Trope World - Volume 1 Chapter 1 Arrival

How long should it take for a man to realize he’s in another universe? Adding two and two together can make either twenty-two or four. Did I figure it out when I began seeing things I’m not looking at? Did I learn it when skills started popping up one after the other? Could I have learned it when I saw the red, green, and blue bars at the corner of my eye. There they sat bars see through but clearly there. Madness or Issekai it’s a flip of the coin. Would it matter either way? I’m either mad and therefore nothing matters or I’m in an Issekai and nothing matters.

Player choose your name

Ha, I learned what was going on before you could tell me. I win.

Skill Learned: In Sight lv1; PAS; +0.5 INT/PER

Ok, I have the skill but what does it do there is not description. Ants crawled upon the trees hunting down a spider that took their queen. The spider was busily planting traps of web to stall the ants and give its poison time to bring the ant queen to peak liquidation. Ants in their hundreds charged up the trees getting stuck only for their fellows to crawl over their bodies. Smaller spiders and the occasional locust picked apart at the army stalling them and giving the other spider more time.

I walked over to the spot where the spider was hauling away the queen. My hand moved with blinding speed crushing the spider. Then I grabbed the cocoon holding the queen between my fingers and returned it to the advancing army.

Skill Discovered: Crush lv1; active cost 1SP; +0.5 STR/CON

Skill level up: In Sight lv2; PAS; +1 INT/PER

What have I done? My body moved on reflex who cared if a spider ate an ant queen. Why would I choose a side? Truly, I must be mad. If I’m mad, I might as well play along.

Player Name Chosen: Melchior Nimrod

Stats

HP 2.25/2.25

SP 1/1

MP 2/2

Attributes

STR 1.5 CON 1.5

DEX 1 END 1

INT 2 PER 2

WIS 1 CHA 1

Skills:

Crush lv1; active cost 1SP; +0.5 STR/CON

In Sight lv2; PAS; +1 INT/PER

Sweat began to roll off my body and everything suddenly seemed far more dangerous. There was no leveling up. Only skills increased my stats. I felt strong. But that didn’t mean much if a bite from an ant could kill me. I needed to level up my skills and get a ton. How did most characters level up? Conditioning, yea that was it.

I dropped to the dirt and started to do pushups. The first ten was nothing, I didn’t break a sweat. It was the next 10 that felt like I’d started working out.

Skill Discovered: Conditioning lv1; active cost 1SP; +0.1 STR/END

Making sure to breath, as I did pushups in the middle of nowhere with no shelter, food, or water. I realized that the green bar was depleted. Sweat was pouring out of me and I wasn’t knocked out. It felt like; I had only just started. Ok, what did that mean for me?

My attention was suddenly drawn to the ground. The grass was freshly grazed upon. Just a few feet from me was a pile of horse shit.

Now horses have their rumen at the back end. The rumen helped horses digest grass. My eyes locked a few large bones sticking out of the black turds. Horses are herbivores, they didn’t eat meat intentionally.

Skill level up: In Sight lv5; PAS; +2.5 INT/PER

Skill level up: Conditioning lv4; ACTIVE Cost 1SP; +0.4 STR/END

I tore a branch from one of the nearby trees. There was surprisingly little in the way of brush to use. Then again, every tree around here bore some fruit. I didn’t recognize any of the fruit. So, I started poking around. I moved the black balls of grass out of the way to the gooey mass of bones. There was a skull in the pile. It looked humanoid only tiny. Horses didn’t eat meat at all.

Skill level up: In Sight lv8; PAS; +4 INT/PER

The more I leveled up my skills the higher my stats increased. With a total of 5 intelligence and perception. Everything started to flow to me. Information I didn’t want to know entered my head and I wasn’t comfortable with it.

This pile of turds had been cooling for three hours. It was infested with millions of fly eggs. The larvae would hatch in days. A substance I hadn’t recognized was pouring off the pile. This same energy was within every living thing around here. Worse this energy matched the larger source just north of here.

With ever greater awareness of my situation, I walked towards the source of this energy. There was nothing else to go on. Whatever being dropped me here must have had some plan for me.

Wind was out of the north, humidity 70%, and it was Tuesday. Nothing good ever happens on Tuesday. Since, I woke up here I’d seen 539,264 mosquitoes. Spiders counting their egg sacks could number in the millions. Don’t get me started on the ticks. They wanted my blood; I’ve spent most of the day running from them. Each as large as a poppy seed and thrice as quick. There was no shade the only safe place was near the sleeping form of a centauress. It was here, I noticed that not even the fleas or spiders dared to approach. The ticks sizzled and died before they even neared the her. She was my sanctuary in this mad world devoid of bug pray.

