway. They were as good as strangers with all the alternative reality bullshit going on around him.

'Might as well just get a job and go from there, right? I don't have enough to last me for long, after all,' He decided idly, his mind focused on short term problems first. Like getting himself an actual place to stay instead of a hotel room. That and food too. Considering how his system was looking, he wasn't holding his breath for not needing to eat or drink or sleep.

Then, he sighed and stood up, going to stand before the man that seemed to be the manager of the café.

Back in his world, he would have been worried sick about talking to a stranger, let alone asking for a job. Now though, either due to his recent death, or resolution or both, he found it laughably easy. Not comfortable, at all, but easy nonetheless. What was the worst that could happen? Him being told no? Big deal, he would ask in every store and business in the city if he had to. Someone was bound to employ him.

'Why didn't I ever think like that back home?' He bitterly asked himself as he explained his desire to the manager (after confirming that his guess was actually right). The man was understandably skeptical about employing someone without experience. However, after answering a question about how he had come to be on that city when he was from elsewhere, the man's eyes quickly softened.

"You know what," He told Joshua. "You work here for a week, we teach you what you need to know and if you do well enough, you get the job. What do you think?"

"That sounds perfect, Mr. Robinson," He replied instantly, giving the man a grateful smile, that ended up being little more than a quirk up of his lips. Thankfully, the manager didn't comment on it. Internally though, Joshua told himself that he would have to work on that. It wouldn't help with his job if he couldn't even smile at the customers.

On his way back home, Joshua couldn't help but be relieved that he had acted quickly, less he give time to his insecurities to come back. Maybe it was pessimistic of him, but he thought there was a good chance of that happening. But that was a problem for future Joshua.

[}-o-{]

[Cooking – Lvl 3/50

Determines the user's ability to cook.

Increases food preparation speed by 6%.

Increases the quality of cooked goods by 3%.]

'Not bad, I guess,' Joshua thought as he waited for the manager to decide. The week had passed, and he was very surprised that the skill wasn't higher leveled. He wasn't a chef by any stretch of imagination, but he wasn't bad at cooking. Still, nobody had complained and he didn't notice any customer looking particularly bothered by his drinks so, maybe it was something else that he was missing.

Taking a deep breath in, he pulled up the first skill that he unlocked since waking up.

[Meditation – Lvl 2/100

Determines the user's ability to connect with his inner energies.

Increases stamina, health and magic regeneration by 2% while actively meditating.

Increases stamina, health and magic regeneration by 0.2% passively.]

It had leveled even less than Cooking, although it made a lot of sense considering that he spent almost the whole day working at the café and he also cooked for himself, while he only used Meditation before going to bed for half an hour or so.

And that was with a few days grinding the skill like a madman, going to bed late and all. Spoiler: It hadn't been a good idea. At all.

No, he definitely couldn't go about leveling skills and spells like the Gamers of fiction. Those crazy training schedules didn't apply to real people that could actually get tired and needed sleep, food and such things. Which, to his infinite disappointment, applied to him.

During the week, Joshua had also spent most of the money he had renting a cheap small apartment close to the café. If he didn't get the job, he would be in a tight spot, but he had enough to manage for another month if he cut back a little on food and managed to make some money on some odd job here and there. It wouldn't be ideal, but he could deal with it.

He really hoped he did though, and not only for the much needed stability it would bring to his… new life. Joshua had found himself enjoying the rather simple job, if he was being honest. It was… peaceful, and while it did involve talking with people, it was also in a slightly detached manner that made things easier. Which helped a lot, because after his newfound determination wore off a bit, he had found himself with much less confidence, even if he was better than before… the event.

Back to what he had been doing over the week, Joshua had also started making plans. He had looked around the city and found several places of interest. Gyms, to look for a way to increase his stats. Fighting classes, for some useful skills, since he was pretty sure that there would be conflict of some kind in this world. The gamer system had to be there for a reason, after all. He had also looked for a library, a bunch of other places that could provide useful and not so useful skills. He had even noted down two 'magic' stores. He was very sure that most of the stuff in those places was fake. However, there was the smallest chance of finding something genuine there, and thus, he needed to make sure.

'Definitely an anime world,' Joshua mused idly with an amused smirk as he saw yet another person with an odd hair color. The first day, he hadn't noticed those irregularities. The second, he had reasoned that they had just dyed their hair, it wasn't like people doing that was that rare. But by the third day, he had to give up that logic. Especially when he saw a family with the father and the two children having green hair.

A quick search on the internet had confirmed that, indeed, hair color could naturally be just about anything in this version of his world. They were rarer than, say, brown or black, but they weren't that rare. Kind of like redheads.

'That reduces the number of possibilities,' Joshua had reasoned at the time, re-checking for any world that he knew with the same luck. 'Still, it wasn't like I watched every anime in existence, which… is a bit of a problem right now,' He grimaced at the thought. Not knowing anything about the world he was now part of was troublesome, maybe even downright dangerous depending on the world.

"Well, you seem to be learning quick, which is good," Peter said, pulling Joshua from his thoughts before he turned to listen to the manager. "So, I'll happily have you working here. You aren't quite there yet though, so keep on improving."

Joshua smiled, maybe the biggest smile since waking up in that bathroom. It wasn't a big one, nor did it wash away all the other feelings inside him. But it was a start.

"I love you."

"I love you, son."

"I'm proud of you."

He closed his eyes, relishing in the memory.

His smile widened the smallest bit.

[

[Fake Ritual Magic Book

Rank - F]

'Of course,' Joshua thought, sighing and setting the book back on the shelf.

[Appraisal has gone up a level.]

'Bright sides and all that, right?' He added with a small smile, turning and looking around. He had used the skill on everything already, and everything was either fake or real, but not actually magical. 'Well, here's hoping the other shop actually has something.'

Ignoring the annoyed look of the guy behind the counter, Joshua walked right out the door and mulled over the idea of going over to the other magic shop that he had found. As he did so, he also called up Appraisal's screen, just to check.

[Appraisal – Lvl 5/100

Determines the user's ability to appraise objects, creatures and people according to level.

Has 5% chances of finding a weakness.]

