Fish Breath: Breathe underwater, able to eat entire fish in a single swallow.
...
"So many...."
Suddenly, he was almost glad his race and omen were chosen for him; if there were this many options for everything, then he'd be hip deep in these notifications for hours. He tried to close the window, hoping that he could put this off longer, but the notification just shook before returning to its original position. Looked like he had to make his choice now.
He put his hands to his temples, feeling the remnants of his hangover resurfacing. The world felt like it was spinning just slightly too fast, and he had to crouch and sink a hand into the warm sand beneath him. This was too much. First the yacht, Chad, and Gabby...Dear god, Gabby.
What happened to her and her friend? Had they made it off the boat? It was storming too, so--
The storm.
Again the memory of the storm and the lightning strike rose up inside him. He flinched from it, like touching a hot stovetop, but he couldn't deny what he recalled. He'd been pulled from the sea, yanked into the storm and...and left here. Beside a terrifying ocean and killer monsters. What next? He wasn't even human anymore, apparently.
"Where the hell am I?!" he half-shouted and fell to his butt in the sand. He was so tired. He tried to close his eyes, but the pop-up notification was still there. He thrashed his arms and legs in the sand and yelled. "AAARRRAAAHHHH!"
Thirty seconds later, he panted in the white sands, physically and emotionally exhausted. His limbs were heavy from his little fit, and his left arm and leg throbbing from where he had torn open parts of his blisters. He was all alone in a strange land, with deadly monsters everywhere, and opaque RPG-style game rules.
Why? Why am I here?
He scrunched his eyes closed and tried to envision himself laying on his futon in his tiny studio apartment. He tried to remember the feel of his down comforter, and the uncomfortable slats beneath the thin mattress. But the notification taunted him, glaring bright and blue and unavoidable. He opened his eyes with a sigh.
I don't know why I'm here, or how I can get home, but if I'm going to survive this insane place then I need some serious advantages. He set his jaw and sat up, confronting the notification.
His Omen was called The Magician. It had something to do with will or willpower, according to the vague description. His Race was Nym, and he gained bonuses to some sort of stats. He couldn't remember, exactly. He started fumbling around his display, hoping for some reminder of what those bonuses were and received a single line of text in reply.
Cannot Open Status Page At This Time
"Huh. So that means there is one."
Despite himself, he was intrigued. His fears and frustrations began to fall behind curiosity. He was blind to whatever stats he had, but he thought that his Race and Omen gained bonuses to WIL, INT, DEX, END, and PER. If this was anything like the tabletop RPGs he'd played then those hopefully stood for Willpower, Intelligence, Dexterity, Endurance, and Perception. He had double bonuses to WIL and INT, which fed into the idea that his class had access to magic or something. His breath caught for a moment. Was magic real, here?
"Don't get distracted. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. The Trait options might clue me in. What sort of Traits do I have available?" He refocused on the Born Trait selection window, slowly making his way down.
There were thousands of options and he quickly got lost in reading them. They covered all sorts of options and character builds, but he had no clue what to expect in this strange place. Would the ability to cleanse his blood of impurities once daily be useful? Sure, especially if there was poison or something close by. Would it be better than the other options? He had no idea.
He read through twenty or so options before he realized how stupid he was being. He had just survived a wild animal attack, and now he was sitting out in the open? He was surprised at how easily he lost himself, feeling a powerful thrill of fear at the thought of being caught unaware by some beast. The area, aside from that terrifying squid, seemed to be devoid of any animal life at all.
But he'd never been an outdoorsy guy. Who knew what lurked out there?
He stood and stepped closer to the tree line. There was a collection of large boulders to his right, a number of which were close enough together that he had to squeeze between them. Nestled within the boulders, each taller than himself, he felt a sudden sense of relief. Perhaps it wasn't perfect safety, but he didn't feel so exposed any longer.
Back to the Traits, I guess.
Three hours. He spent three hours sitting on the beach and reading the various Traits. He ended up filing them into three categories: Utility, Neat But Useless, and Over Powered. Neat But Useless was easily the largest category, filled with thousands of Traits that seemed less than optimal. He was blind to the rules of this place and also his own stats, but even he could tell that being able to "eat a coconut whole and spit out the rind at high speed" was dumb.
Utility had some interesting options, including a way to jump up to three times his height at will. That would be cool as hell, he thought. There was even a Trait called Mageborn, which granted him a larger than normal Mana pool. It also confirmed the idea that magic existed on the Continent, wherever that might be. The knowledge thrilled him, and he couldn't help but feel a kernel of excitement thinking about hurling fireballs and other wizard stuff. But the last category contained the only Trait that seemed entirely perfect.
Keen Mind - +2 INT. You have perfect recall of all events within the past 30 days, and have a 20% chance of perfect recall beyond 30 days.
The nature of knowledge meant that memory was critical, and if his Omen description was any indication, knowledge was core to his class. While being stronger or faster might help him survive, Keen Mind would let him thrive. It was just a gamble on whether he could live long enough to make it useful.
He hesitated before selecting it. He spent long minutes going over the other options, but nothing caught his eye except for Mageborn which only gave him a small bump to his mana pool in the beginning. He didn't know how much mana he'd be using later, but he didn't even know any spells right now. He shook his head. Screwing up his courage, he selected Keen Mind.
Are You Sure?
All Choices Have Consequences.
Y/N
That phrase again. He frowned and mentally selected 'yes.'
You Have Selected Keen Mind As Your Born Trait!
CONGRATULATIONS!
What Is Your Name, Unbound?
He paused. Should he use his real name? He had never really liked his name, and who knew what things he'd encounter here. Maybe it was smart to hide his real name? So, feeling a little foolish he decided to input a name he had used in several games:
Felix Nevarre
Thank You, Felix!
Welcome Again To The Continent!
We Hope You Survive.
Then the blue window disappeared.
I'm sorry, what? He--no, Felix was worried. That last line was not encouraging.
Then his train of thought was interrupted by a metric fuck ton of PINGs and blue box notifications.
Combat Engaged Before Initialization!
ERROR! Logs Imperfect!
You Have Been Injured!
You Have Sustained Acid Damage!
Due to Attack Before Initialization, Deadly Damage Has Been Negated!
You Have Survived The Dread!
Due To Eating The Dread and Surviving, You Have Gained a Title!