Skill level up: In Sight lv10; PAS; +5 INT/PER

It was the first skill I gained after ending up in this world. My smile spread wide as more ticks sizzled and died before this centauress’ barrier. I owed her more than I could pay in a thousand lifetimes.

Bugs are the enemy of man. They strived to consume and evolve until Terri formers happens. I could see it now. An army of bullet proof c.o.c.kroach men running over the hill in their hundreds of millions. A shiver crawled up my spine at the most likely scenario in this world.

I saw the armies of c.o.c.kroaches eating spiders in their nests high in the trees. One by one they cleared the nests in the trees before turning their sights on the wood beetles. Their tide was only slowed by the c.o.c.kroach eating Venus fly traps that curled along the tree’s branches. They were merely traps filled with sweet smelling gastric juices. My eyes could see the number of roaches ensnared by the flora and it wasn’t enough. Passive abilities couldn’t be turned off there was no escape from my senses. I could practically taste the sweet-smelling juice in the plants.

Power Skill Discovered: WCS (Worst Case Scenario) lv1; PAS; +5INT/WIS

Skill level up: In Sight lv11

Personal: BP (Battle Power) 24.65

My eyes turned to the sweat covered lightly shedding centauress that had become my savior in this harsh world. She was snoring lightly under a shade tree. The longer I looked at her the more I noticed. Her bra was made of titanium steel. Runes were carved in it. Her body exuded not only a anti bug magic field, but a lot of the energy found in all living things. What was her battle power?

Battle Power ???,???,???,???

I stumbled away and tripped on a tree root. I fell on some brush and sticks cracked against my backside. My nose started itching. Just as, I calmed down, I sneezed.

There was a clinking of metal and the centauress slowly stood up. She stretched and her bones cracked. My breath hitched as calm brown eyes locked on to me. My In Sight nearly overloaded. I began processing her appearance.

Her horse half was a massive 30 hands high making her handstand around 9ft. “If I get on my knees and present my ass cheeks to you. Will I be spared.” I said. It wasn’t likely. I could feel my In-Sight level as I stared at her.

She had black hair braided down her back meeting her main. Her coat was so black it seemed to absorb sunlight. Whatever this energy was it wasn’t mana.

Skill Discovered: CAC (Compare and Contrast) lv1; PAS; +1 INT/WIS

There was an aura of darkness around her swirling and spiraling. It was kept tightly controlled. She stood in its eye protected by the ravaging dark force that could emerge at any moment. This was bad, she was a lv99999 boss and I was basically starting out. Unless this is a cutscene battle where I had to lose, I was as good as dead.

She said something in gnome speak. It was harsh neighing and borderline unintelligible, but I was sure her voice sounded lovely in her language. “I’m sorry, I can’t understand you.” She turned her head to the side and snorted at me. She picked up a pale of freshly cut grass and started munching on it. Her eyebrow rose as she looked at me. “Well I would hate to interrupt a lady enjoying her meal, but I need to go.” I turned to leave only to hear her hooves.

She stood over me. Her hair was dark and corded contrasting her pale face. There was a sickly-sweet look in her eyes. Her heart was racing at a heightened pace. It wasn’t from the exertion of chasing me a few yards. It was my presence that caused her heart to flutter. I took a step back only for the tree’s shadow to rose up and ensnared my legs. Once again, I fell on my ass.

She continued to stare at me with eyes I didn’t like. What was happening? I could pick up on the strangest details and learn things I shouldn’t know with a glance. Yet I couldn’t divine her motive. From her saddle bag she pulled an iron collar covered with strange markings.

The metal collar was no mere metal ring of iron and aluminum. No, it gave off an energy like this woman’s like a fingerprint. It was dirty like the centaur’s droppings. The hieroglyphs on the metal showed men with the collar on, centaurs with wh.i.p.s, and a lot of plowing fields. There wasn’t any confusing what was going on.

I might have joked about spreading my butt cheeks, but I wouldn’t be a slave. I struggled against the shadows clawing at them only for my fingers. When my fingers touched the dark tendrils a sense of cold made me shiver.

My In Sight wouldn’t stop. This darkness was linked to her. It was a part of her as surely as her hair. If I didn’t have the strength to break free, then I wouldn’t. The centauress cackled and said something again in her screeching voice.