'No new effects, huh?' He wasn't that surprised. None of the skills he had gotten and leveled seemed to change as they grew. Which isn't to say that they wouldn't, since they were pretty low still. 'It's no Observe but it's better than nothing, at least,' The man thought as he dismissed the screen. He had gotten the skill while on his first trip to the magic store when he was checking the merchandise.

The first of many trips where he found absolutely nothing. The employee had a reason to be annoyed, after all. Here was hoping he had better luck in the second shop. Which brought him back to that idea…

'Nah, I'll go check tomorrow, I think,' Joshua decided in the end.

As it turned out, being a Gamer wasn't as easy as it was in the original work or in the fanfics he had read. Or, at least, not for him since he had a different system. The man had been in this alternate reality of his world for two weeks and he could safely say that not much had happened. No quests, no random encounters, no strange happenings. Nothing at all, just him, his nerfed system and a pretty… normal life, really.

'Which suits me just fine, not gonna lie,' Joshua admitted in his mind as he made his way back to his apartment. With as slow a progress as his skills and stats had, he didn't want to imagine how badly things would have gone if he had met trouble right from the beginning.

Opening the door to his apartment, he decided to get started with dinner right away. That way he could do a bit of browsing and then go straight into Meditation grinding, as usual. Out of habit, he pulled up the screen for Cooking. Not for any particular reason other than the fact that he always had this little bit of excitement course through him when he interacted with the system.

[Cooking – Lvl 5/50

Determines the user's ability to cook.

Increases food preparation speed by 10%.

Increases the quality of cooked goods by 5%.]

He had recently decided not to take offence with his skill levels. His cooking wasn't bad, as evidenced by his job at the café. With that evidence on his side, Joshua had decided to simply accept his 'skills' as more of a boost over his already existent capabilities. The 'Determines the user's ability to cook' still bugged him a bit, but he already had his theory and he was sticking to it. He had enough headaches as it was trying to find out which of the infinite possibilities of anime he was in.

If he was in one at all and wasn't in some kind of completely unknown world.

'Now, that's a scary thought,' He shuddered as he set his plate on the table and pulled out his phone. It was a sad sight, the one of Joshua sitting alone with a plate of food and a phone in his hand. He realized this fact too, but he didn't care much. He could try to make friends after finding out which kind of messed up world he was in.

It didn't have anything to do with his problems socializing. No, sir.

Evidently, his social improvement back when he had woken up had been a temporary thing.

And so he searched, in the browser of his phone. He really wanted to know where he was. Every second that he remained ignorant was one where shit could be happening without him knowing. Every moment was one where he could end up dead by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

To his ongoing frustration though, his research came up with nothing. The most he had found were stories extremely similar to those he knew in his old world but with name changes and the like, as if someone was trying to avoid copyrighted names. That was Joshua's biggest clue that this was a world from a work of fiction. Granted, it could still be alternate universe bullshit, but there was no way in hell that was enough to justify Dragon Ball's name changing into Drag So-Ball, Joshua refused to believe that.

At some point during the last week, he had even started searching on other sources too, thinking that maybe his assumption that it was anime might have been hasty. Movies, books, series, cartoons, games, anything that could be remotely related to the world he was now in. Even possibilities that weren't very probable, such as medieval themed plots and such, he had searched, just in case of alternative universe scenarios. That was how much Joshua wanted to know where he was.

'Still nothing,' He lamented as he set down his phone, resigning himself to yet another unsuccessful search.

[}-o-{]

On another equally peaceful day, Joshua found himself showering while checking over some of his skills.

[Running – Lvl 3/50

Determines the user's ability to run.

Increases Speed while running by 6%.

Decreases exhaustion from running by 3%.]

Running, the very first skill that he had actually set out to get. He had gotten it after a minute or so into a run during a weekend. It had been a particularly good incentive as he set out to do some exercise to try and increase his stats.

Granted, it wasn't much, especially at the moment, but he could see it becoming something very good. Like with all his skills, he had noticed. They had low percentages, but once they were maxed, or even just midway through their levels, they should be very good.

The skill had also been quickly followed by another.

[Physical Conditioning – Lvl 3/50

Determines the user's ability to train their body.

Increases Strength and Vitality growth speed by 6%.

Increases recovery rate from training by 3%.]

He really liked Physical Conditioning. Not only did it increase growth of two stats in general, but it would also, eventually, help deal with the not so pleasant side effects of it too.

From there, he had also gained one more skill. The one Joshua considered his most useful one at the moment, probably.

[Unarmed Combat Mastery – Lvl 3/100

Determines the user's ability to fight without weapons.

Increases damage output when fighting without a weapon by 3%.

Increases Dexterity when fighting without a weapon by 0.75%.

Increases Strength when fighting without a weapon by 0.75%.]

He had gained that one after watching tutorials on the internet about martial arts and copying the stances and such. Officially, it was to save money instead of wasting it on classes, since he had to system to help him out. Unofficially, he hadn't wanted to interact with people even more than he already had to at his job. Never mind the fact that he would have most definitely embarrassed himself in front of everyone by not knowing shit about fighting and being in terrible shape at his age.

Yes, Joshua knew it was unreasonable to expect himself to do well at first, but he had already given up using logic against his social problems. He was proud of his increasing ease while dealing with clients at the café and he was content with just that. He would take what he could.

Nevertheless, Joshua had never been one for sports or physical training of any kind. Which is why he found himself staring at this particular three screens. The visual feedback of his training, almost physical proof that he was achieving something with his efforts, helped a lot to keep his motivation up.

That and his status screen, obviously.

[Joshua Davis

Title: None

Race: Human

Strength: 4

Speed: 6

Dexterity: 4

Vitality: 5

Perception: 3

Magic: 1]

Predictably, Strength, Speed and Vitality had gained a level during his exercises. Perception though, had been a pleasant surprise during one of his scouting at the magic shop. Dexterity, for its part, had also gained a level while he was cooking, which had instantly made Joshua's day. Now he just needed to keep at it and have some luck with a way to increase (and use) his magic. He had tried the manhwa version of magic to… disappointing results. And everything else he tried regarding that had been an equally big failure.

Letting out a long sigh and trying to vanish wishful thoughts from his mind, Joshua stepped out of the shower. He could be meditating instead of just wasting time. The peacefulness of his days was making it easier and easier to lower his guard. But he wouldn't.

