I’d like to say that as soon as I got my new levels, skills, and class, I immediately began to use them and started experimenting. No. I fell into a much-needed sleep. The new levels had kept me from dying, but I was beyond my normal limits. I hadn’t even noticed [Passive: Second Wind] kick in, but it must have, or I’d be dead already.

  I woke up with the merciless morning sun frying my body on the oasis shore. I was still naked and covered in wounds. My clothes were in the water somewhere, but that would take effort to get. I pushed both hands into the drier sand, paused to take a breath, then pulled, digging a small depression. I paused again, needing time to recover from even that bit of effort. Then I reached up and dug another scoop with my hands. Then another. I became stronger as my body warmed up from the work, but it was still agony and required lots of breaks. I needed water, probably food too, but one look at the scorpion lying nearby in the pool and some of the gross stuff floating in the water nearby, probably from all the body fluids we’d both lost, and I decided I’d wait until I could filter it.

  Digging down into damp sand that felt cool to the touch, I managed to make a hole big enough to crawl in. Thinking of my new class or path or whatever, I chuckled to myself. “Just like a scorpion, escaping the heat by burying itself in the sand.” I was able to get to my feet long enough to grab a wide palm frond before returning to my spot. Easing myself into the hole, the bottom two-thirds damp and cool, I buried myself. Frond a parasol overhead, I slipped back into sleep almost instantly.

  The next time I woke, I saw the last sliver of the sun just over the horizon, the whole world painted in darkening gold. Pushing the palm frond off my head, I looked the other way and saw the darkness rising on the other horizon.

  Was this a sign? The light sinking, the darkness rising, me with a new class provided by an evil voice and system I didn’t know, with a scorpion motif, which is usually a symbol of evil.

  …nah. I’d be fine. I wasn’t becoming evil.

  Probably.

  Grumbling and aching, wincing from half-dried wounds reopening, I crawled out of the sand hole. And then made for another, outside the oasis. There wasn’t much to void, telling me I needed to look after the basics soon: food and water.

  My water filter tower had somehow been victim to the battles going on the day before. It was difficult to see in the dark, but I patched it back together as best I could. Scooping water into half an old fruit husk like a bowl, I filtered the water three times before drinking it. Then went back to the pool for more water and repeated the process until I couldn’t drink anymore.

  It was about that time that my stomach became next in line for attention. With a pang of regret, I realized I couldn’t cook anything with the sun down. The hot stone would be only warm and cooling fast. However, searching around, I managed to find some of the fried vulture I’d made before the papa scorpion had tried to kill me. The uncooked vulture corpse was rotting fast and needed to be disposed of. The cooked meat was a little gritty from the sand on it, and maybe it tasted even more sour after a day in the sun instead of a fridge, and…maybe you shouldn’t eat meat left in the sun all day after it’s been sitting in the sand where all kinds of bugs and bacteria were crawling all over it. But whatever. I needed food.

  An hour later, I was back over those latrines. Wasn’t hungry anymore, though. After things had settled in my bowels as best they would, I decided the night was getting cool, and it was time to get dressed. Night swim!

  Refreshing, but wasteful. I couldn’t see anything in the dark. The clothing and my spear would remain hidden until the next day. So I gave up and floated on my back, staring up at the stars. The longer I was here, the more I enjoyed them. I smiled, something I hadn’t done often in this world. “Between burying myself in the sand and being nocturnal, maybe I’m becoming a scorpion too.” That reminded me of the things I’d been putting off, like how the system had invaded my body and changed me.

  I was part-excited but also part-afraid. I’m sure that lots of people would just roll with the whole game system thing. It would be a dream come true for a lot of folks. Wake up one day, and suddenly your growth appears in numerical form? Easy to see progress and constant dopamine hits each time numbers go up. Bestowed with all kinds of skills and special powers you have never really earned.

  Not being weak anymore.

  On an intellectual level, I could imagine the downsides. Surely, a system like this produced some really spoiled people. It would also really amplify personalities, especially bad ones. Those super ambitious, selfish types who clawed and backstabbed their way up the corporate ladder or positions of wealth and power in any organization. The people ok with violence, who happily dealt drugs and formed gangs, who murdered and stole and raped. Imagine they could all get levels and skills that allowed them to do that on an inhuman level. Decent folk would constantly be the victims of the worst and most aggressive people.

