Chapter 3: Faith?

  The examination of Faith revealed more details.

  [Faith]

  ["The faithful shall be rewarded..." A measure of the System's recognition of your dedication. Faith may be collected through quests, achievements, and slaying powerful enemies.]

  "So it's tied to that message," Kade mused, studying the mysterious stat. "But what rewards are we talking about?"

  The System offered no further explanation, unsurprisingly. It seemed he could only collect more Faith to find out. Frustrating, but not unexpected given how unhelpful the System had been so far.

  Out of curiosity, Kade attempted to allocate one of his stat points to Faith. The point hovered above the mysterious stat before returning to his available pool, refusing to register.

  He noticed the beginner quest rewards had been credited—the health potion safely stored in his inventory. When accessing his status screen, a new section appeared.

  [Inventory]

  [A personal dimensional space where System rewards can be stored until retrieved. Once removed, items cannot be stored again.]

  [Minor Healing Potion]

  [Restores health gradually over time. Additionally provides complete relief from hunger, thirst, and fatigue.]

  Clearly a valuable item given how Kade hadn’t found any food or water sources in this realm. Kade examined the scratch on his arm. It stung, but hardly warranted using such a precious resource.

  Turning back to his available stat points, Kade considered his options carefully. Intelligence and Wisdom were immediately discarded, no point investing in spell energy without spells to cast.

  He briefly considered Constitution. In games, it usually provided more health and damage resistance. But looking at the rusty sword he'd taken from the goblin, reality set in. A few extra hit points wouldn't stop steel from slicing through flesh. Better to not get hit at all.

  The recent fight flashed through his mind. If he'd been faster or stronger, he might have ended it sooner with less risk. Speed to avoid attacks, strength to end fights quickly, those seemed like the most pragmatic choices for survival.

  After weighing his options, he allocated two points to Dexterity and one to Strength. Better to avoid hits altogether and hit harder when he had to.

  [Status]

  Name: Kade Brown

  Level: 2

  Strength: 8 (+1)

  Dexterity: 7 (+2)

  Constitution: 5

  Intelligence: 0

  Wisdom: 0

  Faith: 3

  He didn't feel any immediate change in his body, no sudden surge of power or agility. But hopefully the System was working its magic in subtle ways.

  Kade retrieved the goblin's sword, giving it a few experimental swings. It was crude and slightly bent, but surprisingly light and definitely an upgrade over his pen. Still, he couldn't bear to leave the pen behind. He wiped the blood off and tucked it back into his pocket. The fact that it had served as his first weapon in this realm gave it sentimental value, if nothing else.

  Looking around, Kade tried to determine which direction to go. No further quests or guidance had appeared after the beginner one. He was truly on his own now. After the scramble of the fight, he couldn't be certain which way the goblin had come from. The featureless landscape and swirling fog made it impossible to maintain orientation.

  The endless gray expanse stretched in all directions. How was he supposed to complete the main quest with absolutely no guidance?

  He remembered his earlier plan to mark his path by pulling up clumps of grass. Now with the sword, he had a better option. Kade knelt down and pressed the goblin's blade into the soft ground, carving a deep X into the soil. Standing up, he nodded with satisfaction. At least now he'd know if he accidentally doubled back.

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  With the rusty sword in hand, Kade picked a direction that seemed promising and walked. The constant sameness of the environment made his mind wander. What was the actual purpose of this "tutorial"? He'd been plucked from Earth, shown evidence of an invasion, and then dropped into this gray purgatory with almost no guidance.

  After about fifty paces, he stopped and carved another X into the ground. The System had been responsive in the white room, answering his questions and explaining the basics. Yet now it remained stubbornly silent, offering no hint or direction beyond the initial cryptic messages.

  If the System wants me to become stronger to fight these Agents of Chaos, Kade wondered as he continued walking, then why design a first level where I could potentially wander forever and die of thirst?

  That was another concern. He'd been here for what felt like hours, and while he wasn't desperately thirsty yet, the absence of any water source was troubling. No streams, no lakes, not even morning dew on the grass. Using the health potion just to quench his thirst seemed wasteful when he might need its healing properties later.

  He paused to make a third mark, this one deeper than the previous two. A tutorial should teach, not just test. In games, the first level always introduced core mechanics gradually. This place seemed designed to frustrate rather than educate.

  Perhaps that was the point? Maybe this wasn't about combat training but about developing problem-solving skills or persistence. The System had mentioned that "only the worthy find the path forward." What constituted worthiness in the System's judgment?