He couldn't.

'Dying once was enough, thank you very much.'

[}-o-{]

And predictably enough, his peaceful and somewhat boring days ended during his third week.

However, it wasn't that he was at the wrong place at the wrong time, or that he found some magic item or another. Neither did he save someone or crash against someone on the street. He didn't even witness something from a distance or watch something happen on the news. Granted, all this is because what happened wasn't anything magically related at all. Or so he thought at first. What had happened?

He found a cat.

Joshua had been just walking back to his apartment, tired after a long day of working, training and searching, just like he usually did. He had, however, had to stop when he heard a pitiful whine coming from the side and turned to see the aforementioned cat. It was truly a sad sight to see, the poor animal lying there, bleeding as everyone else walked by, not that there were many people around.

The thing was, apparently, white with black splashes here and there, one of which was on its head painting an ear and the area around an eye in said color. Now though, there was also it's right hind leg that was covered in dark red blood from an injury that the young man couldn't quite see. Its slit pupils seemingly turned at the attention it was receiving from the young man and amber eyes locked with his blue ones.

Joshua, apparently stunned by the visage, blinked dumbly. A second later, he snapped out of it and his mind, in a flash of concern, tried to remember if there were any vets close by. Sadly, as is often the case in times such as that, he couldn't, for the life of him, remember any such place being close by.

Groaning out loud, he knelt next to the cat, his heart clenching in worry. He had always been a sucker for animals, after all. In a desperate effort, he went on a limb and used Appraisal on the little thing.

[Cat

Title: None

Race: Cat

Gender: Female

Strength: F

Speed: F+

Dexterity: F

Vitality: F

Perception: F+

Magic: -

Perks: 2

Skills: 2

Altered Status: 2]

'It's different,' Was his first thought as he looked over the screen.

'I can actually see things,' Was his second thought, since he had tried to use Appraisal on other people and animals before and he would be greeted with a simple 'Human' or 'Dog' or similar things, if he didn't know their names in which case that was what appeared. Besides that, he also got a Rank, just like with objects, which he took now as it being his targets overall stats turned into a letter rank. That was his best guess, at least. And it would be the theory he would stick to until it was proven wrong.

Gulping down, he picked the animal up, silently praying that it wouldn't lash out at him. Fortunately for the man, the creature did little more than squirm futilely and whine. Instead of being a relief, it worried Joshua even more. Was the cat too weak to even do something? Had it lost too much blood?

'I can think about this later,' He told himself as he looked over the screen, lightly holding the cat against his chest, careful not to do even more damage, and walking as quickly as possible towards his apartment. He didn't dare make a run for it and hurt the cat more though. He had a medkit that would hopefully be enough to save the little thing's life. 'Altered Status? That's new,' He noted, mentally pressing on that part and making a new blue box appear.

[Curse of Weakness

Decreases all the user's Stats.]

[Blood Loss

Decreases all the user's Stats.]

Joshua almost tripped on his own feet at the first text. It wasn't detailed, but it told him enough. Enough to bring a million questions to his head, that is. 'Why would anyone curse a cat?' He thought disturbed, his blue eyes darting to the animal in question and back to the screen. 'I'm not getting involved in something by helping it-… her, right?'

That last question kept coming back as his steps quickened and his heart drummed in his chest. He really, really wanted to just drop the cat down back on the sidewalk and just go away. At the same time, his heart twisted and turned, rebelling against the idea. Memories of his mother, playing with cats of neighbors despite not wanting to have a pet of their own and his father and his eternal wish for one but unwilling to go against his wife.

'It can't be that bad,' Joshua reassured himself as he pushed his door open and rushed in, quickly settling the cat on a towel and getting the medkit. He was lying to himself, and he knew it.

With a grimace, he started cleaning the wound, finding out that the poor thing had a rather nasty cut on the upper part of her right hind leg. After he was done with that, he treated the damage as best he could. Which wasn't very fast, unfortunately, since his hands refused to stay put and not tremble like a leaf on the wind.

Throughout the whole thing, the cat kept twitching and snapping its claws at Joshua, hissing and once it literally threw itself at him, biting his arm, before he could catch it. It was unpleasant business, but-

[Physical Resistance – Lvl 1/100

Determines the user's ability to withstand physical damage.

Decreases the damage received by physical attacks by 0.75%.]

Yeah, that helped him keep going without complaining… much. It was also a bit of a letdown though, since it implied that he would at most get it to be a 75% reduction on all physical attacks against him. But he guessed 100% would be too much to ask for. Still, for all the cat's willingness to resist what he was doing, Joshua found himself having little trouble addressing the wound. He chucked it to both Altered Status effects, making the cat barely able to try and put up a fight. It was sad, but at the moment it was also helpful.

Eventually, he was done with it and sitting tiredly on the floor next to the cat.

[Skill Unlocked: Treatment]

[Treatment – Lvl 1/50

Defines the user's ability to treat wounds.

Increases wound treatment speed by 2%.

Increases treated wounds recovery speed by 1%.]

'Good, I guess… Really wish it was higher leveled though,' He thought with a sad smile as he turned to look over the cat. The thing, contrary to how it had behaved through the whole process, was simply sitting and staring at Joshua with its piercing amber eyes.

"Well, we are done here," He offered with a weary smile. The creature simply continued staring without answering, not that Joshua had expected it to. With that said, he pulled up the cat's screen once more, half out of curiosity and half out of desire to evade the thing's eyes

[Cat

Title: None

Race: Cat

Gender: Female

Strength: F

Speed: F+

Dexterity: F

Vitality: F

Perception: F+

Magic: -

Perks: 2

Skills: 2

Altered Status: 2]

'Letter value instead of numerical,' He noted first of all. 'Skills and Perks are part of the screen too, which is also different… Wonder if Altered Status is also separated in my system or if I have that screen at all… Altered Status?'

His answer was an empty but clearly existing screen. He nodded thoughtfully.

'Can I check its Perks and Skills like the Altered Status?' He wondered.

[Superior Senses

Increases the user's Perception.]

[Night Vision

Increases the user's ability to see in the dark.]