  Level disparity wouldn’t be the only issue. Class or skill type would matter a lot. If you didn’t push yourself to develop the same superpowers, you’d never be able to defend yourself. Imagine a levelled-up gangster versus a high-level baker. It probably wouldn’t matter that the baker was level 60 and the gangster level 20 because the gangster had a crossbow that shot infinite bolts and the baker had no defensive skills.

  And none of this would be your choice. Someone else had imposed this system on you, and there probably wasn’t a thing you could do to fight back or change it. I highly doubted there was anything democratic going on. Some super alien or god had likely created a system that changed what, and maybe who, you were, and you were helpless to do anything but play their game. To some degree, it would make people puppets and playthings.

  Yeah. But I can punch through solid rock, so ha-ha, I’m awesome. Right?

  One of my favourite online serial stories back on Earth featured a game world. One of the main characters had arrived from Earth, taken one look at the system, and then noped out of it. She hadn’t wanted any part of it. Hadn’t wanted to be manipulated or have things handed to her without earning them. She’d valued her free will and freedom more.

  I thought about doing the same. I didn’t know if it was even an option at this point, but what if I tried to wish the skills and levels away? Could I get rid of them all? Should I? I mulled the idea over, but ultimately, I chickened out. I was too much of a coward to try going it alone. If the system was going to give me help, I would take it. I just hoped the eventual costs wouldn’t be too painful.

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  I leisurely swam to shore, ripples reflecting the stars and moon above. It was about time I tested this path of the scorpion. On dry land again, my naked body air-drying in the night, I thought about my skills, and a list appeared in my vision. I saw the one at the bottom related to my path. I focused on it. Nothing happened. I read the words in my mind. Nothing happened.

  “Oh, come on! I have to say it out loud like some kid’s anime? Really?” I was the only one around, but I was still embarrassed. “Fine.” I took a deep breath and tried to mentally prepare myself. Then I said, “[Vengeance shall be mine! Lightning Scorpion!]”

  A deep, burning illness oozed out from my belly and spread throughout my body. Nauseous, I fell to my hands and knees, wondering if I was going to vomit. I spent a minute or so just breathing and trying to center myself again. Eventually, I looked down at my hands…which seemed really clear in my vision all of a sudden.

  The knuckles and backs of my hands were covered in iron gray plates. My eyes shifted. My forearms, too, were wrapped in dark gray armor of some kind. I eased myself to standing again and looked over myself. My body was largely covered in what looked like scorpion shell. I could move, and it did, too, the shell made of plating that didn’t seem to hinder me in the least. My fingers and palms, as well as my toes and the bottoms of my feet, were still skin. I reached up and touched my head. The gray shell came up my neck and over my head like a skin-tight helmet. My face was covered in some sort of mask.

  Looking around, I could see perfectly well, like it was a really cloudy day and not nighttime. Had I gained more sensitive scorpion vision? Turning and walking over to the water, I looked down and saw my reflection. My face mask looked eerie. I had Spiderman-like eyes and a ninja-style mask over my lower face. Everything was covered. In fact, I kind of looked like an evil ninja Spiderman. Well, evil ninja Scorpionman, I guess.

  To my pleasant relief, I did NOT have a tail. Or six more arms.

  I did have a crystal embedded into my forehead, which was freakin’ weird. I touched it, feeling a multi-faceted, partially rough and uncut crystal. Would I be able to fire lightning bolts from it? That would be, despite my earlier worries about skills and stuff, pretty badass. Because I was as hyprocritcal as everyone else. This cosplay body armour thing was pretty neat.

  I figured trying to fire lightning would use mana. I also guess that my earlier sickness had been due to mana burnout from the change. So my low mana stat probably meant I had an equally small mana pool. It had been all I could manage just to change form. Trying to shoot lightning might kill me.

  I tried [Fists of Fury] instead. Thankfully, I only had to think it, not say it out loud. A wave of even worse nausea hit, and then my vision faded.

  I woke sometime later, still in the night. The moon had moved, so it had been a while. My head was pounding, and my stomach felt like a cross between heartburn and having had too much alcohol. I groaned from where I’d fallen on my back in the sand. “Right. Skills use mana too. Idiot.”