I looked at her seeing the human skull belt along her waist. Sheathed were a mace and a wand. There was a manic look in her eyes more like a pleased cat than a horse. She trotted to me slowly enjoying my every struggle. It was like the spiders up in the trees slowly cocooning their flies. They derived a sense of pleasure from the chase and the feeble struggle of their prey.

Skill Discovered: Claw lv1: A cost 1SP; +0.1 STR/DEX

Skill Discovered: Struggle lv1: A cost 1SP; +0.1STR/END

“Stupid f.u.c.k.i.n.g darkness damn you horse cunt and your power. I will get out of this and have my revenge. I’m Melchior Nimrod, I will get my freedom.” I yelled at the top of my lungs.

Skill Discovered: Bellow lv1: A cost 15MP; +1INT/CHA

I continued to yell. Between bellows, I heard a sound like bells. She was laughing as she bent down.

My hand lashed out the scratch her only for more dark tendrils to leap up and stop me. I crashed in the dirt for my trouble. She grabbed me by my shaggy hair and lifted my head up.

Skill Discovered: Pain resistance lv1; Passive; +1 CON/END

Skill level up: Struggle lv5; A cost 1SP; +0.5 STR/END

The collar locked on my neck tighter than I’d ever experienced. “Now can you understand me?” I nodded my head. I heard her words clearly. “I’m sure there are stories of centaurs capturing humans. Do I need to explain what my collar does?” I closed my eyes thinking quickly. Any information would be good. Maybe she would let something slip.

“I thought they were just stories, so I didn’t pay them any mind.” I said. She quirked her pale pink lips. The ears atop her head flattened a little. Then she huffed.

“I would have preferred it if you knew already. Now I have to talk to you more. You are now my slave. Disobey me and the collar will tighten in warning. At any time, I can give it a command with my qi, and it will explode killing you. The collar will prevent you from cultivating any farther.” She smirked searching me for something.

“I’m not a cultivator. My name is Melchior Nimrod and I’m,” The collar shocked me. I would like to say I stood my ground and braved my new mistress’s wrath. But no, my body shook and every nerve in my body was on fire. Then it stopped.

I was on the floor more than certain I’d pissed myself.

Skill Discovered: Shock Resistance lv1; passive; +1CON/END

Skill Level UP: Pain Resistance lv4; passive; +4CON/END

“You’re making it difficult for us to fall madly in love with each other.” I said weekly. Another powerful jolt coursed through my body.

Skill Level Up: Shock Resistance lv3; passive; +3CON/END

Skill Level UP: Pain Resistance lv6; passive; +6CON/END

“My mother always said humans were stupid, but you take the whole pill case. But this keeps me from going out with the raiding party. Now that I have my own freshly captured human slave I can stay home and look after my farm. I’m certain a little whip service will make you a proper servant soon enough.” She said.

“Your flirting is adorable but how do you plan to transport me. You’ve shocked me pretty good. I don’t think I can walk.” She looked at me like I was especially difficult.

She reached into her bag and pilled out a large orange pill shaped like a carrot. She snapped a piece off the pill, pulled out mortar and pestle, and crushed the piece into powder. She trotted over to me. A powerful blow from her knocked the air out of my lungs and she blew the powder in my face. I took a breath and choked feeling the strange concoction in my lungs. It burned like someone took sandpaper to my diaphragm.

“You’re annoying but correct. I would never allow such an unworthy creature to grace my back. Now get up.” My body shook from the effort, but I stood. “How did you get to my meadow in the first place? There are monsters on the out skirts that could kill you with presence alone.” She turned to me with a glare marring her pure face.

“Oh, you wanted an answer.” I choked out. “I was teleported here by mistake.”

She cackled and didn’t stop for a couple seconds. “They probably just wanted to get rid of you. You have no cultivation to speak of and you’re annoying. I’m sure you would be more useful cleaning my sheets than being a drain on society.”

“I was a librarian. I liked books. Though I couldn’t read them.” I mumbled out. It was utter bullshit.

She nodded her head like she’s heard it all before. “Many sects prefer to use talentless illiterates to organize their libraries. You would probably have died long before they taught you to read.” Something soft entered her eyes.

“I tell you what human. If you serve me faithfully and cut back on your comments. I won’t shock you and I’ll teach you how to read. You will never cultivate but you will get to read about mighty centaur cultivators. A good consolation.” She smirked at me. I gave her a genuine smile.

When she looked away and I sped up a little. She seemed content to look forward. My smile turned mocking. This would be an excellent LARP.