'Good to know that Perception is related to senses,' Joshua mused before being surprised as a screen appeared on its own.

[Appraisal has gone up a level.]

'Nice,' He dismissed that screen quickly and called for the cat's Skills.

[Bite – Lvl 1

Defines the damage the user can do with their jaws.]

[Scratch – Lvl 1

Defines the damage the user can do with their claws.]

'No surprises,' He sighed and turned to the animal in question, which continued staring at him. It was starting to unnerve the man, even if he was reticent of showing it. 'Guess I should find something to eat for the poor thing,' He decided and with a groan, he stood up and went looking for food, both for the cat and for himself. 'And I also need to change my clothes, I'm covered in bl-'

[Quest Complete: Rescue the Cursed Cat

Rewards:

+3 Treatment Levels

+3 Healing Magic Levels]

'Wow wow wow, pause!' Joshua sat straight up as he stared at the new screen. 'Quest? But I didn't receive anything of the sort? Is it like… a hidden quest? But it doesn't say so anywhere. Are quests like this with this system?' As usual though, there were no answers for his questions.

'Ok, so… ignoring the random appearance of a quest screen, a few more levels on Treatment is nice and… Healing Magic?!' He did a double take at the last part of the message. 'Healing Magic!'

[Healing Magic - Lvl 3/100

Determines the user's ability to utilize Healing Magic.

Increases magic potency while utilizing Healing Magic by 3%.

Increases magic efficiency while utilizing Healing Magic by 1.5%.

Healing Spells: 0]

'Wait… 0 Spells? I… need to get spells to actually use the magic?... That sucks!' He whined internally. 'I got all excited for a second there, motherfucker!'

And with that, he slumped back against the wall and let out a long, annoyed sigh.

[}-o-{]

"You are entirely too comfortable here, you know that, right?" Joshua asked the cat a week after finding her. If anyone else had seen them during their days, they would have instantly assumed the pair were master and pet. Especially since the animal would be close by all the time while he was in the apartment, either rubbing herself against him or just sitting on his lap. One time the cat had even climbed on his shoulder, perching herself on it.

'Why do I get the feeling that I'm not gonna be able to get rid of her?' He wondered, although there was a lot less reluctance than he thought there should be at the idea of keeping the cat. The Curse of Weakness still remained on her though, even if Blood Loss had been removed recently. The former was an apparently permanent reminder that there was more to the feline than one would think at first. 'I'm not even sure I'm allowed to have pets in here,' He complained internally.

A mewl of the cat sitting on his lap made him roll his eyes before he started petting her.

"I got myself into this mess, I guess," He muttered under his breath. "I guess I… should give you a name, if you are going to stay here. I'm getting tired of calling you cat."

His only response was the stare of amber eyes. He sighed.

"You know… I was never good at naming things," Joshua admitted with a grimace. And his expression only got worse as he looked down at the cat, who was staring at him once more. Those brilliant eyes never failed to unnerve him a little… "Chesire. I'll call you Chesire."

His response was a purr of the newly named Chesire as he continued petting her.

"Here's hoping I don't get you killed and you don't get me killed, Chesire," He said wearily.

As if trying to reassure him, the cat pushed her head against his hand affectionately.

He smiled.

[Skill Unlocked: Bond]

[Bond Unlocked: Chesire]

'Huh?' Joshua thought as he blinked at the new screens. 'Bond?'

[Bond

Chesire - Lvl 1/10

Determines the user's bond closeness with Chesire.]

'Huh, kinda reminds me of the Language skill screen,' The man noted interestedly. 'Ten levels maximum though, that's by far the lowest I've seen so far… Wonder what'll happen when I max it.'

Pushing those thoughts aside, he settled for absentmindedly petting Chesire. He wouldn't have to wait long to find out, he guessed.

[}-o-{]

[Apprentice's Notes

Rank - ?]

'Well… I had actually given up finding anything in these stores,' Joshua thought while looking at the book in his hands. He had found the thing in the magic store, and it was… very unassuming.

Granted, it looked like something that had actually been used, although it didn't look particularly old. It was a simple notebook with a leather cover and some note-like papers sticking out here and there. The text inside had been written by hand and all. Still, those weren't exactly new things to Joshua. The young man had found several such objects before too and those had turned out to be fakes…

This one though, had to be the real deal. That question mark in the Rank proved it to him. Taking another look inside, he couldn't quite make out what the magic was about, but he knew it was magic. That was enough for him.

'I can't buy just these though,' Even if the store owner didn't know what he was selling, someone else might find out. And he wasn't ready to deal with anything like that just yet.

Thankfully, he had thought about that weeks ago when he had started his search. Keeping his face neutral, he picked up the book and some other rather realistic books he had found. It would hurt his wallet some, to buy useless things, but that was a sacrifice that needed to be made.

For a moment, he lamented his families economic situation. He also grimaced at the reminder that he had never helped with that, always making half-hearted attempts at studying to avoid working and when he didn't he made excuses. He sighed.

His alternative self hadn't helped matters though, staying in that hotel for as long as he had, letting money just disappear because he didn't care anymore. The only thing that Joshua didn't hate about what his other had done was the fact that he didn't even know what happened with his family's house besides that it had been given to a relative. He really didn't want to see that place again… he didn't know what he would do with himself if he was reminded of what he had lost.

Joshua shook his head and focused on the matter at hand. The magic book he was trying to get for himself and the other items that he wanted to use as covers. Hopefully it would help keep him out of trouble.

"I was starting to wonder if you were actually going to buy anything one of these days," The man behind the counter commented, his tone telling Joshua that he was joking and not genuinely annoyed. That already made this guy much better than the one from the previous shop in Joshua's mind.

"I was just checking," The young man answered. "Wasn't sure if I would buy something myself, but here I am."

"From nothing to all these?"

"Well, they look cool," That wasn't a lie. "And I just got my hands on the cash to actually pay for them," That was a lie.

"Good for you," Joshua was very grateful for the uninterested hint in the man's tone when he said that. A minute later, Joshua was leaving the shop with a heavy bag in hand and a lighter walled in his pocket. Regardless of that last one though, he was very satisfied.

