NOVEL NEXT Chapter 2
“Ugh, this body is so weak compared to my last one.” Walking through the forest Matt takes a break and sits down, out of breath. While not ripped in his last life, he at least went to the gym several times a week and had a decent build. However his current body was weak and flabby. While his stomach was pretty flat he had enough to grab a handful of and almost no muscles. ‘I can barely walk a couple miles without being out of breath’. His legs felt like they were on fire and his chest felt tight. Leaning against a tree he started to get lost in his own thoughts about his situation. ‘Am I in another world? That shouldn't be possible, but I've never heard of a city as big as the one I saw.’ During covid he had gotten really into anime, and one particular genre that he saw a lot was “isekai”. The genre where the protagonist gets sent to another world. He’d also read some fanfictions of people going to different animes 'don't they usually get a system or something?’. Right as Matt thought the word ‘system’ a transparent blue box popped up in front of him with a ding.
Welcome to the System!
For activating the system for the first time you have been gifted 1x free gacha token.
To see your stats, please think ‘stats’
Matt almost choked on his saliva when the screen popped up. ‘Seriously?’ Matt thought incredulously. ‘Alright, Stats’
System note: Please keep in mind the average adult male from your world had a 5 in all categories, and the average Olympic athlete had a 15 in all categories
Status:
Name: Matthew Artendale
Race: Cat Faunus
Aura: Locked
Magic: Locked
Strength: 1
Dexterity: 7
Constitution: 2
Charm: 20
Luck: 10
Gacha: 1x common token
Matt looked at his strength and constitution with despair ‘I mean, what else did I expect’ he thought sadly, glancing at his arms and flabby stomach. Looking at his race though things started to make a bit of sense ‘I'm a cat Faunus? aren't Faunus a race in the show Rwby? AH! Then that castle must be Beacon academy and the city of vale. I really did get sent to another world' Matt thought happily, then, looking around, he realized something, ‘Then this must be forever fall forest. Wait, aren't there Grimm in these woods?’ He thought, slightly nervous. While he had committed suicide, he didn't really want to get eaten alive by giant man eating monsters. That sounded like a rather painful way to die. Besides, he wasn't sure if he wanted to die anymore. This almost seemed like a fresh start, a chance to live a new life how he wanted, where no one knew him. He just wished he watched more of the show, as he only watched the first season. ‘It was a bit too childish for me’ Although he was regretting that decision now.
Shaking his head he decided he might as well use the gacha token, ‘Come on lady luck. Give me something good’ He thought with crossed fingers. When he mentally focused on the common gacha token, a message popped up asking if he would like to use it. Mentally selecting yes a holographic slot machine with one row popped up. Looking at the 3D slot machine with surprise, he saw that there was a handle. Trying to mentally activate it did not work, so he tried physically grabbing it and was surprised when he could actually feel it. Pulling it down with a good tug he saw it start to spin rapidly, making the typical noises you would hear from a slot machine in a casino. ‘Come on, give me a weapon or something at least useful’ Watching the wheel with bated breath he saw it start to slow down and eventually come to a stop.
Received: 1x Banana
Matt looked at the banana in his hands with dull eyes. ‘So much for a luck of ten’ He thought. Shrugging he decided he might as well make the most of it, peeling the banana he started to eat it. ‘Hmmm, not bad’ he thought in contentment. Finishing the banana he threw the peel to the side and figured he should continue his trek to the city. Standing up he started walking again, now in a slightly better mood after eating the banana.
‘Skills’ Matt thought, he waited a moment but after nothing happened he decided to try some more mental commands ‘Menu, quests, settings, perks, inventory. Come on, nothing?! I don't even get an inventory?!’ He thought in frustration. ‘Help, Instructions’ he thought, finally getting a result after thinking ‘instructions’.
Welcome to your new system gamer! The strength of your system is decided by the deeds you have done in your life. As you had not accomplished anything special or noteworthy in your previous life you have been given one of the weaker systems.
Your system keeps track of your stats and makes it slightly easier for you to get stronger. The good news is your system comes with a gacha, and with this gacha you could possibly unlock other features of the system, such as the inventory and skills. Unfortunately that all relies on your luck. In the gacha you can get anything ranging from new powers or skills to items and food.
We wish you luck, your going to need it!
The gacha rankings are as follows: common<uncommon<rare<epic<mythic<legendary.
‘Damn, a rather brutal assessment of my life but it's not wrong. Still hurts though. At least I can unlock other features of the system. While I'm not complaining about the stat sheet as something is better than nothing, it would be rather underwhelming if that was all I got. I wonder what kind of stuff I could get with a legendary token’ shrugging in a ‘what can you do’ manner, Matt continued his journey.
Matt was pretty sure at this point that everything happening to him was real and not some hallucination caused by drugs. He was never one to freak out about things though, preferring to be calm and look at things objectively. Matt was not good at dealing with stress as a child or any strong emotions so during highschool he had slowly made himself stop feeling those emotions. He rarely felt stress or any strong emotion at this point, only getting nervous when he truly felt out of his depth. The only things he's experienced recently that caused him to feel out of his depth though were social situations. Though the threat of getting eaten alive was making him a bit paranoid during his walk.
