I opened my eyes and found myself staring at a canopy of leaves. They looked similar to maple leaves form earth but were far larger and had a waxy coating, I could feel the rough bark of the tree against my back and realized I was laying on a low hanging branch with my back against the trunk of the tree.
Now fully aware I looked around and realized I was in a dense forest full of massively tall trees. Each was as big around as an elephant and at least 70 feet tall or more. As I examined my woodland surroundings I had a belated realization, I couldn't climb trees. I was around 15-20 feet in the air and knew I would probably hurt myself jumping from that height. However, with no other branches around my only option was to drop to the ground and hope that I could absorb the fall by rolling. So I mentally prepared myself, drug myself over and hung over the side, and let go.
"Huh" I muttered this single syllable in a daze, as not only had the drop not injured me in the slightest, but I didn't even have to roll, which I knew I wasn't capable of on earth.
It was then that I fully remembered the conversation I had with the strange handsome god only minutes prior. Especially his last words to me.
"Check your status card, huh?" I muttered, looking down I reached in the rucksack slung across my shoulder, and pulled out a small cube of smooth black stone, hard as iron, somewhat rough, and about one inch square in size.
Initializing…
The word popped into my head unbidden, almost like a screen had projected it into my inner thoughts
Synchronizing with user…
Completed
Welcome, Oliver Trent
Status:
Soul core: unformed
(0/100)
Soul nature: unaligned
Soul shape: formless
Divinity (locked): unawakened
Intrinsic Skills:
Skill copy: allows the user to copy a skill they have sufficiently understood
Skill evolution (locked): insufficient soul capacity
Skill combination (locked):insufficient soul capacity
Extra Skills:
Minor regen: recover from injuries faster, immune to blood loss
Physical enhancement: strength, speed, stamina, and durability are slightly enhanced
Analysis: allows the user to see basic information about objects and entities including traits, skills, and attributes
(3/5 skill slots in use)
My eyes were nearly bulging out of my head. "What kind of overpowered system is this?? I was expecting maybe a…" to be honest I wasn't sure what I was expecting but it certainly wasn't anything this advanced.
While it was unfortunate that many of my abilities seemed to be locked, I now understood why I had been able to jump from the tree with no issues. It was most likely a product of my enhanced body skill, possibly minor regeneration could've played a part as well.
Now with information about myself at my fingertips I figured it was the perfect time to try using analysis to figure out information of my surroundings. Looking at the tree I had jumped from I thought about the skill analysis activating, and nothing happened.
"Weird" I said "I wonder why it won't activate." Obviously I was missing some key component.
Wondering if I had missed something in my status I looked inward again at the information the cube had provided… that's it! The cube! When I first held it I felt some kind of strain like flexing a sore muscle, that must have to do with activating skills as well!
Now with a new plan for this experiment I turned towards the tree yet again, this time focusing intently on my inner self. While it took a few tries I eventually found where my that weak muscle was and squeezed it while thinking about the analysis skill and:
Analysing target: juvenile blackwood tree
Status: healthy
Skills: N/A
Summary: a young Blackwood tree on the outskirts of the Lumerian forest, useful for carpentry and survival, this is a sturdy tree that has not yet developed pseudo-skills or a mana system.
It was incredible, the information flowed into my mind like a memory I always had. It even gave me other helpful pieces of information, such as being on the outskirts of this forest, meaning there might be civilization nearby.
After practicing analyzing some other trees and assorted vegetation, I decided it was time to make my way out of this forest and try to find other people. As I walked through the winding natural paths between the trees I took stock of the other items I had arrived to this world with, which I assumed had been provided to me by the god who sent me. I had a few sets of simple travelers clothes, a hunting knife, some basic rations and a canteen, some assorted coins, and a sealed envelop in addition to the cube that allowed me to awaken my stats. I also was already wearing a set of light armor, mostly leather with some plates of metal in the more rigid areas, and had a short, slightly curved sword buckled at my waist, although I wasn't sure what I was expected to do with it. In the world I came from, I was a simple civilian, not even of full legal age, so combat and swords were far out of my wheelhouse.
Thinking about these things I wasnt paying very close attention to my surroundings. Which led me to almost walk into a dangerous situation. As I felt the sunlight hit my face I squinted, looking and seeing a clearing of torn up land, almost like a constructing sight, with a crude nest sunk into the ground made from shattered blackwood trees and and clay. In this nest there was a cluster of large crimson eggs and some shells splintered around them, and on top of those shells, sat a small red dragon.