Not long after, the man that hadn't quite been able to die was sitting at his apartment's table with the Apprentice's Notes in front of him. He was disappointed though, when picking it up and tried to interact with it through the system gave very little besides the screen he had seen before. 'It's not a Skill Book, huh? Or are Skill Books not a thing here?'

Regardless of the questions in his head, he opened the notebook and started reading through the content. Apprentice's Notes seemed to be a very accurate name for it, really. The thing was filled with writings that detailed Spatial Magic and a Storage Spell in texts that seemed very similar to notes taken in a class.

Joshua was very grateful for, A, the quality of said notes, and B, the spell itself. It was basically a hammer space, really. A pocket dimension used to store whatever the user wanted through magic. The young man found it very interesting that the spell required a circle, either drawn with magic alone or physically placed on a surface of any kind. The second method was the one that caught his attention the most since the notes said that it would help save up on magical energy.

Since Joshua had a measly Magic level of 1, he very much liked the idea of saving up on it. He really didn't want to find out what happened if his magic energy level was too little to cast the spell. 'It would suck if I die because I didn't have enough energy,' He thought with a grimace. Thankfully, the writing said that the spell didn't require that much to be cast.

[Skill Unlocked: Spatial Magic]

[Spell List Unlocked: Spatial Magic]

[Spell Unlocked: Storage Spell]

'Well, would you look at that?' Joshua thought proudly after a few days of reading through the notebook. It had been much longer than he anticipated, with him having to get through a lot of theory and calculations that the spell required to be cast, not even mentioning the complexity of the circle itself that needed to be perfectly drawn for it to work, which meant that Joshua had memorize the whole circle with all the details. 'Magic is a lot more difficult than I thought.'

'Anyway,' He shook his head, tired but smiling. 'Spells?' He grinned at the screen that appeared, that currently held only one tab dubbed Spatial Magic. 'I probably have to get a Healing Spell for it to actually appear here.' Mentally clicking that tab, it opened to reveal the only spell he knew as of that moment.

[Storage Spell – Lvl 1/50

A Spatial Spell which the user can use to create a pocket dimension to store inanimate objects.

The user can create a storage space of up to 1 square.

Consumption with circle – F

Consumption without circle – D]

'Those consumption values really don't tell me much,' He thought, clicking his tongue in annoyance. For all he knew, F was completely outside his capabilities. Or maybe 1 magic was enough to use it without a physical circle? 'Fuck if I know,' He thought with a groan. '1 is definitely not enough to pay for D though, I'm sure of that,' He guessed dejectedly.

It was a real shame that he hadn't found a way to increase his Magic stat yet. He had had hopes for Meditation to do the trick, but considering how all his stats increased except that one even though it was his lowest… Yeah, Joshua had already given up on that idea. 'It would have been nice though,' He thought wistfully.

'The 1 square thing is weird too,' Joshua noted, going through the description once more. 'What is that even supposed to mean?' He frowned as his mind tried to theorize what the measure unit could be about. In the end, as it was becoming a habit now, he gave up and decided that he didn't have enough clues to actually come up with a solid enough idea.

"What to do, what to do?" Joshua mused out loud, blue eyes fixed on the similarly colored screen. He really didn't want to risk it with the spell. Dying while trying to do just this would suck. On the other hand, when would he come across another spell? He was pretty sure that he would be hard pressed to find another one in that store.

Also, this particular spell sounded especially good after the disappointment of not having an Inventory function in his system. And with it he could pull off the steal under people's noses trick, just like all those other gamers in fiction, if he needed to. Granted, this would be a lot less inconspicuous than those, since it used actual in-universe magic. But it should be useful enough around normal people. And he wouldn't need to empty his wallet everytime he found a book like Apprentice's Notes again since he could just hide them inside the spell, so that was a plus.

'I'm gonna do this, aren't I?' He thought wryly, realizing that even his own thoughts were trying to convince him.

"What do you think, Chesire? Do I go for it or wait to find a spell with lower consumption?" He asked the cat that was sitting on the table next to where he had been studying the notes. He didn't actually expect an answer, but when he got one, he could only blink stupidly.

Chesire had decided to reply with a long mewl before she proceeded to nudge his arm with her head.

"I take it that is a 'go for it'?" Joshua asked, smiling awkwardly. When he got the same response, he paused and then frowned down at the notebook. "You know what… Yeah, I'll go for it."

[Bond: Chesire has gone up a level.]

The man smirked at the screen before mentally nodding.

'Now, let's go about this dumb idea in a smart way at least.'

With that decided, he got to planning.

The first thing Joshua did was decide to try the spell on a weekend. That way, if things went south for whatever reason, he would at least have a few days to set things straight again or… recover if he needed to. The second thing he did was think about how to go about using the spell and things he wanted to try.

He would also have to draw the circle perfectly too…

'This is gonna take time.'

[}-o-{]

[Drawing has gone up a level.]

'Just in time,' Joshua thought while letting out a tired sigh. Then he looked down at the paper sheet in front of him, the perfectly drawn circle that greeted him back filled him with pride. 'Better not to think of all the sheets I had to throw away,' He added while chuckling to himself.

He was ready now. It was friday, he had the circle ready and he had even had a nap beforehand to be as well rested as possible for the test.

He mentally called for the new skill he had developed for this, his mind trying to buy as much time as possible.

[Drawing – Lvl 5/50

Determines the user's ability to draw.

Increases drawing speed by 10%.

Increases the quality of drawings by 5%.]

'Pretty good,' He noted, although his focus wasn't in that.

He sighed.

'Let's do this.'

"Wish me luck, Chesire," He said out loud, looking at the cat that sat in her now usual place, on the table next to him. Her response was a simple mewl. "This was your idea, it better go well."

The cat replied with what he assumed was a deadpan and he chuckled weakly.

"Let's do this," Joshua repeated, this time out loud.

Picking up the paper with the circle, he mentally called for the Storage Spell to be cast.

A second later, he felt a previously unnoticed energy inside his body moving through him towards his hands while the circle shone in a dull grey light. His body growing tired by the second as if he had been exercising all day and just now he was noticing the exhaustion. There was even a dull ache of his muscles that slowly increased all over him.