As he was lost in his thoughts his mind eventually started to drift to how the people in his life reacted to his death. He thought of how his dad would feel when he found out. Feelings of guilt and regret started to flow through him. ‘I'm so sorry dad. I hope you can move on from my death. My mother is probably a wreck as well. I wis- Cutting him off mid thought was a howl that rang through the forest. A cold feeling of dread started to build up in Matthews chest ‘SHIT’ he thought as he took off running through the bloody forest. He knew what kind of beasts roamed these woods, and he knew he had no chance of defeating even the weakest of them.
Matt ran as fast as his legs could carry him. Which was not very fast. ‘DAMN THIS FLABBY BODY’ He was huffing and panting as he ran, out of breath and muscles burning, adrenaline fueling every movement. He could hear the sound of something chasing him with his enhanced hearing causing him to panic even more. “HELP ME! HELP ME PLEASE!” He started to scream out for help but he knew deep in his heart the chances of someone being out here are almost zero. ‘There's no way it ends like this, I JUST GOT MY SECOND CHANCE. Damn it, my negative feelings must have attracted it’ Matt started praying for someone, anyone to help him.
Blake was having a rather bad day. She had just left the white fang and ditched her partner after she finally realized she was too far gone. Alice only cared about revenge at this point, no longer fighting for the original goal of the white fang; equality. The tightness in her chest only seemed to get worse the more she thought about her childhood friend, and how much she has lost her way. Blake missed the days when the two of them would attend peaceful rallies and protests for Faunus rights, fighting for true equality, not the twisted version Alice hoped for, with faunus on top and humans on the bottom. Mom was right, I should have left the white fang a long time ago’ Sighing to herself she shook her head to get rid of the negative thoughts 'don't want to attract grimm’
A couple hours ago Blake had left Alice on that train, cutting the connector that attached the cargo carriages to the rest of the train. When Alice started talking about blowing up the train, regardless of the innocent lives that would be lost, Blake knew it was time for her to leave. It was obvious at that point that her best friend was no longer the same person she was when they were kids, now the only thing that drove her was her anger and resentment for humans. So she cut her ties with her, almost literally. An hour later she jumped off the train into the bloody forest after deciding it would be easier to enter Vale by foot than as a stowaway on a train that was missing half its cargo. Although she was sort of regretting that decision now, she had underestimated how long it would take to get to Vale by foot. ‘It seemed like a good idea in the moment, I should have at least waited a bit longer to get to Vale’ She thought with a sigh.
Blake was planning to attend Beacon academy and become a hunter ‘Maybe there I can make more of a difference for the faunus than I did being a terrorist in the white fang’ She thought. Vale was after all the most progressive kingdom there is for faunus. Only Vacuo was more accepting than Vale, but that was because over there the only thing that mattered was strength.
‘How am I going to get accepted into beacon though?’ Blake knew it would be difficult and she would probably have to use less than legal means. Being a terrorist doesn't leave you with the best resume after all, and she doubted she would be allowed to attend if she tried the legal way. Blake decided now wasn't the time to think about these things, she’ll figure it all out once she gets to Vale.
Walking through the beautiful forest she felt herself start to relax. She had heard about how beautiful this place was and it did not disappoint. Sprawling red grass and trees for as far as she could see. She allowed a slight smile to build on her face that was instantly wiped off when she heard the howl of a grimm. She decided to ignore it for the time being ‘If it sensed me it will come, all I have to do is wait’
Then her cat ears were able to pick up something else besides the grimm. ‘That sounds like… a boy crying out for help!’ She thought in alarm. She ran as fast as her aura powered legs could carry her, jumping through the trees elegantly like a ninja, heading to where her ears told her the sounds were coming from. Taking out Gambol Shroud she prepared to end the beast of darkness that she was chasing.
As she effortlessly sped through the trees she finally caught up to the grimm ‘a beowulf, this will be easy’ She smirked slightly as she dropped on top of it, bringing her katana down and slicing its head off effortlessly. She didn't stay to watch it vanish though, instead running to where she could still hear the boy yelling from help.
Catching up to the running boy rather easily, she called out to him “Wait! It's safe now, I killed the grimm”. He seemed to process the fact that there was someone talking to him that wasn't a grimm. He stopped running and dropped to the ground on his knees, huffing and panting. Looking over his shoulder at her she finally got a good look at the boy she saved. ‘Cute’ She thought distractedly, he had snow white hair, striking hazel feline eyes, and an adorable face with a cute button nose. A lot of his beauty was taken away by the fact that he was covered in sweat, dirt, and clearly exhausted, but she could tell that under all that grime he was gorgeous. Looking at the top of his head she saw something, or rather two somethings, that made her heart beat a little bit faster. ‘He’s a cat Faunus’ she thought giddily. She had always been more attracted to her fellow cat faunus than other types of faunus and humans.
Blake couldn't believe her luck. This was like a scene straight from one of her books. The brave and daring heroine saves the beautiful boy from certain death, making him fall in love with her and living happily ever after. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts as she realized the boy was saying something to her. She mentally prepared herself to try her best to woo the boy over. Maybe she could get lucky tonight.