  His current strategy made sense—walking in a straight line while marking his path was the most logical approach. It prevented doubling back and wasting energy. He carved a fourth X and continued forward.

  "There must be others here too," he reasoned aloud, his voice quickly swallowed by the fog. "The System can't have just chosen me to save Earth." He thought back to the white room where the System had unlocked his essence absorption talent. The System had called it a "rare innate talent," not a unique one. Rare and innate implied others naturally possessed the same ability, which meant other humans with similar potential must have been transported here just like him.

  His mind flashed to the glowing particles that had risen from the goblin's body after he'd killed it. The way they had flowed into him felt strangely natural, as if his body had always been capable of absorbing that energy. The immediate level up afterward—was that the physical manifestation of becoming stronger? Did the essence physically change him somehow? So many questions, not enough answers.

  "We're probably all wandering around in the same fog, unable to see each other," he muttered as he made his fifth mark, taking extra care to make it distinctive.

  For a moment, Kade considered shouting to see if anyone would respond. But his earlier attempts at calling out had shown how the fog muffled sound just as effectively as it limited visibility. If others were here, finding them would require more than just making noise.

  Kade paused, rolling his shoulders to release the tension building there. If connecting with others wasn't immediately possible, he needed to focus on what he could control. The corrupted message about faith suggested some kind of reward system. How could he continue to trigger quests and complete achievements to earn more faith?

  As he continued to move, lost in his thoughts, something nagged at him about his marks. He should be able to see at least one or two of them from here. The fog thinned momentarily, allowing him to see further than before, but his previous markers weren't visible.

  Frowning, he decided to double back and check.

  The absence of his most recent mark struck him as impossible. The ground was pristine—unmarked grass swaying gently in the perpetual twilight breeze where he was sure his X should have been carved into the soil.

  A chill crawled up Kade's spine as he jogged back to where he was certain he'd made the previous mark, heart rate quickening with each step. Nothing. Just undisturbed grass, as if he'd never been there at all.

  Confusion and disbelief washed over him as he dropped to his knees, running his fingers over the ground. The soil felt cool and firm, showing no sign of disturbance. No blade of grass was out of place.

  With growing unease, Kade sprinted further back, checking each location where he'd carved his trail. All of them had vanished without a trace. It was as if his passage through this realm had been erased from reality itself, his attempt to impose order on this place rejected by the very fabric of Limbo.

  Determination hardened his features. He needed to test this directly. Kade drove the goblin blade deep into the earth, carving a dramatic X larger than his previous marks. Then he crouched, eyes fixed on the freshly disturbed soil.

  At first, nothing happened. Then, almost imperceptibly, the edges of the cut began to soften. The displaced dirt seemed to tremble, then gradually sink back into place. Blades of grass that had been severed slowly straightened, their broken ends reattaching before his eyes. Within minutes, the mark was completely gone.

  A new kind of dread settled over him as the realization crystallized. The environment was erasing his marks, healing itself as if rejecting his attempts to impose human order on its endless expanse.

  The System was fully committing to its theme of disorientation and lostness, just as it had implied in its introductory message.

  Kade ran his fingers through his hair, considering what to do. The disappearing marks didn't necessarily mean he was walking in circles. The fact that he'd encountered the goblin suggested he must have wandered into new territory. More likely, the System simply didn't want people to be able to orient themselves.

  There had to be a trick to navigating this fog, some secret not yet revealed. Perhaps it would come with more levels or information. For now, continuing to explore made the most sense—random wandering might lead to something useful if he avoided backtracking.

  Kade pulled the pen from his pocket and twirled it between his fingers, the familiar motion helping organize his thoughts. His hand remembered the rhythm from countless hours spent at his desk. The simple action grounded him, a thread connecting this bizarre realm to his former life.

  The goblin encounter had shattered any remaining nonchalance. Kade moved with heightened awareness, his eyes scanning for movement, occasionally pivoting to check for threats approaching from behind. The goblin's sword remained ready in his grip, its weight a reminder of the dangers lurking in the mist.

  It didn't take long before something changed. At first, Kade thought he was imagining it—a faint glow in the distance, barely perceptible through the thick fog. He stopped, blinking to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.

  The glow remained, a soft orange luminescence beckoning through the gray haze.

  Kade tightened his grip on the goblin's sword and moved forward, one careful step at a time, toward the mysterious light.