All this filled the young man with dread, but he persevered. He didn't know what cancelling the spell would do, and he had resolved that he wouldn't try that unless he felt true danger coming his way. 'I can handle this much,' He decided.

The weariness though, continued growing on him and his thoughts started feeling sluggish as the spell continued sucking the energy out of him.

Then his eyes registered something. Right over the circle appeared a grey box not unlike his own system screens but with an obviously different color. A corner of his mind noted that it was the same color the circle had shone with.

What called his attention was that in the middle of the pseudo-game box was a smaller, slightly darker square. A second later, an idea struck him and he picked up the pen he had been using to draw the circle. He had decided to test the storage with it anyway. Nervously and with his hand shaking due to how tired he felt, Joshua pushed the pen onto the smaller square and…

It vanished, the square changing to depicture a pen diagonally over it.

'Just like how Inventory should be...' He thought to himself.

And then all turned black.

The first thing Joshua felt as he woke up was something wet and rough against his cheek.

The young man blinked groggily and then heard a now familiar sound from next to him.

"Meow."

"Cheshire?" He mumbled almost unintelligible. "What-?" Joshua paused, as his eyes took in the paper under his head that had a magical circle drawn onto it. 'Magical… Magical circle! The spell!'

A second later, the man was sitting ramrod straight on the chair and looking at the paper. Then he turned to Cheshire. Then back at the circle.

"It worked?" He asked, disbelieving.

[Quest Complete: Cast your first spell.

Rewards:

+ 1 Magic Level

+ 3 Spatial Magic Levels

+ 3 Storage Spell Levels]

"It worked," He repeated, this time resolutely and with a grin threatening to split his face. A second later, the smile was wiped off his face as his eyes widened and his hand snapped to his phone that had until now been lying on the table. After thoroughly checking the time and date, he concluded that he had been out for the whole night and a good deal of the Saturday.

"Well… at least I wasn't unconscious for days, I guess," Joshua muttered with a weak chuckle. "But, it worked," He said, once again, as if he was still working on believing what he had done. "Thank you, girl," His hand went to Cheshire's head and started petting her, much to the feline's delight. "If not for you, I might have pushed it for later. This is as much your achievement as it was mine."

[Bond: Cheshire has gone up a level.]

'Nice,' Joshua thought with a smile before turning to the still floating Quest screen. 'Definitely gives an Achievement feeling instead of Quest, but whatever… let's check those rewards.'

Magic was the first one he checked, and while it didn't add anything to his Status screen but the changed 1 into a 2, it still made him feel very proud. 'Now I just need to find a way to increase it some more,' He thought to himself.

[Spatial Magic – Lvl 4/100

Determines the user's ability to utilize Spatial Magic.

Increases magic efficiency while utilizing Spatial Magic by 4%.

Increases magic potency while utilizing Spatial Magic by 2%.

Spatial Spells: 1]

'No surprises here either,' He noted as he finally relaxed a bit and stretched his hurting back. Fainting on the table was definitely not a comfortable way to do so, that was for sure.

[Storage Spell – Lvl 4/50

A Spatial Spell which the user can use to create a pocket dimension to store inanimate objects.

The user can create a storage space of up to 4 squares.

Consumption with circle – F

Consumption without circle – D]

'More squares, huh?' Joshua noted thoughtfully. It still sounded weird, but after thinking back to how his first bout of magic had gone… 'Yeah, I can see how those squares would work...'

Standing up, he grimaced as his body protested mightily, his everything feeling as if it was made of lead and with his energy reserves in the negatives. Dragging his feet, he made his way to the kitchen to prepare himself something to eat, he was positively starving after sleeping through dinner, breakfast and lunch, let alone whatever exhausting his magic had done to him.

"Are you hungry, Cheshire?" He asked distractedly, getting an eager mew in return. He shook his head with a small smile and set something for the cat too.

All this was done almost out of routine though. As he worked on his meal, Joshua couldn't keep his mind from working as hard as it could to come up with theories and experiments regarding the Storage Spell.

How did the squares work? They were obviously somewhat adapted into the game into an inventory of sorts. But what type was it? Did items of the same kind stack or where they were sent into a different square? Were all items put into squares or did bigger objects need more squares? Was weight an issue?

How would it be best to use? He obviously needed the circles in order not to put himself into a coma or outright die, but the physically drawn circles could pose a hindrance. Maybe drawing them on a book? Keep it on him as an inventory. Was there a more practical option? He would have to think about it.

There was also the fact that now that he had an example, he could try to add what he knew about the magic system into his searches for which world he was in now. Sadly, lots of them used circles for their spells, and he didn't think there was anything else to take into account. He had half-given up on it, if he was honest with himself, but he clung to it more out of habit than anything else, at that point.

"Enough thinking, more eating," He told himself. If Cheshire's mew was anything to go by, it was likely she agreed with at least that.

[}-o-{]

"Ok, this is ridiculous," Joshua grumbled as his shoulder slumped down. His body just refused to cooperate with him. It felt tired to the extreme, and no amount of resting or napping seemed to affect it. On the night after his first use of magic, he realized that something else must have been going on.

'Wait...' He paused, an idea forming in his mind. There was one thing he hadn't checked after waking up. 'Altered Status.'

[Magical Exhaustion

Decreases the rate at which the user regenerates stamina, health and magic.]

'That explains it,' Joshua thought before grimacing. 'The question now is, how do I get rid of this?' Although, he wasn't as worried now. He was pretty sure that an status such as this one would just disappear with time. But he wanted to try and get rid of it quickly. The first thing that came to mind was to continue as he was, resting, eating, sleeping. The second though, sounded much better in his mind.

[Meditation – Lvl 7/100

Determines the user's ability to connect with his inner energies.

Increases stamina, health and magic regeneration by 7% while actively meditating.

Increases stamina, health and magic regeneration by 0.7% passively.]

With a slight smirk, he sat on the floor, legs crossed and hands on his knees. Joshua closed his eyes and set his mind free, doing his best to calm it down, ignore his weary body and just vanish any thoughts that appeared. Meditation's effects basically countered Magical Exhaustion's, which had to mean something. And thus, Joshua set himself to meditate until either it became time to just give up and go to sleep, or he got rid of the altered status.