  Sitting up, I could see that my scorpion form had vanished. I wondered if it had a time limit, or if it burned mana while I wore it, or if it had just ended because I’d overused my mana, and that had crashed my entire system. I’d have to test that. Without killing myself, hopefully. But that could wait. Without mana, it would be impossible to try any of my skills. I was sick, and still exhausted. So I dug out the hole I’d slept in earlier, then buried myself once more. Experimenting could wait until morning.

  The next day, I recovered my clothing and spear from the oasis, then went hunting. My new strength and speed were evident and made things much easier. I was easily able to hunt down two scorpions and cooked them for breakfast along with a fresh fruit that had been much easier to get down and crack open.

  As I ate, I had a thought. The stat bumps were nice. But were they absolute values or multipliers? I had no way to know. However, I did know that I’d always avoided going to the gym back on Earth. Outside of going to the dojo, I hadn’t done much for sports or hiking or anything. I had a pretty average body. I’d always felt less of myself for that, knowing it was my own fault and a product of laziness, but I hadn’t worked up the courage to get buff let alone fit. Besides, there had always seemed to be better things to do with my time, like hanging with friends or Cerise or gaming or reading or watching movies. Who had time to go to the gym every day? At least, that’s what I’d tried to argue to himself.

  Cerise had never made a fuss over my body. She’d seemed fine with the lack of muscle tone and abs. I could remember wishing I’d had a hot body to make her happier, but I hadn’t gotten around to getting one. Maybe it was time he changed that. Even if she weren’t here anymore, it was still worth it to make myself more capable and healthier. If the stats multiplied my natural body’s potential, then all the better. I had nothing to lose and everything to gain from self-improvement.

  I’d spent too many years giving up on myself. Too many being lazy. It was time I put in more effort to better myself.

  So I did some pushups. Not many. Like ten. Maybe nine and a half. But it was a start. I did some squats. These were a lot easier, probably because I’d spent so much time squatting over latrines recently. Did some leg lifts too. After about fifteen minutes of gruelling agony in the hot sun and dry air, panting like an old man and sweating up a storm, I collapsed.

  I groaned up at the pale blue sky, “This is why everyone gives up so fast. It hurts to exercise. Well, I guess that’s where the no pain, no gain thing comes from.” I drank more water and rested.

  After that, I tested my skills. [Fists of Fury] allowed me to make three rapid-fire punches. I could use it three times before my mana ran low enough to make me sick. I had about zero interest in passing out from mana burn again, so I didn’t push it any more than that. For a couple of hours.

  Then I wondered if my mana was recharging fast enough to use it again. [Fists of Fury].

  Did two weak punches. Fell to my hands and knees. Spent five minutes dry heaving. Didn’t pass out though. Win!

  The more I pushed myself to the limits, the better. I didn’t know if that was the best thing to do to level up or whatever, but it felt like it should be the cornerstone of my new life philosophy. If I was going to become a better person, it would come from surpassing my old limits. To become stronger, I needed to challenge myself. And when I failed, I needed to try again. All the tired old adages we’ve all heard a thousand times and usually ignored.

  I guess it took losing the love of my life and being stranded in another world to light a fire under my ass. But we either choose to be weak or we choose to be strong. I’d been weak long enough. I wanted to feel what it was like to be stronger. I would treat the system skills and stats as assistance while working on myself, putting the work in, and not taking anything for granted.

  For two days, I recovered from the fights, healed, worked out, and pushed my mana to the limit, using scorpion form one day and my punching skill the next. The third day, I woke up and thought about the cave. It was time to explore.

  Spear in hand, palm frond parasol overhead, and fruit-husk shoes on my feet, I shuffled across the hot sand to the depression I’d opened, with the cave at the bottom. I cautiously slid down the side of the pit. I could see the remains of scorpions, spiders, rodents, snakes, and plenty of other things I couldn’t identify, beyond the mess I remembered leaving. It was like a war zone.

  The darkness of the cave stared back at me, shadows impenetrable. I just knew that more danger lay in wait.

  I tightened my grip on the spear and stepped into the darkness.