As time passed though, he felt the sweet taste of victory as energy seemed to come back to his body. It was slow, very slow, so much so that he almost didn't notice. But it eventually became evident that the change was happening. No longer did his body feel like deadweight, instead it felt merely tired. Then it became barely an annoyance. And then it completely disappeared.

Opening his eyes with a smile, he was greeted by several screens. The first of which, made his smile widen. It being the empty screen for Altered Status.

The second made him laugh out loud in pure joy.

[Magic has gone up a level.]

Tripling his Magic stat in one weekend was definitely a win in his book. That was for sure. Grated, it wasn't that big a change really, since it had been a measly 1 at the start. But now he knew a way to increase it. Joshua just had to continue using magic and recovering from it, or that was the conclusion he arrived with what had happened so far.

The third and fourth screens were identical.

[Meditation has gone up a level.]

[Meditation has gone up a level.]

'Seems like it grows faster when I'm actually using it for something,' He noted. 'Now the question is, does this happen with magic only or do stamina and health count too?' And that question was easily solvable, really. He just had to test using the skill after coming back from his exercises.

'If this doesn't count as a productive weekend, I don't know what does,' He thought to himself with a grin as he stood up, picked up Cheshire that had been next to him as usual and hugged her, needing a way to express how happy he was. The cat fought back futilely, and the man couldn't help but wonder if she was actually fighting and the Curse didn't let her do much or if it was a fake struggle. Once he let her go, he got his answer as the cat let out something that sounded like an annoyed mew before rubbing her head against his chest and licking his chin.

'Definitely a fake struggle,' He decided as he settled on petting the felines head instead.

[}-o-{]

'Experiment Number One,' Joshua noted down on a notebook, his back resting against a tree in a park that was relatively near his apartment. He would have stayed inside, but it was Sunday, it was sunny, there were slightly cold winds that he quite liked and Cheshire had looked a little cooped up, so he had chosen to go out for a bit. 'Test for an object size limit and weight,' He wrote down.

He had checked the notes of the spell he had found, but considering that the Game had adapted it to itself, Joshua wasn't hundred percent sure they would be accurate. Also, if he was honest with himself, he wanted an excuse to toy with the magic he now had available to himself. Also, the notes had said that the spell didn't require much magic, but considering what had happened to him, Joshua didn't much trust the accuracy of it regarding normal people such as himself. 'For a definition of the world normal,' He thought wryly as flashes of blue screens appeared in his mind.

'Experiment Number Two,' He continued. 'See if similar items can be stacked together in squares. Experiment Number Three, check if container type objects can be stored, i.e. boxes, bags, pouches, etc.'

Joshua paused as he saw the black and white shape of Cheshire walk up to him from the side. When he looked up, he noticed that she was carrying something in her mouth. That something became very clear when she stopped and dropped it next to him. He smiled wryly at the dead bird.

"Good job, girl," He said, not entirely sure that was the right thing to say but also without any better ideas. The cat seemed to preen at his words so he counted that as a hit. A second later, she got closer and rubbed herself against his arm. "Feeling better? Maybe you can accompany me when I go exercising… although I think that's more of a dog thing."

She let out a mew that sounded a lot like she agreed with him on that last part. Joshua shook his head, he had been doing that a lot. Interpreting her sounds and movements almost like they were sentences. 'Is that something related to Bond or am I just too lonely?' He decided, for the sake of his sanity, to choose the former answer.

Out of curiosity, he cast Appraisal on Cheshire.

[Cheshire

Title: None

Race: Cat

Gender: Female

Strength: F

Speed: F+

Dexterity: F

Vitality: F

Perception: F+

Magic: -

Perks: 2

Skills: 3

Altered Status: 1]

'New skill, huh?' Joshua thought, slightly surprised as he mentally pressed to see the new information. Expecting one, his surprise grew when he saw two changes.

[Bite – Lvl 2

Defines the damage the user can do with their jaws.]

[Hunt - Lvl 1

Defines the user's ability to pursue a target.]

'Guess it was so low level that it went up at the slightest use… Or she did so much of that and Scratch when I was healing her that she left it almost there… No clue, really. Especially since I don't know what she's done before I found her.' Joshua mused. 'She got a new skill though, and… I guess it might come in handy someday… maybe… I would really prefer not to need it though.'

"Hmmm, what else to note?" Joshua mumbled, his focus going back to the notebook on his lap. 'Idea Number One, notebook full of Storage Circles,' He scribbled down on another page before he started scratching his head. Maybe he should visit some stores and see if something else that he could use caught his eye. He also needed to finish browsing through the magic store. Who knows, maybe he would find something else there.

'I can't use the spell again until next weekend though, that's for sure,' He told himself. 'No way I'm risking passing out like that on a weekday. Even if my magic went up to three.'

"Girl," He spoke this time, getting a tilt of Cheshire's head. "Would you mind taking that away from here?" He asked signaling to the bird. His eyes went to a woman that walked by and sent a disgusted look at the bird and a disturbed one to him a second later. It didn't make a pretty picture, he was sure.

To his surprise, the cat actually did as he asked. He had tried, yes, but Joshua hadn't really expected the cat to do so. He hadn't even expected her to understand what he was saying at all. It had been more of a habit of talking to Cheshire. He had been a second away from taking the thing and throwing it on the trash.

[Bond: Cheshire has gone up a level.]

Looking in the direction his cat had gone, Joshua paused and blinked. 'Bond?'

[Bond

Cheshire - Lvl 4/10

Determines the user's bond closeness with Cheshire.]

'What is this thing, really?' Joshua wondered, not for the first time. And yet again, he was left without answers. In the end, he simply sighed, pushing those questions aside for the moment.

'Anyway, Experiment Number Four, check if liquids can be stored without containers,' He noted down on the previous page as he went back to his magic testing ideas.

[}-o-{]

A week quickly flew by and it was Friday once more. Joshua set on to test his Storage Spell again, this time with much more confidence since he knew he wouldn't… well, die from using it. Still, he made sure to double check everything. After all, he didn't want to be too confident.

This time around though, he didn't use the spell to store a pensil. No, instead, he took the sheet of paper and, once the dull grey light appeared and showed the now four squares of storage space, he pushed the sheet upside down over one of his chairs.

This was to test two things, one if he could push the circle on something instead of the other way around and also if something bigger needed more squares.

A second later, Joshua fell on his butt and panted heavily. 'Didn't pass out this time,' He mused tiredly. 'Ok, so, pushing the circle instead of the object works,' He nodded, his head doing the movement exaggeratedly due to how heavy it felt. A headache made him decide not to move much. 'Gonna have to see about the spaces… but later. Good to see I didn't need to do anything differently for the extra squares though. Now new circle design or anything.'

Taking a deep breath in, he settled in his now usual meditation pose and started working on it. 'Tomorrow, I check how it looks with the objects there,' He mused, as he hadn't been able to see the squares since the sheet was upside down. It wasn't a huge loss, since he could check as soon as the next day. 'Or maybe Sunday… Don't want to test my magic limits overly much.'

[Meditation has gone up a level.]

'Definitely works better when actually using it for something,' Joshua thought then as he looked over the screen in front of him once he felt better. He wasn't hundred percent recovered, but he was feeling hungry, so he put a pause on his meditation. 'Makes me wish I had used it more when I was recovering from the scratches Cheshire gave me.'

Once he was done with his meal, Joshua pulled out a leather covered blank book and a set of cards. The first he had bought in a random store, the second he had gotten in one of the visits he paid to the magic shop. Why there? Because they weren't normal cards, they were blank cards. Their backs looked exactly like normal Poker cards, but the other side was completely white.

He had seen them on display during one of his appraisal visits and an idea had come to him. It would help with two things. It would help test if a smaller circle affected the spell at all and it would come in handy to transport things in a more inconspicuous manner. He had also started making some plans for the Spell if he ever got his hand in some magic theory books, but those were plans for the future that weren't assured to ever happen.

Focusing back to the task at hand, Joshua started drawing circles in the book's pages and the cards'. He could meditate some more in the morning if he didn't feel completely recovered by the next day. The hope was that he could test both things during the weekend, get some more levels in Magic and Meditation and maybe even in Spatial Magic and the Storage Spell… But he would be happy with just the first and one level in any of the previously mentioned options.

[}-o-{]

Saturday came and Joshua found himself eyeing the array of items on his table. A sheet of paper that held a pen inside, another sheet that held a chair, a book half-full of circles, and a few cards with smaller circles drawn on them. It took a considerable amount of time to draw the circles, so he hadn't been able to finish either the notebook or the cards, but he had enough to start testing. That was enough for him, he could finish both while he recovered from the experimentation or through the week.

Besides the magically affected things were two bottles of water. One to check if containers could be placed inside the circle. Joshua was fairly sure that that one would work. He also had a box and a bag with random things inside to further test that. The second bottle was to check if he could store just the water, as he planned to uncap it and pour the water on the active circle. He also had another pen, just like the one he had inside the storage seal he tested last week. This one to test if similar objects stacked or not.

"Ok, first of all," Joshua said to himself, letting a long breath out to relax his tense shoulders. He could have waited some more to recover from the previous day's magic using, but he was fairly sure that he was fine with the meditation he had done and a night's sleep. If not, then the most he expected to happen was to pass out for a night just like the week before. "let's see how this looks."

Taking the already used circles, he activated the one with the pen. He was somewhat surprised to see it with four squares now instead of one, but it was also expected. With his breath growing weary, he took the new pen and pushed it in. He blinked for a second as he saw it appear in the square next to the other pen picture. 'No stacking then,' He noted mentally before touching the picture again and feeling how the pen appeared on his fingers, and as he pulled it came back out. After placing it on the table, he pulled the other one, leaving the circle empty.

With that done, he leaned back and let out a sigh. Joshua then looked down at his hands, trembling from exhaustion.

"Ok," He said with a tired smirk. "Maybe I was a bit over excited preparing all these when I obviously can't do the spell repeatedly yet," He explained as he pet Cheshire's head, the cat having approached him once he was done. She let out a mew, pressing her head against his palm. "Guess I'll see if I can do the next one in the afternoon."

And that's exactly what he did. After recovering his magic with Meditation and having lunch. He felt ready to go right back to his experimentation. Joshua paused as he heard Cheshire let out a long mew. Turning his blue eyes towards her, he noticed that the cat had her amber ones locked on him.

"Em… something wrong, girl?" He asked, getting the uncomfortable impression that he was being scolded. "I'll, er, be careful. Don't worry. This'll probably be the last one today," He explained, feeling more than a little silly for speaking with his cat as if she could- He blinked. Had Cheshire just nodded at him?

'This is getting really weird,' He thought, slightly unnerved. 'Is this Bond's thing? Is this… something else?'

"Just tell me you are not a person in disguise," Joshua said shakily, getting a tilted head from his cat. "Not like you would tell me, right?" A simple mew was the response he got. At that he slumped and let out a sigh. "Let's just pretend none of that happened, ok Joshua? Let's just blame magic and the system, ok?" He told himself before chuckling. "I'm getting crazier by the second."

Shaking his head, and scary thoughts regarding his cat away, he took the paper that held inside the chair and activated it.

'Huh? Would you look at that? It occupies two squares,' He noticed before pulling out the chair. After leaving the chair on the floor, he felt the now familiar tiredness cover his body.

"Ok, not passed out yet, but I'm definitely worse than before," He noted to himself. He almost jumped when Cheshire came up to him and started rubbing her body against his leg. 'Really hope it's just Bond's thing,' He prayed.

"Gotta test the rest tomorrow, I guess."

His cat responded with a mew and he got the impression that she was glad.

'Really hoping it's Bond...'

[}-o-{]

Unknown Third Person PoV

It hadn't been a one time thing. Someone was really doing magic close by.

He had felt it, but had quickly dismissed it as little more than a magician traveling through the city. There was little point in getting ahead of himself. It had happened before, after all.

The person had done magic again though.

There were few magicians living in the city, and for good reason too. After all, there was only one group… And everyone else had… mysteriously disappeared.

He grinned.

'Maybe I'll be lucky,' He thought to himself.

He would have to find exactly who this new magic user was. And then, maybe, just maybe, Lady Luck would smile upon him. 'Maybe I'll get to have fun again.'

Hunting was always fun, after all.